bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Controlled Molar Inclination during Maxillary Dental Expansion Using a Straight Rectangular Archwire
Authors: Pattanaviriyapisan Chanchai , Charoemratrote Chairat , Thongudomporn Udom
Published: December 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the amount of transversal dental expansion, controlled using a straight rectangular beta-titanium alloy (TMA®) wire, has an influence on changes in maxillary first molar inclination.

Materials and Methods

Twenty patients requiring bilateral maxillary dental arch expansion were treated using a 0.018”-slot preadjusted edge-wise fixed appliance. Once leveled and aligned, the maxillary dental arches were expanded using a 0.016” × 0.022” straight TMA® wire. Changes in arch width and maxillary first molar inclination were assessed before (T0) and after (T1) expansion using three-dimensional scanned models. Mann–Whitney U-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and Kruskal–Wallis test were used, where appropriate, to compare changes between and within groups.

Results

Intermolar width expanded at a rate of 0.8 ± 0.3 mm/month, and first molar buccal crown tipping occurred at 2.1° ± 1.2° (P < 0.05). Changes in inclination between minor expansion (1.0–2.5 mm) and moderate expansion (2.6–4.0 mm) groups were not statistically significant (1.8 ± 0.5 vs. 2.2 ± 1.2; P > 0.05).

Conclusions

Use of a straight rectangular TMA® wire in conjunction with a fixed orthodontic appliance successfully expanded the maxillary dental arch. The amount of expansion had no effect on molar inclination.
Orthodontists and Orthodontic Residents’ Education: Effect on Professional Attitudes and Behavior
Authors: Bhad Wasundhara Ashok
Published: December 2018

Introduction

Dental education aims at shaping the future professional behavior of their students, thus contributing to reduce oral health disparities and increasing care for the society.

Objective

The objective of this study was to access the perception of the quality classroom-, clinic-, and community-based orthodontic postgraduate education devoted to the management of cleft lip palate cases, surgical orthodontic cases, and growth modification cases

Null Hypothesis

No relationship exists between the quality of postgraduate dental education and professional attitude and behavior in providing care to cleft lip palate cases, surgical orthodontic cases, and growth modification cases.

Materials and Methods:

A total of 200 active members were involved. The first group included approximately 100 residents of Central India and the second group consisted of approximately 100 active orthodontists of Central India. The questionnaire was given to each group about the different clinical condition. Answers were given on 5-point scale to access the professional attitude and behavior.

Conclusions

The finding of this study challenges administrators about the postgraduate dental program in the specialty of orthodontics and reflects the degree to which this education contributes to the orthodontic health of the society.
Acute hemichorea revealing atrial flutter
Authors: Hebant B , Guyant-Marechal L , Maltête D , Lefaucheur R
Published: December 2018

Transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) typically present with easily recognizable neurological focal deficits. Symptoms such as paroxysmal involuntary movements are not usually considered to be a manifestation of TIA. We report a case with video documentation of TIA due to permanent atrial flutter presenting as acute left hemichorea. To our knowledge, such a case has not yet been reported. The present case constitutes a crucial diagnostic challenge in neurological practice in order to prevent a high risk of subsequent ischemic stroke.
Regenerating Regeneration: augmented reality and new models of minor architectural heritage reuse
Authors: Baratta Adolfo F.L. , Finucci Fabrizio , Magarò Antonio
Published: December 2018

The paper presents the first results of an interdisciplinary research conducted by the Department of Architecture of Roma Tre University aimed at developing guidelines for enhancement of minor architectural heritage, urban  and suburban. The research evaluates the creation of a widespread museum that exploit cultural dissemination technologies in augmented reality. The economic crisis, not yet overcome, leads to rethink urban development and heritage conservation, reorienting design towards techniques and practices of reuse. These strategies represent one of the most effective ways to enhance and protect the minor architectural heritage, often protagonist of degradation and abandonment. It seems necessary that the architectural heritage protection has been articulated through contemporaneity, adapting itself to the age of Information Communication Technology. In addition to the architectural heritage, strictly intended as a monument, Italy has a complex system of goods well explained, in the broadest sense, as "minor architectural heritage ". This approach makes possible to identify the Italian Historical Cities as a new category of widespread heritage to be protected. Consequently, it emerges the need to put aside the discretization in punctual assets, approaching an entire system of architectural goods, characterized by a high degree of complexity. Valuing the latter in a sustainable way also passes through new technologies as augmented reality.
Cultural Heritage and earthquakes: a multidisciplinary approach to restoration sites
Authors: De Vita Mariangela , Trizio Ilaria , Savini Francesca , De Berardinis Pierluigi
Published: December 2018

