bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An optimized stepwise algorithm combining rapid antigen and RT-qPCR for screening of COVID-19 patients
Authors: Halfon Philippe , Penaranda Guillaume , Khiri Hacène , Garcia Vincent , Drouet Hortense , Philibert Patrick , Psomas Christina , Delord Marion , Retornaz Frédérique , Charpin Caroline , Gonzales Thomas , Pegliasco Hervé , Allardet-Servent Jérôme
Published: September 2021

Background & aim

We investigated the combination of rapid antigen detection (RAD) and RT-qPCR assays in a stepwise procedure to optimize the detection of COVID-19.

Methods

From August 2020 to November 2020, 43,399 patients were screened in our laboratory for COVID-19 diagnostic by RT-qPCR using nasopharyngeal swab. Overall, 4,691 of the 43,399 were found to be positive, and 200 were retrieved for RAD testing allowing comparison of diagnostic accuracy between RAD and RT-qPCR. Cycle threshold (Ct) and time from symptoms onset (TSO) were included as covariates.

Results

The overall sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, LR-, and LR+ of RAD compared with RT-qPCR were 72% (95%CI 62%–81%), 99% (95% CI95%–100%), 99% (95%CI 93%–100%), and 78% (95%CI 70%–85%), 0.28 (95%CI 0.21–0.39), and 72 (95%CI 10–208) respectively. Sensitivity was higher for patients with Ct ≤ 25 regardless of TSO: TSO ≤ 4 days 92% (95%CI 75%–99%), TSO > 4 days 100% (95%CI 54%–100%), and asymptomatic 100% (95%CI 78–100%). Overall, combining RAD and RT-qPCR would allow reducing from only 4% the number of RT-qPCR needed.

Conclusions

This study highlights the risk of misdiagnosing COVID-19 in 28% of patients if RAD is used alone. A stepwise analysis that combines RAD and RT-qPCR would be an efficient screening procedure for COVID-19 detection and may facilitate the control of the outbreak.
Biosafety of a novel covered self-expandable metal stent coated with poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate) in vivo
Authors: Ishizawa Tetsuya , Makino Naohiko , Kakizaki Yasuharu , Matsuda Akiko , Toyokawa Yoshihide , Ooyama Shun , Tanaka Masaru , Ueno Yoshiyuki
Published: September 2021

Covered self-expandable metal stents (CSEMS) are often used for palliative endoscopic biliary drainage; however, the unobstructed period is limited because of sludge occlusion. The present study aimed to evaluate the biosafety of a novel poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate)-coated CSEMS (PMEA-CSEMS) for sludge resistance and examine its biosafety in vivo. Using endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, we placed the PMEA-CSEMS into six normal porcine bile ducts and conventional CSEMS into three normal porcine bile ducts. We performed serological examination and undecalcified histological analysis at 1, 3, and 6 months during follow-up. In the bile ducts with PMEA-CSEMS or conventional CSEMS, we observed no increase in liver enzyme or inflammatory marker levels in the serological investigations and mild fibrosis but no inflammatory response in the histopathological analyses. Thus, we demonstrated the biosafety of PMEA-CSEMS in vivo.
Challenges and opportunities for assisted regional ecosystem adaptation: International experience and implications for adaptation research
Authors: Vella Karen , Baresi Umberto , Lockie Stewart , Taylor Bruce
Published: September 2021

Maintaining the functional integrity of ecosystems as climate pressures exceed natural rates of adaptation requires new knowledge and new approaches to governance and management. However, research into management interventions to assist regional ecosystem adaptation has generated both scientific and ethical debate. This paper reviews experience to date in order to identify the challenges and opportunities for assisted regional ecosystem adaptation and reflect on the implications for ongoing adaptation research. The review was informed by a database and structured analysis of some 450 reports, peer-reviewed manuscripts and books on participation theory and experience with novel technology development and assisted ecosystem adaptation. We identified five classes of challenges to adaptation research: 1) scientific conflicts and debates over the “facts”, 2) social challenges, 3) governance challenges, 4) epistemic challenges, and 5) ontological conflicts. We argue that engagement strategies linked to the multiple objectives of adaptation research provide opportunities for ecosystem adaptation.
Community risk perception and barriers for the practice of COVID-19 prevention measures in Northwest Ethiopia: A qualitative study
Authors: Tesfaw Aragaw , Arage Getachew , Teshome Fentaw , Taklual Wubet , Seid Tigist , Belay Emaway , Mehiret Gashaw
Published: September 2021

Background

According to the World Health Organization, viral diseases continue to emerge and represent a serious issue for public health. The elderly and those with underlying chronic diseases are more likely to become severe cases. Our study sets out to present in-depth exploration and analyses of the community’s risk perception and barriers to the practice of COVID-19 prevention measures in South Gondar Zone, Northwest Ethiopia.

Methods

A qualitative study was done in three districts of South Gondar Zone. Community key informants and health extension workers were selected purposely for in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. The interviews were conducted by maintaining WHO recommendations for social distancing and use of appropriate personal protective equipment. The sample size for the study depended on the theoretical saturation of the data at the time of data collection. The qualitative data generated from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions was transcribed verbatim and translated into English language and thematically analyzed using open code software version 4.02.

