bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Opportunities for the development of domestic agricultural production in the context of global challenges and threats
Authors: Kholodova M A , Kholodov O A , Slozhenkina M I , Mosolova D A , Vasilieva M O , Shakhbazova O P
Published: January 2022

The article presents the opportunities for the development of domestic agricultural production in the context of global challenges and threats. The article studies qualitative and quantitative characteristics of economic growth in agriculture in Russia. Particular attention is paid to the trend of innovation and investment activity in agriculture. Tendencies of innovation processes development in separate branches of economy are regarded as the instrument of realization of global competitive advantages of domestic agriculture. The article proves that modern functioning of the branch occurs contrary to natural laws of development. Researches have shown that under conditions of global cataclysms the development of the branch occurs mainly due to its plant-growing orientation and large-scale exhaustion of natural, labor, financial, material and technical resources. It is proved that the external well-being of agricultural commodity producers is a result of the tightened belts. It has been noted that the paradox of functioning of domestic agricultural production is in the fact that, not providing the simple reproduction of consumed resources, the branch shows the profitability. It is proved that domestic agricultural production with high production potential can demonstrate more intensive development, based on the search for breakthrough innovative technologies.
Development of resource-saving technology of chopped semifinished products based on lamb
Authors: Kolosov Y A , Shirokova N V , Chamurliev N G , Kolosova N N , Vorontsova E S , Shperov A S
Published: January 2022

The aim of the study was to develop the formulation and technology of chopped semi-finished products based on mutton with a multicomponent protein mixture, as well as the characteristic of the nutritional value of the product intended for functional nutrition. When conducting experimental studies, a set of indicators of functional and technological properties of sheep meat of the Edilbaev breed was determined by generally accepted methods: moisture binding ability, moisture-retaining ability, fat-retaining ability, organoleptic indicators of the finished product. Taking into account the high content of collagen and adipose tissue in the middle part of the carcass, the low moisture-retaining capacity of meat, we recommend using it in the production of chopped semi-finished products. Based on the results of the evaluation of the qualitative characteristics of soy, amaranth, artichoke and inulin, the choice of vegetable raw materials for further use in chopped semi-finished products is justified. Recipes of chopped semi-finished products using a protein module have been developed. The organoleptic characteristics of the finished product were studied, the optimal ratio of components was selected and the optimal dosage of the protein module was determined.
Problems of safety of gas systems in the places of residence of agricultural workers
Authors: Belomutenko D V , Istochkina M V , Kolobanova N A , Konovalova G V , Kryukov P S
Published: January 2022

The article presents the results of the analysis of emergencies that occurred in 2011-2020 in Russia as a result of improper operation of gas stoves in residential houses of rural residents, as well as the results of studying the circumstances that preceded the occurrence of these emergencies. Separate provisions of the relevant regulatory legal acts of Russia and departmental regulatory documents of Russia in relation to the placement of gas stoves and their operation in residential houses of rural residents are given. The ongoing gasification of rural areas of Russia, aimed at improving the quality of life of its population, will significantly change the lives of millions of people in rural areas, primarily those who still had to heat stoves with wood or coal, and at the same time will require solving the problem of preventing emergencies during the placement and operation of gas stoves, which is still relevant and unresolved in full.
Finite element modeling of the processes of elastic-plastic deformation of reclamation objects of the agro-industrial complex
Authors: Klochkov Yu V , Fomin S D , Vakhnina O V , Sobolevskaya T A , Yu Klochkov M , Andreev A S
Published: January 2022

Annotation. To study the processes of nonlinear deformation of reclamation objects and engineering systems of the agro-industrial complex, taking into account the plastic stage of the used structural material, a finite element model was created based on a volumetric prismatic discretization element with quadrangular bases. The plastic stage of deformation of the applied structural material of the object is taken into account on the basis of the provisions of the deformation theory of plasticity. The plasticity matrix at the (j + 1)-th stage of sequential loading was compiled as a result of applying the operation of differentiating the stress tensor components accumulated over the j previous stages of sequential loading with respect to the strain tensor components. The stiffness matrix and the column of nodal forces of a prismatic discretization element with quadrangular bases at the (j + 1)-th stage of loading were obtained by minimizing the Lagrange functional. Numerical experiments on the calculation of a tubular outlet proved the adequacy of the developed finite element model and the accuracy of calculating the required strength parameters of the studied reclamation objects and other engineering systems of the agro-industrial complex, sufficient for engineering practice.
Methodology for assessing the energy efficiency of technical means for harvesting Sudanese grass
Authors: Ryadnov A I , Fedorova O A , Yu Fandeev S
Published: January 2022

