bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hepatic TRPC3 loss contributes to chronic alcohol consumption-induced hepatic steatosis and liver injury in mice
Authors: Ding Qinchao , Guo Rui , Hao Liuyi , Song Qing , Fu Ai , Lai Shanglei , Xu Tiantian , Zhuge Hui , Chang Kaixin , Chen Yanli , Wei Haibin , Ren Daxi , Sun Zhaoli , Song Zhenyuan , Dou Xiaobing , Li Songtao
Published: December 2023

Emerging evidence discloses the involvement of calcium channel protein in the pathological process of liver diseases. Transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily C member 3 (TRPC3), a ubiquitously expressed non-selective cation channel protein, controls proliferation, inflammation, and immune response via operating calcium influx in various organs. However, our understanding on the biofunction of hepatic TRPC3 is still limited. The present study aims to clarify the role and potential mechanism(s) of TRPC3 in alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD). We recently found that TRPC3 expression plays an important role in the disease process of ALD. Alcohol exposure led to a significant reduction of hepatic TRPC3 in patients with alcohol-related hepatitis (AH) and ALD models. Antioxidants (N-acetylcysteine and mitoquinone) intervention improved alcohol-induced suppression of TRPC3 via a miR-339-5p-involved mechanism. TRPC3 loss robustly aggravated the alcohol-induced hepatic steatosis and liver injury in mouse liver; this was associated with the suppression of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase 2 (CAMKK2)/AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and dysregulation of genes related to lipid metabolism. TRPC3 loss also enhanced hepatic inflammation and early fibrosis-like change in mice. Replenishing hepatic TRPC3 effectively reversed chronic alcohol-induced detrimental alterations in ALD mice. Briefly, chronic alcohol exposure-induced TRPC3 reduction contributes to the pathological development of ALD via suppression of the CAMKK2/AMPK pathway. Oxidative stress-stimulated miR-339-5p upregulation contributes to alcohol-reduced TRPC3. TRPC3 is the requisite and a potential target to defend alcohol consumption-caused ALD.
Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis, Psychological Health, and Quality of Life After Lower Limb Injury in U.S. Service Members
Authors: Farrokhi Shawn , Gunterstockman Brittney Mazzone , Hendershot Brad D , Russell Esposito Elizabeth , McCabe Cameron T , Watrous Jessica R
Published: December 2023

Introduction

The aims of this project were to assess (1) the prevalence and timing of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) after a traumatic lower limb injury, (2) the risk of PTOA based on injury type, and (3) the association of PTOA with psychological health and quality of life (QoL).

Materials and Methods

The Wounded Warrior Recovery Project (WWRP) database and the Expeditionary Medical Encounters Dataset were queried to identify service members injured during deployment. The Military Health System Data Repository was utilized to extract medical record data to identify individuals with PTOA. Data on PTSD, depression symptoms, and QoL were extracted from the WWRP.

Results

Of the 2,061 WWRP participants with lower limb injuries, 124 (6%) were diagnosed with PTOA, with first PTOA diagnosis occurring 3.8 ± 3.1 years after injury. Of the injury categories identified, only fractures were associated with high odds of lower limb PTOA (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 3.92, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.38, 6.44). Individuals with PTOA diagnoses reported lower QoL scores relative to those without PTOA (F(1,2057) = 14.21, B = −0.05, P < .05). Additionally, rates of PTSD and depression symptoms were high but not different between those with or without PTOA.

Conclusions

Despite a low prevalence of lower limb PTOA in our study, fractures increased the risk of PTOA after deployment-related injuries. Additionally, those with PTOA reported lower QoL scores relative to those without PTOA. The findings of this study highlight the personalized needs of patients with trauma beyond just the repair of the immediate injury.
Analysis of cytosine deamination events in excision repair sequencing reads reveals mechanisms of incision site selection in NER
Authors: Morledge-Hampton Benjamin , Kalyanaraman Ananth , Wyrick John J
Published: December 2023

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) removes helix-distorting DNA lesions and is therefore critical for genome stability. During NER, DNA is unwound on either side of the lesion and excised, but the rules governing incision site selection, particularly in eukaryotic cells, are unclear. Excision repair-sequencing (XR-seq) sequences excised NER fragments, but analysis has been limited because the lesion location is unknown. Here, we exploit accelerated cytosine deamination rates in UV-induced CPD (cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer) lesions to precisely map their locations at C to T mismatches in XR-seq reads, revealing general and species-specific patterns of incision site selection during NER. Our data indicate that the 5′ incision site occurs preferentially in HYV (i.e. not G; C/T; not T) sequence motifs, a pattern that can be explained by sequence preferences of the XPF-ERCC1 endonuclease. In contrast, the 3′ incision site does not show strong sequence preferences, once truncated reads arising from mispriming events are excluded. Instead, the 3′ incision is partially determined by the 5′ incision site distance, indicating that the two incision events are coupled. Finally, our data reveal unique and coupled NER incision patterns at nucleosome boundaries. These findings reveal key principles governing NER incision site selection in eukaryotic cells.
Radiotherapy intensification for atypical and malignant meningiomas: A systematic review
Authors: Gaito Simona , Goyal Love , Rieu Romelie , France Anna , Burnet Neil G , Barker Claire , Pan Shermaine , Colaco Rovel J , Minniti Giuseppe , Roncaroli Federico , Smith Ed , Aznar Marianne , Whitfield Gillian
Published: December 2023

