bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stifling stateness: The Assad regime’s campaign against rebel governance
Authors: Martínez José Ciro , Eng Brent
Published: April 2018

This article assesses the impact of the Assad regime’s aerial bombardment campaign on a frequently neglected component of Syria’s ongoing civil war: rebel governance. While analysis of the military and humanitarian ramifications of such attacks has been extensive, these perspectives fail to consider how the Assad regime’s counter insurgency efforts subvert governance practices by Syria’s diverse rebel groups. Drawing on performative approaches to the ‘state’, we argue that opposition groups’ daily enactments of ‘stateness’ via two key welfare services – bread and healthcare provision – constitute a historically inflected and locally grounded critique of the incumbent. When executed successfully, such enactments can stabilize relations between rulers and ruled while offering a vision of an alternative polity. They can also attract the attention of rivals. The Assad regime’s aerial bombing campaign of rebel-held areas is thus neither a haphazard military strategy nor simply the product of long-standing sectarian hatreds, but a deliberate tactic through which it seeks to destroy a key threat to its authority.
From Sétif to Moramanga: Identifying Insurgents and Ascribing Guilt in the French Colonial Post-war
Authors: Thomas Martin
Published: April 2018

Focusing on the upsurge in anti-colonial insurgency between 1945 and 1947, this article explores critical transitions in colonial state violence in two French dependencies: Algeria and Madagascar. The suggestion is that official and local responses to colonial disorder in these immediate post-war years defined new, more violent parameters of French colonial counter-insurgency that would long endure. The argument connects the ascendancy of a new French political elite at the Liberation with a reconceptualization of imperial threats, particularly in those territories where political intelligence analysis and security policing became integral to day-to-day governance at the provincial, prefectural, or district levels.
A Content Analysis of YouTube Political Advertisements: Evidence from Indian Parliamentary Elections
Authors: Sohal Seerat , Kaur Harsandaldeep
Published: April 2018

YouTube, a popular video-sharing platform, is being used by political parties to influence voter behavior. The present exploratory study analyses the use of YouTube as a promotional tool during the Indian Parliamentary Elections 2014—the first social media based elections in India. This study examines 92 advertisements of Indian National Congress (INC) and 55 advertisements of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on YouTube for the following parameters: general characteristics of each video, types of message appeal used and the dominant content of the advertisements. The findings revealed that INC emphasized more on the identity of their party while BJP stressed on their candidate. Furthermore, the YouTube advertisements were dominated by positive campaigning. The parties appealed to the voters through logic and strongly addressed various national and developmental issues. Both the parties strategically expressed the optimistic future of the country under the dynamic leadership of their respective prime ministerial candidates. The findings of the study have important implications for political parties, political marketers and lawmakers as social media has occupied a significant place among young and educated voters and acts as a stimulant to voter engagement. The article adds value to the existing studies of political advertising and communication literature by theoretically adhering to Kaid and Johnston’s (2001) concept of ‘videostyle’, integrating the functional theory of political discourse, and appending the visual culture concept to political domain.
ISIS and the Sectarian Political Ontology: Radical Islam, Violent Jihadism and the Claims for Revival of the Caliphate
Authors: Sanjeev Kumar H.M.
Published: April 2018

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as a radical organisation acquired a massive global appeal by virtue of stretching its ideological influence beyond Arab-centric focus and recruiting followers from across the world. Central to such widespread popularity was the conception of a unified Islamic Ummah which is located in a transnational Islamic State (IS) (Caliphate) that is governed in accordance to the tenets of Islamic law (shari’a). However, at the heart of this idea was a militant sectarian political ontology that distorted the notion of a unified Islamic Ummah. Articulated as a global grand strategy, the cosmopolitan Islamic imagination of the ISIS has been nothing more than a myopic assertion of a fanatic ideology of violence and terrorism. By sustaining such a notion through a forceful imposition of a Kharijite brand of extremism and sectarianism, the ISIS sought to contort the tolerant multifaceted and multilayered fabric of Islam that tends to accommodate diverse ethno-nationalistic, linguistic and racial pluralities and believes in the metaphysical communion of multiple faiths. The aim behind such an endeavour was the elimination of all those whom the ISIS considers as opposed to its ideology which is embedded in a narrow sectarian interpretation of what it designates as pure Islam. The genealogical impulse that lies at the bottom of such an ideology was its grand vision to assume a hegemonic position in the sphere of global jihadi movements.
Justice for temporary migrant workers: Lessons from the ‘7-Eleven cases’
Authors: Pen Justin
Published: April 2018

This article examines the systemic exploitation of foreign workers on temporary visas at 7-Eleven stores. The first section outlines Australia's temporary visa apparatus and the restrictions it imposes on visa workers’ residency and work rights. The second section reviews the ‘7-Eleven cases’, from 2011 to 2016, and draw three themes from those cases. The final section considers the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017 (Cth). Ultimately, I contend that parliament's failure to address temporary migrant workers’ fear of visa cancellation may blunt the impact of these otherwise significant reforms.
The self-represented litigants’ challenge: A case study
Authors: Goh James
Published: April 2018

