bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
“Defamiliarizing the Familiar”
Authors: Jensen-Moulton Stephanie
Published: July 2016

Michael Nyman’s 1986 operaThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, with a libretto based on Oliver Sacks’s “clinical tale” of the same title, functions as a meta-opera at several levels: it is a book within an opera, a neurological case study within an opera, and an ongoing internal song recital within an opera. Most of all, it is a clinical tale—the only narrative medicine opera in the modern operatic repertoire. This essay draws connections between Nyman’s opera—a staged musical work based on one doctor’s subjective experience diagnosing a unique pathology—and a socially constructed model of disability. Nyman’s opera and subsequent scholarship on the piece would seem to humanize disability through the guise of narrative medical practice; but, actually, the medical model, with all its potential for devastation, remains in place throughout.
Scene in a New Light
Authors: Fox Ann M.
Published: July 2016

What is the role of the contemporary musical in policing femininity through disability, and how might a reconsideration of the tropes deployed around disabled mothers and daughters provide an answer this question? More specifically, how do monstrous mothers and disabled daughters become figures through which normalcy—whether compulsory femininity, heteronormativity, or able-bodiedness—can be emphasized or subverted? Both the musicalsThe Light in the Piazza(2005) andNext to Normal(2008) feature disabled women whose mental disability is a central element of the plot. Yet the musicals feature radically divergent endings; the former ends in a traditional marriage plot, while the latter concludes with a family breaking apart. What we might term a happy ending has different implications not only for the women in these musicals but also for those watching; not all deployments of disabled daughterhood, or disabled maternity, are created equal.
“Waitin’ for the Light to Shine”
Authors: Knapp Raymond
Published: July 2016

Musicals celebrate physical abilities—singing and dancing—that seem to represent aspects of the universally human but are denied in significant measure to many with disabilities. Yet musicals’ insistence on incorporating the marginalized into communities has yielded important instances of disabled individuals figuring in musicals’ plots; moreover, musicals have often enough become part of the lives of disabled populations. This essay first considers a handful of shows that deal directly with disability, includingPorgy and Bess, The Music Man, The Who’s Tommy, Wicked, andNext to Normal. It then discusses a number of revelatory instances of musical performance figuring in lives of the deaf and hearing impaired, focusing particularly on the recent Broadway revival ofBig Riveras reconfigured by Deaf West Theatre, with its transformative integration of an expressive choreography based on signing into an existing musical.
Narratives of Affliction and Recovery in Haydn
Authors: Grave Floyd
Published: July 2016

Haydn’s instrumental music is often marked by peculiarities—events that feature harmonic deflections, gasping pauses, metrically dissonant accents, and the like—for which the customary methods of structural and stylistic analysis can promise only limited explanation. The evolving language of Disability Studies in music offers a vantage point for contemplating such idiosyncrasies, most notably those that suggest musical equivalents of impairment and recovery. A disability-related perspective may serve as a guide in the search for appropriate metaphors: words and images that can help breathe life into our interaction with a given work as listeners and performers. As witnessed in certain passages from Haydn’s string quartets and a symphony, a reading that shows the music to embody disabling conditions and their remediation helps us connect with emotions and experiences that may resonate with the lives of the composer and his contemporaries as well as with our own.
Moving Experiences
Authors: Honisch Stefan Sunandan
Published: July 2016

This essay asks how navigating the world without sight can influence musical interpretation and enable a blind performer to make music move in unfamiliar ways. A recording of Frédéric Chopin’s Prelude in B Minor Op. 28 No. 6 by the blind Hungarian pianist Imre Ungár (1909–1972) constitutes the focal point for an analysis guided simultaneously by Naomi Cumming’s (2000) conceptualization of “the performing self” (a musical identity that emerges through the performer’s ability to control the movement of notes) and by Joseph Straus’s (2011) conception of “mobility-inflected hearing” (musical understanding shaped by the experience of movement in a disabled body). Ungár’s pianistic self transforms blindness from a visual impairment into a moving (that is, kinesthetic) experience, carrying Chopin’s prelude through musical spaces at once unfamiliar and generative.
Disabled Moves
Authors: Kielian-Gilbert Marianne
Published: July 2016

If music and music experience are more than internal representation and symbol manipulation, how might one flesh out and understand their multidimensionality? This essay describes “disabled moves” toward that question by imagining and disturbing what it might mean to think and be through the variant body. First, it considers the implications of the unexamined and assumed centricity of the abled body and the kinds of material-bodily-mental interventions that might unfix or jostle (musical) identity with respect to that centricity. Second, it considers the potential and limitations of medical and aural metaphors in Ethel Smyth’s Concerto for Horn, Violin and Orchestra (1926–1927). Third, it stages musical “theatres of madness,” juxtaposing descriptive listening accounts of Marta Ptaszyńska’s “Thorn Trees” from her Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra, to suggest a multidimensional approach to analysis that works with side-by-side encounters and the critical potential and desire for change.
Youth Empowerment and Transformative Music Engagement
Authors: O’Neill Susan A.
Published: July 2016

