bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A systematic analysis of nucleosome core particle and nucleosome-nucleosome stacking structure
Authors: Korolev Nikolay , Lyubartsev Alexander P. , Nordenskiöld Lars
Published: January 2018

Chromatin condensation is driven by the energetically favourable interaction between nucleosome core particles (NCPs). The close NCP-NCP contact, stacking, is a primary structural element of all condensed states of chromatin in vitro and in vivo. However, the molecular structure of stacked nucleosomes as well as the nature of the interactions involved in its formation have not yet been systematically studied. Here we undertake an investigation of both the structural and physico-chemical features of NCP structure and the NCP-NCP stacking. We introduce an “NCP-centred” set of parameters (NCP-NCP distance, shift, rise, tilt, and others) that allows numerical characterisation of the mutual positions of the NCPs in the stacking and in any other structures formed by the NCP. NCP stacking in more than 140 published NCP crystal structures were analysed. In addition, coarse grained (CG) MD simulations modelling NCP condensation was carried out. The CG model takes into account details of the nucleosome structure and adequately describes the long range electrostatic forces as well as excluded volume effects acting in chromatin. The CG simulations showed good agreement with experimental data and revealed the importance of the H2A and H4 N-terminal tail bridging and screening as well as tail-tail correlations in the stacked nucleosomes.
Optimization reconstruction method of object profile using flexible laser plane and bi-planar references
Authors: Xu Guan , Yuan Jing , Li Xiaotao , Su Jian
Published: January 2018

An optimization method to reconstruct the object profile is performed by using a flexible laser plane and bi-planar references. The bi-planar references are considered as flexible benchmarks to realize the transforms among two world coordinate systems on the bi-planar references, the camera coordinate system and the image coordinate system. The laser plane is confirmed by the intersection points between the bi-planar references and laser plane. The 3D camera coordinates of the intersection points between the laser plane and a measured object are initially reconstructed by the image coordinates of the intersection points, the intrinsic parameter matrix and the laser plane. Meanwhile, an optimization function is designed by the parameterized differences of the reconstruction distances with the help of a target with eight markers, and the parameterized reprojection errors of feature points on the bi-planar references. The reconstruction method with the bi-planar references is evaluated by the difference comparisons between true distances and standard distances. The mean of the reconstruction errors of the initial method is 1.01 mm. Moreover, the mean of the reconstruction errors of the optimization method is 0.93 mm. Therefore, the optimization method with the bi-planar references has great application prospects in the profile reconstruction.
Proteomic Analysis of Nucleus Pulposus Cell-derived Extracellular Matrix Niche and Its Effect on Phenotypic Alteration of Dermal Fibroblasts
Authors: Yuan Minting , Pai Pei-Jing , Liu Xiaofen , Lam Henry , Chan Barbara P.
Published: January 2018

Reconstituting biomimetic matrix niche in vitro and culturing cells at the cell niche interface is necessary to understand the effect and function of the specific matrix niche. Here we attempted to reconstitute a biomimetic extracellular matrix (ECM) niche by culturing nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) in a collagen microsphere system previously established and allowing them to remodel the template matrix. The reconstituted NPC-derived complex ECM was obtained after decellularization and the composition of such niche was evaluated by proteomic analysis. Results showed that a complex acellular matrix niche consisting of ECM proteins and cytoskeletal proteins by comparing with the template collagen matrix starting material. In order to study the significance of the NPC-derived matrix niche, dermal fibroblasts were repopulated in such niche and the phenotypes of these cells were changed, gene expression of collagen type II and CA12 increased significantly. A biomimetic NPC-derived cell niche consisting of complex ECM can be reconstituted in vitro, and repopulating such matrix niche with fibroblasts resulted in changes in phenotypic markers. This work reports a 3D in vitro model to study cell niche factors, contributing to future understanding of cellular interactions at the cell-niche interface and rationalized scaffold design for tissue engineering.
Variants of the 5′-terminal region of p53 mRNA influence the ribosomal scanning and translation efficiency
Authors: Zydowicz-Machtel Paulina , Swiatkowska Agata , Popenda Łukasz , Gorska Agnieszka , Ciesiołka Jerzy
Published: January 2018

The p53 protein is one of the major cell cycle regulators. The protein is expressed as at least twelve protein isoforms resulting from the use of alternative promoters, alternative splicing or downstream initiation codons. Importantly, there is growing evidence that translation initiation of p53 mRNA may be regulated by the structure and length of the naturally occurring variants of the 5′-terminal region of p53 mRNA transcripts. Here, several mRNA constructs were synthesized with variable length of the p53 5′-terminal regions and encoding luciferase reporter protein, and their translation was monitored continuously in situ in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate system. Moreover, four additional mRNA constructs were prepared. In two constructs, the structural context of AUG1 initiation codon was altered while in the other two constructs, characteristic hairpin motifs present in the p53 5′-terminal region were changed. Translation of the last two constructs was also performed in the presence of the cap analogue to test the function of the 5′-terminal region in cap-independent translation initiation. Superposition of several structural factors connected with the length of the 5′-terminal region, stable elements of the secondary structure, structural environment of the initiation codon and IRES elements greatly influenced the ribosomal scanning and translation efficiency.
Transport of Photonic Bloch Wave in Arrayed Two-Level Atoms
Authors: Chang Chih-Chun , Lin Lee , Chen Guang-Yin
Published: January 2018

