bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dietary Inflammatory Indices Are Not Associated With Inflammatory Bowel Disease Incidence and Progression
Authors: Wellens Judith , Chen Jie , Fu Tian , Zhang Yao , Kalla Rahul , Satsangi Jack , Theodoratou Evropi , Li Xue
Published: October 2023

Lay Summary

Empirical dietary inflammatory pattern and the dietary inflammatory index are dietary inflammation indices, both previously associated with risk of inflammatory bowel disease. We show in the UK Biobank a null association between these indices and incident inflammatory bowel disease; we challenge the current ways in which these dietary indices are derived and interpreted. The need to account for the effects of food processing as well as the raw ingredients is emphasized as a confounding variable.
Short-term habituation of the longfin squid (Doryteuthis pealeii) to pile driving sound
Authors: Jézéquel Y , Jandial P , Cones S F , Ferguson S , Aoki N , Girdhar Y , Mooney T A
Published: October 2023

Offshore windfarms are a key renewable solution to help supply global energy needs. However, implementation has its challenges, including intense pile driving sound produced during constructions, which can affect marine life at the individual level, yet impacts at the group level remain poorly studied. Here, we exposed groups of longfin squid (Doryteuthis pealeii) in cages at multiple distances from consecutive pile driving events and sought to quantify responses at both individual and group levels. Pile driving induced short-term alarm responses at sound levels (in zero-peak) of 112–123 dB re 1 µm s−2 that were similar to those measured at kilometre scale from offshore windfarm constructions. The rate of individual alarm responses quickly decreased both within and across consecutive pile driving events, a result consistent with previous laboratory studies. Despite observing dramatic behavioural changes in response to initial pile driving sound, there were no significant differences in squid shoaling areas before and during exposure, showing no disruption of squid collective behaviours. Our results demonstrate rapid habituation of squid to pile driving sound, showing minimal effects on this ecologically and commercially key taxon. However, future work is now needed to assess responses of wild squid shoals in the vicinity of offshore windfarm constructions.
Inhibition of the Lectin Pathway of Complement Activation Reduces Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Severity in a Mouse Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Authors: Ali Youssif M , Carnell George W , Fumagalli Stefano , Mercurio Domenico , Seminara Serena , Lynch Nicholas J , Khatri Priyanka , Arachchilage Chanuka H , Mascheroni Luca , Kaminski Clemens , George Charlotte L , Stewart Hazel , Yabuki Munehisa , Demopulos Gregory , Heeney Jonathan L , Schwaeble Wilhelm
Published: October 2023

Most patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit develop an acute respiratory distress syndrome characterized by severe hypoxemia, decreased lung compliance, and high vascular permeability. Activation of the complement system is a hallmark of moderate and severe COVID-19, with abundant deposition of complement proteins in inflamed tissue and on the endothelium during COVID-19. Using a transgenic mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, we assessed the therapeutic utility of an inhibitory antibody (HG4) targeting MASP-2, a key enzyme in the lectin pathway. Treatment of infected mice with HG4 reduced the disease severity score and improved survival vs mice that received an isotype control antibody. Administration of HG4 significantly reduced the lung injury score, including alveolar inflammatory cell infiltration, alveolar edema, and alveolar hemorrhage. The ameliorating effect of MASP-2 inhibition on the severity of COVID-19 pathology is reflected by a significant reduction in the proinflammatory activation of brain microglia in HG4-treated mice.
Synergistic antifungal activity and potential mechanism of action of a glycolipid-like compound produced by Streptomyces blastmyceticus S108 against Candida clinical isolates
Authors: Ayed A , Essid R , Mankai H , Echmar A , Fares N , Hammami M , Sewald N , Limam F , Tabbene O
Published: October 2023

Aim

The present study aimed to investigate a novel antifungal compound produced by Streptomyces blastmyceticus S108 strain. Its effectiveness against clinical isolates of Candida species and its synergistic effect with conventional antifungal drugs were assessed, and its molecular mechanism of action was further studied against Candida albicans.

