bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Methods in Bioethics
Authors: Arras John
Published: August 2017

This book provides an overview and critical discussion of the main philosophical methods that have dominated the field of bioethics. The first three chapters outline some influential theories that are important to understanding the methodological approaches that follow. Chapter 1 offers a survey of the theory of principlism as expounded by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress, chapter 2 examines Bernard Gert’s defense of common morality, and chapter 3 discusses the so-termed new casuistry. The next three chapters trace a historical dialectic. Chapter 4 explores the shift that has increasingly occurred in bioethics away from the pursuit of objectivity or truth and toward narrative ethics, while chapter 5 uncovers the “classical” roots of American pragmatism and explains their ongoing relevance for contemporary bioethics. This paves the way for chapter 6’s examination of “freestanding” pragmatists such as Susan Wolf who, in contrast, see their approach as untethered to the classical canon of American pragmatism. With this background firmly established, the next two chapters handle some influential contemporary approaches. Chapter 7 considers the “internal morality” approach to medicine; chapter 8 discusses the method of reflective equilibrium, and chapter 9 summarizes and reflects on the results of the preceding eight chapters. Rather than staking out and defending a final position, the book aspires to uncover the costs and benefits of the respective methodological approaches that are surveyed. In the words of Kierkegaard, it aims to make life “harder” rather than “easier” for bioethics by uncovering some outstanding challenges.
One Method to Rule Them All?
Authors: Arras John D. , Childress James , Adams Matthew
Published: August 2017

This chapter considers the method of reflective equilibrium, and how it has been used in the context of debates in bioethics. It uncovers the method’s origins in the work of John Rawls and explores how it came to be adopted by Beauchamp and Childress as the unifying method of bioethics. After distinguishing between narrow and wide versions of reflective equilibrium, the chapter proceeds to discuss some problems with the view. The preliminary difficulty that is raised about wide reflective equilibrium in particular is that it is too comprehensive and indeterminate to be useful in bioethics. The chapter ends by outlining deeper concerns with the view, and to what extent internal morality’s conception of “coherence” possesses justificatory force.
Concluding Reflections
Authors: Arras John D. , Childress James , Adams Matthew
Published: August 2017

This chapter begins with a critical examination of the respective pros and cons of the various methods that have been surveyed in the preceding eight chapters. It reiterates that rather than staking out and defending a final position, the book aspires to uncover the costs and benefits of the respective methodological approaches that are surveyed. In the words of Kierkegaard, it aims to make life “harder” rather than “easier” for bioethics by uncovering some outstanding challenges. It culminates in a meta-level discussion about the real value of reflections on methodology such as those reviewed in this book. It is argued that the interesting question is not “Which method?” but, rather, “What does self-consciousness about method contribute to practical ethics?”
Real Deceptions
Authors: Friedlander Jennifer
Published: August 2017

Through a study of recent trends within contemporary media and art, this book considers how political transformation might be facilitated from within the much maligned aesthetic category of realism. It challenges both the enduring position that the realist form tends to be complicit with ideological conservatism and the arguments traditionally made for how realism can, on occasion, play a politically transgressive role. In cases where it is appreciated for its disruptive potential, realism is assumed to have the ability to guide spectators toward previously unseen truths by lifting the veil of ideological deception. In short, at its political best, realism is seen to serve a consciousness-raising politics. By contrast, this book contends that realism’s radical political potential emerges not by revealing deception but precisely by staging deceptions—particularly deceptions that imperil the very categories of true and false. Deception, it argues, does not function as an obstacle to truth, but rather as a necessary lure for snaring the truth. In other words, rather than seek to unearth the truth behind fiction, this book argues that we would do better to turn our attention to the truth of fiction. To make the case that particular relationships between realism and deception maximize the potential for realism to disrupt ideological formations, it draws upon insights from a range of cultural theorists, most notably, Jacques Rancière, Jacques Lacan, and Jean Baudrillard. But rather than simply apply these theoretical frameworks to the media and artworks, it also engages in the reverse move of using the “cases” to illuminate and interrogate their theories.
A Ruse for the Real
Authors: Friedlander Jennifer
Published: August 2017

This chapter analyzes “Bitte liebt Österreich” (“Please Love Austria”), the controversial public art installation created by the late German conceptual artist and provocateur Christoph Schlingensief. Schlingensief staged a variation on the reality TV show Big Brother, in which asylum seekers were housed in a structure in a public square in Vienna, Austria. Passersby were invited to cast their vote each night for which detainee should be evicted the following day. By staging his intervention as a “game” that borrowed from the familiar “reality TV” genre, Schlingensief invites us to consider the question of whether using a fictional, game-like mode of representation to describe a politically reactionary event may help to subvert it. He thus offers an important twist to the logic which undergirds the position that realistic depictions of revolutionary events can themselves be politically potent.
Melancholia and the Real of the Illusion
Authors: Friedlander Jennifer
Published: August 2017

