bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
State-level disparities in cervical cancer prevention and outcomes in the United States: a modeling study
Authors: Alarid-Escudero Fernando , Gracia Valeria , Wolf Marina , Zhao Ran , Easterly Caleb W , Kim Jane J , Canfell Karen , de Kok Inge M C M , Barnabas Ruanne V , Kulasingam Shalini
Published: November 2024

Background

Despite human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines’ availability for over a decade, coverage across the United States varies. Although some states have tried to increase HPV vaccination coverage, most model-based analyses focus on national impacts. We evaluated hypothetical changes in HPV vaccination coverage at the national and state levels for California, New York, and Texas using a mathematical model.

Methods

We developed a new mathematical model of HPV transmission and cervical cancer, creating national- and state-level models, incorporating country- and state-specific vaccination coverage and cervical cancer incidence and mortality. We quantified the national- and state-level impact of increasing HPV vaccination coverage to 80% by 2025 or 2030 on cervical cancer outcomes and the time to elimination defined as less than 4 per 100 000 women.

Results

Increasing vaccination coverage to 80% in Texas over 10 years could reduce cervical cancer incidence by 50.9% (95% credible interval [CrI] = 46.6%-56.1%) by 2100, from 1.58 (CrI = 1.19-2.09) to 0.78 (CrI = 0.57-1.02) per 100 000 women. Similarly, New York could see a 27.3% (CrI = 23.9%-31.5%) reduction from 1.43 (CrI = 0.93-2.07) to 1.04 (CrI = 0.66-1.53) per 100 000 women, and California a 24.4% (CrI = 20.0%-30.0%) reduction from 1.01 (CrI = 0.66-1.44) to 0.76 (CrI = 0.50-1.09) per 100 000 women. Achieving 80% coverage in 5 years will provide slightly larger and sooner reductions. If the vaccination coverage levels in 2019 continue, cervical cancer elimination could occur nationally by 2051 (CrI = 2034-2064), but state timelines may vary by decades.

Conclusion

Targeting an HPV vaccination coverage of 80% by 2030 will disproportionately benefit states with low coverage and higher cervical cancer incidence. Geographically focused analyses can better inform priorities.
Inequities in palliative care delivery to patients with HIV and Stage IV cancers in the US (2004-2020)
Authors: Islam Jessica Y , Guo Yi , Turner Kea , Tabriz Amir Alishahi , Lin Yu Chen , Vidot Denise C , Vadaparampil Susan T , Coghill Anna E , ScD Marlene Camacho-Rivera , Suneja Gita
Published: November 2024

Background

People with HIV (PWH) diagnosed with stage-IV cancer are less likely to receive palliative care (PC) compared to those without HIV. Our objective was to evaluate inequities in PC receipt among PWH with stage IV cancer in the US.

Methods

We used the National Cancer Database (2004-2020), including adult (18-89 years) PWH with the 14 most common cancers that occur among PWH. PC was defined as treatment provided with non-curative intent. Our main exposures included % quartiles of adults without a high school degree (educational attainment) and median income quartiles within the patient's zip code. We used hierarchical multivariable Poisson regression to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios(aPR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), adjusting for age, sex, year of diagnosis, race/ethnicity, and cancer type.

Results

Among the included 10,120 PWH with stage IV cancer, 72% were men, 51% were either non-Hispanic(NH)-Black or Hispanic/Latinx, 38% were aged ≥60 years, and 97% resided in urban areas. Fourteen percent received PC. NH-Black PWH living in zip-codes with lower quartiles of educational attainment were more likely to receive PC compared to those in the highest quartile (Q1vs.Q4: aPR:1.93;95% CI:1.29-2,86) For income overall, compared to those in the highest quartile (Q4) of income, those in the lowest quartile had 26% higher likelihood of receiving PC (Q1vs.Q4: aPR:1.26;95% CI:1.05-1.52), particularly among NH-Black adults (Q1vs.Q4: aPR:1.67;95% CI:1.25-2.22; Q2 vs.Q4; aPR:1.48;95% CI:1.09-2.01).

Conclusions

PC use among PWH with stage-IV cancer is low. Contextual poverty plays a role in PC delivery to PWH and cancer, particularly among NH-Black PWH.
“It’s chaos”: affective spaces of journalism in Istanbul
Authors: Miles Caitlin M
Published: November 2024

Based on 9 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Istanbul, Turkey, this article explores the affective attachments circulating around urban spaces of journalism in Istanbul, with particular attention to how experiences of urban life shape journalists’ imaginaries of their relationship to each other, the city, their audience, and the broader “public” of Turkey. This article considers how journalistic life and practice is a form of subjectivity that hinges upon spatialized affects and affective spaces. These affects emerge as the physical landscapes and spaces of journalism alter, whereby journalists attach and reflect on different spaces as they try to make sense of their professional lives amidst the uncertainties of spatial change. This article orients the narratives presented—which highlight themes of professional solidarity, dispossession, and social isolation—to argue that definitions and practices of journalism are “embedded in the changing rhythms and dynamics of urban life” (Rodgers et al., 2014: p. 106).
Promoting Antiviral Access and Adherence in the Expansion of Hepatitis B Prevention Programs: Insights From the Democratic Republic of Congo
Authors: Thahir Sahal , Morgan Camille E , Ngimbi Patrick , Kashamuka Melchior Mwandagalirwa , Ntambua Sarah , Matondo Jolie , Tabala Martine , Mbendi Charles , Kaba Didine , Yotebieng Marcel , Parr Jonathan B , Banek Kristin , Thompson Peyton
Published: November 2024

