bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Flow and transport in brush-coated capillaries: A molecular dynamics simulation
Authors: Dimitrov D. I. , Klushin L. I. , Milchev A. , Binder K.
Published: September 2008

We apply an efficient method of forced imbibition to (nano-)capillaries, coated internally with a polymer brush, to derive the change in permeability and suction force, corresponding to different grafting densities and lengths of the polymer chains. While the fluid is modeled by simple point particles interacting with Lennard-Jones forces, the (end-grafted, fully flexible) polymers, which form the brush coating, are described by a standard bead-spring model. Our computer experiments reveal a significant increase in the suction force (by a factor of 4, as compared to the case of a capillary with bare walls) when the brush width approaches the tube radius. A similar growth in the suction force is found when the grafting density of the brush is systematically increased. Even though the permeability of the tube is found to decline with both growing brush width and grafting density, the combined effect on the overall fluid influx into the capillary turns out to be weak, i.e., the total fluid uptake under spontaneous imbibition decreases only moderately. Thus we demonstrate that one may transport the fluid in vertical brush-coated capillaries to a much larger height than in an equivalent capillary with bare walls. Eventually, we also study the spreading of tracer particles transported by the uptaking fluid in brush-coated capillaries with regard to the grafting density of the brush and the length of the polymers. The observed characteristic asymmetric concentration profiles of the tracers and their evolution with elapsed time are interpreted in terms of a drift-diffusion equation with a reflecting boundary that moves with the fluid front. The resulting theoretical density profiles of the tracer particles are found to be in good agreement with those observed in the computer experiment.
The Hindmarsh–Rose neuron model: Bifurcation analysis and piecewise-linear approximations
Authors: Storace Marco , Linaro Daniele , de Lange Enno
Published: September 2008

This paper provides a global picture of the bifurcation scenario of the Hindmarsh–Rose model. A combination between simulations and numerical continuations is used to unfold the complex bifurcation structure. The bifurcation analysis is carried out by varying two bifurcation parameters and evidence is given that the structure that is found is universal and appears for all combinations of bifurcation parameters. The information about the organizing principles and bifurcation diagrams are then used to compare the dynamics of the model with that of a piecewise-linear approximation, customized for circuit implementation. A good match between the dynamical behaviors of the models is found. These results can be used both to design a circuit implementation of the Hindmarsh–Rose model mimicking the diversity of neural response and as guidelines to predict the behavior of the model as well as its circuit implementation as a function of parameters.
Feynman path integrals for the inverse quartic oscillator
Authors: Mazzucchi S.
Published: September 2008

The Feynman path integral representation for the weak solution of the Schrödinger equation with an inverse quartic oscillator potential is given in terms of a well defined infinite dimensional oscillatory integral. An analytically continued Wiener integral representation for the solution is provided and an explicit description of the quantum dynamics associated with a nonessentially self-adjoint Hamiltonian is given.
Optical lever calibration in atomic force microscope with a mechanical lever
Authors: Xie Hui , Vitard Julien , Haliyo Sinan , Régnier Stéphane
Published: September 2008

A novel method that uses a small mechanical lever has been developed to directly calibrate the lateral sensitivity of the optical lever in the atomic force microscope (AFM). The mechanical lever can convert the translation into a nanoscale rotation angle with a flexible hinge that provides an accurate conversion between the photodiode voltage output and torsional angle of a cantilever. During the calibration, the cantilever is mounted on a holder attached on the lever, which brings the torsional axis of the cantilever and rotation axis of the lever into line. By making use of its nanomotion on the Z-axis and using an external motion on the barrier, this device can complete the local and full-range lateral sensitivity calibrations of the optical lever without modifying the actual AFM or the cantilevers.
Quasi-static magnetic field generation due to a linearly polarized laser beam propagating in plasma
Authors: Upadhyay Ajay K. , Jha Pallavi
Published: September 2008

Quasi-static magnetic field generation due to propagation of a linearly polarized laser beam in homogeneous, underdense plasma, is presented. The magnetic field is generated due to the interaction of a narrow laser beam with plasma, for which the ponderomotive force dominates over space charge force between electrons and ions. In addition, for narrow beams, the longitudinal component of the laser field becomes significant and therefore contributes to the generation of the quasi-static magnetic field.
Role of Biological-Motion Information in Recognition of Facial Expressions by Young Children
Authors: Doi Hirokazu , Kato Akemi , Hashimoto Ai , Masataka Nobuo
Published: September 2008

Data on the development of the perception of facial biological motion during preschool years are disproportionately scarce. We investigated the ability of preschoolers to recognise happy, angry, and surprised expressions, and eye-closing facial movements on the basis of facial biological motion. Children aged 4 years ( n = 18) and 5–6 years ( n = 19), and adults ( n = 17) participated in a matching task, in which they were required to match the point-light displays of facial expressions to prototypic schematic images of facial expressions and facial movement. The results revealed that the ability to recognise facial expressions from biological motion emerges as early as the age of 4 years. This ability was evident for happy expressions at the age of 4 years; 5–6-year-olds reliably recognised surprised as well as happy expressions. The theoretical significances of these findings are discussed.
The Onset-Repulsion Effect and Motion-Induced Mislocalization of a Stationary Object
Authors: Hubbard Timothy L , Courtney Jon R
Published: September 2008

