bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Array Characterization of Prenatally Diagnosed 15q26 Microdeletion and 2q37.1 Duplication: Report of a New Case with Multicystic Kidneys and Review of the Literature
Authors: Kammoun Molka , Slimani Wafa , Hannachi Hanene , Bibi Mohamed , Saad Ali , Mougou-Zerelli Soumaya
Published: April 2017

We report on a molecular cytogenetic characterization of 15q26 deletion and 2q37.1 duplication in a fetus presenting with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), diaphragmatic hernia, multicystic kidneys, left kidney pyelectasis, and clubfeet. A terminal 15q26 deletion and a terminal 2q duplication of at least 10 and 9 Mb, respectively, derived from a maternal translocation, were found. The 15q26 deletion represents a contiguous gene deletion syndrome mainly characterized by IUGR, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and less frequently kidney defects. This deletion encompasses the IGF1R and COUPTF2 genes, known to lead to fetal growth retardation syndrome. However, kidney malformations are less well known in such conditions, and to the best of our knowledge, no candidate gene has been proposed to date. Here, we review the literature of the 15q26 deletion syndrome and suggest that hypoplastic and multicystic kidneys, the most commonly observed anomalies in this condition, should be considered in the prenatal diagnosis setting. Based on COUPTF2 protein function, we hypothesize that its haploinsufficiency might be responsible for the renal pathology.
Influence of Contrast Media on Bone Mineral Density (BMD) Measurements from Routine Contrast-Enhanced MDCT Datasets using a Phantom-less BMD Measurement Tool
Authors: Toelly Andrea , Bardach Constanze , Weber Michael , Gong Rui , Lai Yanbo , Wang Pei , Guo Yulin , Kirschke Jan , Baum Thomas , Gruber Michael
Published: April 2017

Aim To evaluate the differences in phantom-less bone mineral density (BMD) measurements in contrast-enhanced routine MDCT scans at different contrast phases, and to develop an algorithm for calculating a reliable BMD value.

Materials and Methods 112 postmenopausal women from the age of 40 to 77 years (mean age: 57.31 years; SD 9.61) who underwent a clinically indicated MDCT scan, consisting of an unenhanced, an arterial, and a venous phase, were included. A retrospective analysis of the BMD values of the Th12 to L4 vertebrae in each phase was performed using a commercially available phantom-less measurement tool.

Results The mean BMD value in the unenhanced MDCT scans was 79.76 mg/cm³ (SD 31.20), in the arterial phase it was 85.09 mg/cm³ (SD 31.61), and in the venous phase it was 86.18 mg/cm³ (SD 31.30). A significant difference (p < 0.001) was found between BMD values on unenhanced and contrast-enhanced MDCT scans. There was no significant difference between BMD values in the arterial and venous phases (p = 0.228). The following conversion formulas were calculated using linear regression: unenhanced BMD = -2.287 + 0.964 * [arterial BMD value] and -4.517 + 0.978 * [venous BMD value]. The intrarater agreement of BMD measurements was calculated with an intraclass correlation (ICC) of 0.984 and the interobserver reliability was calculated with an ICC of 0.991.

Conclusion Phantom-less BMD measurements in contrast-enhanced MDCT scans result in increased mean BMD values, but, with the formulas applied in our study, a reliable BMD value can be calculated. However, the mean BMD values did not differ significantly between the arterial and venous phases.

Key points 

Citation Format
Unterscheiden sich männliche und weibliche Skifahrer mit einer VKB-Verletzung hinsichtlich der auf die Körpergröße und das Körpergewicht relativierten Skilänge, der Skitaillierung und des Abnützungsgrades der Skischuhsohle?
Authors: Posch Markus , Ruedl Gerhard , Tecklenburg Katja , Helle Kenneth , Schranz Alois , Burtscher Martin
Published: April 2017

Hintergrund Frauen verletzen sich beim Skifahren am Kniegelenk doppelt so häufig wie Männer und das Risiko einer Verletzung des vorderen Kreuzbandes (VKB) ist bei weiblichen Skifahrern dreimal so hoch wie bei männlichen Skifahrern. Das geschlechtsspezifische VKB Verletzungsrisiko ist sowohl von internalen (z. B. Alter, Können, Fitness) als auch externalen (z. B. Pisten- und Wetterbedingungen, Skiausrüstung) Risikofaktoren abhängig. Allerdings ist unklar, ob sich männliche und weibliche Freizeitskifahrer mit einer VKB-Verletzung hinsichtlich der Skitaillierung und der Skischuhsohlenabnützung unterscheiden.

Methodik In den Wintersaisonen 2014/15 und 2015/16 wurden Daten von VKB-verletzten Skifahrern an einer österreichischen Skiklinik anhand eines Fragebogens erhoben. Der Fragebogen beinhaltete neben demografischen Angaben auch Fragen zum Skikönnen, Sturzmechanismus, Bindungsauslösung sowie die Verletzungsdiagnose. Zusätzlich wurde die Skilänge und der Taillierungsradius am Ski abgelesen sowie die Höhe der Skischuhsohlen am Zehen- und Fersenteil des Skischuhs mittels Schieblehre gemessen.

