bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Radio galaxies in galaxy groups: kinematics, scaling relations, and AGN feedback
Authors: Pasini T , Finoguenov A , Brüggen M , Gaspari M , de Gasperin F , Gozaliasl G
Published: May 2021

We investigate the kinematic properties of a large (N = 998) sample of COSMOS spectroscopic galaxy members distributed among 79 groups. We identify the Brightest Group Galaxies (BGGs) and cross-match our data with the VLA-COSMOS Deep survey at 1.4 GHz, classifying our parent sample into radio/non-radio BGGs and radio/non-radio satellites. The radio luminosity distribution spans from $L_R\sim 2\times 10^{21}$ W Hz$^{-1}$ to $L_R\sim 3\times 10^{25}$ W Hz$^{-1}$. A phase–space analysis, performed by comparing the velocity ratio (line-of-sight velocity divided by the group velocity dispersion) with the galaxy-group centre offset, reveals that BGGs (radio and non-radio) are mostly ($\sim$80 per cent) ancient infallers. Furthermore, the strongest ($L_R\gt 10^{23}$ W Hz$^{-1}$) radio galaxies are always found within 0.2$R_{\rm vir}$ from the group centre. Comparing our samples with HORIZON-AGN, we find that the velocities and offsets of simulated galaxies are more similar to radio BGGs than to non-radio BGGs, albeit statistical tests still highlight significant differences between simulated and real objects. We find that radio BGGs are more likely to be hosted in high-mass groups. Finally, we observe correlations between the powers of BGG radio galaxies and the X-ray temperatures, $T_{\rm x}$, and X-ray luminosities, $L_{\rm x}$, of the host groups. This supports the existence of a link between the intragroup medium and the central radio source. The occurrence of powerful radio galaxies at group centres can be explained by Chaotic Cold Accretion, as the AGN can feed from both the galactic and intragroup condensation, leading to the observed positive $L_{\rm R}-T_{\rm x}$ correlation.
Point spread function estimation for wide field small aperture telescopes with deep neural networks and calibration data
Authors: Jia Peng , Wu Xuebo , Li Zhengyang , Li Bo , Wang Weihua , Liu Qiang , Popowicz Adam , Cai Dongmei
Published: May 2021

The point spread function (PSF) reflects states of a telescope and plays an important role in the development of data-processing methods, such as PSF-based astrometry, photometry, and image restoration. However, for wide field small aperture telescopes (WFSATs), estimating PSF in any position of the whole field of view is hard, because aberrations induced by the optical system are quite complex and the signal-to-noise ratio of star images is often too low for PSF estimation. In this paper, we further develop our deep neural network (DNN)-based PSF modelling method and show its applications in PSF estimation. During the telescope alignment and testing stage, our method collects system calibration data through modification of optical elements within engineering tolerances (tilting and decentring). Then, we use these data to train a DNN (Tel–Net). After training, the Tel–Net can estimate PSF in any field of view from several discretely sampled star images. We use both simulated and experimental data to test performance of our method. The results show that the Tel–Net can successfully reconstruct PSFs of WFSATs of any states and in any positions of the field of view (FoV). Its results are significantly more precise than results obtained by the compared classic method – inverse distance weight interpolation. Our method provides foundations for developing deep neural network-based data-processing methods for WFSATs, which require strong prior information of PSFs.
Orbital stability of compact three-planet systems – II: post-instability impact behaviour
Authors: Bartram Peter , Wittig Alexander , Lissauer Jack J , Gavino Sacha , Urrutxua Hodei
Published: May 2021

Recent observational missions have uncovered a significant number of compact multi-exoplanet systems. The tight orbital spacing of these systems has led to much effort being applied to the understanding of their stability; however, a key limitation of the majority of these studies is the termination of simulations as soon as the orbits of two planets cross. In this work we explore the stability of compact, three-planet systems, and continue our simulations all the way to the first collision of planets to yield a better understanding of the lifetime of these systems. We perform over 25 000 integrations of a Sun-like star orbited by three Earth-like secondaries for up to a billion orbits to explore a wide parameter space of initial conditions in both the co-planar and inclined cases, with a focus on the initial orbital spacing. We calculate the probability of collision over time and determine the probability of collision between specific pairs of planets. We find systems that persist for over 108 orbits after an orbital crossing and show how the post-instability survival time of systems depends upon the initial orbital separation, mutual inclination, planetary radius, and the closest encounter experienced. Additionally, we examine the effects of very small changes in the initial positions of the planets upon the time to collision and show the effect that the choice of integrator can have upon simulation results. We generalize our results throughout to show both the behaviour of systems with an inner planet initially located at 1 and 0.25 AU.
Population genetics and conservation of recently discovered springsnails in Arizona
Authors: Lavretsky Philip , Duenez Esmeralda , Sorensen Jeffrey
Published: May 2021

