bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Sea is Eating the Ground: A Theology of Sea Level Rise
Authors: Pope Mick
Published: August 2021

Sea level rise is a direct result of anthropogenic climate change, the disruption of the climate system by the burning of fossil fuels. Modern sea level rise can be understood through the functional ontology of the Old Testament. The creation account of Genesis 1 represents a demythologized account of God constraining chaos into an ordered system. The Noahic flood of Genesis 6–8 is the result of human sin releasing the forces of chaos to undo the ordering of creation. This language is taken up in the rest of the Old Testament to describe acts of judgment against Israel's covenant violations. Modern sea level rise may be understood as the release of chaos due to a violation of our role as image of God to represent the God of order to the rest of creation.
De Utilitate Cantorum: Unitive Aspects of Singing in Early Christian Thought
Authors: MacDiarmid Frazer
Published: August 2021

In this article, I draw from a number of church fathers who almost unanimously affirm the socially and cosmically unifying power of singing the Psalms. Often tacitly but unmistakably, they draw upon singing as a type of the person of Christ, a participative union of the divine with the human. However, investigation of singing's “illegitimate” pagan and Jewish heritage illustrates the reason for singing's ambivalence in the Christian mind. I conclude, however, that singing, employing the human body and its sensory faculties sanctified by Christ, constituted a far more valuable heuristic, pedagogic, and doxological tool in the early Christian centuries than we commonly appreciate today.
As Much Light as it Will Take: On Poetic Language and Revelation1
Authors: McGowan Neal
Published: August 2021

This essay argues that poetic language provides a means of understanding the nature of divine revelation by showing how poetry overcomes problems of human communication through metaphor and excessive language. Through a discussion on metaphor and a brief look at A. R. Ammons's poem “The City Limits,” the author demonstrates the ways poetry pushes language to its breaking point using excessive speech to forward communication. The author then argues, using the language of call and response developed by Jean-Louis Chrétien, that revelation functions in an analogous manner—as an excess that emerges when a human response strains but ultimately fails to equal the call of God. Finally, the author connects this definition of revelation as excessive response to God's unending call with the task of the church in allowing a diversity of voices in theological expression and in creating imaginative theological projects.
Tending this Fragile Earth, Our Island Home: The Pope's Encyclical in Dialogue with Anglican Theology
Authors: Kater John L.
Published: August 2021

Laudato si’, Pope Francis's 2015 encyclical on the environment, drew on the Roman Catholic magisterium and his own background as a Latin American Jesuit influenced by Franciscan spirituality. He described a planetary ecological crisis and spells out a response based on a theology and spirituality of creation and invites dialogue with voices from other traditions. The Anglican theological tradition offers resources for dialogue with the encyclical, including nineteenth- and twentieth-century theologians, as well as insights from the liturgical movement, and the dialogue with science that issued in the Episcopal Church's “A Catechism of Creation.” Flexibility in liturgical experimentation, affirmation of the role of laypeople in decision making, and Anglican openness to examining faith and practice in the light of new understandings and insights are all resources that the Anglican tradition can bring to a conversation with the concerns of Laudato si’.
Who is Jesus Now? Maxims and Surprises
Authors: Ford David F.
Published: August 2021

This article is a very personal attempt, within the horizon opened up by the Prologue of the Gospel of John and the past century of Christian theology, to articulate seven maxims in answer to the question, Who is Jesus now? The maxims focus on the Gospel story, analogical thought and imagination, living before the face of Jesus, covenantal commitment, being sent as Jesus was sent, reconciliation, and continuing surprises. Key references are to the Gospel of John, Hans Frei, Frances Young, Richard Hays, David Tracy, Denise Levertov, and Jean Vanier, and to ecumenism and Scriptural Reasoning, which relates to all the maxims.
The Translation Principle in Christian History: A Discourse of the Cross-Cultural Diffusion of Anglicanismin Ikwerre Land 1895–2009
Authors: Gbule Ndidi Justice
Published: August 2021

Undoubtedly, the demography of Christianity as a global religion has shifted inexorably to the Southern continents, especially Asia and Africa. However, much still remains to be seen in how the different Christian communities worldwide image, appropriate, and renegotiate Christian beliefs and practices in terms of local sensitivity or cultural contexts. This paper contends that the “translation principle” in Christian history has propped up the geographical and cross-cultural diffusion of the gospel among different cultures and ethnicities. Utilizing the ethno-historical methodology, the paper diagrams how the Ikwerre, with their own culture, religion, and social norms, received, interpreted and transmitted the gospel to fit into the universal frame of global Christianity. The paper then goes on to illustrate this in relation to the controversies and challenges that confront the translation of the vernacular Ikwerre Bible.
Toward a Theodicy of the Body: Liturgy and Explanation
Authors: Smith Jason M.
Published: August 2021

