bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Myotis Roost Use Is Influenced by Seasonal Thermal Needs
Authors: Rensel Leah J , Hodges Karen E , Lausen Cori L
Published: March 2023

Reproductive bats switch frequently among roosts to select the most advantageous microclimates and avoid predation or parasitism. Many bats use human-made structures, such as bat boxes and buildings, in areas where natural structures are less abundant. Artificial structures, which may be warmer and larger than natural structures, may affect bat behavior and roost use. We studied Yuma Myotis (Myotis yumanensis) and Little Brown Myotis (M. lucifugus) in artificial structures at two sites to understand how roost conditions and reproductive pressures influenced roost switching in maternity colonies in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canada. During summer 2019, we used Passive Integrated Technology (PIT tags and scanners) to track daily roosting locations of individuals. Yuma myotis and little brown myotis used at least five roosts at each site and switched almost daily among roosts. Bats were less likely to switch from roosts that were 25–42°C and switch roosts during lactation, particularly when the young were nonvolant. Our findings suggest that reproductive female myotis that use artificial roosts seek out warm roosts to limit energy expenditure and speed up offspring development. We also found that bats boxes were not thermally stable environments and the behavior of bats reflected temperature variability. Land managers should ensure that multiple nearby roosts are available to maternity colonies, as reproductive bats require a range of temperatures and roost types during summer.
Older Refugee Perspectives on Death, Remembrance, and Burial: The East Timorese in Indonesia
Authors: Sakti Victoria Kumala
Published: March 2023

Based on extensive ethnographic research, this article examines the perspectives and practices related to death, remembrance, and burial among older East Timorese people who have resettled in Indonesia. The study reveals how their heightened awareness of mortality shapes their experiences of forced migration and intergenerational relations in later life, providing new insights into the challenges faced by displaced communities in various socio-cultural contexts. Through a nuanced analysis of translocal practices related to death, the article shows how older refugees navigate competing familial and cultural expectations while grappling with the legacies of the Indonesian occupation. The article also highlights the ongoing processes of dealing with the past and aspirations for the future, as older East Timorese contemplate their future burial places. By exploring the intertwinements of ageing and death in a forced migration context, this study sheds light on how ‘belonging’ emerges as a significant issue and the importance of intergenerational relationships in such contexts.
Steroidal glycoalkaloids contribute to anthracnose resistance in Solanum lycopersicum
Authors: Fabian Matthew L , Zhang Chong , Sun Jianghao , Price Neil P , Chen Pei , Clarke Christopher R , Jones Richard W , Stommel John R
Published: March 2023

Anthracnose is a widespread plant disease caused by various species of the fungal pathogen Colletotrichum. In solanaceous plants such as tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), Colletotrichum infections exhibit a quiescent, asymptomatic state in developing fruit, followed by a transition to necrotrophic infections in ripe fruit. Through analysis of fruit tissue extracts of 95L368, a tomato breeding line that yields fruit with enhanced anthracnose resistance, we identified a role for steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGAs) in anthracnose resistance. The SGA α-tomatine and several of its derivatives accumulated at higher levels, in comparison with fruit of the susceptible tomato cultivar US28, and 95L368 fruit extracts displayed fungistatic activity against Colletotrichum. Correspondingly, ripe and unripe 95L368 fruit displayed enhanced expression of glycoalkaloid metabolic enzyme (GAME) genes, which encode key enzymes in SGA biosynthesis. Metabolomics analysis incorporating recombinant inbred lines generated from 95L368 and US28 yielded strong positive correlations between anthracnose resistance and accumulation of α-tomatine and several derivatives. Lastly, transient silencing of expression of the GAME genes GAME31 and GAME5 in anthracnose-susceptible tomato fruit yielded enhancements to anthracnose resistance. Together, our data support a role for SGAs in anthracnose defense in tomato, with a distinct SGA metabolomic profile conferring resistance to virulent Colletotrichum infections in ripe fruit.
The Cellular Mechanism of Acupuncture for Ulcerative Colitis based on the Communication of Telocytes
Authors: Bai Xuebing , Mei Lu , Shi Yonghong , Huang Haixiang , Guo Yanna , Liang Chunhua , Yang Min , Wu Ruizhi , Zhang Yingxin , Chen Qiusheng
Published: March 2023

Acupuncture can ameliorate or treat diseases according to the meridian theory in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM); however, its mechanism has not been scientifically clarified. On the other hand, telocytes (TCs) are morphologically in accordance with the meridian system, which needs further cytological investigations and acupuncture confirmation. The present study showed that acupuncture could activate TCs in several ways, alleviating rabbit ulcerative colitis. TCs could cytologically communicate the acupoints, the acupuncture sites in skin with their corresponding large intestine by TC homo-cellular junctions, exosomes around TCs, and TC-mediated nerves or blood vessels. TCs expressed transient receptor potential vanilloid type 4, the mechanosensitive channel protein that can transduce the mechanical stimulation of acupuncture into biochemical signals transferring along the extremely thin and long TCs. Collectively, a cellular mechanism diagram of acupuncture was concluded based on TC characteristics. Those results also confirmed the viewpoint that TCs were the key cells of meridian essence in TCM.
Outflows driven by direct and reprocessed radiation pressure in massive star clusters
Authors: Menon Shyam H , Federrath Christoph , Krumholz Mark R
Published: March 2023

