bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Butchlalis de Panochtitlan
Authors: Alarcón Wanda
Published: February 2020

Butchlalis de Panochtitlan are a queer Chicana-Latina theater and multimedia performance group active as an ensemble from 2002 to 2010. Formed in Los Angeles, they have performed in a range of venues and events throughout California and nationally. They premiered their major stage works at the important queer cultural arts center Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California. Their irreverent name, a play on Tenochtitlan, the pre-Columbian name for modern day Mexico City, and panocha, creative Spanglish slang for female genitalia, translates to “the butch stars of pussy land.” True to their name, BdP render brown butch-centered worlds in their works that map the City of Los Angeles through the queer life in its neighborhoods, barrios, nightclubs, and re-imagined spaces of radical possibility. Although they are no longer active as a group and few primary documents exist, their impact is traceable well beyond these limits and local contexts. This article presents an overview of the work and impact of Butchlalis de Panochtitlan with attention to key themes in their body of work including home, belonging, queer family, gentrification, butch-femme relations, and brown butch socialities and aesthetics. This article draws from primary and secondary sources, digital recordings, visual images, online sources, ephemera, reviews, and published interviews.
History and Memory: Narrating the Japanese American Incarceration
Authors: So Christine C.
Published: February 2020

Narrating the Japanese American incarceration has always been an act of both remembering and forgetting, a representation of what happened when the civil and human rights of 120,000 Japanese Americans were violated during World War II. From the moment that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which enabled the removal and imprisonment of all Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States, “remembering” the Japanese American incarceration has been an act that has alternately justified, explained, documented, repudiated, remembered, redressed, reconstructed, and deconstructed a profound betrayal of the United States against its people. In reading the histories and memories of Japanese American incarceration, it is important to consider a wide range of forms, the historical context of the representation, and the audiences to whom the narratives are addressed. While there have been a number of memoirs, novels, poetry, short stories, plays, films, photography, art, and music that make up Japanese American incarceration culture, it is important to consider artistic interventions alongside the national narratives that have served as the foundation of legal decisions, congressional acts and testimonies, national and state memorials, museum exhibits, and history books. Such histories often acknowledge the injustice of the incarceration, even as they simultaneously defend its necessity (legal cases), explain it as aberration (congressional acts), or incorporate and resolve the injustice within a larger US narrative of progress (museum exhibits and history books). National narratives of the incarceration thus involve remembering and forgetting, both making visible the injustice to a national consciousness and casting it as an exception to a progressive national identity. Art forms that remember the incarceration often bear witness to what national histories can forget, the disquieting absences, erasures, silences, fragments, contradictions, and traumas that can never be fully redressed nor reconciled.
Transnationalism and Asian American Performance
Authors: Son Elizabeth W.
Published: February 2020

At once a process, a condition, and a mode of practice, transnationalism indexes the ways in which Asian American subjects have contended with the legacies of (neo)imperialism, war, militarism, and late capitalist modernity. This culturally manifests in dance club scenes, street festivals, community drumming events, memorials, performance art, theater, and more. A transnational approach counters some of the nation-state frameworks that have traditionally dominated understandings of Asian American culture. Thus, transnationalism provides a rich theoretical and methodological approach that is well suited to apprehending the dynamism, constraints, and potentialities of transnational Asian American social and cultural performances as they have moved and metamorphosed in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Tabloid Journalism and Tabloidization
Authors: Johansson Sofia
Published: February 2020

Tabloid journalism has long been a highly contested news form. With a sensationalist approach and an easily digested mix of entertainment and news, it has often attracted mass audiences at the same time as it has stirred controversy and raised concern about its impact on public discourse. Originating in the tabloid newspaper, associated both with a small newspaper format and a particular news style, the term “tabloid” is today considered to characterize a range of other media content, extending to popular TV programs and certain kinds of online news. The rise and development of tabloid journalism, in combination with wider processes shaping the media, has moreover led to a debate about “tabloidization,” involving ideas about shifting priorities in journalism and the media landscape as a whole.

Although tabloidization has no standard definition, an overview of empirical research using the concept as a starting point highlights analyses of various media, historical periods, and media markets, adding to understandings of tabloidization as multi-faceted and context-bound. Such a process, furthermore, has been viewed both as a possible threat to the public sphere and as potentially entailing democratizing elements, relating to long-standing depictions of tabloid journalism as either “dumbing down” or “reaching out.” Yet contemporary analysis in this field has tended to paint a more complex picture of both phenomena as well as pointing to emerging questions around the category of tabloid journalism in digital settings.
The United States and the European Union
Authors: Dominguez Roberto , Weissman LaFrance Joshua
Published: February 2020

The history of the European Union (EU) is closely associated with the development of the United States. As the process of European integration has produced institutions and gained a collective international presence, the United States has been a close observer, partner, and often critic of the policies and actions of the EU and its member states. A steady progression of events delineates this path: the Marshall Plan, origins of European integration, the Cold War, the post–Cold War, 9/11 and its effects on the international system, the Great Recession, and the deterioration of global democracy. All throughout, the EU and the United States have both cooperated and collided with one another, in line with the combination of three main factors: (a) the evolution of the EU as an independent, international actor; (b) American strategies for engagement with Europe and then with the EU; and (c) the adaptive capacity and cohesion of the overall transatlantic relationship.

