bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evolution of Oxygenic Photosynthesis
Authors: Canfield Donald Eugene
Published: November 2017

This chapter discusses the evolution of oxygen-producing organisms by considering the evolution and assembly of its basic constituent parts. It focuses on the following key questions: (1) What is the evolutionary history of chlorophyll? (2) What are the evolutionary histories of photosystem I and photosystem II (PSII)? (3) What is the origin of the oxygen-evolving complex in PSII? And finally, (4) what is the evolutionary history of Rubisco? In addressing these, the chapter seeks to understand the complex path leading to the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis on Earth. This event was one of the major transforming events in the history of life. With no oxygenic photosynthesis, there would be no oxygen in the atmosphere; there would also be no plants, no animals, and nobody to tell this story.
Cyanobacteria: The Great Liberators
Authors: Canfield Donald Eugene
Published: November 2017

This chapter discusses the importance of cyanobacteria. The evolution of cyanobacteria brought the biological production of oxygen to Earth for the first time. This led, in turn, to the eventual accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere and to the widespread evolution of oxygen-utilizing organisms. However, the importance of cyanobacteria goes beyond this. Cyanobacteria were the first photosynthetic organisms on Earth to use water as a source of electrons. Unlike the sulfide, Fe2+, and H2 used by anoxygenic phototrophic organisms, water is almost everywhere on the planet surface. This means that biological production on Earth was no longer limited by the electron source (water in this case), but rather by nutrients and other trace constituents making up the cells. In the end, the use of water in photosynthesis resulted in an increase in rates of primary production on Earth by probably somewhere between a factor of ten to a thousand. For the first time, life on Earth became truly plentiful. With the evolution of cyanobacteria, Earth was on its way to becoming a green planet.
The Early History of Atmospheric Oxygen: Geological Evidence
Authors: Canfield Donald Eugene
Published: November 2017

This chapter explores geological and chemical evidence for the history of atmospheric oxygen on early Earth, with a focus on the Archean Eon. It starts by investigating some of the evidence in the gold mines of South Africa. Some of these mines, located in the Witwatersrand Basin near Johannesburg, have been dug to depths of over 3.9 km (2.4 miles). A closer look at the rocks shows that they represent an ancient river deposit dated to some 2.8 to 3.1 billion years ago. The gold in these deposits was transported by strong river currents and was occasionally trapped among the cobbles and sands forming the riverbed. The presence of oxygen-sensitive minerals in ancient river deposits is pretty compelling evidence for low oxygen concentrations in the early Earth atmosphere.
The Great Oxidation
Authors: Canfield Donald Eugene
Published: November 2017

This chapter deals with the “great oxidation event” (GOE), which represents a quantum shift in the oxygen content of the atmosphere. It suggests that the GOE represents the evolution of cyanobacteria. According to the geologic record, the oxygen content of Earth's atmosphere increased dramatically around 2.3 billion years ago. Since cyanobacteria likely evolved much earlier, it does not appear that a well-oxygenated atmosphere is a necessary or immediate consequence of the activities of oxygen-producing organisms. Atmospheric chemistry is a slave to the dynamics of the mantle, as the interior and exterior of the planet are connected in a profound way. Indeed, it took half of Earth's history for the mantle to quiet to point where oxygen could accumulate. This, however, represented a watershed, a tipping point if you will, where the chemistry of Earth's surface was forever altered.
Earth’s Middle Ages: What Came after the GOE
Authors: Canfield Donald Eugene
Published: November 2017

This chapter considers the aftermath of the great oxidation event (GOE). It suggests that there was a substantial rise in oxygen defining the GOE, which may, in turn have led to the Lomagundi isotope excursion, which was associated with high rates of organic matter burial and perhaps even higher concentrations of oxygen. This excursion was soon followed by a crash in oxygen to very low levels and a return to banded iron formation deposition. When the massive amounts of organic carbon buried during the excursion were brought into the weathering environment, they would have represented a huge oxygen sink, drawing down levels of atmospheric oxygen. There appeared to be a veritable seesaw in oxygen concentrations, apparently triggered initially by the GOE. The GOE did not produce enough oxygen to oxygenate the oceans. Dissolved iron was removed from the oceans not by reaction with oxygen but rather by reaction with sulfide. Thus, the deep oceans remained anoxic and became rich in sulfide, instead of becoming well oxygenated.
Jupiter Winds and Weather
Authors: Ingersoll Andrew P.
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines the effect of winds on Jupiter's weather. The Great Red Spot is an atmospheric structure—a storm—that is free to move about under the laws of fluid dynamics. On Earth, these laws lead to turbulence, chaos, and limited predictability. By comparison, the Red Spot is well behaved. It stays in one latitude band, rolling like a ball bearing between two conveyor belts—a westward current to the north and an eastward current to the south. All the large-scale features are remarkably constant. Atmospheric scientists during the Voyager encounter were surprised by the areas outside the Red Spot and the three white ovals—formerly featureless areas that had become turbulent convective regions. The chapter first provides an overview of long-range weather forecasting on Jupiter before discussing the dynamics of rotating fluids, momentum transfer by eddies, stability of zonal jets, geostrophic balance, vorticity, and abyssal weather.
The Afterlife of Ari Nohem
Authors: Dweck Yaacob
Published: November 2017

