bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Combined Inhibition of STAT3 and DNA Repair in Palbociclib-Resistant ER-Positive Breast Cancer
Authors: Kettner Nicole M. , Vijayaraghavan Smruthi , Durak Merih Guray , Bui Tuyen , Kohansal Mehrnoosh , Ha Min Jin , Liu Bin , Rao Xiayu , Wang Jing , Yi Min , Carey Jason P.W. , Chen Xian , Eckols T. Kris , Raghavendra Akshara S. , Ibrahim Nuhad K. , Karuturi Meghan Sri , Watowich Stephanie S. , Sahin Aysegul , Tweardy David J. , Hunt Kelly K. , Tripathy Debu , Keyomarsi Khandan
Published: March 2019

Purpose:

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors are currently used in combination with endocrine therapy to treat advanced hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Although this treatment doubles time to progression compared with endocrine therapy alone, about 25%–35% of patients do not respond, and almost all patients eventually acquire resistance. Discerning the mechanisms of resistance to CDK4/6 inhibition is crucial in devising alternative treatment strategies.

Experimental Design:

Palbociclib-resistant cells (MCF-7 and T47D) were generated in a step-wise dose-escalading fashion. Whole-exome sequencing, genome-wide expression analysis, and proteomic analysis were performed in both resistant and parental (sensitive) cells. Pathway alteration was assessed mechanistically and pharmacologically. Biomarkers of altered pathways were examined in tumor samples from patients with palbociclib-treated breast cancer whose disease progressed while on treatment.

Results:

Palbociclib-resistant cells are cross-resistant to other CDK4/6 inhibitors and are also resistant to endocrine therapy (estrogen receptor downregulation). IL6/STAT3 pathway is induced, whereas DNA repair and estrogen receptor pathways are downregulated in the resistant cells. Combined inhibition of STAT3 and PARP significantly increased cell death in the resistant cells. Matched tumor samples from patients with breast cancer who progressed on palbociclib were examined for deregulation of estrogen receptor, DNA repair, and IL6/STAT3 signaling, and results revealed that these pathways are all altered as compared with the pretreatment tumor samples.

Conclusions:

Palbociclib resistance induces endocrine resistance, estrogen receptor downregulation, and alteration of IL6/STAT3 and DNA damage response pathways in cell lines and patient samples. Targeting IL6/STAT3 activity and DNA repair deficiency using a specific STAT3 inhibitor combined with a PARP inhibitor could effectively treat acquired resistance to palbociclib.
Weighted Transmission Disequilibrium Test for Family Trio Association Design
Authors: Fang Hongyan , Yang Yaning , Chen Ling
Published: March 2019

Background: Family-based design is one of the most popular designs in genetic studies. Transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) for family trio design is optimal only under the additive trait model and may lose power under the other trait models. The TDT-type tests are powerful only when the underlying trait model is correctly specified. Usually, the true trait model is unknown, and the selection of the TDT-type test is problematic. Several methods, which are robust against the mis-specification of the trait model, have been proposed. In this paper, we propose a new efficiency robust procedure for family trio design, namely, the weighted TDT (WTDT) test. Methods: We combine information of the largest two TDT-type tests by using weights related to the three TDT-type tests and take the weighted sum as the test statistic. Results: Simulation results demonstrate that WTDT has power close to, but much more robust than, the optimal TDT-type test based on a single trait model. WTDT also outperforms other efficiency robust methods in terms of power. Applications to real and simulated data from Genetic Analysis Workshop (GAW15) illustrate the practical application of the WTDT method. Conclusion: WTDT is not only efficiency robust to model mis-specifications but also efficiency robust against mis-specifications of risk allele.
Transforming Summary Statistics from Logistic Regression to the Liability Scale: Application to Genetic and Environmental Risk Scores
Authors: Gillett Alexandra C. , Vassos Evangelos , Lewis Cathryn M.
Published: March 2019

Objective: Stratified medicine requires models of disease risk incorporating genetic and environmental factors. These may combine estimates from different studies, and the models must be easily updatable when new estimates become available. The logit scale is often used in genetic and environmental association studies; however, the liability scale is used for polygenic risk scores and measures of heritability, but combining parameters across studies requires a common scale for the estimates. Methods: We present equations to approximate the relationship between univariate effect size estimates on the logit scale and the liability scale, allowing model parameters to be translated between scales. Results: These equations are used to build a risk score on the liability scale, using effect size estimates originally estimated on the logit scale. Such a score can then be used in a joint effects model to estimate the risk of disease, and this is demonstrated for schizophrenia using a polygenic risk score and environmental risk factors. Conclusion: This straightforward method allows the conversion of model parameters between the logit and liability scales and may be a key tool to integrate risk estimates into a comprehensive risk model, particularly for joint models with environmental and genetic risk factors.
Global Evolution of Obesity Research in Children and Youths: Setting Priorities for Interventions and Policies
Authors: Tran Bach Xuan , Dang Kim Anh , Le Huong Thi , Ha Giang Hai , Nguyen Long Hoang , Nguyen Tu Huu , Tran Tung Hoang , Latkin Carl A. , Ho Cyrus S.H. , Ho Roger C.M.
Published: March 2019

