bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Islam and Politics in Postcolonial Mauritania
Authors: Thurston Alexander
Published: September 2022

Mauritania is an almost universally Muslim society in northwest Africa, with a deep history of Islamic scholarship but also painful legacies of slavery and, more recently, shifting permutations of political authoritarianism. Three main forces have affected the intersection of Islam and politics in Mauritania since independence in 1960: the growing diversity of Islamic identities and affiliations available to Muslims, the role of Islamic discourses within tense negotiations over socio-racial identity in Mauritania, and the state’s efforts to manage Islam and shape the religious field. Some of the diverse Islamic affiliations, postures, and movements in postcolonial Mauritania include loyalism, Islamism, Salafism, the missionary movement Jamāʿat al-Tablīgh, jihadism, and quietism. In terms of socio-racial tensions, there has been growing self-assertion on the part of the ḥarāṭīn (singular ḥarṭānī), an Arabic-speaking population of slave descendants who are classified as “black” within Mauritanian society, in distinction to Arabic-speaking “whites”—bīḍān (singular bīḍānī). Meanwhile, there have been variable and at-times tense relationships between the state and Islamists, as well as key moments when authorities sought to elaborate or modify structures relating to “official Islam” in the country. Amid these changes, there has been an ongoing construction and reconstruction of Islamic scholarly culture in Mauritania. The country has also had consequential exchanges with the wider Islamic world, with influence from Saudi Arabia and other states affecting dynamics of Islamic identity in Mauritania, but with Mauritania also making profound contributions to the trajectory of Islamic authority in the Gulf region through the transnational careers and media prominence of key scholars.
Slavery in Europe during the Atlantic Slave Trade
Authors: Bonazza Giulia
Published: September 2022

Slavery was a widespread phenomenon in Europe during the Atlantic slave trade of the 1500s to the 1800s, particularly around port cities and in their hinterlands. The slaves held around the Mediterranean and more widely around Europe included both “Atlantic” slaves and slaves of other geographical origins, primarily the Ottoman Empire, Indian Ocean colonies, and sub-Saharan Africa. Others came from the Black Sea and Eastern Europe. Sub-Saharan Africans arrived in Europe via the Barbary Regency ports and Egypt. Slaves’ personal histories were often complex and surprising because of the intricacies of global slave mobility and continuous changes of ownership. There is a general theoretical distinction between captives from the Ottoman Empire and its satellite states, defined as temporary slaves, and slaves from the Atlantic or sub-Saharan Africa, even if they sometimes lived the same experience in Europe. Ransom demands and payments were a significant form of commerce in the Mediterranean basin until the middle of the 19th century and slavery persisted in Europe throughout the 1800s. The process of slaves’ assimilation into the European system ran parallel with learning a new language and becoming Christian. Starting work for a new owner, governmental or private, involved the imposition of a new social and cultural identity. Many enslaved often sought out pathways to emancipation. This article presents more detailed analyses on the Italian and German territories, Austria, France, Britain, and Portugal.
Nations Across Borders
Authors: Knight Katelin , Romano David
Published: September 2022

As entities who exist superimposed on each other, nations and states have developed complex relationships, both advantageous and detrimental. States view nations favorably when state loyalty develops from marrying the unity of its dominant nation to the state’s institutions, but these governments may also view minority nations as a threat to the unity of their populations. Similarly, nations may benefit from the security and legal protection provided by statehood (as in the case of nation-states) but may also fall victim to the states whose borders they exist within. The latter includes nations settled in states with which they do not identify and whose institutions do not provide the nation adequate representation. States seeking to homogenize their population for nation-state creation have, at times, viewed minority communities, such as these, as a hindrance to their goal and used drastic measures to eliminate them from within their borders. Besides more subtle methods of forced assimilation, such as banning aspects of the minority culture and implementing mandatory re-education, some states have also added ethnic cleansing and genocide as tools for nation-state development. Combating the abuse of minority communities constituted by these events requires an understanding of the different actors at play. While the terms “nation,” “state,” and “nation-state” tend to be used interchangeably throughout media reports, general conversation, and some areas of academia, their distinct meanings should be highlighted. While obtaining statehood involves meeting specific criteria, the development of nationhood does not. Nations exist in various forms and often cross state lines. For many peoples, geopolitical borders do not define the beginning and end of their communities. These nations and groups tend to exist across the territory of multiple states (multistate nations) and/or alongside many other nations within the boundaries of a single state (multinational state). Recognizing the role of multinational states and multistate nations in the global system rests on the ability to differentiate between “nation” and “state.” Thus, realizing the distinction between these terms is the first step in discussing the intricacies of the interactions between nations, states, and nation-states.
Precarity, Care, and Popular Economy in Latin America
Authors: Fernández Álvarez María Inés , Pacifico Florencia
Published: September 2022