This chapter explores Lars von Trier’s 2012 film, Melancholia, which tells the story of a profoundly depressed woman on the brink of the apocalypse. The film ends with its main characters huddled in terror as Earth is destroyed via a collision with rogue planet, Melancholia. It examines the film in terms of von Trier’s surprising statement that Melancholia contains the “happiest ending he’s ever made” and Slavoj Žižek’s declaration of Melancholia as a “profoundly optimistic” film. This chapter makes sense of these comments by arguing that the film offers insight into ways of living ethically in the face of utter loss. Such a possibility requires embracing the constitutive power of illusion.
The Vulnerability of Integrity in Early Confucian Thought
Authors: Ing Michael
Published: August 2017

The Vulnerability of Integrity in Early Confucian Thought is about the necessity, and even value, of vulnerability in human experience. In this book, Michael Ing brings early Chinese texts into dialogue with questions about the ways in which meaningful things are vulnerable to powers beyond our control; and more specifically, how relationships with meaningful others might compel tragic actions.Vulnerability is often understood as an undesirable state; and as such, invulnerability is preferred over vulnerability. While recognizing the need for adopting strategies of reducing vulnerability in various situations, The Vulnerability of Integrity demonstrates that vulnerability is far more enduring in human experience, and that it enables values such as morality, trust, and maturity. Vulnerability also highlights the need for care (care for oneself and for others). The possibility of tragic loss stresses the difficulty of offering and receiving care; and thereby fosters compassion for others as we strive to care for each other.This book is structured to explore the plurality of Confucian thought as it relates to the vulnerability of integrity. The first two chapters describe traditional and contemporary views that argue for the invulnerability of integrity in early Confucian thought. The remaining five chapters investigate alternative views. In particular these later chapters give attention to neglected voices in the tradition, which argue that our concern for others can, and even should, lead to us compromise our integrity. In these cases we are compelled to do something transgressive for the sake of others; and in these situations our integrity is jeopardized in the transgressive act.
Conclusion
Authors: Hughes Aaron W.
Published: August 2017

The conclusion addresses the present. It begins with the erection of the “security barrier” (from the Israeli side) or the “apartheid wall” (from the Palestinian). It uses this structure as a way to think about the intersection of Judaism and Islam in the modern period. Although much of the analysis in the book focused on the premodern period, it should be quite clear already that the premise is that the past cannot be accessed except through the present. Unfortunately, what “Jewish–Muslim relations” means at the current moment is known too well. While the goal is not to solve the unsolvable, it is to point out that Jews and Muslims continue to think from, with, and about the other.
Dances of All Nations
Authors: Kosstrin Hannah
Published: August 2017

This chapter argues that Anna Sokolow’s 1930s proletarian and anti-fascist choreographies contributed to an increasingly vibrant conversation with the transnational Left through shared ideologies of egalitarianism and antiracism as they made space for women in these conversations. The chapter discusses a catalog of her work, including Histrionics (1933), Speaker (1935), Four Little Salon Pieces (1936), Strange American Funeral (1935), Case History No.— (1937), Excerpts from a War Poem (F. T. Marinetti) (1937), Façade—Exposizione Italiana (1937), Slaughter of the Innocents (1937), “Filibuster” from The Bourbons Got the Blues (1938), Dance of All Nations (1938), and Sing for Your Supper (1939). These choreographies match the progression of American Communism across the 1930s from early proletarian statements to aligning with the Popular Front against Fascism, and to Jewish–Black alliances across the American Left and leftist cries against the American government as it began to prosecute Communist-affiliated activities.
Revolutionary Exile in Postrevolutionary Mexico City
Authors: Kosstrin Hannah
Published: August 2017

This chapter follows the alignment of Anna Sokolow’s choreography with postrevolutionary Mexican political values within transnational communist and Jewish discourses during her early years in Mexico City. First, this chapter engages how The Exile (1939), Sokolow’s indictment of the Third Reich’s treatment of Jews, reflected the precarious position of Holocaust refugees in Mexico. It explains how Sokolow’s dance highlighted contemporary persecution of Jews that recalled a longer history of Jewish exile that connected Europe, North America, and South America. Second, the chapter argues that Mexican modernism’s reliance on indigenous elements fed Sokolow’s revolutionary modernism in the choreography she made there with the collaborative company La Paloma Azul, including Don Lindo de Almería (1940) and El renacuajo paseador [The Fable of the Wandering Frog] (1940).
White Rooms, Red Scare
Authors: Kosstrin Hannah
Published: August 2017