Background: Childhood obesity has become a major global epidemic that causes substantial social and health burdens worldwide. The effectiveness of childhood obesity control and prevention depends largely on understanding the issue, including its current development and associated factors in a contextualized perspective. Objectives: Our study aimed to gauge this kind of understanding. Methods: We systematically searched the Web of Science database for studies concerning child obesity published up to 2017 and analyzed the volume of publications, growth rates, impact scores, collaborations, authors, affiliations, and journals. A total of 57,444 research papers were included. Results: The three subject categories with the highest number of papers (over 3,000) were (1) nutrition and dietetics, (2) pediatrics, and (3) public, environmental, and occupational health. We found a dramatic increase in the amount of scientific literature on childhood obesity in the past one or two decades, led by scholars from the USA – ranking at the top regarding the total number of papers (23,965 papers; 30.8%) and total number of citations (859,793 citations) – and multiple Western countries where the obesity epidemic is prevalent. Conclusions: The findings highlight the need for improving international and local research capacities and collaboration to accelerate knowledge production and translation into contextualized and effective childhood obesity prevention.
Nationwide Increase in Complex Congenital Heart Diseases After the Fukushima Nuclear Accident
Authors: Murase Kaori , Murase Joe , Mishima Akira
Published: March 2019

Background

After the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, an increase in the incidence of congenital heart disease (
CHD
s) in the neighboring countries was reported. In 2011, Japan experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear accidents at Fukushima. However, a nationwide study of their effects has not been conducted yet.

Methods and Results

We used data covering the period between 2007 and 2014 from the annual surveys conducted by the Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery, which included almost all of the operations pertaining to 46 types of
CHD
s in Japan.
CHD
s were divided into 2 groups based on complexity, the time of occurrence during heart development, and age at operation. We estimated the change in the number of the operations per 100 000 live births between pre‐ and postdisaster using a negative binomial generalized linear mixed model. Overall, a significant 14.2% (95%
CI,
9.3–19.4) increase in the number of operations for complex
CHD
s in neonates and infants per 100 000 live births was found, whereas those performed for patients of 1 to 17 years old showed no significant change during the study period.

Conclusions

The number of operations for complex
CHD
s in neonates and infants in Japan significantly increased after the massive disaster, and its level was maintained thereafter. The number of operations for complex
CHD
was not equal but closely correlated to the live birth prevalence of complex
CHD
s. Therefore, some meaningful increase in the live birth prevalence can be assumed; however, the precise cause of the increase is unknown.
Iljin in the Making
Authors: Bax Trent
Published: March 2019

This study seeks to locate “the points of impact of social forces” regarding juvenile bullying-and-violence in South Korea. Based on the multi-informant case-file material of 20 perpetrators of school violence detained at a Juvenile Detention Centre between 2011 and 2013, this is the first qualitative study to place bullying-and-violence in South Korea within its life-course context. This novel approach is achieved by applying classic findings from developmental criminology conducted in Western societies to the South Korean case-file material. Additionally, original emoticon-based “life-course turning points diagrams” are presented as potentially offering an alternative means of conceptualising and analysing life-course trajectories. Against a binary conceptualisation of school violence, this study reveals a cyclical connection between earlier victimisation (in the home) and later offending (at school). In contrast to school-and-security-centric measures advocated and implemented by the government at the time, this study advocates more family management-centric measures.
Academic Imperialism
Authors: Zeiny Esmaeil
Published: March 2019

When the disintegration of Western colonies in Africa and Asia ended the formal colonialism, the structures of dependency remained intact and were mushroomed to other countries in the region. One such dependency is academic dependency in which universities in much of Asia and Africa follow the curricula introduced in the colonial era. Although scholars put a great deal of efforts in challenging this academic imperialism, this dependency has been promoted by departments such as Department of English. Whereas “World Literature in English” or “Literary Studies” is gaining momentum around the world, the English literature programmes in Iranian universities are celebrating the Anglo-American canonical literature. By drawing on Syed Hussein Alatas’ concepts of “academic dependency,” this paper examines how the English literature programmes in Iran are promoting academic imperialism, which prompts the urgency of decolonisation of English literature. It also reveals how this decolonisation can be taken to its ultimate conclusion.
The importance of protected and unprotected areas for the Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise demography in northwest Morocco
Authors: Segura Amalia , Acevedo Pelayo
Published: March 2019