This chapter traces the circulation of Ari Nohem in manuscript, from its composition through its first appearance in print. The different stages in the reception of Ari Nohem in manuscript offer an alternative history of Kabbalah in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one that has largely been told through the histories of Sabbatianism and Hasidism. The manuscript transmission of Ari Nohem was typical rather than aberrant for texts written by early modern Jewish intellectuals on a variety of subjects: polemical writings on Christianity, esoteric kabbalistic treatises, and epistolary campaigns against the mystical messiah Sabbatai Zevi and his followers. The evidence of these manuscripts, combined with repeated citation of and allusion to Ari Nohem in letters, diaries, treatises, responsa, and compendia composed between 1639 and 1840, indicate that Jews and Christians continued to read Modena's text in nearly every generation between the death of the author and the printing of his book.
Embracing a New Curriculum, 1750–1800
Authors: Laffan Michael
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines how, in the eighteenth century, more formalized structures of learning were established in the archipelago as Southeast Asian scholars began to participate increasingly in Middle Eastern networks. It describes a subsequent eighteenth-century trend; namely a reaction to the popularity of the Medina-oriented muhaqqiqin that would lay the groundwork for what would become the standard Islamic curriculum of Southeast Asia. This was particularly clear in the wealthy port of Palembang, where the Sammaniyya order would play its part in developing Sufi scholarship and correctives. Yet again emphasis would be placed on restricting access to abstruse philosophical treatises to an elect and discouraging the dissemination of popular earlier texts and allied romances, which the Malays would nonetheless continue to support.
Collaborative Encounters, 1889–1892
Authors: Laffan Michael
Published: November 2017

This chapter continues the study of the previous chapter, following Snouck as he arrives in Batavia in 1889 and conducts fieldwork in Java and Aceh, and examining his place in both Dutch and indigenous society. Building on his field-defining venture in Mecca, Snouck took advantage of both the connections he had formed there and the political storm of Cilegon to tour the pesantrens of Java. He did this as a conscious servant of empire, albeit one who believed that he could play a part in the elevation of its subjects. It was also in the course of this journey, and the ones to come in Aceh's troubled borderlands, that he threw off the mantle of doomsayer and began to counsel greater patience with, attention to, and even respect for Islam as the faith of a distressed people.
From Sufism to Salafism, 1905–11
Authors: Laffan Michael
Published: November 2017

This chapter traces the ongoing debates about Sufism in relation to changing notions of orthodoxy, focusing on the new Salafi movement of Muhammad ʻAbduh and Muhammad Rashid Rida. As a part of their platform to reorder Muslim society, this movement called upon Muslims to break with the older patronage networks organized around the tariqa and the sayyid. Their goals could be harmonized for a time: both wanted to restrict Sufism to the elite once more and promoted extending a proper understanding of Shariʻa to a widening circle of readers. There were tensions inherent in this “harmony,” however, and they led inevitably to the collapse of the sayyid-led reforms and to the genesis of an increasingly bifurcated public sphere in the Netherlands Indies. Going forward, the various strands of the “modernist” Muslim movement will seek to take the lead under the aegis of the Office for Native Affairs.
Monetary and Financial Stability
Authors: Granville Brigitte
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines the relation between monetary and financial stability, looking at possible chains of cause and effect running in both directions between them—from the possibility that an unexpected tightening of monetary policy increases the mean probability of financial system distress, to the general risk of monetary stability being undermined by financial instability. The idea that monetary stability encourages financial instability is controversial. Inflation is often the root cause of financial instability by distorting information flows between lenders and borrowers, leading to asset bubbles and over investment. Most empirical evidence tends to support the view that monetary stability should promote financial stability in the long run and not the other way around. But while monetary stability is a necessary condition for financial stability, it is not a sufficient one. In other words, financial instability can still occur even with the inflation rate under control.
Afterglows
Authors: Bloom Joshua S.
Published: November 2017

This chapter focuses on the search for afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In 1996, Peter Mészáros (Pennsylvania State University) and Martin J. Rees (Cambridge University) began developing a detailed theory of afterglows, positing that long-lived emission should be observed at all wavelengths—a panchromatic phenomenon—as a natural consequence of synchrotron emission from a decelerating blastwave. Though no convincing afterglow had been found to date, the afterglow revolution beginning the following year would quickly confirm the basic theory. The chapter presents the panchromatic observations of GRB afterglows and then discusses afterglow theory and its significant modifications over the years.
The Events in Context
Authors: Bloom Joshua S.
Published: November 2017