The article discusses the design features of the developed technical means for hay bales loading, transporting and unloading, which makes it possible to exclude its downtime when loading bales. The technical means use effectiveness comprehensive assessment method that combine several operations for Sudan grass harvesting for seeds and fodder for cattle is proposed. The methodology includes the following stages: the choice of factors affecting the technical means use efficiency; the substantiation of particular performance indicators, selected from the set of possible ones according to their relative importance; the selection of the mathematical dependence of the effectiveness complex criterion; the effectiveness complex criterion evaluation and the analysis of the compared technical means effectiveness.
Modern digital technologies in accounting and internal audit in agricultural enterprises
Authors: Vardanyan S A , Balashova N N , Khoruzhy V I , Gorbacheva A S , Chekrygina T A
Published: January 2022

The paper discusses about the issues of the current state of the using of modern IT technologies in agriculture, about the prospects of the using of information technologies in accounting and internal audit. An objectives of the project “Digital Agriculture” of The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation was considered. The main advantages for accounting and internal audit by the implementation of IT technologies are briefly presented, a possible obstacle to the large-scale implementation of modern technologies in agricultural organizations are analyzed.
Formation of investment resources of the grain subcomplex Volgograd region and its sustainability
Authors: Gorbacheva A S , Ivanov V V , Balashova N N , Chekrygina T A , Chernovanova N V , Yagupova E V , Melikhov V A
Published: January 2022

The article discusses the positive experience of the operation of the agricultural holding of the Volgograd region, engaged in the production, processing and sale of grain and grain products. The authors identified and analyzed the factors that both hinder the formation of integration ties in the grain sub-complex of the regional agro-industrial complex, and contribute to their dynamic development. The article describes methodological approaches to the organization of integration mechanisms that take into account the economic interests of all their participants: from producers of grain products, enterprises for the processing and storage of grain, subjects of the processing industry of the agro-industrial complex, transport companies, trade organizations. A competent pricing policy for products, works and services of all economic entities of the agricultural holding has been determined as a guarantee of the ability to compete and maintain its market niche. Prospects for integrating the activities of an agricultural holding with a research organization are considered in order to increase its investment activity in terms of introducing new technological, breeding, marketing and other innovations that contribute to ensuring a high level of development of all subjects of the agro-industrial business and their financial stability.
Asymptotic Bismut formulae for stochastic functional differential equations with infinite delay
Authors: Wang Ya , Wu Fuke , Yin George
Published: January 2022

Using Malliavin calculus, this paper establishes asymptotic Bismut formulae for stochastic functional differential equations with infinite delay. Both nondegenerate and degenerate diffusion coefficients are treated. In addition, combined with the corresponding exponential ergodicity, stabilization bounds for

∇

P

t

f

\nabla P_{t}f

as

t
→
∞

t\rightarrow \infty

are derived.
𝐾(ℓ_{𝑝},ℓ_{𝑞}) is a Lipschitz retract of 𝐵(ℓ_{𝑝},ℓ_{𝑞})
Authors: Cheng Lixin , He Wuyi , Luo Sijie
Published: January 2022

For two Banach spaces

X
X

and

Y
Y

, we denote by

K
(
X
,
Y
)

K(X,Y)

(resp.

B
(
X
,
Y
)

B(X,Y)

) the space of all compact (resp. bounded) linear operators from

X
X

to

Y
Y

. In this paper, we show that for

1
≤
p
,
q
>
∞

1\leq p,q>\infty

,

K
(

ℓ

p

,

ℓ

q

)

K(\ell _{p},\ell _{q})

is an 8-Lipschitz retract of

B
(

ℓ

p

,

ℓ

q

)

B(\ell _{p},\ell _{q})

.
Central units of integral group rings of monomial groups
Authors: Bakshi Gurmeet , Kaur Gurleen
Published: January 2022

In this paper, it is proved that the group generated by Bass units contains a subgroup of finite index in the group of central units

Z

(

U

(

Z

G
)
)

\mathcal {Z}(\mathcal {U}(\mathbb {Z}G))

of the integral group ring

Z

G

\mathbb {Z}G

for a subgroup closed monomial group

G
G

with the property that every cyclic subgroup of order not a divisor of

4
4

or

6
6

is subnormal in

G
G

. If

G
G

is a generalized strongly monomial group, then it is also shown that the group generated by generalized Bass units contains a subgroup of finite index in

Z

(

U

(

Z

G
)
)

\mathcal {Z}(\mathcal {U}(\mathbb {Z}G))

. Furthermore, for a generalized strongly monomial group

G
G

, the rank of

Z

(

U

(

Z

G
)
)

\mathcal {Z}(\mathcal {U}(\mathbb {Z}G))

is determined. The formula so obtained is in terms of generalized strong Shoda pairs of

G
G

.
Positive weights and self-maps
Authors: Manin Fedor
Published: January 2022

Spaces with positive weights are those whose rational homotopy type admits a large family of “rescaling” automorphisms. We show that finite complexes with positive weights have many genuine self-maps. We also fix the proofs of some previous related results.
Chromosome-level genome assembly of the fully mycoheterotrophic orchid Gastrodia elata
Authors: Bae Eun-Kyung , An Chanhoon , Kang Min-Jeong , Lee Sang-A , Lee Seung Jae , Kim Ki-Tae , Park Eung-Jun
Published: January 2022

