bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Proposed Policies to Reduce Weapons in Schools
Authors: Benbenishty Rami , Astor Ron Avi
Published: June 2019

This chapter offers a public health prevention perspective that goes beyond the usual policy responses to the tragic and reoccurring mass shootings of the past two decades. It is based on a theoretical framework presented in the authors’ 2005 book Bullying and School Violence in Evolving Contexts. The chapter begins with a theoretical framework that proposes new avenues for understanding and addressing the presence of weapons in schools. It defines the term “weapons in schools” to include any kind of weapon brought to school, threats or injuries with weapons, and even seeing or knowing of another student on school grounds is carrying a weapon. In terms of policy responses, the chapter offers ways to balance educational and justice system (penal) responses. Finally, based on the authors’ theoretical model and public health perspective, it presents detailed policy suggestions.
Citizens, Elites, and Social Media Methodological Challenges and Opportunities in the Study of Persuasion and Mobilization
Authors: Habel Philip , Theocharis Yannis
Published: June 2019

In the last decade, big data, and social media in particular, have seen increased popularity among citizens, organizations, politicians, and other elites—which in turn has created new and promising avenues for scholars studying long-standing questions of communication flows and influence. Studies of social media play a prominent role in our evolving understanding of the supply and demand sides of the political process, including the novel strategies adopted by elites to persuade and mobilize publics, as well as the ways in which citizens react, interact with elites and others, and utilize platforms to persuade audiences. While recognizing some challenges, this chapter speaks to the myriad of opportunities that social media data afford for evaluating questions of mobilization and persuasion, ultimately bringing us closer to a more complete understanding Lasswell’s (1948) famous maxim: “who, says what, in which channel, to whom, [and] with what effect.”
Ecology and Postcolonial Biblical Criticism
Authors: Davis Ellen F.
Published: June 2019

This article outlines an eco-agrarian perspective on the Hebrew Bible. Countless passages treat the multifaceted interdependency of arable land, animals, and human communities, as well as the social dynamics of force, which deprived small farmers of land tenancy or control throughout the biblical period. Works by Walter Brueggemann, Wendell Berry, and Edward Said take account of the social and material knowledge and experience of rural communities in modern North America and Africa as well as ancient Israel. Elements of a “prophetic ecology,” drawn from Former and Latter Prophets, suggest that the flourishing of the land, the possibility of shalom, and even the status of the land of Canaan as holy are all connected to attention to the land by small farmers. From both biblical and modern perspectives, agriculture that sustains local communities is the only alternative to war.
Scripture as Artefact
Authors: Blumell Lincoln H.
Published: June 2019

This chapter will examine the extant scriptural remains of the early Christians in order to elucidate the context in which early Christian Scriptures were produced, read, and interpreted. To this end, it will consider various issues relating to the earliest extant Christian Scriptures such as their physical formats (scrolls, codices, etc.), mise-en-page, literary conventions and extra-textual features, production (where and by whom), as well as their geographical distribution and circulation. By treating these early manuscripts as artefacts this chapter seeks to shed additional light on the early Christian interpretation of Scripture.
Scholia
Authors: Scherbenske Eric
Published: June 2019

This chapter provides an introductory overview of early Christian scholia—i.e. brief, preliminary interpretative notes on select passages of Scripture, composed as isolated works or deployed as annotations in manuscript margins. After a cursory comparison with marginal, classical scholia, select Christian scholia are examined. A survey of scholia by Evagrius, Epiphanius, and Origen reveals that these notes had no necessary or fundamental connection to marginal deployment; yet because of their brevity, exegetical scholia were well suited for such deployment and were frequently arrayed in manuscript margins. But marginal scholia were not simply drawn from their previous exegetical counterparts; many writings could circumscribe the text as marginal scholia. Early Christian deployment of scholia in manuscript margins may have begun by the fourth century and may have anticipated the development of later catenae or classical scholia, even if they did not approach the extent of the latter.
Sentences
Authors: Dysinger, OSB Luke
Published: June 2019

The classical genre of moral-philosophical wisdom sayings or gnomai was adopted in early Christianity by creating exegetical sentences that rephrased or alluded to biblical texts. These were inserted into existing collections which were edited to highlight Christian moral teaching. The chief example of this genre is The Sentences of Sextus. In early monasticism, especially in the writings of Evagrius Ponticus, pedagogically arranged chains of exegetical sentences initially augmented, then gradually replaced the pagan gnomai in collections. In texts intended for monastic contemplatives the sayings became increasingly enigmatic, presuming familiarity with Christian monastic vocabulary and models of spiritual development. Coinciding with the waning of original biblical exegesis in the late fifth century, the more obscure exegetical gnomai themselves became the object of commentary and exegesis. This approach is exemplified in the writings of Maximus Confessor, whose ‘centuries’ of chapters (kephalaia) reinterpret and explain texts that were originally intended to evoke speculative meditation.
Early Christian Visual Art as Biblical Interpretation
Authors: Jensen Robin M.
Published: June 2019