Ergebnisse Insgesamt wurden 164 VKB-verletzte Skifahrer (67 % Frauen) mit einem Durchschnittsalter von 41,7 ± 11,5 Jahren erfasst. Männer wiesen eine signifikant größere absolute Skilänge (168,3 ± 6,6 vs. 157,5 ± 5,9 cm, p < 0,001) als Frauen auf, jedoch zeigte sich hinsichtlich der auf die Körpergröße relativierten Skilänge (94,0 ± 3,4 vs. 94,1 ± 3,3 %) kein signifikanter Unterschied. Hinsichtlich der auf das Körpergewicht relativierten Skilänge unterscheiden sich Frauen und Männer signifikant (2,5 ± 0,3 vs. 2,0 ± 0,2 cm/kg). Der Skiradius (13,5 ± 1,4 vs. 15,6 ± 2,6 m, p < 0,001) war bei Frauen mit einer VKB-Verletzung signifikant geringer. Geschlechtsspezifisch unterschied sich die absolut gemessene Skischuhsohlenabnützung weder am Zehen- (5,4 ± 1,2 vs. 5,5 ± 1,1 mm) noch am Fersenteil (6,0 ± 1,7 vs. 6,0 ± 1,6 mm) signifikant zwischen Frauen und Männern. Der häufigste Sturzmechanismus war mit rund 59 % bei beiden Geschlechtern der Vorwärtssturz mit Körperdrehung. Frauen gaben ein Nichtauslösen der Skibindung signifikant häufiger an als Männer (86 vs. 44 %, p < 0,001).

Schlussfolgerung Männer und Frauen mit einer VKB Verletzung unterscheiden sich hinsichtlich der Skitaillierung, der auf das Körpergewicht relativierten Skilänge und bezüglich der Häufigkeit von Nichtauslösungen der Skibindung. Obwohl keine geschlechtsspezifischen Unterschiede bei der Abnützung der Skischuhsohlen vorhanden sind, liegt diese jedoch außerhalb der entsprechenden ISO Norm.
Bias dependence of spin transfer torque in Co2MnSi Heusler alloy based magnetic tunnel junctions
Authors: Zhang Jie , Phung Timothy , Pushp Aakash , Ferrante Yari , Jeong Jaewoo , Rettner Charles , Hughes Brian P. , Yang See-Hun , Jiang Yong , Parkin Stuart S. P.
Published: April 2017

Heusler compounds are of interest as electrode materials for use in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) due to their half metallic character, which leads to 100% spin polarization and high tunneling magnetoresistance. Most work to date has focused on the improvements to tunneling magnetoresistance that can stem from the use of Heusler electrodes, while there is much less work investigating the influence of Heusler electrodes on the spin transfer torque properties of MTJs. Here, we investigate the bias dependence of the anti-damping like and field-like spin transfer torque components in both symmetric (Co2MnSi/MgO/Co2MnSi) and asymmetric (Co2MnSi/MgO/CoFe) structure Heusler based MTJs using spin transfer torque ferromagnetic resonance. We find that while the damping like torque is linear with respect to bias for both MTJ structures, the asymmetric MTJ structure has an additional linear component to the ordinarily quadratic field like torque bias dependence and that these results can be accounted for by a free electron tunneling model. Furthermore, our results suggest that the low damping and low saturation magnetization properties of Heusler alloys are more likely to lead significant improvements to spin torque switching efficiency rather than their half metallic character.
Self-assembled growth of Sr(Ti,Fe)O3–CoFe2O4 magnetic nanocomposite thin films
Authors: Kim Dong Hun , Kim Tae Cheol , Lee Seung Han , Han Seung Ho , Han Kyu-Sung , Ross C. A.
Published: April 2017

Iron-substituted SrTiO3-CoFe2O4 nanocomposite thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on (001) SrTiO3 substrates, and their structure and magnetic properties were compared with those of single phase films. Both CoFe2O4 thin films grown in oxygen and under vacuum exhibited an in-plane magnetic easy axis, but films grown in vacuum exhibited polycrystallinity and additional metallic phases. Sr(Ti,Fe)O3 grown under high vacuum conditions showed an out-of-plane easy axis, whereas films grown in oxygen had no ferromagnetism. Nanocomposite thin films grown under high vacuum exhibited a terraced microstructure with out-of-plane easy axis. On the other hand, nanocomposites grown in oxygen exhibited two-step switching and much higher saturation magnetization. The results are consistent with dominant magnetoelastic anisotropy.
Rigorous diffraction interface theory
Authors: Roberts Christopher M. , Podolskiy Viktor A.
Published: April 2017

