bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Palestinian Arabic in the diaspora
Authors: Abou Taha Yasmine , Levey Stephen
Published: November 2022

Using a comparative sociolinguistic framework, the present investigation addresses contact between Palestinian and Lebanese Arabic in Beirut. The investigation targets the variable raising of /a:/ to [e:] in word-medial position, claimed to be a stereotypical feature of Lebanese Arabic, which is reportedly infiltrating the Palestinian Arabic spoken by the local refugee population. Incorporating extra-linguistic parameters of contact into the investigation as well as an apparent-time component as a check on linguistic change, the study compares Lebanese and Palestinian speech data to determine the extent to which the linguistic conditioning of the target variable in Lebanese Arabic is replicated by speakers of Palestinian Arabic. Results suggest that the variable use of word-medial raised [e:] in Palestinian Arabic is the product of contact with the majority Lebanese variety and that this development can be characterized as an off-the-shelf change insofar as it is relatively accessible to those speakers who adopt it.
Variability of nominal genitives in Casablanca Moroccan Arabic
Authors: Prazeres Robert
Published: November 2022

This paper uses sociolinguistic variationist methods to quantitatively analyze patterns of nominal genitive usage in natural speech data from Casablanca Moroccan Arabic. The two variants of nominal genitives, the analytic genitive (involving a genitive exponent /dja:l/ or /d/) and the synthetic genitive (or construct state) are examined using multivariate analysis. Results show that the synthetic genitive is highly correlated with inalienable possession, as previous literature claims. The analytic is predominant overall when the possessor is a lexical noun, partly supporting claims that Moroccan Arabic uses it the most, but the synthetic is still dominant with pronoun possessors.
Contextualizing fluency in advanced spoken learner language
Authors: Götz Sandra , Wolk Christoph , Jäschke Katja
Published: November 2022

The present study investigates four types of core fluencemes (filled and unfilled pauses, discourse markers and repeats) in four components of the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (Gilquin et al. 2010). We test these fluencemes for (1) possible transfer effects, (2) the effect of task type, (3) the influence of the communicative behavior of the interlocutor and (4) other linguistic and non-linguistic variables. Our findings reveal L1 transfer effects for all variables, while learning context variables have a stable positive effect on learner fluency. Task type does not reveal unidirectional effects, while the communicative behavior of the interlocutor turned out to have a significant effect on the learners’ performance, indicating that processes of ‘confluence’ are at play.
Single-molecule imaging reveals how mavacamten and PKA modulate ATP turnover in skeletal muscle myofibrils
Authors: Pilagov Matvey , Heling Laurens W.H.J. , Walklate Jonathan , Geeves Michael A. , Kad Neil M.
Published: November 2022

Muscle contraction is controlled at two levels: the thin and the thick filaments. The latter level of control involves three states of myosin heads: active, disordered relaxed (DRX), and super-relaxed (SRX), the distribution of which controls the number of myosins available to interact with actin. How these are controlled is still uncertain. Using fluorescently labeled ATP, we were able to spatially assign the activity of individual myosins within the sarcomere. We observed that SRX comprises 53% of all heads in the C-zone compared with 35% and 44% in the P- and D-zones, respectively. The recently FDA-approved hypertrophic cardiomyopathy drug, mavacamten (mava), significantly decreased DRX, favoring SRX in both the C- and D-zones at 60% and 63%, respectively. Since thick filament regulation is in part regulated by the myosin-binding protein-C (MyBP-C), we also studied PKA phosphorylation. This had the opposite effect as mava, specifically in the C-zone where it decreased SRX to 34%, favoring DRX. These results directly show that excess concentrations of mava do increase SRX, but the effect is limited across the sarcomere, suggesting mava is less effective on skeletal muscle. In addition, we show that PKA directly affects the contractile machinery of skeletal muscle leading to the liberation of repressed heads. Since the effect is focused on the C-zone, this suggests it is likely through MyBP-C phosphorylation, although our data suggest that a further reserve of myosins remain that are not accessible to PKA treatment.
Effects of electric field on Rayleigh limit of nanoscale water droplets: molecular dynamics simulation
Authors: Zhang Ming , Xiao Menghan , Han Feng , Jiang Li , Li Chuan , Wang Pengyu , Liao Yuanxu , Pan Yuan
Published: November 2022

Nanoscale charged water droplets play a significant role in many physical processes, including cloud electrification and electrospray ionization, which have become one research focus. Generally, the maximum value of charge that a droplet can carry is called Rayleigh limit. Here, we investigate the effect of electric field (<0.5 V nm−1) on Rayleigh limit of nanoscale water droplets (r < 5 nm) by molecular dynamics simulation and theoretically qualitative analysis. In the simulation, Rayleigh limit of nanoscale water droplets under various electric fields is investigated based on optimal point charge water model by GROMACS package code. Our study demonstrates that electric field could affect Rayleigh limit by generating the induced charge, changing the surface tension and the droplet shape. Further, we propose the modified Rayleigh limit formula under electric field, with considering the potential energy of deformed charged droplet under strong electric field. The modified formula can qualitatively explain the abnormal trend that Rayleigh limit of nanoscale water droplet (r > 3 nm) decreases first and then increases with the electric field (<0.5 V nm−1) in the simulation.
Simultaneous background-oriented schlieren and retroreflective shadowgraph visualization
Authors: Talluru K M , Kleine H
Published: November 2022