The EU–U.S. relationship is significant not only for the influential role of the EU in world affairs but also because, as opposed to China or Russia, the transatlantic area hosts one of the most solid relationships around the world. Crises surely have been, and will be, a frequent aspect of the intense interdependences on both sides of the Atlantic; however, the level of contestation and conflict is relatively low, particularly as compared with other areas that smoothly allow the flow of goods, services, people, and ideas. Taken altogether, then, the transatlantic relationship possesses a strong foundation: it is integral, resilient, and enduring over a history of diplomatic disagreements and conflicts. The primary question remains just how this steady stream and confluence of shared challenges ultimately will fare in face of evolving crises and systemic disruptors. In any case, the answer is determined by the enduring nature, and foreign policy choices, of the primary actors on each side of the Atlantic.
Threat Framing
Authors: Eriksson Johan
Published: February 2020

What is “threat framing”? It concerns how something or someone is perceived, labeled, and communicated as a threat to something or someone. The designation “threat,” notably, belongs to the wider family of negative concerns such as danger, risk, or hazard. Research on threat framing is not anchored in a single or specific field but rather is scattered across three separate and largely disconnected bodies of literature: framing theory, security studies, and crisis studies. It is noteworthy that whereas these literatures have contributed observations on how and under what consequences something is framed as a threat, none of them have sufficiently problematized the concept of threat. Crisis analysis considers the existence or perception of threat essential for a crisis to emerge, along with a perception of urgency and uncertainty, yet crisis studies focus on the meaning of “crisis” without problematizing the concept of threat. Likewise, security studies have spent a lot of ink defining “security,” typically understood as the “absence of threat,” but leave the notion of “threat” undefined. Further, framing theory is concerned with “problem definition” as a main or first function of framing but generally pays little or no attention to the meaning of “threat.” Moreover, cutting across these bodies of literature is the distinction between constructivist and rationalist approaches, both of which have contributed to the understanding of threat framing. Constructivist analyses have emphasized how threat framing can be embedded in a process of socialization and acculturation, making some frames appear normal and others highly contested. Rationalist approaches, on the other hand, have shown how threat framing can be a conscious strategic choice, intended to accomplish certain political effects such as the legitimization of extraordinary means, allocation of resources, or putting issues high on the political agenda. Although there are only a handful of studies explicitly combining insights across these fields, they have made some noteworthy observations. These studies have shown for example how different types of framing may fuel amity or enmity, cooperation, or conflict. These studies have also found that antagonistic threat frames are more likely to result in a securitizing or militarizing logic than do structural threat frames. Institutionalized threat frames are more likely to gain and maintain saliency, particularly if they are associated with policy monopolies. In the post-truth era, however, the link between evidence and saliency of frames is weakened, leaving room for a much more unpredictable politics of framing.
Values and Public Opinion
Authors: Goren Paul
Published: February 2020

It is established that values influence public opinion and political behavior. Multiple points of difference have emerged in the study of values and mass politics. First, different groups of scholars emphasize different sets of values. At the most fundamental level, researchers distinguish between core political values and core human values. Core political values are abstract beliefs about government, society, and public affairs. This line of research developed in political science. Core human values are abstract, transsituational beliefs about desirable end states and modes of conduct that can be rank-ordered in terms of personal importance. Human values are associated with research from social and cross-cultural psychology. The presence of two distinct streams of research raises questions about the conceptual, methodological, and theoretical differences between core political values and core human values. The principal differences are as follows. First, social psychologists define human values with greater conceptual precision, depth, and breadth than political scientists define political values. Second, the degree of semantic separation between the measures of values and political judgments is much greater for human values. This makes it harder for analysts to establish that values predict political opinions, and thus, serves as a conservative force in testing hypotheses about values-politics linkages in the public mind. As well, the empirical foundation validating the measurement of human values far surpasses the evidentiary basis validating political values. Third, theories of value-based reasoning and political choice are more plausible and possess greater analytical utility relative to political value theories. In short, human values are preferable to political values on conceptual, methodological, and theoretical grounds.
Cultural Competence
Authors: Ang Soon , Ng Kok Yee , Rockstuhl Thomas
Published: February 2020

