bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Association between genetically predicted polycystic ovary syndrome and ovarian cancer: a Mendelian randomization study
Authors: Harris Holly R , Cushing-Haugen Kara L , Webb Penelope M , Nagle Christina M , Jordan Susan J ,   Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group, Risch Harvey A , Rossing Mary Anne , Doherty Jennifer A , Goodman Marc T , Modugno Francesmary , Ness Roberta B , Moysich Kirsten B , Kjær Susanne K , Høgdall Estrid , Jensen Allan , Schildkraut Joellen M , Berchuck Andrew , Cramer Daniel W , Bandera Elisa V , Rodriguez Lorna , Wentzensen Nicolas , Kotsopoulos Joanne , Narod Steven A , McLaughlin John R , Anton-Culver Hoda , Ziogas Argyrios , Pearce Celeste L , Wu Anna H , Lindström Sara , Terry Kathryn L
Published: May 2019

Background

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine disorder with an estimated prevalence of 4–21% in reproductive aged women. Recently, the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) reported a decreased risk of invasive ovarian cancer among women with self-reported PCOS. However, given the limitations of self-reported PCOS, the validity of these observed associations remains uncertain. Therefore, we sought to use Mendelian randomization with genetic markers as a proxy for PCOS, to examine the association between PCOS and ovarian cancer.

Methods

Utilizing 14 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with PCOS we assessed the association between genetically predicted PCOS and ovarian cancer risk, overall and by histotype, using summary statistics from a previously conducted genome-wide association study (GWAS) of ovarian cancer among European ancestry women within the OCAC (22 406 with invasive disease, 3103 with borderline disease and 40 941 controls).

Results

An inverse association was observed between genetically predicted PCOS and invasive ovarian cancer risk: odds ratio (OR)=0.92 [95% confidence interval (CI)=0.85–0.99; P = 0.03]. When results were examined by histotype, the strongest inverse association was observed between genetically predicted PCOS and endometrioid tumors (OR = 0.77; 95% CI = 0.65–0.92; P = 0.003). Adjustment for individual-level body mass index, oral contraceptive use and parity did not materially change the associations.

Conclusion

Our study provides evidence for a relationship between PCOS and reduced ovarian cancer risk, overall and among specific histotypes of invasive ovarian cancer. These results lend support to our previous observational study results. Future studies are needed to understand mechanisms underlying this association.
Bias control in the analysis of case–control studies with incidence density sampling
Authors: Cheung Yin Bun , Ma Xiangmei , Lam K F , Li Jialiang , Milligan Paul
Published: May 2019

Background

Previous simulation studies of the case–control study design using incidence density sampling, which required individual matching for time, showed biased estimates of association from conditional logistic regression (CLR) analysis; however, the reason for this is unknown. Separately, in the analysis of case–control studies using the exclusive sampling design, it has been shown that unconditional logistic regression (ULR) with adjustment for an individually matched binary factor can give unbiased estimates. The validity of this analytic approach in incidence density sampling needs evaluation.

Methods

In extensive simulations using incidence density sampling, we evaluated various analytic methods: CLR with and without a bias-reduction method, ULR with adjustment for time in quintiles (and residual time within quintiles) and ULR with adjustment for matched sets and bias reduction. We re-analysed a case–control study of Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine using these methods.

Results

We found that the bias in the CLR analysis from previous studies was due to sparse data bias. It can be controlled by the bias-reduction method for CLR or by increasing the number of cases and/or controls. ULR with adjustment for time in quintiles usually gave results highly comparable to CLR, despite breaking the matches. Further adjustment for residual time trends was needed in the case of time-varying effects. ULR with adjustment for matched sets tended to perform poorly despite bias reduction.

Conclusions

Studies using incidence density sampling may be analysed by either ULR with adjustment for time or CLR, possibly with bias reduction.
Adherence to dietary recommendations and colorectal cancer risk: results from two prospective cohort studies
Authors: Nguyen Sang , Li Honglan , Yu Danxia , Gao Jing , Gao Yutang , Tran Huong , Xiang Yong-Bing , Zheng Wei , Shu Xiao-Ou
Published: May 2019

Background

Understanding the association between diet and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk is essential to curbing the epidemic of this cancer. This study prospectively evaluated adherence to the Chinese Food Pagoda (CHFP), and two American Dietary Guidelines: the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010) and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) in association with CRC risk among Chinese adults living in urban Shanghai, China.

Methods

Participants included 60 161 men and 72 445 women aged 40–74, from two ongoing population-based prospective cohort studies. Associations between dietary guideline compliance scores and CRC risk were evaluated by Cox proportional hazard regression analyses, with age as time metric, and potential confounders were adjusted.

