bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Race, Slavery, and Colonies in the French Revolution
Authors: Covo Manuel
Published: October 2014

This article focuses on the impact of the colonial issue on Revolutionary France particularly during the late 1780s and early 1790s. It demonstrates the importance of the slave colonies in the French economy and the French public sphere after the Seven Years War. In particular, the boom in Saint-Domingue created tensions between planters and merchants on the one hand and whites and free people of colour on the other. The stakes of colonial conflict became completely intertwined in the revolutionary dynamic, as failure by the ‘Friends of the Blacks’ during the National Assembly contributed to radicalizing political divisions among patriots. The colonial issue remained high on the agenda, although most of the changes came from the colonies themselves, especially after the slaves’ insurrection. But beyond the 1794 abolition decree, historiography should expand its analysis to fully understand how imperialism informed citizenship in a revolutionary age.
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
Authors: Lorino Philippe
Published: October 2014

Charles Sanders Peirce, the father of pragmatism and of semiotics, proposed a theory of sign that plays a key role in pragmatist philosophy and serves as a foundation for the theory of thought and action. According to Peirce, meaning is non-existent if there is no sign pointing to another sign (mediation). In other words, there is no meaning which does not generate signs from signs, in long teleological chains distributed over time in a certain direction (semiosis). Peirce insists that ‘the woof and warp of all thought is symbols’, that ‘every thought and action is a sign’. This chapter first looks at the biography of Peirce and his intellectual influence before outlining the key concepts of his semiotics—mediation and semiosis—as well as their process orientation. It concludes by discussing the potential role of these concepts in process-oriented organization studies.
Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975)
Authors: Cunliffe Ann L. , Helin Jenny , Luhman John T.
Published: October 2014

Mikhail Bakhtin is a Russian philosopher who offered a different way of viewing sociality and its representation—a recurring theme in much of his writing. This chapter discusses four interrelated aspects of Bakhtin’s work that are of particular relevance to process thinking in organization studies and offer a distinct way to understand and represent sociality: the role of dialogue in the formation and understanding of social experience, the nature of language as lived conversation and responsive utterances, synthesizing the lived world and the world of reason, and carnival and culture. It also examines the implications of Bakhtin’s philosophy for organization studies.
Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
Authors: Nielsen Richard P.
Published: October 2014

Hannah Arendt was profoundly influenced by Martin Heidegger both intellectually and personally. Arendt’s process philosophy of organizational ethics and politics remains relevant today. In 1963, she published a book entitled Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. She is known for her analysis of authoritarian organizations and the emergent archetype of a middle-level manager based on Adolf Eichmann. This chapter provides a biographical sketch of Arendt and Eichmann and discusses the emergent archetype organizational and Eichmann dimensions considered by Arendt, including administrative harm, organizational requirements to obey orders, and ‘banality’ of organizational evil or at least unethical organizational behaviour. It also looks at the views of Heidegger, Eichmann, and Arendt regarding organizational becoming.
Luce Irigaray (1930b)
Authors: Höpfl Heather
Published: October 2014

Born in Belgium in 1930, Luce Irigaray is a French feminist, philosopher, linguist, and psychoanalyst whose work poses a radical challenge not least to teleological order. Known for her resistance to being reduced by biography, Irigaray has come under attack by critics within feminism itself. In 1974 she published one of her most influential works, Speculum, de l’autre femme, which challenges the phallocentricism of both Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis and of philosophy. This chapter explores how women’s being is seen, specifically by Irigaray, and how women might subvert the lexicon.
Dimensions of African Inequality
Authors: Bigsten Arne
Published: October 2014

This chapter discusses dimensions of inequality in sub-Saharan Africa and their causes. It starts with a review of the empirical evidence about inequality during the colonial period as well as the post-independence era. Then it discusses the forces that determine inequality change, focusing on factor accumulation and structural change. Next it considers the relationship between inequality and growth, the role of agriculture in the development process, the relationships between ethnicity and social stratification and governance, and external influences on inequality. The chapter concludes with some comments on what policy interventions can do to reduce inequality.
Congress and American Political Development
Authors: Schickler Eric , Rubin Ruth Bloch
Published: October 2014

While early works in American political development (APD) incorporated congressional actors in accounts of state-building, policymaking, and social reform, there is a growing body of historically oriented scholarship that places the institution of Congress front and center. We highlight three major streams of contemporary congressional research that engage with APD. The first analyzes the development of congressional institutions, often drawing upon concepts of path dependence and layering to understand the presence or absence of change in legislative operations. Second, several important studies of state-building and policy development highlight the role of congressional actors in driving—or blocking—critical political and social reforms. Finally, new datasets that track congressional elections and roll call voting over long time spans have given rise to a growing literature that uses historical evidence to test contemporary theories of legislative behavior. We close with a discussion of the contributions and pitfalls of using historical evidence in this way.
Political Parties in American Political Development
Authors: Karol David
Published: October 2014

