bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
“I Beat Cancer to Feel Sick:” Qualitative Experiences of Sleep Disturbance in Black Breast Cancer Survivors and Recommendations for Culturally Targeted Sleep Interventions
Authors: Geiss Carley , Chavez Melody N , Oswald Laura B , Ketcher Dana , Reblin Maija , Bandera Elisa V , Savard Josée , Zhou Eric S , Fox Rina S , Jim Heather S L , Gonzalez Brian D
Published: June 2022

Background

Sleep disturbance is common and distressing among cancer survivors. Black breast cancer survivors (BBCS) suffer disproportionately from sleep disturbance, yet there is limited research on how to address this issue.

Purpose

This study aimed to understand the multifaceted experiences of sleep disturbance among BBCS and how to culturally target a mobile health (mHealth) intervention to improve sleep outcomes in BBCS.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted in a purposive sample of 10 BBCS. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded for key barriers to sleep and potential solutions to incorporate into behavioral interventions using NVivo 12. Inductive applied thematic analysis techniques were employed to identify emergent themes.

Results

Ten BBCS (mean age = 54, SD = 10) described their experiences of sleep disturbance with themes including: (1) barriers to quality sleep (e.g., cancer worry, personal responsibilities), (2) psychosocial impacts of sleep disturbance (e.g., fatigue, distress), and (3) commonly used strategies to improve sleep. The second section discusses suggestions for developing mHealth interventions to improve sleep for BBCS including: (1) feedback on an existing mHealth intervention and (2) intervention topics suggested by BBCS.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight the challenges associated with sleep disturbance in BBCS. Participants report culturally targeted mHealth interventions are needed for BBCS who experience chronic sleep disturbance that affects their overall quality of life. These interventions should address coping with sleep-related issues relevant to many breast cancer survivors and BBCS (e.g., sexual intimacy, fear of cancer recurrence) and should incorporate intervention strategies acceptable to BBCS (e.g., prayer, meditation).
Effectiveness of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA Vaccines Against Infection During an Outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Beta (B.1.351) Variant in a Skilled Nursing Facility: Virginia, March–April 2021
Authors: Moline Heidi L , Keaton Amelia , Rice Whitney , Varghese Jasmine , Deng Li , Waters Ansley , Barringer Anna , Winston Devonne , Fields Virgie , Slifka Kara Jacobs , Verani Jennifer R , Schrag Stephanie J , Jernigan John , Tate Jacqueline E , Fleming-Dutra Katherine E
Published: June 2022

In April 2021, we assessed mRNA vaccine effectiveness (VE) in the context of a COVID-19 outbreak in a skilled nursing facility. Among 28 cases, genomic sequencing was performed on 4 specimens on 4 different patients, and all were classified by sequence analysis as the Beta (B.1.351) variant. Adjusted VE among residents was 65% (95% confidence interval: 25–84%). These findings underscore the importance of vaccination for prevention of COVID-19 in skilled nursing facilities.
Development and validation of a molecular tool to predict pathologic complete response in esophageal adenocarcinoma
Authors: Qian David C , Lefferts Joel A , Zaki Bassem I , Brickley Elizabeth B , Jackson Christopher R , Andrici Juliana , Sriharan Aravindhan , Lisovsky Mikhail
Published: June 2022

Pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemoradiation for locally advanced esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) confers significantly improved survival. The ability to infer pCR may spare esophagectomy in some patients. Currently, there are no validated biomarkers of pCR. This study sought to evaluate whether a distinct signature of DNA copy number alterations (CNA) can be predictive of pCR in EAC. Pretreatment biopsies from 38 patients with locally advanced EAC (19 with pCR and 19 with pathologic partial/poor response) were assessed for CNA using OncoScan assay. A novel technique was employed where within every cytogenetic band, the quantity of bases gained by each sample was computed as the sum of gained genomic segment lengths weighted by the surplus copy number of each segment. A threefold cross-validation was used to assess association with pCR or pathologic partial/poor response. Forty patients with locally advanced EAC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) constituted an independent validation cohort. Gains in the chromosomal loci 14q11 and 17p11 were preferentially associated with pCR. Average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for predicting pCR was 0.80 among the threefold cross-validation test sets. Using 0.3 megabases as the cutoff that optimizes trade-off between sensitivity (63%) and specificity (89%) in the discovery cohort, similar prediction performance for clinical and radiographic response was demonstrated in the validation cohort from TCGA (sensitivity 61%, specificity 82%). Copy number gains in the 14q11 and 17p11 loci may be useful for prediction of pCR, and, potentially, personalization of esophagectomy in EAC.
Robotic versus thoraco-laparoscopic minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy, a matched-pair single-center cohort analysis
Authors: Chouliaras Konstantinos , Attwood Kristopher , Brady Maureen , Takahashi Hideo , Peng June S , Yendamuri Sai , Demmy Todd L , Hochwald Steven N , Kukar Moshim
Published: June 2022

Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) is becoming more widespread with a documented improvement in postoperative morbidity based on level I evidence. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the optimal MIE approach, conventional thoracoscopy/laparoscopy vs robotics as well as the ideal anastomotic technique. All patients who underwent MIE via an Ivor Lewis approach with a side-to-side stapled anastomosis were included. The thoracoscopy-laparoscopy (TL) group was compared to the robotic group with respect to perioperative outcomes using the entire cohorts and after 1:1 propensity score matching. Comparisons were made using the Mann–Whitney U and Fisher’s exact tests. Between July 2013 and November 2020, 72 TL and 67 robotic Ivor Lewis MIE were performed. After comparing the two unadjusted cohorts and 51 propensity matched pairs, there was a decrease in Clavien-Dindo Grade 2 or above complications in the robotic vs TL group (59.7% vs 41.8% [P = 0.042], (62.7% vs 39.2% [P = 0.029]), respectively. In both analyses, there was a reduction in hospital length of stay (median of 8 vs 7 days, P < 0.001) and a trend toward less anastomotic leaks in the robotic group (Unadjusted: 12.5 vs 3% [P = 0.057], Propensity-matched analysis: 13.7% vs 3.9% [P = 0.16]), respectively. A clinically significant decrease in overall morbidity, cardiac complications and hospital length of stay was observed in the robotic Ivor Lewis cohort when compared with the TL group at a high volume MIE program. Side-to-side stapled thoracic anastomoses utilizing a robotic platform provides the best outcomes in this single institution experience.
Moth-eaten like impact of automated titanium fasteners on aortic valve bioprosthesis: a word of caution
Authors: Santer David , Miazza Jules , Eckstein Friedrich
Published: June 2022

A 78-year-old patient underwent his third biological aortic valve replacement (25 mm, Inspiris Resilia™, Edwards Lifesciences LLC, Irvine, CA, USA) with COR-KNOT® (LSI Solutions, Victor, NY, USA) due to valve degeneration in 2018 at a foreign hospital. In 2021, the patient was diagnosed with severe aortic regurgitation and admitted to our hospital for his fourth surgery. Intraoperatively, a total of 7 perforations in all 3 valve leaflets have been observed, which were obviously induced by the rigid metallic fasteners. Redo isolated aortic valve replacement (29 mm, Perimount Magna Ease, Edwards Lifesciences LLC) was performed with conventionally knotted, pledget enforced braided threads. Postoperative course was uneventful. This report shows that COR-KNOT-induced defects do not appear immediately after surgery but within the first 4 postoperative months. Since failure of aortic bioprostheses due to aortic insufficiency is often rated as ‘early degeneration’ and degenerated aortic bioprostheses are mostly replaced by valve-in-valve strategy, the true incidence of this serious complication might be underestimated. COR-KNOT should be used with caution in biological aortic valve replacement and patients should undergo close postoperative follow-ups.
Estimating decay curves of neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 infection
Authors: Poehler Elliot , Gibson Liam , Lustig Audrey , Moreland Nicole J , McGregor Reuben , James Alex
Published: June 2022

Estimating the longevity of an individual’s immune response to the SARS-Cov-2 virus is vital for future planning, particularly of vaccine requirements. Neutralizing antibodies (Nabs) are increasingly being recognized as a correlate of protection and while there are many studies that follow the response of a cohort of people, each study alone is not enough to predict the long-term response. Studies use different assays to measure Nabs, making them hard to combine. We present a modelling method that can combine multiple datasets and can be updated as more detailed data becomes available. Combining data from seven published datasets we predict that the NAb decay has two phases, an initial fast but short-lived decay period followed by a longer term and slower decay period.
Analysis of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network 702 Phase 2b–3 HIV-1 Vaccine Trial in South Africa Assessing RV144 Antibody and T-Cell Correlates of HIV-1 Acquisition Risk
Authors: Moodie Zoe , Dintwe One , Sawant Sheetal , Grove Doug , Huang Yunda , Janes Holly , Heptinstall Jack , Omar Faatima Laher , Cohen Kristen , De Rosa Stephen C , Zhang Lu , Yates Nicole L , Sarzotti-Kelsoe Marcella , Seaton Kelly E , Laher Fatima , Bekker Linda Gail , Malahleha Mookho , Innes Craig , Kassim Sheetal , Naicker Nivashnee , Govender Vaneshree , Sebe Modulakgotla , Singh Nishanta , Kotze Philip , Lazarus Erica , Nchabeleng Maphoshane , Ward Amy M , Brumskine William , Dubula Thozama , Randhawa April K , Grunenberg Nicole , Hural John , Kee Jia Jin , Benkeser David , Jin Yutong , Carpp Lindsay N , Allen Mary , D’Souza Patricia , Tartaglia James , DiazGranados Carlos A , Koutsoukos Marguerite , Gilbert Peter B , Kublin James G , Corey Lawrence , Andersen-Nissen Erica , Gray Glenda E , Tomaras Georgia D , McElrath M Juliana
Published: June 2022

Background

The ALVAC/gp120 + MF59 vaccines in the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) 702 efficacy trial did not prevent human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) acquisition. Vaccine-matched immunological endpoints that were correlates of HIV-1 acquisition risk in RV144 were measured in HVTN 702 and evaluated as correlates of HIV-1 acquisition.

