Singular Event Research Articles

A simplified approach to counting statistics with an imperfect pileup rejector

A simplified theoretical model is developed to predict counting statistics for a stationary Poisson process passing through a spectrometer with pulse-pileup rejection. The model is applicable to digital counters used for spectrometry as well as set-ups utilising analogue electronics for pulse shaping and pileup rejection. In comparison with an existing model for a perfect pileup rejector, the new model addresses the common imperfection of having a finite time resolution of the fast channel, allowing quasi-coincident signals to pass through the pile-up rejector. From the Laplace transform of a simplified interval-density distribution, approximate expressions are derived for the throughput factor and the variance of the number of counted events. The results are compared with computer simulations of a cascade of extending dead time and subsequent pileup rejection. In addition, a rigorous throughput factor is derived from probabilistic reasoning, as well as an effective throughput factor for singular and coincident events.

Why Civilizations Collapse: The Cruciality of Social Solidarity and the Dangers of Its Absence

This essay examines the complexities of civilizational collapse, proposing that it is not a singular event but a prolonged process driven by internal conflicts and external threats. It begins by defining the concept of collapse and uses historian Jared Diamond’s perspective to analyze how internal strife, such as loss of cultural identity, conflicting ideologies, and political division, can initiate the decline of a civilization due to a fragmentation of social solidarity. The essay then uses historical examples of the Islamic and Roman Empires to illustrate the importance of social solidarity for the survival of civilizations. It also discusses the internal challenges faced by modern civilization, including issues brought about by globalization, political polarization, East-West conflicts, global supply chain shortages, and how these factors can erode solidarity, posing a risk of collapse to the contemporary “world civilization.” The essay concludes by highlighting that internal conflicts and the absence of social solidarity are the primary causes of civilizational collapse, a theory that remains relevant for understanding the challenges faced by the global civilization today.

Breaking the silence: Do I tell my child about their sexual abuse history? Longitudinal analysis of parental decision-making regarding disclosure of preverbal sexual abuse by parents to their child: A qualitative study

BackgroundThe Amsterdam Sexual Abuse Case (ASAC) presented parents with a dilemma about disclosing preverbal sexual abuse to their child. Advising parents was challenging due to limited knowledge about the consequences of preverbal child sexual abuse (CSA) and the rarity of children having no conscious awareness of their experience. To enhance recommendations and knowledge, we explored parents' experiences over the years. ObjectiveThis unique qualitative study introduced “parental disclosure”, where non-offending parents disclose CSA to their child, and investigated the decision-making process spanning a decade after the ASAC discovery. MethodsLongitudinal qualitative data were collected through yearly interviews. Participants and settingIn total, 41 parents participated for 47 children. An additional in-depth interview was conducted with 20 parents in 2015. ResultsQuantitative data highlighted that over 10 years, parents of more than half of the children disclosed the preverbal CSA. Our analyses revealed that parental disclosure decisions entail dilemmas and unfold as a gradual process. Factors influencing decision-making included fear of stigma, child's emotional readiness, perceived benefits and risks, parental beliefs, values, and CSA circumstances. ConclusionThis study underscores the complex nature of parental disclosure and shows that it is an ongoing process rather than a singular event. Parents' choices evolved based on changing circumstances and new information. Outcomes enrich the understanding of parental disclosure decision-making, highlighting the need for tailored support services to aid parents navigating the aftermath of preverbal CSA. Parental disclosure is highly individualized and calls for evidence-based interventions and policies.

In Sublimity’s Wake

Abstract This research paper comparatively assesses Deleuze’s and Lyotard’s post-Kantian thought on the sublime. Initially, I argue that their unfaithful treatment of Kant bears consonance in dramatizing the heterogeneity of the transcendental faculties, relegating determinate thought to a subsidiary consideration, and conceiving of aesthetics as an excessive mode of production rather than a reflective form of judgement. However, they diverge in the details regarding aesthetic production in their writings on modernist painting. In conclusion, I maintain that these accounts require a paradigmatic shift in thought away from determinate judgement toward a fidelity to events. The significance of drawing these two thinkers together in this regard is in the recognition and elucidation of an event-oriented ontology, whereby the subject is actively transformed through creative responses to singular events in a process of rupture and regeneration. This rests upon the postulate that reality is not exhausted by experience, and carries with it an ethical imperative to resist limiting the future to the present conditions of experience.