In a quantum system of arrayed two-level atoms interacting with light, the interacted (dressed) photon is propagating in a periodic medium and its eigenstate ought to be of Bloch type with lattice symmetry. As the energy of photon is around the spacing between the two atomic energy levels, the photon will be absorbed and is not in the propagating mode but the attenuated mode. Therefore an energy gap exists in the dispersion relation of the photonic Bloch wave of dressed photon in addition to the nonlinear behaviors due to atom-light interactions. There follows several interesting results which are distinct from those obtained through a linear dispersion relation of free photon. For example, slow light can exist, the density of state of dressed photon is non-Lorentzian and is very large around the energy gap; the Rabi oscillations become monotonically decreasing in some cases; and besides the superradiance occurs at long wavelengths, the spontaneous emission is also very strong near the energy gap because of the high density of state.
Aquatic photochemistry of sulfamethazine: multivariate effects of main water constituents and mechanisms
Authors: Li Yingjie , Liu Xiangliang , Zhang Biaojun , Zhao Qun , Ning Ping , Tian Senlin
Published: January 2018

Multivariate effects of dissolved components on the photodegradation of sulfonamides were revealed by response surface methodology.
Efficient construction of bioactive trans-5A5B6C spirolactones via bicyclo[4.3.0] α-hydroxy ketones
Authors: Zhu Y. J. , Huo J. Q. , Fan Z. J. , Wu Q. F. , Li X. , Zhou S. , Xiong L. X. , Kalinina T. , Glukhareva T.
Published: January 2018

The intricate 5A5B6C-ring fusion topologies of tricyclic spiranoid β-hydroxybutyrolactones with environmentally benign characteristics and moderate biological activities were synthesized through lactonization of the key intermediate trans-α-hydroxyindenones with malonates by an efficient and convenient short synthetic procedure.
Optimization of Li4SiO4 synthesis conditions by a solid state method for maximum CO2 capture at high temperature
Authors: Izquierdo M. T. , Turan A. , García S. , Maroto-Valer M. M.
Published: January 2018

Optimum Li4SiO4 synthesis conditions have been obtained by a SS method to enhance CO2 uptake: the lower the crystal size the higher the uptake.
Ultrasmall Fe3O4 nanodots within N-doped carbon frameworks from MOFs uniformly anchored on carbon nanowebs for boosting Li-ion storage
Authors: Wang Yan , Gao Youjun , Shao Jie , Holze Rudolf , Chen Zheng , Yun Yuanxing , Qu Qunting , Zheng Honghe
Published: January 2018

A novel MOF-engaged method is developed to construct ultrasmall Fe3O4 nanodots within N-doped carbon frameworks uniformly anchored on 3D carbon nanowebs for boosting Li-ion storage.
Spatially resolved star formation and dust attenuation in Mrk 848: Comparison of the integral field spectra and the UV-to-IR SED
Authors: Yuan Fang-Ting , Argudo-Fernández María , Shen Shiyin , Hao Lei , Jiang Chunyan , Yin Jun , Boquien Médéric , Lin Lihwai
Published: January 2018

We investigate the star formation history and the dust attenuation in the galaxy merger Mrk 848. Thanks to the multiwavelength photometry from the ultraviolet (UV) to the infrared (IR), and MaNGA’s integral field spectroscopy, we are able to study this merger in a detailed way. We divide the whole merger into the core and tail regions, and fit both the optical spectrum and the multi-band spectral energy distribution (SED) to models to obtain the star formation properties for each region respectively. We find that the color excess of stars in the galaxy E(B-V)sSED measured with the multi-band SED fitting is consistent with that estimated both from the infrared excess (the ratio of IR to UV flux) and from the slope of the UV continuum. Furthermore, the reliability of the E(B-V)sSED is examined with a set of mock SEDs, showing that the dust attenuation of the stars can be well constrained by the UV-to-IR broadband SED fitting. The dust attenuation obtained from optical continuum E(B-V)sspec is only about half of E(B-V)sSED. The ratio of the E(B-V)sspec to the E(B-V)g obtained from the Balmer decrement is consistent with the local value (around 0.5). The difference between the results from the UV-to-IR data and the optical data is consistent with the picture that younger stellar populations are attenuated by an extra dust component from the birth clouds compared to older stellar populations which are only attenuated by the diffuse dust. Both with the UV-to-IR SED fitting and the spectral fitting, we find that there is a starburst younger than 100 Myr in one of the two core regions, consistent with the scenario that the interaction-induced gas inflow can enhance the star formation in the center of galaxies.
Intravenous Immunoglobulin for Congenital Parvovirus Myocarditis
Authors: Kurland Yonatan , Kylat Ranjit I. , Johnson Drew C. , Barber Brent J. , Bedrick Alan D. , Bader Mohammad Y.
Published: January 2018

