bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting using Bilateral Internal Thoracic Arteries through a Left-Sided Minithoracotomy: A Single-Center Starting Experience
Authors: Diab Mahmoud , Färber Gloria , Sponholz Christoph , Tasar Raphael , Lehmann Thomas , Tkebuchava Sophie , Franz Marcus , Doenst Torsten
Published: September 2018

Background Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) using bilateral internal thoracic artery (BITA) is associated with the best long-term survival. However, using BITA increases the risk of sternal wound infections with conventional sternotomy. We describe here our initial results of minimally invasive CABG (MICS-CABG) using BITA.

Methods Patients were operated through an incision similar to that of standard minimally invasive direct CABG. All operations were performed off-pump. We evaluated patient's quality of life (QoL) using the Medical Outcomes trust, 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36).

Results Between February 2016 and August 2017, we performed 21 cases of MICS-CABG using BITA. There was no intraoperative complication and no conversion to sternotomy or to on-pump. Two patients required reexploration through the same minithoracotomy for postoperative bleeding. Two cases of early postoperative graft failure were identified. There was no stroke or in-hospital mortality. The median duration of follow-up was 13 months, with a maximum of 19 months. Relief of angina was achieved in all patients. There was one readmission for superficial wound infection, which was conservatively treated. An 84-year-old man died 4 months after the operation. The remaining 20 patients attested good QoL with the SF-36 questionnaire.

Conclusions Myocardial revascularization using BITA can be safely achieved off-pump through a left-sided minithoracotomy with good postoperative and short-term outcomes.
Interpregnancy Body Mass Index Changes: Distribution and Impact on Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in the Subsequent Pregnancy
Authors: Bender Whitney , Hirshberg Adi , Levine Lisa
Published: September 2018

Objective To examine the change in body mass index (BMI) categories between pregnancies and its effect on adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Study Design We performed a retrospective cohort study of women with two consecutive deliveries from 2005 to 2010. Analysis was limited to women with BMI recorded at <24 weeks for both pregnancies. Standard BMI categories were used. Adverse pregnancy outcomes included preterm birth at <37 weeks, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), pregnancy-related hypertension, and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Women with increased BMI category between pregnancies were compared with those who remained in the same BMI category.

Results In total, 537 women were included, of whom 125 (23%) increased BMI category. There was no association between increase in BMI category and risk of preterm birth, IUGR, or pregnancy-related hypertension. Women who increased BMI category had an increased odds of GDM compared with women who remained in the same BMI category (6.4 vs. 2.2%; p = 0.018). The increased risk remained after controlling for age, history of GDM, and starting BMI (adjusted odds ratio: 8.2; 95% confidence interval: 2.1–32.7; p = 0.003).

Conclusion Almost one-quarter of women increased BMI categories between pregnancies. This modifiable risk factor has a significant impact on the risk of GDM.
UK-Russia relations: poisoned chalice or silver linings?
Authors: David Maxine
Published: September 2018

With the poisoning of the former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, the British Government quickly accused Russia of committing an unlawful use of force on British territory and retaliated. The UK’s diplomatic resources were deployed effectively, as more than 20 allies swiftly stood up in solidarity. Assuming the Kremlin is culpable, Vladimir Putin may have unwittingly given Theresa May an opportunity to be in the vanguard of those facing up to Russia’s challenge and to retrieve something of Britain’s diminishing reputation. But May will do well to remember that with alliances come expectations. This article examines the measures taken for signs of No 10’s sincere commitment to establishing an effective Russia policy but argues too that there is much evidence that little will change. Only with dedicated intent will substance be added to the rhetoric of 'Global Britain’.
Complex spatiotemporal behavior and coherent excitations in critically-coupled chains of neural circuits
Authors: Alonso Leandro M. , Magnasco Marcelo O.
Published: September 2018

We investigate a critically-coupled chain of nonlinear oscillators, whose dynamics displays complex spatiotemporal patterns of activity, including regimes in which glider-like coherent excitations move about and interact. The units in the network are identical simple neural circuits whose dynamics is given by the Wilson-Cowan model and are arranged in space along a one-dimensional lattice with nearest neighbor interactions. The interactions follow an alternating sign rule, and hence the “synaptic matrix” M embodying them is tridiagonal antisymmetric and has purely imaginary (critical) eigenvalues. The model illustrates the interplay of two properties: circuits with a complex internal dynamics, such as multiple stable periodic solutions and period doubling bifurcations, and coupling with a “critical” synaptic matrix, i.e., having purely imaginary eigenvalues. In order to identify the dynamical underpinnings of these behaviors, we explored a discrete-time coupled-map lattice inspired by our system: the dynamics of the units is dictated by a chaotic map of the interval, and the interactions are given by allowing the critical coupling to act for a finite period τ, thus given by a unitary matrix U=exp⁡(τ2M). It is now explicit that such critical couplings are volume-preserving in the sense of Liouville’s theorem. We show that this map is also capable of producing a variety of complex spatiotemporal patterns including gliders, like our original chain of neural circuits. Our results suggest that if the units in isolation are capable of featuring multiple dynamical states, then local critical couplings lead to a wide variety of emergent spatiotemporal phenomena.
Movement compensation during carbon dioxide coronary angiography: In-vitro validation
Authors: Corazza Ivan , Sapignoli Sonia , Rossi Pier Luca , Lombi Alessandro , Pirazzini Edoardo , Taglieri Nevio , Caridi James G. , Zannoli Romano
Published: September 2018

