bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
CompStat Models of Police Performance Management
Authors: Neusteter S. Rebecca , O'Toole Megan
Published: March 2019

In the early 1990s, New York City, along with many other jurisdictions across the United States, were faced with burgeoning crime and a deteriorating quality of life, while the New York City Police Department (NYPD) simultaneously suffered from a lack of accountability and an opaque mission. In response to these challenges, the NYPD, then led by Police Commissioner William Bratton and assisted by his key strategist, Jack Maple, developed CompStat. CompStat, short for Computer Statistics, allowed the NYPD to geographically examine crime trends, define the agency’s mission with precision (i.e., to reduce violent crime), and hold middle-managers accountable for achieving this mission. Shortly after the NYPD’s introduction of CompStat, CompStat was quickly recognized as an effective tool in increasing a shared understanding of the police department’s mission, tactics to decrease violent crime, and promoting accountability within the police hierarchical management structure. This recognition resulted in rapid adoption of CompStat within the field of policing, to define and strive to achieve public safety goals and create an environment of middle-manager responsibility. CompStat also quickly began to serve as a model for performance management and accountability within criminal justice (e.g., within community supervision) and across the domain of government more broadly (e.g., across a municipality in CitiStat and other similar initiatives). CompStat continues to serve as one of the most commonly applied performance management platforms in policing with countless adoptions. CompStat, however, is not without criticisms and challenges. This multifaceted approach is reflected in the CompStat literature as well as in this bibliography. Sources of information pertain to CompStat’s General Overviews, Development, Theory, Applications, Commentary, Organization, Community Policing, Adoptions, and Future Directions. This bibliography provides context and references, in this order, related to CompStat.
Foreign Policy of Saudi Arabia
Authors: Nuruzzaman Mohammed
Published: March 2019

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a major actor in Middle Eastern as well as global politics. Founded in 1932 by King Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, commonly known as Ibn Saud, the kingdom rests on an alliance between the Al Saud royal family and the followers of 18th-century Islamic revivalist Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The strategic and geo-economic significance of the kingdom originates from its location and possession of huge oil resources. It borders the world’s two immensely significant strategic sea trade routes—the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, boasts of being the world’s largest oil exporter, and is home to Islam’s two holiest sites—Mecca and Medina. Though not a militarily significant power, the kingdom’s vast oil wealth has gradually and greatly elevated its status as an influential global economic and financial power. Currently, it is the world’s seventeenth largest economy ($1.774 trillion, 2017 estimate based on purchasing power parity, or PPP) and a member of the elite G20 club of world economic powers. The economic good fortune notwithstanding, the Saudis have traditionally depended on the United States, especially after World War II, for security guarantees and pursued a foreign policy of restraint guided by preferences for soft power tools like mediation in regional conflicts, financial aid and investments, and diplomatic influence. Relations with the United States, mostly smooth but occasionally rocky (for example, the 1973 Saudi-led oil embargo on the West and the 9/11 attacks), has remained the cornerstone of Saudi foreign policy. A series of recent developments, most notably the rise of regional rival Iran following the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, the contagious effects of Arab pro-democracy movements, and the proclamation of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the summer of 2014 forced a major overhaul in Saudi foreign policy. A fundamental shift from the traditional policy of restraint to a proactive foreign policy took root from the early 2010s. King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz sent troops to Bahrain in March 2011 to stifle the Shiʿa -led pro-democracy movements; incumbent King Salman bin Abd al-Aziz, soon after ascending the throne in January 2015, launched a massive air attack on Yemen to punish the allegedly pro-Iran Houthi rebels, and doubled down financial and military support for the pro-Saudi rebel groups fighting against the Iran- and Russia-backed Bashar Al-Assad government in Syria. The kingdom has justified this proactive foreign policy approach as a necessary response to force Shiʿa powerhouse Iran to scale back its presence in Arab countries and to keep Iranian power under check. Lately, the kingdom is pursuing policies to court Israel to jointly square off with their common enemy Iran and weaken pro-Iran Lebanese militia group Hezbollah’s military capabilities.
Work/Life Balance
Authors: Lim Misun , Misra Joya
Published: March 2019

There are many different ways to define work–life balance. Some scholars emphasize that work–life balance requires balancing demands of both paid work and family responsibilities or maximizing satisfaction by minimizing conflict between paid work and family responsibilities. Others view work–life balance as encompassing the way that boundaries blur between work, family, and leisure time. In attempting to address work–life balance, workers are generally trying to preserve both quality of life, and potential for career advancements, while employers are trying to preserve high productivity and reduce worker turnover. Although the term “work–life balance” is widely used, alternative terms are also employed, such as work–family balance, work–life integration, work–life harmonization, or work–life articulation. Research on attempts to manage paid work along with family and other parts of life has been carried out for decades. Yet this scholarship has exploded in the last two decades, particularly as middle-class women have increased their workforce participation, but also work is being carried out during nonstandard hours, technology is creating more permeability between work and home, and union protections have been weakened. Work–life balance efforts may lead to poor-quality jobs in terms of earnings, job security, working time and promotion opportunities, rather than long-term quality employment over the life course that allows for leisure and family time. Research on work–life balance should take structural, rather than individual approaches, to consider workplace cultures, including by occupation and gender inequality, and recognize the different assumptions underlying policies aimed at addressing work–life balance.
Guatemala (Colonial Period)
Authors: Webre Stephen
Published: March 2019

