bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Physical-chemical mechanisms of pattern formation during gastrulation
Authors: Bozorgui Behnaz , Kolomeisky Anatoly B. , Teimouri Hamid
Published: September 2017

Gastrulation is a fundamental phase during the biological development of most animals when a single layer of identical embryo cells is transformed into a three-layer structure, from which the organs start to develop. Despite a remarkable progress in quantifying the gastrulation processes, molecular mechanisms of these processes remain not well understood. Here we theoretically investigate early spatial patterning in a geometrically confined colony of embryonic stem cells. Using a reaction-diffusion model, a role of Bone-Morphogenetic Protein 4 (BMP4) signaling pathway in gastrulation is specifically analyzed. Our results show that for slow diffusion rates of BMP4 molecules, a new length scale appears, which is independent of the size of the system. This length scale separates the central region of the colony with uniform low concentrations of BMP molecules from the region near the colony edge where the concentration of signaling molecules is elevated. The roles of different components of the signaling pathway are also explained. Theoretical results are consistent with recent in vitro experiments, providing microscopic explanations for some features of early embryonic spatial patterning. Physical-chemical mechanisms of these processes are discussed.
Diffusion behavior of Cu/Ta heterogeneous interface under high temperature and high strain: An atomistic investigation
Authors: Li Ganglong , Wu Houya , Luo Honglong , Chen Zhuo , Tay Andrew A. O. , Zhu Wenhui
Published: September 2017

Three-dimensional (3D) integration technology using Cu interconnections has emerged as a promising solution to improve the performance of silicon microelectronic devices. However, Cu diffuses into SiO2 and requires a barrier layer such as Ta to ensure acceptable reliability. In this paper, the effects of temperature and strain normal to the interface on the inter-diffusion of Cu and Ta at annealing conditions are investigated using a molecular dynamics (MD) technique with embedded atomic method (EAM) potentials. Under thermal annealing conditions without strain, it is found that a Cu-rich diffusion region approximately 2 nm thick is formed at 1000 K after 10 ns of annealing. Ta is capable of diffusing into the interior of Cu but Cu hardly diffuses into the inner lattice of Ta. At the Cu side near the interface an amorphous structure is formed due to the process of diffusion. The diffusion activation energy of Cu and Ta are found to be 0.9769 and 0.586 eV, respectively. However, when a strain is applied, a large number of crystal defects are generated in the sample. As the strain is increased, extrinsic stacking faults (ESFs) and lots of Shockley partial dislocations appear. The density of the dislocations and the diffusion channels increase, promoting the diffusion of Cu atoms into the inner lattice of Ta. The thickness of the diffusion layer increases to 4 times the value when only a temperature load of 700 K is applied. The MD simulations demonstrated that Ta is very effective as a barrier layer under thermal loading only, and its effectiveness is impaired by tensile strain at the Cu/Ta interface. The simulations also clarified the mechanism that caused the impairment. The methodology and approach described in this paper can be followed further to study the effectiveness of barrier layers under various annealing and strain conditions, and to determine the minimum thickness of barrier layers required for a particular application.
Impeded thermal transport in composition graded SiGe nanowires
Authors: Zhang Honggang , Han Haoxue , Xiong Shiyun , Wang Hongyan , Volz Sebastian , Ni Yuxiang
Published: September 2017

Composition graded nanowires (NWs) have attracted increasing research interest in the application of optoelectronic devices, due to their graded bandgaps caused by the changing composition. However, the thermal transport property of composition graded NWs is not clear, which is critical for their potential applications in electronics and thermoelectrics. In this Letter taking SiGe NW as an example, we explore the thermal transport property of composition graded NWs. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the thermal conductivities (κ) of the composition graded SiGe NWs can be reduced up to 57% compared with that of the corresponding SiGe NW with abrupt interfaces. The κ reduction stems from the shortening of phonon mean free paths due to the inhomogeneous composition distributions. The phonon wave packet propagation analysis reveals that the composition gradient can reflect more than 70% of the wave packet energy, and phonon localization is observed in the composition graded region. Our findings suggest a promising prospect of composition graded NWs in the use of thermoelectrics and high temperature coatings, where low thermal conductivity is expected.
Point defects controlling non-radiative recombination in GaN blue light emitting diodes: Insights from radiation damage experiments
Authors: Lee In-Hwan , Polyakov A. Y. , Smirnov N. B. , Shchemerov I. V. , Lagov P. B. , Zinov'ev R. A. , Yakimov E. B. , Shcherbachev K. D. , Pearton S. J.
Published: September 2017

