bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Electromechanical characterization of didactical piezoelectric sensors based on crystalline grade PET
Authors: Zúñiga Vicente Torres , Carmona Saulo Gonzalo , Morales Saavedra Omar G.
Published: June 2019

A mechanical shock or impact sensor system for teaching purposes was developed and characterized. The device consists of Mylar layers (3×3 to 21×21 cm2) confined by aluminum sheets. The metallic surfaces are wired in order to send their signals to a digital oscilloscope. The instrument receives voltage variations after the surface of the transducer is stroked by a plastic projectile (capsule mass: 50 g) released in free fall (heights: 0.15 - 3 m). The respective piezoelectric constant was determined to be d = 42.02±10−12 m/V. This proposed experiment can be attractive for a basic instrumentation course which combines both theoretical and experimental concepts of mechanics and materials sciences.
RF shield parallel-plate waveguide for travelling-wave MRI experiments at 3 T
Authors: Marrufo O. , Vazquez F. , Martin R. , Solis-Najera S. E. , Rodriguez A. O.
Published: June 2019

Ultra high field magnetic resonance imaging systems suffer from the standing wave problems produced by conventional radiofrequency coils. This causes inhomogeneous fields degrading the image quality. To overcome this problems, propagation of RF waves by antennas inside a waveguide is suggested. We assessed the feasibility of using the magnet RF shield with aluminium strips to form a parallel-plate waveguide for travelling-wave magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T. Imaging results showed that a number of constraints must be solved before good image quality can be obtained. A brief discussion is presented on the possible sources or error and interference. Despite these limitations, results are really encouraging to continue investigating the implementation of this approach.
Sensitivity of an optical sensor based on capillary microresonator for the measurement the hydrostatic pressure in microfluidics
Authors: Padilla D Avila , Piñeres S Horta , Torres C O
Published: June 2019

In this investigation, we report the study of an optical device for the measurement of hydrostatic pressure in fluids. The device studied is a sensor based on a dielectric optical resonator in the form of a capillary that confines the light in its interior through the phenomenon of total internal reflection. In the analytical study of the sensor, the excitation of the azimuthal modes WGMs inside the resonant cavity is considered, so that their sensitivity to changes in the hydrostatic pressure was analyzed as a function of the displacement of wavelengths of resonances in the cavity.
Implementation of an ultrasonic tomograph for small specimens
Authors: Villarreal A , Huerta F , Solis-Najera S , Medina L
Published: June 2019

The implementation of an open freeware to acquire and reconstruct ultrasonic images from tomographic projections is presented. This proposed tomograph consists of three main modules: the mechanical position system, control system and the ultrasonic pulse emission-reception system. The communication, synchronization among these modules, experimental parameters and image reconstruction are done by an interface based on JAVA. The preliminary results show that the system is able to produce quality images of tested specimens.
The electrical and optical properties of kesterites
Authors: Grossberg Maarja , Krustok Jüri , Hages Charles J , Bishop Douglas M , Gunawan Oki , Scheer Roland , Lyam Samantha M , Hempel Hannes , Levcenco Sergiu , Unold Thomas
Published: June 2019

Kesterite Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1-x)4(CZTSSe) semiconductor materials have been extensively studied over the past decade, however despite significant efforts, the open circuit voltage remains below 60% of the theoretical maximum. Understanding the optical and electrical properties is critical to explaining and solving the voltage deficit. This review aims to summarize the present knowledge of optical and electrical properties of kesterites and specifically focuses on experimental data of intrinsic defects, charge carrier density and transport, and minority carrier lifetime and related rate-limiting recombination mechanisms. It concludes with suggestions for further investigation of the electrical and optical properties of kesterite materials.
iCn3D, a web-based 3D viewer for sharing 1D/2D/3D representations of biomolecular structures
Authors: Wang Jiyao , Youkharibache Philippe , Zhang Dachuan , Lanczycki Christopher J , Geer Renata C , Madej Thomas , Phan Lon , Ward Minghong , Lu Shennan , Marchler Gabriele H , Wang Yanli , Bryant Stephen H , Geer Lewis Y , Marchler-Bauer Aron
Published: June 2019

Motivation

Build a web-based 3D molecular structure viewer focusing on interactive structural analysis.

Results

iCn3D (I-see-in-3D) can simultaneously show 3D structure, 2D molecular contacts and 1D protein and nucleotide sequences through an integrated sequence/annotation browser. Pre-defined and arbitrary molecular features can be selected in any of the 1D/2D/3D windows as sets of residues and these selections are synchronized dynamically in all displays. Biological annotations such as protein domains, single nucleotide variations, etc. can be shown as tracks in the 1D sequence/annotation browser. These customized displays can be shared with colleagues or publishers via a simple URL. iCn3D can display structure–structure alignments obtained from NCBI’s VAST+ service. It can also display the alignment of a sequence with a structure as identified by BLAST, and thus relate 3D structure to a large fraction of all known proteins. iCn3D can also display electron density maps or electron microscopy (EM) density maps, and export files for 3D printing. The following example URL exemplifies some of the 1D/2D/3D representations: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/icn3d/full.html?mmdbid=1TUP&showanno=1&show2d=1&showsets=1.