Methods

Among 1893 HVTN 702 female vaccinees, 60 HIV-1–seropositive cases and 60 matched seronegative noncases were sampled. HIV-specific CD4+ T-cell and binding antibody responses were measured 2 weeks after fourth and fifth immunizations. Cox proportional hazards models assessed prespecified responses as predictors of HIV-1 acquisition.

Results

The HVTN 702 Env-specific CD4+ T-cell response rate was significantly higher than in RV144 (63% vs 40%, P = .03) with significantly lower IgG binding antibody response rate and magnitude to 1086.C V1V2 (67% vs 100%, P < .001; Pmag < .001). Although no significant univariate associations were observed between any T-cell or binding antibody response and HIV-1 acquisition, significant interactions were observed (multiplicity-adjusted P ≤.03). Among vaccinees with high IgG A244 V1V2 binding antibody responses, vaccine-matched CD4+ T-cell endpoints associated with decreased HIV-1 acquisition (estimated hazard ratios = 0.40–0.49 per 1-SD increase in CD4+ T-cell endpoint).

Conclusions

HVTN 702 and RV144 had distinct immunogenicity profiles. However, both identified significant correlations (univariate or interaction) for IgG V1V2 and polyfunctional CD4+ T cells with HIV-1 acquisition.

Clinical Trials Registration . NCT02968849.
HIV Treatment Outcomes in POP-UP: Drop-in HIV Primary Care Model for People Experiencing Homelessness
Authors: Hickey Matthew D , Imbert Elizabeth , Appa Ayesha , Del Rosario Jan Bing , Lynch Elizabeth , Friend John , Avila Rodrigo , Clemenzi-Allen Angelo , Riley Elise D , Gandhi Monica , Havlir Diane V
Published: June 2022

Background

People with HIV experiencing homelessness have low rates of viral suppression, driven by sociostructural barriers and traditional care system limitations. Informed by the capability-opportunity-motivation-behavior (COM-B) model and patient preference research, we developed POP-UP, an integrated drop-in (nonappointment-based) HIV clinic with wrap-around services for persons with housing instability and viral nonsuppression in San Francisco.

Methods

We report HIV viral suppression (VS; <200 copies/mL), care engagement, and mortality at 12 months postenrollment. We used logistic regression to determine participant characteristics associated with VS.

Results

We enrolled 112 patients with viral nonsuppression and housing instability: 52% experiencing street-homelessness, 100% with a substance use disorder, and 70% with mental health diagnoses. At 12 months postenrollment, 70% had ≥1 visit each 4-month period, although 59% had a 90-day care gap; 44% had VS, 24% had viral nonsuppression, 23% missing, and 9% died (6 overdose, 2 AIDS-associated, 2 other). No baseline characteristics were associated with VS.

Conclusions

The POP-UP low-barrier HIV care model successfully reached and retained some of our clinic’s highest-risk patients. It was associated with VS improvement from 0% at baseline to 44% at 12 months among people with housing instability. Care gaps and high mortality from overdose remain major challenges to achieving optimal HIV treatment outcomes in this population.
NIRS3 spectral analysis of the artificial Omusubi-Kororin crater on Ryugu
Authors: Galiano A , Palomba E , Dirri F , Longobardo A , Kitazato K , Iwata T , Matsuoka M , Hiroi T , Takir D , Nakamura T , Abe M , Ohtake M , Matsuura S , Watanabe S , Yoshikawa M , Saiki T , Tanaka S , Okada T , Yamamoto Y , Takei Y , Shirai K , Hirata N , Matsumoto K , Tsuda Y
Published: June 2022

The JAXA Hayabusa2 mission accomplished the formation of an artificial crater on the asteroid Ryugu. The aim of this work is to analyse the area surrounding the artificial crater and reveal spectral variability compared to the same region before the crater formation, to mineralogically and physically characterize the subsurface exposed material. The crater’s investigation focused on the analysis of two regions corresponding to the inner part of crater (the pit and the crater wall/floor), two areas related to ejecta deposited close to the crater, two areas of ejecta moved far from the crater, and two external areas. Each area was investigated both before and after the crater formation, by the study of the photometrically corrected spectral parameters: the 1.9 $\mu$m reflectance, the near-infrared spectral slope, and the depth of the bands at 2.7 and 2.8 $\mu$m. The subsurface material of the post-crater areas shows deeper absorption bands, a decrease in reflectance, and a reddening in spectral slope with respect to the surface material of pre-crater areas. The subsurface regolith could have experienced a lower OH devolatilization due to space weathering and/or could be composed of finer dark grains than the surface layer. The ejecta reached distances of $\sim $20 m from the impact point, mainly moving in the northern direction; nevertheless, a few ejecta also reached the south-eastern part of crater.
Superresolution trends in the ALMA Taurus survey: structured inner discs and compact discs
Authors: Jennings Jeff , Tazzari Marco , Clarke Cathie J , Booth Richard A , Rosotti Giovanni P
Published: June 2022

