bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Beverage Container Collecting Machine Project
Authors: Tur A I , Kokoulin A N , Yuzhakov A A , Polygalov S V , Troegubov A S , Korotaev V N
Published: August 2019

The article describes an integrated project for the collection and recycling of beverage containers (aluminum cans and plastic bottles) in a big city. Collection is proposed to be carried out with the help of a reverse vending machine (RVM). A RVM is a machine where people can return empty beverage containers, such as bottles and cans, for recycling. The installation of RVMs for collecting beverage containers faces difficulties in the Russian Federation due to the contradictions in the Act of the manufacturers’ extended responsibility. We offer a solution for automatic recycling of plastic and metal waste in combination with another mechanism of economic motivation of end users – a system of discounts and bonuses in large retail chains. The machine recognizes containers with a conventional camera, which allows reducing costs. Then special workshops produce more accurate sorting of containers and transfer them to processing companies for further disposal. Secondary raw materials can be reused, namely in the building and repair of automatic machines for beverage containers (internal aluminum structures and plastic parts printed on a 3D printer). This approach can significantly improve the economic efficiency of the project.
Factors of Accumulation of Heavy Metals by Above-ground Phytomass of the Predominate Plants of Urban Ecosystems of Kursk
Authors: Nevedrov N , Protsenko E , Saad Sabr
Published: August 2019

The article deals with the data on accumulation of heavy metals in the above-ground phytomass of common vegetation in urban ecosystems of Kursk. The accumulation of heavy metals by woody and grassy plants vegetating on soils of various genesis and structure of land-use experiencing contrast technogenic burden is studied. It is established that the priority element among heavy metals polluting plants is plumbum which exceeded limits of normal concentrations (norm) in 47% of samples which are taken in ecosystems of the city. Plants accumulators of manganese and zink are revealed. The proportion of the samples polluted by Pb in Tilia cordata Mill. in parks, squares and ecosites of Kursk reaches 100%. The role of two complex factors determining rates and volumes of deposition of plumbum in aboveground phytomass of common species of flora of Kursk is defined.
The sustainability of ecologically-friendly construction projects in the Arctic territory of the Russian Federation
Authors: Tsurkan M , Serditova N , Vorotnikov A
Published: August 2019

The article is aimed at developing the approach to evaluation of construction projects with respect to ecological, economic, and social constituent of “sustainability”. The methods of implementation of the ecologically-friendly construction projects in Russia’s Arctic zone based on the geographic and climatic peculiarities are proposed. The definitions of “sustainability of ecologically-friendly construction projects’ results” and “sustainability of ecologically-friendly construction projects” are provided, and the difference between the terms is explained.
Tourism and Sustainable Development in the Russian Arctic
Authors: Vorotnikov A , Maximova D , Tarasov B
Published: August 2019

The promotion of ecologically safe types of tourist activity in the Russian Arctic is a promising area. However, for this sector to develop, it will be necessary to use international experience and create systems of state support on the principles of public-private partnership. This paper aimed to present the need for public-private partnership as an essential tool for developing the tourism and recreational sector for sustainable development in the Russian Arctic. Only through the joint efforts of the state and business will it be possible to preserve wealth and ensure sustainable development of the region. Tourism could allow both full uses of such a powerful economic resource as the environment of the Arctic and preserve its fragile nature. At present, tourism in the Russian Arctic is developing poorly. But climate change leads to the development of Arctic tourism, which must be sustainable in order not to harm the fragile nature of this harsh region.
Heterogeneous spring phenology shifts affected by climate: supportive evidence from two remotely sensed vegetation indices
Authors: Xu Xiyan , Riley William J , Koven Charles D , Jia Gensuo
Published: August 2019

The Northern Hemisphere spring greenup (SG) has advanced between 0–12 days per decade since early 1980s as inferred from multiple satellite time series. The wide range of SG shifts is mainly due to the fact that these studies cover different periods and regions, and using different satellite records. Assessing the spatial heterogeneity of SG trends associated with different satellites is essential for robustly interpreting phenological dynamics and their responses to climate. We investigated the heterogeneity of the SG trends and their responses to climate variability with two satellite products (1) Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and (2) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) over the period 2001–2013. Both MODIS and AVHRR agreed in showing the spatial distribution of mean SG, and SG advancement in northern Canada, the eastern United States, and Russia, and SG delay in western North America, parts of Baltic Europe, and East Asia. However, we identified contrasting MODIS and AVHRR SG trends in the northern high latitudes. Our analyses of correlations between SG and preseason climate drivers indicated that temperature dominated the interannual variability of SG. Preseason, the period preceding SG and highly correlated with the timing of SG has experienced much stronger warming than the spring season. MODIS and AVHRR indicated consistent temperature sensitivity of SG across biomes, even though the MODIS inferred SG is better correlated and more sensitive to temperature across biomes as compared to AVHRR. The sensitivities of SG to temperature across biomes is stable but with a slight increase over 2001–2013, in comparison with that over 1988–2000. The increased SG-temperature sensitivity is associated with increased precipitation during the spring season, which regulated the sensitivity of SG to spring temperature.
Learning from the ligand: using ligand-based features to improve binding affinity prediction
Authors: Boyles Fergus , Deane Charlotte M , Morris Garrett M
Published: August 2019

Motivation

Machine learning scoring functions for protein–ligand binding affinity prediction have been found to consistently outperform classical scoring functions. Structure-based scoring functions for universal affinity prediction typically use features describing interactions derived from the protein–ligand complex, with limited information about the chemical or topological properties of the ligand itself.

