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Archetypes of the weak hydrogen bond -C−H⋯O and C – H⋯N interactions in organic and organometallic systems

GAUTAM R. DESIRAJU and THOMAS STEINER

in The Weak Hydrogen Bond: In Structural Chemistry and Biology

Many, if not all, attributes of the classical hydrogen bond, X-H···A, would seem to derive from the fact that X and A are electronegative elements and from the unique electronic configuration of the ... More

Many, if not all, attributes of the classical hydrogen bond, X-H···A, would seem to derive from the fact that X and A are electronegative elements and from the unique electronic configuration of the H atom that permits close approaches of the X and A atoms. Indeed, it is only this combination of circumstances that makes this type of association possible, thus rendering the term ‘hydrogen bond’ so appropriate. The difference between strong and weak hydrogen bonding lies in the fact that in the latter situation, one or both of the atoms X and A are of moderate electronegativity only. This chapter looks at archetypes of the weak hydrogen bond -C-H···O and C-H···N interactions in organic and organometallic systems, along with the general properties of the weak hydrogen bond, vibrational spectroscopy of the weak hydrogen bond, reduction of thermal vibrations, computatioaal studies and hydrogen bond energies, cooperativity, hardness and softness, and weak hydrogen bonds in liquids and solution.Less

Cation coordination number

I. David Brown

in The Chemical Bond in Inorganic Chemistry: The Bond Valence Model

Traditionally, coordination numbers have been predicted using ionic radius ratios, but this takes no account of the softness of the repulsion between the ligands. Oxygen ions are drawn closer if they ... More

Traditionally, coordination numbers have been predicted using ionic radius ratios, but this takes no account of the softness of the repulsion between the ligands. Oxygen ions are drawn closer if they form strong bonds to a common cation, e.g. N5+ compared to Mg2+ or Al3+. The O-O distance depends on the component of the valence of the cation-O bonds along the O-O direction. Other factors that determine coordination number are the softness of the cation, and deviations from valence matching.Less

Deformalization of Law-Ascertainment in Contemporary Theory of the Sources of International Law

d'Aspremont Jean

in Formalism and the Sources of International Law: A Theory of the Ascertainment of Legal Rules

This chapter recalls that it is not a coincidence that the growing abandonment of formal law-identification criteria in the international legal scholarship has taken place against the backdrop of the ... More

This chapter recalls that it is not a coincidence that the growing abandonment of formal law-identification criteria in the international legal scholarship has taken place against the backdrop of the dramatic pluralization of norm-making at the international level. It then depicts some of the manifestations of the deformalization of law-ascertainment currently witnessed in the international legal scholarship. It first expounds on some of the most common forms of non-formal law-ascertainment yardsticks which are used by international legal scholars and international lawyers. It then explains how this has generated a general acceptance of the idea of softness of legal concepts. It finally says a few words on the various agendas pursued by each of these different types of deformalization in the theory of sources of international law.Less

The Gilda-in-the-Sack School of Singing

Richard Miller

in On the Art of Singing

This chapter comments on the tendency of some singers to produce one constant volume of tone when singing, with no variation of timbre throughout an aria or an evening. “Softness,” a vocal timbre not ... More

This chapter comments on the tendency of some singers to produce one constant volume of tone when singing, with no variation of timbre throughout an aria or an evening. “Softness,” a vocal timbre not necessarily related to piano dynamic level, when occasionally introduced in contrast to stabilized timbre, can be exceedingly effective in shaping the character of an aria or song. But except for those instances where imminent death or psychological devastation is to be portrayed, no singer dare continually reduce the innate beauty of vocal tone in the hope of becoming more expressive. No singer can afford extended departures from good vocal timbre in an attempt to be “artistic.” Vocal style and artistry should not rob one of good vocalism. Producing tone appropriate to the dying Gilda is not the way to sing publicly.Less

Crooked, Therefore

in The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying: Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty

This chapter is the translation of chapter 22 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the ... More

This chapter is the translation of chapter 22 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the early medieval period up to the Tang, Daoism had developed in close contact with Buddhism, adopting and co-opting many concepts and ideas from Buddhism. Cheng brings these originally Buddhist concepts into the exegesis of the classic Daode jing. In addition, he ties the Daode jing closely to the Zhuangzi and to Confucian classics by citing them in his commentary to every chapter of the Daode jing. He also uses the Buddhist method of kepan to structure the text of the single chapter into smaller subunits and also to create a framework explaining the specific sequence of the single chapters in the Daode jing.Less

A Great State

in The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying: Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty

This chapter is the translation of chapter 61 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the ... More

This chapter is the translation of chapter 61 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the early medieval period up to the Tang, Daoism had developed in close contact with Buddhism, adopting and co-opting many concepts and ideas from Buddhism. Cheng brings these originally Buddhist concepts into the exegesis of the classic Daode jing. In addition, he ties the Daode jing closely to the Zhuangzi and to Confucian classics by citing them in his commentary to every chapter of the Daode jing. He also uses the Buddhist method of kepan to structure the text of the single chapter into smaller subunits and also to create a framework explaining the specific sequence of the single chapters in the Daode jing.Less

Human Beings

in The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying: Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty

This chapter is the translation of chapter 76 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the ... More