The notions of precarity and care have become increasingly central in academic debate. Although both notions have a history dating back to the 1970s, the debates over them have undoubtedly been renewed since the world economic crisis that emerged in 2008. Both concepts have been subject to various reviews according to different disciplinary views and contexts of knowledge production. However, it is possible to identify some points in common across the different lines of analysis that come into play in both cases. From a social and historically situated perspective, the understanding of precarity as an experience that goes beyond what is strictly labor-related has made it possible to bring visibility to the living conditions of a large sector of the population worldwide. By putting on hold views of work based on a formal/informal dichotomy, attention to non-European realities has opened the way to questions and reflections that have led to a rethinking of the ways in which work and the economy are understood, and to consideration of the ways in which individual and collective strategies are generated for the reproduction of life under unwaged and even non-commodified forms of labor. The concept of care, particularly as developed by feminist economics, has also aimed to problematize economic systems which are centered on a self-sufficient ideal subject who meets their vital needs only through the market, and which evidence hierarchies of gender and class that come into play in the valorization and distribution of work.

In Latin America, the recent development of a series of unionization and mobilization processes led by workers from the popular economy has meant a revisiting of the debates about the various forms of reproduction of life in populations structurally excluded from wage labor. In recent years, in Argentina in particular, a series of collective organization processes led by unwaged workers has taken place with the aim of claiming rights and improving living conditions for sectors of the population defined as part of the popular economy. The ethnographic analysis of these experiences sheds light on the intersection between precarity and care, contributing to broader questions about ways of making a living and producing well-being in contexts of structural inequality and exclusion from the formal labor market. The dynamics of organization produced by the popular economy entail the implementation of collective forms of care and reproduction of life that stretch the limits of the Fordist model of welfare provision anchored in the labor market and in the nuclear family, thus renewing debates around the ways in which processes of class struggle are configured.
Matauranga Maori and Environmental Research: The Interface of Māori Knowledge and Anthropology
Authors: Muru-Lanning Marama
Published: September 2022

In a world where scholarship is constantly evolving and adapting, Mātauranga Māori is emerging in Aotearoa–New Zealand as a unique and legitimate knowledge source. The word Mātauranga is composed of two parts: mātau, which means to know, be acquainted with, or understand, and the suffix ranga, which turns the word from a verb into a noun. Mātauranga Māori is knowledge passed down intergenerationally from Polynesian ancestors, linking kin across time and space. It is knowledge that belongs to Māori from their earliest beginnings in Hawaiki to descendants living contemporary lives in Aotearoa–New Zealand and in other parts of the world. Guiding and informing Māori lives, Mātauranga Māori is a continuum of ancestral knowledge that binds people. Importantly, relationships between whānau (family), marae and hāpori (communities), and hapū (sub-tribes) are melded through shared experiences and practices of Mātauranga. Shaping the Māori world, Mātauranga Māori is comprehensive and includes creation stories, genealogy, history, oratory, the creative arts, environmental and technological knowledge, and local traditions specific to places and communities. Additionally, it contains the meanings and values of other significant Māori concepts such as kaitiakitanga (guardianship), rangatiratanga (leadership), mana (authority), mauri (life force), whanaungatanga (relatedness), tikanga (customs and protocols), and whakapapa (genealogy).

Mātauranga Māori has historically been excluded from New Zealand’s mainstream curriculum, but this is changing as its value and potential become recognized by the state. The body of knowledge offers new ways of seeing the world, and many scholars, both Maori and non-Māori, believe it may be used to address some of the critical issues we face as a global society. Along with the desire for Mātauranga to be included in Aotearoa–New Zealand’s mainstream education, a domain previously dominated by Western science, there is a deep concern that Māori knowledge will be appropriated to benefit “others” who do not whakapapa to the original Mātauranga sources. This is an issue that Māori communities and Māori researchers must address going forward.
The Pre-Columbian Inca Empire: The Capital and its Provinces
Authors: Alconini Sonia
Published: September 2022

