bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Defining the State in the Middle East: A Report on the Second of Three Workshops Organized by The Social Science Research Council’s Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East
Authors: Mitchell Timothy , Owen Roger
Published: March 2016

The SSRC’S Joint Near and Middle East Committee has organized a series of workshops on the state in its Middle Eastern context. The format consists of discussions of papers written by members of the committee, as well as of articles and chapters of books presented as background material by a small number of invited guests. A report on the first workshop, held at Buyukada, Istanbul, in September 1989 appeared in the MESA Bulletin 24 (1990), pages 179 to 183. A third workshop was held at St. Antony’s College, Oxford in December 1990.
The Re-Imagination of the Middle East: Political and Academic Frontiers (1991 Presidential Address)
Authors: Eickelman Dale F.
Published: March 2016

The world is now undergoing a transformation as profound as that experienced with the rise of the territorial state system after the religious wars of Europe’s feudal period. Modern technology in defense and communications and “emerging trans-state patterns of commerce, politics, and cultural life” are rendering traditional notions of “frontier” obsolete. Dispersed transnational communities—Sikhs in Canada, Muslims in Britain, Germany, France, and the U.S.—sectarian and ethnic militias sustained by emigré and foreign funds, and transnational banking, commercial, religious, and intellectual links often opaque to state authorities may not threaten the existence of the nation-state everywhere, but they serve as a poignant reminder that nation-states are not the only significant political actors in the late twentieth century.
The End of Civilization is Not So Bad (1993 MESA Presidential Address)
Authors: Voll John Obert
Published: March 2016

The sounds and activities of an increasingly globalized human world often drown out the noises of the debates in scholarly journals and intellectual magazines about the coming wars among civilizations. This globalized theater of life is paradoxical, conflictridden and often destructive of many human values, but it is fundamentally an increasingly one-world context. Its struggles and conflicts cannot be best understood by viewing them as if they were wars between essentially different and separated entities.
Middle East and Islamic Studies in South Africa
Authors: Sonn Tamara
Published: March 2016

Although muslims make up less than two percent of South Africa’s total population, they are a well-established community with high visibility. In 1994 South Africans will celebrate 300 years of Islam in South Africa. The introduction of Islam to South Africa is usually attributed to Sheikh Yusuf, a Macasser prince exiled to South Africa for leading resistance against Dutch colonization in Malaysia. But the first Muslims in South Africa were actually slaves, imported by the Dutch colonists to the Cape mainly from India, the Indonesian archipelago, Malaya and Sri Lanka beginning in 1667. The Cape Muslim community, popularly but inaccurately known as “Malays” and known under the apartheid system as “Coloureds,” therefore, is the oldest Muslim community in South Africa. The other significant Muslim community in South Africa was established over 100 years later by northern Indian indentured laborers and tradespeople, a minority of whom were Muslims. The majority of South African Indian Muslims now live in Natal and Transvaal. Indians were classified as “Asians” or “Asiatics” by the apartheid system. The third ethnically identifiable group of Muslims in South Africa were classified as “African” or “Black” by the South African government. The majority of Black Muslims are converts or descendants of converts. Of the entire Muslim population of South Africa, some 49% are “Coloureds,” nearly 47% are “Asians,” and although statistics regarding “Africans” are generally unreliable, it is estimated that they comprise less than four percent of the Muslim population. Less than one percent of the Muslim population is “White.”
Islamic Art and Architecture in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed.
Authors: Blair Sheila S. , Bloom Jonathan M.
Published: March 2016

The second edition of The Encyclopaedia of Islam (EI/2), published since 1954 by E.J. Brill in Leiden, is well known as an unparalleled scholarly reference for the history and culture of the Islamic lands. By late summer 1994, the Encyclopaedia had reached the entry Riḍā Shāh in the middle of the eighth volume. The volumes, each approximately 1000 pages long, are lodes of information about the people, places, events and ideas of Islamic history and thought; but simply by handling the volumes, a reader would never realize that the visual arts were an important component of Islamic culture. There are very few illustrations, none of them in color. Even to the most unsophisticated eye, EI/2 is a dense, ponderous, and user-antagonistic reference tool. Nevertheless, it is a useful resource for the history of art and architecture in the Islamic lands, particularly to those who already know something about Islamic civilization, although the reader must be an experienced miner to discover the ore-bearing strata.
Middle East and North Africa Human Rights Activism in Cyberspace
Authors: Gallagher Nancy
Published: March 2016

Human Rights activists and scholars are finding information technology advantageous in their work. Through electronic communication activists can disseminate information widely, rapidly and inexpensively with far less labor than before. Censorship can often be circumvented. Information can be easily compiled, analyzed and managed. Action alerts can be disseminated almost instantaneously. Distances are reduced to nearly nothing. Not surprisingly, human rights resources on the Internet are increasing by leaps and bounds. There are, however, limitations for the human rights community.
Islamic Law in Contemporary Scholarship
Authors: Ghazzal Zouhair
Published: March 2016

