bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prominent β-relaxations in yttrium based metallic glasses
Authors: Luo P. , Lu Z. , Zhu Z. G. , Li Y. Z. , Bai H. Y. , Wang W. H.
Published: January 2015

Most metallic glasses (MGs) exhibit weak slow β-relaxation. We report the prominent β-relaxation in YNiAl metallic glass with a wide composition range. Compared with other MGs, the MGs show a pronounced β-relaxation peak and high β-relaxation peak temperature, and the β-relaxation behavior varies significantly with the changes of the constituent elements, which is attributed to the fluctuations of chemical interactions between the components. We demonstrate the correlation between the β-relaxation and the activation of flow units for mechanical behaviors of the MG and show that the MG is model system for studying some controversial issues in glasses.
A unified approach to modelling the charge state of monatomic hydrogen and other defects in crystalline silicon
Authors: Sun Chang , Rougieux Fiacre E. , Macdonald Daniel
Published: January 2015

There are a number of existing models for estimating the charge states of defects in silicon. In order of increasing complexity, these are (a) the Fermi-Dirac distribution, (b) the Shockley-Last model, (c) the Shockley-Read-Hall model, and (d) the Sah-Shockley model. In this work, we demonstrate their consistency with the general occupancy ratio α, and show that this parameter can be universally applied to predict the charge states of both monovalent and multivalent deep levels, under either thermal equilibrium or steady-state conditions with carrier injection. The capture cross section ratio is shown to play an important role in determining the charge state under non-equilibrium conditions. The application of the general occupancy ratio is compared with the quasi-Fermi levels, which are sometimes used to predict the charge states in the literature, and the conditions where the latter can be a good approximation are identified. The general approach is then applied to the prediction of the temperature- and injection level-dependent charge states for the technologically important case of multivalent monatomic hydrogen, and several other key monovalent deep levels including Fe, Cr, and the boron-oxygen complex in silicon solar cells. For the case of hydrogen, we adapt the model of Herring et al., which describes the charge states of hydrogen in thermal equilibrium, and generalize it for non-equilibrium conditions via the inclusion of the general occupancy ratio, while retaining the pre-factors which make the model more complete. Based on these results, the impact of temperature and injection on the hydrogenation of the key monovalent defects, and other pairing reactions, are discussed, demonstrating that the presented model provides a rigorous methodology for understanding the impact of charge states.
One-heater flow-through polymerase chain reaction device by heat pipes cooling
Authors: Chen Jyh Jian , Liao Ming Huei , Li Kun Tze , Shen Chia Ming
Published: January 2015

This study describes a novel microfluidic reactor capable of flow-through polymerase chain reactions (PCR). For one-heater PCR devices in previous studies, comprehensive simulations and experiments for the chip geometry and the heater arrangement were usually needed before the fabrication of the device. In order to improve the flexibility of the one-heater PCR device, two heat pipes with one fan are used to create the requisite temperature regions in our device. With the integration of one heater onto the chip, the high temperature required for the denaturation stage can be generated at the chip center. By arranging the heat pipes on the opposite sides of the chip, the low temperature needed for the annealing stage is easy to regulate. Numerical calculations and thermal measurements have shown that the temperature distribution in the five-temperature-region PCR chip would be suitable for DNA amplification. In order to ensure temperature uniformity at specific reaction regions, the Re of the sample flow is less than 1. When the microchannel width increases and then decreases gradually between the denaturation and annealing regions, the extension region located in the enlarged part of the channel can be observed numerically and experimentally. From the simulations, the residence time at the extension region with the enlarged channel is 4.25 times longer than that without an enlarged channel at a flow rate of 2 μl/min. The treated surfaces of the flow-through microchannel are characterized using the water contact angle, while the effects of the hydrophilicity of the treated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels on PCR efficiency are determined using gel electrophoresis. By increasing the hydrophilicity of the channel surface after immersing the PDMS substrates into Tween 20 (20%) or BSA (1 mg/ml) solutions, efficient amplifications of DNA segments were proved to occur in our chip device. To our knowledge, our group is the first to introduce heat pipes into the cooling module that has been designed for a PCR device. The unique architecture utilized in this flow-through PCR device is well applied to a low-cost PCR system.
Note: A 95 GHz mid-power gyrotron for medical applications measurements
Authors: Pilossof Moritz , Einat Moshe
Published: January 2015

A mid-power 95 GHz gyrotron was built and used for measuring insertion loss of biological tissue. The gyrotron is a compact table-top device that allows convenient measurements in a biological setup. It operates at the fundamental harmonic with TE02 circular mode. A mode converter is used to obtain TE10 rectangular mode in standard WR10 components. Using this gyrotron, beef tissue insertion loss was measured to be about 7-8 dB per millimeter.
All-optical on-chip sensor for high refractive index sensing
Authors: Liu Yazhao , Salemink H. W. M.
Published: January 2015