Results

We demonstrate that the performance of machine learning scoring functions are consistently improved by the inclusion of diverse ligand-based features. For example, a Random Forest (RF) combining the features of RF-Score v3 with RDKit molecular descriptors achieved Pearson correlation coefficients of up to 0.836, 0.780 and 0.821 on the PDBbind 2007, 2013 and 2016 core sets, respectively, compared to 0.790, 0.746 and 0.814 when using the features of RF-Score v3 alone. Excluding proteins and/or ligands that are similar to those in the test sets from the training set has a significant effect on scoring function performance, but does not remove the predictive power of ligand-based features. Furthermore a RF using only ligand-based features is predictive at a level similar to classical scoring functions and it appears to be predicting the mean binding affinity of a ligand for its protein targets.

Availability and implementation

Data and code to reproduce all the results are freely available at http://opig.stats.ox.ac.uk/resources.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
A latent unknown clustering integrating multi-omics data (LUCID) with phenotypic traits
Authors: Peng Cheng , Wang Jun , Asante Isaac , Louie Stan , Jin Ran , Chatzi Lida , Casey Graham , Thomas Duncan C , Conti David V
Published: August 2019

Motivation

Epidemiologic, clinical and translational studies are increasingly generating multiplatform omics data. Methods that can integrate across multiple high-dimensional data types while accounting for differential patterns are critical for uncovering novel associations and underlying relevant subgroups.

Results

We propose an integrative model to estimate latent unknown clusters (LUCID) aiming to both distinguish unique genomic, exposure and informative biomarkers/omic effects while jointly estimating subgroups relevant to the outcome of interest. Simulation studies indicate that we can obtain consistent estimates reflective of the true simulated values, accurately estimate subgroups and recapitulate subgroup-specific effects. We also demonstrate the use of the integrated model for future prediction of risk subgroups and phenotypes. We apply this approach to two real data applications to highlight the integration of genomic, exposure and metabolomic data.

Availability and Implementation

The LUCID method is implemented through the LUCIDus R package available on CRAN (https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=LUCIDus).

Supplementary information

Supplementary materials are available at Bioinformatics online.
Progress in reducing child mortality and stunting in India: an application of the Lives Saved Tool
Authors: Alderman Harold , Nguyen Phuong Hong , Menon Purnima
Published: August 2019

The Lives Saved Tool (LiST) has been used to estimate the impact of scaling up intervention coverage on undernutrition and mortality. Evidence for the model is largely based on efficacy trials, raising concerns of applicability to large-scale contexts. We modelled the impact of scaling up health programs in India between 2006 and 2016 and compared estimates to observed changes. Demographics, intervention coverage and nutritional status were obtained from National Family and Health Survey 2005–6 (NFHS-3) for the base year and NHFS-4 2015–16 for the endline. We used the LiST to estimate the impact of changes in coverage of interventions over this decade on child mortality and undernutrition at national and subnational levels and calculated the gap between estimated and observed changes in 2016. At the national level, the LiST estimates are close to the actual values of mortality for children <1 year and <5 years in 2016 (at 41 vs 42.6 and 50 vs 56.4, respectively, per 1000 live births). National estimates for stunting, wasting and anaemia at are also close to the actual values of NFHS-4. At the state level, actual changes were higher than the changes from the LiST projections for both mortality and stunting. The predicted changes using the LiST ranged from 33% to 92% of the actual change. The LiST provided national projections close to, albeit slightly below, actual performance over a decade. Reasons for poorer performance of state-specific projections are unknown; further refinements to the LiST for subnational use would improve the usefulness of the tool.
Tube Well Use as Protection Against Rotavirus Infection During the Monsoons in an Urban Setting
Authors: Martinez Pamela P , Mahmud Ayesha S , Yunus Mohammad , Faruque A S G , Ahmed Tahmeed , Pascual Mercedes , Buckee Caroline O
Published: August 2019

Rotavirus, a diarrheal pathogen spread via fecal-oral transmission, is typically characterized by a winter incidence peak in most countries. Unlike for cholera and other waterborne infections, the role of sanitation and socioeconomic factors on the spatial variation of rotavirus seasonality remains unclear. In the current study, we analyzed their association with rotavirus seasonality, specifically the odds of monsoon cases, across 46 locations from 2001 to 2012 in Dhaka. Drinking water from tube wells, compared to other sources, has a clear protective effect against cases during the monsoon, when flooding and water contamination are more likely. This finding supports a significant environmental component of transmission.
The Problem isn’t the Database…
Authors: Ballard Ron
Published: August 2019