Background

The outcomes of nonbenign (WHO Grades 2 and 3 [G2, G3]) meningiomas are suboptimal and radiotherapy (RT) dose intensification strategies have been investigated. The purpose of this review is to report on clinical practice and outcomes with particular attention to RT doses and techniques.

Methods

The PICO criteria (Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcomes) were used to frame the research question, directed at outlining the clinical outcomes in patients with G2−3 meningiomas treated with RT. The same search strategy was run in Embase and MEDLINE and, after deduplication, returned 1 807 records. These were manually screened for relevance and 25 were included.

Results

Tumor outcomes and toxicities are not uniformly reported in the selected studies since different endpoints and time points have been used by different authors. Many risk factors for worse outcomes are described, the most common being suboptimal RT. This includes no or delayed RT, low doses, and older techniques. A positive association between RT dose and progression-free survival (PFS) has been highlighted by analyzing the studies in this review (10/25) that report the same endpoint (5y-PFS).

Conclusions

This literature review has shown that standard practice RT leads to suboptimal tumor control rates in G2–3 meningiomas, with a significant proportion of disease recurring after a relatively short follow-up. Randomized controlled trials are needed in this setting to define the optimal RT approach. Given the increasing data to suggest a benefit of higher RT doses for high-risk meningiomas, novel RT technologies with highly conformal dose distributions are preferential to achieve optimal target coverage and organs at risk sparing.
Exploring the physiological factors relating to energy balance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a scoping review
Authors: Nguo Kay , McGowan Margaret , Cowan Stephanie , Davidson Zoe , Pirotta Stephanie , Dordevic Aimee L , Teede Helena , Hajishafiee Maryam , Carmichael Mikaeli , Moran Lisa J
Published: December 2023

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) occurs in 8%-13% of reproductive-aged women and is associated with reproductive, metabolic, and psychological dysfunction. Overweight and obesity are prevalent and exacerbate the features of PCOS. The aim of this review is to evaluate the extent of evidence examining the physiological factors affecting energy homeostasis, which may impact weight gain, weight loss, and weight maintenance in PCOS, and identify research gaps and recommendations for future research. Literature searches using MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycInfo, AMED, CINAHL, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were conducted up to June 22, 2022. Abstracts, non–English-language articles, and reviews were excluded. A total of n = 78 (n = 55 energy intake and n = 23 energy expenditure) primary research papers were included. Papers with multiple outcomes of interest were counted as separate studies. Energy-intake studies (n = 89) focussed on assessing food, nutrient, or supplements stimuli and were grouped into the outcomes of gastrointestinal appetite hormones (n = 43), adipokines (n = 34), subjective appetite (n = 9), functional brain imaging (n = 3), and neuropeptides (n = 0). Energy-expenditure studies (n = 29) were grouped into total energy expenditure (n = 1), resting energy expenditure (n = 15), meal-induced thermogenesis (n = 3), nutrient oxidation (n = 5), and metabolic flexibility (n = 5). Across both energy-intake and -expenditure papers, 60% of the studies compared outcome responses in women with PCOS with a control group. Results were inconsistent, with 57% reporting no differences and 43% reporting altered responses in PCOS compared with controls, including blunted appetite hormone responses, metabolic inflexibility, and reduced energy expenditure. The authors identified that there is inconsistent, yet preliminary, evidence of possible altered physiological factors, which may impact energy balance and weight management. Further work is needed to act on the identified clinical and research gaps to support women with PCOS and health professionals in informing and achieving realistic weight-management goals for women with PCOS.