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) antiviral administration and adherence are essential to reach the World Health Organization’s 2030 hepatitis elimination goals. As HBV treatment guidelines are now simplified and expanded, adherence to treatment will be critical, but challenges to adherence are poorly studied. After introducing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) monotherapy to expectant mothers with high-risk HBV in Kinshasa, DRC, we conducted semi-structured interviews to understand medication adherence behaviors, to complement pill counts and measurement of TDF metabolite levels. Key facilitators of adherence identified included trust in healthcare workers, a better understanding of HBV, and family support. Identified barriers included fear of stigma and low health literacy. Knowledge about HBV disease remains low, underscoring the importance of ongoing education of clinic staff and patients alike.
Macrolide-Resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae, North Dakota 2024
Authors: Douvoyiannis Miltiadis , Rothstein Tanner E , Patel Robin
Published: November 2024

A cluster of macrolide-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae -causing community-acquired pneumonia was observed in children in North Dakota in 2024. Suspicion was raised by non-response to macrolides, with confirmation via a polymerase-chain reaction assay. Prompt improvement occurred after the initiation of alternative antibiotics.
Doubly robust estimation of policy-relevant causal effects under interference
Authors: Hettinger Gary , Roberto Christina , Lee Youjin , Mitra Nandita
Published: November 2024

To comprehensively evaluate a public policy intervention, researchers must consider the effects of the policy not just on the implementing region, but also nearby, indirectly affected regions. For example, an excise tax on sweetened beverages in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was shown to not only be associated with a decrease in volume sales of taxed beverages in Philadelphia, but also an increase in sales in nontaxed bordering counties. The latter association may be explained by cross-border shopping behaviours of Philadelphia residents and indicate a causal effect of the tax on nearby regions, which may drastically offset the total effect of the intervention. In this paper, we adapt doubly robust difference-in-differences methodology to estimate distinct causal effects on the implementing and neighbouring control regions when they are geographically separable and data exists from an unaffected control region. Our approach adjusts for potential confounding in quasi-experimental evaluations and relaxes standard assumptions on model specification while accounting for geographically separable interference, repeated observations, spatial correlation, and unknown effect heterogeneity. We apply these methods to evaluate the effect of the Philadelphia beverage tax on taxed beverage sales in 231 Philadelphia and bordering county stores. We also use our methods to explore effect heterogeneity across geographical features.
Anatomic maps of erogenous and aversive sensation zones of the breasts, vulva, and vagina: a questionnaire-based study
Authors: Stelmar Jenna , Zaliznyak Michael , Sandhu Sandeep , Isaacson Dylan , Duralde Erin , Smith Shannon M , Knudson Gail A , Garcia Maurice M
Published: November 2024

Background

Erogenous sensation zones (ESZs) elicit sexual pleasure upon stimulation. General ESZ maps exist, but they do not assess internal areas of the body, differentiate between individual structures, or quantify the importance of individual ESZs to sexual pleasure. Maps of aversive sensation zones (ASZs), or bodily areas individuals dislike having touched during sex, have not been described.

Aim

To create detailed erogenous and aversive sensory maps of the vulva, vagina, and breasts, and assess the importance of each erogenous structure to sexual pleasure.

Methods

An anonymous online questionnaire was administered to 441 sexually active cisgender women (mean age 48.9 ± 15.5 years) from March to June 2020 via Qualtrics. Respondents selected ESZs and ASZs from anatomic illustrations and rated each ESZ’s importance to their sexual pleasure. Respondents’ reasoning for choosing each ASZ was queried.

Outcomes

Heat maps of ESZ and ASZ selection frequency, ESZ importance ratings, and ASZ reasoning.

Results

More respondents selected ≧1 areas of the vulva as erogenous (82.0%), in comparison to the breasts (77.4%) and vagina (59.4%). The two most erogenous areas of the breast were also the most aversive: breast tissue (57.8% ESZ selection; 5.4% ASZ) and nipples (42.7%; 6.5%). Respondents most commonly reported these areas as aversive due to: “It’s overly sensitive” and “It hurts.”

The most frequently selected ESZs of the vulva were the vaginal introitus (50.8%), periurethra (42.6%), and glans clitoris (41.3%). The top ASZs were the anus (34.0%) and perineum (7.9%), with primary reasons being: “It’s gross,” “It hurts,” and “I’m ashamed/embarrassed.”

Of the five ESZs of the vagina, the superficial anterior (48.1%) and superficial posterior (32.9%) regions were the most selected. The cervix (6.8%), superficial posterior (5%), and deep posterior (3.4%) regions were the top ASZs due to “It hurts” and/or “It’s overly sensitive.”