Congenital parvovirus infection has a diverse presentation ranging from asymptomatic infants to intrauterine demise secondary to red cell aplasia or myocarditis. Treatment is aimed at correcting anemia with intrauterine and postnatal transfusions. We report a case of fetal hydrops with severe atrioventricular regurgitation and myocardial dysfunction secondary to parvovirus infection in a preterm infant. Myocarditis and myocardial dysfunction responded to immunoglobulin administration.
Microsurgical Resection of Lateral Tuberculum Sellae Meningioma: Operative Video
Authors: Cândido Duarte , Nakashima Paulo , de Oliveira Jean , Borba Luis
Published: January 2018

Tuberculum Sellae Meningiomas (TSMs) are lesions dramatically related to the optic apparatus once the principal clinical complain remains on visual alterations. This is the main picture on decision making to evaluate the best time, risk-benefit, and surgical approaches to the patient treatment. In this video, we present a 65 years old female with 30 days complaint of unilateral (right) complete blindness and complete impaired right eye field test. On physical examination, there were normal pupillary function to light tests. The scans demonstrated the presence of a TSM mostly related to the right optic nerve and encasing it altogether with the right internal carotid artery. Promptly, surgery was addressed using a modified one piece cranio-orbital-zygomatic approach with extra-dural anterior clinoidectomy, as this is the procedure of choice of the senior author (LB), with easy access to decompression of the optic canal and nerve. As demonstrated on the video, the optic nerve was encased by the tumor and pushed upwards against the falciform ligament. Complete resection and decompression was established with step by step dissection, starting unroofing the optic canal, opening the ligament and finally with carefully tumor debulking. Pathology demonstrated a grade one meningioma. The patient improved remarkably her visual acuity and visual field tests on the postoperative period, emphasizing the importance of early treatment for nerve function outcome.

The link to the video can be found at: https://youtu.be/pALZqDUkltQ.
Extended Endoscopic Endonasal Approach for Suprasellar Craniopharyngioma
Authors: Locatelli D. , Pozzi F. , Agresta G. , Padovan S. , Karligkiotis A. , Castelnuovo P.
Published: January 2018

Objectives We illustrate a suprasellar craniopharyngiomas treated with an extended endoscopic endonasal approach (EEEA).

Design Case report of a 43-year-old male affected by cerebral lesion located in suprasellar region involving the third ventricle and compressing the neurovascular structures, causing an anterosuperior dislocation of the chiasma. There is a complete disruption of the pituitary stalk that can explain the clinical finding of partial anterior hypopituitarism and hyperprolactinemia. The lesion is characterized by a solid and cystic component. Considering the absence of lateral extension and the suprasellar location of the lesion, an EEEA is preferred.

Setting University Hospital “Ospedale di Circolo,” Department of Neurosurgery, Varese, Italy.

Participants Neurosurgical and ENT Skull Base Team.

Main Outcome Measures A bilateral parasagittal approach is performed using a four-hand technique. The first step of the surgery is the preparation of the Hadad's flap. The approach is extended to the planum sphenoidalis to expose the suprasellar region. The lesion is completely removed employing also an ultrasound aspirator. Skull base reconstruction is performed with three-layer technique: graft of fat tissue, fascia lata, and nasoseptal flap.

Results No postoperative complications occurred. In the post-op, the patient presents a panhypopituitarism and an improvement in neurological status. The visual deficit remains stable. Post-op magnetic resonance imaging at 1 year documents the complete absence of pathological contrast enhancement.

Conclusions EEEA is a feasible approach in treating craniopharyngioma with suprasellar extension. The advantages include optimal visualization, good resection rate, and absence of brain retraction.

The link to the video can be found at: https://youtu.be/IYm-8P1jbBo.
Mesenteric Vessel Patency Following HIFU Therapy in Patients with Locally Invasive Pancreatic Cancer
Authors: Strunk Holger , Lützow Caroline , Henseler Jana , Mücke Martin , Rauch Maximilian , Marx Christian , Schild Hans , Marinova Milka
Published: January 2018

Purpose To evaluate the effects of HIFU therapy on visceral vessel patency in patients with inoperable locally invasive pancreatic cancer.

Materials and Methods 50 pancreatic cancer patients (26 men, 24 women) aged 41 – 82 years (65.0 ± 10.2) underwent ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography (CT) examinations before and within one day after HIFU treatment, as well as at follow-up at six weeks, three months and six months. Evaluation and grading were performed by two experienced independent radiologists according to a classification scheme based on vessel involvement, vessel diameter, patency, and defects in flow.