Availability and implementation

iCn3D is freely available to the public. Its source code is available at https://github.com/ncbi/icn3d.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Deep representation learning for domain adaptable classification of infrared spectral imaging data
Authors: Raulf Arne P , Butke Joshua , Küpper Claus , Großerueschkamp Frederik , Gerwert Klaus , Mosig Axel
Published: June 2019

Motivation

Applying infrared microscopy in the context of tissue diagnostics heavily relies on computationally preprocessing the infrared pixel spectra that constitute an infrared microscopic image. Existing approaches involve physical models, which are non-linear in nature and lead to classifiers that do not generalize well, e.g. across different types of tissue preparation. Furthermore, existing preprocessing approaches involve iterative procedures that are computationally demanding, so that computation time required for preprocessing does not keep pace with recent progress in infrared microscopes which can capture whole-slide images within minutes.

Results

We investigate the application of stacked contractive autoencoders as an unsupervised approach to preprocess infrared microscopic pixel spectra, followed by supervised fine-tuning to obtain neural networks that can reliably resolve tissue structure. To validate the robustness of the resulting classifier, we demonstrate that a network trained on embedded tissue can be transferred to classify fresh frozen tissue. The features obtained from unsupervised pretraining thus generalize across the large spectral differences between embedded and fresh frozen tissue, where under previous approaches separate classifiers had to be trained from scratch.

Availability and implementation

Our implementation can be downloaded from https://github.com/arnrau/SCAE_IR_Spectral_Imaging.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
sefOri: selecting the best-engineered sequence features to predict DNA replication origins
Authors: Lou Chenwei , Zhao Jian , Shi Ruoyao , Wang Qian , Zhou Wenyang , Wang Yubo , Wang Guoqing , Huang Lan , Feng Xin , Zhou Fengfeng
Published: June 2019

Motivation

Cell divisions start from replicating the double-stranded DNA, and the DNA replication process needs to be precisely regulated both spatially and temporally. The DNA is replicated starting from the DNA replication origins. A few successful prediction models were generated based on the assumption that the DNA replication origin regions have sequence level features like physicochemical properties significantly different from the other DNA regions.

Results

This study proposed a feature selection procedure to further refine the classification model of the DNA replication origins. The experimental data demonstrated that as large as 26% improvement in the prediction accuracy may be achieved on the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Moreover, the prediction accuracies of the DNA replication origins were improved for all the four yeast genomes investigated in this study.

Availability and implementation

The software sefOri version 1.0 was available at http://www.healthinformaticslab.org/supp/resources.php. An online server was also provided for the convenience of the users, and its web link may be found in the above-mentioned web page.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Perinatal health of refugee and asylum-seeking women in Sweden 2014–17: a register-based cohort study
Authors: Liu Can , Ahlberg Mia , Hjern Anders , Stephansson Olof
Published: June 2019

Background

An increasing number of migrants have fled armed conflict, persecution and deteriorating living conditions, many of whom have also endured risky migration journeys to reach Europe. Despite this, little is known about the perinatal health of migrant women who are particularly vulnerable, such as refugees, asylum-seekers, and undocumented migrants, and their access to perinatal care in the host country.

Methods

Using the Swedish Pregnancy Register, we analyzed indicators of perinatal health and health care usage in 31 897 migrant women from the top five refugee countries of origin between 2014 and 2017. We also compared them to native-born Swedish women.

Results

Compared to Swedish-born women, migrant women from Syria, Iraq, Somali, Eritrea and Afghanistan had higher risks of poor self-rated health, gestational diabetes, stillbirth and infants with low birthweight. Within the migrant population, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants had a higher risk of poor maternal self-rated health than refugee women with residency, with an adjusted risk ratio (RR) of 1.84 and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of 1.72–1.97. They also had a higher risk of preterm birth (RR 1.47, 95% CI 1.21–1.79), inadequate antenatal care (RR 2.56, 95% CI 2.27–2.89) and missed postpartum care visits (RR 1.15, 95% CI 1.10–1.22).