Comparing textual and visual interpretations of biblical narratives is complicated insofar as the two modes address distinct intellectual activities: reading and viewing. Although early Christian art often presents scenes and characters from Scripture, it represents much more than literal illustration of its source texts. Art necessarily amplifies details, provides expanded context, and places the figures within a larger compositional framework, all of which guide viewers’ interpretation of familiar stories. Images often even diverge from the narratives in significant ways and are juxtaposed in order to point to an overarching, theological meaning. Thus, while early Christian biblical art is essentially exegetical, it operates through visual perception rather than verbal exposition. Images also interact directly with their surroundings in ways that written words do not. They appear on tombs, in churches and shrines, and on liturgical objects and common domestic vessels, thus introducing visual references to Scripture into liturgy, devotional practices, and daily activities, enriching and elaborating their significance. This chapter offers an introduction to the distinct and complex ways that early Christian art represents a form of non-verbal commentary on Scripture and takes a close look at a particularly relevant example: the depiction of Abraham’s offering of Isaac.
Gnostics and their Critics
Authors: Brakke David
Published: June 2019

The Gnostics primarily engaged in ‘rewritten Bible’: they retold and augmented the stories of Genesis and the Gospels, sometimes seeming to replace the biblical book as much as to explicate it. Valentinus practised a highly allusive form of biblical interpretation, in which the Bible and other literature enabled him to express a vision that was personal and biblical. The students of Valentinus participated fully in the emerging ‘academic’ culture of Christian biblical interpretation that arose in the second and third centuries, using the techniques of literary criticism. It was the results of their methods as much as the methods themselves that the critics of the Gnostics and Valentinians, such as Irenaeus and Origen, attacked in their responses.
Scripture and a Christian Empire
Authors: Hollerich Michael
Published: June 2019

The chapter examines the role of scriptural interpretation in both rationalizing and criticizing the rise of a Christian empire. Special attention is given to Eusebius of Caesarea and his grand vision of the providential union of Church and empire, key biblical elements of which are the discrediting of apocalyptic, the historical fulfilment of prophecy, and the supersession of Judaism. A ‘Eusebius consensus’ became widespread, even on the empire’s periphery, as shown in Syriac authors like Aphrahat and Ephrem. Augustine of Hippo created an alternative version that criticized key aspects of the consensus but retained the assumption of a religio-political establishment. Even the conspicuous dissent of Donatism is shown to have been reluctant to imagine a clean break with the empire. The last section of the chapter considers how the fourth-century legitimization of military service was justified on biblical grounds.
Creation
Authors: Blowers Paul M.
Published: June 2019

Early Christian interpretation of Scripture on the theme of creation not surprisingly gave considerable attention to the Genesis account of the origins of the world, in part to counter the claims of Graeco-Roman cosmology, but more importantly to expound the latent theological meaning of the many details of the biblical cosmogony. But patristic exegetes were also keen on the fact that ‘creation’ in the Bible implied far more than beginnings; indeed, it designated the whole economy (oikonomia) of the Creator’s ongoing relation to the creation as set forth in sacred history and as requiring the further interpretative lenses of Christology, soteriology, and eschatology. Early Christian interpreters plumbed a wide variety of Old Testament texts beyond Genesis (especially the Psalms, Deutero-Isaiah, and the Wisdom literature). In their New Testament commentary they focused on such motifs as the subjection of creation to ‘vanity’, the work of Jesus Christ in recapitulating God’s creative purposes, and the eschatological renewal and transformation of the created universe in its relation to human salvation.
Sermon on the Mount
Authors: Elliott Mark
Published: June 2019

This chapter discusses the three main things the early Christian writers found in Matthew 5–7. Those were, first, the Beatitudes with promises of spiritual goods made to what was considered to be a small group of special people, but with the application in city preachers to lay people gaining the goods of peace and order and much more in the life to come. Second, prayer, particularly the Lord’s Prayer with its eschatological orientation still very strong in the interpretations, along with trust in divine providence. Third, the Christian virtues and the nature of the relationship between the Testaments, as illustrated by Jesus’ ‘antitheses’: ‘But I say unto you …’ where there is a marked dialectic between penitential realism and inspiring idealism. The range of interpretations is diverse without being conflicting.
Byzantine Reception
Authors: Cunningham Mary B.
Published: June 2019