We use 3D radiation hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations to study the formation of massive star clusters under the combined effects of direct ultraviolet (UV) and dust-reprocessed infrared (IR) radiation pressure. We explore a broad range of mass surface density Σ ∼ 102–$10^5 \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot } \, \mathrm{pc}^{-2}$, spanning values typical of weakly star-forming galaxies to extreme systems such as clouds forming super-star clusters, where radiation pressure is expected to be the dominant feedback mechanism. We find that star formation can only be regulated by radiation pressure for $\Sigma \lesssim 10^3 \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot } \, \mathrm{pc}^{-2}$, but that clouds with $\Sigma \lesssim 10^5 \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot } \, \mathrm{pc}^{-2}$ become super-Eddington once high star formation efficiencies (${\sim}80~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) are reached, and therefore launch the remaining gas in a steady outflow. These outflows achieve mass-weighted radial velocities of ∼15–$30\, \mathrm{km} \, \mathrm{s}^{-1}$, which is ∼0.5–2.0 times the cloud escape speed. This suggests that radiation pressure is a strong candidate to explain recently observed molecular outflows found in young super-star clusters in nearby starburst galaxies. We quantify the relative importance of UV and IR radiation pressure in different regimes, and deduce that both are equally important for $\Sigma \sim 10^3 \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot } \, \mathrm{pc}^{-2}$, whereas clouds with higher (lower) density are increasingly dominated by the IR (UV) component. Comparison with control runs without either the UV or IR bands suggests that the outflows are primarily driven by the impulse provided by the UV component, while IR radiation has the effect of rendering a larger fraction of gas super-Eddington, and thereby increasing the outflow mass flux by a factor of ∼2.
Study on the properties of NBOs in twoZsources Cyg X−2 and Sco X−1 with NICER data
Authors: Jia S M , Qu J L , Lu F J , Zhang L , Zhang S N , Song L M , Zhang S , Huang Y , Ma X , Tao L , Liu H X , Yu W
Published: March 2023

We present a detailed spectral-timing analysis of the normal branch oscillations (NBOs) observed in two Z sources, Cyg X−2 and Sco X−1, using the data of the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). This is the first study of the NBO properties down to ∼0.4 keV. For Cyg X−2, we confirm the presence of a pivot energy at around 5 keV in the root mean square (rms) spectrum and the phase jump at the pivot energy. In addition, we find a positive phase lag of lower energy (down to 0.4 keV) photons with respect to photons in 2–2.5 keV. For Sco X−1, a rms pivot energy at ∼1.5 keV is detected for the first time, and at the pivot energy a large phase shift is observed. These results indicate that the NBO signal is associated with two different spectral components. By fitting the energy spectra of the states with and without the NBO signal using a two-COMPTB model, we find that the emission of the NBO below or above ∼1.5 keV is mainly related to the Comptonization of the transition layer with the photons from the accretion disc or the neutron star, respectively. In addition, we suggest that if the accretion rate in a Z source is high enough to change the optical depth of the transition layer significantly, a phase jump will occur. A phase shift will be present due to the mixing of the two Comptonization components.
Calibration of the convective parameters in stellar pulsation hydrocodes
Authors: Kovács Gábor B , Nuspl János , Szabó Róbert
Published: March 2023

Despite the appearance of two- and three-dimensional models thanks to the rapid growth of computing performance, numerical hydrocodes used to model radial stellar pulsations (RSPs) still apply a one-dimensional stellar envelope model without any realistic atmosphere, in which a significant improvement was the inclusion of turbulent convection. However, turbulent convection is an inherently multidimensional physical process in the vicinity of the ionization zones that generate pulsation. The description of these processes in one dimension can only be approximated based on simplified theoretical considerations involving several undetermined dimensionless parameters. In this work, we confront two one-dimensional numerical codes, namely the Budapest–Florida code and the MESA RSPs module, with radial-velocity observations of several non-modulated RRab stars of the M3 globular cluster and specified the undetermined convective parameters by the measured data for both codes independently. Our determination shows that some of the parameters depend on the effective temperature, which dependence is established for the first time in this work, and we also found some degeneracy between the parameters. This procedure gives as by-product suggestions for parameters of the publicly available RSP code extensively used recently by researchers through the MESA package. This work is part of the preparatory work to establish a theoretical framework required to make progress based on the results of one-dimensional models to couple them with multidimensional ones for further detailed analysis of physical processes.
Analytical weak-lensing shear responses of galaxy properties and galaxy detection
Authors: Li Xiangchong , Mandelbaum Rachel
Published: March 2023

