bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Pugh Claim
Authors: Russell Lutz E.
Published: April 2017

In June, 1929, James Pugh, an Irish seaman, was arrested in a bar in the city of Colon, Republic of Panama, because of his belligerent attitude toward two policemen and his refusal to pay a bill. On the way to the police station a serious fight occurred, the circumstances of which were in dispute. Pugh died shortly thereafter. The Panamanian judicial investigation of the affair acquitted the two policemen of criminal responsibility for Pugh’s death, a result which apparently was not satisfactory to the British Government, for in July, 1930, a formal request was made upon the Government of Panama by the British Government for an indemnity of ®1,000 on behalf of the children of the deceased, based upon the allegation that his death had been caused by unjustified acts of Panamanian policemen in beating him and dissatisfaction with the manner in which the police agents had been tried.
A Justiciable Controversy Concerning Water Rights
Authors: Piper Don C.
Published: April 2017

Sharing the waters of the Rio Grande and the Colorado Rivers, the United States and Mexico enjoy a natural resource of considerable economic significance.
Computerized Data on General Assembly Resolutions
Authors: Bleicher Samuel A.
Published: April 2017

A computer-coded analysis of United Nations General Assembly resolutions is presently in progress at the University of Toledo College of Law for the purpose of studying systematically the law-making qualities of the resolutions. In the course of this project I also hope to develop some effective research tools for those who desire quick access to resolutions relating to particular substantive questions. The following information is being coded for each resolution : committee source ; operative words; references to geographic entities and co-ordinate and subsidiary organizational units ; and all citations of the U.N. Charter, the Statute and decisions of the I.C.J., General Assembly Eules of Procedure, and previous resolutions of the General Assembly and the various Councils. In addition, each resolution will be classified under one or more subject-matter headings and one or more of about twenty functional categories, such as “creation of committees,” “conciliation of a dispute,” and “interpretation of the U.N. Charter.” On the basis of this data, I intend to study such questions as the significance of re-citation of resolutions which purport to declare rules of law, and the frequency and quality of interpretations and elaborations of the U.N. Charter in the resolutions.
Hague Academy of International Law 1968 Sessions
Authors: E. H. F.
Published: April 2017

The Hague Academy of International Law will hold its 1968 session from July 8 to August 15, 1968. The first period of lectures from July 8 to 25 will consist of the following : general course on private international law, by Professor A. A. Ehrenzweig of the University of California; law of torts in private international law, by Professor O. Kahn-Freund of Brasenose College, Oxford; international contracts in Swiss private international law, by Dr. A. F. Schnitzer of the University of Geneva Faculty of Law; trade and finance in international law, by Professor J. E. Fawcett of All Souls College, Oxford; public international law influences on conflicts of law rules on corporations, by Professor I. Seidl-Hohenveldern of the University of Cologne; juridical aspects of intergovernmental cooperation in the field of foreign exchange and international payments, by Professor M. Giuliano of the University of Milan ; multinational corporate groups, by Mr. Homer G. Angelo, visiting Professor of Law, University of California; general features of the codification of private international law in Czechoslovakia, by Professor R. Bistricky of the Carolinum University, Prague.
The Evolution of the “American Empire”
Authors: Cabranes José A.
Published: April 2017

Today, the anniversary of the death of Franklin Roosevelt, is especially appropriate for a discussion of the political evolution of two territories whose development, before and after his death, was shaped by Roosevelt’s enlightened vision of world public order. The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was an inheritance of a war waged by the United States in affirmation of “the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they live.” Puerto Rico’s progressive dismantlement of colonial government had its origins in the New Deal. It was furthered by Roosevelt’s support of Puerto Rico’s Popular Democratic Party and a policy favoring self-determination and decolonization entrusted by Roosevelt to a succession of sympathetic and imaginative administrators. Both territories emerged in the postwar period as natural objects of the concern of the world community which Roosevelt helped to organize.
Self-Determination in Puerto Rico
Authors: Benítez Jaime
Published: April 2017

As a form of government the Estado Libre Asociado, or to use the English title the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, reflects a cultural, economic, social, political process of long duration. It also embodies an explicit program of political pioneering initiated after the end of World War II.
The Implications of the 20-Year Comprehensive Programme of Economic Integration
Authors: Ginsburgs George
Published: April 2017

The adoption of the “Comprehensive Programme for the Further Extension and Improvement of Cooperation and the Development of Socialist Economic Integration by the CMEA Member-Countries,” to quote the document’s full title, opens a new chapter in the history of the self-styled “Socialist Commonwealth.” Two years on the drawing board, the 25,000-word encyclical is a strange mixture of ideological clichés, abstract formulations of political, economic, and juridical desiderata, projections of distant ends, references to proximate objectives, and elaborations of the concrete ways and means by which the next plateau on the road to the Communist millenium shall be reached. Approved at the 26th session of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) which met July 27-29, 1971, and subsequently ratified by the top political organs of the member states, the program enjoys locally the formal status of a multilateral treaty whose principles validly bind the CMEA partners to a general code of conduct aimed at achieving certain select goals by various designated methods. At the same time it represents a theoretical blueprint of how the leaderships of the countries concerned would like the region’s economic organism to perform in an optimal setting and how they propose to bring that situation about.
Remarks by Roland Brown
Authors: Brown Roland
Published: April 2017

I would like to center my remarks on the question of how the issue of sanctions should be dealt with in the Rhodesian case.

