bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Identification of genes alternatively spliced in developing maize endosperm
Authors: Xie S. , Zhang X. , Zhou Z. , Li X. , Huang Y. , Zhang J. , Weng J.
Published: September 2017

The process of alternative splicing is critical for the regulation of growth and development of plants. Thus far, little is known about the role of alternative splicing in the regulation of maize (Zea mays L.) endosperm development.

RNA sequencing (RNA‐seq) data of endosperms from two maize inbred lines, Mo17 and Ji419, at 15 and 25 days after pollination (DAP), respectively, were used to identify genes that were alternatively spliced during endosperm development. Intron retention (IR) in GRMZM2G005887 was further validated using PCR and re‐sequencing technologies.

In total, 49,000 alternatively spliced events and ca. 20,000 alternatively spliced genes were identified in the two maize inbred lines. Of these, 30 genes involved in amino acid biosynthesis and starch biosynthesis were identified, with IR occurring only in a specific sample, and were significantly co‐expressed with ten well‐known genes related to maize endosperm development. Moreover, IR in GRMZM2G005887, which encodes a cysteine synthase, was confirmed to occur only in the endosperm of Mo17 at 15 DAP, resulting in the retention of a 121‐bp fragment in its 5′ untranslated region. Two cis‐acting regulatory elements, CAAT‐box and TATA‐box were observed in the retained fragment in Mo17 at 15 DAP; this could regulate the expression of this gene and influence endosperm development.

The results suggest that the 30 genes with IR identified herein might be associated with maize endosperm development, and are likely to play important roles in the developing maize endosperm.
Gender specialisation and stigma height dimorphism in Mediterranean Lithodora fruticosa (Boraginaceae)
Authors: Pannell J. R.
Published: September 2017

Dimorphism in style height has evolved repeatedly in flowering plants, with some individuals having short and others long styles; in the case of distylous species, stigma position varies reciprocally with that of the anthers. Distyly can be associated with divergence in the functional gender between long‐ and short‐styled individuals, but gender divergence has rarely been investigated in species with a simple stigma height polymorphism in the absence of reciprocal dimorphism in anther position.

To evaluate the relation between stigma height polymorphism and gender, I measured the dimensions of floral morphology and seed production for the two morphs of a large population of the Iberian species Lithodora fruticosa (Boraginaceae).

Results confirm the existence of a stigma height polymorphism in L. fruticosa, with long‐ and short‐styled individuals at a 1:1 ratio in the studied population. Long‐styled individuals produced substantially more seeds than did short‐styled individuals, pointing to strong divergence in functional gender between the two morphs.

The results of this study are puzzling in light of recent work that suggests that L. fruticosa has a multi‐allelic self‐incompatibility system. I discuss the significance of gender divergence in L. fruticosa and evaluate hypotheses that might explain it.
Plant reproductive ecology and evolution in the Mediterranean islands: state of the art
Authors: Traveset A. , Navarro L.
Published: September 2017

Theca. 12,000 islands and islets that encompass the Mediterranean Basin represent a biodiversity hotspot. They have been disconnected from each other and from the continent for hundreds of thousands to millions of years and encompass a high incidence of endemic plant species, with values that can exceed 20% of the local flora. Despite this, relatively few studies have been carried out to unravel ecological and evolutionary aspects of plant reproduction. We synthesise here the available information on the breeding systems, pollination and seed dispersal mode of the Mediterranean island flora. The main objective is to identify general patterns as well as to detect the main gaps in information on reproductive ecology in these particular and vulnerable systems in the face of global change. We also briefly review the information on impacts of invasive species on plant reproduction and dispersal, as these are some of the main threats to island biodiversity in general and Mediterranean island plant diversity in particular. The review has revealed that most available information is very geographically biased towards the western Mediterranean islands, especially the Balearic Islands, although a good fraction of studies have also been carried out on the eastern islands in the Aegean archipelago. Moreover, the majority of data come from species‐focused studies, mainly endemic species of restricted range, whereas only a small fraction of studies have been performed at a community level. Relatively little work has involved genetic analyses, mainly focused on assessing the genetic differentiation and variability on narrow endemics. Contrary to our expectations, most island species do not rely on autonomous selfing, which might be related to the relatively high diversity of pollinators. The small, uninhabited, islands might be the last refuges of peculiar interactions that evolved in them in ancient times; they thus should be considered as sanctuaries of extraordinary biodiversity. Finally, we point out the main gaps of information and formulate a set of hypotheses that we believe are worth testing in future studies if we are to advance knowledge on the reproductive biology of Mediterranean island plants.
Characterization of Sclerotinia minor populations in Texas peanut fields
Authors: Crutcher F. K. , Henry‐Gregory M. A. , Wilkinson H. H. , Duke S. E. , Wheeler T. , Kenerley C. M.
Published: September 2017