Gastrodia elata, an obligate mycoheterotrophic orchid, requires complete carbon and mineral nutrient supplementation from mycorrhizal fungi during its entire life cycle. Although full mycoheterotrophy occurs most often in the Orchidaceae family, no chromosome-level reference genome from this group has been assembled to date. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of G. elata, using Illumina and PacBio sequencing methods with Hi-C technique. The assembled genome size was found to be 1045 Mb, with an N50 of 50.6 Mb and 488 scaffolds. A total of 935 complete (64.9%) matches to the 1440 embryophyte Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs were identified in this genome assembly. Hi-C scaffolding of the assembled genome resulted in 18 pseudochromosomes, 1008 Mb in size and containing 96.5% of the scaffolds. A total of 18,844 protein-coding sequences (CDSs) were predicted in the G. elata genome, of which 15,619 CDSs (82.89%) were functionally annotated. In addition, 74.92% of the assembled genome was found to be composed of transposable elements. Phylogenetic analysis indicated a significant contraction of genes involved in various biosynthetic processes and cellular components and an expansion of genes for novel metabolic processes and mycorrhizal association. This result suggests an evolutionary adaptation of G. elata to a mycoheterotrophic lifestyle. In summary, the genomic resources generated in this study will provide a valuable reference genome for investigating the molecular mechanisms of G. elata biological functions. Furthermore, the complete G. elata genome will greatly improve our understanding of the genetics of Orchidaceae and its mycoheterotrophic evolution.
Robust detection of natural selection using a probabilistic model of tree imbalance
Authors: Dilber Enes , Terhorst Jonathan
Published: January 2022

Neutrality tests such as Tajima’s D and Fay and Wu’s H are standard implements in the population genetics toolbox. One of their most common uses is to scan the genome for signals of natural selection. However, it is well understood that D and H are confounded by other evolutionary forces—in particular, population expansion—that may be unrelated to selection. Because they are not model-based, it is not clear how to deconfound these tests in a principled way. In this article, we derive new likelihood-based methods for detecting natural selection, which are robust to fluctuations in effective population size. At the core of our method is a novel probabilistic model of tree imbalance, which generalizes Kingman’s coalescent to allow certain aberrant tree topologies to arise more frequently than is expected under neutrality. We derive a frequency spectrum-based estimator that can be used in place of D, and also extend to the case where genealogies are first estimated. We benchmark our methods on real and simulated data, and provide an open source software implementation.
A new method to reconstruct the direction of parent-offspring duo relationships using SNP array data and its demonstration on ancient and modern cultivars in the outcrossing speciesMalus×domestica
Authors: Howard Nicholas P , van de Weg Eric , Luby James J
Published: January 2022

Unordered parent-offspring (PO) relationships are an outstanding issue in pedigree reconstruction studies. Resolution of the order of these relationships would expand the results, conclusions, and usefulness of such studies; however, no such PO order resolution (POR) tests currently exist. This study describes two such tests, demonstrated using SNP array data in the outcrossing species apple (Malus × domestica) on a PO relationship of known order (‘Keepsake’ as a parent of ‘Honeycrisp’) and two PO relationships previously ordered only via provenance information. The first test, POR-1, tests whether some of the extended haplotypes deduced from homozygous SNP calls from one individual in an unordered PO duo are composed of recombinant haplotypes from accurately phased SNP genotypes from the second individual. If so, the first individual would be the offspring of the second individual, otherwise the opposite relationship would be present. The second test, POR-2, does not require phased SNP genotypes and uses similar logic as the POR-1 test, albeit in a different approach. The POR-1 and POR-2 tests determined the correct relationship between ‘Keepsake’ and ‘Honeycrisp’. The POR-2 test confirmed ‘Reinette Franche’ as a parent of ‘Nonpareil’ and ‘Brabant Bellefleur’ as a parent of ‘Court Pendu Plat’. The latter finding conflicted with the recorded provenance information, demonstrating the need for these tests. The successful demonstration of these tests suggests they can add insights to future pedigree reconstruction studies, though caveats, like extreme inbreeding or selfing, would need to be considered where relevant.
Identifying early metabolite markers of successful graft union formation in grapevine
Authors: Loupit Grégoire , Valls Fonayet Josep , Prigent Sylvain , Prodhomme Duyen , Spilmont Anne-Sophie , Hilbert Ghislaine , Franc Céline , De Revel Gilles , Richard Tristan , Ollat Nathalie , Cookson Sarah Jane
Published: January 2022

