bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Flaked Stone Tools of Holocene Sahul
Authors: Maloney Tim Ryan
Published: July 2021

This article reviews the Holocene records of flaked stone artefacts from the Sahul regions of New Guinea and northern Australia. Varied approaches to understanding the role of flaked stone tools in past societies have revealed novel insights into how humanity has adapted and thrived in this region, both ecologically and socially, in this period of immense environmental change and diversity. This review focuses on analytical approaches to convey how the latest Holocene technological organisation models are inferred from different flaked stone tool records. In doing so, it outlines a best-practice approach to understanding the underlying causes of flaked stone tool variability and revisits a contrast between Holocene hunter-gatherers and agriculturists.
Animal Models of Down Syndrome
Authors: Moyer Anna J. , Reeves Roger H.
Published: July 2021

Is intellectual disability a treatable feature of persons with Down syndrome? Researchers have made tremendous progress in the last 30 years, from creating the first mouse model of Down syndrome to completing the first major clinical trial for cognitive impairment in people with Down syndrome. Until recently, normalizing brain development and function seemed too lofty a goal, and indeed, even proposing a candidate therapy requires answering a number of difficult questions. How does trisomy 21, a molecular diagnosis, cause the clinical phenotypes of Down syndrome? When, where, and how do trisomic genes act to disrupt normal development and which genes are involved with which outcomes? Which brain regions and behaviors are most impaired? Is there an early developmental window of time during which treatments are most effective? This article discusses how animal models such as laboratory mice can be used to understand intellectual disability and to develop new treatments for cognitive impairment.
Deianeira, Death, and Apotheosis
Authors: Romero-González Dámaris
Published: July 2021

This chapter is focused, in the first part, on the character of Deianeira, especially on her relationship with Achelous, Nessus, and Heracles and how she deals with them. The consequences of these relations are negative, as her name implies (“killer of men”). They are defeated or killed. However, some authors exonerate Deianeira of culpability for Heracles’ death. The death of Heracles and his following apotheosis are examined in the second part. Once he is burned both by the poisoned tunic and the pyre, Heracles’ afterlife is located both in Hades (his mortal part) and with the gods (his immortal part), among whom he enjoys a second youth and a marriage to Hebe, as a prize for his worldly sufferings. Finally, the chapter ends with an analysis of Deianeira’s associations with magic.
Epic
Authors: Barker Elton , Christensen Joel
Published: July 2021

As the son of Zeus, accomplisher of great tasks, and civilizing agent, Heracles appears an archetypal hero, central to any number of myths and whose deeds dominate artistic representation. Yet his appearances in extant early Greek hexameter poetry are fleeting and carefully circumscribed. In this chapter we survey the references to an epic Heracles in order to establish common elements (his “fabula”); consider what picture emerges from the (fragmentary) epics devoted to him; and examine his role in the foundational epics of Hesiod and Homer. Heracles comes across as a quintessential hero who metes out and endures suffering, while simultaneously appearing outlandish, excessive, and one of a kind. His extreme individualism marks him out as a problematic figure in Homer’s grand coalition narratives that represent and interrogate political participation.
Heracles and Melqart
Authors: Daniels Megan
Published: July 2021

This chapter explores the interrelationships between the Greek Heracles and Phoenician Melqart in cult, myth, and iconography from the Iron Age to Roman period. It articulates these connections not as a simple one-to-one equation of Heracles and Melqart, but rather views the long-term syncretism of these god-heroes as representative of the shared ideologies and cultural mentalities that emerged from human interactions and endeavors around the Mediterranean world in the first millennium BC. As such, a major focus of this chapter is the equivocal statuses that Heracles and Melqart inhabit between mortality and immortality, a status of particular concern for Greek and Roman authors in their portrayal of Heracles, and reflected also in cultic practices surrounding these figures in terms of their death and apotheosis. This status held particular significance for Heracles’ and Melqart’s roles in human affairs as divinized royal ancestors and colonizers par excellence, roles arguably expressed through their bellicose and leonine iconography. Examining the intersections between Heracles and Melqart thus reveals a great deal about human enterprises in the Mediterranean from the Iron Age to the Roman period.
Labor V
Authors: Mitchell Fiona
Published: July 2021

Heracles’ cleaning of the Augean stables is the least glamorous of his Labors: we see a paradigmatic hero reduced to the menial task of mucking out animals. As a result, the number of extant accounts and images of this Labor is relatively small. The texts and images that include this narrative often downplay Heracles’ contact with the object of his task by focusing on his supernatural ability to redirect the river he uses to clear the dung. Nevertheless, the very fact that Heracles is acting as a servant to Augeas under the orders of Eurystheus means that he is necessarily in a subservient position. Each of the versions of this Labor deals differently with the complex relationship between heroism, status, money, and violence that results from Heracles’ position in this myth.
Labor VI
Authors: Aston Emma
Published: July 2021

