bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Thermal vacancies and self‐diffusion energy in 2024 Al‐alloy by positron annihilation lifetime technique
Authors: Badawi Emad A. , Abdel‐Rahman M. A. , Abdallah M. S.
Published: October 2009

Positron annihilation lifetime technique (PALT) is one of the most important nuclear non‐destructive techniques. It was used to study the thermal vacancies in one of the most important engineering aluminum alloys – the 2024 Al‐alloy. Quenching experiments were usually performed on thin specimens to ensure a uniform quenching rate throughout the specimen. The specimens were prepared with dimensions of 0.15 × 1.5 × 1.5 cm3. After grinding, polishing and etching, samples of 2024 were homogenized for 12 h at 673 K and annealed for 90‐min., before being quenched in water (277 K). Positron lifetime measurements followed. From such measurements, it is possible to deduce the vacancy formation enthalpy, which in combination with the results of self‐diffusion measurements, gives a value for migration enthalpy of the vacancy. These are very important quantities in the study of the annealing of irradiation induced defects. The use of the quenching technique in the positron annihilation study has the advantage that it allows a distinction between vacancy and dislocation. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Critical parameters of positron and positronium annihilation in grainy and porous solids: Ionic crystals and zeolites
Authors: Kajcsos Zs. , Liszkay L. , Duplatre G. , Varga L. , Lohonyai L. , Kosanovic C. , Bosnar S. , Subotic B. , Lázár K. , Bosnar D. , Havancsák K. , Gordo P.M.
Published: October 2009

Positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) established itself as a routine method for structural studies of ordered substances in general, but some media present PAS results that are still puzzling. This situation is notably true for solid porous systems. This work recalls reasons for possible large discordances in the PAS results on such substances but focuses attention not only on the sample production, preparation and treatment prior and during the PAS measurements but also on the determination of the appropriate measuring conditions and establishing the optimal range of interest of considerations for obtaining descriptive parameters which provide the requested critical sensitivity. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Positron annihilation spectroscopy in nanocrystallized iron based metallic glass
Authors: Srivastava A. P. , Srivastava D. , Mazumdar B. , Dey G. K. , Suresh K. G. , Sharma Sandeep , Pujari P. K.
Published: October 2009

Soft magnetic metallic glass of composition Fe68.5Cu1Nb3Si18.5B9 has been produced by rapid solidification method. Nanocrystallized microstructure was characterized by TEM and Positron life time spectroscopy. TEM results confirmed presence of Fe3Si and Fe2B as primary and secondary phase respectively. Two life time components were observed in amorphous and nanocrystallized samples. These components have been correlated with Microstructural features. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Meeting challenges in nanomaterials for sustainable energy applications using high‐resolution positron methods
Authors: Eijt S. W. H.
Published: October 2009

Positron methods are promising as in‐situ depth‐resolved probes for the study of the (electronic) structure of semiconductor nanocrystals embedded in active thin layers of future generation solar cells, and of metal hydride thin films with applications as hydrogen sensors and hydrogen switchable mirrors. The (time‐resolved) evolution of the positron‐electron momentum distribution is presented, associated with two sintering steps observed upon heating pyridine‐capped CdSe nanocrystal films in a vacuum. The metal‐to‐insulator transition upon hydrogenation of Mg and Mg2Ni thin films to MgH2 and Mg2NiH4 leads to a clear broadening of the electron momentum distribution, and a strong decrease in the lineshape parameter S. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Placing the choice between exploration and exploitation in context: a study of geography and new product development
Authors: Coombs Joseph E. , Deeds David L. , Duane Ireland R.
Published: October 2009

Beginning with seminal research on organizational learning and continuing with the exploration versus exploitation and regional economics literatures, knowledge search has become central to innovation research. Drawing from these contributions, we examine the impact of a firm's geographic location munificence on benefits received either from exploiting its local knowledge base or from exploring for new knowledge beyond its local geographic boundaries. Results indicate that firm geographic context moderates the relationship between search strategies and new product development. In particular, firms located in munificent geographic locations benefit from geographically localized and international searches, while firms in less munificent geographic locations benefit from balanced and domestic search strategies. Copyright © 2009 Strategic Management Society.
Effects of grassland species on decomposition of litter and soil microbial communities
Authors: Hossain M. Zabed , Okubo Atsushi , Sugiyama Shu‐ichi
Published: October 2009

Decomposition of litter is greatly influenced not only by its chemical composition but also by activities of soil decomposers. By using leaf litter from 15 plant species collected from semi‐natural and improved grasslands, we examined (1) how interspecific differences in the chemical composition of litter influence the abundance and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities and (2) how such changes in microbial communities are related to the processes of decomposition. The litter from each species was incubated in soil of a standard composition for 60 days under controlled conditions. After incubation, the structure of bacterial and fungal communities in the soil was examined using phospholipid fatty‐acid analysis and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Species from improved grasslands had significantly higher rates of nitrogen mineralization and decomposition than those from semi‐natural grasslands because the former were richer in nitrogen. Litter from improved grasslands was also richer in Gram‐positive bacteria, whereas that from semi‐natural grasslands was richer in actinomycetes and fungi. Nitrogen content of litter also influenced the composition of the fungal community. Changes in the composition of both bacterial and fungal communities were closely related to the rate of litter decomposition. These results suggest that plant species greatly influence litter decomposition not only through influencing the quality of substrate but also through changing the composition of soil microbial communities.
Who really ate the fruit? A novel approach to camera trapping for quantifying frugivory by ruminants
Authors: Prasad Soumya , Pittet André , Sukumar R.
Published: October 2009