The colonial period in Guatemalan history is customarily dated from 1524 to 1821. During that time, Guatemala was the most populous and most prosperous of the provinces that made up the kingdom, or audiencia, of Guatemala, a district that stretched from Chiapas in the west to Costa Rica in the east. The largest single element in the colonial population consisted of native Mayas, but transatlantic contact added other important groups to the mix, among them Spaniards, ladinos (as mestizos are called in Guatemala), and Afro-descendants. Guatemala’s multiracial past offers multiple historical experiences for scholarly exploration. A challenge confronting any scholar of the colonial period is the need to distinguish clearly among the many different uses to which the place name Guatemala has been put. In addition to the province and the kingdom, both called Guatemala, there are two important cities. Often called simply Guatemala City, Santiago de Guatemala was the capital of both the province and the kingdom from 1524 until 1773, when severe earthquake damage led authorities in Spain to order its abandonment and a new city built some forty kilometers away. Known officially as Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, the new capital remains the center of government in Guatemala and is also commonly referred to as Guatemala City. For its part, the old city remained inhabited and is now known as Antigua Guatemala. Finally, the term Guatemala may also refer to the Valley of Guatemala, actually a complex of nine fertile and well-watered valleys whose dense native population, sometimes laboring alongside enslaved Africans, worked to produce maize, wheat, sugar, livestock, and other consumer goods for local and regional markets. Given the dominant role played in isthmian life by the old and new cities and their surrounding valleys, it should not surprise readers to learn that many works about Central America in the colonial period are, in fact, mostly about Guatemala. As it happens, the country itself has a long tradition of historical writing going back to Santiago de Guatemala’s most renowned 16th-century resident, Bernal Díaz del Castillo. During the colonial and early national periods, writers of history tended to be ecclesiastics, civil servants, attorneys, and other amateurs. About the middle of the 20th century, however, professionally trained historians began to enter the field. Works by pioneer professionals, such as Chinchilla Aguilar 1999, cited under Institutions), Samayoa Guevara 1978, cited under Institutions), and Lanning 1955, under Institutions), made significant contributions to institutional history. With the publication in the 1970s of watershed studies by Martínez Peláez 2010) and MacLeod 2008, all cited under General Overviews), historical production on Guatemala’s colonial past began to expand rapidly in both quantity and quality. It remains, however, a field of broad opportunity, offering abundant primary sources and many topics partially or completely unexplored.
Experimental Pragmatics
Authors: Romoli Jacopo
Published: March 2019

An important distinction in the investigation of meaning is that between semantics and pragmatics. One way to characterize this distinction is as the meaning associated with words and morphemes and how they are combined, on the one hand, with additional information arising from implicit or explicit reasoning on the part of the hearer on speaker’s communicative intentions, on the other. Experimental pragmatics is the investigation of the pragmatic components of meaning through psycholinguistic methods. The field has its roots in theoretical and experimental investigations of language, some of which had paid extensive attention to the role of contextual information in a variety of linguistic phenomena. It is only in the last twenty years, however, that the field of experimental pragmatic has really taken shape. In the early 21st century, there has been an explosion of experimental investigations, starting on implicatures in particular, and then extending to all sorts of pragmatic phenomena. Experimental pragmatics is now a dynamic area of research, bringing together theoretical, experimental, and computational linguists, with dedicated conferences, journals, and edited collections. The scope of work in this field covers all aspects of meaning related to pragmatics and its interfaces, bringing experimental evidence to their theoretical analyses, and investigating their processing and acquisition. More specifically, there are three main strands of research within experimental pragmatics. The first regards the investigation of the different aspects of meaning and the proper carving of the space among them, as well as the proper division between semantics and pragmatics. The second related strand has to do more specifically with testing experimentally diverging, and often fine-grained, predictions of different theoretical models. The third regards more the time course and processing of pragmatic aspects of meaning, as well as their acquisition from infancy to adulthood. This article lists a selection of references to articles, book chapters, and edited collections that have contributed to making the field of experimental pragmatics what it is today. The article is organized following the first strand above, with a separate section for each of the main different aspects of meaning, and a last one on other directions and topics. The other two strands, the way experimental work in pragmatics has brought progress in testing fine-grained theoretical predictions and the investigation of processing and acquisition of pragmatic aspects of meaning, are interspersed within the different sections. The article also contains sections dedicated to edited collections and journals relevant to the field.
Yasujiro Ozu
Authors: Miyao Daisuke
Published: March 2019