Systematic Review Registration

The protocol was prospectively registered on the Open Science Framework on February 16, 2021 (https://osf.io/9jnsm).
Efficacy and Safety of Panitumumab in Patients With RAF/RAS-Wild-Type Glioblastoma: Results From the Drug Rediscovery Protocol
Authors: Spiekman Ilse A C , Geurts Birgit S , Zeverijn Laurien J , de Wit Gijs F , van der Noort Vincent , Roepman Paul , de Leng Wendy W J , Jansen Anne M L , Kusters Benno , Beerepoot Laurens V , de Vos Filip Y F L , de Groot Derk-Jan A , de Groot Jan Willem B , Hoeben Ann , Buter Jan , Gelderblom Hans A J , Voest Emile E , Verheul Henk M W
Published: December 2023

Background

The prognosis of malignant primary high-grade brain tumors, predominantly glioblastomas, is poor despite intensive multimodality treatment options. In more than 50% of patients with glioblastomas, potentially targetable mutations are present, including rearrangements, altered splicing, and/or focal amplifications of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) by signaling through the RAF/RAS pathway. We studied whether treatment with the clinically available anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody panitumumab provides clinical benefit for patients with RAF/RAS-wild-type (wt) glioblastomas in the Drug Rediscovery Protocol (DRUP).

Methods

Patients with progression of treatment refractory RAF/RASwt glioblastoma were included for treatment with panitumumab in DRUP when measurable according to RANO criteria. The primary endpoints of this study are clinical benefit (CB: defined as confirmed objective response [OR] or stable disease [SD] ≥ 16 weeks) and safety. Patients were enrolled using a Simon-like 2-stage model, with 8 patients in stage 1 and up to 24 patients in stage 2 if at least 1 in 8 patients had CB in stage 1.

Results

Between 03-2018 and 02-2022, 24 evaluable patients were treated. CB was observed in 5 patients (21%), including 2 patients with partial response (8.3%) and 3 patients with SD ≥ 16 weeks (12.5%). After median follow-up of 15 months, median progression-free survival and overall survival were 1.7 months (95% CI 1.6-2.1 months) and 4.5 months (95% CI 2.9-8.6 months), respectively. No unexpected toxicities were observed.

Conclusions

Panitumumab treatment provides limited CB in patients with recurrent RAF/RASwt glioblastoma precluding further development of this therapeutic strategy.
Domestic Violence, Religion, and Migration
Authors: Istratii Romina
Published: December 2023

The effects of religious beliefs in the domestic violence experience of migrant communities has been increasingly documented in recent years. The current chapter aims to delineate the nuanced relationship between domestic violence, faith, and migration by discussing the available evidence and extracting key implications on appropriate faith-sensitive interventions. It proceeds with a decolonial reflexivity, recognizing that most research on domestic violence and religion emanated historically from Western societies, specifically the United States and Canada, and has been guided primarily by Anglo-American definitions and theorizations of religion and domestic violence, which can be limiting or inappropriate in non-Western tradition-oriented religious societies and their international diaspora and migrant communities. The need to embed religious belief systems in the cultural contexts of their historical development multi-dimensionally and to move toward more transboundary, culturally embedded, multilingually aware, and theologically informed approaches is stressed as a means to researching domestic violence and designing faith-sensitive interventions cross-culturally.
Dance in Calendrical Community Celebrations in Romania
Authors: Mellish Liz
Published: December 2023

Romania has a vast array of calendrical celebrations, customs, rituals, and festivals that can be divided into fixed date and variable date celebrations linked to the ecclesiastical calendar, the seasonal work cycle (including the interaction of the pastoral, agrarian, and viticulture calendars), or are annual secular commemorations of a particular person, group of people, or event. This chapter focuses on community calendrical celebrations that include dancing, both those that have a long history and those that have been inserted into the annual calendar more recently. These celebrations take place in all areas of Romania, in both villages and urban areas, and can include both participatory and presentational dances that form part of the overall event. These celebrations have retained their position in the annual calendar for many decades or centuries, although the details of each event have evolved over time, influenced by both internal and external factors.
Muslim Women’s Religious and Social Activism in Western Europe
Authors: Jouili Jeanette S.
Published: December 2023

This chapter charts the development of Muslim women’s activism in Europe from the 1970s to today. It describes in particular four domains of activism Muslim women tended to be involved in: first, activism concerned with empowering women within Muslim communities and within the broader societies; second, religious activism within Islamic communities and institutions; third, struggles around recognition and religious minority rights; and fourth, activism on other social and political issues. What emerges from this overview is that Muslim women’s activism in Europe (as elsewhere) circumscribes an extremely diverse field, with a number of different, even incommensurable concerns and agendas. These concerns and agendas are shaped in various ways by the particular socioeconomic conditions in which these women live and are often a response to the political discourses constructed about them in their respective societies.
The Qur’ān and Woman
Authors: Abugideiri Hibba
Published: December 2023

This chapter offers a fresh perspective on three of the most prominent female figures in the Qur’ān: Mary, Bilqīs, and Zulaykha. The signification of these women is reinterpreted through a proposed hermeneutic of seeing and unseeing gender that, on the one hand, reveals how woman and man play ontologically contingent and correlative parts in each of the three Qur’ānic stories, yet on the other hand, also upholds transcendental lessons of an undifferentiated spirituality. Situated within a broader God–human relationship that recovers notions of divine immanence and not just transcendence, this scriptural reading offers an alternative understanding of woman that challenges problematic interpretations by classical and medieval Qur’anic commentators.
Women’s Religious and Social Activism in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria
Authors: Brownson Elizabeth
Published: December 2023