The 1.33-mm survey of protoplanetary discs in the Taurus molecular cloud found annular gaps and rings to be common in extended sources (≳ 55au), when their 1D visibility distributions were fit parametrically. We first demonstrate the advantages and limitations of non-parametric visibility fits for data at the survey’s 0.12-arcsec resolution. Then we use the non-parametric model in Frankenstein (frank) to identify new substructure in three compact and seven extended sources. Among the new features, we identify three trends: a higher occurrence rate of substructure in the survey’s compact discs than previously seen, underresolved (potentially azimuthally asymmetric) substructure in the innermost disc of extended sources, and a ‘shoulder’ on the trailing edge of a ring in discs with strong depletion at small radii. Noting the shoulder morphology is present in multiple discs observed at higher resolution, we postulate it is tracing a common physical mechanism. We further demonstrate how a superresolution frank brightness profile is useful in motivating an accurate parametric model, using the highly structured source DL Tau in which frank finds two new rings. Finally, we show that sparse (u, v) plane sampling may be masking the presence of substructure in several additional compact survey sources.
A large range of haziness conditions in hot-Jupiter atmospheres
Authors: Arfaux Anthony , Lavvas Panayotis
Published: June 2022

We present a study of photochemical hazes of exoplanet atmospheres based on a self-consistent model including haze microphysics, disequilibrium chemistry, and radiative feedbacks. We derive the haze properties required to match Hubble Space Telescope observations of 10 hot-Jupiters. HAT-P-12b, HD-189733b, HD-209458b, and WASP-6b require haze mass fluxes between 5 × 10−15 and 9 × 10−12 g cm−2 s−1 to match the observations. WASP-12b and WASP-19b with equilibrium temperatures above 2000 K are incompatible with the presence of haze and are better fitted by heavy metals. HAT-P-1b and WASP-31b do not show clear evidence for the presence of hazes with upper mass fluxes of 10−15 and 10−16 g cm−2 s−1, respectively, while WASP-17b and WASP-39b present an upper mass flux limit of 10−16 g cm−2 s−1. We discuss the implications of the self-consistent model and we derive upper limits for the haze abundances based on photochemistry results. Our results suggest HCN as the main haze precursor up to 1300 K effective temperatures and CO above. Our derived haze mass fluxes based on the fit to the observations are consistent with the photochemistry with formation yields up to ∼6.4 per cent. Disequilibrium chemistry has negligible impact on the spectra considering the low-resolution observations used but impacts the chemical composition and temperature profiles. We find that hazes produce hotter upper atmosphere temperatures with a detectable impact on the spectra. Clouds may have implications for interpreting the transit spectra of HD-209458b, WASP-31b, and WASP-39b. Nevertheless, the presence of silicate and iron clouds is expected in all studied atmospheres except WASP-12b and WASP-19b.
Bias on tensor-to-scalar ratio inference with estimated covariance matrices
Authors: Beck Dominic , Cukierman Ari , Wu W L Kimmy
Published: June 2022

We investigate simulation-based bandpower covariance matrices commonly used in cosmological parameter inferences such as the estimation of the tensor-to-scalar ratio r. We find that upper limits on r can be biased low by tens of per cent. The underestimation of the upper limit is most severe when the number of simulation realizations is similar to the number of observables. Convergence of the covariance-matrix estimation can require a number of simulations an order of magnitude larger than the number of observables, which could mean $\mathcal {O}(10\ 000)$ simulations. This is found to be caused by an additional scatter in the posterior probability of r due to Monte Carlo noise in the estimated bandpower covariance matrix, in particular, by spurious non-zero off-diagonal elements. We show that matrix conditioning can be a viable mitigation strategy in the case that legitimate covariance assumptions can be made.
Early pregnancy human decidua gamma/delta T cells exhibit tissue resident and specific functional characteristics
Authors: Yang Shuo , Feng Ting , Ma ChengYong , Wang Tiehao , Chen Hongqin , Li Liman , Liu Yuan , Zhou Bin , Zhou Rong , Li Hong
Published: June 2022

A successful pregnancy is a complicated process that builds upon two aspects of the maternal immune system that need to be balanced. As one of the indispensable groups of immune cell at the maternal–fetal interface, the decidual gamma/delta (γδ) T cells have attracted research attention in normal pregnancy and miscarriage. However, the role of γδ T cells in fetal growth remains poorly understood. Here, we found that the γδ T-cell population resident in decidua during early pregnancy was enriched and secreted growth factors including growth differentiation factor 15 and bone morphogenetic protein 1. A diminution in such growth factors may impair fetal development and result in fetal growth restriction. We also observed that early decidual γδ T cells exhibited stronger cytokine-secretion characteristics, but that their cytotoxic actions against A549 cells were weaker, compared with γδ T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In addition, the functional abilities of early decidual γδ T cells in promoting trophoblast cell proliferation, migration, invasion and tube formation were also significantly more robust than in γδ T cells of PBMCs. These findings highlight the importance of γδ T cells in fetal growth and maternal immunotolerance during pregnancy and show that they differ from γδ T cells in PBMCs. We thus recommend additional investigation in this research area to further elucidate a role for γδ T cells in pregnancy.
Competition in Psychology and Experimental Economics
Authors: Haran Uriel , Bereby-Meyer Yoella
Published: June 2022

