bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Insects, Illness, and Other Biological Contestations
Authors: Few Martha
Published: March 2024

For eight consecutive years, from 1798 to 1806, locust swarms repeatedly afflicted a significant portion of colonial Central America and southern Mexico. The locusts had economic, food supply, and biological effects on human populations far beyond the areas of the swarms’ physical and temporal presence. They also intersected with significant outbreaks of epidemic disease, including smallpox, measles, and typhus, during the same time period. These events, and economic, political, and religious responses to the insects, provides a case study in colonial food security, where various regions in Spanish America shared information on the swarms and their movements and came to each other’s aid with food supplies and seeds. They diverted tributary Indigenous labor from agricultural production to locust-killing campaigns. Local elites and members of scientific societies attempted agricultural innovation strategies and searched for new locust-killing methods amid this multiyear swarm.
The Outer and Expanding Circles in Southeast Asia
Authors: Percillier Michael
Published: March 2024

This chapter offers a historical overview of Southeast Asia focused on aspects from precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial history that are relevant to the accurate description and modelling of Englishes in the region. In this context, the adequacy of the concepts of the Outer and Expanding Circles for the region are placed under scrutiny and contrasted with the additions provided by more recent models including the Dynamic Model, the Extra- and Intra-territorial Forces model, and the World System of Englishes. The conclusions drawn from this survey recognize that the Outer and Expanding Circles are important concepts which, however, are not sufficient on their own to account for the linguistic realities prevalent in the region. As such, they need to be supplemented by elements from these newer models.
English in the Philippines
Authors: Tupas Ruanni
Published: March 2024

Any discussion of English in the context of a national polity, especially a postcolonial one, must have a long historical reach. With English in the Philippines, this means locating its political, ideological, and discursive dimensions within the colonial matrix of American colonialism. English was imposed during the Philippine–American War of 1899–1902; thereafter, English and education served as a core cultural tool for ‘benevolent assimilation’. Thus, the promise of English as a legitimate discourse of aspiration even among the poor is a promise that has not been fulfilled for all. English remains a socioeconomically differentiating language; it is pervasive in most aspects of Philippine life, but the colonial ideologies and practices associated with it endure. The challenge now is how not to deprive Filipinos of opportunities to learn English while, at the same time, leaving them free to commit themselves to demolishing conditions of coloniality which perpetuate its power.
English in Singapore
Authors: Wee Lionel
Published: March 2024

The presence of English in modern-day Singapore is due largely to its status as a former British colony. Upon gaining independence, Singapore retained English as an official language and this subsequently led to the emergence of a nativized variety known as Singlish. This chapter focuses on the arguments and assumptions surrounding Singlish, a variety that has been the subject of much recent controversy. While there are claims that Singlish can serve as both an inter-ethnic lingua franca and a marker of national identity, the Singapore government has long feared that the widespread use of Singlish makes the learning of ‘good/proper/standard’ English difficult if not impossible. The chapter discusses the various factors that has made it difficult for the government to eliminate Singlish, despite an initial attempt at doing so.
English language education and educational policy in Hong Kong and Macau
Authors: Choi Tae-Hee , Moody Andrew J.
Published: March 2024

This chapter investigates English language policy and practice in Hong Kong and Macau. The two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of China share similarities such as colonial histories and a multilingual policy. However, with different colonizing languages (English and Portuguese, respectively) and the different status and usage of the English language, the SARs part ways concerning English-related policy and educational practice. This chapter reviews the policy governing the English language in the two contexts and analyses its enactment across levels of education from the primary to the tertiary, on aspects including the medium of instruction, textbooks and language assessment, and human resources management. It also discusses how the policy interacts with the parallel policies and wider geopolitical and social contexts. The implications from the issues highlighted along the way such as educational equity conclude the chapter.
English language education and educational policy in Malaysia and Brunei
Authors: Pillai Stefanie , McLellan James
Published: March 2024

This chapter compares and contrasts the language policy and planning in two neighbouring Southeast Asian nations, Malaysia and Negara Brunei Darussalam. In both, people of Malay ethnicity are in the majority. In both, the role of English can be traced back to the colonial period: prior to the formation of Malaysia in 1963, Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak were British crown colonies, while Brunei was a British protectorate from 1888 until it achieved independence in 1984. Following brief outlines of the historical background and the current language situation, this chapter reviews current language in education policies with particular reference to English. These are then compared and contrasted, and some pointers to future policy directions are discussed.
English language education and educational policy in Thailand
Authors: Jarunthawatchai Wisut , Baker Will
Published: March 2024