Cultural competence refers to an individual’s potential to function effectively in intercultural situations. The myriad conceptualizations of cultural competence can be broadly classified as intercultural traits (enduring personal characteristics that describe what a person typically does in intercultural situations); attitudes (perceptions and evaluations of other cultures); and capabilities (what a person can do to function effectively in intercultural contexts). In terms of empirical evidence, a review of existing report-based instruments (i.e., measures that involve self- or observer-perceptions of cultural competence) shows that only three instruments (Cultural Intelligence Survey, CQS; Multicultural Personality Questionnaire, MPQ; and Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale, ICAPS) demonstrate strong psychometric properties and incremental predictive validity across cultures. Notably, the CQS has the most extensive evidence on its predictive validity. The field is also seeing an emergence of performance-based measures of cultural competence in the form of situation judgment tests. Finally, there is considerable research on interventions to grow cultural competence and intelligence in individuals. Meta-analyses and systematic reviews generally concluded that training enhances the development of cultural competence and intercultural effectiveness. Effect sizes, however, vary depending on training and trainee characteristics. The field of cultural competence is at an exciting nexus of globalization, increasing diversification within nations, and technological advancements. We suggest that future research should (1) extend our conceptualization of cultural competence to include managing vertical differences rooted in power and status disparity; (2) expand our measurement from psychometric approaches to the use of multimodal analytics; and (3) expand our criterion space of cultural learning.
Boris Ananiev’s Theory of Self-Determination of Human Development
Authors: Mironenko Irina A.
Published: February 2020

Ananiev’s approach shares the Activity Theory (AT) paradigm, dominant in Soviet psychology. Ananiev builds on the main fundamentals of the AT paradigm, considering psyche as a special procreation of the matter, engendered by the active interaction of the individual with the environment. The unique feature of his approach to AT is that he turned it “toward the inside,” focusing on the relation of the human individual to his own physicality, to his own bodily substrate. Ananiev sought by his intention to keep a holistic vision of a human being, considering the latter in the context of his real life, that is, the bodily substrate in its biological specificity in context of the concrete sociohistorical life course of the personality. Like no other psychologist, Ananiev did not limit his research to the sphere of narrowly defined mental phenomena. He conducted a special kind of research, labeled as “complex,” in the course of which characteristics of the same subjects: sociological, socio-psychological, mental, physiological, and psychophysiological indicators—life events of the subjects—were monitored for many years. He focused on ontogenetic development in adulthood, which he, ahead of his time, considered as a period of dynamic changes and differentiated development of functions. The focus of his attention was on individual differences in the ontogenetic development of mental and psycho-physiological functions, especially those deviations from general regularities that resulted from the impact of the life course of the individual. Individualization, the increase of individual singularity, is the main effect of human development and its measure for Ananiev.

Ananiev developed a number of theoretical models and concepts. The best-known of Ananiev’s heritage is his theoretical model of human development, often named the “individuality concept.” According to this model, humans do not have any preassigned “structure of personality” or “initial harmony.” The starting point of human development is a combination of potentials—resources and reserves, biological and social. The human creates himself in the process of interaction with the world. Specialization, individually specific development of functions, appears here not as a distortion of the pre-set harmony of the whole but as the way of self-determining progressive human development. The most important practical task of psychology he viewed as psychological support and provision in the process of developing a harmonious individuality, based on the individual potentials.
A History of the Concepts of Harmony in Chinese Culture
Authors: Sundararajan Louise
Published: February 2020

This historical overview of the concepts of harmony in Chinese culture situates the topic in the ecological context of a strong-ties society that fosters a type of rationality that privileges symmetry over asymmetry. Analysis of the discourse of harmony focuses on the texts of two native schools of thought—Confucianism and Taoism—and briefly mentions Buddhism (a religion imported from India). The modern history of harmony has just begun but is already portentous. The turbulent course of China’s rapid modernization suggests the possibility that as China transitions from a strong-ties society to the weak-ties global market, harmony may be encountering, for the first time, contradictions that defy harmonization. Whatever the future holds for the Chinese legacy of harmony, its contribution to the happiness and well-being of the individuals in their intimate relationship with self and others is likely to remain unchallenged.
Indigenization of Behavior Analysis in Brazil
Authors: Miranda Rodrigo Lopes , Torres Jaqueline Andrade , Alves Roberta Garcia , Cirino Sérgio Dias
Published: February 2020