Results

We identified 1670 CRC incidence cases (691 males and 979 females) during an average 8.1 years of follow-up for men and 13.4 years for women. CHFP score was inversely associated with risk of CRC, with hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence intervals) of 0.88 (0.77, 1.00), 0.86 (0.75, 0.98) and 0.84 (0.73, 0.96) for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quartiles versus 1st quartile, respectively (Ptrend= 0.01). The inverse association appeared stronger for rectal cancer, individuals at younger age (< 50 years), with a lower BMI (<25 kg/m2) or without any metabolic conditions at baseline, although no multiplicative interactions were noted. No consistent association pattern was observed for the modified DASH score and the modified AHEI-2010.

Conclusions

Compliance with the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese was associated with reduced risk of CRC among Chinese adults. To maximize health impacts, dietary recommendations need to be tailored for specific populations.
Parameters influencing the pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of piperacillin/tazobactam in patients with febrile neutropenia and haematological malignancy: a prospective study
Authors: Benech Nicolas , Dumitrescu Oana , Conrad Anne , Balsat Marie , Paubelle Etienne , Ducastelle-Lepretre Sophie , Labussière-Wallet Hélène , Salles Gilles , Cohen Sabine , Goutelle Sylvain , Ader Florence ,   Lyon HEMINF Study Group, Ader F , Alcazer V , Bachy E , Balsat M , Barraco F , Boccard M , Billaud G , Chidiac C , Conrad A , Ducastelle-Leprêtre S , Dumitrescu O , Dupont D , Escuret V , Ferry T , Frobert E , Ghesquières H , Heiblig M , Labussière-Wallet H , Larcher M-V , Laurent F , Lina B , Lina G , Menotti J , Miailhes P , Monneret G , Morfin-Sherpa F , Paubelle E , Perpoint T , Rabodonirina M , Renault M , Roure-Sobas C , Salles G , Thomas X , Valour F , Venet F , Wallet F , Wallon M
Published: May 2019

Objectives

To assess population pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of both piperacillin and tazobactam in neutropenia patients and examine dosage requirements related to the MIC distribution for Gram-negative bacteria involved in bloodstream infections (BSIs).

Methods

We conducted a prospective study including adult haematological malignancy patients with febrile neutropenia receiving piperacillin/tazobactam as short (30 min) or prolonged (4 h) intravenous infusions. Concentration data were analysed using a population approach. Dosing simulations with the final model investigated factors influencing the PK/PD of piperacillin/tazobactam quantified by fT>MIC or PTA for piperacillin and tazobactam, respectively. In parallel, the local MIC distribution of β-lactams was documented for Gram-negative bacteria involved in BSIs.

Results

Over 10 months, 31 patients were enrolled, with 11 (35.5%) short and 20 (64.5%) prolonged infusion regimens. A one-compartment model adequately described the data for both drugs. Prolonged infusion, increased serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) values and renal function impairment were associated with increased piperacillin fT>MIC. For patients with normal or augmented renal CL, dosing regimens q8h or q6h with 30 min of infusion were insufficient to achieve acceptable PTA for piperacillin/tazobactam at the median MIC value of 8 mg/L. Prolonged infusion of large doses was associated with the best PTA for both piperacillin and tazobactam.

Conclusions

In a population of haematological malignancy patients with neutropenia, renal function and ALP influenced the PK of piperacillin/tazobactam. Prolonged intravenous infusion would optimize the PK of piperacillin/tazobactam, especially in the case of augmented renal CL and/or low-range bacterial susceptibility.
Evaluation of the optimal standardized ileal digestible valine:lysine ratio in lactating sow diets1
Authors: Greiner Laura , Graham Amanda , Goncalves Marcio , Orlando Uislei , Touchette Kevin J
Published: May 2019

An experiment was conducted with 430 sows to evaluate the ideal standardized ileal digestible (SID) Val:Lys on sow and litter performance during an 18.6-d lactation period. The SID Val:Lys ratios measured were based on the previously published literature and then values above and below reported values. Sows were randomly allotted within parity block (parity 1, parity 2, and parity 3+) to one of five corn–soybean meal-based lactation diets formulated to contain different levels of SID Val:Lys (0.50, 0.62, 0.75, 0.88, and 1.00, respectively). All diets were formulated to be isocaloric (3.35 ME Mcal/kg) with 0.95% SID Lys and contained vitamins and minerals that exceeded recommendations (NRC, 2012). Experimental diets were given to sows from 112 d of pregnancy throughout the 23-d lactation period. Litters were standardized within 48 h after farrowing. Sows were fed with the Howema computerized feeding system that mixed the high and low diets to create the intermediate diets, weighed the feed for each sow and then delivered the feed to each individual feeding hopper to record daily sow feed intake during lactation. Data were analyzed as a randomized complete block design using the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS with sow as the experimental unit and treatment as a fixed effect and parity as the random effect. Results were considered significant at P ≤ 0.05 and considered a trend at P > 0.05 and P ≤ 0.10. Sow ADFI was not significantly different (5.2, 5.2, 5.2, 5.0, and 5.4 ± 0.15 kg/d, respectively). On average, sows consumed ~45 g of SID Lys per day. Sow wean to estrus (5.2, 4.7, 5.3, 5.5, and 4.5 ± 0.32 d, respectively) was not different as the Val:Lys ratio changed. Increasing the Val:Lys ratio resulted in no differences (2.66, 2.64, 2.76, 2.61, and 2.62 ± 0.08 kg; P > 0.10) in average daily litter gain. There were no differences in sow weight loss or subsequent total born across the dietary treatments. Overall, increasing levels of SID Val:Lys did not change sow reproductive performance or piglet growth rate.
Impaired plasmalogen synthesis dysregulates liver X receptor-dependent transcription in cerebellum
Authors: Honsho Masanori , Dorninger Fabian , Abe Yuichi , Setoyama Daiki , Ohgi Ryohei , Uchiumi Takeshi , Kang Dongchon , Berger Johannes , Fujiki Yukio
Published: May 2019