This paper describes a large-scale visualization system that can simultaneously produce background-oriented schlieren (BOS) images and retroreflective shadowgrams (RS) of a compressible flow. The simultaneous measurements with BOS and RS in two optically equal systems allowed a direct comparison of the performance of the two methods and to quantify the relative differences, primarily with respect to identifying the broad range of length scales in a turbulent compressible flow. Further, direct comparisons are made between the schlieren image obtained from the BOS measurement, the displacement map obtained by subtracting a no-flow image from the unprocessed BOS record, the divergence of the BOS displacement field (the latter two are forms of a BOS-generated shadowgram), and the simultaneously obtained direct shadowgram from the RS setup. A qualitative comparison of the results indicated that all the three methods (BOS schlieren, direct difference, and divergence of the BOS-schlieren record) can capture the large-scale flow structures but that the smaller scales in the plume can only be resolved to a much lesser extent. These structures were, however, easily resolved in the RS images. The results show that, in the described system, the resolution of the BOS images is lower than that of the shadowgrams by a factor of about five. Further tests indicate that these differences in the spatial resolution of the BOS technique cannot be removed using a different design of the random-dot background pattern. These observations apply to the used large-scale system in which a minimum distance between the observed object and each of the two screens (background pattern/reflective) has to be maintained. This constraint also meant that neither system could be optimized with respect to spatial resolution.
Tuning of the electronic and vibrational properties of epitaxial MoS2 through He-ion beam modification
Authors: Parida Shayani , Wang Yongqiang , Zhao Huan , Htoon Han , Kucinski Theresa Marie , Chubarov Mikhail , Choudhury Tanushree , Redwing Joan Marie , Dongare Avinash , Pettes Michael Thompson
Published: November 2022

Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), like MoS2 with high carrier mobilities and tunable electron dispersions, are unique active material candidates for next generation opto-electronic devices. Previous studies on ion irradiation show great potential applications when applied to two-dimensional (2D) materials, yet have been limited to micron size exfoliated flakes or smaller. To demonstrate the scalability of this method for industrial applications, we report the application of relatively low power (50 keV) 4He+ ion irradiation towards tuning the optoelectronic properties of an epitaxially grown continuous film of MoS2 at the wafer scale, and demonstrate that precise manipulation of atomistic defects can be achieved in TMD films using ion implanters. The effect of 4He+ ion fluence on the PL and Raman signatures of the irradiated film provides new insights into the type and concentration of defects formed in the MoS2 lattice, which are quantified through ion beam analysis. PL and Raman spectroscopy indicate that point defects are generated without causing disruption to the underlying lattice structure of the 2D films and hence, this technique can prove to be an effective way to achieve defect-mediated control over the opto-electronic properties of MoS2 and other 2D materials.
On the efficiency of induced prestressing in SMA mortar beams through different thermal stimuli
Authors: Choi Eunsoo , Ostadrahimi Alireza , Lee Jong-Han , Jeon Jong-Su
Published: November 2022

This paper investigates the efficiency of prestressing effect on the flexural performance of reinforced mortar beams through different heating methods. To this end, different specimens reinforced by 1.0% and 1.5% volume fractions crimped shape memory alloy fibers as well as diverse internal and external heating sources are employed. Time-deflection relationships during heating and cooling of specimens are extracted to evaluate the amount of induced prestressing force in each specimen via different heating process. Upon developing prestressing force in the reinforced mortar beams, we carry out several three-point bending tests to study the flexural behavior of mortar beams and compare the material parameters with the reinforced specimens in the absent of prestressing force. The results show that internal heating source using electric current in comparison with external heating via heat gun could be faster and more uniform across the beams cross section contributing to a higher potential capacity in terms of stimulating recovery stress and subsequently boosting ductility and toughness of the composites.
Natural convection and heat transfer of micropolar hybrid nanofluid over horizontal, inclined and vertical thin needle with power-law varying boundary heating conditions
Authors: Sen S S S , Das M , Nayak M K , Makinde O D
Published: November 2022