Tropical forest ruminants disperse several plants; yet, their effectiveness as seed dispersers is not systematically quantified. Information on frequency and extent of frugivory by ruminants is lacking. Techniques such as tree watches or fruit traps adapted from avian frugivore studies are not suitable to study terrestrial frugivores, and conventional camera traps provide little quantitative information. We used a novel time‐delay camera‐trap technique to assess the effectiveness of ruminants as seed dispersers for Phyllanthus emblica at Mudumalai, southern India. After being triggered by animal movement, cameras were programmed to take pictures every 2 min for the next 6 min, yielding a sequence of four pictures. Actual frugivores were differentiated from mere visitors, who did not consume fruit, by comparing the number of fruit remaining across the time‐delay photograph sequence. During a 2‐year study using this technique, we found that six terrestrial mammals consumed fallen P. emblica fruit. Additionally, seven mammals and one bird species visited fruiting trees but did not consume fallen fruit. Two ruminants, the Indian chevrotain Moschiola indica and chital Axis axis, were P. emblica's most frequent frugivores and they accounted for over 95% of fruit removal, while murid rodents accounted for less than 1%. Plants like P. emblica that are dispersed mainly by large mammalian frugivores are likely to have limited ability to migrate across fragmented landscapes in response to rapidly changing climates. We hope that more quantitative information on ruminant frugivory will become available with a wider application of our time‐delay camera‐trap technique.
Transforaminal Thoracic Interbody Fusion (TTIF) for Treatment of a Chronic Chance Injury
Authors: Huang Russel C. , Meredith Dennis S. , Taunk Raja
Published: October 2009

Multiple anterior and posterior approaches to the thoracic disc space have been reported. However, we are not aware of any previous reports describing a transforaminal approach for thoracic disc release and interbody cage placement. In this case report, we describe a method to perform transforaminal thoracic interbody fusion (TTIF), which is an adaptation of an established lumbar fusion technique (transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion). Key differences between the two procedures are discussed. A 24-year-old woman presented after sustaining a T11-12 Chance fracture that had been treated in a brace. She had severe, debilitating pain and a rigid segmental kyphotic deformity of 38°. The patient was treated 3 months post-injury with T10-L1 fusion with anterior release and interbody fusion with cage placement at T11-12. Anterior column release and fusion were performed via a transforaminal approach. The patient had anatomic reduction of deformity, solid arthrodesis, and relief of pain at 1-year follow-up. The TTIF approach permits access to the anterior column of the thoracic spine for the purpose of reduction of deformity and interbody fusion with reduced morbidity compared to anterior–posterior surgery.
Temperature Sensitive Nanocapsule of Complex Structural Form for Methane Storage
Authors: Volkova EI , Suyetin MV , Vakhrushev AV
Published: October 2009

The processes of methane adsorption, storage and desorption by the nanocapsule are investigated with molecular-dynamic modeling method. The specific nanocapsule shape defines its functioning uniqueness: methane is adsorbed under 40 MPa and at normal temperature with further blocking of methane molecules the K@C601+ endohedral complex in the nanocapsule by external electric field, the storage is performed under normal external conditions, and methane desorption is performed at 350 K. The methane content in the nanocapsule during storage reaches 11.09 mass%. The nanocapsule consists of tree parts: storage chamber, junction and blocking chamber. The storage chamber comprises the nanotube (20,20). The blocking chamber is a short nanotube (20,20) with three holes. The junction consists of the nanotube (10,10) and nanotube (8,8); moreover, the nanotube (8,8) is connected with the storage chamber and nanotube (10,10) with the blocking chamber. The blocking chamber is opened and closed by the transfer of the K@C60
1+ endohedral complex under electrostatic field action.
A sticky situation: CCN1 promotes both proliferation and apoptosis of cancer cells
Authors: Leask Andrew
Published: October 2009

Members of the CCN family of matricellular signaling regulators promote cell adhesion through integrins and heparan sulfate‐containing proteoglycans. A paradox of the CCN field is that, depending on the set of circumstances examined, individual CCN molecules can have quite different, and often opposing, effects. In a recent report, Franzen and colleagues (Mol Cancer Res. 7:1045–1055, 2009) show using siRNA knockdown that CCN1 (cyr61) is essential for the proliferation of prostate cancer cells. Intriguingly, on the other hand, CCN1 also enhances TRAIL‐induced apoptosis. Thus the utility of anti‐CCN1 therapy in cancer needs to be carefully considered in light of these divergent results. The significance of this paper is discussed.
Regularity and mass conservation for discrete coagulation–fragmentation equations with diffusion
Authors: Fellner K. , Cañizo J.A. , Desvillettes L.
Published: October 2009

We present a new a priori estimate for discrete coagulation–fragmentation systems with size-dependent diffusion within a bounded, regular domain confined by homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. Following from a duality argument, this a priori estimate provides a global

L^{2}

bound on the mass density and was previously used, for instance, in the context of reaction–diffusion equations.