Self-represented litigants face significant challenges, and pose difficulties to both other parties and the judicial system as a whole. This article briefly sets out the background of challenges posed by self-represented litigants, before turning to discussion of common suggestions to tackle these challenges. This discussion is with reference to a ‘case study’ of a recent SA District Court civil matter, wherein all parties were self-represented.
Medial Structure Injury During Suture Button Insertion Using the Center-Center Technique for Syndesmotic Stabilization
Authors: Reb Christopher W. , Brandão Roberto A. , Watson B. Collier , Van Dyke Bryan , Berlet Gregory C. , Prissel Mark A.
Published: April 2018

Background:

The center-center technique for syndesmosis fixation has been described as an improved and reliable technique for proper reduction of the syndesmosis during ankle fracture repair. Concurrently, the use of flexible fixation with a suture button is becoming an established means of syndesmosis stabilization. The purpose of this cadaveric study was to assess for medial structure injury during the placement of a suture button using the center-center technique for ankle syndesmosis repair at 3 insertion intervals.

Methods:

Simulated open syndesmosis repair was performed on 10 cadaveric specimens. Three intervals were measured at 10 mm, 20 mm, and 30 mm proximal to the level of the distal tibial articular surface along the fibula. Proper longitudinal alignment of the center-center technique was completed under fluoroscopic guidance and was marked on the medial aspect of the tibia. The 3 intervals were drilled in the appropriate technique trajectory. The suture button was subsequently passed through each drill-hole interval. A single observer used a digital caliper to measure the distance from each suture button aperture with respect to the tibialis anterior tendon, tibialis posterior tendon, and greater saphenous vein and nerve.

Results:

A total of 30 interval measurements (10 cadavers with 3 suture button segments each) were used for data analysis. Direct impingement on the greater saphenous vein was seen in 11 of 30 (36.6%) interval measurements. Six of the 11 (54.5%) observed saphenous structure impingement events occurred at the 10-mm drill hole.

Conclusion:

The results of the present study suggest that the use of the center-center technique for syndesmosis repair with suture button fixation risks preventable injury to the greater saphenous neurovasculature.

Clinical Relevance:

To understand the medial ankle anatomy, as it pertains to insertion of flexible syndesmotic fixation in a cadaveric model, to aid in prevention of clinical iatrogenic injury.
Noncoding RNAs and Stroke
Authors: Zhang Xuejing , Hamblin Milton H. , Yin Ke-Jie
Published: April 2018

Over many years, extensive efforts have focused on the development and improvement of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to reduce stroke-associated neurovascular damage, such as blood-brain barrier dysfunction, brain edema, parenchymal inflammation, and neural cell death. However, the only clinically applied pharmacological therapy to date for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke is thrombolysis. Because of the short therapeutic window of current thrombolytic therapy and the activation of various pathophysiological signaling cascades triggered after ischemic stroke, the development of new therapies is urgently required. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are defined as untranslated regulatory RNA molecules. Although ncRNAs with biological roles have been known for almost 60 years, they have within the past decade emerged as key mediators of posttranscriptional gene expression/function in pathological aspects of ischemic stroke. With properties of relative stability, specificity, and reproducibility, ncRNAs are considered to be promising as biomarkers and better candidates than proteins and genes for early recognition of the onset of disease. In this update, we summarized the current knowledge for three groups of ncRNAs in stroke, focusing on the role of long noncoding RNAs and circular RNAs as biomarkers for stroke and as targets for regulating large sets of genes in related pathways after ischemic stroke.
Associations Among Obesity, Inflammation, and Tryptophan Catabolism in Pregnancy
Authors: Groer Maureen , Fuchs Dietmar , Duffy Allyson , Louis-Jacques Adetola , D’Agata Amy , Postolache Teodor T.
Published: April 2018

Objective:

To evaluate relationships among obesity in pregnancy and plasma levels of tryptophan (TRP) and kynurenine (KYN), inflammatory markers, and depressed mood.

Methods:

Pregnant women ( N = 374) were enrolled, and data were collected at a mean gestation of 20 weeks in this cross-sectional study. Plasma was analyzed for TRP, KYN, neopterin, and nitrite levels. Women completed demographic and mood scales.

Results:

There was a statistically significant inverse correlation between body mass index (BMI) and TRP and positive correlations between BMI and KYN and the kynurenine/tryptophan (KYN/TRP) ratio. Neopterin was correlated with KYN/TRP, suggesting that the indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO-1) enzyme was activated. The correlations of neopterin and nitrite with BMI were too small to be clinically meaningful but may provide mechanistic insight. There was a correlation between depressed mood and nitrite levels. Depressed mood was also associated with lower TRP levels. When the sample was divided into pregnant women with or without obesity, TRP was significantly lower and the KYN/TRP ratio was significantly higher in the women with obesity.