Ron Ballard, author of Relational Databases for Agile Developers, examines why many application builders are finding that their database applications take too long to build, have performance and reliability issues and are hard to change.
Change Management and Devops: Back to the Future
Authors: Torble Tracey
Published: August 2019

Tracey Torble, IT service management consultant and author of Change Manager (a BCS publication) considers the role of change management in an agile world
Molecular correlates of cerebellar mutism syndrome in medulloblastoma
Authors: Jabarkheel Rashad , Amayiri Nisreen , Yecies Derek , Huang Yuhao , Toescu Sebastian , Nobre Liana , Mabbott Donald J , Sudhakar Sniya V , Malik Prateek , Laughlin Suzanne , Swaidan Maisa , Al Hussaini Maysa , Musharbash Awni , Chacko Geeta , Mathew Leni G , Fisher Paul G , Hargrave Darren , Bartels Ute , Tabori Uri , Pfister Stefan M , Aquilina Kristian , Taylor Michael D , Grant Gerald A , Bouffet Eric , Mankad Kshitij , Yeom Kristen W , Ramaswamy Vijay
Published: August 2019

Background

Cerebellar mutism syndrome (CMS) is a common complication following resection of posterior fossa tumors, most commonly after surgery for medulloblastoma. Medulloblastoma subgroups have historically been treated as a single entity when assessing CMS risk; however, recent studies highlighting their clinical heterogeneity suggest the need for subgroup-specific analysis. Here, we examine a large international multicenter cohort of molecularly characterized medulloblastoma patients to assess predictors of CMS.

Methods

We assembled a cohort of 370 molecularly characterized medulloblastoma subjects with available neuroimaging from 5 sites globally, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, Christian Medical College and Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children, King Hussein Cancer Center, and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Age at diagnosis, sex, tumor volume, and CMS development were assessed in addition to molecular subgroup.

Results

Overall, 23.8% of patients developed CMS. CMS patients were younger (mean difference −2.05 years ± 0.50, P = 0.0218) and had larger tumors (mean difference 10.25 cm3 ± 4.60, P = 0.0010) that were more often midline (odds ratio [OR] = 5.72, P < 0.0001). In a multivariable analysis adjusting for age, sex, midline location, and tumor volume, Wingless (adjusted OR = 4.91, P = 0.0063), Group 3 (adjusted OR = 5.56, P = 0.0022), and Group 4 (adjusted OR = 8.57 P = 9.1 × 10−5) tumors were found to be independently associated with higher risk of CMS compared with sonic hedgehog tumors.

Conclusions

Medulloblastoma subgroup is a very strong predictor of CMS development, independent of tumor volume and midline location. These findings have significant implications for management of both the tumor and CMS.
Similarities and Differences Between Sexes and Countries in the Mortality Imprint of the Smoking Epidemic in 34 Low-Mortality Countries, 1950–2014
Authors: Janssen Fanny
Published: August 2019

Introduction

The smoking epidemic greatly affected mortality levels and trends, especially among men in low-mortality countries. The objective of this article was to examine similarities and differences between sexes and low-mortality countries in the mortality imprint of the smoking epidemic. This will provide important additions to the smoking epidemic model, but also improve our understanding of the differential impact of the smoking epidemic, and provide insights into its future impact.

Methods

Using lung-cancer mortality data for 30 European and four North American or Australasian countries, smoking-attributable mortality fractions (SAMF) by sex, age (35–99), and year (1950–2014) were indirectly estimated. The timing and level of the peak in SAMF35-99, estimated using weighting and smoothing, were compared.

Results

Among men in all countries except Bulgaria, a clear wave pattern was observed, with SAMF35-99 peaking, on average, at 33.4% in 1986. Eastern European men experienced the highest (40%) and Swedish men the lowest (16%) peak. Among women, SAMF35-99 peaked, on average, at 18.1% in 2007 in the North American/Australasian countries and five Northwestern European countries, and increased, on average, to 7.5% in 2014 in the remaining countries (4% in Southern and Eastern Europe). The average sex difference in the peak is at least 25.6 years in its timing and at most 22.9 percentage points in its level.

Conclusions

Although the progression of smoking-attributable mortality in low-mortality countries was similar, there are important unexpected sex and country differences in the maximum mortality impact of the smoking epidemic driven by cross-country differences in economic, political, and emancipatory progress.