Methods and results

A newly isolated strain from Tunisian soil, S. blastmyceticus S108, showed significant antifungal activity against Candida species by well diffusion method. The butanolic extract of S108 strain supernatant exhibited the best anti-Candida activity with a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 250 μg ml−1, determined by the microdilution method. The bio-guided purification steps of the butanolic extract were performed by chromatographic techniques. Among the fractions obtained, F13 demonstrated the highest level of activity, displaying a MIC of 31.25 μg ml−1. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analyses of this fraction (F13) revealed the glycolipidic nature of the active molecule with a molecular weight of 685.6 m/z. This antifungal metabolite remained stable to physicochemical changes and did not show hemolytic activity even at 4MIC corresponding to 125 µg ml−1 toward human erythrocytes. Besides, the glycolipid compound was combined with 5-flucytosine and showed a high synergistic effect with a fractional inhibitory concentration index value 0.14 against C. albicans ATCC 10231. This combination resulted in a decrease of MIC values of 5-flucytosine and the glycolipid-like compound by 8- and 64-fold, respectively. The examination of gene expression in treated C. albicans cells by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) revealed that the active compound tested alone or in combination with 5-flucytosine blocks the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway by downregulating the expression of ERG1, ERG3, ERG5, ERG11, and ERG25 genes.

Conclusion and impact of the study

The new glycolipid-like compound, produced by Streptomyces S108 isolate, could be a promising drug for medical use against pathogenic Candida isolates.
Revisiting Screening in Women With a Family History of Breast Cancer
Authors: Coffey Kristen , Mango Victoria
Published: October 2023

Women with a family history (FH) of breast cancer and without known genetic susceptibility represent a unique population whose lifetime probability of developing breast cancer varies widely depending on familial factors, breast density, and the risk assessment tool used. Recently updated guidelines from the American College of Radiology recommend supplemental annual screening with contrast-enhanced MRI or contrast-enhanced mammography for women with an FH who are high risk (≥20% lifetime risk) or have dense breasts. To date, most screening studies addressing outcomes in women with FH have largely included those also with confirmed or suspected gene mutations, in whom the lifetime risk is highest, with limited data for women at average to intermediate risk who are not known to be genetically susceptible and may not benefit as much from the same screening approaches. Further research focusing specifically on women with FH as the only breast cancer risk factor is warranted to refine risk assessment and optimize a multimodality personalized screening approach.
Collecting copper alloy portrait heads
Authors: Evans Tomos Llywelyn
Published: October 2023

Much has been written about the spectacular naturalistic copper and copper alloy heads of Wúnmọníjẹ̀ Compound, Ilé-Ifẹ̀, Nigeria, which stunned the art world after they were unearthed in 1938, on the cusp of the Second World War. However, little scholarly attention has been afforded to the controversial aftermath of their discovery, when multiple foreign parties endeavoured to collect and export many of them from Nigeria, while legislation to prohibit the export of antiquities was lacking. Drawing on archives from the USA and the UK, this article reveals important details of the collecting of several of the heads in the late colonial period. Coinciding with renewed calls for the restitution of Nigerian cultural patrimony from foreign institutions, it sheds light on the British Museum’s acquisition of one such head, the acquisition of two by the American anthropologist William R. Bascom, and the purported export by a German export company, of several heads which remain unaccounted for to this day.
Moderate high temperature is beneficial or detrimental depending on carbon availability in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Authors: Zhang Ningning , Venn Benedikt , Bailey Catherine E , Xia Ming , Mattoon Erin M , Mühlhaus Timo , Zhang Ru
Published: October 2023

High temperatures impair plant growth and reduce agricultural yields, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. The unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is an excellent model to study heat responses in photosynthetic cells due to its fast growth rate, many similarities in cellular processes to land plants, simple and sequenced genome, and ample genetic and genomics resources. Chlamydomonas grows in light by photosynthesis and with externally supplied acetate as an organic carbon source. Understanding how organic carbon sources affect heat responses is important for the algal industry but remains understudied. We cultivated wild-type Chlamydomonas under highly controlled conditions in photobioreactors at 25 °C (control), 35 °C (moderate high temperature), or 40 °C (acute high temperature) with or without constant acetate supply for 1 or 4 day. Treatment at 35 °C increased algal growth with constant acetate supply but reduced algal growth without sufficient acetate. The overlooked and dynamic effects of 35 °C could be explained by induced acetate uptake and metabolism. Heat treatment at 40 °C for more than 2 day was lethal to algal cultures with or without constant acetate supply. Our findings provide insights to understand algal heat responses and help improve thermotolerance in photosynthetic cells.
Linking photosynthesis and yield reveals a strategy to improve light use efficiency in a climbing bean breeding population
Authors: Keller Beat , Soto Jonatan , Steier Angelina , Portilla-Benavides Ana Elisabeth , Raatz Bodo , Studer Bruno , Walter Achim , Muller Onno , Urban Milan O
Published: October 2023