This paper looks at a multidisciplinary approach to the restoration of sites hit by earthquakes, and illustrates how an integrated approach can successfully combine technical requirements with historical and cultural ones. The methodology presented in this study concerns the “Castello di Fossa” restoration project in central Italy, which was hit by an earthquake in 2009. Cooperation between the two teams working on the project led to the development of new ideas and the definition of an innovative role for the castle within the urban and rural landscape. The project looked at how to improve energetic and structural performance through the retrofitting of the building, whilst at the same time guaranteeing the conservation of its architectural values. Lastly, the results of this joint work undertaken by archaeologists, researchers from the National Research Centre (CNR ITC, L’Aquila) and the University of L’Aquila (DICEAA) and designers, are presented as well as the coherence of the reconstruction.
Genesis of the formation of the cultural and social core of Odessa
Authors: Yeksarova Nadia , Yeksarov Vladimir
Published: December 2018

The architectural and spatial environment of the city is an important part of the cultural heritage, a carrier of information about its formation. The life cycle of a diverse architectural environment forms a series of stages - from the concept-creation-realization-alterations-degradation and, finally, partial or complete loss. The main idea, the scenario of modeling the environment-phenomenon of Odessa was in the priority development of culture. The construction of the first City Theater in 1809 on the plateau of the coastal zone determined the formation of a system of rhythmically iridescent spaces of a social center. An analog of the ancient forum - “Odessa Acropolis or Odessa Agora” - was created at the intersection of Lanzheronovskaya and Rishelevskaya (Decumanus and Cardin) streets in full accordance with the recommendations of Vitruvius. After the theater was destroyed by fire in 1872, the project of the new theater was developed by the Viennese architects F. Fellner and H. Helmer. The size of the new Opera and Ballet Theater for 1,728 seats significantly exceeded the volume of the former, and the main planning axis of the theater was changed by 90 degrees (1884–1887). This actually became an act of destruction and the loss of the original intention of the script by architect G. Toricelli on the formation of the solemn “Road of Processions”. Elements of the architectural environment of the cultural center gradually adapted to the new changes. The process of the evolution of the environment often creates more contradictions and problems than it solves. The problem lies not only in avoiding alterations and losses but in how to preserve the value-psychological core of culture.
Does the Housing Unit's Type and Size Affect Health?
Authors: Arbel Yuval , Fialkoff Chaim , Kerner Amichai
Published: December 2018

Recent medical studies have examined ways to offer more spatial planning opportunities to increase a person's level of physical activity. These studies demonstrate a decreasing prevalence of obesity in denser and less car-oriented communities with mixed land uses. Yet, apart from these environmental effects, the impact of characteristics of the housing unit itself (e.g., type and size), combined with socio-demographic variables (e.g., the number of children, marital status, place of birth, country of origin, and gender) on the body mass index (BMI) has not been examined previously. Based on a two-year longitudinal survey of the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the current study examines this potential implication based on the BMI measure. Stratification by gender indicates opposite effects of suburbanization on projected BMI of women and men, who move from smaller condominiums in multi-family buildings to single family units and to larger apartments.
The Applicability of Movies in Legal Language Teaching: Evidence from Multi-Dimensional Analysis
Authors: Forchini Pierfranca
Published: December 2018

The aim of the paper is to examine courtroom discourse by comparing naturally-occurring trials to movie trials in order to determine whether such movies can be used in the teaching of Legal English. For the purpose, data are retrieved from the American Movie-Trial Corpus and the American Real-Trial Corpus (built for the present analysis), and are compared via corpus-driven criteria and Biber’s Multi-Dimensional Analysis. The findings show very little linguistic and textual variability in the two investigated domains and thus confirm that the linguistic similarity of movie and naturally-occurring conversation is also present at a more specialized level. Hence, the claim that it is beyond dispute that the cinematic portrayal of the American legal system is far removed from legal reality is confuted and it is, consequently, suggested that movie language could be used as a remarkable source for learning not only the general usage of face-to-face conversation, as recently documented, but also the more specialized features of courtroom discourse. The findings also add value both to the role of corpora in teaching, which is often emphasized by numerous authoritative linguists, and to their methodological value in legal language research.
Analysis of Errors Made by First Year Secondary School Students in Writing English Sentences: A Case Study of Libyan EFL Students
Authors: Mehdi Mohamed Farhat
Published: December 2018

The aim of this study is to identify, classify and explain the reasons behind the written errors and difficulties encountered by First Year Secondary School Students, Al-Jufra Region, Libya. A random sample of students and teachers is selected. The sample is thirty students and ten  teachers. The data is collected through three tools: written task by students and two questionnaires; one for the teachers and one for the students. The data is analyzed by using a descriptive method. The findings reveal that First Year Secondary School Students encounter difficulties in writing English sentences including verb tense and form, subject verb agreement, word order, prepositions, articles, plurality and auxiliaries. It is also revealed that students are not motivated enough to engage into written activities. These writing errors are mainly due to first language (L1) interference. The study concludes with some recommendations that will help First Year Secondary School Students to minimize their writing difficulties.
Social Service Delivery in Southwestern Nigeria: Local Governments Perspective
Authors: David Odewale, Ayotunde , T Badejo, B.
Published: December 2018