Shear estimation bias from galaxy detection and blending identification is now recognized as an issue for ongoing and future weak-lensing surveys. Currently, the empirical approach to correcting for this bias involves numerically shearing every observed galaxy and rerunning the detection and selection process. In this work, we provide an analytical correction for this bias that is accurate to sub per cent level and far simpler to use. With the interpretation that smoothed image pixel values and galaxy properties are projections of the image signal onto a set of basis functions, we analytically derive the linear shear responses of both the pixel values and the galaxy properties (i.e. magnitude, size, and shape) using the shear responses of the basis functions. With these derived shear responses, we correct for biases from shear-dependent galaxy detection and galaxy sample selection. With the analytical covariance matrix of measurement errors caused by image noise on pixel values and galaxy properties, we correct for the noise biases in galaxy shape measurement and the detection/selection process to the second-order in noise. The code used for this paper can carry out the detection, selection, and shear measurement for ∼1000 galaxies per CPU second. The algorithm is tested with realistic image simulations, and we find, after the analytical correction (without relying on external image calibration) for the detection/selection bias of about $-4~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, the multiplicative shear bias is $-0.12 \pm 0.10~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ for isolated galaxies; and about $-0.3 \pm 0.1~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ for blended galaxies with Hyper Suprime-Cam observational condition.
AstroSat and NuSTAR observations of XTE J1739−285 during the 2019–2020 outburst
Authors: Beri Aru , Sharma Rahul , Roy Pinaki , Gaur Vishal , Altamirano Diego , Andersson Nils , Gittins Fabian , Celora T
Published: March 2023

We report results from a study of XTE J1739−285, a transient neutron star low mass X-ray binary observed with AstroSat and NuSTAR during its 2019–2020 outburst. We detected accretion-powered X-ray pulsations at 386 Hz during very short intervals (0.5–1 s) of X-ray flares. These flares were observed during the 2019 observation of XTE J1739−285. During this observation, we also observed a correlation between intensity and hardness ratios, suggesting an increase in hardness with the increase in intensity. Moreover, a thermonuclear X-ray burst detected in our AstroSat observation during the 2020 outburst revealed the presence of coherent burst oscillations at 383 Hz during its decay phase. The frequency drift of 3 Hz during X-ray burst can be explained with r modes. Thus, making XTE J1739−285 belong to a subset of NS-LMXBs which exhibit both nuclear- and accretion-powered pulsations. The power density spectrum created using the AstroSat-laxpc observations in 2020 showed the presence of a quasi-periodic oscillation at ∼0.83 Hz. Our X-ray spectroscopy revealed significant changes in the spectra during the 2019 and 2020 outburst. We found a broad iron line emission feature in the X-ray spectrum during the 2020 observation, while this feature was relatively narrow and has a lower equivalent width in 2019, when the source was accreting at higher rates than 2020. Hard X-ray tail was observed during the 2019 observations, indicating the presence of non-thermal component in the X-ray spectra.
Ensemble mapping the inner structure of luminous quasars
Authors: Wu Liang , Wang Jun-Xian , Wang Hao-Chen , Kang Wen-Yong , Hu Wei-Da , Wang Ting-Gui , Wang Hui-Yuan
Published: March 2023

A simple prediction of the well-known unification model of active galactic nuclei is that a sample of sources should exhibit an anticorrelation between the solid angle of the dusty torus and of the ionization cone (as the sum of them shall equal 4π); however, this has never been detected. In this work, we analyse the correlation between the [O iii] 5007 narrow emission line equivalent width and LIR(λ)/Lbol for a large sample of luminous quasars. For the first time, we detect a clear intrinsic anticorrelation between them, which immediately verifies the torus/ionization-cone geometry in luminous quasars. More interestingly, the anticorrelation significantly weakens with increasing wavelength from ∼2 to 12 $\mu$m, and disappears at ∼12 $\mu$m. Simulations show that a cool dust component (in addition to the equatorial torus) with its strength positively correlating with the solid angle of the ionization cone is required to explain the observations. This shows that the polar dust seen in nearby active galaxies also exists in luminous quasars, with its contribution to total dust emission increasing with λ (from ∼2 to 12 $\mu$m) and reaching between 39 per cent and 62 per cent (model dependent) at rest frame 12 $\mu$m. Our findings provide a unique approach to map the otherwise spatially unresolvable inner structure of quasars.
Mixing of materials in magnetized core-collapse supernova remnants
Authors: Meyer D M-A , Pohl M , Petrov M , Egberts K
Published: March 2023

