bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Incumbency and the Legal Configuration of Hydrocarbon Infrastructure
Authors: Astoria Ross
Published: May 2017

Incumbency is usually understood as an entity’s power to preclude economic competition through legislative rent seeking or price manipulation, and monopolistic electrical power utilities are a frequently presented as the prototypical example of such incumbency. However, whether this sort of economic incumbency is an impediment to the transition to a clean energy infrastructure is contingent upon the particular utility. In contrast, in this chapter the author argues that hydrocarbon energy infrastructure is itself entrenched in law. The economic perspective abstracts from the law and therefore fails to recognize that the presently existing legally organized electrical power markets are not a neutral field, but presuppose and support hydrocarbon generation. To transition to clean energy, then, law and regulations must be reconfigured around the features of renewable energy generation and infrastructure.
Falling Oil Prices and Sustainable Energy Transition
Authors: Asmelash Henok Birhanu
Published: May 2017

The growing recognition that fossil-fuel subsidies are economically inefficient and harmful for the environment has led to widespread calls for—and efforts to bring about- the phasing out of fossil-fuel subsidies over the last few years. Despite these efforts, however, fossil-fuel subsidies remain prevalent around the world. The existing international legal framework is too weak and fragmented to support fossil-fuel subsidy reform efforts and an international agreement is essential. This chapter explores, from a sustainable energy transition perspective, the challenges and prospects of and avenues for negotiating a binding multilateral agreement on fossil-fuel subsidies. The chapter posits that the Friends of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform are in a position to take the lead and that the ball is in the court of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Sell the Oil Deposits! A Financial Proposal to Keep the Oil Underground in the Yasuni National Park, Ecuador
Authors: Bucaram Santiago J. , Fernández Mario Andrés , Grijalva Diego
Published: May 2017

The Yasuni National Park (YNP) is a protected area in the Amazon region of Ecuador. The Park is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world and has received much attention due to the media exposure of the Yasuni-ITT Initiative. This Initiative proposed a moratorium on oil activities in the Ishpingo-Timbococha-Tiputini (ITT) blocks within the Park, in exchange for US$3.6 billion in compensation to be paid by the international community. The authors conduct a feasibility analysis of the Initiative to show that it was flawed from its inception, then develop a financial approach for a ‘New ITT Initiative’. The authors propose the sale or leasing of the rights of extraction of the oil deposits as a strategy to keep the oil underground.
The Political Economy of Household Thermal Energy Choices in Developing Countries
Authors: Kruger Wikus , Tait Louise , Groot Jiska de
Published: May 2017

Indonesia and South Africa are both trying address energy poverty through subsidized energy provision. South Africa has implemented one of the largest electrification programmes in the world, and 80 per cent of the population now have access to the national grid. But this alone is unlikely to achieve universal energy access goals. Indonesia recently implemented one of the largest household energy transition projects to date: the kerosene-to-LPG (liquid petroleum gas) conversion programme. Exploring these projects makes more visible the political economic factors that have affected the adoption of certain energy carriers.
The Linkages of Energy, Water, and Land Use in Southeast Asia
Authors: Pham Do Kim Hang , Dinar Ariel
Published: May 2017

This chapter aims to contribute to understanding the existing knowledge gaps in the linkages of energy, water, and land use in Southeast Asia and explores the political economy of energy transition in the Mekong region (MR). Investigating the struggle over hydropower development and decision-making on water and land across the region, the study shows that countries that are the winners or losers in the hydropower development schemes are not the only ones managing the Mekong; rather, it is part of the region-wide strategy of nations to sustain the MR. The relationship between MR cooperation programmes and China is a main concern, and the chapter discusses the roles of issue linkages as a mechanism for achieving sustainable development.
The Political Economy of Clean Energy Transitions at Sub-National Level
Authors: Puppim de Oliveira Jose A. , Andrade Celio
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the political economy aspects, particularly the influence of the Clean Development Mechanism, in clean energy and climate change policies in the states of Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The different mechanisms for responding to climate change are financing opportunities in some of the ‘green’ industries, but the results show a gap between the initial objectives of global policies and their results. The research identified pitfalls and opportunities for new strategies and mechanisms for boosting clean energy in Brazil and the role that the Clean Development Mechanism and future international mechanisms can play in the political economy of clean energy transitions. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the lessons learned from experience of the Clean Development Mechanism and its implications for the future of the Paris Agreement.
Foregrounding Financial Accountability in Governance
Authors: Mukhopadhyay Amitabh
Published: May 2017