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the feasibility of movement compensation for CO2 coronary angiography. The use of CO2 as a contrast medium for coronary angiography in a routine clinical setting is still premature. Nonetheless, the gas can solve most of the problems related to iodine contrast-induced nephropathy and can be safely used for patients with renal insufficiency. In a previous work [I. Corazza et al., AIP Adv. 8(1), 015225 (2018)], we demonstrated that an adequate setting of the CO2 injection parameters (pressures and volumes) allows gas injection into the coronaries, avoiding reflux into the aorta and cerebral circulation. A mechanical mock simulating coronary circulation and movement was used to simulate different CO2 injection conditions. Simultaneous acquisition of ECG and optical images allowed synchronous frame extraction for post-processing analysis, like masking and stacking processes. A single test with a radiological apparatus was done to demonstrate the feasibility of the technique. By injecting CO2 at a pressure between the dicrotic notch and diastolic value, no reflux into the aorta was observed and the new software yielded final optical images of clinical quality after about 8 seconds of injection. The feasibility test under the X-ray apparatus gave promising results. CO2 coronary angiography is still far from becoming a clinical standard, but our bench evaluation demonstrates that if the injection parameters are well-controlled and physiological values known, CO2 can be used as a contrast agent not only for the lower part of the body, but also for the coronary arteries, respecting basic safety standards.
Broadband longwave radio remote sensing instrumentation
Authors: Cohen Morris B. , Said Ryan K. , Paschal Evans W. , McCormick Jackson C. , Gross Nicholas C. , Thompson Lee , Higginson-Rollins Marc , Inan Umran S. , Chang Jeffrey
Published: September 2018

We present the performance characteristics of a high-sensitivity radio receiver for the frequency band 0.5-470 kHz, known as the Low Frequency Atmospheric Weather Electromagnetic System for Observation, Modeling, and Education, or LF AWESOME. The receiver is an upgraded version of the VLF AWESOME, completed in 2004, which provided high sensitivity broadband radio measurements of natural lightning emissions, transmitting beacons, and radio emissions from the near-Earth space environment. It has been deployed at many locations worldwide and used as the basis for dozens of scientific studies. We present here a significant upgrade to the AWESOME, in which the frequency range has been extended to include the LF and part of the medium frequency (MF) bands, the sensitivity improved by 10-25 dB to be as low as 0.03 fT/Hz, depending on the frequency, and timing error reduced to 15-20 ns range. The expanded capabilities allow detection of radio atmospherics from lightning strokes at global distances and multiple traverses around the world. It also allows monitoring of transmitting beacons in the LF/MF band at thousands of km distance. We detail the specification of the LF AWESOME and demonstrate a number of scientific applications. We also describe and characterize a new algorithm for minimum shift keying demodulation for VLF/LF transmitters for ionospheric remote sensing applications.
Visualization of nanocrystalline CuO in the grain boundaries of Cu2O thin films and effect on band bending and film resistivity
Authors: Deuermeier Jonas , Liu Hongjun , Rapenne Laetitia , Calmeiro Tomás , Renou Gilles , Martins Rodrigo , Muñoz-Rojas David , Fortunato Elvira
Published: September 2018

Direct evidence for the presence of a CuO structure in the grain boundaries of Cu2O thin films by chemical vapor deposition is provided by high resolution automated phase and orientation mapping (ASTAR), which was not detectable by classical transmission electron microscopy techniques. Conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) revealed that the CuO causes a local loss of current rectification at the Schottky barrier between the CAFM tip and Cu2O. The suppression of CuO formation at the Cu2O grain boundaries is identified as the key strategy for future device optimization.
Broadband and tunable time-resolved THz system using argon-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber
Authors: Cui Wei , Schiff-Kearn Aidan W. , Zhang Emily , Couture Nicolas , Tani Francesco , Novoa David , Russell Philip St.J. , Ménard Jean-Michel
Published: September 2018

