bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Queering Ethnicity and Shattering the Disco
Authors: Blaney Darren
Published: February 2014

Exploring the ontological politics of disco, this chapter historically explains the use of improvised social dancing in the formation of an alternative ethnicity among gay men and lesbians. The chapter argues that improvised social dancing (and disco in particular) has helped create a shared sense of culture for gay people that mimics ethnogenesis, insofar as disco offered an oppressed group a shared sense of belonging, communality, and identity. Like traditional ethnic dances, disco (and its progeny—techno, house, trance, tribal, etc.) perpetuates not only aesthetics, but also belief structures, linguistic/behavioral patterns, and social relations by providing a space wherein queer interpersonal and social bonds have been created and sustained. In turn, these bonds have contributed to the construction of lines of descent and inheritance, as well as shared ideas about common ancestry and history that parallel ethnic configurations of kinship.
The Spectacularization of Soviet/Russian Folk Dance
Authors: Shay Anthony
Published: February 2014

In the early 20th century, folk dance had been used to show symbolic support for several nation states by transporting masses of peasants to major urban centers to perform in festival settings. Igor Moiseyev, a well-known dancer and choreographer with the Boshoi Ballet, was appointed by the government of the former USSR in 1936 to found a professional dance ensemble, to be named the State Ensemble of Folk Dance of the Peoples of the USSR, but called the Moiseyev Dance Company in the West. Following state directives, he prominently featured the dances of the Russian ethnic majority in his repertoire. In this essay Shay suggests that, in fact, Moiseyev spectacularized folk dance by creating choreographies with spectacular movements in what was essentially an invented tradition based on classical ballet rather than using authentic folk dances.
From Powwow to Stomp Dance
Authors: Conlon Paula J.
Published: February 2014

Oklahoma is home to 67 American Indian tribes, each of which has its own cultural heritage. The result is a wealth of parallel traditions, from powwows deriving from Plains warrior societies to stomp dances of Woodland tribes that were forcibly removed to Indian Territory (present Oklahoma) in the 19th century. Song and dance around the powwow drum contrast sharply with the stomp dance tradition, where all-night singing and dancing around a sacred fire, accompanied by the percussion of the female dancers wearing turtle or can rattles strapped around their lower legs, form the backbone of the Green Corn religion. This chapter will compare and contrast the powwow and the stomp dance in their historical cultural contexts as symbols of Native identity, and examine how these parallel dance traditions continue to reinforce a sense of ethnic pride for Native American communities in Oklahoma.
Men and the Happiness Dance
Authors: Sellers-Young Barbara
Published: February 2014

The solo improvisational forms of North Africa and the Middle East, most often referred to as belly dance, have played a definitive role in the global social imaginary of masculine and feminine identity. This essay looks at the life of three male dancers, Mahmoud Reda, John Compton, and Tito Seif, and the position they have played in their social and historical contexts in Egypt and the United States.
Perception, Connections, and Performed Identities in American-Ghanaian Dance Encounters
Authors: Fisher Jennifer
Published: February 2014

This essay explores what dancers from different cultures can learn through exchanges when they involve concepts of nationalism, performed identities, spiritual practice, and the categories of “art” dance and “cultural” dance. A brief but impactful trip to Ghana by California university dance students and academics provides several scenes where energies, techniques, and ideas emerge. Studying with members the Ghana Dance Ensemble, one of the country’s national dance companies, as well as interacting with the dance department of the University of Ghana, Legon, results in enjoying and questioning embodied knowledge, as well as casting light on several questions: Do Ghanaians have the same freedom to be defined as “artists,” or might they be marginalized as “ancient” rather than “contemporary” people? What can young American university dancers learn about commitment to performance quality and the feeling of having deep roots in tradition? How can each group expand on the habit human beings have of categorizing others as having a “single story,” and how does dance figure in the process?
The Jarabe Tapatío
Authors: Mendoza-Garcia Gabriela
Published: February 2014

