bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Virtual Diplomatic Summitry
Authors: Hedling Elsa
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses the rise of virtual diplomatic summitry and situates it in the digitalization of diplomacy. Virtual diplomatic summitry refers to the diplomatic summit meetings that are conducted through technologies for virtual interaction, such as video-conferencing tools, and that take place partly or completely in virtual venues. Virtualization has been embraced as a solution to sustain institutionalized routines of summitry in the face of disruptions. However, some researchers challenge the adoption of digital tools and use of virtual interaction, arguing that digitalization in this form may result in lost nuances, risk interpersonal relationships, and influence positions of power—all of which are imperative to high-levelled diplomacy. Diplomatic summitry has changed in character and constellation over time and the rise of virtual summits therefore warrants a rethinking of its future role and form in diplomacy. A relational perspective is proposed that focuses on the entangled role of virtualization and digitalization in diplomacy and can inform future analyses of virtual diplomatic summitry alongside and in combination with other forms of diplomatic practice.
Digital Diplomacy and Non-Governmental and Transnational Organizations
Authors: McConnell Fiona , Manby Alex
Published: January 2024

This chapter considers how digital diplomacy is being reworked by three kinds of ‘new’ diplomatic actors: non-governmental organizations (NGOs), transnational advocacy networks (TANs), and diaspora organizations. In doing so, the chapter advances the following four arguments. First, the digitalization of diplomacy is inextricably tied to the pluralization of diplomacy, such that digital technologies have facilitated an expansion in the number of non-state actors operating at a global level and offer new opportunities for the forging of polylateral diplomatic relationships. Second, without the same codes of conduct to adhere to as state diplomats, these actors are often more flexible, creative, and innovative in their use of digital technologies and must therefore be taken seriously as pioneers in digital diplomacy. Third, the digital diplomatic sphere is also increasingly riven with hierarchies and inequalities. Non-governmental and transnational organizations face significant cybersecurity risks and reduced access to digital connectivity, technology, and support. Thus, the shift to online modes of diplomacy should not be celebrated uncritically. Fourth, focusing on non-state actors requires alternative conceptual lenses to those currently employed in scholarship on digital diplomacy. In particular, scholarship from digital geography which advocates for the use of a spatial lens, in addition to theoretical approaches which are attentive to everyday performances and encounters, are well-placed to analyse how non-governmental and transnational organizations navigate both the challenges and opportunities of digital diplomacy.
The North–South Divide, The Digital Agenda, and Digital Diplomacy
Authors: Heine Jorge , Prado Lallande Juan Pablo
Published: January 2024

In the digital age, few issues are as significant as the one of who controls the Internet. Yet diplomats have largely ignored Cyberspace as a domain for diplomatic activity, choosing to focus instead solely on the use of digital tools for diplomatic purposes. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the issue of Internet governance and related digital matters from the perspective of the North–South divide. Topics include those of Internet freedom vs government control; the international political economy of Internet governance; the clashes between the United States and Chinese telecom company Huawei; the different ways these clashes have played out in one specific area of the Global South, namely Latin America; and the manner in which Brazil has coped with the issue of electronic spying and Internet governance. It also analyses the case of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), an initiative of three small countries that has broken new ground.
International Geopolitics and Digital Games in the Nationalist Agenda of Great Powers
Authors: Moreno Cantano Antonio César
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines how different countries are using video games as part of their strategies of digital cultural diplomacy and nationalist reaffirmation. This techno-nationalism, with a strong propagandistic and geopolitical component, makes this format an object of study of relevance for a better understanding of the social sciences in the twenty-first century. Video games are a powerful tool for propagating ideas and influencing others by appealing to perception. This is one of the reasons for the growing interest of different state agents and international actors in boosting their production and regulating their role in global governance, as they involve diplomatic, propagandistic, and nationalistic elements. This chapter will provide examples of this dynamic, which reaffirm the political character of video games, in countries such as China, India, or Pakistan. The chapter is set within the theoretical framework of the emotional turn in international relations as well as the importance of visual geopolitics.
Shinto Economic Ethics
Authors: Iwasawa Tomoko
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses the relation of Japanese religious tradition to the rise of modern Japan by focusing on the religious thought and moral teaching of Ishida Baigan, the founder of Shingaku, who is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers on the economic morality in the pre-modern Edo Period. It opens with a discussion of Japanese religious tradition that has been developed as a complex syncretization of Shinto, Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, and examines the world view established through this syncretization. Next, it analyses Baigan’s thought and moral teaching, which emphasizes the ethics of honesty and frugality, as a typical example of such syncretization, the foundation of which, he maintains, consists in the worship of Japanese kami. Taking his moral teaching as a signpost, the chapter finally explores how the world view of Shinto, as a deep substratum of Japanese society, contributed to establishing the central value system underlying the development of Japanese economic ethics.
Jewish Economic Ethics
Authors: Meir Asher
Published: January 2024