This essay examines recent attempts to remake the enterprise of theodicy. Both Eleonore Stump and David Burrell analyze the story of Job in an attempt to move theodicy beyond the mode of explanation and into the mode of address. While Mark Scott's theodicy of navigation is a notable advance of this paradigm, such theodicies are still limited to speech and thought. I argue that liturgical practice functions as a sort of “theodicy of the body,” a theodicy of address that includes embodied practice as its predominant medium.
Theologizing Latinamente: Had Anselm Known Us!
Authors: Espín Orlando O.
Published: August 2021

After a historical and cultural grounding of Prosper of Aquitaine's lex orandi, lex credendi and of Anselm of Canterbury's notion that theology is fides quarens intellectum, this article examines the importance of constructing an Episcopal Latinoa theology that is clearly validated by the academy but whose most important validation comes from the people who are the church. Teología de conjunto (or teología en conjunto ) demands and expects theologians’ grounding location to be within lo cotidiano of our people. To theologize latinamente, therefore, is a movement, a contextual perspective, and a methodological approach to theologizing within Christian theology, distinguished by a cultural, critical, contextual, justice-seeking, and noninnocent interpretation of Scripture, tradition and doctrine, society and church, and history. It is intent on acknowledging and honoring Latinoa cultures, histories, and stories as legitimate and necessary sources of Christian theology.
Dismantling the Discourses of the “Black Legend” as They Still Function in the Episcopal Church: A Case against Latinx Ministries as a Program of the Church
Authors: Guzmán Carla E. Roland
Published: August 2021

The Episcopal Church's failures in ministry to, with, and among Latinx persons and communities are related to the centuries-long historical and discursive animosity between England and Spain. This serves as a background to understanding today's major challenges with respect to ministry with Latinx persons and communities, which function as hyphenated-ministries: programs or projects of the church. The overt and covert insidious replication of the discourses of the so-called Black Legend continue to play out in the inability of TEC to have a substantial breakthrough in ministry with and among Latinx persons and communities.
Jeremy Taylor on the Practice of Theology
Authors: Kruger Matthew C.
Published: August 2021

This article seeks to highlight the practical nature of the work of Jeremy Taylor, developing his understanding of the place of theoretical knowledge in its relation to moral living. I argue that Taylor is devoted to the realization of the theoretical in everyday life, and does not overemphasize the moral to the detriment of the theological. In exploring this argument, I analyze his description of the practice of the presence of God and the contemplation of the eternal, two examples from his work of the integration of the theoretical with the practical for the sake of moral improvement.
Catholicity and a Vocation for the Anglican Communion
Authors: Kaye Bruce
Published: August 2021

For several decades now, Anglican churches around the world have been struggling with serious conflicts about gender relationships. Internal troubles have been most apparent in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, and more recently in Aotearoa New Zealand. These conflicts between churches have occupied the attention of the institutions of the Anglican Communion, usually in terms of establishing some framework of unity between the churches. In this context, I wish to suggest a different way of approaching these issues. I want to draw on a renewed sense of catholicity in the church and of the eschatological framework in which all Christians are called to live. In the process, I hope to offer a picture of what might be a vocation for the Anglican Communion, specifically its institutions, that will better honor the narrative tradition of Anglicanism and provide a more effective way into engaging with the problems of our times.
Public Theology: Toward a Christian Definition
Authors: Markham Ian S.
Published: August 2021

Public theology is a phrase that has been used both descriptively (like Bellah's civil religion ) and prescriptively (so that public theology is an attempt to recommend policy prescriptions seen through the narrative of faith). After a survey of the evolution of the phrase, I concede that most contemporary theologians use the phrase in a prescriptive way. Many using public theology in a prescriptivist way do so out of a revisionist theological framework. This is problematic because the majority of Christians are much more traditional in their theology. Building on a distinction between “process” and “content” in Christian ethics, the article argues for a particularist account of public theology that is shaped by liberation theology and yet still committed to conversation in a pluralist society.
Liturgy and Public Theology
Authors: Farwell James W.
Published: August 2021

Liturgy is an act of public theology, when considered from the point of view that Christian ritual performance is publicly enacted for the sake of a wider public, and joins the assembly to Jesus Christ, who is himself God's logos tou theou and God's liturgy. Liturgy does this work through its scripted repetition, formality, spatial and temporal patterning, focus on the body, and deployment of the familiar and unfamiliar. Through these modes, a worldview is enacted and valorizes a certain set of virtues and an orientation to living that correspond to that worldview. Among those virtues are gratitude, a desire for reconciliation, the recognition of our dependency of God and responsibility toward others, and a compassionate commitment to the dignity of humanity and the created order. These ritually enacted virtues, practiced in the hope for the full and coming reign of God, will orient the liturgical assembly to particular social, moral, political concerns as worthy of Christian engagement; but liturgical formation will not, in most cases, prescribe detailed courses of action to take when facing specific instances of those concerns.
Public Theology as Religious Practice: Anglican Mission and Interreligious Encounter
Authors: Sachs William L.
Published: August 2021