Collection for the pet trade has been considered one of the major threats to the Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise Testudo graeca, since it modulates the size and structure of the species’ populations and, therefore, their demography. Maamora forest is one of the most suitable habitats for this species. The proximity of the forest to Rabat indicated the possibility of these tortoise populations being particularly sensitive to over-collecting. Population demography was studied in four populations, in protected and unprotected areas in Maamora forest. The results showed significant differences as regards population size and structure between protected and unprotected areas. They specifically highlighted: i) higher density (23-17 indiv · ha−1) balanced populations in the protected areas, in which young adults were predominant, ii) a higher body condition in the protected areas, especially the females, and iii) a low density (5.5 ind · ha−1) more unbalance population in the unprotected areas, in which older females and younger males were predominant. In addition, a survey carried out by interviewing local adults () showed that most people owned tortoises (61%, ), mainly juveniles (65%, ). The respondents stated that their tortoises had been captured in the forest (68%, ). Maamora forest is home to one of the highest density populations of Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoises documented to date, and its conservation is essential if this species is to be maintained. Our social survey suggested that one of the challenges is to change the social perception of the Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise as a pet and highlight its intrinsic ecological value.
Monthly variations in crustacean zooplankton abundances in Sundarapandian Pattinam and Manamelkudi in the Palk Strait, India (9-10°N, Arabian Sea)
Authors: De los Ríos Patricio , Kalaiarasi Mariadoss , Paul Packiam , Lathasumathi Chelladurai , Stella Chelladurai
Published: March 2019

The present investigation has been made to study the distribution of crustacean zooplankton, and its qualitative and quantitative composition, as well as for making an assessment of species abundances and of the evenness of zooplankton in two habitats along the Palk Strait, between the east coast of Tamil Nadu (India) and Sri Lanka. The sampling programme was executed from July 2005 to June 2006. The two sampling sites, Sundarapandian Pattinam (Station I) and Manamelkudi (Station II), respectively, are located in one of the most productive marine zones of the world. The various groups of crustacean zooplankton were Ostracoda, Copepoda, Amphipoda, Isopoda, Cumacea, Euphausiacea, and Decapoda. Maximum occurrences were observed during the summer and the pre-monsoon seasons, and minimum occurrences were observed during the monsoon months. The present study showed that the distribution pattern of total zooplankton fluctuated at both stations. Station II is richer in absolute abundance in comparison with Station I.
Body and Time-Space in Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty
Authors: Vallega-Neu Daniela
Published: March 2019

Comparisons between Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty’s writings on the body tend to focus on the earlier works of these philosophers, i.e. on Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, and Heidegger’s Zollikon Seminars in the context of Being and Time. This paper focuses on their later works in order to show how each philosopher respectively opens venues to think the human body non-subjectively and as emerging from being, where being includes the being also of other bodies, things, or events. This thinking of bodies “from being” articulates them in terms of spatio-temporal events. The article shows that in thinking from being, both Heidegger’s and Merleau-Ponty’s accounts harbor a sense of being with a unifying force, which is tied to meaning or sense. The article ends by questioning the possibility of accounts of bodies as spatio-temporal events not bound by a unifying force of being, bodies that may carry both sense and non-sense.
God’s Playthings: Eugen Fink’s Phenomenology of Religion in Play as Symbol of the World
Authors: Alvis Jason W.
Published: March 2019

Although Eugen Fink often reflected upon the role religion, these reflections are yet to be addressed in secondary literature in any substantive sense. For Fink, religion is to be understood in relation to “play,” which is a metaphor for how the world presents itself. Religion is a non-repetitive, and entirely creative endeavor or “symbol” that is not achieved through work and toil, or through evaluation or power, but rather, through his idea of play and “cult” as the imaginative distanciation from a predictable lifeworld. This paper describes Fink’s understanding of religion and its most relevant aspects found in Spiel als Weltsymbol. The paper is organized into five sections—1: An introduction to his phenomenological approach in general, and description of the role of “play”; 2: investigations into the relation between play and world; 3: a description of his phenomenology of religion; 4: engagements in the idea of cult-play and the sacred sphere, and 5: reflection on his idea of the play of God.
Official al-Azhar versus al-Azhar Imagined: The Arab Spring and the Revival of Religious Imagination
Authors: Bano Masooda , Benadi Hanane
Published: March 2019

While the impact of the Arab Spring on the political imagination of the Egyptian youth has been well documented, scholars have largely ignored how the revolutionary fervour of the time also sparked the imagination of religiously inclined young people, especially the young scholars and graduates of al-Azhar. Spurred by the revolutionary spirit of the moment, these young Azharis not only questioned the official Azhari establishment, they also established two new religious institutions: Shaykh al-ʿAmūd and Dār al-ʿImād. Both institutions credited their origin to the Arab Spring; and, while they specialised in different aspects of Islamic scholarly tradition, both shared a similar critique of al-Azhar’s loss of authentic tradition. Engaging with their critiques and approaches informs our understanding of how the Arab Spring spurred creative imagination even within the religious sphere. The article contributes to the existing scholarship on how the 1961 reforms of al-Azhar have challenged its popular legitimacy.
Is China a House of Islam? Chinese Questions, Arabic Answers, and the Translation of Salafism from Cairo to Canton, 1930-1932
Authors: Halevi Leor
Published: March 2019