In this paper we demonstrate two lines of applications for such an estimate: On the one hand, it enables to simplify parts of the known existence theory and allows to show existence of solutions for generalised models involving collision-induced, quadratic fragmentation terms for which the previous existence theory seems difficult to apply. On the other hand and most prominently, it proves mass conservation (and thus the absence of gelation) for almost all the coagulation coefficients for which mass conservation is known to hold true in the space homogeneous case.
The Role of the Presbyter: an Investigation into theAdversus Haeresesof Saint Irenaeus
Authors: Sobosan Jeffrey G.
Published: October 2009

Irenaeus constantly spoke of the presbyters who possess the succession from the Apostles; those who, together with the succession of the Episcopate, have received the certain gift of truth. For him the importance of the presbyter was based on apostolic succession: the presbyter was a teacher, and teaching determines faith; it is the means by which the faith is preserved and transmitted. The presbyter is a link in the long line of tradition; tradition which disciplines the faithful and determines the future of the church. For this reason alone the presbyter is important for Irenaeus. And this is the basis for the distinct way in which Irenaeus treats him. The presbyter is the primary minister, yet not necessarily a bishop. He is a leader of the Christian community assigned the task of preserving the faith, teaching it and making sure to defend it against error. He holds the chief seat in the administration of the Christian community, and is always associated with the episcopos or bishop. In the writings of Irenaeus there is no clear distinction made between these two terms.

We must keep in mind that Christianity began as a movement, not as an established system or institution. The early Christians were all Jews and the authorised Jewish minister was the rabbi (presbyter). From the very beginning the apostles founded new communities and directed them. After particular communities were founded a need arose to select local leaders or administrators for each of these communities. We know from the New Testament that in the various local communities different names were given to these men: in Rome they were called presidents, in Corinth they were called governors, in Ephesus the name given to them was shepherds and in Phillipi they were known as caretakers and ministers. It is only in the Pastoral Epistles and in the Acts of the Apostles that we find these administrators called presbyters, episcopoi. Irenaeus adds further information to the development to the Christian hierarchy by expressing his views on the presbyter as servant of the community. In short the role or task of the presbyter was one of service to the Christian community.
Embedding Bratteli–Vershik systems in cellular automata
Authors: PIVATO MARCUS , YASSAWI REEM
Published: October 2009

Many dynamical systems can be naturally represented as Bratteli–Vershik (or adic) systems, which provide an appealing combinatorial description of their dynamics. If an adic system X is linearly recurrent, then we show how to represent X using a two-dimensional subshift of finite type Y; each ‘row’ in a Y-admissible configuration corresponds to an infinite path in the Bratteli diagram of X, and the vertical shift on Y corresponds to the ‘successor’ map of X. Any Y-admissible configuration can then be recoded as the space-time diagram of a one-dimensional cellular automaton Φ; in this way X is embedded in Φ (i.e. X is conjugate to a subsystem of Φ). With this technique, we can embed many odometers, Toeplitz systems, and constant-length substitution systems in one-dimensional cellular automata.
What encourages charitable giving and philanthropy?
Authors: ADLOFF FRANK
Published: October 2009

In recent years, increasing public attention has been paid to voluntary action, civic engagement and philanthropy. It is in this framework that the growing numbers of childless older people are regarded as a valuable source of charitable giving. In fact, by giving to philanthropic foundations – instead of consuming their wealth or leaving inheritances – childless donors may develop into pioneers in the field of post-familial civic engagement. The article explores the circumstances under which childless older people adopt this behaviour in both Germany and the United States of America. It is found that making large donations or setting up philanthropic foundations is still an elite phenomenon, but on the other hand that establishing a foundation is attractive for childless people, both as a means of ensuring that one's name lives on, and as a way of organising bequests. Educational level, ill-health, social capital and religiosity all positively reinforce the inclination of childless people to transfer resources to charities. It is also shown that the institutional framework or organised fundraising has a large role in fostering charitable giving among the childless. The framework of charity organisations and fund raising in the country of residence plays an important role in determining the expansion and democratisation of charitable giving.
Inter-vivos giving by older people in the United States: who received financial gifts from the childless?
Authors: HURD MICHAEL
Published: October 2009

