bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Electronic structure modulation of metal-free graphdiyne for acidic oxygen evolution reaction
Authors: Zheng Zhiqiang , Xue Yurui , Gao Yaqi , Wang Zhongqiang , Zhao Shuya , Luan Xiaoyu , He Feng , Li Yuliang
Published: December 2021

Developing high-performance metal-free electrocatalysts for acidic oxygen evolution reaction (AOER) is highly desirable but remains great challenge. Here we report a rationally substitutingsp-C strategy for the synthesis of methyl- and hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne (MGDY, HGDY) nanowires arrays as 3D porous flexible metal-free electrodes for AOER. Methyl group in MGDY with stronger electron-pushing effect makes electrons around the acetylenic carbon atoms more delocalized, resulting in more uneven distributed surface charge, and higher intrinsic catalytic activities for AOER than HGDY, with the smaller overpotential of 406 mV at 10 mA cm−2than HGDY and previously reported metal-free electrocatalysts. Our results reveal that the modulation of the electronic structure of GDY by selectively substitutingsp-C allows for facilitating charge transfer kinetics, improving adsorption of reaction intermediate, and thereby accelerating the sluggish kinetics of AOER. This work provides us an ideal opportunity for studying the exact hydrogen evolution reaction/oxygen evolution reaction mechanisms of metal-free carbon materials.
Design of a graphene oxide-BODIPY conjugate for glutathione depletion and photodynamic therapy
Authors: Reina Giacomo , Ruiz Amalia , Richichi Barbara , Biagiotti Giacomo , Giacomazzo Gina E , Jacquemin Lucas , Nishina Yuta , Ménard-Moyon Cécilia , Al-Jamal Wafa T , Bianco Alberto
Published: December 2021

Boron dipyrromethene derivates (BODIPYs) are promising photosensitisers (PSs) for cancer treatment using photodynamic therapy (PDT). This study investigates the functionalisation of graphene oxide (GO) with a BODIPY derivate for glutathione (GSH) depletion and PDT. The functionalisation of GO with a 3,5-dichloro-8-(4-boronophenyl) BODIPY via a diol derivatisation with the phenyl boronic acid moiety at the meso position of the BODIPY core, allowed to preserve the intrinsic properties of GO. We demonstrated that both chlorine atoms were substituted by GSH in the presence of glutathione transferase (GST), inducing a relevant bathochromic shift in the absorption/emission features and thus generating the active PS. Ex vitro assessment using cell lysates containing cytoplasmatic GST revealed the intracellular catalytic mechanism for the nucleophilic substitution of the GO-BODIPY adduct with GSH. Confocal microscopy studies showed important differences in the cellular uptake of free BODIPY and GO-BODIPY and revealed the coexistence of GO-BODIPY, GO-BODIPY-GS, and GO-BODIPY-GS2 species inside vesicles and in the cytoplasm of the cells after 24 h of incubation. In vitro biocompatibility and safety of GO and GO-BODIPY were evaluated in 2D and 3D models of prostate adenocarcinoma cells (PC-3), where no toxicity was observed up to 100 µg ml−1 of GO/GO-BODIPY in all treated groups 24 h post-treatment (cell viability > 90%). Only a slight decrease to 80% at 100 µg ml−1 was observed after 48 h of incubation. We demonstrated the efficacy of a GO adduct containing an α-chlorine-substituted BODIPY for the simultaneous depletion of intracellular GSH and the photogeneration of reactive oxygen species using a halogen white light source (5.4 mW cm−2) with a maximum in the range of 500–800 nm, which significantly reduced cell viability (<50%) after irradiation. Our study provides a new vision on how to apply BODIPY derivates and potentiate the toxicity of PDT in prostate and other types of cancer.
Leadership and Creativity in Organizational Behavior
Authors: Lemoine G. James
Published: December 2021

Because leadership and creativity represent two of the most popular topics in the fields of management and organizational behavior, it should not be surprising that a large body of literature has emerged in which the two are jointly examined. Leadership is a commonly studied independent variable, whereas creativity is an outcome of paramount importance for organizations, and the two are also theoretically connected in several ways, suggesting that leadership could precipitate followers’ creative outcomes. This relationship pattern, called “creative leadership,” is the most common way leadership and creativity interact in the extant scholarship. Most of the existing work has focused on “facilitating” creative leadership, in which followers (but not leaders) generate creative outputs, often as a result of leadership behaviors and styles, relationships, or the characteristics of their leader. This work generally finds that positive leadership precipitates positive creative outcomes, although some findings have emerged suggesting that considerable nuance may exist in these relationships, a promising area for future research. Much less scholarship has examined how leaders might direct others to implement their own creative visions, or how leaders might integrate their own creative efforts with those of their followers to enhance overall creativity. Research on these forms of creative leadership is often limited to specific creativity-relevant industries, such the culinary field and the arts, but there is opportunity to examine how they might operate in more general organizational fields.