This chapter surveys the literary and visual treatments of Heracles’ encounter with the Stymphalian Birds. While some ancient accounts make the birds dangerous adversaries, in most they are merely pests that infest Stymphalus, hampering agriculture; this Labor is therefore less about the vanquishing of a mighty animal foe and more about the clearing of land for cultivation. It is argued that the Labor is part of a complex of local Arcadian myth in which the forces of nature have to be subdued and controlled so that human society can prosper. The birds themselves are an important part of the self-representation of the polis of Stymphalus, through cult and coinage.
Intellectual Property Rights and Country-of- Origin Labels in the Luxury Industry
Authors: Pouillard Véronique
Published: July 2021

Intellectual property rights and country-of-origin labels are two different and often complementary mechanisms of protection. Entrepreneurs in the luxury business use them to inform the consumer and the custom authorities, to protect their innovations and know-how, and also to enhance the narratives of their brands. These protective mechanisms are historically contingent and subject to reinforcement or weakening due to the entrepreneurs’ lobbying, due to governmental protectionism, and more generally due to international competition. Intellectual property rights are not complete systems of protection and present numerous asymmetries between various countries and industries. This chapter also addresses both the effectiveness and the weaknesses of intellectual property rights and of nation branding in informing the consumer, and in deterring the production and purchase of substitute products.
Luxury Supply Chain Management
Authors: Brun Alessandro , Karaosman Hakan
Published: July 2021

This chapter focuses on supply chain management in the luxury sector. The concepts of supply chain and supply chain management are introduced first, with an overview of the most prominent scientific research works as well as industrial frameworks and methodologies; a discussion of luxury supply chain management in scientific literature follows. The central section of the chapter is dedicated to dissecting the anatomy of the typical luxury supply chain: first of all, it argues that there is simply no such a thing as ‘the typical luxury supply chain’, as the luxury industry is characterised by opposing trends; the section continues by illustrating how these opposing trends are moving companies into clusters which are internally homogeneous but significantly differing from one another. The chapter then illustrates some market trends that are increasing the complexity of supply chain management in luxury, followed by a brief discussion on how brands are reacting.
Gendering the Human Right to Water in the Context of Sustainable
Development
Authors: Sultana Farhana
Published: July 2021

The 2010 United Nations resolution on the human right to water urged the global community to accept and implement equitable access to safe clean water for all. In addition, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the development targets for the global community between 2016 and 2030, articulated the importance of two interconnected and important SGDs: the connections between gender equity (SDG5) and access to water (SDG6). Given these global policy imperatives, countries face normative goals of achieving difficult and complex sets of rights and justices regarding water and gender equity. As a result, how policy prescriptions and ambitions are materialized on the ground require closer attention to the ways that gender–water relations are co-constitutive of broader issues of development and social justice in any given context. More significant action is thus needed to address the socioecological issues that affect access to, control over, and rights to water, which have intersectional gendered implications and impact the lived realities of water justice and injustice on the ground. The chapter investigates the comparative politics around the human right to water and the increasing commodification of water through a gendered lens to interrogate broader sustainable development goals. The author argues that implementing the human right to water can help achieve broader issues of gender equity and gender justice when carried out with better intersectional understanding of gender.
The First Calvinist Encounters with New World Religions
Authors: Valeri Mark
Published: July 2021

European Calvinists first encountered Native Americans during three brief expeditions of French adventurers to Brazil and Florida during the mid-sixteenth century. Although short-lived and rarely noted, these expeditions produced a remarkable commentary by Huguenots on the Tupinamba people of Brazil and the Timucuan people of Florida. Informed by Calvinist understandings of human nature and humanist approaches to cultural observation, authors such as Jean de Léry produced narratives that posed European and Christian decadence against the sociability and honesty of Native Americans. They used their experiences in America to suggest that Huguenots in France, like indigenous people in America, ought to be tolerated for their civic virtues whatever their doctrinal allegiances. Huguenot travel writings indicate variations in Calvinist approaches to Native peoples from the mid-sixteenth through the seventeenth centuries.
‘If thou reckon right’: Angels from John Calvin to Jonathan Edwards via John Milton
Authors: Minkema Kenneth P.
Published: July 2021

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) was part of a neo-Calvinist heritage, but he did not claim to be a disciple of the Genevan Reformer. One area of divergence in interpretation was their teachings about angels. Calvin lessened the roles of angels, ascribing to them certain mysteries beyond human comprehension, while Edwards explored angelic nature and history, initially seeing analogies between angels and humans, and then as part of his grand project, A History of the Work of Redemption. In the process, he was shaped by authors in his New England past, including Increase and Cotton Mather, who intently explored the supernatural realm. He also drew on a variety of religious poets within Anglo-American Protestant religious culture that included John Milton, whose influential depiction of the angelic and human fall in Paradise Lost provided inspiration for Edwards’ own redemptive narrative.
Eighteenth-Century Evangelical Calvinists
Authors: Yeager Jonathan
Published: July 2021