Prompt and afterglow emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are largely driven by the central engine behavior, the explosion properties, and the physics of relativistic shocks. Those seconds, minutes, and days after the main event tell a remarkable story about how the progenitors of GRBs end their life. But it is the context—where GRBs occur inside and out of galaxies and throughout cosmic time—that tell us how the progenitors lived. Indeed, GRB locations are treated like a crime scene, extracting forensic evidence to make a case about the lifecycle of a GRB progenitor. This chapter discusses local-, galactic-, and universal-scale observations of GRBs.
Mechanisms of Nutritional Regulation
Authors: Simpson Stephen J. , Raubenheimer David
Published: November 2017

This chapter focuses on how animals are able to regulate their intake and use of multiple nutrients. To regulate the balance of nutrients eaten, an animal needs to assess the composition of available foods in relation to its nutritional requirements. Integration of information about food composition and nutritional state occurs both at the periphery, by nutrient-specific modulation of taste receptors, and more centrally as signals from systemic and peripheral sources converge onto the neural circuits that control feeding behavior. Meanwhile, postingestive regulatory responses can assist in rebalancing an imbalanced nutrient intake. Once digested and absorbed across the gut, nutrient supplies can be further rebalanced by differentially voiding excess nutrients and conserving nutrients that are in limited supply.
Afghanistan in the Twentieth Century: State and Society in Conflict
Authors: Barfield Thomas
Published: November 2017

This chapter analyzes the fate of Afghan rulers and their regimes in the twentieth century. Some were more successful than others, but one thing they had in common was unexpected ends to their reigns. Every Afghan leader during this period was either assassinated while in power or driven into exile. While these events may seem unduly complex on first encounter, they can be broken down into three distinctive periods: 1901–29, 1929–78, and 1978–2001. Throughout this period there were a number of recurring conflicts. The most volatile was the issue of social change and its direction. Often described as a rural/urban or religious/secular divide, in reality the division was more complex since positions differed depending on the issue involved.
Why Moderation?
Authors: Craiutu Aurelian
Published: November 2017

This book explores moderation in French political thought during the period 1748–1830 by focusing on a wide range of political, historical, sociological, and philosophical writings related to the French Revolution. Arguing that moderation is the quintessential political virtue, the book discusses two main themes: moderation under the Old Regime, when moderate agendas were used as means of criticizing a rigid and inefficient hierarchical structure and proposing concrete blueprints for political reform; and various attempts at institutionalizing moderation during the revolution and its aftermath, when it was primarily interpreted and used as a means of “ending” the revolution. It suggests that moderation has intrinsic substantive political orientations and values of its own and is related to constitutionalism, a politics of skepticism as opposed to a “politics of faith” and of absolute ends. This prologue provides an overview of the chapters that follow.
In Search of a Lost Archipelago
Authors: Craiutu Aurelian
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines different visions of moderation in the history of French political thought. It first considers the reluctance to theorize about moderation, in part because moderation has often been understood as a vague virtue. It then discusses moderation in the classical and Christian traditions, focusing on the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, followed by an analysis of the writings of sixteenth-century political thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Claude de Seyssel, Louis Le Roy, Étienne Pasquier, Michel de Montaigne, Blaise Pascal, and French moralists such as La Bruyère and François de La Rochefoucauld. It also describes the transformation of moderation from a predominantly ethical concept into a prominent political virtue. Finally, it explores the views of authors such as David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on fanaticism in relation to moderation.
Moderation and the “Intertwining of Powers”
Authors: Craiutu Aurelian
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines political moderation in the writings of Jacques Necker, with particular emphasis on his views on constitutionalism. Necker occupies a special place in the history of political moderation. He defended the principles of constitutional monarchy successively against the king, the nobility, and the representatives of the people. Necker's works, composed at different stages of the French Revolution, articulated a political agenda revolving around the idea of moderation in opposition to arbitrary power and violence. The chapter first provides an overview of Necker's ideas before discussing his theoretical statements on reforming the Old Regime. It then explains Necker's trimming agenda and the consequences of immoderation before turning to the French constitution of 1791 and Necker's critique of the constitutions of 1795 and 1799. It also explores Necker's arguments regarding complex sovereignty, equality, and separation of powers.
Moderation after the Terror
Authors: Craiutu Aurelian
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines political moderation in the writings of Germaine de Staël, with a particular focus on her attempt to create a center in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Madame de Staël's has established a reputation for her strong and sustained commitment to political moderation. It first considers Madame de Staël's contribution to the debates on the origins, nature, and legacy of the French Revolution before discussing the Constituent Assembly and the French constitution of 1791. It then explores Madame de Staël's views on political fanaticism and representative government, along with her proposed political center that could accommodate moderates from all camps. It also analyzes the defeat of the moderates and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and concludes with an assessment of the French Charter of 1814 in comparison to the English constitution.
Moderation and “Neutral Power”
Authors: Craiutu Aurelian
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines political moderation in Benjamin Constant's political thought, with particular emphasis on his search for a “neutral power” that would function as a moderating device, keeping the ship of the state on an even keel. It begins with a commentary on Constant's enigmatic personality before turning to his lesser-known political writings from 1795 to 1799 as well as his better-known works written during the First Empire and the Bourbon Restoration. It then considers the rhetoric of an “extreme center” in the context of moderation as well as Constant's notion of the middle way during the Directory. It also explores Constant's ideas on limited sovereignty and individual liberty, along with his theory of representative government based on the concept of pouvoir modérateur.
Equilibrium with Constant Returns
Authors: Balasko Yves
Published: November 2017