Conclusion:

The pro-inflammatory state of obesity in pregnancy may drive activation of IDO-1, resulting in diversion of TRP away from serotonin and melatonin production and toward KYN metabolites. This alteration could contribute to depression, impaired sleep, increased production of excitotoxic neurotransmitters, and reinforcement of a pro-inflammatory state in pregnancy.
Physical education undergraduate students’ perceptions of their learning using the jigsaw learning method
Authors: O’Leary Nick , Barber Alison , Keane Helen
Published: April 2018

Recognising the limited research around the use of cooperative learning in higher education, this case study sought to explore physical education students’ perceptions of learning using the jigsaw learning method. It examined the impact of two different aesthetic activities and two different groupings on students’ perceptions of their learning. A purposive sample of 36 third-year undergraduates was selected for the study. Data were collected using focus group interviews and reflective journals. Inductive analysis illustrated students’ perceptions of their own and others’ abilities, students’ empathy towards their peers, and how their perceptions of gymnastics and dance impacted on their perceptions of learning. Students felt that heterogeneous and friendship groupings have the potential to encourage high-order social and cognitive learning. However, those students with limited psychomotor abilities appear to be better served in friendship groupings to facilitate such learning. Students also favoured the ‘structured’ nature of gymnastics in comparison to dance for their own teaching and learning purposes. Irrespective of aesthetic activity or grouping utilised, students felt their psychomotor learning was limited. It is recommended that university staff consider using a mixture of groupings with a single cohort dependent on the practical ability of students and the use of more ‘structured’ activities. In doing so, students’ perceptions of their social, cognitive and psychomotor learning may improve and thereby encourage greater and more effective use of this innovative method in schools.
Comparison of East and West Survival Nomograms in Turkish Gastric Cancer Patients Who Underwent Radical Surgery
Authors: Akgül Ö. , Ocak S. , Gündoğdu S. B. , Yalaza M. , Güldoğan C. E. , Tez M.
Published: April 2018

Background and Aim:

The clinicopathological demonstrations of gastric cancer vary widely between Eastern and Western countries. Turkey is situated in Europe and Middle East which acts as a bridge between east and west. We aimed to validate the two popular nomograms of east and west origin by means of patients who underwent curative surgery for gastric cancer in our country.

Material and Methods:

Of the 202 patients diagnosed with gastric cancer between the years 2006 and 2013, 145 of these patients whose data were sufficient were included in the study. For all patients, demographic, laboratory, operative, and pathologic findings were documented. For each patient, prognostic factors were incorporated into the nomograms for estimating 5-year survival probability.

Results:

For a Turkish cohort, the western nomogram showed a better discriminative capacity (AUC = 0.721, 95% confidence interval 0.637–0.806) and was better calibrated (the Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test p = 0.323), as compared to the eastern nomogram with AUC = 0.615, 95% confidence interval 0.522–0.708, and p = 0.077, respectively.

Conclusion:

Western nomogram was found to be more effective than eastern nomogram in prediction of estimating 5-year survival probability in patients with resectable gastric cancer in Turkish population.
Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms of The Pancreas: A Nationwide Registry-Based Study
Authors: Aronsson L. , Andersson B. , Andersson R. , Tingstedt B. , Bratlie S. O. , Ansari D.
Published: April 2018

Background and Aims:

To investigate the paraclinical and pathological features of surgically resected intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms in Sweden.

Materials and Methods:

A review of prospectively collected data on patients undergoing pancreatic resection for a histopathologically verified intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm between 2010 and 2016 was performed using the Swedish National Registry for Pancreatic and Periampullary Cancer.

Results:

A total of 3038 pancreatic resections were performed during the study period, of which 251 (8.3%) were due to intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms. The intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm cases comprised 227 noninvasive and 24 invasive lesions. There was an annual increase in the number of resected intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, from 13 in 2010 to 56 in 2016, and an increase in the proportion of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm to the total number of pancreatic resections (4.7%–11%). Biliary obstruction was the only independent predictor of invasive disease, with odds ratio 3.106 (p = 0.030). There was no difference in survival between low-, intermediate-, and high-grade dysplastic lesions (p = 0.417). However, once invasive, the prognosis was severely impacted (p < 0.001). Three-year survival was 90% for noninvasive intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm and 39% for invasive intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm. Survival was better in lymph node negative invasive intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (p = 0.021), but still dismal compared to noninvasive lesions (p < 0.001).