Eighteenth-century evangelical Calvinists were a diverse group of people, but the majority of them adhered to Reformed theology. They debated how best to practise their faith, including the proper mode of baptism. Whereas the English Particular Baptists and others insisted that believers be immersed upon a profession of faith as an adult, others, including the Congregationalists and Presbyterians, practised infant baptism. Evangelical Calvinists furthermore sometimes clashed on ecclesiastical policies. The Baptists and Congregationalists, for instance, established independent churches, contrasting the hierarchical structures of the Church of England and Presbyterianism. Despite their diversity on doctrinal and ecclesiastical matters, eighteenth-century evangelical Calvinists were unified in proclaiming that salvation came exclusively by divine grace mediated through Christ’s death on the cross, and that conversion was the means by which God redeemed the elect.
Karl Barth’s Calvin: A Weimar Prophet
Authors: Glomsrud Ryan
Published: July 2021

This chapter explores Karl Barth’s early reception of John Calvin at the time of his initial post-liberal engagement with classical Protestant authors. For Barth, the Genevan Reformer easily belonged in a pantheon of theologians that included Augustine, Thomas, Luther, and Schleiermacher. However, Barth’s Calvin was not antiquarian or historical but of thoroughly modern vintage, even romantic and modernist in certain respects. The chapter contends that Barth fashioned an image of Calvin in the tumultuous years of the Weimar Republic that was of thoroughly modern vintage. Although he immersed himself in primary sources, Barth’s presentation of the Reformer owed much to German romanticism as well as Weimar modernism, including such notable intellectuals as Hermann Hesse, Stefan Zweig, and Max Weber.
No Other Gods
Authors: Hart D. G.
Published: July 2021

Reformed Protestants inherited older biblical and medieval understandings about the difference between civil rule and ecclesiastical authority which fostered a variety of responses to secularization. After the Reformation, Calvinists worked from received categories even as they adapted to a diverse set of political circumstances, sometimes being a persecuted minority, sometimes having unrestrained access to municipal governments, and sometimes disappointed with monarchs who promised more than they gave. Once the political revolutions of the eighteenth century upended the prevailing Constantinian pattern of ecclesiastical establishment (whether Roman Catholic or Protestant), Calvinists made even further adjustments to the sacred–secular distinction. Those adaptations contribute to ongoing debates about society, the church, and a Christian’s civic responsibilities. No matter how varied Calvinists have been in their responses to secularization, they are no stranger than other Christian communions that also struggle to make sense of Jesus Christ’s assertion that his ‘kingdom is not of this world’.
Seventeenth-Century Calvinism and Early Enlightenment Thought
Authors: Goudriaan Aza
Published: July 2021

Analysing a number of interactions between Calvinists and Early Enlightenment philosophers—and the receptions of John Calvin in these—this chapter shows a complex and persistent presence of Calvin and Calvinists in philosophical debates during the early Enlightenment period. Among Calvinists, Descartes found both opponents and followers. Reformed Cartesians have occasionally appealed to Calvin (e.g. on accommodation and the sensus divinitatis), praised the Reformer (Heidanus, Burman), or neglected him (van Til). The philosopher Arnold Geulincx has been protected (Heidanus.) and published (van Til) by Calvinists, before they began to associate him with Spinoza (Tuinman, Andala, Driessen). Thomas Hobbes quoted Calvin incidentally, but Calvinists usually opposed his philosophy. Thus, the jurist Ulrik Huber used Calvin’s teachings on the testimonium Spiritus sancti against Hobbes—an appeal to Calvin that Huber repeated against another philosopher’s claim that reason alone was able to demonstrate the divinity of scripture. In order to refute Spinozists, Reformed minister Carolus Tuinman translated Calvin’s treatise against the libertines (1545). Responding to Huguenot Pierre Bayle, the Lutheran philosopher G. W. Leibniz wrote favourably about Calvin’s teachings on predestination and providence, as he had done also about Calvin’s views on the Eucharist.
Transcranial brain stimulation and structural MRI
Authors: Dubbioso Raffaele , Thielscher Axel
Published: July 2021

Non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation (NTBS) benefits in multiple ways from structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). Individual structural brain scans can be used to guide spatial targeting with frameless stereotaxy. For instance, sMRI informed transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) enables personalized cortical mapping aligned to the individual gyral anatomy. Segmented sMRI scans increase the accuracy and robustness of computational dosimetry approaches which are key to standardize the individual dose across individuals, mapping the NTBS induced electrical fields onto the individual brain. Several sMRI modalities can be used to identify macro and microstructural features that are related to the physiological and behavioral effects of NTBS. Structural MRI before NTBS can identify interindividual variations in brain structure that influence NTBS outcomes, including disease or age related anatomical changes. Repeated structural MRI measurements can trace NTBS induced changes in regional macro and microstructure. NTBS based functional markers can be combined with MRI based structural markers to predict disease progression or recovery in individual patients.
German Jews in the Weimar Republic
Authors: Gillerman Sharon
Published: July 2021