This chapter focuses on English language policy and education in Thailand. We begin with a description of the linguistic profile of Thailand and the status of English as part of presumed monolingual and monocultural ideologies. We then discuss the current prominent role of English in Thailand and ASEAN, which has resulted in greater emphasis on English language education. The chapter then turns to a detailed investigation of current policy and its adoption of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) at basic and higher education levels, and reveals the tensions between the multilingual uses of English as a lingua franca across ASEAN and the monolingual Anglophone orientations of current language policy. We highlight the detrimental effects of these Anglophone ideologies on ELT and assessment. The chapter ends with a call for multilingual-oriented policy and practices which reflect the changing roles of English in global contexts, especially in the ASEAN community.
The impact of English on law in Southeast Asia
Authors: Powell Richard
Published: March 2024

Southeast Asia includes one polity where English is the sole official medium of law, six where it is admissible to a greater or lesser extent alongside other languages, and four others where it has no official role but is increasingly important in areas such as commercial practice and legal education. Beyond national judicial systems, it has currency in private practice and community law. This diversity challenges monolithic conceptions of English-medium law and offers evidence of indigenization. However, legal and technical factors inhibiting linguistic change in law are reinforced by economic factors spreading the language unevenly through Southeast Asian populations. As a result, the use of English in law is often a mark of the elitist nature of legal practice. But it is a dynamic elitism, and those leveraging their English skills into lucrative or influential legal positions today are not necessarily the descendants of traditional English-using legal classes.
Variety shifting in Southeast Asia’s Outer Circle
Authors: Hashim Azirah , Chik Alice , Martinez Julius C. , McLellan James , Moody Andrew J. , Ooi Vincent B. Y.
Published: March 2024

Variety shifting is a feature of English use in Outer Circle contexts in which endonormic local varieties are used alongside exonormic standard varieties. This chapter will introduce some of the theoretical reasons for variety shifting and will survey the scholarly literature related to variety shifting. The phenomenon can often be closely associated with the use of English in the media or popular culture. To demonstrate the types of variety shifting that takes place in Southeast Asia’s Outer Circle societies, the chapter includes a detailed analysis of the phenomenon in the five Outer Circle societies: Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.
Pidgins and creoles in Southeast Asia
Authors: Lim Lisa
Published: March 2024

Starting from the observation that few English-based pidgins and creoles are documented for Southeast Asia, this chapter offers a discussion along three main pathways. It highlights the significance of other communities and language varieties in the history of contact in Southeast Asia—the Malay-speaking network of Monsoon Asia, the other European colonizers, in particular the Portuguese, and the Chinese from the Pearl River Delta—and their impact on the evolution of Southeast Asian Englishes. It examines how scholarly paradigms for contact varieties have afforded them differing treatments as pidgin and creole varieties, mixed languages, world Englishes, and hybrid Englishes. Finally, it offers a prognosis of their vitality, given Southeast Asia’s changing ecologies, especially in multilingual urban centres. Together these contemplations afford a more comprehensive and nuanced appreciation of the dynamics and outcomes, for a more inclusive account of contact languages and a more unified theorizing of English in Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asian components of the International Corpus of English (ICE)
Authors: Phoocharoensil Supakorn
Published: March 2024

This chapter introduces the International Corpus of English (ICE), which comprises written and spoken samples representing varieties of English as a native language and as a second language, the latter of which also includes the SEA components, i.e. Malaysian English, Singapore English, Hong Kong English, and Philippine English. Not only are the origin and developments of ICE corpora discussed, but also the guidelines to which individual ICE research teams adhere in the compilation of their corpus are comprehensively reviewed. While the spoken texts forming the database of each ICE corpus consist of dialogues and monologues, the written ones contain instructional, persuasive, and creative writing, and various types of informational writing specific to four major disciplines. Some significant limitations on the ICE corpora concern their small size and the questionable comparability of the components as a consequence of differences in sampling periods and speaker educational levels.
English in Cambodia
Authors: Hum Chan , Heng Kimkong
Published: March 2024

This chapter discusses an English variety used in Cambodia, known as Cambodian English. The chapter begins with a brief history of English in Cambodia and examines the status of English in contemporary Cambodian society. It then discusses the unique features of Cambodian English, focusing on phonological, morphosyntatic, and discourse features. It elaborates on the functions of English as a major foreign language in Cambodia before examining emerging trends and other issues related to the widespread use of English in Cambodia. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the future of Cambodian English, as it apparently develops into a unique variety of world Englishes and Southeast Asian Englishes.
Theological Aesthetics and Clinical Care
Authors: Dempsey Ariel
Published: March 2024

This chapter is a personal reflection on aesthetic experience and explores a way in which theological aesthetics can contribute to clinical care. Whilst theological aesthetics warns that aesthetics alone might not cure medicine of what ails it, it also suggests that aesthetic experience has an important contribution to make in creating connections and relationships. By ‘aesthetic experience’ the chapter refers to an enlivening awareness of sensory perception and imagination leading to deeper reflection. In the image of a dancer the author shows an instance of aesthetic experience bringing together two things often set in opposition to one another; clinical objectivity and compassionate care. The image arises from her experiences of performing dance, leading trauma healing groups, studying the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard, and observing the ritual of the Catholic Eucharist. She shares how this image of a dancer helped a group of medical students reimagine the compassion and objectivity of clinical care, not as a burden of meeting two impossible and competing demands, but as an invitation to join in the dance.
Intersectional Quantitative Methods
Authors: Much Melina
Published: March 2024