Implications

The formal, systematic, and comprehensive analysis of similarities and differences between sexes and 34 low-mortality countries in long-term time trends (1950–2014) in smoking-attributable mortality provided important additions to the Global Burden of Disease study and the descriptive smoking epidemic model (Lopez et al.). Despite a general increase followed by a decline, the timing of the maximum mortality impact differs more between sexes than previously anticipated, but less between regions. The maximum mortality impact among men differs considerably between countries. The observed substantial diversity warrants country-specific tobacco control interventions and increased attention to the current or expected higher smoking-attributable mortality shares among women compared to men.
Abbas Kiarostami at Bard College with Five, March 4, 2007
Authors: MacDonald Scott
Published: August 2019

In the months following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, filmmaking itself looked to be an endangered art form. Some Iranian filmmakers left the country; Abbas Kiarostami stayed—though for a time he was not making films. He turned to photography and produced a distinguished body of landscape representation. Then he returned to filmmaking, working far from Tehran in the Iranian countryside and in a low-key, but powerful and passionate way distinct from his more urban pre-revolutionary work. This public interview (at Bard College) with Kiarostami focuses on his experimental film Five (2003), a film originally made for an event in honor of Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu. Five is made up of five very minimal scenes, filmed at the edge of the Caspian Sea: scenes of a quiet surf, of several dogs hanging out on the beach, of a gaggle of geese and ducks, of men walking on a boardwalk, and, in the longest scene, a full moon reflected in the water. Five now seems a premonition of the final film Kiarostami finished before his death in 2016, 24 Frames (2018).
The Outrageous Idea of Christian Teaching
Authors: Glanzer Perry , Alleman Nathan , Marsden George
Published: August 2019

There are thousands of Christian professors, many of whom claim “Christian” as their primary identity and teaching as their primary responsibility. Much of the current literature about the integration of faith and learning focuses on the differences between Christian scholarship and Christian teaching. As a result, few books explore how Christian identity, or a particular Christian identity (e.g., Baptist, Anglican), shapes teaching. In addition, few works examine what identity-influenced teaching outside of one’s professional identity looks like in the contemporary university. One distinguishing feature of this book is that it addresses both those subjects by exploring responses of Christian professors to questions about how them. By drawing upon a mixed-methods survey of over 2,300 Christian professors, this book reveals the wide range of wisdom that contemporary professors offer about how they practice faith-informed teaching. The second unique quality of this book is that it situates the findings of this study within the wider scholarly conversation about the role of identity-informed teaching. It describes the tensions within this conversation between those who advocate for restraining the influence of one’s extraprofessional identities and those who, in the name of authenticity, promote the full integration of one’s primary identities into the classroom. It then sets forth an original position that draws from empirical research to provide a nuanced approach to this issue. Overall, the book charts new ground regarding how professors think about Christian teaching in particular, as well as how professors should approach identity-informed teaching in general.
Discrimination and Oppression
Authors: Lindemann Hilde
Published: August 2019

The chapter surveys the feminist ethicist’s tool kit, introducing and explaining such concepts as gender neutrality, androcentrism, and difference. Gender neutrality is broken down into a critical examination of androgyny and assimilation that is put to use in a reflection on affirmative action. This is followed by a consideration of oppression and how it operates.
Feminist Ethics of Care and Responsibility
Authors: Lindemann Hilde
Published: August 2019

This chapter offers an in-depth discussion of two specifically feminist moral theories. It opens with a discussion of the ethics of care, followed by criticisms and how they can be addressed. Then it takes up what might be called a feminist ethics of responsibility, which stresses the importance of relationships other than caring ones. Here, morality is depicted as practices of responsibility that may be thrust upon one, contested, accepted, delegated, deflected, and so on, and that are often epistemically rigged in favor of those in positions of power. The chapter closes by pointing out that both feminist moral theories insist on the fundamental importance of human relationships, are keenly attentive to unjust power imbalances, and begin with nonideal, real-time personal interactions.
Between Impunity and Imperialism
Authors: Davis Kevin E.
Published: August 2019

Between Impunity and Imperialism: The Regulation of Transnational Bribery describes the legal regime that regulates transnational bribery, identifies and explains the rationales that have guided its evolution, and suggests directions for reform. The broad argument is that the current regime embodies a set of values, theories, and practices labeled the “OECD paradigm.” A key premise is that transnational bribery is a serious problem which merits a vigorous legal response, particularly given the difficulty of detecting instances of bribery. The shape of the appropriate response can be summed up in the phrase, “every little bit helps.” In practice this means that: prohibitions should capture a broad range of conduct; enforcement should target as broad a range of actors as possible; sanctions should be as stiff as possible; and as many enforcement agencies as possible should be involved in the enforcement process. The OECD paradigm embraces two interrelated propositions: that transnational bribery is a serious problem and that it demands a uniform response. An important challenge to the OECD paradigm, labeled the “anti-imperialist critique,” accepts that transnational bribery is a serious problem but denies that the appropriate legal responses must be uniform. This book explores both the OECD paradigm and the anti-imperialist critique, and provides a detailed analysis of their implications for the key elements of transnational bribery law. It concludes by suggesting that the competing views can be reconciled by moving toward a more inclusive and experimentalist regime which accommodates reasonable disagreements about regulatory design and is crafted with due attention to the interests of all affected parties.
Introduction
Authors: Davis Kevin E.
Published: August 2019