The role of Shockley-Read-Hall non-radiative recombination centers on electroluminescence (EL) efficiency in blue multi-quantum-well (MQW) 436 nm GaN/InGaN light emitting diodes (LEDs) was examined by controlled introduction of point defects through 6 MeV electron irradiation. The decrease in the EL efficiency in LEDs subjected to irradiation with fluences above 5 × 1015 cm−2 was closely correlated to the increase in concentration of Ec-0.7 eV electron traps in the active MQW region. This increase in trap density was accompanied by an increase in the both diode series resistance and ideality factor (from 1.4 before irradiation to 2.1 after irradiation), as well as the forward leakage current at low forward voltages that compromise the injection efficiency. Hole traps present in the blue LEDs do not have a significant effect on EL changes with radiation because of their low concentration.
Improving estimation of kinetic parameters in dynamic force spectroscopy using cluster analysis
Authors: Yen Chi-Fu , Sivasankar Sanjeevi
Published: September 2017

Dynamic Force Spectroscopy (DFS) is a widely used technique to characterize the dissociation kinetics and interaction energy landscape of receptor-ligand complexes with single-molecule resolution. In an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)-based DFS experiment, receptor-ligand complexes, sandwiched between an AFM tip and substrate, are ruptured at different stress rates by varying the speed at which the AFM-tip and substrate are pulled away from each other. The rupture events are grouped according to their pulling speeds, and the mean force and loading rate of each group are calculated. These data are subsequently fit to established models, and energy landscape parameters such as the intrinsic off-rate (koff) and the width of the potential energy barrier (xβ) are extracted. However, due to large uncertainties in determining mean forces and loading rates of the groups, errors in the estimated koff and xβ can be substantial. Here, we demonstrate that the accuracy of fitted parameters in a DFS experiment can be dramatically improved by sorting rupture events into groups using cluster analysis instead of sorting them according to their pulling speeds. We test different clustering algorithms including Gaussian mixture, logistic regression, and K-means clustering, under conditions that closely mimic DFS experiments. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we benchmark the performance of these clustering algorithms over a wide range of koff and xβ, under different levels of thermal noise, and as a function of both the number of unbinding events and the number of pulling speeds. Our results demonstrate that cluster analysis, particularly K-means clustering, is very effective in improving the accuracy of parameter estimation, particularly when the number of unbinding events are limited and not well separated into distinct groups. Cluster analysis is easy to implement, and our performance benchmarks serve as a guide in choosing an appropriate method for DFS data analysis.
Fast-slow asymptotics for a Markov chain model of fast sodium current
Authors: Starý Tomáš , Biktashev Vadim N.
Published: September 2017

We explore the feasibility of using fast-slow asymptotics to eliminate the computational stiffness of discrete-state, continuous-time deterministic Markov chain models of ionic channels underlying cardiac excitability. We focus on a Markov chain model of fast sodium current, and investigate its asymptotic behaviour with respect to small parameters identified in different ways.
Compact, single-device gyrator attains “Highest ever reported” power-conversion efficiency
Authors: Bello Mark
Published: September 2017

Smaller than half a dice cube, gyrator exploits the giant magnetoelectric effect.
Differential nitrogen supply causes large variability in photosynthetic traits in wheat germplasm
Authors: Veres Szilvia , Malik Al Imran , Rengel Zed
Published: September 2017

Increased food production and enhanced sustainability depend on improving nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) of crops. Breeding for enhanced NUE can take advantage of doubled-haploid populations derived from parents differing in the trait. This study evaluated variation in photosynthetic parameters at various growth stages in 43 wheat genotypes (parents of the existing doubled-haploid mapping populations) under optimal and low (one-quarter of the optimal) N supply. For relative chlorophyll content, the genotype × N treatment interaction was significant at tillering, booting, pre-anthesis and anthesis. Genotypes with small differences in relative chlorophyll content between the two N supplies were CD87 at tillering and pre-anthesis, and Batavia at anthesis. Potential photochemical activity (Fv/Fm) was measured at tillering and anthesis. The genotype × N treatment interaction was significant in both growth stages. Based on net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and intrinsic water usez efficiency, there was variable potential of the genotypes to cope with low N supply; significant differences were found among genotypes at ambient CO2 and between N treatments at elevated CO2 concentration (2000 µmol mol–1) for all three parameters. Based on all studied parameters, a dissimilarity matrix was constructed, separating the 43 genotypes into four groups. Group 2 comprised 15 of the genotypes (Batavia, Beaver, Calingiri, CD87, Frame, Krichauff, Neepawa, Soissons, Spear, Stiletto, WAWHT2036, WAWHT2074, Westonia, Wilgoyne, Yitpi), characterised by small differences in relative chlorophyll content and Fv/Fm caused by different N supply at tillering and anthesis. These genotypes therefore appear to have relative tolerance to low N supply and a potential to be used in discerning the molecular basis of tolerance to low N supply.
Ductile ultra high strength hot stamped steel obtained by Q&P treatments
Authors: Krugla Monika , Rana Radhakanta , Das Sourav
Published: September 2017