This chapter reviews the major advances in accounting for intersectionality empirically and embracing methodological pluralism within Political Science and related Social Sciences. Intersectionality, or approaching identity categories rooted in structural power such as race, gender, and class as inseparable, remains a site of intellectual promise particularly because of its utility for explaining the big questions in American politics. This chapter focuses on intersectional quantitative methods as a site for new innovations as it is the natural step after demonstrating the current literature’s advances of frameworks to operationalize intersectionality. After outlining these advances in approaching identity, the chapter explores how ideas on statistical learning within Political Methodology can help inform both new modeling and statistical paradigm choices for intersectional research. The new avenues posed by multilevel modeling and Bayesian frameworks show a small window into the promise of this emerging field.
The Conceptual Challenge to Measuring Ideology
Authors: Cope Kevin L.
Published: March 2024

This chapter develops a broad, cross-national, functional definition of judicial ideology, which it uses to synthesize the leading theories of judicial decision-making into two-dimensional space. It then reviews the broad existing approaches to measuring judicial ideology—vote counting, proxy, and third party—and considers the implicit assumptions about the nature of judicial ideology that each makes, as well as their relative strengths and weaknesses in measuring ideology. In doing so, the chapter gives special attention to one barely explored method for measuring ideology: using the opinions of legal experts to derive quantitative estimates of ideology. It argues that using such expert-based evaluations can overcome many of the limitations of existing approaches. Regardless of method used, researchers using existing measures or developing new ones should consider carefully the underlying assumptions behind the measure, and in doing so, make those implicit assumptions explicit.
Middlebrow Compositional Aesthetics in 1970s Pop-Rock
Authors: Braae Nick
Published: March 2024

This chapter identifies middlebrow compositional approaches in a selection of 1970s popular songs written and recorded by Queen, Elton John, Billy Joel, Eric Carmen, and ABBA. These traits pertain to melodic construction, a richly tonal harmonic vocabulary, performance gestures derived from the classical tradition, and nonconventional song forms. I argue that this middlebrow esthetic can be discursively and analytically positioned between “pop” and “progressive rock”—it is a middlebrow within the broad idiom of popular song. I further argue that these artists engage similar dynamics of middlebrow to other popular artists associated with this category, but only to a certain extent. They articulate, therefore, a middling engagement with the concept of popular middlebrow.
Land, Industrial Livestock, and Interspecies Relations
Authors: Weis Tony
Published: March 2024

Industrial livestock production commands almost one-third of all cultivated land and is the driving force in the surging global production and consumption of animal-based foods. This chapter argues that while the industrialization of livestock has achieved striking increases in productivity, it is nevertheless an inefficient way of organizing land to produce food, and has established new and violent interspecies relations. It considers how domesticated animals have related to land in farming and herding systems throughout agrarian history and examines how industrialization and the pursuit of scale obliterate these relations, disarticulating animals from land, accelerating reproduction, standardizing and immobilizing growing populations within dense enclosures, and re-articulating animals to land through vast flows of grain and oilseed production. It considers the key barriers to scale in livestock production and the ways they are overridden, and then unpacks the un- and undercounted costs and risks associated with these contradictions. Finally, it situates industrial livestock production in relation to the contested notion of sustainable intensification and reflects on the need to confront the unconsciousness that shrouds these systems.
Religion and Literature in Ottoman and Republican Turkey, 1850–1960
Authors: Mignon Laurent
Published: March 2024

This chapter discusses the changing representation of religion in literary texts in Ottoman and Republican Turkey between the years 1850 and 1960. A focus on the post-Tanzimat period sheds light on a range of developments that would deeply shape republican approaches to the question of the representation of religion in fiction and poetry. From reformist and rationalist takes on Abrahamic religions—including indigenous forms of Islam and Christianity—to more conservative interpretations of their faiths, authors and poets display diversified approaches during a transitional era that would ultimately see Turkey become the first secular republic of the Islamic world. However, the article also shows that some authors went in search of new forms of spiritualities that were outside the realms of Abrahamic religions in an age when increased interest for world affairs saw intellectuals engaging with the religions of East and Southeast Asia. Ultimately the chapter emphasizes the need to recognize the religious diversity that exists within the literary field in late Ottoman Turkey and the early Republic.
Magical Thinking and Political Myths
Authors: Taguieff Pierre-André
Published: March 2024