In Jewish tradition the attitude towards ethics in general, and economic ethics in particular, is based on the paradigm of covenant, of formal mutual agreement. Covenants between God and man, particularly biblical-mentioned covenants between God and the father of the human race Noah, between God and the patriarch Abraham, and between God and the entire people of Israel, invoke particular ethical norms but equally invoke the centrality of covenants within human commonwealths to create consensual and fair norms of individual and collective use of property. Among the specific norms advanced in Jewish economic ethics, this chapter emphasizes: the need for a strong barrier between economic power and social power; the complete disconnect between individual economic success and religious worth; the importance of helping the needy through genuine identification and empathy; and ethics as a continual developmental process rather than any particular set of static norms. The Torah is foundational for Jewish economic ethics.
Religion and Socio-Economic Injustice
Authors: Ciftci Mehmet
Published: January 2024

This chapter analyses the two ways by which some Christians and Muslims have faced socio-economic injustice. First, it compares Ali Shariati and Latin American liberation theologians. Both responded to injustice by distancing themselves from the received understandings of their traditions. They were innovative in appealing directly to foundational texts and figures (e.g. Jesus and the early Christians as described in the New Testament, Muhammad and his companions according to the Quran), circumventing more traditional interpretations and finding warrant in these texts and figures to ally themselves with contemporary political movements for solidarity, liberation, and social justice. Their complicated engagement with Marxism is then discussed. The second part of the chapter compares Umar Chapra, Muhammad Siddiqi, and Catholic social teaching as examples of how other Muslims and Christians have sought to recover from more ‘orthodox’ conceptions of their traditions the resources to respond to socio-economic injustice, such as usury, without becoming co-opted by the assumptions and concepts of Marxism or secular liberalism.
Listening to Compose, Composing to Listen
Authors: Kerchner Jody L.
Published: January 2024

Music listening is foundational to every generative musical behavior—composing, improvising, and performing. The context in which people listen to music, the role of listening to music in their lives, the focus of attention they bring to the act of listening, their perceptual abilities and sensitivity to expressive musical characteristics, and memory of prior music (listening) experiences define the meaning they assign to what they hear and feel during the listening experience. Music listening can also serve as a springboard for explorations of other music-making experiences, such as composition. In this chapter, we will situate music listening as creative thinking and examine the roles of music listening in students composing, such that their compositional skills benefit from the composer’s active music listening acuity and sensitivity and vice versa. We will consider music listening as the determinant of compositional possibilities, serving as model and inspiration for organizing musical sounds and creating expressive intent. Additionally, deep listening to one’s own musical product is part of compositional revision, reflective and critical thinking, and metacognition processes, needed to determine if what the composer intended is conveyed musically. This also leads into thinking critically about how to guide others into listening to their musical product according to the composer’s intent. Specifically, we will explore formulating questions that lead to higher-order thinking skill, critical and creative thinking, and reflective thinking skill development. The chapter concludes with sample student-centered music listening experiences that prompt musical arrangements, vocal-body-instrumental compositions, and song “cover” experiences.
How Transdisciplinary and Improvisational Creativities Can Nurture Young Composers and Teachers as Confident “Makers”
Authors: Burnard Pamela , Cooke Carolyn
Published: January 2024

Several studies on composition pedagogy in music education research suggest teachers are insufficiently knowledgeable about and lack confidence in composing. There is also overwhelming evidence of a lack of professional development in this area, suggesting the problem may be more deep-rooted. Perceiving how teachers act, understand, enact, and nurture young composers helps to fill the gap in the current literature. In this chapter we (a) challenge a monodisciplinary perspective on composing, (b) dismantle the myth that composing is a solitary act, and (c) make explicit how teachers and student teachers can become confident music composition pedagogues. We explore transdisciplinary and improvisational creativities that challenge individualistic views of composing. We present a way to re-see young composers and teachers as entangled in material and embodied processes where they are makers with each other and the world. We expand the concept of improvisational creativity from the usual understanding within the music discipline to a transdisciplinary creativity—that is, humans and non-humans pushing outward generatively to create different relationships between child, teacher, materials, and environments. We reconceptualize transdisciplinary creativity as that which seeks to de-couple the specific language of a discipline—in this case music composition—from its original context, in order to open up new possibilities for making and becoming makers/composers.
Preparing Young Composers for Collegiate Study
Authors: Van Maanen Cynthia
Published: January 2024