This work focuses on how Mexico’s early twentieth-century educational system promoted the teaching and performance of the Jarabe Tapatío, which is considered to be the national dance of Mexico, in order to culturally unify the country. It argues that in 1920s Mexico, the Jarabe Tapatío worked alongside educational policies designed to assimilate the indigenous and peasant communities, reinforce class status, and encourage nationalistic sentiment. Drawing on archival research and interviews conducted by the author, this work traces the history of the Jarabe Tapatío to demonstrate how it has been re-invented to imagine the Mexican nation. It then delves into early twentieth-century perspectives of nation, competing ideas of nation, avenues of negotiation, and the cultural nationalist movement as propelled by Secretary of Education, José Vasconcelos, to better understand the underlying governmental philosophies behind the promotion of the Jarabe Tapatío within the public school system. This work analyzes three 1920s performances of this dance showing how renditions of the Jarabe Tapatío within public- school systems crossed social class and racial lines. Furthermore, it analyzes the way in which dance as well as the teaching and performance of the Jarabe Tapatío within the Cultural Missions in 1920s Mexico functioned to image the nation as a homogenous population of mestizos. Finally, throughout her writings, the author introduces the life story of Alura Flores de Angeles, the “Godmother of Mexican Dance,” to demonstrate how folkloric dance was codified, collected, and disseminated within the 1920s Mexican educational system.
Asian Immigration
Authors: Hsu Madeline
Published: February 2014

Global patterns of labor markets, trade, international relations, and war have contributed to the complicated heterogeneity of Asian American populations and history. Although often coded as “model minorities,” ethnic Asians are characterized by vast disparities in homeland, cultural and religious practices, migration trajectories, educational and professional attainment, degrees of integration, and transnational formations.
Emancipation and Exploitation in Immigrant Women’s Lives
Authors: Gabaccia Donna R.
Published: February 2014

Because the United States celebrates itself as a beacon of liberty, emancipation is one of the most common themes in the history of immigrant women and the exploitation of women, as workers or as wives, tends to be traced to the patriarchy of foreign communities or immigrant men rather than to unequal American gender relations. At least since the colonial era, opportunities for immigrant women from Europe to expand their own sense of personal autonomy and agency have surpassed opportunities for immigrant women from Asia, Latin America, Africa, or the Caribbean. Gender inequality for immigrant women is less the result of confrontations between differing immigrant and American forms of patriarchy and more the product of gendered forms of American racism.
Intermarriage and the Creation of a New American
Authors: Varzally Allison
Published: February 2014

Intermarriage remains a uniquely revealing site for exploring questions about immigration and the creation of American cultures and racial hierarchies in the past and present. At every stage of U.S. History, practices of and policies regulating intermarriage have helped define belonging and distribute political and economic privileges. Although historians have sometimes interpreted persistent and lasting intermarriages between particular ethno-racial groups as a harbinger of more amiable ethno-racial relations and evidence of assimilation, they have also noted that such marriages can reinforce gender and racial inequalities. Scholars will continue to enhance the field by studying intermarriages that crossed and transcended national borders, defied the assumption of heterosexuality, and tested the salience of ethnicity among new immigrants from Latin America and Asia.
Immigration and Ethnic Diversity in the South, 1980–2010
Authors: Odem Mary E.
Published: February 2014

In the last decades of the twentieth century, the U.S. South became a major new immigrant destination. Largely bypassed by immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Southeast is now home to millions of people from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. A region historically defined by a black/white racial divide has become a multi-ethnic, multiracial society over the course of just two decades. This essay examines key issues and debates in the growing body of scholarship on new immigration to the South, with a focus on Latin American and Asian immigration. Central themes include: the emergence of the Southeast as a magnet for immigrants; economic incorporation and the transformation of southern workplaces; changing racial/ethnic relations; patterns of settlement in the suburban South; racial formation of immigrants in the post-Civil Rights era.
Historians and Sociologists Debate Transnationalism
Authors: Kivisto Peter
Published: February 2014

This article examines the role played by the idea of transnationalism in immigrant studies during the past quarter of a century. It does so by first reviewing its developmental phase, which was influenced by a postnational perspective that contended that the salience of the nation-state was declining and by an epistemological critique of methodological nationalism. This is followed by an overview of the main claims of the critics, followed by subsequent revisions, which include a rethinking of the relationship between transnationalism and assimilation and a consideration of assertions that what is at stake is actually bi-localism or translocalism, rather than connections made at the national level. The article concludes by revising slightly Waldinger’s contention that nations remain powerful agents in determining who gets to cross borders and which individuals will be permitted to become citizens via a process of “political resocialization.”
Social Security
Authors: DeWitt Larry , Berkowitz Edward D.
Published: February 2014

This chapter considers the history of Social Security, arguing that the 1950 amendments represented the fundamental adjustment that allowed the program’s long-term survival. It analyzes current issues in Social Security related to gender, race, and the program’s long-term solvency. It concludes that Social Security has legitimized the receipt of government benefits among many Americans and changed the nature of old age in the United States by providing older people with a guaranteed means of support. A large and costly program, Social Security has evolved into the United States’ major antipoverty program. Nonetheless it faces the criticism of those who argue that it favors older people over other age groups and that it represents an inefficient form of government coercion. Whether the program will be sustained in the future or modified in a significant way remains a critical question.
Social Programs for Soldiers and Veterans
Authors: Kleykamp Meredith , Hipes Crosby
Published: February 2014