This chapter argues that the tension between rooting and emancipation offers a fruitful way to understand the conflicts of values and norms that arise when addressing the issue of collective identities in modern societies. It addresses two new political myths that offer competing interpretations of contemporary demographic, cultural, and social change: the Great Replacement on one side, the Creolization on the other. The first one is a repulsive and apocalyptic myth, which claims to reveal the double threat of a “change of people” and an erasure of national or civilizational identity. The second is an attractive and redemptive one, which aims to pacify intergroup hostility and promote social regeneration. Because both myths refuse to address the complexities of belonging and the need for both rootedness and emancipation, they produce new forms of magical thinking that offer no genuine long-term democratic solutions. Whether they make an idol out of a national, ethno-racial, or religious identity (Great Replacement), or whether they treat equality in diversity or mixture as a primary objective and as a terminus (Creolization), contemporary ideologists of both views lead us to emptiness, chaos, or dictatorship.
Hosea 7–8 and the Critique of Kings, Politics, and Power
Authors: Hwang Jerry
Published: March 2024

Hosea 7–8 contains one of the more potent but overlooked statements of political theology in the Hebrew Bible. While it is common to view “politics” narrowly in terms of government and diplomacy, Hosea and other eighth-century prophets offer a “theopolitics” (to borrow Martin Buber’s term) that traces the holistic connections between religious, political, and economic sins on the international scene with their counterparts on the domestic scene. Particularly in chapters 7–8, the theopolitics of Hosea uses a remarkable combination of metaphor and wordplay to confront toxic leaders and their enablers among the people. Rather than engaging in power politics, Israel must learn to embrace weakness and recognize Yhwh as sovereign over the entire order of creation and empires, against all appearances, even as his own people and land are shrinking. This results in a national identity for Israel that defies the usual categories, making Hos. 7–8 a model of creativity, boldness, and misdirection for resistance literature and protest politics today.
Gender and Sexual Violence in Hosea
Authors: Cobb Kirsi
Published: March 2024

To illustrate Israel’s fickle relationship with her God (1:2), the prophet Hosea is commanded to marry “a promiscuous woman,” who is subjected to various acts of sexual violence before she is enticed back to her husband. These acts have been variously understood as those of a broken-hearted man, a tyrannical abuser, or as metaphoric expressions of the Assyrian invasion of Samaria. For the postexilic literati in Yehud, the story would have functioned as a memorable warning for the community to follow God’s ordinances. As an expression of cultural trauma, Hos. 1–3 represents the horrors of war symbolized in the gruesome treatment of the woman. Although chs. 1–3 blame the woman for her fate, self-blame could be understood as a survival mechanism. Therefore, the sexual violence in Hosea does not offer universal truth but a glimpse into the survival of the community and their God.
Assyria and Its Image in Hosea
Authors: Zelig Aster Shawn
Published: March 2024

Hosea 4–14 frequently mentions Assyria. By comparing the rhetoric of these chapters to what we know from Assyrian historical records, we see that these chapters clearly know how Assyrian domination of Israel operated and how Israel responded. Hosea focuses on the economic and social impact of Assyrian domination on the kingdom of Israel. He castigates the Israelite elite who bolster their own position by cooperating with Assyria. He highlights how their extraction of resources from the populace to pay tribute to Assyria weakens the kingdom of Israel rather than strengthening it. He pays special attention to the experience of the Israelite ambassadors who journey to Assyria to remit tribute. This essay engages the historical background and theological message of Hos. 5:11–6:3; 7:1–7; 9:1–3; 12:1–2 (Eng. 11:12–12:1); 14:2–9 (Eng. 14:1–8), and briefly discusses chs. 1–3.
Hosea the “Historical Prophet” of the Eighth Century BCE, Hosea the Remembered Prophet of Yehudite Literati, and the Book of Hosea
Authors: Ben Zvi Ehud , Wilson Ian D.
Published: March 2024

This essay identifies two general approaches to researching the book of Hosea with a historical focus. The first approach aims to reconstruct the prophet himself, as one of the so-called classical prophets of Israel’s (and Judah’s) monarchic era. The second approach investigates the prophetic figure as he is represented in the book of Hosea, focusing on memories that would be associated with him within the earliest communities that read the prophetic book as such. Thus, the second approach focuses on the prophet as he would be remembered in Persian-era Judah. This essay highlights what is at stake for each approach, and argues that each has enriched the historical study of the book of Hosea in its own way.
Agent-Based Modelling in Innovation Management
Authors: Stummer Christian
Published: March 2024

The fact that innovation is a prevalent topic in management science is not surprising, as the long-term survival of a company hinges on its capacity to generate new products or services on a regular basis and successfully introduce them into the market. In the past two decades, agent-based modelling (ABM) has become increasingly popular as a means of research in innovation management. This chapter provides a survey of recent works in this field, and it elaborates on promising features and applications for further research. It also advocates for strengthening the value of ABM to solve real-world problems, which should contribute to a further shift away from the original ‘toy models’ towards a well-established methodology that is able to suitably address the challenges arising from dealing with complex systems (e.g., markets and organizations). ABM in innovation management is moving in this direction; however, more research needs to be conducted.
Online Assemblies and Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Ashraf Cameran
Published: March 2024

