bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Synthesis, Properties, and Applications of Diazotrifluropropanoyl‐Containing Photoactive Analogs of Farnesyl Diphosphate Containing Modified Linkages for Enhanced Stability
Authors: Hovlid Marisa L. , Edelstein Rebecca L. , Henry Olivier , Ochocki Joshua , DeGraw Amanda , Lenevich Stepan , Talbot Trista , Young Victor G. , Hruza Alan W. , Lopez‐Gallego Fernando , Labello Nicholas P. , Strickland Corey L. , Schmidt‐Dannert Claudia , Distefano Mark D. 
Published: November 2009

Photoactive analogs of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) are useful probes in studies of enzymes that employ this molecule as a substrate. Here, we describe the preparation and properties of two new FPP analogs that contain diazotrifluoropropanoyl photophores linked to geranyl diphosphate via amide or ester linkages. The amide‐linked analog (3) was synthesized in 32P‐labeled form from geraniol in seven steps. Experiments with Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein farnesyltransferase (ScPFTase) showed that 3 is an alternative substrate for the enzyme. Photolysis experiments with [32P]3 demonstrate that this compound labels the β‐subunits of both farnesyltransferase and geranylgeranyltransferase (types 1 and 2). However, the amide‐linked probe 3 undergoes a rearrangement to a photochemically unreactive isomeric triazolone upon long term storage making it inconvenient to use. To address this stability issue, the ester‐linked analog 4 was prepared in six steps from geraniol. Computational analysis and X‐ray crystallographic studies suggest that 4 binds to protein farnesyl transferase (PFTase) in a similar fashion as FPP. Compound 4 is also an alternative substrate for PFTase, and a 32P‐labeled form selectively photocrosslinks the β‐subunit of ScPFTase as well as E. coli farnesyldiphosphate synthase and a germacrene‐producing sesquiterpene synthase from Nostoc sp. strain PCC7120 (a cyanobacterial source). Finally, nearly exclusive labeling of ScPFTase in crude E. coli extract was observed, suggesting that [32P]4 manifests significant selectivity and should hence be useful for identifying novel FPP‐utilizing enzymes in crude protein preparations.
Characterization of aquatic humic substances
Authors: Rodríguez Francisco J. , Núñez Luis A. 
Published: November 2009

AbstractAquatic natural organic matter (NOM) is composed of a large variety of compounds. In this study, NOM from Uzquiza Reservoir in Burgos (Spain) was fractionated using a resin adsorption procedure, and three humic substances – natural fulvic and humic acids (NFA and NHA, respectively) extracted from the mentioned reservoir and a commercially supplied humic acid (CHA) – were characterized by molecular weight (MW) distribution, elemental composition, organic acidity and ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy. The results indicate that Uzquiza Reservoir NOM is mainly composed of fulvic acids (45%) and low MW hydrophilic acids (27%). MWs obtained are in the following order: CHA (4500 Da)>NHA (2500 Da)>NFA (1000 Da). Both humic acids (CHA and NHA) have the highest specific UV absorbance values (SUVA, an aromaticity indicator) whereas NFA shows a higher total and carboxylic acidity, which is in accordance with its higher solubility in water. Infrared spectra confirm these results.
Introduction to the Epistemology of Causation
Authors: Eberhardt Frederick 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis survey presents some of the main principles involved in discovering causal relations. They belong to a large array of possible assumptions and conditions about causal relations, whose various combinations limit the possibilities of acquiring causal knowledge in different ways. How much and in what detail the causal structure can be discovered from what kinds of data depends on the particular set of assumptions one is able to make. The assumptions considered here provide a starting point to explore further the foundations of causal discovery procedures, and how they can be improved.
Theories of Community in Habermas, Nancy and Agamben: A Critical Evaluation
Authors: Elliott Brian 
Published: November 2009