Recent multidisciplinary research combining archaeology, bioarchaeology, and DNA and isotope analyses has revolutionized our understanding of the Inca empire and the astonishing diversity of its inhabitant. This article aims to shed light on the sociopolitical dynamics of this pre-Columbian empire and the associated breakthrough research. The first two sections (Land of the Four Parts Together, and Building the Inca Empire: Historical Narratives), offer a discussion on the political structure of the Inca empire, including the chronology and sequence of expansion using historical documents and the emerging challenges. The following sections (Cuzco: The Imperial Capital and Sacred Center, and The Heartland: An Incomplete Project?) are dedicated to the capital of Cuzco, the current research on the imperial heartland that highlights processes of state formation, and disparate imperial transformations at the time of Spanish conquest. Emerging debates on the complex relationship between Inca material culture and imperial expansion are also included. In the next sections (The Swift Inca Expansion: Competing Explanations, and Tradition and Innovation: Socioeconomic Institutions in Imperial Expansion), a discussion on the competing explanations and challenges on the timing and scale of expansion is provided. This includes the ways in which the millions of participating communities in the Inca imperial project actively adapted, but also transformed many of the state socioeconomic institutions and practices. Comparatively, the next sections (Infrastructure and Imperial Power: Royal Estates and Imperial Centers, and Imperial Appropriations: Places of Creation and the “Other Cuzcos”) examine the role that royal estates, imperial centers, and “Other Cuzcos” played in broader socioeconomic processes. The final section (Elite Incanization and Indigenous Agency: Provincial Archaeologies) is dedicated to indigenous agency and the importance of provincial archaeologies in understanding the nature of the Inca empire on a finer scale.
The Archaeology of Natural Disasters and Their Impacts on the Ancient East African Communities
Authors: Mjema Elinaza
Published: September 2022

Archaeological research on natural disasters has increased significantly since the 1970s, with archaeologists paying more attention to the potential cultural effects of natural disasters. In the 21st century, archaeological investigations of natural disasters have become more sophisticated, and researchers have produced substantial literature on the topic. In Eurasia and the Americas, archaeological studies increasingly invoke natural disasters as the cause of socioeconomic transformations in past societies. In East Africa, however, few archaeological studies have yet considered the impact of natural disasters on local communities. As media coverage and research on natural disasters increases globally, East African archaeology is beginning to contribute to the discussion. Preliminary works in East Africa have applied disaster-study basic concepts to investigate ancient natural disasters that befell early coastal communities in the area. Researchers studying the Pangani Bay on the northeast Tanzanian coast, for example, have deduced from archaeological and geological evidence that ocean-originating floods caused the destruction of an early Swahili village there a thousand years ago. Researchers in this new field of study are focusing on the relationships between natural disasters (floods), their cultural impacts, and human responses to them. Disaster archeology focused on East Africa is expected to increase significantly because such research may provide historical records (including strategies people employed to cope with extreme natural events in the past) to inform researchers and policymakers dealing with extreme natural-event impacts in the 21st century.
The Violence of the Civil War in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Sheehan-Dean Aaron
Published: September 2022

The US Civil War was the deadliest event in American history, but not the bloodiest civil war or even the worst conflict of the 19th century. Generations of writing about the Civil War from a domestic perspective have generated false impressions about which aspects of the conflict were unique and which more commonplace. The American conflict was one of a number of national struggles in the mid-19th century. Some of these—the wars for Italian and German unification, for instance—are well known but are rarely considered alongside the US experience. Other conflicts—the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Polish Uprising of 1863, or the Taiping Rebellion—occurred concurrently with the Civil War but because of their imperial context are usually treated separately. Americans, and people around the world, consumed news about all these conflicts. They compared, contrasted, and evaluated behavior based on what they saw, seeking both internal reassurance about their own ways of war-making and external validation in the form of allies and material support. Historians gain a better understanding of which Civil War participants experienced lethal violence and why by contextualizing those actions as the participants themselves did—within a global framework.
D. T. Suzuki: Ideas and Influences
Authors: Dobbins James C.
Published: September 2022

D. T. Suzuki (1870–1966) was a scholar who published extensively in Japanese and English and achieved international recognition as an authority and proponent of Buddhism in the 20th century. He was one of a generation of young progressive Buddhists in Japan seeking to rehabilitate the religion and ensure its survival by interpreting it in a modern idiom. Suzuki grew up in humble circumstances but managed to attend Tokyo Imperial University for several years. At the same time, he received Zen training as a lay practitioner at Engakuji monastery in Kamakura. Through an introduction by his Zen master, who had international connections, Suzuki was able to travel to America in 1897 to assist in English translation projects on Asian religions. There he lived for eleven years working for Open Court Publishing in Illinois, all the while absorbing Western scholarship on religion and philosophy. During this time, Suzuki began to publish his own works on Buddhism and Asian religions. He returned to Japan in 1909 and took a position as an English professor in the preparatory school of Gakushūin in Tokyo. In 1921 Suzuki moved to Ōtani University in Kyoto as a professor of English and Buddhist studies. Over the next twenty years, he published some of his most influential works in English, many of which introduced Europeans and Americans to Zen. After living in semi-retirement in Kamakura during the war years, Suzuki again had the opportunity to travel overseas in 1949. He spent almost a decade in America, affiliated first with the University of Hawai‘i, then with Claremont Graduate School in California, and, finally, most prominently, with Columbia University in New York. During this period Buddhism, particularly Zen, became wildly popular in America and Europe, and Suzuki quickly rose to the status of a celebrity intellectual. After retiring to Japan in 1958, he continued to write and make appearances. When he died in 1966 at the age of ninety-five, Suzuki was renowned worldwide for his advancement of Zen and Buddhism generally.