The current investigation may be utilized significantly in the modern industrial technologies to provide better cooling environment in the outer surface as well as micro scale level such as blood transportation, lubrication, wind velocity measurement, wire coating, and aerodynamics etc. The present problem explores the various aspects of natural convection flow and heat transfer of micropolar hybrid nanofluid. The fluid flow is taken for horizontal, inclined and vertical positions of moving thin needle under quadratic thermal radiation effects. The governing equations are non-dimensionalized by using relevant similarity transformations. BVP4C in MATLAB use these equations to obtain the required solutions. These solutions help in analysing the important aspects of the flow i.e., velocity, microrotation, temperature, skin friction and Nusselt number profiles for different parameters utilizing graphical representation. From these results we observe that velocity of the fluid velocity has been declined with rise in magnetic parameter. The reverse trend is the result for temperature profile in response to Sundry radiation parameter. Further, heat transfer rate is intensified at all positions of moving thin needle subject to power law variation of surface heat flux than power law variation of wall temperature.
Natural gas system decarbonization by green hydrogen injection: a distributed approach
Authors: Grossi G. , Arpino F. , Bertone M. , Canale C. , Canale L. , Cortellessa G. , Dell’Isola M. , Ficco G. , Moretti L.
Published: November 2022

The large-scale penetration of renewable sources in the European energy system is leading to management and control issues on the electricity distribution network, due to the randomness of the energy coming from these sources and to the lack of adequate storage capacities. In this regard, an interesting solution currently being considered is represented by Power-to-Gas technology and chemical energy storage. In fact, renewable electricity surplus can be used to power water electrolysers producing green hydrogen to be injected in natural gas pipelines, with the dual effect of solving production-consumption mismatches in the electricity network and decarbonizing the natural gas system. In the present work, a mathematical model has been developed to study the hourly operation of an integrated multi-gas system for green hydrogen production via photovoltaic-powered electrolysers and its injection upstream of a Regulating and Measuring Station (RMS). Different operating conditions are investigated and a scenario of increasing photovoltaic production is considered. Obtained results show that higher fractions of hydrogen in the blend can be achieved during summer operations when the lowest natural gas consumption and the highest solar production occur.
Digital platforms for Renewable Energy Communities projects: an overview.
Authors: Minuto Francesco Demetrio , Lanzini Andrea , Giannuzzo Lorenzo , Borchiellini Romano
Published: November 2022

The European Union energy policy agenda of achieving the transition to carbon neutrality has been established by an important legislative package called “Clean Energy for all Europeans”. A novel approach introduced was to put the citizen at the center of the energy transition. On one side, by powering his freedom of action and, on the other side, by asking him an exceptional engagement in energy consumption reduction activities and in participating in the investments for new distributed Renewable Energy Sources (RES) power plants. The Renewable Energy Communities (REC) is the policy framework used to implement this strategy introduced by the Renewable Energy Directive Recast (RED II). In particular, RECs promote citizen’s active role by encouraging energy consumption reduction and energy demand flexibility while reducing the Not In My Bachyard (NIMBY) effect towards RES. Each member state is transposing the RED II directive, adapting it to national legislation and energy transition strategy. Pioneers countries like Italy have already started the experimentation of this framework and developing the first pilot projects. The citizens’ interest and their will to participate in REC projects indicate the need for supporting tools guiding them along all the project development stages: “design”, “creation”, and “operation”. This work presents three categories of supporting digital tools and platforms required to develop REC projects: Commercial, EU Founded and Freeware. We analyzed 30 tools, evaluating the services provided in each of the different stages of REC project implementation.
Preliminary testing of a simplified methodology for indoor environments evaluation correlated to airborne transmission: the case of a university classroom with vertical low-velocity ventilation
Authors: Puglia M , Ottani F , Muscio A , Cossarizza A , Tartarini P
Published: November 2022

This work presents and tests a simplified evaluation methodology for indoor environments in relation to airborne transmission. The tests were carried out in a university classroom with vertical low-velocity ventilation. The methodology is focused on aerosols that are one of the most dangerous carriers of infectious disease being able to transport pathogens for long distances. It consists in tracing the aerosols generated through an ultrasonic emitter as well as in the correlation between their dispersion and the artificial ventilation. The methodology aims to identify the critical zone of an indoor volume and to give useful suggestions on how to improve the ventilation of the environment. The tests carried out in a university room show a negligible difference between the deposition occurred with and without ventilation, accordingly with the extremely low velocity measured. These results show that in the specific case study the actual ventilation system does not alter the propagation of small droplets in the environment and does not create critical spots, therefore it is advisable to maintain the ventilation turned ON.
A student-driven multilevel approach for increasing energy sustainability of remote areas in the Emilia Romagna Apennines
Authors: Pedrazzi Simone , Ottani Filippo , Parenti Massimiliano , Parmeggiani Davide , De Luca Aurora , Silvestro Martina Grasso , Spartà Anna , Tavani Francesco , Fontana Pietro , Martini Niccolò , Martire Mattia , Bertoni Manuel , Cannas Luisa , Benacci Martina , Beltrami Leonardo , Francini Alessandro , Zanichelli Margherita , Rossi Gaetano , Villafane Emiliano N. Guberman , Nabbi Islam H. El , Allesina Giulio
Published: November 2022

