Introduction: The Law of Nations and the Intellectual History of Empires

This special issue of the Revue d’études benthamiennes, entitled the 'International and Colonial Thought of the British Empire', aims to broaden recent debates on global intellectual history and imperial history. While this subject has been extensively studied in current scholarship, the issue attempts to approach several relatively under-examined figures, including Adam Ferguson, Josiah Tucker, and Frederic Rogers, as well as classical thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham and Adam Smith, from new perspectives. In this Introduction, we describe a pan-European intellectual setting wherein these thinkers’ international and imperial thought should partly be situated, with a focus on the idea of international law, cosmopolitanism, and colonialism.Ce numéro spécial de la Revue d'études benthamiennes, intitulé 'La pensée internationale et coloniale de l'Empire britannique', contribue aux débats récents sur l'histoire intellectuelle globale et l'histoire impériale. Alors que ce sujet a déjà fait l'objet de nombreuses études, ce numéro vise à aborder plusieurs figures relativement peu étudiées, dont Adam Ferguson, Josiah Tucker et Frederic Rogers, ainsi que des penseurs déjà classiques comme Jeremy Bentham et Adam Smith sous un angle novateur. Dans cette introduction, nous souhaitons décrire un cadre intellectuel paneuropéen dans lequel la pensée internationale et impériale de ces penseurs devrait en partie être située, en mettant l'accent sur l'idée de droit international, de cosmopolitisme et de colonialisme

Adam Smith and Josiah Tucker on Restructuring Empire

Smith’s critique of empire has recently attracted scholarly attention, but it has mostly been from the perspective of justice. The present article, however, argues that his views on it could also be appreciated by his 'utilitarian' attitude toward it. Combined with a similar line of analysis of Josiah Tucker, another key (though neglected) figure, the authors hope to add to the current trends of scholarship on the Enlightenment critique of empire. Neither Smith nor Tucker appealed merely to political right principles, but rather frequently explored imperial problems from 'utilitarian' viewpoints. A difference between Smith and Tucker derives from the latter's explicit appeal to Christian, or Protestant, ethics, by which Tucker was in a way associated not only with his mentor, Joseph Butler, but also with some of his adversaries, such as Richard Price and Joseph Priestley. The non-welfarist or non-consequentialist concept of justice was a significant element in the Enlightenment critique of the empire, but not the sole one. To fully appreciate the critique, more scholarly attention should be paid to the relationships between justice and other ideas such as divine providence and utility.La critique de l'empire par Adam Smith a suscité un regain d'intérêt récemment, mais principalement sous l'angle de la justice. Le présent article avance l'hypothèse que ses opinions à ce sujet peuvent également être appréciées à l'aune de son attitude 'utilitariste' vis-à-vis de l'empire. Associé à une approche similaire de la pensée de Josiah Tucker, une autre figure clé, bien que négligée, l'article espère contribuer à la recherche sur la critique de l'empire par les Lumières. Ni Smith ni Tucker n'ont fait appel à de simples principes de droit politique, mais ont souvent exploré les problèmes impériaux d'un point de vue 'utilitaire'. Une des différences entre Smith et Tucker réside dans l'appel explicite de ce dernier à l'éthique chrétienne ou protestante, à laquelle Tucker s'associait non seulement avec son mentor, Joseph Butler, mais aussi avec certains de ses adversaires, tels que Richard Price et Joseph Priestley. Le concept non-welfariste ou non-conséquentialiste de la justice était un élément important de la critique de l'empire par les Lumières, mais ce n'était pas le seul. Afin d'apprécier pleinement cette critique, il convient d'accorder une attention plus érudite aux rapports entre la justice et d'autres idées telles que la providence divine et l'utilité

Molecular characterization of the CRa gene conferring clubroot resistance in Brassica rapa