As youth are increasingly braiding, blending, and blurring learning spaces, modes, structures and practices, they are transforming their music engagement in ways that are increasingly autonomous and self-directed. These are key features of the dynamic, interactive, and transformative approach to music learning that the author refers to as transformative music engagement. The aim is to enable and encourage youth empowerment in music education in ways that strengthen young people’s engagement in music learning, as well as their resiliency and capacity for well-being and musical flourishing. The chapter discusses this conceptualization and considers how educators might create expansive music learning opportunities within a social justice orientation that guide youth toward developing their distinctive voice and the capacity to express and redefine what matters to them in pursuit of social justice.
Organizational Remedies for Discrimination
Authors: Ely Robin , Feldberg Alexandra C.
Published: July 2016

Laws now exist to protect employees from blatant forms of discrimination in hiring and promotion, but workplace discrimination persists in latent forms. These “second-generation” forms of bias arise in workplace structures, practices, and patterns of interaction that inadvertently favor some groups over others. This chapter reviews research on how these biases manifest themselves in the core processes of organizations—that is, how people are hired, compensated, developed, and evaluated—all of which are aspects of organizational life that tend to privilege some groups over others. It also reviews research that points to remedies for these biases, illustrating that organizational practices can be sites for intervention and change. The chapter concludes with methodological and substantive recommendations for future research on discrimination and its remedies in organizations.
Political Parties, Regimes, and Social Cleavages
Authors: Riedl Rachel
Published: July 2016

Historical institutionalism is central to the study of political parties because party creation, competition, and adaptation are fundamentally processes structured over time. In these processes, time and sequence frequently are necessary components of causal arguments in understanding contemporary political outcomes. An historical approach to party politics highlights how, in particular moments, agency and contingency can generate long-term legacies, whereas in other moments party systems are resilient to elite attempts to re-order competition. Historical institutionalist arguments identify the mechanisms that sustain particular outcomes over time, and demonstrate when change occurs, according to which constraints, opportunities, and antecedent conditions.
Adaptive Informal Institutions
Authors: Tsai Kellee S.
Published: July 2016

Historical institutionalism (HI) has traditionally focused on formal institutions designed and enforced by official entities in advanced industrial democracies. Yet the modalities of endogenous institutional change delineated by HI reveal that the causal mechanisms of institutional transformation are typically informal. This chapter proposes a more inclusive ontology of institutions that views institutions as a single two-dimensional Möbius strip with both formal and informal components—regardless of regime type or level of economic development. Focusing on “adaptive informal institutions” that arise in a multi-tiered institutional context can show how informal institutions compromise, subvert, and even facilitate reforms of formal institutions.
The American State and the Enduring Politics of Race
Authors: King Desmond
Published: July 2016

The most important scholarly finding about the American state is how the politics of race and racial inequality have shaped all aspects of the state’s structure and policy outcomes. The American state performs and combines the standard functions of maintaining order, delivering public policy, monopolizing the legitimate use of violence and maintaining revenues, but always with effect on the politics of race. The American state’s embrace of the politics of racial inequality mark it out as a key case in comparative studies for researchers developing and testing arguments about democratic states with complex histories and fragmentary institutional arrangements.
Durability and Change in Financial Systems
Authors: Deeg Richard , Posner Elliot
Published: July 2016

Historical institutionalism features extensively in the study of banking and financial regulation in Europe. This chapter reviews scholarship that explicitly, implicitly or inadvertently draws heavily on that tradition’s central tenets. The authors find that historical institutionalism can help explain the emergence, persistence, and evolution of distinct kinds of financial systems in Europe, as well as the pattern and effects of European financial integration. However, they find there is considerable untapped potential for historical institutionalism as an analytical approach for studying European financial market integration and regulation.
The Limits of Institutional Reform in the United States and the Global Trade Regime
Authors: Goldstein Judith , Gulotty Robert
Published: July 2016

By the end of the nineteenth century, US decision-makers had to deal with growing demands from constituents for access to foreign markets; by the mid-twentieth century, US commercial policy had moved center stage as the country orchestrated a widespread globalization in production and trade. From the perspective of economic theory, the ‘appropriate’ policy would have been to reduce barriers to trade in line with a rise in productivity. However, the constitutionally imposed arrangement for tariff setting made high, and not low, tariffs the norm. The reason is found less in formal institutional reform than in constitutional constraints and presidential strategy, which helps account for shifts in US trade policy and the evolution of global trade liberalization. Careful analysis of institutional legacies and positive feedback effects assist in explaining key policy shifts in US trade policy and why international liberalization efforts have ebbed and flowed, though never been radically reversed since the Great Depression.
Historical Institutionalism and Experimental Methods
Authors: Steinmo Sven
Published: July 2016