Synthesis of ethanolamine plasmalogen (PlsEtn) is regulated by modulating the stability of fatty acyl-CoA reductase 1 (Far1) on peroxisomal membrane, a rate-limiting enzyme in plasmalogen synthesis. Dysregulation of plasmalogen homeostasis impairs cholesterol biosynthesis in cultured cells by altering the stability of squalene epoxidase (SQLE). However, regulation of PlsEtn synthesis and physiological consequences of plasmalogen homeostasis in tissues remain unknown. In the present study, we found that the protein but not the transcription level of Far1 in the cerebellum of the Pex14 mutant mouse expressing Pex14p lacking its C-terminal region (Pex14ΔC/ΔC) is higher than that from wild-type mouse, suggesting that Far1 is stabilized by the lowered level of PlsEtn. The protein level of SQLE was increased, whereas the transcriptional activity of the liver X receptors (LXRs), ligand-activated transcription factors of the nuclear receptor superfamily, is lowered in the cerebellum of Pex14ΔC/ΔC and the mice deficient in dihydroxyacetonephosphate acyltransferase, the initial enzyme for the synthesis of PlsEtn. These results suggest that the reduction of plasmalogens in the cerebellum more likely compromises the cholesterol homeostasis, thereby reducing the transcriptional activities of LXRs, master regulators of cholesterol homeostasis.
Genetically Predicted Levels of DNA Methylation Biomarkers and Breast Cancer Risk: Data From 228 951 Women of European Descent
Authors: Yang Yaohua , Wu Lang , Shu Xiao-Ou , Cai Qiuyin , Shu Xiang , Li Bingshan , Guo Xingyi , Ye Fei , Michailidou Kyriaki , Bolla Manjeet K , Wang Qin , Dennis Joe , Andrulis Irene L , Brenner Hermann , Chenevix-Trench Georgia , Campa Daniele , Castelao Jose E , Gago-Dominguez Manuela , Dörk Thilo , Hollestelle Antoinette , Lophatananon Artitaya , Muir Kenneth , Neuhausen Susan L , Olsson Håkan , Sandler Dale P , Simard Jacques , Kraft Peter , Pharoah Paul D P , Easton Douglas F , Zheng Wei , Long Jirong
Published: May 2019

Background

DNA methylation plays a critical role in breast cancer development. Previous studies have identified DNA methylation marks in white blood cells as promising biomarkers for breast cancer. However, these studies were limited by low statistical power and potential biases. Using a new methodology, we investigated DNA methylation marks for their associations with breast cancer risk.

Methods

Statistical models were built to predict levels of DNA methylation marks using genetic data and DNA methylation data from HumanMethylation450 BeadChip from the Framingham Heart Study (n = 1595). The prediction models were validated using data from the Women’s Health Initiative (n = 883). We applied these models to genomewide association study (GWAS) data of 122 977 breast cancer patients and 105 974 controls to evaluate if the genetically predicted DNA methylation levels at CpG sites (CpGs) are associated with breast cancer risk. All statistical tests were two-sided.

Results

Of the 62 938 CpG sites CpGs investigated, statistically significant associations with breast cancer risk were observed for 450 CpGs at a Bonferroni-corrected threshold of P less than 7.94 × 10–7, including 45 CpGs residing in 18 genomic regions, that have not previously been associated with breast cancer risk. Of the remaining 405 CpGs located within 500 kilobase flaking regions of 70 GWAS-identified breast cancer risk variants, the associations for 11 CpGs were independent of GWAS-identified variants. Integrative analyses of genetic, DNA methylation, and gene expression data found that 38 CpGs may affect breast cancer risk through regulating expression of 21 genes.