The concept of a public theology must balance emphasis on Christianity's theological grounding with recognition of religious pluralism. Where Christians are in the minority, interreligious encounter frames public presence. This article argues that the basis of both faithful religious identity and substantive encounter with non-Christian traditions lies in forms of religious practice. The point is illustrated with reference to the Anglican encounter with Islam. In Egypt during the first half of the twentieth century, the careers of Temple Gairdner and Constance Padwick opened an emphasis upon prayer as a basis for appreciative encounter. Informed by this example, Kenneth Cragg developed a basis for Christian-Muslim relations. He articulated a Christian public theology that is both faithful and constructive in pluralist settings. Following Gairdner and Padwick, Cragg featured matters of practice as the basis for understanding.
Head Scanning Behavior Predicts Hazard Detection Safety Before Entering an Intersection
Authors: Savage Steven W. , Zhang Lily , Swan Garrett , Bowers Alex R.
Published: August 2021

Objective

We conducted a driving simulator study to investigate scanning and hazard detection before entering an intersection.

Background

Insufficient scanning has been suggested as a factor contributing to intersection crashes. However, little is known about the relative importance of the head and eye movement components of that scanning in peripheral hazard detection.

Methods

Eleven older (mean 67 years) and 18 younger (mean 27 years) current drivers drove in a simulator while their head and eye movements were tracked. They completed two city drives (42 intersections per drive) with motorcycle hazards appearing at 16 four-way intersections per drive.

Results

Older subjects missed more hazards (10.2% vs. 5.2%). Failing to make a scan with a substantial head movement was the primary reason for missed hazards. When hazards were detected, older drivers had longer RTs (2.6s vs. 2.3s), but drove more slowly; thus, safe response rates did not differ between the two groups (older 83%; younger 82%). Safe responses were associated with larger (28.8° vs. 20.6°) and more numerous (9.4 vs. 6.6) gaze scans. Scans containing a head movement were stronger predictors of safe responses than scans containing only eye movements.

Conclusion

Our results highlight the importance of making large scans with a substantial head movement before entering an intersection. Eye-only scans played little role in detection and safe responses to peripheral hazards.

Application

Driver training programs should address the importance of making large scans with a substantial head movement before entering an intersection.
Encouraging or expecting flexibility? How small business leaders’ mastery goal orientation influences employee flexibility through different work climate perceptions
Authors: Solberg Elizabeth , Egeland Therese , Sandvik Alexander Madsen , Schei Vidar
Published: August 2021

The employee flexibility desired in changing and uncertain business environments is amplified in small business settings. How can small business leaders facilitate the employee flexibility needed in this context? In the present study, we proposed that mastery goal-oriented leaders who are concerned with learning and competence development would create a work climate that promoted employee flexibility in their firms. We tested our hypotheses with multi-wave, multi-level data collected from leaders and employees in 141 small accounting firms in Norway. Findings revealed that leaders’ mastery goal orientation (MGO) was positively related to employee flexibility through a work climate that encouraged learning and development (a mastery climate). Yet, we also found that leaders’ MGO was negatively related to employee flexibility through a work climate that emphasized the expectations to be adaptive and flexible (an adaptability climate). Taken together, our study suggests that leaders’ mastery goal orientation may fuel employee flexibility when encouraging flexible-related behavior yet backfire when they signal that the same behavior is expected.
The perceived importance of educational qualifications and professional development/continuous education for social work administrators: A case of the NASW-KY chapter
Authors: Alaslawi Hamad A , Garrett Jeremiah K
Published: August 2021

Social work administrators may be receiving inadequate training due to the undervalued importance of formal education and professional development. This study employed a cross-sectional survey on a sample of 150 members of the Kentucky chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. The majority were women (81%). Most held an MSW degree (68.5%). Correlation analysis revealed: (1) perceived capabilities of social work administrators correlated with the perceived importance of formal educational qualifications and (2) perceived qualities, skills, functions, and practices correlated with the perceived importance of professional development/continuous education. Understanding this perceived link and the gaps presented is an important step toward developing better professional development/continuing education programs.
Intergenerational Exploitation
Authors: Mulkeen Nicola
Published: August 2021