Although a core insight of historical institutionalism (HI) is that history affects actors’ beliefs, values and preferences, it is difficult to test these propositions directly. This chapter argues that one way of testing HI theories is to integrate some of the methods and techniques of experimental social science. Using experimental methods, historical institutionalism can better explain how specific institutional structures, decision-making processes, and historical contexts frame individual choices and shape the broader ecology of political decisions. A combination of diverse research traditions and methodologies can illuminate the dynamic relationships between ideas, interests and institutions that yield variation in policies and preferences across cultures and over time.
Swedish Election Campaigns
Authors: Strömbäck Jesper
Published: July 2016

During election campaigns, the three most important sets of actors are voters, political parties and candidates, and the media. The purpose of this chapter is thus to describe and analyze Swedish election campaigns with a focus on four interrelated aspects: how voters learn about politics and the issues at stake during election campaigns; how the news media cover election campaigns; how the parties plan and run their election campaigns; and the importance of election campaigns in terms of campaign effects. Among other things, the analysis shows that the mass media are highly important for an understanding of Swedish election campaigns that the parties’ campaigning can be considered semi-professionalized, and that election campaigns have become more important as electoral volatility has increased. Overall, the analysis also suggests that Swedish election campaigns work quite well in terms of mobilizing voters politically.
Political Partisanship and Policy Feedback
Authors: Lidström Anders
Published: July 2016

Historically, the Social Democratic Party has been the dominant party in Swedish politics. But in 2006 a center-right coalition government came to power in Sweden and ruled until 2014. The chapter asks how this has affected the iconic Swedish welfare state. The center-right government’s legislative action to reform the welfare state was not very radical, but the effects of their non-decisions regarding unemployment benefit continued the long-term hollowing out of its earnings-related component. This triggered many unions to start mandatory group insurance schemes to provide income security for their members. However, the effect of the cash transfers becoming less earnings-related has—so far—not been to undermine the legitimacy of the public sector.
The Swedish Macroeconomic Policy Framework
Authors: Calmfors Lars
Published: July 2016

This chapter is concerned with Sweden’s current macroeconomic policy framework: how it emerged after the deep economic crisis of the 1990s and how it has functioned since then. The chapter describes a series of institutional reforms in the 1990s and 2000s that were implemented following a major financial crisis in 1991 and 1992. The reforms introduced central bank independence, flexible inflation targeting, a highly structured budgetary process, and an independent fiscal policy council. Thus, a common denominator in reform was to remove economic governance from immediate political control. It also describes the results of these reforms. Finally, the chapter accounts for some important contemporary economic policy controversies.
A Model of Welfare Capitalism?
Authors: Andersson Jenny
Published: July 2016

This chapter discusses the rise of the idea of Sweden as a particular model of welfare capitalism in the social sciences from the 1930s onwards. Drawing on a constructivist approach to political economy, it proposes that prevailing analytical concepts of the Swedish model as a politics-against-markets type of intervention into the capitalist economy are today falsified, as both the welfare state and social democracy have been thoroughly caught up in the process of marketization. The defining features of welfare capitalism in its original sense have undergone a transformation. Neoliberalism was introduced in Sweden, the chapter concludes, through the welfare state, functioning as a de facto series of quasi markets.
Rational Politics
Authors: Petersson Olof
Published: July 2016

Swedish politics can still be characterized as deliberative, rationalistic, open, and consensual but only if these four concepts are reinterpreted. Sweden has changed from a long-term “sounding-out” style of policy-making to a short-term and iterative trial-and-error method. Whereas commissions of inquiry in the 1960s were expected to carry out thoroughgoing investigations of policy alternatives and their possible consequences, since the 1980s they have been ordered to finish their assignments in less time and deliver shorter reports. Political decisions today are taken on a much less solid factual ground. The political process has moved from a consensus-seeking system based on selected access for a few major interests to a competitive and open-ended system.
Reconciling Capabilities and Ambidexterity Theories
Authors: Zimmermann Alexander , Birkinshaw Julian
Published: July 2016

Capabilities and ambidexterity theories are both intended to shed light on how firms remain successful in the long run. However, the two research streams have developed largely independently of one another and with different foci. In this chapter, we bring them closer together by discussing how different capabilities and forms of ambidexterity may help firms address their multi-level transformational challenges (Cross-functional Linking, Rethinking and Reconfiguring, Continuous Improvement, and Ongoing Renewal) This analysis allows us to identify the areas of overlap and the points of differences between capabilities and ambidexterity theories, suggesting that the two concepts are distinct but mutually interrelated and interdependent. Furthermore, we argue that different types of ambidexterity and capabilities may coexist within an organization and that their effectiveness is contingent on the challenges a firm faces.
Russian Literature between Classicism and Romanticism
Authors: Kahn Andrew
Published: July 2016