Results

Three main themes and five categories emerged from the narrations of the participants regarding the perceived barriers for the practice of COVID-19 prevention measures. A total of 9 community key informants (5 women development armies (HDA), 2 health extension workers (HEW), and 2 religious leaders participated in the in-depth interview, while two focus group discussions (7 participants in each round) were conducted among purposely selected community members. The age of the participants ranged from 24 to 70 years with the median age of 48 years. The major identified barriers for practicing COVID-19 prevention measures were the presence of strong cultural and religious practices, perceiving that the disease does not affect the young, misinformation about the disease, and lack of trust in the prevention measures.

Conclusions

Socio-cultural, religious, and economic related barriers were identified from the participant’s narratives for the practice of COVID-19 prevention measures in south Gondar Zone. Our findings suggest the need to strengthen community awareness and education programs about the prevention measures of COVID-19 and increase diagnostic facilities with strong community-based surveillance to control the transmission of the pandemic.
Diagnosis of pine wilt disease using remote wireless sensing
Authors: Jung Sang-Kyu , Park Seong Bean , Shim Bong Sup
Published: September 2021

Pine wilt disease caused by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is a major tree disease that threatens pine forests worldwide. To diagnose this disease, we developed battery-powered remote sensing devices capable of long-range (LoRa) communication and installed them in pine trees (Pinus densiflora) in Gyeongju and Ulsan, South Korea. Upon analyzing the collected tree sensing signals, which represented stem resistance, we found that the mean absolute deviation (MAD) of the sensing signals was useful for distinguishing between uninfected and infected trees. The MAD of infected trees was greater than that of uninfected trees from August of the year, and in the two-dimensional plane, consisting of the MAD value in July and that in October, the infected and uninfected trees were separated by the first-order boundary line generated using linear discriminant analysis. It was also observed that wood moisture content and precipitation affected MAD. This is the first study to diagnose pine wilt disease using remote sensors attached to trees.
Structurally related but genetically unrelated antibody lineages converge on an immunodominant HIV-1 Env neutralizing determinant following trimer immunization
Authors: Aljedani Safia S. , Liban Tyler J. , Tran Karen , Phad Ganesh , Singh Suruchi , Dubrovskaya Viktoriya , Pushparaj Pradeepa , Martinez-Murillo Paola , Rodarte Justas , Mileant Alex , Mangala Prasad Vidya , Kinzelman Rachel , O’Dell Sijy , Mascola John R. , Lee Kelly K. , Karlsson Hedestam Gunilla B. , Wyatt Richard T. , Pancera Marie
Published: September 2021

Understanding the molecular mechanisms by which antibodies target and neutralize the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) is critical in guiding immunogen design and vaccine development aimed at eliciting cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). Here, we analyzed monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) isolated from non-human primates (NHPs) immunized with variants of a native flexibly linked (NFL) HIV-1 Env stabilized trimer derived from the tier 2 clade C 16055 strain. The antibodies displayed neutralizing activity against the autologous virus with potencies ranging from 0.005 to 3.68 μg/ml (IC50). Structural characterization using negative-stain EM and X-ray crystallography identified the variable region 2 (V2) of the 16055 NFL trimer to be the common epitope for these antibodies. The crystal structures revealed that the V2 segment adopts a β-hairpin motif identical to that observed in the 16055 NFL crystal structure. These results depict how vaccine-induced antibodies derived from different clonal lineages penetrate through the glycan shield to recognize a hypervariable region within V2 (residues 184–186) that is unique to the 16055 strain. They also provide potential explanations for the potent autologous neutralization of these antibodies, confirming the immunodominance of this site and revealing that multiple angles of approach are permissible for affinity/avidity that results in potent neutralizing capacity. The structural analysis reveals that the most negatively charged paratope correlated with the potency of the mAbs. The atomic level information is of interest to both define the means of autologous neutralization elicited by different tier 2-based immunogens and facilitate trimer redesign to better target more conserved regions of V2 to potentially elicit cross-neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies.
Cross-neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by HIV-1 specific broadly neutralizing antibodies and polyclonal plasma
Authors: Mishra Nitesh , Kumar Sanjeev , Singh Swarandeep , Bansal Tanu , Jain Nishkarsh , Saluja Sumedha , Kumar Rajesh , Bhattacharyya Sankar , Palanichamy Jayanth Kumar , Mir Riyaz Ahmad , Sinha Subrata , Luthra Kalpana
Published: September 2021

Cross-reactive epitopes (CREs) are similar epitopes on viruses that are recognized or neutralized by same antibodies. The S protein of SARS-CoV-2, similar to type I fusion proteins of viruses such as HIV-1 envelope (Env) and influenza hemagglutinin, is heavily glycosylated. Viral Env glycans, though host derived, are distinctly processed and thereby recognized or accommodated during antibody responses. In recent years, highly potent and/or broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies (bnAbs) that are generated in chronic HIV-1 infections have been defined. These bnAbs exhibit atypical features such as extensive somatic hypermutations, long complementary determining region (CDR) lengths, tyrosine sulfation and presence of insertions/deletions, enabling them to effectively neutralize diverse HIV-1 viruses despite extensive variations within the core epitopes they recognize. As some of the HIV-1 bnAbs have evolved to recognize the dense viral glycans and cross-reactive epitopes (CREs), we assessed if these bnAbs cross-react with SARS-CoV-2. Several HIV-1 bnAbs showed cross-reactivity with SARS-CoV-2 while one HIV-1 CD4 binding site bnAb, N6, neutralized SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, neutralizing plasma antibodies of chronically HIV-1 infected children showed cross neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses. Collectively, our observations suggest that human monoclonal antibodies tolerating extensive epitope variability can be leveraged to neutralize pathogens with related antigenic profile.
Filming Mother Nature’s slow death: Representational pitfalls in African ecodocumentaries
Authors: Tcheuyap Alexie
Published: September 2021

