bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optimize Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment in Azure DevOps for a controlled Microsoft .NET environment using different techniques and practices
Authors: Dileepkumar S R , Mathew Juby
Published: March 2021

Delivering a software is not a simple process, even if it is a completely new software created from the scratch, the enhancement of an existing software or fixing the bugs of an existing application. As per the new industrial standard most of the companies follow the DevOps methodologies to deliver the software products, which leverage the flexibilities of the software delivery with expected quality on time with minimal errors. One of the most important factors of the DevOps methodology is Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment. As the entire software industry is moving towards Cloud Computing one of the most powerful, cost effective and easily maintainable environment to host the software applications. There are various Cloud computing providers available in the industry now. Most of them have its own advantage and dis-advantages. There are many researches going on various topics on these areas and the importance of these topics are getting more relevant in the industry now. There are lot of gaps on the Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment concepts and more improvement options have to be identified and certified throughout the various researches. To understand the importance of this platform, we decided to concentrate the research on the Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment in Azure DevOps for a controlled Microsoft .NET environment using different techniques and practices. Here our intention is to identify the various factors which helps the industry to do a better Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment in the Azure DevOps for a controlled Microsoft .NET environment using different techniques and practices. Among the “n” number of factors identified on this subject, only couple of factors are considered as part of this research.
Real time supervision of faults in converter of PV system
Authors: Jadhav P R , Chavan S B
Published: March 2021

PV systems are remotely installed at unmanned places. They have sub-systems like converters, inverters etc. Electronic components in these circuits work under electrical stress conditions. PV systems occupy huge land area; therefore system supervision and fault diagnosis are critical in these applications. In this work internet connectivity based supervising system is presented for boost converter to monitor its working status. The system implemented at site monitors the converter output, voltage across the devices, compares it with the known standard values and records it. Whenever any remote node accesses it, the formatted information is displayed which shows the converter status. Due to this remote site supervision and electrical parameter observation is easy.
Analysis of Security Parameters and Network Infrastructure on Cloud
Authors: Praveen Kumar S. , Jaya T.
Published: March 2021

This paper pertains to an analytical approach towards establishing standards for network performance on the cloud. Cloud being the most promising domain, is yet hindered by the lack of standardization. To resolve this issue we propose a methodology suitable for all essential protocols in contrasting network architectures. In extension to this, security breaches also severe the threat to cloud data and its privacy. To bridge the two imperative aspects of a cloud service, we intend to deploy a deep learning classification model on Google collab, acting as an interface between the cloud database and client-server. Essential parameters including throughput(X), average delay(ζ), loss function(l) and accuracy. We extend to present our results as the optimized cloud standards.
An Intuitive Remote Monitoring Framework for Water Quality in Fish Pond using Cloud Computing
Authors: Sivakumar S. , Ramya V.
Published: March 2021

Accuracy in prediction of water quality is a recent research domain gaining popularity in smart aquaculture. In aquaculture, the modifications in water quality parameters possess nonlinearity, dynamicity, unstableness and complexity due to the open environment with its surroundings. Conventional prediction methods have several disadvantages like poor generalization, lower accuracy and high time complexity. By considering these issues, a Novel water quality prediction method interfaced with (IoT)Internet of Things termed as Low-Cost Real-Time Monitoring System (LCRTMS) is proposed to predict water temperature, pH, DO, and Ammonia. Multi-sensors and Blynk private cloud integrated framework are used for collecting data in real-time and enhancing the remote monitoring capabilities. Experimental results indicate that the accuracy in predicting temperature, DO, pH and ammonia can attain 98.56% in 0.257 seconds and 98.97% in 0.301seconds in the short-term prediction.
Soft morphological filtering using hypergraphs
Authors: Unnikrishnan Nuja M , Tom Mini , Bino Sebastian V , Thomas K V
Published: March 2021

A new framework of soft mathematical morphology on hypergraph spaces is studied. Application in image processing for filtering objects defined in hypergraph spaces are illustrated using several soft morphological operators-openings, closings, granulometries and ASF acting (a) on the subset of vertex and hyperedge set of a hypergraph and (b) on the subhypergraphs of a hypergraph. Experimental results dealing with the extension of soft morphological operators to gray scale images are presented in this paper. The results obtained are promising and is a better substitute for the prevailing methods.
Electrocatalytic property of nitrogen-doped graphite-supported CeO2-CoOx
Authors: Ge Ben , Yue Tonglian , Liu Jinmei , Wu Xu , Chen Bo , Li Yongkang , Yang Zhibin
Published: March 2021

Ceria has been widely used as a catalyst in photocatalysis, automobile exhaust purification, and organic degradation. However, ceria has poor intrinsic catalytic performance and usually requires modifications. In this study, N-doped graphite was used as a substrate, and then CeO2-CoOx was attached to N-doped graphite. Afterward, the effects of the recombination with N-doped graphite and those of Co doping on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic ability of CeO2 were studied. The experimental results showed that the electrocatalytic performance of CeO2-CoOx/N-rGO is higher than that of pure CeO2 and CeO2/N-rGO. After the N-doped graphite recombination, the number of transferred electrons increased at high potential, which fully illustrates that graphite can effectively reduce the overpotential of ORR. The 0.56 eV shift of the C1s in CeO2-CoOx/N-rGO to high binding energy revealed that CeO2-CoOx and N-rGO were combined with each other through covalent bonds. In addition, the increased pyridine nitrogen of N-rGO after the recombination improved the electrocatalytic performance of CeO2-CoOx/N-rGO. Overall, the catalytic ability of CeO2 was greatly improved, and the modified CeO2-CoOx/N-rGO composite showed better catalytic performance for the ORR and OER compared with Pt/C and RuO2.
Aesthetic Self-Forgetfulness
Authors: Mäcklin Harri
Published: March 2021

Intense aesthetic experiences are often described in terms of self-forgetfulness, where the perceiver becomes immersed in the aesthetic phenomenon to the extent of losing consciousness of being the subject of the experience. Although such experiences have been described from the early eighteenth century onwards, there is still a surprising lack of detailed investigation on the precise nature of aesthetic self-forgetfulness. What happens in this experience, and precisely what is the ‘self’ that is forgotten? Building on phenomenological theories of self-consciousness, I argue that aesthetic self-forgetfulness cannot be understood as an absolute eradication of the self, as a pre-reflective self-consciousness stays intact even in deeply immersive aesthetic experiences. Thus, I argue that talk of self-forgetfulness is to some extent misleading, and the changes in the subject’s self-relation during aesthetic experience is better understood in terms of an altered sense of agency.
TIPS: trajectory inference of pathway significance through pseudotime comparison for functional assessment of single-cell RNAseq data
Authors: Zheng Zihan , Qiu Xin , Wu Haiyang , Chang Ling , Tang Xiangyu , Zou Liyun , Li Jingyi , Wu Yuzhang , Zhou Jianzhi , Jiang Shan , Wan Ying , Ni Qingshan
Published: March 2021

Recent advances in bioinformatics analyses have led to the development of novel tools enabling the capture and trajectory mapping of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) data. However, there is a lack of methods to assess the contributions of biological pathways and transcription factors to an overall developmental trajectory mapped from scRNAseq data. In this manuscript, we present a simplified approach for trajectory inference of pathway significance (TIPS) that leverages existing knowledgebases of functional pathways and other gene lists to provide further mechanistic insights into a biological process. TIPS identifies key pathways which contribute to a process of interest, as well as the individual genes that best reflect these changes. TIPS also provides insight into the relative timing of pathway changes, as well as a suite of visualizations to enable simplified data interpretation of scRNAseq libraries generated using a wide range of techniques. The TIPS package can be run through either a web server or downloaded as a user-friendly GUI run in R, and may serve as a useful tool to help biologists perform deeper functional analyses and visualization of their single-cell data.
Drug repurposing against breast cancer by integrating drug-exposure expression profiles and drug–drug links based on graph neural network
Authors: Cui Chen , Ding Xiaoyu , Wang Dingyan , Chen Lifan , Xiao Fu , Xu Tingyang , Zheng Mingyue , Luo Xiaomin , Jiang Hualiang , Chen Kaixian
Published: March 2021

Motivation

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women worldwide. It is necessary to develop new breast cancer drugs because of the shortcomings of existing therapies. The traditional discovery process is time-consuming and expensive. Repositioning of clinically approved drugs has emerged as a novel approach for breast cancer therapy. However, serendipitous or experiential repurposing cannot be used as a routine method.

Results

In this study, we proposed a graph neural network model GraphRepur based on GraphSAGE for drug repurposing against breast cancer. GraphRepur integrated two major classes of computational methods, drug network-based and drug signature-based. The differentially expressed genes of disease, drug-exposure gene expression data and the drug–drug links information were collected. By extracting the drug signatures and topological structure information contained in the drug relationships, GraphRepur can predict new drugs for breast cancer, outperforming previous state-of-the-art approaches and some classic machine learning methods. The high-ranked drugs have indeed been reported as new uses for breast cancer treatment recently.

Availabilityand implementation

The source code of our model and datasets are available at: https://github.com/cckamy/GraphRepur and https://figshare.com/articles/software/GraphRepur_Breast_Cancer_Drug_Repurposing/14220050.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Phylogeography of Otaria flavescens (Carnivora: Pinnipedia): unravelling genetic connectivity at the southernmost limit of its distribution
Authors: Peralta Diego M , Cappozzo Humberto L , Ibañez Ezequiel A , Lucero Sergio , Failla Mauricio , Túnez Juan I
Published: March 2021

The Pleistocene glacial period shaped the current genetic structure of numerous species. The last glacial dynamics has been proposed to have split the South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens, into two Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs), one on each side of the continent. However, previous studies have not provided genetic information on colonies found along 3000 km of coastline of the southernmost limit of the species distribution, where gene flow could occur. We conducted an exhaustive phylogeographical analysis of O. flavescens using a mtDNA marker, including, for the first time, data from colonies living south of latitude 45° S, in the Argentinian provinces of Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego. Our results indicated the presence of five Conservation Units across the distribution range of O. flavescens and suggest that the Patagonian population must have expanded about 150 000 BP. We found evidence for gene flow across the entire species range, supporting a scenario of secondary contact in Tierra del Fuego where representatives of the oldest lineages coexist. The presence of gene flow between oceans leads us to reject the assumption of complete reciprocal monophyly for mtDNA between the presumed ESUs, suggesting that the species constitutes a single Evolutionarily Significant Unit.
The School Career of Children With Hearing Loss in Different Primary Educational Settings—A Large Longitudinal Nationwide Study
Authors: van der Straaten Tirza F K , Briaire Jeroen J , Dirks Evelien , Soede Wim , Rieffe Carolien , Frijns Johan H M
Published: March 2021

Children with hearing loss (HL) are at risk for a lower educational achievement. This longitudinal study compared the school career of a nationwide Dutch cohort with and without HL based on descriptive data of the governmental authority Statistics Netherlands. From 2008 to 2018, 3,367,129 children, of whom 1,193 used cochlear implants (CIs) and 8,874 used hearing aids (HAs), were attending primary and/or secondary education. Sixty-one percent of children with HL attended mainstream and 31% special primary education. Compared to mainstreamed pupils without HL, mainstreamed pupils with HL achieved lower levels for language and mathematics in primary education but eventually attended comparable types of secondary education. Children with HL attending special primary education attained lower types of secondary education compared to mainstreamed peers with and without HL. These findings suggest that future educational (and as a result professional) attainment of a child with HL depends on the type of primary educational setting.
Poor school connectedness in adolescence and adulthood depressiveness: a longitudinal theory-driven study from the Northern Sweden Cohort
Authors: Gunnarsdóttir Hrafnhildur , Hensing Gunnel , Hammarström Anne
Published: March 2021

Background

Foundations for mental health are laid early in family and school life. Family climate embraces the emotional connections within a family, and school connectedness embraces both functional and affective dimensions of relationship with school. Based on the lack of theory-driven and longitudinal epidemiological studies addressing public mental health, the aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the associations between adolescents’ school connectedness, family climate and depressiveness in adulthood, by relying on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory.

Methods

The data are from the Northern Swedish Cohort, and the sample consists of 481 women and 526 men born in 1965 who participated in data collection at age 16, 21, 30 and 43. The generalized linear model method with random intercepts was used to examine the associations between family climate and school connectedness and depressiveness in adulthood.

Results

Poor school connectedness was associated with depressiveness in adulthood [β = 0.038 (95% CI 0.018–0.058) P ≤ 0.001], but poor family climate was not [β = 0.014 (95% CI −0.004–0.032)]. No difference in associations was observed between those experiencing social/material adversities in adolescence.

Conclusions

This study shows that poor school connectedness in adolescence can affect depressiveness in adulthood. The study confirms the complex processes that determine mental health and proposes a theoretical approach appealing to public mental health research. In addition, this study concludes that more life-course studies are needed to advance the knowledge of the mechanisms behind the associations between family climate and school connectedness and depressiveness in adulthood.
A closed-loop optogenetic screen for neurons controlling feeding in Drosophila
Authors: Lau Celia K S , Jelen Meghan , Gordon Michael D
Published: March 2021

Feeding is an essential part of animal life that is greatly impacted by the sense of taste. Although the characterization of taste-detection at the periphery has been extensive, higher order taste and feeding circuits are still being elucidated. Here, we use an automated closed-loop optogenetic activation screen to detect novel taste and feeding neurons in Drosophila melanogaster. Out of 122 Janelia FlyLight Project GAL4 lines preselected based on expression pattern, we identify six lines that acutely promote feeding and 35 lines that inhibit it. As proof of principle, we follow up on R70C07-GAL4, which labels neurons that strongly inhibit feeding. Using split-GAL4 lines to isolate subsets of the R70C07-GAL4 population, we find both appetitive and aversive neurons. Furthermore, we show that R70C07-GAL4 labels putative second-order taste interneurons that contact both sweet and bitter sensory neurons. These results serve as a resource for further functional dissection of fly feeding circuits.
Resolving the Early Divergence Pattern of Teleost Fish Using Genome-Scale Data
Authors: Takezaki Naoko
Published: March 2021

Regarding the phylogenetic relationship of the three primary groups of teleost fishes, Osteoglossomorpha (bonytongues and others), Elopomorpha (eels and relatives), Clupeocephala (the remaining teleost fish), early morphological studies hypothesized the first divergence of Osteoglossomorpha, whereas the recent prevailing view is the first divergence of Elopomorpha. Molecular studies supported all the possible relationships of the three primary groups. This study analyzed genome-scale data from four previous studies: 1) 412 genes from 12 species, 2) 772 genes from 15 species, 3) 1,062 genes from 30 species, and 4) 491 UCE loci from 27 species. The effects of the species, loci, and models used on the constructed tree topologies were investigated. In the analyses of the data sets (1)–(3), although the first divergence of Clupeocephala that left the other two groups in a sister relationship was supported by concatenated sequences and gene trees of all the species and genes, the first divergence of Elopomorpha among the three groups was supported using species and/or genes with low divergence of sequence and amino-acid frequencies. This result corresponded to that of the UCE data set (4), whose sequence divergence was low, which supported the first divergence of Elopomorpha with high statistical significance. The increase in accuracy of the phylogenetic construction by using species and genes with low sequence divergence was predicted by a phylogenetic informativeness approach and confirmed by computer simulation. These results supported that Elopomorpha was the first basal group of teleost fish to have diverged, consistent with the prevailing view of recent morphological studies.
Brain Small-Worldness Properties and Perceived Fatigue in Mild Cognitive Impairment
Authors: Kukla Bennett , Anthony Mia , Chen Shuyi , Turnbull Adam , Baran Timothy M , Lin Feng V
Published: March 2021

Background

Perceived fatigue is among the most common complaints in older adults and is substantially influenced by diminished resources or impaired structure of widespread cortical and subcortical regions. Alzheimer’s disease and its preclinical stage—mild cognitive impairment (MCI)—are considered a brain network disease. It is unknown, however, whether those with MCI will therefore perceive worse fatigue, and whether an impaired global brain network will worsen their experience of fatigue.

Methods

In this pilot case–control study of age-, sex-, and education-matched MCI and their cognitively healthy counterparts (HCs), perceived fatigue was measured using Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, and diffusion tensor imaging tractography data were analyzed using graph theory methods to explore small-worldness properties: segregation and integration.

Results

Perceived fatigue was more severe in MCI than HCs. Despite a trend for greater network alterations in MCI, there were no significant group differences in integration or segregation. Greater perceived fatigue was related to higher segregation across groups; more perceived fatigue was related to higher segregation and lower integration in MCI but not HCs.

Conclusion

Findings of this study support the notion that altered whole-brain small-worldness properties in brain aging or neurodegeneration may underpin perceived fatigue.
The Politics of the Anthropocene: Temporality, Ecology, and Indigeneity
Authors: Randazzo Elisa , Richter Hannah
Published: March 2021

The notion of the Anthropocene has become an instrumental backdrop against which post-foundational social theory and political research frame political action in a way that defies modern certainty and, somewhat paradoxically, anthropocentrism, under conditions of drastic ecological changes. But what exactly is the theoretical promise of the Anthropocene? This paper seeks to explore what the concept can offer to critical social science and, conversely, how these critical approaches define and locate the analytical and the political purchase of the Anthropocene, through the critical lens of Indigenous scholarship. The paper genealogically retraces the transition from a science-led, discontinuous-descriptive to a continuous-ontological conceptualization of the Anthropocene. It then unpacks how the notions of ecological relationality and non-human agency deployed in the latter closely parallel certain lines of argumentation in Indigenous thought and politics. Drawing on critical Indigenous studies, the paper formulates a critique of how relational perspectives enfold alternative ontologies and politics within an overarching Anthropocene ontology that is not only problematically universalizing, but also replaces the genuine engagement with differences and resistance.
Supplementing organic-complexed or inorganic Co, Cu, Mn, and Zn to beef cows during gestation: postweaning responses of offspring reared as replacement heifers or feeder cattle
Authors: Harvey Kelsey M , Cooke Reinaldo F , Colombo Eduardo A , Rett Bruna , de Sousa Osvaldo A , Harvey Lorin M , Russell Jason R , Pohler Ky G , Brandão Alice P
Published: March 2021

One hundred and ninety nonlactating, pregnant beef cows (¾ Bos taurus and ¼ Bos indicus; 138 multiparous and 52 primiparous) were assigned to this experiment at 117 ± 2.2 d of gestation (day 0). Cows were ranked by parity, pregnancy type (artificial insemination = 102, natural service = 88), body weight (BW) and body condition score, and assigned to receive a supplement containing: (1) sulfate sources of Cu, Co, Mn, and Zn (INR; n = 95) or (2) an organic complexed source of Cu, Mn, Co, and Zn (AAC; Availa4; Zinpro Corporation, Eden Prairie, MN; n = 95). The INR and AAC provided the same daily amount of Cu, Co, Mn, and Zn, based on 7 g of the AAC source. From day 0 to calving, cows were maintained in a single pasture and segregated 3 times weekly into 1 of 24 individual feeding pens to receive treatments. Calves were weaned on day 367 (200 ± 2 d of age), managed as a single group for a 45-d preconditioning period (days 367 to 412), and transferred to a single oat (Avena sativa L.) pasture on day 412. Heifer calves were moved to an adjacent oat pasture on day 437, where they remained until day 620. Heifer puberty status was verified weekly (days 437 to 619) based on plasma progesterone concentrations. Steer calves were shipped to a commercial feedlot on day 493, where they were managed as a single group until slaughter (day 724). Plasma cortisol concentration was greater (P = 0.05) in AAC calves at weaning but tended to be less (P = 0.10) on day 370 compared with INR calves. Mean plasma haptoglobin concentration was greater (P = 0.03) in INR vs. AAC calves during preconditioning, and no treatment effects were noted (P = 0.76) for preconditioning average daily gain (ADG). Puberty attainment was hastened in AAC heifers during the experiment (treatment × day; P < 0.01), despite similar (P = 0.39) ADG between treatments from days 412 to 620. Expression of myogenin mRNA in the longissimus muscle was greater (P = 0.05) in INR vs. AAC heifers on day 584. No treatment effects were detected (P ≥ 0.24) for steer ADG from day 412 until slaughter, nor for carcass quality traits. Hepatic mRNA expression of metallothionein 1A was greater (P = 0.02) in INR vs. AAC steers on day 586. In summary, supplementing Co, Cu, Zn, and Mn as organic complexed instead of sulfate sources to beef cows during the last 5 mo of gestation did not improve performance and physiological responses of the steer progeny until slaughter, but hastened puberty attainment in the female progeny reared as replacement heifers.
Determining the stability of accuracy of genomic estimated breeding values in future generations in commercial pig populations
Authors: Hollifield Mary Kate , Lourenco Daniela , Bermann Matias , Howard Jeremy T , Misztal Ignacy
Published: March 2021

Genomic information has a limited dimensionality (number of independent chromosome segments [Me]) related to the effective population size. Under the additive model, the persistence of genomic accuracies over generations should be high when the nongenomic information (pedigree and phenotypes) is equivalent to Me animals with high accuracy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the decay in accuracy over time and to compare the magnitude of decay with varying quantities of data and with traits of low and moderate heritability. The dataset included 161,897 phenotypic records for a growth trait (GT) and 27,669 phenotypic records for a fitness trait (FT) related to prolificacy in a population with dimensionality around 5,000. The pedigree included 404,979 animals from 2008 to 2020, of which 55,118 were genotyped. Two single-trait models were used with all ancestral data and sliding subsets of 3-, 2-, and 1-generation intervals. Single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction (ssGBLUP) was used to compute genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV). Estimated accuracies were calculated by the linear regression (LR) method. The validation population consisted of single generations succeeding the training population and continued forward for all generations available. The average accuracy for the first generation after training with all ancestral data was 0.69 and 0.46 for GT and FT, respectively. The average decay in accuracy from the first generation after training to generation 9 was −0.13 and −0.19 for GT and FT, respectively. The persistence of accuracy improves with more data. Old data have a limited impact on the predictions for young animals for a trait with a large amount of information but a bigger impact for a trait with less information.
Discovery of ammosesters by mining the Streptomyces uncialis DCA2648 genome revealing new insight into ammosamide biosynthesis
Authors: Luo Jun , Yang Dong , Hindra  , Adhikari Ajeeth , Dong Liao-Bin , Ye Fei , Yan Xiaohui , Rader Christoph , Shen Ben
Published: March 2021

The ammosamides (AMMs) are a family of pyrroloquinoline alkaloids that exhibits a wide variety of bioactivities. A biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) that is highly homologous in both gene content and genetic organization to the amm BGC was identified by mining the Streptomyces uncialis DCA2648 genome, leading to the discovery of a sub-family of new AMM congeners, named ammosesters (AMEs). The AMEs feature a C-4a methyl ester, differing from the C-4a amide functional group characteristic to AMMs, and exhibit modest cytotoxicity against a broad spectrum of human cancer cell lines, expanding the structure–activity relationship for the pyrroloquinoline family of natural products. Comparative analysis of the ame and amm BGCs supports the use of a scaffold peptide as an emerging paradigm for the biosynthesis of the pyrroloquinoline family of natural products. AME and AMM biosynthesis diverges from a common intermediate by evolving the pathway-specific Ame24 O-methyltransferase and Amm20 amide synthetase, respectively. These findings will surely inspire future efforts to mimic Nature's combinatorial biosynthetic strategies for natural product structural diversity.
Death by Reinterpretation: Dynamics of Norm Contestation and the US Ban on Assassination in the Reagan Years
Authors: Trenta Luca
Published: March 2021

Recent scholarship analyzes norm dynamics in the US context using the prohibition on assassination contained in Executive Order 12333 as the relevant norm. These studies argue that—before 9/11—the ban on assassination was largely uncontested and effectively constrained US foreign policy. In doing so, these studies overlook the impact of the Reagan administration on the evolution of the ban. This article establishes that the Reagan administration engaged in a concerted, and largely successful, effort to undermine the ban. The article relies on scholarship on norm contestation and norm robustness. The analysis identifies key features of the ban as a norm, including its ambiguity and executive character. It highlights the role and power of a cluster of US officials led by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Casey. Crucially, the analysis traces the prominence of dynamics of contestation of the ban in the context of unconventional warfare and counterterrorism. In line with existing scholarship, the analysis finds cases of validity contestation, meaning contestation, and applicatory contestation. Contrary to existing scholarship, however, the analysis stresses the radical nature of actors’ attempts to shrink the remit of the ban through applicatory contestation. This contestation was often made superfluous by the blurring—through meaning contestation—of the expectations set by the norm. A historically grounded analysis of contestation during the Reagan years provides a better understanding of how US officials (re)shaped the ban, establishing precedents for the legal, political, and discursive conventions surrounding assassination deployed after 9/11.
No Longer a ‘Lost Generation’? Opportunities and Obstacles of Online and Blended Learning Programmes for Syrian Refugees in Jordan and Lebanon
Authors: REINPRECHT CONSTANTIN , SUTER RENATA , PARRY BRONWYN , RAMPELT FLORIAN
Published: March 2021

The displacement of a large number of Syrians has resulted in interrupted and protracted education pathways for many young Syrians. Although access to higher education (HE) has been recognised as central to avoid creating a ‘lost generation’, refugees in host countries face considerable barriers to access HE, such as cost, capacity and lack of documents. Online and blended learning opportunities have been proposed as one solution in resource-constrained environments. However, refugees’ online learning capabilities and preferences remain poorly understood, as existing research has mainly relied on key stakeholders without involving refugees directly. This article presents results from a survey of 350 secondary level educated Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon conducted in 2017. We assess their online learning capabilities and subject preferences, and show how adapting online learning materials to enable smartphone learning with low bandwidth would significantly increase the potential pool of online education students. We discuss how educational organisations can best adopt these findings to improve access to HE for refugees.
Transversus abdominis plane block for lumboperitoneal shunt surgery in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: a case report
Authors: Cho Jinduck , Yeo Jinseok , Chang Sung Hyun , Yoon Sang-Youl , Park Seong-Hyun , Kang Kyunghun , Kim Chi-Hun , Hahm Myong Hun , Park Eunhee , Park Ki-Su
Published: March 2021

The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is an ideal pain control method used in surgeries that require abdominal wall incisions through the injection of an anesthetic solution into the plane between the internal oblique muscle and transversus abdominis muscle. Herein, we report an 83-year-old man who was diagnosed with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) and underwent lumboperitoneal shunt surgery (LPS). The TAP block was performed before LPS, and the numerical rating scale for pain was 0 at day 1 after the surgery. The patient was discharged early at day 3 after surgery despite the patient being extremely old, as he reported quick relief from the postoperative abdominal pain. The TAP block can hence be considered for use before LPS in elderly patients with iNPH.
Performing Berlin
Authors: Alexander Phil
Published: March 2021

This chapter offers a personal response to some of Berlin’s silent Jewish memorial spaces. It is a self-consciously symbolic and reflexive contrast to the sense of joyful noise that dominates the rest of the book. Beyond an aural version of erasure, unspeakability, or the space for reflection upon it, the chapter argues that these silent spaces must always be heard as part of their surrounding urban environment, refracting wider spatial practices and dis/order. When conventions are reversed—when the present is silent—the past can resound in surprising and provocative ways, collapsing spatial and temporal borders and escaping the ritualized boundaries of formal commemoration. This is explored through two different memorial situations: the disturbing resonances and transgressive processes of a collective silent walk and Gleis 17 railway memorial’s opening up of heterotopic “gaps” in time. Each of these examples, in different ways, frames a slippage between urban sound and memorial silence, creating a parallel symbolic space that the past and the present can inhabit simultaneously. In its unpredictable fluidity, silence becomes a mobile and subversive force, producing an imaginative space that is ambiguous, affective, and deeply meaningful. The chapter argues that the contemporary urban soundscape that slips through these silent cracks problematizes the narrative hegemony of memorial itself.
History Adrift; Subjectivity Probed (Peer Gynt)
Authors: Gjesdal Kristin
Published: March 2021

Throughout the 1860s, we see a transition in Scandinavia from Sturm und Drang to Hegelianism. This transition is at the heart of Chapter 2, which discusses Hegel’s theory of art, his understanding of selfhood, and the reception of his work in Scandinavia. Ibsen relates to this reception. This is particularly clear in Peer Gynt, a play that features a character with the Hegelian name Herr Begriffenfeldt. Through his portrait of the charming, yet thoroughly self-centered Peer Gynt, Ibsen, with humor and irony, draws on, but also goes beyond Hegelian theory, especially his commitment to the notion of a historical teleology pointing the way post-Revolutionary Europe. Through Peer’s encounter with Herr Begriffenfeldt, Ibsen sheds light on Hegel’s problematic treatment of non-European cultures.
Tragedy and Tradition (Ghosts)
Authors: Gjesdal Kristin
Published: March 2021

“Tragedy and Tradition” explores the transition from Hegelianism to Nietzscheanism among Scandinavian intellectuals. Toward the late 1870s, Nietzsche’s work gradually gained traction among Scandinavian intellectuals and poets. Ibsen is no exception. This is particularly clear in Ghosts. Borrowing from classical tragedy, Ghosts explores the possibility of breaking with the past and presents a modern family tragedy that is both tangential to and critical of Nietzsche’s call for a return to classical, tragic culture.
Women, Intimate Partner Violence, and the Law
Authors: Douglas Heather
Published: March 2021

This book explores how women from diverse backgrounds interact with the law in response to intimate partner violence, over time. Every year, millions of women globally turn to law to help them live lives free and safe from violence. Women engage with child protection services and police. They apply for civil protection orders and family court orders to help them manage their children’s contact with a violent father, and take special visa pathways to avoid deportation following separation from an abuser. Women are often compelled to interact with law, through their abuser’s myriad legal applications against them. While separation may seem like a solution, it often accelerates legal engagement, providing new opportunities for continued abuse. Countless women who have experienced intimate partner violence are enmeshed in overlapping, complex, and often inconsistent legal processes. They have both fleeting and longer-term connections with legal system actors. Their stories demonstrate how abusers harness multiple aspects of the legal process, and its actors, to continue their abuse. They also highlight the regular failure of legal processes and actors to comprehend the significance of nonphysical abuse. Women show how legal system actors’ common expectation that separation is a single event, rather than a process, has implications for their connections with law and the outcomes they achieve. From time to time, the women in this study attained the safety and closure they sought from law, sometimes in circular and unexpected ways, but their narratives demonstrate the level of endurance, tenacity, and time this often required.
Transformations of Tradition
Authors: Quadri Junaid
Published: March 2021

This book is a study of the Muslim world’s entanglement with colonial modernity. More specifically, it is an historical examination of the development of the long-standing, indigenous tradition of learning and praxis known as Islamic law (shariʿa, fiqh) as a result of its imbalanced interaction with new European modes of knowing during, and in the immediate aftermath of, the colonial experience. Drawing upon the writings of jurist-scholars from the Ḥanafī school of law writing in Cairo, Kazan, Lucknow, Baghdad, and Istanbul, Transformations of Tradition reveals several central shifts in Islamic legal writing that throw into doubt the possibility of reading its later trajectory through the lens of a continuous “tradition.” By focusing especially on the work of Muḥammad Bakhīt al-Muṭīʿī, Mufti of Egypt for a time and a leading scholar at the Azhar, Transformations of Tradition shows that the colonial moment of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a significant rupture in how Muslim jurists understood history and authority, science and technology, and religion and the secular, thereby upending the very ground upon which Islamic law had until then functioned.
Introduction
Authors: Quadri Junaid
Published: March 2021

The Introduction lays out the central themes, arguments, and problematics of the book. It introduces both Muḥammad Bakhīt al-Muṭīʿī, the figure at the center of our investigation, as well as the Irshād Ahl al-Milla ilā Ithbāt al-Ahilla, the treatise on which much of the book’s analysis focuses. A relatively unheralded text ostensibly written by Bakhīt as a response to questions forwarded to him on the ritual fasting of Ramadan in an age of increased communication, the Irshād serves as a signal example of a modern text written by a seemingly traditional scholar in conventional language that nonetheless adopts key premises of modernity. This text, I argue, raises qualms about the use of the category of “tradition” to explain the Islamic law of this period, which is instead conditioned by a colonial modernity and responsive to the demands of Egyptian modernists.
Colonialism, Translation, and Seduction
Authors: Quadri Junaid
Published: March 2021

Chapter 3 considers what precisely it means to say that Bakhīt is a colonial figure. Given that this book places his ideas within the context of a modernity conditioned by the specter of colonialism, this chapter uncovers how colonialism figures in his writings. Examining his contributions to a new genre of literature that attempted to harmonize Islam and modern science, I argue that Bakhīt fits squarely within a colonial discourse premised on what Homi Bhabha has called mimicry. For Bhabha, mimicry does not mean a complete capitulation, but rather is indicative of an ambivalence and partiality characteristic of the native subject whose difference from the European always looms over the encounter. Bakhīt’s writings, then, constitute a partial discourse in which he at once reaffirms the modern scientism of the colonizing power and asserts an independent Arab-Islamic civilization with an illustrious past that is available for reactivation.
Religion, the Secular, and Language
Authors: Quadri Junaid
Published: March 2021

Chapter 5 examines the impact of processes of secularization on Bakhīt’s thought. Despite being strongly opposed to the encroaching influence of secularist arguments such as that of ʿAlī ʿAbd al-Rāziq, this chapter seeks to outline how Bakhīt comes to reformulate the category of religion in a peculiarly modern way indicative of a certain type of secularity. This question emerges from the problematic with which I opened in the introduction: namely, the fiqhī validity of “religious reports” transmitted by new telegraphic technology. Whereas the prevailing Ḥanafī tradition was interested in regulating, constraining, and guiding human sociality through the maintenance of procedural parameters within which knowledge reports became “actionable” because they were circulated through the proper judicial authorities, Bakhīt is interested in emphasizing “religious matters” as intellectual entities, independent of the materiality of judicial institutions and new technologies. This stands in contrast to the integrated worldview which informed premodern shariʿa in which sociality and proceduralism were constitutive features of what it meant to do law.
What Do We Mean by “Reading” and “Reader”?
Authors: Baron Naomi S.
Published: March 2021