A highly sensitive sensor design based on two-dimensional photonic crystal cavity is demonstrated. The geometric structure of the cavity is modified to gain a high quality factor, which enables a sensitive refractive index sensing. A group of slots with optimized parameters is created in the cavity. The existence of the slots enhances the light–matter interactions between confined photons and analytes. The interactions result in large wavelength shifts in the transmission spectra and are denoted by high sensitivities. Experiments show that a change in refractive index of Δn ∼ 0.12 between water and oil sample 1 causes a spectral shift of 23.5 nm, and the spectral shift between two oil samples is 5.1 nm for Δn ∼ 0.039. These results are in good agreement with simulations, which are 21.3 and 7.39 nm for the same index changes.
Mytho-Political Remakings of Ferdowsi's Jamshid in the Lyric Poetry of Injuid and Mozaffarid Shiraz
Authors: Brookshaw Dominic Parviz
Published: January 2015

This study examines the Jamshid of Ferdowsi'sShahnamehand its later reception, specifically the Islamic refashioning of Jamshid in fourteenth-century Shiraz, as evidenced in the ghazals of Hāfez (d. 1389), and the lyric poetry of Khvāju-ye Kermāni (d. 1352 or 1360), and ʿObeyd-e Zākāni (d. 1371). Hāfez, Khvāju, and ʿObeyd used literary devices such astalmih(allusion) andubi suntto both engage with and reshape the past, and this refashioning of the past was employed to legitimize their patrons’ authority to rule from Shiraz. The article culminates in an exploration of the mytho-political dimensions of the conflation of Jamshid with Solomon and the intimate association of this composite figure with Fars in the Ilkhanid and post-Ilkhanid periods. Poetry is treated here as a productive force that both shapes and is shaped by the socio-political circumstances of its composition, performance, and reception. In order to locate the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century reconfiguration of Jamshid within its geo-mythological context, use has been made of the concept oflieu de mémoireas a means through which to unpack the trans-historical cultural impact on Shiraz of the ancient Achaemenid and Sasanian ruins that surround the Islamic city; ruins that have for more than two millennia embedded a sense of proximity to history in the land and peoples of Fars.
Kinetic analysis for the isomerization of glucose, fructose, and mannose in subcritical aqueous ethanol
Authors: Gao Da-Ming , Kobayashi Takashi , Adachi Shuji
Published: January 2015

Fructose, glucose, and mannose were treated with subcritical aqueous ethanol for ethanol concentrations ranging from 0 to 80% (v/v) at 180–200 °C. The aldose–ketose isomerization was more favorable than ketose–aldose isomerization and glucose–mannose epimerization. The isomerization of the monosaccharides was promoted by the addition of ethanol. In particular, mannose was isomerized most easily to fructose in subcritical aqueous ethanol. The apparent equilibrium constants for the isomerizations of mannose to fructose, Keq,M→F, and glucose to fructose, Keq,G→F, were independent of ethanol concentration and increased with increasing temperature. Moreover, the Keq,M→F value was much larger than the Keq,G→F value. The enthalpies for the isomerization of mannose to fructose, ΔHM→F, and glucose to fructose, ΔHG→F, were estimated to be 18 and 24 kJ/mol, respectively, according to van’t Hoff equation. Subcritical aqueous ethanol can be used to produce fructose from glucose and mannose efficiently.
Michael Faraday's “Historical Sketch of Electro-Magnetism” and the Theory-Dependence of Experimentation
Authors: Cobb Aaron D.
Published: January 2015

This article explores Michael Faraday's “Historical Sketch of Electro-Magnetism” as a fruitful source for understanding the epistemic significance of experimentation. In this work Faraday provides a catalog of the numerous experimental and theoretical developments in the early history of electromagnetism. He also describes methods that enable experimentalists to dissociate experimental results from the theoretical commitments generating their research. An analysis of the methods articulated in this sketch is instructive for confronting epistemological worries about the theory-dependence of experimentation.
On the Conflicting Assessments of the Current Status of String Theory
Authors: Dawid Richard
Published: January 2015

The current status of string theory is assessed quite differently by most of the theory's exponents than by the majority of physicists in other fields. While the former tend to have a high degree of trust in string theory's viability, the latter largely share a substantially more skeptical point of view. This article argues that the controversy can be best understood in terms of a paradigmatic rift between the two sides over their understandings of theory assessment. An attempt is made to evaluate the two conflicting paradigms on their own terms.
The Epistemic Value of Understanding
Authors: de Regt Henk W.
Published: January 2015

This article analyzes the epistemic value of understanding and offers an account of the role of understanding in science. First, I discuss the objectivist view of the relation between explanation and understanding, defended by Carl Hempel and J. D. Trout. I challenge this view by arguing that pragmatic aspects of explanation are crucial for achieving the epistemic aims of science. Subsequently, I present an analysis of these pragmatic aspects in terms of ‘intelligibility’ and a contextual account of scientific understanding based on this notion.
Is Determinism More Favorable than Indeterminism for the Causal Markov Condition?
Authors: Drouet Isabelle
Published: January 2015