We present a formalism to understand the optical properties of metasurfaces, optically thin composite diffractive systems. The proposed technique, Rigorous Diffraction Interface Theory (R-DIT), provides an analytical framework for understanding the transition between optically thin and optically thick structures. R-DIT avoids the calculation of optical propagation through a thin layer and provides a direct link between the composition and the geometry of a metasurface and its transmission, reflection, and diffraction properties.
Fully carbon metasurface: Absorbing coating in microwaves
Authors: Bychanok D. , Li S. , Gorokhov G. , Piasotski K. , Meisak D. , Kuzhir P. , Burgess E. A. , Gallagher C. P. , Ogrin F. Y. , Hibbins A. P. , Pasc A. , Sanchez-Sanchez A. , Fierro V. , Celzard A.
Published: April 2017

The microwave-absorbing properties of a heterostructure consisting of an ordered monolayer of porous glassy carbon spheres were experimentally and theoretically investigated in the Ka-band (26–37 GHz) frequency range. The electromagnetic response of such a “moth-eye”-like all-carbon metasurface at a normal incidence angle was modelled on the basis of long-wave approximation. Modelling parameters in the Ka-band were used to estimate and predict the absorption properties of monolayers in free space in the range 1–40 GHz. Experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that a metasurface based on porous glassy carbon spheres is an inert, lightweight, compact, and perfectly absorbing material for designing new effective microwave absorbers in various practically used frequency ranges.
Non-separable states in a bipartite elastic system
Authors: Deymier P. A. , Runge K.
Published: April 2017

We consider two one-dimensional harmonic chains coupled along their length via linear springs. Casting the elastic wave equation for this system in a Dirac-like form reveals a directional representation. The elastic band structure, in a spectral representation, is constituted of two branches corresponding to symmetric and antisymmetric modes. In the directional representation, the antisymmetric states of the elastic waves possess a plane wave orbital part and a 4x1 spinor part. Two of the components of the spinor part of the wave function relate to the amplitude of the forward component of waves propagating in both chains. The other two components relate to the amplitude of the backward component of waves. The 4x1 spinorial state of the two coupled chains is supported by the tensor product Hilbert space of two identical subsystems composed of a non-interacting chain with linear springs coupled to a rigid substrate. The 4x1 spinor of the coupled system is shown to be in general not separable into the tensor product of the two 2x1 spinors of the uncoupled subsystems in the directional representation.
Outcomes following detection of low level plasma HIV RNA in HIV-infected patients previously virologically suppressed on antiretroviral therapy: a retrospective observational study
Authors: Warren Annabelle M. , Cheng Allen C. , Watson Kerrie , Lewin Sharon R. , Hoy Jennifer F.
Published: April 2017

Background: Progressively sensitive assays for plasma HIV RNA have led to increased detection of plasma HIV RNA between 20 and 200 copies/ml, known as low level viremia (LLV) when recurrent or persistent, in HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART). The aim of this study was to determine outcomes following initial detection of LLV in an Australian cohort. Methods: A retrospective study using the HIV Service Database (Alfred Hospital) included all patients on ART who recorded plasma HIV RNA 20–200 copies/mL following prior virological suppression (viral load (VL) HIV RNA <20 copies/mL) over 2 years (2010 to 2012), with follow-up to June 2013. Factors associated with subsequent virological outcome were assessed via univariate and multivariate analysis. Results: Of 919 patients managed by The Alfred HIV service, 207 (22.5%) met inclusion criteria. Mean age was 48.8 years, 91.3% were male. During follow-up, 54% patients recorded no further HIV RNA 20–200 copies/mL (viral blip); 39% had recurrent or persistent VL 20–200 copies/mL (LLV); and 7% progressed to virological failure with VL >200 copies/mL. Factors associated with LLV included co-morbid type 2 diabetes, shorter prior virological suppression and lower nadir CD4 cell count. Clinician management of VL 20–200 copies/mL was generally conservative, with infrequent requests for genotypic analysis (3.3% cases) or change in ART (<1% cases). Conclusions: LLV following virological suppression is common, and occurred as an isolated viral blip in half the patients. Those patients with persistent or recurrent LLV had higher rates of type 2 diabetes, shorter prior virological suppression and lower nadir CD4 cell count.
Objectivity and reliability
Authors: Clarke-Doane Justin
Published: April 2017

Scanlon’sBeing Realistic about Reasonsis a beautiful book – sleek, sophisticated, and programmatic. One of its key aims is to demystify knowledge of normative and mathematical truths, realistically construed – i.e. construed, roughly, as being true relevantly independent of minds and languages, when interpreted at face-value. In this article, I develop an epistemological problem that Scanlon fails to explicitly address. I argue that his ‘metaphysical pluralism’ can be understood as a response to that problem. However, it resolves the problem only if it undercuts the objectivity of normative and mathematical inquiry.
Simulating novel gas turbine conditions for materials assessment: Cascade design and operation
Authors: Sumner J. , Simms N. J. , Stamm W. , Oakey J. E.
Published: April 2017

Integrated gasification combined cycles can incorporate pre-combustion carbon capture. High-H2 syngas produces high H2O levels after combustion, potentially accelerating gas turbine component damage. Determining materials systems’ suitability for this novel environment requires exposures in representative environments. Thus, an existing 0.7 MW burner rig was modified to generate the combustion environment and incorporate a cascade of 15 air-cooled turbine blades. Computational fluid dynamic calculations using blade dimensions and flow requirements supported the cascade design and determined blade placement within the gas flow. Trials of the modified unit have shown that a simulated combusted H2-rich syngas composition was generated at gas temperatures ≤1440°C. A 1000 h exposure has been carried out with thermal barrier coated blades to demonstrate the operation of the unit.