Establishing baseline geographical distributions of extant genetic diversity is increasingly important for future conservation efforts of freshwater species. We analyse the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene to taxonomically characterize 233 samples from recently discovered springsnail populations throughout 17 sites in Arizona, USA. A total of 28 unique COI haplotypes were recovered, with the number of haplotypes ranging from 1 to 4 by population in Arizona. Phylogenetic analyses resulted in haplotypes from 13 of 17 locations in Arizona being successfully identified to species, with five described and three undescribed species in the genus Pyrgulopsis (Hydrobiidae). Future work will require in-depth morphological work to clarify the taxonomic status of these putatively novel species. Importantly, among recovered species, we identified haplotype diversity of the critically endangered Three Forks springsnail, Pyrgulopsis trivialis, in the eastern Gila watershed, which will inform wildlife managers in deciding which source populations to use in reintroduction efforts. We discuss possible causes for observed population structure of Arizona's springsnail populations, with suggestions for the future sampling schemes necessary for the conservation of this uniquely important freshwater mollusc.
RNase H1C collaborates with ssDNA binding proteins WHY1/3 and recombinase RecA1 to fulfill the DNA damage repair in Arabidopsis chloroplasts
Authors: Wang Wenjie , Li Kuan , Yang Zhuo , Hou Quancan , Zhao Wei W , Sun Qianwen
Published: May 2021

Proper repair of damaged DNA is crucial for genetic integrity and organismal survival. As semi-autonomous organelles, plastids have their own genomes whose integrity must be preserved. Several factors have been shown to participate in plastid DNA damage repair; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we elucidate a mechanism of homologous recombination (HR) repair in chloroplasts that involves R-loops. We find that the recombinase RecA1 forms filaments in chloroplasts during HR repair, but aggregates as puncta when RNA:DNA hybrids accumulate. ssDNA-binding proteins WHY1/3 and chloroplast RNase H1 AtRNH1C are recruited to the same genomic sites to promote HR repair. Depletion of AtRNH1C or WHY1/3 significantly suppresses the binding of RNA polymerase to the damaged DNA, thus reducing HR repair and modulating microhomology-mediated double-strand break repair. Furthermore, we show that DNA polymerase IB works with AtRNH1C genetically to complete the DNA damage repair process. This study reveals the positive role of R-loops in facilitating the activities of WHY1/3 and RecA1, which in turn secures HR repair and organellar development.
Motivations and Incentives for Digital Repression
Authors: Feldstein Steven
Published: May 2021

This chapter defines digital repression and describes five principal techniques: surveillance, censorship, social manipulation and disinformation, Internet shutdowns, and targeted persecution against online users. It discusses how leaders confront the “dictator’s digital dilemma” (enabling technological innovation while maintaining political control). It addresses whether digital technology is changing the balance between governments and civil society. It examines why certain states employ digital repression but not others and offers two explanations in this regard. Finally, it explores China’s responsibility for the global spread of digital repression and considers whether external or domestic factors are more relevant drivers of these tactics.
Social Manipulation and Disinformation in the Philippines
Authors: Feldstein Steven
Published: May 2021

This chapter examines how, under President Rodrigo Duterte’s leadership, the Philippines government has implemented a unique method of digital repression to advance its political objectives. It focuses on four issues. First, it discusses what set of political factors and governance trends enabled an illiberal populist like Duterte to get elected in the first place. Second, it describes key drivers of digital repression in the Philippines—focusing on social manipulation and disinformation strategies deployed by Duterte’s administration. Third, it explains how digital repression works in the Philippines, outlining the mix of strategies Duterte employs to advance his political objectives. Fourth, it investigates the extent to which outside actors—such as Facebook or the Chinese government—are responsible for enabling the spread of digital repression in the country.
Launching the Column
Authors: Ritchie Donald A.
Published: May 2021

The bestselling book Washington Merry-Go-Round prompted its two anonymous authors, Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen, to launch a nationally syndicated column in 1932. The urbane and elegant Pearson differed markedly from the brusque and pugnacious Allen, but they shared a belief that the rest of the Washington press corps was often too timid to show how government really worked. Pearson grew up in the Quaker community of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where his father taught speech and ran a Chautauqua tent show. After he toured the world as a reporter, Drew Pearson married the daughter of Washington publisher Eleanor “Cissy” Patterson and entered the capital’s high society, making valuable contacts. Unabashedly provocative, Pearson and Allen chose to specialize in unauthorized information and drummed the word “leaks” into Americans’ everyday vocabulary.
Nothing to Fear
Authors: Ritchie Donald A.
Published: May 2021

Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal provided a bonanza for the “Washington Merry-Go-Round.” The president and his cabinet members showered the columnists with strategic leaks, often to test the waters before making official announcements. This enabled Drew Pearson and Robert Allen to scoop the rest of the press corps on pending appointments and other issues. Although Pearson admired Roosevelt and his liberal policies, he resisted playing propagandist. He criticized the administration and irritated Roosevelt by revealing news the president was not yet ready to release. Roosevelt retaliated by prompting General Douglas MacArthur to file a libel suit against the columnists, and by denouncing Pearson as a “chronic liar.” Pearson used the column to attack his father’s critic, Senator Millard Tydings, which Robert Allen regarded as vindictive. The pressures of reporting eventually caused strains between the two columnists, leading Allen to quit the column after Pearson revealed damaging information about General George S. Patton during World War II.
Breaking Secrets in Wartime
Authors: Ritchie Donald A.
Published: May 2021

In a 1944 poll, the Washington press corps rated Drew Pearson as the columnist who exerted the greatest influence over national opinion but ranked him lower for reliability and fairness. A better measure of his influence was the anguish that his columns caused inside the White House, State Department, Pentagon, and even the British cabinet. During World War II, the FBI tapped his phones, naval intelligence officers tailed him, and foreign operatives spied on him. His publication of British secrets would have led to his prosecution under the UK’s Official Secrets Act, but the First Amendment protected him in United States. Pearson took sole control over the column after Robert Allen joined the army. The column and his weekly radio programs gave him immense influence, but he still had to struggle with the government’s wartime censorship of the news.
The Case against Congress
Authors: Ritchie Donald A.
Published: May 2021

Favorable mention in the “Washington Merry-Go-Round” could boost congressional careers, while exposés undermined them. Believing that those who wrote the laws should abide by them, Pearson taunted legislators about their misdeeds and encouraged them to police themselves. He denounced lax ethics rules and exposed members who took kickbacks. The columnist took credit for the indictment, imprisonment, censure, and expulsion of a half dozen members of Congress, and the defeat of many more. It might not have mattered as much to elected officials if the “Merry-Go-Round” had appeared exclusively in the Washington Post, but its widespread syndication increased the odds that their constituents would also read him. Congressman Martin Sweeney sued him, and many more denounced him as a liar. Pearson responded by publishing a “liars’ scorecard,” indicating how often his critics were later convicted for the crimes he accused them of committing.
Battling McCarthyism
Authors: Ritchie Donald A.
Published: May 2021

Drew Pearson carried on a four-year campaign against the Red-baiting Joe McCarthy that ended with the senator’s censure. For Pearson, their clash caused the loss of his radio and television sponsors, and a substantial cut in his income, along with a physical beating by McCarthy. Since the senator had made himself a good source, the “Merry-Go-Round” treated him well until his speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, accusing the State Department of harboring known Communists. Pearson rebutted these charges and devoted numerous columns to McCarthy’s irresponsible accusations. He also targeted McCarthy’s young aides, Roy Cohn and G. David Schine. The column’s reports that Schine had evaded military service led to his being drafted. Cohn’s efforts to win special privileges for Private Schine then precipitated the Army-McCarthy hearings. Pearson’s stand against McCarthyism also caused his permanent estrangement from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
Disliking Ike
Authors: Ritchie Donald A.
Published: May 2021

Although Drew Pearson encouraged Dwight Eisenhower to run for president, he quickly lost his enthusiasm and became a frequent critic. Pearson had hoped that Eisenhower would stand up against McCarthyism but considered his response to be weak. Knowing that many of the newspapers that carried the “Merry-Go-Round” were Republican, Pearson tried to cover the Republican administration fairly, while scrutinizing it thoroughly. His columns helped to defeat the nomination of Lewis Strauss to be secretary of commerce, and forced the resignation of Eisenhower’s chief of staff, Sherman Adams. Eisenhower’s objective of a “leak-free” administration made investigative reporting harder and caused Pearson to be frequently assailed by Eisenhower’s press secretary, James Hagerty, for publishing lies. Later evidence, however, has supported Pearson’s reporting and revealed Hagerty to be the liar.
The Myth of Perfect Fidelity
Authors: Kromhout Melle Jan
Published: May 2021

Chapter 1 gives a brief history of the noise of sound media from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century, tracing the development of different concepts of noise in dialogue with and reaction to ever more complex and sophisticated technologies. It explores the many ways in which inventors, engineers, producers, and musicians have sought to prevent, reduce, and eliminate this noise. The chapter thereby draws the contours of a myth of perfect fidelity or the idea that reproduced sound can in principle be separated from the noise of the medium and complete similitude between original and copy can be achieved. This myth is illustrated by two examples of noise-related technologies: Dolby analog noise reduction, which actively reduces the noise of sound media, and the counterintuitive practice of “dithering” in digital recording, by means of which small amounts of random noise are introduced to reduce digitization errors.
Prologue
Authors: Çidam Çiğdem
Published: May 2021