This paper assesses the impact of local government on social service delivery in south-western Nigeria in tandem with their full constitutional responsibility particularly on primary education and road constructions. The related concepts were review. The study utilized both primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected through questionnaire administration and in-depth interviews. The study revealed that local government has a significant impact on social service delivery in Southwestern Nigeria (r = 0.438, p < 0.05). The paper highlighted some recommendations and concluded that local government had performed considerably well in delivery of social service to the populace in their concurrent responsibility with the state government, but relatively low in their mandatory functions.
Nicotinic acid in nanocontainers. Encapsulation and release from ion exchangers
Authors: Altshuler Heinrich , Ostapova Elena , Altshuler Olga , Shkurenko Galina , Malyshenko Natalya , Lyrschikov Sergey , Parshkov Roman
Published: December 2018

The paper is devoted to the study of the ion exchange encapsulation of nicotinic acid in nanocontainers on polymer matrices. Dowex-50 cation exchanger, sulphonated polymer based on metacyclophanoctol, polymer zirconium phosphate, and strongly basic Dowex-1 anion exchanger are used as polymer matrices. It was confirmed that commercial ion exchangers can encapsulate up to 0.64 g of nicotinic acid per gram of polymer. The high elution rate of nicotinic acid from nanocontainers via the ion exchange mechanism makes it possible to achieve the desired pharmacokinetics of drug release in vivo.
Computational screens can speed up the discovery of pharmaceutical cocrystals
Authors: Prohens Rafel , Hunter Christopher A
Published: December 2018

The calculation of Surface Site Interaction Points for cocrystal computational screens in combination with efficient experimental cocrystallization techniques has been applied successfully to several drug compounds. The basics of this combined approach are briefly reviewed in this communication.
(In)consistency of the Selection of the Method of Multiplicative Decision-Making
Authors: Račić Katarina , Račić Željko
Published: December 2018

The paper analyzes the main causes of the (in)consistency of the selected method of multiplicative decision-making: data normalization, weight coefficients and the application of the Likert scale for the purpose of measuring quantitative attributes. Normalized data in the methods of multitributive decision making represents the substitute for a subjective attribute ratings by decision makers. Since they are calculated on the basis of mathematical transformations of empirical data, one gains the impression that the choices basen on normalized values are „objective”. Therefore, the sensitivity analysis of the results has dealt exclusively with effects of weight coefficients on the final choices so far, while the potential impact of normalization is complitely ignored; meanwhile, the deformations caused by the normalization of data have been attributed to the effects of weight coefficients and their inevitable subjectivism. We intent to point out at the deformations of empirical values that are the result of normalization and which call into question the application of normalized values as a deci-sion base. It can be proven that the normalized values are an unrealiableinformation base for decision-making. In addition, the (in)consistency ofselection methods of multi-attributive decision-making is also influencedby changes in the method of measuring and formulating attributes.
Дoмeти и oгрaничeњa примјене криптровалута и блокчејн технологије у мeђунaрoднoм пoслoвaњу и нa финaнсиjским тржиштимa
Authors: Радивојац Горан , Грујић Милош
Published: December 2018

Предмет рада јесте анализа употребе криптовалута у међународном пословању. Циљеви истраживања су да се научној и стручној јавности, истраживачима и практичарима, пружи преглед тренутних истраживања блокчејн технологије у економији, те да утврди утицај шире употребе криптовалута у међународном пословању и њихов утицај на будућност финансијских тржишта. Истраживање је спроведено методом описивања, анализе литературе и спроведених истраживања. На одабраним примјерима приказане су могућности за стицање, куповање и чување криптовалута, плаћање криптовалутама и улагање у њих. Истраживање ће понудити одговор на истраживачко питање: „Које су предности и недостаци употребе криптовалута умеђународном плаћању, те каква је сигурност употребе криптовалу-та у будућности?” Одговор ће показати у којем смјеру ће се развијатикориштење криптовалута. Допринос рада огледа се кроз представља-ње домета и ограничења кориштења криптовалута у међународномпословању, банкарству и на финансијским тржиштима. Резултатиистраживања показују да блокчејн технологија, иако не би дошла доизражаја да биткоин није стекао популарност, има свијетлу перспек-тиву. Закључци упућују на то да, докле год су трошкови трансакцијанижи од трошкова платног промета, рационално понашање правнихи физичких лица налаже да између себе треба да подстичу кориште-ње криптовалута с циљем да приликом плаћања смање трошковетранслација и превазиђу постојање посредника.
A Play of Bodies
Authors: Keogh Brendan
Published: December 2018

An investigation of the embodied engagement between the playing body and the videogame: how player and game incorporate each other.