This paper is part of a thematic issue on the 9th International Charles Parsons Turbine and Generator Conference. All papers have been revised and extended before publication in Materials Science and Technology.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Tensile behaviour of superelastic NiTi alloys charged with hydrogen under applied strain
Authors: Elkhal Letaief Wissem , Hassine Tarek , Gamaoun Fehmi
Published: April 2017

The tensile behaviour of NiTi alloys is investigated after hydrogen charging during the austenite, half-transformation and martensite phases. The specimens are charged with different current densities and charging durations. During the tensile tests, the strain of the plateau transformation decreases due to hydrogen-induced residual martensite variants. This decrease becomes important when the charging happens during the martensite phase. Accordingly, the hydrogen ensures the stability of the phase in which the charging process occurs. Moreover, a heightening of transformation stress is noticed during the plateau. The transformation stress increases when the current density grows and the charging duration rises. This occurrence is caused by the interaction between the hydrogen and NiTi structures, where hydrogen delays the NiTi martensite transformation.

This paper is part of a thematic issue on Hydrogen in Metallic Alloys
Normobaric hypoxia increases the growth hormone response to maximal resistance exercise in trained men
Authors: Filopoulos Dean , Cormack Stuart J. , Whyte Douglas G.
Published: April 2017

This study examined the effect of hypoxia on growth hormone (GH) release during an acute bout of high‐intensity, low‐volume resistance exercise. Using a single‐blinded, randomised crossover design, 16 resistance‐trained males completed two resistance exercise sessions in normobaric hypoxia (HYP; inspiratory oxygen fraction, (FiO2) 0.12, arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) 82 ± 2%) and normoxia (NOR; FiO2 0.21, SpO2 98 ± 0%). Each session consisted of five sets of three repetitions of 45° leg press and bench press at 85% of one repetition maximum. Heart rate, SpO2, and electromyographic activity (EMG) of the vastus lateralis muscle were measured throughout the protocol. Serum lactate and GH levels were determined pre‐exposure, and at 5, 15, 30 and 60 min post‐exercise. Differences in mean and integrated EMG between HYP and NOR treatments were unclear. However, there was an important increase in the peak levels and area under the curve of both lactate (HYP 5.8 ± 1.8 v NOR 3.9 ± 1.1 mmol.L−1 and HYP 138.7 ± 33.1 v NOR 105.8 ± 20.8 min.mmol.L−1) and GH (HYP 4.4 ± 3.1 v NOR 2.1 ± 2.5 ng.mL−1 and HYP 117.7 ± 86.9 v NOR 72.9 ± 85.3 min.ng.mL−1) in response to HYP. These results suggest that performing high‐intensity resistance exercise in a hypoxic environment may provide a beneficial endocrine response without compromising the neuromuscular activation required for maximal strength development.
The Influence of American Literature in Taishō and Prewar Shōwa Japan
Authors: Inoue Ken
Published: April 2017

In the history of modern Japanese literature, the Taishō era (1912–1926) is retrospectively identified as a period characterized by a liberal arts ideology, individualism, a democratic spirit, aestheticism, and anti-naturalism. In the latter half of the Taishō era, the liberal arts ideology was gradually replaced by socialism. After the Great Earthquake of 1923, Japanese literature was enmeshed in a triangular contest between the old-fashioned “‘I’ novel” (or psychological novel), proletarian literature, and modernist literature (especially the neo-sensualists). This structure of the literary world, in parallel with the rise of popular literature, continued into the prewar Shōwa era (1926–1945).

During the Taishō era, Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe were the most influential and respected American writers. Whitman’s writing offered Taishō writers, including Takeo Arishima and poets of the popular poetry school, a model of living that was free and natural and a colloquial-style free verse. But for the modern Japanese literati from the Taishō to the prewar Shōwa era, the most influential American writer was without a doubt Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s works served as a creative inspiration to Taishō novelists such as Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, Haruo Satō, and Ryūosuke Akutagawa, many of whom shared a creative perspective that was based on a blend of anti-naturalism and aestheticism. Influenced by Poe, they attempted diverse variations on the themes of the fantastic and of doppelgängers and even experimented with detective stories. Needless to say, Poe helped to establish the detective story genre in Japan through Rampo Edogawa and others. For early Shōwa literati, Poe was a forerunner of modern critical theory.