This chapter argues that the 21st Century is witnessing a culture of accountability in-the-making. The mores of parliamentary supremacy are giving way to assertions of popular sovereignty. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is therefore peering out of the blinds of a restricted system of parliamentary financial control to re-design public sector audit as a service meant directly for citizens at large, not only for governments and parliaments. CAG's organisation can demonstrate its relevance to citizens by developing the capacities to communicate with citizens through the media, support social audit mechanisms, conduct electronic financial audits, and inform the public discourse by means of research-oriented participatory performance audits. Wide public discussion to re-envision the institution and forge a new mandate for CAG is essential. Three recent United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolutions to strengthen Supreme Audit Institutions for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be pursued vigorously.
The Civil Service
Authors: Krishnan K.P. , Somanathan T.V.
Published: May 2017

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the institution of the civil service, covering its initial design as conceived by the makers of the Indian Constitution and changes in that design. It makes an assessment of the effectiveness of the civil service as an institution against four criteria: preserving the constitutional democratic order, impartial implementation of the “rule of law” vis-à-vis citizens, faithfully translating the will of elected governments into policies while effectively implementing those policies, and promoting development (including efficient and effective public services). It explores the causes of the various shortcomings identified in the performance of the civil service and compares the Indian civil service with other countries on several parameters. It concludes with a detailed discussion of policy ideas on reform, drawing on Indian and international experience.
Election Commission of India
Authors: Sridharan E. , Vaishnav Milan
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the evolution of one of the world’s most powerful elections bodies, the Election Commission of India (ECI). Blessed with a legal status as a permanent, independent body under the Constitution, the ECI has used its broad mandate to develop wide-ranging powers to regulate the conduct and management of elections. A series of skilled leaders have further pushed the agency to undertake consistent organizational and technological innovation. In spite of this progress, the agency has struggled mightily to curb the twin influences of money and “muscle” (serious criminality) in electoral politics. Unless the ECI is given more substantial legal authorities to address these challenges, the credibility of the electoral process will likely suffer. Legal ambiguity also makes the body vulnerable to political interference, although the multi-polar distribution of political power—coupled with widespread popular support and a sympathetic judiciary—mitigate this risk.
Re-energizing Democratic Decentralization in India
Authors: Raghunandan T.R.
Published: May 2017

This chapter describes the current status of democratic decentralisation to local governments (LGs) in India. The political support for decentralisation has been fitful and typically driven by a few champions. The transition to a system of LGs as autonomous spheres of government has been caught in limbo because administrative and fiscal arrangements have not kept pace with well-intentioned legal provisions. This has resulted in LGs that are burdened with a wide array of devolved functions on paper, but with little fiscal space and low administrative capability to execute these effectively. The earlier paradigm of top-down devolution should be supplanted by a demand-driven approach that incentivises elected representatives from LGs to build a body of effective practice from below. Several interesting experiments in building collaborative knowledge networks and awarding local initiative might trigger the transformation that has eluded efforts made so far.
Linguistic Groups
Authors: Hazarika Manjil
Published: May 2017

An old-fashioned somatological analysis of the racial composition of the present-day populations of Northeast India suggested that this area was home to two major races of mankind, the Caucasoid and the Mongoloid, and modern population genetic studies now provide us with an even more fine-meshed and complex view of population prehistory. Close proximity of these populations in terms of settlements has led to exchange of genes between the two groups. This chapter provides a detailed account of the linguistic situation in Northeast India, which is relevant to our understanding of the prehistoric dispersals of linguistic groups. Various linguistic hypotheses and feasible archaeological links are discussed in this chapter. Probable routes of migration are also discussed on the basis of linguistic, ethnographical, historical, and folkloristic data.
The Archaeological Record
Authors: Hazarika Manjil
Published: May 2017

This chapter elaborates the data and results of the explorations conducted in the Garbhanga Reserve Forest. The area has been intensively surveyed for the location of potential archaeological sites and the collection of ethnographic data in order to draw direct historical analogies. An ‘area-approach’ study has been conducted in order to formulate a general model for archaeological site structure, locations, geomorphic situations, and site formation processes that can be used for archaeological study in the hilly landscape of Northeast India. Present-day agricultural implements have been analysed and compared with Neolithic implements in order to reconstruct ancient farming culture by way of undertaking systematic study of modern peasant ways of life in the study area. The ideological significance of stone artefacts as ‘thunderstone’ in Northeast India and among the Karbis has also been discussed.
Radiative Transfer
Authors: Chance Kelly , Martin Randall V.
Published: May 2017

Radiative transfer is the process of energy transfer during the propagation of electromagnetic radiation through a medium. The processes of extinction, due to absorption and scattering, and thermal emission are described. It is shown how they can be represented by wavelength-dependent optical thickness, due to absorption or emission cross sections and the number of absorbers, emitters, or scatterers. Cloud optical thickness and conservative scattering are described. The scattering phase function is introduced. Next, the general form of radiative transfer is given, and its applicability to the details of planetary atmospheric radiation shown.
Line Shapes
Authors: Chance Kelly , Martin Randall V.
Published: May 2017