Competition is a fundamental phenomenon in human behavior and a key topic of interest for psychologists and economists alike. Both psychology and economics strive to better understand behavior in competitive environments, but they differ in their research objectives, theoretical perspectives, and empirical methods. Economics typically adopts a normative approach, assuming that agents make rational decisions that balance the tradeoff between the costs of competing and the benefits associated with winning. Economists view competition as a class of incentive structures and investigate the effects of comparative reward schemes on behavior and performance. Psychology adopts a more descriptive approach. Psychologists are interested in the cognitive, affective, and motivational processes that affect decision making. They examine the interpersonal effects of competition and compare them with other social situations. In this chapter, the authors review selected literature on competition in experimental economics and psychology, exploring two common research areas. One is rank-order, effort-based tournaments, by which experimental economists study the effects of various incentive structures on effort and performance, whereas social psychologists examine processes of social comparison. The second is common value auctions and the winner’s curse. The authors discuss how research in economics and psychology examine the winner’s curse, explanations for the phenomenon, and recommendations to overcome it. Finally, the authors outline possible directions for mutual enrichment for scholars interested in competition. Psychologists can benefit from the precise definitions present in economic experiments, whereas economists can use the insights on the underlying processes of competitive attitudes and behavior offered by research in psychology.
W. E. B. Du Bois and Pan-Africanism
Authors: Magubane Zine
Published: June 2022

This chapter explores how, over the course of his lifetime, Du Bois conceptualized the relationship between people born and raised in Africa and people of African descent born and raised in the diaspora. The chapter traces the evolution of his thought from a concern with earning a place for people of African descent among the community of “civilized men” to a radical rejection of capitalism and elitism. Ultimately, it argues that as Du Bois developed stronger links with worker-led, anticolonialist, and socialist thinkers based in Africa he reassessed his views on the nature of “race” as a category of analysis and practice.
Disclosing the Problem of Empire in Du Bois’s International Thought
Authors: Getachew Adom , Pitts Jennifer
Published: June 2022

Du Bois’s understanding of the modern world order as founded on the linked phenomena of racial hierarchy, imperial domination, and capitalist exploitation constituted a radical challenge to the dominant conception of an international community of free and equal sovereign nations. He maintained that the rise of democracy in Europe and America had been parasitic on imperialism, with domestic structures, and politics, inextricable from their global context. Anticipating later theories of neocolonialism, he argued that racialized, formerly colonized states were not independent sovereigns responsible for their own fates but instead were subjected to novel forms of quasi-imperial economic and political domination. And, while warily engaging with the League of Nations and the United Nations as vehicles of reform, he pursued alternative internationalisms that endowed nonstate actors with voice and representation. He sought, in short, to overturn the democratic despotism of the prevailing order, replacing it with a truly universal “world democracy.”
W. E. B. Du Bois and the Origins of Visual Sociology
Authors: Rusert Britt
Published: June 2022

In 1900, W. E. B. Du Bois and his students at Atlanta University prepared a revolutionary exhibition of data visualizations for the Paris Exposition. Building from foundational scholarship that has illuminated Du Bois’s relationship to visual culture, this essay seeks to specifically situate Du Bois at the beginnings of what scholars now call visual sociology, the use of images as forms of data for sociological analysis, as well as the study of visual objects from a sociological perspective. Expanding our definition and periodization of visual sociology to include archives like the Du Bois infographics not only brings important prehistories into view but also places Black subjects—and Black epistemologies—at the very origins of the field. The infographics also illuminate important forms of exchange and influence between Du Bois and feminist geographers of the American settlement movement at the turn of the century. More broadly, the essay seeks to trace a genealogy of Du Boisian influence on Black visual culture from the turn of the twentieth century to the present day.
Protestant Spaces in North America
Authors: Bains David R.
Published: June 2022

North American Protestants have employed a variety of religious spaces. Buildings designed for worship are the most distinctive, but they have also appropriated homes, schools, businesses, cities, suburbs, camps, parks, museums, theme parks, and wildernesses. The many roles of space in orienting Protestants to God and God’s kingdom can be understood by considering how space functions in four fundamental activities: encountering God, enacting Christian community, forming Christians, and redeeming the world. Understanding Protestants’ spatial practices thus entails examining, not only church architecture, but also how other spaces are incorporated into Protestant ritual. With their focus on faith and scripture, Protestants have often been resistant to locative approaches that identify certain places as sacred, preferring instead utopian approaches that affirm God is not bound to space but can be accessed in most places. They have sought to unite the religious and secular by investing all spaces with religious meaning.
Planetary Identities
Authors: Bauman Whitney A.
Published: June 2022