Current hot stamped steels can offer ultra high strength (1500 MPa) with limited elongation (∼5%). Research is ongoing to develop hot stamped steels with similar strength and improved ductility by using various microstructural approaches. The current work describes in depth the characterisation of microstructural features of a steel that was processed via a quenching and partitioning method in a modified hot stamping thermal cycle to deliver a good combination of strength and ductility. It was found that the microstructure thus produced is very complex comprising many different phases. As it is also beyond the ability of one single technique to fully characterise it, several techniques were employed in order to properly understand the various features of the different constituents of this microstructure.
Strain-rate sensitivity of Mg–Gd alloys after extrusion and simple shear extrusion
Authors: Bayat Tork N. , Razavi S. H. , Saghafian H. , Mahmudi R.
Published: September 2017

Pure Mg and Mg–Gd alloys with 0.5–2 wt-% gadolinium (Gd) were processed by extrusion and simple shear extrusion (SSE). The strain-rate sensitivity (SRS) was investigated by shear punch testing (SPT) at temperatures ranging from 573 to 723 K and for shear strain rates ranging between 0.016 and 0.13 s−1. The Gd-containing alloys processed by SSE showed small m-values at 573 K, which increased with increasing temperature up to 673 K, and decreased afterwards due to grain growth. The highest SRS index (0.47) was found at 673 K for Mg-2Gd after 4 passes of SSE, coinciding with the finest grain size (2 µm). This implies that the material can behave superplastically via a grain boundary sliding mechanism.

This paper is part of a thematic issue on Light Alloys.
Does regional disadvantage affect health‐related sport and physical activity level? A multi‐level analysis of individual behaviour
Authors: Wicker Pamela , Downward Paul , Lera‐López Fernando
Published: September 2017

This study examines the role of regional government quality in health‐related participation in sport and physical activity among adults (18–64 years) in 28 European countries. The importance of the analysis rests in the relative autonomy that regional and local governments have over policy decisions connected with sport and physical activity. While existing studies have focussed on economic and infrastructural investment and expenditure, this research investigates the quality of regional governments across 208 regions within 28 European countries. The individual‐level data stem from the 2013 Eurobarometer 80.2 (n = 18,675) and were combined with regional‐level data from Eurostat. An individual's level of participation in sport and physical activity was measured by three variables reflecting whether an individual's activity level is below, meets, or exceeds the recommendations of the World Health Organization. The results of multi‐level analyses reveal that regional government quality has a significant and positive association with individual participation in sport and physical activity at a level meeting or exceeding the guidelines. The impact is much larger than that of regional gross domestic product per capita, indicating that regional disadvantage in terms of political quality is more relevant than being disadvantaged in terms of economic wealth.
Premigration Patterns of Growth, Condition, and Resource Use by the Spring-Spawned and Summer-Spawned Cohorts of Juvenile Bluefish in the Hudson River Estuary, New York
Authors: Stormer David G. , Juanes Francis
Published: September 2017

In fish populations with multiple age-classes of similar size and close proximity, interactions between age-classes may be an important source of density-dependent population structuring if there is a disparity in competitive ability, creating a competitive bottleneck. However, intercohort competitive interactions within a single year-class have rarely been investigated and may have implications for recruitment success. Bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix produce at least two cohorts (spring- and summer-spawned) of offspring each year, and juveniles of this species are abundant in the lower Hudson River estuary, New York, during summer and early autumn. Our objectives were to evaluate the potential for a competitive bottleneck between these spring and summer cohorts by assessing the cohort-specific growth, condition, and patterns of resource use prior to the autumn migration in 2008 and 2009. The size advantage gained by the spring cohort resulting from earlier hatching dates was maintained throughout both summers. However, the summer juveniles achieved higher lipid content by the end of each summer. When the two cohorts inhabited the estuary at the same time, they exhibited high diet overlap and low spatial overlap. Although Bay Anchovy Anchoa mitchilli predominated the prey base, the two Bluefish cohorts exhibited cohort-specific size-selective feeding, such that the spring cohort preyed upon larger Bay Anchovy than the summer cohort, probably corresponding to different Bay Anchovy year-classes. In this large estuary, the two juvenile Bluefish cohorts exhibited unique strategies with respect to growth and condition, which widened the competitive bottleneck by separating their niches spatially and by foraging on different age-classes of Bay Anchovy.
Low Apparent Survival and Heterogeneous Movement Patterns of Invasive Blue Catfish in a Coastal River
Authors: Tuckey Troy D. , Fabrizio Mary C. , Norris Alicia J. , Groves Mary
Published: September 2017

Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus were purposefully introduced into freshwater tributaries to Chesapeake Bay in the past, and populations have subsequently spread to new areas, negatively impacting native communities and causing concern for resource managers. To aid development of management strategies, we implemented a multiyear (2012–2015) tagging study of invasive Blue Catfish in a 40-km stretch of the Potomac River to estimate survival and assess movement patterns. Blue Catfish (N = 1,237) were captured by electrofishing and double-tagged to allow us to estimate tag retention rates; we used reward tags to increase reporting rates. Recaptured fish (N = 104; 8.4% return rate) were at large for between 2 and 1,208 d. Tag retention rates were 0.88 (SE = 0.045) after 1 year and declined to 0.31 (SE = 0.107) after 2.7 years. The mean minimum distance moved by fish was 24.1 km (range = 0.0–112.6 km). Most (63%) fish displayed downriver movements, but distance moved was unrelated to fish size or days at large. Greater distances were observed among fish that moved downriver (34.4 km) than those that moved upriver (6.7 km). These results suggest high variability in movement behaviors for Blue Catfish inhabiting the tidal Potomac River from freshwater reaches to estuarine habitats. We estimated an annual apparent survival rate of 0.56 (SE = 0.057; Brownie tag-return model) across the study period. This survival rate is lower than survival rates reported from their native range. Long-distance movements of Blue Catfish in the Potomac River indicate that robust, large-scale control measures will be needed to reduce population abundance and minimize negative impacts of this species on native communities.
A multidimensional blood stimulation assay reveals immune alterations underlying systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Authors: Cepika Alma-Martina , Banchereau Romain , Segura Elodie , Ohouo Marina , Cantarel Brandi , Goller Kristina , Cantrell Victoria , Ruchaud Emily , Gatewood Elizabeth , Nguyen Phuong , Gu Jinghua , Anguiano Esperanza , Zurawski Sandra , Baisch Jeanine M. , Punaro Marilynn , Baldwin Nicole , Obermoser Gerlinde , Palucka Karolina , Banchereau Jacques , Amigorena Sebastian , Pascual Virginia
Published: September 2017

The etiology of sporadic human chronic inflammatory diseases remains mostly unknown. To fill this gap, we developed a strategy that simultaneously integrates blood leukocyte responses to innate stimuli at the transcriptional, cellular, and secreted protein levels. When applied to systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA), an autoinflammatory disease of unknown etiology, this approach identified gene sets associated with specific cytokine environments and activated leukocyte subsets. During disease remission and off treatment, sJIA patients displayed dysregulated responses to TLR4, TLR8, and TLR7 stimulation. Isolated sJIA monocytes underexpressed the IL-1 inhibitor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) at baseline and accumulated higher levels of intracellular IL-1β after stimulation. Supporting the demonstration that AHR down-regulation skews monocytes toward macrophage differentiation, sJIA monocytes differentiated in vitro toward macrophages, away from the dendritic cell phenotype. This might contribute to the increased incidence of macrophage activation syndrome in these patients. Integrated analysis of high-dimensional data can thus unravel immune alterations predisposing to complex inflammatory diseases.
Cell-cycle transitions: a common role for stoichiometric inhibitors
Authors: Hopkins Michael , Tyson John J. , Novák Béla
Published: September 2017

The cell division cycle is the process by which eukaryotic cells replicate their chromosomes and partition them to two daughter cells. To maintain the integrity of the genome, proliferating cells must be able to block progression through the division cycle at key transition points (called “checkpoints”) if there have been problems in the replication of the chromosomes or their biorientation on the mitotic spindle. These checkpoints are governed by protein-interaction networks, composed of phase-specific cell-cycle activators and inhibitors. Examples include Cdk1:Clb5 and its inhibitor Sic1 at the G1/S checkpoint in budding yeast, APC:Cdc20 and its inhibitor MCC at the mitotic checkpoint, and PP2A:B55 and its inhibitor, alpha-endosulfine, at the mitotic-exit checkpoint. Each of these inhibitors is a substrate as well as a stoichiometric inhibitor of the cell-cycle activator. Because the production of each inhibitor is promoted by a regulatory protein that is itself inhibited by the cell-cycle activator, their interaction network presents a regulatory motif characteristic of a “feedback-amplified domineering substrate” (FADS). We describe how the FADS motif responds to signals in the manner of a bistable toggle switch, and then we discuss how this toggle switch accounts for the abrupt and irreversible nature of three specific cell-cycle checkpoints.
Joseph Albo on Free Choice
Authors: Weiss Shira
Published: September 2017

Philosophical originality can be uncovered in the unique individual interpretations of biblical narrative found in Joseph Albo’s Sefer ha-‘Iqqarim (Book of Principles), one of the most popular Hebrew works within the corpus of medieval Jewish philosophy. Several of Albo’s exegetical analyses focus on free choice, which emerges as a conceptual scheme throughout his work, though he does not consistently expand upon his views of choice in the same way in each reference. These isolated expositions have heretofore been overlooked, as the scholarly consensus regards Albo as an unoriginal philosopher and neglects to appreciate the philosophical ingenuity embedded within his individual homilies. An exploration of Albo’s innovative interpretations of the binding of Isaac, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, the Book of Job, and God’s choice of Israel reveals his view of free choice, which was significant during a historical period of religious coercion. Albo’s sole surviving responsum, dealing with the case of the qatlanit (a woman who is twice widowed and thereby forbidden to remarry, according to the Talmud) further demonstrates his philosophical position. Free choice was an important topic, subject to vehement debate in the medieval era in which Albo lived, and continues to be relevant as contested in modern philosophy.
Beethoven & Freedom
Authors: Chua Daniel K L
Published: September 2017

