bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
CHNS: A case study of turbulence in elastic media
Authors: Fan Xiang , Diamond P. H. , Chacón L.
Published: March 2018

Recent progress in the study of Cahn-Hilliard Navier-Stokes (CHNS) turbulence is summarized. This is an example of elastic turbulence, which can occur in elastic (i.e., self-restoring) media. Such media exhibit memory due to freezing-in laws, as does MHD, which in turn constrains the dynamics. We report new results in the theory of CHNS turbulence in 2D, with special emphasis on the role of structure (i.e., “blob”) formation and its interaction with the dual cascade. The evolution of a concentration gradient in response to a single eddy—analogous to flux expulsion in MHD—is analyzed. Lessons learned are discussed in the context of MHD and other elastic media.
Capsule physics comparison of National Ignition Facility implosion designs using plastic, high density carbon, and beryllium ablators
Authors: Clark D. S. , Kritcher A. L. , Yi S. A. , Zylstra A. B. , Haan S. W. , Weber C. R.
Published: March 2018

Indirect drive implosion experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [E. I. Moses et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 041006 (2009)] have now tested three different ablator materials: glow discharge polymer plastic, high density carbon, and beryllium. How do these different ablators compare in current and proposed implosion experiments on NIF? What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of each? This paper compares these different ablator options in capsule-only simulations of current NIF experiments and potential future designs. The simulations compare the impact of the capsule fill tube, support tent, and interface surface roughness for each case, as well as all perturbations in combination. According to the simulations, each ablator is impacted by the various perturbation sources differently, and each material poses unique challenges in the pursuit of ignition on NIF.
Experimental platform for investigations of high-intensity laser plasma interactions in the magnetic field of a pulsed power generator
Authors: Ivanov V. V. , Maximov A. V. , Swanson K. J. , Wong N. L. , Sarkisov G. S. , Wiewior P. P. , Astanovitskiy A. L. , Covington A. M.
Published: March 2018

An experimental platform for the studying of high-intensity laser plasma interactions in strong magnetic fields has been developed based on the 1 MA Zebra pulsed power generator coupled with the 50-TW Leopard laser. The Zebra generator produces 100-300 T longitudinal and transverse magnetic fields with different types of loads. The Leopard laser creates plasma at an intensity of 1019 W/cm2 in the magnetic field of coil loads. Focusing and targeting systems are integrated in the vacuum chamber of the pulsed power generator and protected from the plasma debris and strong mechanical shock. The first experiments with plasma at laser intensity >2 × 1018 W/cm2 demonstrated collimation of the laser produced plasma in the axial magnetic field strength >100 T.
Analytical modeling of the temporal evolution of hot spot temperatures in silicon solar cells
Authors: Wasmer Sven , Rajsrima Narong , Geisemeyer Ino , Fertig Fabian , Greulich Johannes Michael , Rein Stefan
Published: March 2018

We present an approach to predict the equilibrium temperature of hot spots in crystalline silicon solar cells based on the analysis of their temporal evolution right after turning on a reverse bias. For this end, we derive an analytical expression for the time-dependent heat diffusion of a breakdown channel that is assumed to be cylindrical. We validate this by means of thermography imaging of hot spots right after turning on a reverse bias. The expression allows to be used to extract hot spot powers and radii from short-term measurements, targeting application in inline solar cell characterization. The extracted hot spot powers are validated at the hands of long-term dark lock-in thermography imaging. Using a look-up table of expected equilibrium temperatures determined by numerical and analytical simulations, we utilize the determined hot spot properties to predict the equilibrium temperatures of about 100 industrial aluminum back-surface field solar cells and achieve a high correlation coefficient of 0.86 and a mean absolute error of only 3.3 K.
Role of translational entropy in spatially inhomogeneous, coarse-grained models
Authors: Langenberg Marcel , Jackson Nicholas E. , de Pablo Juan J. , Müller Marcus
Published: March 2018

Coarse-grained models of polymer and biomolecular systems have enabled the computational study of cooperative phenomena, e.g., self-assembly, by lumping multiple atomistic degrees of freedom along the backbone of a polymer, lipid, or DNA molecule into one effective coarse-grained interaction center. Such a coarse-graining strategy leaves the number of molecules unaltered. In order to treat the surrounding solvent or counterions on the same coarse-grained level of description, one can also stochastically group several of those small molecules into an effective, coarse-grained solvent bead or “fluid element.” Such a procedure reduces the number of molecules, and we discuss how to compensate the concomitant loss of translational entropy by density-dependent interactions in spatially inhomogeneous systems.
Characterizing the dominant ions in low-temperature argon plasmas in the range of 1–800 Torr
Authors: Fu Yangyang , Krek Janez , Parsey Guy M. , Verboncoeur John P.
Published: March 2018