Conclusion

Our new methodology can identify novel DNA methylation biomarkers for breast cancer risk and can be applied to other diseases.
Understanding Tacit Security Regimes
Authors: Siniver Asaf , Lucas Scott
Published: May 2019

More than three decades after the concept of international regimes was introduced, the study of why and how states may choose to cooperate, particularly around security, remains contested. While the field has evolved considerably over that time, there remain significant puzzles in the literature concerning the emergence of different types of security regimes. We aim to address these issues by developing the concept of a tacit security regime (TSR) literature. We define a TSR as an interest-based, limited, and informal mechanism of cooperation between states for the purpose of deconflicting their respective interests over a specific security issue. We illustrate the usefulness of our concept in the two contemporary cases of Russian-Israeli and Russian-Turkish security cooperation over the Syrian crisis (2015–2018).
Estimation of Underreporting in Diary Surveys: An Application Using the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey
Authors: Hu Mengyao , Kirlin John A , West Brady T , He Wenyi , Ong Ai Rene , Zhang Shiyu , Zhang Xingyou
Published: May 2019

Diary surveys are used to collect data on a variety of topics, including health, time use, nutrition, and expenditures. The US National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) is a nationally representative diary survey, providing an important data source for decision-makers to design policies and programs for promoting healthy lifestyles. Unfortunately, a multiday diary survey like the FoodAPS can be subject to various survey errors, especially item nonresponse error occurring at the day level. The FoodAPS public-use data set provides survey weights that adjust only for unit nonresponse. Due to the lack of day-level weights (which could possibly adjust for the item nonresponse that arises from refusals on particular days), the adjustments for unit nonresponse are unlikely to correct any bias in estimates arising from households that initially agree to participate in FoodAPS but then fail to report on particular days. This article develops a general methodology for estimating the extent of underreporting due to this type of item nonresponse error in diary surveys, using FoodAPS as a case study. We describe a methodology combining bootstrap replicate sampling for complex samples and imputation based on a Heckman selection model to predict food expenditures for person-days with missing expenditures. We estimated the item nonresponse error by comparing weighted estimates according to only reported expenditures and both reported expenditures and predictions for missing values. Results indicate that ignoring the missing data would lead to consistent overestimation of the mean expenditures and events per person per day and underestimation of the total expenditures and events. Our study suggests that the household-level weights, which generally account for unit nonresponse, may not be entirely sufficient for addressing the nonresponse occurring at the day level in diary surveys, and proper imputation methods will be important for estimating the size of the underreporting.
Dialect borders—political regions are better predictors than economy or religion
Authors: Derungs Curdin , Sieber Christian , Glaser Elvira , Weibel Robert
Published: May 2019

The impact of geography on language and dialect variation has been subject to a vast number of studies in linguistics, as well as the broader humanities. Most quantitative research concerning dialectology has focused on the relationship between spatial distance and change of dialects. Hypotheses regarding the impact of other geographic, cultural, and social factors have been put forth for many years but have rarely been examined with quantitative methods. In this article, we compare dialect variation in Swiss German morphosyntax with three types of social and cultural variation, namely variation in religion, administration, and economy. These different types of variation have contrasting temporal origins. Religion is, for instance, represented by the borders between Christian denominations, which are a result of the Reformation in the 16th century. In order to compare different types of spatial information in one statistical model, we introduce an approach that is robust for spatial dependencies. On one hand, our results are largely in agreement with previous studies. Spatial distance, for instance, proves to be the most important predictor of dialect variance, with distance measures that more realistically represent the potential for social contact, explaining a higher proportion of variance. On the other hand, most interestingly, we find evidence that administrative borders (i.e. political regions) more profoundly impact Swiss dialects than religion or economy. This opens the floor for the hypothesis that possibly both Swiss dialects and political regions have common origins in ancient migration movements and medieval borders between Alemannic territories.
The redshift-space momentum power spectrum – I. Optimal estimation from peculiar velocity surveys
Authors: Howlett Cullan
Published: May 2019

Low redshift surveys of galaxy peculiar velocities provide a wealth of cosmological information. We revisit the idea of extracting this information by directly measuring the redshift-space momentum power spectrum from such surveys. We provide a comprehensive theoretical and practical framework for estimating and fitting this from data, analogous to well-understood techniques used to measure the galaxy density power spectrum from redshift surveys. We formally derive a new estimator, which includes the effects of shot noise and survey geometry; we evaluate the variance of the estimator in the Gaussian regime; we compute the optimal weights for the estimator; we demonstrate that the measurements are Gaussian distributed, allowing for easy extraction of cosmological parameters; and we explore the effects of peculiar velocity (PV) measurement errors. We finish with a proof-of-concept using realistic mock galaxy catalogues, which demonstrates that we can measure and fit both the redshift-space galaxy density and momentum power spectra from PV surveys and that including the latter substantially improves our constraints on the growth rate of structure. We also provide theoretical descriptions for modelling the non-linear redshift-space density and momentum power spectrum multipoles, and forecasting the constraints on cosmological parameters using the Fisher information contained in these measurements for arbitrary weights. These may be useful for measurements of the galaxy density power spectrum even in the absence of peculiar velocities.
Extreme Differences in Recombination Rate between the Genomes of a Solitary and a Social Bee
Authors: Jones Julia C , Wallberg Andreas , Christmas Matthew J , Kapheim Karen M , Webster Matthew T
Published: May 2019