Clinical Implications

Erogenous and aversive sensory maps could help identify sexual concerns, inform preoperative counseling, and track sensory changes.

Strengths and Limitations

This study captured detailed maps of internal and external ESZs and ASZs of the breasts, vulva, and vagina. Limitations include recall bias and inclusion of only cisgender women, rather than all people who share the same anatomy, irrespective of gender identity.

Conclusions

Erogenous sensation was most prominent in the vulvar structures, including the vaginal introitus and glans clitoris, followed by the superficial surface of the vaginal canal. Aversive sensation associated with the anus primarily came from feelings of judgment and shame, while other ASZs were reportedly due to pain and sensitivity.
Capturing and Categorizing the Burden of Musculoskeletal Injuries in U.S. Active Duty Service Members: A Comprehensive Methodology
Authors: Pav Veronika , Yuan Xiaoning , Isaacson Brad , Funk Wendy , Hando Ben
Published: November 2024

Background

Musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs) represent the most common, costly, and impactful medical conditions affecting active duty service members (ADSMs) of the United States Armed Forces. Inconsistent, variable MSKI surveillance methods and often incompletely described criteria for cohort selection, injuries, incidence, and prevalence have limited efforts to observe longitudinal trends, identify gaps in care, or highlight specific military branches or sites that could benefit from enhanced MSKI intervention protocols. The purpose of this manuscript is to present a comprehensive, well-documented, and reproducible framework for capturing and categorizing MSKI burden, healthcare utilization, and private sector costs for ADSMs across a 12-year period spanning the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification transition.

Methods

This was a retrospective, longitudinal population study, including ADSMs from the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy. Prevalence and incidence rates for Upper Extremity, Lower Extremity, Spine, and Head/Neck MSKIs, associated health care utilization, and private sector costs were obtained by querying electronic health records from military treatment facilities, private sector care (PC) claims, and theater medical data from October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2021 (Fiscal Years 10-21), using the Military Health System Data Repository. Utilization associated with MSKIs per body region in the direct care and PC settings was classified into mutually exclusive outpatient encounter categories and acute inpatient stays. PC MSKI-associated costs were captured per year and categorized by service, body region, and setting.

Conclusions

MSKI surveillance research in ADSMs has been impacted by variable, often incompletely described methods. While our approach is not without limitations, our aim was to present a well-documented, reproducible methodology for MSKI investigation in military personnel. By presenting a comprehensive blueprint for capturing and categorizing MSKI care in U.S. service members, our goal is for this methodology to enhance the efforts of researchers, public health officials, and Military Health System leaders to combat MSKIs, the primary medical threat to military readiness.
Burden of Musculoskeletal Injuries in U.S. Active Duty Service Members: A 12-Year Study Spanning Fiscal Years 2010–2021
Authors: Pav Veronika , Yuan Xiaoning , Isaacson Brad , Colahan Courtney , Hando Ben
Published: November 2024

Background

Musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs) represent the most substantial and enduring threat to U.S. military readiness. Previous studies have focused on narrow surveillance periods, single branches of service, and used variable approaches for MSKI identification and classification. Therefore, the goals of this retrospective population study were to report the incidence, prevalence, and types of MSKIs sustained by active duty service members (ADSMs) across four Services in direct care (DC) and private sector care (PC) settings over fiscal years (FYs) 2010–2021, and to quantify and describe associated health care utilization and PC costs over the same period.

Methods

This study included ADSMs from the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy. Prevalence and incidence rates for Head/Neck, Upper Extremity (UE), Spine (upper back, middle back, lower back, pelvic), and Lower Extremity (LE) MSKIs in ADSMs, associated health care utilization, and PC costs were derived by querying electronic health records from DC, PC claims, and theater medical data from the Military Health System Data Repository. Patient episodes of care and associated PC costs related to MSKIs in DC and PC settings were classified into mutually exclusive outpatient encounter categories and acute inpatient stays, body regions, and Services.

Results

Over FY10–21, the most prevalent MSKIs were LE (24–29%) followed by Spine (17–20%), UE (14–16%), and Head/Neck (6–8%). Across FY10–21, soldiers were more likely to sustain LE MSKI than Airmen (risk ratio 1.12–1.30) and Marines demonstrated an increasing risk of LE MSKI prevalence and incidence (relative to Airmen) over the study period. The rise in prevalence of LE, Spine, UE, and Head/Neck MSKIs over FY10–21 was accompanied by increased health care utilization and reliance on PC care, especially same-day surgeries (SDS). PC reliance for SDS increased across body regions from FY10 to its peak in FY20 (Head/Neck: 22.7% to 49.7%, Spine: 37.1% to 57.0%, LE: 38.6% to 51.5%, UE: 40.4% to 53.5%). In FY21, the MHS incurred the highest PC costs for LE MSKIs ($132,242,289), followed by Spine ($98,738,863), UE ($92,118,071), and Head/Neck ($42,718,754).