Conclusion:

The number of surgically resected intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms is increasing in Sweden. Biliary obstruction is associated with invasive disease. Low-to-high-grade dysplastic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm has an excellent prognosis, while invasive intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm has a poor survival rate.
Families that play together stay together: Investigating family bonding through video games
Authors: Wang Bingqing , Taylor Laramie , Sun Qiusi
Published: April 2018

Video games have been a major form of people’s entertainment, and they have entered people’s family life. However, what we know about the effects of video games on family relationships is still rare. This study investigated the effects of video game co-playing among family members on family satisfaction and family closeness. In total, 361 parents recruited from Amazon Turk completed online questionnaires. The results showed that the more frequently family members play video games together, the better family satisfaction and family closeness they have. Families with poor family communication benefit more from co-playing than those with effective family communication. Family satisfaction mediated the relationship between video game co-playing and family closeness. Game features that facilitate family relationships were discovered through open-ended questions. Participants typically enjoyed playing video games with family members, and social benefits are the most salient in family settings.
Surviving difference: Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, intergenerational justice and the future of human reproduction
Authors: Lee Robyn , Mykitiuk Roxanne
Published: April 2018

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been identified as posing risks to reproductive health and may have intergenerational effects. However, responses to the potential harms they pose frequently rely on medicalised understandings of the body and normative gender identities. This article develops an intersectional feminist framework of intergenerational justice in response to the potential risks posed by endocrine-disrupting chemicals. We examine critiques of endocrine disruptors from feminist, critical disability and queer standpoints, and explore issues of race and class in exposures. We argue that responding to the risks posed by endocrine disruptors such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and phthalates requires developing a theory of intergenerational justice that recognises relationality and transcorporeality, and that also recognises harm in terms of suffering, not in terms of difference.
Music as post-traumatic discourse: Nikolay Myaskovsky’s Sixth Symphony
Authors: Zuk Patrick
Published: April 2018

This essay explores ways in which musicologists might extend work undertaken by humanities scholars in the interdisciplinary field of trauma studies that has highlighted the centrality of traumatic experience to modernist creativity. It is focussed around a case study of a musical composition that represents the emotional aftermath of a traumatic event, the Sixth Symphony of the Soviet composer Nikolay Myaskovsky (1923). A central concern is to demonstrate how the symphony’s musical symbolism is strikingly evocative of typical features of post-traumatic mentation, such as dissociation and emotional numbing, and the inhibition of the ability to mourn. It closes by considering the potential implications of the findings for understanding work by other modernist composers.
‘I am tired from all of these feelings’: Narrating suffering in the film Sick
Authors: Božić-Vrbančić Senka , Kokanović Renata , Kupsjak Jelena
Published: April 2018

This article explores ‘the politics of sentimentality’ with specific reference to the documentary film Sick, which represents the narrative of a young lesbian woman, Ana, who was confined in a psychiatric hospital in Croatia and ‘treated’ for her homosexuality. We consider the ways our most intimate emotional relationships and states, such as pain and suffering, articulate with a wider context of familial citizenship and critically examine the political limits of compassion within the sentimentalised public sphere. In this analysis, we problematise the film’s emotional logic, which presents an individualised narrative resolution at the expense of dwelling on the political question of institutional violence. We examine the role that politics of sentimentality plays in neutralising the film’s political critique of the state apparatuses (psychiatry and family) that enforce heterosexual norms.
Adapting intercultural research for performance: Enacting hospitality in interdisciplinary collaboration and public engagement
Authors: Harvey Lou
Published: April 2018

This article theorises the process of adapting my research on intercultural communication for public performance in collaboration with a theatre company. I frame the collaboration as taking place within a hospitable institutional space, and then consider what it means to enact hospitality interpersonally, given Derrida's understanding that the condition of its possibility is at the same time the condition of its impossibility. I suggest that the enactment of hospitality can be understood through the application of an intercultural theoretical framework based on Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of outsideness, and that this framework can be applied to both the collaboration with the theatre company and to the purposes of public engagement with research. I conclude with a consideration of the relationship between hospitality and hope, and a call to move towards a ‘condition of possibility’ for working as academics, for public engagement, and for living.
The theatrical and the accidental academic: An autoethnographic case study
Authors: Franklin Jo
Published: April 2018

This article is an autoethnographic account of my journey from theatre stage manager to academic stage manager. Performing arts education and training in Higher Education is a diverse field, ranging from small private institutions to large research lead universities. Professional practitioners (performers, stage managers, technicians, designers, directors, etc.) are sought by all types of institution to share their expertise in teaching, yet find themselves working in a world that is familiar (the theatre) but at the same time alien (the academy). Those who make a successful transition find a way to reconcile these contrasting worlds. I hope, through this paper, to contribute to discussion of the challenges this transition entails through critical reflection and contextualisation of my personal journey.
A narrative approach to interactive information visualization in the digital humanities classroom
Authors: Stephens Sonia H
Published: April 2018