The influence of a moving target on memory for the location of a briefly presented stationary object aligned with the initial location of that moving target was examined. Memory for the location of the stationary object was displaced backward (ie in the direction opposite to target motion), and memory for the initial location of the moving target was also displaced backward (consistent with an onset-repulsion effect); displacement of the stationary object did not differ from displacement of the moving target. Displacement in memory for the initial location of a moving target was not influenced by whether or not a stationary object aligned with that initial location was also presented. The results demonstrate that motion-induced mislocalization can occur in a direction other than the direction of motion, and are consistent with the hypothesis that dynamics of a moving target can influence memory for a nearby stationary object.
Diffusive reaction dynamics on invariant free energy profiles
Authors: Krivov Sergei V. , Karplus Martin
Published: September 2008

A fundamental problem in the analysis of protein folding and other complex reactions in which the entropy plays an important role is the determination of the activation free energy from experimental measurements or computer simulations. This article shows how to combine minimum-cut-based free energy profiles (

F
C

), obtained from equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, with conventional histogram-based free energy profiles (

F
H

) to extract the coordinate-dependent diffusion coefficient on the

F
C

(i.e., the method determines free energies and a diffusive preexponential factor along an appropriate reaction coordinate). The

F
C

, in contrast to the

F
H

, is shown to be invariant with respect to arbitrary transformations of the reaction coordinate, which makes possible partition of configuration space into basins in an invariant way. A “natural coordinate,” for which

F
H

and

F
C

differ by a multiplicative constant (constant diffusion coefficient), is introduced. The approach is illustrated by a model one-dimensional system, the alanine dipeptide, and the folding reaction of a double β-hairpin miniprotein. It is shown how the results can be used to test whether the putative reaction coordinate is a good reaction coordinate.
Granzyme B delivery via perforin is restricted by size, but not by heparan sulfate-dependent endocytosis
Authors: Kurschus Florian C. , Fellows Edward , Stegmann Elisabeth , Jenne Dieter E.
Published: September 2008

How granzymes gain entry into the cytosol of target cells during killer cell attack has been the subject of several studies in the past, but the effective delivery mechanism during target cell encounter has not been clarified. Here we show that granzyme B (GzmB) mutants lacking binding to negatively charged, essentially heparan-sulfate-containing membrane receptors are poorly endocytosed yet are delivered to the cytosol with efficacy similar to that of WT GzmB. In a cell-based system GzmB-deficient natural killer cells provided perforin (pfn) by natural polarized secretion and synergized with externally added GzmB. Whereas receptor (heparan sulfate)-dependent endocytosis was dispensable, delivery of larger cargo like that of GzmB fusion proteins and GzmB–antibody complexes was restricted by their size. Our data support the model in which granzymes are primarily translocated through repairable membrane pores of finite size and not by the disruption of endocytosed vesicles. We conclude that structurally related translocators, i.e., perforin and cholesterol-dependent cytolysins, deliver deathly cargo across host cell membranes in a similar manner.
Flow induces loop-to-β-hairpin transition on the β-switch of platelet glycoprotein Ibα
Authors: Lou Jizhong , Zhu Cheng
Published: September 2008

Interaction of glycoprotein Ibα (GPIbα) with von Willebrand factor (VWF) initiates platelet adhesion to injured vascular wall to stop bleeding. A major contact between GPIbα and VWF involves the β-switch region, which is a loop in the unliganded GPIbα but switches to a β-hairpin in the complex structure. Paradoxically, flow enhances rather than impedes GPIbα-VWF binding. Gain-of-function mutations (e.g., M239V) in the β-switch reduce the flow requirement for VWF binding, whereas loss-of-function mutations (e.g., A238V) increase the flow requirement. These phenomena cannot be explained by crystal structures or energy calculations. Herein we demonstrate that the β-hairpin is unstable without contacting VWF, in that it switches to a loop in free molecular dynamics simulations. Simulations with a novel flow molecular dynamics algorithm show that the loop conformation is unstable in the presence of flow, as it switches to β-hairpin even without contacting VWF. Compared with the wild-type, it is easier for the M239V mutant but harder for the A238V mutant to switch to β-hairpin in the presence of flow. These results elucidate the structural basis for the two mutants and suggest a regulatory mechanism by which flow activates GPIbα via inducing a loop-to-β-hairpin conformational transition on the β-switch, thereby promoting VWF binding.
Single-molecule studies of group II intron ribozymes
Authors: Steiner Miriam , Karunatilaka Krishanthi S. , Sigel Roland K. O. , Rueda David
Published: September 2008