Inter-vivos financial transfers from older parents to their adult children are widespread in the United States. Childless people may simply make fewer transfers. On the other hand, because their giving is away from children, their decisions are more complex in that there are multiple potential targets of approximately equal attractiveness. Using data for 1996 to 2004 from the United States Health and Retirement Study, this article examines the differences between parents and childless older people in financial transfers to people other than their children. The results show that, overall, parents tend to give less than the childless to other people. However, some variation is found depending on the nature and target of the gift. Having children does not affect giving to charities but does reduce the prevalence of giving to parents, but not nearly as much as the reduction in giving to family and friends. It can therefore be concluded, first that there is little substitution between personal and impersonal transfers; secondly, that the sense of obligation to parents is not reduced by giving to charities or to children; and thirdly, that having children reduces the need to satisfy the desire for family and social ties by means of links to family and friends.
Scaling of plasmas, heated and ponderomotively confined by powerful laser radiation
Authors: Korobkin V.V. , Romanovsky M. Yu.
Published: October 2009

It is shown that a powerful laser beam is capable of the ponderomotive confinement of plasma with electron density exceeding the critical density for the radiation under review. The theory describing force and heat balances of the plasma together with the propagation of the laser radiation is developed. The laws of the dense plasma scaling for controlled thermonuclear fusion (CTF) and other applications are formulated.
Improved Phebus laser performances required for precision laser–target experiments
Authors: Thiell G. , Bailly-Salins R. , Bruneau J.L. , Coulaud G. , Estraillier P. , Gouedard C. , Graillot H. , Marret J.P. , Queffelec A. , Thebault J. P.
Published: October 2009

The Precision Phebus program, started in 1993, emphasizes a series of laser and target experiment objectives on the two-beam Phebus Nd-phosphate glass laser. Recently, three major objectives that are also very important issues for megajoule-class lasers have been met: First, the balance of the incident beam-to-beam 3ω power is shown to be in the range from 5 to 12% for 3-ns, 3ω-shaped pulses of reproducible high-energy shots; second, the smoothing uniformity of the laser energy deposited on the target, that is, the contrast of the spatial beam modulations, can be kept lower than 5%; and, finally, the tight control of the beam targeting leads to a pointing precision of less than 10 μrd on the target at the target chamber center (TCC) and of 80 μrd on X-ray sources located up to 3 cm from the TCC to improve the space- and time-resolved X-ray shadowgraphy techniques performed for target physics experiments such as implosion and hydrodynamical instability studies.
Generation of a poloidal magnetic field in a noncollisional plasma by an elliptically polarized Gaussian laser beam
Authors: Srivastava M.K. , Lawande S.V. , Dutta D. , Sarkar S. , Khan M. , Chakraborty B.
Published: October 2009

The generation of poloidal magnetic field in an inhomogeneous cold, collisionless plasma by an elliptically polarized Gaussian laser beam is discussed. A field in the range of megagauss is induced by the laser inhomogeneity effect even for a normal incident beam. This field scales as I0 λ, where I0 and λ are the intensity and wavelength of the laser beam, respectively, and is independent of the density profile structure. The small angular correction factor due to focal spot asymmetry scales as ∼I0λ3 and may be significant for a small-sized plasma with a steep density profile. The limitation of our model is discussed, with possible implications.
Effect of target-emitted ions on the focal spot of an intense electron beam
Authors: Welch Dale R. , Hughes Thomas P.
Published: October 2009

Intense electron beams are known to produce surface plasmas when they strike typical target materials. The beam space charge then draws an ion current that can substantially affect the beam dynamics. We consider these effects for two intense-beam sources: (1) a needle-tip cathode immersed in a strong magnetic field, and (2) an induction accelerator-produced beam that is focused onto a field-free target. For the first case, the dominant effect is an electrostatic dipole instability between the beam and the ions. A sufficiently large magnetic field can keep the oscillation amplitude to a low level. For the second case, the dominant effect is that the focal length changes in time. For the “worst case” of space-charge-limited proton emission, the predicted effect is severe. The actual abundance and charge state of the target-plasma ions will need to be measured or inferred from planned experiments. Mitigation schemes also are discussed briefly.
Simulations of laser-produced plasma dynamics in an ambient gas
Authors: Lee P. , Kumar S. , Lee S.
Published: October 2009

The expansion of a laser-produced plasma is studied using two computational methods and compared to experiments. The simulations and experiments were performed using a l-μxm, 600-mJ, 6-ns laser pulse. It was found that there was good agreement between the ID Lagrangian code, the snow plow model, and the experiments for our conditions.
Study of second harmonic emissions for characterization of laser–plasma X-ray sources
Authors: Giulietti A. , Beneduce C. , Ceccotti T. , Giulietti D. , Gizzi L.A. , Mildren R.
Published: October 2009

An investigation of second harmonic (SH) and X-ray emissions from Al plasmas produced by 3-ns, 1.064-μm laser pulses at 1014 W/cm2 is reported. The SH and X-ray yields are strongly correlated as a function of the target position with respect to the laser beam focus. The SH originates from the underdense coronal plasma and has a filamentary source, while the X-ray source is uniform. The results suggest that, although the X-ray emission is significantly enhanced by the filamentation of the laser light in the corona, there is a smoothing effect in the energy transport process toward the overdense region.
The Old English Promissio regis
Authors: Clayton Mary
Published: October 2009