Conclusion

Refugee, asylum-seeking and undocumented migrant women were vulnerable during pregnancy and childbirth. Living without residence permits negatively affected self-rated health, pregnancy and birth outcomes in asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants. Pregnant migrant women’s special needs should be addressed by those involved in the asylum reception process and by health care providers.
Sound Stories: A Context-Based Study of Everyday Listening to Augmented Soundscapes
Authors: Droumeva Milena , McGregor Iain
Published: June 2019

With an increasing number of everyday operations and communications becoming both automated and autonomous, ambient intelligent soundscapes are transforming to accommodate additional sonic feedback, and with it, new frameworks of listening. While this type of research and design of audio augmented technology is not new, the impact pre-existing acoustic environments upon listeners’ sense-making activities is rarely considered holistically. Much of the study into the design of effective auditory displays focuses on perceptual acuity and correct source identification, often at the expense of understanding the context of meaning-making. This paper presents a study involving 70 participants who listened to unidentified audio recordings of two archetypal everyday urban sound environments naturally containing artificial signals as well as typical sounds. Using a ThinkAloud protocol we investigated listeners’ approaches to meaning-making in both semantic and temporal dimensions. Through a semantic content analysis, we articulate five aspects of sonic meaning-making: spatial, descriptive, experiential, associational and narrative. We further analyse the use of these perceptual elements on a temporal plane, in order to investigate how listeners construct a narrative of what they hear in real-time, naturally evolving as each subsequent sound event is interpreted. Results suggest that while listeners attend to sound events and spatial characteristics of a sound environment at the beginning of a new listening situation, as the soundscape unfolds they utilize associations and familiarity in order to place individual sounds into increasingly coherent narratives. Finally, we suggest that this approach could provide sound designers and human–computer interaction specialists with a model for investigating the context aspects of a soundscape more holistically, allowing them to evaluate the effect of any new designed sounds prior to introduction into real-world environments.
Methanogenic potential of tropical feeds rich in hydrolyzable tannins1,2
Authors: Rira Moufida , Morgavi Diego P , Genestoux Lucette , Djibiri Sihem , Sekhri Ines , Doreau Michel
Published: June 2019

The present study was carried out to determine the effect of Acacia nilotica, a tropical plant rich in hydrolyzable tannins (HT), on rumen fermentation and methane (CH4) production in vitro. We used leaves and pods from A. nilotica alone and combined. The combination of HT from A. nilotica leaves and pods and condensed tannins (CT) from Calliandra calothyrsus and Leucaena leucocephala were also evaluated to assess potential differences in biological activity between HT and CT. Four series of 24-h incubations were performed using rumen contents of 4 sheep fed a tropical grass (natural grassland based on Dichanthium spp.). A first experiment tested different levels of replacement of this tropical forage (control [CTL] without tannins) by A. nilotica leaves or pods: 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25 and 100:0. A second experiment tested the mixture of A. nilotica leaves and pods in different proportions: 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100. A third experiment tested the 50:50 combination of A. nilotica leaves or pods with C. calothyrsus and L. leucocephala. Acacia nilotica pods and leaves had a high content of HT (350 and 178 g/kg DM, respectively), whereas C. calothyrsus and L. leucocephala had a high content of CT (361 and 180 g/kg DM, respectively). The inclusion of HT from A. nilotica leaves and pods decreased CH4 production dose-dependently (P < 0.01). Total replacement of the CTL by A. nilotica decreased CH4 production by 64 and 55% with leaves and pods, respectively. Pods were richer in HT than leaves, but their antimethanogenic effect did not differ (P > 0.05). Although A. nilotica leaves and pods inhibited fermentation, as indicated by the lower gas production and VFA production (P < 0.01), this effect was less pronounced than for CH4. Volatile fatty acid production decreased by 12% in leaves and by 30% in pods when compared with the CTL alone. Positive associative effect was reported for VFA, when HT-rich sources and CT-rich sources were mixed. Combining the 2 sources of HT did not show associative effects on fermentation or CH4 production (P > 0.05). Hydrolyzable tannin-rich sources were more effective in suppressing methanogenesis than CT-rich sources. Our results show that HT-rich A. nilotica leaves and pods have the potential to reduce ruminal CH4 production.
Morphology and star formation in IllustrisTNG: the build-up of spheroids and discs
Authors: Tacchella Sandro , Diemer Benedikt , Hernquist Lars , Genel Shy , Marinacci Federico , Nelson Dylan , Pillepich Annalisa , Rodriguez-Gomez Vicente , Sales Laura V , Springel Volker , Vogelsberger Mark
Published: June 2019