This chapter focuses on the many skills students need to develop that will prepare them for collegiate study in music composition. Topics will include an exploration of what gets in the way of skill growth, how to develop the daily discipline required to practice the compositional craft, how score study can contribute to the evolution of stronger artists, and the challenges young composers face along with the strengths they already possess. The topic of college/conservatory applications will be considered as a lens for developing creative musical artists who are knowledgeable, passionate, and articulate about their work. Examples drawn from twenty-one years of pursuing this work at the Interlochen Arts Academy will offer insight into what works—and what really does not work—in composition curriculum and pedagogy.
Composition in Early Childhood
Authors: Bucura Elizabeth
Published: January 2024

Composition is unique from other kinds of music learning (Hogenes, 2014) and can provide a context for learning. Young children compose music from their earliest ages. Authors have suggested curricular approaches (e.g., Hickey, 2012; Kaschub & Smith, 2013 & 2009), yet teachers may remain uncertain how to lead composition, and composition in even elementary music remains lacking (Mills, 2009). Literature involves child development (Piaget, 1970/2008) and creativity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996), as well as composition processes (e.g., Collins, 2016; Kratus, 1989), pedagogical approaches (e.g., Hickey, 2012; Kaschub & Smith, 2013), and feedback (e.g., Webster, 2012). Scholars emphasize the importance of playful engagement and collaboration for young children (e.g., Campbell, 2010), including in the home environment (Koops, 2020). The chapter explains pedagogical approaches, considerations for teachers and parents, and assessments toward generating and refining children’s own music. Through playful musical experiences, processes of brainstorming and exploration, and crafting compositional skills, children will grow in their abilities to express themselves musically.
Music Composition in Music Education
Authors: Kigozi Benon
Published: January 2024

Music composition from an African point of view calls for attention to music as both an academic skill and a cultural practice. A music composition portrays the full intention and contextual significance of the community and in many, if not all cases, the composer is also the performer. Music composition is therefore embedded within the oral tradition and reflective of the African philosophy of direct experience within music-making as opposed to the Western perspective where music composition is acquired as an academic skill and intellectual ability. In Uganda, music creativity is mostly practiced by community musicians who have no experience with the theoretical knowledge and notational skills favored in the West. Attempts are being made to formalize the teaching and learning of music based on African philosophical approaches, yet the current formal music education program has not done enough to promote music composition as an academic aspect of music education across a wider part of the country. The main objective of this chapter is to evaluate music composition within various spaces. Discussion focuses on compositional techniques and creative resources as a means of evaluating the creative processes engaged in the education system. The chapter highlights the ‘African perspective’, which refers to philosophical models that are based on African concepts and aesthetics other than those that are practiced in the West. The African perspective addresses the holistic, integrated arts and cultural approach of musical arts education, addressing the oral, informal, formal and non-formal acquisition of musical arts education, Where “listening and observation remain the key elements of acquiring the basic skills . . . ’ (Flolu in Herbst, 2005:109). The African perspective is very much felt in terms of reality and attitude, of music composition pedagogy centered around the practical means of creating, assessing, appreciating, approving or otherwise of music, composition which applies to all other creative arts disciplines such as drama, poetry, and plastic art (Onyeji 2019:263), and which “entails creating and manipulating intangible realities that imperceptibly influence attitudinal dispositions and relational habits (Nzewi, 2013)”. Recommendations are made based educational perspective both for the teaching of Uganda music composition.
Future Forward
Authors: Kaschub Michele
Published: January 2024

As music teacher-educators contemplate the curricular modifications necessary to address composition within existing programs, many questions arise concerning why such change is needed and what specific changes should be made. These questions should not be taken lightly. Curricular change is a reflection of philosophical evolution met by the boundaries of institutional contexts. The realities of practice—costs, credit hour limitations, efficiency of content delivery, faculty-student ratios, schedules, and a multitude of other institutionally nuanced factors—impact change. A strong philosophical stance and substantive rationale for change is imperative if such challenges to practice are to be overcome. This chapter seeks to step beyond philosophy and rationale to present definitive strategies for positioning composition in music teacher education in variety of ways. It is hoped that music teacher-educators will be able to draw on these ideas and tailor adaptations to fit the unique contexts framing their programs.
Becoming a Composition Teacher
Authors: Koops Alexander
Published: January 2024