Other phenomena linking leadership and creativity are plausible but less understood. For instance, leaders may assemble creative contexts, engage in unconventional behavior, or emerge as leaders regardless of their hierarchical positions. Least explored of all is the idea of an opposite causal order—that of creativity affecting leadership, such that creative acts or experiences by an organizational member might drive or alter leadership emerging from themselves, their managers, or their followers. After review of the extant literature in these areas, potential topics for future scholarship are identified within and among the different research streams.
A time-honoured technique goes underground to investigate root drought tolerance. A commentary on: ‘Root pressure–volume curve traits capture rootstock drought tolerance’
Authors: North Gretchen B
Published: December 2021

This article comments on:

M. K. Bartlett, G. Sinclair, G. Fontanesi, T. Knipfer, M. A. Walker and A. J. McElrone, Root pressure–volume curve traits capture rootstock drought tolerance, Annals of Botany, Volume 129, Issue 4, 1 April 2022, Pages 389–402 https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcab132
Robotic and laparoscopic right anterior sectionectomy and central hepatectomy: multicentre propensity score-matched analysis
Authors: Yang Hye Yeon , Choi Gi Hong , Chin Ken-Min , Choi Sung Hoon , Syn Nicholas L. , Cheung Tan-To , Chiow Adrian K. H. , Sucandy Iswanto , Marino Marco V. , Prieto Mikel , Chong Charing C. , Lee Jae Hoon , Efanov Mikhail , Kingham T. Peter , Sutcliffe Robert P. , Troisi Roberto I. , Pratschke Johann , Wang Xiaoying , D’Hondt Mathieu , Tang Chung Ngai , Liu Rong , Park James O. , Rotellar Fernando , Scatton Olivier , Sugioka Atsushi , Long Tran Cong Duy , Chan Chung-Yip , Fuks David , Han Ho-Seong , Goh Brian K. P. ,   and the International Robotic and Laparoscopic Liver Resection Study Group Investigators
Published: December 2021

Both robotic and laparoscopic right anterior sectionectomy and central hepatectomy can be performed safely in expert centres, with excellent outcomes. The robotic approach was associated with statistically significant less blood loss compared with laparoscopy, although the clinical relevance of this finding remains unclear.
Can rapamycin slow down memory decline in Alzheimer’s disease with seizures?
Authors: Shetty Ashok K.
Published: December 2021

This scientific commentary refers to ‘The role of mTORC1 activation in seizure-induced exacerbation of Alzheimer’s disease’ by Gourmaud et al. (doi:10.1093/brain/awab268).
Particle Rider Mutual Information and Dendritic-Squirrel Search Algorithm With Artificial Immune Classifier for Brain Tumor Classification
Authors: Chakre Rahul Ramesh , Patil Dipak V
Published: December 2021

Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) is an imperative imaging modality employed in the medical diagnosis tool for detecting brain tumors. However, the major obstacle in MR images classification is the semantic gap between low-level visual information obtained by MRI machines and high-level information alleged by the clinician. Hence, this research article introduces a novel technique, namely Dendritic-Squirrel Search Algorithm-based Artificial immune classifier (Dendritic-SSA-AIC) using MRI for brain tumor classification. Initially the pre-processing is performed followed by segmentation is devised using sparse fuzzy-c-means (Sparse FCM) is employed for segmentation to extract statistical and texture features. Furthermore, the Particle Rider mutual information (PRMI) is employed for feature selection, which is devised by integrating Particle swarm optimization, Rider optimization algorithm and mutual information. AIC is employed to classify the brain tumor, in which the Dendritic-SSA algorithm designed by combining dendritic cell algorithm and Squirrel search algorithm (SSA). The proposed PRMI-Dendritic-SSA-AIC provides superior performance with maximal accuracy of 97.789%, sensitivity of 97.577% and specificity of 98%.
Estimated incidence of previously undetected atrial fibrillation on a 14-day continuous electrocardiographic monitor and associated risk of stroke
Authors: McIntyre William F , Wang Jia , Benz Alexander P , Johnson Linda , Connolly Stuart J , Van Gelder Isabelle C , Lopes Renato D , Gold Michael R , Hohnloser Stefan H , Lau Chu Pak , Israel Carsten W , Wong Jorge A , Conen David , Healey Jeff S
Published: December 2021

Aims

There is uncertainty about whether and how to perform screening for atrial fibrillation (AF). To estimate the incidence of previously undetected AF that would be captured using a continuous 14-day ECG monitor and the associated risk of stroke.

Methods and results

We analysed data from a cohort of patients >65 years old with hypertension and a pacemaker, but without known AF. For each participant, we simulated 1000 ECG monitors by randomly selecting 14-day windows in the 6 months following enrolment and calculated the average AF burden (total time in AF). We used Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for CHA2DS2-VASc score to estimate the risk of subsequent ischaemic stroke or systemic embolism (SSE) associated with burdens of AF > and <6 min. Among 2470 participants, the median CHA2DS2-VASc score was 4.0, and 44 patients experienced SSE after 6 months following enrolment. The proportion of participants with an AF burden >6 min was 3.10% (95% CI 2.53–3.72). This was consistent across strata of age and CHA2DS2-VASc scores. Over a mean follow-up of 2.4 years, the rate of SSE among patients with <6 min of AF was 0.70%/year, compared to 2.18%/year (adjusted HR 3.02; 95% CI 1.39–6.56) in those with >6 min of AF.