Rashīd Riḍā’s six fatwas to China, disregarded by historians of China and by historians of Salafism, greatly expand our historical understanding of transnational intellectual exchanges between Muslim reformers in the interwar period. The questions that prompted the fatwas shed new light on the specific issues that divided Sino-Muslim nationalists in the republican era, when a Chinese awakening coincided with an Islamic awakening. They also reveal why a Sino-Muslim scholar, seeking external arbitration, decided to write to a Muslim authority in Cairo. The fatwas that ensued show, in turn, the care that Riḍā took to transmit his legal methods and religious values to a foreign country, where Muslims mainly followed the Ḥanafī school of law. On the basis of the fatwas, which were translated into Chinese, the article offers not an arbitrary, abstract, or ahistorical understanding of the origins of Salafism in China, but a concrete grasp of Salafism in translation.
Calliope’s Playful Touch: An Educational Paradigm in the Mitologiae of Planciades Fulgentius
Authors: Ferguson Thomas
Published: March 2019

In his longest work, Mitologiae, Planciadus Fulgentius (the Mythographer), retells fifty Greek myths and legends. His aim is to teach students that Classical literature has educational value for the Christian. He receives inspiration from the Muse, Calliope, who appears with a mixture of gravitas and capriciousness. Under her influence, he uses etymological interpretations to uncover hidden philosophical meanings in the myths. One theme that emerges is a symbolic connection between lust and the desire for knowledge and learning. Although apparently random in presentation, the theme presents the Liberal Arts as the proper object of a student’s desire, and the work follows a trajectory that ends up rehabilitating Classical thought, and the Muse herself.
Revelation Relocated: Reflections on Jerusalem in Testimony of Truth (NHC IX,3) and the First Apocalypse of James (NHC V,3; Cod. Tch. 2)
Authors: Reaves Pamela Mullins
Published: March 2019

This article examines treatments of Jerusalem, including its temple and first-century demise, in Testimony of Truth (NHC IX,3) and the First Apocalypse of James (NHC V,3; Cod. Tch. 2). Among Nag Hammadi writings, these texts are relatively unusual in their attention to the historical, Roman presence in the city. Informed by contemporary apocalyptic traditions, Testim. Truth and 1 Apoc. Jas. cast foreign domination not as a crisis, but as a clue, specifically to seek revelation elsewhere. In this spatial sense, revelation is “relocated” in each text, yet in different ways. The article further shows how each presentation of Jerusalem aligns with other interests of Testim. Truth and 1 Apoc. Jas., including their engagement in intra-Christian debate.
A Representative Peace? Opposition Political Parties in Peace Negotiations
Authors: Ross Nicholas
Published: March 2019

This article presents four case studies in which peace was negotiated between governments and political opposition parties, and in which major armed groups involved in the conflict were excluded from some or all of the negotiations. The inclusion of opposition political parties and exclusion of some armed actors in these cases derived from the desire of mediators and some of the parties to foreground political concerns (at the expense of military considerations). Opposition political parties were able to play a role in bringing armed groups into peace settlements under some conditions, although strong international pressure and support helped to create the preconditions for this role. This evidence suggests a challenge to arguments that major armed groups must be included in peace negotiations if they are to abide by the resulting peace settlement.
Inclusive Peace Negotiations – From a Neglected Topic to New Hype
Authors: Paffenholz Thania , Zartman I. William
Published: March 2019

The objective of this special issue on inclusive peace negotiations is to advance the debate on negotiations. It sheds light on included and excluded actors, in particular political parties, civil society, business, youth and religious actors, and those armed actors that are either excluded or included. This special issue is particularly interesting as all articles combine a conceptual introduction of the role of the discussed actor in question in peace negotiations with a case study approach. This method enriches conceptual discussion and debates on the role of the various actors through analyses of several peace negotiations, including among others, DRC, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Myanmar.
Europeanisation as Legitimacy to Identify as a ‘National Minority’: The Turkish Community in Greece
Authors: Hoch Tamara , Abdurrahman Sebahattin
Published: March 2019

The issue of national minorities has never ranked high on the European Union’s (eu’s) agenda. No legal or policy measures to protect Europe’s national minorities have been developed, reducing scholarly attention on the potential of Europeanisation of national minority politics to the minimum. This article addresses this misconception and argues that Europeanisation of national minority politics does occur, however, not where originally expected. By shifting attention to a poorly studied area - minority actors and their activities at the eu level – the article illustrates how minority actors create own change, how they are influenced by their own ‘usages of Europe’ and how this process helps to advance our knowledge of Europeanisation of today’s national minority politics.
Voice-Inclusive Practice (vip): A Charter for Authentic Student Engagement
Authors: Sargeant Jonathon , Gillett-Swan Jenna K.
Published: March 2019