Using the IllustrisTNG simulations, we investigate the connection between galaxy morphology and star formation in central galaxies with stellar masses in the range 109–1011.5 M⊙. We quantify galaxy morphology by a kinematical decomposition of the stellar component into a spheroidal and a disc component (spheroid-to-total ratio, S/T) and by the concentration of the stellar mass density profile (C82). S/T is correlated with stellar mass and star formation activity, while C82 correlates only with stellar mass. Overall, we find good agreement with observational estimates for both S/T and C82. Low- and high-mass galaxies are dominated by random stellar motion, while only intermediate-mass galaxies (M⋆ ≈ 1010–1010.5 M⊙) are dominated by ordered rotation. Whereas higher mass galaxies are typical spheroids with high concentrations, lower mass galaxies have low concentration, pointing to different formation channels. Although we find a correlation between S/T and star formation activity, in the TNG model galaxies do not necessarily change their morphology when they transition through the green valley or when they cease their star formation, this depending on galaxy stellar mass and morphological estimator. Instead, the morphology (S/T and C82) is generally set during the star-forming phase of galaxies. The apparent correlation between S/T and star formation arises because earlier forming galaxies had, on average, a higher S/T at a given stellar mass. Furthermore, we show that mergers drive in situ bulge formation in intermediate-mass galaxies and are responsible for the recent spheroidal mass assembly in the massive galaxies with M⋆ > 1011 M⊙. In particular, these massive galaxies assemble about half of the spheroidal mass while star-forming and the other half through mergers while quiescent.
Determining mass limits around HD 163296 through SPHERE direct imaging data
Authors: Mesa D , Langlois M , Garufi A , Gratton R , Desidera S , D’Orazi V , Flasseur O , Barbieri M , Benisty M , Henning T , Ligi R , Sissa E , Vigan A , Zurlo A , Boccaletti A , Bonnefoy M , Cantalloube F , Chauvin G , Cheetham A , De Caprio V , Delorme P , Feldt M , Fusco T , Gluck L , Hagelberg J , Lagrange A-M , Lazzoni C , Madec F , Maire A-L , Menard F , Meyer M , Ramos J , Rickman E L , Rouan D , Schmidt T , Van der Plas G
Published: June 2019

HD 163296 is a Herbig Ae/Be star known to host a protoplanetary disc with a ringed structure. To explain the disc features, previous works proposed the presence of planets embedded into the disc. We have observed HD 163296 with the near-infrared (NIR) branch of SPHERE composed by IRDIS (InfraRed Dual-band Imager and Spectrograph) and IFS (integral field spectrograph) with the aim to put tight constraints on the presence of substellar companions around this star. Despite the low rotation of the field of view during our observation we were able to put upper mass limits of few MJup around this object. These limits do not allow to give any definitive conclusion about the planets proposed through the disc characteristics. On the other hand, our results seem to exclude the presence of the only candidate proposed until now using direct imaging in the NIR even if some caution has to be taken considered the different wavelength bands of the two observations.
Economic Burden Attributed to Children Presenting to Hospitals With Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Vietnam
Authors: Nhan Le Nguyen Thanh , Turner Hugo C , Khanh Truong Huu , Hung Nguyen Thanh , Lien Le Bich , Hong Nguyen Thi Thu , Nhu Le Nguyen Truc , Ny Nguyen Thi Han , Nguyet Lam Anh , Thanh Tran Tan , Van Hoang Minh Tu , Viet Ho Lu , Tung Trinh Huu , Phuong Tran Thi Lan , Devine Angela , Thwaites Guy , Chau Nguyen Van Vinh , Thwaites Louise , van Doorn H Rogier , Tan Le Van
Published: June 2019

Background

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) has become a major public health concern in the Asia-Pacific region. Knowledge of its economic burden is essential for policy makers in prioritizing the development and implementation of interventions.

Methods

A multi-hospital-based study was prospectively conducted at 3 major hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, during 2016–2017. Data on direct and productivity costs were collected alongside clinical information and samples and demographic information from study participants.

Results

A total of 466 patients were enrolled. Two hundred three of 466 (43.6%) patients lived in Ho Chi Minh City, and 72/466 (15.5%) had severe HFMD. An enterovirus was identified in 74% of 466 patients, with EV-A71, CV-A6, CV-A10, and CV-A16 being the most common viruses identified (236/466, 50.6%). The mean economic burden per case was estimated at US$400.80 (95% confidence interval [CI], $353.80–$448.90), of which the total direct (medical) costs accounted for 69.7%. There were considerable differences in direct medical costs between groups of patients with different clinical severities and pathogens (ie, EV-A71 vs non-EV-A71). In Vietnam, during 2016–2017, the economic burden posed by HFMD was US$90 761 749 (95% CI, $79 033 973–$103 009 756).

Conclusions

Our findings are of public health significance because for the first time we demonstrate that HFMD causes a substantial economic burden in Vietnam, and although multivalent vaccines are required to control HFMD, effective EV-A71 vaccine could substantially reduce the burden posed by severe HFMD. The results will be helpful for health policy makers in prioritizing resources for the development and implementation of intervention strategies to reduce the burden of HFMD.
Agent-Based Computational Models of Reputation and Status Dynamics
Authors: Grow André , Flache Andreas
Published: June 2019

