The Rise of Democracy

Little over 200 years ago, a quarter of a century of warfare with an 'outlaw state' brought the great powers of Europe to their knees. That state was the revolutionary democracy of France. Since then, there has been a remarkable transformation in the way democracy is understood and valued – today, it is the non-democractic states that are seen as rogue regimes. Now, Christopher Hobson explores democracy’s remarkable rise from obscurity to centre stage in contemporary international relations

Variability of protease activity and growth rate in isolates of Macrophomina phaseolina from various hosts

Macrophomina phaseolina is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen that causes charcoal rot, among other diseases, on over 500 plant hosts and economically important crops in Kansas such as soybean and sorghum. Because it thrives in hot, dry environments, global climate change threatens to make this pathogen increasingly difficult to manage. M. phaseolina has a relatively low number of genes encoding proteases, protein-lysing enzymes commonly employed by plant pathogens. Further, their effect on virulence has been understudied. Three-hundred thirteen isolates of M. phaseolina from a variety of hosts were cultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates to measure growth rate over one week, then were cultured on casein agar (CNA) to assess proteolytic activity over one week. Clearing zones that formed around the colonies on CNA represent areas where protein had been lysed, thus distinguishing isolates by their proteolytic activity. We hypothesize that different isolates will demonstrate varying levels of protease activity. This would shed light on the role that proteases play as a virulence factor for M. phaseolina and how this role may shift depending on the host and genetic identity of the isolate. Better understanding of M. phaseolina virulence mechanisms is vital to manage this pathogen, especially as climate change exacerbates the environmental conditions that promote charcoal rot

Tracheal Tissue Engineering

Large airway defects pose a substantial problem to surgeons in both pediatric and adult populations. For example, primary tracheal cancers can result in neoplastic lesions, which are often not diagnosed until the tumor has become inoperable. These patients are palliated, but have a poor prognosis, with only 5% survival after 5 years. Tissue engineered transplants over a life saving new therapeutic option. Recent reports have demonstrated good midterm results with decellularized human homograft tissue. However, these experiments have been limited to compassionate use. To achieve effcacy necessary for more widespread use further study is necessary to investigate alternate approaches and optimize the decellularization technique. Additionally, clinical application of this technology will require translation to a decellularized xenograft to obviate human tissue supply limitations. To this end, we compare the use of 3 alternate detergents (SDS, Triton X-100, and CHAPS) to sodium deoxycholate in the commonly accepted detergent enzymatic method (DEM). Fresh donor rat tracheas were decellularized using a modified 9-day DEM protocol. The pre-implant scaffolds were thoroughly characterized for each experimental group and implanted for 12 weeks using an orthotopic rat tracheal reconstruction model. It was found that detergent choice strongly affects the host remodeling response including host cell infiltration and epithelial differentiation. The clinically relevant sodium deoxycholate and Triton X-100 groups were retested with a final peracetic acid (PAA) rinse. It was determined that the use of PAA greatly improved the in vivo response of the previously poor performing sodium deoxycholate and made little improvement to the Triton X-100 scaffold. The optimum configuration, Triton X-100 with a PAA rinse, was selected for translation to a clinically relevant porcine model. Porcine tracheal decellularization was achieved using a modified 14 day DEM protocol with a novel cyclical pressure approach. The suitability of these porcine tracheas for pre-clinical large animal testing was verified through mechanical analysis (pressure-diameter and suture retention) and in vitro seeding experiments with human bronchial epithelial cells

How the Internet, the Sharing Economy, and Reputational Feedback Mechanisms Solve the “Lemons Problem”

This paper argues that the sharing economy—through the use of the Internet and real time reputational feedback mechanisms—is providing a solution to the lemons problem that many regulators have spent decades attempting to overcome. Section I provides an overview of the sharing economy and traces its rapid growth. Section II revisits the lemons theory as well as the various regulatory solutions proposed to deal with the problem of asymmetric information. Section III discusses the relationship between reputation and trust and analyzes how reputational incentives affect commercial interactions. Section IV discusses how information asymmetries were addressed in the pre-Internet era. It also discusses how the evolution of both the Internet and information systems (especially the reputational feedback mechanisms of the sharing economy) addresses the lemons problem. Section V explains how these new realities affect public policy and concludes that asymmetric information is not a legitimate rationale for policy intervention in light of technological changes. We also argue that continued use of this rationale to regulate in the name of consumer protection might, in fact, make consumers worse off. This has ramifications for the current debate over regulation of the sharing economy

A Comment on Roy Battenhouse, "Religion in King John: Shakespeare's View"

This is a Response to Roy Battenhouse's essay "Religion in King John: Shakespeare's View.

Facial emotion recognition in children with externalising behaviours: A systematic review

Difficulties in facial emotion recognition (FER) are associated with a range of mental health and antisocial presentations in adolescents and adults. Externalising behaviours in children are often one of the earliest signs of risk for the development of such difficulties. This article systematically reviews the evidence (from both group and correlational studies) for whether there is a relationship between FER and externalising behaviours in pre-adolescent children (aged 12 and under), both across and within externalising behaviour domains (hyperactivity, conduct problems, callous-unemotional traits, and aggression). Four electronic databases were searched producing 1,296 articles. Articles were included if they used validated measures of FER and externalising behaviours. Sixteen articles met criteria for inclusion in the review. Overall, the results suggested FER problems are present in ADHD, CP and callous-unemotional presentations, and in samples of children with higher levels of externalising problems rather than in community samples. However, there was no consistent evidence for specific emotions being implicated in the studies reviewed. Clinically, the findings suggest that FER difficulties are commonly associated with externalising behaviours, and hence this review offers some support that FER deficits could be a relevant target of intervention for externalising behaviours. However, more longitudinal studies are required, that control for other variables that might underlie FER difficulties (e.g. IQ or basic Theory of Mind abilities), to inform our knowledge of whether FER difficulties are a causal factor in externalising behaviours

Modification of Projected Velocity Power Spectra by Density Inhomogeneities in Compressible Supersonic Turbulence

(Modified) The scaling of velocity fluctuation, dv, as a function of spatial scale L in molecular clouds can be measured from size-linewidth relations, principal component analysis, or line centroid variation. Differing values of the power law index of the scaling relation dv = L^(g3D) in 3D are given by these different methods: the first two give g3D=0.5, while line centroid analysis gives g3D=0. This discrepancy has previously not been fully appreciated, as the variation of projected velocity line centroid fluctuations (dv_{lc} = L^(g2D)) is indeed described, in 2D, by g2D=0.5. However, if projection smoothing is accounted for, this implies that g3D=0. We suggest that a resolution of this discrepancy can be achieved by accounting for the effect of density inhomogeneity on the observed g2D obtained from velocity line centroid analysis. Numerical simulations of compressible turbulence are used to show that the effect of density inhomogeneity statistically reverses the effect of projection smoothing in the case of driven turbulence so that velocity line centroid analysis does indeed predict that g2D=g3D=0.5. Using our numerical results we can restore consistency between line centroid analysis, principal component analysis and size-linewidth relations, and we derive g3D=0.5, corresponding to shock-dominated (Burgers) turbulence. We find that this consistency requires that molecular clouds are continually driven on large scales or are only recently formed.Comment: 28 pages total, 20 figures, accepted for publication in Ap