Line shapes describe how absorption and emission are spectrally distributed around the line positions formed by rotational, vibrational, and electronic transitions. Line shapes arise from the different processes that spectrally broaden the absorption and emission of radiation. Optical thickness and equivalent width are shown to be fundamentally related to line shape. The fundamental line shape functions for atmospheres including the Gaussian line shape due to molecular motion and the Lorentzian line shape from lifetime broadening, including collision (pressure) broadening are described. Their convolution, the Voigt line shape, which is important in some atmospheric conditions is also described. The standard HITRAN database of spectroscopic parameters of molecules for use in calculation of radiative transfer in planetary atmospheres, from radiofrequencies to the near ultraviolet, is introduced.
Radiation and Climate
Authors: Chance Kelly , Martin Randall V.
Published: May 2017

Global climate is controlled by an energy balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing terrestrial radiation. An energy balance is first developed using a simple one-layer model of the atmosphere and then made more realistic by distributing the atmospheric optical depth smoothly in a Gray Atmosphere Model. Wavelength-specific and altitude-dependent absorption and emission for the ultraviolet through long-wave infrared are described. Knowledge is combined into an overall Earth energy budget. The sensitivity of the climate to radiative forcing is examined.
A semantic classification of evidentials
Authors: Murray Sarah E.
Published: May 2017

Chapter 2 introduces an empirical classification of evidentials across languages. This chapter discusses semantic diagnostics from the literature, illustrating them with representative languages, and shows how Cheyenne fits into this classification. While there are several dimensions of variation, there are also striking crosslinguistic generalizations, with evidentials sharing a core set of properties. This points to the need for a unified analysis that can capture these shared properties, treating evidentials crosslinguistically as a natural semantic class, while being fine‐grained enough to account for the variation. Where evidentials differ across languages, Cheyenne patterns with certain languages on some diagnostics, but with different languages on others, providing further support for a unified theory.
Evidentials and varieties of update
Authors: Murray Sarah E.
Published: May 2017

Chapter 3 proposes a new semantics for evidentials, set within a theory of the different kinds of semantic contributions all sentences make. On this view, every sentence can make three new semantic contributions: presenting the at‐issue proposition, a not‐at‐issue restriction, and an illocutionary relation. Different components of the sentence introduce these different contributions. Sentential mood, for example, contributes the illocutionary relation, which is a relation between a proposition and the context. Evidentials, and potentially other elements that express evidentiality, contribute an evidential not‐at‐issue restriction and can interact with the semantic contributions of sentence mood. Detailed accounts of different semantic behaviors are given, showing how this system can be used to account for different semantic patterns across languages.
Baptists in North America
Authors: Leonard Bill J.
Published: May 2017

This chapter considers an unlikely trio of groups who opposed the Evangelical Protestant mainstream in nineteenth-century America: the Unitarians, the Quakers, and the Shakers. Each had to navigate two different forms of dissent: the external and the internal. When deciding how best to revise or contradict the hegemonic forms of Protestantism, these groups had certain goals and methods for interacting with those outside their fellowship. In time, they each also had to face a more pernicious adversary, the second generation of dissenters that grew within their own ranks. While these disparate traditions may appear to have little in common, each body faced many of the same questions as they asserted their distinct form of external cultural and religious correction. When articulating a theological vision that went against the mainstream, they had to determine how to serve that particular vision in a culture that did not share their theological views. Some withdrew from contact with outsiders and used their enclaves as a way to practise and preserve their vision of orthodoxy and orthopraxy. On the other hand, there were groups that deliberately sought to model correct religion for others, and thereby hoped to transform other religious groups by disseminating their theological vision beyond the confines of any type of self-imposed seclusion. As the decades passed, though, both sorts of groups were surprised by the inevitable challenges to their founding orthodoxy from within their own membership. This dissent among dissenters was, of course, an outgrowth of the very impulse that stood behind the earlier establishment of the group. Subsequent generations of membership often failed to realize that belonging to a group of dissenters might require adherence to a detailed theological vision. This tension between founding theology and ongoing interpretation could leave a Dissenting group hierarchy in the awkward position of having to restrict innovation, an irony not lost on subsequent generations of members. This chapter asks how Unitarians, Shakers, and Quakers in nineteenth-century America addressed these two aspects of Dissent: external and internal. How did each group perceive their relationship to American culture and other more mainstream religious groups? How did they encounter and negotiate dissent from within their ranks? In each group there was an evolution over the course of the nineteenth century that complicates any interpretation of these multifaceted embodiments of Protestant Dissenting traditions in the United States.
Restorationists and New Movements in North America
Authors: Foster Douglas A.
Published: May 2017