The dominant ions in low-temperature rare gas plasmas can be either molecular ions or atomic ions depending on the discharge regime. In this paper, the dominant ions in low-temperature argon plasmas are characterized in a wide range of gas pressure (1–800 Torr). The channels for creation of molecular ions include atom assisted association, dissociative recombination, dissociation by atom impact (DAI), and dissociation by electron impact (DEI). The latter two were previously less often considered. It is found that the DEI reaction has a significant impact on the ion fractions, while the effect of the DAI reaction is much less important in the whole investigated gas pressure regime. As the gas pressure increases from 1 to 800 Torr, the atomic ion fraction drops rapidly in conjunction with an increase of the molecular ion fraction. This phenomenon confirms that in low-temperature argon plasmas the dominant ion will be the atomic ion in the low pressure regime but the molecular ion in the high pressure regime. The impact of power density is also investigated in combination with the DEI reaction. The results show that both the DEI reaction and the power density serve to delay the transition trend of the ion fraction, shifting the dominance of molecular ions to a higher pressure.
Efficient monoenergetic proton beam from ultra-fast laser interaction with nanostructured targets
Authors: Fazeli R.
Published: March 2018

The broad energy spectrum of laser-accelerated proton beams is the most important difficulty associated with such particle sources on the way to future applications such as medical therapy, proton imaging, inertial fusion, and high-energy physics. The generation of proton beams with enhanced monoenergetic features through an ultra-intense laser interaction with optimized nanostructured targets is reported. Targets were irradiated by 40 fs laser pulses of intensity 5.5×1020 W cm−2 and wavelength 1 μm. The results of multi-parametric Particle-in-Cell calculations showed that proton beams with considerably reduced energy spread can be obtained by using the proposed nanostructured target. At optimized target dimensions, the proton spectrum was found to exhibit a narrow peak at about 63 MeV with a relative energy spread of ΔE/Epeak∼ 5% which is efficiently lower than what is expected for unstructured double layer targets (∼70%).
Nongenetic origins of cell-to-cell variability in B lymphocyte proliferation
Authors: Mitchell Simon , Roy Koushik , Zangle Thomas A. , Hoffmann Alexander
Published: March 2018

Significance

This study addresses why splenic B lymphocytes show differential cell proliferation and death decisions, and whether these may be predictable. Biology provides examples of both stochastic decision making and highly deterministic developmental programs. Prior studies of B lymphocytes suggested these cells make stochastic decisions, but the key experiment—long-term tracing of individual cell lineages—has not been done. Overcoming the technical challenges, we found that B cell fate decisions are largely nonstochastic. Using a mathematical model, we found that they are predictable, as long as the state of the molecular network in founder cells is known. That allowed us to identify the molecular determinants of proliferative fate decisions, which potentially constitute novel drug targets and biomarkers for B cell-mediated diseases.
Crystal structure of bacterial succinate:quinone oxidoreductase flavoprotein SdhA in complex with its assembly factor SdhE
Authors: Maher Megan J. , Herath Anuradha S. , Udagedara Saumya R. , Dougan David A. , Truscott Kaye N.
Published: March 2018

Significance

Assembly factors play key roles in the biogenesis of many multisubunit protein complexes regulating their stability, activity, or incorporation of essential cofactors. The bacterial assembly factor SdhE (also known as Sdh5 or SDHAF2 in mitochondria) promotes covalent attachment of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) to SdhA and hence the assembly of functional succinate:quinone oxidoreductase (also known as complex II). Here, we present the crystal structure of
Escherichia coli
SdhE bound to its client protein SdhA. This structure provides unique insight into SdhA assembly, whereby SdhE constrains unassembled SdhA in an “open” conformation, promoting covalent attachment of FAD, but renders the holoprotein incapable of substrate catalysis. These data also provide a structural explanation for the loss-of-function mutation, Gly78Arg, in SDHAF2, which causes hereditary paraganglioma 2.
One Size Fits All? Disentangling the Effects of Tobacco Taxes, Laws, and Control Spending on Adult Subgroups in the United States
Authors: Yu Hao , Engberg John , Scharf Deborah
Published: March 2018

Background: To determine the relative impact of each of the 3 state-level tobacco control policies (cigarette taxation, tobacco control spending, and smoke-free air [SFA] laws) on adult smoking rate overall and separately for adult subgroups in the United States. Methods: A difference-in-differences analysis was conducted with generalized propensity scores. State-level policies were merged with the individual-level Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 1995–2009. Results: State cigarette taxation was the only policy that significantly impacted smoking among the general adult population, with a 1-standard deviation increase in taxes (i.e., $0.68 in constant 2014 dollars) lowering the adult smoking rate by about a quarter of a percentage point. The taxation impact was consistent, regardless of the presence of, or interactions with, other policies. Taxation was also the only policy that significantly reduced smoking for some adult subgroups, including females, non-Hispanic whites, adults aged 51 or older, and adults with more than a high school education. However, other adult subgroups responded to the other 2 types of policies, either by mediating the taxation effect or by reducing smoking independently. Specifically, tobacco control spending reduced smoking among young adults (ages 18–25 years) and Hispanics. SFA laws affected smoking among men, young adults, non-Hispanic blacks, and Hispanics. Conclusions: State cigarette taxation is the single most important policy for reducing smoking among the general adult population. However, adult subgroups’ reactions to taxes are diverse and mediated by tobacco control spending and SFA laws.
Ingestion of coffee polyphenols suppresses deterioration of skin barrier function after barrier disruption, concomitant with the modulation of autonomic nervous system activity in healthy subjects
Authors: Kagawa Daiji , Fujii Akihiko , Ohtsuka Mayumi , Murase Takatoshi
Published: March 2018