Social insect genomes exhibit the highest rates of crossing over observed in plants and animals. The evolutionary causes of these extreme rates are unknown. Insight can be gained by comparing recombination rate variation across the genomes of related social and solitary insects. Here, we compare the genomic recombination landscape of the highly social honey bee, Apis mellifera, with the solitary alfalfa leafcutter bee, Megachile rotundata, by analyzing patterns of linkage disequilibrium in population-scale genome sequencing data. We infer that average recombination rates are extremely elevated in A. mellifera compared with M. rotundata. However, our results indicate that similar factors control the distribution of crossovers in the genomes of both species. Recombination rate is significantly reduced in coding regions in both species, with genes inferred to be germline methylated having particularly low rates. Genes with worker-biased patterns of expression in A. mellifera and their orthologs in M. rotundata have higher than average recombination rates in both species, suggesting that selection for higher diversity in genes involved in worker caste functions in social taxa is not the explanation for these elevated rates. Furthermore, we find no evidence that recombination has modulated the efficacy of selection among genes during bee evolution, which does not support the hypothesis that high recombination rates facilitated positive selection for new functions in social insects. Our results indicate that the evolution of sociality in insects likely entailed selection on modifiers that increased recombination rates genome wide, but that the genomic recombination landscape is determined by the same factors.
Nicholas Ray’s We Can’t Go Home Again
Authors: Pisters Patricia
Published: May 2019

This chapter analyzes the film We Can’t Go Home Again (1972–1976), which the American director Nicholas Ray realized in collaboration with a class of students he taught at the State University of New York in Purchase. The film exemplifies the ability of cinema to provide access to an “elsewhere” and “elsewhen,” analyzed by Anne Friedberg in her book Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern. This chapter claims that the film’s use of multiscreen projection can be illuminated through Friedberg’s notion of the virtual window, developed in The Virtual Window: From Alberti to Microsoft. Thanks to the collaboration on the film of video artist Nam June-Paik and the employment of techniques associated with the contemporaneous practice of “expanded cinema,” We Can’t Go Home Again is an important precursor to contemporary digital media.
The Eisenstein Effect
Authors: Vidler Anthony
Published: May 2019

This chapter analyzes the confluence in thinking about cinematic and architectural montage in the work of the Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein and the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. It describes their encounter in Moscow in 1928 and their shared admiration for the French architectural historian Auguste Choisy, whose description of spatial passage through the Athenian Acropolis is a key point of reference in the accounts the filmmaker and the architect develop of the role of narrative, movement, and editing in the apprehension of space. Although Le Corbusier’s promenade architecturale is the manipulation of a body moving through actual space according to precise calculations of a visual sequence, the cinematic version, as staged by Corbusier and Chenal, faced the viewer with a surrogate or avatar body moving through space, but never presented the viewer with the scenes viewed by this body: an invisible, one might say ineffable merging of architecture with the image of an invisible architecture as a projection of a static viewer. Architecture in this sense achieves the status desired of the modernist machine universe, but in the process has been reduced to two dimensions, without perspective. Eisenstein, for his part, was in this sense able to “build” an architecture in film—not the imperfect static forms that one had to walk through or work hard to imagine their ecstatic movement, but through the moving image itself understood as the highest technological achievement of modernism, thus achieving the (ecstatic) dissolution, in image, of modernist architecture.
Islam as Public Philosophy
Authors: Bamyeh Mohammed A.
Published: May 2019

Surveying the structure of Islamic public philosophy over 100 years, this chapter identifies two major approaches: instrumental reason and hermeneutics. The instrumentalists present Islam as an instrument to solve problems. The hermeneuts, by contrast, present Islam as an educational project designed to elevate the intellectual capacities of humanity. The instrumentalists argue that humans should be capable of knowing god’s intentions, whereas the hermeneuts argue that this knowledge is not available to humans with certainty. Overall, whereas the instrumentalists see the proper role of the pious person to consist in applying god’s law, the hermeneuts see that role to consist of interpreting god’s intention. One approach sees divinity as external to the self, whereas the other see it as existing in dialectical relation to it. The chapter charts out the genealogies of each school in various countries, and analyzes the relationship of each to competing secular discourses, including anti-colonial nationalism and the debates on the character of the modern state.
Introduction
Authors: Somos Mark
Published: May 2019

The introduction summarizes the book’s thesis, spells out its original claims, and defines its organizing concepts. It surveys the broader chronological and intellectual context of the state of nature, including European uses of the term, as well as the stages in the evolution of the distinct American usage and their significance for the American Revolution and early constitutional design. Several early modern and Enlightenment meanings of the term are introduced, ranging from a mythical Golden Age through the pre-political human condition to innocence and damnation. The introduction also describes the book’s method, sources, and defines its chronological and thematic scope.
The State of Nature
Authors: Somos Mark
Published: May 2019