Regardless of whether they are characterized as compensation or entitlements, the scope of military benefits is more expansive than many assume, and far more generous than most other private or public sector employment benefits packages or public sector entitlements. The essay that follows reviews the historical contours of military and veterans’ benefits. It discusses the major programs for both current and former military members through the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and program requirements. The near universality of this integrated web of institutional supports for military populations stands in stark contrast to the fragmented, conditional nature of the civilian welfare state. Two key features of the military benefit system are emphasized: the camouflaged nature of these generous benefits as part of the American welfare state and inequality in access to these benefit programs. The chapter concludes by discussing the coming challenges to the military welfare system, including the ability to maintain generous health care and pensions for military retirees and the challenge of caring for a generation of wartime veterans, more of whom have survived catastrophic injuries requiring a lifetime of care than in previous generations.
Public Housing and Vouchers
Authors: Schwartz Alex
Published: February 2014

Public housing and rental vouchers constitute two distinct forms of housing subsidy in the United States. Public housing, the nation’s oldest housing program for low-income renters provides affordable housing to about 1.2 million households in developments ranging in size from a single unit to multibuilding complexes with hundreds of apartments. The Housing Choice Voucher Program, founded more than 35 years after the start of public housing is now the nation’s largest rental subsidy program. It enables around 2 million low-income households to rent privately owned housing anywhere in the country. Although both programs provide low-income households with “deep” subsidies that ensure they spend no more than 30 percent of their adjusted income on rent, and both are operated by local public housing authorities, they offer distinct advantages and disadvantages. This chapter reviews and compares the two programs, examining their design, evolution, and strengths and weaknesses, including issues of racial segregation and concentrated poverty.
The U.S. Welfare State Since 1970
Authors: Waddan Alex
Published: February 2014

From the New Deal era through the Great Society the U.S. welfare state underwent a period of expansion, but from the mid-1970s onward the ideas underpinning welfare-state growth came under attack from conservative commentators and political actors. In addition, the assumption that the resources were available to finance further expansion of the state’s social welfare role was challenged. This essay looks at what happened to foster this mood of doubt about the benefits of the welfare state. In addition it asks whether there was significant retrenchment of welfare-state programs. The essay argues that the story is a mixed one. Some welfare programs were scaled back but others survived and were even incrementally expanded. If, however, one function of the welfare state is to reduce the inequality that arises from market outcomes, then U.S. social policy performed that task with diminishing effectiveness in the decades after 1970.
The Progressive Era
Authors: Robertson David Brian
Published: February 2014

During the Progressive Era (from the 1890s and to the 1920s), American social reformers invented ways to overcome Constitutional constraints on national action, the limited abilities of state governments, the separation of government powers, and patronage-based political parties. These reformers built new public agencies and reform networks, used grants-in-aid to engage state action, pressed for uniform laws across the states, and urged a leadership role for elected executives. But Constitutional restrictions (as exemplified by the failed campaign against child labor) and trade unions’ refusal to support some reforms (such as health and unemployment insurance) sank important social-policy campaigns. Progressive reformers were most successful in securing maternalist social policy that limited women’s work hours and those of widows with children. The Progressive Era left a legacy of strikingly uneven social provision and stark racial and gender divisions.
Medicare
Authors: Oberlander Jonathan
Published: February 2014

Medicare is America’s federal health insurance program for the elderly and younger adults with permanent disabilities. It provides a crucial safety net, assuring access to medical care for nearly 50 million persons. As the baby boomers retire, Medicare’s enrollment will swell in coming decades, and the rising costs of medical care will also push up program spending. Medicare is the subject of intense partisan and ideological conflict over how to change the program to cope with these challenges. It is also ensnared in broader debates over the welfare state and healthcare reform. This chapter traces Medicare’s historical development, explains how the program works, explores the politics of Medicare reform and discusses possible futures for a program that is a foundation of American social policy.
Long-Term Care for the Elderly
Authors: Meyer Madonna Harrington , Hausauer Jessica
Published: February 2014

Despite the growing need for long-term care, the United States does not have a coherent set of long-term care policies. The existing patchwork of programs and services can be difficult for patients and their families to understand and fails to adequately support many of those in need of care. This chapter traces the historical background of long-term care policy and assesses the three formal channels through which individuals currently navigate long-term care. It addresses the strengths and weaknesses of long-term care coverage briefly through Medicare and private long-term care insurance, and much more fully through Medicaid. The chapter concludes by focusing on families, particularly women, who continue to provide extensive care through informal care work. It is the most vulnerable older and disabled Americans, particularly those who are women, black and Hispanic, and single, and their families who face the greatest difficulties under the current system and who will be most affected by future policy changes.
Citizenship
Authors: Mettler Suzanne , Walker Alexis
Published: February 2014