Social scientists increasingly construe social life as a complex dynamic process, in which macro-level properties of social systems can emerge from individuals’ actions and interactions in unexpected, unintended, and possibly undesirable ways. Reputation and status differentiation are important examples. This chapter discusses how agent-based computational modeling (ABCM) can be used to better understand the social processes by which the behavioral dynamics that underlie reputation formation can generate social inequality and contribute to status differentiation. The chapter begins by elaborating the foundations of ABCM and subsequently discusses a number of ABCM examples that address the emergence of reputation and status differentiation from simple but fundamental rules of social behavior and interaction. To further illustrate the method, the chapter presents a formal model that explains the emergence of status differentiation from reputation formation. It closes with a discussion of important future directions in this area, in particular the role that gossip might play in future ABCM work on reputation and status.
Gossip, Reputation, and Sustainable Cooperation
Authors: Giardini Francesca , Wittek Rafael
Published: June 2019

Gossip is often invoked as playing a fundamental role for creating, sustaining, or destroying cooperation. The reason seems straightforward: gossip can make or break someone’s reputation. This chapter puts this standard reputational model to closer scrutiny. It argues that there are at least three other models to consider, and it presents an analytical framework to disentangle similarities and differences between these models. Explicating all three roles in the gossip triad, it allows to distinguish (a) individual motives behind gossiping, (b) its reputation effects on the actors, (c) the impact of gossip and reputation on the quality and sustainability of cooperation, and (d) the role of the context. Applying the framework reveals a deep divide between reputation and punishment models propagated by experimental economics and evolutionary psychology, on the one hand, and coalition and control models informed by sociology, on the other hand. The chapter discusses implications for a sociological research agenda.
Federalism and Foreign Affairs in India
Authors: Asthana Anamika , Jacob Happymoon
Published: June 2019

This chapter locates India’s foreign affairs within the federal structure of the country’s constitution. As a formal matter, India’s constitution strongly favors the central government’s authority, especially in matters of foreign policy and defense. India’s foreign policymaking processes, however, do not strictly correspond either to a unitary or a federal model and often are responsive to contextual dynamics. As the chapter explains, the central government has over time pursued a pragmatic approach in dealing with subnational engagement in the country’s foreign policymaking, without bringing about substantive and formal structural changes either in the constitution or the front-line institutions dedicated to foreign policy decision-making. Such pragmatism has been prominently evident in the area of international trade, especially since the onset of economic liberalization. Moreover, despite the constitutional preeminence of the central government in matters of foreign policy and defense, state entities in the era of coalition politics have successfully deployed extraconstitutional means, mostly through bargaining and pressure tactics, to influence the central government’s foreign policy processes. Federalization of foreign policymaking therefore, though limited, is an ongoing process in India’s vibrant polity.
Foreign Affairs Federalism in the European Union
Authors: Schütze Robert
Published: June 2019

The European Union was born as an international organization. The 1957 Treaty of Rome formed part of international law, although the European Court of Justice was eager to emphasize that the Union constitutes “a new legal order” of international law. With time, this new legal order has indeed evolved into a true “federation of States.” Yet how would the foreign affairs powers of this new supranational entity be divided? Would the European Union gradually replace the member states, or would it preserve their distinct and diverse foreign affairs voices? In the past sixty years, the Union has indeed significantly sharpened its foreign affairs powers. While still based on the idea that it has no plenary power, the Union’s external competences have expanded dramatically, and today it is hard to identify a nucleus of exclusive foreign affairs powers reserved for the member states. And in contrast to a classic international law perspective, the Union’s member states only enjoy limited treaty-making powers under European law. Their foreign affairs powers are limited by the exclusive powers of the Union, and they may be preempted through European legislation. There are, however, moments when both the Union and its states enjoy overlapping foreign affairs powers. For these situations, the Union legal order has devised a number of cooperative mechanisms to safeguard a degree of “unity” in the external actions of the Union. Mixed agreements constitute an international mechanism that brings the Union and the member states to the same negotiating table. The second constitutional device is internal to the Union legal order: the duty of cooperation.
Engagement and Disengagement with International Institutions
Authors: Craig Paul
Published: June 2019