The joint discovery of sensibility and subjectivity is the hallmark of early Romanticism in Russia. In the 1780s and 1790s, younger writers—mostly amateur men of letters and the occasional noble woman—extended older debates about the elements of style and correct verse form. Writers were able to move between classical models and more experimental forms of subjectivity. Debate about the purpose of literature and its national cultural orientation and obligations intensified in the 1820s. At the end of the period covered in this chapter we see the breakdown of support for literature conceived as playful and gentlemanly. The advent of a full-blown Romantic movement, supported by the growth of the reading public, proliferation of literary journals, and the establishment of literary criticism as an institution, caused more writers to take entrenched positions and break with the past.
The Geography of Russian Romantic Prose
Authors: Hokanson Katya
Published: July 2016

In the 1820s and 1830s, when Russia’s encounter with Romanticism primarily took place, it was a culture caught in a complex debate about its own identity. Russian literature developed late and was dependent at first on that of Ukraine and Poland, and later Western Europe, especially France and England. Russian culture had to somehow map broadly European issues and movements on to its own reality. Romantic concepts and tropes such as the bold, brooding individual, the focus on interiority, the embrace of the irrational, and the breaking of previous conventions had political as well as artistic import in Russia. But the Romantic period in Russian literature is indelibly linked with the Caucasus. Romanticism appeared at the point when Russians first agreed that they now had a literature they could call their own, one that did not consist merely of translations and borrowings. The so-called ‘southern theme’ relating to the Caucasus and to exile was instrumental in this affirmation of a Russian national literature.
Social Identity and Social Influence
Authors: Gaffney Amber M. , Hogg Michael A.
Published: July 2016

Sitting at the heart of social influence is the relationship of the influencer to the target of influence. Whereas influence can and does occur on an interpersonal level, it often flows from other group members. Social categorizations both within and between groups are paramount in this process, and the dissemination of group norms is the mechanism through which influence occurs in groups. This chapter examines social influence within and between groups, placing self-categorization processes at the center of this analysis. We provide an overview of social influence within and between groups and explore group-based motivations for influence, highlighting leadership, extremist group factions, political movements, and social movements as examples of social influence occurring in a group context. In addition, we examine social context as well as motivational factors for identifying with and accepting group norms.
Politics and Art
Authors: Möller Frank
Published: July 2016

Art can be understood as a form of political discourse; as a descriptive, an interpretive, or an explicitly critical approximation; or as a vehicle with which to transcend the political. Art complicates our understandings and perceptions of the world, altering the discursive frames within which the political is negotiated. Research on politics and art explores art’s engagement with politics and its vision of the world; it analyzes art’s contribution to both our understanding of politics and problem solving. Current research also explores art’s critical and emancipatory potentialities, as well as participatory art and social activism in light of new forms of political communication. Such research is interdisciplinary and open to methodological pluralism and innovation. This article discusses artistic and performative imaginations of the political; knowledge production through art; art’s engagement with violence and peace; the art-audience interface; ethics and aesthetics of political art; and art’s function as a political witness.
Tactical Voting
Authors: Riera Pedro
Published: July 2016

This article reviews comparative research on electoral systems and voting behavior, identifying analytical gaps in the tactical voting literature. It starts by examining the core assumptions underpinning the classic approach to tactical voting. It then displays some empirical data about the estimates of this behavior reported in the literature. Contrasting experiences of theoretical and methodological issues in majoritarian and non-majoritarian systems are discussed. Focusing on some difficulties in the application of the “avoiding wasted vote” motivations under PR and mixed-member rules, the article furthers the consolidation of research on tactical voting beyond FPTP systems. The last section suggests that future scholarship in this field should move beyond the “wasted vote” approach to tactical voting and distinguish between instrumental and expressive motivations, consider the long-term consequences of tactical voting, and stress the endogenous nature of tactical voting and the role of parties and media in spreading it.
Verse Miscellanies in the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Watson Carly
Published: July 2016

The eighteenth century was an age of miscellanies; thousands of miscellaneous collections containing verse appeared in print over the course of the century. This article considers miscellanies as a distinct kind of verse collection; whereas anthologies promote authorship as a category of literary definition, miscellanies invite readers to sample a variety of poetic forms and genres and often include poems without authorial attribution. The eighteenth-century tradition of miscellanies devoted exclusively to poetry has its roots in the late seventeenth century, and many aspects of seventeenth-century miscellany culture persisted well into the next century. This article looks at a number of ways in which verse miscellanies offer fresh perspectives on eighteenth-century literary culture. The popularity and reception of particular poems and poets, the formation of the English literary canon, and the status of authorship are all areas in which miscellanies make a significant contribution to critical understanding.
Theatricality in Contemporary Visual and Performance Art on New World Slavery
Authors: Saal Ilka
Published: July 2016

This article examines forms and uses of theatricality in recent African American productions on slavery in the performing and the visual arts. It argues that by deploying modes of the comic, such as satire and parody, along with racial stereotypes, in their engagement with the traumatic history of slavery, contemporary artworks aim to provoke their audiences into an affective relationship with the artwork and the history it represents. In this manner, they seek to bring into focus not the past itself but our present-day reactions to it, asking viewers to reflect on their involvement with the ongoing mimetic and affective legacies of New World slavery. The article discusses Suzan-Lori Parks’s 1996 playVenusand Kara Walker’s 2014 installation ASubtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Babyas case studies.
Bilingualism and Child Phonology
Authors: Lleó Conxita
Published: July 2016