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of consumption of coffee polyphenols (CPPs) on the autonomic nervous system activity and decreased skin barrier function caused by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) treatment. In this single-blind, placebo-controlled study, ten healthy male subjects consumed either a beverage containing CPPs or a placebo beverage for four weeks. CPPs significantly suppressed the deterioration in skin barrier function and skin moisture content induced by SDS treatment after the third week. Furthermore, in the heart rate variability analysis, CPPs significantly produced an increase in parasympathetic nervous activity, and a decrease in sympathetic nervous activity after the four weeks of beverage consumption. These results suggest that CPPs might influence the regulation of the autonomic nervous system and contribute to the suppressive effect on deterioration of skin barrier function.
Synthesis and inhibitory activity of deoxy-d-allose amide derivative against plant growth
Authors: Chowdhury Md Tazul Islam , Ando Hikaru , Yanagita Ryo C , Kawanami Yasuhiro
Published: March 2018

1,2,6-Trideoxy-6-amido-d-allose derivative was synthesized and found to exhibit higher growth-inhibitory activity against plants than the corresponding deoxy-d-allose ester, which indicates that an amide group at C-6 of the deoxy-d-allose amide enhances inhibitory activity. In addition, the mode of action of the deoxy-d-allose amide was significantly different from that of d-allose which inhibits gibberellin signaling. Co-addition of gibberellin GA3 restored the growth of rice seedlings inhibited by the deoxy-d-allose amide, suggesting that it might inhibit biosynthesis of gibberellins in plants to induce growth inhibition.
Fairy chemicals – a candidate for a new family of plant hormones and possibility of practical use in agriculture*
Authors: Kawagishi Hirokazu
Published: March 2018

2-Azahypoxanthine (AHX, 1) and imidazole-4-carboxamide (ICA, 2) were isolated from a fairy-ring forming fungus Lepista sordida. AHX was converted into a metabolite, 2-aza-8-oxohypoxanthine (AOH, 3), in plants. Afterward, it turned out that these three compounds, fairy chemicals (FSc), endogenously exist in plants and are biosynthesized via a new purine metabolic pathway. Furthermore, FCs increased the yields of rice, wheat and other crops in the filled experiments.
CDK2 inhibitors as candidate therapeutics for cisplatin- and noise-induced hearing loss
Authors: Teitz Tal , Fang Jie , Goktug Asli N. , Bonga Justine D. , Diao Shiyong , Hazlitt Robert A. , Iconaru Luigi , Morfouace Marie , Currier Duane , Zhou Yinmei , Umans Robyn A. , Taylor Michael R. , Cheng Cheng , Min Jaeki , Freeman Burgess , Peng Junmin , Roussel Martine F. , Kriwacki Richard , Guy R. Kiplin , Chen Taosheng , Zuo Jian
Published: March 2018

Hearing loss caused by aging, noise, cisplatin toxicity, or other insults affects 360 million people worldwide, but there are no Food and Drug Administration–approved drugs to prevent or treat it. We screened 4,385 small molecules in a cochlear cell line and identified 10 compounds that protected against cisplatin toxicity in mouse cochlear explants. Among them, kenpaullone, an inhibitor of multiple kinases, including cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2), protected zebrafish lateral-line neuromasts from cisplatin toxicity and, when delivered locally, protected adult mice and rats against cisplatin- and noise-induced hearing loss. CDK2-deficient mice displayed enhanced resistance to cisplatin toxicity in cochlear explants and to cisplatin- and noise-induced hearing loss in vivo. Mechanistically, we showed that kenpaullone directly inhibits CDK2 kinase activity and reduces cisplatin-induced mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species, thereby enhancing cell survival. Our experiments have revealed the proapoptotic function of CDK2 in postmitotic cochlear cells and have identified promising therapeutics for preventing hearing loss.
Calcium-induced release of calcium in muscle: 50 years of work and the emerging consensus
Authors: Ríos Eduardo
Published: March 2018