The chapter discusses the social and demographic profile of the Jewish minority in Germany from 1918 to 1933, the political preferences and perspectives of German Jews during this period and German Jewish cultural production in multiple spheres. The chapter argues that Weimar Jewish history represented both a continuation and intensification of the dynamics of German Jewish history more generally, in which the forces of inclusion and exclusion, as well as the tensions between universalism and particularism, became even more pronounced. As Weimar-era Jews redefined their notions of belonging, many reclaimed a particularism without renouncing the humanistic and liberally inflected notions of Deutschtum, continuing to work toward shaping a culture in which they could be at home. Yet during the final years of the Republic, their notion of Deutschtum diverged ever more from that held by increasing numbers of other Germans.
Elections, Election Campaigns, and Democracy
Authors: Mergel Thomas
Published: July 2021

One of the phenomena of the Weimar Republic most in need of explanation is the rapid change from an initially widespread and overwhelming approval of the republic, to vast parts of society turning away from democracy just a few years later. This chapter explores the Reichstag elections and political communication around them as a manifestation of political group affiliations, traditions, and political expectations. Voting rights were expanded significantly, with democratic inclusion taking on new dimensions. However, this did not fundamentally challenge traditional affiliations to political camps. The radicalization of the electorate was a process that largely occurred within the political camps. This resulted in a culture of antagonism becoming more dominant, which, at the same time, clashed with the widespread longing for a homogeneous ‘people’s community’ and organic leadership.
Economic Diversification, Homogeneity of Interests, and the Impartiality of Government
Authors: Olander Petrus
Published: July 2021

Can economic diversification constrain elites from shaping government institutions to their own advantage? This chapter reviews scholarly work that suggests it can. Elites frequently use government institutions to cement their position and enrich themselves at the expense of others, but to overcome opposition to their own advancement they must form coalitions. The ability to form coalitions is conditioned by the compatibility of underlying interests; the more diverse the economy, the less cohesive the underlying interests are, making it harder for the elites to form collusive coalitions. This chapter outlines political theory and recent research on the role played by diverse and competing interests in shaping the exercise of government power, democratization, and institutional reform. Considering the sectoral structure of the economy can help us better understand ongoing economic and political processes such as reconcentration of economic activities, the position of transient labor, and state-led efforts for economic diversification.
Quality of Government and Environmental Sustainability
Authors: Povitkina Marina , Matti Simon
Published: July 2021

Previous research on the relationship between quality of government (QoG) and environmental sustainability is scant, scattered across different disciplines, and is characterized by a disconnect between studies focusing on the effects of QoG on the micro level (individual behavior) and micro level (country policies and actions). The chapter synthesizes the different literatures on the connection between various elements of QoG, such as low levels of corruption, bureaucratic capacity, and rule of law, on the one hand, and environmental sustainability on the other hand. On the macro level, it theorizes the role of QoG in securing governments’ production of environmental public goods. On the micro level, the chapter discusses how QoG can shape cooperation in collective action dilemmas over natural resource use, as well as how it contributes to generating public support of and compliance with environmental policies.
Inequality, Education, and Corruption
Authors: Uslaner Eric M.
Published: July 2021

This chapter shows a link between levels of mass education in 1870 and corruption levels in 2010 for 78 countries that remains strong when controlling for change in the level of education, GDP/ capita, and democracy. A model for the causal mechanism between universal education and control of corruption is presented. Early introduction of universal education is linked to levels of economic equality and to efforts to increase state capacity. First, societies with more equal education gave citizens more opportunities and power for opposing corruption. Secondly, the need for increased state capacity was a strong motivation for the introduction of universal education in many countries. Strong states provided more education to their publics and such states were more common where economic disparities were initially smaller.
Quality of Government and Social Trust
Authors: Dinesen Peter Thisted , Sønderskov Kim Mannemar
Published: July 2021

In this chapter we review the literature on the relationship between quality of government—conceptualized as quality of institutions at the output side of government—and generalized social trust (trust in strangers). After reviewing the theoretical mechanisms—in both directions—proposed to link social trust and quality of government, we review the empirical evidence. We report considerable evidence for a positive relationship between trust and various manifestations of quality of government at both the societal level (macro) and the individual level (micro). Most studies have limited causal leverage, but a few studies—primarily at the individual level—employ designs better suited for causal statements. These studies suggest a positive effect of institutional quality on generalized social trust. We conclude the review by discussing path for further research.
Thoughts on the Recent Past and the Future of Byzantine Literary Studies
Authors: Mullett Margaret
Published: July 2021