Suzuki’s scholarship on Buddhism focused particularly on Zen, Mahayana, and Pure Land. In Zen, he singled out satori, or Zen enlightenment, as the pivotal element in its religious life and practice. In Mahayana, he emphasized the ideas of nonduality and the interpenetration of all things and sought to spread knowledge of Mahayana in Western circles to counterbalance the better-known Theravada tradition. In Pure Land, he shifted the focus from enlightenment after death in Amida Buddha’s paradise to religious fulfillment in the present world and present life. In all these forms of Buddhism, Suzuki applied the concepts of religious experience and mysticism, which were widely recognized in Western scholarship. His success in presenting Buddhism to Western readers resulted in the widespread adoption of his interpretations by mainstream thinkers and counterculture movements alike in America and Europe. His ideas also commanded great respect in mid-20th-century Japan as part of Buddhism’s modern revitalization.
Muslim Youth Issues in North America: The Canadian Context
Authors: Tiflati Hicham
Published: September 2022

Even though the earliest Muslim immigrants did not plan on permanently settling down in their new host countries, by the 1980s, post-1960s Muslim migrants accepted the reality that they were in the West to stay, and they gave up all plans of returning to their countries of origin. Later, serious plans to form a new (i.e., American, Canadian) Muslim identity were in the making. Discussions amongst community leaders who were committed to the welfare of Muslims, to Islam, and to preserve their Muslim identity and culture. Therefore, Muslims became convinced that they were becoming permanent settlers in the West, that they were home, and that they needed to produce a modified version of Islam that suits their needs. As a manifestation of this reality, Muslim youth also started to distance themselves from their parents’ heritage and to move toward a more inclusive identity that contained both their Islamic and their Western heritage. Cesari refers to this as “cultural globalization,” which involves the “deterritorialization” of communities. In this context, Western Islamic identity becomes a powerful source of collective solidarity, recreating connections between groups otherwise separated by widely diverging doctrines, sects, histories, and cultures. Nonetheless, since the early 2000s, Western Muslims have faced significant levels of prejudice and discrimination in host countries—sometimes to an extent that threatens the orderly functioning of society.
Silver Trade and Transportation in the Spanish Atlantic
Authors: Moreno-Álvarez Leonardo
Published: September 2022

Silver was the lifeblood of Spain’s early modern transatlantic empire. Transatlantic silver transfers affected the nature of shipping, credit, and trade in the Iberian Atlantic and, eventually, across the entire globe. Large-scale silver mining in Mexico and Perú began in the mid-16th century. To sustain trade and bullion transportation across the Atlantic, the Castilian Crown developed a convoy system known as the Carrera de Indias. This system of armed fleets that sailed between authorized ports on a regular schedule began in the 1560s and peaked between 1580 and 1620. During this period, Spanish silver peso coins of eight reales (known in English as pieces of eight) became a de facto international monetary standard because of their high proportion of high-purity metal. Silver circulated in the American colonies before departing for Spain, whether through trade or inter-colonial transfers. Bullion and coins also moved through channels beyond the Castilian monarchy’s control, most notably through unregistered remittances and unauthorized trade with other European interlopers. During the Habsburg era, the Castilian monarchy’s obligations to foreign bankers, particularly the Genoese, increased.