The present article poses some fundamental questions related to bilingualism and to the acquisition of two phonological components, by very young children. It discusses different types of bilingualism and their outcomes. After a brief consideration of alleged pros and cons of bilingualism brought up in the past decades, two perspectives of bilingualism are sketched—psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic—and certain aspects of bilingual child phonology are presented from each of these points of view. The essential issue is whether different outcomes of bilingual child phonology are predictable, and to find the crucial criteria to support the predictions. Finally, the discussion addresses some basic questions about bilingual acquisition, and ends with a summary of various types of cross-linguistic interaction.
Crime Policy and Welfare Policy
Authors: Gallo Carina , Kim Mimi E.
Published: July 2016

This essay provides a synthesis of criminological and social welfare theoretical frameworks, along with empirical data illuminating the links between crime policy and welfare policy. It also reviews current debates regarding the extent to which European countries are undergoing a shift toward more punitive welfare or crime policies. Building upon Gøsta Esping-Andersen’s classic typology of welfare regimes, current scholarship ties liberal welfare regimes to punitive penal ideologies and high rates of incarceration and social democratic welfare regimes to lenient attitudes toward punishment and low incarceration rates. Research also underscores the significance of economic and social inequality in the production and outcomes of crime and welfare policies. Comparative empirical data supports the persistence of penal-welfarism in Europe, particularly in social democratic states, exemplified by Sweden, while indicating more punitive policies targeting marginalized sectors of the population, notably immigrants.
Comparisons of Greece and China
Authors: Beecroft Alexander
Published: July 2016

Comparative study of Greece and China dates back to the mutual awareness of their classical traditions that began with the Jesuit missions to China in the late sixteenth century. The full potential of such work was delayed in part by the slow and inconsistent progress of translation of classical texts. Further complications arose from the processes of industrialization and colonialization in the nineteenth century, which contributed to notions of the cultural superiority of the West, hindering the study of both traditions on equal terms. Much earlier work focused on the “lack” of certain key elements of ancient Greek culture in early China, an approach that has reinforced narratives of cultural superiority. Changing intellectual trends and shifts in global economic and political power have contributed to a reassessment and to approaches that account for similarities and differences without assuming that the Greek tradition is superior or paradigmatic.
The Norse in Iceland
Authors: Zori Davide Marco
Published: July 2016

The Norse discovery and settlement of Iceland in the late ninth century AD offers a test case for the study of human impacts on previously unoccupied landscapes and the formation of new societies under challenging conditions. The Norse Viking Age settlement of the island serves as a cautionary tale about the anthropogenic destruction of fragile environments, while simultaneously providing lessons about the strategic management of marginal ecosystems and nuanced examples of societal evolution and secondary state formation. Archaeological investigation of these processes is complemented by oral traditions preserved in the Icelandic sagas. Although researchers debate the proper use of the sagas, the strength of recent research is its interdisciplinary nature, combining a suite of available tools of inquiry.
Reconsidering Citizenship Models and the Case for Cultural Citizenship: Implications for a Social Psychology of Social Justice
Authors: Langhout Regina , Fernández Jesica
Published: July 2016

This chapter reviews citizenship constructions in the United States and examines how historic, legal, economic, schooling, and multicultural “melting pot” ideology landscapes shape citizenship and its performance. It introduces cultural citizenship as an alternative starting point for citizenship and its performance, providing a theoretical foundation and empirical evidence for cultural citizenship, and argues in support of incorporating this framework into social psychology when working toward collective social justice. It also discusses the implications of adopting a cultural citizenship perspective for social psychology and how this perspective can extend our understanding of citizenship practices to enact social justice. We conclude with recommendations for research and action.
Games Played on Networks
Authors: Bramoullé Yann , Kranton Rachel
Published: July 2016

This chapter studies games played on fixed networks. These games capture a wide variety of economic settings, including local public goods, peer effects, and technology adoption. The chapter establishes a common analytical framework to study a wide game class. The authors review and advance existing results by showing how they tie together within the common framework. The chapter discusses the game-theoretic underpinnings of key notions including Bonacich centrality and the lowest and largest eigenvalue. The text discusses the interplay of individual heterogeneity and the network and develops a new notion—interdependence—to analyze how a shock to one agent affects the action of another agent.
Where Is the Choreography? Who Is the Choreographer?
Authors: Guy Priscilla
Published: July 2016