In the summer of 2004 an epidemic of sclerotinia blight of peanut, a disease caused by Sclerotinia minor, occurred in Texas in fields where the disease was never previously detected. The disease was observed on many plants within one of the fields (>3000 disease foci), although most foci were <1 m. It is hypothesized that these observations were inconsistent with the recent introduction of a monocyclic pathogen, even if disease developed under conducive environmental conditions. The pattern of disease is most suggestive of the presence of foliar (ascospore) infections, although air temperature was above the known limits for apothecia development if the pathogen had arrived in the field in 2004 peanut seed. To further examine this epidemic, 232 isolates were collected, across a variety of spatial scales spanning this field and other Texas peanut fields, and evaluated for aggressiveness, fungicide sensitivity and genotypic diversity. There was wide variation among isolates for the phenotypic characteristics measured, but there was no evidence that a genotypically unique, highly aggressive, and fungicide resistant isolate had been introduced or evolved. The predominant genotype, TX1, which contained 154 isolates, was found in every county and field population.
Editors' Introduction
Authors: Isett Kimberley R. , Head Brian W. , VanLandingham Gary
Published: September 2017

Related Content: Valenzuela (PAR November/December 2017)

Related Content: Gooden (PAR November/December 2017)
Preliminary data on possible protein markers of parturition in cows
Authors: Wawrzykowski J , Franczyk M , Hoedemaker M , Pries M , Streuff B , Kankofer M
Published: September 2017

Contents

Parturition is one of the most important events in reproduction. Regardless of many studies, exact time for pregnancy termination and onset of parturition is impossible to determine. The aim of this study was to describe and to compare protein profile of plasma from healthy pregnant cows (n = 6) at following five time points: 2 weeks, 1 week before, at parturition, 1 week and 2 weeks after parturition to search for possible protein markers of parturition. Plasma samples were analysed by 1D and 2D electrophoresis, and selected spots were identified by mass spectrometry. Protein profile showed no uniform pattern. Seventy spots differed at least for one sampling point from the time point 2 weeks before parturition which served as reference. Thirty spots expressed higher intensity of staining 1 week as 2 weeks before parturition while 13 showed opposite relationship. Twenty two spots expressed higher intensity of staining at parturition as 2 weeks before delivery while 15 showed opposite relationship. Eighteen spots expressed higher intensity of staining 2 weeks before parturition as 1 week post‐partum while 2 showed opposite relationship. Fifteen spots expressed higher intensity of staining 2 weeks before parturition as 2 weeks after delivery while 14 showed opposite relationship. Thirty‐five proteins, belonging to different functional groups, were identified. Of them, 15 spots differed significantly between parturition and 2 weeks before delivery. Among them were metalloproteinase inhibitor and LDH which seem to be the most promising molecules considered as parturition markers due to their functions.
Short‐term respiratory effects of e‐cigarettes in healthy individuals and smokers with asthma
Authors: Lappas Andreas S. , Tzortzi Anna S. , Konstantinidi Efstathia M. , Teloniatis Stephanie I. , Tzavara Chara K. , Gennimata Sofia A. , Koulouris Nikolaos G. , Behrakis Panagiotis K.
Published: September 2017

ABSTRACT

Background and objective

This study investigated the duration of immediate respiratory effects of e‐cigarette smoking (ECS) and tested the hypothesis that ECS has more prominent effects in asthmatics compared with healthy smokers (HS).

Methods

Fifty‐four smokers, 27 healthy (HS group) and 27 with intermittent asthma (mild asthma (MA) group) underwent a control session (no liquid, no resistor coil inside e‐cigarette cartridge) and an experimental session of ECS using standardized puffing settings. Impulse oscillometry impedance (Z), resistance (R), reactance (X) and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) were measured before and 0, 15 and 30 min after control and experimental sessions.

Results

Control session revealed no significant changes. In the experimental session, immediately post‐ECS, both groups exhibited a significant increase in respiratory system total impedance at 5 Hz (Z5) (P < 0.001), respiratory system resistance at 5 Hz (R5) (P < 0.001), respiratory system resistance at 10 Hz (R10) (P < 0.001), respiratory system resistance at 20 Hz (R20) (P < 0.05), resonant frequency (P < 0.001) and reactance area (P < 0.05).

MA exhibited higher baseline values and a more prominent effect immediately after ECS compared with HS for Z5 (P = 0.022), R5 (P = 0.010) and R10 (P = 0.013).

FeNO decreased significantly in both groups (P < 0.001); HS returned to baseline values in ≤15 min while the MA maintained significantly lower values for an additional 15 min (P < 0.05) and returned to baseline values at 30 min post‐ECS.