Core-collapse supernova remnants are structures of the interstellar medium (ISM) left behind the explosive death of most massive stars ($\lesssim\!40\, \rm {\rm M}_{\odot }$). Since they result in the expansion of the supernova shock wave into the gaseous environment shaped by the star’s wind history, their morphology constitutes an insight into the past evolution of their progenitor star. Particularly, fast-moving massive stars can produce asymmetric core-collapse supernova remnants. We investigate the mixing of materials in core-collapse supernova remnants generated by a moving massive $35\, \rm {\rm M}_{\odot }$ star, in a magnetized ISM. Stellar rotation and the wind magnetic field are time-dependently included into the models which follow the entire evolution of the stellar surroundings from the zero-age main-sequence to $80\, \rm kyr$ after the supernova explosion. It is found that very little main-sequence material is present in remnants from moving stars, that the Wolf-Rayet wind mixes very efficiently within the $10\, \rm kyr$ after the explosion, while the red supergiant material is still unmixed by 30 per cent within $50\, \rm kyr$ after the supernova. Our results indicate that the faster the stellar motion, the more complex the internal organization of the supernova remnant and the more effective the mixing of ejecta therein. In contrast, the mixing of stellar wind material is only weakly affected by progenitor motion, if at all.
Supporting Biomarker-Driven Therapies in Oncology: A Genomic Testing Cost Calculator
Authors: Stenzinger Albrecht , Cuffel Brian , Paracha Noman , Vail Eric , Garcia-Foncillas Jesus , Goodman Clifford , Lassen Ulrik , Vassal Gilles , Sullivan Sean D
Published: March 2023

Background

Adoption of high-throughput, gene panel-based, next-generation sequencing (NGS) into routine cancer care is widely supported, but hampered by concerns about cost. To inform policies regarding genomic testing strategies, we propose a simple metric, cost per correctly identified patient (CCIP), that compares sequential single-gene testing (SGT) vs. multiplex NGS in different tumor types.

Materials and Methods

A genomic testing cost calculator was developed based on clinically actionable genomic alterations identified in the European Society for Medical Oncology Scale for Clinical Actionability of molecular Targets. Using sensitivity/specificity data for SGTs (immunohistochemistry, polymerase chain reaction, and fluorescence in situ hybridization) and NGS and marker prevalence, the number needed to predict metric was monetarized to estimate CCIP.

Results

At base case, CCIP was lower with NGS than sequential SGT for advanced/metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), breast, colorectal, gastric cancers, and cholangiocarcinoma. CCIP with NGS was also favorable for squamous NSCLC, pancreatic, and hepatic cancers, but with overlapping confidence intervals. CCIP favored SGT for prostate cancer. Alternate scenarios using different price estimates for each test showed similar trends, but with incremental changes in the magnitude of difference between NGS and SGT, depending on price estimates for each test.

Conclusions

The cost to correctly identify clinically actionable genomic alterations was lower for NGS than sequential SGT in most cancer types evaluated. Decreasing price estimates for NGS and the rapid expansion of targeted therapies and accompanying biomarkers are anticipated to further support NGS as a preferred diagnostic standard for precision oncology.
Characteristics, Treatment, and Outcomes of Real-World Talazoparib-Treated Patients With Germline BRCA-Mutated Advanced HER2-Negative Breast Cancer
Authors: Savill Kristin M Zimmerman , Ivanova Jasmina , Asgarisabet Parisa , Falkenstein Angelica , Balanean Alexandrina , Niyazov Alexander , Ryan Joanne C , Kish Jonathan , Gajra Ajeet , Mahtani Reshma L
Published: March 2023

Background

Talazoparib is a poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase inhibitor approved for the treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated (gBRCAm), HER2-negative, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer (LA/mBC), with approval based on the EMBRACA trial. To date, there are no published data on talazoparib use in the real-world United States (USA) setting.

Patients and Methods

Characteristics, treatment patterns, and clinical outcomes of real-world US patients with gBRCAm HER2-negative LA/mBC treated with talazoparib monotherapy were collected via retrospective chart review and summarized using descriptive statistics.

Results

Among 84 eligible patients, 35.7% had hormone receptor-positive tumors and 64.3% had triple-negative LA/mBC (TNBC). At talazoparib initiation, 29.8% had ECOG PS of ≥2 and 19.0% had brain metastasis. Mutations in gBRCA1 or 2 were detected among 64.3% and 35.7% of patients, respectively. Talazoparib was given as 1st-line therapy in 14.3% of patients, 2nd-line in 40.5%, and 3rd- or 4th-line in 45.2%. Median time to talazoparib treatment failure was 8.5 months (95% CI, 8.0-9.7), median progression-free survival was 8.7 months (95% CI, 8.0-9.9), the median time from initiation to chemotherapy was 12.2 months (95% CI, 10.5-20.1), and the overall response rate was 63.1%. No differences in clinical outcomes were observed between patients with HR-positive/HER2-negative LA/mBC and patients with TNBC by using unadjusted statistical comparisons. Brain metastasis and ECOG PS ≥2 at talazoparib initiation were associated with treatment failure and progression or mortality.