Humanities researchers have expressed concern about the uncritical adoption of information visualization techniques originating in the sciences by digital humanities classrooms. This paper describes an approach to information visualization that encourages students to foreground humanistic concerns by adopting a narrative focus. This approach to visualization development brings interdisciplinary perspectives and techniques to bear on qualitative or quantitative information and constructs stories from those data. To illustrate student experiences, I describe four student projects completed in a graduate course on narrative information visualization. I focus on how this course enabled students to take diverse types of data and construct engaging interactive stories using a range of tools and methods, while continually reflecting critically on their evolving goals and design choices. I conclude by showing how this approach helps students connect humanistic values to information visualization techniques.
An effective method for the abnormal monitoring of stage performance based on visual sensor network
Authors: Zhang Fuquan , Ding Gangyi , Xu Lin , Chen Bo , Li Zuoyong
Published: April 2018

Abnormal monitoring of stage performance plays a vital role in the stage performance. For the real-time stage performance, detection efficiency and accuracy are particularly important. As the traditional monitoring method based on sparse description model to realize abnormal behavior of stage performance did not realize the manifold structure during the performance, the behavior characteristics are sparse, and the decomposition has higher volatility, the recognition accuracy of abnormal behavior is low. Therefore, an abnormal monitoring method of stage performance based on visual sensor network is proposed, the overall structure of the abnormal monitoring system of stage performance based on the vision sensor network is analyzed, the hardware structure and software composition of the system are designed, and the method of monitoring the abnormal behavior of the system is analyzed emphatically. Through the background subtraction, the weighted threshold-based segmentation of the target image from the background image, the chaotic search particle swarm optimization algorithm based on image target detection and tracking algorithm for target tracking by mean shift, the abnormal behavior of local linear embedding and detection method based on sparse representation, a comprehensive analysis of the local manifold structure of sample is set. Enhance the stage performance of abnormal behavior detection efficiency and accuracy. The experimental results show that the proposed method has higher detection efficiency and accuracy and has higher robustness.
Experimental study of convective heat transfer in a ventilated rectangular cavity
Authors: Macias-Melo EV , Aguilar-Castro KM , Xamán J , Hernández-Pérez I
Published: April 2018

This work presents the design, construction, and evaluation of a rectangular ventilated cavity. The cavity has a heated wall, a fixed air inlet port, and an air outlet port that can change in four different configurations: C-1, the outlet gap is on the upper side of the left wall; C-2, the outlet is on left of the top wall; C-3, the outlet is in the middle of the top wall; and C-4, the outlet is on right of the top wall of the cavity. The experimental tests were carried out with a heating power of 200 and 400 W. The measured indoor air temperatures in nine points, the wall surface temperatures, and heat flows are reported for validation of computer codes. Then, the numerical modeling for the ventilated cavity was done with an in-house code based on the finite volume method to show the relevance of the experimental data. From experimental result for a heating power of 400 W, the configuration C-4 presented the smallest air temperature increment of 3.3°C and the lower average indoor air temperature. In addition, configuration C-4 was more efficient to remove heat than the other configurations, with a maximum percentage of heat removed being 4.75%, 4.32%, and 2.11% more than configurations C-1, C-2, and C-3, respectively. From the validation, the maximum error was 9.9% and 11.5% for the test of 400 and 200 W, respectively. In general, most comparison points had an error smaller than 5%. From both comparisons, it can be concluded that numerical results have an acceptable quantitative approximation.
PD-L1 expression testing in non-small cell lung cancer
Authors: Teixidó Cristina , Vilariño Noelia , Reyes Roxana , Reguart Noemí
Published: April 2018

In recent years, immunotherapy has revolutionized and changed the standard of care in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Immune checkpoint inhibitors, fundamentally those that act by blocking the programmed cell death receptor-1 (PD-1) and its ligand the programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) have emerged as novel treatment strategies in NSCLC, demonstrating undoubted superiority over chemotherapy in terms of efficacy. Several of these immune checkpoint modulators have recently gained regulatory approval for the treatment of advanced NSCLC, such as nivolumab, atezolizumab and pembrolizumab in first-line (only the latter) and second-line settings, and more recently, durvalumab as maintenance after chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced disease. There is consensus that PD-L1 expression on tumor cells predicts responsiveness to PD-1 inhibitors in several tumor types. Hence PD-L1 expression evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) is currently used as a clinical decision-making tool to support the use of checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC patients. However, the value of PD-L1 as the ‘definitive’ biomarker is controversial as its testing is puzzled by multiple unsolved issues such as the use of different staining platforms and antibodies, the type of cells in which PD-L1 is assessed (tumor versus immune cells), thresholds used for PD-L1-positivity, or the source and timing for sample collection. Therefore, newer biomarkers such as tumor mutation burden and neoantigens as well as biomarkers reflecting host environment (microbiome) or tumor inflamed microenvironment (gene expression signatures) are being explored as more reliable and accurate alternatives to IHC for guiding treatment selection with checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC.
Distribution and Abundance of Big-Leaf Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Authors: Navarro-Martínez Angélica , Ellis Edward A. , Hernández-Gómez Irving , Romero-Montero José Arturo , Sánchez-Sánchez Odilón
Published: April 2018