We demonstrate broadband, frequency-tunable, phase-locked terahertz (THz) generation and detection based on difference frequency mixing of temporally and spectrally structured near-infrared (NIR) pulses. The pulses are prepared in a gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF), whose linear and nonlinear optical properties can be adjusted by tuning the gas pressure. This permits optimization of both the spectral broadening of the pulses due to self-phase modulation (SPM) and the generated THz spectrum. The properties of the prepared pulses, measured at several different argon gas pressures, agree well with the results of numerical modeling. Using these pulses, we perform difference frequency generation in a standard time-resolved THz scheme. As the argon pressure is gradually increased from 0 to 10 bar, the NIR pulses spectrally broaden from 3.5 to 8.7 THz, while the measured THz bandwidth increases correspondingly from 2.3 to 4.5 THz. At 10 bar, the THz spectrum extends to 6 THz, limited only by the spectral bandwidth of our time-resolved detection scheme. Interestingly, SPM in the HC-PCF produces asymmetric spectral broadening that may be used to enhance the generation of selected THz frequencies. This scheme, based on a HC-PCF pulse shaper, holds great promise for broadband time-domain spectroscopy in the THz, enabling the use of compact and stable ultrafast laser sources with relatively narrow linewidths (<4 THz).
Experimental study of viscous effects on flow pattern and bubble behavior in small diameter bubble column
Authors: Kajero Olumayowa T. , Abdulkadir Mukhtar , Abdulkareem Lokman , Azzopardi Barry James
Published: September 2018

An experimental study was carried out to explore viscous effects on the flow pattern and bubble behavior in a small diameter bubble column using silicone oil fluids of viscosities 5, 100, 1000, and 5000 mPa s. The flow pattern was obtained from the probability density function using the time-averaged void fraction traces of the real-time qualitative and quantitative measurements from Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT). This was confirmed from the high-speed camera and ECT images which also gave a vivid description of the bubble behavior. Further confirmation of the observed flow pattern was obtained using the diameter ratio, λ, where for slug flow λ > 0.6. The flow pattern was observed to vary from spherical cap bubbles to developing slug and slug flow within the gas superficial velocities considered (0.02 ≤ Ugs ≤ 0.361 m/s). As viscosity increases, the appearance of spherical cap bubbles decreases, while slug flow tendency increases. The observed flow patterns were compared with previous work. The developing slugs in liquid viscosities of 5 and 100 mPa s were observed to be deformed. The Taylor bubble obtained from 1000 mPa s is called prolate spheroid, while that obtained from 5000 mPa s is called oblate spheroid. In addition, as the superficial gas velocity increases, the length of Taylor bubbles increases, while that of slug flow decreases. The bubble behavior was further characterised using the inverse dimensionless viscosity and Eotovos number. The process of leading and trailing bubble merging to form Taylor bubbles via coalescence was also captured and explained using the high-speed camera video.
Bulk inversion asymmetry effect on band structure and optical transition of a new class all-inorganic cubic perovskite nanoplatelet
Authors: Fan W. J.
Published: September 2018

The band structures at near the R point of all-inorganic cubic CsSnBr3 perovskite nanoplatelets (NPLs) are investigated by using an 8-band k·p method. The Luttinger parameters are given by fitting the first-principles results, the E-K curves and optical transition rule at near the R point are obtained. The bulk invasion asymmetry is taken into consideration in the method. The splitting of energy subbbands is observed at non-R point due to the bulk invasion asymmetry effect, however they are still two-fold degenerated at the R point. The optical transition rule follows the Δn=0 for the thin NPLs, however, for the thicker NPLs, the optical transition rule of Δn=0 does not hold. The results are helpful to understand the cubic perovskite nanoplatelet based spintronics and optoelectronics.
Gravitational allocation on the sphere
Authors: Holden Nina , Peres Yuval , Zhai Alex
Published: September 2018

Significance

Given a set

L

of

n

points on the sphere, an allocation is a way to divide the sphere into

n

cells of equal area, each associated with a point of

L

. Given two sets of

n

points

A

and

B

on the sphere, a matching is a bijective map from

A

to

B

. Allocation and matching rules that minimize the distance between matched points are related to optimal transport and discretization of continuous measures. We define a matching and allocation rule by considering the gravitational field associated with the point configurations and show that they are optimal in expectation up to multiplication by a constant when our points are chosen independently and uniformly at random.
Radioactive (
90
Y) upconversion nanoparticles conjugated with recombinant targeted toxin for synergistic nanotheranostics of cancer
Authors: Guryev Evgenii L. , Volodina Natalia O. , Shilyagina Natalia Y. , Gudkov Sergey V. , Balalaeva Irina V. , Volovetskiy Arthur B. , Lyubeshkin Alexander V. , Sen’ Alexey V. , Ermilov Sergey A. , Vodeneev Vladimir A. , Petrov Rem V. , Zvyagin Andrei V. , Alferov Zhores I. , Deyev Sergey M.
Published: September 2018

Significance

Emerging cancer nanotechnology enables targeted delivery of substantial payloads of drugs to cancer sites with concomitant reduction of side effects due to the lesser accumulation in the critical organs. This prompts loading of nanocarriers with therapeutic cargo and contrast agents, allowing combined cancer therapy and tumor visualization, respectively. This paper reports the realization of such combined therapy using conjugates of radionuclide yttrium-90–doped upconversion nanoparticles and targeted toxin. The resultant hybrid complex showed high therapeutic efficacy and high imaging contrast both in vitro and in vivo.
Pendular alignment and strong chemical binding are induced in helium dimer molecules by intense laser fields
Authors: Wei Qi , Kais Sabre , Yasuike Tomokazu , Herschbach Dudley
Published: September 2018