By the 1650s, the convoy system’s efficacy, as well as the profitability of several mines, had significantly diminished. Although mining production slowly recovered during the second half of the century, silver smuggling out of Spanish American ports further reduced the volume of bullion remittances going through authorized channels. After 1720, the combined effect of administrative reforms, increased production in American mines, and the resurgence of Spanish power under the Bourbons revitalized transatlantic bullion transfers. The last peak in silver transfers from the New World to the Old began in 1780 and lasted until 1808, when the beginning of independence movements across the Spanish Americas dissolved the world’s largest monetary union. Estimates of the total volume of metal remittances and their effects on the global economy have been subject of historical debates for almost a century.
Sociolinguistics in China
Authors: Liu Ming
Published: September 2022

This article gives a brief introduction to sociolinguistics in China. Chinese sociolinguistics started with the introduction of Western sociolinguistic theories at the end of the 1970s. It did not become mature until the turn of the 21st century. After more than 40 years of development, Chinese sociolinguistics has now covered a variety of topics and themes. Among them, the most popular are “language life,” “language planning,” “language variations,” and “urban language studies.” After providing a brief introduction to the historical development of Chinese sociolinguistics, this article primarily focuses on some of the most popular topics in that field. Although Chinese sociolinguistics still relies on the introduction and incorporation of Western sociolinguistic theories, it has gradually formed its own research agenda. In the meantime, it has also attempted to adapt Western theories to the unique Chinese context and made some theoretical and methodological innovations. Especially in view of the growing urbanization and industrialization taking place in China, Chinese sociolinguistics is expected to play a growing important role in the country’s future development and lead to more breakthroughs in its theoretical and methodological developments.
The Contact History of English
Authors: Cole Marcelle , Laker Stephen
Published: September 2022

Contact between Early English and British Celtic, Latin, Norse, and French came about through a myriad of historical, political, and sociocultural developments: invasion, foreign governance, and the spread of Christianity, but also via peaceful coexistence, intermarriage, cultural exchange, and trade. The so-called Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain brought speakers of an emerging insular West Germanic variety, which became known as Englisc, into contact with British Celtic and, to some extent, Latin speakers. The Northumbrian historian Bede painted a vivid picture of 8th-century multilingual Britain as an island comprising “five nations, the English, Britons, Scots, Picts and Latins, each in its own peculiar dialect, cultivating the sublime study of divine truth.” The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons led to renewed contact with Latin, the lingua franca of Christendom. The Church became an important conduit for Latin-derived lexis related to learning and ecclesiastical ritual and organization, although it was the cultural appeal of Latin in the early modern period that explains the massive lexical contribution of Latin to English. Later periods of foreign rule and migration following Viking settlement, mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries, and the Norman Conquest of 1066 brought English into contact with Norse and Old French, respectively. Lexical borrowing from these languages involved loans reflecting foreign rule but also basic everyday words. Extensive bilingualism and second-language learning most likely promoted the rapid loss of inflection that English underwent during the medieval period. Opinions usually vary, however, on whether contact brought about direct structural transfer or merely reinforced internal developments already in progress. Contact left its mark most noticeably on the lexicon of English; the influx of Latin and French loan vocabulary extensively reshaped the lexicon and, with it, the derivational morphology of English and explains the heavy Romance element in present-day English.
Disasters and the Private Sector: Impact of Extreme Events, Preparedness, and Contribution to Disaster Risk Reduction
Authors: Andrew Simon A. , Chatterjee Vaswati , Webb Gary
Published: September 2022

Private-sector organizations play a significant role in disaster management. Small businesses and larger corporations employ a sizable population in our communities, provide essential goods and services, and are often an integral component of community development. Within the disaster management arena, private-sector organizations in coordination with government agencies provide valuable services in the aftermath of disasters. They make valuable contributions to relief and response through donations and volunteering. They also aid the recovery process through continued employment that provides economic stability to the surrounding community and provision of essential services like food, rebuilding and reconstruction services, and housing for displaced populations. Certain businesses may also significantly contribute to long-term disaster management functions like community disaster risk reduction. While small businesses often actively participate in community resilience planning and implementation, larger corporations also contribute toward sustainable development through corporate social responsibility policies.

However, to be effective partners in disaster management, businesses need to be first prepared to maintain continuity of operations in the aftermath of disasters. Having a continuity of operations plan and taking financial preparedness measures have been found to be effective for survival of businesses. Businesses may face other challenges when participating in disaster management actions—specifically, lack of resources and knowledge, as well as collective action risks associated with public–private partnerships. Additionally, not all private-sector agencies may be motivated to contribute toward disaster risk reduction practices. In fact, disasters can often create short-term positive economic impacts due to flow of external aid and increased demand for certain services like construction and housing—thus motivating businesses to choose short-term economic profits over long-term investments in disaster risk reduction. In summary, while the role of the private sector in disaster management is crucial, their involvement is complex and faces numerous challenges. The connection between businesses and community resilience is also less studied. It is therefore of value to examine the role of businesses as significant stakeholders in community disaster management, identify factors that motivate or hinder their participation, and discuss ways in which businesses can improve their own preparedness so as to minimize disruption in the aftermath of disasters.
Natural Hazards Governance in Ghana
Authors: Amponsah Paulina
Published: September 2022