Our bodies engage with videogames in complex and fascinating ways. Through an entanglement of eyes-on-screens, ears-at-speakers, and muscles-against-interfaces, we experience games with our senses. But, as Brendan Keogh argues in A Play of Bodies, this corporal engagement goes both ways; as we touch the videogame, it touches back, augmenting the very senses with which we perceive. Keogh investigates this merging of actual and virtual bodies and worlds, asking how our embodied sense of perception constitutes, and becomes constituted by, the phenomenon of videogame play. In short, how do we perceive videogames?

Keogh works toward formulating a phenomenology of videogame experience, focusing on what happens in the embodied engagement between the playing body and the videogame, and anchoring his analysis in an eclectic series of games that range from mainstream to niche titles. Considering smartphone videogames, he proposes a notion of co-attentiveness to understand how players can feel present in a virtual world without forgetting that they are touching a screen in the actual world. He discusses the somatic basis of videogame play, whether games involve vigorous physical movement or quietly sitting on a couch with a controller; the sometimes overlooked visual and audible pleasures of videogame experience; and modes of temporality represented by character death, failure, and repetition. Finally, he considers two metaphorical characters: the “hacker,” representing the hegemonic, masculine gamers concerned with control and configuration; and the “cyborg,” less concerned with control than with embodiment and incorporation.
Brainstorms
Authors: Dennett Daniel C.
Published: December 2018

An anniversary edition of a classic in cognitive science, with a new introduction by the author.

When Brainstorms was published in 1978, the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science was just emerging. Daniel Dennett was a young scholar who wanted to get philosophers out of their armchairs—and into conversations with psychologists, linguists, computer scientists. This collection of seventeen essays by Dennett offers a comprehensive theory of mind, encompassing traditional issues of consciousness and free will. Using careful arguments and ingenious thought experiments, the author exposes familiar preconceptions and hobbling intuitions. The essays are grouped into four sections: “Intentional Explanation and Attributions of Mentality”; “The Nature of Theory in Psychology”; “Objects of Consciousness and the Nature of Experience”; and “Free Will and Personhood.”

This anniversary edition includes a new introduction by Dennett, “Reflections on Brainstorms after Forty Years,” in which he recalls the book's original publication by Harry and Betty Stanton of Bradford Books and considers the influence and afterlife of some of the essays. For example, “Mechanism and Responsibility” was Dennett's first articulation of his concept of the intentional stance; “Are Dreams Experiences?” anticipates the major ideas in his 1991 book Consciousness Explained; and “Where Am I?” has been variously represented in a BBC documentary, a student's Javanese shadow puppet play, and a feature-length film made in the Netherlands, Victim of the Brain.
Exchange Rate Regimes
Authors: Ghosh Atish R. , Gulde Anne-Marie , Wolf Holger C.
Published: December 2018

An empirical study of exchange rate regimes based on data compiled from 150 member countries of the International Monetary Fund over the past thirty years.

Few topics in international economics are as controversial as the choice of an exchange rate regime. Since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s, countries have adopted a wide variety of regimes, ranging from pure floats at one extreme to currency boards and dollarization at the other. While a vast theoretical literature explores the choice and consequences of exchange rate regimes, the abundance of possible effects makes it difficult to establish clear relationships between regimes and common macroeconomic policy targets such as inflation and growth.

This book takes a systematic look at the evidence on macroeconomic performance under alternative exchange rate regimes, drawing on the experience of some 150 member countries of the International Monetary Fund over the past thirty years. Among other questions, it asks whether pegging the exchange rate leads to lower inflation, whether floating exchange rates are associated with faster output growth, and whether pegged regimes are particularly prone to currency and other crises. The book draws on history and theory to delineate the debate and on standard statistical methods to assess the empirical evidence, and includes a CD-ROM containing the data set used.
Foundations of Robotics
Authors: Yoshikawa Tsuneo
Published: December 2018

Foundations of Robotics presents the fundamental concepts and methodologies for the analysis, design, and control of robot manipulators. It explains the physical meaning of the concepts and equations used, and it provides, in an intuitively clear way, the necessary background in kinetics, linear algebra, and control theory. Illustrative examples appear throughout. The author begins by discussing typical robot manipulator mechanisms and their controllers. He then devotes three chapters to the analysis of robot manipulator mechanisms. He covers the kinematics of robot manipulators, describing the motion of manipulator links and objects related to manipulation. A chapter on dynamics includes the derivation of the dynamic equations of motion, their use for control and simulation and the identification of inertial parameters. The final chapter develops the concept of manipulability. The second half focuses on the control of robot manipulators. Various position-control algorithms that guide the manipulator's end effector along a desired trajectory are described Two typical methods used to control the contact force between the end effector and its environments are detailed For manipulators with redundant degrees of freedom, a technique to develop control algorithms for active utilization of the redundancy is described. Appendixes give compact reviews of the function atan2, pseudo inverses, singular-value decomposition, and Lyapunov stability theory.
The Gordian Knot
Authors: Neuman W. Russell , McKnight Lee W. , Solomon Richard Jay
Published: December 2018