Group II intron ribozymes fold into their native structure by a unique stepwise process that involves an initial slow compaction followed by fast formation of the native state in a Mg
2+
-dependent manner. Single-molecule fluorescence reveals three distinct on-pathway conformations in dynamic equilibrium connected by relatively small activation barriers. From a most stable near-native state, the unobserved catalytically active conformer is reached. This most compact conformer occurs only transiently above 20 mM Mg
2+
and is stabilized by substrate binding, which together explain the slow cleavage of the ribozyme. Structural dynamics increase with increasing Mg
2+
concentrations, enabling the enzyme to reach its active state.
Frequent emergence and limited geographic dispersal of methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Nübel Ulrich , Roumagnac Philippe , Feldkamp Mirjam , Song Jae-Hoon , Ko Kwan Soo , Huang Yhu-Chering , Coombs Geoffrey , Ip Margaret , Westh Henrik , Skov Robert , Struelens Marc J. , Goering Richard V. , Strommenger Birgit , Weller Annette , Witte Wolfgang , Achtman Mark
Published: September 2008

A small number of clonal lineages dominates the global population structure of methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA), resulting in the concept that MRSA has emerged on a few occasions after penicillinase-stable β-lactam antibiotics were introduced to clinical practice, followed by intercontinental spread of individual clones. We investigated the evolutionary history of an MRSA clone (ST5) by mutation discovery at 108 loci (46 kb) within a global collection of 135 isolates. The SNPs that were ascertained define a radial phylogenetic structure within ST5 consisting of at least 5 chains of mutational steps that define geographically associated clades. These clades are not concordant with previously described groupings based on staphylococcal protein A gene (
spa
) typing. By mapping the number of independent imports of the staphylococcal cassette chromosome methicillin-resistance island, we also show that import has occurred on at least 23 occasions within this single sequence type and that the progeny of such recombinant strains usually are distributed locally rather than globally. These results provide strong evidence that geographical spread of MRSA over long distances and across cultural borders is a rare event compared with the frequency with which the staphylococcal cassette chromosome island has been imported.
Crosspresentation by nonhematopoietic and direct presentation by hematopoietic cells induce central tolerance to myelin basic protein
Authors: Perchellet Antoine , Brabb Thea , Goverman Joan M.
Published: September 2008

Central tolerance plays a critical role in eliminating self-reactive T cells specific for peripheral antigens. Here we show that central tolerance of MHC class I-restricted T cells specific for classic myelin basic protein (MBP), a component of the myelin sheath, is mediated by both bone marrow (BM)-derived and nonBM-derived cells. Unexpectedly, BM-derived cells induce tolerance directly by using classic MBP that they synthesize, whereas nonBM-derived cells mediate tolerance by crosspresenting classic MBP acquired from an exogenous source. Thus, tolerance to tissue-specific antigens can involve multiple cell types and mechanisms in the thymus, which may account for the limited spectrum of autoimmune syndromes observed when expression of tissue-specific antigens is impaired only in thymic epithelial cells.
A transcript profiling approach reveals an epicatechin-specific glucosyltransferase expressed in the seed coat of
Medicago truncatula
Authors: Pang Yongzhen , Peel Gregory J. , Sharma Shashi B. , Tang Yuhong , Dixon Richard A.
Published: September 2008

Expression of the
Arabidopsis
TRANSPARENT TESTA 2 (TT2) MYB family transcription factor leads to massive accumulation of proanthocyanidins (PAs) in hairy roots of
Medicago truncatula
. Microarray analysis showed that TT2 induces genes for flavonoid/PA biosynthesis, transcription factors, and a large number of genes of unknown function. A second microarray dataset identified genes that were preferentially expressed in the
M. truncatula
seed coat. Comparison of the two datasets defines target genes for steps that are yet unidentified in PA biosynthesis and accumulation. Of these genes, a glycosyltransferase, UGT72L1, was active specifically toward the PA precursor (−)−epicatechin, and its expression pattern in developing seeds correlated with the presence of epicatechin glucoside and accumulation of PAs. UGT72L1 may be involved in the production of epicatechin 3′-
O
-glucoside in the seed coat as a key step in PA biosynthesis or its regulation.
NPC2 facilitates bidirectional transfer of cholesterol between NPC1 and lipid bilayers, a step in cholesterol egress from lysosomes
Authors: Infante Rodney E. , Wang Michael L. , Radhakrishnan Arun , Kwon Hyock Joo , Brown Michael S. , Goldstein Joseph L.
Published: September 2008