This chapter presents an overview of the Byzantine reception of patristic methods of biblical exegesis, focusing on the period between approximately the sixth and the fourteenth centuries. Byzantine exegetes accepted the threefold method of interpretation, as defined by Origen, but were flexible with regard to how Scripture should be read in particular liturgical or didactic settings. The chapter explores four separate contexts of Byzantine biblical exegesis, including (1) liturgical celebration; (2) commentaries and theological treatises; (3) lay piety; and (4) monastic life, asking whether these demanded different hermeneutical approaches. Above all, the chapter demonstrates that patristic influence remained strong throughout the Byzantine period, with medieval exegetes regarding the fathers as authoritative in their interpretation of the Old and New Testaments for contemporary Christian audiences.
Retrievals in Contemporary Christian Theology
Authors: Levering Matthew
Published: June 2019

This chapter explores the retrievals of patristic exegesis among Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christians since the 1930s. The contributions of Georges Florovsky, Vladimir Lossky, Jean Daniélou, Henri de Lubac, and Hans Urs von Balthasar are singled out for particular significance. Among Protestants, the most important work has been done in recent decades, especially by Thomas Oden, who has spearheaded a popular series of compilations of patristic commentary, and by scholars who are producing commentaries on biblical books that include the reception history. Lest the term ‘retrieval’ be misleading, the chapter notes that patristic exegesis was well known in prior centuries as well, and indeed it continued to guide Catholic and Orthodox biblical studies into the early part of the twentieth century.
Skin and Integument
Authors: Hill Mark A.
Published: June 2019

The skin and its associated specialisations together form the integumentary system, the barrier and sensory structure between the body and our environment. Human skin compared to other mammalian species has undergone significant and specialised evolutionary changes reflected in both development and mature structure. In development, the vernix caseosa protects the skin during prolonged uterine incubation. A lengthy childhood then leaves secondary sex characteristic development for many years, and the cyclic changes of female mammary glands have exposed some key cancer genes. In mature structure, we are comparatively ‘hairless’ and uniquely endowed with copious sweat glands for thermoregulation. The now-exposed skin needs to be protected from UV damage by melanocyte-sourced pigments that are both genetically and environmentally regulated; these cells are today a major cancer cell population. Conversely, we have evolved a UV requirement to generate key vitamin D precursors utilised in many different physiological systems. Evolutionary local modification of the skin, nails, and sensory receptors in the hands has supported fine grip and touch sensitivity. The patterning on the hand surface not only is a unique identification of an individual, but also may be diagnostically associated with some abnormalities. Therapeutically, we can replace damaged skin, have identified stem cells that hold great potential, and now interface with medical devices for monitoring and drug delivery. The future challenges for the skin, as a barrier, are changing environmental conditions, technology assistance and interaction, and how the many other unique functions are dynamically rebalanced in health and disease.
Haematopoietic System
Authors: Pietras Eric M. , DeGregori James
Published: June 2019

The haematopoietic system provides numerous essential functions for animals, including transport of gases and nutrients, wound repair, and host defence. Given the fundamental importance of the blood system, these roles are conserved across animals, with specific features shaped by the unique needs and adaptations of different organisms. While even the simplest organisms have haematopoietic systems, increasing size and complexity of organisms has necessitated the evolution of more efficient clotting and oxygen transport systems, more complex circulatory systems, and more diverse blood cell lineages for immune defence. Evolution has sculpted haematopoietic systems for different animals by modification of previously existing programmes and developmental systems, with striking examples of conservation and convergent evolution in the blood systems of distantly related organisms suggesting common adaptive solutions to a range of selective pressures. Notably, our own haematopoietic system recapitulates many features found in ancestral organisms. This chapter discusses how blood and vascular systems have evolved together and share common endothelial heritage, as well as how different blood lineages are produced and how they have evolved to meet new challenges from pathogens. Moreover, it examines how pathogenic threats to blood cells have influenced modern population genetics for humans and in turn impact our susceptibility to various disorders of the blood system. Finally, the chapter suggests how evolved life histories to maximise reproductive success have influenced ageing and disease patterns, such as for blood cancers.
Economy and Culture
Authors: Klamer Arjo
Published: June 2019

Culture matters in the economy. An increasing number of economists acknowledge the role of culture in economic processes, yet they disagree on what that role is. This chapter reviews the most important contributions to the discussion about the interaction between cultural and economic phenomena on the basis of a five-spheres model. The conclusion stands: culture matters. Yet the complexity of the interaction renders causal claims almost impossible. Furthermore, culture is not an instrument to change at will in order to achieve certain results. The outcome of the discussion is rather a reorientation of what economics is about, and a realization that sense-making is part of the economic process. Economists may conclude that they pay better attention to the qualitative aspects of the economy, and adjust their mode of analysis to allow for such attention.
Capitalism and Democracy
Authors: Reiss Julian
Published: June 2019

