From Sociology and Economics to World History

World History has only recently emerged as a distinctive and vibrant field of study. Its origins arose from a cross-fertilization of economics, history, and comparative sociology, and from particular conjunctions of people and places in the 1980s and 1990s. World historians now, thanks to unprecedented access to quantitative historical data and international networks of scholars, can develop increasingly precise, formal, and detailed accounts of changes and comparisons across historical periods. However, our goal is not to create new master narratives or theories that predict a grand historical trajectory for mankind; rather we seek to better understand the similarities and differences among societies, and the likely consequences of those similarities and differences.World History has only recently emerged as a distinctive and vibrant field of study. Its origins arose from a cross-fertilization of economics, history, and comparative sociology, and from particular conjunctions of people and places in the 1980s and 1990s. World historians now, thanks to unprecedented access to quantitative historical data and international networks of scholars, can develop increasingly precise, formal, and detailed accounts of changes and comparisons across historical periods. However, our goal is not to create new master narratives or theories that predict a grand historical trajectory for mankind; rather we seek to better understand the similarities and differences among societies, and the likely consequences of those similarities and differences

The Once and Future Middle Kingdom: China’s Return to Dominance in the Global Economy

Im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert führten alle Wege nach China. Die Nachfrage Europas nach chinesischer Seide, Keramik und Tee führte die europäischen Kaufleute in den Orient. Als Europa industrialisiert war, dominierten die Europäer den Welthandel, indem sie eine Reihe von Stützpunkten und Kolonien in Afrika, im Indischen Ozean und in China errichteten. Heute versucht China, diesen „devianten“ Trend umzukehren und China wieder zu seiner „normalen“ Position als führende Wirtschaftsmacht zu verhelfen. China strebt nach einer Führungsrolle in den Bereichen Wind- und Sonnenenergie, künstlicher Intelligenz, Elektromobilität und Quantencomputer, um die beherrschende Macht unter den Volkswirtschaften des 21. Jahrhunderts zu werden. Außerdem errichtet China eigene Stützpunkte quer durch den Indischen Ozean und nach Südeuropa, um seine Kontrolle über diese Handelsrouten wiederherzustellen. Wenn China Erfolghat, wird es die letzten zweihundert Jahre der Weltwirtschaftsgeschichte umkehren und seine frühere Rolle als Hauptakteur in der globalen Wirtschaft wiederherstellen.In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, all roads led to China. Europe’s demand for Chinese silks, ceramics, and tea led European traders to the Orient. Then as Europe industrialized, Europeans came to dominate world trade, building a string of bases and colonies around Africa, across the Indian Ocean, and in China. Today, China is seeking to reverse this “deviant” trend and restore China to its “normal” position as the world’s dominant economy. Seeking leadership in wind and solar power, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and quantum computing to become the dominant power among twenty-first century economies, China is also building its own set of bases across the Indian Ocean and into southern Europe to reassert its control of these trade routes. If China succeeds, it will reverse the last two hundred years of world economic history and reassert its earlier role as the core actor in the global economy

Democratic Transitions

Przeworski et al. (2000) challenge the key hypothesis in modernization theory: political regimes do not transition to democracy as per capita incomes rise, they argue. Rather, democratic transitions occur randomly, but once there, countries with higher levels of GDP per capita remain democratic. We retest the modernization hypothesis using new data, new techniques, and a three-way rather than dichotomous classification of regimes. Contrary to Przeworski et al. (2000) we find that the modernization hypothesis stands up well. We also find that partial democracies emerge as among the most important and least understood regime types.African and African American StudiesGovernmen

Dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of signals over time

Designed by biological and social evolutionary pressures, facial expressions of emotion comprise specific facial movements to support a near-optimal system of signaling and decoding. Although highly dynamical, little is known about the form and function of facial expression temporal dynamics. Do facial expressions transmit diagnostic signals simultaneously to optimize categorization of the six classic emotions, or sequentially to support a more complex communication system of successive categorizations over time? Our data support the latter. Using a combination of perceptual expectation modeling, information theory, and Bayesian classifiers, we show that dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of “biologically basic to socially specific” information over time. Early in the signaling dynamics, facial expressions systematically transmit few, biologically rooted face signals supporting the categorization of fewer elementary categories (e.g., approach/avoidance). Later transmissions comprise more complex signals that support categorization of a larger number of socially specific categories (i.e., the six classic emotions). Here, we show that dynamic facial expressions of emotion provide a sophisticated signaling system, questioning the widely accepted notion that emotion communication is comprised of six basic (i.e., psychologically irreducible) categories, and instead suggesting four

Chiral Perturbation Theory Beyond One Loop

The existing Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT) calculations at order $p^6$ are reviewed. The principles of ChPT and how they are used are introduced. The main part is a review of the two- and three-flavour full two-loop calculations and their comparison with experiment. We restrict the discussion to the mesonic purely strong and semileptonic sector. The review concludes by mentioning the existing results in finite volume, finite temperature and partially quenched ChPT.Comment: 66 pages, review article, some references added plus a few discussions extende

Diazoxide choline extended‐release tablet in people with Prader‐Willi syndrome: results from long‐term open‐label study

Objective: This study assessed the effect of 1-year administration of diazoxide choline extended-release tablet (DCCR) on hyperphagia and other complications of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). Methods: The authors studied 125 participants with PWS, age ≥ 4 years, who were enrolled in the DESTINY PWS Phase 3 study and who received DCCR for up to 52 weeks in DESTINY PWS and/or its open-label extension. The primary efficacy endpoint was Hyperphagia Questionnaire for Clinical Trials (HQ-CT) score. Other endpoints included behavioral assessments, body composition, hormonal measures, and safety. Results: DCCR administration resulted in significant improvements in HQ-CT (mean [SE] −9.9 [0.77], p < 0.0001) and greater improvements in those with more severe baseline hyperphagia (HQ-CT > 22). Improvements were seen in aggression, anxiety, and compulsivity (all p < 0.0001). There were reductions in leptin, insulin, and insulin resistance, as well as a significant increase in adiponectin (all p < 0.004). Lean body mass was increased (p < 0.0001). Disease severity was reduced as assessed by clinician and caregiver (both p < 0.0001). Common treatment-emergent adverse events included hypertrichosis, peripheral edema, and hyperglycemia. Adverse events infrequently resulted in discontinuation (7.2%). Conclusions: DCCR administration to people with PWS was well tolerated and associated with broad-ranging improvements in the syndrome. Sustained administration of DCCR has the potential to reduce disease severity and the burden of care for families

Heat kernel expansion: user's manual

The heat kernel expansion is a very convenient tool for studying one-loop divergences, anomalies and various asymptotics of the effective action. The aim of this report is to collect useful information on the heat kernel coefficients scattered in mathematical and physical literature. We present explicit expressions for these coefficients on manifolds with and without boundaries, subject to local and non-local boundary conditions, in the presence of various types of singularities (e.g., domain walls). In each case the heat kernel coefficients are given in terms of several geometric invariants. These invariants are derived for scalar and spinor theories with various interactions, Yang-Mills fields, gravity, and open bosonic strings. We discuss the relations between the heat kernel coefficients and quantum anomalies, corresponding anomalous actions, and covariant perturbation expansions of the effective action (both "low-" and "high-energy" ones).Comment: 113 pp, to be submitted to Phys.Repts, v2: added references and corrected typo