Veterans of the high-definition TV wars of the 1980s, the authors, social scientists as well as technologists, came to see themselves as "chroniclers and students of an intriguing and serious techno-economic conflict." Why, they asked, did so few understand the rules of the game? In a broad account accessible to generalist and specialist alike, they address the current national debate about the development of a national information infrastructure, locating the debate in a broad historical narrative that illuminates how we got here and where we may be going, and outlining a bold vision of an open communications infrastructure that will cut through the political gridlock that threatens this "information highway."Technical change the authors argue is creating a new paradigm that fits neither the free market nor regulatory control models currently in play. They detail what is wrong with the political process of the national information infrastructure policy-making and assess how different media systems (telecommunications, radio, television broadcasting,) were originally established, spelling out the technological assumptions and organizational interests on which they were based and showing why the old policy models are now breaking down. The new digital networks are not analogous to railways and highways or their electronic forebears in telephony and broadcasting; they are inherently unfriendly to centralized control of any sort, so the old traditions of common carriage and public trustee regulation and regulatory gamesmanship no longer apply. The authors' technological and historical analysis leads logically toward a policy proposal for a reformed regulatory structure that builds and protects meaningful competition, but that abandons its role as arbiter of tariffs and definer of public service and public interest.
A History of Modern Experimental Psychology
Authors: Mandler George
Published: December 2018

The evolution of cognitive psychology, traced from the beginnings of a rigorous experimental psychology at the end of the nineteenth century to the "cognitive revolution" at the end of the twentieth, and the social and cultural contexts of its theoretical developments.

Modern psychology began with the adoption of experimental methods at the end of the nineteenth century: Wilhelm Wundt established the first formal laboratory in 1879; universities created independent chairs in psychology shortly thereafter; and William James published the landmark work Principles of Psychology in 1890. In A History of Modern Experimental Psychology, George Mandler traces the evolution of modern experimental and theoretical psychology from these beginnings to the "cognitive revolution" of the late twentieth century. Throughout, he emphasizes the social and cultural context, showing how different theoretical developments reflect the characteristics and values of the society in which they occurred. Thus, Gestalt psychology can be seen to mirror the changes in visual and intellectual culture at the turn of the century, behaviorism to embody the parochial and puritanical concerns of early twentieth-century America, and contemporary cognitive psychology as a product of the postwar revolution in information and communication.

After discussing the meaning and history of the concept of mind, Mandler treats the history of the psychology of thought and memory from the late nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth, exploring, among other topics, the discovery of the unconscious, the destruction of psychology in Germany in the 1930s, and the relocation of the field's "center of gravity" to the United States. He then examines a more neglected part of the history of psychology—the emergence of a new and robust cognitive psychology under the umbrella of cognitive science.

Bradford Books imprint
The Illusion of Conscious Will
Authors: Wegner Daniel M.
Published: December 2018

A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism.

Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality.

Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.
Neurophilosophy of Free Will
Authors: Walter Henrik
Published: December 2018

Walter applies the methodology of neurophilosophy to one of philosophy's central challenges, the notion of free will. Neurophilosophical conclusions are based on, and consistent with, scientific knowledge about the brain and its functioning.

Neuroscientists routinely investigate such classical philosophical topics as consciousness, thought, language, meaning, aesthetics, and death. According to Henrik Walter, philosophers should in turn embrace the wealth of research findings and ideas provided by neuroscience. In this book Walter applies the methodology of neurophilosophy to one of philosophy's central challenges, the notion of free will. Neurophilosophical conclusions are based on, and consistent with, scientific knowledge about the brain and its functioning.

Walter's answer to whether there is free will is, It depends. The basic questions concerning free will are (1) whether we are able to choose other than we actually do, (2) whether our choices are made intelligibly, and (3) whether we are really the originators of our choices. According to Walter, freedom of will is an illusion if we mean by it that under identical conditions we would be able to do or decide otherwise, while simultaneously acting only for reasons and being the true originators of our actions. In place of this scientifically untenable strong version of free will, Walter offers what he calls natural autonomy—self-determination unaided by supernatural powers that could exist even in an entirely determined universe. Although natural autonomy can support neither our traditional concept of guilt nor certain cherished illusions about ourselves, it does not imply the abandonment of all concepts of responsibility. For we are not mere marionettes, with no influence over our thoughts or actions.