Despite the importance of law in societal formations, and what looks like a revival in the field of legal studies, Islamic law is still by and large accessible to only a small group of specialists, and thus cannot claim a large audience even within Islamic and Middle (Near) Eastern studies, not to mention the much broader European and American legal scholarship. There are various reasons for such isolation, which are too complex to enumerate in a summary fashion, but which mostly involve the way the scholarship has evolved in the last few decades in Islamic societies, Europe, and North America, and which reflects the nature of Islamic law. First, unlike Roman law and all the continental codes that followed, and unlike the English and American common-law systems, what is commonly referred to as ‘Islamic law’ does not stand out as an organized set of codes, statutes, or even precedents. Instead, the body of Islamic law, which stretches over many centuries, has spawned several schools known as themadha̱hib, so that a modern scholar who needs to look at the legal framework of, say, an institution of the early ‘Abba̱sid period would have to dig hard into the labyrinth of thefiqhmanuals only to realize that layers of interpretations follow each opinion, making it unrealistic to limit the ‘law’ to a set of codified norms. Second, modern scholars tend to look skeptically at the large corpus of Islamic law precisely because of its prescriptive nature and its uncertain historical evolution. We have consequently made little progress in assessing the nature of judicial decisionmaking and how the normative values prescribed by jurists affect it. Third, throughout the twentieth century, the majority of Islamic and Middle Eastern societies have adopted a new set of codes, a process that began in the second half of the previous century with Ottoman reforms, and which for the most part were derived from European civil-code systems. Since the implications of this rupture with the past have attracted little attention from scholars, the relevance of the classical legal systems is the biggest issue of concern here: will the transplanted systems utterly eclipse the various Islamic legal schools, or will there be a revival of the legal schools so as to make up for the inadequacies that result from the civil systems? Indeed, a lot needs to be done before more comprehensively elaborated codes are drafted, in particular in such domains as property, contract, and tort, which, under present conditions, seem like a hybrid mixture of Ottoman feudal practices and modern but poorly implemented Western notions.
Visions of the City: Urban Studies on the Gulf
Authors: Fuccaro Nelida
Published: March 2016

So Harran had been since the beginning of time, and so it was when Ibn Rasheed and his men arrived. The Company men, who had visited many places before Harran, chose it as a port and headquarters of the Company, as well as a city of finality and damnation.

Abdelrahman Munif,Cities of Salt

The cultural, physical, and socio-economic displacement of traditional Gulf societies has been strikingly portrayed by Abdelrahman Munif in his fictional account of the diaspora of a poor oasis community after the discovery of oil. Munif's oil city, seen through the eyes of this community, is a daunting and transient place of contrast and dual personality, a city whose historical memory has been swept away by the evils of modern technology and by neo-colonial forms of economic exploitation.Cities of Saltrecounts the hidden tale of Gulf cities, a tale which, this article will argue, is too often neglected in urban studies on the region.
The Anthropology of the Middle East
Authors: Gulick John
Published: March 2016

Escapism was the origin of the anthropology of the Middle East. By anthropology I mean, for the purposes of this article, the direct study of contemporaneously living peoples, not the study of extinct cultures (prehistoric archaeology, a branch of anthropology) or of the bodies of the people who lived those cultures (a major concern of physical anthropology).
Three Waves of Late Ottoman Historiography, 1950-2007
Authors: Emrence Cem
Published: March 2016

Since the middle of the twentieth century there have been three waves of historiography on the late Ottoman world. Each rose to prominence in a different global setting, functioned as a broad intellectual orientation, and was replaced by another somewhat less hegemonic theoretical current after about two decades. The key differences between the three episodes are evident in terms of their thematic priorities, analytical frameworks, and the research designs and methodological choices of scholars. These three waves of Ottoman history writing can be classified as modernization approaches, macro models, and post-structural agendas.
Islamophobia as a Social Problem: 2006 Presidential Address
Authors: Cole Juan
Published: March 2016

“Prejudice is an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group or an individual of that group.” So the social psychologist Gordon Allport defined prejudice in a 1954 book on the subject. My focus today is on a specific sort of prejudice and discrimination, that against Muslims. Prejudice is generally recognized as similar in meaning to bias, and as having to do with attitudes and beliefs. Discrimination is the practical disadvantaging of the member of a class of persons, not for his or her personal actions but for those associated with his or her group by the majority in society.
Art Without History? Evaluating ‘Arab’ Art: An Introduction
Authors: Shabout Nada
Published: March 2016

The Association for Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab world, Iran, and Turkey (AMCA) is a private, non-profit, non-political, international academic organization. Our goals include initiating the much-deserved recognition of a neglected and misrepresented field, and to open up institutional spaces for discussion, research and study. We seek to connect artists, scholars and others from around the world by sponsoring conferences, holding meetings, and exchanging information via a newsletter and website.
History of the Medieval Middle East: A.D. 622–1799
Authors: Landen Robert Geran
Published: March 2016

Commonly, the course in medieval Middle Eastern history serves many purposes. Not only must it detail the changes that transformed the Middle East from the seventh thru the eighteenth centuries but also it should introduce and analyze the rich diversity of pre-modern Islamic society, institutions, politics, and culture. Thus, considerable variation exists in historical treatments of the medieval Middle East. Nevertheless, at present most of these courses are chronological surveys which tend to emphasize political history, although a large number of offerings are topically arranged and give separate attention to many of the several aspects of traditional Middle Eastern civilization and institutions. Actually, the differences between these two orientations are mainly ones of emphasis. For instance, few topically arranged courses ignore the chronological factor in analyzing change.
Persian Language Instruction
Authors: Jazayery M. A.
Published: March 2016