Conclusions

Approximately 3% of individuals aged >65 years with hypertension may have more than 6 min of AF detected by a 14-day ECG monitor. This is associated with a stroke risk of over 2% per year. Whether oral anticoagulation will reduce stroke in these patients is unknown.
Lessons for strengthening childhood immunization in low- and middle-income countries from a successful public-private partnership in rural Nigeria
Authors: Ahonkhai Aima A , Odusanya Olumuyiwa O , Meurice François P , Pierce Leslie J , Durojaiye Temitope O , Alufohai Ewan F , Clemens Ralph , Ahonkhai Vincent I
Published: December 2021

Background

Immunization is a cost-effective public health strategy to reduce vaccine preventable disease, especially in childhood.

Methods

This paper reports the philosophy, service delivery, achievements and lessons learned from an immunization program in rural Nigeria privately financed via a corporate social responsibility initiative from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.

Results

The immunization program served the community for a 16-y period extending from 1998 until 2015, resulting in an increase in age-appropriate immunization coverage from 43% to 78%.

Conclusion

In its success, this immunization program exemplified the importance of early and sustained community engagement, integration of strategies to optimize implementation outcomes and effective team building well before some of these principles were accepted and codified in the literature. The project also underscores the important role that the private sector can bring to achieving critical immunization goals, especially among underserved populations and provides a model for successful public-private partnership.
Effects of tenofovir on telomeres, telomerase and T cell maturational subset distribution in long-term aviraemic HIV-infected adults
Authors: Rodríguez-Centeno Javier , Esteban-Cantos Andrés , Montejano Rocío , Stella-Ascariz Natalia , De Miguel Rosa , Mena-Garay Beatriz , Saiz-Medrano Gabriel , Alejos Belén , Jiménez-González María , Bernardino Jose I. , Cadiñanos Julen , Castro-Alvarez Juan M. , Rodés Berta , Arribas Jose R.
Published: December 2021

Objectives

To evaluate whether the negative impact of tenofovir on telomere length (TL) is due to immune reconstitution interference or inhibition of telomerase.

Methods

One hundred and twenty-eight long-term aviraemic HIV adults treated with tenofovir-containing (n = 79) or tenofovir-sparing regimens (n = 49) were recruited to compare the following: TL in whole blood, PBMCs, CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells by quantitative PCR (qPCR); telomerase activity in PBMCs, CD4+ cells and CD8+ T cells using the TRAPeze RT Telomerase Detection Kit; and T cell maturational subset distribution by flow cytometry.

Results

In an adjusted analysis, participants treated with tenofovir for at least 4 years had shorter TL in CD8+ T cells (P = 0.04) and lower telomerase activity in CD4+ (P = 0.012) and CD8+ T cells (P = 0.023). Tenofovir treatment was also associated with lower proportions of recent thymic emigrant (RTE) CD4+ cells (P = 0.031) and PD1 marker expression (P = 0.013).

Conclusions

In long-term aviraemic HIV adults, the inhibition of telomerase by tenofovir could explain telomere shortening in CD8+ T cells. There is no telomere shortening in the CD4+ compartment and the decrease in telomerase activity could be explained both by the inhibition by tenofovir and by the lower proportion of RTE CD4+cells.
Beware the pancreatic incidentaloma in colorectal tumours: pancreatic adenocarcinoma with metastases to the colon and rectum
Authors: O’Sullivan Brian , Burton Thomas , Van Dalen Ralph , Welsh Fraser , Pandita Archana , Fischer Jesse
Published: December 2021

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most diagnosed malignancy in the Western world. Routine staging of CRC often identifies incidental lesions on cross-sectional imaging. Appropriate treatment is dependent on a correct histological diagnosis. Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a rarer and often devastating diagnosis for which the treatment pathway differs significantly to CRC. We report two rare cases: the first recorded case of PDAC with synchronous rectal metastasis and a case of an acute presentation with large bowel obstruction from synchronous colonic metastasis. Both cases presented a significant diagnostic challenge. The management of both cases would have been altered had the histological diagnosis been known prior to surgery. Clinicians treating CRC should be wary of incidental lesions on staging investigations as they rarely represent an occult extra-intestinal primary malignancy. Immunohistochemistry plays an important role in ascertaining the origin of gastrointestinal malignancy.
Assessing the Quality of Self-Reported Financial Information
Authors: Madeira Carlos , Margaretic Paula , Martínez Felipe , Roje Pedro
Published: December 2021