Rhodesia is a situation of outstanding importance. First, the rebel government of Salisbury is not recognized anywhere in the world in either a de jure or a de facto sense. Secondly, the British Government claims sovereignty over Rhodesia; therefore, constitutionally, the British Parliament can legislate for Rhodesia.
Remarks by Lung-Chu Chen
Authors: Chen Lung-Chu
Published: April 2017

This discussion on “Expulsion and Expatriation in International Law” is very timely indeed. Today we are witnessing a new type of people “in orbit,” not astronauts but “refugees in orbit.” In a recent bulletin, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees vividly describes how a typical refugee in orbit wandered from country to country over the past half year in quest of some one country that might let him in and stay. What made the case dramatic was that during that long period the refugee was shuffled from airplane to airplane, and confined in airports. Compelled to leave the country of residence and lacking proper identity and travel documents, many people cannot disembark legally anywhere. In earlier times there was always the possibility of jumping ship. But today, under the closed national boundary system policed by more sophisticated entry and exit control, such unfortunate persons are condemned to a nightmarish cycle of enforced airplane journeys and periods of practical imDrisonment in ainrart waiting rooms.
Remarks by Valerie Chalidze
Authors: Chalidze Valerie
Published: April 2017

“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own”— this can be considered the basic philosophical principle of social relations just because it asserts the right of everyone to leave the territory of any state and therefore to escape the jurisdiction of any state. Although conditions in the world must change substantially for this principle to be always practicable, the import of its proclamation is the recognition that state sovereignty over the individual can be limited in the future.
Remarks by the Chairman: Telford Taylor
Authors: Taylor Telford
Published: April 2017

I would like to make one brief point before we go on to our speakers. Having done a good deal of talking on university campuses about the laws of war during the last three years, I have been very much struck by the amount of cynicism, disillusionment, and rejection of the idea of having laws of war at all. When I have endeavored to make a case for them, many students and faculty members have reproached me with me notion that there is something fundamentally inconsistent between the idea of law and the idea of war.
Remarks by George H. Aldrich
Authors: Aldrich George H.
Published: April 2017

It is apparent that the laws of war (by which I mean both the law protecting prisoners, sick and wounded, and civilians under the control of a belligerent on the one hand, and the law governing the conduct of hostilities on the other) are in large part old and in considerable part obsolete. The. Geneva Conventions of 1949, the most recent major international instruments in diis field, cover the protection of prisoners of war, the sick and wounded, and civilians in occupied territory. But they reflect the experience of World War II, and their applicability to more recent types of warfare is not always easy. Civil wars, mixed civil and international conflicts, and guerrilla warfare in general all raise problems under those conventions. Moreover, all too often nations refuse to apply the conventions in situations where they clearly should be applied. Attempts to justify such refusals are often based on differences between the conflicts presently encountered and those for which the conventions were supposedly adopted. Other aspects of the laws of war, except for the use of poison gas and bacteriological weapons (which were the subjects of the 1925 Geneva Gas Protocol), and the protection of cultural property (the subject of a 1954 Convention), have been left untouched since the Hague Conventions of 1907. The expansion of military objectives and changes in weaponry and fire power have increased many fold the vulnerability of noncombatants. The law has not developed apace.
Remarks by Hans Blix
Authors: Blix Hans
Published: April 2017

Modern mass media feed, or overfeed us with reports on the horrors of armed conflicts. Little is heard, however, about restraints observed in accordance with valid rules. Little is also heard about the efforts made in recent years to update the rules applicable in armed conflicts. Even international lawyers know much more about the proposals to update the law of the sea than about the draft rules worked out by the ICRC for international and noninternational armed conflicts. There is also ignorance about the conferences of government experts which have discussed the ICRC drafts in Geneva in 1971 and 1972 and the world conference proposed by the Swiss Government to convene early in 1974.
Remarks by Alfred Rubin
Authors: Rubin Alfred
Published: April 2017

Mr. Blix’s figures indicating that it is safer to be a soldier than a civilian are more than borne out by the irony of Mr. Aldrich’s observation with regard to the treatment of captured guerillas as if they were prisoners of war. It seems to me that we are returning to an age of chivalry where soldiers are treated a lot better than civilians even if those soldiers happen to be concealing their weapons, bearing no visible signs, and are captured while shooting at you. You may remember that the age of chivalry was an age of caste; you were very nice to the soldiers but not so nice to the peasants. That is very much what seems to be happening today.
Reply by Hans Blix:
Authors: Blix Hans , Lopatkiewicz Stefan
Published: April 2017

I do not know of very many governments who have protested to the government of India concerning the treatment and detention of its prisoners. On the whole, and this may be an explanation of some of the attitudes reflected by my government, public opinion in my country is very concerned about armed conflict. This was true of the conflicts in Biafra and Bangladesh, and it is certainly very true of the conflict in Vietnam. When the government speaks up, as it frequendy does, this reflects an attitude held by a strong public opinion, nothing very peculiar in a democratic state. It is natural that this may sometimes lead to controversies with foreign countries that do not wish to hear all that is said.
The Performance of the Cuban Revolution: A Provisional Assessment
Authors: Domínguez Jorge I.
Published: April 2017

Is the Cuban Revolution “good?” This essay seeks to assess the performance of the Cuban revolutionary government as it prepares for its fifteenth birthday in January, 1974.