This brief postscript evaluates the place of Byzantine literature in the academy, and evaluates its current strengths. It looks back at a period when professors of Byzantine literature disparaged their subject matter, and it contrasts that era (c. 1970) with the position fifty years later, as large numbers of young scholars enter the field and are employed to do so, and to whom major research grants are awarded. The chapter locates itself in relation to other position papers written by the author in 1990, 2003, and 2010, and surveys the past twenty years in terms of conferences, publications, and other infrastructure, emphasizing the growth of texts, translations, and studies, and work on processes of literary production. It notes the confident place of rhetoric as the foundation of literary achievement in every genre and the arrival at a more nuanced periodization. Research has been informed by affective and cognitive neuroscience as well as by new philology, new historicism, post-classical narratology, and comparative approaches; it applauds the way that texts in Syriac, Arabic, Georgian, Armenian, and Latin are regarded as having a claim to be considered as Byzantine. It proposes a history of Byzantine literature.
Textual Criticism
Authors: Macé Caroline
Published: July 2021

This chapter provides an overview of the main tasks to be performed by an editor of Byzantine literary works, highlighting some of the recent developments in methodology and technology and focusing on technical aspects. The editor’s tasks are the following: (1) heuristics of texts and manuscripts, (2) collation (namely, comparison of the text preserved in different manuscripts), (3) classification of the manuscript witnesses of a text according to various principles, (4) edition (or constitutio textus, in the common Latin terminology of critical editions), and, finally, (5) publication. Different types of textual transmission, shaped by several elements (language, genre, topic, authority, etc.), require, it is argued here, different editorial treatments. An Appendix to the chapter lists the main book series in which editions of Byzantine literature are published.
Latin
Authors: Forrai Réka
Published: July 2021

Latin-Greek and Greek-Latin translations projects, even if asymmetric in their output, are strongly interconnected. This first section of a multi-section chapter discusses translations made from Latin into Greek in an attempt to reconstruct the canon of translated Latin works in Byzantium. It offers an overview of the major chronological stages of the translation activities, as well as an enumeration of translators and their translations. The chapter also aims to shed light on the social context in which the translator and his text are embedded: patrons, libraries, manuscripts, lay and ecclesiastical courts, religious orders, and cities involved.
Authors(With an Excursus on Symeon Metaphrastes)
Authors: Papaioannou Stratis
Published: July 2021

The chapter introduces two sets of questions pertaining to (a) the social profile of Byzantine authors, and (b) the conception and value of authorship in Byzantium. It thus first surveys the prevalent patterns in the biographies of the c. 1600 eponymous known Greek authors from Byzantium. It then discusses the cultural as well as spiritual capital of authorship in Byzantium: notions such as those of divine inspiration and author-saints, and “practices” such pseudonymity (the false ascription of texts) and anonymity (the loss or absence of authorial signatures). The chapter concludes with an exploration of the reception of Symeon Metaphrastes (perhaps the most important author of the middle Byzantine period) as an author by later generations of readers.
Georgian
Authors: Aleksidze Nikoloz
Published: July 2021

The chapter explores the origin and history of Georgian translations from Greek since the beginnings of Georgian literacy in the fifth century to the period of the Mongol invasion and the general decline of literary production in Georgian. In the chapter, the history of the Georgian translations is conventionally divided into three chronological and stylistic periods: pre-Athonite, i.e., the period from the fifth to the tenth centuries, when Georgian monastic communities flourished in Palestine, on Sinai, and in Georgia proper, particularly in the T‘ao, K‘larǯeti and the Šavšeti regions; the Athonite period in the tenth and eleventh centuries, which refers mostly to the translations done by Euthymios and Georgios Hagiorites in the Iveron Monastery; and the Hellenophile period from the eleventh through the thirteenth century, represented by Ephrem Mcire and Arseni of Iqalt‘o. The chapter provides an overview of the literary production translated or re-translated from the Greek in these periods, together with a brief analysis of genres, styles, and the philosophy behind some of the most important works.
Exact solution for wave scattering from black holes: Formulation
Authors: Motohashi Hayato , Noda Sousuke
Published: July 2021

We establish an exact formulation for wave scattering of a massless field with spin and charge by a Kerr–Newman–de Sitter black hole. Our formulation is based on the exact solution of the Teukolsky equation in terms of the local Heun function, and does not require any approximation. It serves as simple exact formulae with arbitrary high precision, which realize fast calculation without restrictions on model parameters. We highlight several applications including quasinormal modes, cross section, reflection/absorption rate, and Green function.
Molecular, Phenotypical, and Host-Range Characterization of Robbsia andropogonis Strains Isolated from Bougainvillea spp. in Mexico
Authors: Morales-Galván Oscar , Nigam Deepti , Young Anthony J. , Ignatov Alexander N. , Mejía-Sánchez Dimas , Flores-López Luis Fernando
Published: July 2021