This survey of Persian language instruction in the United States and Canada does not pretend to be exhaustive in coverage, or to present the most up-to-date and complete information in all aspects. A questionnaire was sent in June 1971 to some 28 institutions of higher learning where Persian was known or suspected to be taught at the time. It was divided into 8 sections, each containing a number of specific questions. The section headings were: I. Background Information; II. Objectives of Persian-Language Teaching; III. Teaching Methods; IV. Teaching Materials; V. Teaching Staff; VI. Degrees and Curricula; VII. Applied Research; VIII. Recommendations and General Evaluation. The list of the institutions was compiled from various sources, including MESA bulletins.
New Trends in the Use of the Computer for the Study of the Middle East
Authors: Pritchard Phil
Published: March 2016

The use of the computer as a research tool for the study of the Middle East is a relatively new phenomenon. As the social sciences preceeded history and the humanities in making use of the computer, so have American and European studies preceeded non-Western area studies in this respect. Older, purely literary methods are still dominant in area-specialist journals, computerized and quantitative articles appearing in any quantity only in the journals dealing with the modern period or those which have begun publication within the past decade or two (see my article in the American Research Center in Egypt Newsletter, 93 [Fall 1975]). Much of the social scientific research done on the Middle East, has, in common with that done on Europe and America, involved routine computer processing and statistical analysis, but this material is also generally published in disciplinary journals where most area scholars never see it. Many students of the Middle East are therefore often unaware of the very existence, let alone the potentialities, of much of this new methodology.
Five year follow-up of non-psychotic adults with frequent auditory verbal hallucinations: are they still healthy?
Authors: Daalman K. , Diederen K. M. J. , Hoekema L. , van Lutterveld R. , Sommer I. E. C.
Published: March 2016

Background

Previously, we described 103 adults (mean age 41 years) who experienced frequent, auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH), in the absence of a need for mental healthcare. Importantly, these adults were largely past the peak incidence age for psychosis (15–35 years). It is unclear if these older individuals with AVH are still at increased risk for psychosis or other psychopathology. To address this question, we conducted a 5-year follow-up of previously included individuals (103 with AVH, 60 controls).

Method

Eighty-one adults with AVH (78.6%) and forty-nine controls (81.7%) could be contacted and were willing to participate. Participants were screened for psychosis and a need for mental healthcare at follow-up using the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History interview (CASH). Need for mental healthcare was defined as a clinical diagnosis as identified using the CASH and/or treatment by a mental healthcare specialist. Phenomenology of AVH was assessed with the PSYRATS Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale.

Results

Five individuals with AVH (6.2%) had developed psychosis and 32 (39.5%) had developed a need for mental healthcare. Voice-related distress at baseline significantly predicted need for mental healthcare. AVH persisted in most individuals (86.4%), without significant changes in phenomenology. None of the controls had developed psychotic symptoms, and need for mental healthcare (n= 6, 12.2%) was significantly lower in this group.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that frequent AVH in non-psychotic adults past the peak incidence age for psychosis constitute a rather static symptom and that individuals with AVH may be best viewed as situated on a need for care continuum.
Democracies and the Power to Revoke Citizenship
Authors: Tamara Lenard Patti
Published: March 2016

Citizenship status is meant to be secure, that is, inviolable. Recently, however, several democratic states have adopted or are considering adopting laws that allow them the power to revoke citizenship. This claimed right forces us to consider whether citizenship can be treated as a “conditional” status, in particular whether it can be treated as conditional on the right sort of behavior. Those who defend such a view argue that citizenship is a privilege rather than a right, and thus in principle is revocable. Participating in a foreign state's military, treason, spying, or committing acts that otherwise threaten the national security of one's state may all warrant revocation. This article assesses the justifications given for the claimed power to revoke citizenship in democratic states and concludes that, ultimately, such a power is incompatible with democracy.

I begin with a brief account of the claims given by contemporary democratic states for the “right to revoke.” Democratic citizenship is today commonly understood to beegalitarian, that is, it protects an equal basic package of rights for all citizens; and to be “the highest and most secure legal status,” that is, it is meant to be secure from unilateral withdrawal by the state. Formally, many democratic states have revocation laws on the books, but most of these have long been in disuse. Although I argue in this article that all revocation laws are inconsistent with democratic citizenship, I focus on the recent surge in proposed and implemented revocation laws, which are justified as essential to protecting national security.

