bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessing the carbon footprint of digital health interventions: a scoping review
Authors: Lokmic-Tomkins Zerina , Davies Shauna , Block Lorraine J , Cochrane Lindy , Dorin Alan , von Gerich Hanna , Lozada-Perezmitre Erika , Reid Lisa , Peltonen Laura-Maria
Published: October 2022

Objective

Integration of environmentally sustainable digital health interventions requires robust evaluation of their carbon emission life-cycle before implementation in healthcare. This scoping review surveys the evidence on available environmental assessment frameworks, methods, and tools to evaluate the carbon footprint of digital health interventions for environmentally sustainable healthcare.

Materials and Methods

Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid). PsycINFO (Ovid), CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus (which indexes IEEE Xplore, Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science and ACM databases), Compendex, and Inspec databases were searched with no time or language constraints. The Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA_SCR), Joanna Briggs Scoping Review Framework, and template for intervention description and replication (TiDiER) checklist were used to structure and report the findings.

Results

From 3299 studies screened, data was extracted from 13 full-text studies. No standardised methods or validated tools were identified to systematically determine the environmental sustainability of a digital health intervention over its full life-cycle from conception to realisation. Most studies (n = 8) adapted publicly available carbon calculators to estimate telehealth travel-related emissions. Others adapted these tools to examine the environmental impact of electronic health records (n = 2), e-prescriptions and e-referrals (n = 1), and robotic surgery (n = 1). One study explored optimising the information system electricity consumption of telemedicine. No validated systems-based approach to evaluation and validation of digital health interventions could be identified.

Conclusion

There is a need to develop standardised, validated methods and tools for healthcare environments to assist stakeholders to make informed decisions about reduction of carbon emissions from digital health interventions.
Identification of potential candidate genes and regulatory pathways related to reproductive capacity in hypothalamus and pituitarium of male ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) by differential transcriptome analysis
Authors: Zhang Zhen , Yang Yu , Huang Liming , Chen Ligen , Zhang Guixin , Gong Ping , Ye Shengqiang , Feng Yanping
Published: October 2022

The improvement of reproductive capacity of poultry is important for the poultry industry. The existing studies on reproductive capacity mainly focus on the testis tissue, but few reports on regulationary effect of brain neuroendocrime on reproductive capacity have been available. The hypothalamus–pituitarium–gonad (HPG) axis is an important pathway regulating spermatogenesis and sexual behavior. This study analyzed the gene expression in the hypothalamus and pituitary tissues of male ducks in high-semen-quality group (DH), low-semen-quality group (DL), and non-response group (DN) by RNA-sequencing. A total of 1980 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, and significantly less DEGs were found in pituitary gland than in hypothalamus. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses showed that these DEGs were mainly enriched in nerve-related and synapse-related biological processes, mitochondrial inner membrane formation pathway, and ribosome structure pathway. Notably, the neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction pathway significantly enriched in all three comparisons (DH vs. DL, DH vs. DN, and DL vs. DN) was related to different reproductive performance such as semen quality and sexual response. Furthermore, six genes, including POMC, CPLX2, HAPLN2, EGR4, TOX3, and MSH4, were identified as candidate genes regulating reproductive capacity. Our findings provide new insights into the regulation mechanisms underlying the reproductive performance of male poultry, and offer a valuable reference for duck breeding programs aimed at promoting reproductive capacity.
Molecular Characterization of 14-3-3 Zeta Gene in Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae) and Its Roles in Response to Bacterial Infection
Authors: Jiao Zhenlong , Yang Yujin , Xiu Jiangfan , Shang Xiaoli , Peng Jian , Guo Guo
Published: October 2022

The 14-3-3 gene plays important role in many biological processes, including cell survival, apoptosis, and signal transduction. However, function of the 14-3-3 homologous gene in Musca domestica remains unclear. Here, we identified and characterized the 14-3-3ζ of M. domestica. We found that Md14-3-3ζ gene was highly homologous with other close insects. The qRT–PCR analysis revealed that the Md14-3-3ζ was highly expressed in adults, and was expressed predominantly in hemocytes and fat body. Meanwhile, the expression of Md14-3-3ζ was up-regulated after injecting Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Moreover, the recombinant protein rMd14-3-3ζ strongly inhibits the growth of E. coli and S. aureus. Notably, the rMd14-3-3ζ inhibits E. coli and S. aureus by permeating the cell membrane. Taken together, our findings suggested that Md14-3-3ζ is involved in the immune response against bacteria through damaging the cell membrane.
Speeding implementation in cancer: The National Cancer Institute’s Implementation Science Centers in Cancer Control
Authors: Oh April Y , Emmons Karen M , Brownson Ross C , Glasgow Russell E , Foley Kristie L , Lewis Cara C , Schnoll Robert , Huguet Nathalie , Caplon Amy , Chambers David A
Published: October 2022