Characteristic leaf spot and blight symptoms caused by Robbsia andropogonis on bougainvillea plants were found in three locations in different provinces of Mexico from 2019 to 2020. Eleven bacterial isolates with morphology similar to R. andropogonis were obtained from the diseased bougainvillea leaves. The isolates were confirmed as R. andropogonis by phenotypic tests and 16S rRNA, rpoD, and gyrB gene sequencing. In addition to bougainvillea, the strains were pathogenic to 10 agriculturally significant crops, including maize (Zea mays), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), barley (Hordeum vulgare), coffee (Coffea arabiga), carnation (Dianthus caryophilus), Mexican lime (Citrus × aurantifolia), common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), broadbeans (Vicia faba), and pea (Pisum sativum), but not runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus). The haplotypes network reveals the genetic variability among Mexican strains and its phylogeographic relationship with Japan, the U.S.A., and China. The presence of this pathogen represents a challenge for plant protection strategies in Mexico.
Phylogenetic Analysis and Genetic Diversity of Phytophthora palmivora Causing Black Pod Disease of Cocoa in Malaysia
Authors: Alsultan Wael , Vadamalai Ganesan , Saud Halimi Mohd , Khairulmazmi Ahmad , Wong Mui Yun , Jaaffarand Ahmad Kamil Mohd , Al-Sadi Abdullah M. , Rashed Osamah , Nasehi Abbas
Published: July 2021

Black pod, caused by Phytophthora spp., occurs worldwide and is a major problem for cocoa farmers in Malaysia. Limited studies addressed causal agents of black pod disease of cocoa in Malaysia as well as their genetic diversity. Therefore, this study was initiated to isolate and identify Phytophthora from the main cocoa plantations infected by black pod in Malaysia using sequence analyses of the ITS rDNA, EF-1α, and COX1 gene regions. A total of 36 Phytophthora isolates were obtained from infected cocoa plantations from five states of Malaysia in 2016 and 14 isolates in 2013. Six Phytophthora isolates obtained from the durian crop, “the king of fruit”, in 2013 were also used in this study. Results of phylogenetic analyses of the combined dataset of the ITS rDNA, COX1, and EF-1α confirmed that all Phytophthora isolates belonged to P. palmivora. P. palmivora isolates obtained from cocoa and durian clustered into different subclades based on the three regions examined. The study also examined the genetic diversity within a population of 56 P. palmivora isolates using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The results of both markers indicated relatively high diversity among P. palmivora isolates. The complete separation was based on host and year of isolation. The study suggests that one species of Phytophthora, namely, P. palmivora, is responsible for black pod of cocoa in Malaysia. However, the relatively high genetic diversity and separation of isolates into different clades may suggest that P. palmivora has been introduced into Malaysia via different sources.
The Role of Nurse Leaders in the Well-being of Clinicians
Authors: Pappas Sharon
Published: July 2021

This column reviews the concept of humanism in leadership. After surviving a year perceived by many healthcare professionals as the most challenging of a generation, the author reflects on leadership essentials for rebuilding our nursing workforce.
Pandemic Challenges
Authors: Speroni Karen Gabel , Hess Robert
Published: July 2021

Nursing has been pandemic-slammed. Although 2020 will be forever entangled with the COVID-19 pandemic, we, as nurse leaders, must continue to move forward and beyond this endemic challenge. We cannot lose focus on generating new knowledge to continue nursing excellence and move our profession forward.
Brief Mindfulness Practice Course for Healthcare Providers
Authors: Seidel Laurie Walker , Dane Francis C. , Carter Kimberly Ferren
Published: July 2021

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine the short-term and sustained effect on well-being, burnout, and mindful awareness of an abbreviated mindfulness practice course designed for nurses and other healthcare professionals.

BACKGROUND

Most mindfulness programs are impractical for frontline healthcare providers because of the intensive, off-site initial training and prolonged practice commitment. A psychiatric nurse educator developed a brief training program tailored for healthcare providers.

METHODS

Two institutional review board–approved studies examined the abbreviated mindfulness practice course for healthcare providers: the first, a single-group pretest-posttest design with 25 nursing employees in an academic medical center, and the second, a randomized controlled trial with 83 healthcare professionals.

RESULTS

Significant improvement in mindful awareness and at least 1 indicator of burnout were demonstrated. Improvements in quality of life were noted with nurses.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings support the short-term and sustained impact of this brief mindfulness curriculum on mindful awareness, quality of life, and aspects of burnout for healthcare professionals.
National Study of Nursing Faculty and Administrators' Perceptions of Professional Identity in Nursing
Authors: Landis Tullamora , Godfrey Nelda , Barbosa-Leiker Celestina , Clark Cynthia , Brewington Janice G. , Joseph M. Lindell , Luparell Susan , Phillips Beth Cusatis , Priddy Kristen D. , Weybrew Kary Anne
Published: July 2021

Background

Establishing a professional identity in nursing is integral to professional development, yet this area of inquiry remains understudied.

Purpose

This segment of a multiphased national study measured nursing faculty's perceived level of importance regarding key components of professional identity in nursing using the newly developed Professional Identity in Nursing Survey (PINS).

Methods

Fifty subject matter experts from nursing education, practice, and regulation utilized the DeVellis scale development process to develop the PINS over the course of 2 years. Nearly 1200 nurse educators evaluated the importance of a 34-item scale relating to professional identity in nursing.

Results

At endorsement of 95% or greater, 28 items were found to be important components of nursing identity. Effective communication, integrity, and being trustworthy and respectful were reported as most important to nursing identity.