This article examines the role of political parties in America’s political development, with emphasis on parties as institutions. It considers three developments in American politics: the emergence of mass parties that flourished during the so-called Party Period in the mid-nineteenth century; the decline and increasing regulation of traditional parties since the Progressive Era; and the revival of parties in a new form since the 1970s. It also analyses how parties have influenced—and have been influenced by—major institutions such as Congress, the Presidency, the national bureaucracy, and interest groups. The article concludes by discussing two key concerns of scholars of American political development: development and exceptionalism.
Aristotle’s Rhetoric in Theory and Practice
Authors: Garver Eugene
Published: October 2014

The Rhetoric is a difficult book for two reasons. First, its purpose is not immediately clear because it sees argument as the heart of persuasion yet expands and contracts the meaning of argument in different contexts. The relations between argument and character, logos and ēthos, are complex. The enthymeme is the “body” of proof (pistis), yet ēthos is the most powerful means of inducing belief. Second, Aristotle shows how the art of rhetoric has its own standards, irreducible to logic, politics, or expediency, but its ability to erect its own standards is constrained or guided in three distinct dimensions: fidelity to the facts, a goal of persuading a given audience, and moral responsibility. Aristotle places deliberative rhetoric, not forensic or epideictic rhetoric, at the center of his art to make the art fit for practice by citizens, not experts.
Hume’s Chief Argument
Authors: Millican Peter
Published: October 2014

The common tendency to characterize Hume’s philosophy as simply “skeptical,” “naturalist,” “empiricist,” or “irreligious” is a mistake. Rather, his philosophy is best seen as responding to a number of specific issues that captured his attention in the 1730s, mostly involving causation and thus explaining his particular enthusiasm for applying the Copy Principle to that idea. Other enthusiasms that shaped Book 1 of the Treatise (e.g., for sensory atomism and a crude theory of relations and mental acts) later faded, but the “Chief Argument” around causation—and causal/inductive inference—remains the consistent core of Hume’s theoretical philosophy through the Abstract and the many editions of the first Enquiry. In the Enquiry, moreover, Hume manages to tame the corrosive skepticism of the Treatise, enabling him to pursue his ambitions towards a naturalistic “science of man” while maintaining a discriminating skepticism towards aprioristic metaphysics and religion.
“And I Make My Own”
Authors: Wells Christopher J.
Published: October 2014

This chapter applies spatial practice theory to the intersections of power relations, social spaces, and embodied performance in the dance culture of Great Depression-era Harlem. Tracing the movement in black communities away from signifiers of ethnicity toward social-class-based hierarchies, it shows how ethnicized tropes have been used to exoticize and commodify black identity and to create the American black/white racial binary. This strategy has its roots in the marketing labels of the slave trade and the performative tropes of minstrel shows, and it continued in the floor shows of the Cotton Club and other “jungle alley” nightclubs in Harlem. The chapter charts the trajectory of the Savoy Ballroom’s drift from an upscale, dignified dance palace to an incubator for the lindy hop and Harlem’s other popular dance innovations. It argues that considering dance demands a model of ethnicity that creates more space for individual agency and processes of self-definition.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Authors: Stamatakis Emmanuel A. , Orfanidou Eleni , Papanicolaou Andrew C.
Published: October 2014

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is the most frequently used functional neuroimaging method and the one that accounts for most of the neuroimaging literature. It measures the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in different parts of the brain during rest and during task-induced activation of functional networks mediating basic and higher functions. A basic understanding of the various instruments and techniques of recording the hemodynamic responses of different brain regions and the manner in which we establish activation and connectivity patterns out of these responses is necessary for an appreciation of the contemporary functional neuroimaging literature. To facilitate such an understanding is the purpose of this chapter.
The Ethics of Economic Development and Human Displacement
Authors: Gasper Des
Published: October 2014

Development projects have frequently brought clashes between claims for improvement for powerful groups and the rights of marginal groups in project-affected areas, leading to ruinous resettlement of the latter. Economic cost–benefit analysis based on the potential compensation principle endorses sacrifice of weaker groups’ interests for the sake of groups that are already better off. The chapter examines two lines of response: the ethic of responsibilities from Penz et al., based on studying dam projects and existing international agreements, and human rights–based approaches elaborated for mining projects. A global language of human rights, including principles of recognition, accountability, and participation, helps to mobilize and link local and international civil society groups and claim seats for weaker local groups in project negotiations, which can thereby foster mutual learning and accommodation. Attention to these principles plus other elements of a human development ethic should become routine in economists’ training and practice.
Hip-Hop in Hollywood
Authors: DeFrantz Thomas F.
Published: October 2014