The United Nations has affirmed that the right of peaceful assembly extends to protect conduct online. The exercise of this right, a cornerstone in functioning democracies, allows individuals across the world to pursue common goals and participate fully in their societies. However, the free exercise of this right online is threatened by opaque artificial intelligence (AI) systems which moderate content and determine which opportunities for peaceful assembly are allowed to exist online. While a growing body of scholarship has examined the risks posed by AI to privacy and freedom of expression, little has been written on the right to peaceful assembly. This chapter provides a framework for understanding AI and the potential threat it poses to the right of peaceful assembly online through examining what kind of content is both seen and allowed to exist online. Only by understanding the possible risks of how artificial intelligence might impact the exercise of the right to peacefully assemble can effective remedies be developed to ensure that this important right is exercised freely online.
Legal Threats to the Right to Protest
Authors: Page Elly , Robinson Nick
Published: March 2024

In the face of a record number of protests around the world, both authoritarian and democratic governments have increasingly engaged in illiberal legal practices to control demonstrations. Drawing on a range of country examples, this chapter analyzes three of the most common types of legal restrictions on protests: (1) restricting if, where, and when protests occur; (2) criminalizing the activity of non-violent protesters; and (3) targeting the ecosystem that makes protests impactful. It ends by arguing that a more robust interpretation of the right to protest is needed to address this expanding arsenal of legal threats. It claims that a more systematic analysis of legal restrictions on protests, like that presented in this chapter, helps better identify how protest rights are actually being undermined; creates insights for effective protective interventions; and demonstrates how legal threats to the freedom of peaceful assembly continue to evolve with changing social and political contexts, requiring ongoing recalibration in response.
Anonymous as Assembly, Association, and Assemblage
Authors: Beraldo Davide
Published: March 2024

This chapter examines the intriguing digital phenomenon of Anonymous, a loosely organized (non-)collective characterized by a complex and ever-shifting identity. Originating on the controversial platform 4chan as a collective name to mark coordinated pranks, Anonymous evolved into a universal brand for activism, with symbols such as the headless suited man and the Guy Fawkes mask, as well as other component of its semiotic identity, being associated to actions and campaigns organized for the most disparate causes. Defying conventional theories of collective action and political contention, Anonymous occupies the ephemeral temporality of contingent assemblies, at the same time maintaining a recognizable semiotic identity, in this enacting the more permanent temporality of stable associations. The chapter tries to resolve this tension by embracing the complementary notions of ‘multiplicity’ and ‘assemblage’, and by arguing that the complexity and paradoxes made visible by Anonymous are implicit defining characteristics of any form of assembly.
The Facts of Transitional Justice
Authors: Combs Nancy Amoury
Published: March 2024

The field of transitional justice encompasses a variety of mechanisms that seek to advance an impressive number of ends. These mechanisms differ from one another in significant ways, yet at the core of each is the need for truth. Moreover, because truth is a core goal of every transitional justice mechanism, fact-finding is a core function. But in no realm is fact-finding both more crucial and more challenging than in the realm of transitional justice. Accurate fact-finding is hard to achieve in times of peace and stability. Its accomplishment following cataclysms of war, ethnic strife, or large-scale human rights violations is all the more difficult. This chapter will explore those challenges and detail some of the distortions they have wrought. It begins by explicating various typologies of transitional justice facts because it is only when we categorize and understand the various kinds of facts that transitional justice mechanisms must unearth, consolidate, analyze, and communicate that we see the different functions they serve and the different methods that must be utilized to find them. The chapter then explores a number of the obstacles that transitional justice mechanisms confront in finding accurate facts; it concludes with a discussion of one obstacle that substantially distorts fact-finding across all times, places, and mechanisms: namely, political interference.
A cognitive analytic approach for working alongside young people
Authors: Barnes Nick
Published: March 2024

With heightened demand for evidence-based therapeutic support for children and young people, cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is well placed to offer ways of working, both directly and indirectly, that have significant impact on young people’s distress and difficulties. As a therapeutic model that is both integrative and transdiagnostic, CAT is fundamentally a relational approach, that allows us to think developmentally as well contextually within and around the therapeutic space. When working alongside young people, CAT embraces a culture of collaboration and co-production that many young people find respectful and accessible, where creativity is embraced and encouraged, seeking to work where the young person is at, working within their zone of proximal development (ZPD) rather than where services expect them to be at. Likewise, CAT acknowledges the complexity of young people’s lives and circumstances and does not seek to offer simplistic or reductionistic answers but engages with some of the uncertainties that they face, allowing for a more fluid, less-binary experience to be validated. CAT allows us to work alongside young people, families and/or networks, where we can offer relationally informed support and understanding, which can be impactful at an individual level through to wider service development. This chapter articulates how CAT offers a meaningful approach for young people by placing relational skills at its core. Recognizing the developing self within the context of a social and relational world opens a myriad of opportunities for where and how we might can be in dialogue with young people.
Getting the balance right
Authors: Coleby Julia , Haycock Sarah , Finnigan Jill , Roberts Hannah , Wyatt Caroline
Published: March 2024