Chapter 2 sketches the various meanings and uses of the state of nature in relation to the American colonies until the early 1760s, including the prevalence and significance of the state of nature theme in imperial propaganda and thought and in the education of the founding generation. It surveys texts that describe uncivilized places and peoples as being in the state of nature, and the American colonies as a state of nature with vast natural, moral, and political potential. It synthesizes the common themes in these texts to reveal a pattern of usage and meaning that became the origin of the colonists’ self-understanding as inhabitants of an American state of nature. The chapter then surveys state of nature texts in prerevolutionary colonial education, especially anti-Hobbesian Scottish formulations of the state of nature as a condition of sociability, justice, and rights that survive the transition into an organized polity.
The Stamp Act and the State of Nature
Authors: Somos Mark
Published: May 2019

Chapter 4 begins with Warren’s Case to highlight public engagement with the state of nature discourse and reveal the pervasive importance of the state of nature in colonial reactions to the Stamp Act. These reactions stood in contrast to Blackstone’s conceptualization of the state of nature in his Commentaries, which is often but mistakenly seen as shaping the earliest stage of American revolutionary ideology. To elaborate the contrast, the chapter describes competing interpretations of the Glorious Revolution and of the state of nature as the standard for measuring the excellence and failure of constitutions. The chapter narrates the first instances when colonists disputed the meaning of the state of nature among themselves, with loyalists dismissing its significance, and patriots endorsing it in attempts to formulate juridically effective expressions of protest. By the time the Stamp Act was repealed, the state of nature became an unavoidable trope in constitutional debates.
Creating and Contesting the American State of Nature
Authors: Somos Mark
Published: May 2019

Chapter 5 describes the contestation and consolidation of this trope, and the beginning of its transformation from a vindication of protest into the foundation of an American natural community. Illustrating the close relationship between English-language state of nature texts on both sides of the Atlantic, the chapter follows the rapid expansion of the state of nature discourse to constitutional issues such as the freedom of conscience and opinion, the freedom of speech and of the press, secession, the right to meaningful representation, and the relevance or irrelevance of rights guaranteed under competing versions of a semi-mythical ancient constitutionalism. The chapter carries previous analyses of rival loyalist and patriot interpretations of the state of nature on to these topics.
The Turn to Self-Defense
Authors: Somos Mark
Published: May 2019

This chapter shows that as tensions escalated in the early 1770s, the colonists drew on the increasingly coherent view of the American state of nature to claim the collective right to self-defense. Moderates and loyalists vehemently contested revolutionary state of nature arguments for a natural community of American settlers separate from Britain and for their right to self-defense. New England Christians supplied a pluriform, but distinct and influential, revolutionary strand of state of nature interpretation, complete with the right to resist, the right to change government, and a collective identity, all grounded in a Christian state of nature. The chapter ends by illustrating the range of political economy theories of the state of nature that were relevant to understanding and debating the rising tension between the metropolis and the colonies, and a continuation of the previous discussion of rival loyalist and patriot interpretations of the state of nature.
Raskolnikov Beyond Good and Evil
Authors: Havas Randall
Published: May 2019

Crime and Punishment is, among other things, a long meditation on the authority of the moral law. In insisting that his main character, Raskolnikov, is guilty of a heinous crime, however, Dostoevsky does not take that authority for granted. At the beginning of the story, Raskolnikov is portrayed as a kind of skeptic about morality, indeed about humanity, who thinks that moral imperatives are binding on us only as a matter of convention or of mere calculation and that the exceptional person is free to “step beyond” them altogether. As the novel progresses, however, it becomes clear that the authority of morality is, in Dostoevsky’s view, a function of a particular kind of human community. His skepticism, then, is a failure of a certain kind of desire, not simply an intellectual error; but it is a failure to which Dostoevsky thinks his reader is prone. Although Raskolnikov’s talk of stepping beyond morality may appear to resemble Nietzsche’s injunction to the “higher man” to live beyond good and evil, I will argue that Dostoevsky and Nietzsche actually agree on the necessity of an antecedent mutuality as a foundation for morality.
Bakhtin’s Radiant Polyphonic Novel, Raskolnikov’s Perverse Dialogic World
Authors: Emerson Caryl
Published: May 2019

When queried at the end of his life, Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975) identified himself not as a literary scholar but as a philosopher—or more precisely, as a “thinker” (myslitel’). Bakhtin’s book on Dostoevsky (1929, rev. 1963) introduced the potent concepts of dialogism versus monologism, the “fully-weighted idea-hero,” double-voiced discourse, and novelistic polyphony. But even as these concepts began to leak into and then dominate our critical vocabulary, reservations were raised. Bakhtin’s philosophy of dialogue seemed to omit a great deal of Dostoevsky’s texture and wisdom. This essay discusses the virtues and drawbacks of a Bakhtinian reading of Crime and Punishment. It incorporates recent scholarship on Bakhtin’s notion of author–hero relations, and on the possibility of our real and fictive “outsideness” to one another, and on the corruptions to which word and image are prone. It ends with a hypothesis about polyphony, most relevant to Dostoevsky’s first and last great murder novels, which attaches the concept not to literature but to medieval philosophies of music. In so doing it reconciles the linear thrust of dialogue (melody) with two other virtues Bakhtin saw equally present in Dostoevsky’s art: simultaneity and coexistence.
The Brain and Its Functions Prior to Gall
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: May 2019