This chapter examines editing as a springboard to envision new types of choreographic practices for screendance and proposes choreographic editing as a dance-making approach embedded within the process of editing, encouraging further headway into screendance practices. Martin Heidegger’s thinking provides insightful tracks to follow in theorizing the role of contemporary screendance choreography and mediated dances/bodies on screen. Erin Braningan’s concept of micro-choreographies and Harmony Bench’s essay on anti-gravitational choreographies in screendance suggest ideas of choreographic editing as an alternate approach to contemporary choreography. These are illustrated by editing strategies in three screendance works—Pas de Deuxby Norman McLaren,An Ostrich Proudlyby Xan Burley and Alex Springer, and Béla Tarr’sThe Turin Horse.The films show how techniques ranging from reediting of dancers’ motions to a quasi-absence of cuts that reveals strong kinesthetic empathy for the viewer all open up new possibilities of using editing in a powerful way.
Transcending Dimensions
Authors: Popat Sita
Published: July 2016

This chapter considers how the use of screendance within performances and installations affects the ways in which audiences and participants experience bodies in space by transcending the dimensions ascribed to them traditionally by the material world and the projection screen. Mixed reality and “ubiquitous computing” are increasingly embedded in our social and cultural experiences, and three dance or dance-related examples that use them are examined: Merce Cunningham’s Biped, igloo’s SwanQuake: House, and Paul Sermon’s Telematic Dreaming. Virtual reality can have a realistic perspective that creates an environment comparable to the physical world, or it can challenge Euclidean space and Newtonian physics by highlighting phenomena that can only exist in the virtual world—yet both of these can create binaries that disrupt embodied experiences by prioritizing concept over sensation. Dance has much to offer in developing understandings of how the body and technology can manage and overcome binary tendencies within a mixed reality environment.
Effects of Depth of Propofol and Sevoflurane Anesthesia on Upper Airway Collapsibility, Respiratory Genioglossus Activation, and Breathing in Healthy Volunteers
Authors: Simons Jeroen C. P. , Pierce Eric , Diaz-Gil Daniel , Malviya Sanjana A. , Meyer Matthew J. , Timm Fanny P. , Stokholm Janne B. , Rosow Carl E. , Kacmarek Robert M. , Eikermann Matthias
Published: July 2016

Background

Volatile anesthetics and propofol impair upper airway stability and possibly respiratory upper airway dilator muscle activity. The magnitudes of these effects have not been compared at equivalent anesthetic doses. We hypothesized that upper airway closing pressure is less negative and genioglossus activity is lower during deep compared with shallow anesthesia.

Methods

In a randomized controlled crossover study of 12 volunteers, anesthesia with propofol or sevoflurane was titrated using a pain stimulus to identify the threshold for suppression of motor response to electrical stimulation. Measurements included bispectral index, genioglossus electromyography, ventilation, hypopharyngeal pressure, upper airway closing pressure, and change in end-expiratory lung volume during mask pressure drops.

Results

A total of 393 attempted breaths during occlusion maneuvers were analyzed. Upper airway closing pressure was significantly less negative at deep versus shallow anesthesia (−10.8 ± 4.5 vs. −11.3 ± 4.4 cm H2O, respectively [mean ± SD]) and correlated with the bispectral index (P < 0.001), indicating a more collapsible airway at deep anesthesia. Respiratory genioglossus activity during airway occlusion was significantly lower at deep compared with light anesthesia (26 ± 21 vs. 35 ± 24% of maximal genioglossus activation, respectively; P < 0.001) and correlated with bispectral index (P < 0.001). Upper airway closing pressure and genioglossus activity during airway occlusion did not differ between sevoflurane and propofol anesthesia.

Conclusions

Propofol and sevoflurane anesthesia increased upper airway collapsibility in a dose-dependent fashion with no difference at equivalent anesthetic concentrations. These effects can in part be explained by a dose-dependent inhibiting effect of anesthetics on respiratory genioglossus activity.
Neurodevelopmental Assessment in Kindergarten in Children Exposed to General Anesthesia before the Age of 4 Years
Authors: Graham M. Ruth , Brownell Marni , Chateau Daniel G. , Dragan Roxana D. , Burchill Charles , Fransoo Randal R.
Published: July 2016

Background

Animal studies demonstrate general anesthetic (GA) toxicity in the developing brain. Clinical reports raise concern, but the risk of GA exposure to neurodevelopment in children remains uncertain.

Methods

The authors undertook a retrospective matched cohort study comparing children less than 4 yr of age exposed to GA to those with no GA exposure. The authors used the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a 104-component questionnaire, encompassing five developmental domains, completed in kindergarten as the outcome measure. Mixed-effect logistic regression models generated EDI estimates for single versus multiple GA exposure and compared both single and multiple exposures by the age of 0 to 2 or 2 to 4 yr. Known sociodemographic and physical confounders were incorporated as covariates in the models.

Results

A total of 18,056 children were studied: 3,850 exposed to a single GA and 620 exposed to two or more GA, who were matched to 13,586 nonexposed children. In children less than 2 yr of age, there was no independent association between single or multiple GA exposure and EDI results. Paradoxically, single exposure between 2 and 4 yr of age was associated with deficits, most significant for communication/general knowledge (estimate, −0.7; 95% CI, −0.93 to −0.47; P < 0.0001) and language/cognition (estimate, −0.34; 95% CI, −0.52 to −0.16; P < 0.0001) domains. Multiple GA exposure at the age of 2 to 4 yr did not confer greater risk than single GA exposure.

