bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Novel Chimaeric Derivative of Saruplase, rscu-PA-40kDA/Hir, Binds to Thrombin and Exerts Thrombus-specific Fibrinolysis in Arterial and Venous Thrombosis in Dogs
Authors: Schneider J , Hauser R , Hennies H-H , Korioth J , Steffens G , Wnendt S
Published: July 2018

The chimaeric molecule rscu-PA-40kDA/Hir (M23) comprises the kringle and protease domain of saruplase (rscu-PA) and a thrombin inhibitory domain fused to the C-terminus of the protease domain. The 27 amino acid long thrombin inhibitory domain contains a sequence directed to the active site of thrombin and a fragment from the C-terminal region of hirudin. 125I-radiolabelled M23 (0.03 µM) bound to thrombin that was immobilised onto CNBr-activated sepharose beads. Unlabelled M23 (0.01-10 |xM) and hirudin (0.001-10 µµM) concentra-tion-dependently displaced 125I-M23 from its binding to thrombin. Saruplase (up to 10 (iM) did not influence the thrombin binding of M23. The fibrinolytic properties of M23 and saruplase were compared in anaesthetized dogs with femoral artery and saphenous vein thrombosis. Under concomitant heparinization, the intravenous bolus injections of 1 mg/kg M23 or saruplase induced reperfusion of thrombotically occluded femoral arteries in 4 out of 5 treated animals in each case. There was one reocclusion in the M23-treated group. Time to reperfusion (23 ± 4 vs 25 ± 11 min) and maximal height of reperfusion blood flow (98 ± 21 vs 108 ± 15 % of baseline flow) did not differ significantly between the treatment groups. The time course of the lysis of incorporated 125I-fibrin radioactivity in thrombosed saphenous veins was similar after bolus injections of M23 and saruplase. The maximal dissolution of 125I-fibrin in the venous thrombosis model was 91 ± 1 % in M23-and 88 ± 5 % in saruplase-treated animals. Plasma levels of fibrinogen were not influenced and a2-antiplasmin levels were slightly reduced (-27 ± 3 %) after bolus injection of M23. In contrast, bolus injection of saruplase was accompanied by a significant decrease of fibrinogen (-55 ± 19 %) and a2-antiplasmin (-75 ±11%) plasma levels. Template bleeding times virtually did not differ before (2.8 ± 0.3 min) and 60 min after bolus injection of M23 (3.1 ± 0.3 min), whereas treatment with saruplase resulted in a significant prolongation of template bleeding time from 2.6 ± 0.2 min to 28 ± 13 min. It is concluded that the saruplase derivative M23, while inducing equieffective thrombolysis after intravenous bolus injection in dogs, causes much fewer haemostatic side effects than its parent molecule. The high thrombus-specific activity of M23 is tentatively attributed to its affinity to clot-bound thrombin.
The Urokinase-receptor (CD87) Is Expressed in Cells of the Megakaryoblastic Lineage
Authors: Wohn Karl-Dieter , Kanse Sandip M , Deutsch Varda , Schmidt Thomas , Eldor Amiram , Preissner Klaus T
Published: July 2018

Megakaryocytopoiesis is governed in the bone marrow microenvironment by cellular interactions that include various adhesion receptor systems and pericellular proteolysis for proper regulation of cell motility and differentiation. In order to define the role of cell surface molecules required for these processes, we searched for protease receptors on these cells. In an in vitro system utilizing different cell lines of the megakaryoblastic lineage (MEG-01, Dami), low level surface expression of the urokinase (uPA) receptor was noted. Following stimulation with phorbolester (PMA), a 3-6 fold higher expression of uPA receptor over a period of up to 5 days could be observed by fluorescent activated cell-sorting as well as by direct ligand-binding of amino-terminal fragment of uPA or vitronectin. Together with elevated expression of αIIbβ3-integrin (glycoprotein IIb/IIIa complex), double immuno-fluorescence staining of stimulated cells confirmed the increased cell surface localization of uPA receptor. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR, ligand blot analysis and measurement of cell-bound proteolytic activity revealed a differentiation-dependent upregulation of the uPA receptor expression in megakaryoblastic cell lines as in monocytic cells. Due to its glycolipid anchorage, incubation with phosphatidyl-inositol-specific phospholipase C reduced uPA receptor-mediated ligand binding by about 60%. uPA receptor mRNA was expressed in cultured megakaryocytes derived from bone marrow, whereas no uPA receptor mRNA was detectable in platelets. These results indicate a differentiation-dependent increase in the expression of uPA receptor in megakaryoblastic cells. The characteristics of surface expression and functionality of the receptor on megakaryocytic cells may influence their maturation by regulating cellular communication in the bone marrow micro-environment.
ADP-mimicking Platelet Aggregation Caused by Rugosin E, an Ellagitannin Isolated from Rosa rugosa Thunb
Authors: Teng Che-Ming , Kang Ya-Fei , Chang Ya-Ling , Ko Feng-Nien , Yang Shu-Chen , Hsu Feng-Lin
Published: July 2018