Ryanodine-sensitive intracellular Ca2+ channels (RyRs) open upon binding Ca2+ at cytosolic-facing sites. This results in concerted, self-reinforcing opening of RyRs clustered in specialized regions on the membranes of Ca2+ storage organelles (endoplasmic reticulum and sarcoplasmic reticulum), a process that produces Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release (CICR). The process is optimized to achieve large but brief and localized increases in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration, a feature now believed to be critical for encoding the multiplicity of signals conveyed by this ion. In this paper, I trace the path of research that led to a consensus on the physiological significance of CICR in skeletal muscle, beginning with its discovery. I focus on the approaches that were developed to quantify the contribution of CICR to the Ca2+ increase that results in contraction, as opposed to the flux activated directly by membrane depolarization (depolarization-induced Ca2+ release [DICR]). Although the emerging consensus is that CICR plays an important role alongside DICR in most taxa, its contribution in most mammalian muscles appears to be limited to embryogenesis. Finally, I survey the relevance of CICR, confirmed or plausible, to pathogenesis as well as the multiple questions about activation of release channels that remain unanswered after 50 years.
Regularity of higher order in two-phase free boundary problems
Authors: De Silva Daniela , Ferrari Fausto , Salsa Sandro
Published: March 2018

We develop further our strategy from our 2014 paper showing that flat or Lipschitz-free boundaries of two-phase problems with forcing terms are locally 

C

2
,
γ

.

C^{2,\gamma }.
Voltage-gated potassium channel blocker 4-aminopyridine induces glioma cell apoptosis by reducing expression of microRNA-10b-5p
Authors: Ru Qin , Li Wei-ling , Xiong Qi , Chen Lin , Tian Xiang , Li Chao-Ying
Published: March 2018

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that voltage-gated potassium channels (Kv channels) were associated with regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis in tumor cells. Our previous study proved that the Kv channel blocker 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) could inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in glioma. However, the precise mechanisms were not clear yet. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that act as key mediators in the progression of tumor, so the aim of this study was to investigate the role of miRNAs in the apoptosis-promoting effect of 4-AP in glioma cells. Using a microRNA array, we found that 4-AP altered the miRNA expression in glioma cells, and the down-regulation of miR-10b-5p induced by 4-AP was verified by real-time PCR. Transfection of miR-10b-5p mimic significantly inhibited 4-AP–induced caspases activation and apoptosis. Moreover, we verified that apoptosis-related molecule Apaf-1 was the direct target of miR-10b-5p. Furthermore, miR-10b-5p mimic significantly inhibited 4-AP–induced up-regulation of Apaf-1 and its downstream apoptosis-related proteins, such as cleaved caspase-3. In conclusion, Kv channel blocker 4-AP may exert its anti-tumor effect by down-regulating the expression of miR-10b-5p and then raised expression of Apaf-1 and its downstream apoptosis-related proteins. Current data provide evidence that miRNAs play important roles in Kv channels-mediated cell proliferation and apoptosis.
A VCP inhibitor substrate trapping approach (VISTA) enables proteomic profiling of endogenous ERAD substrates
Authors: Huang Edmond Y. , To Milton , Tran Erica , Dionisio Lorraine T. Ador , Cho Hyejin J. , Baney Katherine L. M. , Pataki Camille I. , Olzmann James A.
Published: March 2018

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)–associated degradation (ERAD) mediates the proteasomal clearance of proteins from the early secretory pathway. In this process, ubiquitinated substrates are extracted from membrane-embedded dislocation complexes by the AAA ATPase VCP and targeted to the cytosolic 26S proteasome. In addition to its well-established role in the degradation of misfolded proteins, ERAD also regulates the abundance of key proteins such as enzymes involved in cholesterol synthesis. However, due to the lack of generalizable methods, our understanding of the scope of proteins targeted by ERAD remains limited. To overcome this obstacle, we developed a VCP inhibitor substrate trapping approach (VISTA) to identify endogenous ERAD substrates. VISTA exploits the small-molecule VCP inhibitor CB5083 to trap ERAD substrates in a membrane-associated, ubiquitinated form. This strategy, coupled with quantitative ubiquitin proteomics, identified previously validated (e.g., ApoB100, Insig2, and DHCR7) and novel (e.g., SCD1 and RNF5) ERAD substrates in cultured human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Moreover, our results indicate that RNF5 autoubiquitination on multiple lysine residues targets it for ubiquitin and VCP-­dependent clearance. Thus, VISTA provides a generalizable discovery method that expands the available toolbox of strategies to elucidate the ERAD substrate landscape.
Are Cardiovascular Risk Factors Stronger Predictors of Incident Cardiovascular Disease in U.S. Adults With Versus Without a History of Clinical Depression?
Authors: Polanka Brittanny M , Berntson Jessica , Vrany Elizabeth A , Stewart Jesse C
Published: March 2018

Background

Several mechanisms underlying the depression-to-cardiovascular disease (CVD) relationship have been proposed; however, few studies have examined whether depression promotes CVD through potentiating traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

Purpose

To test the combined influence of three cardiovascular risk factors and lifetime depressive disorder on incident CVD in a large, diverse, and nationally representative sample of U.S. adults.

Methods

Respondents were 26,840 adults without baseline CVD who participated in Waves 1 (2001–2002) and 2 (2004–2005) of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Lifetime depressive disorder, tobacco use, hypertension, and incident CVD were determined from structured interviews, and body mass index (BMI) was computed from self-reported height and weight.