This paper is aimed at discussing a series of energy sustainability solutions proposed by a master class of students in environmental engineering using analytical and visual collaborative tools. The activities described are part of the class “Sustainability and renewable sources” at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Six groups of 3-4 students worked on six energy efficiency and sustainability projects chosen from a remote area of the Apennines in Emilia Romagna. The specificity of the case-study framework allowed the implementation of projects where different sustainability aspects are integrated using tools of transitional thinking: agro-food production, use of renewable energy sources, waste management and social integration were considered. Each group identified the key actors for each project, allowing them to approach sustainability from a multilevel perspective. Net Present Value analyses were applied to evaluate economic viability of each project. Photovoltaic power plants and boilers fueled with local wood are the main renewable energy source identified to promote energy sustainability in each project. As result, the combination of the six works creates a powerful tool to demonstrate possible best practices for remote mountain areas.
Preliminary analysis of a novel battery thermal management system based on a low boiling dielectric fluid
Authors: Giammichele L , D’Alessandro V , Falone M , Ricci R
Published: November 2022

In this paper a novel battery thermal management system was experimentally studied. The batteries are submerged in a low boiling dielectric fluid with the aim to reduce the batteries surface temperature when subjected to high charge or discharge currents. The fluid change of phase allows to create a thermal buffer in case of instantaneous peak of absorbed current. This innovative system was studied on a battery pack composed of 3 cells in series and 3 cells in parallel connection for several discharge currents. For the sake of comparison, two battery packs of same dimensions were investigated: one submerged in the dielectric fluid and the second without the fluid. The cells potential and surface temperature were measured during discharges. Moreover, also the fluid temperature was evaluated in the external region. The results show a significant improvement of the thermal management since the increase of temperature is very restricted. This effect is even more evident when the fluid reaches the boiling point.
Everyday ethical challenges for Indian community development practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Pankaj Ajeet Kumar , Yadav Shiv Kumar
Published: November 2022

Drawing upon empirical evidence and using Sarah Banks’s concept ‘ethics work’ as a conceptual approach, the article examines the ethical dilemmas facing community development practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article attempts to understand the everyday experience of community development practitioners working with Dalits, women, and labour migrants in India. Further, given these communities’ social and economic vulnerabilities, the article tries to comprehend how practitioners’ engagement with these communities during the COVID-19 response exposed them to various ethical dilemmas. The article also traces negotiation and navigation strategies for dealing with ethical dilemmas and delivering services in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic in ways that promote human dignity.
AZD7442 (Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab) for Post-Exposure Prophylaxis of Symptomatic Coronavirus Disease 2019
Authors: Levin Myron J , Ustianowski Andrew , Thomas Steven , Templeton Alison , Yuan Yuan , Seegobin Seth , Houlihan Catherine F , Menendez-Perez Ibrahim , Pollett Simon , Arends Rosalinda H , Beavon Rohini , Dey Kanika , Garbes Pedro , Kelly Elizabeth J , Koh Gavin C K W , Ivanov Stefan , Near Karen A , Sharbaugh Audrey , Streicher Katie , Pangalos Menelas N , Esser Mark T ,   the COVID-19 Study to Optimally Reduce Morbidity in CareHomes and Sites with Enhanced Risk (STORMCHASER) Study Group
Published: November 2022

Background

This phase 3 trial assessed AZD7442 (tixagevimab/cilgavimab) for post-exposure prophylaxis against symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods

Adults without prior severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection or COVID-19 vaccination were enrolled within 8 days of exposure to a SARS-CoV-2–infected individual and randomized 2:1 to a single 300-mg AZD7442 dose (one 1.5-mL intramuscular injection each of tixagevimab and cilgavimab) or placebo. Primary end points were safety and first post-dose SARS-CoV-2 reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)–positive symptomatic COVID-19 event before day 183.

Results

A total of 1121 participants were randomized and dosed (AZD7442, n = 749; placebo, n = 372). Median (range) follow-up was 49 (5–115) and 48 (20–113) days for AZD7442 and placebo, respectively. Adverse events occurred in 162 of 749 (21.6%) and 111 of 372 (29.8%) participants with AZD7442 and placebo, respectively, mostly mild/moderate. RT-PCR–positive symptomatic COVID-19 occurred in 23 of 749 (3.1%) and 17 of 372 (4.6%) AZD7442- and placebo-treated participants, respectively (relative risk reduction, 33.3%; 95% confidence interval [CI], −25.9 to 64.7; P = .21). In predefined subgroup analyses of 1073 (96%) participants who were SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR–negative (n = 974, 87%) or missing an RT-PCR result (n = 99, 9%) at baseline, AZD7442 reduced RT-PCR–positive symptomatic COVID-19 by 73.2% (95% CI, 27.1 to 90.1) vs placebo.

Conclusions

This study did not meet the primary efficacy end point of post-exposure prevention of symptomatic COVID-19. However, analysis of participants who were SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR–negative or missing an RT-PCR result at baseline support a role for AZD7442 in preventing symptomatic COVID-19.