While music composition and improvisation have been included in the National Arts Standards of many countries as well as promoted through conference presentations, journal articles, and books, many music teachers have not experienced music composition in their own upbringing, training, or adult experiences and therefore struggle with the ideas of including composition and creativity in their own classroom teaching. Thankfully, there are many ways that music teachers who lack background in music composition can still add skills to make creativity a regular part of their music classes. Many paths can be taken to reach the heaven of a creative classroom such as the use of improvised call-and-response rhythms, composition as assessment, songwriting, notation training, and music technology. The key is to try out one composition activity, and then purposefully schedule more composition activities so they become a “normal” part of your lesson planning.
CCTV Video Surveillance and Crime Control
Authors: Piza Eric L.
Published: January 2024

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) video surveillance cameras have become a popular crime control tool around the world. While the diffusion of CCTV initially occurred absent a scientific knowledge base, the technology has since become well researched. A body of literature comprising mostly quasi-experimental evaluation studies has evolved to the point that three systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been conducted since the early 2000s. Overall findings from the research literature are highly nuanced. This chapter provides a primer on the current state of CCTV research. It discusses key considerations pertaining to CCTV research methodology and the scientific evidence on CCTV’s crime control capacity. It concludes with a discussion of important knowledge gaps and key takeaways for practitioners and policymakers.
Evidence-Based Policy for Diverse Criminal Justice Populations
Authors: Sanders Kaelyn , Cobbina-Dungy Jennifer , McCoy Henrika
Published: January 2024

The US criminal legal system is vast and far-reaching, with more than six million people under some form of correctional supervision. Minoritized individuals are consistently overrepresented in the correctional system and often have unique experiences unlike their White counterparts. Likewise, the population of incarcerated women has increased over the past few decades, which presents interesting implications for criminal justice policy. One other diverse group in the criminal legal system is justice-involved youth. Although they make up a small percentage of the overall population, their age and other characteristics have important implications for criminal justice policy. This chapter presents a review of the literature on each of the previously mentioned populations followed by evidence-based policy recommendations tailored to these diverse populations.
Evidence-Based Intervention Programs Targeting Antisocial Children and Youth in Norway
Authors: Ogden Terje , Askeland Elisabeth , Amlund-Hagen Kristine
Published: January 2024

The Oregon model of Parent Management Training, also known as PMTO, has proved to be a robust intervention model producing significant positive outcomes in randomized controlled trials conducted in real-world practice across all regions of Norway. Participants have been children aged 3 to 12 years and their parents. The immediate changes in parenting and child externalizing behavior have persisted over time and the results were as good for girls as for boys and for minority mothers and their children as for majority families. PMTO has been tested with positive outcomes in both individual and group formats and with high and low treatment dosages. Parent assessments have mostly ranged from small to moderate, but the lack of improvements in child problem behavior reported by teachers in most of the studies remains a challenge. The measurement of fidelity scores across seven generations of therapists (trained from 1999 to 2014) showed no drop in the mean average ratings of fidelity, with an overall mean score of 6.8 (on a scale from 1 to 9; range 6.34–6.94). In the future, a priority should be given to studies with a larger proportion of girls and fathers, and studies in which children participate in more sessions. Moreover, the long-term sustainability of treatment outcomes should be investigated, and the collaboration with preschools, schools, and teachers should be strengthened.
Applying What We Know and Building an Evidence Base
Authors: Zane Steven N.
Published: January 2024

Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in the juvenile justice system is a well-studied phenomenon, yet questions remain about the root causes of DMC and the best efforts to reduce it. In the spirit of evidence-based crime and justice policy, the present chapter is guided by an evaluation framework for thinking about persistent racial disproportionalities in juvenile justice in terms of needs, theory, and promising avenues for impact. Notably, this involves establishing an evidentiary basis about the scope of the DMC problem, the potential theoretical grounds for interventions to reduce DMC, and whether extant interventions have reduced DMC. The chapter concludes that building an evidentiary base for reducing DMC will require better data, better methods, and a more concerted focus on the front end of the system, especially police contact with youth. It also suggests that general juvenile justice reforms aimed at reducing harm can benefit overrepresented minority youth, but that such reforms may have limited impact on the problem of DMC without wide-scale social change.
Advancing the Evidence-Based Era
Authors: Drake Elizabeth K. , Knoth-Peterson Lauren
Published: January 2024

Since the 1990s, the Washington State Legislature has made significant investments to develop an “evidence-based” juvenile justice system, and research evidence has been central to this effort. Through collaboration between the research community, policymakers, and practitioners, Washington State has experienced significant shifts in its juvenile justice population. The Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) has produced numerous nonpartisan reports for the legislature on the juvenile justice system over the past several decades. This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of juvenile justice policies, populations, and related WSIPP research. It examines the successes, challenges, and lessons learned in Washington and concludes by offering pathways forward for the broader research community. Recent findings in Washington suggest that a new era of juvenile justice research is needed to identify how changes in justice-involved populations and court practices may affect the long-term effectiveness of evidence-based programs.
Psychopathology as a Cause or Consequence of Youth Gang Involvement
Authors: Kerig Patricia K. , Mendez Lucybel , Alexander Ava R. , Chen Susan
Published: January 2024