In the second section I outline three reasons to object to revocation laws. First, revocation laws discriminate between citizens based on their citizenship status. Second, since they single out those who are eligible for revocation, they apply unequal penalties for the same crime. Third, they are inadequately justified, in general, but also particularly to those who may be subject to them, because they are not adequately connected to the policy goal they are said to fulfill. I conclude with some brief observations concerning the ways in which revocation permits states to abrogate their shared responsibility for protecting the global community from dangerous individuals.
Morphophysiological epicotyl dormancy in seeds of threePsychotriaspecies from Sri Lanka: first record for Rubiaceae
Authors: Athugala Yasoja S. , Jayasuriya K.M.G. , Gunaratne A.M.T.A. , Baskin Carol C.
Published: March 2016

To increase our knowledge of the diversity of seed dormancy and germination in Rubiaceae, we investigated seed desiccation sensitivity and germination of threePsychotriaspecies. Seeds ofP. gardneri, P. nigraandP. zeylanicagerminated to high percentages at <15% seed moisture content. Intact seeds ofP. zeylanicaandP. nigraimbibed water and thus do not have physical dormancy. More than 50% of the seeds ofP. zeylanica, P. nigraandP. gardneritook 33, 53 and 110 d, respectively, at 25°C for the radicle to emerge, and embryo growth occurred before and after radicle emergence. Thus, seeds have morphophysiological dormancy. Shoot emergence ofP. nigraandP. zeylanicaseeds was delayed 50 and 80 d after radical emergence, respectively; thus, seeds have epicotyl morphophysiological dormancy (eMPD). This is the first report of eMPD in Rubiaceae. Since warm stratification promoted both radicle and shoot emergence in seeds ofP. zeylanicaandP. nigra, the level of eMPD is non-deep simple. Hence, dormancy of the studiedPsychotriaspp. can be described as C1bBb(radicle)–C1bBb(epicotyl), i.e. the embryo is underdeveloped and grows prior to radicle emergence and epicotyl emergence under warm temperatures (Bb), and both the radicle and epicotyl have non-deep simple physiological dormancy broken by warm temperatures (C1b). In twoPsychotriaspecies studied in detail, radicle emergence occurs at the beginning of the rainy season and plumule emergence at the peak rainy season when conditions are most favourable for rapid seedling development.
The partner in late-life repartnering: caregiving expectations from an intergenerational perspective
Authors: Koren Chaya , Simhi Shiran , Lipman-Schiby Sharon , Fogel Saray
Published: March 2016

Background:

Late-life repartnering among functionally independent adults, resulting in complex stepfamilies, has emerged with increased life expectancy, and is likely to develop further. It is perceived as a chance for renewal and autonomy, enabling a release from dependency on offspring, whereas caregiving is associated with dependency and becoming a burden on family members. Thus, the experiences of late-life repartnering and caregiving are opposites. Using a life course perspective, we explore partner caregiving expectations in late-life repartnering from the viewpoints of three generations in complex stepfamilies in Israel, a society characterized by collectivist alongside individualist familial norms.

Methods:

Using criterion sampling, we recruited 19 stepfamily units (38 families) of functionally independent persons who repartnered at the official retirement age or older and had offspring from a lifelong marriage that ended in widowhood or divorce. One-hundred-seven semi-structured qualitative interviews with older partners, their adult children, and grandchildren were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was based on grounded theory principles and dyadic analysis adapted to families.

Results:

Two themes emerged: caregiving commitment and decision making. Issues included: influences of partner-caregiving history; chronic versus temporary caregiving situations; caregiving strengthening partner relationships and influencing stepfamily relationships, and moral dilemmas, such as what happens when fun – a motive for repartnering – is no longer possible. Could abandonment become an option?

Conclusions:

From a life course perspective, caregiving, as “on-time,” and late-life repartnering, as “off-time,” highlight the lack of norms and the need to establish normative behavior for caregiving in late-life repartnering in diverse cultural contexts along with its reservations.
Characteristics of neurocognitive functions in mild cognitive impairment with depression
Authors: Dong Hyun-Seok , Han Changsu , Jeon Sang Won , Yoon Seoyoung , Jeong Hyun-Ghang , Huh Yu Jeong , Pae Chi-Un , Patkar Ashwin A. , Steffens David C.
Published: March 2016

Background:

Previous studies suggest that there is a strong association between depression and cognitive decline, and that concurrent depressive symptoms in MCI patients could contribute to a difference in neurocognitive characteristics compared to MCI patients without depression. The authors tried to compare neurocognitive functions between MCI patients with and without depression by analyzing the results of neuropsychological tests.

Methods:

Participants included 153 MCI patients. Based on the diagnosis of major depressive disorder, the participants were divided into two groups: depressed MCI (MCI/D+) versus non-depressed MCI (MCI/D−). The general cognitive and functional statuses of participants were evaluated. And a subset of various neuropsychological tests was presented to participants. Demographic and clinical data were analyzed using Studentt-test orχ2test.

Results:

A total of 153 participants were divided into two groups: 94 MCI/D+ patients and 59 MCI/D− patients. Age, sex, and years of education were not significantly different between the two groups. There were no significant differences in general cognitive status between MCI/D+ and MCI/D− patients, but MCI/D+ participants showed significantly reduced performance in the six subtests (Contrasting Program, Go-no-go task, Fist-edge-palm task, Constructional Praxis, Memory Recall, TMT-A) compared with MCI/D− patients.