By the end of the nineteenth century, Dissent had gained a global presence, with churches from the Dissenting traditions scattered across the British Empire and beyond. This chapter traces the spread of Dissenting denominations during this period, through the establishment of both settler churches and indigenous Christian communities. In the settler colonies of Australia, New Zealand, and the Cape Colony, colonists formed churches that identified with and often kept formal ties with the British Dissenting denominations. The particular conditions of colonial society, especially the relatively weak place of the Church of England, meant that many of the Dissenting denominations thrived. At the same time, these conditions forced Dissenting churches to adapt and take on new characteristics unique to their colonial context. Settler churches in the Dissenting tradition were part of a society that dispossessed indigenous peoples and some members of these churches engaged in humanitarian and missionary work among indigenous communities. By the end of the century, many colonial Dissenting churches had also begun their own missionary ventures overseas. Beyond the settler colonies, Dissenting traditions spread during the nineteenth century through the efforts of missionaries, both indigenous and non-indigenous. Examples from Dissenting churches in the Pacific and southern and western Africa show how indigenous Christian communities developed their own identities, sometimes in tension with or opposition to the traditions from which they had emerged, such as Ethiopianism. Around the world, the nineteenth century saw the formation of new churches within the Dissenting traditions that would give rise, in the twentieth century, to the truly global expansion of Dissent.
Ministers and Ministerial Training
Authors: Ledger-Lomas Michael
Published: May 2017

Protestant Dissent was assailed by Anglo-Catholics in England and by the Mercersburg Theologians in the United States for its fissiparous tendencies, sectarian nature, and privileging of emotional conversionism over apostolic order and objective, sacramental religion. Yet this chapter argues that personal conversion was essential to the faith of Dissent and the key to its spirituality, worship, and congregational life. Whether conversion was gradual or instantaneous, it remained the point of entry into the Christian life and the full privileges of church membership. Spurred by the preaching of the gospel and sometimes, but not always, accompanied by the application of the divine law, the earlier underpinning of conversionism in Calvinism gave way to an emphasis on human response. Popular in both the United States and Great Britain, the ‘new measures’ of the Presbyterian evangelist Charles Finney, in which burdened souls were called forward to ‘the anxious bench’ and prayerfully incited to undergo the new birth, brought thousands into the churches. However, in more liberal circles especially, conversion had by the end of the century become less of a crisis of guilt and redemption than a smooth progression towards spiritual fullness. Although preaching was often linked, especially in the first part of the century, with revivalist exuberance, it remained a mainstay of congregational life. Mainly expository and practical with a view of building up congregants in the faith, it was accompanied by hymn singing, scriptural readings, public prayers, and the two sacraments or ‘ordinances’ of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Sermons tended to become shorter as the century progressed, from an hour or so to thirty or forty minutes, while the ‘long prayer’, invariably offered by the minister, tended to be didactic in tone. From mid-century onwards, there was a move towards more rounded worship, though congregations would sit (or sometimes stand) for prayer, but not kneel. The liturgical use of the church year with congregational recitation of the Lord’s Prayer became slowly more acceptable. Communion, either monthly or quarterly, was usually a Zwinglian memorial of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. The impact of the temperance movement during the latter part of the century dictated the use of non-alcoholic rather than fermented wine in the Lord’s Supper, while in a reaction to Anglican sacerdotalism, baptism too, whether believers’ baptism or paedo-baptism, progressively lost its sacramental character. Throughout the century, Dissenters sang. In the absence of an externally imposed prayer book or a standardized liturgy, hymns provided them with both devotional aids and a collective identity. Unaccompanied at first, hymn singing, inspired mostly by the muse of Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and, in Wales, William Williams, became more disciplined, eventually with organ accompaniment. Even while moving towards a more sophisticated, indeed bourgeois mode, Dissent maintained a vibrant congregational life which prized a simple, biblically based spirituality.
Synesthesia, Then and Now
Authors: Marks Lawrence E.
Published: May 2017

Puzzling in its diversity and resistant to simple theoretical accounts, synesthesia has been a subject of scrutiny and investigation for more than a century. Long treated as a cross-modal perceptual phenomenon in which stimuli presented in one modality produce additional sensations in another, modern research has highlighted the roles of learning and cognition in many kinds of synesthesia, not all of them cross-modal. Common approaches to understanding synesthesia include monism, which treats synesthesia as one pole of a continuous trait, and dualism, which distinguishes synesthesia from nonsynesthesia and searches for synesthesia’s common denominators. A third approach, pluralism, posits multiple distinct categories of synesthesia: One category (or more) may be prototypical, a good candidate being cross-modal synesthesia. Principles that characterize cross-modal synesthesia also characterize cross-modal perception in nonsynesthetes, and mechanisms that underlie prototypical cross-modal synesthesia may serve as the wellspring for the development of synesthesia’s diverse other forms.
Synesthesia vs. Crossmodal Illusions
Authors: O’Callaghan Casey
Published: May 2017

