Neo-Hobbesianism in the DPRK: A Provisional Theory of Authoritarianism

This article presents an original historical-philosophical conception that attempts to discern the matter, form, and power of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (dprk). A panoramic and problematizing cognitive framework, the theory configurates 629 years of sociopolitical history from 1392 to 2021 and then comparatively discusses the dprk system in relation to ancient democracy and liberal democracy from Pericles to Samuel P. Huntington. The article is divided into three parts, which outline the theory and its principles, map historical foundations and political phases, and address social relations, state will, and political reality. Description and analysis convey the thesis that the dprk polity is home to a Neo-Hobbesian formation: a hybrid state entity that is historically modern, politically absolutist, and illiberally democratic, with a transforming cross-civilizational physiognomy. By design, the “soft” theory is conceived to stimulate academic discussion and debate, not declare a final solution.

NRF2-dependent epigenetic regulation can promote the hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal phenotype

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cellular process critical for wound healing, cancer metastasis and embryonic development. Recent efforts have identified the role of hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal states, having both epithelial and mesehncymal traits, in enabling cancer metastasis and resistance to various therapies. Also, previous work has suggested that NRF2 can act as phenotypic stability factor to help stablize such hybrid states. Here, we incorporate a phenomenological epigenetic feedback effect into our previous computational model for EMT signaling. We show that this type of feedback can stabilize the hybrid state as compared to the fully mesenchymal phenotype if NRF2 can influence SNAIL at an epigenetic level, as this link makes transitions out of hybrid state more difficult. However, epigenetic regulation on other NRF2-related links do not significantly change the EMT dynamics. Finally, we considered possible cell division effects in our epigenetic regulation model, and our results indicate that the degree of epigenetic inheritance does not appear to be a critical factor for the hybrid E/M state stabilizing behavior of NRF2.

Population Dynamics of Hybrid State during Adaptive Therapy in Cancer

Drug resistance emerges due to drug-induced phenotypic switching of drug-sensitive to drug-resistant subpopulations in cancer during therapy. Existing models indicate the competitive advantage of sensitive over resistant population to regulate tumor and reducing the treatment cost with increased time to progression of tumor ultimately benefiting the patient in a clinical setting. Here, we present a Lotka Volterra (LV) based population dynamics (PD) model of the drug-sensitive, drug-resistant, and transient drug-hybrid state along with phenotypic switching during adaptive therapy based on a simple cancer biomarker (CB) to decide the adaptive therapy dosage to regulate cancer. We identified that the strength of intra-competition along with phenotypic switching parameters is crucial to mediate the effectiveness of adaptive therapy and also investigated the significance of the initial fraction of subpopulations on AT. We hypothesize and predict the dynamics of drug-induced transient hybrid state playing a key role in the cancer cells undergoing metastasis.

‘You do not become a European by choice but by necessity’: The Alsace border region and its opening up to Europe in the writings of Otto Flake, René Schickele and Hermann Wendel

The three writers Otto Flake, René Schickele and Hermann Wendel met in Straßburg in 1901. Together with other artists and writers they founded the group ‘Das jüngste Elsaß’ (also known as ‘Der Stürmerkreis’). One of the purposes of this artistic group was to shed the ‘hybrid state’ of Alsace as a border region and instead urge that Alsace take on a mediating role in a future united Europe. Their pacifist European approach, which they adhered to during World War I and later on in exile, originated from controversial debates emerging from the extreme tensions caused by German and French nationalism. The three writers viewed Alsace as a symbol of Europe. For their ‘border literature’ Europe offered the possibility of refraining from the concept of nationhood, which is based on homogeneity and therefore violent exclusion, something in which they did not find themselves represented.

Tea Bowl with Decoration of Standing Cranes (Tachizuru): Made-to-order Ceramics Produced in the Japan House Kilns

The Japan House (Korean: waegwan; Japanese: wakan) in the port city of Pusan, was a Japanese outpost during the Chosŏn dynasty. In the period 1639 to 1718, the Sō clan of Tsushima, commissioned made-to-order ceramics here, reflecting Japanese requirements, and a long-standing Japanese enthusiasm for kōrai chawan (“Korean tea bowls”), as demanded by the tea authorities in Japan. The focus of this paper is a group of tea bowls with decoration of standing cranes, the most representative type of made-to-order tea bowls produced at the Japan House kilns. Historical records and recent excavations of kiln sites have revealed that the type of tea bowl with standing crane design enjoyed popularity and continued to be produced until the closure of the Japan House kilns. A bowl of the deep, cylindrical shape adheres closely to early Koryŏ prototypes, while its notched foot resembles those of soft porcelain bowls made for ritual use. The subject of its design motif can be traced back to the ubiquitous cranes of Koryŏ inlaid celadon. The ethereal crane, traditionally associated with longevity, was popular in East Asian pictorial culture. The standing crane design on this type of tea bowl displays a combination of influences from the crane painting by the Southern Song painter Muqi (act. ca. 1240-75) and its reinterpretation by the Kano painters. This paper seeks to define the characteristics of the Japan House kiln products by examining its best-known type of tea bowl with decoration of standing cranes. It elucidates how the tea bowl with standing crane design is clearly not an imitation of early Koryŏ celadon but shows a range of decorative styles that reflect the tastes of the Edo-period daimyo tea world. While adapted to the tastes of Japanese consumers, the tea bowl with standing crane design produced at the Japan House kilns display influences from regional kilns in Chosŏn Korea. In this light, the type of tea bowl with decoration of standing cranes manifests a hybrid state of shifting boundaries and demarcations where Japanese and Korean influences coexisted and encountered with difference.