“Our American Optimism”: Race, Recognition, and Belonging in Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric

This paper explores Claudia Rankine’s representation of the feelings of racialisation in her 2004 poetry collection Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric. Contextualising this work within wider debates in Afropessimist philosophy, it considers how the poet’s portrayal of emotional pain, depression, and numbness exemplify a form of ‘social death’ instigated by the ubiquitous violence of antiblackness. Through close readings of select sequences, it argues that Rankine frames death as an ongoing structure of African American experience, rather than a singular event. In turn, this paper also considers how her innovative and hybrid “American Lyric” form functions to create a new grammar for Black self-expression in an ostensibly ‘post-race’ culture that obfuscates contemporary systems of racial inequality. It argues that Rankine’s collection cultivates an ethics of attention to the experiences and pain of others, offering poetry as a form of “exhausted hope” to challenge the dehumanising force of White supremacy.

El Niño enhances snow-line rise and ice loss on the Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru

Abstract. Tropical glaciers in the central Andes are vital water resources and crucial climate indicators, currently undergoing rapid retreat. However, understanding their vulnerability to the combined effects of persistent warming, the El Niño and La Niña climate phenomena, and interannual fluctuations remains limited. Here, we automate the mapping of key mass balance parameters on the Quelccaya Ice Cap (QIC) in Peru, one of the largest tropical ice caps. Using Landsat's near-infrared (NIR) band, we analyze snow cover area (SCA) and total area (TA) and calculate the accumulation area ratio (AAR) and equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) over nearly 40 years (1985–2023). Between 1985 and 2022, the QIC lost ∼58 % and ∼37 % of its SCA and TA, respectively. We show that the QIC's reduction in SCA and rise in ELA are exacerbated by El Niño events, which are strongly correlated with the preceding wet season's Oceanic Niño Index (ONI). Further, expansion in the QIC's SCA is observed during all La Niña years, except during the 2021–2022 La Niña. Although this is a singular event, it could indicate a weakened ability for SCA recovery and an accelerated decline in the future, primarily driven by anthropogenic warming.

(Re) framing the politics of climate change: resilience, reparative critique and affective life in situations of extreme heat

ABSTRACT One of the ways we know climate change is through the emergencies that make it present. But how does the connection between singular events (emergencies) and a meta-stable condition (climate change) become perceivable to us? Through what knowledges? And with what political implications? In this paper I apply these questions to deepen critical understanding of government-orchestrated efforts to enhance climate resilience. Pursuing an alternative pathway to critiques that reduce resilience to neoliberalism, I bring resilience into dialogue with Lauren Berlant’s concept of situations. The importance of situations rests in its ability to diversify our understanding of the emergencies to which resilience responds. Initially, situations prompt us to explore emergencies fundamentally as ruptures in people’s ongoing affective encounter with the world. They also capture how our experience of emergencies is colored by the broader historical significance they hold as critical events that change collective life. And, as with all events read through affect, situations are also an object of mediation. Thinking with situations, I demonstrate how, through resilience, government actors mediate our sense of the relationship between emergencies, on one hand, and climate change as an epochal condition, on the other. By distributing responsibility, resilience allows a wide catalogue of voices to influence common perceptions of this relationship and, consequently, evidences potential to integrate what Eve Kosofsky-Sedgwick calls reparative critique into climate consciousness by highlighting the ramifications climate-related emergencies have on specific communities because of environmental harms visited upon them over time and orienting future action towards attending to these harms. I make this argument through research into the US’ Environmental Protection Agency’s attempts to raise situational awareness of extreme heat risk. While seeking to mobilize people’s embodied knowledges in sensing imminent danger, these practices push concurrently for understanding, and acting upon, climate change vulnerability by its entanglement with violent processes that underpinned the modernization projects fundamental to American life now.