We can discern two opposing viewpoints regarding synesthesia. According to the first, it is an oddity, an outlier, or a disordered condition. According to the second, synesthesia is pervasive, driving creativity, metaphor, or language itself. I favor the first perspective, according to which cross-sensory synesthesia is an outlying condition. But the second perspective is not wholly misguided. My discussion has three lessons. First, synesthesia is just one of a variety of effects in which one sense causally impacts and reshapes experience associated with another. These effects are utterly common. However, due to their unfamiliarity and their conflict with a widespread conception of the role of the senses in perception and experience, until recently they have been surprising. Second, synesthesia nevertheless must be distinguished from other intermodal effects that lead to misperception, such as crossmodal illusions. Third, synesthesia may also be distinguished from the potentially much broader class of synesthetic effects.
Reporting Color Experience in Grapheme-Color Synesthesia
Authors: Jraissati Yasmina
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the method for reporting color in grapheme-color synesthesia and its consequences. The Berlin and Kay basic color categories typology is sometimes used, but one should wonder whether such a simplification is justified, and whether it might not have important theoretical implications for our understanding of synesthesia. In this chapter, such implications are uncovered. A discussion opposing Simner and colleagues to Beeli and colleagues regarding the linguistic vs/color appearance bias of grapheme-color associations is taken as an illustration. Essentially, it is argued that the Berlin and Kay typology is misused, leading to dangerous tensions, and that the assumed relation between color appearance, categories, and terms is not clear. In conclusion, the chapter suggests how research in color categorization can offer alternative frameworks to understand grapheme-color synesthesia, and notes that work in synesthesia can also shed light on color categorization.
Synesthesia and Consciousness
Authors: Mylopoulos Myrto , Ro Tony
Published: May 2017

While interest in synesthesia among cognitive scientists has been steadily increasing in recent years, one question remains relatively unexplored: what is the relationship between synesthesia and consciousness? In this chapter, we consider some central aspects of this relationship and focus our discussion on two main questions. First, we explore the question of whether synesthesia can occur unconsciously. We identify some complications that arise in interpreting some of the relevant empirical results, and then endorse an affirmative answer to this question based on the limited findings available. Second, we look at four major theories of consciousness and evaluate their predictions regarding the neural correlates of consciousness using synesthesia as a test case. We highlight the ways in which findings concerning the neural correlates of synesthetic experience would seem to offer support for or against these major theories.
Can Synaesthesia Present the World as it Really Is?
Authors: Sollberger Michael
Published: May 2017

Can some synaesthetic experiences be treated as veridical perceptual experiences, i.e. as conscious mental states in which worldly objects and their features perceptually appear as they really are? Most empirical scientists and philosophers working on synaesthesia answer this question in the negative. Contrary to this prevailing opinion, Mohan Matthen’s ‘When is Synaesthesia Perception?’ (Chapter 8, this volume) argues that such a dismissive approach to the epistemic properties of synaesthetic experiences is not mandatory. Matthen claims that there is conceptual room for a more tolerant approach according to which at least one variety of synaesthesia, which he calls ‘direct synaesthesia’, is epistemically on a par with everyday non-synaesthetic perception. The aim of this chapter is to evaluate the idea of ‘direct synaesthesia’ and to assess whether the accepted dogma that synaesthesia is always prone to error has to go.
Questioning the Continuity Claim
Authors: Spence Charles
Published: May 2017

Many researchers argue or accept that crossmodal matchings or mappings, such as those that exist between pitch and brightness, and canonical cases of conscious synaesthesia lie at the two ends of a continuum. This chapter raises problems for this continuity claim regarding (i) the distribution of conscious manifestations, and (ii) the dimensions along which this continuum should be organized. It reviews possible candidate dimensions, including the degree of vividness, frequency, specificity of the conscious manifestation, and control over its content, and shows that evidence of the expected distribution is absent for all of these continua. Although a crude distinction between conscious and non-conscious might not be sufficient to separate synaesthesia from crossmodal correspondences, the conscious manifestations that characterize synaesthesia cannot be reconciled with other occasional occurrences of mental imagery documented for crossmodal correspondences.
Patrolling the Boundaries of Synaesthesia
Authors: Auvray Malika , Farina Mirko
Published: May 2017

Synaesthesia is a neurological condition in which people make unusual associations between various sensations. This chapter investigates conceptually whether alleged non-developmental (i.e. artificial) forms of synaesthesia could be counted as genuine synaesthetic experiences. It focuses in particular on post-hypnotic suggestions, drug habits, flavor perception, and use of sensory substitution devices. It discusses a number of criteria that have been taken as definitional of synaesthesia; namely, inducer-concurrent pairing, idiosyncrasy, consistency over time, and automaticity of the process, and subsequently investigates whether those alleged non-developmental cases could fulfill these criteria. Although the response provided here is negative, as each of the cases fail to fulfill one or several of the criteria, the comparisons between these cases and congenital synaesthesia prove useful to highlight key differences between different kinds of multisensory experiences.
Mirror-Touch Synaesthesia
Authors: Vignemont Frédérique de
Published: May 2017