The present text comments on Steel 2005, in which the author claims to extend from the deterministic to the general case, the result according to which the causal Markov condition is satisfied by systems with jointly independent exogenous variables. I show that Steel's claim cannot be accepted unless one is prepared to abandon standard causal modeling terminology. Correlatively, I argue that the most fruitful aspect of Steel 2005 consists in a realist conception of error terms, and I show how this conception sheds new light on the relationship between determinism and the causal Markov condition.
Probability, Self-Location, and Quantum Branching
Authors: Lewis Peter J.
Published: January 2015

The main problem with the many-worlds theory is that it is not clear how the notion of probability should be understood in a theory in which every possible outcome of a measurement actually occurs. In this paper, I argue for the following theses concerning the many-worlds theory: (1) If probability can be applied at all to measurement outcomes, it must function as a measure of an agent's self-location uncertainty. (2) Such probabilities typically violate reflection. (3) Many-worlds branching does not have sufficient structure to admit self-location probabilities. (4) Decision-theoretic arguments do not solve this problem.
How to Fix Kind Membership: A Problem for HPC Theory and a Solution
Authors: Reydon Thomas A. C.
Published: January 2015

Natural kinds are often contrasted with other kinds of scientific kinds, especially functional kinds, because of a presumed categorical difference in explanatory value: supposedly, natural kinds can ground explanations, while other kinds of kinds cannot. I argue against this view of natural kinds by examining a particular type of explanation—mechanistic explanation—and showing that functional kinds do the same work there as traditionally recognized natural kinds are supposed to do in “standard” scientific explanations. Breaking down this categorical distinction between traditional natural kinds and other kinds of kinds, I argue, delivers two goods: It provides us with a view of natural kindhood that does justice to the epistemic roles of kinds in scientific explanations. And it allows us to solve a problem that HPC theory, currently one of the more popular accounts of natural kindhood, confronts.
Brain-Mind and Structure-Function Relationships: A Methodological Response to Coltheart
Authors: Roskies Adina L.
Published: January 2015

In some recent papers, Max Coltheart has questioned the ability of neuroimaging techniques to tell us anything interesting about the mind and has thrown down the gauntlet before neuroimagers, challenging them to prove he is mistaken. Here I analyze Coltheart's challenge, show that as posed its terms are unfair, and reconstruct it so that it is addressable. I argue that, so modified, Coltheart's challenge is able to be met and indeed has been met. In an effort to delineate the extent of neuroimaging's ability to address Coltheart's concerns, I explore how different brain structure-function relationships would constrain the ability of neuroimaging to provide insight about psychological questions.
Macromolecular Pluralism
Authors: Slater Matthew H.
Published: January 2015

Different chemical species are often cited as paradigm examples of structurally delimited natural kinds. While classificatory monism may thus seem plausible for simple molecules, it looks less attractive for complex biological macromolecules. I focus on the case of proteins that are most plausibly individuated by theirfunctions. Is there a single, objective count of proteins? I argue that the vagaries of function individuation infect protein classification. We should be pluralists about macromolecular classification.
Counterfactuals, Thought Experiments, and Singular Causal Analysis in History
Authors: Reiss Julian
Published: January 2015

Thought experiments are ubiquitous in science and especially prominent in domains in which experimental and observational evidence is scarce. One such domain is the causal analysis of singular events in history. A long-standing tradition that goes back to Max Weber addresses the issue by means of ‘what-if’ counterfactuals. In this paper I give a descriptive account of this widely used method and argue that historians following it examine difference makers rather than causes in the philosopher's sense. While difference making is neither necessary nor sufficient for causation, to establish difference makers is more consistent with the historians’ more ultimate purposes.
Counting the Dead: Traditions of Enumeration and the Italian Wars*
Authors: Gagné John
Published: January 2015

Methods for counting war deaths developed alongside structural changes in the ways that states enumerated mortality (for both fighters and citizens) between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. This paper argues that an alternative way to interpret observers’ comments on the magnitude and novelty of war damages during the Italian Wars (1494–1559) is to trace the history of enumerating mortality from the fourteenth century, using the Hundred Years’ War and the Black Death as departure points. Military heralds counted dead soldiers in Northern Europe and civic record keepers registered public mortality in Italy. Numbers carried cultural value. In war, disputants and observers used numbers rhetorically to argue political cases and to emphasize the scale of victories and defeats. By 1500, the proliferation of specific mortality numbers in public discourse — amplified by printed war reporting — forced observers to reckon with their meaning. The article concludes by illustrating how numbers entered memorial culture: monuments from the Italian Wars featured numbers as an index of the perceived magnitude of war in the sixteenth century.
Cyclin C mediates stress-induced mitochondrial fission and apoptosis
Authors: Wang Kun , Yan Ruilan , Cooper Katrina F. , Strich Randy
Published: January 2015

Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that undergo constant fission and fusion cycles. In response to cellular damage, this balance is shifted dramatically toward fission. Cyclin C–Cdk8 kinase regulates transcription of diverse gene sets. Using knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), we demonstrate that cyclin C directs the extensive mitochondrial scission induced by the anticancer drug cisplatin or oxidative stress. This activity is independent of transcriptional regulation, as Cdk8 is not required for this activity. Furthermore, adding purified cyclin C to unstressed permeabilized MEF cultures induced complete mitochondrial fragmentation that was dependent on the fission factors Drp1 and Mff. To regulate fission, a portion of cyclin C translocates from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, where it associates with Drp1 and is required for its enhanced mitochondrial activity in oxidatively stressed cells. In addition, although HeLa cells regulate cyclin C in a manner similar to MEF cells, U2OS osteosarcoma cultures display constitutively cytoplasmic cyclin C and semifragmented mitochondria. Finally, cyclin C, but not Cdk8, is required for loss of mitochondrial outer membrane permeability and apoptosis in cells treated with cisplatin. In conclusion, this study suggests that cyclin C connects stress-induced mitochondrial hyperfission and programmed cell death in mammalian cells.
G protein βγ subunits regulate cardiomyocyte hypertrophy through a perinuclear Golgi phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate hydrolysis pathway
Authors: Malik S. , deRubio R. G. , Trembley M. , Irannejad R. , Wedegaertner P. B. , Smrcka A. V.
Published: January 2015

We recently identified a novel GPCR-dependent pathway for regulation of cardiac hypertrophy that depends on Golgi phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P) hydrolysis by a specific isoform of phospholipase C (PLC), PLCε, at the nuclear envelope. How stimuli are transmitted from cell surface GPCRs to activation of perinuclear PLCε is not clear. Here we tested the role of G protein βγ subunits. Gβγ inhibition blocked ET-1–stimulated Golgi PI4P depletion in neonatal and adult ventricular myocytes. Blocking Gβγ at the Golgi inhibited ET-1–dependent PI4P depletion and nuclear PKD activation. Translocation of Gβγ to the Golgi stimulated perinuclear Golgi PI4P depletion and nuclear PKD activation. Finally, blocking Gβγ at the Golgi or PM blocked ET-1–dependent cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. These data indicate that Gβγ regulation of the perinuclear Golgi PI4P pathway and a separate pathway at the PM is required for ET-1–stimulated hypertrophy, and the efficacy of Gβγ inhibition in preventing heart failure maybe due in part to its blocking both these pathways.
Dendritic and axonal mechanisms of Ca2+ elevation impair BDNF transport in Aβ oligomer–treated hippocampal neurons
Authors: Gan Kathlyn J. , Silverman Michael A.
Published: January 2015

Disruption of fast axonal transport (FAT) and intracellular Ca2+ dysregulation are early pathological events in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Amyloid-β oligomers (AβOs), a causative agent of AD, impair transport of BDNF independent of tau by nonexcitotoxic activation of calcineurin (CaN). Ca2+-dependent mechanisms that regulate the onset, severity, and spatiotemporal progression of BDNF transport defects from dendritic and axonal AβO binding sites are unknown. Here we show that BDNF transport defects in dendrites and axons are induced simultaneously but exhibit different rates of decline. The spatiotemporal progression of FAT impairment correlates with Ca2+ elevation and CaN activation first in dendrites and subsequently in axons. Although many axonal pathologies have been described in AD, studies have primarily focused only on the dendritic effects of AβOs despite compelling reports of presynaptic AβOs in AD models and patients. Indeed, we observe that dendritic CaN activation converges on Ca2+ influx through axonal voltage-gated Ca2+ channels to impair FAT. Finally, FAT defects are prevented by dantrolene, a clinical compound that reduces Ca2+ release from the ER. This work establishes a novel role for Ca2+ dysregulation in BDNF transport disruption and tau-independent Aβ toxicity in early AD.
Competition in argument interpretation: Evidence from the neurobiology of language
Authors: Bornkessel‐Schlesewsky Ina , Schlesewsky Matthias
Published: January 2015

This chapter presents an approach to competition in incremental argument interpretation based on the latest version of the extended Argument Dependency Model (eADM; Bornkessel and Schlesewsky 2006). It argues that, during real time language comprehension, each potential argument (i.e. every “nouny” constituent in a sentence) competes for three cardinal categories (CCs) of argument interpretation: actor, subject (privileged syntactic argument), and topic. The CCs serve to anchor arguments in the current event (actor), the upcoming discourse (subject), and the preceding discourse (topic). It outlines a neurobiological processing architecture based on the CCs and independent assumptions about information processing in the human brain and discusses existing evidence in favor of this approach as well as testable new predictions.
On system pressure competing with economic motivation
Authors: Haspelmath Martin
Published: January 2015