This chapter introduces the concept of transnational bribery law, as well as the associated anti-bribery regime, and describes both the dominant approach to its design and an important critique. Transnational bribery law is defined by four questions: What types of conduct should be targeted? Which actors ought to be considered complicit? What sanctions ought to be imposed? Who should bear the benefits and burdens of imposing those sanctions? The dominant approach to these questions can be called the OECD paradigm. That paradigm generally presumes that legal institutions outside the state whose official has been bribed ought to prohibit a broad range of conduct, target a wide range of actors, impose severe sanctions, and involve as many agencies as possible in enforcement. The anti-imperialist critique challenges the OECD paradigm in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, fairness, due process, and legitimacy. An inclusive experimentalist approach offers a way to reconcile these competing views.
Imperial Anti-corruption Law
Authors: Davis Kevin E.
Published: August 2019

This chapter traces the history of transnational bribery law to its antecedents in two landmarks trials from the Roman and British empires: Cicero’s prosecution of Verres and the impeachment of Warren Hastings, former Governor General of India, led by Edmund Burke. Both prosecutors rejected what Burke called geographical morality in favor of the relatively cosmopolitan view that corrupt practices ought to be condemned regardless of where they take place. The trials demonstrate both the potential benefits of this kind of legal initiative and the challenges associated with allowing politically partisan actors to prosecute cases on behalf of foreigners based on complex financial transactions in remote locations in the context of a large organization. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of transnational aspects of British and French anti-corruption law and bribery law in the postcolonial era.
Criteria for Evaluation
Authors: Davis Kevin E.
Published: August 2019

This chapter sets out the criteria for evaluation of transnational bribery law. The UN Convention against Corruption suggests that the law ought to address the problems posed by bribery effectively and efficiently in a manner compatible with due process. Legitimacy and fairness are also potentially relevant. In order to apply these precepts, the chapter considers the nature of the problems posed by bribery, how to measure the progress in mitigating those problems, and then defines the concepts of effectiveness, efficiency, due process, legitimacy, and fairness. Effectiveness can be defined in many different ways depending on whether one focuses on impacts on victims, wrongdoers, and potential victims or wrongdoers. These distinctions correspond to three traditional objectives for legal regulation, namely, compensation, condemnation, and prevention. It is also necessary to distinguish impacts on fellow nationals and foreigners.
When Should Organizations Be Liable for Transnational Bribery?
Authors: Davis Kevin E.
Published: August 2019

When should organizations, as opposed to individuals, be the targets of sanctions for transnational bribery? The OECD paradigm calls for the net of liability to be cast widely, not only over individual perpetrators but also over the organizations they represent, and perhaps also over companies that own, merge with, or acquire those entities. There have even been moves to sanction states whose officials have solicited or accepted bribes, including by barring recovery of compensation from the bribe payer. Organizational liability is typically justified as a way to induce private regulation, which is presumed to be relatively effective and efficient. However, the effectiveness of self-regulation is contingent on factors such as the presence of complementary legal institutions and expertise. There are also questions about its expense and legitimacy.
Durable Ethnicity
Authors: Telles Edward , Sue Christina A.
Published: August 2019

Despite the common perception that most persons of Mexican origin in the United States are undocumented immigrants or the young children of immigrants, the majority are citizens and have been living in the United States for three or more generations. On many dimensions of integration, this group initially makes strides on education, English language use, socioeconomic status, intermarriage, residential segregation, and political participation, but progress on some dimensions halts at the second generation as poverty rates remain high and educational attainment declines for the third and fourth generations, although ethnic identity remains generally strong. In these ways, the experience of Mexican Americans differs considerably from that of previous waves of European immigrants who were incorporated and assimilated fully into the mainstream within two or three generations. This book examines what ethnicity means and how it is negotiated in the lives of multiple generations of Mexican Americans.
Introduction
Authors: Telles Edward , Sue Christina A.
Published: August 2019

Mexican Americans are unique in the panoply of American ethnoracial groups in that they are the descendants of the largest and longest lasting immigration stream in U.S. history. Today, there are approximately 24 million U.S.-born Mexican Americans, many of whom are multiple generations removed from their immigrant ancestors. Contrary to traditional assimilation theories, which predict that ethnicity and ethnic distinctions will disappear by the third generation, Mexican Americans exhibit a persistent and durable ethnicity with regard to their ethnic identity, culture, and networks. However, there is much heterogeneity within the population which ranges on a continuum from symbolic ethnicity to consequential ethnicity. We argue that one of the reasons for the group-level durability and the within-group variation is due to the existence of a strong ethnic core, the importance of which has been overlooked in previous assimilation theories.
The Ghost and the Machine
Authors: Williams R. John
Published: August 2019