Beethoven’s music is often associated with freedom. Chua explores the nature of this relationship through an investigation of the philosophical context of Beethoven’s reception and hermeneutic readings of key works. Freedom is arguably the core value of modernity since late eighteenth-century; Beethoven’s music engages with its aspirations and dilemmas, providing a sonic ‘lens’ that enables us to focus on the aesthetic, philosophical, and theological ramifications of its claims of progress and autonomy and the formation of the self and its values. Taking his bearings from Adorno’s fragmentary reflections on Beethoven, Chua charts a journey from the heroic freedom associated with the Eroica Symphony to a freedom of vulnerability that opens itself to ‘otherness’. Chua’s analysis of the music demonstrates how various forms of freedom are embodied in the way time and space are manipulated in Beethoven’s works, providing an experience of a concept that Kant had famously declared inaccessible to sense. Beethoven’s music, then, does not simply mirror freedom; it is a philosophical and poetic engagement with the idea that is as relevant today as it was in the aftermath of the French Revolution.
Beta-blockers for heart failure with reduced, mid-range, and preserved ejection fraction: an individual patient-level analysis of double-blind randomized trials
Authors: Cleland John G F , Bunting Karina V , Flather Marcus D , Altman Douglas G , Holmes Jane , Coats Andrew J S , Manzano Luis , McMurray John J V , Ruschitzka Frank , van Veldhuisen Dirk J , von Lueder Thomas G , Böhm Michael , Andersson Bert , Kjekshus John , Packer Milton , Rigby Alan S , Rosano Giuseppe , Wedel Hans , Hjalmarson Åke , Wikstrand John , Kotecha Dipak ,   Beta-blockers in Heart Failure Collaborative Group
Published: September 2017

Aims

Recent guidelines recommend that patients with heart failure and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 40–49% should be managed similar to LVEF ≥ 50%. We investigated the effect of beta-blockers according to LVEF in double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials.

Methods and results

Individual patient data meta-analysis of 11 trials, stratified by baseline LVEF and heart rhythm (Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT0083244; PROSPERO: CRD42014010012). Primary outcomes were all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death over 1.3 years median follow-up, with an intention-to-treat analysis. For 14 262 patients in sinus rhythm, median LVEF was 27% (interquartile range 21–33%), including 575 patients with LVEF 40–49% and 244 ≥ 50%. Beta-blockers reduced all-cause and cardiovascular mortality compared to placebo in sinus rhythm, an effect that was consistent across LVEF strata, except for those in the small subgroup with LVEF ≥ 50%. For LVEF 40–49%, death occurred in 21/292 [7.2%] randomized to beta-blockers compared to 35/283 [12.4%] with placebo; adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.59 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.34–1.03]. Cardiovascular death occurred in 13/292 [4.5%] with beta-blockers and 26/283 [9.2%] with placebo; adjusted HR 0.48 (95% CI 0.24–0.97). Over a median of 1.0 years following randomization (n = 4601), LVEF increased with beta-blockers in all groups in sinus rhythm except LVEF ≥50%. For patients in atrial fibrillation at baseline (n = 3050), beta-blockers increased LVEF when < 50% at baseline, but did not improve prognosis.

Conclusion

Beta-blockers improve LVEF and prognosis for patients with heart failure in sinus rhythm with a reduced LVEF. The data are most robust for LVEF < 40%, but similar benefit was observed in the subgroup of patients with LVEF 40–49%.
Improvement of Foxp3 stability through CNS2 demethylation by TET enzyme induction and activation
Authors: Someya Kazue , Nakatsukasa Hiroko , Ito Minako , Kondo Taisuke , Tateda Kenn-ichi , Akanuma Takashi , Koya Ikuko , Sanosaka Tsukasa , Kohyama Jun , Tsukada Yu-ichi , Takamura-Enya Takeji , Yoshimura Akihiko
Published: September 2017

Since induced regulatory T cells (iTregs) can be produced in a large quantity in vitro, these cells are expected to be clinically useful to induce immunological tolerance in various immunological diseases. Foxp3 (Forkhead box P3) expression in iTregs is, however, unstable due to the lack of demethylation of the CpG island in the conserved non-coding sequence 2 (CNS2) of the Foxp3 locus. To facilitate the demethylation of CNS2, we over-expressed the catalytic domain (CD) of the ten-eleven translocation (TET) protein, which catalyzes the steps of the iterative demethylation of 5-methylcytosine. TET-CD over-expression in iTregs resulted in partial demethylation of CNS2 and stable Foxp3 expression. We also discovered that TET expression was enhanced under low oxygen (5%) culture conditions, which facilitated CNS2 DNA demethylation and stabilization of Foxp3 expression in a TET2- and TET3-dependent manner. In combination with vitamin C treatment, which has been reported to enhance TET catalytic activity, iTregs generated under low oxygen conditions retained more stable Foxp3 expression in vitro and in vivo and exhibited stronger suppression activity in a colitis model compared with untreated iTregs. Our data indicate that the induction and activation of TET enzymes in iTregs would be an effective method for Treg-mediated adoptive immunotherapy.
The Early Episodes: 1794–1914
Authors: Riley Barry
Published: September 2017