Big-leaf mahogany ( Swietenia macrophylla King) is an economically important timber species in the Neotropics. For over three centuries, it has been selectively extracted from tropical forests, threatening its populations. We investigate the actual and potential distribution of big-leaf mahogany and assess its abundance on the Yucatan Peninsula based on the National Forest and Soils Inventory database. Furthermore, we evaluate environmental factors associated with its distribution, abundance, and tree size. The actual and potential distribution models show the presence of mahogany in a wide geographic area covering the southern and eastern portions of the Yucatan Peninsula. Abundance of mahogany in the landscape varies and in general is low. The spatial potential distribution model was best explained by the environmental variables of vegetation cover (medium- and high-stature semievergreen tropical forest) and elevation (upland areas). Results also indicate that mahogany remains relatively abundant and contain larger size classes in localities where the species has been harvested and managed for decades under community forest management. Furthermore, statistical analyses show greater tree density of mahogany mostly associated with low-stature semievergreen tropical forest having deep soils (gleysols and vertisols), while larger tree size (diameter at breast height) was associated with medium-stature semievergreen tropical forests in upland areas with moderately deep or shallow soils (mostly rendzinas or leptosols). Despite deforestation, land-use change and forestry activities on the Yucatan Peninsula, particularly in the past 20 years, the distribution and abundance of mahogany do not appear to be as drastically reduced as described in other neotropical regions.
Return to Play After Multiligament Knee Injuries in National Football League Athletes
Authors: Bakshi Neil K. , Khan Moin , Lee Simon , Finney Fred T. , Stotts Jeff , Sikka Robby S. , Bedi Asheesh
Published: April 2018

Background:

Return to play (RTP) of National Football League (NFL) athletes after isolated anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears has been reported. However, no studies have reported on RTP of NFL athletes after multiligament knee injuries.

Hypotheses:

NFL athletes with multiligament knee injuries have lower RTP rates and longer recoveries than athletes with isolated ACL tears. Second, athletes with ACL and medial collateral ligament (MCL) injuries will have higher RTP rates and shorter time to RTP than athletes with an ACL tear and posterolateral corner involvement.

Study Design:

Retrospective cohort study.

Level of Evidence:

Level 4.

Methods:

Publicly available NFL injury data were reviewed for all multiligament knee injuries incurred between 2000 and 2016 with RTP information. Athletes were excluded if RTP was limited for reasons unrelated to the injury. Extracted data included type of injury, RTP, time to RTP (days), number and percentage of games played, and performance.

Results:

A total of 50 NFL athletes with multiligament knee injuries met inclusion and exclusion criteria. The overall RTP rate was 64.0%. Athletes with ACL/MCL tears had an RTP rate of 70.8%, whereas athletes with ACL and posterior collateral ligament/lateral collateral ligament (PCL/LCL) tears had an RTP rate of 55.6% ( P = 0.26). Mean time to RTP for all 50 athletes was 388.71 ± 198.52 days. The mean time to RTP for athletes with ACL/MCL injuries was 305.1 ± 58.9 days, compared with 459.2 ± 245.1 days ( P = 0.004) and 609.3 ± 183.1 days ( P < 0.0001) for those with combined ACL and PCL/LCL injuries and frank knee dislocations, respectively. Athletes with ACL/MCL injuries were more likely to return to prior performance level (43.5%) than those with ACL and PCL/LCL injuries (18.5%) ( P < 0.001).

Conclusion:

The RTP rate for athletes with multiligament knee injuries is significantly less than the RTP rate for athletes with isolated ACL tears. In addition, athletes with ACL and MCL tears have a higher RTP rate, a significantly shorter time to RTP, and a greater likelihood of returning to prior performance than athletes with ACL and PCL/LCL tears.

Clinical Relevance:

Multiligament knee injuries significantly affect the ability of a football player to return to sport. ACL and MCL tears are associated with better RTP prognosis compared with ACL and PCL/LCL tears.
Success Leads to Agentic Cognition: Two Field Studies
Authors: Baryła Wiesław , Wojciszke Bogdan
Published: April 2018

Not much is known about the cognitive consequences of success and failure, and there is no comprehensive theory explaining their aftermath. Building on a dual-perspective model of social cognition, we offer such a preliminary theory that assumes that experiencing success induces an agentic perspective, whereas experiencing failure induces a recipient perspective. We present two field studies of persons failing or succeeding at their naturally occurring goals. The studies found that the experience of success was accompanied by heightened accessibility and use of agentic content. The experience of failure resulted in lowered mood and self-esteem.
A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Case Study of Quarter-Life Crisis During the Post-university Transition: Locked-Out and Locked-In Forms in Combination
Authors: Robinson Oliver C.
Published: April 2018