This chapter starts out from the observation that grammatical marking is typically economical, i.e. the more frequent member of a grammatical opposition tends to be coded by zero, while the rarer member is coded overtly. This can be seen in many domains of grammar, for example in number marking, in person marking, in argument coding, and in adnominal possessive marking. But if this motivating factor had no competition, we would expect a lot more variation than we actually find, because different lexemes show different frequencies. Grammatical coding is fairly uniform within word classes, and there are rarely more than two or three different classes. Thus, system pressure (the tendency for words to behave like other similar words) must be a powerful competing motivation which leads languages to have many patterns with a local lack of economy.
Formal vs. functional motivations for the structure of self‐repair in German
Authors: Pfeiffer Martin
Published: January 2015

In recent years, comparative studies in interactional linguistics have shown that the syntactic organization of self‐repair is influenced by the different morphosyntactic characteristics of the respective languages. However, it is yet largely unknown to what extent functional motivations compete with formal motivations in determining the syntax of self‐repair in a specific language. By focusing on the influence of the cognitive and interactional needs of speakers and hearers on the structure of self‐repair, this chapter addresses an aspect of self‐repair that has not yet been subject to systematic investigation. Applying a competing motivations model (cf. Du Bois 1985), it will be demonstrated how formal (grammatical) and functional (cognitive and interactional) motivations shape the structure of different types of self‐repair.
Motivating competitions
Authors: Du Bois John W.
Published: January 2015

This chapter is about motivations, competitions, and resolutions: about the motivations that shape the organization of grammar, the competitions that arise between these motivations, and the resolution of these competitions through the systematic and systematizing processes of grammaticization. It is in the real‐time decision‐making of verbalization and interpretation that competitions first arise, and ultimately must be resolved. Competing motivations are pervasive and powerful in language, and thus play a critical role in answering the fundamental functional question: Why are grammars as they are? The chapter explores how real competitions between functional units relate to speakers' strategies for achieving their communicative goals; clarifies and problematizes the functional frequency principle (“Grammars code best what speakers do most”); revisits the idea of competing motivations in relation to language as a complex adaptive system; and theorizes how competition and motivation interact to produce competing motivations, with important consequences for the adaptive emergence of grammar.
Where do motivations compete?
Authors: Newmeyer Frederick J.
Published: January 2015

This chapter is devoted to analyzing the locus of competing functional motivations. There are, broadly speaking, two positions on this issue, called “direct competition” (DC) and “indirect competition” (IC). In DC, there is direct synchronic linkage between properties of particular grammars and functional motivations for those properties. In IC, there is no direct linkage. Several arguments lead to the conclusion that IC is correct. In a nutshell, we can pinpoint parsing ease, iconicity, etc. as motivating factors for grammatical structure, even though, contra DC, there is no hope of identifying parsing or iconicity as motivators for particular structures or rules in particular languages.
A Cacophony of Policy Responses
Authors: Bryan Shane
Published: January 2015

Phenomenal increases in food prices over 2007–8 caused governments around the globe to panic. During the chaos which ensued, most developing countries responded to the crisis with a convoluted array of policies intended to stabilize domestic markets, placate consumers and other stakeholders, protect the vulnerable and, occasionally, address long-term food security concerns. However, there was a great deal of variation in the extent of intervention and the types of policies selected. Even among particular policy types, there was tremendous heterogeneity in timing, scale, implementation mechanisms, and other features. Utilizing a newly compiled sample of country-level case studies, this chapter assimilates available evidence to compare the specifics of crisis responses. In this regard it differs from other policy response studies which focus more on policy types and titles, ignoring the details.
A Political Economy Synthesis
Authors: Watson II Derrill D.
Published: January 2015

The food price crisis revealed contradictions in creating food policy. Much of the common policy response can be explained by a benevolent, unitary government. To understand the variance between countries, however, requires understanding fractured government decision-making, path dependency, and institutional constraints. Governments’ relationships with the private sector are very complex. They reveal both the firms’ lobbying successes as well as how the deep distrust between private and public sectors lead to perverse policy incentives and unintended consequences that undermine intended outcomes. Decision makers’ private interests and riot prevention played significant roles in selected cases, but were not leading factors overall. Understanding why governments prefer one policy set to another may improve policy analysts’ ability to encourage pro-poor policies which are more likely to be enacted, or to adapt policies which are more palatable to policy elites.
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy in Malawi
Authors: Chirwa Ephraim W. , Chinsinga Blessings
Published: January 2015