Conclusion

Overall, talazoparib clinical outcomes in this real-world population are consistent with findings from EMBRACA.
Evolving Measures of Moral Success
Authors: Buchanan Allen , Powell Rachell
Published: March 2023

For most of human natural history, moral success and evolutionary fitness were closely intertwined: the success of moral systems could plausibly be gauged by the cooperative advantages they conferred in the Darwinian competition among cultural groups. Recently, however, the premium of evolutionary fitness has given way to a truly normative project of human betterment, allowing for the proliferation of moral values and goals that are orthogonal or even contrary to the evolutionary fitness of groups. This chapter shows that the decoupling of fitness and moral success poses a serious problem for evolutionary defenses of ethical pluralism, the thesis that there is more than one valid morality. It develops a stronger evolutionary argument for ethical pluralism that is grounded not in local selective optimization but in the dynamics of individual moral ontogeny and the path dependency of moral cultural evolution. This analysis leads to the conclusion that it is unlikely there is only one valid morality for human beings.
The Literary Beginnings of Afro-Protestantism
Authors: Sorett Josef
Published: March 2023

Chapter 1 examines slave narratives as representative of a literary culture through which enslaved Africans both apprehended and inhabited the modern world. This chapter contends that the authors and communities that produced these narratives authorized a tradition of Protestantism that signified something as distinctively black as it was quintessentially American. Slave narratives set the parameters for a particular set of practices that defined a tradition of politically engaged Afro-Protestantism in the United States and provided a critical space for establishing a genealogy of ideas that eventually gave rise to the terms “The Black Church” and “black religion.” This chapter highlights the ways in which an Afro-Protestant orthodoxy was stitched into the fabric of black subjectivity and social life, and thus was made constitutive of the various forms of racial authenticity that developed in its wake. These spiritual autobiographies were emblematic of an entangled set of social practices that complicated the logics of binary racial classifications that developed under the terms of colonial contact and chattel slavery in the Atlantic World.
Fiduciary Duties of Officers and Directors of Military Contractors
Authors: Painter Richard W.
Published: March 2023

This chapter argues that officers and directors of military contractors have a fiduciary duty to strengthen the national security of the United States. Thus their fiduciary duty extends beyond maximizing the profits of their shareholders. The chapter starts by explaining fiduciary duty—a core concept in business law. After outlining why the shareholder primacy theory is generally wrong, the chapter argues that this theory is particularly inapt for defense contractors. The chapter proposes instead a “business judgment” as an appropriate performance measure for the fiduciary duties to the United States and to shareholders. It then applies this to four dilemmas that arise in the defense industry: (1) foreign arms sales; (2) spending on lobbying and electioneering; (3) increasing profits versus providing the best possible weapons to the military; and (4) tensions between U.S. national security interests and those of a potential importing state. The chapter concludes by developing specific steps that the defense industry and government can take to assure that defense contractors adhere more closely to the national security interests.
Tackling Defense Corruption
Authors: Pyman Mark
Published: March 2023

This chapter provides a historical account and reflects on how Transparency International (TI) has contributed to tackling defense corruption. Retracing more than two decades of efforts since 1995, and especially since the formation of TI’s Defence & Security program in 2004, the chapter identifies mechanisms for change. Collaborating with, and pressuring, inter alia defense ministries, military forces, defense companies, NATO, and nongovernmental organizations are key to addressing thorny and seemingly intractable issues. Gathering relevant data, publishing comparative corruption vulnerability indexes and reports, engagement of professional communities of ethics officers in the defense companies, dedication by offices of suspension and debarment and the inspectors general, and bravery of many government officials and ministers are further elements that led to defense reform. The chapter concludes that a “whole sector” approach to reducing corruption in defense—embracing companies, governments, regulators, international organizations and civil society—can be effective. The chapter also holds lessons for how corruption reform in other sectors can be conceived and implemented.
The Nexus of Arms Embargoes, Corruption, and Foreign Investment
Authors: Hite-Rubin Nancy
Published: March 2023

This chapter conducts an empirical analysis on the complex relationship between arms embargoes, corruption, and foreign direct investment (FDI) in countries importing defense items. Less-developed countries—many that are at best institutionally weak and at worst corrupt—have become more important markets for defense firms. This, the chapter observes, creates an ethical minefield. The chapter further examines the effectiveness of arms embargoes. The evidentiary data gathered and analyzed in the chapter demonstrates that there is little evidence of a material effect and does not prove beyond doubt that embargoes would stop inflow of illicit weapons into sanctioned states. Apart from offering a preliminary analysis of an original data set, the chapter raises questions and identifies lines of research, both empirical and normative, that are essential to understanding and addressing the ethical issues related to arms embargoes, corruption, and FDI. Not least of these is the opportunity to explore a potential feedback mechanism, whereby defense spending attracts FDI but also pivots on corruption. The chapter lays the foundation for considering how this mechanism works in practice and for also considering potential future studies on how to ameliorate its effects.
Some Ethical Dimensions of Defense Offsets
Authors: Schoeni Daniel E.
Published: March 2023

This chapter examines the ethical dimensions of defense offsets, a widely practiced but understudied element of the international arms trade. Offsets are routinely condemned as an inherently corrupt transaction, or at least one that entails major corruption risks; but contrary to received opinion, offsets have been presumed guilty without receiving a fair appraisal. The chapter examines the three most common ethical complaints and finds all three require further study. Last, in what is the most original contribution, the chapter considers a case study of an ethical concern about offsets brought to the attention of the author by an industry insider. This is evocative precisely because it does not fit neatly into one of the three categories, suggesting that although ethical issues may exist, research about offsets thus far may concentrate on the wrong problems. Developing better policies requires a deeper understanding of offsets and identifying what the genuine ethical perils may be.
The Medes and the Kingdom of Mannea
Authors: Fuchs Andreas
Published: March 2023