Yasujiro Ozu (b. 12 December 1903–d. 12 December 1963) was a Japanese film director. Growing up as a film fan in the modernizing city of Tokyo, Ozu made his directorial debut at Shochiku Company’s Kamata Studio in 1927 with a silent jidai geki (period drama) film, Sword of Penitence (Zange no yaiba). After that Ozu became specialized in gendai geki (contemporary drama) and initiated a genre shoshimin geki (lower-middle-class salarymen films) with such films as Tokyo Chorus (Tokyo no korasu, 1931) and I Was Born, But . . . (Otona no miru ehon: Umarete wa mita keredo, 1932). Many of his post–World War II films, including Late Spring (Banshun, 1949); Tokyo Story (Tokyo monogatari, 1953), the film that was voted the greatest film of all time in 2012 Sight and Sound Poll; and the last film An Autumn Afternoon (Sanma no aji, 1962), depicted everyday Japanese urban life, family matters (marriage, funeral, and dissolution), and relationships between generations. He directed fifty-three films by 1962. Ozu has been the object of critical attention by critics and scholars since the time when he was still working. In Japan, the status of Ozu as a foremost director of Japanese cinema was first established in the early 1930s. Early celebrations of Ozu emphasized his realism in faithfully depicting the reality of modern life in Japan. Critics regarded Ozu’s realism as a mode of social criticism. Later, especially after World War II, the primary focus of realism in Ozu criticism shifted to life’s vicissitudes and to a broader idea of humanism. This postwar critical tendency appeared to influence early scholarship on Ozu outside of Japan from the late 1950s the early 1970s, including the work by Donald Richie, which humanistically celebrated Ozu as an auteur. Then, it was Ozu’s unique film style, including the so-called pillow shots (spatially and temporally ambiguous shots that open scenes) and the use of 360-degree space that deviated from the narrational economy of Hollywood’s continuity editing, that made him a central figure during the period that saw the institutionalization of film studies in Euro-American academia in the late 1970s and 1980s. In the formation of the new academic discipline, emphasis was initially placed on formalism and Marxism. Thus, Ozu’s work served as a suitable example in demonstrating both the universal (“a humanist auteur”) and the particular (“a challenger to Hollywood”). Since then, a number of scholars and critics have studied the films of Ozu from various theoretical and historical standpoints.
The New Haven School of International Law
Authors: Lone Fozia
Published: March 2019

The jurisprudence of the New Haven school, otherwise known as the New Haven approach, is a contemporary theoretical and methodological approach to analyzing public international law through a policy-oriented perspective. This approach was founded by the Yale Law School faculty in the 1960s and proposes international law as the jurisprudence of social choices, which is applied to analyze various decision-making processes. The goal of the New Haven approach is to understand international law as a social process that aims at crafting minimum world public order based on the shared values of the international community. The New Haven approach was historically inspired by the tradition of legal realism and sociological jurisprudence. Its main features involve a focus on values, an appreciation for cultural diversity, and broad applicability to various fields and issues. While the New Haven approach suffers from several criticisms, it manages to retain enduring attractiveness due to its flexibility and efficacy in addressing policy issues.
María Amparo Ruiz de Burton
Authors: Contreras Alicia
Published: March 2019

María Amparo Ruiz de Burton (b. 1832–d. 1895) was a Mexican-born woman who experienced the processes of Manifest Destiny and Reconstruction firsthand. At the end of the US-Mexico War (1848), Ruiz de Burton and her mother left their native Baja California for Monterey, Alta California, to reap the promised rewards of US citizenship. A descendant and friend of elite, landed, and politically prominent Mexicans and Californios, she technically married the enemy, Captain Henry S. Burton, a member of the US Army during the US-Mexico War who would go on to fight for the Union during the Civil War. This marriage enabled Ruiz de Burton to cross vast geographic and cultural terrains; within the span of a decade, she left California and interacted with both Republicans and Democrats in Rhode Island, New York, Washington, Delaware, and Virginia. Her movement in social circles that included such political figures as Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Abraham Lincoln, and Jefferson Davis granted her a unique perspective of US-Mexico relations and what would soon become, with westward expansion and the transcontinental railroad, the socioeconomic displacement of her fellow Californios. An intelligent woman with a flair for writing and expressing political opinions, she was the first Mexican to publish fiction in English in the United States: her debut novel Who Would Have Thought It? (1872) was published anonymously by J.B. Lippincott & Co. of Philadelphia; her play Don Quixote de la Mancha: A Comedy in Five Acts, Taken from Cervantes’ Novel of That Same Name (1876) was published by Carmany of San Francisco; and her second and final novel The Squatter and the Don (1885) was published under the pseudonym of C. Loyal by Samuel Carson & Co. of San Francisco. Since their republications as part of the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project in the 1990s, the two novels have helped scholars mend a once-perceivable fissure in 19th-century literary history. They have also enhanced scholars’ understandings of Chicanx and Mexican American literature; US women’s literature; and US domestic, sentimental, and realist literature. The work offers an idiosyncratic historical outlook that is practically matchless. Ruiz de Burton experienced four major wars that radically altered the lives of Mexicans and Mexican Americans—the Texas War of Independence, the US-Mexico War, the US Civil War, and the French Intervention in Mexico. Her fictional writings and posthumously published letters document the subsequent and fateful transformation of the United States and Mexico.
Keystone Species
Authors: Mello Marco A. R.
Published: March 2019