Photosynthesis drives plant physiology, biomass accumulation, and yield. Photosynthetic efficiency, specifically the operating efficiency of PSII (Fq'/Fm'), is highly responsive to actual growth conditions, especially to fluctuating photosynthetic photon fluence rate (PPFR). Under field conditions, plants constantly balance energy uptake to optimize growth. The dynamic regulation complicates the quantification of cumulative photochemical energy uptake based on the intercepted solar energy, its transduction into biomass, and the identification of efficient breeding lines. Here, we show significant effects on biomass related to genetic variation in photosynthetic efficiency of 178 climbing bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) lines. Under fluctuating conditions, the Fq'/Fm' was monitored throughout the growing period using hand-held and automated chlorophyll fluorescence phenotyping. The seasonal response of Fq'/Fm' to PPFR (ResponseG:PPFR) achieved significant correlations with biomass and yield, ranging from 0.33 to 0.35 and from 0.22 to 0.31 in two glasshouse and three field trials, respectively. Phenomic yield prediction outperformed genomic predictions for new environments in four trials under different growing conditions. Investigating genetic control over photosynthesis, one single nucleotide polymorphism (Chr09_37766289_13052) on chromosome 9 was significantly associated with ResponseG:PPFR in proximity to a candidate gene controlling chloroplast thylakoid formation. In conclusion, photosynthetic screening facilitates and accelerates selection for high yield potential.
New molecular components that regulate the transcriptional hub in root hairs: coupling environmental signals with endogenous hormones to coordinate growth
Authors: Lopez Leonel E , Chuah Yu Song , Encina Felipe , Carignani Sardoy Mariana , Berdion Gabarain Victoria , Mutwil Marek , Estevez José M
Published: October 2023

Root hairs have become an important model system for studying plant growth, and in particular how plants modulate their growth in response to cell-intrinsic and environmental stimuli. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the growth of Arabidopsis root hairs in the interface between responses to environmental cues (e.g. nutrients such as nitrates and phosphate, and microorganisms) and hormonal stimuli (e.g. auxin). Growth of root hairs is under the control of several transcription factors that are also under strong regulation at different levels. We highlight recent new discoveries along these transcriptional pathways that might have the potential to increase our capacity to enhance nutrient uptake by the roots in the context of abiotic stresses. We use the text-mining capacities of the PlantConnectome database to generate an up-to-date view of root hairs growth within these complex biological contexts.
A 15-Year Longitudinal Study of Body Composition in Finnish Military Divers
Authors: Lundell Richard V , Saarelainen Ray , Parkkola Kai I , Wuorimaa Tomi K
Published: October 2023

Introduction

Finnish military divers perform a great variety of tasks all year round, all of which require good physical health and fitness. Poor physical fitness can hinder the ability to cope with different situations. A high body fat percentage has been suggested to increase the risk of decompression sickness, whereas low muscle mass has been associated with an increased risk of musculoskeletal disorders and trauma. However, a low-fat composition may render divers vulnerable to cold and hypothermia during a dive in cold Arctic conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate possible changes in body composition of Finnish military divers during a 15-year follow-up period (2007-2021).

Materials and Methods

We used body composition measures from military divers’ fit-to-dive evaluations from the Finnish Defence Forces’ Diving Medical Centre. Measurements were taken with two bioimpedance devices that function based on the electrical conductivity properties of the human body. The data from both devices were compared with Bland–Altman plots to show that the devices produced congruent data and the results from both devices could be included in the study. Possible changes in body composition were evaluated with a linear mixed model with random intercepts and slopes for each variable.

Results

Results from the two bioimpedance devices showed no significant differences. This allowed us to combine the results in the same data analysis. There were no apparent differences in the age of the divers between the years during the follow-up. The majority of the divers were between 25 and 30 years of age. Age correlated significantly with most measures, the clinically most significant being a higher fat percentage in older divers. However, all measures were within target values defined by the Diving Medical Centre. The divers were able to retain sufficient muscle mass in all age groups.

Discussion and Conclusions

According to this study, Finnish military divers have managed to maintain a surprisingly good muscle mass in all age groups despite body composition changes due to aging in older subjects. A slight increase in fat mass can be observed with increasing age; nevertheless, the values have remained within fit-to-dive target levels. The current training routines of Finnish military divers are adequate for maintaining solid physical fitness and body composition over the course of the diving career.
Conversation Analysis
Authors: Person Raymond
Published: October 2023