The National Cancer Institute’s Implementation Science Centers in Cancer Control (ISC3) Network represents a large-scale initiative to create an infrastructure to support and enable the efficient, effective, and equitable translation of approaches and evidence-based treatments to reduce cancer risk and improve outcomes. This Cancer MoonshotSM–funded ISC3 Network consists of 7 P50 Centers that support and advance the rapid development, testing, and refinement of innovative approaches to implement a range of evidence-based cancer control interventions. The Centers were designed to have research-practice partnerships at their core and to create the opportunity for a series of pilot studies that could explore new and sometimes risky ideas and embed in their infrastructure a 2-way engagement and collaboration essential to stimulating lasting change. ISC3 also seeks to enhance capacity of researchers, practitioners, and communities to apply implementation science approaches, methods, and measures. The Organizing Framework that guides the work of ISC3 highlights a collective set of 3 core areas of collaboration within and among Centers, including to 1) assess and incorporate dynamic, multilevel context; 2) develop and conduct rapid and responsive pilot and methods studies; and 3) build capacity for knowledge development and exchange. Core operating principles that undergird the Framework include open collaboration, consideration of the dynamic context, and engagement of multiple implementation partners to advance pragmatic methods and health equity and facilitate leadership and capacity building across implementation science and cancer control.
Slow Rolls, Shoulder-Taps, and Coups: Building a Research Program in Military Dissent Across Regime Types
Authors: Brooks Risa , Pion-Berlin David
Published: October 2022

This article advances a research program in military dissent, contributing to growing scholarly interest in the subject. It first outlines a variety of “tactics of dissent,” discriminating among them according to the pathway through which they shape political leaders’ decisions and the related audiences and objectives of the method. These sets of tactics are domestic politics, bureaucratic, coercive, and organizational. The article illustrates these tactics with examples from across advanced democracies, developing democracies and autocracies, and with lengthier treatments of Brazil, Egypt, and the U.S. In so doing, the article helps bridge subfield divides in the study of civil-military relations, arguing that neglecting these tactics truncates variation in the character and intensity of dissent within and across regime types. In addition, it outlines several questions to guide future research, including efforts to better understand the metrics and drivers of dissent, the efficacy of these tactics in undermining civilian initiatives and their larger consequences for democracy and civil-military relations.
Great Power Competition and China's Security Assistance to Africa: Arms, Training, and Influence
Authors: Carrozza Ilaria , Marsh Nicholas J
Published: October 2022

This article presents the first comprehensive collation of available information on China's provision of security force assistance (SFA) to African countries over the last two decades. While China is engaged in donating arms, military equipment, and training abroad, knowledge of the nature of its SFA programmes has been at best fragmented and partial. In this article, we fill this gap by outlining China's stated rationale for providing SFA, the level of funding, which states received it, and what they received. We contextualize our analysis in light of current debates over China's rise and great power competition, as well as its broader engagement in African security. Based on our original data, we argue that in providing SFA to most African states, China aims to strengthen long-term relations and protect its economic interests. While we find no evidence that China is attempting to supplant the US and other providers’ role in Africa, we point to some unintended consequences.
Testing and Scaling Interventions to Improve the Tuberculosis Infection Care Cascade
Authors: Campbell Jeffrey I , Menzies Dick
Published: October 2022

Tuberculosis (TB) preventive therapy (TPT) is increasingly recognized as the key to eliminating tuberculosis globally and is particularly critical for children with TB infection or who are in close contact with individuals with infectious TB. But many barriers currently impede successful scale-up to provide TPT to those at high risk of TB disease. The cascade of care in TB infection (and the related contact management cascade) is a conceptual framework to evaluate and improve the care of persons who are potential candidates for TPT. This review summarizes recent literature on barriers and solutions in the TB infection care cascade, focusing on children in both high- and low-burden settings, and drawing from studies on children and adults. Identifying and closing gaps in the care cascade will require the implementation of tools that are new (e.g. computer-assisted radiography) and old (e.g. efficient contact tracing), and will be aided by innovative implementation study designs, quality improvement methods, and shared clinical practice with primary care providers.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Pediatric Infectious Disease Telehealth Practices in North America
Authors: Kalyoussef Sabah , Hakim Amin , Kumar Ambuj , Fanella Sergio , Mohandas Sindhu , Gaviria-Agudelo Claudia ,   PIDS Telehealth Work Group, Ang Jocelyn , Arun Aparna , K. Bryant Kristina , Fanella Sergio , Gaviria-Agudelo Claudia , Hakim Amin , Fox Thomas , Green Julianne , Holzmann-Pazgal Galit , Hood Pishchany Marguerite , Hymes Saul , James Scott , Johnson Candace , Kalyoussef Sabah , Cantey Joseph , Doby Knackstedt Beth , P. Kronman Matthew , Mhaissen Mohammad , Mohandas Sindhu , Olson Daniel , Rodriguez Carina , E. Russo Michael , Sabella Camille , K. Sanderson Susan , Shehab Kareem , Simonsen Kari , (Bud) Wiedermann Bernhard
Published: October 2022

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has driven a significant increase in the use of telehealth (TH) but little is published about changes in TH usage by pediatric infectious disease (PID) providers. We assessed their pre- and intra-pandemic TH usage and experience.