Identity and place co-construct each other. If we think of places in terms of national boundaries, our identities become more nationalistic. If we think of our identities as primarily national or religious, or even as human, we construct places based on those ideas. The history of colonialism is rife with ways in which bodies get ordered based on gendered and raced notions of religion and nation. Globalization and climate change have removed the thin veneer of stability around places and identities to reveal that in fact our identities are always and already mixed up with those of “others,” historically and in the present, and that our places are always intersected by global flows of energy, materials, and information. There is no isolation, and there are no discreet identities or places. This chapter explores what this shift in thinking might mean for the development of planetary identities where we are all hybrids, and human beings are just one type of creature among many others within a planetary community.
Decommissioning and Reuse of Liturgical Architectures
Authors: Longhi Andrea
Published: June 2022

The matter of the decommissioning and transformation of underused Christian places of worship is not a recent or contingent issue but, rather, a constitutive historical element of Christian architecture. This chapter highlights certain theoretical issues discussed in the actual architectural research and offers reflections on the phenomenon of the decommissioning and reuse of churches in Europe, mainly from the Catholic point of view. The disciplinary perspective is that of architectural history, a field of investigation that has always dealt with transformations and the adaptive reuse of cultural heritage in relation to social and political dynamics. The study of current transformations, and the design of future ones, can only be founded on research about interpretation of the historic processes and social and ecclesial tensions that are indelibly stratified within every place of worship.
Spaces of Roman Religion and Christianity in Late Antiquity
Authors: Chevallier Caseau Béatrice
Published: June 2022

This chapter deals with the way religions impacted space during late antiquity, whether urban space, the architectural space of religious buildings, or domestic space. The period is rich in cult places and spaces used for religious rituals that correspond to a variety of religions, cults, and magical practices. Although a great deal of the scholarship in this area has focused on the changes in the religious landscape that occurred during late antiquity, from the closing and destruction of temples to the building of new synagogues, churches, and, eventually, mosques, one should not overlook the importance of rituals in the home, family cults at the tombs, or gatherings of ritual associations.
Protestant Architecture in Latin America
Authors: Vidal Rojas Rodrigo
Published: June 2022

This chapter argues that to understand Latin American Protestant architecture, which is diverse and complex, one must understand the changes and perceptions of the economic, social, cultural, and religious contexts in which it was born and has developed. It traces chronologically the ways in which this architecture has been tied to Protestant communities’ understanding of changing social, political, and economic contests throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, drawing on a theoretical understanding of architecture as functioning semiotically to signify specific meanings related to cultural contexts and, in a resignification process occurring over time, to resignify new meanings as those contexts change.
Diasporic Sacred Spaces
Authors: Xavier Merin Shobhana
Published: June 2022

This chapter centers on the shrine (mazar) of M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (d. 1986) located in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Gleaning theoretically from David Chidester and Edward T. Linenthal’s framing of sacred space in America as political, cultural, and entangled, it draws attention to the contested rituals and practices at the shrine of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen as a form of boundary-making among its polyvalent users and shrine keepers, which include diverse American Sufi members of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship and newly arriving Muslim diasporic pilgrims. The aim of the analysis is to invite scholars and students of religions to consider the ways in which an examination of a Sufi space in America can provide productive insights into claims of legitimate Sufi praxis among American and immigrant Sufis through the enactment of ritual practices and boundary-making at a sacred space. It showcases how a focused exploration of this particular Sufi shrine in Pennsylvania reveals the deep roots of Sufism and Islam in the broader spatial milieu of American religions and spirituality, one that calls for a more intentional and robust inclusion of non-Protestant White Christian religious traditions and voices in the narratives of American religions.
Situating the Dead
Authors: Maddrell Avril , Mathijssen Brenda
Published: June 2022

This chapter explores the coproduction of space and religion through analysis of the material, symbolic, and relational characteristics of graves and cemeteries. Both space and religion are multifaceted: lived, relational, dynamic, performative, and processual. Cemeteries, deemed “sacred,” in formal or wider senses in many societies, embody mortal remains, provide a focal point for commemoration, symbolize continuing relationships with the deceased and any beliefs about the afterlife. Studying cemeteries through a spatial lens offers insights into contemporary lived religion and changes over time. Drawing on case studies, the chapter demonstrates the ways in which cemeteries offer significant insights into the situated spatialities and wider geographies of religions, beliefs, and rituals. Varied grave-iconography and texts, and the spatial organization of cemeteries reflect geographies of belonging, including migratory and diasporic networks and the varied ways in which different religions are lived, expressed, and contested in a particular locality and time.
Shared Space, or Mixed?
Authors: Hayden Robert M.
Published: June 2022

Spaces attended by members of different religious communities are presented by some scholars as models of tolerance and understanding, but by others as inherently conflictual. This chapter argues that such sites should be analyzed as places of mixing rather than sharing because multiple case studies show that worshipers see each other as adhering to different religions and engage in different practices accordingly. Further, mixed sites that are peaceful at one historical moment may have had violent interactions before or might have them afterward. The chapter describes the practices of separateness at mixed sites and the sequential changes in those indicating that one community is dominant. The conclusion is that mixed sites may be both shared and contested, depending on when one looks at them.
Urbanism and Religious Space
Authors: Tremlett Paul-François
Published: June 2022