Significance

Intense electric fields, provided by pulsed lasers, can profoundly alter the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. For the helium dimer, we carry out a theoretical study of laser interactions in two realms: (I) fields not strong enough to dislodge electrons, but interact with the anisotropic polarizability to induce spatial alignment of the molecular axis; and (II) superintense, high-frequency lasers that impel electrons to undergo quiver oscillations that interact with the intrinsic Coulomb forces and induce an extremely strong chemical bond. By including in II an excited electronic state, we bring out features amenable to experimental observation that has been lacking.
Filtering and inference for stochastic oscillators with distributed delays
Authors: Calderazzo Silvia , Brancaccio Marco , Finkenstädt Bärbel
Published: September 2018

Motivation

The time evolution of molecular species involved in biochemical reaction networks often arises from complex stochastic processes involving many species and reaction events. Inference for such systems is profoundly challenged by the relative sparseness of experimental data, as measurements are often limited to a small subset of the participating species measured at discrete time points. The need for model reduction can be realistically achieved for oscillatory dynamics resulting from negative translational and transcriptional feedback loops by the introduction of probabilistic time-delays. Although this approach yields a simplified model, inference is challenging and subject to ongoing research. The linear noise approximation (LNA) has recently been proposed to address such systems in stochastic form and will be exploited here.

Results

We develop a novel filtering approach for the LNA in stochastic systems with distributed delays, which allows the parameter values and unobserved states of a stochastic negative feedback model to be inferred from univariate time-series data. The performance of the methods is tested for simulated data. Results are obtained for real data when the model is fitted to imaging data on Cry1, a key gene involved in the mammalian central circadian clock, observed via a luciferase reporter construct in a mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus.

Availability and implementation

Programmes are written in MATLAB and Statistics Toolbox Release 2016 b, The MathWorks, Inc., Natick, Massachusetts, USA. Sample code and Cry1 data are available on GitHub https://github.com/scalderazzo/FLNADD.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Strategic adjustment of copulatory plug size in a nematode
Authors: Canales-Lazcano Jorge , Contreras-GarduÑo Jorge , Cordero Carlos
Published: September 2018

Copulatory plugs (CP) are substances produced during copulation that block the genital openings of the female. In several species of Nematoda, males produce CP that are thought to impede female remating and thus sperm competition. The relatively large size of the CP in several nematodes, and its evolutionary loss in self-fertilizing populations of Caenorhabditis elegans, suggests that CP are costly to produce. If CP production is costly, the application of basic concepts of strategic ejaculation theory suggests a modulated allocation of CP in response to sperm competition risk. This hypothesis led us to predict that males perceiving a higher risk of sperm competition will produce larger CP. We tested these ideas with the entomopathogenic, gonochoristic nematode Rhabditis regina. Our first experiment provides evidence suggesting that production of CP is costly, because the size of CP is negatively affected by stressful conditions (high population density, small male adult size, and suboptimal food type). The results of our second experiment support the prediction that males adjust the size of CP to sperm competition risk: the average size of CP increased as the number of males competing for one female increased. Overall, our study supports the idea that in R. regina the production of CP is costly for males and that the size of the CP produced is influenced by sperm competition risk.
Knowledge of intrapartum care among obstetric care providers in rural Kenya
Authors: Itote Elizabeth W , Fleming Lila C , Mallinson R Kevin , Gaffney Kathleen F , Jacobsen Kathryn H
Published: September 2018

Background

Kenya did not meet its maternal mortality ratio (MMR) target under the Millennium Development Goals. The aim of this study was to examine the gaps in knowledge of intrapartum care among obstetric care providers (OCPs) in rural Nandi County, Kenya.

Methods

This cross-sectional study in 2015 surveyed 326 nurses, midwives, clinical officers and physicians about their knowledge, attitudes and practices related to normal labor and childbirth, immediate newborn care and management of obstetric complications.

Results

Self-reported intrapartum knowledge among OCPs was insufficient according to accepted international standards. The mean total knowledge score for all OCPs based on a validated 30-question inventory was 62% (range 23–90%). Only 14 providers (4%) scored as ‘competent’ (a score ≥80%). Scores were higher for OCPs who had received pre- and postemployment emergency obstetric care training and those with higher levels of confidence in their skills. Survey respondents identified a lack of knowledge as one of the greatest barriers to high-quality patient care.

