The taste for the particular: A logic of discernment in an age of omnivorousness

This article provides an analysis of two leading specialist wine magazines, Decanter and Wine Spectator, and the codification and legitimation of a ‘taste for the particular.’ Such media of connoisseurship are key institutions of evaluation and legitimation in an age of omnivorousness, but are often overlooked in research that foregrounds the agency of tasters and neglects the conventionalization of tasting norms and devices. The wine field has undergone a process of democratization typical of omnivorousness more broadly: former elite/low boundaries (operationalized in the paper through the Old/New World dichotomy) are ignored, and a discerning attitude is encouraged for wines from a diversity of regions. Drawing on the magazines’ audience profile and market position data, and a content analysis of advertising and editorial content from 2008 and 2010, I examine the differences in the use of four legitimation frames (transparency, heritage, genuineness and external validation) for the provenance elements of Old and New World wines. The analysis suggests that the Old World—typically French—notion of terroir, on which the traditional Old/New World boundary rested, has been democratized through the particularities of provenance. Yet, the analysis also reveals continuing differences between the two categories (including greater emphasis on the heritage and external validation of Old World context of production, and on the transparency and genuineness of New World producers), and the preservation of established hierarchies of taste through the application of terroir to New World wines, which retain the Old World and France as their master referent

Gambling disorder and suicide: An overview of the associated co-morbidity and clinical characteristics

Context: A high prevalence of suicide and attempted suicide in relation to gambling disorder is in increasing evidence in current scientific data. The objective of this review was to explore if there was a primary correlation between psychiatric co-morbidities and gambling and/or a secondary correlation with suicide acts. Evidence Acquisition: We performed a critical analysis of the most recent papers in the scientific literature in this regard and report on the most significant findings. Results: A direct relationship between gambling and suicidality was highlighted in a number of European, American, and Asian countries. However, it was not clear whether or not gambling increased the risk of suicidal behavior. Twogeneral trends were noted. The first was that gamblers with extreme gambling behavior incurred economic losses and debts to such an extent that suicidal acts appeared to be the only solution. The second was that suicidal acts by gamblers were precipitated by interpersonal and/or working challenges, in conjunction with personality traits of impulsivity and psychiatric co-morbidities. Conclusions: A combination of impulsivity, certain psychiatric disorders, and social factors may explain the frequent occurrence of suicidal behavior in gamblers

Region-Specific Microstructure in the Neonatal Ventricles of a Porcine Model

© 2018, Biomedical Engineering Society. The neonate transitions from placenta-derived oxygen, to supply from the pulmonary system, moments after birth. This requires a series of structural developments to divert more blood through the right heart and onto the lungs, with the tissue quickly remodelling to the changing ventricular workload. In some cases, however, the heart structure does not fully develop causing poor circulation and inefficient oxygenation, which is associated with an increase in mortality and morbidity. This study focuses on developing an enhanced knowledge of the 1-day old heart, quantifying the region-specific microstructural parameters of the tissue. This will enable more accurate mathematical and computational simulations of the young heart. Hearts were dissected from 12, 1-day-old deceased Yorkshire piglets (mass: 2.1–2.4kg, length: 0.38–0.51m), acquired from a breeding farm. Evans blue dye was used to label the heart equator and to demarcate the left and right ventricle free walls. Two hearts were used for three-dimensional diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging, to quantify the fractional anisotropy (FA). The remaining hearts were used for two-photon excited fluorescence and second-harmonic generation microscopy, to quantify the cardiomyocyte and collagen fibril structures within the anterior and posterior aspects of the right and left ventricles. FA varied significantly across both ventricles, with the greatest in the equatorial region, followed by the base and apex. The FA in each right ventricular region was statistically greater than that in the left. Cardiomyocyte and collagen fibre rotation was greatest in the anterior wall of both ventricles, with less dispersion when compared to the posterior walls. In defining these key parameters, this study provides a valuable insight into the 1-day-old heart that will provide a valuable platform for further investigation the normal and abnormal heart using mathematical and computational models

Cyclopropanation of Benzene Rings by Oxidatively Generated α-Oxo Gold Carbene: One-Pot Access to Tetrahydropyranone-Fused Cycloheptatrienes from Propargyl Benzyl Ethers

Cyclopropanations of benzene rings by oxidatively generated α-oxo gold carbenes are for the first time demonstrated in a Buchner reaction, in which readily available propargyl benzyl ethers are converted in one-pot to tetrahydropyranone-fused cycloheptatrienes via sequential oxidative gold catalysis and base-promoted isomerization. Additional examples of arene cyclopropanations without fragmentation of the cyclopropane ring are also realized

Analysis of a nonlinear opinion dynamics model with biased assimilation

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd This paper analyzes a nonlinear opinion dynamics model which generalizes the DeGroot model by introducing a bias parameter for each individual. The original DeGroot model is recovered when the bias parameter is equal to zero. The magnitude of this parameter reflects an individual's degree of bias when assimilating new opinions, and depending on the magnitude, an individual is said to have weak, intermediate, and strong bias. The opinions of the individuals lie between 0 and 1. It is shown that for strongly connected networks, the equilibria with all elements equal identically to the extreme value 0 or 1 is locally exponentially stable, while the equilibrium with all elements equal to the neutral consensus value of 1/2 is unstable. Regions of attraction for the extreme consensus equilibria are given. For the equilibrium consisting of both extreme values 0 and 1, which corresponds to opinion polarization according to the model, it is shown that the equilibrium is unstable for all strongly connected networks if individuals all have weak bias, becomes locally exponentially stable for complete and two-island networks if individuals all have strong bias, and its stability heavily depends on the network topology when individuals have intermediate bias. Analysis on star graphs and simulations show that additional equilibria may exist where individuals form clusters