Within a society that offers powerful and often stigmatizing messages about food and bodies, eating distress is frequently either normalized or medicalized, leading to the lived relational experience being lost. We would like to take the opportunity to redress this balance by offering a co-produced account of our experiences of using cognitive analytic therapy (CAT). We begin by making the case for a relational psychological understanding of eating distress, before outlining previous and current applications of CAT practice in this area. We will then consider a relational perspective of seeking help for eating distress through the lens of CAT. Following this, we shall take the reader through the key aspects of CAT with people who struggle with eating distress, including identifying target problems, and considering motivation to change. We explore the value, lived experience, and dilemmas that have arisen when reformulating using sequential diagrammatic reformulations (CAT maps) and reformulation letters. As we move forward to our discussion of the recognition and revision of problematic patterns, we consider how the core relationship-based CAT interventions are essential in scaffolding people to experiment with exits that may be more specific to addressing eating problems. Fittingly, we shall conclude our journey by thinking about the ending of the work and therapeutic relationship.
Natural soda lakes provide compatible conditions for RNA and membrane function that could have enabled the origin of life
Authors: Cohen Zachary R , Ding Dian , Zhou Lijun , DasGupta Saurja , Haas Sebastian , Sinclair Kimberly P , Todd Zoe R , Black Roy A , Szostak Jack W , Catling David C
Published: March 2024

The origin of life likely occurred within environments that concentrated cellular precursors and enabled their co-assembly into cells. Soda lakes (those dominated by Na+ ions and carbonate species) can concentrate precursors of RNA and membranes, such as phosphate, cyanide, and fatty acids. Subsequent assembly of RNA and membranes into cells is a long-standing problem because RNA function requires divalent cations, e.g. Mg2+, but Mg2+ disrupts fatty acid membranes. The low solubility of Mg-containing carbonates limits soda lakes to moderate Mg2+ concentrations (∼1 mM), so we investigated whether both RNAs and membranes function within these lakes. We collected water from Last Chance Lake and Goodenough Lake in Canada. Because we sampled after seasonal evaporation, the lake water contained ∼1 M Na+ and ∼1 mM Mg2+ near pH 10. In the laboratory, nonenzymatic, RNA-templated polymerization of 2-aminoimidazole-activated ribonucleotides occurred at comparable rates in lake water and standard laboratory conditions (50 mM MgCl2, pH 8). Additionally, we found that a ligase ribozyme that uses oligonucleotide substrates activated with 2-aminoimidazole was active in lake water after adjusting pH from ∼10 to 9. We also observed that decanoic acid and decanol assembled into vesicles in a dilute solution that resembled lake water after seasonal rains, and that those vesicles retained encapsulated solutes despite salt-induced flocculation when the external solution was replaced with dry-season lake water. By identifying compatible conditions for nonenzymatic and ribozyme-catalyzed RNA assembly, and for encapsulation by membranes, our results suggest that soda lakes could have enabled cellular life to emerge on Earth, and perhaps elsewhere.
Extracting intersectional stereotypes from embeddings: Developing and validating the Flexible Intersectional Stereotype Extraction procedure
Authors: Charlesworth Tessa E S , Ghate Kshitish , Caliskan Aylin , Banaji Mahzarin R
Published: March 2024

Social group–based identities intersect. The meaning of “woman” is modulated by adding social class as in “rich woman” or “poor woman.” How does such intersectionality operate at-scale in everyday language? Which intersections dominate (are most frequent)? What qualities (positivity, competence, warmth) are ascribed to each intersection? In this study, we make it possible to address such questions by developing a stepwise procedure, Flexible Intersectional Stereotype Extraction (FISE), applied to word embeddings (GloVe; BERT) trained on billions of words of English Internet text, revealing insights into intersectional stereotypes. First, applying FISE to occupation stereotypes across intersections of gender, race, and class showed alignment with ground-truth data on occupation demographics, providing initial validation. Second, applying FISE to trait adjectives showed strong androcentrism (Men) and ethnocentrism (White) in dominating everyday English language (e.g. White + Men are associated with 59% of traits; Black + Women with 5%). Associated traits also revealed intersectional differences: advantaged intersectional groups, especially intersections involving Rich, had more common, positive, warm, competent, and dominant trait associates. Together, the empirical insights from FISE illustrate its utility for transparently and efficiently quantifying intersectional stereotypes in existing large text corpora, with potential to expand intersectionality research across unprecedented time and place. This project further sets up the infrastructure necessary to pursue new research on the emergent properties of intersectional identities.
A content analysis of medication adherence material in patient educational resources about gout
Authors: Emad Yasaman , Derksen Christina , Petrie Keith J , Dalbeth Nicola
Published: March 2024

Objective

This study aimed to investigate how medication adherence is addressed in online gout resources in six countries. We investigated how often adherence was referred to, the strategies suggested to improve patient adherence, and the types of nonadherence that were targeted. We also examined the readability of the adherence material.