Results

Logistic regression models predicting incident CVD (1,046 cases) revealed evidence of moderation, as the interactions between lifetime depressive disorder and current tobacco use (p = .002), hypertension (p < .001), and BMI (p = .031) were significant. The Former Tobacco Use × Lifetime Depressive Disorder interaction was not significant (p = .85). In models stratified by lifetime depressive disorder, current tobacco use (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.36–2.32, p < .001 vs. OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.24–1.60, p < .001), hypertension (OR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.98–3.07, p < .001 vs. OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.28–1.51, p < .001), and BMI (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.01–1.20, p = .031 vs. OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.99–1.07, p = .16) were stronger predictors of incident CVD in adults with versus without a lifetime depressive disorder.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that amplifying the atherogenic effects of traditional cardiovascular risk factors may be yet another candidate mechanism that helps to explain the excess CVD risk of people with depression.
Sensitive and robust assessment of ChIP-seq read distribution using a strand-shift profile
Authors: Nakato Ryuichiro , Shirahige Katsuhiko
Published: March 2018

Motivation

Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) can detect read-enriched DNA loci for point-source (e.g. transcription factor binding) and broad-source factors (e.g. various histone modifications). Although numerous quality metrics for ChIP-seq data have been developed, the ‘peaks’ thus obtained are still difficult to assess with respect to signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and the percentage of false positives.

Results

We developed a quality-assessment tool for ChIP-seq data, strand-shift profile (SSP), which quantifies S/N and peak reliability without peak calling. We validated SSP in-depth using  ≥ 1000 publicly available ChIP-seq datasets along with virtual data to demonstrate that SSP provides a quantifiable and sensitive score to different S/Ns for both point- and broad-source factors, which can be standardized across diverse cell types and read depths. SSP also provides an effective criterion to judge whether a specific normalization or a rejection is required for each sample, which cannot be estimated by quality metrics currently available. Finally, we show that ‘hidden-duplicate reads’ cause aberrantly high S/Ns, and SSP provides an additional metric to avoid them, which can also contribute to estimation of peak mode (point- or broad-source) of samples.

Availability and implementation

SSP is open source software written in C++ and can be downloaded at https://github.com/rnakato/SSP.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Malignancy and Mortality in Pediatric-onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review
Authors: Aardoom Martine A , Joosse Maria E , de Vries Andrica C H , Levine Arie , de Ridder Lissy
Published: March 2018

Background

Cancer and death are the most severe outcomes that affect patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). These outcomes are even more severe if they occur at a young age but are rare, even in the general population. We conducted a systematic review to provide an overview of all reported pediatric (PIBD) patients with severe outcome.

Methods

A literature search identified publications that reported development of cancer or fatal outcome in PIBD patients. Studies were eligible for inclusion when (1) article written in English, (2) original data, (3) individual patient information, (4) full text available, (5) study population consisting of patients diagnosed with IBD under the age of 19 years, and (6) who developed malignancy or fatality at any point later in life.

Results

A total of 98 included studies comprised data of 271 PIBD patients who developed cancer and/or fatal outcome at any point later in life. Meta-analysis demonstrated an increased risk for cancer in PIBD patients (pooled standardized incidence ratio 2.23, 95% CI: 1.98–2.52). The most frequent type of non-fatal cancer was lymphoma, whereas colorectal carcinomas were the most frequently reported type of fatal cancer in PIBD patients and were particularly associated with primary sclerosing cholangitis. The majority of patients with noncancer-related fatal outcomes were diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and most often died due to infectious complications or severe disease-associated complications.

Conclusions

The data in this review confirm that PIBD associated malignancy and mortality are rare and detailed clinical characteristics are limited. Prospective and international collaborations are needed to obtain more detailed patient-specific information, which is necessary to investigate the relationship between severe outcomes in PIBD patients and the currently used therapeutic strategies.
Small-scale fishing income and fuel consumption: Fiji’s artisanal sea cucumber fishery
Authors: Purcell Steven W , Lalavanua Watisoni , Cullis Brian R , Cocks Nicole
Published: March 2018