In the early 1980s, Hollywood began to exploit hip-hop dance—especially breaking—to produce a limited series of movie musicals. These “breaksploitation” films set a standard of participation for young artists, and in particular, young artists of color, to enter the movie industry as laborers, and to enter the global imagination of film audiences as representative agents of change. This chapter explores the traditions of Hollywood musicals and dance artists of color just before the hip-hop film production era; the innovations of these early 1980s films in terms of their casting, creative approaches, and presentation of contemporary social dance; and the communities that these mediated projects both catered to and generated. Together, these films inspired a global audience for breakdancing, and are inextricably linked to the sweep and scale of young people’s interest in these corporeal practices.
Communities of Practice
Authors: Harlig Alexandra
Published: October 2014

This chapter considers three moments in early twentieth-century American social dance history in which the popular screen had a particularly large impact, spreading local forms across the country and propelling dance forms from their communities of origin to wider communities of practice. This chapter focuses on Vernon and Irene Castle’s filmed representations of ragtime partner dances pre–World War I, the flapper film and newsreel representations of the Charleston throughout the 1920s, and television dance party shows likeAmerican Bandstandbroadcasting the Twist and other new dances in the 1950s and 60s. This contribution illustrates how these media facilitated the embodiment and consumption of movement and meaning of music, steps, and bodies across racial and social lines by demonstrating how cycles of dissemination, development, and mediation connected geographically and socio-economically disparate groups. The embodied practice of dance and the ritual of watching led to the formation of a consumer-based youth culture centered on music and dance.
Disciplining , Animalizing Ambition
Authors: Osterweis Ariel
Published: October 2014

By paying particular attention to the role of the dancing body inBlack Swan(2010), this chapter interrogates the status of virtuosity and performance in a film that insists on the horror of transformation.Swan Lakeis significant in dance history for introducing thefouettéturn, the modern mark of female virtuosity in ballet from the late nineteenth century onward. Director Darren Aronofsky relies upon filmic techniques to invoke the dismantling effects of ballet technique, demonstrating how the pursuit of virtuosity narrates a story of the attainment, surpassing, and failure of technique. He does so by drawing upon lowbrow “body genres” (Linda Williams) to depict an otherwise highbrow art form.Black Swanportrays artistic ambition through a ballerina’s (and Odette/Odile’s) erratic transformation from human to animal. Mirroring, doubling, and reversibility (Vivian Sobchack) are tropes for Nina (Natalie Portman) and her alter-ego. Embodied by Nina and Lily (Mila Kunis), self andotherperform a necessarily entangled pas de deux, one in which the seemingly perfect image of the other simultaneously haunts and motivates the dancer, a figure for whom psychological control diminishes as artistic control accrues.
Gene Kelly
Authors: Fogarty Mary
Published: October 2014

This chapter explores the contemporary significance of Gene Kelly for street dance practitioners and cultural critics. Responses to a Volkswagen commercial remake of Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” solo sequence raise questions about how creativity and originality are assessed in popular dance performances. By comparing the responses of film critics and hip-hop dance practitioners to both Gene Kelly’s performance in Singin’ in the Rain (Donen and Kelly 1952) and the commercial remake, a key theme emerges. Evaluations of creativity reveal how judgments about originality are as much a part of street dance practices as classic choreographic works. This chapter suggests that “remixes” of past popular dance performances reveal the pleasure created in aesthetic comparison. In fact, value judgments rooted in comparisons are a central component of popular dance assessment and appreciation.
Affect-ive moves
Authors: Batiste Stephanie L.
Published: October 2014

This chapter argues that the African American dance practice of krumping editorialized in the 2005 David LaChapelle film RIZE defines a space of home as a system of feeling in early twenty-first-century Los Angeles. It offers the notion of kinetic affect as a means of understanding dancers’ charismatic formation of community within dance practice and its spaces. Krump dancing reveals a rich world of love and pain that characterizes life in black Los Angeles. The dancers’ commando-style ownership of venue, content, embodiment, and performance presentation challenge the confining spaces of ethnographic film, urban disenfranchisement, and stereotype.
Single Ladies, Plural
Authors: Thomas Philippa
Published: October 2014