In the scholarship on women’s Islamist and Islamic activism in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria, women’s empowerment and agency are recurring themes, however, conceptions of empowerment are contested. Studies range from cautiously asserting that Muslim women’s activism could potentially be empowering to demonstrating that it is in fact empowering. Another major debate concerns the relationship between Islamists and secular feminists, and whether Islamists’ versions of Islam are compatible with women’s rights. Some scholars describe Islamist and feminist convictions as posing an unbridgeable gap, while others show that dialogue has occurred in the past and suggest further common ground is possible. This chapter first examines studies on women’s Islamic activism that describe different degrees of women’s empowerment in Palestine and Lebanon, then it explores the debate on Islamist versus secular activists in Palestine. Finally, it analyzes research on female mosque instructors in Syria and Palestine through the lens of women’s empowerment.
Women as Littérateurs in the Premodern Period
Authors: Ali Samer M.
Published: December 2023

Scholars in the West have been reluctant to acknowledge the surprising literary production of women in Arabo-Islamic history, for a wide variety of reasons, some of which are racial. But paradoxically the paucity of scholarship becomes further reason to stereotype Muslims as backward. This chapter moves beyond biases and begins with the premise that littérateurs (udabāʾ) explicitly thought of literature as a means of educating the young and cultivating leadership. This shift in conception has major implications for research on women. This chapter addresses the many reasons why Islamicate women produced literature, and explores issues of reception and circulation in salons, and their consequences for educating women. Before the modern era, salons were the venue where audiences could learn about and engage heritage. In effect, the chapter shows how literature by women emerged, developed, and evolved, and the ways that professionals and amateurs curated heritage in order to educate girls and women and cultivate excellence and even leadership.
Accidental Cumulation in Studies of Clientelism, Vote Buying, and Governance
Authors: Golden Miriam A.
Published: December 2023

The current focus of political science and political economy research in less developed countries lies with problems of governance, with a strong focus on clientelism and specifically on vote buying. With the exception of the Metaketa research on information campaigns, investigations into these topics have proceeded without formal coordination and, for the most part, via individually designed case studies. Despite this disjointedness and informality, some findings seem to have cumulated. This chapter argues that the main novel results to have emerged from this research stream come from uncovering new facts rather than articulating new causal questions or providing new answers to established questions. Thanks to the use of relatively standardized survey instruments and improved sampling methods, case studies now provide precise quantitative estimates of the frequency of vote buying. However, the wide range of new data points suggests rethinking our understanding of previous causal investigations into vote buying may be necessary.
Challenges that Proprietary Research Poses for Meta-Analysis
Authors: Green Donald P. , Leavitt Thomas , Markovits Daniel
Published: December 2023

The social sciences in general and political science in particular have seen marked improvements in research transparency. Data-sharing, pre-analysis plans, and results-blind reviewing have helped improve the trustworthiness of research findings, which in turn has facilitated credible research syntheses. At the same time, the rapid growth of proprietary research conducted by or on behalf of private entities presents a new set of challenges. Proprietary research seldom adheres to best practices in terms of open data, pre-registration, or pre-analysis plans; moreover, results from an undisclosed set of studies may be selectively released to the public in order to advance the interests of the research sponsors. This chapter addresses the problems of inference that arise when meta-analysts attempt to synthesize a research literature that comes exclusively or partly from proprietary sources. The authors’ approach invokes a model of how proprietary organizations choose to disclose their results. Uncertainty over the parameters of this model implies that proprietary research should be down-weighted. This broad analytic argument is illustrated with reference to two experimental literatures on voter mobilization, one involving Facebook’s banner ads and another involving handwritten letters to voters. The chapter concludes by outlining procedural changes that can decrease the threat selective reporting poses to inference.
Mixed-Methods and Causal Mechanisms
Authors: Barnes Jeb , Weller Nicholas
Published: December 2023

The use of mixed-methods research to study causal mechanisms has become quite common in political science. However, there is little guidance about how to navigate the ontological, methodological, and epistemological issues that confront scholars attempting to use mixed-methods to learn about causal mechanisms. This chapter lays out how these different issues are related to each other, and how the choices we make for any one issue affect the choices across the other issues. The authors argue mixed-methods projects about causal mechanisms need to consider the following three issues: (1) a definition of mechanism; (2) the contribution of the large and small-N research approaches; and (3) a strategy for the aggregation of findings using either formal or heuristic Bayesian logic. The chapter sketches how these choices fit together and explores their breadth. It ends with some thoughts about the future of mixed-method, causal mechanism research and areas for further elaboration.
The Inferential Value of Pluralism
Authors: Strother Logan , Hitt Matthew P.
Published: December 2023