Understanding the income and costs of fishing is fundamental to managing fisheries and planning interventions to improve efficiency and gender equity. Few studies offer data on fisher incomes and fuel use in small-scale fisheries (SSFs), and fewer have assessed factors influencing variation among fishers and between genders. We interviewed 235 artisanal fishers among 34 island villages in an artisanal sea cucumber fishery in Fiji. Linear mixed models were used to determine the effect of geographic and socioeconomic variables on incomes and fuel use from fishing sea cucumbers. Net income of sea cucumbers to fishers, averaging FJ$8, 171 year−1 (US$4, 494 year−1) (range: FJ$0–52,008 year−1), varied among villages and was 47% lower for women than men. On an average, 60% of fishers’ gross annual income came from fishing and selling sea cucumbers, although this proportion varied greatly even within villages. Fishers who practised gleaning, fished less often, or possessing numerous livelihood income streams, were less economically dependent on sea cucumbers. Men tended to estimate higher incomes for an average day of fishing than women when compared with their recall of last sale. Fuel use varied greatly among regions in Fiji but, overall, averaged 428 L fisher−1 year−1, and represented 28% of gross income. More economical fishing strategies by women resulted in lower fuel use than men per fishing day. Breath-hold divers used less fuel (compared to fishers using scuba) and fishers targeting deep-water species used more fuel than other fishers. A best approximation of 8000 t CO2 year−1 for the carbon footprint of the whole fishery suggests that some SSFs, such as the one studied here, can be significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, even compared to many large-scale fisheries globally. Reforms to the management of SSFs should consider regulations that minimize carbon emissions and reduce economic dependency on vulnerable marine resources.
Analysis of the effects of EHR implementation on timeliness of care in a dermatology clinic: a simulation study
Authors: Vahdat Vahab , Griffin Jacqueline A , Stahl James E , Yang F Clarissa
Published: March 2018

Objective

Quantify the downstream impact on patient wait times and overall length of stay due to small increases in encounter times caused by the implementation of a new electronic health record (EHR) system.

Methods

A discrete-event simulation model was created to examine the effects of increasing the provider-patient encounter time by 1, 2, 5, or 10 min, due to an increase in in-room documentation as part of an EHR implementation. Simulation parameters were constructed from an analysis of 52 000 visits from a scheduling database and direct observation of 93 randomly selected patients to collect all the steps involved in an outpatient dermatology patient care visit.

Results

Analysis of the simulation results demonstrates that for a clinic session with an average booking appointment length of 15 min, the addition of 1, 2, 5, and 10 min for in-room physician documentation with an EHR system would result in a 5.2 (22%), 9.8 (41%), 31.8 (136%), and 87.2 (373%) minute increase in average patient wait time, and a 6.2 (12%), 11.7 (23%), 36.7 (73%), and 96.9 (193%) minute increase in length of stay, respectively. To offset the additional 1, 2, 5, or 10 min, patient volume would need to decrease by 10%, 20%, 40%, and >50%, respectively.

Conclusions

Small changes to processes, such as the addition of a few minutes of extra documentation time in the exam room, can cause significant delays in the timeliness of patient care. Simulation models can assist in quantifying the downstream effects and help analyze the impact of these operational changes.
Religion, Race, and Popular Culture
Authors: Martin Lerone A. , Carter J. Kameron
Published: March 2018

This chapter discusses the intersection of race, religion, and popular culture. Race is posited here not as synonymous with people of color, but rather as an analytic category that examines the social construction and very real reality of racialization: the process of becoming and identifying whiteness, blackness, and so on. Two broad approaches to the study of race, religion, and popular culture are examined: Popular Culture in Religion, and Religion as or in Popular Culture. The chapter then offers a brief overview of how these two approaches have both broadened standard narratives of American religious history as well as illuminated scholarly understandings of how religio-racial identities are constructed, perpetuated, challenged, and queered through the use of popular culture forms such as print, phonograph, radio, televangelism, celebrity, and hip-hop.
Latinos/as and Religious Identities in the Twentieth Century
Authors: Sanchez-Walsh Arlene M.
Published: March 2018

This chapter explores the complex melding of traditions that make up contemporary religious identities among Latinos/as in the United States. Although Latinos/as are largely still Catholic, Protestantism is a growing presence. Examining various Latino/a groups by nationalities (such as Mexican Americans and Cuban Americans), geographic regions (such as Caribbean or Central American immigrants), and religious traditions (Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims), it becomes evident that transnational links have shaped, maintained, and propelled religious life for over a century. Transnationalism does not alter religious identities evenly. Some Latino/a groups maintain stronger ties for longer times; for others, the rates of acculturation mean that there are generational differences that affect one’s religious identity. The chapter concludes with a look at the impact of the “nones” among American Latinos/as.
South Asian Religions in Contemporary America
Authors: Joshi Khyati
Published: March 2018

Although South Asian American histories stretch back centuries, South Asian immigration to the United States has been increasing particularly rapidly over the past three decades. Made up predominantly of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, the immigrant cohorts represented in this group are both racial and religious minorities in the United States—neither white nor Christian. This chapter locates contemporary South Asian immigration in its historical context, illustrating the complexities of how racial status and religious background have impacted the perception of immigrants in the United States from the 1800s to the present day. Against that backdrop, the chapter also discusses contemporary South Asian American experiences, particularly those which illustrate how these communities live religion as participants in the American public square.
Islam and Race in American History
Authors: Hammer Juliane
Published: March 2018

American Muslims are often seen as either unassimilable immigrants or as African Americans who only “adopted” Islam as rebellion against Christian-sanctioned racist exclusion. This chapter brings into meaningful conversation these two often divided arenas of definition, agency, and political space by focusing on the categories of “Islam” and “race” and how they have been negotiated, applied, rejected, and forced by and onto various people since the eighteenth century. It shows how Muslims in the United States are both American and transnational, since the relationship between race and religion is globally negotiated. It also considers the intersections of religion and race with gender and sexuality, surveying research on Muslim slaves, naturalization cases in the early twentieth century, Noble Drew Ali and the Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, the racialization of Muslims after 9/11, and the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative.
American Missionaries and Race
Authors: Ruble Sarah
Published: March 2018