Endoscopic suturing for mucosal defect closure following endoscopic submucosal dissection: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background and study aims: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a minimally invasive and effective treatment for gastrointestinal lesions. It carries potential risks such as bleeding and perforation. This meta-analysis was conducted to assess the safety, effectiveness, and feasibility of endoscopic suturing, a promising technique for closing mucosal defects post-ESD. Methods: We reviewed several databases, including MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Embase up to May 1,2023. We aimed at identifying original studies that provided insightful data on the use of endoscopic suturing in reducing complications post-ESD. Results: In our study, we evaluated 426 publications and included 10 studies involving a total of 284 patients. The pooled technical success rate of endoscopic suturing was 92.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.88-0.96). The pooled rate for sustained closure of mucosal defects post-endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) was estimated to be 80.7% (95% CI 0.71-0.88). The pooled mean time required to perform the endoscopic suturing procedure was calculated to be 31.11 minutes (95% CI 16.01-46.21). Among the studies reviewed for the incidence of delayed perforation post-ESD, a singular event of perforation was documented, suggesting a minimal occurrence. The overall rate of delayed bleeding was 5.3% (95% CI 0.30-0.10). Within the subset of patients using antithrombotic drugs, our subgroup analysis identified a delayed bleeding event rate of 6.7% (95% CI 0.02-0.25). Conclusions: Our results underscore the potential of endoscopic suturing as a viable and efficient technique in managing mucosal defects following ESD, highlighting the need for further large, prospective research to corroborate these findings and concentrate on establishing standard methodologies.

Manifestations of exile and diaspora in the poetry of Abdullah al-Baradouni

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to shed light on the contemporary issue of exile and diaspora and their manifestations in the poetry of Abdullah al-Baradouni, a modern Yemeni poet. Within the postcolonial hermeneutics and postmodernist theory, exile in the poetry of al-Baradouni becomes a signifier indicating not only being expelled outside one’s homeland but experiencing the feelings of isolation, exile, and diaspora caused by hard conditions, power struggle, ideological heterodoxy, and identity loss. Al-Baradouni’s dialectics of exile revolves on the concept that exile is a human condition beyond physical boundaries. Thus, exile is no longer treated as a singular event, it rather becomes a heterogeneous and multifaceted phenomenon. He succeeds in depicting the impactful consequences of exile and diaspora through the employment of bizarre, macabre, and surrealistic images and techniques. Hence, this piece of research adopts surrealism as a theoretical framework in illuminating and investigating al-Baradouni’s poetic texts under study. In his poetry, al-Baradouni becomes the voice of the voiceless and embodies a collective national consciousness as he engages himself in poetic enterprises that demand intrepidity, determination, articulateness, genius, vision, and prophecy. His contribution to the literature of exile and diaspora is significant.

On the origin of life on earth.

The creation of the universe out of nothing (ex nihilo) is attributable to the eternal God. Would a direct divine intervention be needed for other singular events, such as the origin of life? Taking apart the human being, created to image and resemblance of God, we argue that current scientific knowledge allows us to rationally admit a continuity between the origins of the universe and the emergence of life on Earth. Although the irruption of living beings from inert matter is a leap or discontinuity in creation, a direct intervention of God would not be indispensable. The initial impulse of creation, with matter and energy in a space-time imbalance, could have triggered reactions between the different elements and a self-organization of metabolites, in accordance with natural physical-chemistry laws. This paradoxical increase of complexity ended with a transition from chemistry to biology. It happened when independence, metabolism, heritability, and life cycle took place in a protocellular unit. In this way, the emergence of life on earth could be part of an evolutionary dynamic of the timeless God's creative act.

Interannual ENSO diversity, transitions, and projected changes in observations and climate models

Abstract Diverse characteristics of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events challenge the traditional view of tropical coupled ocean-atmosphere systems. The probability of a transition from one type of event to another is influenced by multiple factors of which many are projected to change. Here we assess the likelihood of ENSO transitions in observations and climate models, including a distinction between events that peak in the Eastern Pacific (EP) and Central Pacific (CP). We find that the initial ENSO state influences the likelihood of certain transitions and that some transitions are not physically possible or stochastically likely. For example, transitions to CP events are more likely than EP events except from a neutral state. We also find that El Niños tend to occur as singular events compared to La Niñas. While consecutive El Niño and La Niña events of EP type are possible, opposing EP events do not occur in succession. We identify several transitions likely driven by internal dynamical processes including neutral conditions to El Niño, CP El Niño to another El Niño, EP El Niño to CP La Niña, CP La Niña to CP El Niño and La Niña, and EP La Niña to neutral and CP El Niño. Projections of future transitions show an increased probability of transitions to CP El Niño events while transitions to EP La Niña events become less frequent under a high-emissions scenario. Accordingly, transitions to these events become more and less likely, respectively. We also find changes in the likelihood of specific transitions in a warming world: consecutive CP El Niño events become more likely while EP El Niño events become less likely to transition into CP La Niña events. These changes are expected to occur as early as 2050 with some changes to be accelerated by the end of the 21st century.