This article uses ecocriticism and postcolonial theories to investigate the documentary topographies and politics of African ecosystem.Anger in the Wind(Weira),Breaking the Silence: Cleaning the Liquid Waste(Niyel) andThe Day of the Great Blaze(Kadry Kodo) illustrate how African documentarians shape their narratives to interrogate some pressing environmental challenges. This article looks at the ways in which the advent of global capitalism has transformed African ecosystems into sites for violent and irreversible destruction and exploitation, leaving postcolonial subjects in situations of deplorable precarity.
Time and ecology in African cinema: Pumzi and Felix in Exile
Authors: Harrow Kenneth
Published: September 2021

This article examines how time and space-time relate to eco-critical films and their charge of intervening in issues dealing with environmentalism. From the earliest films the question of capturing the truth gave impetus to the desire to represent reality accurately, including its social and political ‘truths’. Increasing concerns over the environment have come to mean that filmmakers have also felt the necessity to present eco-critical dramas. The drama has been how to create environmentally significant films without condescending to the viewers. The key question Rob Nixon poses in Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor might be how the social-economic order, over time, informs the health of the environment and the conditions of life for the working class. Two short films and the Green Belt Movement extend that question: Pumzi asks how a future marked by nuclear disaster might be survived by the sacrifice of an exceptional woman; Felix in Exile asks how the brutal practices of Apartheid might be survived. In both cases the questions of space and time prove to be basic, opening the possibility of joining the concept of space-time to eco-critical thought.
Se fier en toute liberté au réel: Entrevue avec Chloé Aïcha Boro
Authors: Niang Sada , Crosta Suzanne
Published: September 2021

This introduction to this interview presents Chloé Aïcha Boro, a Burkinabé journalist, writer, filmmaker and screenwriter. Although she started her career as a journalist for La voix du Sahel and Le Marabout in her native Burkina Faso, her love of literature inspired her to write novels and move on to screen writing and directing films. The introduction explores Le Loup d’or de Balolé. The interview focuses on her personal life and the making of her films, notably Farafin Ko and Le Loup d’or de Balolé. She explains the opportunities and challenges she faced during the production of her films, sharing her vision on documentary filmmaking.
AUTEKOLOGI Gonystylus macrophyllus (Miq.) Airy Shaw DAN G. velutinus Airy Shaw DI KELOMPOK HUTAN SUNGAI LIPAI-PELALAWAN, RIAU
Authors: Wardani Marfuah , Heriyanto Nur Muhammad
Published: September 2021

Penelitian autekologi Gonystylus macrophyllus dan G. velutinus telah dilakukan di kelompok hutan Sungai Lipai-Sungai Pelalawan, Riau pada bulan April 2019. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui keanekaragaman, struktur tegakan, regenerasi, dan asosiasi pohon G. macrophyllus dan G. velutinus di kelompok hutan Sungai Lipai-Sungai Pelalawan, Riau. Pengumpulan data menggunakan plot bujur sangkar ukuran 100 x 100m (1 ha), dibagi menjadi 25 sub plot ukuran 20 x 20m. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa G. macrophyllus dan G. velutinus dijumpai pada ketinggian antara 200 – 240 m dpl., di lereng bukit dengan topografi agak curam pada >10%, dan berkelompok. Komposisi vegetasi di sekitar pohon Gonystylus spp. yaitu pelajau (Pentaspadon motleyii Hook.f.) (INP= 21,2%), rambutan hutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) (INP= 12,66%) dan petatal (Ochanostahys amentacea Mast.) (INP= 11,42%). Jenis yang berasosiasi paling kuat dengan G. macrophyllus dan G. velutinus adalah Pentaspadon motleyii, yang ditunjukkan oleh indeks Ochiai sebesar 0,63; diikuti Gironiera subaequalis Planch. (indeks Ochiai 0,55) dan jenis Trigoniastrum hypoleucum Miq. (indeks Ochiai 0,51). Regenerasi alami G. macrophyllus dan G. velutinus di lokasi penelitian tidak normal dimana tingkat semai tidak dijumpai, tingkat belta/pancang lebih besar dari pohon, dan keberadaan jenis ini sulit dijumpai di hutan.
ETNOBOTANI ROTAN JERNANG (Calamus spp.) PADA MASYARAKAT SAROLANGUN, JAMBI
Authors: Asra Revis , Andryani Dyan , Adriadi Ade , Fijridiyanto Izu Andry , Witono Joko Ridho , Gailing Oliver
Published: September 2021