Among the nine ellagitannins, rugosin E was the most potent platelet aggregating agent with an EC50 of 1.5 ± 0.1 µM in rabbit platelets and 3.2 ±0.1 µM in human platelets. The aggregations caused by rugosin E and ADP were inhibited by EGTA, PGE1, mepacrine, sodium nitroprusside and neomycin, but not by indomethacin, verapamil, TMB-8, BN52021 and GR32191B. Rugosin E-induced thromboxane formation was suppressed by indomethacin, EGTA, PGE,, verapamil, mepacrine, TMB-8 and neomycin. ADP-scavenging agents, such as CP/CPK and apyrase inhibited concentration-dependently ADP (20 εM)-, but not rugosin E (5 εM)-induced platelet aggregation. In thrombin (0.1 U/ml)-treated and degranulated platelets, rugosin E and ADP still caused 63.5 ± 3.0% and 61.2 ± 3.5% of platelet aggregation, respectively. Selective ADP receptor antagonists, ATP and FSBA inhibited rugosin E- and ADP-induced platelet aggregations in a concentration-dependent manner. Both rugosin E and ADP did not induce platelet aggregation in ADP (1 mM)-desensitized platelets. In contrast to ADP, rugosin E did not decrease cAMP formation in washed rabbit platelets. Both rugosin E and ADP did not cause phosphoinositide breakdown in [3H]myo-inositol-labeled rabbit platelets. In fura-2/AM- load platelets, both rugosin E and ADP induced increase in intracellular calcium concentration and these responses were inhibited by ATP and PGEj. All these data suggest that rugosin E may be an ADP receptor agonist in rabbit platelets.
Compound Heterozygosity for Two Novel Missense Mutations in the Prothrombin Gene in a Patient with a Severe Bleeding Tendency
Authors: Poort S R , Landolfi R , Bertina R M
Published: July 2018

The abnormal prothrombin gene of an Italian patient with a severe bleeding tendency and hypoprothrombinemia was selected for study and compared with the prothrombin genes of healthy controls. All the coding and their flanking regions and the 5ʹ- and 3ʹ-UT regions of the prothrombin gene were screened by analyzing the nucleotide sequence of the corresponding PCR products. The patient was found to be heterozygous for two novel point mutations: one at nucleotide 4251 in exon 6, which changes the codon for cysteine-138 (TGC) in the kringle 1 domain to that for tyrosine (TAC), and one at nucleotide 8812 in exon 10, which results in the replacement of tryptophan-357 (TGG) by cysteine (TGT) in the catalytic domain. Her mother was heterozygous for the Cys-138 Tyr mutation and her father heterozygous for the Trp-357 Cys mutation. Several other sequence variations were identified in the prothrombin genes from control individuals. Only the variations at nucleotide 4203 and 10253 could be established as polymorphisms.
A Colorimetric Minisequencing Assay for the Mutation in Codon 506 of the Coagulation Factor V Gene
Authors: Sitbon Gisela , Hurtig Maria , Palotie Aarno , Lӧnngren Jӧrgen , Syvӓnen Ann-Christine
Published: July 2018

We describe a colorimetric screening method for the mutation in codon 506 of the coagulation factor V gene. The nucleotide at the site of the FV:Q506 mutation is identified in an immobilized amplified DNA template by extension of a primer with a hapten-labelled dNTP using a DNA polymerase. The incorporated hapten is detected by an antibody- alkaline phosphatase conjugate that catalyses the formation of a coloured end product. The assay is carried out in a microtiter plate format, and the procedure is identical to that of enzyme immunoassays. It unequivocally identifies the FV:Q506 mutation in heterozygous and homozygous form. The colorimetric minisequencing method gave the same result as a 3H-based minisequencing assay and restriction site analysis with Mnll used as reference methods. Because of its simple format and numeric result, the novel colorimetric minisequencing method should be an attractive alternative for screening for the FV:Q506 mutation in clinical laboratories.
Monoclonal Antibodies against the Human Mannose Receptor that Inhibit the Binding of Tissue-type Plasminogen Activator
Authors: Barrett-Bergshoeff Marrie , Noorman Femke , Bos Rogier , Rijken Dingeman C
Published: July 2018

To study the role of the mannose receptor in cellular uptake and degradation of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), a set of five monoclonal antibodies (Moab) was generated against the mannose receptor isolated from human placental tissue.

All Moab specifically recognised the 175 kDa mannose receptor in a crude placenta extract, as shown in Western blot analysis. By use of im- munohistochemistry, we showed that in human placenta only the Hof- bauer cells (fetal macrophages) express the mannose receptor. Epitope competition experiments indicated that the Moab bound to at least two different epitopes on the receptor molecule. Moab 14-3, 14-5, and 15-2, which are directed against one of these epitopes, strongly inhibited the interaction between the purified mannose receptor and t-PA. These Moab also inhibited mannose receptor-mediated degradation of t-PA by cultured human macrophages. The low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP) mediated t-PA degradation was not affected by the Moab.