Recently, theoretical and methodological contributions to the history of sciences have promoted worldwide interest in the circulation and appropriation of scientific knowledge and objects. Throughout the history of psychology, similar contributions have attempted to clarify the polycentric history of the field. Of special note in the history of behavior analysis, there has been growing interest in its past development in several countries. In this context, historians dedicated to psychology in South America are particularly interested in the paths followed by behaviorisms in the region. Aspects of the indigenization of behavior analysis in Brazil are analyzed between 1960 and 1980, a country in which this theory had a substantial impact in the field of psychology. The authors argue that behavior analysis was indigenized as a “technology” derived from psychology rather than from a theoretical and methodological perspective during that period. By presenting this thesis, the authors posit that protagonists of indigenization were more attached to the experimental discourse of psychology and the creation of a “scientific” psychology capable of attending to specific social demands (e.g., education) rather than the development of the theory itself. Through this work, an active appropriation is demonstrated of behavior analysis by Brazilians who were committed to behavior modification as a technology for solving social demands.
Gastropod Learning and Memory (Aplysia, Hermissenda, Lymnaea, and Others)
Authors: Bédécarrats Alexis , Nargeot Romuald
Published: February 2020

Euopisthobranchia (Aplysia), Nudipleura (Tritonia, Hermissenda, Pleurobranchaea), and Panpulmonata (Lymnaea, Helix, Limax) gastropod mollusks exhibit a variety of reflex, rhythmic, and motivated behaviors that can be modified by elementary forms of learning and memory. The relative simplicity of their nervous systems and behavioral repertoires has allowed the uncovering of processes of neuronal and synaptic plasticity underlying non-associative learning, such as habituation, sensitization, and different forms of associative learning, such as classical and operant conditioning. Decades of work on these simpler and accessible animal systems have almost uniquely yielded an understanding into the mechanistic basis of learning and memory spanning behavior, neuronal circuitry, and molecules. Given the conservative nature of evolutionary processes, the mechanisms deciphered have also provided valuable insights into the neural basis of learning and memory in other metazoans, including higher vertebrates.
Women and Development in Africa
Authors: Kevane Michael
Published: February 2020

Development is a process that transforms societies. Despite considerable variation across world regions and over time, one commonality of development has been that the initial phase, from 1950 to 1975, likely led to growing inequality between men and women in both opportunities and well-being. The first decades of planning and promotion of development largely excluded women, partly as a result of unequal gender relations in many societies as development began: the slave trade, colonial indifference to women’s rights, and missionary activities may have worsened the status of women. More importantly, the men who controlled the late colonial and early post-independence state saw little reason to promote a pro-woman agenda in development. The initial phase of development thus reinforced male privilege. After 1975, national and international social movements arose to pressure governments and institutions to undo the legacies of gender inequality. Women-centered development flourished in the 2000s. There have been uncertainties, however, over the cost-effectiveness of some of the various policies and programs implemented as a result of the movements to include women in development.
Scandinavia–US Relations since 1940
Authors: Kronvall Olof
Published: February 2020

Relations between the British colonies in North America and the three Scandinavian countries—Norway, Denmark, and Sweden—predate American independence. Government-level interaction was rather limited until WWII, but cultural links emerged through the extensive settlement of Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish immigrants in mid- and later nineteenth-century America, especially in the American Midwest. During WWII, the United States and Norway became allies in 1941, Denmark became a de facto Allied nation in 1944, and Sweden remained formally neutral while becoming a non-belligerent on the Allied side in 1944–1945.

By the end of the war, the United States emerged as a superpower. After initial disinterest, America strived to integrate Scandinavia into the US–led Western security system. Norway and Denmark became US allies and joined NATO as founding members in 1949. Sweden remained non-aligned, but formed close military ties to the United States in 1949–1952.

Throughout the Cold War, US–Scandinavian relations were characterized by ambivalence. America and Scandinavia shared the perception of the Soviet Union as a threat and cooperated militarily, but the Scandinavian countries limited the cooperation in important respects. For example, Sweden never joined NATO, and Denmark and Norway did not allow foreign bases or nuclear weapons on their territories in peacetime. America was often frustrated with these limitations but nevertheless accepted them. The Scandinavian restrictions were partially founded on a desire to reduce the risk of a Soviet attack, but there were also fears of being controlled or dominated by the American superpower.

Broader ideological factors also played a role. Mainstream Scandinavian attitudes to America, both among policymakers and the general public, ranged from strongly pro-American to highly skeptical. Americans and Scandinavians shared democratic values, but they organized their societies differently in important respects. Scandinavians were exposed to American ideas and products, of which they rejected some and accepted some.