The Old English Promissio regis is a translation of the threefold promise made at their coronations by Anglo-Saxon kings in the tenth and eleventh centuries followed by two paragraphs on the duties of kingship; it is preserved in one eleventh-century manuscript and we have two copies of a second. This article reviews discussions of the text, looks at the manuscript evidence for what it can tell about its authorship and history, examines its sources and function and suggests a close connection with Wulfstan, archbishop of York. A new edition of the text concludes the piece.
Re-evaluating base-metal artifacts: an inscribed lead strap-end from Crewkerne, Somerset
Authors: Thomas Gabor , Payne Naomi , Okasha Elisabeth
Published: October 2009

Strap-ends represent the most common class of dress accessory known from late Anglo-Saxon England. At this period, new materials, notably lead and its alloys, were being deployed in the manufacture of personal possessions and jewellery. This newly found strap-end adds to the growing number of tongue-shaped examples fashioned from lead dating from this period. It is, however, distinctive in being inscribed with a personal name. The present article provides an account of the object and its text, and assesses its general significance in the context of a more nuanced interpretation of the social status of lead artefacts in late Anglo-Saxon England.
Anglo-Saxon and related entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
Authors: Forbes Helen Foxhall , Ammon Matthias , Boyle Elizabeth , Doyle Conan T. , Evan Peter D. , Fera Rosa Maria , Gazzoli Paul , Imhoff Helen , Matheson Anna , Rixon Sophie , Roach Levi
Published: October 2009

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), originally designated the New Dictionary of National Biography, was published in 2004 as a successor to the renowned Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), edited by Sir Leslie Stephen (1832–1904) and itself published in sixty-three volumes between 1885 and 1900, with supplements. All of the subjects in the old DNB were retained for the ODNB; new entries were commissioned for a significant proportion of the existing subjects (including almost all of those falling within the early medieval period); and of course the opportunity was taken to add entries for a large number of new subjects. In its print version, the ODNB occupies sixty volumes, though it is unlikely to be found in that form outside reference libraries; most importantly, it is also available online, to subscribing institutions, with search facilities and other useful features. Like its most distinguished predecessor, the ODNB is already well established as an invaluable academic resource.
The Moral Justification of Benefit/Cost Analysis
Authors: Hubin Donald C.
Published: October 2009

Benefit/cost analysis is a technique for evaluating programs, procedures, and actions; it is not a moral theory. There is significant controversy over the moral justification of benefit/cost analysis. When a procedure for evaluating social policy is challenged on moral grounds, defenders frequently seek a justification by construing the procedure as the practical embodiment of a correct moral theory. This has the apparent advantage of avoiding difficult empirical questions concerning such matters as the consequences of using the procedure. So, for example, defenders of benefit/cost analysis (BCA) are frequently tempted to argue that this procedurejust isthe calculation of moral Tightness – perhaps that what itmeansfor an action to be morally right is just for it to have the best benefit-to-cost ratio given the accounts of “benefit” and “cost” that BCA employs. They suggest, in defense of BCA, that they have found the moral calculus – Bentham's “unabashed arithmetic of morals.” To defend BCA in this manner is to commit oneself to one member of a family of moral theories (let us call thembenefit/cost moral theoriesorB/C moral theories) and, also, to the view that if a procedure is (so to speak) the direct implementation of a correct moral theory, then it is a justified procedure. Neither of these commitments is desirable, and so the temptation to justify BCA by direct appeal to a B/C moral theory should be resisted; it constitutes an unwarranted short cut to moral foundations – in this case, an unsound foundation. Critics of BCA are quick to point out the flaws of B/C moral theories, and to conclude that these undermine the justification of BCA. But the failure to justify BCA by a direct appeal to B/C moral theory does not show that the technique is unjustified. There is hope for BCA, even if it does not lie with B/C moral theory.
The Failure of Expected-Utility Theory as a Theory of Reason
Authors: Hampton Jean
Published: October 2009

Expected-utility (EU) theory has been a popular and influential theory in philosophy, law, and the social sciences. While its original developers, von Neumann and Morgenstern, presented it as a purely predictive theory useful to the practitioners of economic science, many subsequent theorists, particularly those outside of economics, have come to endorse EU theory as providing us with a representation of reason. But precisely in what sense does EU theory portray reason? And does it do so successfully?