Conclusions

To our knowledge, this is the first population study of MSKIs in ADSMs spanning the ICD-10 CM transition (FY15–16) that includes the four Services. Across Services, MSKIs in the U.S. military remain a prevalent and persistent problem. Consistent with prior research, the LE was the most common and costly body region affected by MSKIs. Service members with MSKIs demonstrated an increasing reliance on PC for MSKI care, particularly SDS, over the study period. Expanding future research efforts to include all Services to assess risk factors and patient outcomes for treatments across DC and PC settings is vital to mitigate the threat posed by MSKIs to the readiness of the U.S. Armed Forces.
High-Grade B-Cell Lymphoma: An Atypical Mass in the Colon
Authors: Corder Jessica , Paul Shira , Dehart Joshua , Jayne Lindsay , Bush Allison
Published: November 2024

Masses in the colon can range from benign to malignant etiologies, with adenocarcinoma being the most common malignancy. Although the most frequently encountered hematologic malignancy in the military population, lymphoma is uncommonly identified during colonoscopy. We present a rare case of an active duty service member with abdominal pain and a large mesenteric mass with extension into the cecum that was a high-grade B-cell lymphoma diagnosed through endoscopy.
Understanding the heterogeneity of natural killer cells at the maternal–fetal interface: implications for pregnancy health and disease
Authors: Zhang Yuying , Yang Liangtao , Yang Dongyong , Cai Songchen , Wang Yanjun , Wang Linlin , Li Yuye , Li Longfei , Yin Tailang , Diao Lianghui
Published: November 2024

Natural killer (NK) cells are the most abundant leukocytes located at the maternal–fetal interface; they respond to pregnancy-related hormones and play a pivotal role in maintaining the homeostatic micro-environment during pregnancy. However, due to the high heterogeneity of NK cell subsets, their categorization has been controversial. Here, we review previous studies on uterine NK cell subsets, including the classic categorization based on surface markers, functional molecules, and developmental stages, as well as single-cell RNA sequencing-based clustering approaches. In addition, we summarize the potential pathways by which endometrial NK cells differentiate into decidual NK (dNK) cells, as well as the differentiation pathways of various dNK subsets. Finally, we compared the alterations in the NK cell subsets in various pregnancy-associated diseases, emphasizing the possible contribution of specific subsets to the development of the disease.
Hidden Public Music Theory
Authors: Jenkins J Daniel
Published: November 2024

In many examples of public music theory, information is mediated through an authorial voice, not always a credentialed, academic music theorist to be sure, but someone who by virtue of their experience, performance ability, personality, or some combination of these communicates to their audience that they are in possession of musical knowledge and that the audience should be prepared to learn. Hidden public music theory is often orally transmitted and often lacks framing as music theory per se. Examples of hidden public music theory may encourage academic music theorists to reconsider what music theory is and who music theorists are.
CancerPro: deciphering the pan-cancer prognostic landscape through combinatorial enrichment analysis and knowledge network insights
Authors: Wang Zhigang , Yuan Yize , Wang Zhe , Zhang Wenjia , Chen Chong , Duan Zhaojun , Peng Suyuan , Zheng Jie , He Yongqun , Yang Xiaolin
Published: November 2024

Gene expression levels serve as valuable markers for assessing prognosis in cancer patients. To understand the mechanisms underlying prognosis and explore potential therapeutics across diverse cancers, we developed CancerPro (https:/medcode.link/cancerpro). This knowledge network platform integrates comprehensive biomedical data on genes, drugs, diseases and pathways, along with their interactions. By integrating ontology and knowledge graph technologies, CancerPro offers a user-friendly interface for analyzing pan-cancer prognostic markers and exploring genes or drugs of interest. CancerPro implements three core functions: gene set enrichment analysis based on multiple annotations; in-depth drug analysis; and in-depth gene list analysis. Using CancerPro, we categorized genes and cancers into distinct groups and utilized network analysis to identify key biological pathways associated with unfavorable prognostic genes. The platform further pinpoints potential drug targets and explores potential links between prognostic markers and patient characteristics such as glutathione levels and obesity. For renal and prostate cancer, CancerPro identified risk genes linked to immune deficiency pathways and alternative splicing abnormalities. This research highlights CancerPro's potential as a valuable tool for researchers to explore pan-cancer prognostic markers and uncover novel therapeutic avenues. Its flexible tools support a wide range of biological investigations, making it a versatile asset in cancer research and beyond.
Muriel Rukeyser
Authors: Kerwin Sarah Jane
Published: November 2024