In an age of high stakes testing, diversified communication, educational transformation and pedagogical evolution, the child’s contribution to education remains underutilised. Despite the emphasis on children’s active and authentic involvement in educational decision making in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc), educational reform continues to ignore the child’s view. In contexts where the child’s voice is welcomed, there remains little guidance for education professionals on how to seek and incorporate children’s perspectives in a practically focused way. By initiating Voice-Inclusive Practice (vip), educators will be better positioned to take action that supports the imperatives of educational change. Voice-Inclusive Practice is represented by processes that actively engage with children on matters that affect them and includes the child’s perspective in planning, decision making and pedagogy. This paper provides an elaboration of the vip principles that enable the participatory rights of the child in education settings.
Intimate Partner Violence in Childhood: Human Rights Implications in Multiple Exposure Scenarios
Authors: Obreja Leyla-Denisa
Published: March 2019

Intimate partner violence (ipv) is a concept primarily associated with abusive manifestations occurring in adult relationships. When children are recognised as part of the phenomenon, they are often referred to as witnesses to their parent’s violence. However, children can be victimised by ipv through multiple exposure scenarios. They can experience ipv as perpetrators, victims or witnesses. The human rights of children can be breached through a failure to provide them with safe social and family spaces critically necessary for their appropriate development. This article identifies State obligations related to the protection of children against teen dating violence and parental intimate partner violence. Moreover, it provides human rights arguments for a change of narrative, encouraging all stakeholders to recognise children as right holders in ipv. Finally, the article raises novel questions regarding the ways in which efforts to prevent ipv affecting children and tdv should be shaped.
Humanising the Law of Targeting in Light of a Child Soldier’s Right to Life
Authors: Barrett Rose Catherine
Published: March 2019

Contemporary conflicts are epitomised by warfare never seen during the codification of the laws of war during the 19th and 20th centuries. In present times, children are increasingly being recruited and used as soldiers. Aside from the prohibition against their recruitment and use, and the prosecution of those who violate these prohibitions, more is needed to protect their right to life. Pursuant to the law of targeting, child soldiers may be subject to the use of lethal force. It has been queried whether there is a moral basis to apply different targeting rules to spare their lives. This paper will suggest that it may be in the interests of humanity for a new approach to be taken. In particular, this paper will consider whether international human rights law may humanise the law of targeting to restrict the degree of force that would ordinarily apply. Humanisation may provide a remedy to the moral dilemma posed.
What Does Morality Require When We Disagree?
Authors: Andersen Martin Marchman
Published: March 2019

In “Principled Compromise and the Abortion Controversy” Simon C. May argues that we do not have a principled moral reason to compromise. While I seek to understand how more precisely we are to understand this suggestion, I also object to it: I argue that we have a principled moral reason to accept democratic decisions that we disagree with, and that this can only be so if disagreement can change what the all things considered right political position is. But if this is so, then also a principled moral reason to compromise is possible. I suggest that there is a class of procedures, including compromise, voting, expert delegation, and coin flip, such that when we disagree about what justice requires, we have a principled moral reason (though not necessarily a decisive reason) to engage in one of these procedures.
A Philosophical Reconstruction of the Sublime
Authors: Zammito John H.
Published: March 2019

Robert Doran claims that the sublime is all about transcendence transferred from the religious to the aesthetic domain of experience. Taken in this philosophical rather than stylistic sense, it proved crucial for the development of modern subjectivity. Doran traces the issue from Longinus through the decisive reception of Nicolas Boileau, who first distinguished le sublime from le style sublime, on to an extended engagement with Immanuel Kant. In all this he seeks its place in the rise of the modern bourgeois subject. The social-historical connections tend to be a bit overstated, first, with regard to Boileau and the idea of the honnête homme, and especially with the claim that “Burke treats aesthetic concepts as proxies for sociopolitical categories.” It is not fruitful for an understanding of Kant, either. This weakens his powerful argument for the philosophical significance of the sublime in modern thought.
Simone Weil’s Philosophy of History
Authors: Gilbert Bennett
Published: March 2019

The philosophical and religious ideas of Simone Weil bear on theory of history and historiography in ways not previously explored. They amount to a view of history as a consequence of the original creation, but they also generally exclude theodicy. By examining these ideas we see some of the ways in which to develop a theory of history centered on a conception of moral understanding that is impartialist and universal. For Weil such understanding is both inside of and outside of history. This leads to an approach to human history that centers on the moral dilemmas and choices of historical actors and that matches the force of compassion with that of power. Under an approach inspired by Weil’s ideas, the historian’s work of understanding can be an experience of moral growth.
Hyperfactuals
Authors: Madureira Nuno Luis
Published: March 2019