Earlier generations can jeopardise the opportunities, resources and well-being of their successors. Indeed, there is a growing unease with earlier generations leaving large-scale public debts to be paid by younger generations, and many worry that our policies and institutions are being shaped to advantage the interests of older generations at the expense of the young. While much theoretical (and empirical) literature now exists on the many ways in which earlier generations can unjustly jeopardise the well-being of their successors, very little has appeared on how the former’s decisions can generate specifically exploitative relationships. This is all the more surprising, in light of the fact that very large theoretical literatures exist on both intergenerational justice and exploitation. The aim of the article is to bring these two literatures into long overdue contact with one another and analyse an under-researched and yet fundamental problem – intergenerational exploitation. The article answers two questions. (1) What exactly is intergenerational exploitation? (2) What makes this type of exploitation wrong?
Development and Validation of the Revised Multicultural Ideology Scale in Germany and Luxembourg
Authors: Stogianni Maria , Berry John W. , Grigoryev Dmitry , Murdock Elke , Schmidt Lea-Marie , Back Caroline
Published: August 2021

A revised version of the Multicultural Ideology Scale (rMCI) is currently being developed to measure endorsement of multiculturalism in different cultural contexts. This study, which is part of a wider cross-cultural research project, presents the first assessment of the rMCI scale in the German language. The measure aims to cover several attitudinal dimensions of multiculturalism, relevant to the integration of different ethnocultural groups: Cultural Maintenance, Equity/Inclusion, Social interaction, Essentialistic Boundaries, Extent of Differences, and Consequences of Diversity. Two independent datasets were acquired from Germany ( N = 382) and Luxembourg ( N = 148) to estimate the factor structure of the rMCI using different confirmatory factor analysis techniques. The findings suggest that a four-factor solution, including Cultural Maintenance, Equity/Inclusion, Social interaction, and Consequences of Diversity, was the best fit for the data. Most of these subscales demonstrated adequate psychometric properties (internal consistency, convergent, and discriminant validity). The four-factor model of the rMCI was partially invariant across the two ethnic groups and full measurement invariance was established across gender.
A rare case of abdominal cocoon caused by brucellosis
Authors: Bansal Priya , Pal Pratibha , Ghotekar LH , Aggarwal Ramesh , Bansal Rohit
Published: August 2021

Brucella is the most common zoonosis in the world and is also included among the neglected endemic zoonoses by the World Health Organization. Its clinical presentation is often vague and it is not frequently suspected. A thorough history of social-economic status and animal exposure is often missed. We present a case of abdominal cocoon in a young patient residing at a dairy farm who tested positive for Brucella serology. Timely diagnosis and management prevented the progression of this debilitating condition to intestinal obstruction.
Discrimination, Emotions, and Identity: Unpacking Latinx Pathways to Crime
Authors: Isom Deena A. , Cann Deanna , Wilson Amber
Published: August 2021

In the United States, populations of Color are overrepresented across virtually all arenas of the criminal justice system. These realities have led scholars to bring race and ethnicity to the forefront of our examinations of crime and justice. Understanding how culturally specific factors distinctly impact a group is imperative when it comes to understanding why some engage in offending while others do not. Analyzing the pathways specified by the theory of African American Offending (TAAO) among a Latinx population can help shed light on whether this theory may be broadly applicable to populations of Color. This insight can aid in the development of culturally appropriate interventions and policies to combat the institutional racism that increases marginalized populations’ likelihood of contact with the criminal justice system. Thus, we explore how well TAAO pathways apply to a Latinx sample of youth. Findings lend support for culturally distinct examinations. Implications are discussed.
The Brexit effect: Political implications of the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union
Authors: Baldini Gianfranco , Chelotti Nicola
Published: August 2021

Brexit has brought tensions in European and (especially) British politics. This article illustrates the rationale, scope and research questions of the special issue, which investigates the first Brexit effects in the five years following the 2016 referendum. Taking the distribution of political power as our primary focus and analysing mainly – though not exclusively – British politics, we trace the first developments in the three domains of politics, polity and policy since the UK’s decision to leave the EU. In the politics domain, after the political uncertainties surrounding the referendum period, we detect a return to the power-hoarding dynamics typical of the Westminster model. However, the territorial and constitutional architectures of the British polity are under considerable strain, with Brexit strengthening the nationalistic movements in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the policy domain, despite strong common interests, Brexit has failed to produce cooperative EU–UK arrangements in finance and foreign policy.
BRICS, G20 and global economic governance reform
Authors: Larionova Marina , Shelepov Andrey
Published: August 2021

The article reviews cooperation between the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and their collective efforts to promote reform of international financial institutions, shape global financial regulation and improve financial cooperation. The authors focus on the BRICS–G20 engagement for global economic governance reform. To assess the progress so far, the study employs original quantitative data on the BRICS and G20 commitments and compliance, and qualitative analysis of the BRICS and G20 discourse and the transformation of the international economic architecture. The results suggest that, contrary to the common perception of the BRICS as a challenger of the traditional western-dominated international monetary and financial system, it acts in a cooperative manner, seeking to make the international financial architecture and global regulation more representative and responsive to emerging markets and developing economies needs, and strengthen the stability and resilience of international and domestic financial markets.
Regional patterns of multilateral treaty cooperation: Is there a Latin American ‘commitment gap’?
Authors: Schulz Carsten-Andreas , Levick Laura
Published: August 2021