If you take the keystone from an arch, it falls apart. However, does the same happen when you remove a species from its ecological community? This question has intrigued scientists for centuries, and examples of “very important species” in natural, urban, and agricultural systems abound. Looking at this problem from another perspective, one might say that ecology would not be the same if one central concept were removed from its literature: keystone species. In two seminal papers published in 1966 and 1969, the American ecologist Robert T. Paine (b. 1933–d. 2016) defined a keystone as a species whose activities greatly modify “the composition and physical appearance” of its community. He proposed an experimental approach to the problem and transformed the quest for keystones into one of the most prolific ecological research programs. Since then, at least 1,658 papers recorded on Web of Science (consulted on 4 September 2018, using the expression “keystone species”) focused on testing, refining, or expanding the keystone species concept. Those papers were cited 60,754 times by 48,309 other papers published in 845 journals, and the number of citations keeps growing. It is hard to think of any other topic in ecology, a field marked by constant changes in focus, which drew so much attention for such a long time. In Paine’s original experiments, the keystones were starfish and gastropods that preyed on other marine invertebrates, weaving complex webs of direct and indirect effects that regulate the abundances of all other species in the community. This metaphor was expanded in the next decades to several other species from a myriad of taxa in a multitude of contexts, from prairie dogs to fruiting trees and even humans. This boom raised much controversy related to which criteria should be used to label a species a keystone. Even the original interpretation of Paine’s experiments has been cast in doubt due to issues of replicability. Nevertheless, there is a consensus that the keystone species concept has at least high heuristic value. Moreover, it is supported by empirical evidence accumulated over the decades. Now studied under different theoretical frameworks, such as community ecology, ecosystem engineers, and ecological networks, it remains a hot topic. The keystone species concept led to significant developments in many different fields and may be considered a theoretical framework on its own. In this bibliography, the origins of the concept are retraced, as well as its development and current usage.
Adaptive Radiation
Authors: Zhang Linyi , Egan Scott P.
Published: March 2019

The spectacular diversity of life on earth presents one of the most intriguing questions for biologists: why and how does the variation among organisms arise? One powerful concept that has its origins with Darwin (late 1800s) and was developed in detail during the Modern Synthesis (early to mid-1900s), is “adaptive radiation.” This evolutionary process refers to the rapid diversification of a single lineage into many different species during which different morphological/ecological traits evolve in association with different environments and niches. The central components of adaptive radiation are (1) rapid diversification of multiple species from a single common ancestor and (2) different species exhibit different ecological traits that are adaptive to different niches. While many great individual cases of adaptive radiation have been studied, such as Darwin’s finches, African rift lake cichlids, and Hawaiian silverswords, controversies remain on topics such as the definition of an adaptive radiation, the appropriate approach to test for it, and the ultimate causes of an adaptive radiation. This article provides a general overview of the literature addressing the study of adaptive radiation, including taxa-specific examples and major literature reviews. The article will highlight literature that helps to clarify the concept of adaptive radiation by distinguishing it from other related biological processes. Then the literature on specific approaches to test for adaptive radiation is featured. Next, connections to the literature aiming to understand the proximate and ultimate causes of adaptive radiation are provided, including explicit tests of the role of ecology, as well as an exploration of the source of genetic variation and geographic conditions promoting adaptive radiation. Lastly, we connect to the literature addressing the constraints on adaptive radiations. Overall, this article will address research on the origin of new species and the evolution of ecological differences between them.
Golem
Authors: Barzilai Maya
Published: March 2019