After the Cold War, US–Scandinavian relations were increasingly defined by issues outside Western Europe. Denmark abandoned its Cold War reservations toward America and aligned itself closely with the United States when it came to participation in expeditionary military operations. Norway and Sweden have also participated, but to a more limited extent than Denmark. For Sweden, cooperating closely and openly with the United States and NATO nevertheless contrasted with its non-aligned tradition and often conflicted Cold War relations with the United States. After the Russian invasion of Crimea, questions about territorial defense again became more prominent in US–Scandinavian relations. Under the Trump administration, US–Scandinavian relations have been characterized by turbulence and great uncertainty, even though cooperation continues in many areas.
Mapping Native North America
Authors: Carson James Taylor
Published: February 2020

The European invasion of the continent to which we now refer as North America unfolded in several different ways, each with its own particular implications. Yet no matter their differences, each colonial effort drew upon the same moral, intellectual, and material premises necessary to justify and enact the dispossession of the land’s first peoples. From religious arguments about Christianity extirpating “savage devils” from New England or Jamestowners’ obsession with finding gold and precious minerals to the introduction of new species of plants and animals across the continent and imperial assertions of sovereignty, the European invasion of America touched every facet of the lives that had brought first peoples and colonizers together. Examining how first peoples represented their land and how European invaders and their later American successors countered such mapping practices with their own cartographical projections affords an important way to understand a centuries-long process of place-making and place-taking too often glossed as colonization.
Falun Gong: Origins, Growth, Conflict
Authors: Lewis James , Chao Huang
Published: February 2020

Falun Gong (FLG) is a Qi Gong group that entered into conflict with the Chinese state around the turn of the 21st century, and gradually transformed into a political movement. Qi Gong, in turn, is an ancient system of exercises that has been compared to yoga. Falun Gong was founded in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) by Li Hongzhi (LHZ) in 1992, in the latter part of what has been termed the Qi Gong “boom.” As the leadership of the PRC became increasingly critical of the traditional folk religion and superstition that was emerging within some of the Qi Gong groups, Li Hongzhi and his family emigrated to the United States. From the safety of his new country of residence, LHZ directed his Chinese followers to become increasingly confrontational, eventually staging a mass demonstration in front of government offices in Beijing on April 25, 1999. The movement was subsequently banned. Falun Gong’s story does not, however, end there.

Prior to the banning of FLG, Li Hongzhi had gained a following outside of China, both among the overseas Chinese expat community as well as among citizens of other countries, particularly Western countries. These followers quickly created websites and other alternative media that helped shape public opinion outside of China. Falun Gong sources portrayed the crackdown against FLG practitioners as particularly harsh, eventually claiming that thousands of followers had been brutalized and murdered. These claims gradually expanded to include the accusation that the PRC was “harvesting” organs from live practitioners and selling them on the international organ market. In more recent years, FLG “Shen Yun” troupes have been touring the world, marketing their critique of the PRC as part of music and dance routines.
The Status of the Morpheme
Authors: Leu Tom
Published: February 2020

The morpheme was the central notion in morphological theorizing in the 20th century. It has a very intuitive appeal as the indivisible and invariant unit of form and meaning, a minimal linguistic sign. Ideally, that would be all there is to build words and sentences from. But this ideal does not appear to be entirely adequate. At least at a perhaps superficial understanding of form as a series of phonemes, and of meaning as concepts and morphosyntactic feature sets, the form and the meaning side of words are often not structured isomorphically. Different analytical reactions are possible to deal with the empirical challenges resulting from the various kinds of non-isomorphism between form and meaning. One prominent option is to reject the morpheme and to recognize conceptually larger units such as the word or the lexeme and its paradigm as the operands of morphological theory. This contrasts with various theoretical options maintaining the morpheme, terminologically or at least conceptually at some level. One such option is to maintain the morpheme as a minimal unit of form, relaxing the tension imposed by the meaning requirement. Another option is to maintain it as a minimal morphosyntactic unit, relaxing the requirements on the form side. The latter (and to a lesser extent also the former) has been understood in various profoundly different ways: association of one morpheme with several form variants, association of a morpheme with non-self-sufficient phonological units, or association of a morpheme with a formal process distinct from affixation. Variants of all of these possibilities have been entertained and have established distinct schools of thought. The overall architecture of the grammar, in particular the way that the morphology integrates with the syntax and the phonology, has become a driving force in the debate. If there are morpheme-sized units, are they pre-syntactic or post-syntactic units? Is the association between meaning and phonological information pre-syntactic or post-syntactic? Do morpheme-sized pieces have a specific status in the syntax? Invoking some of the main issues involved, this article draws a profile of the debate, following the term morpheme on a by-and-large chronological path from the late 19th century to the 21st century.
Morphology in Australian Languages
Authors: Baker Brett
Published: February 2020