This chapter presents a developmental psychopathology framework as an integrative approach to understanding the intertwined connections over time among mental health (MH) problems and youth gang involvement. First, the chapter identifies growing cross-sectional and prospective evidence that provides support for the role of internalizing and externalizing MH problems as both precipitants and consequences of gang membership. The chapter then turns to discussing transdiagnostic perspectives on psychopathology that may provide innovative ways to understand MH problems among gang-involved youth, including potential transdiagnostic facets underlying multiple psychopathologies and transdiagnostic risk factors implicated in the emergence of MH problems and gang involvement, such as trauma exposure. It then introduces novel ideas for future research regarding purported underlying developmental mechanisms that may explain the links between MH and gang involvement. Finally, the chapter discusses implications for fine-tuning MH interventions that will be more effective and accessible for disadvantaged youth at risk for psychopathology and gang involvement.
Comparative Approaches to the Study of Prison Gangs and Prison Order
Authors: Skarbek David , Woltz Kaitlyn
Published: January 2024

This chapter surveys the literature on prison gangs, with a focus on the governance theory of prison gangs. Prison gangs are corporate entities that exist in perpetuity and whose membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and permanent. Gangs perform several functions, including participating in and regulating the underground economy, using and threatening violence, offering protection, and providing camaraderie. Prison gangs do not exist in all prisons. In fact, there is substantial variation in prison gang presence and influence across time and place. This chapter briefly surveys a number of existing theories of prison gang activity. It then discusses prison gangs and prison governance in other countries. In the conclusion, it discusses various fruitful ways forward in this research area.
What Is Gang Culture?
Authors: Moore Caylin Louis , Stuart Forrest
Published: January 2024

Over the last century of gang scholarship, it is difficult to find a more ubiquitous yet underdefined term than “gang culture.” What, precisely, have researchers meant when they deployed this term, and how might contemporary studies reconcile these past conceptions to productive effect? Toward improving the theoretical, analytical, and methodological precision of ongoing gang scholarship, the chapter contends that researchers have historically adopted three primary conceptualizations of gang culture: (1) culture-as-values, (2) culture-as-toolkit, and (3) culture-as-products. Each conception generates divergent frameworks for understanding what gang culture “is,” as well as its causal influence on the attitudes, behaviors, and social organization of gangs and gang-associated individuals. As this chapter argues, these divergent conceptualizations carry implications not just for scholarship, but also for policy and community interventions. By embracing the latter two conceptions, researchers can move toward asset-based approaches that reduce the harms of overly punitive responses to gangs.
The History and Evolution of Gang Scholarship
Authors: Gravel Jason
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines turning points in the history of gang research published between 1834 and 2021. Using this database, trends in publication are examined using change point detection analysis to identify turning points in the productivity of gang scholars. Natural language processing (NLP) methods, topic modeling techniques, and scientometrics are used to explore the origin of these turning points and the evolution of subareas of interest in gang research. Gang scholarship evolved rapidly starting in the late 1980s, fostered by policy interests of the US federal government, exploded in the 1990s and 2000s with the availability of longitudinal data and the internationalization of gang research, and since the 2010s has continued to grow and to exhibit impressive diversity and increasing sophistication.
The Legacy of Joan W. Moore
Authors: Vigil James Diego
Published: January 2024

Joan W. Moore was trained and tutored at the University of Chicago in the late 1940s to emphasize one thing: community studies, or people and places. Social science does not make sense if the places where people live and work and the environment in which they struggle is ignored. With the guidance and assistance of members of the Chicano community, she embarked on the greatest work of her career: community studies in which male and female gang members work with her side by side. Several major books and numerous scholarly articles resulted from these efforts. The first, Homeboys (1978), and later, Going Down to the Barrio (1991), triggered a slew of research from younger scholars, resulting in a spate of multifaceted studies. A community focus with a collaborative research strategy helped sharpen the focus on why we have gangs: limited mobility, no jobs, and absent maturation paths for youth..
The Legacy of James Diego Vigil
Authors: Tapia Mike , Moreno E. Mark
Published: January 2024