Bradford Books imprint
Re-Presenting the Good Society
Authors: Cooke Maeve , McCarthy Thomas
Published: December 2018

A proposal for negotiating the tension between an anti-authoritarian impulse and a guiding idea of context-transcending validity in critical social theory.

Contemporary critical social theories face the question of how to justify the ideas of the good society that guide their critical analyses. Traditionally, these more or less determinate ideas of the good society were held to be independent of their specific sociocultural context and historical epoch. Today, such a concept of context-transcending validity is not easy to defend; the "linguistic turn" of Western philosophy signals the widespread acceptance of the view that ideas of knowledge and validity are always mediated linguistically and that language is conditioned by history and context. In Re-Presenting the Good Society, Maeve Cooke addresses the justificatory dilemma facing critical social theories: how to maintain an idea of context-transcending validity without violating anti-authoritarian impulses. In doing so she not only clarifies the issues and positions taken by other theorists—including Richard Rorty, Jürgen Habermas, Axel Honneth, and Judith Butler—but also offers her own original and thought-provoking analysis of context-transcending validity. Because the tension between an anti-authoritarian impulse and a guiding idea of context-transcending validity is today an integral part of critical social theory, Cooke argues that it should be negotiated rather than eliminated. Her proposal for a concept of context-transcending validity has as its central claim that we should conceive of the good society as re-presented in particular constitutively inadequate representations of it. These re-presentations are, Cooke argues provocatively, regulative ideas that have an imaginary, fictive character.
Synesthesia
Authors: Cytowic Richard E.
Published: December 2018

A biologically oriented introduction to synesthesia by the leading authority on the subject.

For decades, scientists who heard about synesthesia hearing colors, tasting words, seeing colored pain just shrugged their shoulders or rolled their eyes. Now, as irrefutable evidence mounts that some healthy brains really do this, we are forced to ask how this squares with some cherished conceptions of neuroscience. These include binding, modularity, functionalism, blindsight, and consciousness. The good news is that when old theoretical structures fall, new light may flood in. Far from a mere curiosity, synesthesia illuminates a wide swath of mental life.

In this classic text, Richard Cytowic quickly disposes of earlier criticisms that the phenomenon cannot be "real," demonstrating that it is indeed brain-based. Following a historical introduction, he lays out the phenomenology of synesthesia in detail and gives criteria for clinical diagnosis and an objective "test of genuineness." He reviews theories and experimental procedures to localize the plausible level of the neuraxis at which synesthesia operates. In a discussion of brain development and neural plasticity, he addresses the possible ubiquity of neonatal synesthesia, the construction of metaphor, and whether everyone is unconsciously synesthetic. In the closing chapters, Cytowic considers synesthetes' personalities, the apparent frequency of the trait among artists, and the subjective and illusory nature of what we take to be objective reality, particularly in the visual realm.

The second edition has been extensively revised, reflecting the recent flood of interest in synesthesia and new knowledge of human brain function and development. More than two-thirds of the material is new.

Bradford Books imprint
Without Justification
Authors: Sutton Jonathan
Published: December 2018

In the contentious debate among contemporary epistemologists and philosophers regarding justification, there is one consensus: justification is distinct from knowledge; there are justified beliefs that do not amount to knowledge, even if all instances of knowledge are instances of justified belief. In Without Justification, Jonathan Sutton forcefully opposes this claim. He proposes instead that justified belief simply is knowledge—not because there is more knowledge than has been supposed, but because there are fewer justified beliefs. There are, he argues, no false justified beliefs.

Sutton suggests that the distinction between justified belief and knowledge is drawn only in contemporary epistemology, and suggests furter that classic philosophers of both ancient and modern times would not have questioned the idea that justification is identical to knowledge.

Sutton argues both that we do not (perhaps even cannot) have a serviceable notion of justification that is distinct from knowledge and that we do not need one. We can get by better in epistemology, he writes, without it. Sutton explores the topics of testimony and evidence, and proposes an account of these two key epistemological topics that relies on the notion of knowledge alone. He also addresses inference (both deductive and inductive), internalism versus externalism in epistemology, functionalism, the paradox of the preface, and the lottery paradox. Sutton argues that all of us—philosopher and nonphilosopher alike—should stick to what we know; we should believe something only if we know it to be so. Further, we should not believe what someone tells us unless we know that he knows what he is talking about. These views are radical, he argues, only in the context of contemporary epistemology's ill-founded distinction between knowledge and justification.

Bradford Books imprint
Digital Media and Democracy
Authors: Schmidt Andrea , Boler Megan , Magnan Nathalie , Renzi Alessandra , Boler Megan
Published: December 2018

Media scholars, artists, activists, and journalists discuss how the uses of the emerging “Social Web” redefine the public sphere and influence mainstream journalism.