Egress of lipoprotein-derived cholesterol from lysosomes requires two lysosomal proteins, polytopic membrane-bound Niemann–Pick C1 (NPC1) and soluble Niemann–Pick C2 (NPC2). The reason for this dual requirement is unknown. Previously, we showed that the soluble luminal N-terminal domain (NTD) of NPC1 (amino acids 25–264) binds cholesterol. This NTD is designated NPC1(NTD). We and others showed that soluble NPC2 also binds cholesterol. Here, we establish an
in vitro
assay to measure transfer of [
3
H]cholesterol between these two proteins and phosphatidylcholine liposomes. Whereas NPC2 rapidly donates or accepts cholesterol from liposomes, NPC1(NTD) acts much more slowly. Bidirectional transfer of cholesterol between NPC1(NTD) and liposomes is accelerated >100-fold by NPC2. A naturally occurring human mutant of NPC2 (Pro120Ser) fails to bind cholesterol and fails to stimulate cholesterol transfer from NPC1(NTD) to liposomes. NPC2 may be essential to deliver or remove cholesterol from NPC1, an interaction that links both proteins to the cholesterol egress process from lysosomes. These findings may explain how mutations in either protein can produce a similar clinical phenotype.
Oleic acid content is responsible for the reduction in blood pressure induced by olive oil
Authors: Terés S. , Barceló-Coblijn G. , Benet M. , Álvarez R. , Bressani R. , Halver J. E. , Escribá P. V.
Published: September 2008

Numerous studies have shown that high olive oil intake reduces blood pressure (BP). These positive effects of olive oil have frequently been ascribed to its minor components, such as α-tocopherol, polyphenols, and other phenolic compounds that are not present in other oils. However, in this study we demonstrate that the hypotensive effect of olive oil is caused by its high oleic acid (OA) content (≈70–80%). We propose that olive oil intake increases OA levels in membranes, which regulates membrane lipid structure (H
II
phase propensity) in such a way as to control G protein-mediated signaling, causing a reduction in BP. This effect is in part caused by its regulatory action on G protein-associated cascades that regulate adenylyl cyclase and phospholipase C. In turn, the OA analogues, elaidic and stearic acids, had no hypotensive activity, indicating that the molecular mechanisms that link membrane lipid structure and BP regulation are very specific. Similarly, soybean oil (with low OA content) did not reduce BP. This study demonstrates that olive oil induces its hypotensive effects through the action of OA.
Copper Mining Agreements in Zambia: Renegotiation or Law Reform?
Authors: Lungu John
Published: September 2008

Poverty levels in Zambia are historically associated with development in the mining sector. As long as the sector was performing well and enjoying high international prices for copper, the revenues to government were high and the government could afford the provision of, for example, public health. It is however paradoxical that in the current upturn of commodity prices, the Zambian government has not obtained sufficient revenues to enable it to provide the required public goods. Close scrutiny of the way the state‐owned mining company, Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), was privatised in the late 1990s reveals that the agreements made between the government and the new mining companies were lopsided. As a consequence, the government has been unable to earn revenues to the same extent as countries like Chile prompting civil society to pressure the government to renegotiate the agreements. The government has, however, chosen the path of law reform to increase the taxation on foreign‐owned mining companies.
Enter the Dragon? Chinese Oil Companies & Resistance in the Niger Delta
Authors: Obi Cyril
                      I.
Published: September 2008

This article explores the ramifications of the entry of Chinese state oil companies into the volatile Niger Delta for the politics of local resistance in the region ‐ until recently, virtually the preserve of Western oil multinationals and smaller Independents. The entry of Chinese oil companies in the context of a ‘new’ scramble for Africa's resources, and as a response to strategic moves by the Nigerian petro‐state and ruling elite to increase oil revenues, and diversify its near‐total dependence on Western actors, oil technology, markets and conditionalities, has drawn a quick response from the local communities in the Niger Delta. On 29 April 2006, an Ijaw youth militia, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), exploded a car bomb in the city of Warri, warning the Chinese oil companies to stay away from the Niger Delta, and further threatening that they would be treated as ‘thieves’ and attacked. Since then, there have been reports of the kidnapping and subsequent release of some Chinese oil workers in the region.

What is the potential impact of the entry of Chinese oil capital on the fragile oil environment and the human rights situation in this volatile oil‐rich region? Does the existing evidence suggest a fundamental difference in local responses to Chinese and Western oil capital in the Niger Delta? What explanations can be advanced for the local response to the entry of Chinese oil companies in the Niger Delta? The paper also analyzes the likely response of the Chinese oil companies to the perceived threat(s) that local resistance in the Niger Delta could pose to their extractive, profit and energy security interests, given their antecedents in other African new oil states, particularly Sudan, where Chinese companies or Chinese oil workers were targeted by rebels, and were deeply involved with the state and dominant elite in mining oil and repressing local resistance. This assumes further significance in the securitization of the Niger Delta's oil within the context of a post‐9/11 US‐led (militarised) energy security paradigm that has placed the region in the context of an energy‐rich Gulf of Guinea, which is central to Western global strategic interests. While demonstrating that a clear anti‐Chinese oil position does not as yet exist in the Niger Delta, the article critically examines the prospects for the future of the forces and trajectories of local resistance in the Niger Delta.
Oil, Sovereignty & Self‐Determination: Equatorial Guinea & Western Sahara
Authors: Campos Alicia
Published: September 2008