Clinical Trials Registration. NCT04625972.
TRustDB: A comprehensive bioinformatics resource for understanding the complete Wheat—Stem rust host–pathogen interactome
Authors: Kataria Raghav , Kaundal Rakesh
Published: November 2022

The increasing infectious diseases in wheat immensely reduce crop yield and quality, thus affecting global wheat production. The evolution in phytopathogens hinders the understanding of the disease infection mechanisms. TRustDB is an open-access, comprehensive database that is specifically focused on the disease stem rust (also known as black rust) in Triticum aestivum, which is caused by the fungal pathogen Puccinia graminis (Pgt), strains ‘Ug99’ and ‘21-0’. The database aims at a broader focus of providing the researchers with comprehensive tools to predict the protein–protein interactions and avail the functional annotations of the proteins involved in the interactions that cause the disease. The network of the predicted interactome can also be visualized on the browser. Various modules for the functional annotations of the host and pathogen proteins such as subcellular localization, functional domains, gene ontology annotations, pathogen orthologs and effector proteins have been implemented. The host proteins that serve as transcription factors, along with the respective Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways are also available, which further enhance the understanding of the disease infection mechanisms and the defense responses of the host. The database is also linked with several other databases such as InterPro, KEGG pathways, Ensembl and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). TRustDB has a user-friendly web interface, which can be accessed through .

Database URL http://bioinfo.usu.edu/trustdb/
Description ofPseudogemmobacter faecipullorumsp. nov., isolated from poultry manure
Authors: Lin Shih-Yao , Hameed Asif , Tsai Chia-Fang , Tang Yu-Shan , Young Chiu-Chung
Published: November 2022

A polyphasic taxonomic approach was used to characterize a novel bacterium, designated strain CC-YST710T, isolated from poultry manure sampled in Taiwan. Cells of strain CC-YST710T were aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, nonmotile, nonspore-forming rods, displaying positive reactions for catalase, and oxidase activities. Strain CC-YST710T was found to grow optimally at 30°C, pH 7.0, and in the presence of 2% (w/v) NaCl. The polar lipid profile consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified phospholipids, four unidentified aminolipids, one unidentified aminophospholipid, and five unidentified lipids. The major polyamine was spermidine. The dominating cellular fatty acids (> 5%) included C16:0, C18:0, and C18:1ω7c/C18:1ω6c. Based on 16S rRNA gene analysis, this isolate showed the closest phylogenetic relationship with ‘Pseudogemmobacter humicola’ (97.6%), followed by Pseudogemmobacter bohemicus (97.2%) and ‘Pseudogemmobacter hezensis’ (97.5%). The draft genome (4.3 Mb) had 62.9 mol% G + C content. CC-YST710T can be distinguished from other Pseudogemmobacter species due to the exclusive presence of key genes encoding p-hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase, protocatechuate 3, 4-dioxygenase (α and β chain), and homogentisate 1, 2-dioxygenase involved in the degradation of phenolic compounds such as p-hydroxybenzoic acid, protocatechuate, and homogentisate, respectively. Orthologous average nucleotide identity (OrthoANI) of the isolate with the type strains of the genera Pseudogemmobacter were 77.6%‒78.0% (n = 3), followed by Tabrizicola (72.3%‒73.7%, n = 5), and Gemmobacter(72.3%‒73.5%, n = 7). Based on its distinct phylogenetic, phenotypic, and chemotaxonomic traits together with results of comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence, OrthoANI, digital DDH, and the phylogenomic placement, strain CC-YST710T is considered to represent a novel Pseudogemmobacter species, for which the name Pseudogemmobacter faecipullorum sp. nov. (type strain CC-YST710T = BCRC 81286T = JCM 34182T).
Of the Same Stripe, or Not—Exceptions That Prove Rules
Authors: Macdonald David W. , Newman Chris
Published: November 2022

This book has been about badgers—specifically Wytham’s badgers. This specificity is not blinkered—on the contrary it is a liberating opportunity to travel from the particular to the general. To use one population of badgers, studied in utmost detail, as a model for carnivore, even mammalian, behavioural and evolutionary ecology: The Badgers of Wytham Woods: A Model of Behaviour and Evolution. So, as our perspective broadens we explore variation beyond Wytham, first to badgers living beyond our special woodland elsewhere in the UK, then across the European continent to frame Wytham in the context of intra-specific variation. Onward, to their congeneric relatives in Japan, and then to other badgers in China, before really broadening the inter-specific net to embrace all carnivores. The Badgers of Wytham Woods reveals Wytham’s badgers, and their society, populations, and molecules to be fashioned by their ecology, framed by their mustelid inheritance and paradigms of mammalian evolution. This has been much more than a book about badgers, or even about one of the longest-running and diverse carnivore research projects ever: it is about a model species that offers a paradigm for understanding behaviour and evolution.
Deliberative Reason Index
Authors: Niemeyer Simon , Veri Francesco
Published: November 2022