It is well known that self-reported financial information differs from administrative records. This article advances previous studies by using a unique matched representative sample of individual borrowers from the Chilean Household Finance Survey with administrative banking loan records. Our linked dataset allows us to test whether the differences between the two sources are due to the number of nonreported loans or to differences in the reported loan amounts. We show that discrepancies in debt ownership are larger when respondents have a mortgage and are not the highest income member of the family, when respondents have weak financial literacy and do not have confidence in the study, and when respondents live in complex or multigenerational households. However, borrowers report the maturity of their mortgage and installment loans quite accurately. Concerning loan amounts, differences between the two sources decrease with the financial literacy of the respondent. Finally, a simple form of rounding can go a long way towards explaining differences in the middle part of the debt amount and maturity distributions.
The Experience Of Prophecy in the Mystical Diaries of Rabbi David Kohen
Authors: Bitty Yehuda
Published: December 2021

This article seeks to direct attention to one unusual figure who provided his own interpretation of the renewal of prophecy during the generation of redemption (i.e., the success of Zionism and the creation of the State of Israel). Rabbi David Kohen (1887–1972), known as Ha-Nazir, the Nazirite, was the author of a book entitled Kol ha-Nevu’ah [The Voice of Prophecy]. His original thought combines philosophy and Kabbalah, reason and experience, knowledge and creativity. He was also interested in questions of prophecy as a possible experience in the present, and many descriptions recounted in his personal diaries reveal the portrait of a mystic in search of an encounter with the beyond. This study will explore the man himself from his writings, especially through the descriptions of his mystical experiences that appear in his personal journal entitled Megillat Setarim. The methodology presented in this article is based on careful textual reading: an analysis of a phenomenon through its post-experiential written account, the product of later reflection, and based on the presumption that there is a connection between the mystical experience and the written record of that experience, despite the difference between the two.
Detection of anomalous element distribution in the extremely slowly rotating magnetic O9.7 V star HD 54879
Authors: Järvinen S P , Hubrig S , Schöller M , Cikota A , Ilyin I , Hummel C A , Küker M
Published: December 2021

The O9.7 V star HD 54879 is currently the only massive magnetic star whose magnetic field geometry and rotation period are not constrained. Over the last 3 yr, we gathered additional observations of this star, obtained using various instruments at several astronomical facilities, with the aim to constrain the rotation period and the magnetic field geometry. The new data include the first full Stokes vector observations with the Potsdam Echelle Polarimetric and Spectroscopic Instrument (PEPSI), installed at the Large Binocular Telescope. The acquired spectropolarimetric observations show a very slow magnetic field variability related to the extremely slow rotation of HD 54879, which is also indicated in a dynamical spectrum, displaying variability of the Hα line. The most intriguing result of our study is the discovery of differences in longitudinal magnetic field strengths measured using different least-squares deconvolution (LSD) masks containing lines belonging to different elements. It is the first time that such a differential analysis of the field strength in dependence of the used lines is carried out for a magnetic O-type star. Since the LSD Stokes I profiles of the studied O, Si, and He line masks remain stable over all observing epochs, we conclude that the detection of different field strengths using lines belonging to these elements is related to the different formation depths, with the He lines formed much higher in the stellar atmosphere compared to the silicon and the oxygen lines, and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects. Our numerical magnetospherical model suggests the presence of enhanced gas density that fills the volume inside the field lines close to the star.
Eclipse mapping of EXO 0748–676: evidence for a massive neutron star
Authors: Knight Amy H , Ingram Adam , Middleton Matthew , Drake Jeremy
Published: December 2021

Determining the maximum possible neutron star (NS) mass places limits on the equation of state (EoS) of ultra-dense matter. The mass of NSs in low-mass X-ray binaries can be determined from the binary mass function, providing independent constraints are placed on both the binary inclination and mass ratio. In eclipsing systems, they relate via the totality duration. EXO 0748–676 is an eclipsing NS low-mass X-ray binary with a binary mass function estimated using stellar emission lines from the irradiated face of the companion. The NS mass is thus known as a function of mass ratio. Here, we model the X-ray eclipses in several energy bands, utilizing archival XMM–Newton data. We find a narrow region of absorbing material surrounding the companion star is required to explain the energy-dependent eclipses. Therefore, we suggest the companion may be experiencing ablation of its outer layers and that the system could transition into a redback millisecond pulsar. Our fit returns a mass ratio of $q=0.222^{+0.07}_{-0.08}$ and an inclination $i = 76.5 \pm ^{1.4}_{1.1}$. Combining these with the previously measured radial velocity of 410 ± 5 km s−1, derived from Doppler mapping analysis of H α emission during quiescence, returns an NS mass of ∼2 M⊙ even if the line originates as far from the NS as physically possible, favouring hard EoS. The inferred mass increases for a more realistic emission point. However, a ∼1.4 M⊙ canonical NS mass is possible when considering radial velocity values derived from other emission lines observed both during outburst and quiescence.
Three-dimensional distribution of ions and electrons in the lunar ionosphere originated from the photochemical reactions
Authors: Ambili K M , Choudhary R K
Published: December 2021