Conclusions

Nurse educators identified the important items to assess professional identity in nursing. Item refinement and psychometric evaluation of the survey are the next phase of the multiphased study.
Influence of Contrast Material Temperature on Patient Comfort and Image Quality in Computed Tomography of the Abdomen
Authors: Martens Bibi , Wildberger Joachim E. , Van Kuijk Sander M.J. , De Vos-Geelen Judith , Jeukens Cécile R.L.P.N. , Mihl Casper
Published: July 2021

Background

International guideline recommendations on safe use of contrast media (CM) are conflicting regarding the necessity to prewarm iodinated CM.

Purpose

Aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of room temperature CM compared with prewarmed CM on image quality, safety, and patient comfort in abdominal computed tomography (CT).

Methods

CATCHY (Contrast Media Temperature and Patient Comfort in Computed Tomography of the Abdomen) is a double-blinded, randomized noninferiority trial. Between February and August 2020, 218 participants referred for portal venous abdominal CT were prospectively and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups. All patients received iopromide at 300 mg I/mL: group 1 at room temperature (~23°C [~73°F]) and group 2 prewarmed to body temperature (37°C [99°F]). A state-of-the-art individualized CM injection protocol was used, based on body weight and adapted to tube voltage. Primary outcome was absolute difference in mean liver attenuation between groups, calculated with a 2-sided 95% confidence interval. The noninferiority margin was set at −10 HU. Secondary outcomes were objective (signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio) and subjective image quality; CM extravasations and other adverse events; and participant comfort (5-point scale questionnaire) and pain (numeric rating scale). This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04249479).

Results

The absolute difference in mean attenuation between groups was + 4.23 HU (95% confidence interval, +0.35 to +8.11; mean attenuation, 122.2 ± 13.1 HU in group 1, 118.0 ± 15.9 HU in group 2; P = 0.03). Signal-to-noise ratio, contrast-to-noise ratio, and subjective image quality were not significantly different between groups (P = 0.53, 0.23, and 0.99 respectively). Contrast extravasation occurred in 1 patient (group 2), and no other adverse events occurred. Comfort scores were significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2 (P = 0.03); pain did not significantly differ (perceived P > 0.99; intensity P = 0.20).

Conclusions

Not prewarming iodinated CM was found noninferior in abdominal CT imaging. Prewarming conferred no beneficial effect on image quality, safety, and comfort, and might therefore no longer be considered a prerequisite in state-of-the art injection protocols for parenchymal imaging.
HLA Antibody Incompatible Renal Transplantation: Long-term Outcomes Similar to Deceased Donor Transplantation
Authors: Krishnan Nithya , Abimbola Aisha , Machan Nandhini , Daga Sunil , Gopalakrishnan Kishore , Lam ForTai , Tan LamChin , Kashi Habib , Imray Christopher , Zehnder Daniel , Collins Claire , Curtis Rebecca , Higgins Robert , Khovanova Natasha , Briggs David
Published: July 2021

Background.

HLA incompatible renal transplantation still remains one of best therapeutic options for a subgroup of patients who are highly sensitized and difficult to match but not much is known about its long-term graft and patient survival.

Methods.

One hundred thirty-four HLA incompatible renal transplantation patients from 2003 to 2018 with a median follow of 6.93 y were analyzed retrospectively to estimate patient and graft survivals. Outcomes were compared with groups defined by baseline crossmatch status and the type and timings of rejection episodes.

Results.

The overall patient survival was 95%, 90%, and 81%; and graft survival was 95%, 85%, and 70% at 1, 5, and 10 y, respectively. This was similar to the first-time deceased donor transplant cohort. The graft survival for pretreatment cytotoxic-dependent crossmatch (CDC) positive crossmatch group was significantly low at 83%, 64%, and 40% at 1, 5, and 10 y, respectively, compared with other groups (Bead/CDC, P = 0.007; CDC/Flow, P = 0.001; and microbead assay/flow cytometry crossmatch, P = 0.837), although those with a low CDC titer (<1 in 2) have comparable outcomes to the CDC negative group. Female patients in general fared worse in both patient and graft survival outcomes in each of the 3 groups based on pretreatment crossmatch, although this did not reach statistical significance. Antibody-mediated rejection was the most frequent type of rejection with significant decline in graft survival by 10 y when compared with no rejection (P < 0.001). Rejection that occurred or continued to occur after the first 2 wk of transplantation caused a significant reduction in graft survivals (P < 0.001), whereas good outcomes were seen in those with a single early rejection episode.

Conclusions.