AbstractContinental philosophy over the past two decades has increasingly turned its attention to social and political matters. Two key figures involved in this move, Jean‐Luc Nancy and Giorgio Agamben, have advanced a position centering on the idea of singular community. This article sets out the basic features of this idea and contrasts it with Habermas’ theory of communicative or dialogical community. Habermas is open to the criticism that his theory of community is constructed according to an unduly narrow construal of legitimate argumentation and democratic participation. The idea of community advanced by Nancy and Agamben, in contrast, appears to lack any credible criteria of community inclusion or identity. In conclusion, it is suggested that both theories of community fall short by neglecting the task of constructing and preserving actual sites of collective democratic action and resistance.
Are Human Rights Essentially Triggers for Intervention?
Authors: Tasioulas John 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThe orthodox conception of human rights holds that human rights are moral rights possessed by all human beings simply in virtue of their humanity. In recent years, advocates of a ‘political’ conception of human rights have criticized this view on the grounds that it overlooks the distinctive political function performed by human rights. This article evaluates the arguments of two such critics, John Rawls and Joseph Raz, who characterize the political function of human rights as that of potential triggers for intervention by one society against another.
Carnap’s Logical Structure of the World
Authors: Pincock Christopher 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis article aims to give an overview of Carnap’s 1928 book Logical Structure of the World or Aufbau and the most influential interpretations of its significance. After giving an outline of the book in Section 2, I turn to the first sustained interpretations of the book offered by Goodman and Quine in Section 3. Section 4 explains how this empirical reductionist interpretation was largely displaced by its main competitor. This is the line of interpretation offered by Friedman and Richardson which focuses on issues of objectivity. In Section 5, I turn to two more recent interpretations that can be thought of as emphasizing Carnap’s concern with rational reconstruction. Finally, the article concludes by noting some current work by Leitgeb that aims to develop and update some aspects of the Aufbau project for contemporary epistemology.
Possible Worlds I: Modal Realism
Authors: DeRosset Louis 
Published: November 2009

AbstractIt is difficult to wander far in contemporary metaphysics without bumping into talk of possible worlds. And reference to possible worlds is not confined to metaphysics. It can be found in contemporary epistemology and ethics, and has even made its way into linguistics and decision theory. What are those possible worlds, the entities to which theorists in these disciplines all appeal? This paper sets out and evaluates a leading contemporary theory of possible worlds, David Lewis’s Modal Realism. I note two competing ambitions for a theory of possible worlds: that it be reductive and user‐friendly. I then outline Modal Realism and consider objections to the effect that it cannot satisfy these ambitions. I conclude that there is some reason to believe that Modal Realism is not reductive and overwhelming reason to believe that it is not user‐friendly.
Possible Worlds II: Non‐reductive Theories of Possible Worlds
Authors: DeRosset Louis 
Published: November 2009

AbstractIt is difficult to wander far in contemporary metaphysics without bumping into talk of possible worlds. And, reference to possible worlds is not confined to metaphysics. It can be found in contemporary epistemology and ethics, and has even made its way into linguistics and decision theory. What are those possible worlds, the entities to which theorists in these disciplines all appeal? Some have hoped that a theory of possible worlds can be used to reduce modality to non‐modal terms. This paper sets reductive theories aside, and articulates and applies a framework for evaluating non‐reductive theories of possible worlds. I argue that, if we abjure reduction, we should aim for a theory of possible worlds that is user‐friendly. I then outline four leading contemporary theories and consider objections to each. My conclusions are negative: every theory we discuss fails to be user‐friendly in some significant respect.
Moral Contractualism
Authors: Southwood Nicholas 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis article provides a critical introduction to contractualism as a moral or ethical theory, that is, as a theory of the rightness and wrongness of individual conduct – focusing specifically on the influential ‘Kantian’ version of contractualism due to T. M. Scanlon. I begin by elucidating the key features of Scanlon’s contractualism: justifiability to others; reasonable rejectability; the individualist restriction; and mutual recognition. I then turn to discuss both its appeal and the main objections that have been raised to it – objections concerning our duties to the cognitively limited and impaired, aggregation, demandingness, normativity and explanatory adequacy. I conclude by mentioning some contractualist alternatives to Scanlon’s theory.
Legal and Moral Responsibility
Authors: Duff Antony 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThe paper begins with the plausible view that criminal responsibility should track moral responsibility, and explains its plausibility. A necessary distinction is then drawn between liability and answerability as two dimensions of responsibility, and is shown to underpin the distinction in criminal law between offences and defences. This enables us to distinguish strict liability from strict answerability, and to see that whilst strict criminal liability seems inconsistent with the principle that criminal responsibility should track moral responsibility, strict criminal answerability is not. We must ask, therefore, whether, when and why strict criminal responsibility is unacceptable.
Günter Figal’s Hermeneutics
Authors: George Theodore 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis article offers a survey of some main ideas in Günter Figal’s hermeneutics as he presents them in his recent Gegenständlichkeit: Das Hermeneutische und die Philosophie [Objectivity: The Hermeneutical and Philosophy]. Figal promises a new approach to the philosophical study of hermeneutics in this work that would advance beyond Gadamer, Heidegger, and others in significant respects. His project opens out from the belief that hermeneutical experience is guided by exteriority; such experience is directed toward and sustained by what stands outside the subject and its sphere, or, as he develops this idea, by what is objective (das Gegenständliche). His orientation toward this sense of objectivity leads him to establish a notion of hermeneutical philosophy based on novel views of interpretation and understanding. This discussion reveals that hermeneutical philosophy belongs in the world, taken as hermeneutical space organized by the dimensions of freedom, language, and time. His hermeneutics culminates in an elucidation of human life as it is lived in this space.
Reviving Whorf: The Return of Linguistic Relativity
Authors: Reines Maria Francisca , Prinz Jesse 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThe idea that natural languages shape the way we think in different ways was popularized by Benjamin Whorf, but then fell out of favor for lack of empirical support. But now, a new wave of research has been shifting the tide back toward linguistic relativity. The recent research can be interpreted in different ways, some trivial, some implausibly radical, and some both plausible and interesting. We introduce two theses that would have important implications if true: Habitual Whorfianism and Ontological Whorfianism. We argue that these offer the most promising interpretations of the emerging evidence.
Leibniz on Compossibility
Authors: Messina James , Rutherford Donald 
Published: November 2009