Conclusion

A single session of ECS had respiratory mechanical and inflammatory effects, which were more prominent in smokers with asthma.
The start‐up of the Dolomia Principale/Hauptdolomit carbonate platform (Upper Triassic) in the eastern Southern Alps
Authors: Caggiati Marcello , Gianolla Piero , Breda Anna , Celarc Bogomir , Preto Nereo
Published: September 2017

Wide carbonate platform environments developed on the western passive margin of the Tethys during the Late Triassic, after a major climate change (Carnian Pluvial Episode) that produced a crisis of high‐relief microbial carbonate platforms. The peritidal succession of this epicontinental platform (Dolomia Principale/Hauptdolomit, Dachstein Limestone) is widespread in the Mediterranean region. However, the start‐up stage is not fully understood. The original platform to basin depositional geometries of the system have been studied in the north‐eastern Southern Alps, close to the Italian/Slovenian boundary where they are exceptionally preserved. Sedimentological features have been investigated in detail by measuring several stratigraphic sections cropping out along an ideal depositional profile. The analysis of the facies architecture allowed reconstruction of the palaeoenvironments of the Dolomia Principale platform during its start‐up and early growth stages in the late Carnian. The carbonate platform was characterized by an outer platform area, connected northward to steep slopes facing a relatively deep basin. Southward, the outer platform was connected to inner sheltered environments by a narrow, often emerged shelf crest. Behind this zone, carbonate sedimentation occurred in shallow lagoons and tidal flats, passing inward to a siliciclastic mudflat. The Dolomia Principale platform was initially aggrading and able to keep pace with a concomitant sea‐level rise, and then prograding during the late Carnian. This stratigraphic interval was correlated with the Tuvalian succession of the Dolomites, allowing depiction of the depositional system on a wide scale of hundreds of kilometres. This large‐scale depositional system presents features in common with some Palaeozoic and Mesozoic carbonate build‐ups (for example, the Permian Capitan Reef complex, Anisian Latemar platform), both in terms of architecture and prevailing carbonate producers. A microbial‐dominated carbonate factory is found in the outer platform and upper slope. The recovery of high‐relief microbial carbonate platforms marks the end of the Carnian Pluvial Episode in the Tuvalian of Tethys.
A novel HLA‐DRB1 allele, HLA‐DRB1*14:127:02, detected in a Chinese hematopoietic stem cell donor
Authors: Li J.‐P. , Zhang X. , Lin F.‐Q. , Zhang K.‐L. , Li X.‐F.
Published: September 2017

HLA‐DRB1*14:127:02 has one nucleotide change from HLA‐DRB1*14:05:01 where Threonine (77) is changed to Asparagine.
An autopsy‐based study of Trypanosoma cruzi persistence in organs of chronic chagasic patients and its relevance for transplantation
Authors: Benvenuti Luiz A. , Roggério Alessandra , Cavalcanti Marta M. , Nishiya Anna S. , Levi José E.
Published: September 2017

Background

Chagas' disease (CD) is caused by infection with the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. The disease can affect the heart and/or the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, but around 70% of infected individuals remain asymptomatic in the chronic form. Organ transplantation from T. cruzi‐infected donors is often avoided because of the risk of disease transmission, previously reported after heart, kidney, or liver transplantation.

Methods

We investigated by histology, immunohistochemistry, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) the persistence of T. cruzi in samples of the heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, adrenal gland, esophagus, and GI tract of 21 chronic chagasic patients.

Results

Parasite persistence was detected in 12/21 (57.1%) heart samples, mainly by PCR‐based assays. T. cruzi parasites were detected by histology and immunohistochemistry in smooth muscle cells of the central vein from 1/21 (4.8%) adrenal gland samples. No samples of the lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, esophagus, or GI tract were found to have parasites by histology, immunohistochemistry, or PCR.

Conclusions

We concluded that, aside from the heart, the other solid organs of T. cruzi‐infected donors can be used for transplantation with a lot of caution. Such organs are not safe in the view of previous reports of CD transmission, but seem to present a low T. cruzi load compared to the heart.
Diatrack particle tracking software: Review of applications and performance evaluation
Authors: Vallotton Pascal , van Oijen Antoine M. , Whitchurch Cynthia B. , Gelfand Vladimir , Yeo Leslie , Tsiavaliaris Georgios , Heinrich Stephanie , Dultz Elisa , Weis Karsten , Grünwald David
Published: September 2017

Object tracking is an instrumental tool supporting studies of cellular trafficking. There are three challenges in object tracking: the identification of targets; the precise determination of their position and boundaries; and the assembly of correct trajectories. This last challenge is particularly relevant when dealing with densely populated images with low signal‐to‐noise ratios—conditions that are often encountered in applications such as organelle tracking, virus particle tracking or single‐molecule imaging. We have developed a set of methods that can handle a wide variety of signal complexities. They are compiled into a free software package called Diatrack. Here we review its main features and utility in a range of applications, providing a survey of the dynamic imaging field together with recommendations for effective use. The performance of our framework is shown to compare favorably to a wide selection of custom‐developed algorithms, whether in terms of localization precision, processing speed or correctness of tracks.
Ambidextrous Strategy and Firm Performance: The Moderating Effects of Organizational Slack and Organizational Life Cycle
Authors: Luo Changyue , Zhang Dongli , Luo Biao , Ge Jiajia
Published: September 2017