Among Japanese readers, around 1920, American literature ceased to be read as a sub-branch of British literature and began to be read as American literature proper. From the Great Earthquake and up through the prewar Shōwa era, three distinctive periods can be discerned when American literature was energetically translated and introduced. The first period was from the end of Taishō to the start of Shōwa, when American “socialist” literature—in the broad sense of writers like Upton Sinclair—left a deep mark on Japanese proletarian literature. The second period was around 1930–1931, when contemporary modernist American novels were translated and published in various anthology forms. The third peak came around 1935–1938, when bestselling American historical romances or epics such as Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind were published and gained a large readership.
Nutrition Labeling in the United States and the Role of Consumer Processing, Message Structure, and Moderating Conditions
Authors: Andrews J. Craig , Burton Scot , Cook Laurel Aynne
Published: April 2017

It has been since 1990 that the landmark Nutritional Labeling Education Act (NLEA) was passed in the United States, and since 1969 that the first White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health occurred. In the time since these important events, considerable research has been conducted on how U.S. consumers process and use nutritional labeling. An up-to-date review of nutritional labeling research must address key findings on the processing and use of nutrition facts panels (NFPs), restaurant labeling, front-of-pack (FOP) symbols, health and nutrient content claims, new labeling efforts (e.g., for meat products), and claims not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Message structure mediates the ways in which consumers process nutritional labeling while moderating conditions affect research outcomes associated with labeling efforts.

The most recent policy issues and problems to be considered (e.g., by the FDA) include nutritional labeling as well as identifying opportunities for consumer research in helping to promote healthy lifestyles and reducing obesity in the United States and throughout the world. For example, several unanswered research questions remain regarding how the proposed changes to the NFPs—beef, poultry, and seafood labeling; restaurant chain calorie labeling; alternative FOP formats; and regulated and unregulated health and nutrient content claims—will affect consumers. Researchers have yet to examine not only these different labeling and nutrition information formats, but also how they might interact with one another and the role of key moderating conditions (e.g., one’s motivation, ability opportunity to process nutrition information) in affecting consumer processing and behavior.
Public Knowledge, Scientific Literacy, Numeracy, and Perceptions of Climate Change
Authors: Gilden Jaime , Peters Ellen
Published: April 2017

It is a widely accepted scientific fact that our climate is changing and that this change is caused by human activity. Despite the scientific consensus, many individuals in the United States fail to grasp the extent of the consensus and continue to deny both the existence and cause of climate change; the proportion of the population holding these beliefs has been stable in recent history. Most of the American public also believe they know a lot about climate change although knowledge tests do not always reflect their positive perceptions. There are two frequent hypotheses about public knowledge and climate change beliefs: (a) providing the public with more climate science information, thus making them more knowledgeable, will bring the beliefs of the public closer to those of climate scientists and (b) individuals with greater cognitive ability (e.g., scientific literacy or numeracy) will have climate change beliefs more like those of experts. However, data do not always support this proposed link between knowledge, ability, and beliefs. A better predictor of beliefs in the United States is political identity. For example, compared to liberals, conservatives consistently perceive less risk from climate change and, perhaps as a result, are less likely to hold scientifically accurate climate change beliefs, regardless of their cognitive abilities. And greater knowledge and ability, rather than being related to more accurate climate change beliefs, tend to relate to increased polarization across political identities, such that the difference in beliefs between conservatives and liberals with high cognitive ability is greater than the difference in beliefs between conservatives and liberals with low cognitive ability.
The Two-Good Theory in Practice: From Abstract Generalization to Specific Inference
Authors: Morgan T. Clifton , Palmer Glenn
Published: April 2017

The “two-good theory” is a theory of foreign policy that is meant to apply to all states in all situations; that is, it is general. The theory is simple and assumes that states pursue two things in theory with respect to foreign policies: change (altering aspects of the status quo that they do not like) and maintenance (protecting aspects of the status quo that they do like). It also assumes that states have finite resources. In making these assumptions, the theory focuses on the trade-offs that states face in constructing their most desired foreign policy portfolios. Further, the theory assumes that protecting realized outcomes is easier than bringing about desired changes in the status quo.

The theory assumes that states pursue two goods instead of the more traditional one good; for realism, that good is “power,” and for neorealism, it is “security.” This small step in theoretical development is very fruitful and leads to more interesting hypotheses, many of which enjoy empirical support. The theory captures more of the dynamics of international relations and of foreign policy choices than more traditional approaches do.

A number of empirical tests of the implications of the two-good theory have been conducted and support the theory. As the theory can speak to a variety of foreign policy behaviors, these tests appropriately cover a wide range of activities, including conflict initiation and foreign aid allocation. The theory enjoys support from the results of these tests.