Using a fluid-based time-dependent numerical photochemical model, the three-dimensional distribution of ions and electrons in the lunar ionosphere, originated purely from photochemical reactions, is investigated. The photochemical model includes the production and recombination of 16 ions, namely CO$_2^+$, H2O+, H3O+, OH+, O$_2^+$, O+, Ar+, Ne+, He+, H+, H$_2^+$, CH$_3^+$, CH$_4^+$, and CH$_5^+$. The model also includes the interaction of solar wind with lunar plasma and calculates electron density profiles from the surface to 200 km altitude for the entire latitudes and longitudes. Model runs suggest that the surface electron density at the Moon could be as high as 1.2 × 105 cm−3 over the mid-latitudes if dynamical interaction between the solar wind and lunar plasma is not accounted for. The dominant ions, in this case, would be Ar+, Ne+, and He+. The absence of any intrinsic magnetic field however leads the ionosphere at the Moon to interact continuously with the solar wind and result in the removal of positive ions. This, in turn, leads to a negligible presence of plasma in the lunar ionosphere with a maximum electron density of ∼1600 cm−3. The electron density is maximum during the midnight and post-midnight periods at all the latitudes, and the maximum is centred around the polar region. Though solar wind acts as a strong removal agent, the electron density distribution is controlled by photochemistry, and ions are molecular in origin.
X-ray timing and spectral variability properties of blazars S5 0716 + 714, OJ 287, Mrk 501, and RBS 2070
Authors: Mohorian Maksym , Bhatta Gopal , Adhikari Tek P , Dhital Niraj , Pánis Radim , Dinesh Adithiya , Chaudhary Suvas C , Bachchan Rajesh K , Stuchlík Zdeněk
Published: December 2021

The X-ray emission from blazars has been widely investigated using several space telescopes. In this work, we explored statistical properties of the X-ray variability in the blazars S5 0716+714, OJ 287, Mkn 501, and RBS 2070 using the archival observations from the XMM-Newton telescope between the period 2002–2020. Several methods of timing and spectral analyses, including fractional variability, minimum variability time-scale, power spectral density analyses, and countrate distribution, were performed. In addition, we fitted various spectral models to the observations, as well as estimated hardness ratio. The results show that the sources are moderately variable within the intraday time-scale. Three of the four sources exhibited a clear bi-modal pattern in their countrate distribution, revealing possible indication of two distinct countrate states, that is, hard and soft countrate states. The slope indices of the power spectral density were found to be centred around 0.5. Furthermore, the spectra of the sources were fitted with single power law, broken power law, log-parabolic, and blackbody + log-parabolic models (the latter only for OJ 287). We conclude that for most of the observations log-parabolic model was the best fit. The power-spectral-density analysis revealed the variable nature of PSD slopes in the source light curves. The results of this analysis could indicate the non-stationary nature of the blazar processes on intraday time-scales. The observed features can be explained within the context of current blazar models, in which the non-thermal emission mostly arises from kilo-pc scale relativistic jets.
Estimating the Impact of Low Influenza Activity in 2020 on Population Immunity and Future Influenza Seasons in the United States
Authors: Lee Kyueun , Jalal Hawre , Raviotta Jonathan M , Krauland Mary G , Zimmerman Richard K , Burke Donald S , Roberts Mark S
Published: December 2021

Background

Influenza activity in the 2020–2021 season was remarkably low, likely due to implementation of public health preventive measures such as social distancing, mask wearing, and school closure. With waning immunity, the impact of low influenza activity in the 2020–2021 season on the following season is unknown.

Methods

We built a multistrain compartmental model that captures immunity over multiple influenza seasons in the United States. Compared with the counterfactual case, where influenza activity remained at the normal level in 2020–2021, we estimated the change in the number of hospitalizations when the transmission rate was decreased by 20% in 2020–2021. We varied the level of vaccine uptake and effectiveness in 2021–2022. We measured the change in population immunity over time by varying the number of seasons with lowered influenza activity.

Results

With the lowered influenza activity in 2020–2021, the model estimated 102 000 (95% CI, 57 000–152 000) additional hospitalizations in 2021–2022, without changes in vaccine uptake and effectiveness. The estimated changes in hospitalizations varied depending on the level of vaccine uptake and effectiveness in the following year. Achieving a 50% increase in vaccine coverage was necessary to avert the expected increase in hospitalization in the next influenza season. If the low influenza activity were to continue over several seasons, population immunity would remain low during those seasons, with 48% of the population susceptible to influenza infection.

Conclusions

Our study projected a large compensatory influenza season in 2021–2022 due to a light season in 2020–2021. However, higher influenza vaccine uptake would reduce this projected increase in influenza.
Introduction
Authors: Zuber Mike A.
Published: December 2021

The introduction outlines competing views on how to interpret alchemy, presents the book’s definition of spiritual alchemy, and provides an outline of the work. Throughout the past three centuries, alchemy has often been viewed as either fraudulent superstition, introspective religion, or practical science. Bringing together the latter two in a way that challenges our habit of distinguishing sharply between science and religion, spiritual alchemy was based on early-modern concepts of spiritus, a subtle matter pervading the universe. As a concept, spiritus transitioned freely between laboratory alchemy, medicine, cosmology, and even theology. In the process, it could give rise to heterodox implications, something that also affected spiritual alchemy.
Jacob Boehme’s Spiritual Alchemy of Rebirth
Authors: Zuber Mike A.
Published: December 2021