Writer and activist Muriel Rukeyser (b. 1913–d. 1980) was born into an affluent Jewish family and grew up in New York City. Her father was a construction engineer, and his career sparked a curiosity about technology in his daughter that is on display in her first poetry collection, Theory of Flight (1935). This early interest in weaving science and technology into poetry is indicative of Rukeyser’s lifelong tendency to tackle unexpected and seemingly incongruent subjects in her work. Rukeyser attended Vassar College for two years but had to leave in 1932, after the Great Depression took a toll on her father’s business. During the 1930s she continued to write while also becoming increasingly involved in leftist politics, traveling to cover the Scottsboro Trial in 1933 and the 1936 People’s Olympiad in Barcelona. Rukeyser burst onto the literary scene after Theory of Flight won the Yale Younger Poets Prize. By the 1940s, however, her publications became regular subjects of harsh critique from both sides of the political aisle. This resistance to her work largely stemmed from Rukeyser’s radical belief in the importance of merging poetics and politics. Such merging/boundary crossing is on display in what is perhaps her most famous work, The Book of the Dead, which was originally published in the 1938 collection U.S. 1. Scholars have read The Book of the Dead as a project of political witnessing, an example of documentary poetry, a feminist epic, and an early instance of environmental justice work. Rukeyser was radical not only politically and poetically but also personally: she had relationships with women as well as men, and raised her only son by herself. Later in her life, she gained popularity among younger feminist poets, who embraced Rukeyser as a literary foremother. Her self-edited Collected Poems was published in 1978, two years before her death. While Rukeyser is best known for her poetry, she also wrote prolifically in other genres, including essays, scripts, and fiction. Recent feminist recovery efforts have brought some of Rukeyser’s prose back into print, such as The Life of Poetry in 1996. Originally published in 1949, this treatise urges readers to embrace poetry’s potential to communicate truth and create unity. In 2013, Rukeyser’s lost Spanish Civil War novel Savage Coast was published, adding another important text to her collected works. If Rukeyser was ahead of her time, recent scholarly interest indicates the time is now ripe for her.
Transition pathway for the city toward low-emission district heating system with heat auctions promoting third-party network access
Authors: Auvinen Karoliina , Lindroos Tomi J , Hedman Åsa , Savolainen Hannu , Lumijärvi Aleksi , Tainio Pasi
Published: November 2024

Here a plausible transition management model to accelerate the decarbonization of urban district heating systems is presented. Many cities and energy utilities have struggled in identifying sustainable, socially acceptable, and cost-efficient solutions to replace fossil fuels and unsustainable biofuels. A model was developed based on a case study made for the City of Helsinki in Finland to phase out coal and to reach carbon neutrality without additional bioenergy capacity by 2035. Methods included energy system modeling, environmental and economic assessment, and transition pathway co-creation. The main technical solutions included heat pump systems, demand response, energy storage, and strengthening electricity distribution networks. Achieving cost-efficient and socially acceptable local energy transition requires decentralizing heating solutions. The city can accelerate investments and promote third-party network access through heat auctions, open energy map data, and fast-track permits. Urban transitions need to be iteratively managed based on energy system modeling to secure sufficient heat supply, cost-efficiency, and rapid decarbonization simultaneously. Adoption of a new operational, business and market models is challenging but necessary. More research and development are needed on heat auctions and local energy transition management models, which enable coordinated investments by multiple actors to reach zero-emission district heating systems.
Society, Science, and Problem-Solving Courts in the United States and Abroad
Authors: Miller Monica K. , Holbrook Mia A. , Yelderman Logan A. , Kulak Kylie
Published: November 2024

Culture and law are reflections of each other; for example, the culture of a populace affects what is considered a crime, what causes crime, and how the legal system should respond to crime (e.g., rehabilitation or punishment). As such, it is no surprise that societies around the globe have adopted different laws and procedures to address differing social issues. Science plays many roles in the development (or not) of problem-solving courts. For purposes of this book, science includes social sciences (e.g., sociology, political science, psychology, criminal justice, culture), medical science (e.g., drug testing, mental health testing and treatment), and technology (e.g., ankle monitors, internet). It also includes the science used to test whether courts are effective. Science can help lawmakers recognize that something is in fact an issue, identify ways that the issue can be addressed, and evaluate whether solutions were effective. Science can also make problem-solving courts possible by providing the technology necessary for the monitoring of offenders and communication among service providers and judges.
When Law and Culture Collide
Authors: Miller Monica K. , Yelderman Logan A. , Holbrook Mia A. , Kulak Kylie
Published: November 2024

Law and culture are often considered distinct concepts. The lack of coherence regarding culture and, ostensibly, subcultures can be a product of law. Law defines the differences regarding culture and incoherence regarding that given meaning, but law can also produce a culture itself. Next, we will consider cultural differences apparent in cultures and subcultures that could affect the likelihood of a person interacting with the justice system and outcomes of that interaction. We will also discuss some subcultural differences, such as cultures of honor, urban survival syndrome, black rage, and hate crimes. Finally, we will discuss how these cultural differences and subcultural practices can have implications for the legal system. Specifically, we will discuss how these differences can make a person more likely to interact with the legal system, affect the court process, and, ultimately, affect judicial decision-making in problem-solving courts.
Introduction
Authors: Powers Allison
Published: November 2024