Very little was known about the brain, its structural organization, and its functions when Gall began his dissections of animals, autopsies on people, and studies of individuals with congenital or acquired brain damage. In particular, the cerebral cortex had been either ignored or looked upon as a unified organ with a single function, such as memory. Emanuel Swedenborg was the only person prior to Gall to conclude with supportive evidence that it must be comprised of a number of distinct functional areas. Swedenborg’s insights from the mid-1700s were based on cases of brain damage, anatomy, and logic, but remained unknown to scientists and physicians when Gall began formulating his own ideas in the rapidly changing Zeitgeist at the end of the century.
Of Animal Heads and Animal Tales
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: May 2019

Animals played significant roles in Gall’s research program, in which he viewed humans as merely having more complex and better developed brains. Studying lowly animals, barnyard animals, wild animals, and pets helped reveal what makes us human, both behaviorally and with regard to brain development, while providing a natural backdrop on which life can be viewed on a continuum (i.e., a Great Chain of Being, albeit one devoid of supernatural entities). Gall even compared animals to humans with brain injuries and diseases. Further, he was an animal lover who always had pets around him, and he did not hesitate to mention how observing animals, including his pet dogs, birds, and monkeys, helped him discover particular faculties and their locations. He also did everything he could to encourage people to send him stories of exceptional animals and, ideally, their heads or skulls when they died. He did not, however, look favorably on brain lesion experiments with animals, railing against such mutilations as having so many problems that they could not convey clear and reliable information. Nonetheless, he did conduct a few experiments of his own to see if the findings of others, including Pierre Flourens, could be verified.
Scientific Journey through Germany and Denmark
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: May 2019

Berlin was the first stop on Gall’s scientific journey, which began in March 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars that led to the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. He arrived there with Spurzheim, a wax modeler, and at last one servant, and gave a series of lectures and anatomical demonstrations, while also examining prisoners and psychiatric patients in local institutions. His lectures attracted large audiences that were mostly positive toward him, though he did battle with Professor of Anatomy Johann Gottlieb Walter, whose turf he invaded. After Berlin he headed to nearby Potsdam, where he had been invited to lecture by royalty. Leipzig, Dresden, and Halle followed, and then Weimar and Jena, again with considerable support but also some critics. Next was Göttingen, where he spent time with fellow skull collector and anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who was less than impressed. He continued on to Hamburg and Kiel, and into Denmark, where he lectured to a mixed audience of 200 men and women. Returning to the German states, he met with an appreciative King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, who, like many others, rewarded him for his stop. Bremen and Münster were next on his agenda, ending this largely successful part of his scientific journey and positioning him to cross over to the Netherlands.
The Arts, and Faculties in Concert
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: May 2019

Gall was more interested in nature than the arts, but how he approached the various arts shows how he organized his thoughts and that he was also pondering how his faculties must work in harmony. He had a special faculty for tune or music in his system and made it very clear that this faculty is involved with tonal relationships, not simpler functions, and must be a brain function. He also presented what led him to this faculty; showed why he considered music an innate talent; described how his studies of musical geniuses and birds led him to the cranial bump above the eye; and explained different kinds of music as reflecting the tune faculty working with others. In contrast to music, Gall listed a number of faculties that can figure into the fine arts: distinguishing the relation of colors, constructiveness, locality, distinguishing persons, and imitation. Here, too, he emphasized how faculties must work together and how other faculties figure into the choice of subject matter (e.g., flowers, battle scenes). He also had a faculty for poetry, which he defined broadly. He mentioned that great poets are born, not made; described its bump in the “superior part of the head”; and again alluded to how other faculties working with it would help determine what a poet would write about.
New Perspectives on Insanity and Criminality
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: May 2019

Gall was interested in seeing his new science applied to major problems facing society. Two such problems were how to deal with the insane and criminals, both of which already interested him when he began to formulate his doctrine in Vienna. He did not write separate treatises on these subjects, but he did write extensively about them, providing considerable history in the two sets of volumes presenting his doctrine. Following Pinel and others, he argued that the insane should be treated more humanely and that they should be classified as being curable or unresponsive to treatments. His approach, however, was more brain oriented. He was especially interested in the “monomanias” (partial manias), since these disorders could be associated with specific faculties of the mind, though he also wrote about the causes of melancholia and suicide. Among criminals, he again distinguished those likely to benefit from remediation or incarceration from those with cerebral organizations too wanting to be overcome, while also explaining types of crimes with brain physiology. For Gall, the crime itself was one part of the story, but another, too frequently overlooked in the courts, was the criminal’s brain.
A Rightful Place in History
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: May 2019