This chapter analyzes engagement and disengagement with international institutions from the perspective of U.K. law. The first part of the chapter considers the relevant legal rules that pertain to engagement by the United Kingdom in international institutions. It is divided into three sections. The first section is directed toward dualism as understood in U.K. constitutional law, whereby an international treaty cannot take effect in national law unless it has been transformed or adopted into domestic law, thereby preventing the executive from undertaking obligations without the imprimatur of the U.K. legislature. The second section explains the U.K. constitutional rules designed to prevent the executive from ratifying an international treaty, and hence committing the United Kingdom at the international level, before Parliament has had the opportunity to consider the treaty. This area is interesting, since it reveals a shift from practice, to a convention, and then to a statutory obligation. The third part investigates the limits of dualism, connoting in this respect that the doctrinal rules explicated here apply to formal treaties, but do not cover all global regulatory rules, which can impact, de jure or de facto, on the United Kingdom. The focus in the second section of the chapter shifts to the constitutional constraints that limit the national applicability of a treaty regime that the United Kingdom has ratified. Parliament may impose constraints on delegation, which condition the legal reception in U.K. law of changes made by an international organization. There are, in addition, constitutional constraints fashioned by the courts, which can affect the acceptance of rules or decisions made by an international organization, to which the United Kingdom is a party, within the U.K. legal order, more especially where U.K. courts feel that such a rule of decision can impact adversely on U.K. constitutional identity. These judicially created constraints can be interpretive or substantive. The final part of the chapter is concerned with disengagement from international institutions. The relevant legal precepts are, to a certain degree, symmetrical with those that govern initial engagement. The basic starting point is that the executive, acting pursuant to prerogative power, negotiates withdrawal or disengagement from an international organization, and Parliament then enacts or repeals the requisite legislation to make this a legal reality in national law. Matters can, however, be more complex, as exemplified by the litigation concerning the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.
International Integration and its counter-Limits
Authors: Paulus Andreas L. , Hinselmann Jan-Henrik
Published: June 2019

This chapter analyzes the German Basic Law as the epitome of Open Statehood. The constitutional openness for international integration rests on distinct provisions on supranational engagement going beyond regular treaty law. Thereby, the Basic Law seeks to overcome the supposed dichotomies between state sovereignty and international integration and between national democracy and international legality. Further, the Basic Law distinguishes European from classical international integration. In both instances, the German Bundestag increasingly claims the status as coequal branch. Parliament also has the power to unilaterally modify the domestic effect of treaties, albeit within constitutional limits. Yet, disengagement comes at the price of incurring international responsibility. In line with the principle of mutual respect, the Federal Constitutional Court has developed three doctrinal devices, so-called counter-limits, to integration, to accommodate the diverse multilayered decision-making processes of multilevel governance systems, namely, the effective protection of human rights Solange, constitutional control of ultra vires acts, and the absolute protection of constitutional identity. In this way, the constitutional judiciary buttresses the concept of Open Statehood by reconciling at times diverging interests of national democracy and international integration.
State Engagement with Treaties
Authors: Woolaver Hannah
Published: June 2019

This chapter explores the interaction between domestic and international law in relation to the state’s engagement with treaties. Treaty engagements are important mechanisms through which states conduct their foreign relations. The domestic allocation of responsibility for the making and unmaking of treaties is therefore a significant question of the constitutional separation of powers in the realm of foreign relations law. Treaties are also international legal instruments, facilitating the development of international law and international institutions. The domestic and international law of treaties therefore both concurrently regulate the state’s power to join and leave treaties. This chapter examines the relationship between these two bodies of law in this regard, setting out developments in domestic jurisdictions establishing constitutional limits on the executive’s power to enter and exit treaties, and addresses the possible impact of these constitutional developments in the international law of treaties.
Regional Organizations’ Relations with International Institutions
Authors: Larik Joris
Published: June 2019

This chapter compares the law and practice of regional organizations regarding their engagement with international institutions. This includes treaty-making, joining and participating in international organizations, and the question to which extent member states are being replaced by their regional organizations. The chapter uses the European Union and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as case studies given that they represent two radically different forms of regional integration. While the former is a case of deep, supranational sovereignty-pooling, the latter is an example of distinctly sovereignty-friendly intergovernmental cooperation. Both ASEAN and the European Union have codified sets of internal norms for conducting their external relations. Both are avid treaty-makers and interact systematically with international institutions. However, this chapter explains how the difference in the organizations’ internal modes of operation translates into different approaches in their external relations. The European Union’s highly formalized approach leads to taking on a state-like position in many situations, but without always replacing its member states. By contrast, ASEAN’s sensitivity toward national sovereignty results in its member states and the Association never appearing together. It is always either one or the other that engages internationally. ASEAN member states interact with other powers, whereas ASEAN as a legal person interacts with other international organizations, with the one exception—the European Union.
Treaty Self-Execution as “Foreign” Foreign Relations Law
Authors: Hollis Duncan B. , Vázquez Carlos M.
Published: June 2019

This chapter considers how a state’s approach to foreign relations problems may have an external origin, or what we call “foreign” foreign relations law (FFRL). Using the distinction between self-executing and non-self-executing treaties as a case study, we find close parallels between manifestations of this distinction in various states and how it evolved in the United States, where the distinction was first articulated. The chapter explores whether these parallels reflect the distinction’s transplantation from one legal system to another or the organic development of similar doctrines to address similar problems within the states involved. The chapter then addresses the utility of differentiating the exogenous/endogenous origins of particular foreign relations doctrines. We argue that consideration of a doctrine’s exogenous origins raises questions that can deepen and develop the nascent field of comparative foreign relations law. Why do states accept (or reject) FFRL? How does FFRL enter a state’s system? Who is doing the transporting? What happens to FFRL in its new site(s)—i.e., how static or dynamic does the concept prove in different settings? Further research on such questions may, in turn, set the table for more normative questions such as when states should seek (or resist) the importation of foreign relations law.
Decolonizing Indigenous Sexualities
Authors: Lavinas Picq Manuela
Published: June 2019