This article analyses the role of the sovereignty principle for the oil industry and the implication this relationship has for development in Africa. It also looks at the transnational social movements around the exploitation of natural resources, comparing Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara. The main hypothesis is that international norms of self‐determination and those developed for non‐autonomous people in Western Sahara, allow us to raise questions and to make demands over mineral resources in a very different way than where sovereignty is not in question, as in Equatorial Guinea.
Uranium Goes Critical in Niger: Tuareg RebellionsThreaten Sahelian Conflagration
Authors: Keenan Jeremy
Published: September 2008

The article analyses the causes and implications of the ongoing Tuareg rebellions in Niger and Mali. While the larger and more widespread rebellion in Niger is generally attributed to the Niger Tuareg's demands for a greater and more equitable share of the country's uranium revenues, the article reveals that both rebellions, while centering on grievances associated with marginalisation, indigenous land rights and the exploitation of mineral resources, are far more complex. Other key elements are the continuing impact on the region of the global war on terror; competing imperialisms and sub‐imperialisms; the associated interests of multinational mining companies; environmental threats and the interests of international drug‐traffickers. The article also details the human rights abuses inflicted on the civilian populations in both Niger and Mali by the recently US‐trained militaries.
The Schenker Project
Authors: Cook Nicholas
Published: September 2008

Today we think of Heinrich Schenker, who lived in Vienna from 1884 until his death in 1935, as the most influential music theorist of the 20th century. But he saw his theoretical writings as part of a comprehensive project for the reform of musical composition, performance, criticism, and education — and beyond that, as addressing fundamental cultural, social, and political problems of the deeply troubled age in which he lived. This book aims at an understanding of Schenker's project through reading his key works within a series of period contexts. These include music criticism, the field in which Schenker first made his name; Viennese modernism, particularly the debate over architectural ornamentation; German cultural conservatism, which is the source of many of Schenker's most deeply entrenched values; and Schenker's own position as a Galician Jew who came to Vienna just as traditional anti-semitism was becoming fully racialized. As well as presenting an unfamiliar perspective on the cultural and political ferment of fin-de-siècle Vienna, this approach reveals how deeply the social and political were thought into Schenker's theory. It also raises issues concerning the meaning and value of music theory, and the extent to which today's music-theoretical agenda unwittingly reflects the values and concerns of a very different world.
1 Foundations of the Schenker Project
Authors: Cook Nicholas
Published: September 2008

Basic aspects of Schenker's later thought can be traced to the 1890s, when Schenker was active in composition, performance, and music criticism. This chapter situates these activities in the contemporary Viennese context, emphasizing the relationship between Schenker and Eduard Hanslick. It outlines aspects of the idealist philosophy which coloured his thinking and criticizes recent approaches to the philosophical dimension of Schenker's thought. It traces the changes in Schenker's thinking about music — and in particular the concept of musical “logic” — that underpinned the development of his later theory. Much of the discussion is focussed round his early essay “The spirit of musical technique’ (1895), a new translation of which (by William Pastille) is included as an appendix.
2 The Reluctant Modernist
Authors: Cook Nicholas
Published: September 2008

Music editing formed a key part of Schenker's programme to restore the values and practices of classical musical culture. Taking as its starting point Schenker's treatise on ornamentation (1903), this chapter pursues an extended comparison between his work and the contemporary Viennese debate about ornamentation in the visual arts and particularly architecture: the aim is to set Schenker's thought in its broad cultural context and to locate the tension between its modernist and conservative dimensions. A similar tension can be found in the architectural and critical practice of Adolf Loos, while key aspects of Schenker's thought resonate with the writing of the art historian Aloïs Riegl.
5 Beyond Assimilation
Authors: Cook Nicholas
Published: September 2008

Often seen as the summation of Schenker's work but in fact an extreme development of its tendencies towards abstraction, Free Composition (1935) can be understood as a form of “inner emigration”, a withdrawal from an increasingly tolerable sociopolitical situation; this is illustrated by a comparison between Free Composition and Adalbert Stifter's novel, The Indian Summer. It is this tendency towards abstraction, as well as the emigration during the 1930s of many of Schenker's (predominantly Jewish) pupils to North America, that enabled Schenker's theory to take root in the positivist atmosphere of post-war American academia. In its Americanized form, Schenkerian theory lost contact with the social and arguably even the musical values that had originally informed it. The purpose of this book is to recapture these dimensions of Schenker's thought and so argue for more broadly conceived Schenkerian practice.
Why This Book?
Authors: Schimmel Solomon
Published: September 2008