Grafting is an important horticultural technique used for many crop species. However, some scion/rootstock combinations are considered as incompatible due to poor graft union formation and subsequently high plant mortality. The early identification of graft incompatibility could allow the selection of non-viable plants before planting and would have a beneficial impact on research and development in the nursery sector. In general, visible phenotypes of grafted plants (size, root number, etc.) are poorly correlated with grafting success, but some studies have suggested that some polyphenols could be used as markers of graft incompatibility several months or years after grafting. However, much of the previous studies into metabolite markers of grafting success have not included all the controls necessary to unequivocally validate the markers proposed. In this study, we quantified 73 primary and secondary metabolites in nine hetero-grafts and six homo-grafted controls 33 days after grafting at the graft interface and in both the scion and rootstock woody tissues. Certain biomarker metabolites typical of a high stress status (such as proline, GABA and pallidol) were particularly accumulated at the graft interface of the incompatible scion/rootstock combination. We then used correlation analysis and generalized linear models to identify potential metabolite markers of grafting success measured one year after grafting. Here we present the first attempt to quantitatively predict graft compatibility and identify marker metabolites (especially asparagine, trans-resveratrol, trans-piceatannol and α-viniferin) 33 days after grafting, which was found to be particularly informative for homo-graft combinations.
The histone H3K27 demethylase SlJMJ4 promotes dark- and ABA-induced leaf senescence in tomato
Authors: Ding Xiaochun , Zhang Dandan , Gu Dachuan , Li Zhiwei , Liang Hanzhi , Zhu Hong , Jiang Yueming , Duan Xuewu
Published: January 2022

Leaf senescence is a highly-programmed developmental process during the plant life cycle. ABA plays an important role in leaf senescence. However, the mechanism underlying ABA-mediated leaf senescence, particularly the upstream epigenetic regulatory network, remains largely unclear. Here, we demonstrated that SlJMJ4, a Jumonji C (jmjC) domain-containing protein in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), specifically demethylates di- and trimethylations of lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27) in vitro and in vivo. Overexpression of SlJMJ4 results in a premature senescence phenotype and promotes dark- and ABA-induced leaf senescence in tomato. Under dark conditions, SlJMJ4-promoted leaf senescence is associated with upregulated expression of transcription factors (SlORE1 and SlNAP2) and senescence-associated genes (SlSAG113 and SlSAG12) via removal of H3K27me3. In response to ABA, overexpression of SlJMJ4 increases its binding at the loci of SlORE1, SlNAP2, SlSAG113, SlSAG12, SlABI5, and SlNCED3 and decreases their H3K27me3 levels, thereby activating their expression and mediating ABA-induced leaf senescence in tomato. Taken together, these results demonstrate that SlJMJ4 plays a positive role in leaf senescence in tomato and functions in ABA-induced leaf senescence by binding to many key genes related to ABA synthesis and signaling, transcription regulation, and senescence, thus promoting their H3K27me3 demethylation.
Maximum Likelihood Estimation from a Tropical and a Bernstein–Sato Perspective
Authors: Sattelberger Anna-Laura , van der Veer Robin
Published: January 2022

In this article, we investigate maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) with tools from Tropical Geometry and Bernstein–Sato Theory. We investigate the critical points of very affine varieties and study their asymptotic behavior. We relate these asymptotics to particular rays in the tropical variety as well as to Bernstein–Sato ideals and give a connection to MLE in statistics.
Proteomic profiling of plasma-derived small extracellular vesicles: a novel tool for understanding the systemic effects of tick burden in cattle
Authors: Turner Natalie , Abeysinghe Pevindu , Peiris Hassendrini , Vaswani Kanchan , Sadowski Pawel , Cameron Nick , McGhee Nathanael , Logan Jayden , Mitchell Murray D
Published: January 2022

Cattle ticks pose a significant threat to the health and profitability of cattle herds globally. The investigation of factors leading to natural tick resistance in cattle is directed toward targeted breeding strategies that may combat cattle tick infestation on the genetic level. Exosomes (EXs), small extracellular vesicles (EVs) of 50 to 150 nm diameter, are released from all cell types into biofluids such as blood plasma and milk, have been successfully used in diagnostic and prognostic studies in humans, and can provide essential information regarding the overall health state of animals. Mass spectrometry (MS) is a highly sensitive proteomics application that can be used to identify proteins in a complex mixture and is particularly useful for biomarker development. In this proof of principle study, EXs were isolated from the blood plasma of cattle (Bos taurus) with high (HTR) and low tick resistance (LTR) (n = 3/group). Cattle were classified as HTR or LTR using a tick scoring system, and EXs isolated from the cattle blood plasma using an established protocol. EXs were subjected to MS analysis in data-dependent acquisition mode and protein search performed using Protein Pilot against the B. taurus proteome. A total of 490 unique proteins were identified across all samples. Of these, proteins present in all replicates from each group were selected for further analysis (HTR = 121; LTR = 130). Gene ontology analysis was performed using PANTHER GO online software tool. Proteins unique to HTR and LTR cattle were divided by protein class, of which 50% were associated with immunity/defense in the HTR group, whereas this protein class was not detected in EXs from LTR cattle. Similarly, unique proteins in HTR cattle were associated with B-cell activation, immunoglobins, immune response, and cellular iron ion homeostasis. In LTR cattle, unique exosomal proteins were associated with actin filament binding, purine nucleotide binding, plasma membrane protein complex, and carbohydrate derivative binding. This is the first study to demonstrate that MS analysis of EXs derived from the blood plasma of HTR and LTR cattle can be successfully applied to profile the systemic effects of tick burden.
The geography of information: evidence from the public debt market
Authors: Francis Bill , Hasan Iftekhar , Waisman Maya
Published: January 2022