Rotan jernang (Calamus spp.) merupakan salah satu sumber penghasilan yang penting bagi masyarakat Desa Seko Besar dan Taman Bandung yang bermukim di dekat hutan alam di Kabupaten Sarolangun, Jambi. Kulit buah jernang mengandung resin merah yang memiliki nilai ekonomi tinggi karena bermanfaat sebagai bahan baku obat dan pewarna alami. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengeksplorasi jenis-jenis jernang di daerah tersebut, mengkaji perbedaan dari setiap jenis, mengetahui pemanfaatan, cara pengolahan resin jernang secara tradisional, upaya pelestarian dan mengetahui nilai guna dan nilai budaya. Metode yang digunakan adalah wawancara langsung berdasarkan kriteria tertentu (snowball sampling) terhadap 40 responden, observasi partisipatif, dan dokumentasi. Nilai guna dihitung dengan menggunakan Use Value (UV) dan nilai nilai budaya dihitung dengan menggunakan Index of Cultural Significance (ICS). Berdasarkan hasil penelitian ditemukan empat jenis-jenis jernang di Desa Seko Besar dan Taman Bandung yaitu Calamus draco Willd. (jernang rambai), C. micracanthus Griff. (jernang kelamuai), C. maculatus (J.Dransf.) W.J.Baker (jernang bengkarung), dan C. didymophyllus (Becc.) Ridl. (jernang burung). Pemanfaatan jernang secara tradisional oleh masyarakat yaitu sebagai obat untuk menyembuhkan beberapa penyakit dan bahan kerajinan tangan. Upaya pelestarian dan budidaya yang oleh masyarakat yaitu dengan menanam jernang pada kebun karet di sekitar pekarangan rumah dan pemanenan buah yang tidak merusak tanaman induknya. Nilai UV tertinggi terdapat pada jenis C. draco dan C. micracanthus yaitu 1,00 dan terendah C. maculatus yaitu 0,85. Nilai ICS rotan jernang C. draco dan C. micracanthus yaitu 18, sedangkan C. didymophyllus dan C. maculatus yaitu 2,5.
RAGAM BAMBU DAN KAYU KENTONGAN: SEBUAH KAJIAN ETNOBOTANI DI JAWA, BALI, DAN LOMBOK
Authors: Kuncari Emma Sri , Setiawan Marwan
Published: September 2021

Kentongan dikenal sebagai salah satu alat komunikasi tradisional yang memanfaatkan bambu dan kayu. Sebagian masyarakat Indonesia masih mengenal dan menggunakan kentongan di tengah pesatnya perkembangan teknologi dan informasi seperti saat ini. Studi etnobotani dilakukan untuk mengkaji lebih mendalam tentang kearifan lokal masyarakat mengenai kentongan. Metode yang digunakan berupa observasi di beberapa wilayah di Indonesia dan wawancara secara acak terpilih. Data yang dikumpulkan dianalisis secara deskriptif kualitatif. Hasil kajian diperoleh data keanekaragaman jenis bambu dan kayu kentongan yaitu bambu ori (Bambusa blumeana Schult.f.), bambu petung (Dendrocalamus asper (Schult.) Backer), bambu apus (Gigantochloa apus (Schult.) Kurz), bambu wulung (G. atroviolacea Widjaja), kayu nangka (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.), kayu jati (Tectona grandis L.f.), kayu kelapa (Cocos nucifera L.), kayu mahoni (Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq.), dan kayu sengon (Albizia chinensis (Osbeck) Merr.). Ukuran dan bentuk fisik kentongan bervariasi. Nilai-nilai sosial dan religius kentongan sejalan dengan perkembangan zaman, serta penyelamatan nilai budaya dan konservasi keanekaragaman hayati bahan baku kentongan agar tidak terkikis perubahan zaman. Dengan demikian, masyarakat masih menggunakan kentongan secara lestari untuk mengatur pola hidup kebersamaan dalam masyarakat.
Lipid Profile in Thyroid Autoimmunity - A Study among Reproductive Age Group Females of Central Kerala
Authors: Surendranath Sindhu Panakkaparambil , Palakkaparambil Anil , Thadathil Suchithra Erath , Sreedharan Shibu Thadathil
Published: September 2021

BACKGROUND One of the most common causes of thyroid dysfunction among women is autoimmunity, especially in fertile age group. Thyroid hormone disorders are associated with a number of biochemical abnormalities including dyslipidaemia, metabolic dysfunctions, spontaneous miscarriage, and preterm delivery. Dyslipidaemia is one of the most common metabolic abnormalities present in patients with thyroid disease. The purpose of this study was to find the association between anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti-TPO) and dyslipidaemia in reproductive age group females from Central Kerala. METHODS A total of 200 asymptomatic women, all in reproductive age group, from a tertiary hospital in Kerala participated in this study. Demographic data and detailed medical history of the participants were collected. Anti-TPO and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured using chemiluminescence immunoassay system. Serum lipid profile was estimated using fully automated random-access clinical chemistry analyser EM - 360. Continuous variables were compared between the groups using Mann–Whitney U-test. P value lesser than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS The mean age of the subjects was 32.92 ± 11.82 years. A total of 47 participants (23.5 %) were anti-TPO positive. Abnormality in lipid profile was present in 72.34 % (N = 34) of the anti-TPO positive participants. In the anti-TPO positive group, 51.06 % of the participants had hypercholesterolemia. In the anti-TPO positive group, anti-TPO levels show a statistically significant correlation with total cholesterol and triglyceride levels (P = 0.07 and P < 0.01). A total of 9 % (N = 18) had thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) values greater than normal range (0.34- 4.25 µIU/mL) suggesting presence of hypothyroidism. TSH values were also significantly associated with lipid profile in the anti-TPO positive group. Both thyroid autoimmunity and dyslipidaemia can affect fertility, pregnancy and other reproductive outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Women should be screened for autoimmune antibodies and associated biochemical abnormalities to estimate and reduce the risk of cardiovascular morbidity, negative pregnancy outcomes and infertility. KEY WORDS Thyroid Autoimmunity, Anti-TPO Antibody, Dyslipidaemia
Beyond the Front-Line: the Coping Strategies and Discretion of Lithuanian Street-Level Bureaucracy During COVID-19
Authors: Dvorak Jaroslav , Civinskas Remigijus , Šumskas Gintaras
Published: September 2021