Conclusions:

There were significantly greater deficits in neurocognitive functions including verbal memory, executive function, attention/processing speed, and visual memory in MCI/D+ participants compared to MCI/D−. Once the biological mechanism is identified, distinct approaches in treatment or prevention will be determined.
Refocusing on Early Intervention and Family Support: A Review of Child Welfare Reforms in New South Wales, Australia
Authors: Churchill Harriet , Fawcett Barbara
Published: March 2016

Since 2000, the New South Wales (NSW) Government in Australia has pursued major child welfare reforms. Responding to the ‘crisis in child protection’ and informed by a public health approach, key aims were to prevent child maltreatment and promote child welfare by ‘expanding and enhancing early intervention and family services’. This article critically reviews the aims, approach and main developments in NSW. The article argues that in several respects the reforms extended and enhanced early intervention and family services in cost-effective ways but suffered from implementation problems, limitations in service developments and major reform challenges which inhibited their scope and impacts. These limitations raise critical issues about the reform framework, resource constraints and ideological influences.
‘Restoring the person's life’: a qualitative study to inform development of care for people with severe mental disorders in rural Ethiopia
Authors: Mall S. , Hailemariam M. , Selamu M. , Fekadu A. , Lund C. , Patel V. , Petersen I. , Hanlon C.
Published: March 2016

Aims.

In low-income countries, care for people with severe mental disorders (SMDs) who manage to access treatment is usually emergency-based, intermittent or narrowly biomedical. The aim of this study was to inform development of a scalable district-level mental health care plan to meet the long-term care needs of people with SMD in rural Ethiopia.

Methods.

The present study was carried out as formative work for the Programme for Improving Mental health CarE which seeks to develop, implement and evaluate a district level model of integrating mental health care into primary care. Six focus group discussions and 25 in-depth interviews were conducted with service planners, primary care providers, traditional and religious healers, mental health service users, caregivers and community representatives. Framework analysis was used, with findings mapped onto the domains of the Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions (ICCC) framework.

Results.

Three main themes were identified. (1) Focused on ‘Restoring the person's life’, including the need for interventions to address basic needs for food, shelter and livelihoods, as well as spiritual recovery and reintegration into society. All respondents considered this to be important, but service users gave particular emphasis to this aspect of care. (2) Engaging with families, addressed the essential role of families, their need for practical and emotional support, and the importance of equipping families to provide a therapeutic environment. (3) Delivering collaborative, long-term care, focused on enhancing accessibility to biomedical mental health care, utilising community-based health workers and volunteers as an untapped resource to support adherence and engagement with services, learning from experience of service models for chronic communicable diseases (HIV and tuberculosis) and integrating the role of traditional and religious healers alongside biomedical care. Biomedical approaches were more strongly endorsed by health workers, with traditional healers, religious leaders and service users more inclined to see medication as but one component of care. The salience of poverty to service planning was cross-cutting.

Conclusions.

Stakeholders prioritised interventions to meet basic needs for survival and endorsed a multi-faceted approach to promoting recovery from SMD, including social recovery. However, sole reliance on this over-stretched community to mobilise the necessary resources may not be feasible. An adapted form of the ICCC framework appeared highly applicable to planning an acceptable, feasible and sustainable model of care.
Islam in America: Adventures in Neo-Orientalism
Authors: Spellberg Denise A.
Published: March 2016

In July of 2006, I published an article in the journalEighteenth Century Studiesthat I trust none of you ever read. Why should you?Eighteenth-Century Studiesis not a venerable site for the study of the Middle East or Islam. However, it was the journal where I first considered a question in early American history that has since gained some currency in contemporary American political discourse. The question: “Could a Muslim be president?”
The Cultivation of “Culture” in the Moroccan Amazigh Movement
Authors: Silverstein Paul
Published: March 2016

In the opening sequence of a 2008 documentary,Ni Sauvage, Ni Barbare(Neither Savage Nor Barbaric), co-produced by Québecois and Moroccan television, the director Roger Cantin introduces his subjects over images of art, ritual, and nature that alternate between northern Canada and northern Africa:

Fouad Lahbib is a painter from Morocco. He is Berber, he is Amazigh, he is an autochthon from North Africa. Florent Valiant is a singer from Quebec. He is Innu, he is Amerindian, he is an autochthon from North America. At first glance, they come from completely different cultures. Their ancestral lands are far apart, separated by an ocean; they don’t look at all alike. One people travels by rivers and through immense forests. The other lives with heat and drought. What do these two men, Fouad Lahbib and Florent Vallant, have in common? They belong to marginalized cultures whose extinction was precipitated, whose assimilation was desired, and whose language and customs were silenced. Were they really savages and barbarians? Or simply people who approach the world with a spirit of harmony, sharing, and solidarity? Meeting each other for the first time, Fouad Lahbib and Florent Vallant will learn with us how much all men are alike, wherever they may live.
Politics, Culture, Religion: How Hizbullah is Constructing an Islamic Milieu in Lebanon
Authors: Deeb Lara , Harb Mona
Published: March 2016

What might the wreckage of a former prison in south Lebanon that was destroyed during Israeli bombardment in 2006 have in common with a series of “family-oriented” amusement parks built by a corporate investment group? How might these sites be related to an ecotourism facility high in the mountains above Saida and the 70-some cafés and restaurants that have opened in the southern suburbs of Beirut since 2000? Aside from being fieldsites in our ongoing research on Islam and leisure in Lebanon, these places are significant to the political party Hizbullah. They tell us something about the relationship of culture to politics in the Hizbullah community, and they can be considered part of a recently emergent “Islamic milieu” in Lebanon.
Tun oder lassen? Tun und lassen! Depression und Motivation
Authors: Ülsmann Dominik , Hitzegrad Anna , Ertle Andrea , Schulte-Herbrüggen Olaf , Fydrich Thomas
Published: March 2016