The term “golem” refers to several distinct, albeit overlapping, forms of reflection on artificial creation: Talmudic commentaries that compare Adam, the first human, to a golem at the stage prior to his body’s reception of a soul or breath; mystical rituals of the medieval period that describe the creation and animation of a clay anthropoid; modern literary folktales that portray the formation and uses of a clay servant and protector. The term “golem” appears only once in the Bible, in Psalm 139, used in the possessive form, “my golem” (golmi) and possibly indicating a formless entity or an embryo. The modern term “golem” stems from a corpus of narratives composed by Jewish and Christian European authors and recorded starting in the 17th century. The folkloric golem needs to be distinguished from the golem of Jewish mystical and philosophical texts, since these latter medieval works include ritual formulas and techniques for mystical activities, rather than narratives concerning Jewish creators and communities. Mystical writings on the golem often constitute commentaries on the ancient Sefer yetsira (The Book of Creation), a work that does not mention the golem but includes discussions of creation through the Hebrew alphabet. The modern golem has been commonly imagined as a clay figure with larger-than-human proportions and strength. Modern golem tales have also borrowed from ancient sources the motif of the golem’s muteness, which indicates that the clay creature does not possess human intelligence even when it understands orders. The golem’s animation has largely proceeded according to one of two methods: a rabbi engraves the Hebrew word for truth, emet, on its forehead, or else places in its mouth a parchment containing the ineffable Hebrew name for God, Ha-shem ha-meforash. Pursuant to animation, the golem traditionally works for the rabbi, functioning as a beadle, or, in 20th-century stories, as a protector of the ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks. Deanimation can take several forms as well: through the erasure of the letter aleph, emet becomes met (dead); the parchment with the ineffable name can be removed from the golem; a ritual can be performed, reversing the direction of animation and returning the clay figure to dust. In the Prague narratives that draw on the historical figure of the 16th-century Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague, the golem needs to rest on the Sabbath and when the rabbi forgets to remove the animating formula on the Sabbath eve the golem runs amok and begins to destroy the ghetto until it is subdued. Modern adaptations of the golem story, drawing on these different versions, have appeared across a wide range of cultures, languages, and media, including Czech, Danish, English, French, German, Hebrew, and Yiddish literature, theater, opera, cinema, comics, and television. The golem has inspired literary adaptations for children and young adults and has also become a figure in contemporary video games such as Minecraft and Assassin’s Creed.
Golda Meir
Authors: Medzini Meron
Published: March 2019

Golda Meir (b. 1898–d. 1978), Israel’s fourth prime minister, was a major figure in Israeli politics and society from 1928 until her death fifty years later. Born in Kiev, then part of tsarist Russia, she was raised in a poor family that often moved from one house to another. At age five she experienced preparations for a pogrom, and that left its mark on her for life. The family immigrated to the United States in 1906 and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where her father worked as a carpenter. From an early age she came under the influence of her elder sister, Sheyna, who introduced her to Zionism and socialism. When her family refused to let her attend high school, she rebelled and escaped to her sister, then living in Denver. There she met Morris Myerson, who would become her husband. Two years later, back in Milwaukee, she became active in Poale Zion, a Zionist-Socialist movement, and decided to immigrate to Palestine and become part of the effort to rebuild a Jewish state. She was married in December 1917 and left for Palestine in 1921, settling in Kibbutz Merhavia, and began to make her name in Labor Zionist circles. She soon caught the eyes of the movement’s leaders, David Ben-Gurion, Berl Katznelson, David Remez, and Zalman Shazar. The latter two would become her mentors and later her lovers. She advanced slowly in the ranks of Mapai, since 1930 the leading socialist party in Palestine. In the 1930s and early 1940s she held various senior positions in the executive of the Histadrut trade union movement. During Israel’s War of Independence she raised huge sums of money from American Jews that helped pay for weapons. She was a signer of Israel’s Declaration of Independence and was appointed Israel’s first Minister Plenipotentiary to the Soviet Union, a position she held for less than a year. This was followed by a ministerial career that included minister of labor (1949–1956), foreign minister (1956–1966), party secretary (1966–1968) and finally prime minister (1969–1974). Her career came to an abrupt end shortly after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which caught Israel by surprise. Although exonerated by a commission of inquiry that praised her actions on the eve of the war, popular demand led to her resignation in 1974. For many years she was seen as the incarnation of inflexibility in her foreign policy, while she was praised for her social legislation, including the establishment of Israel’s Social Security system in 1952. In recent years there has been a reevaluation of her foreign policy and she is now considered as one of Israel’s more noted national leaders.
Globalization
Authors: Carmody Pádraig
Published: March 2019

Globalization is a contested concept and phenomenon. At its most basic it refers to increased interconnection between places or the increased stretching of social relations over distance, as mediated through, for example, flows of goods, finance, people, ideas, and forms of social organization. However, the precise content, nature, and impacts, of this phenomenon are highly debated. Africa is often conceived of as a recipient of globalization, rather than a source region of the phenomenon. However, accounts which critique the “impact model” of globalization on the continent have recently become more influential as have those which emphasize its recursive nature. There are a variety of channels through which globalization is constituted and expressed. These include economic, political, and social.
Han Expansion to the South
Authors: Herman John E.
Published: March 2019