The Meanings of Home: The Case of the Vinan Refugee Families and the 1923 Greek-Turkish Population Exchange

Abstract With drastic changes in borders and regimes in the post-World War I period, what meaning did home have for those on the ground? How can we understand different conceptualizations of “home” and “homeland”? The 1923 Greek-Turkish population exchange enshrined a notion of “unmixing” that rested on a presumed overlap between religion and ethnicity: Orthodox Christians in Anatolia would be deported to Greece and Greek Muslim nationals would be deported to Turkey. The reduction of identity left other communities that necessarily did not understand themselves as “Turks” or “Greeks” vulnerable to deportation. This article examines the case of an Albanian-speaking Muslim village in Greece, Vinan (Vineni), and the people from there who were deported to Turkey as part of the exchange process. This case illuminates the ways refugees navigated consulates and new national regimes in an attempt to return to their original village. New migration pathways and concepts of home and homeland were negotiated through the process with and for the refugees. This article takes the 1923 Greek-Turkish population exchange as an ongoing process of forging new migration pathways and conceptions of home, as opposed to understanding the 1923 Greek-Turkish population exchange as a singular event.

Organizing in the Folding of Time: Shaping organizational change trajectories at turning points

Organizational change research has shown how change processes in organizations connect sequentially to form a trajectory of change through time; however, research has yet to offer an understanding of how ongoing organizational change integrates more distant change processes across time to shape the organization’s long-term trajectory. To better understand the dynamics between ongoing change and the shaping of trajectories, we refer to change processes as turning points, arguing that turning points are immanent to – and formative of – trajectories. We define turning points in terms of their definitional, directional and curvilinear features, which we relate to the shaping of organizational change trajectories. Drawing on Deleuze’s concept of the fold and the distinction between actual and singular events, we theorize how actors connect past and future turning points of the trajectory as singular events into enacting the actual events of the current turning point. Inspired by Deleuze’s conception of the fold, we then develop a theoretical framework for the shaping of organizational change trajectories at turning points. This framework contributes to current change research by explaining how ongoing change processes give shape to trajectories of change that subsequently shape the ongoing process of change. It also contributes to the literature by proposing a more dynamic and central role of continuity in change. Finally, our use of Deleuze’s concept of the fold enables us to suggest how theorizing actors’ movement through time may extend current process views of time.

Reconstructing deep-sea oxygenation in the Western Alboran Sea Basin during Late Pleistocene-Holocene (last 37 kyrs): Insights from a multiproxy approach

A deep-sea sediment record from the Western Alboran Basin spanning the last 37 kyr has been analysed using a multiproxy approach, integrating sediment colour, magnetic susceptibility, elemental ratios, benthic foraminiferal assemblages and bioturbation, gaining new insights into Alboran Basin deep-sea environments and palaeoceanographic conditions since the Last Glacial Maximum. The combination of a diverse set of proxies made it possible to recognise the diagenetic signals and reconstruct new low-frequency events in the deep basin, recording the significant fluctuations in deep water oxygenation occurred during the studied period. From the studied data, short-term periodic low-oxygen events are recognised during Heinrich Stadials 2 and 3 (HS2 and HS3) and Greenland Interstadial GI8, showing important responses of the deep sea environments to climate climate change. Furthermore, the presence of a not previously well-defined Organic Rich Layer 2 (ORL 2) can be defined from the observations as a sequence of events transitioning between low oxygen (associated with humid conditions and Heinrich Events) and oxygenated conditions, and not as a singular low oxygenation event. In addition, the Organic Rich Layer 1 (ORL1), associated with the most recent low oxygen event has been also recognised in the record, with low oxygen conditions starting as early as 16 kyr before the present (BP) during the HS1 and spanning to 8 kyr BP with important fluctuations in environmental conditions and oxygenation. Several climate events that have been previously recognised in the Northern Hemisphere and the Mediterranean Basin can be linked to the observed changes in oxygen conditions during ORL1 deposition, for instance reoxygenation that occurred during the pre-ORL1, between the demise of Heinrich Event 1.1 (HE1.1) and the end of HS1 and the inception of the Bølling-Allerød (BA); the start of ORL1 deposition during BA with the onset of low oxygen conditions. Interestingly, the BA is punctuated by short duration reoxygenation events that can be recognised in the record and correlated to cold events observed in the North Atlantic records. In addition, there is a partial discontinuous reoxygenation during the Younger Dryas (YD), observed also in the Eastern Mediterranean and in other Mediterranean sites which was followed by the return to lower-oxygen conditions after the YD, coinciding with the start of S1 deposition. Finally, the final reoxygenation event occurs at around 8 kyr BP along with the demise of the ORL1.