Conversation Analysis (hereafter CA) has its origins in qualitative approaches in sociology. In the 1960s and 1970s Harvey Sacks assumed that language is fundamental to all social interaction, so that the study of naturally occurring conversation as the most basic form of language is essential to understanding all human interaction, because of how language creates and shapes even institutional forms of interaction. That is, in order to understand institutional talk, one must first understand everyday conversation and then determine how practices in ordinary talk are adapted in institutional settings. Because of its emphasis on “naturally occurring” conversation, few scholars of CA have applied this method to written texts. Since CA has now had a significant influence in various disciplines—sociology, linguistics, communication, anthropology, and psychology—many of which have also influenced the study of literature, a growing number of literary scholars are using CA in their research. Furthermore, with newer technological forms of communication, a growing number of scholars of CA are applying their methods to written forms of communication. Therefore, the possible interdisciplinary cooperation between CA and literary studies is the topic of this entry. The below bibliography is arranged to provide an introduction to studies by scholars of CA before introducing a representative group of studies by literary scholars who have applied CA in their research. (see also Jack Sidnell, “Conversation Analysis,” Oxford Bibliographies in Linguistics; Michael Emmison, “Conversation Analysis,” Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology; Raymond F. Person Jr., “Conversation Analysis and Biblical Studies,” Oxford Bibliographies in Biblical Studies).
“Acting White” and Oppositional Culture in Education
Authors: Odim Chinyere , Carter Prudence
Published: October 2023

In academic discourse, the concept of “acting white” became popular after the 1986 publication of a seminal article in the Urban Review, written by anthropologists of education, Signithia Fordham and John Ogbu. They posited that African American high school students were “burdened” by a need to negotiate their academic achievement with their racial identities. Findings from their empirical study showed that students equated achievement with conformity or “acting white.” Students who worked hard and gained high marks experienced social stigma from their peers. Specifically, Fordham and Ogbu contended that contemporary African American adolescents resist “acting white” by avoiding or rejecting those social behavioral patterns that they associate with whiteness—embracing the school curriculum, speaking standard English, spending much time in the library, or getting good grades, for example. Consequently, they participate in their own academic underachievement. The researchers argued that there is a cultural distrust in schools among African Americans, the result of their precarity within mainstream, white institutions. Primarily, the “burden of acting white” thesis serves as a popularized articulation of the “oppositional culture” explanation. In the 1970s, Ogbu researched why some minority groups, on average, perform better or worse in school. He conjectured that it is the community forces behind these students that illuminate general patterns in school success or failure. Community forces broadly describe how different groups perceive, interpret, and strategically respond to schooling in ways that correspond to their unique histories and adaptations to their minority status. He dubbed one group as involuntary minorities (or “caste-like minorities”), persons either forcibly conquered (indigenous groups) or brought against their will to an alien context (enslaved persons and their descendants). Ogbu posited that owing to a long history of institutional racism, involuntary minorities’ experiences with discrimination lead to a widespread conviction that education will not yield a payoff in the labor market. Thus, they develop oppositional attitudes toward school and, together with similar peers, may even come to see certain markers of identity as the province of the dominant racial group, Whites. In contrast, “voluntary minorities” (or “immigrant minorities”) view US society from a more culturally relativist perspective, comparing the US opportunity structure to their homelands, and thus respond differently to their social, economic, and political circumstances. According to Ogbu, unlike their involuntary minority peers, voluntary minority youth do not tend to embrace oppositional identities and do not reject mainstream achievement ideology. As a result, he argued, they tend to perform better in school and are more inclined for upward mobility.
African Americans in Europe
Authors: Walker Corey D. B.
Published: October 2023

African Americans have an extensive history and continuing presence in Europe. This reflects the artistic, cultural, and intellectual exchanges between the peoples of Europe and the peoples of Africa since antiquity. With the advent of the transatlantic slave trade and founding of the United States, these exchanges with Europe took on a distinct character as African Americans negotiated the racial and imperial complexities of the United States and modern Europe. Over the span of close to two and a half centuries, African Americans engaged Europe culturally, intellectually, and politically in advancing multiple projects for cultural flourishing, political advancement, and establishing new modes of planetary possibility. African Americans saw Europe as both refuge from the vicissitudes of the racialist and racist protocols of the United States and a haven for the exploration of the full depth and possibility of modern humanity. In Europe, African Americans encountered Africans from the continent and from across the African diaspora and forged new cultural, political, and intellectual links that gave rise to new movements and fresh expressions of human possibility and solidarity. African Americans also forged alliances with Europeans in giving rise to a distinctive African American–inflected “Afro-pean” culture. Europe’s response to African American people, culture, and ideas contained a mix of admiration, appreciation, and respect tinged by racial essentialism, racial exoticism, and racial supremacy. African American responses to European people, culture, and ideas ranged from acceptance of dominant European frameworks and categories to position African Americans as human, modern, and civilized to creative creolization of Europe in forging fresh perspectives of African American culture, identity, and history. For African Americans, Europe was not only a geographic place across the Atlantic; it also served as a powerful symbol of a space where the play of ideas and identities offered possibilities not available within the cultural, geopolitical, and intellectual confines of the United States. African Americans used Europe to define and redefine themselves as well as to fashion new dreams and myths of being and belonging in the world. In other words, the Old World of Europe served as a new world of possibility for African Americans who sought to navigate its refined cultures and stately traditions in forging new paths for African American art, culture, and expression. The history and continuing presence of African Americans in Europe represents a significant element in the ongoing exchanges between the diverse peoples and cultures of Africa and Europe for millennia.
Plautus’s Casina
Authors: Barrios-Lech Peter
Published: October 2023