In the late ninth century bc the kingdom of Mannea and a multitude of Median chiefdoms first came into contact with the expanding Assyrian Empire, and for the next two and a half centuries, Assyrian sources shed light on western Iran and some of its peoples, cultures, and polities. This chapter explores the intertwined history of these states and communities. For most of the time, the Medes and their chieftains appear as helpless victims of Assyrian incursions and the insatiable Assyrian demand for horses, while Mannea was alternately a valuable ally of the Assyrian Empire, as well as a serious enemy of it, especially when allied with Cimmerian or Scythian raiders. However, at the end of the seventh century bc, the Medes united under one leader and destroyed both the Mannean kingdom and the Assyrian Empire, thus changing the course of Near Eastern history.
The Northeastern Regions of the Persian Empire
Authors: Minardi Michele
Published: March 2023

Taking into consideration textual, material, and archaeological sources, this chapter offers an overview of the historical developments during the Persian imperial domination of Central Asia from the time of Cyrus II (ca. 600–530 bc) up to the events of 329–327 bc, when Alexander of Macedon’s invasion of the Persian Empire reached this vast region. This period is a key stage in the history and cultural shaping of Central Asia, but the severely restricted evidence available to us makes a precise reconstruction extremely difficult. Nevertheless, the chapter attempts a synthesis that highlights key historical processes and socioeconomic patterns and considers and interprets these in the light of the currently available evidence, especially on the basis of data from the most recent archaeological field research.
The Persian Empire
Authors: Brosius Maria
Published: March 2023

The Persians adopted and adapted selected cultural aspects and traits from their original homeland (Anšan, a part of Elam) as well as from the conquered kingdoms and lands, and subsequently amalgamated these into innovative features of Persian art and architecture, social and religious practices, as well as court life, that characterize Persian society and culture. From their empire’s hierarchical power structure to the royal court and court life, from expressions of kingship and the presentation of the king and his court to the monumental palace architecture and building projects, the Persians looked for inspiration at their imperial predecessors in Elam, Media, Urartu, Lydia, Babylonia, Assyria, and Egypt. With a particular focus on the role of imperial Persian court, the chapter discusses the role of clothing, meritocratic appointment practice, gift-giving, and marriage, all of which created power structures among the nobility, as well as the king’s investiture, royal audiences, and funerary rites. The chapter also analyzes the role of women and education at the court, as well as activities such as banqueting and hunting that brought the king in contact with his subjects. While the city of Persepolis is identified as the embodiment of Persian culture, the chapter focuses on the latter’s dissemination across the empire and beyond, in a process that may be identified as “Persianization,” as well as the level of influence of Persian culture and society.
Sunni Reassertion and the Crusades
Authors: Matthiesen Toby
Published: March 2023

This chapter focuses on the crusades that resulted in the Victory of Sunni Internationalism. It starts with how the Sunni Saljuqs took Baghdad in 1055, which symbolised the start of the end of the Shii Century as Shiism ceased to be the religion of the current political powers. The deaths of Malik Shah and Nizam al-Mulk, and the lack of a clear succession plan allowed the Abbasid Caliphs to re-establish authority. Moreover, the Abbasid Caliphs emphasised pan-Islam and sought a rapprochement with the Shia. After the defeat of the last Crusader outposts by the Sunni Mamluks, Sunni rulers desired to punish people who cooperated with the Frank. However, some Shia saw the matter as an opportunity to regain the patronage of a major political power.
British India and Orientalism
Authors: Matthiesen Toby
Published: March 2023

This chapter tackles how Orientalism was intertwined with British rule in India, where a large part of the British Empire’s Muslim subjects lived. Due to the academic discipline of Orientalism, religion was viewed as backward and invoked to justify why colonised peoples should remain as such. Moreover, modern states turned religion into an object of political struggles by declaring the majority and minority between religious groups. The chapter considers the response of either Muslim unity between Sunnis and Shia or the Sunni and Shii revivalisms and collective identities. It also explains that the modern state also changed people’s sectarian identities.
Ottoman Reorganisation and European Intervention
Authors: Matthiesen Toby
Published: March 2023

This chapter explores the Ottoman transformations of the 19th century. It also discusses the Ottoman reorganisation that involved army reformation and European intervention. The Ottoman approach ranged between an adoption of European forms of political and military organisation and a reorganisation based on Ottoman and Islamic notions. The chapter elaborates on the European intervention, wherein political and military intervention coincided with the influx of goods from industrialising Europe and enriching a new class of often Christian intermediaries. It notes how the concept of Middle East people constituting a religious and ethnic mosaic unable to govern themselves served as the blueprint for the transformation of the Ottoman Empire’s Arab provinces after World War I.
Epilogue
Authors: Jong Jonathan
Published: March 2023