This article presents the results of a project funded by the Research Council of Lithuania: ‘Public policy solutions and their improvement to overcome the COVID-19 crisis in Lithuanian municipalities: solution tools and service delivery.’ The research methodology is based on street-level bureaucracy theory and ongoing qualitative research in the form of interviews with social workers and doctors. Interviews were conducted in the Lithuanian municipalities which became the first COVID-19 hotspots in March-April 2020. The aim is to identify the response and coping strategies of street-level bureaucracy. The findings of current research suggest that the workload of street-level bureaucrats increased, the situation changed very rapidly, and there was a constant need to adopt rules and even recommendations issued by the ministry. Fear of COVID-19 infection, a lack of accurate information, uncertainty, and the possibility of allowing staff with children to leave the workplace led to staff shortages. This in turn motivated the
administration and the remaining employees to look for suitable coping strategies.
Changing Social Values in Contemporary Tamil Society, India: a Qualitative Inquiry
Authors: Gopalakrishnan Karunanithi
Published: September 2021

Social values in Indian society in general and Tamil society in particular are subject to fluctuation, in accordance with on-going social changes ushered in by various modern forces. Consequently, these values metamorphose and degenerate into counter-cultural practices that pose a threat to traditional culture. Modern people attribute new meanings to the unethical practices that they engage in by emphasizing their immediate relevance and necessity for their changing life styles. They believe that their willingness to follow them instead of social values will help them make a profit that sustains their livelihood in this time of change.
The Sacred Language of the Abakuá
Authors: Cabrera Lydia , Manfredi Victor
Published: September 2021

In 1988, Lydia Cabrera (1899–1991) published La lengua sagrada de los Ñáñigos, an Abakuá phrasebook that is to this day the largest work available on any African diaspora community in the Americas. In the early 1800s in Cuba, enslaved Africans from the Cross River region of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon created Abakuá societies for protection and mutual aid. Abakuá rites reenact mythic legends of the institution’s history in Africa, using dance, chants, drumming, symbolic writing, herbs, domestic animals, and masked performers to represent African ancestors. Criminalized and scorned in the colonial era, Abakuá members were at the same time contributing to the creation of a unique Cuban culture, including rumba music, now considered a national treasure Translated for the first time into English, Cabrera’s lexicon documents phrases vital to the creation of a specific African-derived identity in Cuba and presents the first ‘insiders’ view of this African heritage. This text presents thoroughly researched commentaries that link hundreds of entries to the context of mythic rites, skilled ritual performance, and the influence of Abakuá in Cuban society and popular music. Generously illustrated with photographs and drawings, this volume includes a new introduction to Cabrera’s writing as well as appendices that situate this important work in Cuba’s history.
Mysterious Travelers
Authors: Kruse Zack
Published: September 2021

Steve Ditko (1927–2018) is one of the most important contributors to American comic books. As the cocreator of Spider-Man and sole creator of Dr. Strange, Ditko made an indelible mark on American popular culture. Mysterious Travelers: Steve Ditko and the Search for a New Liberal Identity resets the conversation about his heady and powerful work. Always inward facing, Ditko's narratives employed superhero and supernatural fantasy in the service of self-examination, and with characters like the Question, Mr. A, and Static, Ditko turned ordinary superhero comics into philosophic treatises. Many of Ditko's philosophy-driven comics show a clear debt to ideas found in Ayn Rand’s Objectivism. Unfortunately, readers often reduce Ditko's work to a mouthpiece for Rand's vision. Mysterious Travelers unsettles this notion by theorizing a major strand of liberal thought yet to be explored in academic discourse. Conscripting the popular mind power and New Thought movements into the rhetoric of libertarianism and later, Reagan-era neoliberalism, Ditko’s work provides access to a “mystic liberalism” that leverages the so-called power of positive thinking for political and philosophic aims. Mysterious Travelers also provides a critical reexamination of Ditko’s “right to kill” for fictional characters as well as significant insights into the racial history of Dr. Strange.
“If I Like It, I Hope Somebody Else Likes It, Too”
Authors: Kruse Zack
Published: September 2021

This chapter begins with a discussion of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s Watchmen as a response not just to the neoliberal political climate of the 1970s and 1980s but specifically to the work and politics of Steve Ditko, as Watchmen is dependent upon Ditko’s work for a number of key themes. Keeping Watchmen’s historical context in mind, this chapter also presents instances and consequences of mystic liberalism in American political history, specifically with Ronald Reagan. Along with the discussion of Watchmen as a transitional work into the post-Ditko period of comics production, is a brief examination of some of Ditko’s most recent works which demonstrates his consistent interest in the occult and mysticism as narrative devices, bringing the reader full circle with Ditko’s earliest comics discussed in chapter two. The chapter closes with a discussion of the “Master Planner” story from Amazing Spider-Man.
Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture
Authors: Mason Derritt
Published: September 2021

This book considers the recent surge in queer young adult literature publishing and argues that this explosion of queer representation has prompted new forms of longstanding cultural anxieties about adolescent sexuality. In particular, critics of queer texts for young people seem concerned with the following questions: what makes for a good “coming out” story? Will increased queer representation in popular culture teach adolescents the right lessons, and help queer youth live better, happier lives? What if these stories harm young people instead of helping them? Although these concerns spring from a particular contemporary moment, Mason illustrates how the history of adolescence is itself a history of anxiety, and how young adult literature emerged, in part, as a way of managing various cultural and social anxieties.
Mason suggests that “queer YA” is usefully understood as a body of trans-media texts with blurry boundaries, one that coheres around affect—specifically, anxiety—instead of content. To clarify this point, Mason draws on criticism about a range of texts for and about queer adolescents, including an assortment of young adult books; Caper in the Castro, the first-ever queer video game; online fan communities; and popular television series Glee and Big Mouth. Themes that generate the most anxiety about adolescent culture, Mason argues—queer visibility, risk-taking, HIV/AIDS, dystopia and horror, the promise that “It Gets Better” and the threat that it might not—challenge us to rethink how we read and engage with young people’s media.
Breaking the Blockade
Authors: Ross Charles D.
Published: September 2021