On the surface, a discussion of China’s expansion south might appear as just another academic endeavor with little relevance to contemporary events. Anyone who has taken a university course on Chinese civilization knows the story: Chinese civilization began in the second millennium bce as various Neolithic settlements situated along the lower reaches of the Yellow River, an area known as the Central Plain, coalesced to form the first Chinese dynasty, the Shang. For the next three thousand years, the culture that emerged from this Central Plain heartland spread uniformly over the geopolitical expanse of what is contemporary China, bringing civilization to the previously untamed “barbarians” of the periphery. This linear narrative presumes that the geopolitical entity that is China today has unsullied ancient roots, and that China today has always been China. The arguments offered in support of China’s universal culture, Prasenjit Duara tells us, are rhetorical subterfuge aimed at securing for the “contested and contingent nation the false unity of a self-same” (p. 4), the Han. Thus, to question this teleological paradigm of Chinese history is to challenge the very essence of China, Chinese civilization, and Han identity. Yet this is precisely what students of China’s expansion south are doing today. They are decentering China’s history by asking a deceptively simple question: What would Chinese history look like if we examine it from the perspective of the peoples living along China’s southern periphery?
The Influence of Glenohumeral Joint Posterior Capsule Tightness and Impingement Symptoms on Shoulder Impairments and Kinematics
Authors: Rosa Dayana P , Borstad John D , Ferreira Julia K , Camargo Paula R
Published: March 2019

Background

Posterior capsule tightness (PCT) and shoulder impingement syndrome (SIS) symptoms are both associated with altered shoulder biomechanics and impairments. However, their combined effect on kinematics, pain, range of motion (ROM), strength, and function remain unknown.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine if the combination of PCT and SIS affects scapular and humeral kinematics, glenohumeral joint ROM, glenohumeral joint external rotation strength, pain, and function differently than does either factor (PCT or SIS) alone.

Design

The design was a cross-sectional group comparison.

Methods

Participants were placed into 1 of 4 groups based on the presence or absence of SIS and PCT: control group (n = 28), PCT group (n = 27), SIS group (n = 25), and SIS + PCT group (n = 25). Scapular kinematics and humeral translations were quantified with an electromagnetic motion capture system. Shoulder internal rotation and external rotation ROM, external rotation strength, and pain and Shoulder Pain and Disabilities Index scores were compared between groups with ANOVA.

Results

The SIS group had greater scapular internal rotation (mean difference = 5.13°; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.53°–8.9°) and less humeral anterior translation (1.71 mm; 95% CI = 0.53–2.9 mm) than the other groups. Groups without PCT had greater internal rotation ROM (16.05°; 95% CI = 5.09°–28.28°). The SIS + PCT group had lower pain thresholds at the levator scapulae muscle (108.02 kPa; 95% CI = 30.15–185.88 kPa) and the highest Shoulder Pain and Disabilities Index score (∼ 44.52; 95% CI = 33.41–55.63).

Limitations

These results may be limited to individuals with impingement symptoms and cannot be generalized to other shoulder conditions.

Conclusions

Decreased ROM and lower pain thresholds were found in individuals with both impingement symptoms and PCT. However, the combination of factors did not influence scapular and humeral kinematics.
What Causes the Onset of Psychosis in Individuals at Clinical High Risk? A Meta-analysis of Risk and Protective Factors
Authors: Oliver Dominic , Reilly Thomas J , Baccaredda Boy Ottone , Petros Natalia , Davies Cathy , Borgwardt Stefan , McGuire Philip , Fusar-Poli Paolo
Published: March 2019

Twenty percent of individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P) develop the disorder within 2 years. Extensive research has explored the factors that differentiate those who develop psychosis and those who do not, but the results are conflicting.

The current systematic review and meta-analysis comprehensively addresses the consistency and magnitude of evidence for non-purely genetic risk and protective factors associated with the risk of developing psychosis in CHR-P individuals. Random effects meta-analyses, standardized mean difference (SMD) and odds ratio (OR) were used, in combination with an established stratification of evidence that assesses the association of each factor and the onset of psychotic disorders (from class I, convincing evidence to class IV weak evidence), while controlling for several types of biases.

A total of 128 original controlled studies relating to 26 factors were retrieved. No factors showed class I-convincing evidence. Two further factors were associated with class II-highly suggestive evidence: attenuated positive psychotic symptoms (SMD = 0.348, 95% CI: 0.280, 0.415) and global functioning (SMD = −0.291, 95% CI: −0.370, −0.211). There was class III-suggestive evidence for negative psychotic symptoms (SMD = 0.393, 95% CI: 0.317, 0.469). There was either class IV-weak or no evidence for all other factors.