When Europeans came to the Americas, they brought with them both Christian missionaries and notions of racial difference. Since that early encounter, the story of American missions has been intertwined with issues of race. Although some might suspect a rather simple story of missionary racism and others an account of the egalitarian effects of the Christian message, the history of missions and race is a story of competing impulses and unexpected consequences. Missionaries participated in the construction of race, they challenged racism, and they reified it. In some cases, racism twined with cultural imperialism, leading to a message and to methods that valorized Anglo-American, largely Protestant, culture. In others, concerns about racism led to larger critiques of missionary practice and US presence abroad.
Religion, Race, and American Empire
Authors: Johnson Sylvester
Published: March 2018

The United States has been many things: a constitutional democracy, a settler state, a slavocracy, and a republic. Even prior to formally organizing as a nation-state, the antecedent Anglo-American colonies functioned veritably as a confederated empire in relation to Indigenous nations. Because it has simultaneously embodied these forms, the United States challenges facile conceptions of these categories. Its status as an empire, thus, has been repeatedly debated and even denied. This chapter foregrounds the relationship among religion, race, and the political order of colonialism in order to explain how US empire has been constituted through the intersection of these social formations.
Natives, Religion, and Race in Colonial America
Authors: Fisher Linford D.
Published: March 2018

Although racial lines eventually hardened on both sides, in the opening decades of colonization European and native ideas about differences between themselves and the other were fluid and dynamic, changing on the ground in response to local developments and experiences. Over time, perceived differences were understood to be rooted in more than just environment and culture. In the eighteenth century, bodily differences became the basis for a wider range of deeper, more innate distinctions that, by the nineteenth century, hardened into what we might now understand to be racialized differences in the modern sense. Despite several centuries of dispossession, disease, warfare, and enslavement at the hands of Europeans, native peoples in the Americans almost universally believed the opposite to be true. The more indigenous Americans were exposed to Europeans, the more they believed in the vitality and superiority of their own cultures.
African and African American Religions in the Early Americas
Authors: Young Jason
Published: March 2018

This chapter chronicles the relationship between African religious practices on the continent and African American religion in the plantation Americas in the era of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. A new generation of scholars who emerged in the 1960s and 1970s have demonstrated not only that African religious practices exhibit remarkable subtlety and complexity but also that these cultures have played significant roles in the subsequent development of religious practices throughout the world. Christianity, Islam, and traditional African religion comprised a set of broad and varied religious practices that contributed to the development of creative, subtle, and complex belief systems that circulated around the African Diaspora. In addition, this chapter addresses some of the vexed epistemological challenges related to discussing and describing non-Western ritual and religious practices.
Identifying Race and Religion
Authors: Simmons K. Merinda
Published: March 2018

The common usage of “race” and “religion” in popular discourse makes overlooking the complicated histories of both terms easy to do. As a corrective to this simple oversight, this chapter examines the scholarly transitions that began to reintroduce race and religion as modern classifications rather than as universal phenomena that transcend specific societal contexts. Both terms underwent massive overhauls as recently as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, at the height of European imperial projects. Even more recently were the mid-twentieth century transitions that saw Religious Studies and Black Studies formalized as academic fields grounded in social scientific approaches to identity. Poststructuralism paved the way for analyses that deviated from the essentialist logics of theology and biological determinism, respectively. The scholarly discourse on “slave religion” is one productive site for thinking about race and religion as organizing and legitimizing tools of classification.
Religion, Race, and Sports
Authors: Scholes Jeffrey
Published: March 2018

Race, religion, and sports may seem like odd bedfellows, but, in fact, all three have been interacting with each other since the emergence of modern sports in the United States over a century ago. It was the sport of boxing that saw a black man become a champion at the height of the Jim Crow era and a baseball player who broke the color barrier two decades before the civil rights movement began. In this chapter, the role that religion has played in these and other instances where race (the African American race in particular) and sports have collided will be examined for its impact on the relationship between race and sports. The association of race, religion, and sports is not accidental. The chapter demonstrates that all three are co-constitutive of and dependent on each other for their meaning at these chosen junctures in American sports history.
Religion and Race in American Music
Authors: Stowe David W.
Published: March 2018

Religious music functions both to create group identities and to dissolve social boundaries. Historically, American music has been characterized by racial and religious crossover. While many ethnic groups have participated in constituting American music, the most seminal crossovers have occurred between African and European Americans. Jazz was shaped largely by the interactions of Jews and African Americans. Gospel music developed from the interaction of vernacular slave spirituals, Protestant hymns, and the secular blues. Christian hymns have been thoroughly indigenized by many Native American groups. Compared to Buddhists and Jews, American Hindus and Muslims have made few musical adaptations of their worship music, but their music has been widely sampled in American popular styles. In recent decades, mainline Protestant hymnals have come to reflect the deeply multicultural reality of American sacred song.
Documentary Photography and the Visual Politics of Race and Religion
Authors: Lindsey Rachel McBride
Published: March 2018