Even while attempting to avoid “entangling alliances,” the elected officials of the newly formed United States were, as early as 1794, debating whether the government should provide economic aid to destitute residents of a foreign country. Congressman James Madison argued that the Constitution contained no authority allowing it. Others argued that it was not the intention of the founding fathers to prevent such acts of benevolence. For 120 years these arguments would be resurrected whenever a major calamity threatened innocent foreign residents with hunger and famine. Only occasionally would assistance be provided. Much more often, as with the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, there would be no provision of food aid to prevent starvation.
Kennedy
Authors: Riley Barry
Published: September 2017

From his very first day in office, John F. Kennedy was intent on using America’s food abundance to help reduce hunger in the world. Among his first appointments were George McGovern as his White House director of Food for Peace and Orville Freeman, also a proponent of food aid used for economic development, as his secretary of agriculture. This chapter relates how Kennedy, in his short three years in office, sought to reorient American food aid from surplus disposal to economic development in the world’s poorer countries, and it recounts the failure of his administration to deal successfully with the continuing farm problems in the United States.
The Nixon Years
Authors: Riley Barry
Published: September 2017

The administration of President Richard Nixon presents several examples of how Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, used food aid as a tool to advance foreign policy goals that Congress was attempting to foreclose. This chapter discusses two such examples: (1) food aid to Thailand in 1971, intended to free other financial resources in support of Southeast Asian military purchases, and (2) White House intervention in food aid decisions involving East Pakistan/Bangladesh and India in the months after Pakistani leader General Yahya Kahn unleased military reprisals against East Pakistan that led to the latter’s war of independence and a consequent flood of millions of East Pakistani refugees into India. Nixon’s support of Yahya Kahn and reluctance to assist India and the food aid-related repercussions of that support are described in this chapter.
The Search for Food Security
Authors: Riley Barry
Published: September 2017

By the 1970s, concern that world hunger was increasing had energized the efforts of scholars, government officials, and those attentive to humanitarian concerns to focus on “food security” as the concept best suited to concert efforts to reduce global hunger. The problem was there was little agreement of what the term meant and how it could be used as an objective of policy; Simon Maxwell and Timothy Frankenberger unearthed two hundred separable definitions of the term. This chapter describes the evolution of food security thinking during the period 1970–90, from concern about the imbalance between existing food stocks and surging demand to concern about the difficulty in identifying the transitory and chronic causes of households being unable to gain secure access to the food they needed.
Introduction
Authors: Peabody Sue
Published: September 2017

The 1817 freedom suit of Furcy against his master, Joseph Lory, in the court of Saint-Denis, Isle Bourbon (Réunion), is well known in popular culture, thanks to a novel, several plays, and a song. The true history of Furcy’s life, set within the context of his family, reveals the lengths to which the master and his allies went to prevent Furcy’s story from ever being known. This microhistory sets the lives of Furcy, his mother, his sister, and his brother within the wider historical context of changing conditions of Indian Ocean slavery and freedom in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Damages and Interest
Authors: Peabody Sue
Published: September 2017

Furcy’s final appeals in Paris and Isle Bourbon overturned two colonial courts’ decisions (which were probably never actually issued), and allowed him to claim his freedom and damages from the heirs of Joseph Lory. The Parisian grounds for the decision—that Furcy’s mother, Madeleine, had set foot on the free soil of France some seventy years earlier—reflected the present politics of the July Monarchy. The Free Soil grounds for the decision also severely limited the number of slaves who could be freed as a result, especially as compared with the argument that Furcy’s Indian descent made him free. Furcy’s victory received some attention in the French and British antislavery press, but the case was apparently ignored in the United States, despite its potential interest to the lawyers representing Dred Scott a few years later.
Necessary Ornaments
Authors: Glixon Jonathan E.
Published: September 2017

This chapter is concerned first of all with the organs installed in the exterior churches of Venetian nunneries, to be played by male professionals (not in the interior churches as common in many other cities, where the nuns played). The financing, construction, and decoration of the organs, and such important makers as Colombo, Piaggia, Nacchini, Dacii, and Callido are considered, along with the varying approaches to maintaining and restoring the organs. The employment of organists varied considerably depending on the availability of funds, with the wealthy nunneries hiring prestigious players. Every nunnery also had a set of church bells in a bell tower, almost always three in number. As with organs, there were standard approaches to financing and construction. Evidence about how the bells were used in nunnery churches is scanty, but what remains is analysed here.
The Emergence of Dreaming
Authors: Domhoff G. William
Published: September 2017