Besides its impact on poverty, inequality, and economic security, social policy also bears crucial significance for the meaning and quality of citizenship in a political community. Historical research on American political development has revealed that ideas about citizenship played a central role in the development of social policy. Throughout U.S. history, policy makers have often justified social policies on the basis that they would develop Americans' civic capacity and inculcate participatory norms. In addition, U.S. social policy has shaped citizens' experiences of government and their political participation and attitudes. Established social policies have influenced citizens' ability to practice their political rights, the extent of solidarity or division in society, and people's inclination to engage in civic life. In sum, American civil and political rights cannot be fully understood apart from their interaction with social rights and provision. This essay offers an introduction to thinking about the relationship between citizenship and social policy. It considers the place of social policy in different theoretical understandings of citizenship in social science research. It explores the mechanisms through which social policies can influence citizenship, tracing their impact on: membership, identity, and belonging; political attitudes; and political participation and other forms of civic involvement. Finally, it considers the contemporary relationship between social policy and citizenship and offer directions for future research on this relationship.
Race and Ethnicity in U.S. Social Policy
Authors: Lieberman Robert
Published: February 2014

The racial character of American society has shaped social policy-making in the United States and structured the American welfare state. At the same time, the structure of American social policy has affected the welfare state’s capacity to incorporate members of different racial and ethnic groups, shaping their access to social citizenship and their opportunities for full inclusion in (or isolation from) the American political economy. This dynamic relationship has increasingly been at the center of work on American social policy, and much recent research explores important new issues that reflect both the changing reality of race in American politics and society and trends in political science, particularly regarding the changing definition of “race” in American politics and society, the new contours of inequality in American life, and the urban crisis of the late twentieth century and its impact on broader transformations of American politics.
Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income
Authors: Erkulwater Jennifer
Published: February 2014

This chapter examines the political development of the nation’s two largest income support programs for people with disabilities, Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Although the creation of cash benefits for disabled workers was controversial, once established, disability benefits expanded steadily. Today DI and SSI cover a wide array of disabilities and provide support to children and adults, some of who have worked little, if at all. Yet despite dramatic program growth, disabilities still create great economic hardship. Moreover, despite the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act and a variety of work incentives, employment levels among the disabled are low, and DI and SSI face major challenges transitioning beneficiaries into paid employment and preparing disabled children for financial self-sufficiency in adulthood.
A novel mechanism of cochlear excitation during simultaneous stimulation and pressure relief through the round window
Authors: Weddell Thomas D. , Yarin Yury M. , Drexl Markus , Russell Ian J. , Elliott Stephen J. , Lukashkin Andrei N.
Published: February 2014

The round window (RW) membrane provides pressure relief when the cochlea is excited by sound. Here, we report measurements of cochlear function from guinea pigs when the cochlea was stimulated at acoustic frequencies by movements of a miniature magnet which partially occluded the RW. Maximum cochlear sensitivity, corresponding to subnanometre magnet displacements at neural thresholds, was observed for frequencies around 20 kHz, which is similar to that for acoustic stimulation. Neural response latencies to acoustic and RW stimulation were similar and taken to indicate that both means of stimulation resulted in the generation of conventional travelling waves along the cochlear partition. It was concluded that the relatively high impedance of the ossicles, as seen from the cochlea, enabled the region of the RW not occluded by the magnet, to act as a pressure shunt during RW stimulation. We propose that travelling waves, similar to those owing to acoustic far-field pressure changes, are driven by a jet-like, near-field component of a complex pressure field, which is generated by the magnetically vibrated RW. Outcomes of research described here are theoretical and practical design principles for the development of new types of hearing aids, which use near-field, RW excitation of the cochlea.
Annual reversible plasticity of feeding structures: cyclical changes of jaw allometry in a sea urchin
Authors: Ebert Thomas A. , Hernández José Carlos , Clemente Sabrina
Published: February 2014