If the research relaxes some of the parameters of the theory, the investigator can derive a series of corollaries to it. For example, the initial variant of the theory keeps a number of parameters constant to determine the effect of changes in capability. If, however, the investigator allows preferences to vary in a systematic and justifiable manner (consistent with the theory but not established by the theory), she can see how leaders in a range of situations can be expected to behave. The research strategy proposed, in other words, is to utilize the general nature of the two-good theory to investigate a number of interesting and surprising implications. For example, what may one expect to see if the United States supplies a recipient state with military aid to counter a rebellion? Under reasonable circumstances, the two-good theory can predict that the recipient would increase its change-seeking behavior by, for instance, engaging in negotiations to lower trade barriers.
Two-Level Games in Foreign Policy Analysis
Authors: da Conceição-Heldt Eugénia , Mello Patrick A.
Published: April 2017

Whether in multilateral negotiations or bilateral meetings, government leaders regularly engage in “two-level games” played simultaneously at the domestic and the international level. From the two-level-games perspective, executives are “chief negotiators” involved in some form of international negotiations for which they ultimately need to gain domestic approval at the ratification stage. This ratification requirement provides the critical link between the international and domestic level, but it can be based on formal voting requirements or more informal ways of ratification, such as public approval ratings. With its focus on government leaders as “gatekeepers” and central actors in international negotiations, the two-level games perspective constitutes a distinct approach in foreign policy analysis and serves to reintegrate the subfields of comparative politics and international relations. While there are similarities to a liberal perspective, two-level games emphasize that executives hold a certain degree of autonomy in their decision making that cannot be purely derived from their constituencies. Unlike realism, however, the approach recognizes the importance of domestic veto players and institutional constraints. Since its inception in the late 1980s, a vast body of literature on two-level games has evolved, including refinements of its theoretical foundation and applications in various policy areas. Against this background, key controversies in two-level games and foreign policy analysis since the late 1980s are examined. The discussion is organized along six debates concerning the levels of analysis, domestic political institutions, the interaction between the domestic and international levels, relevant actors, their interests and preferences, and the relationship between comparative politics and international relations.
Military Justice in Film
Authors: Ching Ann
Published: April 2017

Military justice films occupy a unique space in film and legal studies, marrying two popular genres—courtroom dramas and military-themed films. This article examines the military justice film as a distinct genre in popular culture depictions of crime and punishment. First, it provides a brief overview of the history of the military justice film, from Classical Hollywood to the present. It then examines what sets military justice films apart from civilian courtroom dramas—the context, hierarchies, procedural rules, and broader implications of justice in the military context. It discusses why military justice films remain an enduring genre, with their appeal to universal themes and archetypal narratives. It further describes how military justice films have paralleled military history and serve as a critique of military, political, and national security policies. The article concludes by examining contemporary depiction of military justice in film, analyzing how the genre has changed since its inception, and discussing how military justice films may continue to evolve to keep pace with shifting norms of both law and warfare.
Supervision in the Community: Probation and Parole
Authors: Phelps Michelle S. , Curry Caitlin
Published: April 2017

Over the past half-century, the number of adults under criminal justice supervision increased precipitously in some Western countries, with carceral control in the United States reaching an unprecedented scale. While much of the scholarly attention has been focused on the development of mass incarceration, new research focuses on the parallel expansion of mass probation and, more broadly, mass supervision. In the United States, the number of adults on probation and parole supervision increased from one million in 1980 to a peak of nearly 5.1 million in 2007, more than double the number of inmates in local, state, and federal jails and prisons. Estimates from Europe in the late 2000s suggest that there were approximately 3.5 million on community sanctions, compared to 2 million incarcerated. Individuals on these sanctions serve out their initial sentences (or remaining time after release from jail or prison) while residing in the community under the supervision of a probation or parole officer.

As scholarship increasingly focuses on the expansion of community supervision, we are learning more about this form of punishment. Probationers and parolees are subject to a variety of conditions, including reporting regularly to their supervising officers, finding and maintaining employment, avoiding drug use and re-arrest, participating in therapeutic programs, and paying fines and fees. Failure to comply with the demands of supervision may result in variety of penalties, up to a return to custody for the entire length of the suspended prison sentence. Thus, while probation and parole are often framed as acts of leniency—allowing individuals to avoid incarceration and/or exit early—they can be experienced as quite punitive. In other words, the official discourses and everyday practices of supervision blend both punitive and rehabilitative elements. The composition of this blend varies significantly across countries, states, local departments, individual officers, and the officer-supervisee relationship. This variation has produced a kaleidoscope of different practices, all under the banner of community supervision.
Immigration and Crime
Authors: Bernat Frances
Published: April 2017