Results Before HIFU treatment, arterial vessel involvement was noted in 42 patients, venous involvement in 47, and 47 patients presented with both. Superior mesenteric artery occlusion was found in three carcinomas while nearly half of the cases (n = 24) displayed signs of superior mesenteric vein, portal vein, or splenic vein occlusion. High-grade tumor-associated arterial narrowing was seen in ten patients. Despite vessel encasement and partially extensive propagation of collateral vessels, it was possible to safely perform HIFU treatment in all patients without complications. US and CT studies performed within one day after therapy did not show any change in vessel patency in 47 patients (94 %). Follow-up controls at the six-week mark revealed increased vessel narrowing and finally occlusion after six months in 11 patients due to tumor progression.

Conclusion This study demonstrates that HIFU treatment can be safely applied to pancreatic cancers enveloping large mesenteric vessels despite vessel narrowing or extensive collateral propagation. Most patients (94 %) did not experience adverse effects regarding vessel patency.
Anti-Angiogenic Activity of Rotenoids from the Stems of Derris trifoliata
Authors: Mittraphab Yanisa , Ngamrojanavanich Nattaya , Shimizu Kuniyoshi , Matsubara Kiminori , Pudhom Khanitha
Published: January 2018

The plants in the genus Derris have proven to be a rich source of rotenoids, of which cytotoxic effect against cancer cells seem to be pronounced. However, their effect on angiogenesis playing a crucial role in both cancer growth and metastasis has been seldom investigated. This study aimed at investigating the effect of the eight rotenoids (1–8) isolated from Derris trifoliata stems on three cancer cells and angiogenesis. Among them, 12a-hydroxyrotenone (2) exhibited potent inhibition on both cell growth and migration of HCT116 colon cancer cells. Further, anti-angiogenic assay in an ex vivo model was carried out to determine the effect of the isolated rotenoids on angiogenesis. Results revealed that 12a-hydroxyrotenone (2) displayed the most potent suppression of microvessel sprouting. The in vitro assay on human umbilical vein endothelial cells was performed to determine whether compound 2 elicits anti-angiogenic effect and its effect was found to occur via suppression of endothelial cells proliferation and tube formation, but not endothelial cells migration. This study provides the first evidence that compound 2 could potently inhibit HCT116 cancer migration and anti-angiogenic activity, demonstrating that 2 might be a potential agent or a lead compound for cancer therapy.
Preparation of c-axis perpendicularly oriented ultra-thin L1-FePt films on MgO and VN underlayers
Authors: Futamoto Masaaki , Shimizu Tomoki , Ohtake Mitsuru
Published: January 2018

Ultra-thin L10-FePt films of 2 nm average thickness are prepared on (001) oriented MgO and VN underlayers epitaxially grown on base substrate of SrTiO3(001) single crystal. Detailed cross-sectional structures are observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Continuous L10-FePt(001) thin films with very flat surface are prepared on VN(001) underlayer whereas the films prepared on MgO(001) underlayer consist of isolated L10-FePt(001) crystal islands. Presence of misfit dislocation and lattice bending in L10-FePt material is reducing the effective lattice mismatch with respect to the underlayer to be less than 0.5 %. Formation of very flat and continuous FePt layer on VN underlayer is due to the large surface energy of VN material where de-wetting of FePt material at high temperature annealing process is suppressed under a force balance between the surface and interface energies of FePt and VN materials. An employment of underlayer or substrate material with the lattice constant and the surface energy larger than those of L10-FePt is important for the preparation of very thin FePt epitaxial thin continuous film with the c-axis controlled to be perpendicular to the substrate surface.
Nonlinear theory for axisymmetric self-similar two-dimensional oscillations of electrons in cold plasma with constant proton background
Authors: Osherovich V. A. , Fainberg J.
Published: January 2018

We consider simultaneous oscillations of electrons moving both along the axis of symmetry and also in the direction perpendicular to the axis. We derive a system of three nonlinear ordinary differential equations which describe self-similar oscillations of cold electrons in a constant proton density background (np = n0 = constant). These three equations represent an exact class of solutions. For weak nonlinear conditions, the frequency spectra of electric field oscillations exhibit split frequency behavior at the Langmuir frequency ωp0 and its harmonics, as well as presence of difference frequencies at low spectral values. For strong nonlinear conditions, the spectra contain peaks at frequencies with values ωp0(n+m2), where n and m are integer numbers (positive and negative). We predict that both spectral types (weak and strong) should be observed in plasmas where axial symmetry may exist. To illustrate possible applications of our theory, we present a spectrum of electric field oscillations observed in situ in the solar wind by the WAVES experiment on the Wind spacecraft during the passage of a type III solar radio burst.
Technique selection in young female gymnasts: Elbow and wrist joint loading during the cartwheel and round‐off
Authors: Farana Roman , Exell Timothy , Strutzenberger Gerda , Irwin Gareth
Published: January 2018