The final chapter reflects on what has been learned from the experiments covered in the preceding chapters. It begins by considering the difference between within- and between-subject experiments in the context of studying religion, and speculates about whether the former is more appropriate. It then turns to the question of whether religious beliefs are experimentally manipulable at all, whether directly or indirectly. Finally, the chapter turns to other scientific methods, returning to correlational studies covered in the first chapter, but also to longitudinal studies, which like experiments, may be amenable to causal inference. The chapter and book concludes on a note of humility and hope.
Explaining Role-Based Reasons
Authors: Blackman Reid
Published: March 2023

Occupants of social roles have normative reasons that non-occupants lack. How do we explain this? Answering the question hinges on issues both in social ontology concerning the nature of social roles and in metaethics concerning the existence conditions for normative reasons. This chapter begins by laying out the conceptual terrain before sketching what is here called a ‘non-normative’ account of roles in social ontology: a view that rejects the normative account which takes roles to be identical to a set of normative relations. The chapter then articulates and defends a novel account of role-based reasons, Role Pluralism. According to Role Pluralism, role-based normative reasons are externalist (i.e. they do not depend on the motivational constitution of role occupants) and non-hierarchical (i.e. the reason-giving power of a role does not depend on any other role or anything external to a role for that power). Finally, the chapter explains why the most common objection to this view—that immoral roles cannot provide normative reasons—is irrelevant.
Optical Multidimensional Coherent Spectroscopy
Authors: Li Hebin , Lomsadze Bachana , Moody Galan , Smallwood Christopher , Cundiff Steven
Published: March 2023

Optical multidimensional coherent spectroscopy provides information about the structure and excitation dynamics in a broad range of material systems. This book focuses on systems of interest in physics, including atomic vapors, semiconductor nanostructures and two-dimensional materials. An introduction to ultrafast spectroscopy and the fundamental concepts of multidimensional coherent spectroscopy applies to all material systems. Relevant experimental implementations, including phase-stabilized crossed-beams, frequency-tagged fully-collinear, three-dimensional and frequency-comb based methods. The use of the method to study atomic vapors, semiconductor quantum wells, semiconductor quantum dots and two-dimensional materials are described in separate chapters. The final chapters survey the use of the method in some other areas and speculate on future directions.
Experimental implementations
Authors: Li Hebin , Lomsadze Bachana , Moody Galan , Smallwood Christopher L. , Cundiff Steven T.
Published: March 2023

Experimental implementations of optical multi-dimensional coherent spectroscopy (MDCS) are discussed in this chapter. The chapter starts with an overview of experimental approaches along with the general experimental requirements and considerations in implementing MDCS. Two specific approaches of using the actively stabilized box geometry and the phase modulated collinear geometry are discussed and compared. The last section discusses the analysis of experimental data for generating multi-dimensional spectra.
New trends in multidimensional coherent spectroscopy
Authors: Li Hebin , Lomsadze Bachana , Moody Galan , Smallwood Christopher L. , Cundiff Steven T.
Published: March 2023

New developments in implementation of optical multidimensional spectroscopy are presented. These include broadening the spectral range from terahertz to x-ray wavelengths, expanding the classes of materials that can be studied with the technique. Methods for improving the spatial resolution through, for example, tip-enhanced 2D spectroscopy, are discussed. Other methods for excitation and detection are present, including using non-classical light for excitation and detecting signals through photoemission of electrons.
No-Self and the Phenomenology of Ownership
Authors: Chadha Monima
Published: March 2023

This chapter argues that Vasubandhu’s no-self view can be plausibly interpreted as a no-ownership view, according to which there is no locus or subject of experience and thus no owner of mental or bodily awareness. The chapter offers a defense of Vasubandhu’s view against the charge that the no-ownership view is self-refuting. My experiences seemingly come with the sense that I am the one who is undergoing this experience. Thus, the Abhidharma philosopher is left with the burden of explaining the phenomenological sense of agency. It is argued that there is nothing that it is like to be an owner of experiences, in the sense that there is no experiential phenomenology associated with ownership.
Polar questions
Authors: Kandybowicz Jason , Baron Bertille , Duncan Philip T. , Katsuda Hironori
Published: March 2023

This chapter provides a detailed description and analysis of the syntax and pragmatics of Ikpana polar questions. The unmarked polar interrogative strategy in the language involves the use of a clause-final question morpheme that is realized as a lengthened utterance-final vowel, but several clause-final discourse particles may also be employed. Three such particles are identified. One marker is fully optional in root yes/no questions and conveys speaker attitude, but is obligatory in indirect polar interrogatives. Another optional particle gives rise to advice/warning/surprise implicatures. The third discourse particle has the most limited distribution, surfacing exclusively in questions involving focus. These three markers are in complementary distribution. The syntax of these particles is investigated and shown to provide insights into the structure of the clausal left periphery. The chapter also discusses the following phenomena: alternative questions, rhetorical questions, tag questions, and the encoding of emotions via clause-final particles.
MY EARTHSEA
Authors: Plotz John
Published: March 2023