A number of recent discussions of The Book of Mormon have attempted to push beyond the tired debates of apologists and critics by “bracketing” questions of the book’s ancient historicity. According to this approach, old efforts at affirming the text’s historicity only restrain and delimit our interpretive efforts by requiring in advance either dismissals of the volume’s sacred status (showing, for example, how many elements in the text have some correlative cultural referent in Joseph’s Smith’s New England religious environment; hence, fraud) or else faith-promoting reconstructions of its ancient historical origins (showing, by contrast, how many elements in the book can be explained only by transhistorical, angelic delivery; hence, Word of God). This essay argues that despite these pitfalls the narrative and structural realities of The Book of Mormon make all such attempts impossible. It is in this sense that the book provides a valuable case study in textual interpretation.
The Book of Mormon and the Bible
Authors: Hardy Grant
Published: August 2019

The Book of Mormon appeared in American history at a time of religious turmoil. As it attempted to answer questions posed by Christians and skeptics alike, it did so through narrative rather than direct exegetical commentary or doctrinal exposition (though such genres were at times incorporated into its narrative). Moreover, Joseph Smith’s book was presented as a newly revealed ancient scripture, equal in authority to the Bible. Consequently, while it shared many characteristics with the emerging genre of biblical fiction and reflected shifts in political culture from Old Testament inflected nationalism to a New Testament emphasis on individual salvation, The Book of Mormon was nevertheless an unusual literary and religious work. From a theological perspective, it affirmed many elements of conservative Christianity, including angels, prophecy, divine providence, and spiritual gifts, yet its very existence as extra-biblical scripture challenged notions of the uniqueness and sufficiency of the Bible. The Book of Mormon was clearly intended to be a companion to the Bible, and the connections between the two include not only thematic elements, but also archaic diction, shared phrasing, allusions, and subtle modifications of familiar biblical expressions that recontextualize and explain theological concepts and ambiguities.
An American Book of Chronicles
Authors: Shalev Eran
Published: August 2019

By the time Joseph Smith published The Book of Mormon, Americans had been producing and consuming faux biblical texts for close to a century. Imitating a practice that originated as a satirical literary genre in eighteenth-century Britain, Americans began producing pseudo-biblical texts during the Revolution. This essay demonstrates how the prism of pseudo-biblicism allows us to view The Book of Mormon as emerging from a larger biblico-American world. The genre demonstrates how pervasive the Bible was in the cultural landscape of the Republic and the ease with which Americans lapsed into biblical language. As this essay points out, however, pseudo-biblical discourse also sheds new light on The Book of Mormon. The similarities between The Book of Mormon and other pseudo-biblical texts provide a significant context to understanding the creation and reception of Smith’s text, the culture of biblicism in the nineteenth century, and the intellectual history of the early American Republic.
How the Mormons Became White
Authors: Coviello Peter
Published: August 2019

This essay scrutinizes the place of race and indigeneity in The Book of Mormon, paying special attention to the ways questions of origins work themselves out in relation to the text’s altogether singular narrative form. Taking up the strains of anti-imperial critique to be found in the work—its glancing vision of the putative heroes, the Nephites, as self-blinded imperialists—the essay examines how precisely this sense of the political morality of The Book of Mormon played out in the Mormons’ ventures into the West, where it came to be routed through the Saints’ fractured identifications and disidentifications with Native peoples, with the imperial United States, and with their own scriptural forebears.
“We’re Going to Take Our Land Back Over”
Authors: Thayne Stanley J.
Published: August 2019

Reading is a cultural activity, meaning that we read from a particular space and cultural positionality. An ethnography of reading, then, takes into account how one’s positionality affects one’s reading, and, concomitantly, how that reading reflects (and affects) one’s position in the world. As I argue and hope to subsequently demonstrate, Indigenous peoples read The Book of Mormon from a particular space that places them in a special, and potentially fraught, relationship to the text. Since The Book of Mormon claims to be a history of the peopling of the Americas, the stakes of interpretation are particularly high for Indigenous Americans, because, for those who accept the historicity and sacred status of The Book of Mormon as scripture, it has significant bearing on articulations of ancestry, identity, and Indigeneity. In this chapter I provide an ethnographic reading of an Indigenous woman’s reading of The Book of Mormon from the Catawba Indian Nation.
The Book of Mormon and the Reshaping of Covenant
Authors: Givens Terryl
Published: August 2019

The Book of Mormon can be situated within the context of a tradition of covenantal rhetoric. The book is introduced by its editor as assurance to an American remnant of Israel of “the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off.” The term covenant occurs almost 200 times in the text—but it undergoes particular permutations that endow the concept with new shades of meaning. First, against the book’s stark apocalypticism, the gold plates themselves embody the durability of covenant and secure a bridge from ancient to restoration forms of relation to the divine. Second, The Book of Mormon hints at a soteriological reconstruction of covenant that emerges in the context of Smith’s radical theism and his reconstitution of heaven into an anthropocentric rather than theocentric heaven. Covenant, in this light, becomes constitutive of, rather than preparatory for, the celestial society that itself comprises the Mormon heaven.
An ʿĀ lim in the Russian Empire
Authors: Spannaus Nathan
Published: August 2019