This chapter introduces international arbitration tribunals as sites through which to rethink histories of the United States Empire during the decades when the nation was becoming a global power. Between the 1870s and the 1930s, the State Department increasingly turned to the framework of international mass claims settlement to facilitate colonial interventions ranging from territorial annexation to securing special protections for US investors abroad. But the resultant Claims Commission had unintended consequences. Thousands of colonial subjects, migrants, and foreign nationals within the borders claimed by the United States turned to these tribunals to charge the US government with violating the international legal protections for life and property to which all putatively “civilized” states were beholden. Their unexpected legal claims transformed arbitral tribunals from sites designed to project US power into forums through which challenge the legitimacy of US governance. Through demonstrating how arbitration operated as a forgotten arena of struggle over the limits and possibilities of international law to address structural injustices within the US legal system, the chapter offers a new history of the US Empire—one shaped as much by attempts to insulate the United States from international accountability as it was by efforts to project power across the globe.
Dangerous Precedents
Authors: Powers Allison
Published: November 2024

This chapter uncovers how the 1908–1920 Joint Land Commission created to award monetary compensation for property that the United States expropriated in Panama unexpectedly became a site through which thousands of claimants turned to challenge the legitimacy of US colonial governance. The chapter traces how displaced residents of the Canal Zone used the arbitral tribunal to expose the violence, coercion, and fraud that they experienced at the hands of US agents. These international legal conflicts over everyday life in the Zone then recast hemispheric debates over meanings of sovereign equality by shifting the terrain upon which Panamanian and US diplomats renegotiated the terms of the Canal Treaty during the 1920s.
Conclusion
Authors: Powers Allison
Published: November 2024

This conclusion reflects on how the critiques of empire and state violence that claimants brought before early-twentieth-century arbitral tribunals came to be erased from the records of international law. It traces how transformations in the mid-twentieth century international legal order allowed the United States to insulate itself from the kinds of scrutiny that arbitration had unexpectedly produced during the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s. The book concludes that attention to the rise and fall of state-to-state mass claims settlement as a facet of US colonial policymaking reveals that United States global power has been shaped as much by attempts to shield the US government from international legal accountability as by efforts to project influence across the globe.
Belles-Lettres
Authors: Akhtar Sascha A. , Ali Hijab Imtiaz
Published: November 2024

Hijab Imtiaz Ali Taj’s Adab-E-Zareen, translated by Akhtar as The Belles-Lettres of Hijab Imitaz is an innovative mystical poetic work replete with symbology, philosophy, and metaphor, is translated from the Urdu for the first time in book form by celebrated Pakistani English language poet and fiction writer Sascha A. Akhtar. Written in 1936 by this pioneering feminist writer, who was also the first Muslim female pilot of the Subcontinent, the work takes Urdu literature generally and Urdu feminist literature to new levels. With this book, Hijab Imtiaz Ali Taj’s work receives a richer perspective, placing her beyond the limits of ‘romanticism’, as in Belles-Lettres, she eschews traditional forms of storytelling of the time and embraces the fragment and poetic prose. Primary source material has also been translated and presented for the first time. The state of the Urdu language at the time of writing is also examined. Akhtar contextualizes the writing in Belles-Lettres within the realm of Sufi philosophy, early Western Modernism. The biographical part of the essay even provides early history of the city of Hyderabad, in order for the reader to fully contextualize the life and work of Hijab Imtiaz. The significance of this book is made clear from an informative foreword by distinguished translator and academic Haider Shahbaz. The volume allows new audiences and new generations to connect with a lost, fragmented literary past and use it for new scholarship. In this way, it makes a significant contribution to knowledge about the literature of Pakistan and India.
Power, Image, and Memory
Authors: Holliday Peter J.
Published: November 2024

This book examines a wide variety of artistic traditions, showing how art commemorating historical events can shape collective memory, and with it, the identities of social groups and nations. It organizes twelve canonical works of representational art created in a variety of media around themes of commemoration and power. The chapters begin by describing the political and historical context for a work; then move into thick description, paying special attention to narrative techniques and conventions; followed by an analysis of the work’s meaning and the context of its commission; and end with a discussion of the work’s legacy in art history. The chapters argue how makers intended works of art to act as propaganda. The works depict conflicts very recent to the period in which they were produced. They are representations of specific conflicts employing specific techniques intended by their makers to encourage specific ideas about how those events connected to specific political ideologies. The examples chosen for the book are exceptional in how they communicated power or represented the past; many represent the first time a particular technique was employed. This book examines why and how certain technical developments of narrative conventions developed.
Fifth Movement
Authors: Simpson Barbara
Published: November 2024

This movement is comprised of an Intermezzo that examines Pragmatist thinking on ethics as an emerging social process, and an Étude that demonstrates the multiple levels at which an ethic of caring is practised by the senior management team of an arts-based company to generate surprise and enjoyment. The Intermezzo draws on the writings of Jane Addams, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead to elaborate the associative ethics of a caring democratic society, and in so doing it returns full circle to the community spirit of the First Movement. The Étude locates the caring practice of the senior managers within the wider contemporary literature on care ethics, showing how a Pragmatist approach transcends the dualistic thinking that characterises much of this work.
On the Adaptative Reliance on Fuzzy Memory Representations in Adult Ageing
Authors: Greene Nathaniel R. , Naveh-Benjamin Moshe
Published: November 2024