Methods

The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Telehealth Work Group surveyed PID specialists in the United States and Canada from 6 December 2020 until 26 February 2021. Data collected included TH modalities, barriers, and satisfaction.

Results

The survey response rate was 11.3% (288 of 2,550 PID clinicians) with 243 (96% of 253 analysis-eligible responses) managing children only. Women accounted for 62.1% (n = 157), 51.4% (130) of respondents devoted 50–99% of their time to direct patient care, and 93.3% (236) were located in the United States. The greatest increase in TH usage during the pandemic was in synchronous provider–patient communications (3.9-fold increase). During the pandemic, provider–provider TH increased by less than 10%, comfort with TH usage doubled from 42% to 91%, and satisfaction grew from 74% to 93.3% with different aspects of TH. The top challenge was incomplete or no physical examination (182, 71.9%). Multivariate analysis showed that pre-pandemic TH usage and lack of barriers, but not reimbursement, were significantly associated with higher intra-pandemic usage. EMR-integrated TH was associated with significantly higher usage and satisfaction. Over 70% of respondents anticipate continuing TH usage after the pandemic.

Conclusions

There was high intra-pandemic usage of, and increased comfort and satisfaction with telehealth by PID specialists. Our data help inform post-pandemic TH expectations and strategies.
Foreigner, migrant, or refugee? How laypeople label those who cross borders
Authors: Božič Ivana Rapoš , Klvaňová Radka , Jaworsky Bernadette Nadya
Published: October 2022

In this article, we seek to exercise reflexivity in migration research by looking at the symbolic boundary work that sustains laypeople’s understanding and use of specific labels. We do so through a qualitative, cultural sociological investigation of migration attitudes in Czechia. We explore the labels foreigner, migrant, and refugee, commonly used labels in Czech migration discourse. In short, we argue that research participants rely on different grounds for boundary work, informed by available cultural repertoires, when characterizing foreigners, migrants, and refugees. While boundary work related to the label foreigner calls upon criteria of citizenship and perceived cultural closeness, the boundary work concerning the other two labels—migrant and refugee—involves the moral criteria of deservingness. Our study addresses three major shortcomings in migration studies. First, the opinions of laypeople influence public policies and approaches to migration, yet in-depth qualitative studies of migration attitudes are scarce. Second, even though migration attitudes shape the character of the receiving context for people who cross borders, how laypeople engage with labels remains understudied. Finally, we heed the call for a ‘reflexive turn’ in migration studies, arguing that researchers must remain reflexive, not only about labels they use, but also how such labels are understood and used by research participants.
A Systematic Review of Tranexamic Acid-Associated Venous Thromboembolic Events in Combat Casualties and Considerations for Prolonged Field Care
Authors: Russo Rachel M , Lozano Rafael , Ruf Ashly C , Ho Jessie W , Strayve Daniel , Zakaluzny Scott A , Keeney-Bonthrone Toby P
Published: October 2022

Introduction

Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a standard component of Tactical Combat Casualty Care. Recent retrospective studies have shown that TXA use is associated with a higher rate of venous thromboembolic (VTE) events in combat-injured patients. We aim to determine if selective administration should be considered in the prolonged field care environment.

Materials and Methods

We performed a systematic review using the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Clinical trials and observational studies of combat casualties published between January 1, 1960, and June 20, 2022, were included. We analyzed survival and VTE outcomes in TXA recipients and non-recipients. We discussed the findings of each paper in the context of current and future combat environments.

Results

Six articles met criteria for inclusion. Only one study was powered to report mortality data, and it demonstrated a 7-fold increase in survival in severely injured TXA recipients. All studies reported an increased risk of VTE in TXA recipients, which exceeded rates in civilian literature. However, five of the six studies used overlapping data from the same registry and were limited by a high rate of missingness in pertinent variables. No VTE-related deaths were identified.

Conclusions

There may be an increased risk of VTE in combat casualties that receive TXA; however, this risk must be considered in the context of improved survival and an absence of VTE-associated deaths. To optimize combat casualty care during prolonged field care, it will be essential to ensure the timely administration of VTE chemoprophylaxis as soon as the risk of significant hemorrhage permits.
Far ultra-violet insights into NGC 1399’s globular cluster population
Authors: Dage Kristen C , Sun Yifan , Kundu Arunav , Zepf Stephen E , Haggard Daryl
Published: October 2022