A historical sequence is said to be hyperfactual whenever it contains facts that have been proved to exist twice, that is, they exist under two alternative courses of events: the factual and the counterfactual. In such cases, we may verify whether multiple courses of action lead to the same outcome. Drawing upon an idea from Nelson Goodman, each section of this article highlights a different type of hyperfactual sequence: those resulting from the turbulence of historical turning points; those resulting from long term historical sequences; and those resulting from competing courses of action. The final section conveys how hyperfactuals represent the resistance of the multiple layers of history to the formalism of subjunctive conditionals.
Songs from Sinai: The Origins of a Musical Category
Authors: Friedmann Jonathan L.
Published: March 2019

Recent scholarship argues that Abraham Z. Idelsohn coined the term ‘Missinai tune’ in studies published during the 1920s and 1930s. This article refutes that claim by revisiting Idelsohn’s research, evaluating the critiques, examining earlier evidence, and comparing Missinai tunes to other venerated groupings of synagogue song.
Did Pharaoh Repent? On the Development and Transformation of an Aggadic Motif
Authors: Atzmon Arnon
Published: March 2019

This article focuses on the shifts in the portrayal of Pharaoh in aggadic midrashic compositions, mostly those connected with Exodus 13:17. Tannaitic Midrashim from the Roman period create the motif of “Pharaoh’s repentance.” Aggadic Midrashim from the Byzantine period reject, in turn, this motif. At the end of the Byzantine period, perhaps influenced by the Islamic reading of the biblical Pharaoh, the motif of “Pharaoh’s repentance” returns to the fore and even enjoys some literary development. The dynamic changes that these interpretations underwent reflect shifts in the internal spiritual life of the sages and in their interchanges with the surrounding cultures.
Erasmus and His Amanuenses
Authors: Blair Ann
Published: March 2019

This Margaret Mann Phillips lecture of 2018 examines Erasmus’s relationships with his amanuenses, building on the work of Franz Bierlaire (1968) and others. It especially considers when and why members of Erasmus’s familia appeared in print in his works. Mention of servants functioned in a variety of ways to allay the author’s responsibility for features of the text that might be criticized. Manuscript evidence also shows Erasmus working with his amanuenses in the preparation of publications and indexes in particular.
Speaking figuratively
Authors: O’Shields Kathryn
Published: March 2019

This article addresses two forms of artful language: similes and metaphors. It argues that their artful quality arises from a deliberate omission of information, requiring the listener to fill in the missing parts. Sentences of the form ‘A is like B’ have two uses: as plain comparisons (called similatives) stating that two individuals (item A and item B) are comparable and share properties, and as similes, which are intended as assertions that A is “B-like” in some way. The simile’s absent information is tacit assumptions about its second member, B. As a result, similatives and similes behave differently and have distinct syntactic interpretations. The absent information in a metaphor of the form ‘A is a B’ is a tacit analogy, A:X::B:Y. As such, a metaphor asserts a parallel between two unstated relations, not its two identified items. The tacit members X and Y create the structural framework for the metaphor. Because metaphors use different tacit information than similes do, the two forms require distinct interpretations. It is also shown here that the literal truth of similes and metaphors is irrelevant to their interpretations. Nevertheless, artful statements can be used to make true or false assertions. Their truth is determined by taking their absent information into account. Furthermore, similes and metaphors can meaningfully use negation, as plain statements can. Patterns in simile and metaphor usage reveal that there are predictable processes behind their creation and systematic methods to their interpretations. Once these are identified, the linguistic contributions of similes and metaphors become clear.
Invited presuppositions and the pragmatics of trick questions
Authors: Lotze Nathaniel
Published: March 2019

Trick questions are a subgenre of puzzles that have undergone little, if any, semantic-pragmatic study, in part because they are often conflated with riddles. While they do share some mechanisms with riddles, they lean much more heavily on pragmatic mechanisms, and how they make use of them is quite different. This paper focuses on three types of invited presuppositions (box, red herring, and rug) that add more weight to the theory that presuppositions are best suited to pragmatic analysis. The lingering question is whether these three types are more or less comprehensive, or if other types might be distilled from other trick questions.
Brand(ing) Independence
Authors: Michael Rose
Published: March 2019

Background: There has been little formal reflection by independent publishing practitioners on how they (do or don’t) capitalize on their brand or imprints.

Aim: To discuss the unique opportunities presented by a small press’s ‘small’ identity.

Method: To document my own experience—as commissioning editor for a trade press, after co-founding a tiny start-up—in the broader context of industry knowledge acquired as editor of the Australian national trade press journal and a publishing academic.

Results: Through the creative writing of a personal opinion piece, I explore how our ad hoc personality-driven small press network may be particularly well primed to respond to challenging—and changing—circumstances.