This chapter analyzes an equilibrium model where privately owned firms feature either smooth decreasing or constant returns to scale. Profit of the constant returns to scale firms being equal to zero at equilibrium, the equilibrium of the model does not depend on the ownership structure of these firms. In addition, the convex conical production sets of these firms sum up into a convex cone. It is as if the production sector operating under constant returns consists of a unique firm. The general equilibrium model with decreasing and constant returns to scale firms is essentially the same model as the one considered in Chapter 10 with the addition of a unique firm operating under constant returns to scale. Nevertheless, this addition is enough to hamstring the approach of the preceding chapters based on the concept of price system that equates aggregate supply and demand. The solution is to add to that price system the activity of the constant returns to scale firm.
Yield Curve Modeling and Forecasting
Authors: Diebold Francis X. , Rudebusch Glenn D.
Published: November 2017

Understanding the dynamic evolution of the yield curve is critical to many financial tasks, including pricing financial assets and their derivatives, managing financial risk, allocating portfolios, structuring fiscal debt, conducting monetary policy, and valuing capital goods. Unfortunately, most yield curve models tend to be theoretically rigorous but empirically disappointing, or empirically successful but theoretically lacking. This book proposes two extensions of the classic yield curve model of Nelson and Siegel that are both theoretically rigorous and empirically successful. The first extension is the dynamic Nelson–Siegel model (DNS), while the second takes this dynamic version and makes it arbitrage-free (AFNS). The book shows how these two models are just slightly different implementations of a single unified approach to dynamic yield curve modeling and forecasting. They emphasize both descriptive and efficient-markets aspects, they pay special attention to the links between the yield curve and macroeconomic fundamentals, and they show why DNS and AFNS are likely to remain of lasting appeal even as alternative arbitrage-free models are developed. Based on the Econometric and Tinbergen Institutes Lectures, the book contains essential tools with enhanced utility for academics, central banks, governments, and industry.
Conclusion
Authors: Chaves Mark
Published: November 2017

This concluding chapter argues that based on the religious trends documented in this book, no indicator of traditional religious belief or practice is going up. There is much continuity and some decline. There is more religious diversity, there are shifting fortunes for liberal and conservative Protestant denominations, and there are troubling signs about the state of religious leadership. Moreover, changes are occurring inside congregations, and there is a tighter connection between religious service attendance and political, social, and religious conservatism. There is also more diffuse spirituality, but this diffuse spirituality should not be mistaken for an increase in traditional religiosity. As such, if there is a trend, it is toward less religion.
The Geographers’ World
Authors: Tolan John , Veinstein Gilles , Laurens Henry
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines how medieval Arab and European geographers perceived the world and the populations who lived in it. It pays particular attention to the image of Europeans in Arab geography and to that of the East in Latin geography. The geographical culture of these literati had a dual foundation: scriptures (the Bible and the Qur'an) and Greek geographical scholarship. Greek geography had undergone transformations, since medieval Europe received it through the filter of Latin geographical and encyclopedic works, texts dating primarily between the fifth and seventh centuries. In the Umayyad and then the Abbasid caliphates, translations of Greek works were supplemented by Persian and Hindu geographical traditions. For these geographers, there was no hard and fast distinction between physical geography, human geography, and religious explanation.
The Ottoman Conquest in Europe
Authors: Tolan John , Veinstein Gilles , Laurens Henry
Published: November 2017