Casina, Plautus’s last and perhaps most innovative play, arouses, only to subvert, audience expectations. The prologue leads the spectators to believe that the plot will end with the recognition and marriage typical of New Comedy. Instead, it ends with a farcical transvestite wedding, and humiliation of the representative of patriarchal order, the “old man stock-type,” or senex. The audience initially sees in the female lead, Cleostrata, an antagonistic “bossy pants” wife (uxor dotata), contrasted to her neighbor, an obedient “good-wife” type. But both women end up playing the role of tricky slaves (callidi serui), and, together with a female and male slave, conspire to deceive and humiliate the old man (senex). This conspiracy is strikingly reminiscent of the diverse set of people—slaves, free, and women—who had gathered to worship Bacchus, whose cult was suppressed in 186 bce. The comedy thus reflects contemporary concerns and addresses male anxieties: the threat of uprisings among the oppressed, and the increasing independence of women in their marriages. The plot runs as follows. Both Senex (“Lysidamus” in some editions) and his son lust for Casina, a foundling raised by Cleostrata, Senex’s wife. To secure Casina for himself without his wife knowing, Senex chooses his enslaved foreman, Olympio, to marry the girl, on the understanding that, Olympio, once wed, will hand Casina to his owner. Cleostrata, though, is aware of her husband’s plans. To wrest Casina from him, she aims to give Casina to the enslaved armor bearer Chalinus. Senex tries to persuade Chalinus to relinquish Casina to his proxy, Olympio, while Cleostrata attemps to prevail upon the enslaved foreman (uilicus) to give the girl up. Neither owner convinces, so both Lysidamus and Cleostrata agree to draw lots to decide who marries the girl. Olympio wins. Cleostrata duly prepares for the marriage. In the meantime, the arms bearer, Chalinus, overhears Senex and Olympio plotting the tryst, which will take place at the neighbor’s house. Cleostrata, informed of these plans, now sets out to frustrate them. In three tricks of increasing complexity, she and her now-ally, Myrrhina, keep Senex and Olympio away from Casina, frustrating the old man’s opportunity for a night of carousing and forced sex with Casina. The final trick is a sham marriage featuring the cross-dressing Chalinus playing the role of Casina. Duped into believing Chalinus is Casina, Olympio and Senex try to rape “her,” but each man is roughed up by the ‘bride’. The men burst out of the trysting place humiliated, as Myrrhina and Cleostrata watch. Cleostrata permits Senex to regain his status as paterfamilias. The epilogue announces that Senex’ son will marry Casina, discovered to be the daughter of the next-door neighbors.
Nonius Marcellus
Authors: Gatti Paolo
Published: October 2023

Nonius Marcellus is the most important lexicographer of ancient Latinity whose work has come down to us almost in its entirety. Of African origin, from Thubursicum Numidarum, today Khamissa in northeastern Algeria, he is placed chronologically between the fourth and fifth centuries CE. His work is entitled De conpendiosa doctrina. In it, Nonius interprets over 3,000 Latin words or expressions. The work is divided into twenty books. The importance of Nonius today, apart from the information on Latin vocabulary, lies in the numerous quotations from authors who preceded him and whom he cites as authoritative sources (auctoritates). They are mostly authors who worked in the republican period, including authors whose works, for the most part, have been lost in their direct tradition. In this case, Nonius’s testimony is particularly indispensable.
Immigration and Trauma
Authors: Naseh Mitra
Published: October 2023