Ghana faces a very low range of perennial natural hazards but high catastrophe due to the lack of proper planning and preparedness. Floods, drought/famine, landslides, fires, climate change, and sporadically earthquakes are some natural hazards that plague the tropical West African country, Ghana. Floods, the most common disaster in the country, cause epidemics of water-related diseases like cholera, typhoid, and malaria. The disaster governance in Ghana was mostly in a conventional ad hoc mode of response and relief-centric manner. However, since the early 21st century, understanding has grown on risk causes; therefore, the paradigm shift to prevention–mitigation and thus mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into development is forming an agenda in development governance. Legal and policy framework has given the mandate to some key institutions for policy guidelines, capacity development, and emergency response at national, regional, and local levels, although without implementation hitches. Disaster risk reduction in Ghana is spearheaded by the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), established in 1996. NADMO has been at the forefront of managing disasters in the country since its establishment, but due to the limited resources, it is seen to do more postdisaster management. Postdisaster management is the sharing of relief items and offering help, after disasters, to affected persons. Nonetheless, we have seen a tremendous increase in the management of disasters in Ghana.
Lüttichau, Manon
Authors: Strauss Helle
Published: September 2022

Manon Lüttichau (1900–1995), who was born a privileged noblewoman, untraditionally sought education and personal independence. She served as a charity worker for 10 years, then became the first paid social helper in Denmark. She was a pioneer for social workers as important professionals in hospital departments. She became inspired by many tours in Europe and the United States for studies of social work and social work education. ML was initiator of the establishment of the first social school. This happened at a time when economic crises and several social reforms increased the need for a professional social work profession. A group of enthusiastic academics and social workers established a volunteer working committee for foundation of a social school . Here it was discussed whether the school should be independence of religion. The result was an independent curriculum, a schedule, a small faculty, creation of teaching material and organisation of administration and practice placement. Development of social work ethics, holistic perspective, and casework were among the subjects in the professional education. ML became later the initiator of the Association for Educated Social Workers in Denmark and she was also serving in Burma for the UN as a social welfare advisor.

Similarities and differences between the first education, ML’s viewpoints and modern social work education are identified. ML was living independent of class traditions and other people’s presumptions, but not a declared feminist.
Benn, Connie
Authors: Mendes Philip
Published: September 2022

Connie Benn (1926–2011) was a prominent Australian social work practitioner, researcher, and social activist. As a leader of the Australian Association of Social Workers in the 1960s, she encouraged social workers to move beyond a narrow focus on casework to participate in broader movements for social reform. In the early 1970s, she led the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s Family Centre Project, which pioneered the application of structural social work methods to assisting a group of disadvantaged families.
Weeks, Margaret (Wendy)
Authors: Pease Bob
Published: September 2022

Wendy Weeks (1943–2004) was a social work educator, scholar, and activist who made a significant contribution to feminist social work and women’s services in both Canada and Australia. Wendy provided outstanding leadership in social work and social work education over several decades.
Jeffers, Audrey Layne
Authors: Nathaniel Karene-Anne
Published: September 2022

Audrey Layne Jeffers (1898–1968) was an early feminist of African descent with a commitment to the advancement of Black women, education of girls, services to children with disabilities, and government responsibility for social welfare. She mobilized young women to form the Coterie of Social Workers in Trinidad that began a meal program for underprivileged school children in the 1920s, which shaped the National School Feeding Program that today offers free meals to all school students. This led to the establishment of other similar facilities in other parts of the country, as well as the opening of homes for dispossessed young women, the elderly, and the blind, and daycare facilities to help working women. These facilities form the backdrop for the practice of social work in the Caribbean. She was instrumental in the hosting of the first women’s conference which made numerous recommendations including equal opportunities for women and women in the police service. She was the first woman to be elected to local government, and later nominated to the legislative council by the governor. Jeffers was a champion for disadvantaged women and girls, but notably opened the door for women in politics in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Severe Arboviral Neuroinvasive Disease in Patients on Rituximab Therapy: A Review
Authors: Kapadia Ronak K , Staples J Erin , Gill Christine M , Fischer Marc , Khan Ezza , Laven Janeen J , Panella Amanda , Velez Jason O , Hughes Holly R , Brault Aaron , Pastula Daniel M , Gould Carolyn V
Published: September 2022