We investigate archival Hubble Space Telescope ACS/SBC F140LP observations of NGC 1399 to search for evidence of multiple stellar populations in extragalactic globular clusters. Enhanced far-ultraviolet (FUV) populations are thought to be indicators of He-enhanced second generation populations in globular clusters, specifically extreme/blue horizontal branch stars. Out of 149 globular clusters in the field of view, 58 have FUV counterparts with magnitudes brighter than 28.5. Six of these FUV-detected globular clusters are also detected in X-rays, including one ultraluminous X-ray source (LX > 1039 erg/s). While optically bright clusters corresponded to brighter FUV counterparts, we observe FUV emission from both metal-rich and metal-poor clusters, which implies that the FUV excess is not dependent on optical colour. We also find no evidence that the cluster size influences the FUV emission. The clusters with X-ray emission are not unusually FUV bright, which suggests that even the ultraluminous X-ray source does not provide significant FUV contributions. NGC 1399 is only the fourth galaxy to have its globular cluster system probed for evidence of FUV-enhanced populations, and we compare these clusters to previous studies of the Milky Way, M31, M87, and the brightest cluster in M81. These sources indicate that many globular clusters likely host extreme HB stars and/or second generation stars, and highlight the need for more complete FUV observations of extragalactic globular cluster systems.
From starburst to quenching: merger-driven evolution of the star formation regimes in a shell galaxy
Authors: Petersson Jonathan , Renaud Florent , Agertz Oscar , Dekel Avishai , Duc Pierre-Alain
Published: October 2022

Shell galaxies make a class of tidally distorted galaxies, characterized by wide concentric arc(s), extending out to large galactocentric distances with sharp outer edges. Recent observations of young massive star clusters in the prominent outer shell of NGC 474 suggest that such systems host extreme conditions of star formation. In this paper, we present a hydrodynamic simulation of a galaxy merger and its transformation into a shell galaxy. We analyse how the star formation activity evolves with time, location-wise within the system, and what are the physical conditions for star formation. During the interaction, an excess of dense gas appears, triggering a starburst, i.e. an enhanced star formation rate and a reduced depletion time. Star formation coincides with regions of high-molecular gas fraction, such as the galactic nucleus, spiral arms, and occasionally the tidal debris during the early stages of the merger. Tidal interactions scatter stars into a stellar spheroid, while the gas cools down and reforms a disc. The morphological transformation after coalescence stabilizes the gas and thus quenches star formation, without the need for feedback from an active galactic nucleus. This evolution shows similarities with a compaction scenario for compact quenched spheroids at high-redshift, yet without a long red nugget phase. Shells appear after coalescence, during the quenched phase, implying that they do not host the conditions necessary for in situ star formation. The results suggest that shell-forming mergers might be part of the process of turning blue late-type galaxies into red and dead early-types.
Cumulative Incidence and Relative Risk of Infection in Patients With Multiple Myeloma Treated With Anti-CD38 Monoclonal Antibody-Based Regimens: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Authors: Vassilopoulos Stephanos , Vassilopoulos Athanasios , Kalligeros Markos , Shehadeh Fadi , Mylonakis Eleftherios
Published: October 2022

Background

Patients with multiple myeloma are at higher risk for infections due to disease pathogenesis and administered therapies. The purpose of this study was to estimate the risk for any grade and severe infections associated with the use of anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies in patients with multiple myeloma.

Methods

We searched PubMed and EMBASE for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that included patients with multiple myeloma who received CD38-targeting monoclonal antibody regimens and reported outcomes of infection and performed a random-effects meta-analysis to estimate the relative risk for infections.

Results

After screening 673 citations, we retrieved 17 studies providing data on 11 RCTs. Overall, the included reports evaluated 5316 patients (2797 in the intervention arm and 2519 in the control arm). The relative risk (RR) for both any grade or severe infections was 1.27 (95% CI, 1.17–1.37 and 1.14–1.41, respectively). The cumulative incidence of any grade infections for patients who received anti-CD38 agents was 77% (95% CI, 68%–86%), while for severe infections it was 28% (95% CI, 23%–34%). Patients treated with anti-CD38 agents had a 39% higher risk for any grade pneumonia (RR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.12–1.72) and a 38% higher risk for severe pneumonia (RR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.09–1.75). For upper respiratory tract infections, the relative risk was 1.51 and 1.71 for any grade and severe infections, respectively. Regarding varicella-zoster virus (VZV) reactivation, we found no evidence of increased risk (RR, 3.86; 95% CI, 0.66–22.50).

Conclusions

Patients with multiple myeloma treated with regimens that included an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody were at higher risk for any grade or severe infections without an associated higher mortality rate during the follow-up period of the retrieved studies. No evidence of increased risk for VZV reactivation was noted, but there was a significant association between CD38-targeting treatment and pneumonia risk. Increased surveillance for infections, development of effective prophylactic strategies, and studies with long follow-up are needed for patients with multiple myeloma treated with anti-CD38-based regimens.
Tuberculosis Disease Among Adults Aged 65 Years and Older: Alameda County, California, 2016–2019
Authors: Wu Iris L , Chen Jennie , Shiau Rita , Chitnis Amit S , Jaganath Devan
Published: October 2022

Background

Older adults aged ≥65 years old represent an increasing proportion of tuberculosis (TB) cases in the United States, but limited evidence exists on the characteristics and treatment outcomes that differentiate them from younger adults.

Methods

We evaluated Alameda County TB surveillance data from 2016 to 2019 and abstracted public health charts for older adult TB cases. Clinical presentation and treatment outcomes were compared in older and younger adults (15–64 years), and multivariable logistic regression was conducted to assess risk factors for TB treatment noncompletion among older adults.