Conclusions

Increasing training opportunities for OCPs may improve the quality of obstetric care provided to women in Kenya and other high-MMR locations in sub-Saharan Africa and enable progress toward achieving the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals target for maternal survival.
Poverty, networks, resistance: The economic sociology of Roma migration for begging
Authors: Friberg Jon Horgen
Published: September 2018

Migration for begging and informal street work in Western Europe has become a common livelihood strategy in many Romanian Roma communities, and over the last decade, Scandinavia has emerged as an important new destination. Using a combination of quantitative survey data on Romanian migrant beggars and street workers in Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen, and qualitative fieldworks in Scandinavia and Romania, this article presents a framework for studying migration for begging that goes beyond widespread narratives rooted in either culture or poverty. I argue that migration for begging is a purposeful economic adaptation, embedded in three distinct sets of social phenomena. First, the social and economic processes of marginalization of Roma communities in post-socialist Romania can help explain the motive for migration in terms of poverty and lack of alternative options. Second, the structure of social capital within Roma households and communities can help explain why they are able to engage in transnational migration under extremely difficult conditions despite lacking economic and educational resources. Third, ‘oppositional’ Roma identities can help to explain why some are willing to engage in ‘transgressional’ activities that others perceive as shameful, thus allowing the exploitation of marginal economic resources in times of economic hardship.
First-generation immigrant women faculty’s workplace experiences in the US universities—examples from China and Taiwan
Authors: Li Yun Ling
Published: September 2018

Higher education institutions around the world have striven to recruit ‘the world’s best and brightest’ faculty to enhance their scientific leadership and innovation, and American colleges and universities recognize their responsibilities to promote international intellectual exchange and encourage the free flow of ideas, knowledge, and people of all nations.While there is a growing body of literature on foreign-born academics, very little is known about foreign-born women in the US higher educational institutes, despite the fact that an increasing number of women exist in all academic disciplines, especially in STEM fields. By exploring Chinese and Taiwanese immigrant women faculty’s stories, this study aims to partially address the gap in the literature concerning foreign-born women faculty’s workplace experiences in US universities and colleges.
Dynamical cluster disruption and its implications for multiple population models in the E-MOSAICS simulations
Authors: Reina-Campos M , Kruijssen J M D , Pfeffer J , Bastian N , Crain R A
Published: September 2018

Several models have been advanced to explain the multiple stellar populations observed in globular clusters (GCs). Most models necessitate a large initial population of unenriched stars that provide the pollution for an enriched population, and which are subsequently lost from the cluster. This scenario generally requires clusters to lose >90 per cent of their birth mass. We use a suite of 25 cosmological zoom-in simulations of present-day Milky Way mass galaxies from the e-mosaics project to study whether dynamical disruption by evaporation and tidal shocking provides the necessary mass-loss. We find that GCs with present-day masses $M\gt 10^5 $ M⊙ were only 2–4 times more massive at birth, in conflict with the requirements of the proposed models. This factor correlates weakly with metallicity, gas pressure at birth, or galactocentric radius, but increases towards lower GC masses. To reconcile our results with observational data, either an unphysically steep cluster mass-size relation must be assumed, or the initial enriched fractions must be similar to their present values. We provide the required relation between the initial enriched fraction and cluster mass. Dynamical cluster mass-loss cannot reproduce the high observed enriched fractions nor their trend with cluster mass.
Pulsational activity changes in the Cepheid Polaris (α UMi) during 2017–2018: a new amplitude decrease
Authors: Usenko I A , Kovtyukh V V , Miroshnichenko A S , Danford S , Prendergast P
Published: September 2018

We present an analysis of 67 recent spectra of α UMi (Polaris) obtained in 2017 August–2018 May. Frequency analysis reveals an increase in the pulsation period to $3{{^{\rm d}_{.}}}970662$ relative to our 2016/17 observations. The radial velocity amplitude was found to be 3.87 $\mathrm{\, km\, s}^{-1}$  in the last half of 2017, but dropped to 2.80 $\mathrm{\, km\, s}^{-1}$ during the first half of 2018. In comparison with 4.16 $\mathrm{\, km\, s}^{-1}$ observed by us in 2015, the observations reveal a new decrease in pulsation amplitude. Such a result is unexpected given that a gradual amplitude growth was evident during the last decade. The average values of ${T_{\rm eff}\, }$ were found to be 6017 K and 6039 K, respectively, but the ${T_{\rm eff}\, }$ amplitude has increased despite the decrease in radial velocity amplitude. Possibly that could be explained by the presence of starspots on the Cepheid’s surface.
Women, Gender, and Conservatism in Twentieth-Century America
Authors: Nickerson Michelle
Published: September 2018

Women have participated in conservative movement politics throughout the twentieth century. From opposition mounted against Progressive-era health and welfare legislation to protests against Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal to culture war battles with feminists, conservative women have never completely ceded the right side of the political spectrum to men. Essentialist notions of what is “natural” to women, their bodies, and their connection to children and the family, have been the basis of conservative female politics throughout the twentieth century and beyond. Women on the right have drawn from a corpus of beliefs, ideals, and assumptions passed down from generations of political forbears about the natural conservatism of women—an intuitive drive to protect the young and bring calm to the space around them. This chapter examines the impact of that ideology, in its various iterations, over the course of the twentieth century.
Women’s Labors in Industrial and Postindustrial America
Authors: Boris Eileen , Vapnek Lara
Published: September 2018