There are two strikingly different answers to these questions in the literature. On the one hand, there is the view of people such as David Gauthier that EU theory is an implementation of the idea that reason's only role is instrumental. On the other hand, there is the view suggested by Leonard Savage (1954/1972; and see Anderson, 1993) that the theory is a “formal” and noninstrumental characterization of our reasoning process.
A Reappraisal of Friedrich A. Hayek's Cultural Evolutionism
Authors: De Vlieghere Martin
Published: October 2009

In spite of the important discoveries made by Adam Smith and later by the economists of the Austrian School, Friedrich Hayek remained intellectually challenged by the miracle of the price mechanism. As it turned out there was still some pioneering to do in describing the price mechanism. This became clear when Hayek identified the dispersal of information relevant to exchange transactions as the central issue of economic study. In the context of his distinction between competition as a state of things and as a process (Hayek, [1946]1980, pp. 92–106) the price mechanism manifests itself as a powerful integrator of information which is at first sight hopelessly dispersed in modern society. In 1945 he pointed out another intellectual challenge which the miracle of the price mechanism poses: How could such a marvelous functionality come into existence? “I am convinced that if it [the price mechanism] were the result of deliberate human design, and if the people guided by the price changes understood that their decisions have significance far beyond their immediate aim, this mechanism would have been acclaimed as one of the greatest triumphs of the human mind” (Hayek, [1945]1980, p. 87). It is precisely because the free determination of prices is obviously not an invention, and because actors on the market in general do not realize that their decisions are at once also signals for the information-processing system that the market is, that in general this market order is not highly estimated. The market order is nevertheless the best illustration of the dual principle that the most beautiful forms of complex functionality are not deliberately created and are not deliberately maintained (“the twin ideas of evolution and spontaneous order,” as Hayek put it; Hayek [1978]1985, p. 250; [1979] 1982, p. 158).
Coming Home: The Personal Basis of Simon Dubnow's Ideology
Authors: Seltzer Robert M.
Published: October 2009

In the mid-1930s, when the eminent Jewish historian Simon Dubnow began to publish his autobiography, he gave it the formidable title The Book of Life: Reminiscences and Reflections, Material for the History of My Time. Drawing not only on his memory, but on copious diaries and a prodigious literary output going back to the 1880s, Dubnow traced his journey from shtetl Judaism to Jewish nationalism—a journey typical (onemight almost say prototypical) of the late-nineteenth-century Russian Jewish intellectual's search for a new definition of himself as Jew and modern man. The substance of Dubnow's Book of Life frees the title from pretentiousness; more than a mere compilation, much of the autobiography (especially the first volume and a half) was an act of synthesis and integratsiia dushi (“self-integration”), two of Dubnow's favorite terms. My aim in this paper is to reflect anew on the process of Dubnow's self-integration, bridging the gap between a purely biographical approach and a purely ideological one in order to show how a distinctive nationalist stance crystallized out of Dubnow's personal growth. Nationalism was a hard-won, by no means self-evident solution to an overlapping sequence of emotional and intellectual dilemmas. Dubnow provides us with a picture of the groping that this self-transformation entailed, a picture that can be supplemented, and to a certain extent revised, by listening for resonances between life and thought undetected by Dubnow himself.
Three Themes in the Sefer Ḥasidim
Authors: Soloveitchik Haym
Published: October 2009

It is not simply the bounty of novel directives found in Sefer Ḥasidim that constitute the most puzzling feature of that work, nor even their occasional strangeness, but rather the awesome authority claimed for these prescripts. Divine punishment of the direst sort awaits those who fail, even unwittingly, to comply with them. Indeed, entire communities have been doomed by just such unintended transgressions.
Sabbatai Sevi in England
Authors: McKeon Michael
Published: October 2009

Several years ago Gershom Scholem's authoritative work on the seventeenth century messianic figure Sabbatai Sevi, first published in Hebrew in 1957, appeared in a revised English translation. The importance of Scholem's work for an informed understanding of the Sabbatian movement and for the general study of religious and political movements must be acknowledged by all readers. The relevance of Sabbatai's career in the Levant to the specific historical context of post-Restoration England may be less evident. If the English involvement with Sabbatai is compared with the excitement generated in other European countries by his appearance, the English connection cannot fail to appear questionable. The Jewish community in London was a relatively small one at the time of Sabbatai's ascendancy, and the mass of contemporary material on which Scholem has drawn to document this extraordinary episode in Jewish history includes little that was produced for or by “English Jews.” Moreover, Scholem takes pains to discredit the common notion that English Christian speculations on the year 1666 played a direct, causal role in determining Sabbatai's public emergence in the summer of the preceding year, without denying the historical interest of this conjunction of Christian expectations and Jewish developments. In the following discussion, I hope to establish the major significance of Sabbatai Sevi for England by examining several questions—limited in comparison with those entertained by Sabbatai's most profound and exhaustive historian—concerning the English awareness of him 300 years ago. How and in what form did the unparalleled developments in the Levant from 1665 to 1667 first become known to English-speaking people? What contribution was made by the Sabbatian movement to Christian eschatology and to the expectations aroused among its devotees by the approach of the “wonderful year” 1666? What was the range of response to the movement among English observers; what was its ideological or sectarian meaning to contemporaries? In confronting these questions I will, of course, rely heavily on Scholem's analysis and documentation of Sabbatai's career.
Mordecai Zev Feierberg and the Reveries of Redemption
Authors: Mintz Alan
Published: October 2009