Results

Of 517 TB cases, 172 (33.2%) were older adults and 101 were ≥75 years old. Compared to younger adults, older TB cases were more likely to be non-US-born, and have diabetes. For diagnosis, older adults were more likely to have negative interferon-gamma release assays (24.6% vs 16.0%; P = .01) and were less likely to have cavitary disease (18.6% vs 26.7%; P < .001). One third of older adults experienced an adverse event; older adults were less likely to complete TB treatment (77.7% vs 88.4%; P = .002) and were more likely to die during TB treatment (16.3% vs 2.9%; P < .01), especially among those ≥75 years old, who had a mortality rate of 22.9%. In multivariable analysis, dementia was significantly associated with treatment noncompletion (adjusted odds ratio, 5.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.33–20.32; P = .02).

Conclusions

Diabetes, negative diagnostic tests, and poor treatment outcomes were more prevalent in older adult TB cases. A greater understanding of their TB presentation and comorbidities will inform interventions to improve outcomes among older adults.
Adjunctive Rifampin Following Debridement and Implant Retention for Staphylococcal Prosthetic Joint Infection: Is it Effective if not Combined With a Fluoroquinolone?
Authors: Cortés-Penfield Nicolás W , Hewlett Angela L , Kalil Andre C
Published: October 2022

Whether rifampin benefits retained staphylococcal prosthetic joint infection is unsettled. In a meta-analysis of 8 studies, we found greater clinical cure with fluoroquinolone-rifampin vs all other regimens (odds ratio [OR], 2.68; 95% CI, 1.43–5.02), but no greater cure with other rifampin combinations vs regimens without rifampin (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.79–1.88).
Deconstructing the Dogma: Systematic Literature Review and Meta-analysis of Adjunctive Gentamicin and Rifampin in Staphylococcal Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis
Authors: Ryder Jonathan H , Tong Steven Y C , Gallagher Jason C , McDonald Emily G , Thevarajan Irani , Lee Todd C , Cortés-Penfield Nicolás W
Published: October 2022

Background

Based primarily on in vitro and animal models, with little data directly addressing patient outcomes, current guidelines recommend treating staphylococcal prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) with antibiotic combinations including gentamicin and rifampin. Here, we synthesize the clinical data on adjunctive rifampin and gentamicin in staphylococcal PVE.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of PubMed- and Cochrane-indexed studies reporting outcomes of staphylococcal PVE treated with adjunctive rifampin, gentamicin, both agents, or neither (ie, glycopeptide or β-lactam monotherapy). We recorded outcomes including mortality, relapsed infection, length of stay, nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and important drug–drug interactions (DDIs).

Results

Four relevant studies were identified. Two studies (n = 117) suggested that adding gentamicin to rifampin-containing regimens did not reduce clinical failure (odds ratio [OR], 0.98 [95% confidence interval {CI}, .39–2.46]), and 2 studies (n = 201) suggested that adding rifampin to gentamicin-containing regimens did not reduce clinical failure (OR, 1.29 [95% CI, .71–2.33]). Neither gentamicin nor rifampin was associated with reduced infection relapse; 1 study found that rifampin treatment was associated with longer hospitalizations (mean, 31.3 vs 42.3 days; P < .001). Comparative safety outcomes were rarely reported, but 1 study found rifampin to be associated with hepatoxicity, nephrotoxicity, and DDIs, leading to treatment discontinuation in 31% of patients.

Conclusions

The existing clinical data do not suggest a benefit of either adjunctive gentamicin or rifampin in staphylococcal PVE. Given that other studies also suggest these agents add nephrotoxicity, hepatoxicity, and risk of DDIs without benefit in staphylococcal endovascular infections, we suggest that recommendations for gentamicin and rifampin in PVE be downgraded and primarily be used within the context of clinical trials.
Bluegrass
Authors: Bidgood Lee , Přibylová Irena
Published: October 2022

Bluegrass is a form of country music that originated in the United States but which is now played throughout the world. This style occupies a position between popular, folk, and traditional music: professional and amateur participants create bluegrass through use of acoustic instruments, respectful use of earlier musical material, and pastoral themes—as well as instrumental virtuosity, entrepreneurial innovation, and stylistic fusion. The style can be a means for evoking a sense of rootedness and also for forging new musical and social practices. Bluegrassers negotiate these paradoxes through critical discourses and a global, translocal community. Scholarship on this style has seen a shift of focus: from grand narratives” of the genre to biographies of individuals, and from ideas (or ideals) of place to concrete places. In addition, there is increased attention to non-canonical and marginal participants in bluegrass scenes—especially those outside of the territory often considered the homeplace” of the genre. Considering bluegrass as a globally popular genre that provides participants with a means for expressing a sense of rootedness, progress, and connectedness within their own contexts, this chapter directs our attention to bottom-up globalization, entrepreneurship, amateur music making, and activism. This review of scholarship on and participation in bluegrass reflects on the global presence of the music to shed light on current debates and indicate directions where new research and action in this style might take place.
Rights and Recognition
Authors: Corn Aaron
Published: October 2022