Latin American states have long been active participants in multilateral treaty making. However, the rich history of Latin American legal activism contrasts with debates about the degree to which these states commit to international agreements. We probe the existence of this purported ‘commitment gap’ by analyzing the signing and ratification of multilateral treaties. Are Latin American states less likely to ratify agreements they have signed than states from other world regions? Using survival analysis of an original dataset on multilateral treaties deposited with the UN Secretary-General, we find no difference between Latin America and North America/Europe in terms of ratification. If a commitment gap exists, it appears to be more evident in other regions, particularly East Asia, Africa, and the Anglo-Caribbean. To the extent that there is a ‘commitment gap’ at the regional level in Latin America, it is unlikely to be due to country-level factors such as domestic institutions.
Opinion on Maintaining In-House GLP Status for Toxicologic Pathology in Pharmaceutical and (Agro)Chemical Development
Authors: Gauthier Béatrice E. , Bach Ute , Chanut Franck , De Jonghe Sandra , Groeters Sibylle , Mueller Gundi , Palazzi Xavier , Pohlmeyer-Esch Gabriele , Rinke Matthias , Schorsch Frédéric
Published: August 2021

Many pharmaceutical companies have recently elected to stop maintaining good laboratory practices (GLP) status of their R&D sites. Similar discussions have also been engaged in the (agro)chemical industry. This opinion paper examines the pros and cons of maintaining facility GLP status for the purposes of performing the pathology interpretation or peer reviews of GLP studies internally. The toxicologic pathologist provides gross and histomorphologic evaluation and interpretation of nonclinical exploratory and regulatory studies during drug and (agro)chemical development. This assessment significantly contributes to human risk assessment by characterizing the toxicological profile and discussing the human relevance of the findings. The toxicologic pathologist is a key contributor to compound development decisions (advancement or termination) and in the development of de-risking strategies for backup compounds, thus playing a critical role in helping to reduce the late attrition of drugs and chemicals. Maintaining GLP compliance is often perceived as a costly and cumbersome process; a common and short-term strategy to reduce the costs is to outsource regulatory toxicity studies. However, there are significant advantages in maintaining the GLP status for toxicologic pathology activities in-house including the sustainable retention of internal pathology expertise that has maintained the necessary training needed to manage GLP studies.

[Box: see text]
Coping with Multiple Chronic Conditions in the Family Context: A Meta-Synthesis
Authors: Cheng Cheng , Bai Jie
Published: August 2021

This study was to collect, synthesize, and interpret the current qualitative evidence from studies that investigated family coping among people with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs). A meta-synthesis approach was used to report this study. A systematic search was performed in five electronic databases, including CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and PubMed from January 2000 to December 2020. The PRISMA flow chart and Joanna Briggs Institute Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument checklist are integrated into the meta-synthesis. A total of ten eligible studies including data from 381 participants were identified. Three meta-themes were identified in the synthesis: (1) family role maintenance in MCCs management, (2) coping as a family, and (3) be frustrated with family interactions. This meta-synthesis indicated the importance of maintaining social roles and family support within family interactions for coping with MCCs. It also demonstrated the frustrations in the family coping process experienced by people with MCCs. Health care professionals should understand the interactions between people with MCCs and their family members that may impact people’s coping. Such an understanding may contribute to the development of supportive programs such as family-based interventions for people with MCCs.
Multiple Chronic Conditions among Seriously Ill Adults Receiving Palliative Care
Authors: Murali Komal P. , Yu Gary , Merriman John D. , Vorderstrasse Allison , Kelley Amy S. , Brody Abraham A.
Published: August 2021

The objective of this study was to characterize multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) among seriously ill adults receiving palliative care at the end of life. A latent class analysis was conducted to identify latent subgroups of seriously ill older adults based on a baseline Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) measurement, a measure of comorbidity burden, and mortality risk. The three latent subgroups were: (1) low to moderate CCI with MCC, (2) high CCI with MCC, and (3) high CCI and metastatic cancer. The “low to moderate CCI and MCC” subgroup included older adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, dementia, diabetes, and lymphoma. A “high CCI and MCC” subgroup included individuals with severe illness including liver or renal disease among other MCCs. A “high CCI and metastatic cancer” included all participants with metastatic cancer. This study sheds light on the MCC profile of seriously ill adults receiving palliative care.
Decolonising quantitative research methods pedagogy: Teaching contemporary politics to challenge hierarchies from data
Authors: Zwiener-Collins Nadine , Jafri Juvaria , Saini Rima , Poulter Tabitha
Published: August 2021