Zusammenfassung. Motivationale Einschränkungen sind ein zentrales Merkmal der Depression. Zunehmend wird dabei die Bedeutung von Vermeidungszielen betont. Fragestellung: Zeigen depressive Patienten mehr Vermeidungsziele als gesunde Kontrollprobanden? Hängen vermehrte Vermeidungsziele mit Misserfolgserleben zusammen? Depressive Patienten (N = 49) und Kontrollprobanden (N = 49) beantworten Selbstbeurteilungsmaße. Es werden Gruppenvergleiche sowie Zusammenhangsmaße analysiert. Depressive Patienten weisen mehr Vermeidungsziele und höheres Misserfolgserleben auf, zeigen aber vergleichbar viele Annäherungsziele. Vermeidungsziele und Misserfolgserleben korrelieren bedeutsam positiv. Depressive Patienten erscheinen übermotiviert. Neben dem Aufbau von Kompetenzen zur Erreichung von Annäherungszielen sollten depressive Patienten gezielt im Ablösen von Vermeidungszielen unterstützt werden.
Assessing Impacts of Climate Change on Food Security Worldwide
Authors: Rosenzweig Cynthia , Antle John , Elliott Joshua
Published: March 2016

AgMIP Workshop on Coordinated Global and Regional Integrated Assessments of Climate Change and Food Security; Aspen, Colorado, 13–18 September 2015
Critical B-lymphoid cell intrinsic role of endogenous MCL-1 in c-MYC-induced lymphomagenesis
Authors: Grabow S , Kelly G L , Delbridge A R D , Kelly P N , Bouillet P , Adams J M , Strasser A
Published: March 2016

Evasion of apoptosis is critical for tumorigenesis, and sustained survival of nascent neoplastic cells may depend upon the endogenous levels of pro-survival BCL-2 family members. Indeed, previous studies using gene-targeted mice revealed that BCL-XL, but surprisingly not BCL-2, is critical for the development of c-MYC-induced pre-B/B lymphomas. However, it remains unclear whether another pro-survival BCL-2 relative contributes to their development. MCL-1 is an intriguing candidate, because it is required for cell survival during early B-lymphocyte differentiation. It is expressed abnormally high in several types of human B-cell lymphomas and is implicated in their resistance to chemotherapy. To test the B-cell intrinsic requirement for endogenous MCL-1 in lymphoma development, we conditionally deleted Mcl-1 in B-lymphoid cells of Eμ-Myc transgenic mice. We found that MCL-1 loss in early B-lymphoid progenitors delayed MYC-driven lymphomagenesis. Moreover, the lymphomas that arose when MCL-1 levels were diminished appeared to have been selected for reduced levels of BIM and/or increased levels of BCL-XL. These results underscore the importance of MCL-1 in lymphoma development and show that alterations in the levels of other cell death regulators can compensate for deficiencies in MCL-1 expression.
The oncolytic peptide LTX-315 triggers immunogenic cell death
Authors: Zhou H , Forveille S , Sauvat A , Yamazaki T , Senovilla L , Ma Y , Liu P , Yang H , Bezu L , Müller K , Zitvogel L , Rekdal Ø , Kepp O , Kroemer G
Published: March 2016

LTX-315 is a cationic amphilytic peptide that preferentially permeabilizes mitochondrial membranes, thereby causing partially BAX/BAK1-regulated, caspase-independent necrosis. Based on the observation that intratumorally injected LTX-315 stimulates a strong T lymphocyte-mediated anticancer immune response, we investigated whether LTX-315 may elicit the hallmarks of immunogenic cell death (ICD), namely (i) exposure of calreticulin on the plasma membrane surface, (ii) release of ATP into the extracellular space, (iii) exodus of HMGB1 from the nucleus, and (iv) induction of a type-1 interferon response. Using a panel of biosensor cell lines and robotized fluorescence microscopy coupled to automatic image analysis, we observed that LTX-315 induces all known ICD characteristics. This conclusion was validated by several independent methods including immunofluorescence stainings (for calreticulin), bioluminescence assays (for ATP), immunoassays (for HMGB1), and RT-PCRs (for type-1 interferon induction). When injected into established cancers, LTX-315 caused a transiently hemorrhagic focal necrosis that was accompanied by massive release of HMGB1 (from close-to-all cancer cells), as well as caspase-3 activation in a fraction of the cells. LTX-315 was at least as efficient as the positive control, the anthracycline mitoxantrone (MTX), in inducing local inflammation with infiltration by myeloid cells and T lymphocytes. Collectively, these results support the idea that LTX-315 can induce ICD, hence explaining its capacity to mediate immune-dependent therapeutic effects.
Acoustic trapping of active matter
Authors: Takatori Sho C. , De Dier Raf , Vermant Jan , Brady John F.
Published: March 2016