This chapter examines the interrelationships between democracy on the one hand and capitalism (or what I prefer to call “the liberal economy”) on the other. Liberal thinkers tend to maintain that the two are allies, at least as long as democracy is (constitutionally or otherwise) limited. Socialists regard them as rivals, as “true” democracy can be realized only under socialism or communism. Joseph Schumpeter stands out as the commentator who argued that there is no strong relationship at all between the two: any economic arrangement can be combined successfully with any political arrangement. I survey both the classical views on this topic and a number of more recent contributions.
The Ethics of Making Risky Decisions for Others
Authors: Bovens Luc
Published: June 2019

Utilitarianism, it has been said, is not sensitive to the distribution of welfare. In making risky decisions for others there are multiple sensitivities at work. I present examples of risky decision-making involving drug allocations, charitable giving, breast-cancer screening and Caesarian sections. In each of these examples there is a different sensitivity at work that pulls away from the utilitarian prescription. Instances of saving fewer people at a greater risk to many is more complex because there are two distributional sensitivities at work that pull in opposite directions from the utilitarian calculus. I discuss objections to these sensitivities and conclude with some reflections on the value of formal modeling in thinking about societal risk.
Lessons from Economics
Authors: Broome John
Published: June 2019

Economics offers several lessons that moral philosophers can beneficially learn. They are useful for topics in moral philosophy that are inherently quantitative. This chapter gives some examples. Some of these quantitative topics also fall within the subject matter of economics, and economists have made useful, substantive discoveries about them. Ignoring these discoveries hampers the progress of philosophy. This chapter illustrates this sort of failure, using the philosophy of equality as an example. The methods rather than the substance of economics provide other lessons for moral philosophy. Economics routinely employs mathematical analysis, which is also demanded by some quantitative topics in moral philosophy. Often in moral philosophy, questions arise over how quantity and quality can be balanced against each other, when quality can vary continuously. Philosophers have sometimes made mistakes about these questions because they lack the necessary mathematical skills. This chapter describes an example that arises in population ethics and elsewhere. This chapter also condemns one bad practice that philosophers are picking up from economists: the practice of using the word “utility” to refer to well-being.
Higher Education in Canada and the United States
Authors: Hutcheson Philo
Published: June 2019

Canadian and U.S. higher education share some commonalities, such as historical denominational influence while provincial and state governments played important roles in the development of colleges and universities. Both federal governments supported research, primarily in the sciences, during World War I and II, leading to continued support in the postwar years. Both nations experienced substantial enrollment growth, at different times, growth aided by community colleges, although U.S. enrollments have long been much larger. Student experiences were to some degree similar, including among college women who experienced discrimination while enrolled and as graduates, and that there were constraints on the opportunity to attend college. There are also important differences. College sports, for instance, have been very important in the United States, though not in Canada. Also, the remarkable wealth of several U.S. colleges and universities provides them with some autonomy, though this is far less common among historically black institutions and many other colleges.
Higher Education in Asia
Authors: Welch Anthony
Published: June 2019

This chapter examines national systems of higher education in Asia. Asia’s long history, together with its extraordinary diversity, presents dual challenges to the historian. While its past still haunts its present, its many religious influences and ethnicities, as well as an array of more current developments, also present challenges. Two common themes are the attempt to balance local traditions while incorporating knowledge from outside, largely the West, and the differential development of individual Asian higher education systems. The latter is now bringing change to earlier core-periphery distinctions. The global knowledge system is now much more multipolar, with the rise of China as the most obvious example. Nonetheless, while highly developed educational systems such as in Singapore compete vigorously internationally, middle-income states such as Thailand and Malaysia harbor ambitions that are not always fulfilled, and very poor systems still struggle with basic issues of finance, governance, access, and equity.
Conflicting Constructions of Childhood and Children in Education History
Authors: Beatty Barbara
Published: June 2019

Child labor and compulsory education were entwined in the context of conflicting social constructions of childhood. As public schools spread in the nineteenth-century United States, a modern construction of childhood as a time to go to school evolved for protected middle-class children. At the same time, with industrialization, migration, emancipation, and population growth, increasing numbers of poor and working-class children were constructed as child laborers. Anti–child labor campaigns proceeded piecemeal, not always in concert with compulsory education laws. With the transition from agricultural to industrial societies, constructions of childhood varied internationally, by culture, region, race, gender, class, caste, and politics. Worldwide, children from low-income families were less protected and less able to attend school. Driven in part by global economic competition, income disparities, testing, and other variables, a postmodern reconstruction of childhood has been emerging, in which pressured children work hard at school and emotionally at home. Yet with persistent child labor in many parts of the world, other children experience different kinds of pressure and difficulties becoming and performing as students.
The Modern History of Literacy
Authors: Vincent David
Published: June 2019