Conclusions

These findings refute the assumption that the earlier the GA exposure in children, the greater the likelihood of long-term neurocognitive risk. The authors cannot confirm an association between multiple GA exposure and increased risk of neurocognitive impairment, increasing the probability of confounding to explain the results.
What’s New in Pediatric Spine Growth Modulation and Implant Technology for Early-Onset Scoliosis?
Authors: Wessell Nolan M. , Martus Jeffrey E. , Halanski Matthew A. , Snyder Brian , Truong Walter
Published: July 2016

Background:

Early-onset scoliosis (EOS) affects roughly 1 to 2 out of 10,000 live births per year. Because this subset of patients has a yet to achieve a majority of their skeletal growth, a number of treatment challenges need to be addressed before surgical intervention. If left untreated, EOS can cause a number of problems throughout the patient’s lifespan, particularly in regards to the growth of the thorax and pulmonary development. A wide variety of surgical systems and techniques are available to the treating surgeon.

Methods:

A review of the orthopaedic literature from 2010 to 2015 relating to pediatric spine growth modulation was performed. Ninety-eight papers were identified and, following exclusion criteria, a total of 31 papers were selected for further review.

Results:

This paper summarizes the recently published literature regarding growth-friendly spinal implants, the status of their Food and Drug Administration approval labeling as well as the indications, applications, and complications associated with their implementation.

Conclusions:

There are a growing number of options at the surgeon’s disposal when treating patients with EOS. As surgeons, we must continue to be vigilant in our demand for sound clinical evidence as we strive to provide optimal care for our patients. The rapidly advancing field of spinal growth modulation is exciting. More work must be done to further enhance our ability to predictably modulate growth in the pediatric spine.
Analysis of Factors Associated With Sagittal Balance in Normal Asymptomatic Individuals
Authors: Yang Mingyuan , Yang Changwei , Zhai Xiao , Zhao Jian , Zhu Xiaodong , Li Ming
Published: July 2016

Study Design.

A retrospective study.

Objective.

To determine primary contributors to sagittal balance and establish a predictive equation of sagittal balance in normal asymptomatic subjects.

Summary of Background Data.

Sagittal balance has been verified to be associated with health-related quality of life. Although many studies have been performed to explore factors contributing to sagittal balance in various disease states, no study has been conducted in normal asymptomatic subjects in East China.

Methods.

Medical records of 340 asymptomatic healthy volunteers were reviewed from January 2014 to August 2015, including 311 for exploring the risk factors and predictive equation, and 29 for validation. Demographic and radiological parameters were evaluated. Correlation analysis between spinopelvic parameters was pursued. Regression analyses were performed to establish predictive radiographic parameters for sagittal balance. Paired t test was conducted to test the regression equation.

Results.

There was a very good correlation between T1 sagittal angle and maxTK, maxLL and SS, SS and PI, and PT and PI; a moderate correlation between maxTK and maxLL, and maxLL and PI; a weak correlation between T1 sagittal angle and age, age and maxTK, age and SS, age and PT, age and SVA, T1 sagittal angel and SVA, SVA and PT, and SVA and PI; and very weak correlation between T1 sagittal angle and maxLL, maxLL and PT, SVA and LL, and PT and SS. Age, T1 sagittal angle, maxLL, PT, and PI were primary contributors to sagittal balance, which could be predicted by the regression equation: SVA = 0.294 × age + 0.367 × T1 sagittal angle − 1.149 × maxLL-0.704 × PT + 1.378 × PI − 34.164. No significant difference was found between actual SVA and predicted SVA using our equation (P = 0.307).

Conclusion.

Age, T1 sagittal angle, maxLL, PT, and PI were primary contributors to maintaining sagittal balance in normal asymptomatic subjects, and sagittal balance could be predicted by calculation using the equation derived in this study.

Level of Evidence: 2
Pantoprazole or Placebo for Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis (POP-UP): Randomized Double-Blind Exploratory Study*
Authors: Selvanderan Shane P. , Summers Matthew J. , Finnis Mark E. , Plummer Mark P. , Ali Abdelhamid Yasmine , Anderson Michael B. , Chapman Marianne J. , Rayner Christopher K. , Deane Adam M.
Published: July 2016

Objectives:

Pantoprazole is frequently administered to critically ill patients for prophylaxis against gastrointestinal bleeding. However, comparison to placebo has been inadequately evaluated, and pantoprazole has the potential to cause harm. Our objective was to evaluate benefit or harm associated with pantoprazole administration.

Design:

Prospective randomized double-blind parallel-group study.

Setting:

University-affiliated mixed medical-surgical ICU.

Patients:

Mechanically ventilated critically ill patients suitable for enteral nutrition.