In the context of crime, victimization, and immigration in the United States, research shows that people are afraid of immigrants because they think immigrants are a threat to their safety and engage in many violent and property crimes. However, quantitative research has consistently shown that being foreign born is negatively associated with crime overall and is not significantly associated with committing either violent or property crime. If an undocumented immigrant is arrested for a criminal offense, it tends to be for a misdemeanor. Researchers suggest that undocumented immigrants may be less likely to engage in serious criminal offending behavior because they seek to earn money and not to draw attention to themselves. Additionally, immigrants who have access to social services are less likely to engage in crime than those who live in communities where such access is not available. Some emerging research has shown that communities with concentrated immigrant populations have less crime because these communities become revitalized. In regard to victimization, foreign-born victims of crime may not report their victimization because of fears that they will experience negative consequences if they contact the police or seek to avoid legal mechanisms to resolve disputes. Recently, concern about immigration and victimization has turned to refugees who are at risk of harm from traffickers, who warehouse them, threaten them, and abuse them physically with impunity. More research is needed on the relationship among immigration, offending, and victimization. The United States and other nations that focus on border security may be misplacing their efforts during global crises that result in forced migrations. Poverty and war, among other social conditions that would encourage a person to leave their homeland in search of a better life, should be addressed by governments when enforcing immigration laws and policy.
Longitudinal Study of Teachers
Authors: Beck Clive , Kosnik Clare , Rosales Elizabeth
Published: April 2017

The longitudinal study of teachers gives a time perspective on the life and work of teachers, instead of just a snapshot at a particular point. The time period in question may be just a few intense months, as in some ethnographic research, or several decades, as in some life-history research. Longitudinal research is useful in exploring such topics as how teachers change and grow over their careers, changes in teachers’ professional satisfaction over the years, patterns of teacher retention and drop-out, the impact of teachers on their students over time, and the influence of preservice and/or in-service teacher education on teachers.

Continuous study of the same teachers over many years is challenging and accordingly not common. It is typically expensive and time-consuming, and extends beyond the time span of most research funding; moreover, many participants either leave the profession or move to other locations, making it difficult to keep in touch with them. Accordingly, additional ways to do longitudinal research need to be found: for example, studying teachers intensively for a shorter period; asking teachers to recall earlier phases in their life and/or career; or studying different cohorts of teachers at various career points (as in the classic Huberman study and parts of the U.K. VITAE research). Each of these methods has limitations but maintains the valuable outcome of providing a time perspective.

Where it can be arranged, however, interviewing the same teachers at intervals over several years has the advantage of enabling researchers to get to know the participants well. As a result, the researchers are in a better position to understand what the participants are saying in the interviews, and assess the veracity of their self-reporting about their views and practices, past and present. Also, a degree of trust is established such that the teachers are more likely to be frank about their feelings, challenges, and concerns. But one danger of the emerging relationship is that the support the relationship it provides may positively impact the teachers’ experience (e.g., helping them fine-tune their practice and maintain their morale to an unusually high level). This limitation has to be weighed against the advantages in deciding whether or not to use this approach to the longitudinal study of teachers.
Publishing and Popular Literature in Imperial China
Authors: Brokaw Cynthia
Published: April 2017

Although popular literature circulated in manuscript from very early in Chinese history, the invention of woodblock printing or xylography in the 7th century greatly facilitated the dissemination of popular texts. The lively urban culture of the 11th through the 14th centuries stimulated the production of performance literature, prose or prosimetric narratives in simple classical and vernacular Chinese. Commercial publishers in the cities and Jianyang, Fujian, took advantage of the growing demand for texts among readers of modest literacy and produced ballads and “plain tales” for this audience.

The publishing boom of the 16th century greatly accelerated this trend, as publishers in the cities of the lower Yangzi delta (Jiangnan), and most particularly Jianyang (in northern Fujian), began crafting texts explicitly designed to meet the needs of non-elite readers: literacy primers, vernacular explanations of the Classics, historical fictions and adventure tales, and popular encyclopedias for daily use, all in a language accessible to readers of limited education.

At the same time literati authors mined the popular literature of earlier centuries for stories that they transformed into literary masterpieces—although in the process they often reversed the subversive messages and smoothed out the vigorous “vulgar” language of the originals. But their greatest achievements, dramas like The Lute Song and the novels Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Journey to the West, remain among the most universally admired works of Chinese fiction. These latter texts presage, too, the development of the vernacular novel as one of the literary glories of the late imperial period.

By the 18th century, the population increase and growing demand for texts—and the spread of woodblock printing to the interior and hinterland—ensured the dissemination of a common core of universally popular fictional works throughout China Proper. It was not, however, until the early 20th century and the widespread adoption of mechanized printing, that a true mass readership developed. By that time, the introduction of new genres of literature—the modern short story and novel—had transformed the nature of popular literature.
The 1989 Tiananmen Movement and Its Aftermath
Authors: He Rowena Xiaoqing
Published: April 2017

In spring 1989, millions of Chinese took to the streets calling for reforms. The nationwide movement, highlighted by a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, ended on June 4 with the People’s Liberation Army firing on unarmed civilians. Over 200,000 soldiers, equipped with tanks and machine guns, participated in the lethal action. Student leaders, intellectuals, workers, and citizens were subsequently purged, imprisoned, or exiled.