Individuals with mirror-touch synaesthesia report consciously feeling tactile sensations on their own body when they see another person being touched. They have what may be called vicarious tactile sensations. Vicarious tactile sensations may almost seem unbelievable. How could one feel from the inside someone else’s sensations? First, I will focus on the intersubjective dimension of vicarious touch. In particular, I will examine whether it constitutes a kind of empathy. I will then argue that vicarious touch cannot be taken as evidence in favour of embodied social cognition. Second, I will focus on the intermodal dimension of vicarious touch. I will show how it differs from standard cases of idiosyncratic synaesthesia. I will then argue that it is a by-product of the multimodal nature of non-vicarious bodily experiences.
Personification, Synaesthesia, and Social Cognition
Authors: Sagiv Noam , Sobczak-Edmans Monika , Williams Adrian L.
Published: May 2017

Defining synaesthesia has proven to be a challenging task as the number of synaesthesia variants and associated phenomena reported by synaesthetes has increased over the past decade or so. This chapter discusses the inclusion of non-sensory concurrents in the category of synaesthesia. For example, many grapheme-colour synaesthetes also attribute gender and personality to letters and numbers consistently and involuntarily. Here we assess the question of including synaesthetic personification as a type of synaesthesia. We also discuss the relationship between synaesthetic personification and other instances of personification and mentalizing. We hope to convince readers that whether or not they embrace atypical forms of personification as a synaesthesia variant, studying the phenomenon is a worthwhile effort that could yield novel insights into human cognition and brain function.
What Drives Bird Senses?
Authors: Martin Graham R.
Published: May 2017

Many tasks could drive the evolution of bird sensory systems. Key candidates are flight, foraging, predator detection, and reproduction. Comparative analysis of visual fields and retinal structures shows functionally significant differences in the vision of even closely related species. These are best explained by foraging being the primary driver of vision in birds, and this is traded-off against the demands of predator detection. The key task is the control of bill position and timing its arrival at a target. This is achieved by the extraction of information from the optic flow-field which expands symmetrically about the bill when it is travelling towards a target. The provision of such flow-fields is the prime function of binocular vision. Informational demands for flight control are met within constraints determined by those for precise bill control. Other sensory capacities also appear to be driven primarily by the informational demands of foraging.
Records of sunspots and aurora candidates in the Chinese official histories of the Yuán and Míng dynasties during 1261–1644
Authors: Hayakawa Hisashi , Tamazawa Harufumi , Ebihara Yusuke , Miyahara Hiroko , Kawamura Akito Davis , Aoyama Tadanobu , Isobe Hiroaki
Published: May 2017

Records of observations of sunspots and auroras in pre-telescopic historical documents provide useful information about past solar activity both in long-term trends and short-term space weather events. In this study, we present the results of a comprehensive survey of the records of sunspots and aurora candidates in the Yuánshĭ and Míngshĭ, Chinese Official Histories spanning 1261–1368 and 1368–1644, based on continuous observations with well-formatted reportds conducted by contemporary professional astronomers. We then provide a brief comparison of these data with Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) as an indicator of the solar activity during the corresponding periods to show significant active phases between the 1350s–80s and 1610s–30s. We then compared the former with contemporary Russian reports concerning naked-eye sunspots and the latter with contemporary sunspot drawings based on Western telescopic observations. Especially some of the latter are consistent with nitrate signals preserved in ice cores. These results show us some insights on and beyond minima and maxima of solar activity during the 13th–17th centuries.
Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Cesarean Delivery: When Broader Is Better
Authors: Weinstein R.A. , Boyer K.M.
Published: May 2017

(N Engl J Med. 2016;375(13):1284–1286)

Studies have shown that of the 4 million babies that are delivered in the United States, a third are delivered via cesarean delivery. Maternal infection is one of the complications of this surgery with patients are at risk for endometritis and surgical site infections. To prevent these infections, antibiotics such as cefazolin are administered intravenously. Infectious risks can be further mitigated by using infection control protocols and administering broader spectrum antibiotics. The study described above was a randomized controlled trial that compared the addition of broad-spectrum prophylaxis with azithromycin (a macrolide antibiotic) to standard prophylaxis for cesarean deliveries at 14 US hospitals.
Trial of Labor After Myomectomy and Uterine Rupture: A Systematic Review
Authors: Gambacorti-Passerini Z. , Gimovsky A.C. , Locatelli A. , Berghella V.
Published: May 2017

(Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2016;95:724–734)

Fibroids are benign tumors of the female reproductive tract that are often treated with myomectomy. However, 1 potential adverse outcome of this procedure is an increased risk of uterine rupture during a subsequent pregnancy. The literature reports this risk to be around 0.7% to 1%. Uterine rupture is known to be associated with a high risk of morbidity and mortality for both the mother and the fetus. The objective of this study was to assess the occurrence of uterine rupture and the related risks in women who underwent a trial of labor after having had a myomectomy. This study involved a review of all the literature published on this topic and included all cohort studies with at least five cases of pregnancy after myomectomy.
Effect of Pregnancy on Insulin Requirements Differs Between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes: A Cohort Study of 222 Pregnancies
Authors: Padmanabhan S. , Jiang S. , Mclean M. , Cheung N.W.
Published: May 2017

(Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 2016;56(4):352–357)

The occurrence of type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) during pregnancy is increasing around the world. An understanding of the differences in insulin requirements between the 2 groups may have vital clinical consequences in enabling clinicians to respond effectively to gestation-specific glycemic alterations, avoid hypoglycemia, and identify subgroups for whom additional intervention would be beneficial. This study was a retrospective review conducted to examine the patterns of insulin requirements in women with preexisting diabetes during pregnancy.
The Prevalence of Hyperglycaemia in Pregnancy in Australia
Authors: Moses R.G. , Wong V.C. , Lambert K. , Morris G.J. , San Gil F.
Published: May 2017

(Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 2016;56(4):341–345)

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is common during pregnancy. The World Health Organization (WHO) established criteria for the diagnosis of hyperglycemia in pregnancy (HIP) in 2013, which was endorsed by the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society (ADIPS). The HIP women with abnormal pregnancy oral glucose tolerance tests (POGTTs) were classified as belonging to the diabetes mellitus in pregnancy (DIP) group or GDM group. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of HIP over a 3-year period (2012 to 2015) with the new ADIPS (WHO) criteria in an ethnically representative Australian population based on samples obtained from public and private sectors.
Emergency Cricothyrotomy Performed by Surgical Airway–Naive Medical Personnel: A Randomized Crossover Study in Cadavers Comparing 3 Commonly Used Techniques
Authors: Heymans F. , Feigl G. , Graber S. , Courvoisier D.S. , Weber K.M. , Dulguerov P.
Published: May 2017

(Anesthesiology. 2016;125(2):295–303)

According to airway management guidelines, emergency cricothyrotomy is recommended in “cannot-intubate, cannot-ventilate” situations. Earlier studies showed that surgical cricothyrotomy had 90% success rates, while nonsurgical cricothyrotomy had success rates of only 65%. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 3 commonly used cricothyrotomy techniques, namely the Melker set, the QuickTrach II set, and the surgical technique, performed in cadavers by surgical airway–naive medical personnel.
Surgical Cricothyrotomy, Rather than Percutaneous Cricothyrotomy, in “Cannot Intubate, Cannot Oxygenate” Situation
Authors: Asai Takashi
Published: May 2017

(Anesthesiology. 2016;125(2):269–271)

Cricothyrotomy, surgical or percutaneous, is carried out as a final option in the event of “cannot intubate, cannot oxygenate” (CICO) following induction of general anesthesia. The most reliable method of cricothyrotomy is unknown, however, due to the absence of randomized controlled studies. In addition, most medical professionals lack experience in performing this procedure as it is seldom necessitated.
Hemodynamic Aspects of Normal Human Feto-placental (Umbilical) Circulation
Authors: Acharya G. , Sonesson S.E. , Flo K. , Räsänen J. , Odibo A.
Published: May 2017

(Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2016;95(6):672–682)

Normal placental function and fetal development are dependent on unimpaired and adequate umbilical circulation. Therefore, it is important to study and understand the physiological hemodynamic changes that take place in the feto-placental circulation during intrauterine life, especially in high-risk pregnancies. This review presented contemporary concepts on the hemodynamics of feto-placental circulation based on human studies.
Distensibility and Pain of the Uterine Cervix Evaluated by Novel Techniques
Authors: Gregersen H. , Hee L. , Liao D. , Uldbjerg N.
Published: May 2017

(Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2016;95(7):717–723)

Functional luminal imaging probe (FLIP) is a new distension technology that is used to study cervical distension. Initially, this technology was designed in order to examine the biomechanical competence of the gastro-esophageal junction as it helps to generate a geometric profile of the lumen during distension. The purpose of this article was to assess the literature since 2002 on the use of FLIP for studying cervical distension.
Insect Repellants During Pregnancy in the Era of the Zika Virus
Authors: Wylie B.J. , Hauptman M. , Woolf A.D. , Goldman R.H.
Published: May 2017

(Obstet Gynecol. 2016;128(5):1111–1115)

Research has shown that women affected by the Zika virus during pregnancy suffer from problems such as fetal death, neonatal death, fetal central nervous system lesions, fetal microcephaly, fetal growth restriction, uteroplacental insufficiency, and fetal hearing loss. Hence these patients must be given proper advice so that they can protect themselves against the disease. The objective of this study was to provide relevant information to health providers and patients regarding the use of 2 insect repellants used to prevent the disease, namely N,N-diethylmeta-toluamide (DEET) and permethrin—both of which are US Environmental Protection Agency approved insect repellants.
Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes With Early Compared With Delayed Pushing Among Nulliparous Women
Authors: Yee L.M. , Sandoval G. , Bailit J. , Reddy U.M. , Wapner R.J. , Varner M.W. , Caritis S.N. , Prasad M. , Tita A.T. , Saade G. , Sorokin Y. , Rouse D.J. , Blackwell S.C. , Tolosa J.E.
Published: May 2017