Identifying structural breaks in time series data—that is, pinpointing the moment(s) when the underlying data-generating process of a series changes—is centrally important for testing many types of theories in the social sciences, but also carries significant risks. Proper identification of structural breaks is critical for any time series analysis that investigates the effect of exogenous changes on some variable of interest. Yet the application of these methods is fraught with complex methodological tradeoffs. This chapter gathers data on universe of the Supreme Court’s “landmark” cases decided since 1970—146 cases in all—and finds no consistent evidence that any of these decisions caused a significant increase in media coverage to the underlying issue. When working in applied settings with the types of time series data typically available to social scientists, the chapter shows that extant methods for estimating and modeling with multiple unknown structural breaks frequently give rise to conflicting inferences. It uses the Court’s decision in City of New London v. Kelo to illustrate the importance of convergent validity in structural break analysis. The chapter ultimately argues that a pluralistic approach to the detection of structural breaks in data that span relatively short time horizons typical in applied research better suits the inferential challenge these data pose.
Methodologies for “Political Science as Problem Solving”
Authors: Samii Cyrus
Published: December 2023

The problem-solving approach to Political Science organizes research programs into three phases. First, one uses normative analysis and empirical description to establish a “problem”—that is, an observed fact pattern that violates one’s normative principles. Second, one uses observational-causal empirical methods to establish what types of mechanisms perpetuate the problem. Third, one designs and tests interventions aimed at mitigating the problem. Each of these phases draws in various ways on observational and experimental methods, descriptive and causal evidence, and on theory. The problem-solving approach is a way to let ethics, social utility, empirical rigor, and analytical precision guide the determination of research questions.
What Type of Data Are Images?
Authors: Webb Williams Nora
Published: December 2023

Images are an intriguing source of data for social scientists. Increasingly, the phrase “images as data” implies big data, digitized images, and quantitative analyses with elements of machine learning. This perspective, however, obscures the many other ways to conceive of what images are as data for social scientists. For example, big data, machine learning image researchers rely on labeled data to build classification algorithms. The process of labeling the data is essentially content analysis, a familiar tool to qualitative researchers. Thus, quantitative analyses are built on qualitative approaches, and both are a potentially valid way to use images to better understand the world. This chapter reviews current trends in images-as-data research while considering how the complicated nature of meaning derived from images lends itself to a pluralistic research approach. The chapter provides four guiding questions to use when embarking on or evaluating image research in political science.
Quantitative Content Analysis
Authors: Boydstun Amber E.
Published: December 2023

Quantitative content analysis methods are some of the most important tools in the political communication scholar’s evolving methodological toolkit. And with the rise of digital content and computational methods, it is more important than ever that these methods are treated with the same theoretical and methodological rigor that should be demanded of every other method. A meta-analysis shows the rising frequency of quantitative content analysis scholarship, but with disturbingly low rates of validity/reliability reports. This chapter offers suggestions for best practices to increase the validity, reliability, and transparency of this work. It closes by drawing attention to the exciting increase in availability of data and methods but also the resulting role that resources—both financial and technological—might play in defining the scope of questions content analysis scholars can ask and answer.
Pluralist View on Inequality from Luxemburg Income Study (LIS)
Authors: Checchi Daniele , Paradowski Piotr R.
Published: December 2023

The authors start by reviewing the history of the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), originating from an interdisciplinary project involving economists, sociologists, and political scientists, centered on the cross-country perspective in inequality analysis. They then conduct a meta-analysis of the papers produced by scholars who have taken advantage of the data availability, showing how the theme of income/wealth inequality has been differently addressed in the research conducted thank to free availability of LIS data. The analysis is based on 268 LIS/LWS working papers produced since 2013 by LIS data users. Inequality analysis, an elusive and multidimensional concept, cannot become prerogative of a specific discipline or school of thought, favoring a pluralist approach to the topic. As a consequence, we present how four academic communities (economists, sociologists, social policy, and political scientists) adopt different methodological perspectives in terms of unit of analysis (the individual, the household, or the community), heterogeneity (by gender, age, race, education), outcomes (income, wealth, consumption, education, employment, and work hours, fertility), institutional framework (household, firm, local labor markets, nations) and methodological approach (poverty, inequality, income shares).
Gender, Sex, and Methodological Pluralism
Authors: Ondercin Heather L.
Published: December 2023