Our findings suggest that despite the large number of putative risk factors investigated in the literature, only attenuated positive psychotic symptoms, global functioning, and negative psychotic symptoms show suggestive evidence or greater for association with transition to psychosis. The current findings may inform the refinement of clinical prediction models and precision medicine in this field.
Global classification and evolution of brushlegged mayflies (Insecta: Ephemeroptera: Oligoneuriidae): phylogenetic analyses of morphological and molecular data and dated historical biogeography
Authors: Massariol Fabiana Criste , Takiya Daniela Maeda , Salles Frederico Falcão
Published: March 2019

Oligoneuriidae is a Pantropical family of Ephemeroptera, with 68 species described in 12 genera. Three subfamilies are recognized: Chromarcyinae, with a single species from East Asia; Colocrurinae, with two fossil species from Brazil; and Oligoneuriinae, with the remaining species distributed in the Neotropical, Nearctic, Afrotropical and Palaearctic regions. Phylogenetic and biogeographical analyses were performed for the family based on 2762 characters [73 morphological and 2689 molecular (COI, 16S, 18S and 28S)]. Four major groups were recovered in all analyses (parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference), and they were assigned to tribal level, namely Oligoneuriini, Homoeoneuriini trib. nov., Oligoneuriellini trib. nov. and Elassoneuriini trib. nov. In addition, Yawari and Madeconeuria were elevated to genus level. According to Statistical Dispersal-Vicariance (S-DIVA), Dispersal Extinction Cladogenesis (DEC) and divergence time estimation analyses, Oligoneuriidae originated ~150 Mya in the Gondwanan supercontinent, but was probably restricted to the currently delimited Neotropical region. The initial divergence of Oligoneuriidae involved a range expansion to Oriental and Afrotropical areas, sometime between 150 and 118 Mya. At ~118 Mya, the family started its diversification, reaching the Nearctic through dispersal from the Neotropical region and the Palaearctic and Madagascar from the Afrotropical region.
Near-Complete Genome Assembly of Alternaria brassicae—A Necrotrophic Pathogen of Brassica Crops
Authors: Rajarammohan Sivasubramanian , Pental Deepak , Kaur Jagreet
Published: March 2019

Alternaria brassicae, a necrotrophic fungal pathogen, causes Alternaria blight, an important disease of brassica crops. Although many Alternaria spp. have been sequenced, no genome information is available for A. brassicae, a monotypic lineage within the Alternaria genus. A highly contiguous genome assembly of A. brassicae has been generated using Nanopore MinION sequencing with an N50 of 2.98 Mb, yielding nine full chromosome-level sequences. This study adds to the current genomic resources available for the genus Alternaria and will provide opportunities for further analyses to unravel the mechanisms underlying pathogenicity of this important necrotrophic pathogen.
Role of Major Glucosinolates in the Defense of Kale Against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris
Authors: Madloo Pari , Lema Margarita , Francisco Marta , Soengas Pilar
Published: March 2019

Glucosinolates (GSLs) are secondary metabolites present in Brassicaceae species implicated in their defense against plant pathogens. When a pathogen causes tissue damage, the enzyme myrosinase hydrolyzes GSLs into diverse products that exhibit antimicrobial activity against a wide range of bacteria and fungi in vitro. It was demonstrated that modulation of GSL content in vivo affects plant resistance to infection by pathogens in Arabidopsis. However, the roles of specific metabolites and how they interact with pathogens are poorly understood in Brassica crops. We previously developed a set of populations of Brassica oleracea var. acephala L. (kale) differing in content of three GSLs: the aliphatics sinigrin (2-propenyl [SIN]) and glucoiberin (3-methylsulphinylpropyl [GIB]) and the indolic glucobrassicin (3-indolylmethyl [GBS]). These populations can be used to study the effects of major GSLs in kale, with the advantage that genotypes within each selection have the same genetic background. This research aimed to explore the role of SIN, GIB, and GBS in the defense of kale against the necrotrophic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris. Results showed that increasing the amount of a particular GSL did not always result in disease resistance. The effects of GSLs were apparently dependent on the pathogen and the type of GSL. Thus, the aliphatic SIN was inhibitory to infection by S. sclerotiorum and the indolic GBS was inhibitory to infection by X. campestris pv. campestris. Other factors, including the quantity and proportion of other metabolites modified during the pathogen infection process, could also modulate the degree of inhibition to the pathogen.
Systems Perspective for Incivility in Academia
Authors: Stalter Ann M. , Phillips Janet M. , Ruggiero Jeanne S. , Wiggs Carol M. , Brodhead Josette , Swanson Kathleen
Published: March 2019

AIM

The purpose of this integrative review was to identify evidence of systems thinking on civility in academic settings.