Anna Sokolow’s early Cold War choreography cloaked social(ist) challenges to the status quo under the façade of American modernism. Lyric Suite (1953) laid bare sexual discontent in the guise of universal abstraction; Rooms (1954) portrayed gay people’s and Jews’ experiences among those of society’s untouchables in tenement houses; and the Opus series (1958–1965) cemented the political significance of the Old Left meeting the New Left through ironic uses of musical and movement elements drawn from jazz, as Africanist elements like these signaled a generalized Americanness. Sokolow’s assimilation into concert dance whiteness through these works’ critical reception and Israeli Bonds festivals reflected the American Jewish community’s postwar assimilation from racially marked to Caucasian. Sokolow’s work evidences roles played by leftist Jews in crafting definitive images of midcentury Americana as they publicly rewrote their 1930s leftist actions into normative postwar American activities in the wake of the Second Red Scare.
Effects of the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard: Willingness To Pay for Labels that Communicate the Presence or Absence of Genetic Modification
Authors: McFadden Brandon R , Lusk Jayson L
Published: August 2017

After much debate, the United States recently adopted a law that will require mandatory labeling of genetically modified (GM) food. We elicit willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for manufactured and fresh foods that communicate the presence or absence of GM material. We find that a text disclosing the presence of GM material lowers WTP relative to a QR code disclosure that must be scanned. Furthermore, participants perceive Non‐GMO Project verified and organic as substitutes; WTP premiums for a product with both Non‐GMO Project verified and organic labels is about the same as the WTP premium when either label is present in isolation.
Occupational Exposure to Manganese and Fine Motor Skills in Elderly Men: Results from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study
Authors: Pesch Beate , Casjens Swaantje , Weiss Tobias , Kendzia Benjamin , Arendt Marina , Eisele Lewin , Behrens Thomas , Ulrich Nadin , Pundt Noreen , Marr Anja , Robens Sibylle , Van Thriel Christoph , Van Gelder Rainer , Aschner Michael , Moebus Susanne , Dragano Nico , Brüning Thomas , Jöckel Karl-Heinz
Published: August 2017

Objectives

Exposure to manganese (Mn) may cause movement disorders, but less is known whether the effects persist after the termination of exposure. This study investigated the association between former exposure to Mn and fine motor deficits in elderly men from an industrial area with steel production.

Methods

Data on the occupational history and fine motor tests were obtained from the second follow-up of the prospective Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study (2011–2014). The study population included 1232 men (median age 68 years). Mn in blood (MnB) was determined in archived samples (2000–2003). The association between Mn exposure (working as welder or in other at-risk occupations, cumulative exposure to inhalable Mn, MnB) with various motor functions (errors in line tracing, steadiness, or aiming and tapping hits) was investigated with Poisson and logistic regression, adjusted for iron status and other covariates. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for substantially impaired dexterity (errors >90th percentile, tapping hits <10th percentile).

Results

The median of cumulative exposure to inhalable Mn was 58 µg m–3 years in 322 men who ever worked in at-risk occupations. Although we observed a partly better motor performance of exposed workers at group level, we found fewer tapping hits in men with cumulative Mn exposure >184.8 µg m–3 years (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.17–3.94). MnB ≥ 15 µg l–1, serum ferritin ≥ 400 µg l–1, and gamma-glutamyl transferase ≥74 U l–1 were associated with a greater number of errors in line tracing.

Conclusions

We found evidence that exposure to inhalable Mn may carry a risk for dexterity deficits. Whether these deficits can be exclusively attributed to Mn remains to be elucidated, as airborne Mn is strongly correlated with iron in metal fumes, and high ferritin was also associated with errors in line tracing. Furthermore, hand training effects must be taken into account when testing for fine motor skills.
clustComp, a bioconductor package for the comparison of clustering results
Authors: Torrente Aurora , Brazma Alvis
Published: August 2017

clustComp is an open source Bioconductor package that implements different techniques for the comparison of two gene expression clustering results. These include flat versus flat and hierarchical versus flat comparisons. The visualization of the similarities is provided by means of a bipartite graph, whose layout is heuristically optimized. Its flexibility allows a suitable visualization for both small and large datasets.

Availability and implementation

The package is available at http://bioconductor.org/packages/clustComp/ and contains a ‘vignette’ outlying the typical use of the algorithms.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
fastBMA: scalable network inference and transitive reduction
Authors: Hung Ling-Hong , Shi Kaiyuan , Wu Migao , Young William Chad , Raftery Adrian E. , Yeung Ka Yee
Published: August 2017