A shared phenomenon in the prose fiction of Western literatures in the late nineteenth century is the exploration of individual consciousness dissociated from collective existence. Although individual consciousness had been at the center of the fictional enterprise from the beginning, forming a first condition for the rise of the novel as genre, in the novel of sentiment and in the realistic novel the inner life of individual characters was largely produced dialectically from within the medium of social relations and social ideas. The description of an interior space deserving of attention for its own sake, a space generated by rules of its own which evince no clear or necessary connection to the larger social system, constitutes one of the points at which literature can be said to have become “modernist.” Thereafter, one of the central thematic preoccupations of fiction remains the representation of consciousness itself: memory, reflection, and the manifold operations of the imagination, especially the act of writing.
The American Connection of Canadian Jews: 1759–1914
Authors: Brown Michael
Published: October 2009

Its French and English antecedents notwithstanding, Canada is an American country. From 1759 to 1776 Canada was merely the fourteenth American colony of Great Britain. Had the fortunes of war been different, Canada might well have become part of the United States, or part or all of the United States might have remained British, joined with the northernmost colony. The Treaty of Paris made formal in 1783 the division between Canada and the other thirteen colonies, now independent. The treaty did not, however, put an end to the intimate cultural, economic and personal relationships, which had already developed among all North Americans of British origin. In fact, as time went on, those ties became closer, despite the border and despite the sometimes divergent political interests of the two countries. For Jews, that Canada was an American country was of considerable importance. By European standards, England was remarkably tolerant and open. With its vast economic potential, empty spaces, and society-in-the-making, however, America represented the real land of opportunity—economic and social—for all eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europeans, and especially for Jews.
The Metamorphosis Of a Hasidic Legend in Agnon's “‘Al ’Even ’Aḥat”
Authors: Wineman Aryeh
Published: October 2009

The use of tales and fragments of tales concerning the Baal Shem Tov is not infrequent in the works of Shmuel Yosef Agnon; in fact, an entire collection of such stories is included in his volume, Ha-’esh ve-ha-‘eṣim. The story which will concern us in this study, however, is “‘Al’even ’aḥat” (“On One Rock”) which first appeared in 1934. The story is of interest because it relates to a legend from Shivfiei ha-Besht (The Praises of the Besht), the very first collection of tales about the Baal Shem Tov to be published, even though the figure of the Besht himself does not appear in the story by Agnon.
On the Origins of the Office of Head of the Jews in the Fatimid Empire
Authors: Cohen Mark R.
Published: October 2009

Students of medieval Near Eastern Jewish history have long recognized the immediate relevance of Islamic legal sources delineating the status of dhimmīs (i.e., all non-Muslim protected peoples) to understanding the position of Jews in Islamic domains.1 Jews are rarely singled out in the sources relating to the legal status of the religious minorities. For instance, the extant versions of the so-called Pact of ‘Umar, the document which spells out the obligations and privileges of the dhimmī communities, specify Christians as the recipients. Hence inferences about the position of the Jews in Islamic law have perforce had to be drawn from records referring to dhimmīs in general, or to Christians in particular. relating to the legal status of the religious minorities. For instance, the extant versions of the so-called Pact of 'Umar, the document which spells out the obligations and privileges of thedhimmīcommunities, specify Christians as the recipients. Hence inferences about the position of the Jews in Islamic law have perforce had to be drawn from records referring todhimmīsin general, or to Christians in particular. In a similar vein, attention has properly been paid to the fact that such documents as the important Caliphal charter for a twelfth-century Nestorian Catholicos, head of the principal Christian denomination in the eastern Islamic lands, shed light on the administrative relationship between the Islamic state and the Jewish minority.
Hermann Cohen's Perceptions of Spinoza: A Reappraisal
Authors: Nauen Franz
Published: October 2009

The audacious goal of Hermann Cohen's philosophy of religion is to reconcile Judaism and modern culture. Interest in Cohen's Jewish writings, especially his posthumousReligion der Vernunft, both on the part of Jewish scholars and the English and Israeli reading public, bears witness to its lasting significance. For the contemporary reader, the value of Cohen's project is, it appears, not canceled even by the historic fact that the Holocaust proved Cohen's messianic dream tragically—even obscenely—out of phase with the grim reality of modern Germany. As Ernst Simon pointed out, Cohen was not the only sage to follow “a false prophet”; Maimonides, for example, found nothing wrong with Rabbi Akiba's fateful allegiance to Bar Kochba.
Three Contemporary Perceptions of a Polish Wunderkind of the Seventeenth Century
Authors: Ruderman David
Published: October 2009

In the year 1620, Abraham b. Naphtali Hirsch Schor, the head of the rabbinical court of Satanov, Poland, wrote to Rabbi Mordecai b. David Katz of the neighboring community of Lvov (Lemberg) about a “great and terrible act of God which I heard and saw with my own eyes here in the holy congregation of Satanov.” R. Abraham related the following story:

…Here in the holy congregation of Gródek (Gorodok) three parasangs away from Satanov, there lives a man named R. Gedaliah with a small four-and-ahalf- year-old son. The youth is a mere boy having no superiority in his studies over the rest of the children of his age. But when his father began to study the Hebrew alphabet and the prayer book with him and saw that the holy spirit rests upon him, he subsequently brought the boy before me to the holy congregation of Satanov to test him. And I tested him several times—a hundred times and more—myself along with my colleagues who were with me and we saw the work of the Lord and his wonders, for He is exceedingly great. I asked him: “Please tell me the beginning of the halakhah learned today.” He immediately related the halakhah, answering: “Rabbi Ashi said that our mishnah states: I can likewise prove,” etc.
Samuel Ibn Tibbon and the Esoteric Character of theGuide of the Perplexed
Authors: Ravitzky Aviezer
Published: October 2009

Samuel ben Judah Ibn Tibbon, translator of theGuide of the Perplexedand of other treatises of Maimonides, is in many ways also the first interpreter of Maimonides' philosophic teaching. The orientation of his interpretation of Maimonides' philosophy is already seen in his early writings—epistles, critical notes appended to his translations of theGuide, a philosophic glossary and the introductions to his translations. His interpretation was extensively developed, however, in his later and more comprehensive treatises—theCommentary on EcclesiastesandMa'amar yiqqavu hamayim. These treatises are explicitly devoted to philosophic exegesis of biblical verses, but are deeply impregnated with the proper interpretation of Maimonides' philosophy and with its problematics. Samuel Ibn Tibbon's writing had a decisive influence on Maimonidean thinkers throughout the thirteenth century, among whom may be numbered the authors of two comprehensive commentaries on theGuide, Moses ben Solomon of Salerno, and Zerahiah ben Shealtiel Hen.
The Monarchic Imperative in Rabbinic Perspective
Authors: Blidstein Gerald J.
Published: October 2009

Recent decades have seen a flowering of research into the political tradition and culture of the Jewish people. It seems appropriate, therefore, to undertake an investigation of key rabbinic discussions of a central biblical and historical institution: the monarchy. This study opens with a close reading of the sources and attempts to understand them in their conceptual and literary contexts, moves on to a consideration of possible historical contexts and repercussions, and concludes with some reflections on the relation of our topic to the messianic element in Israel's faith.
The Checkered Career of “Jew” King: A Study in Anglo-Jewish Social History
Authors: Endelman Todd M.
Published: October 2009

Contemporary Jewish historiography has tended to ignore the private side of the struggle for Jewish integration into European society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Instead, most work has concentrated on public efforts to achieve acceptance and respectability—programs to modernize Jewish education, reform Jewish worship, normalize Jewish occupations, and apply critical standards and methods to Jewish scholarship. In particular, historians have focused their attention on that small group of notables who managed the affairs of the organized Jewish community, that is, those wealthy Jews who everywhere directed the campaign for emancipation and the modernization of Jewish life and later the defense of Judaism in the face of a renewed antisemitism.Needless to say, this group hardly constituted a majority of the community in any locality and in many places probably not even a majority of the Jewish haute bourgeoisie. Yet many of these well-to-do Jews who took no active part in communal affairs were as eager as the communal notables to gain acceptance for themselves outside the Jewish community. Indeed, in most cases their ties to Judaism and the Jewish community were weaker; conversely, their desire for integration into non-Jewish spheres usually stronger.
Ironic Characterization in the Works of S. Y. Agnon
Authors: Fuchs Esther
Published: October 2009

[Reb Zevi] saw and realized that the business was leading [Reb Issachar] astray, that he was being distracted by it and was distracting others, until finally he felt like one tugged by a distorted idea, a senseless bit of sophistry or vain embellishment, like one who becomes increasingly bogged down as he trudges from one pilpul to the next, from one piece of vanity to the next, until it finally drags him into a morass from which he can never emerge.
Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish International Traffic in Prostitution, 1885–1914
Authors: Gartner Lloyd P.
Published: October 2009

Our tale opens in some little town in the Pale of Settlement between the 1880s and World War I. A well-spoken, well-dressed young man appears and courts an attractive girl of a family belonging to the great majority of the Jewish townspeople—that is, impoverished and burdened with many children. The unknown suitor offers charm and gifts, and speaks knowingly of the great places he has seen and where he has a good business—Paris, Johannesburg, London, or New York. Will the girl accompany him westward and become his bride once they reach their destination.He does not want to stay long enough in town to marry publicly, since he might be seized for military conscription. The girl, excited by the prospect, implores her parents to give their consent to this proposal. She feels she loves this young man. With him, the bleak life and dismal future in the town will be exchanged at a stroke for happiness and prosperity in a great, distant city. Every month a few young townspeople were leaving, mainly for America. Already there were many more marriageable girls in town than there were young men for them. How could such a chance be thrown aside? Might it ever recur? If the girl wondered why of all the numerous poor girls in town she was enjoying these attentions, she would answer in her own mind by complimenting herself on her prettiness. Her parents, or her surviving parent or step-parents, gave their consent.