It is concluded that the Moab are useful for studying the expression of the human mannose receptor in Western blot and in immunohisto-chemistry, and for studying the interactions between the human mannose receptor and the mannose-containing ligand t-PA.
Serum Thrombopoietin Level Is Not Regulated by Transcription but by the Total Counts of both Megakaryocytes and Platelets during Thrombocytopenia and Thrombocytosis
Authors: Nagata Yuka , Shozaki Yuka , Nagahisa Hiroshi , Nagasawa Toshiro , Abe Tsukasa , Todokoro Kazuo
Published: July 2018

Thrombopoietin (Tpo) regulates platelet production, but the mechanisms regulating the serum Tpo level and platelet count in circulation have been a subject of debate. Tpo was reported to be expressed mainly in liver and kidney, but we found that Tpo is expressed in all tissues examined: abundantly in liver, kidney, muscle, colon, brain and intestine, and moderately in bone marrow, spleen, lung, stomach, heart, thymus, ovary, and endothelial and leukemic cell lines. The levels of Tpo transcripts in major Tpo producing organs, liver and kidney, and in the platelet production sites bone marrow and spleen, were constant during acute thrombocytopenia induced by anti-platelet monoclonal antibody administration in mice, and during thrombocytosis induced by Tpo injection. Furthermore, we noticed that platelet count is not exactly inversely proportional to serum Tpo level. During acute thrombocytopenia, serum Tpo level transiently increased a few hours after antibody injection, and returned to the basal level just when matured megakaryocytes accumulated in bone marrow and spleen but the platelet count was still low. Matured megakaryocytes in bone marrow and spleen increased when the serum Tpo level decreased, and decreased when platelet count rebounded. Taken together with other observations, we propose here a modified version of Kuter and Rosenberg’s theory, that is, Tpo is constitutively expressed in a variety of organs throughout the body, even in acute thrombocytopenia and thrombocytosis, and that the serum Tpo level is not regulated by Tpo gene expression nor only by platelet counts in circulation, but by the total counts of both megakaryocytes in bone marrow and spleen and of platelets in circulation
Defective Signal Transduction through the Thromboxane A2 Receptor in a Patient with a Miid Bleeding Disorder: Deficiency of the Inositol 1,4,5-Triphosphate Formation despite Normal G-protein Activation
Authors: Mitsui Tetsuo , Yokoyama Shinkichi , Shimizu Yukitoshi , Katsuura Michihiko , Akiba Kaori , Hayasaka Kiyoshi
Published: July 2018

We describe an 11-year-old girl with a mild bleeding disorder since early childhood. The disorder was characterized by a prolonged bleeding time, and the patient’s platelets showed defective aggregation responses to thromboxane A2 (TXA2) mimetic U46619 and arachidonic acid. In contrast, the platelets showed normal responses to thrombin and Ca ionophore A23187. When the platelet TXA2 receptor was examined with the [3H]-labeled TXA2 agonist U46619, the equilibrium dissociation rate constants (kd) and the maximal concentration of binding sites (Bmax) of the patient's platelets were within normal ranges. Normal GTPase activity was also induced in the patient's platelets by stimulation with U46619, however, inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) formation was not induced by U46619. These results suggested that the patient’s platelets had a defect in phospholipase C activation beyond TXA2 receptors.
Endothelial Cell Protein S Synthesis Is Upregulated by the Complex of IL-6 and Soluble IL-6 Receptor
Authors: Hooper W Craig , Phillips Donald J , Evatt Bruce L
Published: July 2018

We have recently demonstrated that the proinflammatory cytokine, interleukin-6 (IL-6), could upregulate the production of protein S in the human hepatoma cell line, HepG-2, but not in endothelial cells. In this study, we have demonstrated that the combination of exogenous IL-6 and soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R) could significantly upregulate protein S production in both primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and in the immortalized human microvascular endothelial cell line, HMEC-1. The IL-6/sIL-6R complex was also able to rapidly induce tyrosine phosphorylation of the IL-6 transducer, gpl30. Neutralizing antibodies directed against either IL-6 or gpl30 blocked protein S upregulation by the IL-6/sIL-6R complex. It was also observed that exogenous sIL-6R could also upregulate protein S by forming a complex with IL-6 constitutively produced by the endothelial cell. Two other cytokines which also utilize the gpl30 receptor, oncostatin M (OSM) and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), were also able to upregulate endothelial cell protein S. This study demonstrates a mechanism that allows endothelial cells to respond to IL-6 and also illustrates the potential importance of circulating soluble receptors in the regulation of the anticoagulation pathway.
Irradiation Delays Tissue Growth but Enhances Osteogenic Differentiation in Vascularized Constructs
Authors: Rosenbauer Olga , Frisch Oliver , Giordano Frank , Fleckenstein Jens , Wenz Frederik , Kirschner Stephanie , Brockmann Marc , Schulte Matthias , Kneser Ulrich , Harhaus Leila , Eweida Ahmad
Published: July 2018

Background Regenerative medicine is still deficient in the reconstruction after cancer due to impaired vascularization after radiotherapy and due to the need to substitute larger defects after tumor excision. Aiming at introducing regenerative medicine for reconstruction after cancer, we tested an axially vascularized bone construct in an experimental setting that mimics the clinical situation after tumor resection and adjuvant radiotherapy.