In an age of proliferating media and news sources, who has the power to define reality? When the dominant media declared the existence of WMDs in Iraq, did that make it a fact? Today, the “Social Web” (sometimes known as Web 2.0, groupware, or the participatory web)—epitomized by blogs, viral videos, and YouTube—creates new pathways for truths to emerge and makes possible new tactics for media activism. In Digital Media and Democracy, leading scholars in media and communication studies, media activists, journalists, and artists explore the contradiction at the heart of the relationship between truth and power today: the fact that the radical democratization of knowledge and multiplication of sources and voices made possible by digital media coexists with the blatant falsification of information by political and corporate powers. The book maps a new digital media landscape that features citizen journalism, The Daily Show, blogging, and alternative media. The contributors discuss broad questions of media and politics, offer nuanced analyses of change in journalism, and undertake detailed examinations of the use of web-based media in shaping political and social movements. The chapters include not only essays by noted media scholars but also interviews with such journalists and media activists as Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, Media Matters host Robert McChesney, and Hassan Ibrahim of Al Jazeera.

Contributors and Interviewees Shaina Anand, Chris Atton, Megan Boler, Axel Bruns, Jodi Dean, Ron Deibert, Deepa Fernandes, Amy Goodman, Brian Holmes, Hassan Ibrahim, Geert Lovink, Nathalie Magnan, Robert McChesney, Graham Meikle, Susan Moeller, Alessandra Renzi, Ricardo Rosas, Trebor Scholz, D. Travers Scott, Rebecca Statzel
Genetic Twists of Fate
Authors: Fields Stanley , Johnston Mark
Published: December 2018

How tiny variations in our personal DNA can determine how we look, how we behave, how we get sick, and how we get well.

News stories report almost daily on the remarkable progress scientists are making in unraveling the genetic basis of disease and behavior. Meanwhile, new technologies are rapidly reducing the cost of reading someone's personal DNA (all six billion letters of it). Within the next ten years, hospitals may present parents with their newborn's complete DNA code along with her footprints and APGAR score. In Genetic Twists of Fate, distinguished geneticists Stanley Fields and Mark Johnston help us make sense of the genetic revolution that is upon us.

Fields and Johnston tell real life stories that hinge on the inheritance of one tiny change rather than another in an individual's DNA: a mother wrongly accused of poisoning her young son when the true killer was a genetic disorder; the screen siren who could no longer remember her lines because of Alzheimer's disease; and the president who was treated with rat poison to prevent another heart attack. In an engaging and accessible style, Fields and Johnston explain what our personal DNA code is, how a few differences in its long list of DNA letters makes each of us unique, and how that code influences our appearance, our behavior, and our risk for such common diseases as diabetes or cancer.
Trade Policy Disaster
Authors: Irwin Douglas A.
Published: December 2018

The extreme protectionism that contributed to a collapse of world trade in the 1930s is examined in light of the recent economic crisis.

The recent economic crisis—with the plunge in the stock market, numerous bank failures and widespread financial distress, declining output and rising unemployment—has been reminiscent of the Great Depression. The Depression of the 1930s was marked by the spread of protectionist trade policies, which contributed to a collapse in world trade. Although policymakers today claim that they will resist the protectionist temptation, recessions are breeding grounds for economic nationalism, and countries may yet consider imposing higher trade barriers. In Trade Policy Disaster, Douglas Irwin examines what we know about trade policy during the traumatic decade of the 1930s and considers what we can learn from the policy missteps of the time.

Irwin argues that the extreme protectionism of the 1930s emerged as a consequence of policymakers' reluctance to abandon the gold standard and allow their currencies to depreciate. By ruling out exchange rate changes as an adjustment mechanism, policymakers turned instead to higher tariffs and other means of restricting imports. He offers a clear and concise exposition of such topics as the effect of higher trade barriers on the implosion of world trade; the impact of the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930; the reasons some countries adopted draconian trade restrictions (including exchange controls and import quotas) but others did not; the effect of preferential trade arrangements and bilateral clearing agreements on the multilateral system of world trade; and lessons for avoiding future trade wars.
Aluminum Dreams
Authors: Sheller Mimi
Published: December 2018

How aluminum enabled a high-speed, gravity-defying American modernity even as other parts of the world paid the price in environmental damage and political turmoil.

Aluminum shaped the twentieth century. It enabled high-speed travel and gravity-defying flight. It was the material of a streamlined aesthetic that came to represent modernity. And it became an essential ingredient in industrial and domestic products that ranged from airplanes and cars to designer chairs and artificial Christmas trees. It entered modern homes as packaging, foil, pots and pans and even infiltrated our bodies through food, medicine, and cosmetics. In Aluminum Dreams, Mimi Sheller describes how the materiality and meaning of aluminum transformed modern life and continues to shape the world today.