Decolonisation of the curriculum in higher education is a radical, transformative process of change that interrogates the enduring Eurocentric and racist narratives surrounding the production of academic ‘knowledge’. Our key argument is that it is essential for students of politics to understand the authorities and hierarchies exerted through quantitative data. In this article, we show that (1) quantitative methods and data literacy can be an explicit tool in the endeavour to challenge structures of oppression, and (2) there is a need to apply decolonial principles to the teaching of quantitative methods, prioritising the historical contextualisation and anti-racist critique of the ways in which statistics amplify existing micro and macro power relations. To explain how this can be done, we begin with a commentary on the ‘state of decolonisation’ in higher education, its relevance to the subdisciplines of politics, and its application to quantitative teaching in the United Kingdom. We then suggest some guiding principles for a decolonial approach to quantitative methods teaching and present substantive examples from political sociology, international political economy, and international development. These suggestions and examples show how a decolonial lens advances critical and emancipatory thinking in undergraduate students of politics when it is used with quantitative methods.
Soil, territory, land: The spatial politics of settler organic farming in the West Bank, Israel/Palestine
Authors: Grosglik Rafi , Handel Ariel , Monterescu Daniel
Published: August 2021

In settler colonial settings, agriculture is a means of reclaiming territorial sovereignty and indigenous identity. Turning attention to the Jewish settlers in the West Bank and their multiple uses and abuses of organic farming, this article explores epistemic and political spatial operations on the colonial frontier. Applying a relational conceptualization of three spatial modalities—soil, territory, and land—we explore the ways in which these modalities serve as political apparatuses: Soil designates the romantic perception of cultivable space, territory is concerned with borders and political sovereignty, and land is seen as a space of economic value and as a means of production. While agriculture is a well-known instrument of expansion and dispossession, organic farming contributes to the colonial operation by binding together affective attachment to the place, and new economic singularity in relation to environmental and ethical claims. We argue that organic farming practices converge claims for local authenticity, spatial appropriation, and high economic values that are embedded in what we term the colonial quality turn. Ultimately, organic farming in the West Bank normalizes the inherent violence of the colonial project and strengthens the settlers’ claim for political privilege.
National identity, cosmopolitanism, and attitudes toward immigrants
Authors: Taniguchi Hiromi
Published: August 2021

This study examines the effects of national and cosmopolitan self-identity on xenophobic attitudes across 33 countries with a multilevel analysis of data from the National Identity Module III of the International Social Survey Programme. Of primary interest is how country contexts are intertwined with the sense of national belonging to predict individuals’ anti-immigrant attitudes. The study finds that individuals with a stronger ethnicity-based national identity tend to evidence stronger xenophobia. Net of the individual-level effect of ethnic national identity, citizens of countries with a higher average of ethnic national identity also tend to be more xenophobic. Interestingly, the link between ethnic national identity and xenophobia is stronger in countries where this perspective is not shared as strongly. In the seemingly more ‘open’ country context, individuals’ belief in the requirement of ancestral roots for national membership may entail stronger exclusivism as a fringe ideology.
Reexamining the Automobile’s Past: What Were the Critical Factors That Determined the Emergence of the Internal Combustion Engine as the Dominant Automotive Technology?
Authors: Hadjilambrinos Constantine
Published: August 2021

At the end of the 19th-century three technologies had emerged as sources of motive power for the automobile: steam, internal combustion, and electric motors. In 1900, in the United States and around the world, each of these powered a roughly equal number of automobiles. Thus, the early period of automobile development offers fertile ground for the study of technological path choice. At that time, it appeared that the electric motor was poised to become the dominant automotive technology. However, the internal combustion engine achieved this status instead. Although a large number of studies have examined the history of the automobile with a view to determining the reasons for the emergence of the internal combustion engine as the dominant technology for the car engine (especially its choice over the electric motor), no consensus has emerged of what the critical factors were. A close reexamining of the history allows us to identify the years 1900-1904 as the period during which the automobile’s technological path was determined. A review of the conditions prevailing during this period and the stages of development of the sociotechnical systems in which each of the alternative automotive technologies was embedded helps us identify the aspiration for touring as the key factor fixing the path for the technological development of the automobile from that point on.
Primary cardiac angiosarcoma: a case report
Authors: Fang Xin , Zheng Song
Published: August 2021

Primary cardiac angiosarcoma is relatively rare, and most cases involve metastasis at the time of diagnosis. The median survival time is 14 months for patients who can be treated surgically, versus 3.8 ± 2.5 months for patients with metastasis who could not undergo surgery. Radical surgical resection, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy are the main treatments, but prognosis remains poor because of rapid progression and high recurrence and metastasis rates. At present, there is no unified standard treatment, and selecting the correct treatment plan and improving patient survival and quality of life remain challenging. We have reported the case of a 45-year-old woman with a primary heart tumor that infiltrated the right atrial wall and pericardium. Angiosarcoma was verified histologically. After palliative resection of the primary tumor followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy and targeted therapy, the patient exhibited overall survival of 23 months, highlighting the potential utility of this treatment strategy.
Early diagnosis of a newborn with tuberous sclerosis caused by a genetic mutation
Authors: Qiao Lin , Yang Yuting , Yue Dongmei
Published: August 2021

Objective

Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is an autosomal dominant disorder, often detected during childhood. We present the results of genetic testing in a newborn with suspected TSC.