Interventions:

We randomly assigned patients to receive either daily IV placebo or pantoprazole.

Measurements and Main Results:

Major outcomes were clinically significant gastrointestinal bleeding, infective ventilator-associated complication or pneumonia, and Clostridium difficile infection; minor outcomes included overt bleeding, hemoglobin concentration profiles, and mortality. None of the 214 patients randomized had an episode of clinically significant gastrointestinal bleeding, three patients met the criteria for either an infective ventilator-associated complication or pneumonia (placebo: 1 vs pantoprazole: 2), and one patient was diagnosed with Clostridium difficile infection (0 vs 1). Administration of pantoprazole was not associated with any difference in rates of overt bleeding (6 vs 3; p = 0.50) or daily hemoglobin concentrations when adjusted for transfusion rates of packed red cells (p = 0.66). Mortality was similar between groups (log-rank p = 0.33: adjusted hazard ratio for pantoprazole: 1.68 [95% CI, 0.97–2.90]; p = 0.06).

Conclusions:

We found no evidence of benefit or harm with the prophylactic administration of pantoprazole to mechanically ventilated critically ill patients anticipated to receive enteral nutrition. The practice of routine administration of acid-suppressive drugs to critically ill patients for stress ulcer prophylaxis warrants further evaluation.
Partial Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus in a Burned Patient Receiving Sevoflurane Sedation With an Anesthetic Conserving Device—A Case Report
Authors: Muyldermans Marie , Jennes Serge , Morrison Stuart , Soete Olivier , François Pierre-Michel , Keersebilck Elkana , Rose Thomas , Pantet Olivier
Published: July 2016

Objective:

To describe a case of partial nephrogenic diabetes insipidus in a burned patient after prolonged delivery of low inspired concentrations of sevoflurane via an Anesthetic Conserving Device.

Data Sources:

Clinical observation.

Study Selection:

Case report.

Data Extraction:

Relevant clinical information.

Data Synthesis:

A 34-year-old man was admitted with burns covering 52% of his total body surface area. Mechanical ventilation was provided during sedation with continuous infusions of sufentanil and midazolam. Sedation became increasingly difficult, and in order to limit administration of IV agents, sevoflurane was added to the inspiratory gas flow. This was provided using an Anesthetic Conserving Device and continued for 8 days. The patient rapidly developed polyuria and hypernatremia with an inappropriate decrease in urinary osmolality. Administration of desmopressin resulted in only a modest effect on renal concentrating ability. After cessation of sevoflurane, all variables returned to normal within 5 days. The results of further investigations (cerebral computed tomographic scan, cerebral magnetic resonance imaging, and serum arginine vasopressin concentration) were compatible with a diagnosis of partial nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. The temporal sequence of clinical findings in relation to sevoflurane administration suggests that the sevoflurane was the probable underlying cause.

Conclusions:

Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of sevoflurane-induced diabetes insipidus not only during general anesthesia but also in the intensive care setting of sedation in critically ill patients. This is especially important in patients, such as those with severe burns, in whom preserved renal concentrating ability is important to ensure compensation for extrarenal fluid losses.
Improved Anti-Treg Vaccination Targeting Foxp3 Efficiently Decreases Regulatory T Cells in Mice
Authors: Mousavi Niri Neda , Memarnejadian Arash , Pilehvar-Soltanahmadi Younes , Agha Sadeghi Mohammadreza , Mahdavi Mehdi , Kheshtchin Nasim , Arab Samaneh , Namdar Afshin , Jadidi Farhad , Zarghami Nosratollah , Hajati Jamshid
Published: July 2016

Introduction:

The critical role of regulatory T (Treg) cells in dampening immune responses against tumor cells is apparent. Therefore, several methods have been introduced for eliminating Treg. Among them, inducing immune responses against Treg cells expressing Foxp3 transcription factor is a hopeful approach to decrease the frequency of Tregs. In current study, we used the chimeric FoxP3-Fc(IgG) fusion construct/protein to effectively stimulate the immune responses against Treg cells.

Materials and Methods:

Previously constructed FoxP3-Fc(IgG) DNA vaccine and its protein counterpart were injected into C57BL/6 mice in a prime/boost regimen. After 2 weeks, the mice were killed to measure the frequency of Tregs in their spleens, as well as analyze their specific cytokine production, T-cell proliferation, and CD8+ T-cell cytotoxicity against FoxP3 protein.

Results:

FACS analysis of FoxP3+ CD4+ cells in splenocytes revealed the efficiency of FoxP3 DNA-prime protein-boost strategy to decrease the Treg cells and further showed considerable superiority of Fc(IgG) fusion strategy. This significant reduction in Treg frequency was also concomitant with higher FoxP3-specific CTL and Th1 responses in FoxP3-Fc vaccinated animals.

Conclusions:

Prime/boost vaccination against FoxP3 in addition to enhanced antigen presentation by means of Fc fusion strategy could be successfully considered for Treg depletion studies. Validity of this approach should be experimentally tested in preclinical tumor models.