Sex and/or gender are complex and evolving concepts where our theoretical understanding does not always map onto how they are employed in the political world. This complexity creates a series of challenges for scholars. A pluralistic methodological approach benefits the study of gender, sex, and politics. This article demonstrates the different methodological approaches employed by gender and politics scholars and the methodological approaches that have yet to be fully integrated into the subfield. Drawing on our theoretical understanding of sex and gender, this article argues that scholars need to clarify our theorizing and measurement of gender and/or sex. In particular, attempts to separate the concepts of sex and gender overlook how politics defines and constructs sex-based categories. More careful theorizing should lead to stronger connections between our theoretical understanding of gender and our methodological choices and empirical measures of gender and/or sex. This article concludes by offering recommendations to guide research on gender and politics.
Methodological Pluralism in Political Science
Authors: della Porta Donatella , Keating Michael
Published: December 2023

This chapter reviews contributions to the debate on methodological pluralism in the light of developments since the publication of our Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences. Reviewing the debates on ontologies, epistemologies, approaches, methodologies, and methods in the social sciences we point to a nuanced and complex picture of multiple positions that do not easily align around a main conflict line. The pluralist perspective rejects the idea that the various choices are as exclusive as sometimes presented. It challenges the natural science analogy on the grounds that the natural sciences are misrepresented and that social science is in any case different. It argues that there is no determinate relationship such that one school will consistently choose the same options all the way through from epistemology to method. Assumptions about how we can capture the reality—and how much of it—vary in more subtle ways. It is possible to encompass much of the field, not by imposing a single paradigm, but rather by setting certain standards of argumentation and debate while recognizing that there are differences in approaches and types of evidence. These do not inevitably constitute fundamentally different worldviews, but nor at they necessarily all compatible. While methodological pluralism is sometimes reduced to “mixed methods” which can entail mere combinations of data sources, the aim is to address a broader challenge by showing how approaches may be combined or synthesized all the way through the continuum.
An Introduction to Neural Networks for the Social Sciences
Authors: Lin Gechun , Lucas Christopher
Published: December 2023

Social scientists now regularly employ computational models, most often to create proxy variables for theoretical concepts that are difficult to observe directly. This chapter discusses how the application of these models differs from traditional quantitative methods common to the social sciences. It then introduces a particular method—neural networks—by building from a model familiar to social scientists: logistic regression. To build intuition about how neural networks flexibly approximate complex functions, the chapter compares the performance of logistic regression to neural networks in a simple simulation. It then further demonstrates the flexibility of neural networks by introducing convolutional and recurrent neural networks and their application to image and text classification, respectively. Throughout, the chapter relates approaches to machine learning with neural networks to common statistical practices in social science. It concludes with a discussion of new methodological challenges posed by reliance on neural networks and open areas of research.
Interest Groups
Authors: Mach André , Eichenberger Steven
Published: December 2023

This chapter recounts the historical development of the Swiss system of interest intermediation. It discusses the central role of interest groups in the Swiss political system. After their creation at the end of the nineteenth century, the major economic interest groups (business interest associations and trade unions) could rely on the financial support of the federal state to fund their secretariat. They helped an incipient federal state extend its reach and thus forged themselves a key role in the Swiss political system, which was strengthened throughout the twentieth century. Even nowadays, they dispose of considerable resources in comparison to political parties, in terms of finance, membership, and expertise, and actively intervene in the different phases of the Swiss decision-making process. The chapter is structured as follows: after a first section on the creation of the major Swiss interest groups, it analyses the institutionalization of their relations with the political authorities at the federal level and the intertwining of the public and private spheres. It then examines their influence in the major political arenas (administration, parliament, and direct democracy). The next section presents and discusses the relevance of the neo-corporatist model applied to Switzerland. Finally, the last section delves into recent changes since the 1990s, marked by important changes in the organization and political strategies of interest groups in a context of growing globalization and mediatization of Swiss politics.
Implementation and Evaluation of Public Policies
Authors: Balthasar Andreas
Published: December 2023

In Switzerland, policy implementation is determined by the strongly federalist structure of the state. Two factors are decisive. First, bottom-up federalism assigns responsibility to the cantons for all tasks that the constitution does not explicitly allocate to the federal state. This means that the cantons are responsible for designing and implementing key tasks such as education or health care. Second, the cantons are also in charge of implementing many policies designed on the federal level, such as agricultural or migration policy. The pronounced Swiss federalism leads to implementation models and intensities that may vary greatly from canton to canton. Implementation research assesses this phenomenon differently. On the one hand, it has been shown that federalism can contribute to increasing the acceptance and effectiveness of policy measures through canton-specific implementation. On the other hand, federalism can cause implementation deficits or even non-implementation of national policies in the cantons. This impairs the equal treatment of citizens in Switzerland. The Swiss ‘federalist laboratory’ offers opportunities to identify and test different implementation models. The diversity of implementation in Switzerland also provides an excellent basis for evaluation research. Cantonal comparative studies make valuable contributions to assessing the effectiveness of policy measures. In addition, the Swiss federal constitution stipulates the obligation to have the effectiveness of laws systematically evaluated. This has facilitated an in-depth scientific reflection on the contribution of evaluation as an instrument of legitimacy and control in a democratic state.
Switzerland and the European Union
Authors: Wasserfallen Fabio
Published: December 2023