A wide variety of organisms show morphologically plastic responses to environmental stressors but in general these changes are not reversible. Though less common, reversible morphological structures are shown by a range of species in response to changes in predators, competitors or food. Theoretical analysis indicates that reversible plasticity increases fitness if organisms are long-lived relative to the frequency of changes in the stressor and morphological changes are rapid. Many sea urchin species show differences in the sizes of jaws (demi-pyramids) of the feeding apparatus, Aristotle's lantern, relative to overall body size, and these differences have been correlated with available food. The question addressed here is whether reversible changes of relative jaw size occur in the field as available food changes with season. Monthly samples of the North American Pacific coast sea urchinStrongylocentrotus purpuratuswere collected from Gregory Point on the Oregon (USA) coast and showed an annual cycle of relative jaw size together with a linear trend from 2007 to 2009.Strongylocentrotus purpuratusis a long-lived species and under field conditions individuals experience multiple episodes of changes in food resources both seasonally and from year to year. Their rapid and reversible jaw plasticity fits well with theoretical expectations.
Ecological opportunities and intraspecific competition alter trophic niche specialization in an opportunistic stream predator
Authors: Evangelista Charlotte , Boiche Anatole , Lecerf Antoine , Cucherousset Julien
Published: February 2014

Many generalist populations are composed of specialized individuals that use a narrow part of the population's niche. Ecological theories predict that individual specialization and population trophic niche are determined by biotic interactions and resource diversity emerging from environmental variations (i.e. ecological opportunities). However, due to the paucity of empirical and experimental demonstrations, the genuine importance of each of these drivers in determining trophic niche attributes is not fully appreciated.

The present study aimed at determining the population level and individual responses of brown trout (Salmo trutta) to variations in ecological opportunities (terrestrial prey inputs) and autochthonous prey communities among 10 stream reaches along a riparian condition gradient using individual longitudinal monitoring and stable isotope analyses.

Our results suggested that trophic niche diversity varied along the environmental gradient, while individual trophic specialization was indirectly driven by ecological opportunities through strengthened intraspecific competition. Individual diet was repeatable over the study period, and the growth rate of juvenile brown trout increased with their specialization for aquatic predatory invertebrates.

Our findings highlight the dual influences of intraspecific competition and ecological opportunities on individual trophic specialization and population trophic niche.
Prevent, search or destroy? A partially observable model for invasive species management
Authors: Rout Tracy M. , Moore Joslin L. , McCarthy Michael A.
Published: February 2014

The extensive impact of invasive species has motivated a growing field of research combining ecological and economic models to find cost‐effective management strategies. Ecological systems are rarely perfectly observable, meaning decision‐makers are usually uncertain about the current extent of an infestation and even whether an invasive species is present or absent. We show how to account for this uncertainty when providing decision support for invasive species management.

We constructed the first partially observable model to analyse the trade‐off between all three facets of invasive species management: quarantine, surveillance and control. We use a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) to determine how to allocate resources between these actions when the extent of an invasion is uncertain. We use a case study of potential black rat Rattus rattus invasion on Barrow Island, Western Australia.

Our model shows it is often better to manage based on an uncertain belief in species presence than to spend money trying to confirm the presence or absence through surveillance. While it was never optimal to invest solely in surveillance to reduce uncertainty, it was often optimal to combine surveillance with quarantine or control. These mixed strategies, where multiple actions are implemented simultaneously, were more often optimal than for similar decision models where the extent of the infestation is known, suggesting an element of risk spreading.

Optimal investments in each action were driven by their estimated efficacy, and the difference in the estimated impact of a localized and widespread invasion. For example, in our case study, it was often optimal to invest solely in control due to the low estimated efficacy of quarantine and the relatively small impact of a localized incursion.

Synthesis and applications. Our analysis shows that the cost of reducing uncertainty through surveillance is not always accompanied by an improvement in management outcomes. By carefully analysing the benefits of surveillance prior to implementation of invasive species management strategies, managers can avoid wasting resources and improve management outcomes.
Clinical research priorities in emergency medicine: Results of a consensus meeting and development of a weighting method for assessment of clinical research priorities
Authors: Thom Ogilvie , Keijzers Gerben , Davies Suzanne , McD Taylor David , Knott Jonathan , Middleton Paul M
Published: February 2014

Introduction

There is limited evidence regarding clinical research priorities in emergency medicine outside of some special interest groups. The ACEM Clinical Trials Group undertook a consensus meeting with the aim of developing a reproducible weighting matrix for assessing clinical research priorities.

Methods

A session at the ACEM annual scientific meeting was dedicated to this meeting. Results from a survey of the ACEM researcher database were presented, along with a proposed weighting matrix. After discussion and adjustment, consensus was achieved on the matrix.

Results

It was agreed that the following criteria be used in the matrix: research category and sub‐category priority ranking from the ACEM researcher database survey, frequency of presentation of potentially eligible participants, the level of pre‐existing evidence regarding the proposed research question and the likely clinical impact of the research. Each criterion was given a weighting, with clinical impact given the heaviest weighting. The weighting matrix was subsequently applied to the list of research questions that resulted from the researcher database survey and a list of research priorities determined.