The Deliberative Reasoning Index (DRI) is a method for assessing the positions formed by a group taking part in deliberation and their relationship to deliberative ideals of reasoning. The method is informed by a theory of reasoning as intrinsically a group process, and so it is best understood as an emergent group-level property. DRI captures the extent that a group coheres towards a shared understanding of the issue and takes seriously all relevant considerations in forming positions. The method involves measuring and aggregating the proportionality (intersubjective consistency) of differences between individuals regarding considerations, compared to their differences regarding preferred actions. DRI can be applied to analysis of how deliberative reasoning is improved, as well as perform comparisons across different cohorts. The method fills an important niche in the methodological inventory of deliberative democracy, evaluating outcomes without imposing external standards on their content.
Deliberative Field Experiments
Authors: Kingzette Jon , Neblo Michael
Published: November 2022

Deliberative democrats aim to reform real-world politics. This goal, however, poses a dilemma for researchers assessing deliberation. Researchers can study deliberation through controlled but artificial laboratory and survey experiments. They can confidently infer causality (high internal validity) but cannot be sure that deliberation will operate the same way in applied politics (low external validity). Meanwhile, researchers can observe naturally occurring deliberation in realistic settings. In this case, they can be confident that the patterns they find are politically relevant (high external validity) but cannot be sure that they represent causal relationships (low internal validity). Without causality, however, scholars of deliberation cannot know whether reforms—changes to the system—will work as intended. Deliberative field experiments can help resolve this dilemma by conducting real experiments on real politics (achieving high internal and external validity). Like any research method, though, field experiments have their pitfalls, and so they are no panacea. This chapter explains the concept and mechanics of deliberative field experiments, links them to broader theories of deliberative democracy, and characterizes the kinds of questions that they are well suited to answering. The chapter concludes by discussing some of the limitations of deliberative field experiments and how they can be combined with other research methods to assess the promise and perils of deliberative reform more thoroughly.
Frame Analysis
Authors: Mendonça Ricardo Fabrino , Simões Paula Guimarães
Published: November 2022

This chapter introduces frame analysis as a method for studying deliberative democracy. Frame analysis is a method that describes how frames are produced, and mobilized, as well as how they interact with other frames. It reveals how individuals position themselves in relation to existing frames and identifies frames’s consequences in specific contexts. The method is useful for the study of sequences of interaction, for the mapping of discursive contestations, and for the assessment of the effects generated by specific discursive choices. The chapter shows that frame analysis’s epistemological assumptions are aligned with core elements of the deliberative democracy in important ways. First, it is grounded on the premise that meaning is created, crystalized, or displaced intersubjectively. Second, frame analysis conceives of discourses as constitutive of reality, and not merely a description of it. Third, frame analysis places context at the heart of meaning-making. The chapter provides guidance on how to conduct frame analysis from different perspectives, suggesting the usefulness of van Gorp’s matrix that looks at: (a) framing devices: which words, metaphors, exemplary cases, visuals are used; (b) reasoning devices: which justifications, causes, consequences, and equivalences are presented; and (c) implicit cultural phenomena: what does this frame reveal about broader patterns of interpretation and social values? The chapter also provides examples of how frame analysis can be used in deliberative democracy research.
Reading Novels During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Authors: Davies Ben , Lupton Christina , Gormsen Schmidt Johanne
Published: November 2022

Drawing on a study of novel readers in Denmark and the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic, this book provides a snapshot of a phenomenal moment in modern history. The ethnographic approach shows what no account of books published during the pandemic will be able to capture, namely the movement of readers between new purchases and books long kept in their collections. The book follows readers who have tuned into novels about plague, apocalypse, and racial violence, but also readers whose taste for older novels has grown. Alternating between chapters that analyse single texts that were popular (Camus’s The Plague, Ali Smith’s Summer, Brontë’s Jane Eyre) and others that describe clusters of, for example, dystopian fiction and nature writing, this work brings out the diverse quality of the Covid-19 bookshelf. Time is important to this study, both in terms of the time of lockdown and the temporality of reading itself within this wider disrupted sense of time. By exploring these varied experiences, this book investigates the larger question of how the consumption of novels depends on and shapes people’s experience of non-work time, providing a specific lens through which to examine the phenomenology of reading more generally. This work also negotiates debates in the study of reading that distinguish theoretically between critical reading and reading for pleasure, between professional and lay reading. All sides of the sociological and literary debate must be brought to bear in understanding what readers tell us about the novels important to them in this complex historical moment.
Time and What to Do in It
Authors: Davies Ben , Lupton Christina , Gormsen Schmidt Johanne
Published: November 2022