We investigate the link between the spatial concentration of firms in large, central metropolitans (i.e. urban agglomeration) and the cost of public corporate debt. Looking at bond issues over the period 1985–2014, we find that bonds issued by companies headquartered in urban agglomerates have lower at-issue yield spreads than bonds issued by firms based in remote, sparsely populated areas. Measures of the count of institutional bondholders in a firm’s vicinity confirm that the spatial cross-sectional variation in bond spreads is driven by the proximity of metropolitan firms to large concentrations of institutional investors. Our results are robust to controls for firm productivity and governance, analyst following, and exogenous shocks to institutional investor attention. The effect of headquarters location on bond spreads is especially pronounced for more difficult to value, speculative-grade bonds, bonds issued by smaller, less visible firms and bonds issued without protective covenants. Overall, we provide evidence that the geographical distribution of firms and investors generates a corresponding distribution of value-relevant, firm-level information that affects its cost of capital.
Two Left Hands
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter evaluates Anri Sala’s video/sound installation Ravel Ravel Unraveled in New York City in the spring of 2016. In the art installation, there are two rooms. In one, the audience is presented with two videos of two different piano players each playing Ravel's piano concerto for the left hand in D. The room is filled with a beautiful and almost correct-sounding cacophony; two distinct, different performances of the same music, played on top of each other at the same time. In effect, the audience hears a raveling of Ravel by Sala. The video in the next room ratchets up the astounding complexity of Sala's constructed presentation of the concerto. The audience now encounters a new performer, the French DJ Chloë, as she works at a deck mixing two LPs corresponding to the two recordings of the distinct performances the audience witnessed in video. Ultimately, agency and the way technology extends, enhances, transforms, and remakes human agency are (among) the themes of Sala's captivating installation.
Beach Beasts on the Move
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter highlights Theo Jansen's strandbeests, which features mammoth artificial creatures—made of PVC, plastic ties, and bottles, among other materials—roaming the northern beaches of the Netherlands, on the watch for rising seas. Jansen writes on his website that he is occupied with creating new forms of life. His intuition is that life is tied to problem-solving, to coping with basic tasks necessary for survival. Is it right that life is tied to autonomy and problem-solving, to self-sustaining activity? The chapter then considers a different angle on Jansen's creatures, looking at the exhibition “Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen,” which was up at San Francisco's Exploratorium in 2016. Most of what is on exhibition are members of lines of the strandbeest genus that are now extinct.
The Anatomy Lesson
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter evaluates Rembrandt's 1631 painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. The Anatomy Lesson shows Professor Tulp as he probes the anatomy of a cadaver's left arm with an instrument in his right hand, while, with his left hand, he demonstrates the movements of which the left hand is capable and illustrates their dependence on the anatomy. As Dr. Tulp lectures and dissects, he refers his students to graphical representations or verbal descriptions of the relevant anatomy and physiology in a textbook. The chapter then considers an idea—one with which Rembrandt may be experimenting—according to which there is no such thing as the direct inspection of reality; that is, there is no encounter with how things are that is not shaped or at least informed by our thoughts and pictures, and indeed by our scientific theories. Rembrandt's painting of a scientist at work may also be an argument for the irreducible importance of art to the scientist's basic project.
The Art of the Brain
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter assesses the significance of pictures in science, looking at Santiago Ramón y Cajal's accurate drawings of brain cells (neurons). A drawing is a thoughtful picture; it is really the visualization not just of what there is but of what matters. This is true with fMRI and PET today. What these technologies provide is a graphical representation of what we hypothesize is going on. That was no less true of Cajal's drawings. More important, these creations of Cajal's were realizations not so much of what Cajal merely saw but of what he understood himself to be seeing. This is why, as the editors of a new collection of Cajal's drawings—The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal—make clear, Cajal's drawings supplied theoretical foundations to the emerging field of neuroscience.
Why Are 3D Movies So Bad?
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter studies why 3D movies are bad. The problem is not merely technical. It is not the fact that 3D darkens the screen, or the fact that 3D effects present spatial depth as visibly layered as in a pop-up book, that accounts for what is wrong. The problem is conceptual. The whole motivation for 3D movies is confused. Despite the wild success of Avatar and other films, 3D movies remain somewhat like pop-up books themselves: they are a childish novelty. The question is, why? The short answer is that 3D makes no contribution to cinematic storytelling. It remains at the level of the special effect, something like the way pop-up book technology stands to the telling of the story of Hansel and Gretel. 3D does not enable a different kind of story to be told, and critically, 3D does not let the audience see anything they could not see before.