We will evaluate the revolutionary government’s performance on eight basic values of social life identified by Harold Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan, as modified partly by Karl Deutsch, and further modified for the purposes of this essay. Power is the participation in decisions about severe sanctions or the capacity to change the probability of outcomes. Enlightenment involves knowledge, insight, and access to information. Skill is the proficiency in the practice of any arts and crafts, in trades, or professions. Wealth is income, including both goods and services. Well-being includes both health and safety. Deference includes status, honor, recognition, prestige, glory, or reputation. Rectitude comprises moral values: virtue, goodness, righteousness, etc. Affection includes both love and friendship.
Economic Development, Political Democracy, and Equality: The Chilean Case
Authors: Orrego-Vicuña Francisco
Published: April 2017

The goals of economic development, political democracy, and equality, which are the three values suggested for discussion at this meeting, share a close relationship. Although the guidelines for discussion prepared by the organizers of the meeting reveal certain doubts about the compatibility of these values, at least as coexistent parts of a common process, my own point of view is that they are not only compatible but also inseparable. The crisis of a society emerges precisely when any one of these values is abandoned or subordinated to the attainment of the others, either in the case of a developing or of a developed country. The relationship of balance will, of course, depend on the particular circumstances of each country, its stage of political and cultural development, and the definitions adopted with regard to those values. This is why the developments taking place throughout the world cannot be judged by applying theoretical models or standards inspired by the realities of developed countries, which is the frequent mistake of many scholars and government officials.
Comments By Lincoln Gordon
Authors: Gordon Lincoln
Published: April 2017

Our four speakers have discussed the concept of human rights with various degrees of refinement. They range from the broad goals of political democracy and equality Üirough Professor Trubek’s classification of economic, social, and cultural rights alongside of the classical political and civil rights, to Jorge Domínguez’ 32-cell sociological matrix, which goes so far as to estimate the quantity of “rectitude” in Cuba before and after the revolution. I admire Professor Domínguez’ metìiodologi-cal erFort, but would prefer not trying to push it that far. I also felt that Professor Trubek took too seriously the use of the word “rights” in constitutional and other formal documents when what is really meant is goals or aspirations. Many of the so-called economic and social rights are inherently unenforceable through any kind of systematic legal procedure. Like Franklin Roosevelt’s “four freedoms,’” equating them with juridically enforceable rights should be recognized as a kind of poetic or political license rather than a feature of the legal scenery. I am all in favor of stating social goals and aspirations, but it would be well to avoid confusion in the terminology.
Remarks by George A. Zaphiriou
Authors: Zaphiriou George A.
Published: April 2017

May I also say that I feel somewhat of a fraud speaking about transnational practice. I describe myself as a small town practitioner since I am a member of the English Bar where we have only about 2,000 practitioners. I would like to present here two points of view which may prove useful. One is the problem of the English Bar at the present juncture and the other is the new important dimension of practice in the European Community.
Remarks by B. Ko-Yung Tung:
Authors: Tung B. Ko-Yung
Published: April 2017

I come here with two hats on, one of Edward Martin, who was unable to be here, and the other is my own, which is that of one straight out of law school and practicing only for a few months.

Mr. Martin asked me to impress upon you the fact that it is very difficult to practice transnational law without fully understanding the culture and the laws of the foreign nation with which you are dealing. It is difficult to sit in New York and keep current with the law and thinking and certain forecasting that you have to do in the practice of law.
More than the “Wife Corps”: Female Tenant Farmer Struggle in 1920s Japan
Authors: Matsumura Wendy
Published: April 2017

Struggles over social reproduction intensified and took on new forms in Japan during the interwar period, as the state found it increasingly difficult to secure the foundations for the continued accumulation of capital. Landlord-tenant disputes that erupted nationwide in the midst of Japan's post-World War I agricultural recession was one concrete manifestation of these struggles. While the significance of tenant disputes has been analyzed in great detail by scholars, there has been a surprising lack of historical scholarship on the role that female tenant farmers played within them. This absence is a manifestation of two tendencies: First, gendered assumptions surrounding the figure of the tenant farmer have led scholars of agrarian social movements to work from a relatively limited understanding of what constitutes struggle and by extension, who its protagonists have been. Second, the conflation of waged work as productive work and by extension, non-waged work as unproductive has unwittingly relegated many forms of struggle that working women participated in to the realm of the pre-political. This paper contends that far from being mere supporters – the wife corps – of what was ultimately a male-driven movement, female participants in tenant disputes produced their own powerful critiques of the way that the Japanese state and capital undervalued their lives and labor. As such, they should be understood as one link in a rich history of proletarian feminist struggle both within and outside of the Japanese empire.
Crossing Islands and Oceans in Labor Histories of American Empire: Capital, Commodities, Coolies, and Consumers
Authors: Jackson Justin F.
Published: April 2017