While most people continue to live in their countries of origin, on average, one in every twenty-eight people lived in a country different from their country of birth by the end of 2021. Researchers commonly categorize migration as either voluntary or forced; however, for many immigrants, the decision to leave could be the result of an array of factors in-between forced decisions and choices. Forced migration is often abrupt and unplanned and happens in response to human-made or natural disasters. Voluntary migration, on the other hand, is usually planned and occurs in search of better living conditions. In the context of forced migration, the decision to leave often happens following a traumatic experience such as violence, persecution, and torture in war or conflict-affected areas or starvation, disease, and loss of friends or family members after natural disasters. For the majority of forced migrants, passing an international border to seek safety is also a life-threatening experience, with the risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation. In the post-migration phase, recognized groups of forcibly displaced people, including refugees, asylum seekers, survivors of trafficking, and unaccompanied minors, receive some level of protection and specific rights. Immigrants who are not recognized as groups needing protection should present the legal documents required by host countries upon arrival; otherwise, they may face further traumatic experiences such as violence, deportation or detention, and verbal or physical abuse in transit. Leaving familiar spaces behind, arduous journeys to host countries, and adjusting to new environments often bring major stressors to the life of different groups of immigrants, including those who left their countries voluntarily. Immigrants may live with a profound sense of loss as the result of family separation or loss of familiar language, values, culture, attitudes, and support networks. Stressors associated with acculturation, role change and changes in the family system, under-evaluation of education or skills, susceptibility to economic insecurity and exploitation, isolation, difficulty accessing resources and navigating complex and unfamiliar systems, language barriers, anti-immigrant environments, discrimination, limited social supports, and worries about family welfare are also common among different groups of immigrants.
War Crimes and Tribunals
Authors: Dittrich Viviane
Published: October 2023

Accountability has featured prominently in peace and justice debates. A by now common response to crimes committed is turning to law and holding individuals accountable in courts and tribunals. Nuremberg has largely been considered the birthplace of modern international criminal law. A new interpretation of state sovereignty and the principle and practice that war crimes are prosecuted and punished through legal proceedings, and not with revenge and war, had a defining effect. Even though the first attempts at prosecuting and punishing crimes go farther back in history, the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals represent a landmark development in holding individuals criminally responsible and in building a rules-based international order. The fundamental legal principle of individual criminal responsibility irrespective of one’s office or person was prominently enshrined in the Nuremberg Principles. After decades of political inertia, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), and several hybrid courts were established. The creation of the ICC was a milestone in institutionalizing international criminal prosecution. Various war crimes trials were also held at the national level. The development of international criminal law, however, has not been linear, nor does the common refrain “From Nuremberg to The Hague” fully capture the myriad developments at the international and national level. International criminal justice continues to be shaped by the interplay of politics and law. The collected contributions address key questions in the study of war crimes trials and tribunals: Who gets prosecuted and for which crimes—where, when, how, why and by whom? What/whose purpose do tribunals serve? How have the early war crimes trials shaped later tribunals and accountability efforts? What kind of justice do tribunals achieve? How effective are such tribunals and what is their impact and legacy? This bibliography aims to provide an introduction to English language scholarship on trials and tribunals, dealing with the core crimes in the canon of international criminal law: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression. This bibliography mostly limits itself to book-length works. This article cannot cover in depth the vast international law scholarship on definitions of crimes, doctrinal debates, procedure, and jurisprudence, nor international humanitarian law and human rights law publications. Nor can it focus on the wider literature on transitional justice or restorative justice and quasi-judicial or nonjudicial mechanisms as alternatives to trials.
Post-humanism and Environmental Education
Authors: Malone Karen , Young Tracy , Tran Chi
Published: October 2023

Posthumanist thinking opens new possibilities for research that informs new imaginaries for teaching and learning in environmental education. Posthumanism attends to decentering the human, by seeking the means to acknowledge and navigate our symbiotic relationship of being in the world with a host of others. A posthumanist perspective therefore takes seriously the need to halt the “anthropological machine,” the constant “production” of absolute dividing lines between humans and the rest of the natural world. Posthumanist theorizing also reflects a philosophical understanding that extends subjectivities beyond the human species by disrupting the dominance of anthropocentric thinking and humancentric ethics in Western imperial thought. Both posthuman and new materialist approaches seek to rework the human subject and disrupt the Cartesian divide by being critical of binaries such as the human/nature, object/subject, divide have emerged. Posthuman and materialist thought in Western imperial thought can be traced back to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ historical materialism, Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy, Baruch Spinoza’s monism, certain post-phenomenological approaches, animisms, Buddhism, and often neglected “relational knowledges” attributed to First Nations and Indigenous people. The recent work of Deleuze and Guattari and Rosi Braidotti has been influential in making bridges between these past philosophies located in the humanities and the emergence of a “new humanities”—posthumanism. With the advent of the posthuman turn, many deep ecologists, ecofeminists, and non-Western philosophers sought also to disrupt and shake the values and ethical systems within the science and social science disciplines, with a view to shift consensus of default and entrenched environmental worldviews. This new paradigm was seen as critical if humanity was to respond to the ecological atrocities and legacies of Western capitalism. Post-anthropocentrism was argued as an imperative if humans were to counter the ecological crisis. As was the naming of the Anthropocene, adding a sense of urgency to address and reconstitute the human/nature disconnect. The critical role of environmental education, sustainability education, and outdoor education to engage everyday citizens through education at all levels was seen as a global concern. By unpacking posthumanism and how it aligns with environmental education, the authors of this article aim to generate thought-provoking ideas for educators, researchers, and authors who are exploring and writing papers on this topic. The entry is divided into thirteen sections.
Gender-Based Violence on University Campuses
Authors: Christensen M. Candace , Baldwin-White Adrienne , McMahon Sheila M.
Published: October 2023