Through an interpretive analysis of the surprising refiguration of the iconic May ’68 poster “Beauty is in the Street” in Istanbul during the Gezi Protests of 2013, the Prologue sets the stage for the book by making three closely related points. First, it draws attention to the emancipatory potential of such refigurations of past struggles in the present and highlights the importance of keeping a record of democratic events. Second, it establishes the centrality of 1968 in democratic theory by demonstrating how Negri, Habermas, and Rancière formulated their own unique conceptualizations of democratic action in response to the questions that first emerged in the aftermath of the experience of 1968 and continue to shape current debates. Third, it argues that to rescue contemporary democratic events from their ongoing trivialization, it is necessary to develop an alternative conceptual lens that reveals what other accounts erase, namely the on-the-ground efforts of political actors.
Jürgen Habermas
Authors: Çidam Çiğdem
Published: May 2021

This chapter argues that Jürgen Habermas’s engagement with the debates on the German student movement of 1968 led him to question the common tendency to consider the transience of spontaneous popular action a failure. Habermas’s democratic theory construes the ephemerality of such events as an asset that ensures they remain unrestricted by existing norms. The “wild” and “anarchic” moments of direct citizen action constitute the radical core of deliberative democracy. Yet, even as he emphasizes the democratic moments’ unrestricted quality, Habermas, like Rousseau, is also wary of their unpredictability. In his discussions on civil disobedience, Habermas turns to “constitutional patriotism” as a normative criterion to contain the dangers that emanate from the unpredictability of spontaneous action. In doing so, however, Habermas risks transforming political theory into a disciplinary mechanism whereby the theorist, à la Rousseau, takes on the role of an authority figure charged with guiding democratic action.
Jacques Rancière
Authors: Çidam Çiğdem
Published: May 2021

This chapter demonstrates that Rancière’s journey to democratic theory started in the aftermath of May 1968 with his efforts to overcome the problematic transformation of political theory into “a theory of education.” For Rancière, unpredictability is integral to democratic politics. Thus, in an anti-Rousseauian move, he emphasizes the theatrical aspect of democratic action: taking on a role other than who they are, acting as if they are a part in a given social order in which they have no part, political actors stage their equality, disrupting the existing distribution of the sensible. Rancière’s focus on the moments of disruption, however, opens him to the charge of reducing democratic politics to immediate acts of negation. Insofar as he erases the role of intermediating practices in the stagings of equality, Rancière imposes on his accounts a kind of purity that his own work, with its emphasis on broken, polemical voices, cautions against.
Epilogue
Authors: Çidam Çiğdem
Published: May 2021

The Epilogue concludes the book by emphasizing the importance of keeping a record of the political actors’ hopes and desires in the new ways of being that they staged in democratic moments, without tidying up the tensions and disorderly aspects of those events. While such alternative ways of being do not provide future actors with a blueprint, they call into question the inevitability of the social order as it exists. For this reason, it is politically significant to stand up against the current trivialization of these events, which, perhaps inadvertently, plays into the hands of the powers that be who seek to obliterate the memory of democratic moments. For, remembering the experiences of political actors, who created democratic events against all odds may be the only means to keep alive the emancipatory potential of the past, making it possible for it to become a citable source and an inspiration for future struggles.
The History and Growth of Judicial Review, Volume 1
Authors: Calabresi Steven Gow
Published: May 2021

These two books examine the history and growth of judicial review in the key G-20 constitutional democracies, which include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, India, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, and the European Union. Both books look at four different theories, which help to explain the birth of judicial review, and to identify which theories apply best in the various countries discussed. The two books consider not only what gives rise to judicial review originally, but also what causes of judicial review lead it to grow and become more powerful and prominent over time. The positive account of what causes the origins and growth of judicial review in so many very different countries, over such a long period of time, has normative implications for the future of judicial review, of the G-20 nations, and of the European Union. This is first sustained positive account of the origins and growth of judicial review in the G-20 constitutional democracies, and in a few other regimes as well. Volume I discusses the G-20 Nations that are Common Law democracies, as well as Israel, and Volume II discusses the G-20 Nations that are Civil Law democracies, as well as the mixed civil law/common law power of the European Court of Justice and of the European Court of Human Rights.
The Union of India: Umpiring and Rights from Wrongs
Authors: Calabresi Steven Gow
Published: May 2021

This chapter addresses the legal system as well as the origins and growth of judicial review in India. Judicial review originated and grew in India for five reasons. First, the history of Privy Council vertical federalism judicial review umpiring in the British Imperial period habituated Indians to the idea of judicial review of the legality of legislation in the sense of an imperial court reining in errant federal subunits. Second, the Framers of the Indian Constitution of 1950 deliberately decided to borrow the strong kind of judicial review described by Professor Gordon Wood from the U.S. Constitution, as well as borrowing from the United States, the idea of a judicially enforceable Bill of Rights. Third, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s state of emergency, in the 1970s, led all the key players in Indian politics to want judicial review for rights from wrongs reasons. Fourth, judicial review in India has functioned as an umpire between the Union government and the states and among the states and various other entities of the Union of India government. Fifth, the Indian National Congress Party was part of an Ackermanian mass mobilization of people who successfully sought independence and which constitutionalized its charisma by peaceful means.
Seduced by drug discovery
Authors: Cordes Eugene H.
Published: May 2021