On April 16, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln issued a blockade of the Confederate coastline. The largely agrarian South did not have the industrial base to succeed in a protracted conflict. What it did have — and what England and other foreign countries wanted — was cotton and tobacco. Industrious men soon began to connect the dots between Confederate and British needs. As the blockade grew, the blockade runners became quite ingenious in finding ways around the barriers. Boats worked their way back and forth from the Confederacy to Nassau and England, and everyone from scoundrels to naval officers wanted a piece of the action. Poor men became rich in a single transaction, and dances and drinking — from the posh Royal Victoria hotel to the boarding houses lining the harbor — were the order of the day. British, United States, and Confederate sailors intermingled in the streets, eyeing each other warily as boats snuck in and out of Nassau. But it was all to come crashing down as the blockade finally tightened and the final Confederate ports were captured. The story of this great carnival has been mentioned in a variety of sources but never examined in detail. This book focuses on the political dynamics and tensions that existed between the United States Consular Service, the governor of the Bahamas, and the representatives of the southern and English firms making a large profit off the blockade. Filled with intrigue, drama, and colorful characters, this is an important Civil War story that has not yet been told.
The EJI, the Legacy Museum, and “Postgenocide” America
Authors: Hasian Marouf A. , Paliewicz Nicholas S.
Published: September 2021

This chapter studies the counterpart to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Legacy Museum. Attending to the affective and cerebral displays of racial pasts and presents, the authors show how the museum presents a timeline of racial terrorism from slavery to the present era of mass incarceration of persons of color. The hauntologies of the Legacy Museum not only radically critique the colorblind discourses of civil rights remembrances, but they also raise questions about the possibilities of the need to remember an African American Holocaust.
Jelly Roll Morton, Charley Patton
Authors: Calonne David Stephen
Published: September 2021

Chapter 2 begins with a review of Crumb’s fascination with music, especially the blues, and his efforts over the years in building a huge record collection of his favorite music. Allusions to jazz and blues appear in many of his works and his admiration for particular musicians such as Jelly Roll Morton is exemplified by his illustrations to a biography of Morton which Crumb titled “Jelly Roll Morton’s Voodoo Curse.” In exploring Morton’s life, Crumb explores Morton’s encounter with hoodoo and interrogates the question whether such supernatural experiences are “real” or not. This is a question which Crumb will pursue in many of his drawings because it is related to his own search for his inner self. The chapter then turns to Charley Patton and Crumb’s illustrations entitled “Patton.” Religious themes occur in this narrative as well and this chapter explores the theme of the gifted musician who sells his soul to the devil in order to attain virtuosic musical powers. The link between surrealism and the lyrics of some blues songs is also explored, as well as Crumb’s own relationship to African American culture and religion.
Franz Kafka
Authors: Calonne David Stephen
Published: September 2021

This chapter explores Crumb’s work on the book Introducing Kafka, for which he provided the illustrations. The chapter begins with the ways Crumb has incorporated themes from Jewish culture into not only his Kafka drawings, but in his work as a whole. Crumb often depicts himself as a schlemiel—Yiddish for a vulnerable loser. Like Kafka, Crumb had a troubled relationship to his own father. This is one reason why Crumb felt such an affinity for Kafka’s writings. Crumb also concentrates in several drawings on Kafka’s intense relationship to writing, a theme which he also depicts in his Bukowski drawings. Crumb also created powerful drawings to illustrate Kafka’s The Trial and we may see in these works the ways Crumb includes Christian imagery in his conceptions. Another example occurs in Crumb’s illustrations for A Hunger Artist where we may observe a clear allusion to Rogier van der Weyden’s The Descent of the Cross in the way Crumb portrays the fragile body of the Hunger Artist. As we saw in Chapter 4 with Sartre, here again Crumb incorporates themes from Kafka in his own autobiographical drawings, depicting himself as a suffering Christ or as a Hunger Artist who must beg for his sustenance from an uncaring public.
Side by Side
Authors: Jiménez García Marilisa , Nieto Sonia
Published: September 2021

Through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, American youth culture and literature grew up with Puerto Rico. The contemporary US tradition of youth literature and media, along with how young people, as authors, narrate their part in social struggle, is inseparable from Puerto Rican thought and writing. Youth literature, media, and youth-led movements have played a prominent role in portraying the political and cultural relationship between the US and Puerto Rico—from the US acquisition to Puerto Rican writer’s pleas for a place in US letters and culture. During the early colonial encounter, children’s books were among the first kinds of literature produced by US writers introducing the new colony, its people, and the US’s role as a twentieth-century colonial power to the American public. Subsequently, youth literature and media was an important tool of Puerto Rican cultural and educational elite institutions and Puerto Rican revolutionary thought for negotiating US assimilation and upholding a strong Latin American, Caribbean national stance.
Peculiar Whiteness
Authors: Mellette Justin
Published: September 2021