Tiananmen remains one of the most sensitive and taboo subjects in China today, banned from both academic and popular realms. Even the actual number of deaths from the military crackdown remains unknown. Every year on the anniversary of June 4, the government intensifies its control, and citizens who commemorate the events are put under various forms of surveillance. The Tiananmen Mothers are prohibited from openly mourning family members who died in the massacre, and exiles are prohibited from returning home, even for a parent’s funeral. Many older supporters of the movement, leading liberal intellectuals in the 1980s, died in exile.

The post-Tiananmen regime has constructed a narrative that portrays the Tiananmen Movement as a Western conspiracy to weaken and divide China, hence justifying its military crackdown as necessary for stability and prosperity and paving the way for China’s rise. Because public opinion pertaining to nationalism and democratization is inseparable from a collective memory of the nation’s most immediate past—be it truthful, selective, or manipulated—the memory of Tiananmen has become highly contested. While memory can be manipulated or erased by those in power, the repression of both memory and history is accompanied by political, social, and psychological distortions. Indeed, it is not possible to understand today’s China and its relationship with the world without understanding the spring of 1989.
Lázaro Cárdenas and Cardenismo
Authors: Mitchell Stephanie
Published: April 2017

Lázaro Cárdenas served as Mexico’s president from 1934–1940. His presidency marked the end of the “Maximato,” the period in which the former president Plutarco Elías Calles exercised control. It bridged the gap between the rocky postwar years of the 1920s and the authoritarian dominance of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that characterized the rest of the 20th century. Cárdenas is Mexico’s most studied and best remembered president. To the extent that the Mexican Revolution ever was truly radical or popular, it was during the Cárdenas presidency. Cardenismo is an amorphous term that refers both to Cárdenas’s administration and his reform agenda. Cardenistas were a diverse coalition of supporters, some who advocated his agenda and others who merely allied themselves with his administration for non-ideological reasons. Cárdenas set out to realize what he saw as the promises of the revolution: justice for workers and peasants. He distributed about twice as much land as his predecessors combined, and he promoted unionization and strikes. He famously expropriated and nationalized the petroleum industry in dramatic defense of the Mexican worker. These actions earned him enduring affection, although he did not receive universal support even among the disenfranchised while in office. Many opposed his policies, especially those tied with the project of cultural transformation whose origin came earlier, but whose objectives Cárdenas sought to support, especially secularization. Cárdenas’s “Socialist Education” project faced particularly fierce opposition, and he was forced to abandon it along with most of the anticlerical agenda after 1938. That same year, he reorganized the ruling party along corporatist lines and rebaptized it the “Party of the Mexican Revolution,” or PRM. That restructuring is largely credited with having created the conditions under which future administrations would be able to exercise authoritarian control, although this was not Cárdenas’s intention. His presidency is more noted for what it failed to accomplish than for its successes. Nevertheless, his legacy lives on, most visibly in countryside and in the political career of his son Cuahtémoc, who has for decades struggled to fulfill his father’s vision.
Experimental Semiotics
Authors: Galantucci Bruno
Published: April 2017

Experimental Semiotics (ES) is a burgeoning new discipline aimed at investigating in the laboratory the development of novel forms of human communication. Conceptually connected to experimental research on language use, ES provides a scientific complement to field studies of spontaneously emerging new languages and studies on the emergence of communication systems among artificial agents.

ES researchers have created quite a few research paradigms to investigate the development of novel forms of human communication. Despite their diversity, these paradigms all rely on the use of semiotic games, that is, games in which people can succeed reliably only after they have developed novel communication systems. Some of these games involve creating novel signs for pre-specified meanings. These games are particularly suitable for studying relatively large communication systems and their structural properties. Other semiotic games involve establishing shared meanings as well as novel signs to communicate about them. These games are typically rather challenging and are particularly suitable for investigating the processes through which novel forms of communication are created.

Considering that ES is a methodological stance rather than a well-defined research theme, researchers have used it to address a greatly heterogeneous set of research questions. Despite this, and despite the recent origins of ES, two of these questions have begun to coalesce into relatively coherent research themes.

The first theme originates from the observation that novel communication systems developed in the laboratory tend to acquire features that are similar to key features of natural language. Most notably, they tend (a) to rely on the use of symbols—that is purely conventional signs—and (b) to adopt a combinatorial design, using a few basic units to express a large number of meanings. ES researchers have begun investigating some of the factors that lead to the acquisition of such features. These investigations suggest two conclusions. The first is that the emergence of symbols depends on the fact that, when repeatedly using non-symbolic signs, people tend to progressively abstract them. The second conclusion is that novel communication systems tend to adopt a combinatorial design more readily when their signs have low degrees of motivation and fade rapidly.

The second research theme originates from the observation that novel communication systems developed in the laboratory tend to begin systematically with motivated—that is non-symbolic—signs. ES investigations of this tendency suggest that it occurs because motivation helps people bootstrap novel forms of communication. Put it another way, these investigations show that it is very difficult for people to bootstrap communication through arbitrary signs.