The opportunity to see the fruit of scientific work in one’s own lifetime proved a compelling motivation to leave a productive academic career in biochemistry and join the pharmaceutical industry, the Merck Research Laboratories specifically. Beginning with work on benign prostatic hypertrophy, the work became involved with statins, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and other areas of drug discovery. Taken from experiences at Merck and elsewhere, eleven adventure stories in drug discovery are presented, ten successes and one notable failure. It is emphasized that most of what scientists start in drug discovery eventually fails, but that pharmaceutical scientists are nonetheless enthusiastic about prospects for success in their work and dedicated to it. The organization of this book is provided.
Proscar and Propecia: the Gary and Jerry show
Authors: Cordes Eugene H.
Published: May 2021

Tracking down the metabolic basis of a remarkable human single-gene genetic disease provided the insight required to discover drugs to prevent prostate gland growth in aging men (benign prostatic hyperplasia, BPH) and prevent hair loss in men (male pattern baldness). Victims of this genetic disease are born with the appearance of females and are recognized as such. However, at puberty, they undergo a transformation and develop the characteristics of males. The underlying genetic defect is a mutation in the gene that codes for the enzyme 5-alpha reductase (5AR), which promotes conversion of testosterone (T) into the more potent male sex hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Lack of sufficient DHT in utero prevents the full expression of male anatomy at birth, an issue that is corrected at the time of puberty when a surge of male sex hormones occurs. These men have a very small prostate gland that never grows, do not lose their hair, and do not get acne. This strongly suggests that DHT is the causative agent of BPH, male pattern baldness, and acne. An inhibitor of 5AR would create the functional equivalent of the genetic defect and would be expected to be effective in shrinking an enlarged prostate gland and slowing or preventing hair loss and acne in men. Finasteride is such an inhibitor and has met expectations. It is marketed as Proscar for BPH and Propecia for male pattern baldness. Finasteride is a teratogen (can cause birth defects) and has not been developed for acne for that reason.
The perils of Primaxin
Authors: Cordes Eugene H.
Published: May 2021

Primaxin is one of the most effective antibiotics introduced into medical practice in the past few decades. It is a single-pill combination of two agents, an unusual β-lactam antibiotic and an inhibitor of an obscure kidney enzyme that abolished the efficacy of the β-lactam in that organ. The initial discovery was a β-lactam antibiotic (think penicillin, amoxicillin) named thienamycin from a fermentation broth. Thienamycin had marvelous antibiotic properties, potent against many microorganisms resistant to earlier β lactams, but was notoriously unstable. Once the unusual structure of thienamycin was unraveled, structural modifications were started. A critical chemical modification resulted in a new agent, imipenem, that retained the antibiotic properties of thienamycin but was stable. A second drug discovery effort resulted in an inhibitor of the kidney enzyme, cilistatin. A combination of the two created Primaxin.
The discovery of taxol: Wall, Horwitz, Holton
Authors: Cordes Eugene H.
Published: May 2021

Taxol is a widely employed drug for chemotherapy of breast cancer and finds use for ovarian and lung cancer as well as for Kaposi’s syndrome. Getting from the discovery of taxol to approval for treatment of cancer took 30 years. The molecule was discovered in the Pacific yew tree, where it occurs in very small amounts. Early studies proved encouraging but not striking enough to generate real enthusiasm for pushing taxol forward. Then Susan Horwitz discovered its mechanism of action—it prevents the dissolution of microtubules—and enthusiasm strengthened. The problem at that stage was getting enough taxol to treat patients. Environmentalists were concerned that harvesting trees for taxol would destroy basically all of the Pacific yew trees in old forests, a legitimate concern. The discovery of a taxol precursor in the English yew, where it occurs in substantial amounts, coupled with the synthesis of taxol from that precursor solved the supply issue. It is now made by total synthesis. Determination by a few scientists over decades brought this important cancer drug into practice.
Avermectins: molecules of life battle parasites
Authors: Cordes Eugene H.
Published: May 2021

Avermectins are effective anti-parasitic agents in human health, animal health, and agriculture. A family of closely related avermectins was discovered in Japan in a fermentation broth of a previously unknown microorganism. These molecules were discovered once in screening 250,000 broths. They were developed initially for animal health by Merck, and a number of agents reached the market: for food animals, horses, pets. The derivatives of the avermectins that are marketed are known as ivermectins. Their use for parasitic diseases of humans was explored, and they were found to be highly effective for river blindness and filariasis (elephantiasis), diseases that afflict the poor in many areas but especially in sub-Saharan Africa The drugs are made available at no cost to victims of these diseases. There is hope that these parasitic diseases can be eradicated. The avermectins also find use in agriculture.
Diabetes breakthroughs: Thornberry and Weber
Authors: Cordes Eugene H.
Published: May 2021