Indigenous societies were never straight. Hundreds of languages across the Americas had words referring to same-sex practices and non-binary, fluid understandings of gender long before the emergence of international LGBT rights. The muxes in Juchitán are neither men nor women but a Zapotec gender hybridity. Across the Pacific in Hawaii, the māhū embrace both the feminine and masculine. Global sexual rights frameworks did not introduce referents to recognize alternative sexualities; Indigenous languages already had them, as their terminologies indicate. Indigenous sexualities both predate and defy contemporary LGBT and queer frameworks. It is not the idioms that are untranslatable but the cultural and political fabric they represent. This chapter shows the plurality of gender roles and sexual practices in Indigenous societies not to contribute sexual repertoires but to expand the imagination with new epistemologies. The analysis suggests that codes of heteronormativity were central tenets of the colonial project. Sexuality was a terrain to frame the Native as pervert and validate European violence against the non-Christian other, labeled as savage, heretic, and sodomite. The repression of sexual diversity shows how sexual control followed colonial logics of dispossession like the doctrine of discovery and why resisting heteronormative codification is a decolonial practice. This chapter recognizes the significance of the existence and resistance of Indigenous sexualities. It analyzes colonial processes of heterosexualization and approaches Native sexualities as sites of resurgence and self-determination to resist ongoing forms of dispossession.
Assertion among the Speech Acts
Authors: Sbisà Marina
Published: June 2019

This article discusses how assertion is an illocutionary act. Once assertion is taken to be an illocutionary act, the question arises of how it relates to other illocutionary acts. This is the main issue tackled in this article, and it is two-fold. It examines how assertion relates to illocutionary acts that are in some way similar to it, at least as to their involving the utterance of plain declarative sentences; and how assertion and its cognates should best be collocated within the whole gamut of illocutionary acts. The former exploration will rely upon a largely intuitive grasp of the “family” of assertive illocutionary acts; the latter will involve both a fuller characterization of assertion and reconsideration of illocutionary act classification. The article then turns to the question of the role or rank of assertion among illocutionary acts: whether it is “just” one among them, or there are reasons for granting it some primacy or some special function.
Max Weber Past, Present, and Future
Authors: Hanke Edith , Scaff Lawrence , Whimster Sam
Published: June 2019

Max Weber is one of the most important social theorists of the past century. His legacy includes a distinctive approach to inquiry and engagement with political and cultural issues. The Weberian perspective can be understood as both a “paradigm” for analyzing social phenomena and a specification of categories defining the field of inquiry, such as economy, power, stratification, religion, law, culture, and science. The handbook presents chapters exploring each of these substantive topics, demonstrating the application of Weberian concepts and ideas to contemporary problems. The future promises a worldwide diffusion of Weber’s ideas, addressed especially to the challenges of global modernity. The introductory chapter concludes with a detailed chronology of Weber’s life.
The Relevance of Weber’s Conception and Typology of Herrschaft
Authors: Breuer Stefan
Published: June 2019

Max Weber developed his sociology of domination between 1909 and 1920. This chapter addresses the relationship between domination and power, distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate domination or authority. Legitimate domination is based upon the three pure types of legal, traditional, and charismatic domination, which appear in combination with different organizational structures. Charismatic domination can assume different forms, from authentic charisma to hereditary and office charisma to an antiauthoritarian variant. Traditional domination encompasses a variety of types, from gerontocracy to diverse forms of patrimonialism and feudalism. The belief in legality, expressed for instance in a bureaucratic administrative staff, is characterized primarily through formal rationality, not purposive or instrumental rationality. Thus, today this last type is affected by tendencies that promote the weakening or even the dissolution of legal formalism. This chapter combines a systematic presentation with the application of the “domination” topic in the different scientific and cultural research fields during the last decades.
Equal Parenting Time
Authors: Fabricius William V.
Published: June 2019

This chapter reviews several sources of evidence bearing on the question of whether equal parenting time with both parents is in the best interests of children of divorce. First, the scientific evidence consists of correlational findings that meet four conditions necessary for a causal role of parenting time: A legal context that constrains the possibility of self-selection; a “dose-response” association between parenting time and father-child relationships; positive outcomes when parents disagree and courts impose more parenting time; and negative outcomes when relocations separate fathers and children. Second, the cultural evidence is that norms about parenting roles have changed in the last generation, and this is reflected in public endorsement of equal parenting time. Third, test-case evidence comes from the 2013 equal parenting law in Arizona, which has been evaluated positively by the state’s family law professionals. Finally, examples from recent Canadian case law show courts responding to the new cultural norms by crafting individualized equal parenting time orders over one parent’s objections even in cases of high parent conflict, accompanied by well-reasoned judicial opinions about how that is in children’s best interests. The chapter concludes that the overall pattern of evidence indicates that legal presumptions of equal parenting time would help protect children’s emotional security with each of their divorced parents, and consequently would have a positive effect on public health in the form of reduced long-term stress-related mental and physical health problems among children of divorce.
Household Finances and Credit Visibility
Authors: Wherry Frederick F.
Published: June 2019