Confinement of living microorganisms and self-propelled particles by an external trap provides a means of analysing the motion and behaviour of active systems. Developing a tweezer with a trapping radius large compared with the swimmers’ size and run length has been an experimental challenge, as standard optical traps are too weak. Here we report the novel use of an acoustic tweezer to confine self-propelled particles in two dimensions over distances large compared with the swimmers’ run length. We develop a near-harmonic trap to demonstrate the crossover from weak confinement, where the probability density is Boltzmann-like, to strong confinement, where the density is peaked along the perimeter. At high concentrations the swimmers crystallize into a close-packed structure, which subsequently ‘explodes’ as a travelling wave when the tweezer is turned off. The swimmers’ confined motion provides a measurement of the swim pressure, a unique mechanical pressure exerted by self-propelled bodies.
Spatial control of chemical processes on nanostructures through nano-localized water heating
Authors: Jack Calum , Karimullah Affar S. , Tullius Ryan , Khorashad Larousse Khosravi , Rodier Marion , Fitzpatrick Brian , Barron Laurence D. , Gadegaard Nikolaj , Lapthorn Adrian J. , Rotello Vincent M. , Cooke Graeme , Govorov Alexander O. , Kadodwala Malcolm
Published: March 2016

Optimal performance of nanophotonic devices, including sensors and solar cells, requires maximizing the interaction between light and matter. This efficiency is optimized when active moieties are localized in areas where electromagnetic (EM) fields are confined. Confinement of matter in these ‘hotspots’ has previously been accomplished through inefficient ‘top-down’ methods. Here we report a rapid ‘bottom-up’ approach to functionalize selective regions of plasmonic nanostructures that uses nano-localized heating of the surrounding water induced by pulsed laser irradiation. This localized heating is exploited in a chemical protection/deprotection strategy to allow selective regions of a nanostructure to be chemically modified. As an exemplar, we use the strategy to enhance the biosensing capabilities of a chiral plasmonic substrate. This novel spatially selective functionalization strategy provides new opportunities for efficient high-throughput control of chemistry on the nanoscale over macroscopic areas for device fabrication.
Stable topological insulators achieved using high energy electron beams
Authors: Zhao Lukas , Konczykowski Marcin , Deng Haiming , Korzhovska Inna , Begliarbekov Milan , Chen Zhiyi , Papalazarou Evangelos , Marsi Marino , Perfetti Luca , Hruban Andrzej , Wołoś Agnieszka , Krusin-Elbaum Lia
Published: March 2016

Topological insulators are potentially transformative quantum solids with metallic surface states which have Dirac band structure and are immune to disorder. Ubiquitous charged bulk defects, however, pull the Fermi energy into the bulk bands, denying access to surface charge transport. Here we demonstrate that irradiation with swift (∼2.5 MeV energy) electron beams allows to compensate these defects, bring the Fermi level back into the bulk gap and reach the charge neutrality point (CNP). Controlling the beam fluence, we tune bulk conductivity from p- (hole-like) to n-type (electron-like), crossing the Dirac point and back, while preserving the Dirac energy dispersion. The CNP conductance has a two-dimensional character on the order of ten conductance quanta and reveals, both in Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3, the presence of only two quantum channels corresponding to two topological surfaces. The intrinsic quantum transport of the topological states is accessible disregarding the bulk size.
Correction: Corrigendum: Can silicon carbide serve as a saturable absorber for passive mode-locked fiber lasers?
Authors: Cheng Chih-Hsien , Lin Yung-Hsiang , Chen Ting-Hui , Chen Hsiang-Yu , Chi Yu-Chieh , Lee Chao-Kuei , Wu Chih-I , Lin Gong-Ru
Published: March 2016

Scientific Reports 5: Article number: 16463; published online: 12 November 2015; updated: 10 March 2016 The original version of this Article contained typographical errors in the spelling of the authors Chao-Kuei Lee and Chih-I Wu which were incorrectly given as Chao-Kuei Leeb and Chih-I Wua respectively.
Correction: Corrigendum: Studying biological membranes with extended range high-speed atomic force microscopy
Authors: Nievergelt Adrian P. , Erickson Blake W. , Hosseini Nahid , Adams Jonathan D. , Fantner Georg E.
Published: March 2016

Scientific Reports 5: Article number: 11987; published online 14 July 2015; updated: 10 March 2016 The authors neglected to cite previous studies related to the control concepts of high speed atomic force microscopy in the Introduction section of this Article. These additional references are listed below as references 1 and 2, and should appear in the text as below.
Correction: Corrigendum: Lovastatin blocks Kv1.3 channel in human T cells: a new mechanism to explain its immunomodulatory properties
Authors: Zhao Ning , Dong Qian , Qian Cheng , Li Sen , Wu Qiong-Feng , Ding Dan , Li Jing , Wang Bin-Bin , Guo Ke-fang , Xie Jiang-jiao , Cheng Xiang , Liao Yu-Hua , Du Yi-Mei
Published: March 2016

Scientific Reports 5: Article number: 17381; published online: 30 November 2015; updated: 10 March 2016 This Article contains errors in Figure 3 and Figure 7a. In Figure 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D and 3E the current labels were incorrectly provided. In Figure 7a, the GAPDH Western blot bands were omitted from each corresponding target NFAT1 and NF-κB p65.
Correction: Corrigendum: X-Linked Retinoschisis: Phenotypic Variability in a Chinese Family
Authors: Xiao Yangyan , Liu Xiao , Tang Luosheng , Wang Xia , Coursey Terry G. , Guo Xiaojian , Li Zhuo
Published: March 2016