Januvia and Janumet are important additions to the array of drugs that are employed to treat type 2 diabetes. Januvia (sitagliptin) works by an entirely novel mechanism: it is a potent and specific inhibitor of an enzyme known as DPP-4 (dipeptidyl peptidase-4). DPP-4 promotes the destruction of a peptide known as GLP-1 (glucagon-like-peptide-1), an incretin. Incretins are agents that stimulate the secretion of insulin and repress the secretion of glucagon. Both actions tend to normalize glucose levels. Indeed, clinical trials with GLP-1 have shown that this peptide normalizes blood glucose levels in both the fed and fasted states. GLP-1 must be given by injection and is not suitable for routine use by diabetic patients. However, an inhibitor of the enzyme that degrades GLP-1 is the functional equivalent of administration of GLP-1. Januvia acts in exactly this way. Janumet is a combination product in which Januvia is combined with metformin, an effective anti-diabetes agent that has been employed for many years. There are now a number of gliptins (DPP-4 inhibitors) in clinical use for type 2 diabetes.
Take it off! Take it all off! Drugs for weight reduction
Authors: Cordes Eugene H.
Published: May 2021

Obesity is a major and growing threat to good health to most parts of the world. In the United States, Xenical, marketed over the counter as Alli, is the only drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for long-term use for weight control. There are several others—Qsymia, Contrave, Belviq, Saxenda—that are approved for short-term use. A number of others, approved earlier, have been withdrawn from the market for patient safety reasons, including the popular combination known as phen-fen. The pharmaceutical industry has found the discovery of effective and safe weight control drugs to be a formidable challenge. Xenical (tetrahydrolipstatin) is an inhibitor of an enzyme in the gut that promotes the digestion of fats. As a result, an increased fraction of ingested fat is excreted in the feces rather than being absorbed in the body, a reduction in effective calorie intake. This is a novel weight control mechanism of action. Other agents act to suppress appetite or as stimulants to calorie burning. Dietary measures to control weight take several forms, but the effective measure is calorie intake, not diet composition. The field of weight control is rife with false and unsubstantiated claims of efficacy. Research to find better drugs for weight control continues.
Rape and Other Ways of Reading
Authors: Graybill Rhiannon
Published: May 2021

Approaches to biblical rape often assume what Sharon Marcus calls a “gendered grammar” of rape: Rape is something male subjects do to female objects. Furthermore, this heterosexual relation is treated as the most important dynamic in the text. However, heterosexual rape also occurs as a secondary event in texts that are overwhelmingly about the relationships between women. A feminist theory of biblical sexual violence needs to account for the points of contact between rape stories and stories of female relationships. Hagar and Sarah in Genesis 16 and 21 furnish a key example. Drawing on contemporary literary fiction about relationships between women, this chapter argues that the significance of Hagar and Sarah’s relationship cannot be reduced to the scene of sexual exploitation. Instead, the text presents a complex and entangled account of female relationality and intimacy.
Conclusion
Authors: Graybill Rhiannon
Published: May 2021

The conclusion synthesizes the account of how to read stories of rape and sexual violence “after terror”—that is, with and through the methodological framework offered by this book. Several repeated themes emerge. First, there is no single story or script for “rape stories.” This includes many of the explanatory or affective frames applied to rape stories, including “rape is the worst thing possible,” “rape is exceptional,” and “there is no after to rape.” Second, just as there is no one way to tell a rape story, there is no one way of framing harm, in either type or degree. One alternative model is peremption, the unlimited limiting of possibility. Third, the after of rape stories names both the immediate aftermath—what happens next in the narrative, for example—and the larger space in and around the story, including readers’ responses. Fourth, the work of feminist criticism is about finding ways to read and live with biblical rape stories. To do feminist work is to stay with the fuzzy, the messy, and the icky, even or especially when such reading seem difficult.
Trade as a Source of Populist Conflict
Authors: Jones Kent
Published: May 2021

This chapter discusses attitudes toward trade as the result of the balance between the desire to truck and barter and the desire to seek safety and identity in a social group. External threats, or a loss of status due to the presence or influence of foreigners, tend to tilt the balance in favor of protection from outsiders. Domestically, political tension arises between insiders and outsiders in the society. Populism transforms such fears into larger collective issues such as the loss of sovereignty, or the deprivation of status in society due to foreign incursions, including immigration and imports, and a confrontation between the elite and the people. Voting behavior becomes subject to emotional impulses when populist leaders present such issues as existential threats. Voters may also vote in solidarity to redress negative impacts on their broader community, even if the disruption, such as import-induced job loss, does not affect them directly. Populist movements and parties include left-wing, right-wing, and anti-establishment varieties.
Emotional Flashpoints of Populism and Trade
Authors: Jones Kent
Published: May 2021