Methods

A newborn with no specific clinical manifestations of TSC showed evidence of TSC on magnetic resonance imaging and echocardiography. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) and multiple ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) of the TSC1 and TSC2 gene exons were carried out to confirm the diagnosis.

Results

The results of MLPA were negative, but NGS showed a heterozygous mutation in the TSC1 gene comprising insertion of a T residue at c.2165 (exon 17) to c.2166 (exon 17), indicating a loss of function mutation. These results were verified by Sanger sequencing. This genetic change was present in the newborn but the parental genotypes were wild-type, indicating a de novo mutation.

Conclusions

In this case, a case of TSC caused by a heterozygous mutation in the TSC1 gene was confirmed by NGS sequencing. This indicates the suitability of genetic testing for the early diagnosis of clinically rare and difficult-to-diagnose diseases, to guide clinical treatment.
Efficacy and safety of daratumumab in the treatment of multiple myeloma: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Wang Yin , Li Yanqing , Chai Ye
Published: August 2021

Objective

To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of combination regimens containing daratumumab in patients with multiple myeloma (MM).

Methods

A systematic search of publications listed on electronic databases (PubMed®, The Cochrane Library, Science Direct and Web of Science) between inception and 13 November 2020 was conducted to find randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that included patients with MM that were treated with combination regimens containing daratumumab.

Results

A total of seven RCTs were included ( n = 4268 patients). Meta-analysis showed that compared with the control group, the group containing daratumumab showed a significantly better overall response rate and a complete response or better. Daratumumab improved efficacy in both standard-risk and cytogenetically high-risk patients with MM. The prevalence of neutropenia (≥grade 3) and pneumonia was significantly higher in the daratumumab group compared with the control group.

Conclusion

The available evidence demonstrated that the clinical application of combination regimens containing daratumumab improved the efficacy in patients with MM and had acceptable safety.
Association between pain and gait instability in patients with lumbar disc herniation
Authors: Lee Keunjae , Kim Eun-San , Jung Boyoung , Park Sang-Won , Ha In-Hyuk
Published: August 2021

Objective

To determine whether pain is associated with gait instability in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH).

Methods

This retrospective cross-sectional study used data from electronic medical records. Among patients with lumbar back pain caused by LDH between January 2017 and July 2019, patients that underwent gait analysis were included. LDH was diagnosed using magnetic resonance imaging. An OptoGait photoelectric cell system was used for gait evaluation. Instability was measured using a gait symmetry index. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to determine the association between lumbar pain and gait instability.

Results

A total of 29 patients (12 females [41.4%] and 17 males [58.6%]; mean ± SD age, 40.6 ± 12.0 years) with LDH were enrolled in the study. With each 1-point increase in lumbar pain on the numeric rating scale, the symmetry index of the stance phase (0.33; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.04, 0.62), swing phase (0.78; 95% CI 0.14, 1.43) and single support (0.79; 95% CI 0.15, 1.43) increased.

Conclusions

Gait instability in patients with LDH may occur due to an increase in pain.
Exploring the efficacy and safety of polyene phosphatidylcholine for treatment of drug-induced liver injury using the Roussel Uclaf causality assessment method: a propensity score matching comparison
Authors: Lei Xiaohong , Zhang Jianzhong , Xu Qingling , Li Jing , Qian Yunsong , Zhang Jing , Liu Liangming , Zhong Wei , Wang Yongfeng , Han Xian , Tang Jieting , Zeng Minde , Mao Yimin
Published: August 2021

Objective In China, polyene phosphatidylcholine (PPC) is widely used to treat alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation associated with various liver diseases. Here, we assessed the efficacy and safety of PPC in treating drug-induced liver injury (DILI).

Methods Data from a multicenter retrospective cohort study (DILI-R) were analyzed to compare PPC and magnesium isoglycyrrhizinate (MgIG) for treatment of DILI. We used the Roussel Uclaf causality assessment method (RUCAM) to evaluate patients with DILI. Patients with RUCAM scores ≥6 were included in the study, while those with RUCAM scores <6 were further evaluated by a panel of hepatologists. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with ALT normalization at discharge. Propensity score matching was used to identify 183 matched pairs of patients (366 patients in total) from 25,927 patients with DILI.