The chapter examines the invention of literacy as a category and the spread of reading and writing in Europe and North America in the modern era. It reviews the growth of signature literacy and the need to view the skill as a social as well as an individual possession. It examines the role of the church and the state in the provision of schooling and stresses the importance of informal, demand-led education throughout much of the period. The spread of popular literature provided both the materials for learning to read and an incentive to practice the skills. The analysis challenges the arguments that the industrial revolution significantly damaged the spread of literacy and that literacy was a key generator of economic growth. Rather the interaction between occupations and reading and writing was patchy, with only a minority of working-class jobs requiring formal communication skills by 1900.
Curriculum History
Authors: Tröhler Daniel
Published: June 2019

This chapter analyzes the cultural conditions that gave rise to curriculum studies and later to curriculum history, and the ways that curriculum history could become a cooperative research program for understanding the development of schools in their respective cultural and national contexts. It makes a distinction between a global and an international research agenda, suggesting that the latter offers important advantages. It also addresses the historical roles that constitutions play in shaping citizens through schooling. The chapter also analyzes how the architecture of education systems aims not only at fabricating national unity and identity but also at creating social distinctions within the nation-state.
National Education Systems
Authors: Albisetti James C.
Published: June 2019

Nothing worthy of being called a “national system” of education existed in Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Levels of literacy and school attendance varied widely between regions and genders, even where compulsion had been introduced on paper. Secondary schooling had yet to be clearly separated from higher education and involved only males. Formal training and certification of teachers was rare. Changes emerged more rapidly in northern and western regions than in the south and east. Yet in the period since 1990, universal attendance, extension of schooling to at least age sixteen, coeducation, and problems of integrating immigrant populations have in many ways led beyond national systems to a recognizable European system of elementary and secondary education.
National Education Systems
Authors: Beadie Nancy
Published: June 2019

The three major countries of North America present three different models of system development in education. As compared with Mexico, with its strong central authority, the systems of the United States and Canada are federated rather than national, with virtually all matters of funding, curriculum, licensing, and accreditation administered at provincial rather than national levels. These differences pose a problem of historical explanation. All three countries exhibited similar levels of rhetorical commitment to the idea of publicly supported systems of mass education in the 1820s. During the mid-nineteenth century, all three also adopted basic legal and administrative infrastructures for public education at provincial levels. After 1870, however, the three countries developed different patterns of national education policymaking. Based on a synthesis of focused national studies and comparative and transnational scholarship, this chapter advances an argument about how the divergences among the three systems developed and what factors help explain those differences.
“Annals of Europe and America” and Brown’s Contribution to Early American Periodicals
Authors: Kamrath Mark L.
Published: June 2019

Charles Brockden Brown, who edited three periodicals between 1799 and 1809, used his experience as a novelist to engage readers on important cultural issues. His periodicals became increasingly political. Brown’s “Annals of Europe and America” document historical events, his capacity as a novelist to write “history,” and his status as an ironic historian. In assessing Napoleonic rule and British expansion, he develops a self-conscious method that also informs his inquiry into American events. He sympathetically renders oppressed others in India, comments ironically on motives for exploiting the American west, and interrogates political intrigue in the 1808 Republican nomination process. With developing awareness of the constructed, contingent nature of history, Brown came to understand political self-interest, power and imperialism, and American exceptionalism relative to that of Europe. As in his novels, he imaginatively and provocatively employed genre conventions of the day to represent the past and critically reflect on the present.
Poetry
Authors: Cohen Michael C.
Published: June 2019

This chapter provides an introduction to and overview of the poetry of Charles Brockden Brown. It situates poetry writing within Brown’s biography, including his early childhood and education at Friends Latin School, and then tracks how the circulation of poetry in manuscript formed the basis for his most important personal relationships in the 1790s and 1800s. It also demonstrates how writing and publishing poetry in the major periodicals of Philadelphia and New York facilitated Brown’s entry into the magazine culture of the Federalist period. The chapter discusses examples of Brown’s childhood verse, his epistolary poems, his pseudonymous newspaper poetry, and the poems he published in magazines during the last decade of his life. Overall, the chapter argues that Brown’s poetry offers a different perspective on the development of his career, while at the same time showing how the rich literary culture of the early republic could be both local and transatlantic.
Later Years, 1795–1810
Authors: Waterman Bryan
Published: June 2019