The 1960s brought significant changes to Australian Government law and policy that began the process of redressing systemic injustices suffered by Indigenous peoples. This coincided with influential experiences of rock and other globalized popular styles that inspired Indigenous musicians to explore and experiment with new forms of musical expression. By the 1980s, popular music had become an influential vehicle for publicly expressing of Indigenous values and aspirations as Indigenous Australians asserted new claims for due recognition and rights. This chapter addresses the diverse and dynamic approaches that characterize Indigenous expressions through popular music. It explores the original music of Indigenous artists who have contributed substantially to promoting improved recognition and rights for Indigenous Australians, and to shaping public perspectives on vital matters for Indigenous and all Australians, including land rights, native title, child removals, incarceration rates, nationhood, racism, reconciliation, and constitutional recognition. It also reviews existing scholarship on Indigenous popular music in Australia, and examines current thinking and research approaches surrounding studies in this field. Drawing upon the author’s extensive research collaborations with Indigenous musicians, communities, and scholars since 1996, the author critically examines the progress and direction of debates into surrounding Indigenous Australian popular music, and identifies trends that are informing both musical and research developments in this field into the future. While it is not possible to address all Indigenous popular music and musicians or related research in this chapter, the author seeks to offer an insight to their depth and diversity.
Oral Tradition, History, and Archaeohistory of Indigenous Australia
Authors: Davidson Iain , Burke Heather , Connelly Pearl , Porter Stephen , Sullivan Hazel , Sullivan Lance , Tarragó Isabel , Wallis Lynley A.
Published: October 2022

This article considers some of the uncertainties about the position of oral traditions in relation to historical studies with written texts and in the narrative studies derived from archaeological evidence that may be called archaeohistories. There are issues about the ways in which we learn about Indigenous peoples, sometimes using non-Indigenous people as intermediaries and sometimes, though rarely, in the direct voices of Indigenous peoples. This article discusses the relationships among oral history, oral tradition, history from written texts, and archaeohistory, including the role of sanctification in the survival of knowledge. This discussion includes some consideration of the accuracies of these sources given the different time and personal scales over which they operate. Illustrating the argument with examples of Indigenous oral knowledge from communities in different parts of eastern Australia, it then discusses the possibility that other Indigenous accounts include narratives about different sea levels around Australia. The article concludes with a discussion of the complex interplay of memory and forgetting, verifiable secular knowledge and ritual beliefs, and different classes of historical knowledge. Application of different cultural knowledge to these sources by different agents produces different accounts of the past.
Hobbes Reading Hobbes
Authors: Martel James R.
Published: October 2022

This chapter argues that Hobbes’s instructions for how to read a text can be applied to Hobbes’s own writings. When we do this, our reading changes from one in which we must obey the sovereign in all things to one in which individual interpretations are valued over and above one centralizing interpreter’s. Following an analogy that Hobbes himself made between the author and the reader of the text on the one hand and the sovereign and subject of the nation on the other, we see that the way Hobbes subverts his own textual authority has implications for the politics that his books promote as well.
Tocqueville’s Rhetoric
Authors: Shulman George
Published: October 2022

This chapter explores the rhetoric in Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. It contrasts his invocation of “prophecy” as a form of theorizing to contemporary interpretations of prophecy (and of his work) as engaging in acts of prediction we can confirm or invalidate. It traces the rhetorical impact and political implications of the three narratives by which he analyzes the gifts and dangers of “democracy” and democracy “in America.” It elaborates his interpretation of American political rhetoric as a dangerous, inflated “poetry” that will only augment “democratic despotism” at the expense of political freedom. It unpacks the gendered and racial assumptions fueling his anxieties, analysis, rhetoric, and prescriptions. In these terms, this chapter emphasizes the profound resonance of his work for theorizing contemporary political life.
Ernesto Laclau and the Rhetorical Ontology of Politics
Authors: Liou Stacey
Published: October 2022

This chapter critiques the rhetorical ontology that undergirds Ernesto Laclau’s theory of politics. Rhetoric, according to Laclau, is not a matter of persuasion or demagoguery, as critics of populism would charge. Instead, rhetoric concerns foundational and contested matters of signification: it is the object and medium of political contest and the means for refiguring the social. Here rhetoric is understood tropologically as the transfer and movement of social discourses, and Laclau’s notion of the empty signifier is the linchpin of this rhetorical operation. Despite its theoretical force, this chapter argues that the formal character of Laclau’s rhetorical ontology neglects social agents’ foundational place in refiguring the social, as well as the historical contingencies that circumscribe what and how discourses can be refigured. Instead, this chapter suggests that rhetoric be understood formally, as a linguistic trope, as well as intersubjectively, in its situated use. Theorizing the logics of identity formation and popular politics therefore requires that Laclau’s rhetorical ontology also attend to the role situated social agents play in refiguring the social.
Paul Hindemith’s Trautonium and a Technologically-Mediated Concept of Nature
Authors: Monchick Alexandra
Published: October 2022