According to Fuzzy Trace Theory, human cognition is driven by evolutionary and ontogenetic pressures to rely on less precise gist representations rather than retaining verbatim representations, especially in older adulthood, where declines in episodic memory are well-documented. Older adults’ reliance on gist representations is often viewed through a negative lens, as such representations can contribute to false memories. However, their ability to remember gist details of past episodes may also confer advantages, especially in situations where memory is most deficient, as in remembering where someone was encountered. Remembering the gist of past experiences may lead to ‘well-enough’ performance in some situations, enabling older adults to remember just enough details to avoid catastrophic memory errors. Thus, in contrast to the many negative views about adult age-related changes in memory, the preservation of gist in older adulthood can have a positive impact and may speak to the evolutionary benefit of gist representations in situations in which human memory is severely limited.
Introduction
Authors: Deranty Jean-Philippe
Published: November 2024

The book’s aims, methods, and structure are outlined and explained in the Introduction, and its two main parts are briefly presented. Part I maps out the intellectual traditions from which classical and contemporary arguments against the centrality of work have been made. In so doing, conceptual and methodological issues in these arguments become apparent. Part II responds to the rejection of work’s importance by mounting a positive ‘case’ for work. The notion of work underpinning this argument is outlined as an activity that is instrumental, technical, social, and subject to many constraints. The Introduction ends with a summary of each of the fourteen chapters of the book.
A Modern Value
Authors: Deranty Jean-Philippe
Published: November 2024

Many scholars argue that the centrality of work is a phenomenon typical of Western modernity. They draw upon classical studies in anthropology and ancient history to support this claim, highlighting apparent differences in attitudes towards work in pre-modern and non-Western societies. These societies, it is claimed, exhibited mostly negative attitudes to work. This chapter outlines the way in which comparative considerations of this kind are used to build the background for accounts criticizing the importance of work in modern society. Five types of historically based critique are identified: the historical contingency of work’s importance; work being a social pathology characteristic of modern society; that claims about work’s centrality are ethnocentric and anachronistic; the need to adopt a nominalist approach in relation to the meaning of work; and that some social imaginaries might not even include a notion of work.
Conclusion
Authors: Deranty Jean-Philippe
Published: November 2024

Even if individuals can derive many ‘goods’ from having to face necessity, and even if the collective organizing of necessity brings them together in different ways, people also value experiences (for instance, love and friendship) and objects (typically, the good, the true and the beautiful, or supreme beings like God, or Nature) which are intrinsically valuable, not valuable for instrumental reasons, as is work. When people engage in these experiences and with these objects they seem to move from a realm of necessity to a realm of higher values and of real freedom, to use a famous image of Karl Marx. Using Hegel’s metaphor of the ‘Sunday of life’ as its guide, the Conclusion responds to this final objection by showing the many connections that tie the realm of necessity to the realms that transcend necessity. Even in modes of being and acting beyond necessity, work remains constitutively significant.
Introduction
Authors: Calvert Jane E.
Published: November 2024

The introduction provides an overview of how John Dickinson is seen today in contrast with his actual role in the Founding of the United States of America. It explains that few Americans today know his name, and those who do have a distorted impression from inaccurate portrayals of him in histories and popular entertainment, usually as a foil to John Adams as hero. It argues, rather, that Dickinson was America’s first celebrity and international spokesman for the American cause, contributing more to the Founding than any other individual with foundational writings and public service. Although he opposed the Declaration of Independence, he was the only leading Founder to interpret it as we do today to mean that all persons are equal and have rights worthy of protection. It describes Dickinson as acting as a “trimmer” to balance the ship of state and keep it on a straight course towards liberty.
“Congratulate Me on my Salvation”
Authors: Calvert Jane E.
Published: November 2024

Chapter Four chronicles Dickinson’s entrance into politics. He was elected first to the legislature of Pennsylvania’s Lower Counties (now Delaware), serving as speaker the following year, when he passed a unique bill protecting Black rights, and then to the Pennsylvania Assembly, where he served intermittently for the remainder of the colonial period. He wrote his first political essay on the right of free trade under flags of truce. This was also a time of loss and change. Dickinson’s father died, as did his mentor John Moland, a close family friend, and King George II. Mary Cadwalader Dickinson and his friend’s son moved in to Dickinson’s Philadelphia house with him. Dickinson was executor of Moland’s estate and advisor to his widow and children, and the demise of the king occasioned an essay on the tenure of colonial judges. Meanwhile, his law practice flourished and his wealth grew.
“So long and so dangerous a voyage”
Authors: Calvert Jane E.
Published: November 2024

Chapter Five details Dickinson’s rise to a leading role in Pennsylvania politics during a tumultuous period. Although the French and Indian War was over, violence continued on the western frontier. During the Paxton Riots, frontiersmen attacked a group of peaceful Moravian Indians, brutally murdering them and then marching on Philadelphia. Dickinson offered ideas to prevent further bloodshed. When a faction of the Assembly, led by Benjamin Franklin and Joseph Galloway, began a campaign to abolish the Pennsylvania 1701 constitution and place the colony directly under control of the Crown, Dickinson led the opposition, writing forcefully about the need to preserve the unique constitution that protected Quakers’ religious liberty. He was especially concerned because of new, oppressive legislation coming from the British government. He succeeded in ousting Franklin and Galloway from the Assembly, saving the constitution, and achieving recognition for his abilities in England.
“As the rock among the waves”
Authors: Calvert Jane E.
Published: November 2024