The period from 1795 to 1800 saw Charles Brockden Brown move from a primary intellectual grounding in Philadelphia to a network of associates in New York called the Friendly Club. This shift eased other transitions: away from Quaker practice and Christian belief and toward freethinking; away from the sentimentalism of Rousseau and toward the radical sensibility of Godwin and Wollstonecraft; away from legal study and toward professional writing and editing; and away from the polite regulation of mixed-sex sociability and toward increasingly unconventional views on friendship between men and women that would find expression in some of his earliest published writing. From 1799 to 1804, coinciding with his courtship of Elizabeth Linn, Brown’s editorial career gradually eclipsed his efforts as a novelist. He continued to edit and write prolifically, if not profitably, during his final years, as he negotiated the sometimes controversial reputation his early work had generated.
Brown and Classicism
Authors: Scheiding Oliver
Published: June 2019

Charles Brockden Brown embraced the classical tradition in English literature, as can be seen from his many references to Greek and Roman historiographers, poets, and philosophers. His retellings of ancient events and his portraits of classical figures questioned central maxims in the writing of history which derived from Cicero and had been practiced by the later school of eighteenth-century exemplary historiography. While Brown’s classicism has been frequently interpreted along the line of the growing political tensions in the 1790s, this chapter shows that his adaptations of classical sources are motivated less by a partisan spirit than by Brown’s understanding of himself as a civic commentator and public intellectual. Brown’s Roman stories and his numerous essays on topics related to classical antiquity have to be seen as an intervention in the formation and enlargement of public opinion in the early national period.
Voice in Charismatic Leadership
Authors: Signorello Rosario
Published: June 2019

Voice is one of the most reliable and efficient behaviors that charismatic leaders use to convey their personality traits and emotional states in order to influence followers. Charismatic leaders manipulate voice acoustic characteristics through language and culture-based conventions. These manipulations cause different vocal qualities resulting in the perception of leaders’ different traits and types of charisma. This chapter first illustrates a sociocognitive approach to describing the phenomenon of charisma in leadership and illustrates how charisma is described in cultures. It also addresses many issues of voice in charismatic leadership, such as the biological and cultural functions of charismatic voice, how vocal behavior conveys charismatic leadership, how the voice influences the interaction between leaders and followers, and how the charismatic voice is perceived in different languages and cultures.
Object, Person, Machine, or What
Authors: Rahaim Matt
Published: June 2019

This chapter suggests ways in which accounts of particular, situated voices might work in a dialectic with general theories of “the voice.” It begins from five geographically proximate but ontologically far-flung voice-s, each revealed as real in its own way by five different situated practices: a political demonstration in Mumbai, a samā in which poems are sung for members of the Chisti Sufi brotherhood, a staged “Sufi” event, the editing of a playback singer’s vocal track, and a diagnosis in a voice clinic. It goes on to reflect in general on the practices and infrastructures that allow particular voices to show up as real, demonstrating that voices not only are different, but are differently. Finally, it turns to cases in which voices show up indeterminately: as muddled and unresolvable, or binaurally, as two things as once—thus offering a way into the ambiguities and contestations that animate a vocal “politics of what.”
Government as Customer of Last Resort: The Stabilizing Effects of Government Purchases on Firms
Authors: Goldman Jim
Published: June 2019

I document a beneficial effect of the government’s participation in product markets. Exploiting the 2008–2009 financial crisis as a natural experiment, I show that federal procurement contracts insulated government contractors’ performance from the crisis. By 2009, government contractors had 15% higher market capitalization, had 18% higher capital expenditures, and received 26% more bank credit than did similar firms. This stabilizing effect, in turn, spilled over into neighboring firms. An average amount of government purchases reduced local employment losses by 35% in retail industries and by 48% in industries supplying government contractors. Spillovers were particularly strong in high economic slack areas.

Author has furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.
Molecular phylogeny and species delimitation of the genus Dicerapanorpa (Mecoptera: Panorpidae)
Authors: Hu Gui-Lin , Gao Kai , Wang Ji-Shen , Hebert Paul D N , Hua Bao-Zhen
Published: June 2019

Given that species is the fundamental unit in systematic biology, rigorous species delimitation is crucial for taxonomic studies, yet routine species delimitation remains an ongoing challenge in the taxonomic practice of insects. The two-horned scorpionfly Dicerapanorpa is a small genus in Panorpidae (Mecoptera) endemic to the Qinling-Bashan and Hengduan mountains, a biodiversity hotspot. However, species of Dicerapanorpa are difficult to delineate owing to marked intraspecific variation and interspecific similarity. Here, we investigate the diversity and species boundaries of Dicerapanorpa using an integrative approach based on DNA barcoding, morphological, geometric morphometric and molecular phylogenetic analyses. This integrative analyses confirmed the 13 described species of Dicerapanorpa and revealed three new species: Dicerapanorpa lativalva sp. nov., Dicerapanorpa hualongshana sp. nov. and Dicerapanorpa minshana sp. nov. Most molecular operational taxonomic units are in congruence with morphological clusters. Possible reasons for several discordances in Dicerapanorpa are tentatively discussed.
Pipecolic Acid Is Induced in Barley upon Infection and Triggers Immune Responses Associated with Elevated Nitric Oxide Accumulation
Authors: Lenk Miriam , Wenig Marion , Bauer Kornelia , Hug Florian , Knappe Claudia , Lange Birgit , Timsy  , Häußler Finni , Mengel Felicitas , Dey Sanjukta , Schäffner Anton , Vlot A. Corina
Published: June 2019