This chapter is the translation of chapter 76 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the early medieval period up to the Tang, Daoism had developed in close contact with Buddhism, adopting and co-opting many concepts and ideas from Buddhism. Cheng brings these originally Buddhist concepts into the exegesis of the classic Daode jing. In addition, he ties the Daode jing closely to the Zhuangzi and to Confucian classics by citing them in his commentary to every chapter of the Daode jing. He also uses the Buddhist method of kepan to structure the text of the single chapter into smaller subunits and also to create a framework explaining the specific sequence of the single chapters in the Daode jing.Less

The Softest and Weakest in the World

in The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying: Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty

This chapter is the translation of chapter 78 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the ... More

This chapter is the translation of chapter 78 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the early medieval period up to the Tang, Daoism had developed in close contact with Buddhism, adopting and co-opting many concepts and ideas from Buddhism. Cheng brings these originally Buddhist concepts into the exegesis of the classic Daode jing. In addition, he ties the Daode jing closely to the Zhuangzi and to Confucian classics by citing them in his commentary to every chapter of the Daode jing. He also uses the Buddhist method of kepan to structure the text of the single chapter into smaller subunits and also to create a framework explaining the specific sequence of the single chapters in the Daode jing,Less

The Highest Goodness

in The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying: Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty

This chapter is the translation of chapter 8 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the ... More

This chapter is the translation of chapter 8 of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing by Cheng Xuanying. Cheng reads the ancient Daode jing in the light of early Tang dynasty Daoism. In the early medieval period up to the Tang, Daoism had developed in close contact with Buddhism, adopting and co-opting many concepts and ideas from Buddhism. Cheng brings these originally Buddhist concepts into the exegesis of the classic Daode jing. In addition, he ties the Daode jing closely to the Zhuangzi and to Confucian classics by citing them in his commentary to every chapter of the Daode jing. He also uses the Buddhist method of kepan to structure the text of the single chapter into smaller subunits and also to create a framework explaining the specific sequence of the single chapters in the Daode jing.Less

Softening

Jenny C. Mann

in The Trials of Orpheus: Poetry, Science, and the Early Modern Sublime

This chapter begins by investigating the complicated virtue of softness and softening in the classical and early modern language arts. Having established the “drawing” force of verbal eloquence, ... More

This chapter begins by investigating the complicated virtue of softness and softening in the classical and early modern language arts. Having established the “drawing” force of verbal eloquence, which places makers and audiences in thrall to desire and to language, the chapter specifies the dissolute texture of that thralldom. It follows how the complex gendering of the Orphic figure shapes conceptions of verbal persuasion and literary transmission in early modern England. Through Ovid's revaluing of softening as poetic force, this chapter also reveals how normative sex/gender configurations fail to account for the gender or the desires of the Orphic poet. Ultimately, it examines the elaboration of a “soft” poetics in Marlowe's English translation of Ovid's Amores (ca. 1599), which presents softness as the very ground of poetic invention. The chapter then suggests that the early modern discourse of poetic softness is a queer discourse of sexuality without or, perhaps, in excess of gender.Less

Hard and Soft: Joyce and Others

Robert Scholes

in Paradoxy of Modernism

This chapter examines the distinction between hardness and softness or sentimentalism. In particular, it considers the question of Joyce's sentimentality, and, indeed, the question of sentimentality ... More

This chapter examines the distinction between hardness and softness or sentimentalism. In particular, it considers the question of Joyce's sentimentality, and, indeed, the question of sentimentality within modernism. It argues that those to whom hardness comes naturally are seldom as interesting as those for whom it is a cloak for an inner softness. And that is part of the paradoxy of modernism.Less

Bulls and Deer, Women and Warriors: Aristotle’s Physics of Morals

Giulia Sissa

in Marginality, Canonicity, Passion

In ancient Greece, manly men were thought to have invented popular rule and were considered capable, and worthy, of ruling themselves. The full appreciation of the gendered nature of democratic ... More

In ancient Greece, manly men were thought to have invented popular rule and were considered capable, and worthy, of ruling themselves. The full appreciation of the gendered nature of democratic culture challenges our canonical vision of ancient politics. First, we have to place gender not at the margin, but at the heart of Athenian political culture. Second, we have to expand our primary ‘must-read’ sources, by including discourses that deal with the embodiment of a political identity: above all, the biological works of Aristotle. This chapter argues for a correlation between physiology and political theory within the Aristotelian corpus, as well as for the relevance of Aristotle’s insight for our understanding of ancient democracy.Less

The Natural Character and Moral Deficiencies of Women

Mariska Leunissen

in From Natural Character to Moral Virtue in Aristotle

Chapter 6 addresses Aristotle’s exclusion of women from full virtue by explaining their moral deficiencies in light of their presumed biological imperfections. Although formally identical to men, ... More

Chapter 6 addresses Aristotle’s exclusion of women from full virtue by explaining their moral deficiencies in light of their presumed biological imperfections. Although formally identical to men, Aristotle believes that women, as a result of what happens to them during embryogenesis, are less perfect members of the human species due to their colder, earthier material nature. The particular natural character profile Aristotle attributes to women in the biological treatises, which is due to this particular material nature, accounts for his claims in the Politics that women can acquire only the “virtues of assistants” and that they are naturally being ruled by men. I also discuss Aristotle’s notorious claim (often ascribed to plain sexism) that women by nature have a deliberate capacity necessary for moral decision making but that it “lacks authority,” and his attribution of softness and weakness of will to them, and I offer psychophysical explanations for these moral deficiencies.Less