The relationship between ambidexterity and firm performance holds a prominent place in the literature. However, studies that examine the conditions under which ambidexterity leads to success are relatively scarce. Based on a sample of 226 firms in China, this study examines the moderating effects of organizational slack and organizational life cycle on the relationship between balance dimension of ambidexterity and combined dimension of ambidexterity and firm performance. The empirical results reveal that pursuing a high level of combined dimension of organizational ambidexterity is only beneficial to firms with a high level of organizational slack or firms in maturity stage, while pursuing a high level of balance dimension of organizational ambidexterity is only beneficial to firms in growth stage, but not to firms in maturity stage.
The Investigation of Pre Service Science Teachers’ Epistemological Beliefs According to Some Variables
Authors: Yalcin Mehmet , Yalcin Fatma Aggul
Published: September 2017

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between pre service science teachers’ scientific epistemological beliefs and academic achievements and change of the beliefs with regard to the variables such as, grade level and gender. In the research in which survey method as research approach, the sample consisted of total 258 pre service teachers. Data was collected by “Epistemological beliefs scale” with 26 items developed by Conley et al. (2004). The data collected were analyzed using two way variance analysis. The statistical analysis showed that there is no a statistically significant difference in pre-service science teachers’ epistemological beliefs with regard to grade level and gender in the pooled data without considering sub dimensions of scale. But, in certainty of scientific knowledge sub dimension, no statistically significant difference was found according to gender, but a significant difference for grade level. Moreover, for justification of scientific knowledge sub dimension, the results showed that no pre service teachers’ epistemological beliefs differ with respect to gender, while there was statistically significant difference according to grade level. Again, it was found that the there is no statistically significant correlation between pre-service science teachers’ scientific epistemological beliefs and academic
Turkish Primary Science Teacher Candidates’ Understandings of Global Warming and Ozone Layer Depletion
Authors: Yalcin Fatma Aggul , Yalcin Mehmet
Published: September 2017

The purpose of the study was to explore Turkish primary science teacher candidates' understanding of global warming and ozone layer depletion. In the study, as the research approach the survey method was used. The sample consisted of one hundred eighty nine third grade science teacher candidates. Data was collected using the tool developed by the researcher. The survey solicited written opinion responses to seven open-ended questions. Teacher candidates’ written opinions about global warming and ozone layer depletion were analyzed descriptively. The results of the analysis were presented as percentages and frequency. The findings suggest that prospective teachers’ understandings about these issues were limited and they had some significant common, misconceptions. Finally, the findings were discussed in comparison with the previous research with respect to environmental education.
Voting Together
Authors: Wong Carolyn
Published: September 2017

This book examines the political experience of the Hmong Americans immigrants, who first came to the United States as refugees of Vietnam War. In growing numbers, candidates of Hmong American ethnicity have competed successfully in elections to win seats in local and state legislative bodies in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. At the same time, average levels of Hmong American educational attainment still lag far behind levels in the U.S. population and high rates of poverty persist. Their relatively high levels of political engagement defy the logic of resource-based theories of voting, which explain a greater propensity of some individuals to vote resources available to them, such as higher levels of educational attainment or income compared to others Intergenerational mechanisms of social voting underlie political participation of Hmong Americans. Individuals are mobilized to vote through intergenerational social connections already established in associational, neighborhood, ethnic community, family, and clan networks. Identity narratives adapted to modern-day circumstances and popular notions from ancient oral texts serve to motivate collective action to redress of disparities of economic opportunity and cultural misrecognition. Only when local institutions effectively teach civic and political skills to immigrants and their descendants can political participation be sustained and deepened to combine voting with effective policy advocacy, the building of alliances across racial-ethnic divides, and collective action. The research included interviews of community leaders and grassroots residents from diverse backgrounds, primarily in three cities: Fresno, California; Saint Paul, Minnesota; and Hickory, North Carolina.
Citizenship and Participation
Authors: Wong Carolyn
Published: September 2017

Chapter One introduces the general argument developed in subsequent chapters. In Hmong American communities, political participation arises and deepens through inter-generational social mechanisms of voting. The process is aided by local institutions that educate newcomers in participatory skills and aid reconstruction of identity narratives. Present-day notions about citizenship rights and a desire for political inclusion are influenced by the Vietnam War experience of the Hmong Americans and their status as stateless refugees after the war. The relatively low levels of social-economic attainment of the Hmong Americans compared to other Asian Americans helps explain the motivation to participate in politics to press for public policy that would address poverty and educational reform
Reconstructing Identity Narratives
Authors: Wong Carolyn
Published: September 2017