Biophysical loading of the elbow and wrist is a potential reason for chronic lesions in gymnastics and present a real concern for coaches, scientist and clinicians. Previous research has identified injury risk factors during round‐off (RO) skills in elite female gymnasts. The aim of this study was to investigate key elbow and wrist joint injury risk factors during different techniques of fundamental cartwheel (CW) and RO skills performed by young female artistic gymnasts. Seventeen active young female gymnasts performed 30 successful trials of both CW and RO from a hurdle step with three different hand positions (parallel (10), T‐shape (10) and reverse (10)). Synchronised kinematic (240 Hz) and kinetic (1200 Hz) data were collected for each trial. One‐way repeated measures ANOVA and effect size (ES) were used for statistical analysis. The results showed statistically significant differences (P < .05) and large ES (>0.8) among hand positions for peak vertical ground reaction force (VGRF), peak elbow compression force, peak wrist compression force, elbow internal adduction moment and wrist dorsiflexion angle. In conclusion, the parallel and reverse techniques increase peak VGRF, elbow and wrist compression forces, and elbow internal adduction moment. These differences indicate that the parallel and reverse techniques may increase the potential of elbow and wrist injuries in young gymnasts compared with the T‐shape technique; this is of particular importance with the high frequency of the performance of these fundamental skills.
ADEPTUS: a discovery tool for disease prediction, enrichment and network analysis based on profiles from many diseases
Authors: Amar David , Vizel Amir , Levy Carmit , Shamir Ron
Published: January 2018

Motivation

Large-scale publicly available genomic data on many disease phenotypes could improve our understanding of the molecular basis of disease. Tools that undertake this challenge by jointly analyzing multiple phenotypes are needed.

Results

ADEPTUS is a web-tool that enables various functional genomics analyses based on a high-quality curated database spanning >38, 000 gene expression profiles and >100 diseases. It offers four types of analysis. (i) For a gene list provided by the user it computes disease ontology (DO), pathway, and gene ontology (GO) enrichment and displays the genes as a network. (ii) For a given disease, it enables exploration of drug repurposing by creating a gene network summarizing the genomic events in it. (iii) For a gene of interest, it generates a report summarizing its behavior across several studies. (iv) It can predict the tissue of origin and the disease of a sample based on its gene expression or its somatic mutation profile. Such analyses open novel ways to understand new datasets and to predict primary site of cancer.

Availability and implementation

Data and tool: http://adeptus.cs.tau.ac.il/home Analyses: Supplementary Material.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Estimating Time to the Common Ancestor for a Beneficial Allele
Authors: Smith Joel , Coop Graham , Stephens Matthew , Novembre John
Published: January 2018

The haplotypes of a beneficial allele carry information about its history that can shed light on its age and the putative cause for its increase in frequency. Specifically, the signature of an allele’s age is contained in the pattern of variation that mutation and recombination impose on its haplotypic background. We provide a method to exploit this pattern and infer the time to the common ancestor of a positively selected allele following a rapid increase in frequency. We do so using a hidden Markov model which leverages the length distribution of the shared ancestral haplotype, the accumulation of derived mutations on the ancestral background, and the surrounding background haplotype diversity. Using simulations, we demonstrate how the inclusion of information from both mutation and recombination events increases accuracy relative to approaches that only consider a single type of event. We also show the behavior of the estimator in cases where data do not conform to model assumptions, and provide some diagnostics for assessing and improving inference. Using the method, we analyze population-specific patterns in the 1000 Genomes Project data to estimate the timing of adaptation for several variants which show evidence of recent selection and functional relevance to diet, skin pigmentation, and morphology in humans.
To the Heart of Europe
Authors: Blaustein George
Published: January 2018

F. O. Matthiessen and Alfred Kazin were the advance guard of a generation of American scholars bringing American literature to Europe after the war, but their European encounters shaped “American literature” as a canon. Matthiessen was a gay Christian socialist who taught in Czechoslovakia just before the 1948 communist coup; he committed suicide, in 1950, having come under suspicion for “un-American” activities. Originally a scholar of Elizabethan translation, Matthiessen’s encounters in Europe changed his sense of what does and doesn’t get lost in carrying over a novel, an ideology, or the entire “American renaissance.” Kazin was a Jewish-American writer whose encounters in the wake of the Holocaust yielded opposing conclusions. Their dialogue, alongside European commentaries, illuminates the power of literature in postwar reconstruction. What did it mean for a Czech Americanist to read Keats in Buchenwald? And what did it mean for Europeans to read Moby-Dick in the postwar ruins?
Introduction
Authors: Haig Brian D.
Published: January 2018

Chapter 1 discusses the importance and relevance of the philosophy of science for an in-depth understanding of quantitative research methods. It outlines a philosophy of scientific realism in terms of its methodology and introduces major theories of scientific method. This introductory chapter provides key ideas that should help make sense of the treatment of the five methods dealt with in the book. Three major theories of scientific method are sketched because they figure in some of the ensuing chapters. An overview of the book is provided in terms of chapter summaries. A note for the reader is provided that indicates why a limited number of methods were selected for consideration.
Exploratory Data Analysis
Authors: Haig Brian D.
Published: January 2018