Inferring genetic networks from genome-wide expression data is extremely demanding computationally. We have developed fastBMA, a distributed, parallel, and scalable implementation of Bayesian model averaging (BMA) for this purpose. fastBMA also includes a computationally efficient module for eliminating redundant indirect edges in the network by mapping the transitive reduction to an easily solved shortest-path problem. We evaluated the performance of fastBMA on synthetic data and experimental genome-wide time series yeast and human datasets. When using a single CPU core, fastBMA is up to 100 times faster than the next fastest method, LASSO, with increased accuracy. It is a memory-efficient, parallel, and distributed application that scales to human genome-wide expression data. A 10 000-gene regulation network can be obtained in a matter of hours using a 32-core cloud cluster (2 nodes of 16 cores). fastBMA is a significant improvement over its predecessor ScanBMA. It is more accurate and orders of magnitude faster than other fast network inference methods such as the 1 based on LASSO. The improved scalability allows it to calculate networks from genome scale data in a reasonable time frame. The transitive reduction method can improve accuracy in denser networks. fastBMA is available as code (M.I.T. license) from GitHub (https://github.com/lhhunghimself/fastBMA), as part of the updated networkBMA Bioconductor package (https://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/networkBMA.html) and as ready-to-deploy Docker images (https://hub.docker.com/r/biodepot/fastbma/).
A diverse group of echogenic particles observed with a broadband, high frequency echosounder
Authors: Briseño-Avena Christian , Franks Peter J S , Roberts Paul L D , Jaffe Jules S
Published: August 2017

In 1980, Holliday and Pieper stated: “Most sound scattering in the ocean volume can be traced to a biotic origin.” However, most of the bioacoustics research in the past three decades has focused on only a few groups of organisms. Targets such as small gelatinous organisms, marine snow, and phytoplankton, e.g. have been generally to be considered relatively transparent to acoustic waves due to their sizes and relatively low sound speed and density contrasts relative to seawater. However, using a broadband system (ZOOPS-O2) we found that these targets contributed significantly to acoustic returns in the 1.5–2.5 MHz frequency range. Given that phytoplankton and marine snow layers are ubiquitous features of coastal regions; this works suggests that they should be considered as potential sources of backscatter in biological acoustic surveys.
Do not shoot the messenger: ICES advice for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management in the European Union
Authors: Ballesteros Marta , Chapela Rosa , Ramírez-Monsalve Paulina , Raakjaer Jesper , Hegland Troels J , Nielsen Kåre N , Laksá Unn , Degnbol Poul
Published: August 2017

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) occupies a central role in the advice system to support the implementation of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAFM) in the European Union (EU). Despite improvements, its capacity to deliver ecosystem advice seems to be far from a fully functional operational framework. To what extent availability of appropriate scientific advice is a barrier for a more widespread use of an EAFM in Europe remains an open question. Building on the findings of a large research project, this article explores what advice ICES can provide. The article concludes that: (i) ICES has taken a leading role in generating an EAFM framework in which management decisions can operate; (ii) the advice “suppliers” and the advice “users” agree on the feasibility of using existing knowledge to “do EAFM now”; (iii) ICES can address a range of shortcomings, but some of the present bottlenecks demand concerted action between the advisory system and the political realm. The implementation of an EAFM requires consistency between science and management. ICES appears as well-suited to facilitate the dialogue on applying an EAFM in the EU, but it is unrealistic to expect ICES to produce all the answers.
Beyond Employment Tribunals: Enforcement of Employment Rights by EU-8 Migrant Workers
Authors: Barnard Catherine , Ludlow Amy , Fraser Butlin Sarah
Published: August 2017

Many EU-8 migrant workers work in low-skilled, low-paid jobs, particularly in sectors such as food processing and agriculture. Our interest lies in the experience of those migrant workers in the UK and specifically what happens when they are denied their employment rights. In earlier work, we have already shown that there was a significant underuse by EU-8 migrant workers of Employment Tribunals (ETs). So the questions for this article are three-fold. First, why do so few EU-8 migrant workers enforce their employment rights before ETs and to what extent do legal, economic, political and cultural landscapes, as they are experienced by migrant workers, constrain or enable enforcement action? Second, if migrant workers do not resort to ETs, what do they do? Do they simply move on, or do they use alternative enforcement mechanisms (such as the Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority)? How effective are these other enforcement processes and institutions in protecting the rights of migrant and similarly vulnerable domestic workers? And third, what might be done to improve the enforcement of employment rights for EU-8 migrant workers and for other vulnerable workers on the UK labour market, including non-EU migrants, especially in the light of the new labour market enforcement agency (LMEA)? We argue that the establishment of a Pay and Work Rights Ombudsman might help address some of the problems experienced by EU-8 migrant workers and other vulnerable national workers.
Effects of computerized decision support system implementations on patient outcomes in inpatient care: a systematic review
Authors: Varghese Julian , Kleine Maren , Gessner Sophia Isabella , Sandmann Sarah , Dugas Martin
Published: August 2017

Objectives

To systematically classify the clinical impact of computerized clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) in inpatient care.

Materials and Methods

Medline, Cochrane Trials, and Cochrane Reviews were searched for CDSS studies that assessed patient outcomes in inpatient settings. For each study, 2 physicians independently mapped patient outcome effects to a predefined medical effect score to assess the clinical impact of reported outcome effects. Disagreements were measured by using weighted kappa and solved by consensus. An example set of promising disease entities was generated based on medical effect scores and risk of bias assessment. To summarize technical characteristics of the systems, reported input variables and algorithm types were extracted as well.