Hindemith’s relation to spectralism seems remote in the usual terms of direct influence. However, this chapter argues that if one moves away from a discussion of a lineage of influence and instead towards one of comparative aesthetics, a different question emerges: was Hindemith thinking like a spectral composer? One can draw broad comparisons between Hindemith’s aesthetics, theory, and practice with that of spectral composers. Hindemith learned how to build new timbres with electronic instruments, recreating a sonic world by means of subtractive synthesis and non-linear synthesis techniques. With the trautonium, Hindemith opened up a spectral world nearly fifty years before the term “spectralism” was coined.
Olivier Messiaen: Spectralist
Authors: Sholl Robert
Published: October 2022

This chapter seeks to understand Messiaen’s music and aesthetics as spectralist through the writings of Hugues Dufourt and Gérard Grisey, and through a Lacanian framework. To understand Messiaen’s music as spectral is to listen to a reciprocal relationship between past and future, and to appreciate the way its religious-modernist fantaisie works on the listener. This chapter examines Messiaen’s output through a number of discourses and follows the trajectory of his compositional development. Initially, it connects Messiaen’s religious-modernist aesthetics with synaesthesia and color in his earliest music, to the organ, and to religious mysticism. It then uses a range of discourses, including symbolism and the occult, the materiality of sound, and the philosophy of listening to examine spectralist thought in works from the 1930s, his ‘experimental’ period (1949–52), to the emancipatory colorist aesthetics of Couleurs de la Cité céleste (1963). The last two sections, on birdsong and meaning in his opera Saint François d’Assise (1975–83), examine liminal concerns of glory, listening, narrative, and meaning in Messiaen’s form of spectralism. The conclusion briefly discusses an arena of mutual critique between Messiaen and the école spectrale.
Psychedelic Rock, Techno, and the Music of Fausto Romitelli
Authors: Arbo Alessandro
Published: October 2022

This chapter examines the textures of Fausto Romitelli’s music, specifically focusing on Audiodrome, the Professor Bad Trip trilogy, and An Index of Metals. These works force the audience to become aware of the complex web of aural symbols that inform the modern world, including its mediations and technologies. Romitelli reinterprets the main tenets of spectralism, in particular the idea of working on the noisy periphery of sound, in order to accentuate its internal dynamics. His works saturate sound spaces, creating a new, dense symbolic space, one that escapes conventional associations. The chapter also explores some important cultural and musical references of Romitelli’s music, such as Henri Michaux’s poems, Francis Bacon’s paintings, psychedelic rock and techno. These latter act as subcultural parallels for Romitelli’s antirhetorical constructions: the “dirty sounds” are marged with the innovations rooted in spectral music, in order to create a sound universe that is eminently gestural and visceral. In a nutshell, Romitelli proposes a radical and somewhat nihilistic stance, in which the noise inherent in every sound is made explicit ; his work pushes the audience to listen to sounds as stratified cultural objects, from which the expressive power of music emanates, in light of an imagery associated with the idea of an altered perception.
Philippe Leroux and the Notion of the Post-Spectral
Authors: Clift Paul
Published: October 2022

The music of Philippe Leroux (b. 1959) is often categorized as “post-spectral,” a term introduced by Damien Pousset. While being strongly evocative of a milieu—Paris of the 1980s—the term post-spectral says little of the style of composers such as Leroux to whom it is regularly applied. Indeed, attempts to characterize a post-spectralist aesthetic are often predicated on vague terminology and overly broad notions. While use of the key components of spectral music proper—e.g., the protracted use of components of harmonic/inharmonic spectra, acoustic modeling by technological means, and the appropriation of notions from the fields of cognition and psychoacoustics—may persist in works by so-called post-spectralist composers, this factor alone is by no means determinative of stylistic homogeneity. Therefore, taking Leroux as a case study, this chapter attempts to address the question: What is post-spectral about post-spectral music?
Local Mythography
Authors: Berman Daniel W.
Published: October 2022

“Local mythography” is a problematic category, though there is little question that many surviving mythographical texts could be defined as such. This chapter begins with a theoretical discussion that seeks to contextualize both the “local” and “mythic” components of the concept and continues by examining two case studies: one an early “local” mythographer by the name of Armenidas, and the other the tradition of “Atthidography,” the chronicling of Athenian myth and history begun by the mythographer Hellanicus. “Local mythography” must be distinguished from “local historiography” (a concept championed by the great Felix Jacoby) and from more universal expositions of myth in prose (for example, “Panhellenic” mythography such as the Library of Ps.-Apollodorus, and even “ethnography”).
Mythography and Paradoxography
Authors: Pajón Leyra Irene
Published: October 2022