Mathematical Structure of RelB Dynamics in the NF-κB Non-Canonical Pathway

This study analyzed the non-canonical NF-κB pathway, which controls functions distinct from those of the canonical pathway. Although oscillations of NF-κB have been observed in the non-canonical pathway, a detailed mechanism explaining the observed behavior remains elusive, owing to the different behaviors observed across cell types. This study demonstrated that oscillations cannot be produced by the experimentally observed pathway alone, thereby suggesting the existence of an unknown reaction pathway. Assuming this pathway, it became evident that the oscillatory structure of the non-canonical pathway was caused by stable periodic orbits. In addition, we demonstrated that altering the expression levels of specific proteins reproduced various behaviors. By fitting 14 parameters, excluding those measured in previous studies, this study successfully reproduce nuclear retention (saturation), oscillation, and singular events that had been experimentally confirmed. The analysis also provided a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of the RelB protein and suggested a potential inhibitory role for the unknown factor. These findings indicate that the unknown factor may be an isoform of IκB, contributing to the regulation of NF-κB signaling. Based on these models, we gained invaluable understanding of biological systems, paving the way for the development of new strategies to manipulate specific biological processes.

Differential reorganization of episodic and semantic memory systems in epilepsy-related mesiotemporal pathology.

Declarative memory encompasses episodic and semantic divisions. Episodic memory captures singular events with specific spatiotemporal relationships, while semantic memory houses context-independent knowledge. Behavioural and functional neuroimaging studies have revealed common and distinct neural substrates of both memory systems, implicating mesiotemporal lobe (MTL) regions such as the hippocampus and distributed neocortices. Here, we explored declarative memory system reorganization in patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) as a human disease model to test the impact of variable degrees of MTL pathology on memory function. Our cohort included 31 patients with TLE as well as 60 age and sex-matched healthy controls, and all participants underwent episodic and semantic retrieval tasks during a multimodal MRI session. The functional MRI tasks were closely matched in terms of stimuli and trial design. Capitalizing on non-linear connectome gradient mapping techniques, we derived task-based functional topographies during episodic and semantic memory states, both in the MTL and in neocortical networks. Comparing neocortical and hippocampal functional gradients between TLE patients and healthy controls, we observed a marked topographic reorganization of both neocortical and MTL systems during episodic memory states. Neocortical alterations were characterized by reduced functional differentiation in TLE across lateral temporal and midline parietal cortices in both hemispheres. In the MTL, on the other hand, patients presented with a more marked functional differentiation of posterior and anterior hippocampal segments ipsilateral to the seizure focus and pathological core, indicating perturbed intrahippocampal connectivity. Semantic memory reorganization was also found in bilateral lateral temporal and ipsilateral angular regions, while hippocampal functional topographies were unaffected. Leveraging MRI proxies of MTL pathology, we furthermore observed alterations in hippocampal microstructure and morphology that were associated with TLE-related functional reorganization during episodic memory. Moreover, correlation analysis and statistical mediation models revealed that these functional alterations contributed to behavioural deficits in episodic, but again not semantic memory in patients. Altogether, our findings suggest that semantic processes rely on distributed neocortical networks, while episodic processes are supported by a network involving both the hippocampus and neocortex. Alterations of such networks can provide a compact signature of state-dependent reorganization in conditions associated with MTL damage, such as TLE.