Aluminum, Sheller tells us, changed mobility and mobilized modern life. It enabled air power, the space age and moon landings. Yet, as Sheller makes clear, aluminum was important not only in twentieth-century technology, innovation, architecture, and design but also in underpinning global military power, uneven development, and crucial environmental and health concerns. Sheller describes aluminum's shiny utopia but also its dark side. The unintended consequences of aluminum's widespread use include struggles for sovereignty and resource control in Africa, India, and the Caribbean; the unleashing of multinational corporations; and the pollution of the earth through mining and smelting (and the battle to save it). Using a single material as an entry point to understanding a global history of modernization and its implications for the future, Aluminum Dreams forces us to ask: How do we assemble the material culture of modernity and what are its environmental consequences?

Aluminum Dreams includes a generous selection of striking images of iconic aluminum designs, many in color, drawn from advertisements by Alcoa, Bohn, Kaiser, and other major corporations, pamphlets, films, and exhibitions.
ДНК-ШТРИХКОДЫ РАСТЕНИЙ, "Успехи современной биологии"
Authors: Шнеер В.С. , Родионов А.В.
Published: December 2018

Поиск универсального ДНК-штрихкода растений оказался очень сложной задачей. Одного участка (или комбинации из нескольких), по которому можно было бы определить конкретный вид, не найдено. Хотя обычно комбинация, рекомендованная в 2009 г. как стандарт (rbcL + matK + ITS), позволяет отнести вид к соответствующему роду. Вариабельность отдельных маркеров не одинакова в разных таксономических группах, что, как правило, позволяет подобрать ДНК-штрихкод (иногда даже укороченный мини-штрихкод) для конкретной группы, особенно в случае задач прикладного характера. Методы секвенирования нового поколения (NGS) дают перспективу массового получения протяженных ДНК-штрихкодов (последовательностей полных хлоропластных геномов и рибосомных генов), позволяющих преодолеть ограничения стандартных ДНК-штрихкодов. Очень важно, что NGS существенно повышает возможность использования гербарных образцов. Поиски ДНК-штрих-кодов для растений продолжаются.
Identification of a novel lactose oxidase in Myrmecridium flexuosum NUK‐21
Authors: Lin Shuen‐Fuh , Li Cheng‐Ke , Chung Yi‐Pei
Published: December 2018

Lactobionic acid (O‐β‐galactosyl‐(1‐4)‐gluconic acid) (LBA) is a high‐value lactose derivative, produced via oxidation of the reducing terminal of lactose. LBA can be produced by fermentation using certain microorganisms, although subsequent purification is challenging. Therefore, we have attempted to identify an enzyme for possible use in LBA production. Here, we purified a novel lactose oxidase (LOD) to homogeneity from a wheat bran culture of a soil‐isolated fungal strain, Myrmecridium flexuosum NUK‐21. Maximal activity was observed on the wheat bran solid culture after 3 days of NUK‐21 growth, following release from cells at 0.66 unit·mL−1 culture filtrate. This new sugar oxidase was composed of a single polypeptide chain with a molecular mass of 47.2 kDa and was found to contain 2.0 zinc ions per mole of enzyme but no flavin adenine dinucleotide or heme. This enzyme was stable in the pH range 5.5–9.0, with an optimal reaction pH of 7.5. Its optimal reaction temperature was 40 °C, and it was stable up to 50 °C for 1 h at pH 7.5. LOD oxidized disaccharides with reducing‐end glucosyl residues linked by an α or β‐1,4 glucosidic bond. The relative activity of LOD toward lactose, cellobiose and maltose was 100 : 83 : 4, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the discovery of an LOD based on coenzyme moiety and enzyme substrate specificity.
3DFluorescence Spectroscopy and Its Applications
Authors: Locquet Nathalie , Aït‐Kaddour Abderrahmane , Cordella Christophe B.Y.
Published: December 2018

This article focuses on 3D fluorescence spectroscopy. After defining its principle, we then look at the factors which influence the phenomenon of fluorescence. There follows a brief discussion of the principal chemometric techniques implemented to manipulate and exploit fluorescence data, which have different and specific properties. A new article will describe the main endogenous fluorophores found in certain food, biological and environmental matrices, as well as exogenous fluorophores. Frontal fluorescence has seen considerable development during the past 15 years in a wide variety of fields, which is why we shall also be focusing on its principal applications in terms of the objectives of different studies: classification, authentication, quality control or process monitoring indicators. Fluorescence data generate a spectral fingerprint that can characterise samples within a very large space of variability, such as that which is inherent in food samples. Fluorescence spectroscopy can thus be used in a broad range of applications involving biological samples, animal tissues or environmental samples. Most of these applications are still qualitative, although quantitative methods are available. It is generally acknowledged that 3D fluorescence fingerprinting is more suitable for recognition, classification or detection processes when there is a need to save time and achieve optimum sensitivity. With the recent development of big data and BI, frontal fluorescence spectroscopy will soon benefit from the considerable power of artificial intelligence technologies.