Feminist struggles for better jobs and rights at work shaped women’s labor history, a project that proclaimed that the history of work and workers was incomplete without understanding the relationship between unpaid domestic labor and employment. Despite the uneven trajectory of women’s labor in a diverse nation, three major themes characterize the history of gender, work, and capitalist development. First, the persistent power of gender on the structure of work meant that employers and policymakers classified women’s labor as unskilled, supplemental, and an extension of women’s “natural” roles as wives and mothers. Second, women’s calls for dignity and improved wages and working conditions included ethnic associations, women’s clubs, and mixed-sex and women-only unions. Third, state policies offered some women protection but made few strides toward equity, which would require acknowledging women’s differential family responsibilities and establishing decent standards for all workers, including those employed in households and in agriculture.
Sexual Minorities and Sexual Rights
Authors: Gallo Marcia M.
Published: September 2018

The creation of specific terminologies and identities that define people based on their sexual desires can be traced to the late nineteenth century. As researchers and medical experts popularized binary categories in the early decades of the twentieth century, some women who loved other women challenged the norms and began to organize. They made connections between women’s defiance of gender norms and their ability to secure equal rights, including sexual rights. Activists in the mid-twentieth century challenged restrictions on sexual expression and behavior. While LGBTQI movements continue to emphasize the significance of gender nonconformity, activists also insist on the primacy of sexual fluidity and the complex global connections of bodies, genders, and sexualities due to race and ethnicity, language, religion, and age, as well as socioeconomic, carceral, and citizenship statuses.
Women, Unfree Labor, and Slavery in the Atlantic World
Authors: Fuentes Marisa J.
Published: September 2018

This chapter focuses on various and comparative experiences of different populations of women in unfree labor systems in the early modern Atlantic world, beginning with indigenous women in the Americas who suffered the violent consequences of Spanish conquest. It discusses gendered contexts shaping slavery in West Africa, the Caribbean, and South America; the expansion of the Atlantic slave trade; and the consequences for unfree and free women in different communities of North America during the period of international trade in human beings. It centers the experience of sexual exploitation inherent in labor systems in which women brokered no power over their bodies and reproductive lives, elucidating the limitations of archives in which women’s perspectives are largely silenced. Efforts at evacuating the lives of marginalized women from the silences in the archives have offered new insights into women’s lives and changed understandings about everyday experience in the early modern Atlantic world.
Women and Conquest in the American West
Authors: González Deena J.
Published: September 2018

Spanish-Mexican and Native/indigenous women of the borderland territories that became the US West created lives circumscribed by conquest, resistance, and decolonization. Their ability to survive was based on defying stereotypes about who they were, accessing structures, building resources to circumvent hostility and violence, and resisting inequities by sustaining a presence in the written record that slowly is being recovered. White settler women enabled Manifest Destiny, but a few demonstrated degrees of cultural understanding despite the stringent racialism and distrust that their migration originally engendered. Women of color and Euro-American women interacted both violently and peacefully. Key to knowing their stories, particularly of poor or non-English speaking women, is the difficult work of archival recovery and discovery.
The Labor Productivity of Family Firms
Authors: Firfiray Shainaz , Larraza-Kintana Martin , Gómez-Mejía Luis R.
Published: September 2018

This chapter analyzes the relationship between family control of the firm and its labor productivity. It builds upon the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective of family firms to develop a set of propositions that connect SEW priorities, trust, leadership style, nonfamily managers, and the implementation of high performance work practices with labor productivity. The authors argue that SEW priorities warrant adoption of a set of policies and behaviors among the controlling family managers that shape the behaviors and attitudes of the workforce, and these in turn affect labor productivity. This model helps explain observed differences in labor productivity between family and nonfamily firms across different firm sizes, as well as differences in labor productivity among family firms.
Innovation, Management Practices, and Productivity
Authors: Benner Mary J.
Published: September 2018

Economics scholars have studied innovation as the “residual” in explaining productivity growth. Other research has examined the influence of programs like Six Sigma or ISO 9000, practices expected to directly improve efficiency and productivity within firms. Separately, management research has explored the idea that practices focused on process improvement can shift an organization’s focus toward incremental innovation, “crowding out” more radical, exploratory innovation. Thus, a full assessment of the influence of both innovation and management practices on productivity must consider how management practices—adopted specifically to improve operational efficiency—influence innovation. This chapter combines insights from three largely disparate research streams, highlighting the tensions and the potentially unintended longer-term effects of particular management practices on innovation. The chapter sheds light on the tension between improvement in firm-level productivity, innovation, and aggregate productivity growth, provides alternative explanations for results from prior research, and suggests some directions for future research.
The World KLEMS Initiative
Authors: Jorgenson Dale W.
Published: September 2018