This chapter explains the author's motives for writing this book, which originated in his being raised as an Orthodox Jew, to which he was deeply committed from early childhood until adulthood. He received an intensive education in traditional Jewish religious life, literature, and belief, at home and in yeshivot (Jewish parochial schools), but from a young age harbored doubts about the core theological belief of Orthodoxy that the Pentateuch was revealed by God to Moses at Mount Sinai. Upon exposure to modern biblical scholarship, philosophical and literary critiques of religion, and modern biology and science he eventually concluded, in his early twenties, that he could no longer believe that which he had been taught from childhood. The chapter describes the emotional effects and social consequences of losing a faith which one loves (and in some respects continues to love), and the intellectual freedom earned by rejecting Orthodox beliefs and becoming a heretic.
Faith, Revelation, and Reason
Authors: Schimmel Solomon
Published: September 2008

This chapter examines medieval and modern views about the meanings of reason, belief, faith, revelation, and truth, and the relationships between them. It provides moving testimony from a devout Christian of her sense of the presence of Christ in her life, which trumps rational doubt about the existence of God, and skeptics' reflections on reports of divine revelation and of personal experience of the divine. It discusses how religious apologists attempts to prove the truth of their belief in the divine authorship of the Bible or the Koran in the face of overwhelming evidence and logic against it. It challenges the claims of fundamentalists that the Bible and the Koran are paragons of ethics and morality, pointing to immoral or unethical teachings and ambiguities in them. The chapter then examines and critiques the Kuzari argument offered by Orthodox Jews to substantiate their belief that God revealed the Pentateuch to Moses at Sinai.
Christian Biblical Fundamentalism
Authors: Schimmel Solomon
Published: September 2008

This chapter analyzes the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, the belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus, and the theology and practices of serpent‐handling sects. This chapter points out the irrationality and circularity of the ‘proofs’ for ‘biblical inerrancy’ put forth by the evangelical Protestant theologian, Grudem. It then examines the claims of the fundamentalist Craig for the historicity of the physical resurrection of Jesus, and the views of the philosopher Flew, the New Testament scholar Ehrman, and the psychologist Kent, who provide naturalistic, non‐miraculous explanations for the origin and spread of the belief in Jesus' resurrection. The chapter, using Ralph Hood's concept of ‘intratextuality’ examines how members of the Pentecostal Church of God (Of Prophecy) sect, led by Hensley, derive from the Bible a mandate to handle venomous snakes in order to prove their Christian faith, and explains why their way of reading and interpreting the Bible makes no sense.
Muslim Koranic Fundamentalism
Authors: Schimmel Solomon
Published: September 2008

This chapter examines the Islamic belief that the Koran (Qur'an) was authored by Allah and revealed to Muhammad via the angel Gabriel, and dissects the alleged ‘proofs’ for Koranic divinity. The chapter presents nine arguments against this belief, among which are the Koran's internal contradictions, obvious dependence on Judaism, and Jewish and Christian traditions, factual errors, superstitious beliefs, and inclusion of unethical and immoral teachings. The chapter discusses the danger posed to democratic societies and values by fundamentalist Muslims who seek to impose Qur'anic and Sharia law and values on non‐Muslim societies, while noting that some Muslims advocate democracy and religious freedom. The chapter discusses the absurd claim of some Muslims that the Koran contains scientific knowledge that was not discovered in the West until recently, and the belief in Koranic inimitability (Ijaz al Koran), and analyzes the psychology of Muslims who make irrational claims and profess irrational beliefs.
Acquiring and Protecting Unreasonable Beliefs
Authors: Schimmel Solomon
Published: September 2008

This chapter examines how people acquire religious beliefs and protect them even when they are irrational. It integrates insights from psychology (Festinger on cognitive dissonance; Hinde on the persistence of religious beliefs), anthropology (Evans‐Pritchard on primitive religion; Boyer on evolution and religion), cultural history (Marsden on ‘creationism’), and social theory. It examines existential, social, and emotional functions served by religion, and how theology develops (unconvincing) bulwarks against challenges to religious beliefs. It analyzes defense mechanisms of believers, and eleven attitudes towards ‘truth’ of fundamentalists of the Abrahamic faiths, and notes similarities between theology and magical beliefs. The chapter debates a religious philosopher who is a critic of ‘evidentialism,’ and discusses the role that evidence and reason should play in making religious commitments about how to lead one's own and how to educate one's children. The chapter considers eighteen factors that can contribute to the loss of religious belief and faith.
On “Defundamentalizing” Fundamentalists
Authors: Schimmel Solomon
Published: September 2008

This concluding chapter points out some of the negative consequences of scriptural fundamentalisms such as homophobia, gender inequality; religious intolerance; self‐righteousness; intellectual dishonesty; deprivation of children from important scientific knowledge, and in some cases, advocacy of violence against ‘non‐believers.’ It also discusses positive aspects of fundamentalist communities, and their legitimate criticism of and disdain for certain vapid or decadent aspects of American and Western culture, values, and behaviors. The chapter discusses the ethics of undermining the religious beliefs of scriptural fundamentalists. When, why, and where is it appropriate or even obligatory to attempt to do so, and when is it wrong to do so? It concludes that there are times when combating fundamentalism and defending freedom of speech and of thought is essential for the good and welfare of American society and notes his intention to develop a detailed plan for how to ‘defundamentalize fundamentalists.’
Evangelical vs. Liberal
Authors: Wellman James K.
Published: September 2008