This chapter retraces the shared history between the Ottoman Empire and Europe. Focusing on the Ottoman conquest in Europe, the chapter describes the events by which the history of Europe became indistinguishable from that of its relationship, whether good or bad, with the principal Muslim power of the time. It first discusses the presence of Turks and Muslims in Europe before the Ottoman expansion, before turning to the origins of the Ottomans, who had emerged from one of the many small Turkoman principalities that had formed on the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Pontic periphery of the Seljuk sultanate of Konya. The chapter then chronicles the first Ottoman ventures into Europe, which eventually culminated in a series of conquests in the continent.
Ottoman Europe
Authors: Tolan John , Veinstein Gilles , Laurens Henry
Published: November 2017

This chapter details the characteristics of that “other Europe” resulting from the Ottoman conquest: a multiethnic and multifaith Europe under the domination of the Crescent. Throughout much of the modern age, a large part of Europe—a quarter or a third of the continent—was under the political domination of Islam. That fracture within the continent was not new. To a large extent, Ottoman Europe simply covered the pars orientalis of the continent, the religious and cultural sphere of influence of Constantinople, in opposition to that of Rome. Hence the Ottoman conquest ultimately followed a much more ancient cleavage. The presence of the “infidels” in Europe and the threat it posed constituted the worst of scandals for Christendom.
Contemporary Issues
Authors: Tolan John , Veinstein Gilles , Laurens Henry
Published: November 2017

This chapter chronicles the struggles of the Muslim world and Europe during World War II as well as its aftermath. It shows how the war had helped to end European rule and begin the process of decolonization for Muslim nations such as Libya. And with the Muslim state now independent of direct European domination, the second half of the chapter explores the ways in which the Muslim world tackled the issue of development as well as a fresh wave of problems regarding human rights, universality, and other pitfalls of newly independent states struggling to survive in a world that has changed profoundly after a series of major conflicts. The chapter also reflects on the still-intertwined relationships between the Muslim world and Europe as history progresses into the twenty-first century.
Creating the Market University
Authors: Berman Elizabeth Popp
Published: November 2017

American universities today serve as economic engines, performing the scientific research that will create new industries, drive economic growth, and keep the United States globally competitive. But only a few decades ago, these same universities self-consciously held themselves apart from the world of commerce. This is the first book to systematically examine why academic science made such a dramatic move toward the market. Drawing on extensive historical research, the book shows how the government—influenced by the argument that innovation drives the economy—brought about this transformation. Americans have a long tradition of making heroes out of their inventors. But before the 1960s and 1970s neither policymakers nor economists paid much attention to the critical economic role played by innovation. However, during the late 1970s, a confluence of events—industry concern with the perceived deterioration of innovation in the United States, a growing body of economic research on innovation's importance, and the stagnation of the larger economy—led to a broad political interest in fostering invention. The policy decisions shaped by this change were diverse, influencing arenas from patents and taxes to pensions and science policy, and encouraged practices that would focus specifically on the economic value of academic science. By the early 1980s, universities were nurturing the rapid growth of areas such as biotech entrepreneurship, patenting, and university–industry research centers. Contributing to debates about the relationship between universities, government, and industry, the book sheds light on how knowledge and politics intersect to structure the economy.
Academic Science as an Economic Engine
Authors: Berman Elizabeth Popp
Published: November 2017

This chapter begins by briefly setting out the book's purpose, which is to address the question of how and why universities, that once self-consciously held themselves apart from the economic world, began to integrate themselves into it. It identifies two reasons why academic science moved toward the market. The first is that it was government that encouraged universities to treat academic science as an economically valuable product. The second is that the spread of a new idea, that scientific and technological innovation serve as engines of economic growth, was critical to this process, transforming first the policy arena and eventually universities' own understanding of their mission. The remainder of the chapter discusses the changing nature of academic science, studying the changes in academic science, and the rise of market logic in academic science. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Creating University-Industry Research Centers
Authors: Berman Elizabeth Popp
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines the development of a new market-logic practice in academic science, namely the creation of university–industry research centers. It begins by reviewing the origins of this practice, then tracks its early development as well as limits to its growth and spread. It then goes on to examine policy decisions that removed these limits and replaced them with incentives, and considers how political concern with the economic impact of innovation contributed to these decisions. The chapter concludes with a look at the subsequent takeoff of this practice, followed by a discussion of the conditions that appear to have been necessary for this takeoff to occur.
Harmless and Destructive Plug-in Volunteers
Authors: Eliasoph Nina
Published: November 2017

This chapter takes a look at the adult volunteers who come to help in the summer and after-school homework programs studied in this volume. Adult volunteers' presence symbolize, in the funders' eyes, that a program enjoys local grassroots support, so paid organizers cannot afford to shut out these volunteers. However, the chapter shows that when they come to the after-school programs for one or two hours a week for a few months or a year at most, their short-term, optional, sporadic efforts at creating intimate bonds with youth participants undermine the intimate atmosphere that a devoted paid organizer manages to create.
Anti-windup: Definitions, Objectives, and Architectures
Authors: Zaccarian Luca , Teel Andrew R.
Published: November 2017