This chapter introduces “urbanism” and its key theoretical inflections and emphases. The chapter explores the principal resonances of urbanism with the study of religions and the study of religious spaces particularly in relation to the secularization thesis, the emergence of new entrepreneurial religious formations, and the lived religions thesis. Charting the implication of urbanism in modern and postmodern epistemological frames, the chapter also explores the entanglement of competing theories of urban space and experience with questions of religious and social change, and how they might be mobilized to enable critical reflection about the role of religions in contemporary urban life.
Fundament and Abyss
Authors: Lê David
Published: June 2022

Although contemporary public memorials and monuments are built by secular states, they function as religious spaces: they forge social memory and solidarity and offer orientation in time and space and through the dimensions of social value. The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin thematizes and purports to oppose these religious functions. Yet, as this chapter argues, the memorial concretizes a form of public religion that hinges on the normative authority of the individual, or “critical visitor,” in meaning-making, delegating to them interpretive labor. The memorial thus reproduces social memory and affects, precisely as it appears to abstain from dictating the norms of public religion. The “critical visitor” constructs the memorial’s meaning even as she or he is bound to its hierarchy of meanings. The memorial therefore provides a window into the dynamics of public religion and memorialization in pluralistic, secular democracies that produce unrecognized forms of religiosity, even as they conscientiously avoid the symbols of recognizable religions.
Conceptualizing Space and Place
Authors: Campo Juan E.
Published: June 2022

This chapter traces the conceptual genealogies of religious space and place in the modern study of religion. It describes the spatial turn in the field inaugurated by Mircea Eliade and the Chicago History of Religions School, which provoked a revisionist trend, led by Jonathan Z. Smith. Although this turn relied upon the appropriation of ancient and indigenous constructions of spatial significance, its dialectical relationship between scholarly and native epistemologies of space countered earlier colonial discourses that displaced spatial ways of thought and action in favor of temporal ones. A parallel spatial turn in the social sciences and humanities led by Lefebvre, Harvey, Foucault and others—also a critical reaction to this displacement—emphasized modern and postmodern spacialities, but largely neglected religious ones. Nevertheless, it inspired the revitalization of the study of religious space by a new generation of scholars, leading to a second turn in the field of religious studies.
Mapping the Spiritual Baptist Universe
Authors: Thornton Brendan Jamal
Published: June 2022

This chapter considers cosmography to be an especially productive but for the most part unexplored site of critical inquiry into Afro-Caribbean and Black Atlantic religiosity. Drawing on comprehensive ethnographic research with Spiritual Baptist Christians in Trinidad and Tobago, it calls attention to the dimensions of spatiality that orient Afro-Creole cosmologies and inform their ritual logics. By mapping the Spiritual Baptist universe and the sacred geography of Spirit that enlivens it, the chapter shows how complex theological concepts are reified by the faithful—how they take shape through practical substantiations—thereby highlighting the spatial dynamics underlying Spiritual Baptist epistemologies and the novel representational practices central to meaning-making in the church.
Whose Place Is It? Layers of Community and Meaning in the Land of Shinto and Power Spots
Authors: Carter Caleb
Published: June 2022

Power spots are a contemporary phenomenon in Japan that identifies certain places with spiritual energies. The concept of power spots arose in global New Age movements before reaching Japan in the mid-1980s. Its near assimilation with Shinto in the twenty-first century has disrupted institutional views in Japan that the shrine is the exclusive site of Shinto—an idea only fully articulated in the modern era. These intersecting representations of sacred space reveal the fragility of a Shinto orthodoxy that seeks to delimit the symbolic parameters of the shrine. Representing an alternative definition, power spots exemplify how tensions emerge when a religious place is shared by multiple groups and vested interests operating on local, national, and global scales.
Queer and Trans Leadership in Music Therapy
Authors: Baldwin Gray , Forinash Michele
Published: June 2022

Queer and trans music therapists have served as leaders in music therapy associations in the United States regionally and nationally for many decades, yet their experiences and stories have never been documented. They have played key roles in the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), American Association of Music Therapy (AAMT), and National Association of Music Therapy (NAMT), assisting with the daily function of the organization, creation and maintenance of key documents, and advancing cultural responsiveness. This research details the experiences of 10 diverse queer and trans music therapists who have served in these associations. Findings included in the results were: (i) disclosure, (ii) experiences of bias, (iii) queer and trans leadership, (iv) the future of music therapy and the role of queer and trans leadership, and (v) newly recognised expertise.
Jewish Underground Culture in the Soviet Union
Authors: Smola Klavdia
Published: June 2022