This chapter seeks to explore how cultural texts disseminated online are made and remade, challenged and championed by audiences, with the mutability inherent to all texts becoming highly visible in this environment. The entry point of this inquiry is the music video accompanying Beyoncé Knowles’s 2008 hitSingle Ladies (Put a Ring on It), which quickly became an Internet phenomenon, spawning numerous homages, parodies, and reinterpretations. Additionally, this popular cultural phenomenon was the subject of a social media scandal invoking issues of racism, “authenticity,” appropriation, the democratization of technology, and “expert knowledge.” This chapter will touch on a few key moments of online engagement with this event in order to try to flesh out the tangled politics inherent in cultural consumption, participation, and online identity building.
Dancing with Myself
Authors: Burrill Derek A. , Borelli Melissa Blanco
Published: October 2014

This chapter acts as a video game battle or interaction between the two authors. It discusses how dance video games construct corporeality. It provides an overview of Microsoft Xbox 360Dance Central’srelationship to choreography, choreographers, and dance analysis. It also theorizes how bodies and corporeality function in a virtual world. Finally, the chapter considers how avatar bodies provide new ways of thinking about the relationship between technology and the body.
The Peopling of Sahul and Near Oceania
Authors: O'Connor Sue , Hiscock Peter
Published: October 2014

Sahul, comprising Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea was colonized from Sunda, the enlarged southernmost extension of Eurasia, by anatomically modern Homo sapiens over 50,000 years ago. Pleistocene colonization of Sahul required watercraft to cross the perpetual island region of Wallacea, wherein populations adjusted to changing patterns of floral and faunal diversity. Once in Sahul, populations quickly adapted to the varying resources, developed regional differences in technology and culture, and likely contributed to megafaunal extinctions also influenced by environmental change. Ancient DNA and skeletal studies indicate that after colonization, Sahul was largely isolated from other populations. The earliest humans to inhabit Near Oceania, the islands northeast of New Guinea, arrived approximately 45,000 years ago. While the sophistication of their earliest navigational technology is debated, by 20,000 years ago these populations engaged in increasingly frequent voyaging, translocating New Guinea mainland fauna to the islands and moving valuable stone resources over hundreds of kilometers.
New Guinea
Authors: White Peter
Published: October 2014

New Guinea, inhabited for approximately 50,000 years, has been the focus of far less archaeological research compared to Australia and Polynesia, to the south and east, respectively. However, the archaeology of this island is significant to perennial archaeological topics including the development of agriculture and social complexity, the explanation and effects of human interaction, the archaeological relevance of paleoenvironmental research, and the intersection of different dimensions of human variation, linguistic, biological, and cultural. This chapter focuses on both the changing subsistence practices of New Guinean populations over some 50 millennia, and the development of interaction and social networks between and within highland and lowland populations over the same time. Although Lapita pottery, often considered a marker of Austronesian migrants, is found in relatively small quantities on New Guinea, post-Lapita ceramics, document production, and exchange systems over the last two thousand years.
The “Austronesian” Dispersal in Island Southeast Asia
Authors: Denham Tim
Published: October 2014

The dispersal of Austronesian-speaking farmer-voyagers from Taiwan into Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and out into the Pacific is one of the great metanarratives of global history. In this chapter, the major lines of multidisciplinary evidence for the “Austronesian” dispersal into ISEA are critically evaluated. Several key points emerge: usage of the term “Austronesian” should be restricted to languages and not be applied to genetic attributes or material culture; the dispersals of genes and Austronesian languages do not correspond within ISEA; and, there is limited evidence for the dispersal of farming across ISEA together with the spread of Austronesian languages from Taiwan. An alternative, multidirectional, distance-decay scenario is advanced for the spread of domesticated animals and plants, cultivation practices, and other material cultural items, in which the inhabitants of ISEA are active participants in the creation of their own history.
The Archaeology of Vanuatu
Authors: Bedford Stuart , Spriggs Matthew
Published: October 2014

The more than 1,000-kilometer stretch of eighty-two inhabited islands comprising the Vanuatu archipelago is centrally situated in the southwest Pacific. These islands were first settled in the late Holocene by Lapita colonists as part of a rapid migratory event that travelled as far east as Tonga. Over three millennia Vanuatu has transformed into an extraordinarily diverse country both linguistically and culturally. The challenge to archaeology is to explain how such diversity has arisen. This chapter addresses a range of themes that are central to the definition and understanding of the timing and nature of initial settlement, levels of interconnectedness, cultural transformation and diversification, human impact on pristine environments, and impacts of natural hazards on resident populations. Vanuatu research contributes to regional debates on human colonization, patterns of social interaction, and the drivers of social change in island contexts.
Tonga and Sāmoa in Oceanic Prehistory
Authors: Burley David V. , Addison David J.
Published: October 2014