Methods Twenty bone constructs were axially vascularized using microsurgically created arteriovenous loops and were implanted subcutaneously in Lewis rats. After 2 weeks, the animals were randomly allocated either to receive a clinically relevant single dose of external beam irradiation or not (n = 10 for each group). The animals were sacrificed either after 1 week or 10 weeks after irradiation (n = 5 for each time point). The constructs were tested for vascularization, tissue growth, cellular proliferation, cellular apoptosis, and osteogenic differentiation via histomorphometric, immunohistochemical, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. One construct per group was subjected at 10 weeks to qualitative micro-computed tomography (CT) imaging.

Results Tissue generation and cellular proliferation were significantly reduced at 1 week after irradiation, but no longer significantly different after 10 weeks.

No significant differences in vascularization were detected at any time point. Apoptosis did not show any statistically significant differences between both groups at both time points. At the late time point, mature bone was considerably more in the irradiated group, but the results were not statistically significant. PCR analysis showed a significantly enhanced expression of osteocalcin in the irradiated group at 1 week. Micro-CT imaging showed that both constructs were adequately vascularized with no evident morphologic differences regarding vascular density or vascular distribution.

Conclusions Axially vascularized bone constructs can withstand clinically relevant doses of irradiation and retain their angiogenic and osteogenic potential in the long term. Irradiation led to a delayed tissue generation with a comparatively enhanced osteogenic differentiation within the constructs.
Scalar variable method draws analogies between some systems dealing with space, time and memory
Authors: Liebendorfer Adam
Published: July 2018

Using a scalar variable has shown that some spatially extended and time-delayed systems can be governed by simpler polynomials in a pseudo phase space.
Heads in the sand: public health and ecological risks of lead-based bullets for wildlife shooting in Australia
Authors: Hampton Jordan O. , Laidlaw Mark , Buenz Eric , Arnemo Jon M.
Published: July 2018

Lead (Pb) is a toxic element banned from fuel, paint and many other products in most developed countries. Nonetheless, it is still widely used in ammunition, including rifle bullets, and Pb-based bullets are almost universally used in Australia. For decades, poisoning from Pb shot (shotguns) has been recognised as a cause of disease in waterfowl and Pb shot has been subsequently banned for waterfowl hunting in many jurisdictions. However, the risks posed by Pb-based bullets (rifles) have not been similarly recognised in Australia. Pb-based rifle bullets frequently fragment, contaminating the tissue of shot animals. Consuming this Pb-contaminated tissue risks harmful Pb exposure and, thus, the health of wildlife scavengers (carrion eaters) and humans and their companion animals who consume harvested meat (game eaters). In Europe, North America and elsewhere, the environmental and human health risks of Pb-based bullets are widely recognised, and non-toxic alternatives (e.g. copper-based bullets) are increasingly being used. However, Australia has no comparable research despite widespread use of shooting, common scavenging by potentially susceptible wildlife species, and people regularly consuming shot meat. We conclude that Australia has its collective ‘head in the sand’ on this pressing worldwide One Health issue. We present the need for urgent research into this field in Australia.
The right(s) and minimum income in hard times: Southern and Eastern Europe compared
Authors: Natili Marcello , Jessoula Matteo , Madama Ilaria , Matsaganis Manos
Published: July 2018

The paper addresses a topic still largely under-researched in comparative welfare state literature: the role of right parties in the reform of last resort safety nets. More precisely, the study investigates minimum income schemes’ reforms promoted during the Great Recession (2008–2013) by centre-right governments in three countries belonging to the European periphery: Italy, Portugal and Latvia. Despite common political orientation and increased problem pressure, these countries have gone through distinct reform trajectories in their social safety nets that may be labelled expansion (Latvia), retrenchment (Portugal), and continuity (Italy). Against this backdrop, the paper suggests that right parties display substantially different positions and pursue different reform strategies in anti-poverty policies. These differences can be explained by the diverse types of right parties and varying competition and coalition dynamics in the three countries.
ConnectingGCN5’s centromeric SAGA to the mitotic tension-sensing checkpoint
Authors: Petty Emily L. , Evpak Masha , Pillus Lorraine
Published: July 2018

Multiple interdependent mechanisms ensure faithful segregation of chromosomes during cell division. Among these, the spindle assembly checkpoint monitors attachment of spindle microtubules to the centromere of each chromosome, whereas the tension-sensing checkpoint monitors the opposing forces between sister chromatid centromeres for proper biorientation. We report here a new function for the deeply conserved Gcn5 acetyltransferase in the centromeric localization of Rts1, a key player in the tension-sensing checkpoint. Rts1 is a regulatory component of protein phopshatase 2A, a near universal phosphatase complex, which is recruited to centromeres by the Shugoshin (Sgo) checkpoint component under low-tension conditions to maintain sister chromatid cohesion. We report that loss of Gcn5 disrupts centromeric localization of Rts1. Increased RTS1 dosage robustly suppresses gcn5∆ cell cycle and chromosome segregation defects, including restoration of Rts1 to centromeres. Sgo1’s Rts1-binding function also plays a key role in RTS1 dosage suppression of gcn5∆ phenotypes. Notably, we have identified residues of the centromere histone H3 variant Cse4 that function in these chromosome segregation-related roles of RTS1. Together, these findings expand the understanding of the mechanistic roles of Gcn5 and Cse4 in chromosome segregation.
Sexual Stigma
Authors: Black Steven P.
Published: July 2018