Peculiar Whiteness argues for deeper consideration of the complexities surrounding the disparate treatment of poor whites throughout southern literature and attests to how broad such experiences have been. While the history of prejudice against this group is not the same as the legacy of violence perpetrated against people of color in America, individuals regarded as ‘white trash’ have suffered a dehumanizing process in the writings of various white authors. Poor white characters are frequently maligned as grotesque and anxiety-inducing, especially when they are aligned in close proximity to blacks or with other troubling conditions such as physical difference. Thus, as a symbol, much has been asked of poor whites, and various iterations of the label (e.g., ‘white trash,’ tenant farmers, or even people with a little less money than average) have been subject to a broad spectrum of judgment, pity, compassion, fear, and anxiety. Peculiar Whiteness engages key issues in contemporary critical race studies, whiteness studies, and southern studies, both literary and historical. Through discussions of authors including Charles Chesnutt, Thomas Dixon, Erskine Caldwell, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor, the book analyzes how we see how whites in a position of power work to maintain their status, often by finding ways to re-categorize and marginalize people who might not otherwise have seemed to fall under the auspices or boundaries of ‘white trash.’
Redetermination of the crystal structure of (E)-5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde oxime, C
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Authors: Yuan Lin , Zhu Hong‑Yu , Kuang Jin‑Hao , Li Zhong‑Yan
Published: September 2021

C11H14ClNO, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 14.48(2) Å, b = 3.956(6) Å, c = 13.765(19) Å, β = 99.266(15)
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Yeşil insan kaynakları yönetimi uygulamalarının kurumsal sosyal sorumluluktaki rolü
Authors: Kavgacı Yeliz , Erkmen Turhan
Published: September 2021

İnsan kaynakları departmanı çevresel alanda sorumluluk projelerinin ve çalışmalarının yürütülmesinde ve çalışanların bu alanda motive edilmesinde en önemli departmandır. Araştırmada yeşil bir iş yeri oluşturmak adına uygulanabilecek insan kaynakları faaliyetleri hakkında ayrıntılı bilgiler verilmiş ve bu bağlamda Yeşil İnsan Kaynakları’nın yeşil işe alım, yeşil performans değerlendirme, yeşil eğitim ve geliştirm e, yeşil ücret ve ödüllendirme sistemi, yeşil çalışan ilişkileri, çalışan güçlendirme ve çalışan katılımı boyutları kurumsal sosyal sorumlulukla birlikte ele alınmıştır. Çalışmada Borsa İstanbul sürdürülebilirlik endeksindeki ilk 50 firma içerisinden güncel sürdürülebilirlik raporunu yayınlayan 6 firma örneklem olarak ele alınmıştır. Araştırmanın temel amacı bu firmaların yeşil insan kaynakları boyutlarının kurumsal çevresel sorumlulukla birlikte analiz edilmesi, sektörel farklılıkların tespit edilmesidir. İşletmelerin yıllık yayınlamış oldukları sürdürülebilirlik raporları ve şirketlerin web siteleri nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden içerik analizi yöntemi ile çalışma kapsamında analiz edilmiştir. Yapılan analizler sonucunda çevre ile ilgili gerçekleştirilen Kurumsal Sosyal Sorumlulukta Yeşil-İK boyutları için sektörel farklılıklar bulunduğu tespit edilmiştir. İşletmelerin tümünde yeşil ücret ve ödüllendirme dışında bazı Yeşil-İK faaliyetleri yürütüldüğü gözlenmiştir.
Sustainable supply chain management and financial performance: An empirical analysis of Turkish manufacturing companies
Authors: Özbay Deniz
Published: September 2021

The linkage between sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and financial performance has attracted increasing interest from both researchers and practitioners. Although many have argued that the SSCM practices improve financial performance, empirical studies have produced mixed results, and the direction of the relationship is still unclear.  This study examined the relationship between SSCM and financial performance for Turkish manufacturing companies. Financial performance was measured using ROA, ROE and price to book ratio, while SSCM performance was measured with a new multivariable performance indicator. Financial performance data were obtained from the Bloomberg Database, while SSCM data were collected from non-financial reports using content analysis. The total sample included 47 manufacturing companies listed in Borsa İstanbul, covering 584 firm-year observations for 2007-2019. Panel data regression analysis was used to test the relationship between SSCM and financial performance. Similar to the literature's general view, the findings support a positive linear relationship between SSCM and firm financial performance.
Ekonomik küreselleşme ve işgücü özgürlüğü kapsamında genç işsizliği: Dinamik panel veri analizi
Authors: Mete Emrullah
Published: September 2021

İşsizlik sorunu uzun yıllardır tüm ekonomileri ilgilendiren önemli bir sorun olmuştur. Bu sorunun en çok etkilediği kesim ise sosyal ve psikolojik nedenlerden dolayı genç nüfus olmuştur. Genç işsizliği gelişmiş ve gelişmekte olan tüm ülkelerin sadece ekonomik anlamda değil aynı zamanda sosyal boyutta bir sorundur. Ülkeler hem genel işsizlik hem de genç işsizlik sorununu çözmek ve toplum refahını artırmak için sürekli politika geliştirmek zorunda kalmaktadır. Bu çalışmada ekonomik büyüme, ekonomik küreselleşme, işgücü özgürlüğü, ücret düzeyi ve sabit sermaye oluşumunun genç işsizliği üzerindeki etkisi araştırılmıştır. Analizde OECD üyesi 35 ülkenin 2005-2018 dönemine ait verileri kullanılmıştır. Yöntem olarak dinamik panel veri yöntemi kapsamında genelleştirilmiş momentler metodu (GMM) tahmincisinden yararlanılmıştır. Analiz sonuçlarına göre ekonomik büyüme, ekonomik küreselleşme ve sabit sermaye oluşumunun genç işsizliğini negatif yönlü etkilediği tespit edilmiştir.
Use of a Managed Flow Pulse as Food Web Support for Estuarine Habitat
Authors:   California Department of Water Resources, Frantzich Jared , Davis Brittany ,   California Department of Water Resources, MacWilliams Michael ,   Anchor QEA, LLC, Bever Aaron ,   Anchor QEA, LLC, Sommer Ted ,   California Department of Water Resources
Published: September 2021