Gall’s craniology would not withstand the test of time, and how he accepted confirmatory cases and dismissed contradictory evidence would increasingly be regarded as poor science. As a consequence, his cranium-based doctrine began to be branded as a “pseudoscience” in 1834 by physiologist Pierre Magendie, with others following suit. Nonetheless, many of Gall’s ideas have endured, even though he is rarely remembered today for many changes he elicited or helped to elicit. His concepts of numerous independent organs of mind, different kinds of memories, and cortical localization of function are now widely accepted in the neurosciences. He was also extremely influential in drawing attention to individual differences, and he played a major role in making psychiatry a brain-based science and introducing brain pathology into the courtroom. He also deserves to be remembered for purging the soul from the life sciences and positioning us with other animals. And he made significant discoveries in neuroanatomy. In retrospect, Gall was neither a charlatan nor a fraud, though he had too much faith in cranioscopy. His ideas merit a fresh look and, without question, he deserves more credit than he has been given for his insights and how they have changed many fields.
Accountability, information, and yardstick competition
Authors: Salmon Pierre
Published: May 2019

The chapter follows the logic of the relation between downward accountability, the information asymmetry faced by voters or citizens, and yardstick competition. Assuming that the accountability perspective is adopted, the main question is the information available to citizens. In important policy domains it is difficult to mitigate the information asymmetry faced by citizens in the absence of yardstick comparisons. This offers a role for these comparisons and with them yardstick competition to come to the rescue of accountability. A similar logic inspired the way tournaments and yardstick competition were introduced, in the 1980s, in the fields of labor and industrial economics. The last part of the chapter recalls some characteristics of that work and discusses the way they must be adapted, with some discarded (namely the contractual dimension), when the analysis is transposed from its original habitat to the agency relation between citizens and incumbents.
The challenge of extending: the international setting
Authors: Salmon Pierre
Published: May 2019

This chapter’s discussion of yardstick competition among national governments is less about substance than about the puzzle raised by its almost complete neglect by researchers. It poses the question why, since there is much circumstantial evidence of the relevance of the mechanism in reality, there is so little work on it in the empirical literature. Admittedly, moving from the propitious setting of fiscal federalism to the relationship among national governments encounters technical difficulties. But it also encounters ideological and sociological obstacles. For instance, the specific situation of the United States with regard to the possible impact of yardstick competition, taken together with the well-deserved worldwide influence of US scholarship, may have something to do in the puzzling lack of attention that is also given to yardstick competition in the context of small open economies or societies such as the European ones.
Music Assessment for Better Ensembles
Authors: Shaw Brian P.
Published: May 2019

Assessment is central to ensemble music. Yet, teachers do not always have the expertise to harness its potential to improve rehearsals and performances, and promote and document student learning. Written specifically for band, choir, and orchestra teachers at all levels, this book contains all of the information necessary to design and use assessment in a thriving music classroom. The first section addresses foundations such as learning targets, metacognition, and growth mindset. Assessment jargon such as formative assessment, summative assessment, Assessment for Learning, self and peer assessment, and authentic assessment is clarified and illustrated with music examples. Readers will learn practical strategies for choosing which concepts to assess, which methods to use, and how to use results to provide accurate and effective feedback to students. The second section brings assessment fundamentals into the music room. Filled with practical advice, each chapter examines a different facet of musicianship. Sample assessments in all performance areas are provided, including concert preparation, music literacy, fundamentals and technique, terminology, interpretation, evaluation and critique, composition and improvisation, beliefs and attitudes, and more. The final section is an examination of grading practices in music classes. Readers will gain information about ensemble grades that communicate what students know and are able to do. The book concludes with ways for music educators to take their first steps toward implementing these strategies in their own teaching, including the use of instructional technology. Assessing like an expert is possible, and this book is just what teachers need to get started.
Assessment and Curriculum
Authors: Shaw Brian P.
Published: May 2019

This chapter addresses how curriculum can be explained to students in order to facilitate assessment. Many educators are familiar with curricular terminology like standards and outcomes, but traditional curriculum writing has focused more on teachers than on students. Learning targets are a particular type of student outcome that emphasizes ease of comprehension by students. Learning targets can be classified as knowledge, reasoning, skills, products, or dispositions. Classroom assessment is more effective when both teacher and students have clarity about what will be assessed, how it will be assessed, and what suffices as evidence of mastery.
Fundamental Skills
Authors: Shaw Brian P.
Published: May 2019

This chapter includes strategies for assessing music students’ foundational performance abilities. Skills including tone, technique, posture, hand position, stage presence, and music literacy are considered. Numerous examples are provided for all performance areas; orchestra, choir, and band each have their own dedicated section of this chapter.
Grading in the Ensemble Classroom
Authors: Shaw Brian P.
Published: May 2019

This chapter is an application of grading fundamentals to the ensemble music setting. Music grades have evolved to include many conventions that do not conform to the advice of many grading experts. Grades determined by student achievement with respect to foundational understandings and abilities, rather than concert music performance, are often the fairest and most educational. Areas of particular concern for music grades include home practice time, concert and rehearsal attendance, class participation, and extra credit. These and other issues are elucidated. Recommendations for educative music grades are included throughout.