Parallels, prescience and the past: analogical reasoning and contemporary international politics

Analogical reasoning has held a perpetual appeal to policymakers who have often drafted in historical metaphor as a mode of informing decision-making. However, this article contends that since the beginning of the ‘War on Terror’ we have arguably seen the rise of a more potent form of analogy, namely ones that are selected because they fulfil an ideological function. Analogical reasoning as a tool of rational decision-making has increasingly become replaced by analogical reasoning as a tool of trenchant ideologically-informed policy justification. This article addresses three key areas which map out the importance of analogical reasoning to an understanding of developments in contemporary international politics: the relationship between history and politics, in intellectual and policy terms; a critical assessment of the appeal that analogical reasoning holds for policymakers; and the development of a rationale for a more effective use of history in international public policymaking

Comparative genomics reveals phylogenetic distribution patterns of secondary metabolites in Amycolatopsis species

Background Genome mining tools have enabled us to predict biosynthetic gene clusters that might encode compounds with valuable functions for industrial and medical applications. With the continuously increasing number of genomes sequenced, we are confronted with an overwhelming number of predicted clusters. In order to guide the effective prioritization of biosynthetic gene clusters towards finding the most promising compounds, knowledge about diversity, phylogenetic relationships and distribution patterns of biosynthetic gene clusters is necessary. Results Here, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the model actinobacterial genus Amycolatopsis and its potential for the production of secondary metabolites. A phylogenetic characterization, together with a pan-genome analysis showed that within this highly diverse genus, four major lineages could be distinguished which differed in their potential to produce secondary metabolites. Furthermore, we were able to distinguish gene cluster families whose distribution correlated with phylogeny, indicating that vertical gene transfer plays a major role in the evolution of secondary metabolite gene clusters. Still, the vast majority of the diverse biosynthetic gene clusters were derived from clusters unique to the genus, and also unique in comparison to a database of known compounds. Our study on the locations of biosynthetic gene clusters in the genomes of Amycolatopsis’ strains showed that clusters acquired by horizontal gene transfer tend to be incorporated into non-conserved regions of the genome thereby allowing us to distinguish core and hypervariable regions in Amycolatopsis genomes. Conclusions Using a comparative genomics approach, it was possible to determine the potential of the genus Amycolatopsis to produce a huge diversity of secondary metabolites. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates that horizontal and vertical gene transfer play an important role in the acquisition and maintenance of valuable secondary metabolites. Our results cast light on the interconnections between secondary metabolite gene clusters and provide a way to prioritize biosynthetic pathways in the search and discovery of novel compounds

Determinants of long-term debt issuing decisions: An alternative approach

This paper proposes a probit model to test capital structure theories. Our model is designed to circumvent a methodological problem in traditional regression analysis stemming from the use of scaling (e.g., in the form of financial ratios) that has plagued capital structure studies for more than 100 years (Pearson, 1897). Without correction, this problem potentially yields a spurious relation between the dependent and explanatory variables. For example, a negative relationship between capital leverage and firm profitability is concluded in the literature, which is counter to what is observed in reality. Using a sample of leverage increasing cases resulting from public debt issuances in US markets between 1996 and 2006, our probit model results indicate that leverage increasing firms tend to be more profitable. Our finding is consistent with the fact that, in practice, more profitable firms usually have easier access to debt markets

Exploring eye-gaze behaviors on emotional states for human-computer interaction (HCI) using eye tracking technique

Human computer interaction (HCI) is becoming an essential area of study these days. However, most contemporary HCI systems are unable to identify human emotional states and use this information in deciding upon proper actions to execute. To solve this problem, eye tracking has been introduced to record the eye gaze behaviours which can signify the insight of emotions. This manuscript will look into this study by empirically attempt to apply the eye tracking device and method to investigate the relationship of human emotions and eye-gaze behaviour. We explored the pupil size and fixation duration stimulated by film clips of different arousal content using the eye tracking technology. Fifteen students from Malaysian-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) are chosen. Emotions are analysed by studying the eye gaze behaviours using five emotional video stimuli e.g. Amusement, Joy, Neutral, Sad and Fear. These stimuli are displayed to the subjects to obtain and record their gaze behaviour using the Tobii TX300 eye tracker. The results which are obtained are analysed using statistical ANOVA analysis. The ANOVA analysis shows that the significance, p value less than 0.05 for both fixation duration and pupil dilation which indicates there is significant relationship between eye-gaze behaviour and human emotions