Switzerland has a unique relationship with the European Union (EU). Through more than 120 bilateral agreements, Switzerland is integrated into parts of the single market, is an associate member of Schengen and Dublin, and participates in multiple EU programmes. This model of integration has been developed over the last three decades but remains highly contested, as the EU is one of the most salient topics in Swiss politics. Moreover, the recent developments in the EU and Switzerland politically alienated both sides. This chapter provides an analysis of Swiss integration into the EU, the politicization of the EU in Switzerland, and the perspective of the EU on the joint relations. The final part highlights how the relationship further deteriorated. Despite all the difficulties, however, both sides have a vital interest in comprehensive and deep relations.
Research, Technology, and Innovation Policies
Authors: Baschung Lukas , Leresche Jean-Philippe
Published: December 2023

A multi-level governance approach is necessary to understand the small but very successful Swiss research and innovation system. Switzerland has taken a liberal political approach to its development, whereby the federal government has left the competence for research policy to its regional governments and to a stronger politically coordinated research system with an unusually high number of actors that are divided territorially and functionally. In parallel, although Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, it has succeeded in integrating itself into the European Research Area, which has positively contributed to its innovation capacity. However, due to political conflicts with the European Union, the well-balanced Swiss governance system of the research and innovation field and the field’s high capacity are seriously threatened.
The Political Culture of Switzerland in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Freitag Markus , Zumbrunn Alina
Published: December 2023

This chapter focuses on political culture in Switzerland and in an international comparison. It starts with a discussion on political culture as an object of research, followed by a brief summary of measurement and available data on political culture. Finally, we survey political culture in Switzerland and compare the results with other European countries. Switzerland is especially interesting as an object of investigation, since it consists of three linguistically, culturally, religiously, and regionally different groups and can thus be seen as a microcosm of Europe. Following the research tradition of Almond and Verba, we define political culture as a ‘particular distribution of patterns of orientation toward political objects among the members of the nation’ and investigate attitudes toward the system as a whole (polity culture), attitudes toward the political process (politics culture), and attitudes toward political issues (policy culture). Evaluating survey data, we reach the following two main findings: First, attitudes toward democracy and the political system, as well as toward the institutions and actors in the political process, have been characterized by a high degree of stability in Switzerland over the past decades. Second, our analysis shows that Switzerland has a particularly strong approval of democracy and is characterized by a high degree of trust and political participation compared with other European countries. Switzerland, with its particularly pronounced direct democracy, is thus a haven for a political culture with a great deal of support and trust.
An Outside Perspective on Swiss Politics. How Successful is Switzerland’s Political System?
Authors: Obinger Herbert
Published: December 2023

From a comparative perspective, this concluding chapter looks at the performance and the legitimacy of the Swiss political system. It is argued that Switzerland, more than almost any other country in the world, has realized the ideal of government by the people and for the people. Nowhere else do citizens have such extensive opportunities to participate in the political decision-making process, and there are very few countries that have a similarly strong track record as Switzerland across all policy areas. The unique rights of citizens in political decision-making and the excellent performance of the political system are closely related. In conjunction with consensus democracy, they generate an extraordinarily high degree of input and output legitimacy, which is the root cause for political stability and peaceful coexistence in a multi-dimensionally fragmented society.
Switzerland
Authors: Linder Wolf , Mueller Sean
Published: December 2023

Contrary to widespread assumptions, Switzerland has not always been as peaceful, prosperous, and politically inclusive as it appears today. This chapter analyses how the Swiss polity achieved the political integration of a society that consisted of peoples speaking different languages, practising different religions, and possessing different cultural origins. Achieving national unity in 1848 was accompanied by violence and conflict between the constituent cantons. At the intersection of three main European cultures (French, German, Italian) and torn between Catholicism and Protestantism, the path to societal integration was a long and troublesome one. Proportionality and power-sharing were critical elements for success. This chapter discusses their evolution and explains their effects on political integration. While each institutional change came with integration benefits for specific groups, none of them was achieved without a struggle that, in some cases, lasted for decades. We conclude with the question of what significance Switzerland, as a ‘paradigmatic case of political integration’, may have for other socially fragmented societies.
Legal Traditions and Their Relation to Judicial Behaviour
Authors: Garoupa Nuno
Published: December 2023