This chapter presents the first fully developed spiritual alchemy as encountered in the later works of Jacob Boehme, including his Signatura rerum of 1622. In his earliest work of 1612, Aurora, alchemy did not yet play a role, and rebirth had not yet acquired its distinct shape. That changed as Boehme gained access to networks of correspondents and supporters who introduced him to alchemical terminology and the notion of rebirth as developed by Valentin Weigel and others. In works composed between 1619 and 1622, Boehme frequently used alchemical language to describe rebirth, thus formulating the spiritual alchemy of rebirth. For him the ubiquitous body of Christ was the philosophers’ stone and the subtle body of the new birth at once.
Friedrich Breckling, the 1682 Boehme Edition, and Spiritual Alchemy
Authors: Zuber Mike A.
Published: December 2021

Since Georg Lorenz Seidenbecher died young, this chapter explores how one of his associates, Friedrich Breckling, shared his millenarianism and eventually described spiritual alchemy in his writings. After initially associating closely with the controversial prophet Ludwig Friedrich Gifftheil, Breckling discovered the writings of Jacob Boehme around 1680. His contacts included many who were directly involved with the first complete edition of Boehme’s works in 1682, including his estranged neighbour Johann Georg Gichtel. Breckling, too, may have contributed to this project. In two small treatises published in the same year, Breckling described the spiritual alchemy of rebirth and contrasted it against the fraudulent alchemy of priestcraft. Breckling’s spiritual alchemy prominently reflected his double calling as ‘God’s librarian’ and advocate of persecuted believers, to whom he extended hospitality throughout his life.
Mesmerists and Alchemists in Victorian London
Authors: Zuber Mike A.
Published: December 2021

This chapter explores the context in which Mary Anne South composed her Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery and shows that it remained faithful to Jacob Boehme’s spiritual alchemy despite its modern trappings. In the years around 1850, her father, Thomas South, corresponded with Christopher Walton, who would amass the largest collection of manuscript works by Dionysius Andreas Freher. Extant letters demonstrate that they discussed Freher and alchemy side by side. Father and daughter initially composed a work titled Early Magnetism together but subsequently discovered in alchemy and spiritual rebirth matters they considered of greater importance. This insight found expression in Mary Anne South’s Suggestive Inquiry, published anonymously and quickly withdrawn. Despite its obscurity, it gives voice to Boehme’s spiritual alchemy in modernised jargon.
A Thawing Earth
Authors: Taillant Jorge Daniel
Published: December 2021

This chapter examines the warming of permafrost found in the Earth’s coldest regions. It relates how this warming results in the release of large amounts of methane gas from gas hydrates buried in frozen grounds and discusses the implications for climate change of this release. The chapter outlines the categories of permafrost and the role that thawing and freezing cycles play in the local environment. It also describes how to use online GIS tools to locate permafrost regions on the Earth. Finally, the chapter reviews the common impacts of melting permafrost such as subsidence, sinkholes, destruction of infrastructure, as well as the possible release of human and animal disease agents.
Run! The Mountain Is Coming!
Authors: Taillant Jorge Daniel
Published: December 2021

This chapter explains the dynamics of Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) or glacier tsunamis. It describes how climate change and resulting global warming is destabilizing high mountain glaciers perched above deep glacier lakes formed by receding glaciers and subsequent melting. The chapter goes on to explain how the collapse of large pieces of ice result in mountain top born tsunami waves that destroy downstream ecosystems, people, and infrastructure and how climate change is raising the likelihood that these glacier tsunamis will occur throughout the world. It recounts historical GLOF events throughout the world, detailing the impacts and risks of these tragic events.
The Shape of Motion
Authors: Schonig Jordan
Published: December 2021

Cinematic motion has long been celebrated as an emblem of change and fluidity or claimed as the source of cinema’s impression of reality. But such general claims undermine the sheer variety of forms that motion can take onscreen—the sweep of a gesture, the rush of a camera movement, the slow transformations of a natural landscape. What might one learn about the moving image when one begins to account for the many ways that movements move? In The Shape of Motion: Cinema and the Aesthetics of Movement, Jordan Schonig provides a new way of theorizing cinematic motion by examining cinema’s “motion forms”: structures, patterns, or shapes of movement unique to the moving image. From the wild and unpredictable motion of flickering leaves and swirling dust that captivated early spectators, to the pulsing abstractions that emerge from rapid lateral tracking shots, to the bleeding pixel-formations caused by the glitches of digital video compression, each motion form opens up the aesthetics of movement to film theoretical inquiry. By pairing close analyses of onscreen movement in narrative and experimental films with concepts from Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Henri Bergson, and Immanuel Kant, Schonig rethinks long-standing assumptions within film studies, such as indexical accounts of photographic images and analogies between the camera and the human eye. Arguing against the intuition that cinema reproduces the natural perception of motion, The Shape of Motion shows how cinema’s motion forms do not merely transpose the movements of the world in front of the camera; they transform them.
The Oceans Become Global
Authors: Bosco David
Published: December 2021