This chapter discusses populist movements and how they typically depend on the emotional appeal of their platforms in order to achieve electoral success. Populist leaders therefore tend to identify flashpoint issues that resonate with their constituents in terms of the conflict with the discredited elite. Conceptual flashpoints include national sovereignty, which the elite have allegedly compromised; and trade balances, whereby the deficit country is the loser; and tariffs, presented as weapons to punish foreign countries. Institutional flashpoints include the World Trade Organization, regional trade agreements, and the European Union as a special case in the Brexit referendum. Identifiable countries and groups serve to personalize the focus of populist resentment, and represent the third type of flashpoint. Mexico and China have served this function for Trump especially, while immigrants and terrorists play this role in the United States, the European Union, and elsewhere.
Trump’s Assault on the Global Trading System
Authors: Jones Kent
Published: May 2021

This chapter addresses Trump’s trade policy goal, which was to overturn the rules-based global system favoring trade liberalization. He did this with the help of his trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, a lawyer familiar with the legal and institutional aspects of trade. His assault on WTO rules began with unilateral tariffs on steel and aluminum, declaring that imports from all countries, including close allies, endangered national security. He bypassed WTO dispute settlement provisions to launch a trade war against China, with escalating tariffs, and finally forced the WTO dispute settlement system to shut down with repeated vetoes of appellate body appointments. His so-called trade war truce with China also violated WTO provisions on nondiscrimination. He repeatedly imposed tariffs on countries he deemed to be currency manipulators, despite evidence to the contrary, and threatened tariffs on Mexico in order to force the country to change its immigration policy. As the former leader of the global trading system, Trump’s actions undermined the foundations of the global trading system.
The Future Belongs to Globalized Societies
Authors: Jones Kent
Published: May 2021

The concluding chapter summarizes the major findings of the book. Populism has inflicted the greatest damage to global trade and the trading system through the policies of Donald Trump and the UK Brexit vote. Trump’s populist manifesto presents globalism as the opposite of patriotism, but globalized societies increase their national welfare through trade, serving patriotic goals. In order to rebuff the populist temptation it will be necessary to improve adjustment policies, so that workers will have better chances of moving to new jobs when globalization disrupts markets. National trade policy should prevent the concentration of power in one individual’s discretion. The WTO needs to be revitalized through updating its rule book, introducing more effective safeguard measures, and finding new methods of reaching consensus. Maintaining democratic institutions will also be necessary, along with global efforts to defuse refugee crises, and national efforts to integrate and assimilate immigrants.
Becoming Jewish, Believing in Jesus?
Authors: Carpenedo Manoela
Published: May 2021

This chapter investigates the question of how the Judaizing Evangelicals appear to want to become Jewish, believing in Jesus. It carefully analyzes the social and cultural organization of the religious hybridization undertaken by the community of the Judaizing Evangelicals. Special attention is given to how Christian tenets are gradually understood in new ways and are replaced by Jewish ideas and practices within this changing religious community. The analysis indicates that religious change is an open dialectic process, challenging both clear-cut “continuity” and “discontinuity” arguments found in the anthropology of religion. By revealing the dialectic role of past structures in change processes, the theoretical framework expands current conceptualizations exploring cultural hybridity.
The Future Frightens Me
Authors: Ball Blake Scott
Published: May 2021

Peanuts in the 1950s could be a strange, quirky, existentialist journey. Equal parts bleak and absurd, Charles Schulz’s humor resonated with mid-century Americans plagued by feelings of alienation, anxiety, and dislocation. Peanuts was in many ways a Cold War story. Nuclear explosions and fallout, cowboy and Indian battles, and spacemen played a prominent role in the children’s play. Linus’s security blanket and Lucy’s psychiatry booth became powerful metaphors for the therapeutic revolution in American culture and were regularly used in psychiatry textbooks of the period. Schulz’s work became increasingly popular among college-aged existentialists and beatniks. In 1955, Schulz’s rapid rise in popularity led to a national Cartoonist of the Year award.
Snoopy Is the Hero in Vietnam
Authors: Ball Blake Scott
Published: May 2021

This chapter focuses on Snoopy, the character who was one of the more surprising critics of the American approach to the Vietnam War. In particular, Snoopy’s imaginary conflict as the World War I flying ace fighting the Red Baron became a unique commentary on the impact of war on the American homefront. The character also became a popular symbol among American servicemen, both to register their dedication to the fight and their frustrations with the war itself. For his part, Schulz mapped a path of support for troops, but disdain for the unpopular war and especially for the continuance of the draft.
I Believe in Conserving Energy
Authors: Ball Blake Scott
Published: May 2021

Peanuts was a suburban story and expressed many of the contemporary concerns about the environment and the future. Nature played an important role in Schulz’s work, becoming an active member of the cast at times. Schulz’s conception of environmental responsibility attempted to balance alleviating the negative consequences of modern industry with the need for continued industrial productivity. This environmental ethos made Peanuts characters attractive mascots for 1970s presidential administrations looking to market their own public policies in the midst of the energy and pollution crises of the decade. At times, however, Schulz’s work could be deployed by corporate leaders as a way to deflect their own industrial responsibility onto individual consumers.
“I Have a Vision, Charlie Brown”
Authors: Ball Blake Scott
Published: May 2021