This chapter discusses definitions, objectives, and architectures relevant to anti-windup. It begins by focusing on the unconstrained closed-loop system, actuator saturation, and the saturated closed-loop system. It then considers the qualitative objectives of anti-windup augmentation, including small signal preservation, global vs. regional internal stability, global vs. regional input–output stability, and unconstrained response recovery. It also describes the augmented closed-loop system, linear vs. nonlinear augmentation, continuous-time closed-loop systems vs. sampled data, static vs. dynamic augmentation, external vs. full authority augmentation, and algebraic loops introduced by proper anti-windup filters. Finally, it examines the quantitative performance objectives of anti-windup augmentation, taking into account nonlinear performance measures.
Analysis and Synthesis of Feedback Systems: Quadratic Functions and LMIs
Authors: Zaccarian Luca , Teel Andrew R.
Published: November 2017

This chapter describes the analysis and synthesis of feedback systems, with particular emphasis on quadratic functions and linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). It first considers the analysis of feedback loops with saturation, with the goal of developing tools for verifying internal stability and quantifying L₂ external stability for the feedback interconnection of a linear system with a saturation nonlinearity. It then discusses quadratic functions and semidefinite matrices, along with the use of quadratic functions to analyze unconstrained feedback systems. It also demonstrates how the LMI feasibility and eigenvalue problems can be solved efficiently using modern numerical software packages. Furthermore, it looks at the global vs. regional analysis of unconstrained feedback systems. A few examples of nonlinear gain computation are provided to illustrate the use of the LMIs. The chapter concludes by explaining regional synthesis in feedback loops with saturation based on the LMIs.
The MRAW Framework
Authors: Zaccarian Luca , Teel Andrew R.
Published: November 2017

This chapter introduces the model recovery anti-windup (MRAW) framework. The MRAW structure recovers the unconstrained plant model as seen from the perspective of the unconstrained controller. This feature prevents the unconstrained controller from misbehaving in the constrained closed loop with anti-windup augmentation, and gives the closed loop some information about how it would be performing in the ideal case without constraints. The MRAW structure reduces the anti-windup synthesis problem to a problem of direct control design for input saturation. This means that the degrees of freedom can be constructed ignoring the existence of the predesigned linear controller. The chapter describes the MRAW structure through block diagrams, transfer functions, and state–space representations.
Nonlinear MRAW Synthesis
Authors: Zaccarian Luca , Teel Andrew R.
Published: November 2017

This chapter deals with nonlinear model recovery anti-windup (MRAW) synthesis. In considering nonlinear synthesis techniques for the feedback signal, the user can expect a tradeoff between anti-windup performance, which has the potential to improve since less structure is imposed on the anti-windup augmentation, and design and implementation complexity. The tradeoff can be extreme in the case of global anti-windup for plants that are marginally unstable. For exponentially unstable plants, the chapter describes a design that requires extra state measurements from the plant and then yields improved performance compared to that achieved using linear designs. After discussing anti-windup augmentation, the chapter examines the switching and scheduling of linear controllers, along with model predictive control for anti-windup design. It also evaluates global designs for non-exponentially unstable plants as well as designs for exponentially unstable plants that maximize the basin of attraction.
Spin Glasses: General Features
Authors: Stein Daniel L. , Newman Charles M.
Published: November 2017

This chapter finally deals with the concept of spin glasses. The intention is not to provide anything approaching a thorough history of the subject. The field today is broad, with threads and subthreads extending in a multitude of different directions. Rather, the chapter focuses on a relatively narrow part of the overall subject. It discusses some of the history of their discovery, their basic properties and experimental phenomenology, and some of the mysteries surrounding them. It introduces some of the basic theoretical constructs that underlie much of the discussion in later chapters. Topics covered include dilute magnetic alloys and the Kondo effect, nonequilibrium and dynamical behavior, mechanisms underlying spin glass behavior, the Edwards–Anderson Hamiltonian, frustration, dimensionality and phase transitions, broken symmetry and the Edwards–Anderson Order Parameter, and energy landscapes and metastability.
Applications to Other Fields
Authors: Stein Daniel L. , Newman Charles M.
Published: November 2017

This chapter explores how spin glass concepts have found use in and, in some cases, further advanced areas such as computational complexity, combinatorial optimization, neural networks, protein conformational dynamics and folding, and computer science (through the introduction of new heuristic algorithms such as simulated annealing and neural-based computation, and through new approaches to analyzing hard combinatorial optimization problems). It also introduces some “short takes” on topics that space constraints prevent covering in detail, but should be at least mentioned: prebiotic evolution, Kauffman's NK model, and the maturation of the immune response. The chapter summarizes the heart of what most people mean when they refer to spin glasses as relevant to complexity. It focuses on the early, classic papers in each subject, giving the reader a flavor of each.
Short-Range Spin Glasses: Some Basic Questions
Authors: Stein Daniel L. , Newman Charles M.
Published: November 2017