The World KLEMS Initiative generates industry-level data on outputs, inputs, and productivity. Productivity is output per unit of all inputs. The inputs consist of the primary factors of production—capital (K) and labor (L)—and the intermediate inputs: energy (E), materials (M), and services (S). Industry-level data are indispensable for analyzing the sources of economic growth. Productivity gaps between two countries are defined in terms of differences in productivity levels. These differences are measured by linking productivity levels for each country by purchasing power parities for outputs and inputs. The large productivity gap between the United States and Japan in 1955 gradually closed until 1995. Since then, Japanese productivity has been stagnant, while US productivity has continued to grow. The widening productivity gap can be traced to a small number of sectors, mainly in trade and services.
Theoretical Productivity Indices
Authors: Russell R. Robert
Published: September 2018

Theoretical productivity indices provide a framework for comparing productivity levels over time or across economic units. Prominent approaches—generalizations of the classic Solow model of technical change to encompass multiple outputs—have come to be known as the Malmquist index and the Hicks-Moorsteen index. The former employs radial distance functions to measure productivity change in either input or output space, whereas the latter employs ratios of radial distance functions in each space to measure the relative change. When production below the frontier is taken into account, the Malmquist index decomposes naturally into the effects of shifts in the production frontier and changes in inefficiency. Other decomposition concepts encompass components like scale effects. Nonradial measures of productivity change in the full input–output space have been formulated using hyperbolic and directional distance functions. Also discussed are dual productivity indices (employing cost and revenue functions) and aggregation of productivity indices across economic units.
Productivity and Financial Performance
Authors: Grifell-Tatjé Emili , Lovell C.A. Knox
Published: September 2018

This chapter explores the relationship between productivity and financial performance, primarily at the level of an individual business. It begins by decomposing profit change into price and quantity drivers, under alternative accounting treatments of operating surplus. The chapter considers a range of related issues, including the drivers of productivity change, the distribution of the value productivity that change creates, problems associated with missing or distorted prices, complications caused by fluctuating exchange rates, and the use of price change to measure productivity change. In addition to profit, it considers alternative measures of financial performance, such as return on assets and unit cost. The chapter concludes by pointing to some topics deserving of further research.
Sociolinguistics
Authors: Modarresi Yahya
Published: September 2018

The present chapter is an overview of sociolinguistic studies in the Persian-speaking territory with an emphasis on Iran and is divided into two general parts. In the first part, different aspects of Persian sociolinguistics are discussed at the macro level and issues such as dialect studies, and language contact in the Persian-speaking area are briefly reviewed. In the second part, some issues such as social variations in Persian, change in progress and standard varieties of Persian are briefly analysed at the micro level. The main focus of this chapter therefore, is on language diversity in a multilingual area in general, and social and regional variations in the Persian-speaking area in particular.
Neurolinguistics
Authors: Nilipour Reza
Published: September 2018

This chapter summarizes some first neurolinguistic studies conducted in Persian, using patholinguistic data taken from monolingual and bilingual brain-damaged patients, as well as five first neuroimaging studies in healthy native speakers of Persian. The patholinguistic data are extracted from formal clinical linguistic assessments of a heterogeneous group of brain-damaged patients with different etiologies and brain lesion sites. The data are indicative of general agrammatic features of ‘syntactic simplification’ and ‘morphological regression’ reported in cross-language studies, along with language-particular agrammatic features in spoken and written modalities for Persian consequent to brain damage. The present patholinguistic data are also suggestive of a ‘non-unitary’ model of aphasia as a symptom complex phenomenon with disruptions of independent linguistic levels consequent to different lesion sites. The data are not supportive of independent production and comprehension language centres claimed in ‘classical model’ of brain and language but in support of new non-narrow localization brain–language models.
Phonetics
Authors: Ghavami Golnaz Modarresi
Published: September 2018

This chapter discusses the articulatory and acoustic properties of the sound system of Standard Modern Persian. It starts with a brief review of early work on the sound system of New Persian and its development into Modern Persian. The second section examines consonants and vowels in Standard Modern Persian. In this section, issues such as place and manner of articulation of consonants, Voice Onset Time and its importance in distinguishing voiced and voiceless obstruents, the acoustics of glottal consonants, sibilant and non-sibilant fricatives, and rhotics are discussed. The section on vowels addresses vowel space, vowel length, and the acoustics of diphthongs in Standard Modern Persian. The phonetics of the suprasegmental features of stress and intonation are the topic a final section in this chapter.
Prosody
Authors: Kahnemuyipour Arsalan
Published: September 2018

This chapter provides an overview of the prosody of the Persian language. The chapter starts with a discussion of word stress, which is known to be word-final in all categories other than the verb. It is shown that stress in the verbal domain is no exception to the word-final stress but a reflex of stress at the phrasal level in this domain. In the process, the chapter also explores a handful of words with exceptional non-final stress and provides a brief overview of the interaction between stress and information structure in Persian. The chapter ends with a discussion of the phonetics of Persian prosody, focusing on the phonetic correlates of prosodic prominence in the language and a brief overview of intonation in Persian.
The Johannine Literature and the Gnostics
Authors: Logan Alastair H. B.
Published: September 2018