Clubroot disease is one of the major diseases affecting Brassicaceae crops, and a number of these crops grown commercially, such as Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis), are known to be highly susceptible to clubroot disease. To provide protection from this disease, plant breeders have introduced genes for resistance to clubroot from the European turnip into susceptible lines. The CRa gene confers specific resistance to the clubroot pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae isolate M85. Fine mapping of the CRa locus using synteny to the Arabidopsis thaliana genome and partial genome sequences of B. rapa revealed a candidate gene encoding a TIR-NBS-LRR protein. Several structural differences in this candidate gene were found between susceptible and resistant lines, and CRa expression was observed only in the resistant line. Four mutant lines lacking clubroot resistance were obtained by the UV irradiation of pollen from a resistant line, and all of these mutant lines carried independent mutations in the candidate TIR-NBS-LRR gene. This genetic and molecular evidence strongly suggests that the identified gene is CRa. This is the first report on the molecular characterization of a clubroot Resistance gene in Brassicaceae and of the disease resistance gene in B. rapa.ArticlePLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY. 80(6):621-629 (2012)journal articl

Exoskeleton for the Mind: Exploring Strategies Against Misinformation with a Metacognitive Agent

Misinformation is a global problem in modern social media platforms with few solutions known to be effective. Social media platforms have offered tools to raise awareness of information, but these are closed systems that have not been empirically evaluated. Others have developed novel tools and strategies, but most have been studied out of context using static stimuli, researcher prompts, or low fidelity prototypes. We offer a new anti-misinformation agent grounded in theories of metacognition that was evaluated within Twitter. We report on a pilot study (n=17) and multi-part experimental study (n=57, n=49) where participants experienced three versions of the agent, each deploying a different strategy. We found that no single strategy was superior over the control. We also confirmed the necessity of transparency and clarity about the agent's underlying logic, as well as concerns about repeated exposure to misinformation and lack of user engagement.Comment: Pages 209-22

Individual motions of red blood cells in high-hematocrit blood flowing in a microchannel with complex geometries

Blood flow in a microchannel with complex geometries has been investigated to develop biomedical microdevices (e.g. Faivre et al., 2006) or to understand pathology in small vessels, such as lacunar infarcts. In a small channel, say 100 μm in diameter, the blood is no longer assumed to be a homogeneous fluid because the size of the red blood cells (RBCs) cannot be neglected compared to the generated flow field (the diameter of a RBC is about 8 μm). In such a case, we must treat the blood as a multiphase fluid, and investigate the motion of individual cells in discussing the flow field. In this study, we investigated the motion of RBCs in a microchannel with stenosis or bifurcation using a confocal micro-PTV system. We measured individual trajectories of RBCs under high Hct conditions (up to 20%), when the interactions between RBCs become significant. We discuss the effect of Hct on the flow field and cell-free layers, as well as the effect of deformability of RBCs on the cell-free layer thickness by hardening RBCs using a glutaraldehyde treatment

Superior Electrochemical Performance of a Ni-P/Si Negative Electrode for Li-ion Batteries in an Ionic Liquid Electrolyte

To achieve electrode performance with both high capacity and long cycle life, we investigated the effect of the anion structure in an ionic liquid electrolyte on the electrochemical performance of an annealed Ni-P/(etched Si) negative electrode for Li-ion batteries. The electrode maintained a discharge capacity of 1890 mA h g-1 after 250 cycles in bis(fluorosulfonyl)amide-based ionic liquid electrolyte, which was approximately three times higher than that in bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide-based electrolyte

Enhancer activities of amphioxus Brachyury genes in embryos of the ascidian, Ciona intestinalis

The notochord and somites are distinctive chordate structures. The T‐box transcription factor gene, Brachyury, is expressed in notochord and plays a pivotal role in its formation. In the cephalochordate, Branchiostoma floridae, Brachyury is duplicated into BfBra1 and BfBra2, which are expressed in the somite‐formation region as well. In a series of experiments to elucidate the regulatory machinery of chordate Brachyury expression, we carried out a lacZ reporter assay of BfBra in embryos of the urochordate, Ciona intestinalis. Vista analyses suggest the presence of conserved non‐coding sequences, not only in the 5′‐upstream, but also in the 3′‐downstream and in introns of BfBra. We found that: (1) 5′‐upstream sequences of both BfBra1 and BfBra2 promote lacZ expression in muscle cells, (2) 3′‐downstream sequences have enhancer activity that promotes lacZ expression in notochord cells, and (3) introns of BfBra2 and BfBra1 exhibit lacZ expression preferentially in muscle and notochord cells. These results suggest shared cephalochordate Brachyury enhancer machinery that also works in urochordates. We discuss the results in relation to evolutionary modification of Brachyury expression in formation of chordate‐specific organs characteristic of each lineage