Chapter 2 is concerned with modern data analysis. It focuses primarily on the nature, role, and importance of exploratory data analysis, although it gives some attention to computer-intensive resampling methods. Exploratory data analysis is a process in which data are examined to reveal potential patterns of interest. However, the use of traditional confirmatory methods in data analysis remains the dominant practice. Different perspectives on data analysis, as they are shaped by four different accounts of scientific method, are provided. A brief discussion of John Tukey’s philosophy of teaching data analysis is presented. The chapter does not consider the more recent exploratory data analytic developments, such as the practice of statistical modeling, the employment of data-mining techniques, and more flexible resampling methods.
A Way of Music Education
Authors: Fung Victor
Published: January 2018

A Way of Music Education: Classic Chinese Wisdoms presents a philosophy of music education rooted in Yijing (I-Ching or The Book of Changes), classic Confucianism, and classic Daoism, which matured in the mid-sixth to mid-third century BC China (pre-Qin period). This philosophy puts the human at the center of an organismic world, in which all matters and events are connected, be they musical or non-musical. It is human-centric and dao-centric. Music educational experiences are key attributes to musical well-being throughout one’s lifetime. Concepts of yin and yang, deep harmony, and the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, and Zhuangzi are applied to propose a “trilogy”—change, balance, and liberation—as a way of thinking and practicing music education. Music education is viewed as a lifelong endeavor; the philosophy therefore calls for a dynamic flexibility to maintain a balanced life in constantly changing situations. While principles suggested in this philosophy are simple, it is critical to practice them persistently to achieve continuous improvements. Through extended practice in being musically proactive, a musical liberation can be achieved and a humanly human spirit can be preserved and sustained.
Foundations of Classic Daoism
Authors: Fung C. Victor
Published: January 2018

Classic Daoism, led by Laozi (b. ca. 570 BC) and Zhaungzi (369–286 BC), postulates a dao-centric school of philosophy. The author discusses four key principles of dao (the “way” 道‎): wuwei (無為‎take non-egoistic action); (2) guan (觀‎ observation from the perspective of the being observed); (3) qiwu (齊物‎ equality); and (4) rou (柔‎ soft and flexible). To apply these principles in music education, learners would learn in their most natural ways; music, musicians, and learners would be understood from their own vantage points; all perspectives would be treated equally; and educators would be so flexible that they need not worry about what is forthcoming.
Liberation
Authors: Fung C. Victor
Published: January 2018

Liberation is an ultimatum after handling a series of constant changes and maintaining a continuous balance within and outside the world of music and music education. The four complementary bipolar continua, the three musical zones, and a musical experience typology are used as frameworks for discussion. Musical liberation is achievable after extended practice in balancing acts and spending a substantial amount of time in the zone of musical proactivity. As individuals begin to feel a sense of liberation, they are able to unleash their creativity; to deal with multiple musical roles, genres, cultures, values, and meanings; and to be so flexible that barriers for musical possibilities are dissolved. They can stretch to include any musical possibilities in their experiences. Music and music education becomes an open world, free of worries and conflicts, but filled with curiosity, respect, understanding, and satisfaction.
Toward Practical Implications
Authors: Fung C. Victor
Published: January 2018

To make the philosophy of music education presented in this book work, one must practice its principles persistently and to integrate them in the broader life. The philosophy is meant to work throughout anyone’s lifetime as situations and priorities change. The principles are simple and easy to understand, but the trick remains in persistent practice and working toward perfection. Maintaining the human spirit and reflecting on dao in the midst of constant changes are central to the practice of this philosophy. Continuous balancing acts should become habitual motions with dynamic flexibility. Living a life in the zone of musical proactivity is recommended if one wishes to have a prosperous, complete, satisfying, and liberating life.
Frenemies
Authors: Whittier Nancy
Published: January 2018