Tonga and Sāmoa are adjacent archipelagoes on the west central flank of the Polynesian triangle. These were the first islands to be settled in Polynesia, and they ultimately became the homeland from which islands in East Polynesia were colonized. Long held assumptions in regional archaeology suggest Tongan/Sāmoan culture histories are interwoven and homogeneous. This is only partly the case, as is illustrated in a review of regional archaeology including Lapita and Plainware ceramics, debates on the veracity of ancestral Polynesian society and homeland, on the political evolution and outcomes for chiefdom-level society, in archaeological data reflecting interaction, warfare, trade, and elite intermarriage as well as in traditional histories extending over a millennium. Research themes and critiques are structured and prioritized by personal perspectives of the authors.
The Prehistory of South Polynesia
Authors: Anderson Atholl
Published: October 2014

Southern Polynesia, including New Zealand, the outlying Norfolk, Kermadec, Chatham, and Auckland Island groups was colonized after A.D. 1200 by populations from Central East Polynesia. Interaction between Eastern Polynesian and Southern Polynesian populations ceased soon after colonization, although interaction between the various outlying islands and the New Zealand population continued for possibly another 200 years. Early New Zealand populations exploited plentiful moa, a large flightless bird, and pinnipeds as food sources, hunting the former to extinction. Later horticultural activities, especially in the more clement North Island, focused on kumara or sweet potato. Although Maori society was never as hierarchical as East Polynesian populations, there is abundant archaeological and ethnographic evidence of later complex social and political systems, exchange or distribution networks for utilitarian and prestige goods, and extensive competition between groups, most prominently indicated by the approximately 7,000 fortified sites or pa distributed largely within horticultural landscapes.
Statistical Reasoning in Music Analysis
Authors: McKay John Z.
Published: October 2014

Music analysis frequently appeals to implicit statistical arguments in asserting the normative forms of musical structures, as well as in interpreting apparently unusual musical features. With the increasing trend toward corpus studies and music informatics within the field of music theory, the explicit use of statistical methods is also becoming more common. This essay presents an outline of some elements of statistical and probabilistic arguments that music theorists should consider when representing musical elements as data to be analyzed. Even in the analysis of individual works, where traditional statistics may not seem applicable, the properties of expected distributions of musical materials within the data may help to judge whether a given musical feature is a significant finding or merely a coincidence. Finally, a number of potential numerical pitfalls are described, where intuitions about relationships within data often fail and can lead to inappropriate conclusions or anomalous results.
Crime Journeys
Authors: Bernasco Wim
Published: October 2014

Crime requires the simultaneous presence of offenders and targets. This essay reviews what is known about how offenders come to intersect in time and space with their targets. It addresses their motivations, destinations, routes, distances, directions, modes of transportation, and travel companions, if any. Rational choice theory has been applied widely to organize and interpret empirical observations. Space-time geography and crime pattern theory emphasize the role of habitual behavior and routine activities. Previous research used police records and offender interviews, mainly to assess how far from home offenders committed crimes. Contemporary research utilizes time-use diaries and geographic tracking devices to measure multiple aspects of crime journeys. Future studies will profit from the advance of smartphones and similar devices.
Late-Blooming Offending
Authors: van Koppen Vere , Blokland Arjan A. J. , van der Geest Victor , Bijleveld Catrien , van de Weijer Steve
Published: October 2014

This chapter highlights the phenomenon of late bloomers, those who only start to offend frequently after adolescence. First we briefly review the extant empirical evidence with regard to late-blooming offending. Second, we address the explanations life-course criminology has offered to account for late-blooming offending. Finally, we use three different datasets to examine the prevalence of late blooming in samples at different risk of offending, assess the extent to which late blooming is a recent phenomenon, and scrutinize the individual and background characteristics associated with late-blooming offending. Though we find evidence for a late-blooming trajectory in several datasets, and for both male and female offenders, late blooming does not seem a particularly recent phenomenon and the risk factors associated with late-blooming trajectories do not readily correspond to those proposed by extant life course criminological theory. Avenues for future research are discussed.
Ethnic Divisions and Production in Firms
*
Authors: Hjort Jonas
Published: October 2014

A body of literature suggests that ethnic heterogeneity limits economic growth. This article provides microeconometric evidence on the direct effect of ethnic divisions on productivity. In team production at a plant in Kenya, an upstream worker supplies and distributes flowers to two downstream workers, who assemble them into bunches. The plant uses an essentially random rotation process to assign workers to positions, leading to three types of teams: (i) ethnically homogeneous teams, and teams in which (ii) one or (iii) both downstream workers belong to a tribe in rivalry with the upstream worker’s tribe. I find strong evidence that upstream workers undersupply non-coethnic downstream workers (vertical discrimination) and shift flowers from non-coethnic to coethnic downstream workers (horizontal discrimination), at the cost of lower own pay and total output. A period of ethnic conflict following Kenya’s 2007 election led to a sharp increase in discrimination. In response, the plant began paying the two downstream workers for their combined output (team pay). This led to a modest output reduction in (i) and (iii) teams—as predicted by standard incentive models—but an increase in output in (ii) teams, and overall. Workers’ behavior before conflict, during conflict, and under team pay is predicted by a model of taste-based discrimination. My findings suggest that interethnic rivalries lower allocative efficiency in the private sector, that the economic costs of ethnic diversity vary with the political environment, and that in high-cost environments firms are forced to adopt “second best” policies to limit discrimination distortions.
Biomechanics of fibrous proteins of the extracellular matrix studied by Brillouin scattering
Authors: Palombo Francesca , Winlove C. Peter , Edginton Ryan S. , Green Ellen , Stone Nick , Caponi Silvia , Madami Marco , Fioretto Daniele
Published: October 2014