Chapter Two examines the cultural and political meaning of identity stories as articulated by Hmong Americans, including examples of how freedom and parity are expressed in these narratives. These stories have formed through an amalgam of lived experience and values. The process of construction and telling of the narratives is participatory. The engagement of ordinary people in conversations and creation of interpretive stories and performing art productions is what animates the identity narratives in civic and political life.
Participation in Local Contexts
Authors: Wong Carolyn
Published: September 2017

Chapter Three compares local contexts of political and civic participation in several cities – principally, Fresno, California; Saint Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota; Eau Claire, Wisconsin; and Hickory, North Carolina. The analysis uses a conceptual framework delineating the nature of parity of participation in society, including the realm of economic distribution and cultural recognition, as articulated by Fraser. The analysis emphasizes the importance of public educational institutions and community based organizations in promoting citizen education. . Interviews of high school students illustrate the importance of cultural recognition in the process of citizen education.
Deepening Intergenerational Participation
Authors: Wong Carolyn
Published: September 2017

Chapter Six concludes with a discussion of future prospects for wider and deeper political participation of the Hmong Americans. The desire to engage in elections is rooted in a belief in the role of government in assisting people poverty to become self-sufficient. Experiencing racial prejudice and economic disadvantage opens opportunities for education about commonality of interest with other racial-ethnic minorities and socially marginalized people. From this ground there is potential to better appreciate the power of collective action in politics and to gain the skills needed in a truly participatory citizenship which extends beyond voting alone. To realize this potential requires imagining collaborative and inter-generational projects of community-based political education.
Merchant Culture in the Material World of Eighteenth-Century China
Authors: Wu Yulian
Published: September 2017

The introduction presents the Huizhou salt merchants, with emphasis on the unprecedented economic and political privileges they enjoyed in High Qing China. The author challenges the conventional analysis focused on merchant-literati status negotiations, arguing that this framework is based upon written texts produced by the literati themselves, and is hence not reflective of the merchants’ own concerns. By reviewing the extant literary descriptions of Huizhou salt merchants, the author proposes to explore their own voices and opinions by analyzing their interactions with material objects. This indicates the emergence of a novel and vital network between the Qianlong emperor, the imperial household department, court officials, and Huizhou salt merchants, constructed between the capital Beijing, the urban centers of Jiangnan, and the remote countryside of Huizhou. A focus on these salt merchants sheds new light on Manchu emperors’ political strategies and reveals merchants’ role in luxury consumption in High Qing China.
Collecting as a “Collector”
Authors: Wu Yulian
Published: September 2017

This chapter discusses merchants’ roles in collecting culture during the High Qing period through a study of the salt merchant Wang Qishu and his collection of seals. The Qianlong emperor’s personal interest in collecting and his compilation of a large series of court-sponsored catalogues led to a recognition of collectors in Qing society. Collectors (shoucangjia) emerged as a unique social category, and collecting came to be seen as a valued form of expertise. By locating Wang Qishu’s case in this High Qing context, the author examines how Wang used different elements associated with his seal collection to assert himself as a collector. Wang’s contemporaries also saw him as a collector passionate about seals, as an expert in seal connoisseurship, and as financially capable of amassing a distinguished collection. Through his collection, Wang assumed the role of “collector”—a new social status symbol—and thereby legitimized his position in society.
Materializing Morality
Authors: Wu Yulian
Published: September 2017

This chapter examines the salt merchants’ role in constructing chastity arches—stone structures honoring women who maintained chaste widowhood—in She county in Huizhou. In the High Qing era, the Manchu court systematically patronized the construction of monumental objects, such as stone arches, with the dual object of inculcating Confucian morality in their illiterate subjects and displaying their imperial legitimacy. The Huizhou salt merchants, seeing an opportunity to expand their influence, devoted themselves to chastity arch construction in the local community of Huizhou, thus publicizing the virtuous deeds that the court rewarded. While these merchants used their economic prowess to participate in the state’s cultivation project, their financial support of these arches was itself a product of the court’s salt monopoly policies. At the same time, these monuments gave these wealthy businessmen the opportunity to bolster their reputations, display their wealth, and lay claim to legitimate dominance in local society.
Cultured and Cosmopolitan Men (tongren)
Authors: Wu Yulian
Published: September 2017

The conclusion argues that the Huizhou salt merchants emerged as “cultured and cosmopolitan men” who distinguished themselves with knowledge and skill in a wide range of fields, being famed for their managerial prowess. Through their production and consumption of a variety of objects, these merchants played multiple roles in the fluid material world of High Qing China, whether as the emperor’s informal agents or arbiters of taste, lineage patrons or moral advocates. By playing these roles, these salt merchants also constructed a dynamic and fluid urban-rural and central-local relationship in the high Qing period. Study of these salt merchants thus sheds new light on the Qianlong emperor’s political strategy in Jiangnan and reveals the differences and transformations of consumer cultures in China from the late Ming to the high Qing.
State-Sponsored Inequality
Authors: Chen Shuang
Published: September 2017