Pipecolic acid (Pip) is an essential component of systemic acquired resistance, priming resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana against (hemi)biotrophic pathogens. Here, we studied the potential role of Pip in bacteria-induced systemic immunity in barley. Exudates of barley leaves infected with the systemic immunity–inducing pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. japonica induced immune responses in A. thaliana. The same leaf exudates contained elevated Pip levels compared with those of mock-treated barley leaves. Exogenous application of Pip induced resistance in barley against the hemibiotrophic bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas translucens pv. cerealis. Furthermore, both a systemic immunity–inducing infection and exogenous application of Pip enhanced the resistance of barley against the biotrophic powdery mildew pathogen Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei. In contrast to a systemic immunity-inducing infection, Pip application did not influence lesion formation by a systemically applied inoculum of the necrotrophic fungus Pyrenophora teres. Nitric oxide (NO) levels in barley leaves increased after Pip application. Furthermore, X. translucens pv. cerealis induced the accumulation of superoxide anion radicals and this response was stronger in Pip-pretreated compared with mock-pretreated plants. Thus, the data suggest that Pip induces barley innate immune responses by triggering NO and priming reactive oxygen species accumulation.
Interleukin-18 in pediatric rheumatic diseases
Authors: Prencipe Giusi , Bracaglia Claudia , De Benedetti Fabrizio
Published: June 2019

Purpose of review

IL-18 is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in the regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses. IL-18 pro-inflammatory activities are finely regulated in vivo by the inhibitory effects of the soluble IL-18-binding protein (IL-18BP). The elevation of circulating levels of IL-18 has been described in children with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA). In the recent years, the role of IL-18 in the pathogenesis of secondary haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH), also referred to as macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), in the context of autoinflammatory diseases, including sJIA, is emerging.

Recent findings

A large number of studies in patients and animal models pointed to the imbalance in IL-18/IL-18BP levels, causing increased systemic levels of free bioactive IL-18, as a predisposing factor in the development of MAS. Although the exact mechanisms involved in the development of MAS are not clearly understood, increasing evidence demonstrate the role of IL-18 in upregulating the production of interferon (IFN)-γ.

On the basis of the first emerging data on the possibility of blocking IL-18, we here discuss the scientific rationale for neutralizing the IL-18/IFNγ axis in the prevention and treatment of sHLH and MAS.
A critical review of recent advances in the diagnosis, classification, and management of uterine adenomyosis
Authors: Tan Justin , Yong Paul , Bedaiwy Mohamed A.
Published: June 2019

Purpose of review

The purpose of this review is to summarize and highlight recent critical advances in the diagnosis, classification, and management of adenomyosis.

Recent findings

Recent studies have clarified the specific mechanism through which adenomyotic lesions invade the underlying myometrium by epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Correlation studies using diagnostic MRI also strongly support the hypothesis of a different pathogenesis between the inner and outer myometrium forms of adenomyosis. Given advances in diagnostic imaging, several international organizations have also highlighted the importance of classification systems for adenomyosis. Finally, selective progesterone receptor modulators and gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonists have demonstrated significant promise for treating pelvic pain and bleeding associated with adenomyosis, whereas novel fertility-preserving surgical techniques have been introduced to excise diffuse adenomyotic pathology while maintaining adequate uterine integrity.

Recent attempts at a uniform and reproducible classification system likely represent the first step for the development of a staging system for adenomyosis that can be correlated with the severity of clinical symptoms and promote an individualized therapeutic approach. Simultaneously, further insights into the etiology and pathogenesis as outlined in this review may also help in the development of targeted medical therapies.
Prophylaxis for Tuberculosis in Pregnant Women
Authors: HILL WASHINGTON C. , PARUOLO JOSEPH B. , GIOVINO AMARILIS C.
Published: June 2019

As more women at increased risk for tuberculosis (TB) reactivation immigrate to the United States, perinatal screening and chemoprophylaxis are increasingly important. Interferon-gamma release assays and the tuberculin skin test are acceptable screening tests with the latter supported by more data in pregnancy. Women screening positive should have active TB excluded, and if negative, latent TB is likely. Prophylaxis should be deferred until 3 months postpartum except in those severely immunosuppressed, human immunodeficiency virus positive, or recently exposed. Isoniazid with pyridoxine for 9 months is preferred with reasonable safety in pregnancy and breastfeeding. Monitoring for maternal hepatotoxicity is recommended.
Utility of Perilymph microRNA Sampling for Identification of Active Gene Expression Pathways in Otosclerosis
Authors: Wichova Helena , Shew Matthew , Staecker Hinrich
Published: June 2019

Hypothesis:

Profiling of microRNA (miRNA) within perilymph samples collected at the time of stapedectomy can be used to identify active gene expression pathways in otosclerosis as compared with controls.