This chapter addresses sociological approaches to household financial practices and credit visibility. First, the chapter identifies how social networks lead consumers to make significant decisions about spending, saving, and asset building. Sometimes financial decisions that appear to be the result of poor information turn out to be the effects of the individual’s position within a social network, along with the expectations and pressures associated with that position. Second, the chapter explains how consumers manage their social relationships through their consumption decisions in a process of relational work, but their relationship management strategies also reflect new ways of accounting for their spending decisions as they participate in various rituals and enable their socially significant others to do so as well. Consumers begin to mark, track, and design roughly shared decision rules about how to prioritize household financial decisions for these rituals in a process of relational accounting. The chapter concludes with the role that consumer credit scoring plays in shaping the life chances of households and how these effects differ by race, gender, and neighborhood.
Race and Consumer Inequality
Authors: Henderson Geraldine Rosa , Zhang Kathy
Published: June 2019

This chapter examines how racialized minorities experience overt and covert discrimination when accessing goods and services. The discrimination varies between outright denial of goods and services and the degradation of the goods and services provided. Using examples in the popular press and a review of the literature of content analyses of court cases, in-depth interviews, and experiments, this chapter also demonstrates how these questions of consumer inequality have been studied and what is yet to be done.
Temporality and the Analysis of Policy Processes
Authors: Howlett Michael
Published: June 2019

This chapter discusses the “historical turn” in the policy sciences and why it has occurred. It evaluates four general models of historical change processes that are commonly applied in policy analyses: stochastic, historical narrative, path dependency, and process sequencing. The chapter sets out the origins and elements of each model and assesses the merits and evidence for each in the analysis of public policymaking. The chapter suggests more work needs to be done examining the assumptions and presuppositions of each model before it can be concluded that any represents the general case for all policy processes. Neither the irreversible linear reality assumed by narrative models, nor the random and chaotic world assumed by stochastic models, nor the contingent turning points and irreversible trajectories required of the path dependency model are found very often in policymaking. Hence, the chapter agues these models are likely to be less significant than process-sequencing ones in describing the overall pattern of policy dynamics and temporality.
This is Who I Am
Authors: Schell John Logan
Published: June 2019

As the body of comics increases, so, too, does the variety of subject matter. Comics now address profound aspects of the human condition, especially through the genre of memoir. However, it is not enough to note the breadth of memoir topically; it is critical to explore how these stories are told. Memoir in comics creates a space for experiencing the past in a visually dynamic way that both reflects and rejects literal or factual reality, supplanting it with a kind of subjectivity that embodies personal truths. This chapter explores how the medium of comics, through its hybridity and materiality, reveals the fictionality of autobiography in a stylized manner that still connects to personal experience in a way that manages to supersede realism. In addition, through their transgressive nature, comics synergize with voices and identities that move counter to mainstream culture, giving voice to the voiceless.
Poetry and Hymnody
Authors: Wickes Jeffrey
Published: June 2019

This chapter traces the development of early Christian exegetical hymnody, and analyses this hymnody in terms of its relationship to Scripture. The chapter falls into two parts: part one argues that by the fourth century, in response to associations of hymnody with heresy, the scripturally allusive hymnic material of earliest Christianity gave way to a type of hymnody which interacted with Scripture in explicit and concrete ways. Part two traces the Syriac and Greek hymnic traditions that arose in the fourth and fifth centuries, and analyses their exegesis according to two primary categories—performance and rewriting. The chapter concludes by suggesting avenues for future research in the area of comparative Christian and Jewish exegetical hymnody.
Christian Apocrypha
Authors: Shoemaker Stephen J.
Published: June 2019

This chapter focuses on the production of early Christian apocryphal writings as an act of biblical interpretation. Particular attention is given to the ‘parabiblical’ nature of many such writings—that is, the ways in which these texts often reflect parallel development of traditions that came to be included in the biblical canon. Many early Gospel traditions and Pauline apocrypha preserve independent, even rival versions of the earliest Christian traditions. For the historian, these texts frequently share equal importance with the canonical traditions in the effort to understand the earliest formation of the Christian biblical traditions. Other early Christian apocrypha relate to the canon in a more supplementary fashion. These serve to fill major gaps in the New Testament tradition, some having a more direct connection to the canonical texts than others.