Research on crisis episodes during the first decade of adult life suggests two types of such “quarter-life” crisis exist: locked-in and locked-out. Both relate conceptually to the transition out of emerging adulthood. A female case study was studied over a 4-year period, starting when she left university. Well-being and depression data were gathered 5 times, two interviews were conducted, as well as a structured e-mail exchange. Results showed two episodes of crisis within the study period. The first was the locked-out type, which occurred when the participant experienced multiple failures to find work, leading to self-esteem decline and anxiety. The second crisis was the locked-in type, which occurred when she felt obliged to stay in a job despite a bullying boss. The case study provides a rich exemplification of quarter-life crisis theory and insights for further consideration in multi-participant studies on the challenges of leaving tertiary education.
Analysis of glenohumeral morphological factors for anterior shoulder instability and rotator cuff tear by magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Saygi B , Karahan N , Karakus O , Demir AI , Ozkan OC , Soylu-Boy FN
Published: April 2018

Objective:

The aim of this study was to investigate whether there are glenohumeral morphological differences between normal population, glenohumeral instability, and rotator cuff pathology.

Method:

In this study, shoulder magnetic resonance (MR) images of 150 patients were evaluated. Patients included in the study were studied in three groups of 50 individuals: patients with anterior shoulder instability in group 1, patients with rotator cuff tear in group 2, and control subjects without shoulder pathology in group 3.

Results:

There were statistically significant differences between groups in evaluations for glenoid version, glenoid coronal height, glenoid coronal diameter, humeral axial and coronal diameters, and coracohumeral interval distances. Significant differences were observed between groups 2 and 3 in glenoid axial diameter, glenoid coronal height, glenoid depth, humeral coronal diameter, and coracohumeral distances.

Conclusion:

The results obtained in this study suggest that glenoid version, glenoid coronal height and diameter, humeral diameter, and coracohumeral interval parameters in glenohumeral morphology-related parameters in patients with anterior instability are different from those of normal population and patients with rotator cuff pathology. In cases where there is a clinically difficult diagnosis, these radiological measurements will be helpful to clinicians in diagnosis and treatment planning, especially in cases of treatment-resistant cases.
Comparing and Monitoring Risk-Adjusted Hospital Performance Measures: A Weighted Estimating Equations Approach
Authors: Barfoot Patricia Cooper , MacKay R. Jock , Steiner Stefan H.
Published: April 2018

Background. There is a great deal of interest in evaluating hospital performance in order to monitor and improve health care quality. Increasingly, risk-adjusted performance measures are available to the public and statistical approaches for estimating these measures are considered. Some methods in use currently are based on 3-year aggregates of data since a small number of cases may lead to imprecise estimates and make it hard for stakeholders to detect differences across hospitals over time. However, if quality changes over time, a measure based on these data is a biased estimate of present performance. Methods. We present an alternative approach (weighted estimating equations [WEE]) for combining historical data in estimation that regulates the tradeoff between bias and precision in the measure of present performance. The WEE approach uses all available historical data through estimating functions that down-weight past data. Results. We compare the WEE approach to two current practices using a realistic dataset of the mortality of patients following an elective percutaneous coronary intervention procedure in New York State who meet certain criteria. The width of the uncertainty interval in the realistic example is up to 65% smaller and the difference is more pronounced for hospitals with a small number of cases. Conclusions. The advantage of this approach extends from the example dataset to other datasets. The WEE approach uses all available data rather than data from an arbitrary 3-year window. The effect of borrowing strength from historical data is a more precise estimate of present performance than current practices. Its advantages are important for the comparison of other aspects of medical performance, including surgical or medical practitioner performance.
Parallel structural interpretation of drill cores and microresistivity scanner images from gas-bearing shale (Baltic Basin, Poland)
Authors: Bobek Kinga , Jarosiński Marek
Published: April 2018