This chapter is based on an understanding of the terms ‘gnōsis’ and ‘Gnostic’ which embraces both mythological and non-mythological texts. It argues for the key significance of the early gnostic Cerinthus for the genesis of the Johannine literature and presents a roughly chronological treatment first of non-Valentinian, then Valentinian, representatives of gnōsis and their knowledge and use of Johannine material, evaluating the claim that the latter were the first to consider John’s Gospel as authoritative, thereby causing Johannophobia among the ‘orthodox’. It will suggest that the Johannine literature was largely peripheral for Gnostics, apart from the Valentinians, and that, while a minority of Gnostics accepted and used Johannine literature as authoritative to support their own theologies, the majority adopted a more critical and supersessionary attitude. Even the Valentinians, closest to the Catholics, tended to focus their attention on the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel.
Symbolism and ‘Signs’ in the Fourth Gospel
Authors: Lee Dorothy A.
Published: September 2018

This chapter explores the symbolism of the Fourth Gospel. It demonstrates that religious symbol is substantial rather than decorative, containing cognitive meaning as well as affective impact. The metaphors of the gospel are linguistic forms of symbolism, apparent in the seven ‘I am’ sayings of the Gospel and in the use of the five senses as metaphors of faith. Johannine symbolism is inextricably linked to the narrative out of which it emerges. John’s symbols are not of equal value, some playing a core role in the narrative. The ‘signs’ or miracles of the Gospel are also important, functioning as Johannine symbols in revealing the divine glory in Jesus and summoning the reader to faith. The cross is the greatest of the Johannine ‘signs’. Theologically, the incarnation lies at the basis of John’s symbolism: the conviction that divine glory is apprehended in and through the flesh.
Dualism and the World in the Gospel and Letters of John
Authors: Frey Jörg
Published: September 2018

The article first discusses definitions of the term dualism on the basis of its usage in modern scholarship, including a taxonomy of various types of dualistic oppositions in early Jewish and early Christian texts. In the second section, the author provides a brief sketch of the application of the term in Johannine studies, especially in the Bultmann school and in the debate on the influence of Qumran texts and ideas. He then describes various elements of dualistic language in the Gospel and the Epistles of John, including names of eschatological opponents, the spatial categories of above and below, the metaphoric language of light and darkness, the notion of a final eschatological destiny of life or death, and the opposition of the community and the world. On the basis of those observations, the function of the dualistic language elements in the Gospel and Epistles of John is determined.
Eschatology and Time in the Gospel of John
Authors: Zimmermann Ruben
Published: September 2018

The article discusses the complex issue of time and eschatology in the Fourth Gospel. To get a grip on John’s eschatology it is necessary to take seriously John’s own use of language, and not to let the issue be determined solely by categories or terms (such as ‘eschatology’ and ‘apocalypticism’) introduced by scholars. It is essential to understand John’s eschatology as an aspect of the Gospel’s broader concept of time and the way in which this concept is given linguistic expression. This approach allows more recent, in particular narratological, methods to be applied to determine the Gospel’s concept of time. The article addresses the following topics: present and future eschatology in recent scholarship; the fusion of temporal horizons in the Farewell Discourses; motifs of time and eschatology, such as ‘the hour’, ‘the last day’, and ‘eternal life’; time and narration in John; and implications for John’s theology and ethics.
Literary Sources of the Gospel and Letters of John
Authors: Labahn Michael
Published: September 2018

This chapter investigates the suspicion among New Testament scholars that the author (or the authors) of the Gospel (and Epistles) of John used already written sources which he himself (or they themselves) did not write. Various models of Johannine source criticism are sketched on the basis of selected examples. The chapter delineates the weaknesses and strengths of the source-critical approach on its own terms and to draw conclusions from them for future work. The critical evaluation shows above all that the issue of the literary and non-literary (oral) pre-history of the Johannine writings (‘diachronic’ investigation of the texts) remains an important consideration in Johannes research. Nevertheless, this approach has in the future to take into account more prominently than before the final text and its design (‘synchronic’ investigation of the texts).
Ethics in Community in the Gospel and Letters of John
Authors: der Watt Jan van
Published: September 2018

At the beginning of the twenty-first century the question of ethics in John came under renewed consideration. As scholars applied more comprehensive analytical categories to the Gospel and Letters of John significant data became available related to the ethical dynamics of the Gospel. Reading the Gospel as narrative and reflecting on certain socio-historical and theological realities, scholars discovered that the interrelatedness between identity and behaviour is basic to the ethical thinking of John. This identity is expressed in metaphorical terms derived from familial, juridical, friendship, and royal language. The importance of ancient ethically related features, common to ordinary popular moral philosophy, like mimesis or reciprocity, are also highlighted as being part of the ethical dynamics in John. Obviously, the two major foci remain the Law and the love commandment.