Brillouin light scattering (BLS) spectroscopy is a technique that is able to detect thermally excited phonons within a material. The speed of propagation of these phonons can be determined from the magnitude of the Brillouin frequency shift between incident and scattered light, thereby providing a measure of the mechanical properties of the material in the gigahertz range. The mechanical properties of the extracellular matrices of biological tissues and their constituent biopolymers are important for normal tissue function and disturbances in these properties are widely implicated in disease. BLS offers the prospect of measuring mechanical properties on a microscopic scale in living tissues, thereby providing insights into structure–function relationships under normal and pathological conditions. In this study, we investigated BLS in collagen and elastin—the fibrous proteins of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Measurements were made on type I collagen in rat tail tendon, type II collagen in articular cartilage and nuchal ligament elastin. The dependence of the BLS spectrum on fibre orientation was investigated in a backscattering geometry using a reflective substrate. Two peaks, a bulk mode arising from phonon propagation along a quasi-radial direction to the fibre axis and a mode parallel to the surface, depending on sample orientation relative to the fibre axis, could be distinguished. The latter peak was fitted to a model of wave propagation through a hexagonally symmetric elastic solid, and the five components of the elasticity tensor were combined to give axial and transverse Young's, shear and bulk moduli of the fibres. These were 10.2, 8.3, 3.2 and 10.9 GPa, and 6.1, 5.3, 1.9 and 8 GPa for dehydrated type I collagen and elastin, respectively. The former values are close to those previously reported. A microfocused BLS approach was also applied providing selection of single fibres. The moduli of collagen and elastin are much higher than those measured at lower frequency using macroscopic strains, and the difference between them is much less. We therefore believe, like previous investigators, that molecular-scale viscoelastic effects are responsible for the frequency dependence of the fibre biomechanics. Combining BLS with larger-scale mechanical testing methods therefore should, in the future, provide a means of following the evolution of mechanical properties in the formation of the complex structures found in the ECM.
Cell morphology and focal adhesion location alters internal cell stress
Authors: Mullen C. A. , Vaughan T. J. , Voisin M. C. , Brennan M. A. , Layrolle P. , McNamara L. M.
Published: October 2014

Extracellular mechanical cues have been shown to have a profound effect on osteogenic cell behaviour. However, it is not known precisely how these cues alter intracellular mechanics to initiate changes in cell behaviour. In this study, a combination of
in vitro
culture of MC3T3-E1 cells and finite-element modelling was used to investigate the effects of passive differences in substrate stiffness on intracellular mechanics. Cells on collagen-based substrates were classified based on the presence of cell processes and the dimensions of various cellular features were quantified. Focal adhesion (FA) density was quantified from immunohistochemical staining, while cell and substrate stiffnesses were measured using a live-cell atomic force microscope. Computational models of cell morphologies were developed using an applied contraction of the cell body to simulate active cell contraction. The results showed that FA density is directly related to cell morphology, while the effect of substrate stiffness on internal cell tension was modulated by both cell morphology and FA density, as investigated by varying the number of adhesion sites present in each morphological model. We propose that the cells desire to achieve a homeostatic stress state may play a role in osteogenic cell differentiation in response to extracellular mechanical cues.
Finite-element modelling reveals force modulation of jaw adductors in stag beetles
Authors: Goyens J. , Soons J. , Aerts P. , Dirckx J.
Published: October 2014

Male stag beetles carry large and heavy mandibles that arose through sexual selection over mating rights. Although the mandibles ofCyclommatus metallifermales are used in pugnacious fights, they are surprisingly slender. Our bite force measurements show a muscle force reduction of 18% for tip biting when compared with bites with the teeth located halfway along the mandibles. This suggests a behavioural adaptation to prevent failure. We confirmed this by constructing finite-element (FE) models that mimic both natural bite situations as well as the hypothetical situation of tip biting without muscle force modulation. These models, based on micro-CT images, investigate the material stresses in the mandibles for different combinations of bite location and muscle force. Young's modulus of the cuticle was experimentally determined to be 5.1 GPa with the double indentation method, and the model was validated by digital image correlation on living beetles. FE analysis proves to be a valuable tool in the investigation of the trade-offs of (animal) weapon morphology and usage. Furthermore, the demonstrated bite force modulation in male stag beetles suggests the presence of mechanosensors inside the armature.
Buckling of a soap film spanning a flexible loop resistant to bending and twisting
Authors: Biria Aisa , Fried Eliot
Published: October 2014