AbstractLeibniz’s well‐known thesis that the actual world is just one among many possible worlds relies on the claim that some possibles are incompossible, meaning that they cannot belong to the same world. Notwithstanding its central role in Leibniz’s philosophy, commentators have disagreed about how to understand the compossibility relation. We examine several influential interpretations and demonstrate their shortcomings. We then sketch a new reading, the cosmological interpretation, and argue that it accommodates two key conditions that any successful interpretation must satisfy.
Citizenship and The State
Authors: Costa M. Victoria 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis study surveys debates on citizenship, the state, and the bases of political stability. The survey begins by presenting the primary sense of ‘citizenship’ as a legal status and the question of the sorts of political communities people can belong to as citizens. (Multi)nation‐states are suggested as the main site of citizenship in the contemporary world, without ignoring the existence of alternative possibilities. Turning to discussions of citizen identity, the study shows that some of the discussion is motivated by a perceived need for citizens to have a sense of political belonging, on the assumption that such a sense promotes political activity and has other personal and social benefits. But there are serious problems with the strategy of understanding the relevant sense of belonging in terms of identification with the nation‐state. The study explores a more promising way to generate this sense of belonging. First, societies should function, to a sufficiently high degree, in accord with political principles of justice and democratic decision making. Second, there should be a general consensus on political principles among citizens, as well as high levels of engagement in democratic deliberation.
The Development of Modern Yoga: A Survey of the Field
Authors: Newcombe Suzanne 
Published: November 2009

AbstractYoga is now found in urban centres and rural retreats across the world as well as in its historical home in the Indian subcontinent. What is now practiced as yoga across the globe has a long history of transnational intercultural exchange and has been considered by some as an outgrowth of Neo‐Hinduism. Although the popularisation of yoga is often cited in theories about ‘Easternization’ or the ‘re‐enchantment’ of the West since the late 20th century, most of these theories make little reference to the growing number of historical, sociological and anthropological studies of modern yoga. This article will consider how the apparent dichotomy between yoga as a physical fitness activity (often termed ‘hatha yoga’) and/or as a ‘spiritual practice’ developed historically and discuss recent trends in the research.
Divination: Epistemology, Agency, and Identity in Contemporary Urban West Africa
Authors: Grillo Laura S. 
Published: November 2009