While freshwater inflow has been a major focus of resource management in estuaries, including the upper San Francisco Estuary, there is a growing interest in using focused flow actions to maximize benefits for specific regions, habitats, and species. As a test of this concept, in summer 2016, we used a managed flow pulse to target an ecologically important region: a freshwater tidal slough complex (Cache Slough Complex–CSC). Our goal was to improve estuarine habitat by increasing net flows through CSC to enhance downstream transport of lower trophic-level resources, an important driver for fishes such as the endangered Delta Smelt Hypomesus transpacificus. We used regional water infrastructure to direct 18.5 million m³ of Sacramento River flow into its adjacent Yolo Bypass floodplain, where the pulse continued through CSC. Simulations using a 3-D hydrodynamic model (UnTRIM) indicated that the managed flow pulse had a large effect on the net flow of water through Yolo Bypass, and between CSC and further downstream. Multiple water quality constituents (specific conductivity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients [NO₃ + NO₂, NH₄, PO₄]) varied across the study region, and showed a strong response to the flow pulse. In addition, the lower Sacramento River had increased phytoplankton biomass and improved food quality indices (estimated from long-chain essential fatty acids) after the flow pulse. The managed flow pulse resulted in increased densities of zooplankton (copepods, cladocerans) demonstrating potential advection from upper floodplain channels into the target CSC and Sacramento River regions. This study was conducted during a single year, which may have had unique characteristics; however, we believe that our study is an instructive example of how a relatively modest change in net flows can generate measurable changes in ecologically relevant metrics, and how an adaptive management action can help inform resource management.
Wetland Availability and Salinity Concentrations for Breeding Waterfowl in Suisun Marsh, California
Authors:   US Geological Survey, Schacter Carley , Peterson Sarah ,   US Geological Survey, Herzog Mark ,   US Geological Survey, Hartman C. Alex ,   US Geological Survey, Casazza Michael ,   US Geological Survey, Ackerman Joshua ,   US Geological Survey
Published: September 2021

Availability of wetlands with low salinities during the breeding season can influence waterfowl reproductive success and population recruitment. Salinities as low as 2 ppt (3.6 mScm–1) can impair duckling growth and influence behavior, with mortality occurring above 9 ppt (14.8 mScm–1). We used satellite imagery to quantify the amount of available water, and sampled surface water salinity at Grizzly Island, in the brackish Suisun Marsh, at three time-periods during waterfowl breeding (April, May, July) over 4 years (2016–2019). More water was available and salinity was lower during wetter years (2017, 2019) than during drier years (2016, 2018), and the amount of water in wetlands decreased 73%–86% from April to July. Across all time-periods and years, the majority (64%–100%) of wetland habitat area had salinities above what has been shown to negatively affect ducklings (> 2 ppt), and up to 42% of wetland area had salinities associated with duckling mortality (> 9 ppt). During peak duckling production in May, 81%–95% of available water had salinity above 2 ppt, and 5%–21% was above 9 ppt. In May of the driest year (2016), only 0.5 km2 of low-salinity water (< 2 ppt) was available to ducklings in the study area, compared to 2.6 km2 in May of the wettest year (2017). Private duck clubs own the majority of wetland habitat at Grizzly Island and consistently had a greater percentage of land flooded during summer than did publicly owned wetlands, but private wetlands generally had higher salinities than public wetlands, likely because they draw from higher-salinity water sources. By July, few wetlands remained flooded, and most had salinities high enough to impair duckling growth and survival. Local waterfowl populations would benefit from management practices that provide fresher water during peak duckling production in May and retain more water through July.
Vitae et Miracula Sancti Christoduli Patmensis
Authors: Polemis Ioannis D. , Antonopoulou Theodora
Published: September 2021

The Greek dossier on St. Christodoulos, founder of the monastery of Patmos (1088), consists of four texts, three vitae and a narrative of a miracle, all written within roughly two centuries after the saint’s death by brethren of his monastic community. They are not only important for the reconstruction of the course of life of one of the most famous Byzantine saints, but they are also a unique source for the political and social history of Byzantium and the Eastern Mediterranean from the late 11th to the 13th century. Despite their great importance, these texts have remained almost unknown until today because they are contained in a 19th century edition that is hardly accessible any more and was intended exclusively for the monks and visitors of the John Prodromos Monastery. The new critical edition, which is accompanied by a critical and exhaustive apparatus of sources as well as an index of personal names and of all passages of previous authors quoted or referred to in the texts, will be appreciated by historians and literary scholars alike. Historians will now have at their disposal an important source for the history of the Comnenian period and beyond, while scholars interested in Byzantine literature will have the opportunity to examine in depth four important and rather complex documents, which offer three different visions of the phenomenon of sanctity in Byzantium at the eve of the Fourth Crusade. The introduction discusses several literary, historical and text-critical aspects of the dossier. Extensive summaries in English make these texts available to a wider audience for the first time.