Following the Russian conquests of the 16th century, ulama became the foremost social authorities for Volga-Ural Muslims. Tsarist efforts at governing the Muslim population increasingly focused on them in the 18th century, with greater tolerance and state support for Islamic institutions alongside a co-optation of scholars’ authority. In 1788, the Orenburg Spiritual Assembly was founded, placing all ulama under a hierarchy controlled by the state. The Spiritual Assembly offered stability and permanence to Islamic institutions, allowing for a flourishing in Islamic scholarship, but it also transformed the ulama and application of Islamic law. This chapter addresses Muslims’ shifting relationship to the Russian state and the structural changes to Islamic institutions, and how this impacted scholarship. Focusing specifically on ulama in the 18th and early 19th centuries, it places Qursawi’s life and career within this context, particularly his education, the formation of his thought, and his condemnation in Bukhara for heresy.
Ijtihād and the Function of Legal Theory
Authors: Spannaus Nathan
Published: August 2019

Ijtihad is a major aspect of Qursawi’s reformism. He understands it as the exercise of Islamic legal interpretation, forming a necessary link between scripture and the daily life of the community. But he argues that the structures of taqlid, especially rigid ranks for fuqaha within the madhhab, have severed that link. He states that ijtihad must be carried out, and he takes the radical position that it is an obligation upon all Muslims. Everyone should learn methods of interpretation to verify scholars’ pronouncements and determine correct action. In this, he relies on conventional Hanafi jurisprudence, if broadened in its scope. Although at odds with his contemporaries, who insisted upon taqlid (in some cases to an extreme degree) this chapter argues that this radical stance is warranted by the changes to the ulama under Russian rule, and obliging legal interpretation upon everyone promotes adherence to sharia in an environment where it had been undermined.
The Question of the Divine Attributes
Authors: Spannaus Nathan
Published: August 2019

As part of his reformism, Qursawi criticized the prevailing orthodoxy regarding the divine attributes (sifat), which was one of the central issues in Sunni theology. Qursawi rejects the position, articulated by Sa‘d al-Din Taftazani, that there are seven or eight separate attributes, dependent on God and possible of existence (mumkin). Although he accepts the basic premises of the issue in post-Avicennian kalam, Qursawi argues that Taftazani’s stance makes the attributes too distinct from God, violating God’s fundamental oneness (tawhid). He focuses on the attributes’ multiplicity (ta‘addud), differentiation (mughayara), and superaddition (ziyada) as erroneous, arguing they render the attributes contingent entities, in contrast to God’s inherent necessity (as wajib al-wujud), infringing upon His transcendence (tanzih). This stance brought accusations of Mu‘tazilism against Qursawi and led to his condemnation for heresy in Bukhara. Qursawi further criticizes kalam as too based in rational speculation, leading to error and spreading incorrect beliefs.
Postclassical Kalām
Authors: Spannaus Nathan
Published: August 2019

Qursawi’s stance on the attributes was shaped by trends in the theological tradition, as ideas from ibn ‘Arabi’s metaphysics became very influential in later kalam in Central Asia, incorporated into mainstream Sunni scholarship by figures such as ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami and Jalal al-Din Dawani. These ideas revolved around ontological issues, particularly of the relationship between God’s existence and the (non)existence of everything else. But this dichotomy left the status of the divine attributes in question, which Qursawi’s stance seeks to address. This chapter discusses how ibn ‘Arabi’s “school” influenced postclassical kalam in Central Asia, Qursawi’s criticism of that tradition, and how his thought responded to this influence. It focuses particularly on the work of Ahmad Sirhindi, who was a major figure in this setting, as Qursawi and most of his contemporary opponents were members of Sirhindi’s Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi order.
Introduction
Authors: Frase Richard S. , Roberts Julian V.
Published: August 2019

This chapter provides an overview of the book, including the following major topics: why this neglected topic is so important; the ubiquity of prior record enhancement in modern sentencing systems, and their particularly powerful roles in U.S. jurisdictions with sentencing guidelines; the wide variations in the criminal history scoring formulas used in guidelines, with respect to matters such as which prior crimes and other factors are included, the weight each receives, and the degree to which a high score increases recommended sentence severity; the unclear punishment rationales for such enhancements; and the numerous negative consequences of these enhancements— increasing the size and expense of prison populations, undermining the important goal of punishment in proportion to offense severity, increasing the need for prison beds to house property and other nonviolent offenders, generating large numbers of aging prison inmates, contributing to racial disproportionality in prison populations, and undermining offenders’ efforts to reintegrate into society.
What Other Factors Indicate High or Low Recidivism Risk?
Authors: Frase Richard S. , Roberts Julian V.
Published: August 2019