Results

Seventy studies were included. Five (7%) reported reduced mortality, 16 (23%) reduced life-threatening events, and 28 (40%) reduced non–life-threatening events, 20 (29%) had no significant impact on patient outcomes, and 1 showed a negative effect (weighted κ: 0.72, P < .001). Six of 24 disease entity settings showed high effect scores with medium or low risk of bias: blood glucose management, blood transfusion management, physiologic deterioration prevention, pressure ulcer prevention, acute kidney injury prevention, and venous thromboembolism prophylaxis. Most of the implemented algorithms (72%) were rule-based. Reported input variables are shared as standardized models on a metadata repository.

Discussion and Conclusion

Most of the included CDSS studies were associated with positive patient outcomes effects but with substantial differences regarding the clinical impact. A subset of 6 disease entities could be filtered in which CDSS should be given special consideration at sites where computer-assisted decision-making is deemed to be underutilized.

Registration number on PROSPERO: CRD42016049946.
It’s all in the timing: calibrating temporal penalties for biomedical data sharing
Authors: Xia Weiyi , Wan Zhiyu , Yin Zhijun , Gaupp James , Liu Yongtai , Clayton Ellen Wright , Kantarcioglu Murat , Vorobeychik Yevgeniy , Malin Bradley A
Published: August 2017

Objective

Biomedical science is driven by datasets that are being accumulated at an unprecedented rate, with ever-growing volume and richness. There are various initiatives to make these datasets more widely available to recipients who sign Data Use Certificate agreements, whereby penalties are levied for violations. A particularly popular penalty is the temporary revocation, often for several months, of the recipient’s data usage rights. This policy is based on the assumption that the value of biomedical research data depreciates significantly over time; however, no studies have been performed to substantiate this belief. This study investigates whether this assumption holds true and the data science policy implications.

Methods

This study tests the hypothesis that the value of data for scientific investigators, in terms of the impact of the publications based on the data, decreases over time. The hypothesis is tested formally through a mixed linear effects model using approximately 1200 publications between 2007 and 2013 that used datasets from the Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes, a data-sharing initiative of the National Institutes of Health.

Results

The analysis shows that the impact factors for publications based on Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes datasets depreciate in a statistically significant manner. However, we further discover that the depreciation rate is slow, only ∼10% per year, on average.

Conclusion

The enduring value of data for subsequent studies implies that revoking usage for short periods of time may not sufficiently deter those who would violate Data Use Certificate agreements and that alternative penalty mechanisms may need to be invoked.
Developing a tool for identifying high-risk employers for inspection
Authors: Chao T-K , Sun C , Beach J R
Published: August 2017

Background

Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) data and other information are sometimes used to calculate an ‘Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) index’ as a way of identifying businesses considered ‘high risk’ to be inspected as part of enforcement work. However, no evidence on the validity of this index exists.

Aims

To evaluate the performance of the Alberta OHS index, a ‘score’ based largely on WCB claims data, and to see if an index calculated using different information could perform better.

Methods

Data from the Alberta Compliance Management Information System database, 2011–2015, and WCB claim database, 2007–2014, were retrieved. Issuing ‘stop work’ or ‘stop use’ orders in inspections was defined as a proxy of high-risk outcome. The performance of the current and a modified OHS index were assessed using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and regression analyses.

Results

In large employers, neither the current nor the modified OHS index was particularly effective in identifying ‘high risk’ employers with the area under the ROC curve (AROC) of 0.55 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.52–0.57; P < 0.001) and 0.59 (95% CI 0.57–0.62; P < 0.001), respectively. In small employers, neither index seemed very effective with an AROC of 0.54 (95% CI 0.53–0.56; P < 0.001) and 0.55 (95% CI 0.53–0.56; P < 0.001), respectively. These results were consistent in subgroup analyses of assignments without specific initiatives, both in large and small employers.

Conclusions

Neither the current nor a modified OHS index seemed to effectively identify high-risk employers. Heterogeneous results in large and small employers suggest that approaches to different-sized employers are appropriate.
The Over-Burdened Central Bank and the Shift Away from Autonomy
Authors: Siklos Pierre L.
Published: August 2017

Many central banks took on additional responsibilities. Inadequate self-assessments remain unfinished almost a decade after the crisis erupted. Government-central bank relationships need to be conditioned on whether times are normal versus crisis conditions. Transparency confronts ambiguity when central banks must communicate the outlook and the conditionality of their decisions. Forward guidance was taken too far and ended up being futile. Central bankers simply exhausted their ability to influence behavior through mere words or ambiguous statements. This is a self-inflicted wound for institutions that are seen as overburdened. These forces leave central banking more vulnerable than is commonly acknowledged. Squaring the conventional objectives of monetary policy with the unclear aims of financial stability is difficult. Adequate limitations on the authority of central banks have yet to be thoroughly debated. We are nowhere near resolving the inherent tensions between old and new sets of central bank objectives.
Getting to Church
Authors: Gallagher Sally K.
Published: August 2017