Aspects of ocean governance have ancient roots, including early anti-piracy campaigns and basic rules for maritime commerce. Sovereign rulers periodically attempted to control ocean space but usually lacked the means to do so. As Spain and Portugal mastered the art of long-range seafaring in the 15th century, however, they attempted to divide the world’s oceans between them, an effort that still stands as one of the most ambitious attempts to divide up the oceans. During that period, Portugal tried to exclude outsiders from the Indian Ocean and asserted the right to control all shipping in the area. Portuguese claims prompted objections from other European powers and set the stage for the Dutch lawyer Hugo Grotius to articulate the doctrine of a “free sea,” based on what he saw as the inherent nature of the oceans. While it faced several rebuttals, Grotius’s conception of the oceans mostly prevailed.
Oklahoma!
Authors: Gennaro Liza
Published: December 2021

Agnes de Mille’s dance innovations in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s groundbreaking musical Oklahoma! (1943) altered the function of dance on Broadway. This chapter will consider de Mille’s project in relation to Broadway dance in the 1930s and her role as a proponent of Americana dance. A reassessment of her contributions as a modernist, women’s advocate, and a dramaturgically astute dance maker who manipulated librettos to convey her point of view will be offered. De Mille’s early Broadway failures, her tenacity, and how she made Broadway a place to present expressive, narrative dance are considered. Her employment of modern dance methodologies primarily taken from techniques developed by Martha Graham and Louis Horst, with whom she was closely associated, made the commercial theater a venue for dance innovation.
Scoring Spoken Second Language Assessment
Authors: Knoch Ute
Published: December 2021

Achieving scores that adequately reflect the test-takers’ proficiency level, as evidenced in spoken assessment tasks, has been the subject of a large body of research in second language assessment. In this chapter, the author outlines the work that has been undertaken in relation to the scoring of spoken assessments by human raters and automated scoring. The chapter focuses on research on rater effects, rater training and feedback, rater characteristics, interlocutor/interviewer effects, rating scales, and score resolution techniques. The section on automated scoring discusses research on the underlying construct and what limits this puts on the types of tasks that can be used in the assessment. The chapter concludes by setting out some future directions for the scoring of spoken responses.
The Publishing Profile
Authors: Rice Alison
Published: December 2021

The Introductory chapter examines the recent resurgence of the author in the Parisian literary landscape, approximately fifty years after critics like Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault put into question the centrality—indeed, the very concept—of this figure. Maryse Condé asserts that this is a development with great potential, for it allows the author to express her point of view in ways that she hadn’t felt authorized to do previously. There is also, however, the parallel possibility of according too much significance to the author, an option that becomes problematic when critics and readers concentrate on the identity of writers at the expense of a concern with the content of their work. Women writers from outside France are particularly susceptible to classification that sometimes permits a single trait (birthplace, ethnicity, gender) to determine how their texts are received. The “publishing profile” is a notion that refers in this analysis to the complicated and nuanced images of contemporary authors as they are currently composed. Their involvement in a number of undertakings—ranging from contributions to a book publication’s paratextual apparatus to public appearances such as television interviews and book festivals—means that authors are increasingly engaged in efforts to shape a composite impression of themselves. They thereby take advantage of diverse opportunities to contribute to carving out a profile that is made up of additive attributes that ultimately contradict reductive labels and restore to each author her complexity.
Forging a Name
Authors: Rice Alison
Published: December 2021

Chapter 1 focuses on the name of the author in a contemplation of the ways worldwide women writers in Paris contribute to the construction of a publishing profile. There are a number of constraints placed on writers from beyond French borders who seek to publish and publicize their work in Paris, but many of these writers have created a reputation that exceeds these restrictions through careful choices that constitute subtle reactions to the rules. They comply with many requirements just the same, and cooperate in necessary ways that reveal their conviction that their creative written work will have the last word, ultimately defining them beyond a set of expectations that will necessarily evolve as time goes by. Certain collections such as “Continents Noirs” at the prestigious publishing house Gallimard illustrate how publishers and critics often subscribe to and propagate specific stereotypes about writers from elsewhere. But there is an indication that engaging in textual play with proper names as well as with the distinction between a writer’s life and work contributes to more elaborate understandings of the author. When they renew their profiles through writing that emphasizes movement and change, writers counteract restrictive images contained in the packaging of their publications. It is striking that, even though they are aware they might encounter prejudice, women authors from around the world have opted to sign their published work in French with names that do not conceal their background but that instead demonstrate an embrace of their histories and identities.
The Pull of Paris
Authors: Rice Alison
Published: December 2021