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a public health concern. GBV includes stalking, sexual assault, intimate partner/dating violence, and sexual harassment. Globally, between 4 percent and 17 percent of college women and 7 percent and 8 percent of college men report experiencing sexual violence. Although we do not know the true magnitude of sexual assault, defined as any nonconsensual sexual act, studies have demonstrated that in the United States between 20 percent and 26.4 percent of undergraduate females have been sexually assaulted, and between 6 percent and 8 percent of undergraduate males. In the United States, between 6 percent and 39 percent of college students report experiencing stalking, a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for their safety or suffer emotional distress. Approximately 40 percent of college students report experiencing some form of dating violence. Dating violence/intimate partner violence is a pattern of coercive and abusive tactics employed by one person in a relationship to gain power and control over another. Finally, sexual harassment constitutes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. Forty-one percent of college students experience sexual harassment. One contributing factor to the high rates of GBV on college campuses could be the development and social changes occurring during emerging adulthood. They are learning to develop relationships in a new environment, while simultaneously figuring out who they are and what they want in a partner. In addition, college students are often beginning college with inadequate sex and consent education. Without the proper tools to maintain healthy relationships, college students are at an increased risk of experiencing relationship-related and sexual violence. GBV has multiple negative effects, including depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, increased risk of substance use, and disordered eating. Despite the stereotype of the college student being a white middle- or upper-class cisgender straight man, universities have many vulnerable students with marginalized identities. These students are also at a greater risk of experiencing GBV, and subsequent mental health issues. Addressing GBV requires an intersectional approach with a focus on primary prevention. Innovations in programming have not led to a reduction in rates of GBV. In addition, programming has typically been based on the experiences of straight cisgender White women. Therefore many communities are excluded from programming. Intersectionality considers the social positions of individuals and communities in relation to how much sociopolitical power they have, as well as the role this plays in preventing and responding to GBV. Marginalized groups are not only at increased risk because of their marginalized status, but also because their unique needs and norms are not addressed in programming.
Developmental Pragmatics
Authors: Zhu Weihua
Published: October 2023

Developmental pragmatics can be understood as growing the skills of using a language appropriately in context. In other words, it concerns the evolution of abilities to cope with the interplay between language, language users, and context. To become pragmatically competent, language users need to have linguistic resources, understand the context of interaction, and employ the resources in the context appropriately. This competence takes time to develop, which is the focus of developmental pragmatics research. Researchers in this field study how language users improve pragmatic competence over time or what contextual factors affect the development of pragmatic competence. Different points of time are the key to revealing the development of pragmatic competence and distinguishing developmental pragmatics from other subfields of pragmatics. These different points of time can be indicated by language users’ ages or language proficiency levels. Language users can develop their pragmatic competence in a first language or a second language. This article is organized around two broad topics—first language pragmatic development and second language pragmatic development. Under these two general topics are more specific subtopics about preverbal pragmatic development, development of conversation organization, communicative acts, pragmatic awareness, among others.
Conceptions of Childhood in Premodern China
Authors: Zhao Jingyi
Published: October 2023

This article covers scholarship on the history of childhood in China from the pre-Qin period up until the end of imperial China (1912 CE). As with histories of childhood elsewhere in the world, the history of childhood in China had been much neglected until recent decades, when a number of important publications in the 1990s and 2000s paved the path for the field. Even then, while there has been a staggering rise in studies on childhood in contemporary China, in particular with relation to education and the family, the same cannot be said for the history of childhood in the premodern period. There has been a general tendency to underestimate the amount of evidence available on children in premodern China, particularly with reference to the early period. In fact, much can be gleaned about Chinese childhood with the available sources: while some give glimpses into the lives that children led during specific moments in history, others contain theories and ideals about children and thus cannot be relied on to reflect realities of childhood. Nonetheless, all provide invaluable insight into the social roles and expectations of children and sometimes of their carers, even if the evidence available predominantly concerns the lives of the elite. The primary and secondary sources invite reflections on a series of issues pertaining to children’s lives, including children’s health, education, and welfare, and beyond those to the sociopolitical situation of the times. Childhood studies often intersect with the fields of education, gender, and the family. For purposes of maintaining focus on children’s history, this article shall only include works that have a direct bearing on the history of childhood. The primary focus is on literature published in the English language, though some landmark publications written in other languages, in particular Chinese, are also included.
George Meredith
Authors: Banerjee Jacqueline
Published: October 2023