With increasing use of rituximab and other B-cell depleting monoclonal antibodies for multiple indications, infectious complications are being recognized. We summarize clinical findings of patients on rituximab with arboviral diseases identified through literature review or consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We identified 21 patients on recent rituximab therapy who were diagnosed with an arboviral disease caused by West Nile, tick-borne encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis, Cache Valley, Jamestown Canyon, and Powassan viruses. All reported patients had neuroinvasive disease. The diagnosis of arboviral infection required molecular testing in 20 (95%) patients. Median illness duration was 36 days (range, 12 days to 1 year), and 15/19 (79%) patients died from their illness. Patients on rituximab with arboviral disease can have a severe or prolonged course with an absence of serologic response. Patients should be counseled about mosquito and tick bite prevention when receiving rituximab and other B-cell depleting therapies.
Non-hyperaemic assessment of coronary ischaemia: application of machine learning techniques
Authors: Cameron James N , Comella Andrea , Sutherland Nigel , Brown Adam J , Phan Thanh G
Published: September 2022

Aims

Hyperaemic and non-hyperaemic pressure ratios (NHPR) are routinely used to identify significant coronary lesions. Machine learning (ML) techniques may help better understand these indices and guide future practice. This study assessed the ability of a purpose-built ML algorithm to classify coronary ischaemia during non-hyperaemia compared with the existing gold-standard technique (fractional flow reserve, FFR). Further, it investigated whether ML could identify components of coronary and aortic pressure cycles indicative of ischaemia.

Methods and results

Seventy-seven coronary vessel lesions (39 FFR defined ischaemia, 53 patients) with proximal and distal non-hyperaemic pressure waveforms and FFR values were assessed using supervised and unsupervised learning techniques in combination with principal component analysis (PCA). Fractional flow reserve measurements were obtained from the right coronary artery (13), left anterior descending (46), left circumflex (11), left main (1), obtuse marginal (2), and diagonal (4). The most accurate supervised learning classification utilized whole-cycle aortic with diastolic distal blood pressure waveforms, yielding a classification accuracy of 86.9% (sensitivity 86.8%, specificity 87.2%, positive predictive value 86.8%, negative predictive value 87.2%). Principal component analysis showed subtle variations in coronary pressures at the start of diastole have significant relation to ischaemia, and whole-cycle aortic pressure data are important for determining ischaemia.

Conclusions

Our ML algorithm classifies significant coronary lesions with accuracy similar to previous studies comparing time-domain NHPRs with FFR. Further, it has identified characteristics of pressure waveforms that relate to function. These results provide an application of ML to ischaemia requiring only standard data from non-hyperaemic pressure measurements.
Association of METS-IR with incident hypertension in non-overweight adults based on a cohort study in Northeastern China
Authors: Xu Chengyin , Song Guirong , Hu Dongmei , Li Guorong , Liu Qigui , Tang Xiao
Published: September 2022

Background

Insulin resistance (IR) plays an important role in the progression of hypertension (HTN); therefore, early identification of IR is clinically important for preventing HTN. Our study aims to explore the relationship between the metabolic score for IR (METS-IR) and HTN in Chinese population who maintained non-overweight.

Methods

A total of 4678 adults who underwent annual health check-up in our institution from 2010 to 2017, did not have HTN at the first check-up and maintained non-overweight at follow-up were selected as subjects. The baseline METS-IR was calculated and the outcome was incident HTN. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to evaluate hazards ratios of HTN for METS-IR. Additionally, sensitive analyses and stratification analyses were used to deeply verify the relationship of METS-IR with HTN. The dose–response association between METS-IR and HTN risk was investigated using restricted the cubic spline analysis fitted for the Cox proportional hazards model.

Results

Compared with the first quartiles of METS-IR, the risk of incident HTN was increased by 58% [hazard ratio (HR) 1.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12–2.22] and 96% (HR 1.96, 95% CI 1.40–2.76) in the Q3 group and the Q4 group, respectively. The results remained consistent when analyses were restricted to people without abnormal high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride or fasting plasma glucose level at baseline. A linear dose–response relationship between METS-IR and HTN risk was identified (HR 1.08, 95% CI 1.04–1.12).