Having access to drill cores and microresistivity scanner images from five shale gas exploration boreholes, we were able to compare the results of structural interpretation based on two data sets. The most frequent structures observed in shale complexes are subvertical strata-bound joints that commonly create calcite veins. We have applied a modified approach for statistical analysis of strata-bound fractures taking into account their height. For comparison of cores and scanner image log structural interpretations, we used the fracture number and fracture intensity parameters. We found significant discrepancies between results of cores and image log interpretations. The much greater number of fractures recognized in the image log than in the core is explained by differences in the observation space related to the core and borehole diameters. To predict which fracture that was visible in the scanner image should be represented in the core, we introduced a “critical angle” parameter and used it in the filtering procedure, which gave satisfactory results. In general, the systematically observed superiority of fracture intensity in the scanner image over the core profile is explained by a large number of tiny noncracked veins that are better recorded by a scanner then are visible by the unaided eye. The most striking difference was found in carbonate-rich formations, in which noncracked veins are more numerous. On the contrary, fracture intensity in intervals enriched in total organic carbon (TOC) is always higher in core than in the scanner image, due to a resistivity enhancement related to gas presence. We also compared a record of en echelon arrays of open fractures that allow us to discriminate enhanced natural fractures from borehole-induced tensile fractures. A major difference in the bedding fracture density between the core and image log we attribute to core relaxation during its extraction to the surface. A tectonic inversion phase was also possible to recognize based on the integrated core and scanner interpretation.
Gastric Cancer: Recent Molecular Classification Advances, Racial Disparity, and Management Implications
Authors: Sanjeevaiah Aravind , Cheedella Naga , Hester Caitlin , Porembka Matthew R.
Published: April 2018

Gastric adenocarcinoma remains an aggressive and poorly understood malignancy with a heterogeneous presentation and tumor biology. The current histologic and anatomic classification has been ineffective in guiding therapy, with only marginal improvement in outcome over time. Furthermore, the variation in presentation and disease among racial and ethnic groups amplifies the complexity of this cancer. An understanding of the clinical and molecular variability is important for effective treatment. Recent advances in molecular biology have better defined gastric cancer subtypes. We systematically review recent literature on the molecular classification of gastric adenocarcinoma and the associated management implications, with an emphasis on Hispanic and Native American populations.
On the Politics of Love and Trans-Migrant Theater in Germany
Authors: Landry Olivia
Published: April 2018

With a focus on Germany's first explicitly trans- play, Sasha Marianna Salzmann's 2016 Meteoriten (Meteorites), this article pursues the possibility of thinking about trans- and love as forces that at once ontologically transform and phenomenologically (re)orient us away from an “unchosen starting place” (Susan Stryker) and toward the possibility of joy embodied in Salzmann's figure of “the migrant of love.” Considered in a broader social and political context, this powerful tangle of trans- and love bears out against crisis politics in contemporary Germany and resonates well beyond the theater space. For theoretical grounding, the author turns to recent theories of love, in particular the work of Chela Sandoval, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, and Lauren Berlant, as a means of conceptualizing love as social will for political change.
How the “Non-duped” Pass
Authors: Cunningham Sidney
Published: April 2018

This essay responds to Slavoj Žižek's recent criticism of trans activism by arguing for an understanding of gendered recognition within the symbolic-social realm that goes beyond acknowledgment and acceptance of diverse gender identities without requiring the presumption of any biological or physical essence of gender. This model is defended through a review of social constructionist and psychoanalytic models of perception and gender attribution, and illustrated through examples drawn from ChaosLife and Eve's Apple—two Web comics by and about transgender people.
“What do you want us to call you?”
Authors: Green Jamison , Denny Dallas , Cromwell Jason
Published: April 2018

In 1998 the authors circulated a questionnaire asking transgender respondents their reactions to various and assorted terminology and usage, including information about what the respondents did and did not wish to be called (N = 134). The authors followed up with focus groups at two trans conferences and presented their results at the 2001 symposium of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association. In 2011, to see how language usage had evolved, the authors circulated a similar questionnaire (N = 2,633) and presented those results at the 2011 symposium of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. These results are now presented in print.
Impaired associative learning after chronic exposure to pesticides in young adult honey bees
Authors: Mengoni Goñalons Carolina , Farina Walter M.
Published: April 2018

Neonicotinoids are the most widespread insecticides in agriculture, preferred for their low toxicity to mammals and their systemic nature. Nevertheless, there have been increasing concerns regarding their impact on non-target organisms. Glyphosate is also widely used in crops and, therefore, traces of this pesticide are likely to be found together with neonicotinoids. Although glyphosate is considered a herbicide, adverse effects have been found on animal species, including honey bees. Apis mellifera is one of the most important pollinators in agroecosystems and is exposed to both these pesticides. Traces can be found in nectar and pollen of flowers that honey bees visit, but also in honey stores inside the hive. Young workers, which perform in-hive tasks that are crucial for colony maintenance, are potentially exposed to both these contaminated resources. These workers present high plasticity and are susceptible to stimuli that can modulate their behaviour and impact on colony state. Therefore, by performing standardised assays to study sublethal effects of these pesticides, these bees can be used as bioindicators. We studied the effect of chronic joint exposure to field-realistic concentrations of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid and glyphosate on gustatory perception and olfactory learning. Both pesticides reduced sucrose responsiveness and had a negative effect on olfactory learning. Glyphosate also reduced food uptake during rearing. The results indicate differential susceptibility according to honey bee age. The two agrochemicals had adverse effects on different aspects of honey bee appetitive behaviour, which could have repercussions for food distribution, propagation of olfactory information and task coordination within the nest.