This chapter provides an overview of research on language and sexual stigma. Sexual stigma is defined as the sociolinguistic and psychological process by which a person or group’s physiological characteristics, cultural and linguistic practices, and/or identities become marked as polluted or taboo. The chapter suggests that sexual stigma tends to target those people or groups associated with practices felt to threaten ideologically normative social reproduction, which is encoded in conventions of linguistic markedness. Sexual stigma is linked to the fluid boundaries between grammatically encoded markedness and discursive indexicality as normative categories emerge in interpersonal encounters. The chapter addresses four key topics in the study of language and sexual stigma: sociolinguistic markedness; taboo and threats to ideologies of social reproduction; avoidance and indirection as strategies of linguistic containment of threats; and emergent sexualities.
Disability and Work in South Asia and the United Kingdom
Authors: Buckingham Jane
Published: July 2018

Historical analyses, as well as more contemporary examples of disability and work, show that the experience of disability is always culturally and historically mediated, but that class—in the sense of economic status—plays a major role in the way impairment is experienced as disabling. Although there is little published on disability history in India, the history of the Indian experience of caste disability demonstrates the centrality of work in the social and economic expression of stigma and marginalization. An Indian perspective supports the challenge to the dominant Western view that modern concepts of disability have their origins in the Industrial Revolution. Linkage between disability, incapacity to work, and low socioeconomic status are evident in India, which did not undergo the workplace changes associated with industrialization in the West.
Energy Cultures as Sociomaterial Orders of Energy
Authors: Pfister Thomas , Schweighofer Martin
Published: July 2018

This chapter discusses energy systems and energy transformations from a perspective on culture. First, it outlines three essential elements of energy cultures: everyday practices as ground layer, collective representations of the order of energy as second layer, and knowledge as a dynamic link mediating between these layers. The subsequent two sections use the examples of sustainable electricity in the European Union and Germany, as well as various efforts to create more sustainable ways of heating and housing, to illustrate how energy cultures operate and how they become particularly visible when contested. The suggested perspective, therefore, analyzes such transformations in terms of knowledge struggles in which different actors seek to promote their envisioned energy cultures. Utilizing specific knowledge-centered practices, these actors attempt to intervene in everyday practices of energy production, use, and distribution, as well as in collective representations of the roles, values, and meanings of energy within a society.
The Limits of Household Change
Authors: Lorenzen Janet A.
Published: July 2018

Several factors limit the ability of households to conserve energy or transition to alternative energy sources, even when individuals are motivated to do so. This chapter is organized around several forms of fossil-fuel dependency: economic, organizational, and societal lock-in. For illustrative examples, it draws on 45 interviews from three groups who are attempting to reduce their consumption of energy, water, and consumer goods: voluntary simplifiers, religious environmentalists, and green homeowners. Economic, organizational, and societal constraints guide consumption patterns down certain paths and resist change. In order to make new paths more widely available, systemic changes and upstream solutions are required.
Industrializing Countries as the New Energy Consumers
Authors: Manduca Paulo , Berni Mauro , Paiva Iure , Hage José Alexandre
Published: July 2018

Brazil and Argentina had been developing biofuels that could offer them the opportunity to have a prominent position in a future oil-free economy. In the latter part of the first decade of the 2000s, Brazilian diplomacy, in particular, knew how to take advantage of its clean energy matrix to build an image of a country at the forefront of energy solutions. However, after the discovery of oil in Brazil and shale in Argentina, biofuels became a low priority and almost disappeared from the political agenda. This process followed the movement of Latin American center-left governments—the “pink tide”—which saw the oil industry as the basis for national empowerment. The emergence of oil populism, which exploits the mystification of state oil companies and oil as a panacea for the illnesses of underdevelopment, led Brazil and Argentina to waive a potential leading role in a future low-carbon economy.
Energy Poverty: Energy Equity in a World of High Demand and Low Supply
Authors: Brunner Karl-Michael , Mandl Sylvia , Thomson Harriet
Published: July 2018

The chapter provides insights into the different characteristics and manifestations of energy poverty—a condition that prevents the achievement of socially and materially necessary levels of domestic energy services. On the one hand, the discourse on energy poverty in developed countries (known as “fuel poverty”) is discussed (especially in the European Union), focusing on different forms of definitions and measurement, coping strategies, and attempts to combat the problem. On the other hand, the discourse on energy poverty in developing countries is outlined, highlighting especially rural electrification processes and gender relations. It is shown that energy poverty is deeply embedded in wider social, economic, political, and cultural structures, reflecting inequalities both within and across nations. Therefore, the chapter concludes that measures and interventions to tackle energy poverty must take into account wider societal structures and power relations in order to achieve a just and sustainable energy system and society.
Technological Optimism in Climate Mitigation
Authors: Stephens Jennie C. , Markusson Nils
Published: July 2018