The book explores the social economic processes of inequality produced by differential state entitlements. Drawing on uniquely rich source materials from central and local archives, the book provides an unprecedented, comprehensive view of the creation of a socio-economic and political hierarchy under the Eight Banners in the Qing dynasty in what is now Shuangcheng County, Heilongjiang province. Shuangcheng was settled by bannermen from urban Beijing and elsewhere in rural Manchuria in the nineteenth century. The state classified the immigrants into distinct categories, each associated with differentiated land entitlements. By reconstructing the history of settlement and land distribution in this county, the book shows that patterns of wealth stratification and the underlying social hierarchy were not merely imposed by the state from the top-down but created and reinforced by local people through practices on the ground. In the course of pursuing their own interests, settlers internalized the distinctions created by the state through its system of unequal land entitlements. The tensions built into the unequal land entitlements therefore shaped the identities of immigrant groups, and this social hierarchy persisted after the fall of the Qing in 1911. The book offers an in-depth understanding of the key factors that contributed to social stratification in agrarian societies in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century China. Moreover, it also sheds light on the many parallels between the stratification system in Qing-dynasty Shuangcheng and the structural inequality in contemporary China.
Social Formation Under State Domination in Modern China
Authors: Chen Shuang
Published: September 2017

This chapter introduces the methodological and historical background that supports the narrative presented in the rest of the book. The Shuangcheng settlement is a case of state-initiated projects of social engineering by which the state used policies to proactively plan or design social orders. Thus, the case offers an opportunity for exploring the mechanisms through which the state-designated social hierarchy played out on the ground. After introducing the Banner system and the settings of Shuangcheng, the chapter integrates theories in state-building and social stratification to provide a conceptual framework surrounding the question: how a state-dominated system of social formation influences life opportunities. Within the framework, state registration and resource allocation created the structural inequality; customary practices made possible local agency; and the interplay of local agency with the multiple structures – economic conditions, state entitlements, and family demography – eventually constructed and sustained the boundaries between social categories.
Consolidating Power
Authors: Chen Shuang
Published: September 2017

This chapter uncovers a forgotten history of local agency in the first thirty years after the initial settlement. In this period, Shuangcheng saw the consolidation of both local administration and society. Although the state built the society from the top down, local government developed in response to localized social processes that marked the early years of settlement. These include local identity construction by different waves of migrants, conflicts between metropolitan and rural bannermen, and private cultivation of unassigned land by immigrants. It was not until 1852 that the central government embedded the local administration into the imperial system. This chapter enriches the understandings of local governance and state-society relations by emphasizing that the different interests of state representatives offered savvy settlers multiple channels to appeal to state authority to pursue their interests.
Community and Hierarchy
Authors: Chen Shuang
Published: September 2017

This chapter sheds light on the social processes at the village level that shaped the social hierarchy in Shuangcheng. The banner villages planned by the state evolved into territorial communities as village temples and communal lands became symbols to hold migrants of various backgrounds together. In the early stage of settlement, government land allocation shaped the village hierarchy in the absence of countervailing institutions. At the same time, village communities gradually played important roles in organizing private land cultivation and land transfer. Through these private activities of land accumulation, a significant number of rural bannermen gained wealth comparable to that of metropolitan bannermen. This situation allowed them to challenge the state-mandated social hierarchy. At the same time, metropolitan bannermen also acted to maintain their elite status in the villages. In this way, village communities created their own hierarchies based on settlers’ perception of the state-mandated hierarchy.
Dead Pledges
Authors: McClanahan Annie
Published: September 2017

Dead Pledges is a study of our contemporary culture of debt. Examining novels, poems, artworks, photographs, and films produced in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, this book aims to show how US cultural texts have grappled with the rise and fall of the financialized consumer credit economy. It argues that debt is such a ubiquitous yet elusive social form that we can most clearly understand it by looking at how our culture has sought to represent it. Whether popular entertainment or avant-garde art, post-crisis cultural texts allow us to map the landscape of contemporary debt: from foreclosure to credit scoring, student debt to securitized risk, microeconomic theory to anti-eviction activism. Across this range of sites, this book offers an account of the theoretical and political consequences of debt: how it affects our ideas of personhood and morality; how it deploys a language of irrational behavior and risky excess; how it transforms our relationship to property and possession. Bringing together economic history, debt theory, and cultural analysis, Dead Pledges demonstrates how our understanding of the economy can be illuminated by culture. What is at stake in our contemporary culture of debt is not just our measures of economic credibility but also the limits of our imaginative credulity; not just our account of economic character but also our literary characters; not just the money we see but also the way we see money; not just how we pay but also how we imagine getting payback.
Credit, Characterization, Personification
Authors: McClanahan Annie
Published: September 2017