(Obstet Gynecol. 2016;128(5):1039–1047)

Delayed pushing, also known as “laboring down” or “passive descent,” is the practice of resting in the second stage of labor before initiating active bearing down. Some data suggest that delayed pushing may reduce maternal exhaustion, cesarean delivery, severe perineal lacerations, and even increase the likelihood of spontaneous vaginal delivery. However, many studies have reported contradicting results. The authors of the present study hypothesized that delayed pushing is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes and evaluated patient and hospital-level factors of delayed pushing and its association with perinatal outcomes.
The Effect of Patient Warming During Caesarean Delivery on Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes: A Meta-analysis
Authors: Nair A.
Published: May 2017

(Br J Anaesth. 2016;117(5):676)

In this correspondence, the author addressed a few points regarding Sultan and colleagues’ article, which discussed the efficacy of actively warming patients during elective cesarean delivery. The Sultan article highlighted aggressive warming of parturients during cesarean section either with warmed intravenous fluid or warming blankets to provide comfort and prevent neuraxial blockade-related shivering. Warming patients not only improves a patient’s comfort, but also may avoid hypothermia-related complications such as bleeding, coagulopathy, myocardial arrhythmias or ischemia, and impaired wound healing. Sultan and colleagues’ article reported that maternal warming was not associated with a warmer neonate compared with parturients who were not warmed aggressively.
Women’s Sexual Function, Satisfaction, and Perceptions After Starting Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives
Authors: Higgins Jenny A. , Sanders Jessica N. , Palta Mari , Turok David K.
Published: May 2017

(Abstracted from Obstet Gynecol 2016;128:1143–1151)

The sexual acceptability of contraceptives or how contraception affects women’s sexual experiences have been rarely assessed. No studies have addressed the acceptability of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), the most effective contraceptive methods available.
Immediate Compared With On-Demand Maternal Full Feeding After Planned Caesarean Delivery: A Randomised Trial
Authors: Tan P. C. , Alzergany M. M. , Adlan A.-S. , Noor Azmi M. A. , Omar S. Z.
Published: May 2017

(Abstracted from BJOG 2017;124(1):123–131)

Feeding regimens post–cesarean delivery are diverse both in practice and in the published literature. There is no existing evidence justifying withholding oral fluids after an uncomplicated cesarean delivery.
Explaining the Recent Decrease in US Infant Mortality Rate, 2007–2013
Authors: Callaghan William M. , MacDorman Marian F. , Shapiro-Mendoza Carrie K. , Barfield Wanda D.
Published: May 2017

(Abstracted from Am J Obstet Gynecol 2017;216:73.e1–73.e8)

The objective of this article is to examine infant mortality rates (IMRs) in the United States between 2007 and 2013 for the whole population and for infants born to non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Hispanic women. The study was performed by identifying births and infant deaths between 2007 and 2013 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Vital Statistics System’s period linked birth and infant death files and including all birth and death statistics with gestational age (GA) at birth on the birth certificate of 22 weeks or greater.
Comprehensive Genetic Analysis of Pregnancy Loss by Chromosomal Microarrays: Outcomes, Benefits, and Challenges
Authors: Sahoo Trilochan , Dzidic Natasa , Strecker Michelle N. , Commander Sara , Travis Mary K. , Doherty Charles , Tyson R. Weslie , Mendoza Arturo E. , Stephenson Mary , Dise Craig A. , Benito Carlos W. , Ziadie Mandolin S. , Hovanes Karine
Published: May 2017

(Abstracted from Genet Med 2017;19(1):83–89)

High-resolution chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) with single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)–based arrays is increasingly used for pediatric and prenatal diagnoses as they can simultaneously detect aneuploidies, submicroscopic chromosomal imbalances, triploidy, and regions of allelic homozygosity. Overall, 15% to 20% of clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage, and approximately 1% of couples experience recurrent (at least 2) pregnancy losses.
Folic Acid Supplementation for the Prevention of Neural Tube Defects: An Updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force
Authors: Viswanathan Meera , Treiman Katherine A. , Kish-Doto Julia , Middleton Jennifer C. , Coker-Schwimmer Emmanuel J. L. , Nicholson Wanda K.
Published: May 2017

(Abstracted from JAMA 2017;317(2):190–203)

Neural tube defects (NTDs) are among the most common congenital anomalies reported in the United States, and periconceptional folic acid supplementation has been found to decrease the recurrence risk of NTDs. The primary aim of this US Preventive Services Task Force study was to review the existing data on use of folic acid supplementation for preventing NTDs and to provide an updated/revised recommendation statement.