This chapter examines the phenomenon of the Jewish underground art and literature within a broader social and communicative context of late Soviet unofficial culture. It traces back artifacts originating in the refuseniks’ movement to the everyday practices of that movement’s protagonists. Because Jewish unofficial artistic activities and circles often came about because of communication within the highly heterogeneous underground scene, they also absorbed various non-Jewish cultural traditions and diverse cultural influences. Their limited access to Jewish sources, as well as the high degree of Soviet Jews’ assimilation was responsible for the indirect and eclectic nature of this Jewish rediscovery of tradition. The chapter also discusses how the battle for the return to Israel led to the emergence of new topographical concepts in so-called exodus literature. The attractive utopia of Israel reflected ex negativo the eschatological temporality of the Soviet empire and its phantasms of paradise on earth.
The Jewish-Latin American Novel
Authors: Lockhart Darrell B.
Published: June 2022

This chapter traces the development of the Jewish-Latin American novel, primarily throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Structured as a survey of the Jewish novel, the essay provides a history of the contribution of Jewish authors to the larger body of the narrative genre in Latin America. “Jewish novel” is loosely defined as texts not only written by Jewish authors, but also novels in which Jews, Jewishness, and Judaism are central to the theme. Novels are categorized thematically in groupings such as the novel of immigration and assimilation, the historical novel, novels of the Holocaust, the Sephardic novel, family narratives, the gay/lesbian/queer novel, and the auto/biographical novel. Countries represented in the essay include Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Mexico. The chapter provides an assessment of the important role Jewish novelists have played, not only in their respective national literatures, but also in the Latin American continent as a whole, as pertains to the narrative genre of the novel.
The Asian-Latin American Novel
Authors: López-Calvo Ignacio
Published: June 2022

The increasing cultural production by Latin American and the Caribbean authors of Chinese and Japanese ancestry in recent decades reflects the emergence of two diasporic, minority discourses that are redefining national cultures by making them more transnational and by calling into question the white-indigenous and white-black dichotomies of the discourses of mestizaje and mulataje, respectively. These novels typically narrativize the transition from a sojourner, insular mentality to a progressive cultural integration into mainstream society, all the while celebrating cross-cultural hybridization and condemning anti-Asian racism. The chapter opens with a survey of the Japanese Brazilian novel (the largest production) and the Japanese Peruvian novel (the second largest), but also addresses a few novels published by Nikkei in Argentina and Chile. Moving on to the Chinese-Latin American novel, López-Calvo surveys the main novels by Chinese Peruvian and Chinese Panamanian authors (the latter do not typically address Chinese issues), as well as the oeuvre by the Chinese Costa Rican author Otto Apui Sirias (1949–).
The Testimonial Novel and Autofiction
Authors: Esparza Cecilia
Published: June 2022

Starting after the second half of the twentieth century, narrative forms known as “autobiographical writing” (Molloy 1991) or “writing of the I” (Giordano 2008) occupy a central position in Latin American literature. This chapter first studies the testimonial novel, which arises in the 1960s with the political intention of denouncing the violence and historical experiences of discrimination faced by traditional communities. In addition to studying the most influential of these texts, it analyzes the critical and theoretical discussion about this genre. The second part is dedicated to the study of autofiction, as a strategy or authorial figuration, beginning with those narratives that are close to the autobiographical novel and the literature of memory, and concluding with those characterized by metafictional play.
Jane Addams and Epistemic Agency in Contemporary Social Work
Authors: Muurinen Heidi , Kääriäinen Aino
Published: June 2022

This chapter discusses Addams’s views on knowledge and how they resonate with evidence-informed and theory-informed social work today. Addams and her colleagues adopted the pragmatist method in experimenting and observing the consequences. Besides experiential and sympathetic knowledge, they also applied multidisciplinary knowledge. The chapter illustrates through a social workers’ group intervention model how Addams’s perspectives on knowledge application have contemporary applicability in social work. In the three analyzed groups, the social workers consciously applied the pragmatist method. The participants experienced this supported them to make their interpretations more explicit or to find new ways to operate in clinical work. This can be described as strengthening their personal epistemic agency. At the same time, the shared discussions and active listening within the group enabled epistemic agency at a collective level. To achieve this, having the group as an organizational structure was significant. Epistemic agency is a metacognitive skill that is at the core of the pragmatist method and is a characteristic of a research-minded practitioner. For contemporary social work, Addams’s thoughts on the scientific mindset, the pragmatist attitude, and using multidisciplinary research could provide insights to obtain a wider understanding of evidence-informed and theory-informed social work as a process.
Present Moment Awareness
Authors: Herbert Matthew S. , Afari Niloofar
Published: June 2022

Present moment awareness (PMA) is one of six interrelated processes that facilitate psychological flexibility within acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). The process of PMA (1) brings deliberate attention to inner experiences such as thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations in the service of building psychological flexibility, and (2) increases the opportunity to come in contact with valued outer experiences. Thus, PMA can be considered a foundational process upon which other ACT processes rest, making it difficult to clearly distinguish PMA from the other ACT processes and study the unique impact of PMA in ACT interventions. This challenge is further complicated by inadequate measurement tools for PMA or mindfulness. The growing literature on the potential neurophysiological mechanisms of mindfulness in general suggests that this is a worthy area of study within ACT. Future studies should examine the potential benefits of formal mindfulness meditation practice in the context of ACT and capitalize on ecological momentary assessment and other technology to measure and support PMA and other ACT processes in real-world and real-time settings.