Are Works of Art Relics?
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter investigates the relic or cult model of artworks that has shaped our attitudes to art since about 1700. The idea that our attitudes to art are shaped by a relic model makes sense of the fact that we value originals more than copies; it makes sense of the way of thinking of connoisseurs according to which they are, essentially, detectives whose job it is to pursue the traces left on a canvas back to its historical origin. And finally, the relic/cult model explains why we, as a culture, are so anxious about art forgery. It was not always so: in the Renaissance, for example, before the supposed advent of the relic model, it was widely supposed that excellent copies inherited the quality of their originals. In this setting, copying was not a crime and forgery not really even possible. The chapter then proposes an alternative to the relic model: the conversation model. According to the conversation model, works of art are gestures, or utterances, or moves, in an ongoing dialog or conversation. The work is valuable, on this view, because it is a datable foray into an ongoing and historically changing conversation.
Who Was Vermeer?
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter focuses on Vermeer. Scholars have long found it difficult to come up with a coherent story of Vermeer's development, or even of the order in which the very small number of extant paintings (some thirty-odd) were made. Some of the paintings just do not fit. They depict the same cast of characters occupying the same rooms and wearing the same clothes, and they are made out of the same paints using the same basic materials and techniques. But they look different; they lack the technical facility and compositional understanding of the others, even as they are also, sometimes, free-spirited and vigorous in a way that is not typical of Vermeer. Contemporary scholars scoff at approaches to art that lean too heavily on cults of personality or biographical detail. After all, when work is good, it stands on its own and does not require a romantic backstory. But where Vermeer is concerned, the family is not backstory. Vermeer painted his family, and his family painted right back.
What Is a Fact?
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter reflects on facts. It looks at John D'Agata and Jim Fingal's book The Lifespan of a Fact. D'Agata is an essayist, while Fingal is a much younger man who had been hired by The Believer as a fact-checker to review one of D'Agata's essays for publication. Fingal ended up writing more than a hundred pages’ worth of corrections on D'Agata's essay. However, D'Agata defended his facts and his choices. He gave up in the end, though; the version of the essay that appeared in The Believer was a fact-checked, corrected version. The Lifespan of a Fact is a book they put together after the dust settled; it is a reconstruction of the exchanges, or really, their battle, as they work their way line by line through the original essay. But what makes the book remarkable is that it is a kind of staging of an investigation into such questions as: What is a fact? What is the truth? When is it okay, for the sake of a good story, to simplify, or change, or color facts? Is it possible to tell a story without doing so? Can one even draw a sharp line between fiction and non-fiction?
Streams of Memes
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter discusses memes, which are a lot like jokes. It is not the meme that is funny all by itself; it is the meme viewed against the background of a whole series of thematic variations. It is like this with knock-knock jokes too, or lightbulb jokes. Part of what makes the joke funny is the appreciation that it is a variation on a theme. The joke is at once a move inside a genre and a comment on it, and understanding the joke is really a sensitivity to a whole swath of shared life, background assumptions, images, self-images, and so on. This is just the same sort of ironic self-reference that we see everywhere we look in the history of art, in pop music, in pop culture such as television sitcoms, and, now, in novel form, in the internet meme. The chapter then looks at the addition of Pepe the Frog to the Anti-Defamation League's hate symbols list.
Adele in the Goldilocks Zone
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter explains that when it comes to music, we like the novel to be familiar. That is, we like familiar varieties of unfamiliarity; we like things we have never heard before that sound like things we have heard before. If the music is too familiar, it is dull. But if it is genuinely new, if it really is novel, then it is obnoxious, or, worst of all, not even recognizable as music at all. We are attracted to music in the Goldilocks zone, as it has been called. And it is this that explains a familiar but nonetheless remarkable fact about musical style—namely, that styles change, and that therefore music has a history. However original, however diverse one's influences, the art we produce bears not only our individual mark but also that of the time and place where it originates.
Mind in the Natural World: Can Physics Explain It?
Authors: Noë Alva
Published: January 2022