Getting to Church explores the ways in which congregations continue to provide an arena in which adults deepen and expand a sense of identity, connection, and growth. Data for this analysis come from three years of participant observation, focus groups, and personal interviews with clergy, current members, and prospective members in three congregations representing diverse traditions within US Christianity. Our analysis demonstrates that historic tradition or denomination as embodied in buildings and programs, as well as the specific teachings and ethos of congregations, draws men and women differently toward membership. Contrary to the generalization that women are more religious than men, we argue that women’s and men’s religious identity, experience, and practice vary in substance, direction, and breath across religious tradition. Gender shapes joining, though not in the directions or degree we might expect. For both women and men, connecting to congregations provides an opportunity to experience dimensions of personhood that are broader than the current cultural gender script. Congregations provide robust narratives of transcendence that are experienced as empowering to women, as well as narratives of community, connection, and service for men. The fact that these themes appear in congregations located at very different points across the religious field underscores the salience of formal religious affiliation in the formation of adult personhood.
Why Won’t Religion Just Go Away?
Authors: Gallagher Sally K.
Published: August 2017

This chapter outlines explanations for the continuing salience of religion in the United States and raises questions about how congregations, including the structures in which they worship, contribute to adult identity for women and men. Beginning with an assessment of current theories of religious markets and religious subcultures, and theories of religious conversion or switching, we make the case that denominational distinctives continue to shape membership for women and men. We critique the generalization that women are more religious than men, and we provide a brief overview of the analysis of how women and men experience the process of joining, growing connection and involvement, and changing within three diverse congregations.
Documenting Raising and Control in Moro
Authors: Jenks Peter , Rose Sharon
Published: August 2017

This chapter details classes of raising and control predicates in Moro and the different types of clausal complements for which these predicates select. It is demonstrated that Moro allows raising from both finite and non-finite complement clauses, while control predicates select only non-finite complements, including infinitival clauses and gerunds. Putative finite complements of control predicates are shown to be instances of No Control. In addition, the chapter examines the distribution of different classes of control and raising predicates relative to each other in order to motivate an articulated clausal structure for Moro. More generally, this chapter stands as a proof-of-concept that relatively simple diagnostic tests can be employed during linguistic elicitation to distinguish control from raising constructions. It is suggested that such tests comprise an essential component of linguistic documentation.
Three Analyses of Underlying Plosives in Caning, a Nilo-Saharan Language of Sudan
Authors: Stirtz Timothy M.
Published: August 2017

Caning (or Shatt), an Eastern Sudanic (Nilo-Saharan) language of Sudan, has bilabial, alveolar, palatal, and velar plosives, but it is not straightforward for which plosives (if any) there is an underlying voicing contrast. Three analyses that can be shown to account reasonably for the data. One analysis proposes a voicing contrast of all plosives in all word positions where plosives occur. Of the three, this analysis posits underlying plosives most closely to the surface forms. A second analysis proposes only a voicing contrast of alveolar and velar plosives in word-initial position, and posits the same alternation processes in roots that are observed across morpheme boundaries. A third analysis proposes no voicing contrast of any plosives in any position by positing a “ghost” consonant before alveolar and velar plosives in word-initial position. There are advantages to each analysis, but none is without certain obstacles. After the noun root and morphological data of plosives is presented as neutrally as possible, the data are analyzed according to each of the three competing analyses, and the evidence for each is summarized. The reader is left to decide which analysis is the best choice.
A Business Turn in American Jewish Religious History
Authors: Einhorn Deborah Skolnick
Published: August 2017

American Jewish history has generally had an eye toward the role of organizations (and the business of those institutions) in its analysis of Judaism and the Jewish community. Still, histories of American Judaism have begun their own recent turn, away from a heavy emphasis on major organizations and their major philanthropists. Scholars have recently begun to more deeply investigate the impact of grassroots initiatives, institutions, and organizations. As this chapter will explore, by integrating social and feminist history, scholars of American Jewish life have begun to draw a more complete picture of lived Judaism in the United States. American Jewish women’s early organizations and philanthropy laid the groundwork for Jewish educational, social service, and health organizations today. This more inclusive view of American Jewish history broadens and deepens the business lens, yielding a richer understanding of almost four centuries of American Judaism and American Jewish life.
Toward a New Imperial Elite
Authors: Ricketts Mónica
Published: August 2017

This chapter analyzes the commitment of the Bourbon Crown to create a new power elite in which they could trust. This project was first implemented in Spain and then in America. While the new Bourbon monarchy’s main goals were to centralize and curtail local power, it cared deeply about forging strong bonds of loyalty with its subjects, especially after the outbreak of revolutions and violence in the Atlantic world. Hence, the Crown also tried to bring elites from the Spanish Peninsula and Spanish America. These policies laid the ground for the rise of a common and parallel political history of Peninsular and American elites in the late Spanish Empire.
Illuminating Art
Authors: Curtis Cathy
Published: August 2017