In 1915, as the Great War was consuming Europe and its colonial empires, W.E.B. Du Bois completedThe Negro, one of the first comprehensive histories of Africa and its diaspora ever published in the United States. Overshadowed today by his more well-known writings,The Negromeditated on how “the problem of the color line” was nothing if not the result of centuries of global capitalist development dependent upon coerced labor, especially African chattel slavery in the Atlantic world. For Du Bois, peering back in time through the smoking ruins of total war, slavery's postemancipation legacies of political disenfranchisement, landlessness, poverty, and segregation had birthed a global proletariat of color exploited by white Europeans and Americans in an international order divided more and more along imperial lines.
NONPARAMETRIC IDENTIFICATION AND ESTIMATION OF TRUNCATED REGRESSION MODELS WITH HETEROSKEDASTICITY
Authors: Chen Songnian , Lu Xun , Zhou Xianbo , Zhou Yahong
Published: April 2017

We consider nonparametric identification and estimation of truncated regression models with unknown conditional heteroskedasticity. The existing methods (e.g., Chen (2010,Review of Economic Studies77, 127–153)) that ignore heteroskedasticity often result in inconsistent estimators of regression functions. In this paper, we show that both the regression and heteroskedasticity functions are identified in a location-scale setting. Based on our constructive identification results, we propose kernel-based estimators of regression and heteroskedasticity functions and show that the estimators are asymptotically normally distributed. Our simulations demonstrate that our new method performs well in finite samples. In particular, we confirm that in the presence of heteroskedasticity, our new estimator of the regression function has a much smaller bias than Chen’s (2010,Review of Economic Studies77, 127–153) estimator.
Attitudes and perceptions of pregnant women with CHD: results of a single-site survey
Authors: Sabanayagam Aarthi , Briston David , Zaidi Ali N.
Published: April 2017

Introduction

CHD occurs in about 1% of the United States population, and is now the most common cardiac condition affecting women during pregnancy.

Methods

An anonymous, single-site, cross-sectional, 50-question survey was performed at a national Adult Congenital Heart Disease conference to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding cardiac care during pregnancy in women with CHD.

Results

A total of 77 women completed the survey. Among them, 50% (n=39) had moderate and 38% (n=29) had severely complex disease; 30% (n=23) of women were told that pregnancy was contraindicated given their underlying cardiac condition. Almost two-thirds (n=50) report being categorised as high risk for adverse cardiovascular events. During pregnancy, 84% (n=65) preferred their cardiologist to have trained in adult CHD, 44% (n=34) were satisfied with adult cardiologists, and 36% (n=28) with paediatric cardiologists. Only 48% (n=37) were aware that a fetal echocardiogram was indicated. Only 35% (n=27) discussed modes of delivery with their providers, and 70% (n=54) preferred their prenatal cardiology visits at an adult hospital. Up to 85% (n=64) of them had discussed contraception with their cardiologists, and 72% (n=56) felt they needed high-risk maternal–fetal medicine to be involved with their care.

Conclusions

Despite seeking medical care, these pregnant women did not have a full understanding of their condition and their cardiovascular risk during pregnancy. On the basis of these results, further efforts are needed to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of women with CHD in relation to their cardiac and obstetric management during pregnancy.
Short range dispersal of western flower thrips in field-grown French beans in Kenya
Authors: Nyasani Johnson O. , Subramanian Sevgan , Orindi Benedict , Poehling Hans-Michael , Meyhöfer Rainer
Published: April 2017

The short-range diurnal dispersal pattern of adult western flower thripsFrankliniella occidentalis(Pergande), in relation to spatial distribution of French beans, was determined in the field. A total of 1200 adult femaleF. occidentaliswere released on 60 French bean plants with 20 adult thrips per plant at the central release point of 3.14 m2. Dispersal was determined in terms of the number of thrips recorded on French beans planted on concentric circles at 0.9, 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.4 m radii from a circular central release point for five days. Results indicated that there was a steady increase in the proportion of dispersing adultF. occidentalisfrom the first to the fourth day in the first planting season, and from the first to the third day in the second planting season. The peak hour for dispersal was 10.15 h in the first season while it was 13.15 h in the second season. Temperature and wind speed were positively associated with the dispersal activity of adultF. occidentalis. Minimal flight activity was at temperatures below 15 °C and peak flight activity was at 19 °C. The prevailing wind direction did not influence the dispersal pattern of adultF. occidentalisin both seasons. AdultF. occidentalismoved up to 7.2 m on French beans on the first day. In both seasons, the mean direction of thrips dispersal was mostly uniformly distributed (not oriented to a particular compass direction) around the central release point. The results provide an insight into developing integrated management strategies against the pest based on isolation of farm fields, management of alterative hosts around French bean fields and insecticide application.
Physiological, metabolic and transcriptional postnatal phenotypes ofin vitrofertilization (IVF) in the mouse
Authors: Feuer S. K. , Rinaudo P. F.
Published: April 2017