The photographs of twentieth-century photographer Roy DeCarava are a rich case study for mapping the visual theater of race and religion in twentieth-century America. Despite visual similarities in his photographs to contemporary documentary photographers, DeCarava contended that claims to document race in fact worked to invest power in the “madness” of “skin color.” Such a statement echoes the teachings of prophets of black urban religion who incorporated critiques of racial classification into their theological visions. Such visual regimes of race and religion were not limited to persons of African descent. Lewis Hine’s photographs of European immigrants arriving on Ellis Island and Dorothea Lange’s photographs of Japanese American internees were also part of the visual politics of race and religion. By structuring the twentieth century’s ascendant visual regimes around DeCarava, this chapter explores how the technologies, aesthetics, and politics of photography shaped the moral theater of race and religion.
African American Religious Identities in the Twentieth Century
Authors: Smith Suzanne
Published: March 2018

This chapter analyzes African American religious identity and practice in the twentieth century. Shaped by the Great Migration and the rise of mass culture, modern African American religious practice was both inventive and entrepreneurial. Although mainline denominations continued to dominate, Pentecostal and Holiness churches gained popularity through the rise of storefront churches, a refuge for southern migrants in the urban North. In addition, new religious movements such as the Moorish Science Temple of America, the Nation of Islam, and Father Divine’s Peace Mission Movement offered followers the opportunity to create entirely new religious and ethnic identities for themselves. The rise of radio and television transformed African American evangelism and eventually produced the era of the megachurch exemplified by the careers of Reverend Ike and T. D. Jakes. Modern African American religions competed in a spiritual marketplace that cultivated imaginative faith practices and met the material needs of their followers.
Introduction
Authors: Hopcroft Rosemary L.
Published: March 2018

This chapter provides an overview of The Oxford Handbook of Evolution, Biology, and Society. Chapters in the first part of this book address the history of the use of method and theory from biology in the social sciences; the second part includes chapters on evolutionary approaches to social psychology; the third part includes chapters describing research on the interaction of genes (and other biochemicals such as hormones) and environmental contexts on a variety of outcomes of sociological interest; and the fourth part includes chapters that apply evolutionary theory to areas of traditional concern to sociologists—including the family, fertility, sex and gender, religion, crime, and race and ethnic relations. The last part of the book presents two chapters on cultural evolution.
On the Genetic and Genomic Basis of Aggression, Violence, and Antisocial Behavior
Authors: Beaver Kevin M. , Connolly Eric J. , Nedelec Joseph L. , Schwartz Joseph A.
Published: March 2018

There is a great deal of interest in examining the genetic and environmental architecture to aggression, violence, and antisocial behaviors. This interest has resulted in hundreds of studies being published that estimate genetic and environmental effects on antisocial phenotypes. The results generated from these studies have been remarkably consistent and have contributed greatly to the knowledge base on the etiology of antisocial behavior. This chapter reviews the research on the genetic basis to antisocial phenotypes by presenting the results related to the heritability of antisocial phenotypes. It also discusses some of the molecular genetic association studies as well as genome-wide association studies that focus on the development of antisocial behaviors. In doing so, it also reviews findings related to gene–environment interactions. The chapter concludes by discussing some of the ways in which these findings could be used for intervention and prevention programs.
Peer Networks, Psychobiology of Stress Response, and Adolescent Development
Authors: Kornienko Olga , Granger Douglas A.
Published: March 2018

A consistent focus of research has been on understanding how social relationships shape the activity of the biological stress response system. Progress has been made in characterizing these dynamics at the level of the individual, but significantly less is known about the role of social networks as a proximal ecology in which the stress response system is activated and contributes to human development. The focus of this chapter is on adolescence—a developmental period in which social relationships with peers represent both sources of social stress and opportunities for social buffering. It is proposed that considering peer social networks in which adolescents are embedded will augment understanding of the social context of psychosocial processes, including social status, rejection, isolation, bullying and victimization, and support, that are related to psychobiology of stress.
Stress and Stress Hormones
Authors: Davis Jeff , Damron Kristen
Published: March 2018

During the past four decades, numerous reviews have been published on biological responses to stressful social environments. Reviews targeted for audiences in the social sciences emphasized biological outcomes while skipping over explanations of biological mechanisms. This chapter focuses on the details of the hormonal processes that “report” the state of the environment to the nervous system and regulate cognitive and motor responses to stressful social stimuli. Steroid hormones receive most attention. The chapter concludes with an outline of a sociological model of social action based on current knowledge of hormone actions. It shares some of the basic ideas of previous models such as affect control theory. However, the model proposes a broader role of stress hormones in human social behavior.