Elaine began reviewing exhibitions for ARTnews in April 1948, working under Thomas B. Hess, with whom she had a romantic relationship. (She was also briefly involved with critic Harold Rosenberg.) Tutelage with critic Edwin Denby helped hone her craft. Her reviews ranged widely, deftly encapsulating an artist’s style and approach within the 200-word limit. In 1949, she switched to the magazine’s “X Paints a Picture” features, a detailed treatment of the featured artist’s process. The function of criticism is to “cast some light on” the work, she said, rather than to sit in judgment. But she maintained the critic’s right of interpretation, regardless of the artist’s intentions. Among the artists and writers she befriended during this period were Larry Rivers, Fairfield Porter, and Frank O’Hara. In 1955, she began writing about larger themes, beginning with “Subject: What, How or Who?” which bravely countered ideas promulgated by critic Clement Greenberg.
The Life Cycle of Hedge Funds
Authors: Sherman Mila Getmansky , Koh Rachel (Kyungyeon)
Published: August 2017

This chapter analyzes the life cycle of hedge funds. Analysis using the Thomson Reuters Lipper TASS database reveals industry-related and fund-specific factors affecting the survival probabilities of hedge funds. Analysis of hedge fund flows and asset sizes can offer insights into a fund’s future survival. Fund performance is a nonlinear function of a fund’s asset size. A fund can obtain an optimal asset size by balancing the effects of past returns, fund flows, market impact, and competition. Competition among hedge funds using similar strategies presents challenges. To survive, funds employ dynamic strategies, move nimbly from market to market, and develop unique strengths. Being an effective market and strategy timer is critical because funds using the right strategy at the right time are more likely to survive. The chapter also analyzes the last stage of the hedge fund life cycle—liquidation or closure. Fund characteristics, risk measures, and style-related factors can help predict fund liquidation.
Characteristics of Successful Hedge Fund Managers
Authors: Hossain Ashrafee T. , Saadi Samir , Treff Maxim
Published: August 2017

Managerial skill is a key determinant of a hedge fund’s success. Identifying the key characteristics of successful managers is important because of a strong relation between hedge fund performance and managerial skills. This chapter provides a brief history of some highly successful hedge fund managers as well as a discussion of the different demands of the hedge fund industry versus other pooled investments, such as mutual funds. Furthermore, the chapter examines the differences between hedge fund and mutual fund managers involving return expectations, performance measures, and compensation. Next the chapter explores the key characteristics that hedge fund managers should possess to be successful. Although some characteristics are easy to identify and measure, others are less so. The chapter also includes a detailed discussion of social versus human capital.
Global Derivatives Hedge Fund Strategies
Authors: Barnes Christopher J. , Nikbakht Ehsan , Spieler Andrew C.
Published: August 2017

Hedge funds represent discretionary pools of capital that have very flexible investment strategies. Some funds allocate capital to derivative-based strategies on a global basis, loosely referred to as global macro funds. These investments are typically high-level, directional views on exchange rates, volatility, interest rates and other macro-related factors. In short, this “go anywhere” strategy often uses futures, forwards, and options on equities as well as interest rates and currencies. The investment manager employs top-down investments by placing high-level bets at the country level as well as taking positions in stock, currency, and derivatives on particular countries based on economic views. Many global macro funds increasingly use systematic managed futures, although fewer funds follow a discretionary managed futures strategy.
Issues in Hedge Fund Research
Authors: Bui Thuy , Ganguly Abhishek
Published: August 2017

This chapter explores the various issues and challenges that confront financial economists researching hedge funds. Besides being complex investment vehicles, hedge funds are private entities that are subject to little regulation and disclosure requirements and are less transparent by nature. Such lax regulatory oversight also enables hedge funds to become the venues for financial innovation and cutting-edge investment strategies. As a result, research in hedge funds not only attempts to keep up with the continuous advancement in strategies employed by hedge fund managers but also suffers from several data issues, performance measurement biases, and endogeneity issues. These biases in hedge fund research considerably limit the accuracy and, more importantly, the generalizability of the findings. Thus, users of hedge fund research should be mindful of its limitations.
Hedge Fund Replication
Authors: Tupitsyn Mikhail , Lajbcygier Paul
Published: August 2017

In theory, analogous to equity indices, hedge fund indices can provide broad exposure to hedge funds in a cost-effective manner. In practice, however, hedge fund indices are difficult to implement because direct investment in hedge funds is impractical. Unlike equities, hedge funds are not traded on liquid secondary markets and are often closed to new investment. A solution is hedge fund replication, which, rather than require direct investment in hedge funds, synthetically recreates hedge fund index returns by investing in portfolios that are exposed to the same underlying economic factors that drive hedge fund returns. This approach provides broad, cost-effective, hedge fund exposure and avoids the practical problems associated with direct hedge fund investment. As a consequence, such hedge fund clones exhibit lower tracking error and substantially higher raw and risk-adjusted returns than both investible and noninvestible hedge fund indices.
Current Hedge Fund Debates and Controversies
Authors: Preece Dianna C.
Published: August 2017