The book is the first in-depth ethnographic study of churched religion in the Pacific Northwest. It describes and explains how Protestant churches survive and thrive in the most unchurched region of the country. The study is based on nearly 450 interviews from thirty-four vital liberal and evangelical Protestant churches in the Pacific Northwest. These two sets of congregations embody separate moral worldviews and the study shows how these moral worldviews conflict, compete, and, on rare occasions, find common ground in five areas: ideology; religious beliefs; organizational and ritual life; mission (both local and international), and finally, how each relates to the politics of the region and nation. Evangelicals have dominated the public discourse on American religious life and politics over the last decade; it has become popular to accuse them of advocating an American theocracy. There was no evidence for this claim in the data from this study. Evangelicals do want influence — focusing intense energy on a political culture to nurture families — but they express the same intense distrust of the government that was found among liberals. Moreover, the study found relative disinterest on the part of liberals in influencing the public square. There was little consensus among liberals in protesting the Iraq War. Nonetheless, liberals were committed to a “moral culture” like evangelicals, though with distinctively different values — embracing a culture of inclusiveness and hospitality for homosexuals, the homeless, and the hungry.
The Origins of the American Evangelical Subculture
Authors: Wellman Jr. James K.
Published: September 2008

This chapter defines and outlines the development of the American evangelical subculture, beginning with the fundamentalists of the early twentieth century, paralleled by the Holiness and Pentecostal movement, followed in turn by the mid‐20th century neoevangelicals, led by Billy Graham, which culminates in an American evangelical culture that supports a strong civic gospel. This civil religion emphasizes the Christian origins of the US; the difficulty of being Christian and politically liberal; the importance of a strong military that deters evil, and finally the support of religious, economic, and political freedoms at home and abroad.
Demographics, Culture, and Religion of the Pacific Northwest
Authors: Wellman Jr. James K.
Published: September 2008

This chapter gives an overview of the social and religious demographics of the Pacific Northwest region, pointing out discontinuity with the rest of the nation, with only a little over thirty percent of Washington and Oregon affiliated with religious organizations, nearly half the national average. The overall cultural ethos of the region is a combination of more traditional political conservatives, who have maintained a natural resource economy, more recently joined by technology entrepreneurs expressing a libertarian ethic that rewards risk and new ideas. This mobile and transient group fits well with the entrepreneurial evangelicals, who focus on growth, create communities, and accommodate modern technology in their services and organizations.
Religion, Identity, and Moral Logics
Authors: Wellman Jr. James K.
Published: September 2008

This chapter presents the theory of moral worldviews of each subculture; moral worldviews are not instrumental but organic — more like onions than tools. Each moral worldview has multiple layers, beginning with core allegiances; followed by moral values; moral projects, and aesthetic tastes and preferences. The closer that layers are to the core the more absolute and certain they are held, the further away, the more negotiable they are. For evangelicals, a personal, intimate relationship to Jesus Christ is the core; for liberals, the core is more a principle of inclusiveness and hospitality, exemplified more by Jesus ministry and actions than by Jesus as a god object.
Religious Ritual and Organizational Dynamics
Authors: Wellman Jr. James K.
Published: September 2008

Ritual activity and organizational dynamics are habits of practice embodying the ways groups and individuals function, pray, organize, and interact, including their participation on the Web. Organizational dynamics in each group are compared on how they relate to each other in communities; in liberal groups, more informal though intimate; in evangelical groups, focusing on families and small group work. Patterns of family and approaches to gender are compared, with liberals more egalitarian and evangelicals more traditional in their approaches. Finally, on leadership, the charismatic makeup of evangelical churches is contrasted with the more bureaucratic and functionary aspects of the liberal congregational leadership style.
Religion and Politics
Authors: Wellman Jr. James K.
Published: September 2008

This chapter argues that religion and state are “isomorphic,” that is they mirror, react, and respond to each other. Each shapes group identities and each mobilizes group action and thus, they inevitably move in relation to each other, sometimes in tandem and sometimes antagonistically. The chapter then compares to the two groups on issues of abortion, environment, gay marriage, and the Iraq War. There is some agreement on abortion, and little or no difference on the environment. On gay marriage and the Iraq War differences are pronounced and strongly held.
Introduction: The Quest for Environmental Sustainability
Authors: Talbot Lee M.
Published: September 2008

This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of the human role in changing the Earth's environment. It then reviews awareness and responses to environmental change from the 1700s to the 1950s. The dramatic increase in action towards helping the environment from the 1960s onwards, developments in environmental science, and the goal of sustainability are discussed.
The Environmental Movement in the United States
Authors: Peterson Russell W.
Published: September 2008