Conclusion: That it is the nature of independent publishers, whether commercial ventures or micropresses, to be agile and adaptable; to respond intuitively to perceived opportunities; to connect directly with reading communities. That it may also be in the nature of an industry that proudly identifies and markets itself as individualistic and personality driven to not necessarily identify and articulate any such specific strategies … or, indeed, maintain them.
Using Pre-arrival Shared Reading to Promote a Sense of Community
Authors: Baverstock Alison , Steinitz Jackie , Webster-Henderson Brian , Bryars Laura , Cairncross Sandra , Ennis Laura , Morris Wendy , Gray Avril , McLuckie Connie
Published: March 2019

Seeking to improve student enrolment, engagement, and retention, Kingston University began a pre-arrival shared reading scheme in 2014–2015, sending a free book to every student about to start at the university and making copies available to staff in all roles and departments across the institution. A number of associated events were organized and outcomes monitored through a variety of project-specific and institutional metrics. Continuing with the scheme in 2015–2016, Kingston University and Edinburgh Napier University joined together as research partners. Edinburgh Napier, having participated in the process of choosing a book for all to read, made the same single title available to their students and staff. In this paper the processes and outcomes of the collaboration are reported, including the differences in project implementation in the two institutions and what they learned from each other. Recommendations are made for how universities can work together on projects of mutual desirability, pointing out particular associated sensitivities, in this case when managing a long-distance collaboration, and what can be learned for the future.
“Nichts als der Tod und die Satire”
Authors: Wintersteiner Werner
Published: March 2019

Grimmelshausen’s Simplicius Simplicissimus, the classic novel of the Thirty Years War, is a unique critique in an exuberant narrative form. The double perspective (the hero narrates, as an old man, his own life), the doubt as a principle, irony as the fundamental tone – these are his main strategies to analyse the ambivalence of human behaviour as well as to check critically social models of a more peaceful society. Grimmelshausen refuses any philosophical, political or theological justification of violence. However, his irony, his humour and his narrative power make the lecture of his work a pleasure until today. The comparison with a modern African novel, Ahmadou Kouroumas Allah Is Not Obliged, reveals similarities as well as differences and proves one more time the topicality and constant relevance of this Baroque novel.
Historizität und Fiktion in Martin Opitzens Versepen
Authors: Mourey Marie-Thérèse
Published: March 2019

This article seeks to shed new light on well known epic poems by Martin Opitz, especially the Trostgedichte, which were written at the beginning of the war. The relationship between history and fiction is developed through a specific kind of “story telling”, which aims at presenting the protestants as victims of persecution within all Europe, without mentioning the origins and reasons of this specific war in Germany. The author Martin Opitz, as their harbinger, tries to give moral and philosophical support to his readers but also calls for a strong resistance. The different epic works Opitz wrote during his short life can thus be seen as a encrypted and steadily updated comment to the current political and military events.
Krieg ohne Konfession
Authors: Niefanger Dirk
Published: March 2019

This contribution describes the social practice of ‘foraging’ as a narrative in autobiographical texts from the Thirty Years War. The term euphemistically denotes the illegal provision of soldiers with supplies and loot – often as a replacement for outstanding pay. Those who practised foraging generally did not respect religious confessional boundaries. Presumably it was this indiscretion which led to the war not being portrayed as a confessional conflict in the texts examined. In this context, the war seems to be entirely non-confessional.
Object Omission in Contact: Object Clitics and Definite Articles in the West Thracian Greek (Evros) Dialect
Authors: Lavidas Nikolaos , Tsimpli Ianthi Maria
Published: March 2019

We examine spontaneous production data from the dialect of Modern West Thracian Greek (mwtg) (the local dialect of Evros) with regard to a hypothesis of syntactic borrowing of verbal transitivity. We argue that mwtg allows omission of the direct object with specific reference, in contrast to Standard Modern Greek (smg) and other Modern Greek (mg) dialects (spoken in Greece), but similar to Turkish. Object omission in mwtg is possible only in contexts where smg and other mg dialects show obligatory use of the 3rd-person clitic. We argue that syntactic borrowing in the case of language contact follows the transfer with second language learners: the relevant elements that host uninterpretable features are used optionally. Moreover, the definite article, in contrast to the indefinite article, is also affected by language contact. The 3rd-person clitic and the definite article are affected by contact as uninterpretable clusters of features. We claim that interpretability plays a significant role in transitivity in cases of language contact.
Kripke’s Wittgenstein’s Sceptical Paradox: A Trilemma for Davidson
Authors: Khani Ali Hossein
Published: March 2019

Davidson’s later philosophy of language has been inspired by Wittgenstein’s Investigations, but Davidson by no means sympathizes with the sceptical problem and solution Kripke attributes to Wittgenstein. Davidson criticizes the sceptical argument for relying on the rule-following conception of meaning, which is, for him, a highly problematic view. He also casts doubt on the plausibility of the sceptical solution as unjustifiably bringing in shared practices of a speech community. According to Davidson, it is rather success in mutual interpretation that explains success in the practice of meaning something by an utterance. I will argue that Davidson’s objections to the sceptical problem and solution are misplaced as they rely on a misconstrual of Kripke’s Wittgenstein’s view. I will also argue that Davidson’s alternative solution to the sceptical problem is implausible, since it fails to block the route to the sceptical problem. I will then offer a problematic trilemma for Davidson.
A Guide to Mandarin, in Manchu: on a Partial Translation of Guanhua zhinan (1882) and Its Historical Context
Authors: Söderblom Saarela Mårten
Published: March 2019

This paper describes and contextualizes Guwan hûwa jy nan, a partial Manchu translation, hitherto unidentified as such, of a Japanese-authored Mandarin primer —Guanhua zhinan—from 1882. In so doing, the paper will highlight certain characteristics of the language primer in Northeast Asia and their consequences for our conceptualization of Mandarin Chinese as China’s national language.