This book presents a new neurocognitive theory of dreams that documents the similarities of dreaming to waking thought, demonstrates that personal psychological meaning can be found in a majority of dream reports, has a strong developmental dimension based on excellent longitudinal and cross-sectional studies carried out in sleep labs with children ages 3–15, locates the neural substrate for dreaming in the same brain network active during mind-wandering and daydreaming, and marshals the evidence that shows it is very unlikely that dreaming has any adaptive function. These claims are based on five different sets of descriptive empirical findings that were developed between the late 1950s and the first sixteen years of the twenty-first century. All of these findings were unanticipated by scientific dream researchers and then resisted to varying degrees by dream theorists for a variety of reasons. The first five chapters spell out the theory and the evidence for it without any discussion or criticism of past theories. The next two chapters present detailed criticisms of two major alternative theories. The penultimate chapter presents evidence that it is very unlikely that dreaming has any adaptive function in the evolutionary sense of the term, although humans have invented uses for dreams in religious and healing rituals. In that regard, dreaming has an emergent function in culture that was invented in the course of history due to human cognitive capacities. The final chapter presents a general agenda for future research using new methodologies to test all of the neurocognitive hypotheses.
Regulating the Polluters
Authors: Ovodenko Alexander
Published: September 2017

Climate change, tropical deforestation, biodiversity loss, ozone depletion, hazardous wastes, and ocean pollution are among the environmental issues that have bought national governments together in a common purpose. As they have worked to mitigate these global problems, national governments have developed a wide variety of environmental regime designs. They have created complex systems of global rules and institutions to enable and incentivize private and public actors to meet the challenges posed by global pollution. Why have national governments created different international rules and institutions to address global environmental issues? This book demonstrates that national governments have developed different institutional responses to global issues because the markets producing environmental pollution impose varying constraints and create varying opportunities for change. The nature and scale of those constraints and opportunities depend on the capital resources and industrial concentrations of producers and the demand characteristics of consumers in the markets that governments seek to regulate. Global institutions are designed to match the basic elements of the markets producing global environmental pollution. In global governance, not only are oligopolistic businesses politically influential in shaping policy outcomes, but they are also efficient implementers of environmental regulation. They face a double-edged sword arising from their wealth and market concentrations. Although they are able to shape regulatory policy, these powerful businesses are targeted for stringent global regulation. The sources of their political influence make them the best options for mitigating global pollution.
Downstream Consumers and Climate Change Mitigation in the Airlines and Shipping Industries
Authors: Ovodenko Alexander
Published: September 2017

The chapter contrasts multilateral negotiations on energy efficiency in the airlines and shipping sectors to explain the importance of consumer demand in the politics of multilateral negotiations on climate change mitigation. Since the analysis focuses on how governments have handled the same issue over the same time span but across two different sectors, both of which are oligopolistic, it is possible to isolate the impacts of downstream markets on the politics of emissions mitigation. The research design examines the impacts of price elasticity, product substitution, and asset requirements among consumers on the economics of emissions mitigation, referencing the differential outcomes in the multilateral negotiations. The findings show that consumer preferences in the airlines industry have made the economics of emissions mitigation unfavorable for building large coalitions in support of global regulation, in contrast to the more traditional coalitions formed around maritime emissions.
Critical Thinking and the Intellectual Virtues
Authors: Siegel Harvey
Published: September 2017

In this chapter I address four (clusters of) questions: (1) Are the dispositions, habits of mind, and character traits constitutive of the “critical spirit” rightly conceived as intellectual virtues? What is gained and/or lost by so conceiving them? (2) Do the intellectual virtues include abilities as well as dispositions, or should we maintain the distinction, embraced by many accounts of critical thinking, between abilities of reason assessment and the critical spirit? (3) Should we be externalists/reliabilists or responsibilists with respect to the intellectual virtues? (4) What is the connection between virtue and reason? Is a virtuous intellect eo ipso a rational one? I will argue that a virtuous intellect is not necessarily a rational one, and that in addition to the intellectual virtues, rational abilities—those captured by the reason assessment component of critical thinking—are required.
Epistemological Diversity and Educational Research
Authors: Siegel Harvey
Published: September 2017

Research in education and the training of educational researchers are often said to require attention to epistemological diversity; that is, researchers ought to be familiar with different ways of knowing and diverse epistemological perspectives. But the notion is unclear. What is “epistemological diversity”? What exactly is epistemological about it? And why is it important for educational researchers to be knowledgeable about it? In addressing these questions, I will argue that the call for epistemological diversity is not, where justified, as radical or significant as it is often taken to be; and that, where it is radical or significant, it is not justified.
The King’s Body: Eikon Basilike and the Royalists in Exile at Home and Abroad
Authors: Ezell Margaret J. M.
Published: September 2017

The trial and execution of Charles I by Parliament generated many accounts ranging from ballads to Eikon Basilike, a text believed to have been written by Charles himself during his final days. Although debunked by John Milton’s Eikonoklastes, Eikon Basilike rapidly went through multiple illegal editions and was the center piece of the royalist belief that Charles was a royal martyr. Among many of the prominent literary figures in royalist exile on the continent were Abraham Cowley, Edmund Waller; Thomas Hobbes, who wrote Leviathan in Paris; and William Davenant, who created his new style epic poem Gondibert. The last three returned to England in the 1650s having made arrangements with the Puritan Parliament. Those royalist supporters who remained in England lived mostly quiet and retired lives outside of London and pursed literary and translation projects, including Katherine Philips, and Richard and Ann Fanshawe.
Non-Standard Parametric Statistical Inference
Authors: Cheng Russell
Published: September 2017