This chapter discusses the excesses of the Industrial Revolution and the explosion of the human population as the issues that showed us the devastating impact that human activities could have on the earth. It traces the environmental movement through the 20th century, noting that it gained an ethic and a mission with two important mid-century publications: Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac in 1949 and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. It reviews the life and accomplishments of Lee Talbot, a key player in the development of US environmental policy and practice.
International Environmental Policy: Some Recollections and Reflections
Authors: Train Russell E.
Published: September 2008

This chapter identifies the 1960s and 1970s as a period of groundbreaking efforts in environmental protection and awareness, and traces the history of environmental conservation in Africa and the United States during this period. In Africa, the development of important private organizations, such as the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation and others, resulted in improvements in conservation of African wildlife. In the United States, environmental organizations and helpful politicians brought about changes in environmental policy that continue to guide the nation's environmental conservation efforts.
The Global 2000 Report and Its Aftermath
Authors: Speth James Gustave
Published: September 2008

This chapter discusses the Global 2000 Report. This report was prepared at the request of President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s and originally suggested by Lee Talbot, then chief scientist for the CEQ. The report predicted trends that might unfold between 1980 and 2000 in population and the environment if societies were to continue on their current paths. Global 2000 effectively moved global-scale environmental challenges into American politics. Many of its projections proved correct, at least approximately.
Protected Areas: Science, Policy, and Management to Meet the Challenges of Global Change in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Miller Kenton R. , Victor Barber Charles
Published: September 2008

This chapter argues that while about 12% of the world's land surface area (about 17 million km2) has been officially “protected”, the challenge of the 21st century is to make these protected areas into something more than areas on a map. The ecosystem services provided by protected areas—timber, fodder, biodiversity protection, and clean water, for example—must be recognized by both national and local communities. Protected areas benefit the poor through watershed protection, small-scale forestry projects that provide employment, and protection from both flood and drought. Although conservation once had a reputation as a concern of the rich and well connected, a new model, poverty reduction through conservation, has emerged.
Observations on Trends and Issues in Global Conservation
Authors: Teer James G.
Published: September 2008

This chapter discusses seven trends and issues in global conservation: (1) the emergence of ecology as a science, (2) the proliferation and influence of nongovernmental organizations, (3) sustainable use, (4) the transfer of ownership of wildlife to the private sector, (5) game farming and ranching, (6) development of ecotourism and nonconsumptive uses of wildlife, and (7) the strategy of saving what is useful to human society. It argues that although we face many challenges in global conservation, not all the news about its current state of global conservation is bad. Some wildlife populations have recovered to nuisance levels (e.g., white-tailed deer, elk, turkeys). Because of advances in ecology and related disciplines, conservation has become based more on science and less on opinion.
Half Century of American Range Ecology and Management: A Retrospective
Authors: Wagner Frederic H.
Published: September 2008

This chapter discusses the development of the livestock industry and grazing management and policy in the United States. It describes the climatic and vegetative conditions in the four major beef-producing regions in the United States: the Southeast, the Great Plains, the Intermountain West, and the California grasslands. It also discusses grazing ecology and grazing systems, addressing the effects on plant community structure (plant succession and the development of holistic management), the effects on plant community production, and the multiple life-form vegetation concept of the Intermountain West.
Policy Failures in African Rangeland Development
Authors: Lusigi Walter J.
Published: September 2008

This chapter discusses seven key policy failures that have contributed to deterioration of rangelands in English-speaking East Africa. These are (1) land tenure policy issues, (2) anti-pastoral colonial policies, (3) wildlife management policies, (4) institutional policy issues, (5) poverty alleviation policies, (6) rangeland-specific fiscal policy issues, and (7) policies on diversification of rangeland economies. It urges the adoption of innovative policies that recognize the complexity of linkages between pastoral people and their environment. National parks and game reserves must be accepted by local rangeland people to be successful. Planning must be based on an appropriate consideration of cultural, political, and socioeconomic factors, in addition to ecological factors. Conservation objectives must be balanced against short- and long-term local human needs, and the conservation program implemented in a manner that is acceptable to the local African population.
The Role of Science and Scientists in Changing Forest Service Management Relative to Sustainability
Authors: Thomas Jack Ward , Burchfield James A.
Published: September 2008

This chapter discusses the development of the concept of sustainability as applied to the management of the national forests in the United States. It traces the development and application of sustainability policy regarding the national forests to the concept (incorporated into the Organic Act of 1897) that national forests would be established to provide a continuous supply of timber, thereby implying sustainability. The development of the National Forest Service is also described.
Marine Mammal Conservation
Authors: Twiss John R. , Hofman Robert J. , Reynolds III John E.
Published: September 2008

This chapter focuses on the US Marine Mammal Commission, the principles of marine mammal management and conservation associated with it, and the status and conservation issues involved with varying groups of marine mammals. It shows that much of the past several decades' history of marine mammal conservation is reflected in the background, content, and implementation of, and changes to, the US Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Key provisions of the MMPA are described, including the functions and composition of the Marine Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors, both of which the act established. How the optimum sustainable population determinations evolved, and the development of the ecosystem approach to marine conservation are discussed.