Approximately 1–4% of children today are conceived using assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), includingin vitrofertilization (IVF). IVF is considered safe and the great majority of these children are healthy, yet there is increasing physiological and molecular evidence from animal models that ART is associated with postnatal metabolic and cardiovascular alterations. Understanding the mechanisms underlying these changes and determining whether they have biological significance is of paramount importance for optimizing the design of culture conditions and improving the health of ART children across the life course. In this review, we examine the evidence of molecular changes present in adult tissues of rodent offspring generated by preimplantation manipulation of gametes and embryos. Although embryo manipulationin vitrocan induce common transcriptional effects in the blastocyst, transcriptional and metabolomic signatures in adult IVF tissues are largely tissue-specific. However, there is pervasive evidence of oxidative stress and metabolic dysfunction, indicating a lasting effect of IVF on molecular physiology.
Birth weight, biological maturation and obesity in adolescents: a mediation analysis
Authors: Werneck A. O. , Silva D. R. P. , Collings P. J. , Fernandes R. A. , Ronque E. R. V. , Coelho-e-Silva M. J. , Sardinha L. B. , Cyrino E. S.
Published: April 2017

This study was aimed to investigate associations between birth weight and multiple adiposity indicators in youth, and to examine potential mediating effects by biological maturation. This was a school-based study involving 981 Brazilian adolescents aged between 10 and 17 years. Birth weight was reported retrospectively by mothers. Maturation was estimated by age of peak height velocity. Adiposity indicators included body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and percent body fat estimated from triceps and subscapular skinfolds. Multilevel mediation analyses were performed using the Sobel test, adjusted for chronological age, gestational age, cardiorespiratory fitness and socio-economic status. Except for body fat in girls, biological maturation partly or fully mediated (P<0.05) positive relationships between birth weight with all other obesity indicators in both sexes with their respective values of indirect effects with 95% confidence intervals: BMI [boys: 0.44 (0.06–0.82); girls: 0.38 (0.13–0.64)], waist circumference [boys: 1.14 (0.22–2.05); girls: 0.87 (0.26–1.48)] and body fat [boys: 0.60 (0.13–1.07)]. To conclude, birth weight is associated with elevated obesity risk in adolescence and biological maturation seems to at least partly mediate this relationship.
Two Forms of the Common in Ancient Greece
Authors: Macé Arnaud
Published: April 2017

Abstracts

This paper argues that there were two fundamental conceptions of the “common” in Archaic Greece. This distinction is worth teasing from contemporary practices of distribution, such as the division of bounty between warriors after a military expedition. Within this context we can observe a difference between the “common” that is not distributed—the part that a community sets aside before portioning out individual shares—and the “common” that results from the way in which individual parts are distributed: for instance, a division according to equal measures gives individuals the sense of belonging to a sharing community. Identifying these two forms as “exclusive commons” and “inclusive commons,” the article provides an analysis of their properties. It also outlines the consequences of the fact that the ancient Greeks came to apply this distributive schema to the polis itself and to conceive its political structure as the result of a global distribution of goods and prerogatives. The duality outlined here should thus be understood as one of the core structuring principles of ancient Greek political practice and thought.
(De)constructing Politeia: Reflections on Citizenship and the Bestowal of Privileges upon Foreigners in Hellenistic Democracies
Authors: Müller Christel
Published: April 2017

Abstracts

This article revisits the notion of citizenship (politeia) in the ancient Greek world, challenging the traditional conception, based principally on the works of Aristotle, that defines citizenship in terms of political participation. It considers the numerous decrees issued during the Hellenistic period bestowing legal privileges upon foreign benefactors (such as the right to own property, to trade, to enter into a legal marriage, to be exempted from certain taxes, and so on). If the Classical period’s tripartite division of status (citizens, resident aliens, and slaves) remained valid during the Hellenistic period and provided the “infrastructure” of civic societies, the system of privileges established by cities to honor deserving foreigners created a “concatenation” of different positions, which, without calling the hierarchy of legal statuses into question, introduced social fluidity into an interconnected world that was far removed from the Platonic and Aristotelian ideals of the autarchic city.
The Dynamics of Capitalism and Inequality
Authors: Grenier Jean-Yves
Published: April 2017

Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century shows that capitalism is a fundamentally unstable economic system. Without external parameters such as wars, it produces constantly increasing inequalities in wealth and income. The first part of this article explains this central feature, considering in particular the historical significance of the long period of the New Deal (1930–1980), marked by the Second World War and economic policies attempting to limit social disparities. In its second section, the article focuses on the economic reasons for these inequalities and the mechanisms of income distribution.
Money and Capital The Contributions of Capital in the Twenty-First Century to Monetary History and Theory
Authors: Monnet Éric
Published: April 2017