The hedge fund industry has grown to nearly $3 trillion over the last 20 years. High-net-worth individuals and institutional investors expect high returns and low correlation with traditional asset classes in exchange for the fees paid. The standard fee structure is “2 and 20,” 2 percent of assets under management and 20 percent of profits, representing high fees for active management. Hedge funds are largely unregulated and somewhat mysterious. As a result, they are the subject of debates and controversies among market participants and policymakers alike. Debates focus on fee structures, alpha versus alternative beta, weakening returns, activist investors, and leverage. The Securities and Exchange Commission has targeted hedge fund misconduct and malfeasance, pursuing perpetrators of fraud, insider trading, and conflicts of interest in the industry. Several high-ranking Wall Street hedge fund executives have been charged with, and in some cases convicted of, breaking securities laws.
Trends and Future Prospects of Hedge Funds
Authors: Holzhauer Hunter M.
Published: August 2017

This chapter focuses on new trends in the hedge fund industry. The chapter begins by creating some historical context for the current perception and state of hedge funds. The remainder of this chapter focuses on the following trends and their potential impact on the industry: (1) growth in all areas of the industry, especially in terms of long-term capital flows from institutional investors; (2) uncertainty about growth in the short term; (3) ways hedge funds approach growth; (4) the need for more diversity among hedge fund managers, including more minorities and women; (5) diverging long-term objectives for larger and smaller hedge funds; (6) future cost savings to investors; (7) development of new investment options to address liquidity concerns for investors; (8) new regulations; and (9) the future role of technology in the hedge fund industry.
Introduction
Authors: Mann Bonnie
Published: August 2017

This chapter introduces the central controversy that gave rise to this book project, one over the correct translation and interpretation of Beauvoir’s most famous sentence: “On ne naît pas femme: on le devient.” The history of the scandal of the first English translation of Le Duexième Sexe is recounted to provide context for the current conflict. The philosophical stakes of the conflict are spelled out in terms of the status of “social construction” as a theory of sexual difference. Tensions over the English translation open the way to asking bigger questions about philosophical meaning and translational practice across a number of language contexts.
Simone De Beauvoir: The Second Sex
Authors: Bauer Nancy
Published: August 2017

This chapter is a reprint of a book review of the new translation of The Second Sex, which raises questions about its success in rendering Beauvoir’s thought into English. Siding with critical scholars like Toril Moi, Bauer argues that Borde and Malovany-Chevallier’s translation is disappointing. The translation obscures Beauvoir’s philosophical insights by too often sacrificing readability and clear renditions of Beauvoir’s reasoning to word-by-word translations of Beauvoir’s long sentences and uncommon stylistic choices. This is due to the inexperience of the translators, who, Bauer claims, had never before translated such French theoretical writing and had no experience dealing with the “conceptual and rhetorical challenges” of Le deuxiéme sexe. Overall, Bauer’s review echoes the long history of the discounting of and underappreciation of feminist work as reflected in translation practices that assume women’s interests, writing, and scholarship to be tangential to scholarly research.
The Grand Rectification
Authors: Altman Meryl
Published: August 2017

This chapter praises the 2010 translation of The Second Sex, driven by criticism of H.M. Parshley’s original translation by writers like Toril Moi, which was received with mixed reviews, reigniting the old controversy over the success of the English translation of Beauvoir’s message. In her review, Meryl Altman defends not only the choice of translators, but also the integrity of their work. In fact, Altman observes, Borde and Malovany-Chevallier’s lack of “professional stakes” in the translation prevented them from adding words here and there to generate a “more opinionated” translation. Rather, she claims, Borde and Malovany-Chevallier remain neutral and resist the temptation of modernizing Beauvoir by importing anachronisms that would have obscured the meaning of Beauvoir’s key philosophical insights. Ultimately, Altman argues that the new translation succeeds at refreshing sections of the text, restoring the many authors that Beauvoir cites, and rekindling an interest in Beauvoir and feminism.
Woman Does Not Become Her
Authors: Jones Janine
Published: August 2017

In this chapter, the author argues that the Borde and Malovany-Chevallier’s translation of “On ne naît pas femme: on le devient” as “One is not born, but rather, becomes woman” is neither a standard grammatically correct rendering of the French sentence nor a translation capable of expressing the rhetorical power of Beauvoir’s thesis. The chapter, utilizing examples such as the great film Jules et Jim by François Truffaut, discusses some of the ideas in Beauvoir’s work that might lead one to graft the philosophical idea—one becomes WOMAN—onto her thesis, as the translators have admittedly done. Finally, through other examples, it argues that a better way to understand Beauvoir’s “On ne naît pas femme: on le devient” is “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”