Paradoxography is, strictly speaking, a branch of historiographic literature that deals with facts. That is, in principle, its contents, as strange as they can appear to the reader, can be verified by autopsy. For this reason, mythographical contents are a minority in the works of the paradoxographers, which are instead interested in natural phenomena and barbarian customs. Indeed, myths are rarely the core of the anecdotes they collect. Nevertheless, myths sometimes appear as explanations of the strange phenomena in the paradoxographical lists. In these cases, the collected items somehow enter into the field of miracles. On other occasions, however, myths appear as parallel examples of other similar anecdotes of a historiographical nature. In these cases, a sort of “Euhemeristical” intention can be perceived, which turns myths from stories of supernatural facts into stories rather associated to exotic and far-away places.
Mythographer and Mythography
Authors: Calame Claude
Published: October 2022

To modern eyes, Greek mythography constitutes a distinct discursive genre if not a “literary genre.” If we go back to the “native” categories we notice that neither mythographos nor mythographia are used before the Alexandrian period. An investigation about the terms designating genealogists as Acusilaos of Argos or Pherecydes of Athens will show that their works have to be understood as creations in prose of heroic history referring to a precise historical and cultural situation, in a certain city. The development of these forms of historiographical inquiry and composition has to be considered in relationship with their poetic function and pragmatics in the time and circumstances they were written for.
Wild Pedagogies for Doing Multispecies Organizational Ethnography
Authors: Wels Harry , Kamsteeg Frans
Published: October 2022

Teaching and researching multispecies organizational ethnography needs a pedagogy that decentres the human animal and has a basic multisensorial approach to sensemaking in organizations, in order to try to do (more) justice to nonhuman sentience, animals, and plants, that is to be included in the research. A wild pedagogy claims that getting outdoors, and specifically avoiding lecture halls and other indoor spaces, raises awareness and skills in people for understanding multispecies and multisensorial realities, not only in organizations, but also elsewhere. For inspiration in developing such a wild pedagogy further, the authors turn to the San in Southern Africa, one of the oldest human inhabitants on earth, whose animated worldview and cosmologies have always included nonhuman sentience in animals (and plants), in non-hierarchical ways next to humans. Their environmentalist and contextualized understanding of the sense-making processes of nonhuman animals is based, amongst other things, on their renowned and critically acknowledged tracking skills. Tracking is a combination of finding and interpreting spoor, a reiterative combination and cycle of ‘Observation’, ‘Becoming with’, and ‘Reflexivity’ (OBR), that could inspire and guide teaching and researching multispecies organizational ethnography. The chapter includes teaching experiments with a wild pedagogy in a course entitled ‘Sensemaking in Organisations’ that explores possible wild ways further.
Tinkering with Relations
Authors: Vogel Else
Published: October 2022

In the Netherlands, vets play a key role in the continuation, regulation, and innovation of industrial livestock production. Extending studies of care in health care and farming and drawing on fieldwork with veterinarians, this chapter details how vets treat animals, coach farmers, perform animal welfare procedures, or otherwise try to achieve ‘good’ farm animal care. Describing the different roles vets take on in livestock production, it highlights that vets are not only juggling different forms of the good, but also are part of different practices of doing good—each with its own care and accountability relations, and particular promises, challenges, and limits. What emerges, is that while ethicists and animal activists elevate the relation to the animal as the primary ethical relationship, in practice veterinarians are entangled, and operate, in a web of relations. It is in tinkering with these complex relations, the chapter suggests, that a situated form of veterinary ethics is ‘done’.
When Disaster Hits, Dissonance Fades
Authors: Tallberg Linda , Jordan Peter J.
Published: October 2022

This chapter develops understanding of human-animal work (HAW). Work with animals may include ‘dirty work’ laced by physical, social, moral, and emotional taints such as killing those cared for. Much animal care-based work includes a work calling to help animals while the reality can be conflictual for workers, creating paradox and dissonance. The chapter is based on an insider affective multispecies ethnography in an animal shelter when a sudden natural disaster hit the shelter, flooding the organization and forcing a sudden evacuation of animals and humans. The crisis reframed wellbeing for the multispecies organizational actors, leading to less dissonance as callings were enacted in that workers could save more animals than prior to the crisis. The chapter argues that wellbeing, especially in multispecies organizations, is entangled across species barriers. Adopting a posthumanist framing, the chapter argues for a need for multispecies organizations (especially those in the animal welfare sector), to better consider their organizational processes and policies through a lens of interconnected wellbeing among human and animal actors.
Robotic Animals in Dementia Care
Authors: Redmalm David , Persson Marcus , Iversen Clara
Published: October 2022

Robotic animals in the shape of cats, dogs, and seals are increasingly used in dementia care. The robots are built to respond to users’ touch and talk for various purposes such as calming, activating, or entertaining patients. Drawing on media representations, marketing materials, reports of experts, and interviews with care workers we take a closer look at the ideas of animality that shape the robots and their application in care organizations. We find that the robots’ animality is described as connecting with a fundamental mammal aspect of our humanity. At the same time, concerns are raised that patients risk being dehumanized when robots replace human-to-human interaction, and the robots are thus treated as a threat to patients’ human dignity. The chapter discusses how notions of animality and a biopolitical understanding of the human as mammal play an integral role in robotized care organizations.