An occasion to talk about why fantasy and science fiction still remain so central to my own imaginative and professional life. It begins, though, from an appreciation of all the things that Le Guin does to make her books available to her readers—in fact how she empties out Earthsea, in the best possible way. Le Guin is always devoted to creating a space those who come after can inhabit it as their own. There is an earlier me who wanted simply to live in other worlds. The whisper that tempts me to write about Le Guin comes from 1975, from the second floor of my local library, where they turned on the fluorescent overheads and left you alone all afternoon.
European Constitutional Imaginaries
Authors: Přibáň Jiří
Published: March 2023

This chapter analyses the polysemy and polyvalence of the European constitutional imaginaries of pluralism, calculemus, imperium, and communitas. It argues that these imaginaries have to be distinguished from the imagination of EU constitutional theory. They spontaneously evolve in European society and, despite their theoretical contextualizations and uses, cannot be purposively constructed by theorists to justify the integration and constitutionalization of Europe. Imaginaries are societal power, which precedes the structures of political power and constitutes the common understanding of social reality despite all its fragmentations, diffusions, and differentiations. The chapter thus highlights the sociological meaning of the concept of imaginary as the background power of both national and transnational legal and political systems which determines legitimacies and illegitimacies in EU law and politics. It subsequently analyses specific imaginaries of EU integration and their general components. It concludes by arguing that these European constitutional imaginaries are part of the societal constitutionalism of the EU, beyond constraints of law and politics and the old semantics driven by the imaginary unity of statehood.
Ideologies and Imaginaries of Legitimacy from the 1950s to Today
Authors: Sternberg Claudia Schrag
Published: March 2023

This chapter traces changes in EU-official discourse around EU legitimacy since the 1950s, and relates these to the trajectory described, for modern democracy at large, by Pierre Rosanvallon in his Democratic Legitimacy: Impartiality, Reflexivity, Proximity (2011). It explores to what extent the European Community suffered from the same breakdown of democratic legitimacy as the one he observes for national modern democracies in the 1980s, and to what extent the European institutions looked to the same alternative modes of legitimation. The chapter finds important differences, in particular regarding the balance between electoral and bureaucratic legitimacy in the earlier years of integration, as well as significant similarities and interaction, manifested in a striking resonance between particular EU-official legitimation strategies and Rosanvallon’s alternative legitimation modes. It suggests, finally, that the ways in which these played out in the EU context point to dangers inherent to them, as well as their potentials.
The Imaginary and the Unconscious
Authors: Lev Amnon
Published: March 2023

This chapter interrogates the role of ideas in Neil Walker’s theory of constitutional pluralism. The first section of the chapter situates Walker’s work in relation to the body of state-centric constitutional theory. It shows the steps Walker takes to attach his theory to past constitutionalisms, and it argues that the focus on theory leads him to blank out the question of state practice. The second section considers the ideas and conceptual moves that pass from the body of constitutional theory to Walker’s theory. In the third section, the chapter shows that the continuity between past and present formats of constitutional theory rests upon a historically specific intuition of political life. It argues that the changes Walker makes to his theory can be explained in terms of the passing of a specific historical conjuncture, in which law could transcribe politics and keep economic rationality at bay.
Constitutional Patriotism as Europe’s Public Philosophy?
Authors: Linden-Retek Paul
Published: March 2023

This chapter critiques Jürgen Habermas’s concept of constitutional patriotism—and its basis in his discourse theory of democracy and law—from the analytic perspective of ‘constitutional imaginaries’, and details the consequences of this critique for the constitutional discourse of the contemporary European judiciary. In the first instance, analysis of constitutional imaginaries reveals the extent to which civic attachment to constitutional law is oriented not merely to legal principles simpliciter but also to the historical settlement of political conflict those principles reflect. This suggests that the plurality of constitutional imaginaries in the European legal space poses additional difficulties for inspiring civic attachments post-nationally. Second, understanding Habermas’s work in this light opens new avenues for rethinking the interpretive and structural tasks to which Europe’s juridical institutions should be directed. In particular, the chapter proposes more responsive forms of proceduralism able to sustain the reflexivity of constitutional imagination that post-national politics requires.
On the New German Ideology
Authors: Wilkinson Michael A
Published: March 2023

Abstract: The dominant constitutional ideology in post-war Europe is based on a fear of democracy, constituent power, and popular sovereignty, and a desire for political and economic stability. Constitutional relations are transformed over time through a mixture of political authoritarianism and economic liberalism, in a combination of domestic and supranational developments. The transformation also has a utopian dimension, and outlining its utopianism can help identify its ideological character. It is captured by such related terms as ‘post-politics’, ‘post-nationalism’, ‘post-sovereignty’, and ‘the end of history’. These terms all point to the way in which authoritarian liberalism is maintained not only—and perhaps not even predominantly—through coercion and consent but also in the grey area in between, namely through practices and beliefs that suggest politics can be transcended and the medium of law can reign supreme. We may call this the new German ideology. It has gradually come to dominate the European constitutional imagination. Although it was unsettled after Maastricht and entered a critical phase after the financial crisis, the new German ideology remains relatively resilient. It benefits from the acquiescence of a critical theory that has lost its moorings and a political system that is able to incorporate aspects of authoritarian populism, even as the centre ground appears increasingly unstable.