This chapter examines Carlo Rovelli’s Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, which was originally published as a series of essays in an Italian newspaper. Seven Brief Lessons does not shy away from philosophy, and it is an admirable testament to the fact that philosophy and natural science, although perhaps never one and the same, must grapple with each other. Rovelli wants to resist the thought that we somehow stand outside of nature when we describe it. We, like everything else, are in continuous transaction with the world around us. We carry information about the world in our brains, just as a raindrop carries information about the presence of a cloud in the sky and a footprint carries information about the one who made it. But the raindrop and the footprint, for all they are packed with information, have no knowledge. Why think the brain is any different? If Rovelli is right that we belong to the very same nature it is the project of physics to understand, then it may be that there is something incomplete or not yet adequate in our physics itself. For we have nothing like an adequate account of ourselves in the natural world.
Political Philosophy and Healthy Eating Efforts
Authors: Barnhill Anne , Bonotti Matteo
Published: January 2022

This chapter illustrates the implications of key debates on justice in political philosophy for the analysis of healthy eating efforts. The chapter may be especially interesting to readers who are not familiar with key concepts and theories in political philosophy. It first considers different conceptions of freedom in political philosophy, including negative, positive, and republican freedom (or freedom as non-domination). It then examines the idea of democracy, and the difference between aggregative (i.e. vote-centric) and deliberative conceptions. Furthermore, the chapter considers the concept of equality as well as theories of multiculturalism. Finally, it introduces the debate on state neutrality and perfectionism, which is central to the rest of the book. For each of these issues in political philosophy, the chapter examines their relationship with healthy eating efforts.
Liberalism, Public Reason, and Healthy Eating Efforts
Authors: Barnhill Anne , Bonotti Matteo
Published: January 2022

This chapter applies a public reason approach to healthy eating efforts. Public reason is the view that political rules are legitimate only if they are justified on the basis of reasons that are public, i.e. reasons that all citizens can accept at some level of idealization despite their different conceptions of the good. This chapter asks when, if ever, healthy eating efforts are publicly justified and consistent with the idea of public reason. It especially illustrates the existence of different conceptions of health, different levels of priority assigned to health as opposed to other values, and different kinds of social and cultural importance assigned to eating practices. The chapter then introduces three major conceptions of public reason—‘shareability’, ‘intelligibility’, and ‘accessibility’—and applies them to healthy eating efforts. The chapter concludes by arguing that healthy eating efforts are consistent with public reason only under the ‘accessibility’ conception.
American Popular Song
Authors: Wilder Alec
Published: January 2022

Composer Alec Wilder’s American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900–1950 is widely recognized as the definitive book on American popular song. In this volume, which achieved immediate praise and recognition upon its publication, Wilder discusses some eight hundred songs from the American Songbook, offering a composer’s insight, accessible music analysis, as well has his strong personal biases. Nearly fifty years later, this classic study has received a much-needed revision. While leaving Wilder’s colorful prose and brazen opinions intact, language, style, and musical nomenclature have been updated to reflect current usage. The musical examples mostly remain, but piano score notation has been replaced with lead-sheet notation: melody, chords, and lyrics. Rhythmic notation has also been adjusted to follow present-day norms. Additionally, a final chapter has been added, which includes more than fifty songs that were not in the original, seeking to achieve greater representation for women and African American composers, as well as including several of Wilder’s own songs.
Alec Wilder’s American Popular Song Revisited
Authors: Wilder Alec
Published: January 2022

This revised edition of American Popular Song seeks to update and expand Alec Wilder's 1972 edition, while preserving the original text and musical examples as much as possible. Accordingly, while the vast majority of Wilder’s original prose remains, lyrics have been added, Irving Berlin’s “missing examples” have been restored, and the piano scores have been converted to lead sheet notation with chord symbols. Rhythms have been shown in modern notation, musical terminology has been updated, and language has been altered to conform to present-day norms. Additionally, a new chapter has been added to include songs and composers not represented adequately in the original. Moreover, ten compositions by Wilder himself have been included.
The Transition Era
Authors: Wilder Alec
Published: January 2022

Toward the close of the nineteenth century, as the publishing industry began to pick up speed and Tin Pan Alley came into existence, a new type of song with a distinctly American flavor began to take shape. This new medium combined African American influences, as well as ethnic ones, with European conventions, underpinned by a bold American spirit that resulted in something never heard before. But this sound was not entirely new, and suggestions of it had begun to emerge toward the middle of the century. Stephen Foster, perhaps the most successful songwriter of his time, wrote competently in a variety of styles but is mostly known for his songs with a distinctive “American” flavor: “Old Black Joe,” “De Camptown Races,” and “Oh! Susanna,” for example. The trend seems to have died out with Foster but is taken up again in the later 1870s by composers such as James Bland, who wrote “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” and “Oh Dem Golden Slippers.” Ben Harney contributed similarly inspired numbers, such as “You’ve Been a Good Old Wagon, But You’ve Done Broke Down” and “Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose,” and by the turn of the twentieth century a new style of songwriting was solidly in place. This chapter will examine more than a dozen songs that merit attention from the first two decades of the century.
Jerome Kern
Authors: Wilder Alec
Published: January 2022

Jerome Kern was a prolific and visionary writer of popular song. The first of a series of great Broadway composers including Berlin, Gershwin, Rodgers, Porter, and Arlen, Kern exerted a profound influence on the future of American popular song. Breaking free from his European influences, Kern found a voice that would be distinctly American, and in so doing transformed musical theater. His early songs are briefly discussed but are found to give little indication of Kern’s mature style. “They Didn’t Believe Me” is cited as being a significant departure from anything Kern had written up to that point. Over the next several decades, until his sudden death from a heart attack in 1945, Kern produced dozens of excellent songs, many of which have become standards.
Outstanding Individual Songs
Authors: Wilder Alec
Published: January 2022