Conclusion

The weighting matrix allows reproducible comparison of research questions. The resultant list of research priorities will act as a guide for the ACEM Clinical Trials Group in determining future projects.
Conflict and Conflict Management in Innovation Processes in the Life Sciences
Authors: Schulze Anna Dorothea , Stade Melanie Janina Christine , Netzel Janine
Published: February 2014

Research on social conflicts in innovation processes has been rare, leaving an important research gap, as conflicts often arise in innovation processes and are even part of a researcher's everyday life. This study examines innovation and the variables of innovation success in the life sciences; it tests a conflict management model and examines the impact of both conflict type and conflict management style on innovation performance. This study surveyed 152 basic and applied researchers on their conflict management style through a multi‐method approach incorporating both survey and qualitative methods. The substantive aspects and relational effectiveness of conflict management styles were compared, considering their number of publications and patents, problem solution quality, project newness, conflict de‐escalation and communication. Applied researchers showed significantly more domination than did basic researchers, and a dominating conflict management style was significantly related to project newness. Moreover, problem solving was not always the most successful conflict management style. These findings have important practical implications for conflict management training and can help managers and researchers strengthen their co‐operation and improve productivity.
Chinese Consensus Statement on the Evaluation and Intervention of Collateral Circulation for Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Liu Li‐Ping , Xu An‐Ding , Wong Lawrence K.S. , Wang David Z. , Wang Yong‐Jun ,   Expert consensus group of the evaluation & intervention of collateral circulation for ischemic stroke
Published: February 2014

Background

Collateral circulation is becoming more significant in the individual management strategy of ischemic stroke, there are more data updated recently.

Aim

To make the further acknowledgment of the evaluation and how to improving collateral flow, for better treatment selection.

Method

A panel of experts on stroke providing related statement based on review the results from most up‐to‐date clinical research.

Results

DSA is the gold standard in evaluating all levels of collaterals. CTA can be used for evaluating leptomeningeal collaterals, MRA for CoW, TCD or TCCS can be used as screening tool for primary evaluation. The treatment modalities include direct interventions, such as Extracranial–Intracranial bypass, and indirect interventions, as External counterpulsation and pressor therapy. The consideration of methodology to augment and improve can be considered on an individual basis.

Discussion

In this consensus, we interpret the definition, neuroimaging evaluation, intervention and potential strategy on collaterals in the future.

Conclusion

Assessment of collateral circulation is crucial for selecting therapeutic options, predicting infarction volume and making prognosis after ischemic stroke. Data is still needed to provide therapeutic evidence for many new developed technologies. Until more evidence is available, the clinical significance of applying the new technologies is unclear and perhaps limited.
Can a first‐order exponential decay model fit heart rate recovery after resistance exercise?
Authors: Bartels‐Ferreira Rhenan , de Sousa Élder D. , Trevizani Gabriela A. , Silva Lilian P. , Nakamura Fábio Y. , Forjaz Cláudia L. M. , Lima Jorge Roberto P. , Peçanha Tiago
Published: February 2014

The time‐constant of postexercise heart rate recovery (HRRτ) obtained by fitting heart rate decay curve by a first‐order exponential fitting has being used to assess cardiac autonomic recovery after endurance exercise. The feasibility of this model was not tested after resistance exercise (RE). The aim of this study was to test the goodness of fit of the first‐order exponential decay model to fit heart rate recovery (HRR) after RE. Ten healthy subjects participated in the study. The experimental sessions occurred in two separated days and consisted of performance of 1 set of 10 repetitions at 50% or 80% of the load achieved on the one‐repetition maximum test [low‐intensity (LI) and high‐intensity (HI) sessions, respectively]. Heart rate (HR) was continuously registered before and during exercise and also for 10 min of recovery. A monoexponential equation was used to fit the HRR curve during the postexercise period using different time windows (i.e. 30, 60, 90, … 600 s). For each time window, (i) HRRτ was calculated and (ii) variation of HR explained by the model (R2 goodness of fit index) was assessed. The HRRτ showed stabilization from 360 and 420 s on LI and HI, respectively. Acceptable R2 values were observed from the 360 s on LI (R2 > 0·65) and at all tested time windows on HI (R2 > 0·75). In conclusion, this study showed that using a minimum length of monitoring (~420 s) HRR after RE can be adequately modelled by a first‐order exponential fitting.
Activation of α1‐adrenoceptors enhances excitatory synaptic transmission via a pre‐ and postsynaptic protein kinase C‐dependent mechanism in the medial prefrontal cortex of rats
Authors: Luo Fei , Tang Hua , Li Bao‐ming , Li Si‐hai
Published: February 2014