This chapter explores and critiques technological optimism and the sociopolitical appeal of technological fixes with regard to energy and climate mitigation. The term “technical fix” is frequently used by academics and activists to describe the application of a technological solution to a social problem, where a reductive problem definition leads to only a partial and superficial solution. As the transition to lower-carbon energy systems proceeds, technological change, rather than social change, is consistently prioritized in climate policy discourse, despite well-established recognition of cultural and institutional changes involved in reducing fossil-fuel reliance. The history of development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies provides an illustrative example of technological optimism in climate mitigation. The political appeal of CCS as a prominent climate change mitigation approach showcases the tendency toward technological optimism and how promises of technological fixes have dominated political discourse surrounding climate mitigation.
Energy Markets and Trading
Authors: Mares David
Published: July 2018

This chapter discusses the role of energy in economic development, the transformation of energy markets, trade in energy resources themselves, and the geopolitical dynamics that result. The transformation of energy markets and their expansion via trade can help or hinder development, depending on the processes behind them and how stakeholders interact. The availability of renewable, climate-friendly sources of energy, domestically and internationally, means that there is no inherent trade-off between economic growth and the use of fossil fuels. The existence of economic, political, social, and geopolitical adjustment costs means that the expansion of international energy markets to incorporate alternatives to oil and coal is a complex balance of environmental trade-offs with no solutions completely free of negative impact risk. An understanding of the supply of and demand for energy must incorporate the institutional context within which they occur, as well as the social and political dynamics of their setting.
Choreographers and Musicians in Collaboration, from the Twentieth to the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Jordan Stephanie
Published: July 2018

Traditionally, dance has always needed music, although over the last century, this relationship has frequently been questioned. This chapter charts key historical shifts in choreomusical thinking, followed by a series of contemporary case studies demonstrating a range of approaches to, as well as commonalities across time in, the theories and practices of collaboration. Evidence shows increasingly independent, multidimensional, even oppositional relations between music and dance and a new fluidity in the behavior of artists, enabled partly by the advent of super-fast technology. In dance, relatively little information is available on the nature of creative processes, especially on musical issues. For the case studies, this chapter incorporates new interview material with choreographers and musicians based in the UK: Wayne McGregor, at home in both contemporary dance and ballet; Shobana Jeyasingh, who draws from South Asian classical and Western dance practices; and the performance duo Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion.
The Science of Voice and the Body
Authors: Gilman Marina
Published: July 2018

“Voice” is the complex interaction of the vocal mechanism with the rest of the body used to produce speech and song (melody, rhythm, and language) as well as so-called vegetative sounds, such as coughing, crying, screaming, and so on. The voice and vocal production for speech or singing is so much more than the lungs, larynx, and vocal tract depicted in many vocal pedagogy texts. Balance, as well as increased muscle tension of the neck, shoulders, and torso, can change the necessary finely tuned coordination of respiration, phonation, and resonance necessary for speaking, singing, and swallowing. Understanding of this exquisite mechanism has increased one-hundred-fold since the middle of the twentieth century due to improved technology and research opportunities in laryngeal imaging and acoustic analysis.
Music Archives and Repatriation
Authors: Thram Diane
Published: July 2018

This chapter considers issues in repatriation of digital copies of field recordings of music obtained during the colonial era. It is based on the Hugh Tracey Collection preserved at the International Library of African Music (ILAM). A summary of Tracey’s early life and his work throughout sub-Saharan Africa from 1929 to 1972 is followed by the reasons why, with digital conversion and online access to the Collection accomplished, digital return and restudy of Tracey’s field recordings became the ethically responsible thing for ILAM to do. Description of the return of his Kipsigis recordings of “Chemirocha” to their source community in Kenya is followed by consideration of how Tracey’s embrace of the colonial worldview—with its inherent paternalism, racism, and white privilege—mandates digital return as an act of reciprocity and archival ethics. It suggests this gesture toward decolonization of ILAM serves as a model for decolonization of ethnomusicology at large.
The Electoral System of Israel
Authors: Shugart Matthew S.
Published: July 2018

The electoral system of Israel is an “extreme” example of proportional representation because of its use of a single nationwide district. This feature has been a constant since 1949, while secondary features, such as legal thresholds and the proportional seat-allocation formula, have changed and had an impact on degrees of proportionality. The party system is highly fragmented, as expected in extreme proportional systems. By applying the Seat Product Model to indices of election outcomes, it is possible to determine whether Israel’s system is more or less fragmented and proportional than expected for its institutional design. This chapter reports that the long-term average outputs are about as expected, but they have fluctuated over time. Some of these fluctuations reflect changes in the secondary features of the system, while others are the results of political factors independent of the institutions.
Bureaucratic Politics in Israel
Authors: Gilad Sharon , Cohen Nissim
Published: July 2018