Chapter 2 concentrates on the complex role Paris has played for worldwide women writers. This spot has long occupied a privileged position in the literary world and is an undeniably important place for the authors in my study, many of whom have studied, built careers, published their works, and taken up permanent residence here. The metropolis serves as an inspiration for a number of the texts they compose, and it figures in their written works in interesting ways that often reveal the authors’ conflicted relationship with it. In the end, a majority of these writers convey a connection to the French capital, indicating a sense of belonging—or a desire to belong—within the city. They have become aware that they will forever be perceived as foreigners in Paris, and have occasionally suffered from a precarious status tied to financial challenges. They nonetheless celebrate the possibilities that accompany their position at the margins of this central literary location that they have come to embrace as a promising space. It is deeply significant that, in a number of instances, they do not express the same sentiment with respect to France as a whole. It is equally meaningful that, instead of proclaiming patriotic sentiments, these writers often articulate a more profound identification with the European continent than with the nation they inhabit.
Final Notes, Circling Back
Authors: Rice Alison
Published: December 2021

The conclusion contends that these worldwide women writers in Paris have not sought to market themselves in ways that would entail compromising their positions and priorities, but have instead inserted their narratives into a complicated setting to allow them to draw from their strengths to make lasting impressions. Their work has far too often been overlooked in the Parisian literary landscape where it has emerged and to which it is nonetheless making a profoundly meaningful contribution, and it is time for us to recognize the revolution that these writers are a part of, each creating in inimitable style and adding their voice to a movement of novelty that comes at precisely the right time for the French literary tradition.
China's Technological Leapfrogging and Economic Catch-up
Authors: Lee Keun
Published: December 2021

After a miraculous economic growth, spurred by the Beijing Consensus, China is now facing a slowdown. This book deals with the interesting issue of the middle-income trap—the phenomenon of the rapidly growing economy of a country stagnating at the middle-income level—in the context of China. It also discusses China’s limitations and future prospects, especially after the onset of a new “cold war” between China and the US, and in particular whether it would fall into the “Thucydides trap,” the conflict between a rising power and the existing hegemon. This book plays around three key terms, the Beijing Consensus, the middle-income trap, and the Thucydides trap, and applies a Schumpeterian approach to these concepts. It also conducts a comparative analysis examining China from an “economic catch-up” perspective. Economic catch-up starts with learning from and imitating a forerunner, but a successful catch-up requires leapfrogging, which implies a latecomer doing something different from, and often ahead of, a forerunner. Technological leapfrogging may lead to technological catch-up, which means reducing the technological gap, and then to economic catch-up in living standards and economic size. This linkage between technological and economic catch-up corresponds exactly with a similar linkage between the Beijing Consensus and escaping (or not) the middle-income and Thucydides traps. The book concludes that China’s successful rise as a global industrial power has been due to its strategy of technological leapfrogging, which has enabled it to move beyond the middle-income trap and possibly the Thucydides trap, although at a slower speed.
Why Informal Workers Organize
Authors: Hummel Calla
Published: December 2021

Informal workers make up over two billion workers or about 50 percent of the global workforce. Surprisingly, scholars know little about informal workers’ political or civil society participation. An informal worker is anyone who holds a job and who does not pay taxes on taxable earnings, does not hold a license for their work when one is required, or is not part of a mandatory social security system. For decades, researchers argued that informal workers rarely organized or participated in civil society and politics. However, millions of informal workers around the world start and join unions. Why do informal workers organize? In countries like Bolivia, informal workers such as street vendors, fortune-tellers, witches, clowns, gravestone cleaners, sex workers, domestic workers, and shoe shiners come together in powerful unions. In South Africa, South Korea, and India, national informal worker organizations represent millions of citizens. The data in this book find that informal workers organize in nearly every country for which data exists, but to varying degrees. This raises a related question: Why do informal workers organize in some places more than others? The reality of informal work described in this book and supported by surveys in 60 countries, over 150 interviews with informal workers in Bolivia and Brazil, ethnographic data from multiple cities, and administrative data upends the conventional wisdom on the informal sector. The contrast between scholarly expectations and emerging data underpin the central argument of the book: Informal workers organize where state officials encourage them to.
Felicitous Underspecification
Authors: King Jeffrey C.
Published: December 2021

Felicitous uses of contextually sensitive expressions generally have unique semantic values in context. For example, a felicitous use of the singular pronoun ‘she’ generally has a single female as its unique semantic value in context. In the present work, it is argued that contextually sensitive expressions have felicitous uses where they lack unique semantic values in context. The author calls such uses instances of felicitous underspecification. In these uses, the underspecified expression is associated with a range of candidate semantic values in context. A rule is provided for updating the Stalnakerian common ground when sentences containing felicitous underspecified expressions are uttered and accepted in a conversation. The author also gives an account of the mechanism that associates the range of candidate semantic values in context with an underspecified expression. Sentences containing felicitous underspecified expressions can be embedded in various constructions. The author considers the result of embedding such sentences under negation and verbs of propositional attitude. He also examines the question of why some uses of underspecified expressions are felicitous and others aren’t. This investigation yields the notion of a context being appropriate for a sentence (LF), where a context is appropriate for a sentence containing an underspecified expression if the sentence is felicitous in that context. Finally, some difficulties are covered that arise in virtue of the fact that pronouns and demonstratives have some sorts of implications of uniqueness that clash with their being underspecified.