The physiological effects of α1‐adrenoceptors (α1‐ARs) have been examined in many brain regions. However, little is known about the mechanism of modulation on synaptic transmission by α1‐ARs in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The present study investigated how α1‐AR activation regulates glutamatergic synaptic transmission in layer V/VI pyramidal cells of the rat mPFC. We found that the α1‐AR agonist phenylephrine (Phe) induced a significant enhancement of the amplitude and frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs). The facilitation effect of Phe on the frequency of mEPSCs involved a presynaptic protein kinase C‐dependent pathway. Phe produced a significant enhancement on the amplitude of α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPA‐R)‐ and N‐methyl‐d‐aspartic acid receptor (NMDA‐R)‐mediated evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents (eEPSCs). Phe enhanced inward currents evoked by puff application of glutamate or NMDA. The Phe‐induced facilitation of AMPA‐R‐ and NMDA‐R‐mediated eEPSCs required, in part, postsynaptic Gq, phospholipase C and PKC. These findings suggest that α1‐AR activation facilitates excitatory synaptic transmission in mPFC pyramidal cells via both pre‐ and post‐synaptic PKC‐dependent mechanisms.
DRAWING THE VEIL OF SOVEREIGNTY: EARLY MODERN ISLAMIC EMPIRES AND UNDERSTANDING SACRED KINGSHIP
Authors: Strathern Alan
Published: February 2014

This article considers A. Azfar Moin, The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam, in the light of theories of sacred kingship and religious change. Although Muslim kingship has tended to be presented as an essentially secular institution, Moin is able to show how deeply divine images and understandings shaped kingship in both the Safavid and Mughal empires, which were bound together by mutual influence and competition. The divine matrix of kingship was facilitated by the influence of preeminent Sufism, Mongol universalism, millenarian technologies and dreams, and Persian tradition. The article suggests that the methodological approach adopted here, resembling l'histoire des mentalités, shows how our analyses of sacred kingship can be obscured by a focus on canonical and prescriptive texts. Taking up the theme of transgression, it compares Moin's work with recent anthropological reflections on the symbolism of the stranger‐king. The article also uses Moin's work to indicate the problems with the critical dismissal of “legitimacy” as an indispensable (though insufficient) analytical tool. The subject matter is further placed within an overarching conceptualization of global religious diversity based on the tension between transcendentalist vs. immanentist impulses. In that light the reassertion of “transcendentalist” religiosity in the guise of an orthodox push‐back against the enchanted cultural world re‐imagined by Moin only appears in greater need of explanation. Avenues of comparative reflection are also opened up with Christian monarchy, which was both less profoundly “immanentized” in the early modern era and less successful at exporting itself in areas outside of imperial influence. The article concludes by considering the implications for theories of a global early modernity, and a comparison with Andre Wink's quite different characterization of Akbar as a secular‐minded rationalist.
WRITING, BOOKS, AND AFRICA
Authors: Jeppie Shamil
Published: February 2014

Among most historians of Africa, and others in the humanities concerned with Africa, it has been almost axiomatic that writing and reading arrived in Africa and spread with the coming of European colonialism, especially through the agency of Christian missionaries. Although missionaries did indeed establish schools and introduce various kinds of literacy, there is a much longer history of the book in various parts of the continent. This essay looks at some of the recent work that focuses on the use of the Arabic script in Africa. Although the field of “Islam in Africa” has framed this work, it is necessary to see the uses of this literacy within the frame of the history of the book and related fields. The works discussed are rich in content and analysis and provide the opening for new initiatives on the content of the literacy and the methods of teaching and reading, but also the materiality of the book and the formation of the archive.
INTERPRETATION AND EXPLANATION IN CULTURAL SOCIOLOGY
Authors: Goldman Harvey
Published: February 2014

Continuing debates over the role of interpretation in history and social science have recently been linked to a program to develop a cultural sociology, as distinct from a sociology of culture. Apart from a defense of the importance of culture and meaning, this effort aims to develop a form of “interpretive explanation,” though not simply by following Max Weber's similar project from nearly one hundred years ago. The book under review looks at different “epistemic modes” that aim to produce social knowledge, in order to show how interpretive explanation can combine the best of all the modes. Unfortunately, the book is beset by numerous theoretical problems, including a problematical understanding of the relations of fact and theory, hasty criticisms of examples of the different modes, and a reliance on metaphors that makes it impossible to do justice to the issues. The project of what I would call a “thick explanation” is worthwhile, but will have to be pursued in a more nuanced and careful way.
Effects of soy protein hydrolysates on the growth and fermentation performances of brewer's yeast
Authors: Zhao Haifeng , Wan Chunyan , Zhao Mouming , Lei Hongjie , Mo Fen
Published: February 2014