BACKGROUND

Incivility is present in academic systems, including nursing education. What is learned in academia translates to the workplace. Systems-based solutions may promote quality and safety in health care.

METHOD

Whittemore and Knafl’s integrative approach guided this study.

RESULTS

Forty-nine articles were reviewed. Themes emerged describing incivility in nursing as embedded within layers of a performance-driven, oppressive hostile bureaucracy, trickling down, instilling fear, and reinforcing uncivil behavior among and between members. Other themes defined faculty-to-faculty and faculty-to-student incivilities, reasons for it, reactions to it, and suggestions for improved civility.

CONCLUSION

The systems awareness model is offered as a means of promoting civility in nursing education. A lack of evidence to support how incivility in academia transfers to quality and safety in practice settings is identified as a gap for future study.
Internet, Apps, and Tweets: Enhancing Clinical Learning Through Just-in-Time Training
Authors: Serembus Joanne Farley , Hunt-Kada Patricia , Lenahan Kerry , Lydon April
Published: March 2019

Students work in fast-paced environments that do not allow them the time to thumb through books for needed clinical information. At times such as these, just-in-time training using mobile technology comes to the rescue. Apps, tweets, and the Internet are all in the hands of nursing students and can decrease their cognitive load while enhancing clinical learning.
Working Together: Addressing Cultural Diversity, Patient Safety, and Quality Care Through an Interprofessional Health Care Course
Authors: Gambino Kathleen M. , Frawley Stacey , Lu Wei-Hsin
Published: March 2019

An interprofessional course was designed to augment the integration of practice and education in a large, public northeastern university. The schools of medicine, nursing, and social work, along with the associated hospital’s quality assurance team, worked together to design curricula aimed at improving quality of care, communication, collaboration, and teamwork. Development and implementation of the elective course resulted in extended discussions among the schools, complementing the university’s overall initiative to develop a formal interprofessional educational program. Evaluations indicated that participants developed a greater appreciation for the roles of fellow health care professionals and a desire to better utilize their services.
Cyberbullying in Academic Medicine: A Framework for Managing Social Media Attacks
Authors: Cain Jeff , Linos Eleni , Chretien Katherine C.
Published: March 2019

Criticism, scathing comments, and harassment are becoming more common elements of social media discourse. Recent coordinated public attacks directed at higher education faculty illustrate these troubling trends. In several cases, these attacks have been politically motivated by participants who disagree with a faculty member’s statements regarding sensitive subjects. Whereas most high-profile cases have included faculty teaching at the undergraduate level who use social media to promote scholarly discussion, medical school faculty may also be at risk, especially if their scholarly pursuits pertain to politically charged issues (e.g., race and diversity, firearms, vaccinations, the health of transgender populations). In today’s digital environment of cellphone recordings, forwarded e-mails, and open-access manuscripts, any faculty member who discusses or engages in scholarship of politically sensitive issues on- or offline may be at risk. In this Invited Commentary, the authors discuss the multifaceted problem of cyberbullying of medical school faculty and provide recommendations to faculty and administrators about how to mitigate and manage these situations.
The Effects of Racism in Medical Education on Students’ Decisions to Practice in Underserved or Minority Communities
Authors: Phelan Sean M. , Burke Sara Emily , Cunningham Brooke A. , Perry Sylvia P. , Hardeman Rachel R. , Dovidio John F. , Herrin Jeph , Dyrbye Liselotte N. , White Richard O. , Yeazel Mark W. , Onyeador Ivuoma N. , Wittlin Natalie M. , Harden Kristin , van Ryn Michelle
Published: March 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between manifestations of racism in medical school and subsequent changes in graduating medical students’ intentions to practice in underserved or minority communities, compared with their attitudes and intentions at matriculation.

Method

The authors used repeated-measures data from a longitudinal study of 3,756 students at 49 U.S. medical schools that were collected from 2010 to 2014. They conducted generalized linear mixed models to estimate whether manifestations of racism in school curricula/policies, school culture/climate, or student attitudes/behaviors predicted first- to fourth-year changes in students’ intentions to practice in underserved communities or primarily with minority populations. Analyses were stratified by students’ practice intentions (no/undecided/yes) at matriculation.

Results

Students’ more negative explicit racial attitudes were associated with decreased intention to practice with underserved or minority populations at graduation. Service learning experiences and a curriculum focused on improving minority health were associated with increased intention to practice in underserved communities. A curriculum focused on minority health/disparities, students’ perceived skill at developing relationships with minority patients, the proportion of minority students at the school, and the perception of a tense interracial environment were all associated with increased intention to care for minority patients.

Conclusions

This study provides evidence that racism manifested at multiple levels in medical schools was associated with graduating students’ decisions to provide care in high-need communities. Strategies to identify and eliminate structural racism and its manifestations in medical school are needed.