This chapter sets out some of the main findings of this book, looking specifically at the relationship between reading narrative fiction and the ordering of temporal experience. Novels might be things for which time is made, but they are also ways of making time, shaping it, and of rendering its passage more humane than it can seem without them. The chapter is organized around four different ways in which readers themselves describe the relationship of books to time. Under the conditions of global crisis and local lockdowns, novel reading, they show, has helped contend with the spectre of unstructured time; it has helped them win what readers often see and describe as scarce time for themselves; it has introduced control into a situation and a media landscape that has left them without power; and it has featured in the work of compiling lists, diaries, and public records of their own time use. Anyone hoping to get quickly to the ‘answers’ this book offers about what happened to reading during the pandemic might find them here.
Reading about Race
Authors: Davies Ben , Lupton Christina , Gormsen Schmidt Johanne
Published: November 2022

Chapter 8 explores the more problematic case of reading about race in 2020, a year when political protest was both urgent and impeded. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that his murder inspired, readers reported changes to their reading material. The popularity of novels like Girl, Woman, Other in 2020 exemplifies the tension involved when the leisure time, financial means, and educational opportunity that undergird mainstream novel reading are themselves propped up by the forms of structural inequality that the novels expose—areas of inequality that increased during the pandemic. Those who read in safety tended by definition to rely more heavily on those who worked in danger. Is it still ethically correct, then, to read novels if doing so exposes Amazon workers to Covid-19? Reading readers’ accounts of these changes alongside Claudia Rankine’s Just Us, the analysis in this chapter looks at the tension between good reading intentions and the ethnographic realities of so many readers being white women. The task in this chapter is to recognize such tensions as basic to reading while also testifying to some of the richest and world altering engagements with books that we heard about in our interviews. This chapter asks just how much reading can ever be a means for political engagement.
Long Reads
Authors: Davies Ben , Lupton Christina , Gormsen Schmidt Johanne
Published: November 2022

The final chapter of the book circles back to the opening question of time and reading. It returns to one kind of reading that was associated with lockdown from the beginning: of long, weighty books, often classics, whose reading is easily deferred, but whose very length supports the idea of engagement with a novel as a serious commitment; a conversation lasting many weeks. The chapter explores more closely the realities of the pandemic long read and the forms of attention given to long novels, asking in hindsight whether early predictions about pandemic novel reading have come true. Have long reads really been compatible with life under these new conditions of crisis and confinement? What does sustained engagement with a book offer that reading shorter or ‘quicker’ texts doesn’t? The second aim of this chapter is to review, by way of a conclusion to this book, some of the different ideas about the relationship of fiction reading to time that we have explored. Throughout, the book has touched in passing on the idea that novels might fill time, or help pass it, redeem it, economize on it, or slow it down. Some of these uses of literature, this chapter will suggest, come out in particular as we see readers reckoning with the long book, the medium in which they read it, and the ways in which a narrative and its promise of duration interweave with the more immediate pressures of daily life during crisis.
Alternative Family Models in Space
Authors: Berman Anna A.
Published: November 2022

The English conceived of the family as a bounded sphere (“every man’s house is his castle”), while the Russians allowed and encouraged family to expand by treating ever wider circles as kin. Given widespread negative perceptions of the normative Russian family, “intentional family”—literally choosing to make others kin—was often the model for successful family creation at the end of the Russian novel. In England, by contrast, alternative models most often arise as a way to accommodate queer desires that did not have a place in the standard nuclear family model. When the possibility of reproductive futurity is removed in an English novel (due to disability, hereditary illness, or queer desire), the same types of alternative family configurations appear as in the Russian novel. In both traditions, the embrace of alternative kin leads to a liberalizing of the family and to plotlines of inclusion in the present, rather than a line of descent.
Socialism plus Temperament
Authors: Bonnell Andrew G.
Published: November 2022

This chapter traces Michels’ involvement with Italian socialists and syndicalists, initially as an interested observer and increasingly as a sympathetic interpreter mediating between the German and Italian socialist parties. As Michels became increasingly closely involved with Italian socialist politics, he developed strong sympathies for the left wing of the Italian Socialist Party, especially the revolutionary syndicalists such as Arturo Labriola, while also maintaining collegial relations with more reformist socialist intellectuals. Michels did not become as personally involved in socialist agitation in Italy as he did in Germany, despite contributing to a range of Italian socialist newspapers and periodicals. After Michels took up an academic position at the University of Turin in 1907, his involvement in Italian socialist politics started to wane.
Feminism and the Sexual Politics of a New Century
Authors: Bonnell Andrew G.
Published: November 2022

Michels is not usually remembered as a feminist, however, he was particularly interested in the ‘woman question’, feminism, and the implications of changing sexual mores as a feature of modern society. He wrote frequently on women’s issues, contributed to a wide range of feminist publications, from Clara Zetkin’s left-Marxist Die Gleichheit, to Die Frau, on the moderate right wing of the German feminist movement, and published a book of essays on the ‘sexual question’ in 1911. He was active in the radical feminist ‘sex reform’ group, the Bund für Mutterschutz (League for Protection of Mothers), and supported the involvement in feminist activities of his wife, Gisela Michels-Lindner. In many ways, Michels’ involvement in feminism and the sex reform movement was remarkably progressive, but it was also characterized by some limitations and contradictions, and his advocacy of collaboration between middle-class and socialist feminists was curiously at odds with his support of militant class struggle in the more masculine spheres of politics, suggesting an implicitly gendered understanding of politics.
Conclusions
Authors: Bonnell Andrew G.
Published: November 2022