The chapter examines the underlying political economy motivations of the government’s policy responses to food price increases in 2007/08 focusing particularly on maize as the main staple crop. The main government policy responses to the food price spikes in 2007/08 were price control, bans on domestic and international trade. We argue that although there has been increased openness in policy debates and dialogue relating to the question of food security since the transition to democracy in May 1994, the process continues to be unclear, dominated by presidential interventions, and tends to be highly motivated by electoral politics and considerations. Malawi was suggested as a model for the rest of the countries on the continent to emulate for achieving and accelerating the attainment of a uniquely African green revolution.
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy in Zambia
Authors: Chapoto Antony
Published: January 2015

The global food price crisis of 2007–8 raised fears about the impacts of higher and more volatile food prices for the poor in Zambia. Like in the past, the implementation of the strategies to deal with the rising food prices, especially for the staple crop maize were delayed due to ineffective response policies, mistrust between government and private sector, protracted discussions, inaction amongst key agriculture stakeholders and rent-seeking behaviour by some. Using the political economy framework, this study examines how the country responded to the 2007/08 global food crisis and the lessons learnt for dealing with future food crises.
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy in Vietnam
Authors: Manh Hai Nguyen , Talbot Theodore
Published: January 2015

Rice is a key agricultural commodity in Vietnam, and the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector remains a major source of employment. This chapter uses episodes of rice price volatility to understand how the interplay of market forces and political economy factors caused domestic and world prices to diverge, depriving producers of windfall profits, and preventing markets from clearing. The welfare consequences of mutually-inconsistent agricultural policies suggest that Vietnam and other transition economies must emphasize policy coherence by developing institutions capable of balancing the needs of distinct constituencies, such as net rice producers and consumers. Policies that influence rice production and prices provide a lens through which to understand broader agricultural policies both in Vietnam and economies where agriculture remains one of the major components of national income.
The Political Economy of Food Price Policy in Brazil
Authors: Mueller Bernardo , Mueller Charles
Published: January 2015

This chapter argues that the effects of the food price crisis of 2007–8 put pressure on two variables that are of central importance to the Brazilian government: inflation and social inclusion. The chapter describes how political institutions in Brazil have given rise to a policy-making process where fiscal stability and social inclusion are the overarching priorities, irrespective of the party in power. It could be expected that the food price crisis would have led to significant reactions by the government to safeguard those two central policy objectives. However, government and social groups’ reactions were relatively subdued, compared to other countries. The authors explain this by showing that the negative impacts of the food price increases on consumers was partly counterbalanced by the benefits from agricultural production. Before the crisis the country already possessed a series of mechanisms offering protection to the poor.
The Political Determinants of Economic Growth: An Analytical Review
Authors: Sen Kunal
Published: January 2015

This chapter is an assessment of what we know about the political determinants of economic growth. It begins by setting out the stylized facts of economic growth. The chapter suggests that there is a need to shift away from much of the previous literature’s emphasis on the determinants of long-run average economic growth (including political determinants), to an understanding of the determinants of within-country growth patterns. The chapter proposes a conceptual framework to understand the political channels of within-country growth. Using this framework, it reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the political determinants of economic growth. It argues that the theoretical and empirical literature does not provide an adequate understanding as yet of the political dynamics of economic growth, and suggests future directions for research in this area.
The Politics of What Works in Service Delivery
Authors: Mcloughlin Claire
Published: January 2015

This chapter examines the evidence on the forms of politics likely to promote inclusive social provisioning and enable, as opposed to constrain, improvements in service outcomes. It focuses on eight relatively successful cases of delivery in a range of country contexts and sectors (roads, agriculture, health, education) where independent evaluations demonstrate improved outcomes. The chapter traces the main characteristics of the political environment for these cases, from the national political context, to the politics of sector policymaking, to the micro politics of implementation. The findings indicate that it is possible to identify connections between good performance and better outcomes at the point of delivery and the main forms of politics operating at local, sector, and national levels.
Ethnicity, State Capacity, and Development: Reconsidering Causal Connections
Authors: Singh Prerna , vom Hau Matthias
Published: January 2015

A large and influential literature in political economy argues that ethnic fractionalization impedes public goods provision. This chapter critically reassesses the main causal mechanism that supports this body of scholarship. Most of the works in this research tradition focus on inter-ethnic cooperation, hypothesizing that ethnic fractionalization leads to conflicting preferences, which in turn prevent inter-ethnic cooperation, either to generate desired goods or to pressure the state to provide them. Yet, such an exclusive focus on inter-ethnic cooperation ignores a wide array of other plausible causal pathways. In response, this chapter identifies three broad sets of mechanisms through which ethnicity might impact on state capacity: collective action by ethnic groups (whether in the form of inter-ethnic cooperation or ethnic mobilization), the actions and perceptions of other collective actors (whether societal elites or state officials), and institutional change (whether of formal or informal institutions).
The Politics of Aid Revisited: A Review of Evidence on State Capacity and Elite Commitment
Authors: de Haan Arjan , Warmerdam Ward
Published: January 2015

Based on a systematic review of the impacts of aid on both state capacity for, and elite commitment to sustainable development, this chapter concludes that a better understanding of the impact of aid has the potential to directly inform practices of international development. This requires better empirical insight into how donors interact with formal and informal institutions in the countries where they work, particularly in aid-dependent countries. Furthermore, it is critical to see aid as part of a spectrum of international exchange, rather than in isolation. This implies a significant research agenda, combining quantitative and in-depth qualitative analysis, as there are barriers for more informed political analysis to inform practice; and little analysis exists of how donors, even where they do start adopting a political perspective, do influence local institutions and the people they work with.
Tropical transitions in colonial counter-insurgency
Authors: Hack Karl
Published: January 2015

This chapter asks how far ‘colonial transitioning’ can provide insights for contemporary conflicts. It demonstrates how ‘transitioning’ in the Malayan Emergency of 1948–60 was deep-rooted, with key activities such as building elections from local level upwards, and the creation of a strong ethos for local forces, took place across and beyond counterinsurgency (COIN) phases. It also shows how smooth transitioning was predicated on COIN control having been intertwined with military–civilian committees throughout. This, and the posting of British as employed or seconded local staff, avoided COIN being an alien accretion, and allowed the gradual localization of those posts initially controlled by British civil, military, and police officials. Rather than suggesting colonial case studies as too alien to modern conditions, the Malayan example offers a distinct paradigm of long-term COIN implementation and transitioning, in which the assisting power embeds into and then eases out of the host nation’s structures.
Exit from empire
Authors: Anderson David M.
Published: January 2015

Britain’s exit from Kenya came after a four-year war against an armed insurgency, and an eight-year State of Emergency. Provoked by official admission of excessive state violence in the treatment of detainees from the insurgency, the decision to leave came in summer 1959. The British brought the State of Emergency to an end, reactivated local politics to generate a ‘friendly’ successor regime, and devised strategies to protect their strategic interests. The chapter explains how the war was won between 1952 and 1956, and at what cost, and describes how the British sought to ‘make the peace’ in Kenya between 1956 and 1959. The period of exit, from June 1959 was relatively short, with departure in December 1963. In this phase, compromise and containment were key themes, pragmatism regularly trumping principle. The final discussion elucidates the implications for other ‘exits’ that might be drawn from the Kenya case.
The end of Operation New Dawn
Authors: Battjes Mark
Published: January 2015

This chapter discusses the operations of the US Army’s 25th Infantry Division during the final six months of Operation New Dawn. The division oversaw the closure or transfer of all remaining US bases in Iraq and secured the withdrawal of tens of thousands of personnel. To accomplish its mission more effectively, the division partially reorganized its staff along functional lines of effort. The chapter focuses on this reorganization and explains how the division concentrated effort on the most difficult problems, particularly the need to provide protection for all operations and close or transfer bases. The chapter concludes by describing how the division coordinated and synchronized the final withdrawal of ground forces while mitigating the inherent risk of such an operation.
‘Insider’/‘outsider’ policing
Authors: Sinclair Georgina
Published: January 2015

Since the mid-1990s, the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) has carved out a particular niche in international policing assistance, providing nearly half of all UK police deployed overseas, and, from 2008 to 2014 has supported UK policing efforts in Afghanistan. This chapter draws on the MDP’s Afghanistan experiences under Operation Herrick, reflecting on the role of stakeholders and providers at the UK end and in Afghanistan. In this case an opportunity arose to improve the provision of international policing services at the centre, to identify those ‘lessons needing to be learnt’ in theatre within an integrated military–police approach to police monitoring, mentoring, and advising. This may provide an opportunity to harness lessons learnt to any future overseas policing missions within post-conflict and fragile states and may benefit the development of international policing and rule of law doctrine more broadly.
From syntax to roots
Authors: Acedo–Matellán Víctor , Mateu Jaume
Published: January 2015

In recent years the important idea has been advanced that the interpretation of arguments takes place on the basis of their syntactic position in event structure, or, alternatively, argument structure configurations. This chapter extends this idea to the interpretation of roots: roots are structurally interpreted depending on the position they occupy in the syntactic configuration. By drawing a crucial distinction between the conceptual and the syntactic interpretations of roots, the chapter shows that roots, from the conceptual point of view, are opaque to the syntactic computation and, hence, to the structural semantics of the linguistic expression. As a result, grammatically relevant ontologies of roots become spurious.
The roots of nominality, the nominality of roots
Authors: Acquaviva Paolo
Published: January 2015

This chapter explores a perspective on nominal meaning, which does not take noun referents for granted but instead focuses on the conceptualization of entity types as the distinctive property of nouns. This perspective on the lexical semantics of nouns is descriptively useful and allows a characterization of nominality as a primitive lexical property. This leads to the question whether concepts are the content of lexical roots. The evidence from nouns, then, is that roots do not encapsulate core lexical information, but are best seen as morphological atoms, as opposed to atomic mappings of sound and meaning.
On a low and a high diminutive
Authors: De Belder Marijke , Faust Noam , Lampitelli Nicola
Published: January 2015