What happens when activists who usually oppose each other work to advance similar goals? This book re-conceptualizes models of social movements’ relationships with each other and develops a new framework for understanding relationships that are neither coalitions nor countermovements. Rich, empirically grounded case studies of opposition to pornography, child sexual abuse policy, and the Violence Against Women Act show how feminists and conservatives engaged with the issues and with each other, the differences between their approaches, and both their points of overlap and their power struggles. Each case illustrates a different type of relationship: an adversarial yet collaborative interaction around pornography; a narrow, issue-specific, and politically neutral opposition to child sexual abuse; and an ambivalent alliance confined to the policy arena for the Violence Against Women Act. Focusing on activism targeting the federal government from 1980 to 2013, the book draws on a unique, in-depth dataset, including transcripts of Congressional hearings and movement documents, to analyze interpretive processes within the state. Activists constructed frames that enabled cross-ideological support, dealt with the reputational risk of appearing to consort with the enemy, and sometimes compromised or de-emphasized controversial goals in favor of areas of commonality. In the end, feminists and conservatives influenced policy and culture to different degrees in the three case studies, depending on their relative power. Frenemies draws powerful lessons about both the benefits and risks of collaboration across ideological difference.
Qualitative Diary Research Design
Authors: Hyers Lauri L.
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses basic design considerations for qualitative diary studies that involve either archival or solicited diaries. After a brief overview of the unique types of data diaries can provide, a separate discussion is provided for archival and solicited diary studies. Archival diary researchers will need to locate diaries that have already been written for personal reasons or for past research studies. They will not have any say in the format of these pre-existing diaries. Solicited diary researchers, in contrast, must plan for participant selection and recruitment and the structure and timing of the diary entries. The chapter concludes with a discussion of potential supporting documents for both archival and solicited diary studies.
Analyzing and Writing a Report on Qualitative Diary Research
Authors: Hyers Lauri L.
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses how to analyze and write up a qualitative diary research report. In qualitative diary studies, the summative narrative developed by the researcher is as integral to the report as is the more elaborated narrative provided by each diarist. Distilling individual diaries into a cohesive and concise report and many other challenges face researchers writing reports using complex diary data. After considering some of the practical aspects of writing up diary research studies, such as targeting and tailoring reports to non-academic, applied, or scholarly outlets, the majority of the chapter will turn to analyzing and coding of diary data and report-writing specifically for scholarly outlets. Data analysis and report writing are treated together because these are typically concurrent tasks in qualitative research studies.
Imagining Religion and Culture at Webb
Authors: Howe Justine
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines how the Webb community imagines itself as an alternative to practices of ethnic particularism in Chicago’s mosques. In particular, the community offers a third space for participants to challenge extant visions of American Islam as practiced in mosques. Webb members reimagine the United States as an ideal site of religious practice, carrying the hope of its participants that American Islam could someday be “seamless.” The United States, they believe, holds the promise of an Islam free of racial and ethnic divisions, if only they can disencumber American Islam of its immigrant ethos and show other Muslims the value of embracing cultural norms of American society. Focusing on the accounts of seven Webb participants, this chapter demonstrates how American Muslim identity is an ongoing, dynamic process of talk and practice, which are enmeshed in complex racial, gendered, and classed dynamics.
“Islam Is More than Halal and Haram”
Authors: Howe Justine
Published: January 2018

This chapter focuses on Webb debates about Islamic law and ethics. In 2011, in the midst of a flurry of proposed anti-sharia legislation across the United States, the Webb community held an adult class focused on fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). The conversations I track here occurred during the fiqh class and the conversations I had with Webb members about how to live according to God’s will as American Muslims. Students rarely talked about or engaged fiqh as a body of Islamic jurisprudence. Instead, the Webb interest in fiqh derived its urgency from its members’ goals to raise their children to have “seamless” American Muslim identities and to improve the public image of Islam. Webb parents especially want their kids to understand that Islamic ethics is not a rigid, narrow set of guidelines, but rather everyday processes of normative reflection and action, negotiated within families and among individuals, religious scholars, and God.
“Reading for Kernels of Truth”
Authors: Howe Justine
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines Webb’s book group, which provides a crucial window into the possibilities and limitations of religious third spaces. Claiming interpretative authority, book club members, all women, experimented with a variety of views depending on the author and text in question, reveling in the different possibilities for identity and subjectivity that their readings evoked. In the process, they constructed alternative visions for a more egalitarian Islam. Gender provided the entry point through which they critiqued other Muslim communities for a variety of shortcomings, especially the failure to embody what the women understood to be core Muslim ideals, such as equality and tolerance. At the same time, the contested status of feminism in the broader Webb community illustrates the constraints of third spaces, as members seek to construct boundaries around normative Islam.
How Images Work
Authors: Morgan David
Published: January 2018

Rather than define images as coded forms of visual information, this chapter seeks to describe their capacity for action on human viewers, seeing them as agents, and exploring how best to study their animation. Reviewing recent directions in the study of images, the chapter frames the power of images to enchant within the history of images acting on viewers as visual devices or technologies. The work of Gell and Latour is most helpful. In this chapter, we come to see images as the product of culture and nature. They metamorphose from one to the other, and because they do, they exert power over us.
William Schabas
Authors: Clark Roger S.
Published: January 2018

The introduction by Roger Clark presents the early life of William Schabas, and some of the influences that must have shaped his career. It offers in Section II of this portrait some ruminations about his thoughts and interests based on a reading of his 2012 book Unimaginable Atrocities: Justice, Politics and Rights at the War Crimes Tribunals. This work is a set of reflections about many of his academic journeys, a kind of memoir but without the normal chronological trappings and personal puffery of the genre. It is perhaps the most opinionated of his oeuvre. It paints with a broader brush than much of his work. It is also this book that has the least trappings of scholarship, that is to say it lacks the copious footnotes that are his normal hallmark.
Human Rights and International Criminal Justice in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Bassiouni M. Cherif
Published: January 2018