The languages of Australia, generally recognized as falling into two groups, Pama-Nyungan and non-Pama-Nyungan, are remarkable for their phonological and morphological homogeneity. All Australian languages exhibit a range of suffixation for grammatical and derivational categories, typically with a high index of agglutination, along with widespread patterns of compounding and reduplication, in the latter case, often of unusual types. In some Pama-Nyungan languages, case suffixation forms complex constructions indexing multiple levels of relations within the clause and across clauses, including agreement of nouns with verbs for erstwhile cases which have developed into tense-aspect-modality systems. Non-Pama-Nyungan languages tend to have more elaborate verbal structures, including such features as incorporation of nouns and adverbs, cross-referencing of multiple participants, valence-changing morphology, and systems of noun class/gender agreement across the clause, typically of four to five classes. Many languages from both subgroups have complex predicate formations, which typically inhabit a region between phrasal and compound status. Finite verbs commonly inflect for a smallish number of tense-aspect-mood categories and can often be classified into a number of conjugation classes. Nouns by contrast rarely (if ever) inflect in patterns characteristic of declension classes in European languages. Words appear to be largely right-headed, based on the evidence of noun-adjective compounds. Gender/noun class systems in some languages have been co-opted by the case system to mark case relations, and in others to realize derivational meanings such as association or part-whole relations. Pronominal agreement systems in both PN and NPN languages can reach Baroque levels of complexity in incorporating distinctions based on social categories such as sibling, social category membership (such as moeity) and kinship. Bound pronominal agreement with a single argument is exceedingly rare: if there is a verbal or clitic agreement system, it almost always agrees with at least two arguments.
Natural Disaster Risk Financing and Transfer in ASEAN Countries
Authors: Chantarat Sommarat , Raschky Paul A.
Published: February 2020

ASEAN countries are frequently hit by a variety of natural disasters, and a large fraction of economic activity in ASEAN countries is located in areas exposed to these natural perils. Increasing disaster damages require ASEA countries to manage the financial losses in a more efficient and proactive manner. Currently, most risk-transfer mechanisms in this region rely on ad-hoc government relief, which is not sustainable. Multilateral cooperation in the areas of risk-modeling and mapping as well as joint efforts to establish financial risk-transfer solutions could help to overcome existing challenges in this area.
Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in South Asia
Authors: Bhatt Mihir , Patel Ronak B. , Gleason Kelsey , Pandya Mehul
Published: February 2020

Both the impact and the frequency of natural disasters and extreme events in South Asia are steadily increasing due to growing exposure and vulnerability. These vulnerabilities are compounded by fast economic growth and an increase in natural disasters across the region. Disaster losses in South Asia are rising and are felt across many domains. From the formal to the informal economy, natural disasters have increasingly strong impacts in terms of lives lost, social impact, and impediments to growth. New challenges in disaster risk reduction are emerging due to an increase in the duration and frequency of natural disaster events attributable to climate change. Though both climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts exist to some degree throughout South Asia, integrating climate change adaptation into disaster risk reduction is critical to successful and inclusive growth of economies in the region. Challenges remain, and national and subnational governments are making some progress in policies aimed at both climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. However, many of these efforts are planned, designed, and implemented separately, with limited understanding of how disaster and climate risk are linked. Moreover, progress is hindered by poor understanding of how integration of these concepts can result in better governance of risk in South Asia. Additionally, political will, capacity constraints, and institutional barriers must be overcome. Efforts by the international community are making progress in unifying these concepts, yet gaps and challenges still exist. The benefits of converging climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Asia are significant, from minimizing climate-related losses to more efficient use of limited resources and more effective and sustainable development.
Vascular α1-Adrenergic Receptor Responsiveness in Masked Hypertension
Authors: Yano Yuichiro , Viera Anthony J , Hinderliter Alan L , Watkins Lana L , Blumenthal James A , Johnson Kristy S , Hill LaBarron K , Sherwood Andrew
Published: February 2020

BACKGROUND

Masked hypertension (nonhypertensive in the clinic setting but hypertensive outside the clinic during wakefulness) is characterized by increased blood pressure in response to physical and emotional stressors that activate the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). However, no studies have assessed vascular reactivity to a pharmacological SNS challenge in individuals with masked hypertension.

METHODS

We analyzed data from 161 adults aged 25 to 45 years (mean ± standard deviation age 33 ± 6 years; 48% were African American and 43% were female). Participants completed ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, and a standardized α 1-adrenergic agonist phenylephrine test that determines the dose of phenylephrine required to increase a participant’s mean arterial pressure by 25 mm Hg (PD25).

RESULTS

Twenty-one participants were considered to have masked hypertension (clinic systolic blood pressure (SBP) <140 and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) <90 mm Hg but awake SBP ≥135 or DBP ≥85 mm Hg), 28 had sustained hypertension (clinic SBP ≥140 or DBP ≥90 mm Hg and awake SBP ≥135 or DBP ≥85 mm Hg), and 106 had sustained normotension (clinic SBP <140 and DBP <90 mm Hg and awake SBP <135 and DBP <85 mm Hg). After multivariable adjustment, the mean (±SE) PD25 was less in participants with masked hypertension compared with their counterparts with sustained normotension (222.1 ± 33.2 vs. 328.7 ± 15.0; P = 0.012), but similar to that observed in subjects with sustained hypertension (254.8 ± 31.0; P =0.12).