Methods

A content analysis was conducted on 151 online gout resources from medical and health organisations in six predominantly English-speaking countries. Two reviewers coded the content of the websites into categories (kappa 0.80). The analysis involved coding the resources for reasons for nonadherence, and adherence-promoting strategies. Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease scores and word count were also computed.

Results

Out of 151 websites examined, 77 websites discussed medication adherence (51%), with intentional nonadherence being more prevalent than unintentional nonadherence. 67 websites targeted different types of nonadherence, including drug-specific concerns (50%), misconceptions of gout curability and the necessity of medication (16%), forgetfulness (16%), and other practical challenges (5%). Strategies to promote adherence were found in one-third of the websites, with medication education being the most prevalent strategy (17%), followed by healthcare provider engagement (13%) and memory aid strategies (6%). On average, about 11% of the words (89.27, SD = 76.35) in the entire document were focused on adherence. Difficult reading comprehension was found in one-fifth of adherence-related websites.

Conclusion

Findings reveal limited medication adherence coverage and narrow strategies in online gout resources. Improved adherence portrayal is needed for effective gout management through comprehensive strategies and clear, understandable information.
Trichoderma guizhouense NJAU4742 augments morphophysiological responses, nutrient availability and photosynthetic efficacy of ornamental Ilex verticillata
Authors: Lu Huixin , Zhou Peng , Li Fei , Wang Yanjie , Gu Jiaying , Wang Ying , Sun Shubin , Zhang Min , Wang Xiaowen
Published: March 2024

Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata [L.] A. Gray), a deciduous shrub producing glossy bright red berries, is a valuable ornamental and medicinal plant with good market prospects. However, the growth and development of I. verticillata are significantly affected by various stresses, and environmentally hazardous agrochemicals are often used to mitigate them. Trichoderma spp., ubiquitous soil-borne eco-friendly plant growth-promoting fungi, are potent biostimulants and biofertilizers and viable alternatives to agrochemicals for healthy and sustainable agriculture. In this study, the temporal efficacy of different dosages of the filamentous fungus Trichoderma guizhouense NJAU4742 in promoting morphophysiological responses of I. verticillata and the physicochemical properties and enzymatic activities of the substrate were investigated. Different concentrations of the strain T. guizhouense NJAU4742 spore suspension (C [0%], T1 [5%, v/m], T2 [10%, v/m] and T3 [15%, v/m]) were injected in the substrate contained in a pot in which 1-year-old I. verticillata was planted for temporal treatment (15, 45 and 75 days) under open-air conditions. The beneficial effects of T2 and/or T3 treatment for a long duration (75 days) were evident on the different root, aerial and photosynthetic traits; total contents of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in different tissues and the physicochemical properties of the substrate and its enzymatic activities (urease and invertase). Overall, the study revealed the potency of strain T. guizhouense NJAU4742 as a sustainable solution to improve the growth and development and ornamental value of I. verticillata.
Development of a Telehealth Simulation Using Intraprofessional Collaboration
Authors: Rumsey Kimberly , Joy Shinu , More Dwayne , Cangelosi Morgan , Feng Juan , Touw Margaret
Published: March 2024

Telehealth allows access to high-quality, holistic patient care, including diagnosis, interventions, treatments, monitoring, and patient education. As the use of telehealth continues to increase, faculty considered the need for entry-level nursing students to be introduced to telehealth and its services. Faculty from the medical-surgical II and mental health courses developed a learning experience for students that blends concepts from both courses, as patients often present with multiple problems. The telehealth experience helped students utilize assessment skills, learn delegation, and connect concepts from two courses to provide care for a patient remotely.
A Phase 3, Single-arm Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of a 20-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine in Healthy Children 15 Months Through <18 Years of Age
Authors: Meyer Jay , Silas Peter , Ouedraogo G. Laïssa , McElwee Kathleen , Keep Georgina , Trammel James , Peng Yahong , Scully Ingrid L. , Gruber William C. , Scott Daniel A. , Watson Wendy
Published: March 2024

Background:

A 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV20), containing 13-valent PCV (PCV13) components and 7 additional polysaccharide conjugates, was developed to extend protection for pneumococcal disease. This phase 3 study assessed the safety and immunogenicity of PCV20 in children.

Methods:

In this single-arm study, children (≥15 months–<18 years of age) received 1 dose of PCV20. Children <5 years of age had ≥3 prior doses of PCV13; children ≥5 years were recruited regardless of previous PCV receipt. Serotype-specific IgG concentrations and opsonophagocytic activity (OPA) titers were measured before and 1 month after PCV20. Local reactions and systemic events, adverse events (AEs), serious AEs, and newly diagnosed chronic medical conditions were collected.