Like many other historians and economists before him, Thomas Piketty includes money in his definition of capital (wealth). This obliges him to distinguish between real and nominal assets, notably to understand the distributional effect of inflation on capital. This article draws comparisons between this approach and other theories of the difference between money and capital, before going on to show, from a historical point of view, why the role and the share of money within total capital cannot be neglected. Potential substitution effects between monetary and non-monetary assets must to be taken into account in order to understand the historical dynamic of capital and the effects of its taxation.
Scales of Inequality: Nation, Region, Empire
Authors: Stanziani Alessandro
Published: April 2017

This article discusses the specificity of Western economies and, within this framework, of inequality as envisaged by Thomas Piketty. To this end, it considers the relevance of national, regional, trans-regional, and above all imperial scales of analysis, particularly in regard to the historical dynamics of development (the “Great Divergence”), the fiscal state, and welfare.
Seismic anisotropy of the D″ layer induced by (001) deformation of post-perovskite
Authors: Wu Xiang , Lin Jung-Fu , Kaercher Pamela , Mao Zhu , Liu Jin , Wenk Hans-Rudolf , Prakapenka Vitali B.
Published: April 2017

Crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) of post-perovskite (Mg,Fe)SiO3 (pPv) has been believed to be one potential source of the seismic anisotropic layer at the bottom of the lower mantle (D″ layer). However, the natural CPO of pPv remains ambiguous in the D″ layer. Here we have carried out the deformation experiments of pPv-(Mg0.75,Fe0.25)SiO3 using synchrotron radial X-ray diffraction in a membrane-driven laser-heated diamond anvil cell from 135 GPa and 2,500 K to 154 GPa and 3,000 K. Our results show that the intrinsic texture of pPv-(Mg0.75,Fe0.25)SiO3 should be (001) at realistic P–T conditions of the D″ layer, which can produce a shear wave splitting anisotropy of ∼3.7% with VSH>VSV. Considering the combined effect of both pPv and ferropericlase, we suggest that 50% or less of deformation is sufficient to explain the origin of the shear wave anisotropy observed seismically in the D″ layer beneath the circum-Pacific rim.
Hospital readmissions for COPD: a retrospective longitudinal study
Authors: Harries Timothy H. , Thornton Hannah , Crichton Siobhan , Schofield Peter , Gilkes Alexander , White Patrick T.
Published: April 2017

Prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospital readmissions is an international priority aimed to slow disease progression and limit costs. Evidence of the risk of readmission and of interventions that might prevent it is lacking. We aimed to determine readmission risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, factors influencing that risk, and variation in readmission risk between hospitals across 7.5 million people in London. This retrospective longitudinal observational study included all chronic obstructive pulmonary disease admissions to any hospital in the United Kingdom among patients registered at London general practices who had emergency National Health Service chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospital admissions between April 2006 and March 2010. Influence of patient characteristics, geographical deprivation score, length of stay, day of week of admission or of discharge, and admitting hospital, were assessed using multiple logistic regression. 38,894 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease admissions of 20,932 patients aged ≥ 45 years registered with London general practices were recorded. 6295 patients (32.2%) had at least one chronic obstructive pulmonary disease readmission within 1 year. 1993 patients (10.2%) were readmitted within 30 days and 3471 patients (17.8%) were readmitted within 90 days. Age and patient geographical deprivation score were very weak predictors of readmission. Rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease readmissions within 30 days and within 90 days did not vary among the majority of hospitals. The finding of lower chronic obstructive pulmonary disease readmission rates than was previously estimated and the limited variation in these rates between hospitals suggests that the opportunity to reduce chronic obstructive pulmonary disease readmission risk is small.
Expression of Nestin associates with BRCA1 mutations, a basal-like phenotype and aggressive breast cancer
Authors: Krüger Kristi , Wik Elisabeth , Knutsvik Gøril , Nalwoga Hawa , Klingen Tor A. , Arnes Jarle B. , Chen Ying , Mannelqvist Monica , Dimitrakopoulou Konstantina , Stefansson Ingunn M. , Birkeland Even , Aas Turid , Tobin Nicholas P. , Jonassen Inge , Bergh Jonas , Foulkes William D. , Akslen Lars A.
Published: April 2017