The dean of Chicana/o gang studies, James Diego Vigil, pioneered a long-running era of such research starting in the late 1970s. The Los Angeles barrio gang milieu of his youth and subsequent Chicana/o activist experiences became the foundation for the intellectual frameworks he would later develop as a scholar. This chapter examines select aspects of Diego’s life and work in relation to the historiography and current state of this genre of gang research. Diego is known for delineating the macro-level forces, local community processes, and individual psychodynamics that produce barrio gangs. These themes are presented in the context of the vast scholarship comprising Chicana/o gang studies that developed over several decades since the days of Diego’s own social protest arrests by the LAPD in the 1970s. His ostracism from public education helped to form his unique academic trajectory and legacy heretofore unmatched by any protégé.
Policing Gangs
Authors: Novich Madeleine
Published: January 2024

The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer sparked calls to defund the police. Reducing the police footprint raises questions about how best to respond to gang crime and community violence. This chapter analyzes traditional policing strategies, including intelligence, enforcement/suppression, investigations, and prevention, drawing attention to five ways they fail at mitigating gang violence and reducing gang membership. Most notably, the mechanics of traditional policing, marked by aggression, violence, and disrespect, are viewed extremely negatively by gangs and community members, undermining intelligence-gathering capabilities and citizen–police collaborations, and while seemingly effective at crime reduction, may contribute to an increased risk of gang membership and continued gang involvement. Overall, this chapter argues that traditional gang policing, while necessary and understandable in some respects, is not the answer. Reallocating resources to school and community-based programming may be more impactful in reducing gang membership and violence.
Defund the Police?
Authors: Braga Anthony A. , MacDonald John M. , Tita George
Published: January 2024

In 2020 homicide rates rose by 30%, the single highest increase in homicide in the past six decades. At the same time, racial justice protests spawned a new movement calling to “defund the police.” There are no systematic studies of the impact of the “defund the police” movement on the rise in serious urban violence. However, research supports the position that homicide increases when police departments withdraw from proactive crime control activities, and that when a small population of very risky individuals is not appropriately managed by the police and their partners, rapid and steep increases in fatal and non-fatal shootings can result as cycles of retaliatory violence spin out of control. Small decreases in the policing of high-risk offending groups may quickly lead to shooting surges. This chapter considers how the current climate could undermine focused deterrence, an evidence-based gang violence reduction strategy, and produce unintended harms to disadvantaged neighborhoods suffering the brunt of the recent increase in gun violence.
No Public Benefit
Authors: Garcia-Leys Sean , Engel Jesse
Published: January 2024

Since the first “gang injunction,” a civil suit against a gang as an organization separate from its members, gang injunctions have become a widely used tool of law enforcement throughout California and elsewhere. While gang injunctions began as a targeted law enforcement strategy, many people in communities with gang injunctions have come to believe gang injunctions are ineffective and have criticized them as having become tools of gentrification instead of public safety. They claim gang injunctions are little more than modernized Jim Crow. In 2015, residents of a targeted community, activists, and public interest attorneys thwarted an attempt by the Orange County District Attorney to enjoin two gangs in the City of Placentia. That campaign was a model of collaboration between stakeholders and change agents who are usually siloed from each other, and a model for involving impacted people in affecting gang suppression policy. This chapter presents a narrative account of that campaign and lessons learned.
Clinical Intervention for Gang-Involved Youth
Authors: Boxer Paul , Kubik Joanna , Marcello Stephanie
Published: January 2024

A large literature documenting risk factors for youth aggression, antisocial behavior, and other conduct problems has translated into a large literature outlining best-practice approaches for treating those behaviors. Yet despite general similarities in risk profiles between youth who are gang involved and those who are not, there is presently no empirically validated intervention model for helping gang-involved youth. The chapter discusses the foundations of intervention for youth aggression and related problem behaviors, along with initial efforts to extend evidence-based treatment models to gang-involved youth. It then reviews insights from developmental studies of gang-affiliated youth and young adults and connect these ideas to the intervention literature to offer a model for an effective treatment strategy for gang youth.
Unexpected side reactions dominate the oxidative transformation of aromatic amines in the Co(II)/peracetic acid system
Authors: Wu Jing-Hang , Yang Tian-Hao , Chen Fei , Yu Han-Qing
Published: January 2024

Aromatic amines (AAs), ubiquitous in industrial applications, pose significant environmental hazards due to their resistance to conventional wastewater treatments. Peracetic acid (PAA)-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been proposed as effective strategies for addressing persistent AA contaminants. While the organic radicals generated in these systems are believed to be selective and highly oxidative, acetate residue complicates the evaluation of AA removal efficiency. In this work, we explored transformation pathways of AAs in a representative Co(II)-catalyzed PAA system, revealing five side reactions (i.e. nitrosation, nitration, coupling, dimerization, and acetylation) that yield 17 predominantly stable and toxic by-products. The dominant reactive species was demonstrated as Co–OOC(O)CH3, which hardly facilitated ring-opening reactions. Our findings highlight the potential risks associated with PAA-based AOPs for AA degradation and provide insights into selecting suitable catalytic systems aimed at efficient and by-product-free degradation of pollutants containing aromatic –NH2.
Ability of a 24-h ambulatory cuffless blood pressure monitoring device to track blood pressure changes in clinical practice
Authors: Derendinger Felicia C. , Vischer Annina S. , Krisai Philipp , Socrates Thenral , Schumacher Christina , Mayr Michael , Burkard Thilo
Published: January 2024