Both the common argument that Michels was a disillusioned believer in pure democracy and the view that Michels’ extremist tendencies catapulted him from revolutionary syndicalist positions to fascism stand in need of correction in the light of a close analysis of Michels’ evolution and the diverse intellectual influences to which he responded. In part, Michels’ career up to the publication of his Political Parties in 1911 was marked by the tension between his ambitions for an academic career in imperial Germany and his political activism. In his political activism, Michels displayed a belief in an agonistic conception of politics in which superior individuals were able to show their ethical qualities, a view of politics that was increasingly at odds with both Marxist theory and the realities of organizing a modern mass party. Michels became increasingly pessimistic about the masses and mass politics, a pessimism influenced both by elite theory and by Michels’ openness to ideas of racial and biological determinism.
La Forge’s Partial Occasionalism
Authors: Roux Sandrine
Published: November 2022

Louis de La Forge is recognized as playing a major role in the development of Cartesian occasionalism. Yet, there is still no consensus on the nature and extent of his occasionalism. The question currently debated is whether La Forge is an occasionalist only with respect to body-body relations, or also with respect to minds and mind-body relations? This chapter shows that La Forge’s occasionalism cannot be limited to bodies, but extends to mind-to-body action, God being the sole cause of bodily motions. However, the chapter does not defend the extreme interpretation that La Forge is, or should be, a complete occasionalist. Rather, it argues that his occasionalism is partial, because it leaves unimpaired the mind’s internal causal powers, by which it can efficaciously cause its own ideas and volitions, but not the corresponding voluntary motions in the body.
Risk Management Theory
Authors: Lie Erik
Published: November 2022

This chapter explains why risk management can create value for firms. It shows that risk management creates value if a cash shortage prevents firms from investing in value-enhancing projects. An exception is if the risk factors and investment opportunities are correlated. The chapter further shows that debtholders, equityholders, and managers have different preferences for risk and risk management. Managers are also prone to behavioral bias stemming from their own overconfidence, which leads to selective hedging.
Managing Idiosyncratic Risk
Authors: Lie Erik
Published: November 2022

Most firm risk is idiosyncratic, but its uniqueness makes it hard to manage. Insurance can mitigate some idiosyncratic risk, including property and liability risk. But insurance comes with inherent challenges, including adverse selection and moral hazard. Self-insurance and corporate diversification are other alternatives for mitigating idiosyncratic risk. Credit risk (a category of idiosyncratic risk) can be mitigated by assessing the creditworthiness and default probability of trading partners, or by purchasing credit default swaps on their bonds.
Hedging with Options
Authors: Lie Erik
Published: November 2022

The chapter shows how calls and puts can be used to reduce risk. The option value can be decomposed into intrinsic value and time value. To hedge a long position, a firm can purchase a put option, sell a call option, or both. To hedge a short position, a firm can purchase a call option, sell a put option, or both. The chapter also shows how to use delta hedging with options and discusses how option hedging differs from insurance and hedging with forwards/futures contracts.
Hedging-Simulations
Authors: Lie Erik
Published: November 2022

The chapter shows how simulations of future cash holdings can be used as a tool when making risk management decisions. It does so primarily by discussing an extensive example of a gold mine exposed to gold price risk. The example shows how forward contracts and options reduce the risk exposure. Rolling forward contracts introduce modest basis risk. Investment opportunities that rise with the gold price reduces the need for hedging.
Wrapping Up
Authors: Lie Erik
Published: November 2022

This chapter summarizes and concludes the book. A major goal for corporate managers is to ensure that the company has the proper level of cash. This can be attained via risk management and payout policy. But risk can be difficult to identify and measure. And risk can be difficult to mitigate.
Remaking a Nation
Authors: Shattuck, Jr. Gardiner H.
Published: November 2022

This chapter covers the period from the end of World War I through the 1920s, when the Episcopal Church, like many other American organizations, sought to extend its influence into the post-Ottoman Middle East. Beginning with a discussion of the disappointment felt by Anglican missionaries in Jerusalem with regard to the Balfour Declaration, it then pivots to the efforts of Episcopalians in supporting Armenian aspirations for an independent homeland, including the involvement of two prominent church leaders, William Manning and Charles Henry Brent, in the extended national controversy over ratification of the proposed Lausanne Treaty between the United States and the newly formed Republic of Turkey. In addition to these topics, the chapter discusses the Episcopal Church’s response to the burning of Smyrna (Izmir) in 1922 and its decision to send a representative to serve permanently on the staff of the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem.