bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lab-on-chip systems for integrated bioanalyses
Authors: Conde João Pedro , Madaboosi Narayanan , Soares Ruben R.G. , Fernandes João Tiago S. , Novo Pedro , Moulas Geraud , Chu Virginia
Published: June 2016

Biomolecular detection systems based on microfluidics are often called lab-on-chip systems. To fully benefit from the miniaturization resulting from microfluidics, one aims to develop ‘from sample-to-answer’ analytical systems, in which the input is a raw or minimally processed biological, food/feed or environmental sample and the output is a quantitative or qualitative assessment of one or more analytes of interest. In general, such systems will require the integration of several steps or operations to perform their function. This review will discuss these stages of operation, including fluidic handling, which assures that the desired fluid arrives at a specific location at the right time and under the appropriate flow conditions; molecular recognition, which allows the capture of specific analytes at precise locations on the chip; transduction of the molecular recognition event into a measurable signal; sample preparation upstream from analyte capture; and signal amplification procedures to increase sensitivity. Seamless integration of the different stages is required to achieve a point-of-care/point-of-use lab-on-chip device that allows analyte detection at the relevant sensitivity ranges, with a competitive analysis time and cost.
Nonlinear separate spin evolution in degenerate electron-positron-ion plasmas
Authors: Iqbal Z. , Andreev Pavel A.
Published: June 2016

The non-linear evolution of spin-electron acoustic, positron-acoustic, and spin-electron-positron acoustic waves is considered. It is demonstrated that weakly nonlinear dynamics of each wave leads to the soliton formation. Altogether, we report on the existence of three different solitons. The spin-electron acoustic soliton known for electron-ion plasmas is described for electron-positron-ion plasmas for the first time. The existence of the spin-electron-positron acoustic soliton is reported for the first time. The positron-acoustic soliton and the spin-electron-positron acoustic soliton arise as the areas of a positive electric potential. The spin-electron acoustic soliton behaves as the area of a negative electric potential at the relatively small positron imbalance n0p/n0e=0.1 and as the area of a positive electric potential at the relatively large positron imbalance n0p/n0e=0.5.
Studies in the metabolism of Plant Cells VII. The Quantitative Relation Between Salt Accumulation and Salt Respiration
Authors: Robertson RN , J Wilkins Marjorie
Published: June 2016

The mechanism of the accumulation of salts in plant cells has been thesubject of much investigation. Lundegardh (1945, 1946, 1947), in restating hishypothesis of salt accumulation, shows how the salt or anion respiration, bycausing transport 'Of anions, could provide a me~hanism of accumulation. It hasbeen shown (Robertson and Wilkins 1947) that the quantitative evidence availableis not inconsistent with this hypothesis. In this paper the hypothesis willbe discussed and the evidence will be given in detail.
Studies on The Nitrogen Metabolism of Plants VII. Toxicity of Some Oximes and Oximino·Acids to Azotobacter and Their Utilization
Authors: Wood JG , Hone MR , Mattner ME , Symons CP
Published: June 2016

Nitrogen added to plants either as ammonium or nitrate ion results inincreases in amounts of both proteins and amino-acids and usually also in theamides asparagine and glutamine. However, evidence is accumulating whichsuggests that differences in metabolism occur according as the plants are providedwith either ammonium salts or nitrates.
The Production of Methane and Hydrogen by the Sheep
Authors: Pilgrim AF
Published: June 2016

As the energy represented by the combustible gases evolved during fermentationin the intestinal tract constitutes a considerable proportiQn of the energy ofthe digestion products, the precise estimation of methane, which is the combustiblegas normally produced, is essential when considering the energy transactionsof ruminants
Influence of ammonia oxidation rate on thaumarchaeal lipid composition and the TEX
86
temperature proxy
Authors: Hurley Sarah J. , Elling Felix J. , Könneke Martin , Buchwald Carolyn , Wankel Scott D. , Santoro Alyson E. , Lipp Julius Sebastian , Hinrichs Kai-Uwe , Pearson Ann
Published: June 2016

Significance

The membrane lipids of marine Archaea form the basis of the temperature proxy called TEX
86
, which is used for paleoclimate reconstructions from the Jurassic to the present. To date there remains no satisfactory explanation for how planktonic Archaea are able to record water column temperatures, because TEX
86
does not correlate well with in situ growth temperatures in the modern ocean. Here we show that the TEX
86
lipid ratio changes in response to cellular growth rate, which is controlled by the ammonia oxidation rate. This implies that variation in the TEX
86
ratio with water depth is influenced by the metabolic activity of Thaumarchaeota in the water column.
Early multisensory integration of self and source motion in the auditory system
Authors: Wigderson Eyal , Nelken Israel , Yarom Yosef
Published: June 2016

Significance

A moving organism is constantly bombarded by sensory information, much of which originates from the movement itself. The organism has to disentangle self-generated sensations from the rest of the sensory input to correctly guide its behavior. This study addresses this problem in the sound localization system where the organism has to discriminate between movement of a sound source and a perceived movement of sound due to self-movement. Here, we demonstrate that the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), at the very first stage of central auditory processing, integrates its auditory and vestibular information. We show that, as a result of this multisensory integration, the DCN already holds the information necessary to accomplish this task.
Sleeping Beautyscreen revealsPpargactivation in metastatic prostate cancer
Authors: Ahmad Imran , Mui Ernest , Galbraith Laura , Patel Rachana , Tan Ee Hong , Salji Mark , Rust Alistair G. , Repiscak Peter , Hedley Ann , Markert Elke , Loveridge Carolyn , van der Weyden Louise , Edwards Joanne , Sansom Owen J. , Adams David J. , Leung Hing Y.
Published: June 2016

Significance

Using an unbiased forward mutagenesis screen, we were able to successfully identify candidate genes that drive advanced and metastatic prostate cancer (CaP). Alterations of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG), encoding a regulator crucial of lipid metabolism, appear to play a role in the development of metastatic CaP in both humans and mice.
Structural basis for sulfation-dependent self-glycan recognition by the human immune-inhibitory receptor Siglec-8
Authors: Pröpster Johannes M. , Yang Fan , Rabbani Said , Ernst Beat , Allain Frédéric H.-T. , Schubert Mario
Published: June 2016

Significance

Siglec-8 downregulates eosinophil- and mast cell-mediated inflammatory responses upon engagement by specific self-glycans. We used solution NMR spectroscopy to determine the structure of the N-terminal lectin domain of human Siglec-8 in complex with its preferred glycan target 6′-sulfo sialyl Lewis
x
. Quantitative binding studies with differently sulfated glycans and structure-based mutants demonstrate that Siglec-8 simultaneously recognizes a terminal
N
-acetylneuraminic acid (sialic acid) and an underlying 6-
O
–sulfated galactose, yielding a tight and unique specificity. We offer direct structural and mechanistic insights into how the self-glycan code is deciphered by Siglec-8, emphasize the crucial role of glycan sulfation in immunological control of inflammation, and provide a rational framework for designing Siglec-8 agonists to harness its signaling pathway in allergic and inflammatory disorders.
Cluster failure: Why fMRI inferences for spatial extent have inflated false-positive rates
Authors: Eklund Anders , Nichols Thomas E. , Knutsson Hans
Published: June 2016

Significance

Functional MRI (fMRI) is 25 years old, yet surprisingly its most common statistical methods have not been validated using real data. Here, we used resting-state fMRI data from 499 healthy controls to conduct 3 million task group analyses. Using this null data with different experimental designs, we estimate the incidence of significant results. In theory, we should find 5% false positives (for a significance threshold of 5%), but instead we found that the most common software packages for fMRI analysis (SPM, FSL, AFNI) can result in false-positive rates of up to 70%. These results question the validity of a number of fMRI studies and may have a large impact on the interpretation of weakly significant neuroimaging results.
Mapping transcription factor interactome networks using HaloTag protein arrays
Authors: Yazaki Junshi , Galli Mary , Kim Alice Y. , Nito Kazumasa , Aleman Fernando , Chang Katherine N. , Carvunis Anne-Ruxandra , Quan Rosa , Nguyen Hien , Song Liang , Alvarez José M. , Huang Shao-shan Carol , Chen Huaming , Ramachandran Niroshan , Altmann Stefan , Gutiérrez Rodrigo A. , Hill David E. , Schroeder Julian I. , Chory Joanne , LaBaer Joshua , Vidal Marc , Braun Pascal , Ecker Joseph R.
Published: June 2016

Significance

Using a newly developed technology, HaloTag nucleic acid programmable protein array (HaloTag-NAPPA), we increase the capacity of in situ protein microarray technology several-fold, such that proteome-scale screening becomes feasible. Many examples of novel protein–protein interactions (PPIs) among plant signaling pathways were observed. With few exceptions, nearly all of these connections are undocumented in the existing literature. This study has resulted in an important new resource for the plant biology community—a plant transcription factor-anchored protein–protein interaction network map. Such transcription factor- and transcriptional regulator-based PPI networks may help in the identification of novel genes for use in the improvement of agronomic traits such as grain quality, disease resistance, and stress tolerance.
Macronutrient ratios in pollen shape bumble bee (
Bombus impatiens
) foraging strategies and floral preferences
Authors: Vaudo Anthony D. , Patch Harland M. , Mortensen David A. , Tooker John F. , Grozinger Christina M.
Published: June 2016

Significance

Bees pollinate the majority of flowering plant species, including agricultural crops. The pollen they obtain is their main protein and lipid source that fuels development and reproduction. Bee populations are declining globally, in large part because of landscape-level loss of host-plant species contributing to a nutritional shortage. To mitigate declines, we must understand how the nutritional requirements of bees influence foraging behavior. We demonstrate that bumble bees selectively collect pollen from host-plant species based on the protein:lipid ratios of pollen. Our research indicates that bees evaluate pollen quality and adjust foraging decisions to meet their nutritional needs. To be effective, conservation initiatives must include host-plant species that provide pollen that satisfies the nutritional demands of bees to support their populations.
Direct calorimetric verification of thermodynamic instability of lead halide hybrid perovskites
Authors: Nagabhushana G. P. , Shivaramaiah Radha , Navrotsky Alexandra
Published: June 2016

Significance

Organic metal halide perovskites are a promising class of materials for next-generation solar cells. However, they are chemically labile, raising questions of thermodynamic stability and posing a significant challenge for their use. This paper provides direct calorimetric measurements of their heats of formation from binary halide constituents. The positive formation enthalpy of methylammonium lead iodide from MAI and PbI
2
(MA = methylammonium) confirms thermodynamic instability, thus limiting long-term persistence even in the absence of air, moisture, heat, or light. The enthalpy of formation of the iodide, bromide, and chloride perovskite becomes less positive with increasing Goldschmidt tolerance factor, suggesting a criterion in the search for more stable hybrid perovskites.
piRNA pathway is not required for antiviral defense in
Drosophila melanogaster
Authors: Petit Marine , Mongelli Vanesa , Frangeul Lionel , Blanc Hervé , Jiggins Francis , Saleh Maria-Carla
Published: June 2016

Significance

In animals, one of the main forms of RNA interference involves Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), which protect genomes against the activity of transposable elements. Several groups have recently described piRNAs from viruses in mosquitoes and suggested their involvement in antiviral defense. To understand the extent to which the piRNA pathway contributes to antiviral defense in insects, we used
Drosophila melanogaster
and different viruses. Using high-throughput sequencing, we were unable to find any evidence of piRNAs from viruses in flies. Furthermore, flies lacking components of the piRNA pathway were not unusually susceptible to viral infection. Taken together, our results indicate that fundamental differences have arisen between the antiviral defenses of flies and mosquitoes since they last shared a common ancestor >200 Mya.
Htm1p–Pdi1p is a folding-sensitive mannosidase that marks N-glycoproteins for ER-associated protein degradation
Authors: Liu Yi-Chang , Fujimori Danica Galonić , Weissman Jonathan S.
Published: June 2016

Significance

During the biogenesis of proteins destined for the secretory pathway, proteins that fail to fold correctly are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and targeted for degradation through a quality-control system called “ER-associated protein degradation” (ERAD), but how misfolded proteins are defined has remained unknown. Here we studied the ERAD pathway for misfolded N-glycoproteins, whose ERAD commitment requires the generation of a unique N-glycan structure by the action of the complex of the mannosidase Htm1p and the protein disulfide isomerase Pdi1p (Htm1p–Pdi1p). We found that Htm1p–Pdi1p differentiates the conformations of different N-glycoproteins and preferentially targets proteins trapped in partially structured states. In summary, our study reveals a conformational standard of how ERAD targets the right proteins for degradation.
Mind the gap? Civil society policy engagement and the pursuit of gender justice: critical discourse analysis of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in Africa 2003–2015
Authors: Chaney Paul
Published: June 2016

This article presents critical discourse analysis of state and civil society organisations’ efforts to implement the gender mainstreaming goals set out in the United Nations’ Beijing Declaration. It is argued that the latter represents a generational opportunity to apply a Feminist Political Economic Framework to development in Africa. However, the research findings show how current practice falls short of the sought-after participative democratic model of mainstreaming. Instead, analysis reveals significant differences in state and civil society organisations’ policy framing, issues over conceptual clarity and a disjuncture in state and civil society prioritisation of key gendered issues such as poverty, economic inequality and conflict resolution. This matters because it indicates that the capacity of the civil sphere to act as a political arena from which NGOs may challenge the traditionally male-dominated power structures is being undermined by a ‘disconnect’ between state and civil society as they pursue contrasting agendas.
The Joint Flanker Effect and the Joint Simon Effect: On the Comparability of Processes Underlying Joint Compatibility Effects
Authors: Dittrich Kerstin , Bossert Marie-Luise , Rothe-Wulf Annelie , Klauer Karl Christoph
Published: June 2016

Previous studies observed compatibility effects in different interference paradigms such as the Simon and flanker task even when the task was distributed across two co-actors. In both Simon and flanker tasks, performance is improved in compatible trials relative to incompatible trials if one actor works on the task alone as well as if two co-actors share the task. These findings have been taken to indicate that actors automatically co-represent their co-actor's task. However, recent research on the joint Simon and joint flanker effect suggests alternative non-social interpretations. To which degree both joint effects are driven by the same underlying processes is the question of the present study, and it was scrutinized by manipulating the visibility of the co-actor. While the joint Simon effect was not affected by the visibility of the co-actor, the joint flanker effect was reduced when participants did not see their co-actors but knew where the co-actors were seated. These findings provide further evidence for a spatial interpretation of the joint Simon effect. In contrast to recent claims, however, we propose a new explanation of the joint flanker effect that attributes the effect to an impairment in the focusing of spatial attention contingent on the visibility of the co-actor.
Assessing the SDGs from the point of view of global social governance
Authors: Deacon Bob
Published: June 2016

This article assesses the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in terms of their contribution to improved global social governance. As a global policy-making process they are commended. As a set of global social policy aspirations the SDGs are the first global social policy. In terms of the contributions the SDG document makes to improving the architecture of global social governance it is found to fail. It fails in the field of global redistribution, global taxation, global regulation and in the field of the realisation of global social rights. The SDGs document embodies a reversal in policy-making away from a concern to construct improved global governance institutions back to an era of strengthening national sovereignty. The anti-structural adjustment sentiments of the 1980s cast their shadow over attempts to construct a socially responsible globalisation in the 2010s. The SDGs do make suggestions regarding the role of regionalism in meeting the goals and targets and indeed the article suggests reforms in regional social governance might be a more productive route to follow.
Shared Gene Expression Patterns in Mesenchymal Progenitors Derived from Lung and Epidermis in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Identifying Key Pathways in Pulmonary Vascular Disease
Authors: Gaskill Christa , Marriott Shennea , Pratap Sidd , Menon Swapna , Hedges Lora K. , Fessel Joshua P. , Kropski Jonathan A. , Ames DeWayne , Wheeler Lisa , Loyd James E. , Hemnes Anna R. , Roop Dennis R. , Klemm Dwight J. , Austin Eric D. , Majka Susan M.
Published: June 2016

Rapid access to lung‐derived cells from stable subjects is a major challenge in the pulmonary hypertension field, given the relative contraindication of lung biopsy. In these studies, we sought to demonstrate the importance of evaluating a cell type that actively participates in disease processes, as well as the potential to translate these findings to vascular beds in other nonlung tissues, in this instance perivascular skin mesenchymal cells (MCs). We utilized posttransplant or autopsy lung explant–derived cells (ABCG2‐expressing mesenchymal progenitor cells [MPCs], fibroblasts) and skin‐derived MCs to test the hypothesis that perivascular ABCG2 MPCs derived from pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patient lung and skin would express a gene profile reflective of ongoing vascular dysfunction. By analyzing the genetic signatures and pathways associated with abnormal ABCG2 lung MPC phenotypes during PAH and evaluating them in lung‐ and skin‐derived MCs, we have identified potential predictor genes for detection of PAH as well as a targetable mechanism to restore MPCs and microvascular function. These studies are the first to explore the utility of expanding the study of ABCG2 MPC regulation of the pulmonary microvasculature to the epidermis, in order to identify potential markers for adult lung vascular disease, such as PAH.
Pulmonary Vascular and Ventricular Dysfunction in the Susceptible Patient (2015 Grover Conference Series)
Authors: Maron Bradley A. , Machado Roberto F. , Shimoda Larissa
Published: June 2016

Pulmonary blood vessel structure and tone are maintained by a complex interplay between endogenous vasoactive factors and oxygen‐sensing intermediaries. Under physiological conditions, these signaling networks function as an adaptive interface between the pulmonary circulation and environmental or acquired perturbations to preserve oxygenation and maintain systemic delivery of oxygen‐rich hemoglobin. Chronic exposure to hypoxia, however, triggers a range of pathogenetic mechanisms that include hypoxia‐inducible factor 1α (HIF‐1α)–dependent upregulation of the vasoconstrictor peptide endothelin 1 in pulmonary endothelial cells. In pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells, chronic hypoxia induces HIF‐1α‐mediated upregulation of canonical transient receptor potential proteins, as well as increased Rho kinase‐Ca2+ signaling and pulmonary arteriole synthesis of the profibrotic hormone aldosterone. Collectively, these mechanisms contribute to a contractile or hypertrophic pulmonary vascular phenotype. Genetically inherited disorders in hemoglobin structure are also an important etiology of abnormal pulmonary vasoreactivity. In sickle cell anemia, for example, consumption of the vasodilator and antimitogenic molecule nitric oxide by cell‐free hemoglobin is an important mechanism underpinning pulmonary hypertension. Contemporary genomic and transcriptomic analytic methods have also allowed for the discovery of novel risk factors relevant to sickle cell disease, including GALNT13 gene variants. In this report, we review cutting‐edge observations characterizing these and other pathobiological mechanisms that contribute to pulmonary vascular and right ventricular vulnerability.
Expression Profiling Elucidates a Molecular Gene Signature for Pulmonary Hypertension in Sarcoidosis
Authors: Singla Sunit , Zhou Tong , Javaid Kamran , Abbasi Taimur , Casanova Nancy , Zhang Wei , Ma Shwu‐Fan , Wade Michael S. , Noth Imre , Sweiss Nadera J. , Garcia Joe G. N. , Machado Roberto F.
Published: June 2016

Pulmonary hypertension (PH), when it complicates sarcoidosis, carries a poor prognosis, in part because it is difficult to detect early in patients with worsening respiratory symptoms. Pathogenesis of sarcoidosis occurs via incompletely characterized mechanisms that are distinct from the mechanisms of pulmonary vascular remodeling well known to occur in conjunction with other chronic lung diseases. To address the need for a biomarker to aid in early detection as well as the gap in knowledge regarding the mechanisms of PH in sarcoidosis, we used genome‐wide peripheral blood gene expression analysis and identified an 18‐gene signature capable of distinguishing sarcoidosis patients with PH (n = 8), sarcoidosis patients without PH (n = 17), and healthy controls (n = 45). The discriminative accuracy of this 18‐gene signature was 100% in separating sarcoidosis patients with PH from those without it. If validated in a large replicate cohort, this signature could potentially be used as a diagnostic molecular biomarker for sarcoidosis‐associated PH.
Predicting mortality over different time horizons: which data elements are needed?
Authors: Goldstein Benjamin A , Pencina Michael J , Montez-Rath Maria E , Winkelmayer Wolfgang C
Published: June 2016

Objective: Electronic health records (EHRs) are a resource for “big data” analytics, containing a variety of data elements. We investigate how different categories of information contribute to prediction of mortality over different time horizons among patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment.

Material and Methods: We derived prediction models for mortality over 7 time horizons using EHR data on older patients from a national chain of dialysis clinics linked with administrative data using LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) regression. We assessed how different categories of information relate to risk assessment and compared discrete models to time-to-event models.

Results: The best predictors used all the available data (c-statistic ranged from 0.72–0.76), with stronger models in the near term. While different variable groups showed different utility, exclusion of any particular group did not lead to a meaningfully different risk assessment. Discrete time models performed better than time-to-event models.

Conclusions: Different variable groups were predictive over different time horizons, with vital signs most predictive for near-term mortality and demographic and comorbidities more important in long-term mortality.
Comparison of accuracy of physical examination findings in initial progress notes between paper charts and a newly implemented electronic health record
Authors: Yadav Siddhartha , Kazanji Noora , K C Narayan , Paudel Sudarshan , Falatko John , Shoichet Sandor , Maddens Michael , Barnes Michael A
Published: June 2016

Introduction: There have been several concerns about the quality of documentation in electronic health records (EHRs) when compared to paper charts. This study compares the accuracy of physical examination findings documentation between the two in initial progress notes.

Methodology: Initial progress notes from patients with 5 specific diagnoses with invariable physical findings admitted to Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, between August 2011 and July 2013 were randomly selected for this study. A total of 500 progress notes were retrospectively reviewed. The paper chart arm consisted of progress notes completed prior to the transition to an EHR on July 1, 2012. The remaining charts were placed in the EHR arm. The primary endpoints were accuracy, inaccuracy, and omission of information. Secondary endpoints were time of initiation of progress note, word count, number of systems documented, and accuracy based on level of training.

Results: The rate of inaccurate documentation was significantly higher in the EHRs compared to the paper charts (24.4% vs 4.4%). However, expected physical examination findings were more likely to be omitted in the paper notes compared to EHRs (41.2% vs 17.6%). Resident physicians had a smaller number of inaccuracies (5.3% vs 17.3%) and omissions (16.8% vs 33.9%) compared to attending physicians.

Conclusions: During the initial phase of implementation of an EHR, inaccuracies were more common in progress notes in the EHR compared to the paper charts. Residents had a lower rate of inaccuracies and omissions compared to attending physicians. Further research is needed to identify training methods and incentives that can reduce inaccuracies in EHRs during initial implementation.
An accretion disc-irradiation hybrid model for the optical/UV variability in radio-quiet quasars
Authors: Liu Hui , Li Shuang-Liang , Gu Minfeng , Guo Hengxiao
Published: June 2016

The optical/ultraviolet (UV) variability of quasars has been discovered to be correlated with other quasar properties, such as luminosity, black hole mass and rest-frame wavelength. However, the origin of variability has been a puzzle so far. In this work, we upgrade the accretion disc model, which assumed the variability is caused by the change of global mass accretion rate, by constraining the disc size to match the viscous time-scale of accretion disc to the variability time-scale observed and by including the irradiation/X-ray reprocessing to make the emitted spectrum become steeper. We find this hybrid model can reproduce the observed bluer-when-brighter trend quite well, which is used to validate the theoretical model by several works recently. The traditional correlation between the variability amplitude and rest-frame wavelength can also be well fitted by our model. In addition, a weak positive correlation between variability amplitude and black hole mass is present, qualitatively consistent with recent observations.
Social Science and Civil Rights
Authors: Keppel Ben
Published: June 2016

Considered from within the prism of American history, the terms social science and civil rights, when combined, have a particular meaning bound up in the nation’s continuing struggle over whether to treat a certain native-born group as full and equal members of American society. More than one hundred and fifty years after the end of the explicit constitutional sanction of chattel slavery, a force field of hostility toward this group (whether identified as “colored,” Negro, or “African American”) remains intact, and it is often the framework through which many other persons classified as “nonwhite” are treated. American social science, at its foundation, most often gave an official imprimatur to the exclusion and denigration of people of color. Its “founding fathers” strove to construct a systematic method for understanding human conduct modeled on the natural sciences. These particular experts came to their task with the preexisting assumption that a racial hierarchy—white over black—was the natural order of things. We start here from the premise that race is just as deliberately human and political an invention as are the concepts civil rights and social science. Race has been the most consequential (and dangerous) of these terms because it has been used to render as natural patterns of inequality between people created by human beings themselves. Second, social scientists and their disciplines do not stand apart from the forces that they study; rather, their interests and conclusions are also decisively influenced by them. This neither diminishes nor discredits the continuing enterprise of social science; it serves that work best by reminding us of its difficulty and complexity. Finally, we best capture the full range of social science thinking when a net is cast broad enough to include those rigorous analysts who come from outside the core social sciences (sociology, anthropology, economics) to embrace salient contributions in literature, law, philosophy, and a vast literature of social observation and critique that is an indispensable part of modern life. When a variety of figures without academic degrees in a “social science” are treated here as legitimate contributors to it, it is because we must not forget the broadly philosophical and humanistic origins of social science. The relationship between social science and civil rights over a history spanning two hundred years follows closely the evolution of how Americans and their institutions have answered the first question of any human society: who belongs?
Visual Arts
Authors: Childs Adrienne
Published: June 2016

The study of African American art, or art by African Americans, is a field of inquiry that has grown over the course of the 20th century, along with the subject matter. The focus is the study of black artists and their works of art in media such as painting, sculpture, craft, printmaking, video, mixed media, and performance art. The field is driven by the analysis of the meanings and contexts of the works of art, as well as the lives and experiences of the artists. Works vary in terms of content and style and the relationship to issues of blackness, African American history, and identity. There has been debate as to whether black artists whose work does not engage issues of blackness in America can be considered “African American” artists. This issue has largely been discredited in favor of an understanding that any work of art by an African American, no matter the content, is a reflection of the lived experiences and multidimensional concerns of black artists in America. Critics have challenged the idea of this categorization by claiming that it creates an artificial segregation of artists and their work based on an ill-defined construct of race in America. They contend that individual artists create within the framework of multiple human identities. In spite of varying viewpoints and challenges to the delineation of the field along racial lines, the study of African American art has remained a viable mode of inquiry, in large part because of a lack of attention to black artist from mainstream histories of art. A few African Americans entered the world of professional art in the 19th century. In the early 20th century, a critical mass of black artists began to coalesce around the country. Many developed visual languages that spoke to the particular social, cultural, and spiritual aspects of black life in America. Black artists gained academic training and began to enter into the mainstream professional art world, albeit marginalized by racial strictures. During the black consciousness movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the study and analysis of the art of black Americans emerged as a cohesive field. Early literature was focused on recovering the artwork and biographies of artists lost to the indifference of the mainstream art world. Postcolonial criticism influenced the modes of analysis regarding study of the art of African Americans and the field gained new scholarly attention. The literature on this subject has grown since the last quarter of the 20th century. The sources cited in this article focus on broader thematic treatments of the field and less on the work of individual artists.
Afro-Latinos
Authors: Rivera-Rideau Petra R.
Published: June 2016

It is widely acknowledged that Latinos are quickly becoming the largest minority group in the United States. Still, the term Latino encompasses a wide range of diverse experiences related to nationality, language, religion, history, immigration status, and, of course, race. The term Afro-Latino aims to call attention to the unique experiences and challenges of Latinos of African descent in the United States. Although scholarship about Afro-Latinos has flourished in recent years, Afro-Latinos have long written about their experiences and histories in the United States. Many of these autobiographical writings as well as subsequent academic analyses placed much emphasis on the “invisibility” of Afro-Latinos in the United States, where blackness is often assumed to be aligned with the US African American experience and Latinidad (or Latino identity) is assumed to be racially mixed. As research on Afro-Latino identity has developed, many scholars have critically examined racism within Latino communities, as well as the ways that assumptions about a whitened Latino identity have foreclosed conversations about blackness and Afro-Latinos. To that end, some scholars intervene by filling in historical gaps through highlighting the contributions of Afro-Latinos to American life and culture. Other scholars underscore the importance of literature and music not only as important Afro-Latino cultural practices, but also as sites where many Afro-Latino artists have theorized their experiences. In the realm of politics, researchers have explored historical and contemporary political alliances between African American, Afro-Latino, and other African diasporic populations in the United States. One central theme in Afro-Latino studies is transnational flows of information and ideas about blackness between the United States and Latin America via immigration and the advent of new technologies that foster cultural exchange. Generally, scholarship on Afro-Latinos thus presents the complex realities of race and ethnicity, realities that have broader implications for scholars interested in Latino studies, Latin American studies, African American studies, and race relations more generally.
Roman Spain
Authors: De Brestian Scott
Published: June 2016

Spain was one of Rome’s first overseas provinces beyond the Italian islands (Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica) and remained under Roman control for longer than most parts of the Western Empire, with northeastern Spain under at least nominal Roman control until 474 ce. From its earliest days Roman Spain (or Hispania) was divided into two or more provinces, eventually encompassing all of the modern countries of Spain and Portugal (although for convenience, the term “Roman Spain” generally includes both). This article therefore will focus on the mainland territory of those two countries, leaving aside Spain’s Mediterranean and African possessions (Balearic and Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla), which will be treated elsewhere. Traditionally the study of Roman Spain is divided into three chronological periods: the Roman Republic, which extends from Rome’s first dealings in Spain at the start of the Second Punic War to the rise of Augustus as first emperor in 27 bce, although this period is sometimes extended to the end of the Cantabrian Wars in 19 bce, which mark the completion of the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. The Early Empire spans the period from the late 1st century bce to the 3rd century ce. No universally acknowledged date marks the end of this period, although the end of the Severan dynasty in 235 ce or the Frankish invasion of 258 ce is sometimes used; this article employs the former. The Late Empire stretches from the 3rd century to the invasions of 409 ce or the final conquest of Spain by the Visigoths in 474 ce, depending on the region being discussed. Roman Spain has often been somewhat neglected by scholars outside the peninsula, due to the political history of Spain and the lack of a large number of prominent international schools, as are found in Italy and Greece, although the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Madrid and the French-sponsored Casa de Velázquez are important exceptions. The result is that scholars working in other parts of the Roman world are not as acquainted with Roman Spain as its importance in Roman history would otherwise merit.
Orality and Literacy
Authors: Hearon Holly
Published: June 2016

Defining “orality” and “literacy” is no easy task. Generally, “literacy” is understood as the ability to read and write, while “orality” describes the primary verbal medium employed by cultures with little or no exposure to writing. A “great divide” is sometimes posited between them, assigning to each certain cognitive, social, and cultural characteristics. Yet contextual studies have shown that these broad definitions serve little useful function in the analyses of communities and cultures. For example, cultures that are structured around the ability to read and write do not employ these skills in a uniform way to serve a single end; rather, multiple “literacies” are at work, some of which require specialized vocabulary, skills, and technologies (such as stenography). It is also unclear whether literacy can be adequately defined by the skill sets of reading and/or writing. Further, so-called literate cultures have hardly given up the verbal arts associated with speech. Studies of “literate” cultures, then, must include some analysis of the interplay between written and spoken words. The term “orality” has proved to be equally challenging as an analytical category. This is in part because the term lacks any kind of precision. There is no cultural phenomenon known as orality. Studies have also shown that characteristics once thought to belong only to “literate” cultures (such as the ability to establish distance between the speaker and the text) are present in some “oral” cultures as well. In addition, cultures that are exclusively oral may employ visual means other than an alphabet for the purposes of recording cultural ideas (such as a memory board). While it may be possible to speak about a “continuum” with respect to orality and literacy, there is a vast, complex region between the two extremes where most cultures exist, including those that produced biblical texts. In the field of biblical studies, these insights have increasingly had an impact on how scholars view the written documents that make up the Bible, the communities that produced them, and the nature of the verbal material that is found within them. Where once the study of “orality” meant, primarily, the search for oral traditions behind the text, it now includes attention to the complex interaction between written and spoken words in the ancient world, the multiple ways in which written and spoken words were produced and performed, the functions they served, and the technologies involved, including who had access to them and who controlled them. It is a field of study that is cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural.
Mary Wollstonecraft
Authors: Tomaselli Sylvana
Published: June 2016

Best known for her Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), Mary Wollstonecraft (b. 1759–d. 1797) was a literary and social critic as well as a moralist, novelist, and philosopher. She is remembered today principally for her penetrating assessment of the condition of women, but she continues to elicit much interest for her contributions to philosophy, especially political philosophy, and literature, including travel literature. While she had a good number of detractors following her death, owing mostly to the publication of details about her private life by her husband, William Godwin (b. 1756–d. 1836), she continued to be and remains an engaging author for feminists and political theorists more generally. One of the reasons for this enduring appeal is that her reflections on the status of the female sex were part of a comprehensive understanding of human relations within a civilization she perceived to be increasingly governed by acquisitiveness. Her first publication dealt with the education of daughters; she went on to write about politics, history, and various aspects of philosophy in different genres that included critical reviews, translations, pamphlets, and fiction. Her influence thus went beyond the substantial contribution to feminism with which she is mostly associated and extended to shaping the art of travel writing as a literary genre and, through her account of her journey through Scandinavia, she had an impact on the Romantic movement. Her critique of slavery and inequality as well as her understanding of the nature of modern commercial society are gradually being integrated into contemporary philosophical debates. Sandrine Bergès of Bilkent University, Ankara, assisted in the editing and revising of the initial version of this article, and Grace Flanagan and Samuel Harrison, University of Cambridge, in the present one.
Sexualities
Authors: Fischer Nancy L.
Published: June 2016

The social study of sexuality encompasses investigating sexual practices and behaviors, sexual feelings, sexual orientation, and the ways in which particular sexual identities and behaviors are reinforced or discouraged by societal institutions and culture. Sexuality studies are interdisciplinary and include work from anthropology, gender and women’s studies, history, LGBT studies, psychology, queer studies, and sociology. The social study of sexuality contrasts with biological approaches to human sexuality, which frame sexual expression as resulting from anatomy and hormones. Contemporary social approaches to studying sexualities—the focus of this article—took shape during the late 1960s and early 1970s, when sociologists, feminists, and gay liberationists argued that sexuality (desire, orientation) was not innate, but socially constructed. Thus, contemporary research and theory operates under the assumption that sexual desires, identities, and behaviors are socially constructed. Sexuality studies seek to explain how social institutions and social interaction patterns shape sexual meanings and practices. A significant portion of sexualities work focuses on inequalities between genders, between heterosexuals and nonheterosexuals (of which there are an expanding array of identities, particularly as gender identities expand), races and ethnicities, and social classes.
Social Construction
Authors: Leeds-Hurwitz Wendy
Published: June 2016

Briefly, social construction (SC) assumes that people construct (i.e., create, make, invent) their understandings of the world and the meanings they give to encounters with others, or various products they or others create; SC also assumes that they do this jointly, in coordination with others, rather than individually. After several decades of varying usage (often constructionism and constructivism, with or without the adjective social, discursive construction, co-construction, joint construction; overlapping terms include interpretive approaches, social approaches, constitutive, and constructive), social construction is the term of choice in the 21st century. SC is a theoretical approach used not only in communication but also in psychology, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, and education. As scholars in each of these disciplines tend to go in different directions, and as there have been far more publications on this topic than could be included here (if all disciplines were considered), those within the discipline of communication are emphasized (i.e., either a publication by a scholar based in a communication department, or one published in a communication journal). Although clearly within the communication field, SC studies of media form a separate strand not included here. Two conferences helped substantially in expanding the use of the concept within communication. The first was “Inquiries in Social Construction,” held in Durham, New Hampshire, in June 1993 and organized by Sheila McNamee, John Shotter, John Lannamann, and Kenneth Gergen, leading to the book series of the same title at Sage, co-edited by Gergen and Shotter. The second was a National Communication Association Summer Institute, “Catching Ourselves in the Act: A Collaborative Planning Session to Enrich our Discipline through Social Constructionist Approaches,” held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in August 2006, which was organized primarily by Barnett and Kim Pearce, Shawn Spano, Karen Foss, and Kris Kirschbaum, leading to the establishment of the Communication as Social Construction Division (CSC) within the National Communication Association, now the focal point of work on the topic. CSC organized a panel in 2009 evaluating the contribution of SC to the discipline, which was videotaped and analyzed in Robles 2012 (cited under General Overviews). Two nonprofit organizations have been established to pursue SC goals: the Taos Institute and the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) Institute for Personal and Social Evolution. There have been several other relevant book series: Social Construction in Practice and Social Approaches to Interaction, both at Hampton, as well as Focus Books (brief introductions), Tempo Series (contemporary practices), and WorldShare Books, all of which have an SC emphasis and published by Taos Institute.