Chapter 1 sets the stage for talking about the reading process. The discussion opens by considering what we mean by “reading”, including how our understanding of the notion of literacy has evolved in recent decades. Just as there are many types of reading, there’s much variety among readers. We need to be mindful of this variety when thinking about the ways people approach print, screen, and audio. Key factors include age, gender, our reason for reading, motivation, and personal preferences. It’s also important to understand the role our senses play in the reading process. Use of our eyes (and how they move) is obvious, but also relevant is our sense of touch.
Print Reading: A Gold Standard?
Authors: Baron Naomi S.
Published: March 2021

Chapter 3 looks at how much reading adolescents and young adults are now doing. Their amount of leisure reading is startlingly low. The picture is equally worrisome for completing school reading assignments. After reviewing previous studies of college reading compliance, the chapter presents a study conducted by the author and a Norwegian colleague exploring faculty perspectives on student reading: how much faculty are assigning, how much reading they believe students are doing, and perceived effects of digital technology on both. It’s common to assume print as a “gold standard” against which to measure digital reading. But in reality, most readers most of the time don’t measure up when using print. The chapter concludes by considering a range of traditional strategies for reading print in learning contexts and asks which strategies might apply to digital or audio reading, and which are actually effective for print.
Strategizing Reading in a Digital World
Authors: Baron Naomi S.
Published: March 2021

Chapter 9 considers how reading practices are embedded in broader societal trends, especially those involving digital technology. One important development is a move from the durable to the ephemeral. This transformation is reflected in progressively choosing experiences over possessions. It also surfaces in acquiring digital over physical versions of possessions, even though users judge the physical as more valuable. Growing use of digital technologies may be leading readers using print to adopt the mindset typically associated with reading digitally. We have seen from the research that digital reading is often shallow and done quickly, frequently while multitasking. Is this the fate of print reading as well? Already some readers report print reading is boring, compared with the potential entertainment opportunities with digital. The chapter closes with suggestions for both print and digital reading in a digital world, including Maryanne Wolf’s model of biliteracy.
“The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Fiddlin’ John Carson, “Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane,” old-time music, Okeh Records, location recording, Ralph S. Peer
“Woman’s Suffrage”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses George Reneau, “Woman’s Suffrage,” old-time music, and one-man bands
“When the Work’s All Done This Fall”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Carl Sprague, “When The Work’s All Done This Fall,” cowboy songs, Victor Records, and Ralph S. Peer
“Seneca Square Dance”/“Echoes of the Ozarks”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Fiddlin’ Sam Long, “Seneca Square Dance,” “Echoes of the Ozarks,” old-time fiddling, Gennett Records, and fiddlers’ contests
“Where We’ll Never Grow Old”/“Pictures from Life’s Other Side”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Smith’s Sacred Singers, “Where We’ll Never Grow Old,” “Pictures from Life’s Other Side,”sacred songs, and quartet singing
“I’m a Stern Old Bachelor”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Chubby Parker, “I’m a Stern Old Bachelor,” minstrelsy, banjo, and WLS National Barn Dance
“A Corn Licker Still in Georgia”—Parts 1 and 2
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Gid Tanner, Riley Puckett, Clayton McMichen, “A Corn Licker Still in Georgia”, rural humor, stringband, Frank B. Walker, Columbia Records
“Davy”/“Greenback Dollar”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Weems String Band, “Davy” “Greenback Dollar”, stringband, old-time music
“Hog Eye”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Pope’s Arkansas Mountaineers, “Hog Eye”, stringband, sexual metaphor, Ralph S. Peer, location recording, and old-time music
“A Fiddler’s Contest”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Tennessee Ramblers, “A Fiddler’s Contest”, stringband, old-time music, family band, female musicians, Brunswick Records
“Stay in the Wagon Yard”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses “Peg” Moreland, “Stay in the Wagon Yard”, old-time music, country vs. city, and Victor Records
“When the Roses Bloom for the Bootlegger”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Roy Harvey, Earl Shirkey, “When the Roses Bloom for the Bootlegger”, Prohibition, parody, yodeling, and old-time music
“Haunted Hunter”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Billie Maxwell, “Haunted Hunter”, ghosts & the supernatural, Ralph S.Peer, Victor Records, and location recording
“Down on Penny’s Farm”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses The Benteley Boys, “Down on Penny’s Farm”, topical songs, Great Depression, agricultural conditions, and old-time music
“Salvation Is for All”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Rev. Edward Boone, “Salvation Is for All”, sacred songs, Nazarene Church, family bands, and Gennett Records
“Forty Per Cent”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Earl McCoy, Alfred Meng, Clem Garner, “Forty Per Cent”, comic strips, Hawaiian guitar, and old-time music
“Flat Wheel Train Blues”—Nos. 1 and 2
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Red Gay, Jack Wellman, “Flat Wheel Train Blues”—No. 1 & 2, train songs, rural humor, old-time fiddling, Brunswick Records, location recording, and radio
“That’s My Rabbit—My Dog Caught It”
Authors: Russell Tony
Published: March 2021

This chapter discusses Walter Family, “That’s My Rabbit—My Dog Caught It”, stringband, old-time music, family bands, and Gennett Records