East Asian primers in dialogue form moved between communities of readers and even languages with remarkable ease. Not only did the same Chinese texts reach places far apart, they were also adapted for the teaching of languages entirely different from those of their original composition. The Manchu translation of the Japanese Mandarin primer is one example of this phenomenon. It represents the confluence of a pedagogical tradition of teaching the Qing dynastic language and a growing foreign interest in Beijing Chinese, manifest here through the text’s origin in the Meiji government’s interpreter corps.
The Legal Status of Religious Groups in Argentina
Authors: Arlettaz Fernando
Published: March 2019

The Argentinian Constitution of 1853 established a religious policy based on two main principles: freedom of religion and the privileged status of the Catholic Church. In 1966, an agreement with the Catholic Church eliminated the power of the government to interfere in ecclesiastical matters, but maintained the privileged status of Catholicism. Today, the religious configuration of Argentinian society differs greatly from that of the 19th century. Amidst increasing religious diversity, some legal changes point to the transformation of the Argentinian regime from a nearly confessional state into a multi-confessional, yet not an egalitarian one.
Arbitration in the Baltic States and Scandinavia
Authors: Warwas Barbara
Published: March 2019

This article builds off the empirical research conducted within the Study on the Legal Instruments and Practice of Arbitration in the eu and Switzerland, commissioned by the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. It discusses the empirical data collected in the course of the Study, and the most recent legal developments on arbitration regarding five Member States – Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Sweden – referred to as ‘the Baltic States and Scandinavia’. Hence, this article shifts the discussion on arbitration from elite practitioners to more local arbitration practices, uncovering the so-called ‘grey zone’ largely missing from the mainstream discussion of arbitration.
Contested Stance Practices in Secular Yiddish Metalinguistic Communities: Negotiating Closeness and Distance
Authors: Avineri Netta
Published: March 2019

This ethnographic research examines language socialization practices and language ideologies in secular Yiddish “metalinguistic communities,” communities of positioned social actors shaped by practices that view language as an object. “Metalinguistic community” is a framework for diverse participants who can experience both distance from and closeness to the language and its speakers, due to historical, personal, and/or communal circumstances. Through an examination of classroom interactions in California, this article shows how simultaneous distancing and closeness experienced by metalinguistic community members can manifest in “contested stance practices,” public demonstrations of language ideologies that reveal both internal and external tensions. Contested stance practices reveal how members’ perceptions of language are shaped by their personal histories and those of their imagined communities; these practices become a fertile means through which individuals negotiate their relationships with language as a symbol of identity, ideology, and community.
New Notes on the Rise-Fall Contour
Authors: Burdin Rachel Steindel
Published: March 2019

This study examines the production and use of the rise-fall contour by three Yiddish/English bilinguals in a small American Jewish community. Acoustic analysis shows that the Yiddish rise-falls have higher peaks, larger rise spans, and later Tonal Centers of Gravity compared to a similar intonational contour in English. These results hold for all three speakers despite their diverse linguistic histories. Additionally, evidence is provided that rise-falls with higher peaks have social meaning in both languages. English rise-falls are produced with higher peaks during meetings of a local Yiddish club than during one-on-one interviews, and rise-falls with high peaks are used in both Yiddish and English during an exchange in which one of the speakers discusses his relationship to Passover. The social meaning of the phonetically extreme rise-falls is posited to be the reason why all three speakers have either successfully acquired or maintained phonetic distinctiveness between their English and Yiddish.
Mating system of the endangered Haloxylon ammodendron (Amaranthaceae) in the Gurbantunggut desert (China)
Authors: Zhou Chaobin , Gong Wei
Published: March 2019

In the arid region of northwest China, H. ammodendron has become the main pioneer species for the restoration of plant communities. However, the breeding system of the plant remains unknown. The floral dynamics and the breeding system characteristics of H. ammodendron were investigated in this study, using a bagging experiment. The results show that anthesis lasted about 22 d. The longevity of individual flowers was 14.1 d. Stigma receptivity lasted about 6 d and there were relatively long periods for the meeting between stamen and stigma. Anther height was slightly greater than that of the stigma. The outcrossing index was 2 and the pollen-ovule ratio was 64,815. The H. ammodendron mating system can be described as a mixed mating system with facultative apomixis; pollination is not necessary for reproduction. The mixed mating system with facultative apomixis could guarantee the reproductive success of H. ammodendron in severe desert conditions with sparse pollinators.