CONCLUSIONS

Among young and middle-aged adults, masked hypertension is associated with increased vascular reactivity to a SNS challenge, which may contribute to elevated awake BPs as well as to increased cardiovascular disease risk.
Recombinant Silk Hydrogel as a Novel Dermal Filler Component: Preclinical Safety and Efficacy Studies of a New Class of Tissue Fillers
Authors: Zeplin Philip H , Sukhova Inesa , Kranz Alexander , Nürnberger Tim , Mihalceanu Silvia , Beescho Christian , Schacht Kristin , Vleugels Matthias , Römer Lin , Machens Hans-Guenther , Duscher Dominik
Published: February 2020

Background

Hyaluronic acid-based tissue fillers are commonly utilized in reconstructive surgery as well as for aesthetic augmentation. A new type of recombinant silk-based tissue filler might pose a beneficial alternative for surgeons and patients.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to compare injectability, reshaping, tolerability, and postimplantation behavior of dermal filler preparations containing recombinant silk hydrogel with a commercially available hyaluronic acid filler in 2 different animal models.

Methods

Recombinant silk hydrogel as standalone preparation or as a mixture with commercial stabilized hyaluronic acid was tested in rodent and porcine animal models. The preparations were analyzed in detail and administered subdermally followed by clinical, volumetric, and histological monitoring of the subdermal depots over several months.

Results

Applicability, dosing, and tissue distribution of the filler preparations were facilitated in the presence of silk hydrogel. No clinical complications attributable to tissue filler application were recorded. State-of-the art methods, such as high-performance magnetic resonance imaging, were applied successfully to monitor the volumetric development of the filler depots in live animals.

Conclusions

The preclinical data demonstrate the basic suitability of recombinant silk hydrogel as safe and convenient tissue filler ingredient. Due to its shear thinning properties, recombinant silk hydrogel has the potential for less painful application, comfortable aesthetic reshaping immediately after administration, and negligible postoperative discomfort.
Full-Field Erbium:YAG Laser Resurfacing: Complications and Suggested Safety Parameters
Authors: Weniger Frederick G , Weidman Allan A , Barrero Castedo Carlos E
Published: February 2020

Background

Laser skin resurfacing with erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:YAG) lasers is a newer alternative to CO2 laser treatment, and was developed to reduce common complications. Although Er:YAG lasers have been available for years, safety parameters for efficacious resurfacing with these devices have not previously been available.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to utilize one practice’s laser treatment settings and outcomes data to identify complication rates for various energies and areas of the face and to offer safe energy/depth parameters for treating each area.

Methods

A retrospective chart review was performed for full-field confluent laser resurfacing patients treated with a Sciton Contour Tunable Resurfacing Er:YAG laser by the senior author. The data were retroactively analyzed with a time range of 8 years (January 2007-December 2015).

Results

The overall complication rate for MicroLaserPeels (ablation of 50 µm or less) was 10.1% (20 of 198 treatments) and the rate for deep resurfacing treatments was 26.5% (71 of 268 cases). In MicroLaserPeel treatments the cheek area had the highest complication rate, followed by the forehead, nose, perioral, and eyelid areas, in that order (complication rate range, 0%-9.1%). In deep resurfacing treatments the perioral area had the highest complication rate, 38.6% of 145 cases. This was followed by the lids, cheek, nose, and forehead, in that order (complication rate range, 15.2%-20.9%). There is a correlation between increased depth of ablation and increased rate of complication.

Conclusions

The study confirmed the efficacy of Er:YAG resurfacing and provides guidance for a safer approach to excellent outcomes.

Level of Evidence: 4
Invasive Mycobacterium abscessus Complex Infection After Cardiac Surgery: Epidemiology, Management, and Clinical Outcomes
Authors: Baker Arthur W , Maziarz Eileen K , Lewis Sarah S , Stout Jason E , Anderson Deverick J , Smith Peter K , Schroder Jacob N , Daneshmand Mani A , Alexander Barbara D , Wallace Richard J , Sexton Daniel J , Wolfe Cameron R
Published: February 2020

Background

We recently mitigated a clonal outbreak of hospital-acquired Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABC), which included a large cluster of adult patients who developed invasive infection after exposure to heater-cooler units during cardiac surgery. Recent studies have detailed Mycobacterium chimaera infections acquired during cardiac surgery; however, little is known about the epidemiology and clinical courses of cardiac surgery patients with invasive MABC infection.