Objective:

There is an increasing number of cuffless blood pressure (BP) measurement (BPM) devices. Despite promising results when comparing single measurements, the ability of these devices to track changes in BP levels over 24 h related to an initial calibration BP (CalibBP) is unknown. Our aim was to analyse this ability in a cuffless device using pulse transit time.

Methods:

We prospectively enrolled 166 participants for simultaneously performed cuffless (Somnotouch-NIBP) and cuff-based (Spacelabs 90217A/IEM Mobil-O-graph) 24 h BPM. As CalibBP for the cuffless device, first cuff-based BP was used. As surrogate for changes in BP levels after the CalibBP, we used the difference between the CalibBP and mean 24 h, awake and asleep BP measured by the two devices. In addition, we analysed the relationship between the difference of the CalibBP and the cuff-based BPM versus the difference between the cuff-based and the cuffless BPM devices.

Results:

Mean(SD) difference between the CalibBP and mean 24hBP by the cuff-based or cuffless BP device were 7.4 (13.2) versus 1.8 (8.3) mmHg for systolic (P < 0.0001) and 6.6 (6.8) versus 1.6 (5.8) mmHg for diastolic (P < 0.0001). A near linear relationship was seen among the difference between the CalibBP and the cuff-based BPM values and the difference between the cuff-based and cuffless BPM device.

Conclusion:

Our data indicate a lower ability of the cuffless BPM device to track changes of BP levels after CalibBP. In addition, cuffless device accuracy was associated with the changes in BP levels after the initial CalibBP – the larger the BP level change, the larger the difference between the devices.

Registration:

https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT03054688; NCT03975582
Massilia litorea sp. nov., Marinobacter salinisoli sp. nov. and Rhodobacter xanthinilyticus sp. nov., isolated from coastal environments
Authors: Lee Banseok , Shin Donghoon , Kim Juseong , Shin Su-Kyoung , Yi Hana , Baek Min-gyung
Published: January 2024

Three bacterial strains, namely LPB0304T, LPB0319T and LPB0142T, were isolated from coastal environments. The 16S rRNA gene sequences of the three isolates were found to show the highest sequence similarities to Massilia litorea (98.44 %), Marinobacter salinisoli (97.55 %) and

Rhodobacter lacus

(97.60 %), respectively. The low (<98.7 %) sequence similarities and tree topologies implied the novelty of the three isolates, representing novel genomic species of the genus

Massilia

,

Marinobacter

and

Rhodobacter

. Numerous biochemical and physiological features also supported the distinctiveness of the isolates from previously known species. Based on the phenotypic and phylogenetic data presented in this study, three novel species are suggested with the following names: Massilia litorea sp. nov. (LPB0304T=KACC 21523T=ATCC TSD-216T), Marinobacter salinisoli sp. nov. (LPB0319T=KACC 21522T=ATCC TSD-218T) and Rhodobacter xanthinilyticus sp. nov. (LPB0142T=KACC 18892T=JCM 31567T).
Engineered minimal type I CRISPR-Cas system for transcriptional activation and base editing in human cells
Authors: Guo Jing , Gong Luyao , Yu Haiying , Li Ming , Liu Zhenquan , Fan Shuru , Yang Changjialian , Zhao Dahe , Han Jing , Xiang Hua
Published: January 2024

Type I CRISPR-Cas systems are widespread and have exhibited remarkable versatility and efficiency in genome editing and gene regulation in prokaryotes. However, due to the multi-subunit composition and large size, their application in eukaryotes has not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we demonstrate that the type I-F2 Cascade, the most compact among type I systems and significantly smaller than SpCas9, can be developed into programmable tools for use in human cells. For transcriptional activation, the efficiency of the tool based on the engineered I-F2 system can match or surpass that of dCas9. Besides, narrow editing windows limit the application of base editors. Although the R-loop formed by Cascade is much wider than that by Cas9 or Cas12, the potential of base editing with Cascade has not yet been explored. We successfully created a base editor with the I-F2 Cascade, which induces a considerably wide editing window (∼30 nt) with a bimodal distribution. The wide editing window can expand the range of targetable sites and can be useful for disrupting functional sequences and genetic screening. The editing efficiency can achieve 50% in human cells. This research underscores the application potential of compact type I systems in eukaryotes and developed a new base editor with an extraordinary wide editing window.
Rapid proteome-wide prediction of lipid-interacting proteins through ligand-guided structural genomics
Authors: Chou Jonathan Chiu-Chun , Decosto Cassandra M. , Chatterjee Poulami , Dassama Laura M. K.
Published: January 2024