A generalization of the Euler–Plateau problem to account for the energy contribution due to twisting of the bounding loop is proposed. Euler–Lagrange equations are derived in a parametrized setting and a buckling analysis is performed. A pair of dimensionless parameters govern buckling from a flat, circular ground state. While one of these is familiar from the Euler–Plateau problem, the other encompasses information about the ratio of the torsional rigidity to the bending rigidity, the twist density and the size of the loop. For sufficiently small values of the latter parameter, two separate groups of buckling modes are identified. However, for values of that parameter exceeding the critical twist density arising in Michell's study of the stability of a twisted elastic ring, only one group of buckling modes exists. Buckling diagrams indicate that a loop with greater torsional rigidity shows more resistance to transverse buckling. Additionally, a twisted flexible loop spanned by a soap film buckles at a value of the twist density less that the value at which buckling would occur if the soap film were absent.
A compressible multiphase flow model for violent aerated wave impact problems
Authors: Ma Z. H. , Causon D. M. , Qian L. , Mingham C. G. , Gu H. B. , Ferrer P. Martínez
Published: October 2014

This paper focuses on the numerical modelling of wave impact events under air entrapment and aeration effects. The underlying flow model treats the dispersed water wave as a compressible mixture of air and water with homogeneous material properties. The corresponding mathematical equations are based on a multiphase flow model which builds on the conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy as well as the gas-phase volume fraction advection equation. A high-order finite volume scheme based on monotone upstream-centred schemes for conservation law reconstruction is used to discretize the integral form of the governing equations. The numerical flux across a mesh cell face is estimated by means of the HLLC approximate Riemann solver. A third-order total variation diminishing Runge–Kutta scheme is adopted to obtain a time-accurate solution. The present model provides an effective way to deal with the compressibility of air and water–air mixtures. Several test cases have been calculated using the present approach, including a gravity-induced liquid piston, free drop of a water column in a closed tank, water–air shock tubes, slamming of a flat plate into still pure and aerated water and a plunging wave impact at a vertical wall. The obtained results agree well with experiments, exact solutions and other numerical computations. This demonstrates the potential of the current method to tackle more general wave–air–structure interaction problems.
Surfacers change their dive tactics depending on the aim of the dive: evidence from simultaneous measurements of breaths and energy expenditure
Authors: Okuyama Junichi , Tabata Runa , Nakajima Kana , Arai Nobuaki , Kobayashi Masato , Kagawa Shiro
Published: October 2014

Air-breathing divers are assumed to have evolved to apportion their time between surface and underwater periods to maximize the benefit gained from diving activities. However, whether they change their time allocation depending on the aim of the dive is still unknown. This may be particularly crucial for ‘surfacers’ because they dive for various purposes in addition to foraging. In this study, we counted breath events at the surface and estimated oxygen consumption during resting, foraging and other dives in 11 green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the wild. Breath events were counted by a head-mounted acceleration logger or direct observation based on an animal-borne video logger, and oxygen consumption was estimated by measuring overall dynamic body acceleration. Our results indicate that green turtles maximized their submerged time, following this with five to seven breaths to replenish oxygen for resting dives. However, they changed their dive tactic during foraging and other dives; they surfaced without depleting their estimated stores of oxygen, followed by only a few breaths for effective foraging and locomotion. These dichotomous surfacing tactics would be the result of behavioural modifications by turtles depending on the aim of each dive.
Ecological opportunities and specializations shaped genetic divergence in a highly mobile marine top predator
Authors: Louis Marie , Fontaine Michael C. , Spitz Jérôme , Schlund Erika , Dabin Willy , Deaville Rob , Caurant Florence , Cherel Yves , Guinet Christophe , Simon-Bouhet Benoit
Published: October 2014