Background:

miRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that effect gene expression by post-transcription regulation and silencing. Perilymph sampling allows for a novel way to collect material actively involved in the disease process.

Methods:

Perilymph was collected at time of stapedectomy, underwent a microarray analysis, and significantly expressed miRNAs were correlated to known bone morphology pathways using a cochlear transcriptome library. To determine miRNA related specifically to otosclerosis, cochlear implant controls were used for statistical analysis.

Results:

A total of 321 significantly expressed miRNAs were identified within the four otosclerosis perilymph samples. miRNAs associated with 23 genes involved in bone morphology pathways were significantly expressed. A significant difference in the otosclerotic samples as compared with control was noted in miRNA expression regulating HMGA2, ITGB3, SMO, CCND1, TP53, TP63, and RBL2 gene pathways. No significant difference was noted in miRNAs expression associated with ACE, RELN, COL1A1, and COL1A2 genes which were previously correlated with otosclerosis.

Conclusions:

Perilymph miRNA profiling obtained at the time of stapedectomy consistently identifies differentially expressed genes compared with controls. Perilymph miRNA sampling with cochlear transcriptome library cross-referencing can be successfully used to identify active gene expression pathways in otosclerosis.
Collagen Allografts Compared With Autologous Tissue in Tympanoplasty
Authors: Cass Nathan D. , Patten Luke , Cass Stephen P.
Published: June 2019

Objective:

There are no direct comparisons between the success of collagen allografts versus traditional autografts for tympanic membrane (TM) repair. We sought to compare success rates in a large series of patients undergoing tympanoplasty using collagen allografts versus autologous tissues.

Study Design:

Retrospective review.

Setting:

Academic medical center.

Subjects and Methods:

Single institution retrospective chart review was performed for adult subjects with TM perforation undergoing tympanoplasty. Demographic, clinical, and surgical data were collected. Statistical analysis was completed using Rstudio. Each factor was examined to assess effect on graft success rate using logistic regression.

Results:

Two hundred sixty-five surgeries met criteria with four main grafting materials or combinations thereof. The overall graft success rate was 81.1% with failure rate of 18.9%. There was no significant association between failure rates and: age, sex, perforation cause, size, and location, primary or revision status, middle ear status (wet or dry), concomitant procedures (mastoidectomy or ossiculoplasty), presence of active cholesteatoma, or surgical technique. Although not statistically significant, the odds of success for perichondrium + cartilage were 7.5 times higher than collagen allografts (p = 0.07, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.81–69.6). The odds of success for the postauricular (odds ratio [OR] = 6.4) and transcanal approaches (OR = 24.8) were significantly greater than for endaural (p = 0.007 andp = 0.008, respectively).

Conclusion:

In tympanoplasty surgeries performed on patients with TM perforation, we found no statistically significant difference in graft failure rates between collagen allograft and other grafting materials or combinations, though the higher odds ratio of success with cartilage + perichondrium may be clinically relevant.
Transplant Outcomes in Destination Therapy Left Ventricular Assist Device Patients
Authors: Miller Robert J. H. , Moayedi Yasbanoo , Sharma Abhinav , Haddad Francois , Hiesinger William , Banerjee Dipanjan
Published: June 2019

Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) can be implanted as either a bridge to transplantation (BTT) or destination therapy (DT). This definition is fluid, as some DT patients undergo transplantation. This study compared posttransplant outcomes between BTT and DT LVAD patients. We performed a retrospective analysis of LVAD patients who underwent cardiac transplantation from 2010 to 2016. Outcomes including mortality, rejection, infection, and overall readmission were assessed with univariable Cox analyses. This cohort included 92 LVAD patients underwent transplantation: 57 BTT, mean age 52 years, and 79% male. The DT group had a longer LVAD support time (median support 406 versus 161 days, p < 0.001) with no significant difference in 1-year survival (BTT 86% and DT 92%, p = 0.52) or survival time (HR 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.33–2.41, p = 0.82). Rates of nonfatal adverse events were also similar between BTT and DT patients. In our cohort, DT patients had similar long-term survival and rates of adverse events as compared with BTT, despite a longer time to transplant. This study suggests that transplant outcomes are acceptable for patients initially labeled DT and that a longer duration of LVAD support may not adversely affect posttransplant outcomes.