One-, 5-, and 10-y HLA incompatible graft and patient survival is comparable to deceased donor transplantation and can be further improved by excluding high-CDC titer cases. Antibody-positive female patients show worse long-term survival. Resolution of early rejection is associated with good long-term graft survival.
A review on the theory of stable dendritic growth
Authors: Alexandrov Dmitri V. , Galenko Peter K.
Published: July 2021

This review article summarizes the main outcomes following from recently developed theories of stable dendritic growth in undercooled one-component and binary melts. The nonlinear heat and mass transfer mechanisms that control the crystal growth process are connected with hydrodynamic flows (forced and natural convection), as well as with the non-local diffusion transport of dissolved impurities in the undercooled liquid phase. The main conclusions following from stability analysis, solvability and selection theories are presented. The sharp interface model and stability criteria for various crystallization conditions and crystalline symmetries met in actual practice are formulated and discussed. The review is also focused on the determination of the main process parameters—the tip velocity and diameter of dendritic crystals as functions of the melt undercooling, which define the structural states and transitions in materials science (e.g. monocrystalline-polycrystalline structures). Selection criteria of stable dendritic growth mode for conductive and convective heat and mass fluxes at the crystal surface are stitched together into a single criterion valid for an arbitrary undercooling.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Transport phenomena in complex systems (part 1)’.
Isolation and characterization of porcine monoclonal antibodies revealed two distinct serotype-independent epitopes on VP2 of foot-and-mouth disease virus
Authors: Li Kun , Zhu Guoqiang , Zhou Shasha , Sun Pu , Wang Hengmei , Bao Huifang , Fu Yuanfang , Li Pinghua , Bai Xingwen , Ma Xueqing , Zhang Jing , Li Dong , Chen Yingli , Liu Zaixin , Cao Yimei , Lu Zengjun
Published: July 2021

Pigs are susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), and the humoral immune response plays an essential role in protection against FMDV infection. However, little information is available about FMDV-specific mAbs derived from single B cells of pigs. This study aimed to determine the antigenic features of FMDV that are recognized by antibodies from pigs. Therefore, a panel of pig-derived mAbs against FMDV were developed using fluorescence-based single B cell antibody technology. Western blotting revealed that three of the antibodies (1C6, P2-7E and P2-8G) recognized conserved antigen epitopes on capsid protein VP2, and exhibited broad reactivity against both FMDV serotypes A and O. An alanine-substitution scanning assay and sequence conservation analysis elucidated that these porcine mAbs recognized two conserved epitopes on VP2: a linear epitope (2KKTEETTLL10) in the N terminus and a conformational epitope involving residues K63, H65, L66, F67, D68 and L81 on two β-sheets (B-sheet and C-sheet) that depended on the integrity of VP2. Random parings of heavy and light chains of the IgGs confirmed that the heavy chain is predominantly involved in binding to antigen. The light chain of porcine IgG contributes to the binding affinity toward an antigen and may function as a support platform for antibody stability. In summary, this study is the first to reveal the conserved antigenic profile of FMDV recognized by porcine B cells and provides a novel method for analysing the antibody response against FMDV in its natural hosts (i.e. pigs) at the clonal level.
Dynamics of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales colonization in long-term carriers following travel abroad
Authors: Armand-Lefèvre Laurence , Rondinaud Emilie , Desvillechabrol Dimitri , Mullaert Jimmy , Clermont Olivier , Petitjean Marie , Ruppe Etienne , Cokelaer Thomas , Bouchier Christiane , Tenaillon Olivier , Ma Laurence , Nooroya Yasmine , Matheron Sophie ,   The VOYAG-R Study Group, Andremont Antoine , Denamur Erick , Kennedy Sean P.
Published: July 2021

Travel to tropical regions is associated with high risk of acquiring extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing

Enterobacterales

(ESBL-E) that are typically cleared in less than 3 months following return. The conditions leading to persistent carriage that exceeds 3 months in some travellers require investigation. Whole-genome sequencing (Illumina MiSeq) was performed on the 82 ESBL-E isolates detected upon return and 1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 months later from the stools of 11 long-term (>3 months) ESBL-E carriers following travel abroad. One to five different ESBL

Escherichia coli

strains were detected per traveller upon return, and this diminished to one after 3 months. Long-term carriage was due to the presence of the same ESBL

E. coli

strain, for more than 3 months, in 9 out of 11 travellers, belonging to epidemic sequence type complexes (STc 10, 14, 38, 69, 131 and 648). The mean carriage duration of strains belonging to phylogroups B2/D/F, associated with extra-intestinal virulence, was higher than that for commensal-associated A/B1/E phylogroups (3.5 vs 0.5 months, P=0.021). Genes encoding iron capture systems (fyuA, irp), toxins (senB, sat), adhesins (flu, daaF, afa/nfaE, pap, ecpA) and colicin (cjrA) were more often present in persistent strains than in transient ones. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis in persistent strains showed a maximum divergence of eight SNPs over 12 months without signs of adaptation. Genomic plasticity was observed during the follow-up with the loss or gain of mobile genetic elements such as plasmids, integrons and/or transposons that may contain resistance genes at different points in the follow-up. Long-term colonization of ESBL-E following travel is primarily due to the acquisition of

E. coli

strains belonging to epidemic clones and harbouring ‘virulence genes’, allowing good adaptation to the intestinal microbiota.