Conclusions

The risk of incident HTN was associated with elevated METS-IR levels in non-overweight individuals. METS-IR could help predict the risk of HTN in non-overweight individuals.
Genetic screens identified dual roles of microtubule-associated serine threonine kinase and CREB within a single thermosensory neuron in the regulation of Caenorhabditis elegans thermotaxis behavior
Authors: Nakano Shunji , Nakayama Airi , Kuroyanagi Hiroo , Yamashiro Riku , Tsukada Yuki , Mori Ikue
Published: September 2022

Animals integrate sensory stimuli presented at the past and present, assess the changes in their surroundings and navigate themselves toward preferred environment. Identifying the neural mechanisms of such sensory integration is pivotal to understand how the nervous system generates perception and behavior. Previous studies on thermotaxis behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans suggested that a single thermosensory neuron AFD plays an important role in integrating the past and present temperature information and is essential for the neural computation that drives the animal toward the preferred temperature region. However, the molecular mechanisms by which AFD executes this neural function remained elusive. Here we report multiple forward genetic screens to identify genes required for thermotaxis. We reveal that kin-4, which encodes the C. elegans homolog of microtubule-associated serine threonine kinase, plays dual roles in thermotaxis and can promote both cryophilic and thermophilic drives. We also uncover that a thermophilic defect of mutants for mec-2, which encodes a C. elegans homolog of stomatin, can be suppressed by a loss-of-function mutation in the gene crh-1, encoding a C. elegans homolog CREB transcription factor. Expression of crh-1 in AFD restored the crh-1-dependent suppression of the mec-2 thermotaxis phenotype, indicating that crh-1 can function in AFD to regulate thermotaxis. Calcium imaging analysis from freely moving animals suggest that mec-2 and crh-1 regulate the neuronal activity of the AIY interneuron, a postsynaptic partner of the AFD neuron. Our results suggest that a stomatin family protein can control the dynamics of neural circuitry through the CREB-dependent transcriptional regulation within a sensory neuron.
High levels of genetic diversity and population structure in the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica at its easternmost distribution limit
Authors: Tutar Ozge , Ruocco Miriam , Dattolo Emanuela , Lacorata Guglielmo , Corrado Raffaele , Watteaux Romain , Iudicone Daniele , Fach Bettina , Procaccini Gabriele
Published: September 2022

High levels of genetic diversity and connectivity are crucial for the persistence of local populations, especially at the edge of species’ distribution ranges. Here, we assessed the potential and realized connectivity of populations of the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica at its easternmost distribution using physical modelling and genetic analyses. Genetic assessments of diversity and gene flow among populations were carried out with 18 microsatellite loci, while oceanographic connectivity was assessed via Lagrangian dispersal simulations. Levels of genetic and clonal diversities were prevalent among shallow and deep sites without signs of reproductive isolation. Both approaches identified two main clusters corresponding to “Aegean” populations along the western Turkey coast and “Levantine” populations along the southern Turkey coast. Aegean populations were genetically homogeneous, connected by high levels of gene flow, whereas Levantine populations were genetically heterogeneous. Within-sea patterns of genetic connectivity did not fully overlap with those derived from physical modelling; the realized connectivity was greater than that predicted by ocean-current simulations, especially in the Aegean Sea. Lagrangian dispersion dynamics cannot necessarily explain genetic connectivity patterns among populations, which are shaped over longer temporal scales and can be affected by human activities and local environmental conditions.
Forensic DNA phenotyping in Europe: How far may it go?
Authors: Zieger Martin
Published: September 2022

The fast evolution of genetic sequencing techniques led to new applications in forensic genetics, one of these being the prediction of the physical appearance of a possible perpetrator from biological traces found at the crime scene. Some European countries recently changed their legislations, to permit this technique, also known as Forensic DNA Phenotyping (FDP). The phenotypical traits that may be analyzed under those revised domestic laws are usually restricted to include no information about the suspect’s health. This article elaborates whether the European legal framework, as set by the Council of Europe and the European Union (EU), defines any boundaries for the analytical scope of FDP. After a brief introduction to FDP and a description of the type of data collected through predictive forensic genetics, this article discusses the relevant European legislation and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) around privacy, data protection and the use of genetic data. The article attempts to define possible limits for forensic genetic analysis, by eventually trying to predict the jurisprudence of the two European courts.
Massive emphysematous pancreatitis associated with duodenal microperforation
Authors: van der Mark Michael , Hartslief Merwe
Published: September 2022

Emphysematous pancreatitis (EP) is a rare variant of necrotizing pancreatitis which may result from bacterial superinfection of pancreatic tissue with gas-forming organisms such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Gas formation is a consequence of mixed acid fermentation by these species, which may colonize the inflamed pancreatic tissue by intestinal translocation, hematogenous spread or direct seeding by penetrating ulcer. Previously described cases of EP associated with penetrating ulcer are exceedingly rare and typified by focal emphysema confined to the site of fistulation, often the head of pancreas. We present a case of massive emphysematous pancreatitis with pseudoaneurysm involvement and associated duodenal microperforation. Furthermore, we describe the successful operative management of this patient, who remains well in the community.