From the very beginning, Schulz was an advocate for strong, independent females. Characters like Lucy and Peppermint Patty refused to be defined or dominated by the boys, whether in social interactions, school, or sports. Lucy became a vocal supporter of women’s liberation. These characters became important popular symbols for the burgeoning feminist movement in Cold War America. Peppermint Patty and Marcie, because of their unique relationship, became powerful symbols for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women in a culture where they often felt unrepresented. Schulz took a direct role in endorsing and championing Title IX reforms for women’s athletics, lending his artwork to the national debate.
The World in the Wave Function
Authors: Ney Alyssa
Published: May 2021

What are the ontological implications of quantum theories, that is, what do they tell us about the fundamental objects that make up our world? How should quantum theories make us reevaluate our classical conceptions of the basic constitution of material objects and ourselves? Is there fundamental quantum nonlocality? This book articulates several rival approaches to answering these questions, ultimately defending the wave function realist approach. Wave function realism is a way of interpreting quantum theories so that the central object they describe is the quantum wave function, interpreted as a field in an extremely high-dimensional space. According to this approach, the nonseparability and nonlocality we seem to find in quantum mechanics are ultimately manifestations of a more intuitive, separable, and local picture in higher dimensions.
The Argument from Entanglement
Authors: Ney Alyssa
Published: May 2021

In quantum mechanics, entangled states are not exotic or rare. Rather, entanglement is the norm and so the metaphysical consequences of entanglement are a central issue for anyone wishing to provide an ontological interpretation of the various formulations of quantum mechanics. This chapter presents the argument for wave function realism from quantum entanglement, which says that wave function realism is necessary if one wants an ontological interpretation that does not conflate distinct quantum states. It explains quantum entanglement and how postulating a wave function in higher dimensions can help to metaphysically ground the phenomenon. The chapter ultimately concludes that the argument from quantum entanglement fails as there are several rival positions that can also explain quantum entanglement and recover the distinctions between different entangled states. These include the primitive ontology approach, various other holisms, ontic structural realism, spacetime state realism, and the multi-field approach.
Must an Ontology for Quantum Theories Contain Local Beables?
Authors: Ney Alyssa
Published: May 2021

This chapter considers and responds to the objection that a wave function in a high-dimensional space cannot ultimately constitute the low-dimensional macroscopic objects of experience. It discusses two forms this objection takes: one based on the putative fact that our evidence for quantum theories consists of low-dimensional objects, and another based on the putative fact that quantum theories are about low-dimensional objects, that they have primitive ontologies of local beables. Even admitting that there may be something straightforward and comprehensible about the fundamental ontologies for quantum theories proposed by the wave function realist, the philosophers who raise these objections see a problem with these ontologies in that they cannot serve as the constitutive foundation for the world as we experience it. And this undermines the promise of wave function realism to serve as a framework for the interpretation of quantum theories.
Solitude and Independence
Authors: Seal Carey
Published: May 2021

Seneca participates in and substantially adds to a Greco-Roman tradition of reflection on the social prerequisites of philosophy. This chapter shows how Seneca develops an account of philosophy’s history and the social conditions that give rise to it. Philosophy’s promise of autonomy is always realized against a social background. Seneca’s attention to this background offers a counterweight to his frequently expressed admiration for the Cynics. Close examination of Seneca’s views about the development of technology and medicine and about the communication of philosophical ideas shows that the Cynic claim that the philosopher can and should slough off the bonds of society stands at odds with Seneca’s description of philosophy’s social enmeshment.
Schools
Authors: Seal Carey
Published: May 2021

This chapter examines Seneca’s views on the collective practice of philosophy, through his representations of the philosophical school. Seneca believes that the Stoic school uniquely combines intellectual coherence with latitude for individual inquiry. He demonstrates these features of the Stoic intellectual community by contrast with Epicureanism. The Epicurean school also receives more sympathetic treatment, though, as Seneca uses it to illustrate how philosophy’s vulnerability to public misunderstanding and caricature. The chapter highlights the fundamentally social character of the philosophical way of life in Seneca’s writings, expressed through the often transtemporal and virtual model of community offered by the philosophical school.
Slavery
Authors: Seal Carey
Published: May 2021

This chapter seeks to broaden discussion of slavery in Seneca by moving away from a focus on Seneca’s normative views about slavery. Instead, it asks what function slavery plays in Seneca’s idea of the philosophical life. Examination of a series of stories about enslaved people shows that Seneca uses such stories both to give specificity to his idea of the philosophical life and to argue for its value. Seneca’s ideas about not only freedom but also instrumentality and moral development turn on the conceptual and rhetorical materials supplied by slavery. The tracing of this dependence is a study in the centrality of slavery in Roman intellectual history.