Soy protein isolate was hydrolysed with Alcalase, Papain, Flavorzyme and Protemax, respectively, and further fractioned by ultrafiltration. The resulting soy protein hydrolysates (SPH) and their ultrafiltration fractions were used to examine their effects on the growth and fermentation performances of brewer's yeast. Results showed that degree of hydrolysis, molecular weight distribution and amino acid composition of SPH significantly affected the growth, viability and fermentation performance of brewer's yeast. The SPH prepared from different proteolytic enzymes exhibited distinct growth‐ and fermentation‐promoting activity for brewer's yeast. The SPH treated with Protemax for 9 h and with the molecular weight below 3 kDa showed the highest growth‐promoting activity and induced more rapidly reducing sugar consumption and higher ethanol production. The relatively lower molecular weight and the hydrophilic and electropositive amino acid residues (Lys, His, Arg and Ile) in SPH might be responsible for its functionality, promoting the growth and fermentation of brewer's yeast.
Ropivacaine 0.25% compared with bupivacaine 0.25% by the caudal route
Authors: DA CONCEICAO M.J. , COELHO L. , KHALIL M.
Published: February 2014

We compared in a randomized double‐blind study, the postoperative analgesia and degree of motor block produced by the new local anaesthetic ropivacaine, with bupivacaine, for caudal anaesthesia in children. Eighty children, 2–5‐years‐old, ASA I, received one of two local anaesthetics; either ropivacaine 0·25% (1.0 ml·kg−1) or bupivacaine 0·25% (1.0 ml·kg−1). They were sedated with a continuous infusion of propofol (200 μg·kg−1 min−1). The lungs were ventilated with a mixture of 50% nitrous oxide with oxygen. 60 min after local anaesthetic injection, and every 60 min, the extent of the motor block in the recovery room was scored as 1–3, according to a modified Bromage scale. Adverse events and the time to the first analgesic requirement were reported. Patients in the two groups did not differ with respect to age, weight and height. There were no differences in heart rate and arterial pressure between the two groups(P>0.05). No adverse events were observed. The ropivacaine group showed a shorter duration of motor block than the bupivacaine group (P<0.05). The first postoperative analgesic requirement was a mean (sd) of 5 h±4.32 after the operation in the ropivacaine group and 5 h±3.81 for the bupivacaine group. These findings suggest that caudal anaesthesia with ropivacaine 0.25% in paediatric patients can be effective, with less motor blockade in the postoperative period.
Afterword: Forgiveness, Prayer and the Meaning of Poetry
Authors: Montemaggi Vittorio
Published: February 2014

The aim of this afterword is – interrogatively – to complement and compliment the preceding papers by raising some general questions concerning the relationship between poetry and forgiveness, and to do so through reflection on the work of two authors who wrote well before the period explored by the essays in the collection, yet whose influence extends significantly into it. The paper will reflect, in particular, on the way in which Dante's Purgatorio and Shakespeare's The Tempest foreground the question of forgiveness by calling for the prayers of their audience in ways that coincide with these texts' self‐conscious presentation of themselves as literary artifacts. By focusing specifically on the opening of Purgatorio XI and the Epilogue of The Tempest and by suggesting an inextricable connection in these texts between meaning and the recognition of one's shortcomings, I aim to point to the value that certain perspectives on the relationship between poetry and forgiveness might have for our understanding of the meaning of poetry and of the nature of our relationship with it.
Ecotheology and the Idea of Forgiveness in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Authors: Kim Paul Chi Hun
Published: February 2014

The restoration of a proper relationship between humanity and nature is of great significance on the grounds that our contemporary society has become aware of an ecological crisis, caused by the human exploitation of the earth's resources. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge opens up a possibility of restoring that relationship through the act of forgiving. In this article, I will show how the Mariner re‐establishes his relationship with nature through forgiveness after his shooting of the albatross. His act of violence led to the experience of disconnectedness or isolation or separation from the community and God. He, however, achieves reconciliation with them by recognising the interrelatedness between them through the power of love and the act of interpretation. What he realised in the idea of interrelatedness is concerned not with hierarchy or dominance but with mutuality, caring and love. His awareness of the I‐Thou relationship enabled the Mariner to forgive himself and to re‐establish his broken relationship with the community, nature and God, which implies an ecotheological perspective.