Methods

We retrospectively collected clinical data on all patients who underwent cardiac surgery at our hospital and subsequently had positive cultures for MABC from 2013 through 2016. Patients with ventricular assist devices or heart transplants were excluded. We analyzed patient characteristics, antimicrobial therapy, surgical interventions, and clinical outcomes.

Results

Ten cardiac surgery patients developed invasive, extrapulmonary infection from M. abscessus subspecies abscessus in an outbreak setting. Median time from presumed inoculation in the operating room to first positive culture was 53 days (interquartile range [IQR], 38–139 days). Disseminated infection was common, and the most frequent culture-positive sites were mediastinum (n = 7) and blood (n = 7). Patients received a median of 24 weeks (IQR, 5–33 weeks) of combination antimicrobial therapy that included multiple intravenous agents. Six patients required antibiotic changes due to adverse events attributed to amikacin, linezolid, or tigecycline. Eight patients underwent surgical management, and 6 patients required multiple sternal debridements. Eight patients died within 2 years of diagnosis, including 4 deaths directly attributable to MABC infection.

Conclusions

Despite aggressive medical and surgical management, invasive MABC infection after cardiac surgery caused substantial morbidity and mortality. New treatment strategies are needed, and compliance with infection prevention guidelines remains critical.
An open-source GIS-enabled lookup service for Nagoya Protocol party information
Authors: Seifert Hendrikje , Weber Marc , Glöckner Frank Oliver , Kostadinov Ivaylo
Published: February 2020

The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing is a transparent legal framework, which governs the access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization. Complying with the Nagoya regulations ensures legal use and re-use of data from genetic resources. Providing detailed provenance information and clear re-usage conditions plays a key role in ensuring the re-usability of research data according to the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable) Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Even with the framework provided by the ABS (access and benefit sharing) Clearing House and the support of the National Focal Points, establishing a direct link between the research data from genetic resources and the relevant Nagoya information remains a challenge. This is particularly true for re-using publicly available data. The Nagoya Lookup Service was developed for stakeholders in biological sciences with the aim at facilitating the legal and FAIR data management, specifically for data publication and re-use. The service provides up-to-date information on the Nagoya party status for a geolocation provided by GPS coordinates, directing the user to the relevant local authorities for further information. It integrates open data from the ABS Clearing House, Marine Regions, GeoNames and Wikidata. The service is accessible through a REST API and a user-friendly web form. Stakeholders include data librarians, data brokers, scientists and data archivists who may use this service before, during and after data acquisition or publication to check whether legal documents need to be prepared, considered or verified. The service allows researchers to estimate whether genetic data they plan to produce or re-use might fall under Nagoya regulations or not, within the limits of the technology and without constituting legal advice. It is implemented using portable Docker containers and can easily be deployed locally or on a cloud infrastructure. The source code for building the service is available under an open-source license on GitHub, with a functional image on Docker Hub and can be used by anyone free of charge.
Behavioral Responses of Scolytus schevyrewi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) to Volatiles From Apricot Tree (Rosales: Rosaceae)
Authors: Zhu Xiaofeng , Xu Bingqiang , Kader Abudukyoum , Song Bo , Zhang Zhihu , Li Fengqi , Yang Sen
Published: February 2020

Scolytus schevyrewi Semenov (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is native to China and Central Asia. Damage by the adults and larvae weakens local apricot trees (Armeniaca spp.), often causing death to many host trees. In previous studies, freshly cut apricot logs were found to be highly attractive to S. schevyrewi adults. To explore the possibility of trapping and monitoring this bark beetle, we evaluated the effect of the apricot tree volatiles on S. schevyrewi behavior. Volatiles from the apricot logs were collected by headspace sampling and subjected to coupled gas chromatography-electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) analysis. Behavioral responses to EAD-active compounds were assessed using two-choice Y-tube olfactometers. The results showed that the antennae of females responded to 21 volatile compounds from apricot logs. Seventeen compounds were confirmed with authentic compounds. The Y-olfactometer bioassays showed that at a stimulation dose of 100 µg, four compounds [(1S)-(−)-α-pinene, (±)-limonene, (1S)-(+)-3-carene, and 1-hexanol], and some binary mixtures of the four compounds [(1S)-(−)-α-pinene plus (±)-limonene; (1S)-(−)-α-pinene plus (1S)-(+)-3-carene; (1S)-(−)-α-pinene plus camphene; (1S)-(−)-α-pinene plus (±)-limonene, (1S)-(+)-3-carene, and 1-hexanol] were significantly attractive to both sexes (except (±)-limonene and (1S)-(+)-3-carene for males), suggesting that these compounds may play a role in host tree selection by S. schevyrewi and should be evaluated as lures for population monitoring. In contrast, octanal, nonanal, decanal, linalool and N,N-diethylformamide appeared to repel S. schevyrewi adults in Y-tube at the concentration tested.