Political Judgment and Ingenium: Rethinking the Sensus Communis Through Arendt and Vico

ABSTRACT This paper elaborates on the role played in (political) judgment by ingenium – the human faculty operating connections between different world-objects through analogy and imagination. Using Arendt and Vico, the paper argues that the concept of ingenium offers important clues as to how we should understand the judgment of the singular, a key aspect of political thought. Between rational-discursive approaches – reducing singularity to its subsumption into general categories – and radically contextualist accounts, the notion of ingenium allows to conceptualize a political judgment both able to account for singular objects and events, and capable of operating context-transcending reflection. The argument proceeds in three steps. First, I show with Arendt how singular judgment relies on sensus communis, capturing singularity beyond rational categories. Second, I discuss the difficulty of accommodating sensus communis in post-Kantian terms, where it becomes tied solely to affective reactions, making judgment of the singular exclusively evaluative, while its identification is restricted to categorial cognition. Lastly, through Vico, I discuss how ingenium reframes the sensus communis. By operating through analogy and exemplarity ingenium enables a sensus communis that establishes not only evaluative connections, but also contributes to the constructive identification and description of worldly objects and events in their singularity.

Neurosurgical Management of Traumatic Brain Injury

The neurosurgical management of traumatic brain injury (TBI) plays a critical role in ensuring acute survival and mitigating secondary brain damage, which significantly impacts patients' quality of life. TBI is defined as an external force impacting the skull, leading to brain injuries and subsequent functional impairments. It is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity, particularly among young individuals. The initial clinical examination is crucial, with external signs like scalp injuries, hematomas, nasal fluid leakage, skull deformities, and neurological deficits providing important clues to injury patterns. Pupil examination is particularly critical, as mydriasis coupled with reduced consciousness may indicate an acute life-threatening increase in intracranial pressure (ICP), necessitating immediate neurosurgical intervention. TBI assessment often utilizes the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), classifying injuries as mild (GCS 13-15), moderate (GCS 9-12), or severe (GCS <9). Even mild TBI can lead to long-term complications. TBI should be viewed as a disease process rather than a singular event. Primary brain damage results from shearing forces on the parenchyma, manifesting as contusions, hematomas, or diffuse axonal injury. Secondary brain damage is driven by mechanisms such as inflammation and spreading depolarizations. Treatment aims not only to secure immediate survival but also to reduce secondary injuries, with ICP management being crucial. Neurosurgical interventions are guided by cranial pathologies, with options including ICP monitoring, burr hole trepanation, craniotomy. In severe TBI cases with refractory ICP elevation, decompressive craniectomy may be performed as a last resort, significantly reducing mortality but often resulting in high morbidity and vegetative states, necessitating careful consideration of indications.

Hauntings of Absence and Erasure: Black Archival Practices of Property Data

AbstractThis article analyses data at the intersection of digital geographies, critical data studies, and Black studies to bring clarity to relations, differences, and frictions between Black knowledge‐making and common data practices. I highlight artist Tonika Lewis Johnson's project, Inequity for Sale, and detail a genealogy of the data she uses in this project to illustrate how she situates these data within the afterlives of slavery. Drawing from Avery Gordon's theorisation of haunting and ideas towards absences and erasures in Black archival practice, I argue that absences in data can lead to narratives that focus on violence as a singular historical event that is isolated from a larger history of violence. I suggest that bringing a curiosity to these absences, rather than dismissing them or framing them as oversights, can help re‐situate data within a broader temporal‐relational context that brings a sense of Black humanity to the fore.

The Frame for the Not-Yet Existent: How American, European, and Soviet Scholars Jointly Shaped Modern Mathematical Economics

This article tells the story of the first international topological conference in Moscow (1935), an outstanding event that, for the first time, brought together the most notable American, European, and Soviet mathematicians, including those who would later play decisive roles in the mathematization of economics: John von Neumann, Leonid Kantorovich, and Albert W. Tucker. The fact that Kantorovich was in contact with von Neumann and his closest colleagues, Solomon Lefschetz and Garrett Birkhoff, is hardly appreciated in the histories of mathematics and mathematical economics. Their brief academic exchange was interrupted by the increasing international isolation of Soviet mathematics and by the wars that ensued. The article provides a historical account of the conference and traces the intellectual and personal affinities of Soviet and non-Soviet mathematicians, as well as their conceptual innovations. It argues that the conference, as a singular event linking several research communities, mattered for the development of various formal frameworks and their dissemination, contributing to the intellectual landscape in which postwar mathematical economics could emerge. The article calls for a deeper analysis of conceptual affinities and motivations in applying mathematics to economics and for a more nuanced narrative linking these motivations to social and political contexts of economic modeling.