Studies of the Israeli public sector point to the vast influence of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) across multiple policy domains. This chapter combines bureaucratic politics research and the notion of veto players to theorize a two-tiered power game between bureaucratic and political players. It argues that the policy influence of bureaucracies is shaped by stable institutional factors and by the extent to which powerful politicians are inclined to intervene. In Israel, legal provisions vest the MOF with an institutional advantage over other bureaus and their ministers. Yet the MOF’s ability to exploit its advantaged position is contingent upon the joint propensity of the prime minister (PM) and the finance minister (FM) to forgo intervention. The chapter associates the PM’s and FM’s inclination to support the MOF with their political motivation to maintain their grip on the agenda of an increasingly fragmented coalition government. Thus, the MOF’s supremacy is reliant upon, and underpins, political power.
Pre-Predicative Experience and Life-World
Authors: Staiti Andrea
Published: July 2018

In this chapter I argue that the movement back to pre-predicative experience in Experience and Judgment and the movement back to the life-world in The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology are distinct and should not be conflated. The origin of several instances of conflation in Husserlian scholarship is Ludwig Landgrebe’s equation of the two projects in the introduction to Experience and Judgment, which has been mistakenly attributed to Husserl. After describing the project in Experience and Judgment as a movement from the full-fledged forms of predication to the pre-figuring forms of perceptual experience, this chapter fleshes out the specifics of Husserl’s project of de-idealization in Crisis. Subsequently, it turns to the work of post-Husserlian phenomenologists Merleau-Ponty and Derrida and argues that they also succumb to the conflation of the two projects. It concludes with a brief summary of the proposed interpretation.
Scheler on the Moral and Political Significance of the Emotions
Authors: Davis Zachary , Steinbock Anthony J.
Published: July 2018

Max Scheler’s contribution to the development of phenomenology is marked perhaps most distinctively by his analysis of the emotions. Rather than treat the emotions as merely subjective or psychological, he grants them their own integrity and privileged means of access. The purpose of this chapter is to show how his phenomenological analysis of the emotions offers unique insights into the nature of moral and political responsibility. There are three main sections to this chapter. The first section provides a brief biographical sketch, highlighting those who were most instrumental in Scheler’s approach to phenomenology. The second section examines how Scheler’s phenomenological analysis of the emotions overcomes the reductive approaches to the emotions in Modernity including Husserl’s own approach to the emotions. The third section clarifies how Scheler articulates the distinctive sense of solidarity necessarily entailed in the social relations and acts shared by members of a community.
Merleau-Ponty from 1945 to 1952
Authors: Landes Donald A.
Published: July 2018

In contrast to the common interpretation of Merleau-Ponty’s work as divided into two or three distinct phases, this chapter illustrates a remarkably coherent trajectory of his philosophical style. Although the primary object of study of this chapter is Merleau-Ponty’s “middle” period (1945–52), it argues that this period is emblematic of his deepening understanding of the transcendental force of phenomenological description and of the ontological weight of perception. After establishing a “double origin” of Phenomenology of Perception, the chapter suggests the need to emphasize the methodology and not the content of this book. This allows for a shift from the celebrated analyses of embodiment toward two underappreciated conceptual structures that are named “perception as communication” and “consciousness as trajectory.” The final section explores how Merleau-Ponty’s methodology thus shapes his works that immediately follow Phenomenology of Perception, particularly in terms of political theory, aesthetics, and structuralism.
Imagination De-Naturalized
Authors: Jansen Julia
Published: July 2018

Many of the common assumptions regarding the role imagination plays in phenomenology reflect misunderstandings regarding the nature of phenomenological research. This chapter starts by clarifying some of these misunderstandings. It then presents Husserl’s groundbreaking investigations and considers the most important contribution he made to phenomenological research on the imagination: his “de-naturalization” of the imagination. The chapter then details some of the ways in which Sartre and Merleau-Ponty depart from Husserl’s approach. It gives an account of how both build upon Husserl’s earlier work and also reject some of its tenets. Able here to present only a few facets of the rich history of phenomenological treatments of the imagination, the chapter singles out Sartre and Merleau-Ponty as the two most well-known contributors after Husserl. Both significantly advanced phenomenological research on the imagination and widened its role. Their new impulses changed the trajectory of that history and aided its diversification.
Value, Freedom, Responsibility
Authors: Loidolt Sophie
Published: July 2018

This chapter traces the common thread running through the three main ethical approaches in the history of phenomenology: a personalistic ethics of values and feelings, an existentialist ethics of freedom and authenticity, and an ethics of alterity and responsibility. Although their topics and results may plainly differ, the chapter argues that what makes each of them a specifically phenomenological approach is that the key terms of subjectivity, experience, and intentionality become relevant for ethical argumentation. In this way, phenomenological approaches demonstrate how ethical issues can gain relevance for us in the first place. Furthermore, they elaborate on different forms of “ethical experience”—ranging from emotions (such as love) as a way of experiencing values, and affective experiences (such as anxiety) as a form of existential self-encounter, to experiences that exceed the realm of emotions and embrace the dimensions of speech and interaction (such as the experience of the other).
DBT in Forensic Settings
Authors: Ivanoff André , Marotta Phillip L.
Published: July 2018