The attitudinal model or the agency-based explanations are structured around individual preferences, incentives, and institutional interactions. Therefore, in general, their prescriptive implications are not conditional on a certain legal family. For example, the attitudinal model and the agency-based explanations do not rely on the traditional common law–civil law divide. Published in 1968, Dawson’s masterpiece, Oracles of the Law, influenced generations of comparative law scholars in addressing the relationship between judicial behaviour and legal traditions. The author argued that the distinction between common law and civil law explains how courts decide. This chapter integrates these two literatures—judicial politics and comparative law and finds that there is limited empirical evidence at the micro level assessing the impact of legal traditions on judicial behaviour.
How Personal Motivations Affect Judges’ Decisions
Authors: Epstein Lee , Knight Jack
Published: December 2023

Neither legal academics nor social scientists analyse judging solely through the ‘law versus politics’ dichotomy. They have instead expanded their theoretical toolkit to include four other approaches to judging, in addition to standard legalistic (law) and attitudinal (politics) accounts (all of which are covered in this Handbook). Here we focus on the labour market model, which emphasizes personal motivations for judicial choice, especially (i) job satisfaction, (ii) external satisfactions, (iii) leisure, (iv) salary, and (v) promotion. This chapter provides a brief introduction to the labour market model, with emphasis on the importance of the five key personal motivations. It then considers the motivations separately. For each of the key motivations, the chapter identifies the relevant literature and offers proposals for new research.
Network Analysis for the Comparative Study of Judicial Behaviour
Authors: Alschner Wolfgang
Published: December 2023

Network analysis facilitates the study of comparative judicial behaviour by reducing the complex social interplay of legal actors or the dense web of legal citations between judicial decisions to a set of nodes and ties. This simplification allows researchers to apply the theories, tools, and metrics of network analysis to law. As a result, they can reveal power brokers in legal networks or investigate how social structures affect normative change or inertia. Benefitting from the scalability of network tools, researchers can also explore thousands of citations to study empirically the rise and fall of precedent, to compare the use of prior case law across courts, or to challenge the conventional wisdom of textbooks on what constitutes a landmark case. Most importantly for this Handbook, network analysis helps researchers to study diverse courts and jurisdictions using the same tools and creating comparable results, which, in turn, informs our collective understanding of similarities and differences in judicial behaviour. This contribution introduces core network analysis concepts, showcases legal research on actor and document networks, and discusses challenges and promises of network analysis in law.
Lawyering in the Private Sector
Authors: Hsu Ching-Fang , Chang Yun-chien
Published: December 2023

This chapter reviews the literature on private sector lawyering. First summarizing a long line of literature following Marc Galanter’s 1974 classic, it explores studies that investigate whether attorney representation affects outcomes in judicial decisions, settlements, and other contexts, and why attorney representation matters. Then, this chapter gives an overview of the social science literature on the arrangement between attorneys and clients, in particular the fee arrangement and how selective lawyers are in bringing disputes to courts. Finally, this chapter argues that the future of the field of comparative lawyering behaviours lies in using research designs with cross-country data that brings us closer to the gold standard of causal inference. In particular, this chapter provides examples for each of the five such research designs (the most similar cases, the most different cases, prototypical cases, most difficult cases, and outlier cases) that Ran Hirschl insightfully proposes. Overall, the reviewed studies suggest that attorneys do make a difference, especially in adversarial systems. Represented parties gain an edge, perhaps because representation itself is a signal or because attorneys have substantive or relational advantage. The mechanism of attorney effects is the holy grail, and no-one yet may claim that it has been found.
The Form and Function of Oral Arguments in High Courts
Authors: Krehbiel Jay N.
Published: December 2023

Oral arguments provide one of the most significant—and visible—aspects of the judicial process. This chapter examines the comparative literature on this critical procedure, particularly at apex courts. It focuses on three central questions. Recognizing that at many high courts, hearings are the exception rather than the rule, the chapter first considers explanations for why courts hold hearings when they do. It emphasizes three prominent explanations: the need for information, the need for legitimacy, and the need for public awareness. The second section then engages with research on the conduct of hearings, including the length of proceedings, the extent to which judges speak, and how characteristics like gender affect proceedings. The third and final section of the chapter discusses the legal and political impact, if any, of hearings. In particular, the chapter examines the factors that allow or inhibit attorneys from persuading judges, as well as the effect of hearings on the political environment in which a court operates. Each section highlights work both from the US and comparative contexts to reveal the trends in studies of oral arguments as well as the opportunities created by expanding the scope of research beyond the US Supreme Court. Each section concludes with a discussion of potential avenues for future work, such as the systematic study of case complexity on the use of hearings and the impact of institutions like ombudsmen on the conduct and impact of the procedure. The chapter then ends with additional concluding thoughts and suggestions for further research.