Chapter 2 addresses the relationship between debt and personhood. Practices for evaluating economic credibility in the late eighteenth century relied on subjective, qualitative, narrative forms of evaluation and thus depended on a realist model of literary character. By the early twenty-first century, however, credit scoring had become objective, quantitative, and data driven. Yet contemporary creditors still import the fictions of personhood stripped from human subjects into the scores themselves. To understand the perduring presence of the person, this chapter considers both characterization and personification. Gary Shytengart’s 2010 novel Super Sad True Love Story attests to the persistence of racial discrimination in “objective” credit scoring, while conceptual art by Cassie Thornton, Occupy Wall Street debtor-portraits, and poetry by Mathew Timmons and Timothy Donnelley register debt as a material and historical force.
Houses of Horror
Authors: McClanahan Annie
Published: September 2017

Chapter 4 begins by noting that contemporary discourse on the economic crisis is profoundly shaped by the language of horror and fear. To understand why, this chapter turns to four post-crisis horror films that explicitly link fear, foreclosure, and financialized credit: Drag Me to Hell (dir. Sam Raimi), Dream Home (dir. Pang Ho-cheung), Mother’s Day (dir. Darren Lynn Bousman), and Crawlspace (dir. Josh Stolberg). All four films take up real estate lending, mortgage speculation, and foreclosure risk and locate horror in the “dead pledge” of the mortgage. Using horror and the home-invasion genre to explore the shifting understandings of ownership consequent to the housing crisis, these films frighteningly literalize the doctrine of caveat emptor. Exploring the relationship between “paying back” and “payback,” they suggest that introduction of speculative risk has shifted the social force of credit contracts from the promise of trust to the threat of revenge.
Coda
Authors: McClanahan Annie
Published: September 2017

The Coda to Dead Pledges explores an emerging anti-debt politics, arguing that “debt strikes” and the occupation or sabotage of domestic space are forms of protest that attempt to block capital at the point of circulation. Exploring the economics of student debt and taking up the treatment of education debt as an “investment in the future,” this chapter suggests that the politics of student debt illuminate the relationship between workers and students and between the university and capitalism. It concludes by exploring the emergence of what it terms “crisis subjectivity”: a demystified condition of radical percipience and canny knowing.
Holy Consort white Sister
Authors: Bryson Megan
Published: September 2017

The second chapter focuses on the Buddhist Baijie Shengfei, a hybrid figure whose identity combines elements of the Indian goddess Lakṣmī and local dragon maidens. This chapter demonstrates how her hybridity and gendered characteristics relate to Dali rulers’ religious self-representation. It argues that though Baijie Shengfei appears in tantric Buddhist materials as the consort of the wrathful Indian Buddhist protector Mahākāla, she herself does not embody the sexuality or violence seen in images of many Indian and Tibetan tantric goddesses. Dali rulers embraced images of fierce tantric masculinity, as shown in Dali-kingdom depictions of Mahākāla, but this did not extend to female figures like Baijie. This stemmed from Dali rulers’ close interactions with China, in which Dali could exploit stereotypes of martial masculine barbarism to their advantage, but not stereotypes of sexually uninhibited barbarian femininity.
Baijie the Benzhu
Authors: Bryson Megan
Published: September 2017

Baijie’s significance shifts again in the modern period with the adoption of the terms ethnicity and religion. In the reform era (1978-present) Baijie again represents difference from Chinese identity, but in this period the language of ethnicity demarcates Bai from Han. However, the use of this language differs within the Dali population: male Bai elites present Baijie as a symbol of Bai ethnic culture, while most people who worship Baijie as their village guardian use gendered terms instead of ethnic discourse. Male Bai elites claim a modern, rational identity similar to the image of the Han and displace tradition, religiosity, and ethnic difference onto rural populations and women. This chapter relies in part on ethnographic research that examines how people not involved in textual production represent Baijie, which offers a new perspective on how gender plays a role in demarcating Bai ethno-cultural identities.
Conclusion
Authors: Bryson Megan
Published: September 2017

The conclusion returns to the book’s central question of how people in the frontier zone of Dali develop gendered local identities out of multiple possibilities. Baijie’s examples, from the Dali kingdom to the present, show that people Dali locals have combined local and translocal elements in different ways in response to historical changes. Representations of Dali identity strategically use gendered symbols that correlate to local and translocal forces, so that Baijie’s roles as dragon maiden, mother, and martyr tie her to Dali while also making her legible within universalizing semiotic systems.
Beirut, City of the Levant
Authors: Abou-Hodeib Toufoul
Published: September 2017