Hundreds of individuals have contributed to the American Songbook, many of whom did not even consider themselves songwriters. They might have been bandleaders. arrangers, instrumentalists, singers, or rank amateurs. Some wrote only a handful of notable songs, some just one or two. Songs that would likely elicit a puzzled look if their authors were revealed include “April Showers,” “Just Friends,” “I’m Getting Sentimental over You,” “How High the Moon,” “Moonlight in Vermont,” and “You Make Me Feel So Young.” True, the artist who made the song famous is likely to come to mind immediately, but the intrinsic merit of these songs cannot be denied. This chapter discusses more than one hundred songs that are likely to be far more famous than their authors.
Introduction
Authors: D'Errico Mike
Published: January 2022

The introductory chapter contextualizes music technology in the early decades of the twenty-first century, pinpointing how the rise of software impacted the cultures of popular music and interactive media. The chapter considers how the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of digital audio producers and software companies become embedded in the design of software—a process referred to as interface aesthetics. The project is situated within software studies, sound studies, and interface criticism, and the chapter shows how and why the study of software design may uncover aspects of music that are not addressed by musicological and media studies research undertaken from semiotic, hermeneutic, and historical perspectives.
Introduction
Authors: Stewart Jon
Published: January 2022

The Introduction begins by explaining Hegel’s understanding of philosophy as a systematic enterprise. An attempt is made then to locate his analyses of religion in the context of his philosophical system. It shows how Hegel’s famous Berlin lectures constitute expansions of specific parts of the system that build on works that Hegel had previously published. An account is given of the history of the editions of Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion. The first edition was edited by the theologian Philipp Marheineke and appeared in the first collected works edition of Hegel’s writings which was prepared by his students after his death under the title Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s Werke. Vollständige Ausgabe. An account is also given of the new critical edition by Walter Jaeschke, which usefully separates the individual lecture courses and presents them individually. At the end of the chapter, the following theses are presented: much of Hegel’s agenda in the Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion comes from his reaction to the Enlightenment. Specifically, he believes that this movement has deprived religion of all its meaningful content. While the Enlightenment has undermined the key dogmas of Christianity, the content, the Romantics have made matters even worse by reducing the form of religious faith to mere feeling. Hegel’s project is to correct what he regards as the mistaken form of religious belief in his day.
The Enlightenment’s Criticism of Religion: Theology
Authors: Stewart Jon
Published: January 2022

The motivation of Hegel’s philosophy of religion developed in reaction to the religious situation that he found himself in at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This chapter and the next sketch the main issues stemming from the Enlightenment to which Hegel was reacting. This chapter focuses on the Enlightenment’s criticism of religion specifically in the fields of theology and biblical studies. Through much of the Middle Ages, the dogmas of the Christian religion were regarded collectively as a field of scholarly study alongside the sciences. However, with the rapid development of the empirical sciences, religion suddenly appeared to be based on a dubious foundation. The thinkers of the Enlightenment wanted merely to hold firm to what they regarded as rational, while purging religion of what they took to be superstitious, childish views without foundation. After rejecting Christianity, the philosophes ended up with Deism, that is, a simple, very general belief in a Supreme Being. Hegel takes one of the main negative aspects of the Enlightenment to be its dismissal of the traditional Christian dogmas. The result is an empty abstraction that is meaningless from a religious point of view. An account is given of Voltaire’s Deism in his work God and Human Beings. A brief overview is provided of the scepticism about the veracity of the sacred texts in the field of biblical studies. This is exemplified by a reading of Hermann Samuel Reimarus so-called ‘Wolfenbüttel Fragments’ that were published by Lessing.
The Enlightenment’s Criticism of Religion: Philosophy
Authors: Stewart Jon
Published: January 2022

This chapter focuses on the Enlightenment’s criticism of religion in the field of philosophy. A discussion is given of Lessing’s attempt to defend the views of Reimarus. Lessing argues that the ‘Wolfenbüttel Fragments’ have provoked the critics to accept implicitly a naïve conception of history and then to attempt to try to defend the Bible based on this criterion. But since the historical standard for truth that the ‘Fragments’ presupposes is so high, all attempts to reach it are doomed to failure. The doctrines of Christianity are true in themselves and are not dependent on some historical fact. A close reading is given of David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, which criticizes the traditional arguments for the belief in God. An account is also given of Kant’s attempt to save religious faith by shifting its foundation from metaphysics to ethics. While the key dogmas cannot be proven metaphysically, they must be assumed as postulates of practical reason. The chapter ends with an account of Hegel’s criticism of Kant and of the Enlightenment in general. Hegel holds Kant responsible for the conclusion that many of the Enlightenment critics of religion reached, namely, that there can be no knowledge of God.