This chapter discusses short-range spin glasses. It considers realistic spin glass models, in particular the Edwards–Anderson (EA) model. Both the EA and the Sherrington–Kirkpatrick (SK) models are idealizations of the complicated spatial structure of spin–spin interactions in real materials. In the EA idealization, the interactions are extremely short range, occurring only between spins that are nearest neighbors in the atomic lattice. This caricatures the actual spatial structure of laboratory spin glasses, but the EA model is nevertheless believed to distill their essential physics. In contrast, the SK model is bereft of geometric structure and behaves like an EA model in the limit of infinite dimension. Since we are really interested in finite dimensions, it is important to understand not only how the phenomena exhibited by the EA model depend on dimension d, but also how the similarities and differences between the EA and SK models depend on dimension.
Are Spin Glasses Complex Systems?
Authors: Stein Daniel L. , Newman Charles M.
Published: November 2017

This chapter considers how spin glass science fits into the larger area of complexity studies. It discusses three landmark papers in the field of complexity, by Warren Weaver, Herb Simon, and Phil Anderson, respectively, and examines how the ideas they introduced might relate to the current understanding of spin glasses. It also takes a brief look at recent developments, in particular various proposals for measures of complexity, and considers how they might illuminate some features of spin glasses. It concludes by asking whether spin glasses can still be thought of as “complex systems,” and in so doing introduces a proposal for a kind of “new complexity” as it relates to spin glasses.
Fourier Analysis and Benfordʼs Law
Authors: Miller Steven J.
Published: November 2017

This chapter continues the development of the theory of Benford's law. It uses Fourier analysis (in particular, Poisson Summation) to prove many systems either satisfy or almost satisfy the Fundamental Equivalence, and hence either obey Benford's law, or are well approximated by it. Examples range from geometric Brownian motions to random matrix theory to products and chains of random variables to special distributions. The chapter furthermore develops the notion of a Benford-good system. Unfortunately one of the conditions here concerns the cancelation in sums of translated errors related to the cumulative distribution function, and proving the required cancelation often requires techniques specific to the system of interest.
Lévy Processes and Benfordʼs Law
Authors: Schürger Klaus
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines Lévy processes (LPs). These processes can be thought of as random walks in continuous time, having independent and stationary increments, with the assumption that the characteristic function of the state of an LP at time 1 satisfies a certain “Standard Condition” (SC). Exponential Lévy processes (ELPs) in particular are quite attractive for modeling many phenomena. The chapter begins by explaining LPs in more detail, introducing the basic notions as well as providing examples of Lévy processes. It then uses a certain variant of the Poisson Summation Formula to arrive at convergence results for the expectations of certain normalized functionals of the significand of an ELP and obtain, using Azuma's inequality for martingales, large deviation results for these functionals. From here, the chapter calculates the a.s. (almost surely) convergence of normalized functionals and discusses further related conditions and theorems.
Benfordʼs Law as a Bridge between Statistics and Accounting
Authors: Cleary Richard J. , Thibodeau Jay C.
Published: November 2017

This chapter explores the connections between statistics and accounting through Benford's law and considers the questions of when and how to effectively deliver this material in such a way that Benford's law can be a tool that helps accountants make stronger and more efficient decisions using sound statistical practice. It looks at the current state of statistics education for accounting students and presents some of the ways in which accounting practice, particularly in auditing, can benefit from a statistical point of view. The chapter then demonstrates how Benford's law can be used to reinforce the key concepts that appear at the intersection of ideas from statistics and accounting. Finally, the chapter concludes with some suggestions for how to effectively incorporate Benford's law into the curriculum.
Complementing Benfordʼs Law for Small N: A Local Bootstrap
Authors: Roukema Boudewijn F.
Published: November 2017

This chapter analyzes the initially published results of the 2009 Iranian presidential elections. It applies a small N statistical first-digit frequency test that is as nonparametric as possible in a way that leaves no doubt regarding “how close” the observed system should be to a Benford's law limit. The approach this chapter studies is a local bootstrap model, designed to closely mimic the data in a way that should statistically reproduce its first-digit distributions, given some simple hypotheses about the general behavior of the system. This method was calibrated on several presidential-election first rounds from before 2009 and applied to the 2009 Iranian election.
Benfordʼs Law and Fraud in Economic Research
Authors: Tödter Karl-Heinz
Published: November 2017