Results:

Of 839 enrolled participants, 831 (>99%) were vaccinated, and 819 (>97%) completed all study visits. Local reactions and systemic events were mostly mild to moderate in severity. No serious AEs were considered PCV20-related. IgG geometric mean fold rises (GMFRs) from before to 1 month after PCV20 ranged from 27.9–1847.7 (7 additional serotypes) and 2.9–44.9 (PCV13 serotypes) in children <5 years of age, and 10.5–187.7 (7 additional serotypes) and 4.3–127.9 (PCV13 serotypes) in children ≥5 years old. OPA GMFRs from before to 1 month after PCV20 ranged from 12.4–983.6 to 2.8–52.9 in children <5 years of age and from 11.5–499.0 to 5.3–147.9 in children ≥5 years of age.

Conclusions:

Among children ≥15 months through <18 years of age, PCV20 was well tolerated and induced robust responses to all 20 serotypes, supporting the use of PCV20 in children.
An integrated proteomics and metabolomics approach to assess graft quality and predict early allograft dysfunction after liver transplantation: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Lin Yimou , Huang Haitao , Cao Jiaying , Zhang Ke , Chen Ruihan , Jiang Jingyu , Yi Xuewen , Feng Shi , Liu Jimin , Zheng Shusen , Ling Qi
Published: March 2024

Background:

Early allograft dysfunction (EAD) is a common complication after liver transplantation (LT) and is associated with poor prognosis. Graft itself plays a major role in the development of EAD. We aimed to reveal the EAD-specific molecular profiles to assess graft quality and establish EAD predictive models.

Methods:

A total of 223 patients who underwent LT were enrolled and divided into training (n=73) and validation (n=150) sets. In the training set, proteomics was performed on graft biopsies, together with metabolomics on paired perfusates. Differential expression, enrichment analysis, and protein–protein interaction network were used to identify the key molecules and pathways involved. EAD predictive models were constructed using machine learning and verified in the validation set.

Results:

A total of 335 proteins were differentially expressed between the EAD and non-EAD groups. These proteins were significantly enriched in triglyceride and glycerophospholipid metabolism, neutrophil degranulation, and the MET-related signaling pathway. The top 12 graft proteins involved in the aforementioned processes were identified, including GPAT1, LPIN3, TGFB1, CD59, and SOS1. Moreover, downstream metabolic products, such as lactate dehydrogenase, interleukin-8, triglycerides, and the phosphatidylcholine/phosphorylethanolamine ratio in the paired perfusate displayed a close relationship with the graft proteins. To predict the occurrence of EAD, an integrated model using perfusate metabolic products and clinical parameters showed areas under the curve of 0.915 and 0.833 for the training and validation sets, respectively. It displayed superior predictive efficacy than that of currently existing models, including donor risk index and D-MELD scores.

Conclusions:

We identified novel biomarkers in both grafts and perfusates that could be used to assess graft quality and provide new insights into the etiology of EAD. Herein, we also offer a valid tool for the early prediction of EAD.
Cost-effectiveness analysis of endovascular versus open repair in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm in Iran: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Nargesi Shahin , Abutorabi Ali , Mohamadi Yousef , Salimi Javad , Tajdini Masih , Alipour Vahid
Published: March 2024

Objectives:

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is one of the most important cardiovascular diseases, especially in the elderly. People with this disease are at risk of rupture of the abdominal aorta and death. The present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the cost-effectiveness of endovascular repair compared to open surgery in AAA patients in Iran.

Methods:

A Markov chain model was developed based on the use of endovascular repair and open surgery. The base-case patient was defined as a 65-year-old man presenting with AAA diameter greater than 5 cm. The determination of costs was from the perspective of the public sector provider. QALY was used to calculate the effectiveness. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and TreeAge software were used for cost-effectiveness analysis. The follow-up period was 10 years and the willingness to pay (WTP) was determined as three times the Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

Result:

At the end of year 10, the endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) strategy gained 1 318 313 559 Iranian Rial (IRR) (67 885.29$) in cost and 3.57 QALYs in effectiveness. In contrast, the use of the open surgery repair (OSR) strategy gained 1 186 761 858 IRR (61 111.16$) in cost and 3·32 QALYs in effectiveness. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, comparing EVAR versus OSR, was 53, 346, 3757 IRR (178.36$) per QALYs, which is lower than the proposed WTP, indicating that EVAR is more expensive and more effective. Based on the Monte Carlo simulation test, EVAR is the preferred strategy in 58.6% of the population.

Conclusion:

Endovascular repair has a relative superiority compared to open surgery, and the probability of the effectiveness of endovascular repair compared to open surgery does not change with increasing willingness to pay.