Results Among the DILI patients, 64 of 183 (34.97%) achieved normal ALT levels after treatment in both the PPC and the MgIG groups.

Conclusion There were no significant differences in safety biomarkers including serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, white blood cells, platelets, hemoglobin, and albumin between patients treated with PPC or MgIG. The safety and efficacy of these two agents for treatment of DILI were comparable.
National and Post-National Performances at the Venice Biennale: Site-specific Seeing through the Photo Essay
Authors: Hansen Lene , Spanner Johan
Published: August 2021

This article makes three contributions to research on visuality and international relations. First, it provides a theoretical framework through which sites and their politics can be understood. Sites are places where certain objects and structures are shown and engaged with. Visitors to sites experience them visually and bodily and visiting sites is a social process. Second, the article introduces the format of the photo essay as an epistemology and a method through which the seeing of sites can be captured. Photo essays about site-specific seeing select photos that convey particular, embodied experiences. Photo essays make photos as important to the analysis as text and they adopt a suggestive form of writing that encourages the reader to see and respond to images in specific ways. Third, the article introduces the Venice Biennale as a site where international relations are performed. National exhibitions called ‘pavilions’ are a central part of the Biennale. Some pavilions invoke ‘the national’ as the privileged lens on world politics, other pavilions challenge this lens. The article provides an analysis of the Serbian, Armenian and Icelandic pavilions in the 2015 Biennale and the national and post-national performances they involved. The analysis draws on an original photo essay composed from a research visit and photo shoot in May 2015.
Sovereignty and Death: Post-mortem Visual Representations in Turkey and Russia’s Media
Authors: Akin Cihan Erdost , Dufalla Jacqueline
Published: August 2021

This article assesses the politics of post-mortem visual representation in media. Studying different representation of death in Turkey and Russia, it explores the intersection of visual images, death, and sovereignty. The existing studies have established that dead bodies are pushed to the private sphere and rendered invisible in media representation. The case studies suggest we should not only focus on the corporeal visibility of the dead body but also on the representation of identity markers, such as the person’s face and associated symbols. On the other hand, some of the bodies are treated as objects; they are rendered invisible as nameless and faceless figures. Building on Agamben, this article suggests that post-mortem representation produces biologically dead subjects whose political lives are worthy of saving, those worth sacrificing, and the bare dead. Therefore, sovereignty resides not only in deciding the value of life but also of the dead.
Special Issue—Contemporary Issues in Brazilian Criminology
Authors: Ceccato Vania
Published: August 2021

This special issue features seven articles among those presented at the workshop “Crime and Perceived Safety in Brazil” (Crime e Percepção de Segurança in Brazil) in Campinas, Brazil, in December 2019. The special issue reflects an array of themes of contemporary criminology in Brazil, from homicides and corruption to fear of crime and crime prevention. This special issue reflects the interdisciplinary character of the workshop with participating researchers from several Brazilian universities. For a selection of other articles from this workshop, see the second special issue to be published in the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice in 2022.
Investigation into the braking performance of high-speed trains in the complex braking environment of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway
Authors: Zhao Wentao , Ding Jianming , Zhang Qingsong , Liu Weiwei
Published: August 2021

The Sichuan-Tibet Railway is an east-west rapid plateau railway under construction from Chengdu to Lhasa. One of its most remarkable features is the high altitude and notable altitude fluctuations. High altitudes will result in low atmospheric pressures and temperatures. The freezing caused by low temperatures will lead to low wheel-rail adhesions. Altitude fluctuations will generate complex spatial railway tracks. To investigate the braking performance of a train in such a complex braking environment, a train spatial dynamics model, a model of a direct pneumatic brake system and a model of a braking control strategy are constructed. A comprehensive analysis model for investigating the braking performance of high-speed trains in a complex braking environment is proposed based on the constructed train spatial dynamics model, direct pneumatic brake system model and braking control strategy model. A simulation computation platform for train braking performance analysis on the Sichuan-Tibet Railway is established based on SIMPACK, AMESim, Simulink and their interfaces. The braking performance under the different altitudes, different spatial railway tracks and low adhesions are analysed in detail and summarized. Computation time are compared in different altitudes and track conditions. Computational efficiencies of the dynamic model with multi-thread parallel computation are discussed. The results indicate that an increasing altitude and the alteration of railway track conditions have a remarkable influence on the braking distance, brake cylinder pressure, instantaneous deceleration, maximum wheel-load reduction rates and maximum longitudinal impact forces of high-speed trains. The track conditions in the dynamic model have a greater impact on the computation speed. Compared to single-thread parallel computation, the computational efficiency using 2-thread parallel computation can be promoted by 22.97%. These results will provide a reference for the Sichuan-Tibet Railway design and the optimization of train braking systems.