This chapter follows the emergence of human rights from their origins as commonly shared human and social values to their transformation into legal norms and into their inclusion in prescriptive and proscriptive international treaties. It examines the integration of human rights in regional systems as well as national constitutions and domestic legislation. After tracking their emergence and development, this chapter questions the continuing role of human rights in an increasingly globalised world, where the power and wealth interests of states often prevail over the enforcement of human rights. As realpolitik continues to threaten the development of international criminal justice initiatives that emerged in the post-WWII and post-Cold War eras, this chapter analyses the reality facing human rights and international criminal justice in a world of non-state actors, multinational corporations, and the increasing power of those who benefit from impunity and the infringement of human rights.
The UN Optional Protocol on the Abolition of the Death Penalty
Authors: Bossuyt Marc
Published: January 2018

The drafting history of the Second Optional Protocol (1989) to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, is explained by the Special Rapporteur of the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights entrusted with an analysis of the proposal to elaborate such a protocol. Special attention is given to the adoption of the text successively by the Sub-Commission and the Commission on Human Rights, the Economic and Social Council, the Third Committee, and the General Assembly. Explanations are given on the possible reservation allowing an exception for ‘a most serious crime of a military nature committed during wartime’. The Second Optional Protocol is also compared with regional instruments on the abolition of the death penalty, such as the 6th (1983) and 13th (2002) Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and the American Protocol aiming at the same abolition (1990).
Criminal Law Philosophy in William Schabas’s Scholarship
Authors: deGuzman Margaret M.
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines the deontological and consequentialist strains in William Schabas’s scholarship in an effort to illuminate the role that criminal law philosophy plays in much of the international criminal law scholarship. The first section analyses Schabas’s writings on the question of what crimes should be considered international. Schabas’s answer to this question rests heavily on his concern that crimes committed pursuant to a state plan or policy will likely go unpunished if they are not prosecuted at international courts—a consequentialist approach. The second section of the chapter addresses Schabas’s views on which cases international courts should prosecute from among the many cases within their jurisdictions. Schabas approaches this question from a decidedly deontological perspective. This mix of consequentialist and deontological thinking is typical of international criminal law scholarship.
Revisiting the Sources of Applicable Law before the ICC
Authors: Pellet Alain
Published: January 2018

Article 21 of the Rome Statute sets out a complex system of sources of applicable law. In addition to the Statute itself, which contains a relatively detailed list of crimes, Articles 21 includes the Elements of Crimes, a very detailed document which unnecessarily limits the scope of the crimes listed in the Statute and reveals mistrust with regard to the Court, the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, and the case law of the Court, despite the absence of stare decisis. In order to avoid risks of non liquet, Article 21 also refers to other norms and rules of international law. Article 21 establishes a hierarchy between the sources of law it refers to. It combines a formal hierarchy, on top of which lays the Statute, with a substantial hierarchy dominated by ‘internationally recognized human rights’ (Article 21(3)).
International Criminal Tribunals and Cooperation with States
Authors: Nice Geoffrey , Tromp Nevenka
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines the cooperation between Serbia and the International Criminal tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) though reconstruction of how the OTP obtained records of the Supreme Defence Council (SDC), a collective Commander-in-Chief of the Yugoslav Army (VJ: Vojska Jugoslavije) from 1992 to 2003. Recent experience in the former Yugoslavia, in particular with Serbia, shows that the leading political elites will rarely be open and will do everything possible to control and limit post-conflict narratives. This proposition will be illustrated by analysing the way the de facto and de jure powers of Slobodan Milošević as president of Serbia (1990-1998) and of the FRY (1998-2000) would have been revealed through the SDC collection of documents generated by the highest state bodies in charge of commanding the armed forces during the Croatian, BiH, and Kosovo indictment periods that were incompletely and grudgingly produced by Serbia to the ICTY for its use.
The Arc toward Justice and Peace
Authors: O’Connell Mary Ellen
Published: January 2018

William Schabas courageously declared that peace is a human right at a time when prominent human rights advocates have called for the use of military force in the support of human rights. This chapter in his honour supports his position. Human rights law and the law of peace are aligned; both are essential to the flourishing of humanity and the natural world. The chapter seeks a reversal of the trend that accepts killing in the name of human rights as morally justified and possibly even lawful. Following Schabas, the argument here is for greater understanding of the interconnected and mutually reinforcing nature of general international law, especially the law of peace, and human rights law. Humanity needs peace for human rights to flourish, and the world needs the robust rule of law for peace.
The Maintenance of International Peace and Security through Prevention of Atrocity Crimes
Authors: Dieng Adama
Published: January 2018

This chapter focuses on the role and responsibility of the Security Council to maintain international peace and security through the prevention of atrocity crimes, as reflected in the World Summit Outcome Document. It is argued that, considering the near impossibility of seeking consensus by the veto-wielding members of the Council, in some cases that require its intervention, it is essential that regional institutions assume a greater role in preventing and protecting populations against atrocity crimes. This chapter argues for a renewed approach to international efforts to provide requisite support to these institutions to ensure that they assume a proactive role in protecting populations.