This chapter introduces the concept of domesticity and sets the general historical background for the rest of the book. Looking at how new ideas on Ottoman urban management in Istanbul and foreign investments in infrastructure helped transform Beirut from a sleepy harbor town to major entrepôt, the chapter also foregrounds how the emergence of a middle class shaped life in the city. It explores the various characteristics of the middle class and places it in the context of the nahda, the late-nineteenth, early-twentieth century vibrant intellectual and cultural production in Arabic. It also investigates how the middle class spread across the city's new neighborhoods. Finally, the chapter closes with an overview of the archival sources used in the book.
Home Is Where the Investment Is
Authors: Abou-Hodeib Toufoul
Published: September 2017

This chapter details how late Ottoman reforms introduced notions of hygiene and aesthetics that reshaped the relationship between the home and its urban context. Drawing on nineteenth-century global modes of knowledge that privileged rectilinear urban forms and sought to manage daily lives in expanding cities, new bodies of Ottoman law introduced an understanding of "public benefit" that tied domestic habits and individual lives to the public collectivity of the city. The implementation of these laws by the municipal council of Beirut also brought capitalist changes into the home, redefining it as property with a value linked to urban beautification projects. But in the absence of a clear understanding of the relationship between public benefit and the home, the latter remained an open site of contestation, amenable to interpretation as a link between private lives and the larger project of modernity.
Things at Home
Authors: Abou-Hodeib Toufoul
Published: September 2017

This chapter looks at how objects that entered the middle-class home in the late nineteenth century generated a new kind of domesticity. Although its relation to public benefit remained ambiguous, the home was indirectly transformed by its changing urban environment and by new spatial ideals. In addition, Beirut’s prominence as port city and its growing appetite for the new exposed it to a stream of novel domestic objects that were often adopted, adapted, and embraced. Domestic things, the meanings embedded in them, and their potential to communicate social status contributed to giving the middle class its identity even in the most intimate of spaces. The impact of new imports, such as phonographs, on life at home as well as in marital disputes in the Hanafi court, shows the potential for new objects to redefine social relations, making taste more than just an individual matter.
A Matter of Taste
Authors: Abou-Hodeib Toufoul
Published: September 2017

This chapter explores modern domesticity as articulated by men and women in the pages of the press and on lecture podiums, arguing for a project that carved out an economic and cultural place for an emerging middle class. As industrial production in Europe and the United States brought wider swathes of society in contact with new commodities, articles in the press on the use and disposition of objects at home attempted to differentiate the consumption habits of the middle class from the tasteless riches of the upper classes. While this functioned to culturally distinguish the nascent middle class in its social surroundings, the chapter argues that the debate went beyond, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing this middle class from “ifranji” (Western/European) modes of consumption and attempting to ground modern domesticity in “Oriental” or “Syrian” authenticity.
Local Forms and Ifranji Pleasures
Authors: Abou-Hodeib Toufoul
Published: September 2017

Looking beyond the anxiety over “ifranji” influence, this chapter examines how popular domestic items were marketed, the outlets where they could be acquired, and the labor, material, and styles that went into their production. The chapter shows how advertisements in the press promoted the latest fashionable imports while trying to advocate local industries. In addition, both modern and old inner city souks were not set apart by imported and traditional goods, respectively, but rather by a growing separation between areas of production and consumption across the city. Finally, the most popular domestic items involved labor, raw material, and stylistic influences that cut across the local, regional, and global levels. This crisscrossing not only rendered the line between ifranji and Oriental difficult to trace in reality, but also complicated the intellectual project of middle-class modernity.
The Mushroom Crisis
Authors: Schlesinger Jonathan
Published: September 2017

As the pearl crisis raged, a rush for wild steppe mushroom moved to the center of the imperial agenda in Mongolia. Unheralded and forgotten, steppe mushrooms were big business in the Qing; by the 1820s, thousands of undocumented workers crossed the internal boundary from China to Mongolia each year in search of mushrooms. The chapter opens with the case of a passport forger whose arrest triggered a court edict against mushroom picking in 1829; we have little else of the affair in Chinese. The archives in Ulaanbaatar, however, contain hundreds of documents that detail the long, violent conflict that culminated in his arrest. By analyzing the confessions of mushroom pickers and the depositions of local officials, the chapter reconstructs the history of the mushroom rush and explores how a recreating a “pure” and pristine environment in Mongolia became the top concern of the court.
Nature in the Land of Fur
Authors: Schlesinger Jonathan
Published: September 2017

In the borderland with Russia, a similar crisis emerged with furs: From the Altai Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, sables, then foxes, then squirrels vanished from the forest. In response, the Qing state again mobilized itself for another “purification” campaign: it repatriated trespassers, reinforced the boundary line around hunting zones, and attempted to ensure the long-term sustainability of fur-bearing animals. The chapter documents the interconnections between local, regional, and global fur trades in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and provides a case study of the environmental crisis in Tannu Uriankhai lands, in modern Tannu Tuva. There too, the archives show, the Qing court attempted to “purify” local nature and remake it as pristine.