Chapter Ten describes how, as public sentiment turned towards revolution, Dickinson hoped to delay independence until America was prepared. When independence appeared certain, to preserve the appearance of unanimity, he revised the instructions to the Pennsylvania delegates, allowing them to vote in favor. He also wrote a first draft of the Articles of Confederation with protection for women’s religious liberty and drafted a model treaty. After a debate on independence with John Adams in Congress on July 1, 1776, Dickinson abstained from the vote and then led his battalion to fight the British. In November, he was reelected to the Pennsylvania Assembly but soon resigned in protest over the Pennsylvania 1776 constitution. The Pennsylvania government then pursued him as an enemy of the state. In 1777, Dickinson responded by enlisting as a private in the Delaware militia and conditionally liberating his slaves, honoring the principles in the Declaration of Independence. Meanwhile, as American leaders imprisoned his Quaker relatives, the British burned down Dickinson’s Philadelphia house.
“Through a Wilderness of Difficulties”
Authors: Calvert Jane E.
Published: November 2024

In Chapter Twelve, Dickinson manages a full slate of crises affecting the state and the nation. As head of the executive and judicial branches of one of the largest states, which was also the seat of the United States government, Dickinson was one of the most powerful men in the country. He dealt with the Pennamite-Yankee War on the norther border, and attempted secession by “Westsylvania” on the south-western border, Indian attacks on the frontier, a munity of Continental soldiers that put Dickinson at odds with Alexander Hamilton, and several court cases that challenged the stability of the state and nation. He tried and failed to secure just treatment of Indians in dealings with Pennsylvania. At each juncture, he brought his long experience and Quakerly approach to solve the problems. He then planned permanent retirement from public life.
“A labour of public love”
Authors: Calvert Jane E.
Published: November 2024

Chapter Thirteen details how, although Dickinson sought to retire from public service and focus on philanthropy, he was continually drawn back into service. Since he had signed the Articles of Confederation for Delaware in 1779, he had wanted that constitution revised. In 1786, he was chairman of the Annapolis Convention to begin the process. The result was the 1787 Federal Convention that produced the U.S. Constitution. Dickinson made key contributions, including proposing the solution for representation that became known as the “Connecticut Compromise” and attempting to limit slavery. He then wrote a well-received series of letters as “Fabius” to achieve ratification of the Constitution.
“A constant Watchman for the public Interest”
Authors: Calvert Jane E.
Published: November 2024

Chapter Fifteen recounts how Dickinson kept his hand in politics by advising Democratic Republican politicians in high office. Now it was not only George Logan who benefitted, but also Pennsylvania governor Thomas McKean, U.S. Attorney General Caesar A. Rodney, and Thomas Jefferson, whose presidency pleased Dickinson greatly. Although he did not agree with Jefferson on all matters, including slavery, they shared a love of France, about which Dickinson published another pamphlet. Dickinson also forged a strong friendship with former Federalist political economist Tench Coxe. In 1803, Dickinson suffered the biggest blow of his life, the loss of Polly. His devoted daughters, Sally and Maria, stayed by his side. The chapter reflects on Dickinson’s work on behalf of women’s rights and welfare.
From Byzantium to Constantinople
Authors: Matthews John
Published: November 2024

From Byzantium to Constantinople is an exploration of the generally accepted truth that the great city founded by Constantine on the shores of the Bosporus as a second Rome and new capital of the Roman empire was built upon the Graeco-Roman city that preceded it, but there is still room for discussion as to exactly how this transition was accomplished. This book argues that Classical Byzantium was a more significant and powerful city than is often appreciated, and that the monumental developments of the Roman empire, and especially of the Severan period, provided the context from which the Constantinian and later city developed. The main source of the enquiry (among others) is the early fifth-century text known as Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae, which both provides a conspectus of the city as it stood at the time of writing, and an insight into the urban developments of the earlier period, both Greek (the city was an early colonial foundation of Megara) and Roman. A translation and thematic commentary of this text provides the central theme of the enquiry, which at the same time endeavours to understand the process of urban development in the context of the historical events of the period. Attention is given to the topographical character of the city and to its regional development, to its social and cultural institutions and population, and to the role of the church, which is seen to be a more measured and slower development than one would gather from the intensity of Constantine’s and his successors’ personal commitment to Christianity.
Introduction
Authors: Matthews John
Published: November 2024

The chapter offers a brief historical account of the institutional and political context of the early career of Constantine, including the circumstances of his conversion to Christianity and his relations with his eastern colleague the emperor Licinius.
Sources and Materials
Authors: Matthews John
Published: November 2024

A survey of contemporary and later literary sources for the early history of Constantinople, reasserting the value of the fourth- to sixth-century historical texts recognizing the importance of the Severan emperors, and including the visual evidence of maps of the fifteenth and sixteenth century from which aspects of its physical development in the early period can be inferred.