Scientific Reports 6: Article number: 20118; published online: 29 January 2016; updated: 10 March 2016 The original version of this Article contained typographical errors in the spelling of the author Terry G. Coursey, which was incorrectly given as Terry Coursy. This has now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.
Correction: Corrigendum: Observation of strongly enhanced photoluminescence from inverted cone-shaped silicon nanostructures
Authors: Schmitt Sebastian W. , Sarau George , Christiansen Silke
Published: March 2016

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) attached to a wafer substrate are converted to inversely tapered silicon nanocones (SiNCs). After excitation with visible light, individual SiNCs show a 200-fold enhanced integral band-to-band luminescence as compared to a straight SiNW reference. Furthermore, the reverse taper is responsible for multifold emission peaks in addition to the relatively broad near-infrared (NIR) luminescence spectrum. A thorough numerical mode analysis reveals that unlike a SiNW the inverted SiNC sustains a multitude of leaky whispering gallery modes. The modes are unique to this geometry and they are characterized by a relatively high quality factor (Q ~ 1300) and a low mode volume (0.2 < (λ/neff)3 < 4). In addition they show a vertical out coupling of the optically excited NIR luminescence with a numerical aperture as low as 0.22. Estimated Purcell factors Fp ∝ Q/Vm of these modes can explain the enhanced luminescence in individual emission peaks as compared to the SiNW reference. Investigating the relation between the SiNC geometry and the mode formation leads to simple design rules that permit to control the number and wavelength of the hosted modes and therefore the luminescent emission peaks.
Graphene growth from reduced graphene oxide by chemical vapour deposition: seeded growth accompanied by restoration
Authors: Chang Sung-Jin , Hyun Moon Seop , Myung Sung , Kang Min-A , Yoo Jung Ho , Lee Kyoung G. , Choi Bong Gill , Cho Youngji , Lee Gaehang , Park Tae Jung
Published: March 2016

Understanding the underlying mechanisms involved in graphene growth via chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is critical for precise control of the characteristics of graphene. Despite much effort, the actual processes behind graphene synthesis still remain to be elucidated in a large number of aspects. Herein, we report the evolution of graphene properties during in-plane growth of graphene from reduced graphene oxide (RGO) on copper (Cu) via methane CVD. While graphene is laterally grown from RGO flakes on Cu foils up to a few hundred nanometres during CVD process, it shows appreciable improvement in structural quality. The monotonous enhancement of the structural quality of the graphene with increasing length of the graphene growth from RGO suggests that seeded CVD growth of graphene from RGO on Cu surface is accompanied by the restoration of graphitic structure. The finding provides insight into graphene growth and defect reconstruction useful for the production of tailored carbon nanostructures with required properties.
Immunomodulation of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG)-derived soluble factors on antigen-presenting cells of healthy blood donors
Authors: Fong Fiona Long Yan , Kirjavainen Pirkka V. , El-Nezami Hani
Published: March 2016

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) cells have been shown to promote type-1 immune responsiveness; however knowledge of immunomodulation of soluble factors secreted by LGG is limited. This is the first study to investigate whether LGG soluble factors promote a comparable immune responsiveness as the bacterial cells. Both treatments − LGG conditioned medium with (CM + LGG) or without (CM) LGG cells, in this study increased expression of several toll-like receptors (TLRs) in all studied cell types and antigen presentation-associated receptor HLA-DR in macrophages and “intermediate” monocytes; but decreased that of activation markers on monocytes and macrophages and production of IL-10, IL-12 and TNFα in macrophages. In co-culture with mononuclear cells, CM increased Th1-type cytokine profile but not as pronounced as CM + LGG. This study suggests that LGG soluble factors exert similar immunomodulatory effects as the intact cells, but cells may be required for optimal type-1 immune responsiveness polarizing capacity of this probiotic strain.
Reduction Impairs the Antibacterial Activity but Benefits the LPS Neutralization Ability of Human Enteric Defensin 5
Authors: Wang Cheng , Shen Mingqiang , Zhang Naixin , Wang Song , Xu Yang , Chen Shilei , Chen Fang , Yang Ke , He Ting , Wang Aiping , Su Yongping , Cheng Tianmin , Zhao Jinghong , Wang Junping
Published: March 2016

Oxidized human defensin 5 (HD5OX), a Paneth cell-secreted antibacterial peptide with three characteristic disulfide bonds, protects the host from invasion by morbigenous microbes in the small intestine. HD5OX can be reduced by thioredoxin (Trx) in vitro, while the biochemical properties of the reduced linear peptide, HD5RED, remain unclear. Here, we first confirm that HD5RED does exist in vivo. Furthermore, we reveal that the recruitment of HD5RED to the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria and to the anionic lipid A is lower than that of HD5OX and HD5RED is less efficient in penetrating bacterial outer and inner membranes and inducing membrane depolarization, which confers an attenuated antibacterial activity to HD5RED. However, due to its higher structural flexibility, the binding of HD5RED to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is markedly stronger than that of HD5OX. Consequently, HD5RED is more effective in suppressing the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α in LPS-stimulated macrophages by blocking the interaction between LPS and LPS-binding protein, thus suggesting that HD5RED might act as a scavenger to neutralize LPS in the gut. This study provides insights into the antibacterial and immunoregulatory effects of HD5RED and expands the known repertoire of the enteric defensins.