We here examined whether Nestin, by protein and mRNA levels, could be a predictor of BRCA1 related breast cancer, a basal-like phenotype, and aggressive tumours. Immunohistochemical staining of Nestin was done in independent breast cancer hospital cohorts (Series I-V, total 1257 cases). Also, TCGA proteomic data (n = 103), mRNA microarray data from TCGA (n = 520), METABRIC (n = 1992), and 6 open access breast cancer datasets (n = 1908) were analysed. Patients with Nestin protein expression in tumour cells more often had BRCA1 germline mutations (OR 8.7, p < 0.0005, Series III), especially among younger patients (<40 years at diagnosis) (OR 16.5, p = 0.003). Nestin protein positivity, observed in 9–28% of our hospital cases (Series I-IV), was independently associated with reduced breast cancer specific survival (HR = 2.0, p = 0.035) and was consistently related to basal-like differentiation (by Cytokeratin 5, OR 8.7–13.8, p < 0.0005; P-cadherin OR 7.0–8.9, p < 0.0005; EGFR staining, OR 3.7–8.2, p ≤ 0.05). Nestin mRNA correlated significantly with Nestin protein expression (ρ = 0.6, p < 0.0005), and high levels were seen in the basal-like intrinsic subtype. Gene expression signalling pathways linked to high Nestin were explored, and revealed associations with stem-like tumour features. In summary, Nestin was strongly associated with germline BRCA1 related breast cancer, a basal-like phenotype, reduced survival, and stemness characteristics.
How to test for partially predictable chaos
Authors: Wernecke Hendrik , Sándor Bulcsú , Gros Claudius
Published: April 2017

For a chaotic system pairs of initially close-by trajectories become eventually fully uncorrelated on the attracting set. This process of decorrelation can split into an initial exponential decrease and a subsequent diffusive process on the chaotic attractor causing the final loss of predictability. Both processes can be either of the same or of very different time scales. In the latter case the two trajectories linger within a finite but small distance (with respect to the overall extent of the attractor) for exceedingly long times and remain partially predictable. Standard tests for chaos widely use inter-orbital correlations as an indicator. However, testing partially predictable chaos yields mostly ambiguous results, as this type of chaos is characterized by attractors of fractally broadened braids. For a resolution we introduce a novel 0–1 indicator for chaos based on the cross-distance scaling of pairs of initially close trajectories. This test robustly discriminates chaos, including partially predictable chaos, from laminar flow. Additionally using the finite time cross-correlation of pairs of initially close trajectories, we are able to identify laminar flow as well as strong and partially predictable chaos in a 0–1 manner solely from the properties of pairs of trajectories.
Effects of molecular weight on the optical and electrochemical properties of EDOT-based π-conjugated polymers
Authors: Hayashi Shotaro , Yamamoto Shin-ichi , Koizumi Toshio
Published: April 2017

Absolute molecular weight values obtained by gel permeation chromatography with multi angle light scattering of PEDOTF8 were approximately 65% of the relative molecular weight values obtained by gel permeation chromatography using polystyrene standards. Both light absorption and molecular weight measurements showed the effective conjugation lengths (absolute molecular weight <2600, relative molecular weight <4000, number of EDOT-F8 units: n < ca. 5 unit). The low molecular weight polymers showed higher energy absorption and fluorescence bands. Molecular weight also affected the electrochemical process of the polymer films. The high molecular weight PEDOTF8 (number average molecular weight >70000) showed a higher redox stability than the low molecular weight one. The two polymers with number average molecular weights of 70200 and 40000 retained 65% and 25% of the charge storage capacity after 100 electrochemical scans, respectively. Square-wave potential step absorptiometry measurements of the polymers with number average molecular weights of 70200 and 40000 showed that the optical contrasts remain stable after ca. 55 and three cycles, respectively. The high molecular weight polymer has a high electrochemical stability and would be a good material for optoelectronic devices.
MicroRNA expression profiling defines the impact of electronic cigarettes on human airway epithelial cells
Authors: Solleti Siva Kumar , Bhattacharya Soumyaroop , Ahmad Ausaf , Wang Qian , Mereness Jared , Rangasamy Tirumalai , Mariani Thomas J.
Published: April 2017

While all forms of tobacco exposure have negative health effects, the significance of exposure to electronic cigarettes (eCig) is not fully understood. Here, we studied the global effects of eCig on the micro RNA (miRNA) transcriptome in human lung epithelial cells. Primary human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells differentiated at air-liquid interface were exposed to eCig liquid. Exposure of NHBE to any eCig liquid resulted in the induction of oxidative stress-response genes including GCLM, GCLC, GPX2, NQO1 and HO-1. Vaporization of, and/or the presence of nicotine in, eCig liquid was associated with a greater response. We identified 578 miRNAs dysregulated by eCig exposure in NHBE, and 125 miRNA affected by vaporization of eCig liquid. Nicotine containing eCig vapor displayed the most profound effects upon miRNA expression. We selected 8 miRNAs (29A, 140, 126, 374A, 26A-2, 147B, 941 and 589) for further study. We validated increased expression of multiple miRNAs, including miR126, following eCig exposure. We also found significant reduction in the expression of two miR126 target genes, MYC and MRGPRX3, following exposure. These data demonstrated that eCig exposure has profound effects upon gene expression in human lung epithelial cells, some of which are epigenetically programmed at the level of miRNA regulation.
Diversity and evolution of sex determination systems in terrestrial isopods
Authors: Becking Thomas , Giraud Isabelle , Raimond Maryline , Moumen Bouziane , Chandler Christopher , Cordaux Richard , Gilbert Clément
Published: April 2017