DBT’s popular application in correctional and mental health forensic settings began within five years of the publication of Linehan’s original 1993 treatment manual. Its use in general correctional programming is arguably the first extension of DBT to non-clinical populations. From both mental health and criminological perspectives, its application rationale is strong. Current review of published implementations finds standard comprehensive DBT modifications are consistent with published modifications for other settings/clinical populations. These include skills-only models, shortening skills session length, and expanding targets to more directly address dynamic risk factors and stressors specific to institutional settings. The most frequently cited modifications are simple changes to language and examples from the original manuals that do not change DBT principles or critical components/procedures. Formative studies to date provide support for DBT in forensic settings; wide variations in measurement, implementation, and methodological rigor require further research to reach conclusions of effectiveness.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy Skills for Employment
Authors: Feigenbaum Janet D.
Published: July 2018

The complex relationship between mental health and employment is transactional and unique to each individual. Thus the decision to commence (or return) to employment for this population requires an individualized formulation emphasizing the dialectical tension between the benefits of employment and stressors in the workplace. In addition, unemployment is associated with a number of social exclusion risks which may impact upon an individual’s mental health. Vocational functioning in those with personality disorder (PD) is more compromised than social functioning and does not improve in direct association with change in mental health symptoms. Obtaining and retaining employment requires the ability to manage workplace emotions, behaviour, and relationships. Dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment that addresses these key areas of dysfunction—adaptations for employment include DBT-W, DBT-ACES, and DBT-SE, each with their own focus. Feasibility studies have shown these adaptations are acceptable to and may be effective for participants.
The Church in the General Epistles
Authors: O'Collins Gerald
Published: July 2018

Four letters (James, 1 Peter, Jude, and 2 Peter) and a homily (Hebrews), in distinctive ways, express and promote the four ‘marks’ of the church (as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic). They are concerned with the healthy and united life of Christian communities that now face suffering and apostasy. Two of them (James and 1 Peter) address scattered communities in a desire to maintain a worldwide, catholic communion. All five texts promote an ecclesiology based on the inherited Scriptures, and in the case of 2 Peter scriptural authority attaches to the letters of the apostle Paul. Both 1 and 2 Peter open by appealing to the apostolic authority of Peter. James suggests the role of teachers and elders. The whole church should be priestly (1 Peter) and worshipping (Hebrews).
Reasons and Ability
Authors: Streumer Bart
Published: July 2018

This chapter argues that there can be a reason for a person to perform an action only if this person can perform this action. The chapter gives three arguments for this claim: the argument from crazy reasons, the argument from tables and chairs, and the argument from deliberation. It also discusses several replies to these arguments. The chapter rejects three alternatives to this claim, argues that four counterexamples to this claim fail, and argues that a similar claim is true of reasons for belief. It ends by showing that these claims can help us to distinguish deontic judgments from evaluative judgments.
Constitutivism about Practical Reasons
Authors: Katsafanas Paul
Published: July 2018

This chapter introduces constitutivism about practical reason, which is the view that we can justify certain normative claims by showing that agents become committed to these claims simply in virtue of acting. According to this view, action has a certain structural feature—a constitutive aim, principle, or standard—that both constitutes events as actions and generates a standard of assessment for action. We can use this standard of assessment to derive normative claims. In short, the authority of certain normative claims arises from the bare fact that we are agents. This chapter explains the constitutivist strategy, surveys the extant attempts to generate constitutivist theories, and considers the problems and prospects for the theory.
Weighing Reasons
Authors: Cullity Garrett
Published: July 2018

What is involved in weighing normative reasons against each other? One attractive answer is the following Simple Picture: a fact is a reason for action when it counts in its favor; this relation comes in different strengths or weights; the weights of the reasons for and against an action can be summed; the reasons for performing the action are sufficient when no other action is more strongly supported, overall; the reasons are decisive when it is most strongly supported; one ought to perform the action there is most reason to perform; rational deliberation is weighing reasons correctly; and acting rationally is doing what one has sufficient reasons to do. This chapter examines the adequacy of this picture, concluding that while in some respects it needs modification or correction, in others the jury is out.
The Unity of Normativity
Authors: Wedgwood Ralph
Published: July 2018

What is normativity? It is argued here that normativity is best understood as a property of certain concepts: normative thoughts are those involving these normative concepts; normative statements are statements that express normative thoughts; and normative facts are the facts (if such there be) that make such normative thoughts true. Many philosophers propose that there is a single basic normative concept—perhaps the concept of a reason for an action or attitude—in terms of which all other normative concepts can be defined. It is argued here that this proposal faces grave difficulties. According to a better proposal, what these normative concepts have in common is that they have a distinctive sort of conceptual role—a reasoning-guiding conceptual role. This proposal is illustrated by a number of examples: different normative concepts differ from each other in virtue of their having different conceptual roles of this reasoning-guiding kind.