This chapter reviews applications of Benford's law to uncover fraud in macroeconomic data, forecasts, and econometric regression results, as Benford's law provides tools for checking reliability and detecting fraud in science and academia. Scientific misconduct appears in various forms: fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. Replication is considered the prime strategy against scientific misconduct, but it is seldom performed in empirical economics. Regardless, the potential of Benford's law to enhance the efficiency of replication as a strategy against fraud in published research is discussed in this chapter. In addition, the chapter remarks that routine applications of Benford tests could uncover data anomalies and provide valuable hints of irregularities in empirical economics research.
Application of Benfordʼs Law to Images
Authors: Pérez-González Fernando , Quach Tu-Thach , Abdallah Chaouki T. , Heileman Gregory L. , Miller Steven J.
Published: November 2017

This chapter analyzes the application of Benford's law to pictures taken from nature with a digital camera. Considering that many natural phenomena seem to follow Benford's law and that images are often nothing but “snapshots of nature,” it is pertinent to wonder whether images (at least those taken from nature) obey Benford's law. While the values output by the image capture device embedded in the camera, i.e., the pixels, do not follow Benford's law, this chapter shows that if they are transformed into a domain that better approximates the human visual system then the resulting values satisfy a generalized form of Benford's law. This can be used for image forensic applications, such as detecting whether an image has been modified to carry a hidden message (steganography) or has been compressed with some loss of quality.
When the State Speaks, What Should It Say?
Authors: Brettschneider Corey
Published: November 2017

How should a liberal democracy respond to hate groups and others that oppose the ideal of free and equal citizenship? The democratic state faces the hard choice of either protecting the rights of hate groups and allowing their views to spread, or banning their views and violating citizens' rights to freedoms of expression, association, and religion. Avoiding the familiar yet problematic responses to these issues, this book proposes a new approach called value democracy. The theory of value democracy argues that the state should protect the right to express illiberal beliefs, but the state should also engage in democratic persuasion when it speaks through its various expressive capacities: publicly criticizing, and giving reasons to reject, hate-based or other discriminatory viewpoints. Distinguishing between two kinds of state action—expressive and coercive—the book contends that public criticism of viewpoints advocating discrimination based on race, gender, or sexual orientation should be pursued through the state's expressive capacities as speaker, educator, and spender. When the state uses its expressive capacities to promote the values of free and equal citizenship, it engages in democratic persuasion. By using democratic persuasion, the state can both respect rights and counter hateful or discriminatory viewpoints. The book extends this analysis from freedom of expression to the freedoms of religion and association, and shows that value democracy can uphold the protection of these freedoms while promoting equality for all citizens.
The Grain Trade
Authors: Temin Peter
Published: November 2017

This chapter explores the Mediterranean wheat market. The Romans made many products, from wines to pottery and glass, but wheat was the most widely traded commodity during those times. Shipped from distant provinces, the grain changed hands many times before it reached Rome. This trade was organized by the state and private merchants who did not have the benefit of modern means of transportation or communication, and merchants faced high transaction costs from several sources. The Roman government cleared the Mediterranean of pirates in 67 BCE, reducing greatly one major source of risk for merchants. However, merchants in Rome still had to rely on potentially corrupt agents operating in faraway provinces for months at a time. This arrangement created adverse selection and moral hazard problems from the asymmetric information available to merchants and their agents.
Growth Theory for Ancient Economies
Authors: Temin Peter
Published: November 2017

This chapter reviews the theory of economic growth and the problems of measuring it. It reveals that scholars trying to understand Roman macroeconomics are in far worse shape than economists dealing with more recent economies. A brief survey of some existing research on the level of Roman and Greek income shows that there is a variety of data that could be used to estimate Roman economic growth. An index of human welfare might seem appropriate to indicate the existence and extent of economic growth, but it could be too broad. Another possible measure of economic growth is an index of structural change. The idea of an Industrial Revolution and the place of industry in the economy today suggest that industrialization can be used as a measure of economic growth.
Max Weber in America
Authors: Scaff Lawrence A.
Published: November 2017

Max Weber, widely considered a founder of sociology and the modern social sciences, visited the United States in 1904 with his wife Marianne. The trip was a turning point in Weber's life and it played a pivotal role in shaping his ideas, yet until now virtually the only source of information about the trip was Marianne Weber's faithful, but not always reliable, 1926 biography of her husband. The book carefully reconstructs this important episode in Weber's career, and shows how the subsequent critical reception of Weber's work was as American a story as the trip itself. The book provides new details about Weber's visit to the United States—what he did, what he saw, whom he met and why, and how these experiences profoundly influenced Weber's thought on immigration, capitalism, science and culture, Romanticism, race, diversity, Protestantism, and modernity. It traces Weber's impact on the development of the social sciences in the United States following his death in 1920, examining how Weber's ideas were interpreted, translated, and disseminated by American scholars such as Talcott Parsons and Frank Knight, and how the Weberian canon, codified in America, was reintroduced into Europe after World War II.