Lipids are primary metabolites that play essential roles in multiple cellular pathways. Alterations in lipid metabolism and transport are associated with infectious diseases and cancers. As such, proteins involved in lipid synthesis, trafficking, and modification, are targets for therapeutic intervention. The ability to rapidly detect these proteins can accelerate their biochemical and structural characterization. However, it remains challenging to identify lipid binding motifs in proteins due to a lack of conservation at the amino acids level. Therefore, new bioinformatic tools that can detect conserved features in lipid binding sites are necessary. Here, we presentStructure-basedLipid-interactingPocketPredictor (SLiPP), a structural bioinformatics algorithm that uses machine learning to detect protein cavities capable of binding to lipids in experimental and AlphaFold-predicted protein structures. SLiPP, which can be used at proteome-wide scales, predicts lipid binding pockets with an accuracy of 96.8% and a F1 score of 86.9%. Our analyses revealed that the algorithm relies on hydrophobicity-related features to distinguish lipid binding pockets from those that bind to other ligands. Use of the algorithm to detect lipid binding proteins in the proteomes of various bacteria, yeast, and human have produced hits annotated or verified as lipid binding proteins, and many other uncharacterized proteins whose functions are not discernable from sequence alone. Because of its ability to identify novel lipid binding proteins, SLiPP can spur the discovery of new lipid metabolic and trafficking pathways that can be targeted for therapeutic development.
Using split protein reassembly strategy to control PLD enzymatic activity
Authors: Yao Yuanfa , Hu Changyi , Jianxu Li , Lou Xiayan , Chen Gaojun , Qian Xiaohan , He Lian , Li Xuesong , Zhang Peng , Xu Yingke , Li Hanbing
Published: January 2024

Phospholipase D (PLD) and phosphatidic acid (PA) play a spatio-temporal role in regulating diverse cellular activities. Although current methodologies enable optical control of the subcellular localization of PLD and by which influence local PLD enzyme activity, the overexpression of PLD elevates the basal PLD enzyme activity and further leads to increased PA levels in cells. In this study, we employed a split protein reassembly strategy and optogenetic techniques to modify superPLD (developed by Jeremy Baskin group). We splited this variants into two HKD domains and fused these domains with optogenetic and chemogenetic elements and by which we achieved control of the two HKD interaction and then restored the PLD enzymatic activity.
Mathematical modeling suggests improved clinical outcomes of second-generation PARP inhibitors with reduced toxicity
Authors: Kozłowska Emilia , Haltia Ulla-Maija , Puszynski Krzysztof , Färkkilä Anniina
Published: January 2024

High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) is one of the most lethal gynecological cancers. Recent clinical trials have shown the remarkable benefits of maintenance treatment with Poly-ADP Ribose Polymerase inhibitors, particularly in patients with tumors deficient in homologous recombination DNA repair. However, the large Phase III clinical trials are limited in their ability to evaluate various dosages and treatment durations, and the effects of toxicities and treatment interruptions on clinical outcomes remain unknown. In this study, we developed a computational framework for virtual clinical trials taking into account both tumor dynamics (growth selection and evolution of resistance mechanisms) and clinico-pharmacological features (pharmacokinetics, dosing, hematological toxicity, dose interruptions, and reductions). Our model replicates the clinical outcomes observed in the landmark SOLO-1 clinical trial. The branching process model revealed a heterogeneous patient population with distinct tumor dynamics, highlighting fitness and selection pressure as determinants of a poor response. Through a virtual trial approach, we show that managing toxicity via treatment interruptions or dose reductions does not compromise the clinical benefits of the treatment. Importantly, we present evidence that further reduction of hematological toxicity could significantly improve clinical outcomes in first-line PARPi maintenance treatment in ovarian cancer.

Significance

Phase III clinical trials are limited in their capacity to investigate different dosing schedules, and the number of participants is relatively small. Furthermore, the effects of toxicities on trial outcomes are frequently unknown. Virtual clinical trials using a mechanistic mathematical model combined with statistical evaluations can overcome these limitations. In this work, we demonstrate the application of a computational framework for optimizing drug scheduling and testing of the next generation of PARP inhibitors, providing insights to guide future clinical trial design.