This book discusses the fitting of parametric statistical models to data samples. Emphasis is placed on (i) how to recognize situations where the problem is non-standard, when parameter estimates behave unusually, and (ii) the use of parametric bootstrap resampling methods in analysing such problems. Simple and practical model building is an underlying theme. A frequentist viewpoint based on likelihood is adopted, for which there is a well-established and very practical theory. The standard situation is where certain widely applicable regularity conditions hold. However, there are many apparently innocuous situations where standard theory breaks down, sometimes spectacularly. Most of the departures from regularity are described geometrically in the book, with mathematical detail only sufficient to clarify the non-standard nature of a problem and to allow formulation of practical solutions. The book is intended for anyone with a basic knowledge of statistical methods typically covered in a university statistical inference course who wishes to understand or study how standard methodology might fail. Simple, easy-to-understand statistical methods are presented which overcome these difficulties, and illustrated by detailed examples drawn from real applications. Parametric bootstrap resampling is used throughout for analysing the properties of fitted models, illustrating its ease of implementation even in non-standard situations. Distributional properties are obtained numerically for estimators or statistics not previously considered in the literature because their theoretical distributional properties are too hard to obtain theoretically. Bootstrap results are presented mainly graphically in the book, providing easy-to-understand demonstration of the sampling behaviour of estimators.
The Skew Normal Distribution
Authors: Cheng Russell
Published: September 2017

This chapter considers the univariate skew-normal distribution, a generalization of the normal that includes the normal as a special case. The most natural parametrization is non-standard. This is because the Fisher information matrix is then singular at the true parameter value when the true model is the normal special case. The log-likelihood is then particularly flat in a certain coordinate direction. Standard theory cannot then be used to calculate the asymptotic distribution of all the parameter estimates. This problem can be handled using an alternative parametrization. There is another special case: the half/folded normal distribution. This occurs in the usual parametrization when the shape parameter is infinite. This is not a problem computationally and is easily handled. There are many generalizations to skew-t distributions and to tractable multivariate forms and regression versions. A very brief review is included of these.
Finite Mixture Models
Authors: Cheng Russell
Published: September 2017

Fitting a finite mixture model when the number of components, k, is unknown can be carried out using the maximum likelihood (ML) method though it is non-standard. Two well-known Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are reviewed and compared with ML: the reversible jump method and one using an approximating Dirichlet process. Another Bayesian method, to be called MAPIS, is examined that first obtains point estimates for the component parameters by the maximum a posteriori method for different k and then estimates posterior distributions, including that for k, using importance sampling. MAPIS is compared with ML and the MCMC methods. The MCMC methods produce multimodal posterior parameter distributions in overfitted models. This results in the posterior distribution of k being biased towards high k. It is shown that MAPIS does not suffer from this problem. A simple numerical example is discussed.
Choosing Normative Concepts
Authors: Eklund Matti
Published: September 2017

Theorists working on metaethics and the nature of normativity typically study goodness, rightness, what ought to be done, etc. In their investigations they employ and consider our actual normative concepts. But the actual concepts of goodness, rightness, and what ought to be done are only some of the possible normative concepts. There are other possible concepts, ascribing different properties. In this book, the consequences of this are explored, for example for the debate over normative realism and for the debate over what it is for concepts and properties to be normative. In recent years, conceptual engineering—the project of considering how our concepts can be replaced by better ones—has become a central topic in philosophy. The present work applies this proposed methodology to central normative concepts and discusses the special complications that arise in this case. For example, how should we, in the context, understand talk of a concept being better than another?
Alternative Normative Concepts
Authors: Eklund Matti
Published: September 2017

This chapter is centered on the question of whether it is possible for there to be normative concepts with the same normative roles as ours but not coextensive with them. If this is possible, an ardent realist faces a dilemma. The best way out of the dilemma is to deny that this scenario is in fact possible, and instead claim that normative role determines reference. The scenario used to present the dilemma is similar to the so-called Moral Twin Earth cases discussed in the literature, and the similarities and differences with the Moral Twin Earth challenge are discussed. An ardent realist might be tempted to respond to the dilemma by saying that some normative concepts are more fundamental or joint-carving than others. This response is explored and rejected.
Normative Concepts
Authors: Eklund Matti
Published: September 2017

What is it for a concept to be normative? Some possible answers are explored and rejected, among them that a concept is normative if it ascribes a normative property. The positive answer defended is that a concept is normative if it is in the right way associated with a normative use. Among issues discussed along the way are the nature of analyticity, and there being a notion of analyticity—what I call semantic analyticity—such that a statement can be analytic in this sense while failing to be true. Considerations regarding thick concepts and slurs are brought to bear on the issues that come up.