Environmental conditions can shape genetic and morphological divergence. Release of new habitats during historical environmental changes was a major driver of evolutionary diversification. Here, forces shaping population structure and ecotype differentiation (‘pelagic’ and ‘coastal’) of bottlenose dolphins in the North-east Atlantic were investigated using complementary evolutionary and ecological approaches. Inference of population demographic history using approximate Bayesian computation indicated that coastal populations were likely founded by the Atlantic pelagic population after the Last Glacial Maxima probably as a result of newly available coastal ecological niches. Pelagic dolphins from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea likely diverged during a period of high productivity in the Mediterranean Sea. Genetic differentiation between coastal and pelagic ecotypes may be maintained by niche specializations, as indicated by stable isotope and stomach content analyses, and social behaviour. The two ecotypes were only weakly morphologically segregated in contrast to other parts of the World Ocean. This may be linked to weak contrasts between coastal and pelagic habitats and/or a relatively recent divergence. We suggest that ecological opportunity to specialize is a major driver of genetic and morphological divergence. Combining genetic, ecological and morphological approaches is essential to understanding the population structure of mobile and cryptic species.
Use of OWL within the Gene Ontology
Authors: Mungall Christopher J , Dietze Heiko , Osumi-Sutherland David
Published: October 2014

The Gene Ontology (GO) is a ubiquitous tool in biological data analysis, and is one of the most well-known ontologies, in or outside the life sciences. Commonly conceived of as a simple terminology structured as a directed acyclic graph, the GO is actually well-axiomatized in OWL and is highly dependent on the OWL tool stack. Here we outline some of the lesser known features of the GO, describe the GO development process, and our prognosis for future development in terms of the OWL representation.
Molecular dissection of the genetic mechanisms that underlie expression conservation in orthologous yeast ribosomal promoters
Authors: Zeevi Danny , Lubliner Shai , Lotan-Pompan Maya , Hodis Eran , Vesterman Rita , Weinberger Adina , Segal Eran
Published: October 2014

Recent studies have shown a surprising phenomenon, whereby orthologous regulatory regions from different species drive similar expression levels despite being highly diverged in sequence. Here, we investigated this phenomenon by genomically integrating hundreds of ribosomal protein (RP) promoters from nine different yeast species into S. cerevisiae and accurately measuring their activity. We found that orthologous RP promoters have extreme expression conservation even across evolutionarily distinct yeast species. Notably, our measurements reveal two distinct mechanisms that underlie this conservation and which act in different regions of the promoter. In the core promoter region, we found compensatory changes, whereby effects of sequence variations in one part of the core promoter were reversed by variations in another part. In contrast, we observed robustness in Rap1 transcription factor binding sites, whereby significant sequence variations had little effect on promoter activity. Finally, cases in which orthologous promoter activities were not conserved could largely be explained by the sequence variation within the core promoter. Together, our results provide novel insights into the mechanisms by which expression is conserved throughout evolution across diverged promoter sequences.
Millennium Company Ltd: overcoming tough times
Authors: Divekar Rajiv Gopalkrishna , Chitrao Pradnya Vishwas , Bhoyar Pravin Kumar
Published: October 2014

Subject area

Strategic marketing, Downturn, Optimal utilisation of minimal resources, Consolidating profitability, Focus shift from features to benefits and cost savings.

Study level/applicability

Management students who have knowledge of basic concepts of management discipline to derive the maximum benefit and understand the applicability; budding entrepreneurs; middle- and senior-level executives in an executive development program; people running family-owned businesses.

Case overview

In 2008-2009, the Indian manufacturing sector was facing stiff competition from China on account of the latter's ability to provide cheap labour and handle large volumes. The 2008-2009 economic down turn saw consumers cut down on their requirements with manufacturing companies getting fewer orders. Manufacturing companies therefore adopted the principle of optimal utilisation of minimal resources. Millennium Company Ltd (MCL) also succeeded in overcoming the 2008-2009 downturns through a shift in focus during the recession of 2009 from achieving pure revenue to consolidating its profitability. MCL is probably the only company in the world to have extensive expertise in both steam and control instrumentation. The dual expertise allows them to engineer industry-specific systems that focus on energy efficiency and utilities management for sectors as diverse as textiles, food processing, paper, power and chemicals etc. The company shifted its attention from features to benefits, cost savings, and profitability. MCL trained its people as to what to talk to whom. Today, MCL is a leader in India in process efficiency and energy conservation through technology tie-ups and focused investments in manufacturing and research.

Expected learning outcomes

The purpose of this case is to enable student managers to evaluate effectiveness of corporate strategies; make the student managers understand the resources–businesses–systems framework and the need for focused connection between these three through appropriate coordination and control mechanisms for a corporate strategy to deliver value; encourage students to apply their knowledge of Turnkey Projects, BCG/Porters/SWOT/Mackensys Model; encourage the students to research and find out how other companies in this field fared and what were the strategies adopted by them to overcome the recession and compete with MCL in a highly competitive market like that of India; and encourage student managers to go on field visits with the institute's help to similar organisations within the same city and if possible get live projects.

Supplementary materials

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