“Ah! Meredith! Who can define him?” asked Oscar Wilde in his essay “The Decay of Lying.” Highly influential in his own time, George Meredith (b. 1828–d. 1909) was a larger-than-life figure. Novelist, poet, occasional essayist, journalist, and dramatist, he was also, for over three decades, a reader for the great London publishing house, Chapman and Hall. As a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites, he even cut a figure in the art world, modeling for Henry Wallis’s well-known The Death of Chatterton. He voiced his opinions on many issues that exercised the Victorians, from evolution to feminism. Through all these avenues Meredith made an immense contribution to the literature of the age, and to its broader cultural context. Seen at the time as the last Victorian sage, in 1905 he was among the second batch of those appointed to the Order of Merit, becoming the first literary figure to receive this honor. By then his work had inspired the succeeding generation of writers. Yet his reputation with the wider public had grown slowly and was already waning. The major barrier to popular recognition had always been his self-consciously condensed and figurative style; now its experimental nature marked him as an early modernist. Nevertheless, during the early twentieth century, only the confessional sonnets of his “Modern Love” sequence (1862), and a few of his novels, principally The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859), The Egoist (1879), and Diana of the Crossways (1885), along with his Essay in Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit (1877), continued to be read and studied. In the 1950s, however, signs of new interest appeared, followed by a more significant surge in the 1970s. Important critics were now discovering why, in another of his essays (“The Critic as Artist”), Wilde had described Meredith as the one “incomparable novelist” of his time. The twenty-first century has brought Meredith to the forefront again, with recent scholars finding fresh points of entry into his work. In particular, they have been bringing new critical theories to bear on his innovative narrative techniques, and demonstrating that his unique style was much more than a reflection of his energetic, opinionated cast of mind: it expresses with rare immediacy and subtlety the workings of the psyche, and its engagement with others, with society, and with the larger world. Studying Meredith today is exhilarating, and enriches our understanding not only of the Victorian age, but of ourselves.
William Carlos Williams
Authors: Steinman Lisa M.
Published: October 2023

William Carlos Williams (b. 1883–d. 1963) is now recognized as an American poet who was a major influence on later poetry in English, especially on American poetry, although his reputation during his lifetime grew slowly. He also wrote plays, novels, short stories, translations, essays, and an autobiography. Often characterized as an early Imagist poet, who knew Ezra Pound and Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)—both also associated with Imagism—from their time together at the University of Pennsylvania, Williams equally experimented with other poetic styles, inspired by early-20th-century modernist movements in literature and the visual art including Dada, Cubism, Surrealism, and Precisionism. The number of genres and styles at which Williams tried his hand make it difficult to characterize his literary work or legacy succinctly. The son of an English father and a Puerto Rican mother who emigrated from Puerto Rico to the United States and settled in Rutherford, New Jersey, to raise their family, Williams grew up in a household where English, Spanish, and French were spoken; he attended secondary school outside Geneva, Switzerland, from 1897 through 1899. He then studied at the Horace Mann School in New York and entered the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, graduating in 1906, following which he interned in New York and studied pediatrics in Leipzig, Germany. While Williams is accurately associated with championing the local—including in his writing details of his life and work in his home town, to which he returned to set up a practice as a doctor working with patients who were often poor, immigrants, or minorities—Williams was not provincial. He knew German along with Spanish, French, and English; he was active in arts communities in the New York City area, and he edited or coedited a number of small arts magazines even as he earned his living as a doctor. His first two books of poetry—the self-published Poems (1909) and The Tempers (1913)—were not particularly notable or noticed, although by the time he published Al Que Quiere! (1917), Kora in Hell: Improvisations (1920), Sour Grapes (1921), The Great American Novel, and Spring and All (the last two both in 1923) his work attracted more attention, even if it was still at first not widely known. By 1963, he had published forty-nine books and pamphlets, won a National Book Award, and was posthumously awarded both a Pulitzer Prize and the Gold Medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.