This chapter uses evidence from Italian and Modern Hebrew to argue for two different positions for diminutives. The first one is in the functional domain of the noun. The second one directly merges with the root. Therefore, it can occur below categorial heads. The two positions differ with respect to i) productivity, ii) compositionality of meaning, and iii) strategy of word-formation. These effects are defined in terms of syntactic structure.
Roots and phases
Authors: Gallego Ángel J.
Published: January 2015

This chapter argues that the argument-taking properties of roots can be derived from Chomsky’s (2000, 2001) Probe–Goal system. If merged with n, roots become nouns (√DESTROY → destruction), which do not require an internal argument (e.g., destruction (of the city)); if merged with v, roots become verbs (√DESTROY → destroy, (√SING → sing), which do require an internal argument (incorporated or not, destroy *(the city) vs. sing) for valuation purposes. We claim that such a distinction follows from the featural endowment of light functional heads, v and n, which contain a bundle of agreement features. Crucially, given that only v’s bundle enters the syntactic component in an unvalued fashion, it acts as a Probe seeking a matching Goal in its search space (an internal argument). Ultimately, this proposal tries to derive an allegedly semantic property of lexical items (i.e., argument taking) from the specifics of well-known formal dependencies, thus reinforcing the thesis that semantic processes are (ancillary) consequences of syntactic dependencies.
The ontology of roots and verbs
Authors: Levinson Lisa
Published: January 2015

This chapter argues for the syntactic relevance of root ontology. This chapter explores the connections between the semantic properties of roots and morphosyntactic properties and argues that some correlations between interpretation and morphosyntax can be derived from the semantic types of the roots which form the lexical core of verbs.
When roots license and when they respect semantico‐syntactic structure in verbs
Authors: Roßdeutscher Antje
Published: January 2015

This chapter investigates the contribution of roots to the syntactic and semantic properties of verbs. The principal question is: how can the semantics of verbs be constructed from their roots? The chapter constructs Discourse Representation Structures (DRS) from word-syntactic representation in the spirit of Distributed Morphology (DM). Roots can be considered to be events, stative properties, or entities: subtle differences show up when it comes to deciding how to implement the consequences of these three categories in a syntax-semantics interface.
Methods in Comparative Plant Population Ecology
Authors: Gibson David J.
Published: January 2015

This book provides authoritative guidance on research methodology for plant population ecology. Practical advice is provided to assist with the designing of field and greenhouse experiments and the establishing of a research program in plant population ecology. Eight chapters cover facets and the philosophy behind experimental design (including the new Hierarchy of Hypotheses approach), experimental variables and treatments, measurement of plants and the environment, and statistics including basic parametric approaches, spatial pattern analysis, life table analysis, and modelling. Use of the R program for statistical analysis is emphasized and an Appendix provides a listing of appropriate packages. Four case studies are referred to throughout the book to illustrate the use of methodology. This edition includes new topics including generalized linear mixed models, life table response experiments, population viability analysis, and integral projection models. The molecular methods section has been brought up to date with the inclusion of descriptions and the relevance to plant population ecology of the newest approaches including SNPS, Gene expression profiling, epigenetics, and functional metagenomics.
Measuring individual and population parameters
Authors: Gibson David J.
Published: January 2015

This chapter describes the measurements or traits that can be made on individual plants or populations. The value of different morphological, physiological and phenological traits for testing an hypothesis is discussed. Lists of easy-to-measure and hard-to-measure traits are contrasted. The topic of trait measurement is divided into eight sections in this chapter: the value of making repeated measurements, locating and marking population units, morphological measurements (e.g., counts of plant parts), measurements of seeds and dispersal units (including the soil seed bank), physiological measurements (e.g., photosynthesis), molecular measurements (e.g., protein and DNA markers, plus the newest approaches including SNPS, gene expression profiling, epigenetics, and functional metagenomics), indices for expressing plant growth (e.g, Relative Growth Rate), and the calculation of fitness, fecundity and reproductive effort.
Black, White, and Mormon: Amalgamation
Authors: Reeve W. Paul
Published: January 2015

This chapter considers the first twenty years of Mormon history with blackness and documents at least two black priesthood holders in the early days of Mormonism. It traces the evolving position of Mormon leaders regarding slavery, abolitionism, and amalgamation. It culminates in 1847 with two cases of interracial marriage within Mormonism that impacted the future trajectory of the faith and its relationship to its black members. Also covered is the backlash against amalgamation, especially in the state of Missouri, and white fears of Mormons inciting blacks to insurrection. Mormonism’s open gospel drew abolitionists, anti-abolitionists, enslaved blacks, slave masters, and freed blacks into its fold. It was a diverse group of people who Brigham Young would soon insist be shaped into a new racial order, white over black.