Sex determination systems are highly variable in many taxa, sometimes even between closely related species. Yet the number and direction of transitions between these systems have seldom been characterized, and the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here we generated transcriptomes for 19 species of terrestrial isopod crustaceans, many of which are infected byWolbachiabacterial endosymbionts. Using 88 single-copy orthologous genes, we reconstructed a fully resolved and dated phylogeny of terrestrial isopods. An original approach involving crossings of sex-reversed individuals allowed us to characterize the heterogametic systems of five species (one XY/XX and four ZW/ZZ). Mapping of these and previously known heterogametic systems onto the terrestrial isopod phylogeny revealed between 3 and 13 transitions of sex determination systems during the evolution of these taxa, most frequently from female to male heterogamety. Our results support that WW individuals are viable in many species, suggesting sex chromosomes are at an incipient stage of their evolution. Together, these data are consistent with the hypothesis that nucleo-cytoplasmic conflicts generated byWolbachiaendosymbionts triggered recurrent turnovers of sex determination systems in terrestrial isopods. They further establish terrestrial isopods as a model to study evolutionary transitions in sex determination systems and pave the way to molecularly characterize these systems.
Possible association between SIRT1 single nucleotide polymorphisms and predisposition to antisocial personality traits in Chinese adolescents
Authors: Chang Hongjuan , Yan Qiuge , Tang Jie , Huang Juan , Zhang Yanmei , Ma Yuqiao , Ye Xiaozhou , Tang Lina , Wu Linguo , Wu Chunxia , Yu Yizhen
Published: April 2017

Accumulating evidence suggests an association between the SIRT1 gene and human psychiatric disorders. The aim of the study was to investigate the association between SIRT1 and predisposition to antisocial personality traits (ASP) in Chinese adolescents. Participants consisted of 327 controls and 261 juvenile offenders who were diagnosed with predisposition to ASP according to the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire. Four tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (tagSNPs) of SIRT1, namely rs12778366, rs7896005, rs10823112, and rs4746720, were genotyped. Association analysis between individual SNPs and ASP risk revealed the CC genotype of rs4746720 to be significantly associated with reduced risk of ASP (OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.33–0.77, adjusted P = 0.007). Haplotype analysis showed the TAAC haplotype was associated with reduced susceptibility to ASP (OR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.57–0.91, P = 0.005). Moreover, rs4746720 variants were found to not only have a direct impact on ASP susceptibility but also modulate the effect of alcohol consumption (Y = 0.022X + 0.431 vs. Y = −0.066X + 0.387). The present study is the first to report a significant association between SIRT1 polymorphisms and ASP in adolescents. This finding is expected to aid in the development of effective interventions for this socially and personally costly disorder.
Fecal microbial characterization of hospitalized patients with suspected infectious diarrhea shows significant dysbiosis
Authors: Braun Tzipi , Di Segni Ayelet , BenShoshan Marina , Asaf Roy , Squires James E. , Farage Barhom Sarit , Glick Saar Efrat , Cesarkas Karen , Smollan Gill , Weiss Batia , Amit Sharon , Keller Nathan , Haberman Yael
Published: April 2017

Hospitalized patients are at increased risk for acquiring healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and inadequate nutrition. The human intestinal microbiota plays vital functions in nutrient supply and protection from pathogens, yet characterization of the microbiota of hospitalized patients is lacking. We used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to characterize the global pattern of microbial composition of fecal samples from 196 hospitalized patients with suspected infectious diarrhea in comparison to healthy, non-hospitalized subjects (n = 881), and to traditional culture results. We show that hospitalized patients have a significant rise in α-diversity (richness within sample) from birth to <4 years of age, which continues up to the second decade of life. Additionally, we noted a profoundly significant increase in taxa from Proteobacteria phylum in comparison to healthy subjects. Finally, although more than 60% of hospitalized samples had a greater than 10% abundance of Proteobacteria, there were only 19/196 (10%) positive cultures forCampylobacter,Salmonella, orShigellaentero-pathogens in traditional culturing methods. As hospitalized patients have increased risk for HAIs and inadequate nutrition, our data support the consideration of nutritional and/or microbial modification in this population.
An approach to and web-based tool for infectious disease outbreak intervention analysis
Authors: Daughton Ashlynn R. , Generous Nicholas , Priedhorsky Reid , Deshpande Alina
Published: April 2017

Infectious diseases are a leading cause of death globally. Decisions surrounding how to control an infectious disease outbreak currently rely on a subjective process involving surveillance and expert opinion. However, there are many situations where neither may be available. Modeling can fill gaps in the decision making process by using available data to provide quantitative estimates of outbreak trajectories. Effective reduction of the spread of infectious diseases can be achieved through collaboration between the modeling community and public health policy community. However, such collaboration is rare, resulting in a lack of models that meet the needs of the public health community. Here we show a Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) model modified to include control measures that allows parameter ranges, rather than parameter point estimates, and includes a web user interface for broad adoption. We apply the model to three diseases, measles, norovirus and influenza, to show the feasibility of its use and describe a research agenda to further promote interactions between decision makers and the modeling community.