AbstractBased on fieldwork in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, undertaken in 1997 and 2009, as well as residence in the country in periods that spanned two decades, this study of contemporary urban divination in West Africa shows that it thrives even in the ethnically heterogeneous and religiously plural city. In stark contrast to the stereotypical view that African traditions are unable to offer a viable challenge to the influx of ‘world’ religions and their attendant values of modernity, divination demonstrates their vitality. The practices of divination rest on basic premises so widely shared as to constitute an overarching epistemology, at once trans‐ethnic and authentically West African. By recasting contemporary problems into the familiar idioms of the ‘traditional’ worldview, divination enables practitioners to gain leverage over real and pressing concerns, affirming personal agency. It underscores a communal identity, not dependent on territorial or ethnic affiliation or precarious and contested definitions of citizenship.
Islamism and Western Political Religions
Authors: Hansen Hendrik 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThe political ideas of Islamism as they have been formulated by Hassan al‐Banna and Sayyid Qutb share a number of striking similarities with Western political religions like Communism and National Socialism, in particular the radical dualist interpretation of history and the understanding of politics as a struggle against evil. However, the concept of political religions as it has been elaborated by Voegelin and further developed by Gentile implies the deification of a secular entity. Thus, if political religions are defined as being based on secularism, this concept seems to be inappropriate for the analysis of Islamism. This paper investigates whether this interpretation is correct and whether the concept of ‘politicised religions’ should be considered more useful for the analysis of Islamism. It gives an overview of the concepts of political and politicised religions and of the political ideas of Islamism based on the writings of Hassan al‐Banna and Sayyid Qutb. The theses are that (1) both ‘fundamentalism’ and ‘politicised religions’ are misleading concepts for a comparison of their political theories with Western political religions; and (2) the concept of political religions is indeed applicable to Islamism, if we arrive at the understanding that not secularism but the radicalisation of the friend–foe‐distinction and the understanding of politics as a purge of evil from the world ought to be considered its central themes.
Local and Translocal in the Study of Theravada Buddhism and Modernity
Authors: Braun Erik 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis essay traces the development of scholarly thinking about the relationship between local and translocal forms of Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia, particularly in regard to modernity. The first part of the article shows that scholars have moved well away from a view of the canonical Buddhist texts as the original and most authentic core of Theravada, emphasizing instead local settings as the sites for the production of Buddhist values, practices, and texts. The article then considers how this turn to the local is affecting understandings of Buddhist modernity in Southeast Asia. It suggests that recent work on modern Theravada Buddhism at the local level is pushing scholars toward a more atomized view of Buddhist modernities. In this view, local Buddhisms play a part at least as important as that of the global forces of modernization (usually seen as originating in the West).
Science and Process Theology
Authors: Howe J. Thomas 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis essay offers an account of the relationship between science and Christian theology from the perspective of process theology. I show that the idea that science and Christian theology are in conflict is due to the ‘classical’ understanding of God and to scientific materialism. The classical understanding of God is supernaturalistic and denies a fully naturalistic account of the world. Scientific materialism rules out, in principle, the possibility of God’s existence. Process theology offers amendments and corrections to both of these sides and provides a naturalistic theism that can provide for a relationship of mutuality between science and theology.
Research on Hindu Women’s Renunciation Today: State of the Field
Authors: Khandelwal Meena 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis essay traces the recent development of field‐based research on contemporary women’s renunciation and points to fruitful areas for further work. While women renouncers have probably existed in small numbers since the ancient period in South Asia, there is little concrete information about their lives. Given the importance of marriage in the region, a woman’s rejection of domestic life is likely to arouse opposition from family and society. Given the representation of women as a threat to celibate men, ascetic women cannot assume support from male peers either. Until recently, they have been invisible in both public life and scholarship. Since the 1980s, however, women renouncers and gurus have increased in both number and visibility in the region and worldwide, as has research on the topic. This essay outlines the broader context of renunciation in South Asian religious traditions and then focuses on Hindu asceticism. Starting in the 1980s research on women’s renunciation was published and began to disrupt conventional paradigms for understanding Hindu renunciation. Despite the increase in excellent work on the subject in the last two decades, this survey suggests that future research is needed to address the statistical reality of women’s renunciation, the role of caste and other inequalities, ascetic masculinities, and transnational processes.
Spiritual Experience and Seeking: A New Religious Movement Case Study
Authors: Healy John Paul 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis paper discusses the role spiritual experience has played in regard to individuals’ affiliation to Swami Muktananda’s Siddha Yoga; that is, individuals’ spiritual experience prior to their affiliation with Siddha Yoga. This study shows that individuals’ prior spiritual experience eventually became integrated into their conversion motif (this does not deny that other attractions or influences were not involved, just that this paper focuses on prior spiritual experience). For the participants in this study, prior spiritual experience appeared, in retrospect, as almost a calling or their ‘Road to Damascus.’ When participants in this study reported having spiritual experience prior to involvement in Siddha Yoga, it was both a positive revelation and also something at times overwhelming and difficult to place in everyday experience or the dominant religious traditions. It was also a powerful and transformative experience which, more that 30 years later, is still a significant aspect of their continuing spiritual journey and personal narrative. For the individuals in this study, their prior religious experience appeared, even for a time, to have found a context in the framework of Siddha Yoga.
Indonesia’s New Muslim Intellectuals
Authors: Kersten Carool 
Published: November 2009

AbstractIn recent years, there has been a growing appreciation among scholars with an interest in contemporary Muslim thought for the contributions by Indonesia’s new Muslim intellectuals. The realisation that Indonesians are in the vanguard of a significant rethinking of the place of religion in the present‐day Islamic world is helped by the progress in the research on Southeast Asian Islam and resultant corrections of the received knowledge of its place in the context of the wider Muslim world. While in the existing literature this new Indonesian Muslim intellectualism is closely associated with ‘neomodernists’ belonging to the first generation coming of age in the postcolonial era, I propose to regard it rather as part of a discursive development traversing three generational shifts embedded in an increasingly articulate understanding of Indonesia as an integral part of the Muslim world and Islam as a constitutive element in Indonesian culture. These new Muslim intellectuals, who pair an intimate familiarity with the Islamic tradition to an equally solid knowledge of advances in the Western human sciences, are exponents of an emergent cosmopolitan Islam in which the dichotomy between ‘Islam’ and ‘Other’ or the binary opposition ‘tradition’ versus ‘modernity’ collapse. Most recently it has culminated in a generation of articulate young Muslims exploring the possibilities of hybrid forms of ‘liberal Islam’ and ‘post‐traditionalist Islam’.