If prior record enhancements are justified as a way to manage offender risk, policymakers need to consider other, non-record risk factors that may improve risk-prediction accuracy. This chapter examines the limited extent to which guidelines systems have incorporated such factors—usually as a ground for departure or other adjustment after the recommended sentence has been determined based on current offense and prior record. The chapter summarizes the offense factors and non-criminal-history offender factors, such as the offender’s current age and criminal thinking patterns, that criminological research has found to be good predictors of the risk of re-offending, and that are often included in widely used risk assessment instruments such as the Salient Factor Score, CSRA, and LSI-R. Very few of these non-record risk factors have been given a formal role in guidelines sentencing. The chapter argues that judges should be allowed to consider some of these factors, especially older age.
Adverse Impacts on Offense-Based Proportionality and Prison-Use Priorities
Authors: Frase Richard S. , Roberts Julian V. , Hester Rhys
Published: August 2019

This chapter shows how powerful criminal history enhancements undermine important goals of guidelines reforms. First, these enhancements undermine the goal of making punishment severity proportional to the seriousness of the offense for which the offender is being sentenced; if prior record receives more weight in sentencing, conviction offense seriousness receives less weight. Second, these enhancements counteract the goal of reserving expensive prison beds for offenders convicted of violent crimes—powerful criminal history enhancements shift the balance of prison admissions and inmate stocks toward property, drug, and other nonviolent offenders. Third, prior record enhancements change the composition of prison populations by risk level—older offenders often have more prior convictions but declining recidivism risks, so criminal history enhancements increase the number of aging, low-risk prison inmates. The formulaic nature of such enhancements also over-predicts the risk level of some younger offenders. The chapter concludes with proposals for limiting these adverse effects.
Problematic Components Found in Many Criminal History Formulas
Authors: Frase Richard S. , Roberts Julian V.
Published: August 2019

The focus of this chapter is on five components of criminal history scores that lack strong justification from the perspective of recidivism risk, retribution, or both rationales. These components are: juvenile court adjudications, misdemeanor convictions, the offender’s “custody status” when committing the offense being sentenced (whether he was incarcerated or on some form of criminal justice release), weighting prior felony convictions according to their severity ranking or other seriousness indicator, and the policy in some jurisdictions of according extra weight to prior offenses that were similar to the offense being sentenced (“patterning” premiums). The chapter then presents data from Minnesota, showing how the inclusion of the first four of these score components greatly increases the frequency and duration of recommended and imposed prison terms. The chapter concludes that criminal history scores should not routinely include any of these five problematic components, although judges might consider them as potential aggravating factors.
Southern White Privilege
Authors: Maxwell Angie , Shields Todd
Published: August 2019

In order to solidify support among its southern white base, the GOP offered powerful characterizations of the haves and have-nots, of the taxpayer and the tax recipient, of the makers and the takers, all of which promoted the belief that some Americans deserved privileges but others did not. Thus, the techniques of the Long Southern Strategy are more complex than simply elevating whiteness to maintain the racial hierarchy. Additionally, the Long Southern Strategy turned the political arena into a zero-sum economic game, in which only one group could prosper. GOP leaders framed federal entitlements as big government waste and minority advancement as tantamount to white persecution. In turn, opposition to both safeguards white privilege by championing fiscal conservatism and pretending whiteness is a meritocracy. While a popular and effective dog whistle, these messages make southern whites vulnerable to identity politics and subject to vote against their economic self-interest.
Southern White Fundamentalism
Authors: Maxwell Angie , Shields Todd
Published: August 2019

The fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention that began in 1979 provided the GOP the opportunity to close the deal with white southern voters. Fundamentalist members, anxious over social changes, successfully executed a decades-long plan to seize control of reshape the SBC to reflect their extremist views. They exiled moderates from the denomination almost entirely and re-codified the inferior status of women in the church; biblical inerrancy and absolutism triumphed over interpretation and compromise. The absolutism in terms of religious doctrine gave way to an absolutism in public policy, hyper-partisanship, and demand for political action. In order to court southern evangelical voters, the Republican Party took increasingly hardline stances on issues like gay marriage and abortion under the banner of family values, a slogan cribbed from the anti-feminists who had been propping up white supremacy in the South for generations.
Conclusion
Authors: Maxwell Angie , Shields Todd
Published: August 2019

The Long Southern Strategy was “long” because all three components of the strategy—choosing to exploit white racial angst, fear of feminism, and evangelical righteousness—were necessary to build a solid red base in the states of the old Confederacy. The stark polarization that resulted from these partisan choices unraveled the New Deal coalition. It also redivided white Americans not just along the Mason-Dixon line, but across the imagined fault line of southern identity. Thus, conservatism was redefined on the basis of white southern identity, and that definition became the baseline ideology of the Republican brand nationwide. A partisan sorting and realignment followed. As a result, the distribution of white Americans who harbor Racial Resentment or Modern Sexist attitudes or who identify as Christian fundamentalists is no longer even across the parties, and now, within the GOP, there is not enough opposition to fully suppress such prejudice or religiosity.