bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Of Music and the Maharaja: Gender, affect, and power in Ranjit Singh's Lahore
Authors: KAPURIA RADHA
Published: July 2019

This article focuses on performing artists at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (r. 1801–39), the last fully sovereign ruler of the Punjab and leader of what is termed the Sikh empire. After Ranjit's death, his successors ruled for a mere decade before British annexation in 1849. Ranjit Singh's kingdom has been studied for the extraordinary authority it exercised over warring Sikh factions and for the strong challenge it posed to political rivals like the British. Scholarly exploration of cultural efflorescence at the Lahore court has ignored the role of performing artistes, despite a preponderance of references to them in both Persian chronicles of the Lahore court and in European travelogues of the time. I demonstrate how Ranjit Singh was partial to musicians and dancers as a class, even marrying two Muslim courtesans in the face of stiff Sikh orthodoxy. A particular focus is on Ranjit's corps of ‘Amazons’—female dancers performing martial feats dressed as men—the cynosure of all eyes, especially male European, and their significance in representing the martial glory of the Sikh state. Finally, I evaluate the curious cultural misunderstandings that arose when English ‘dancing’ encountered Indian ‘nautching’, revealing how gender was the primary axis around which Indian and European male statesmen alike expressed their power. Ubiquitous in the daily routine of Ranjit and the lavish entertainments set up for visitors, musicians and female performers lay at the interstices of the Indo-European encounter, and Anglo-Sikh interactions in particular.
Social Service Provision by Minority Religious Organizations: A Case Study of the Islamic Movement in Kafr Qassim
Authors: ESEED RANA
Published: July 2019

This study examines what motivates an organization representing a religious-national minority to provide social services. The case study for examining this issue is the Islamic Movement in Palestinian society in Israel, and specifically its social activities in the town of Kafr Qassim. The article analyzes the factors leading to the development of the movement’s various services in the town by tracing their historical development and current offerings. This case study analysis is informed by two theoretical bodies of knowledge: the development of NGOs and the development of faith-based organizations. The data is based upon 17 semi-structured in-depth interviews with the heads of all the social services, social activists and municipality representatives in Kafr Qassim, where the movement was established. Some of the interviews also include tours and observations of actual services provision. Additional sources include archival documents, such as the organization’s regulations and work plans. The findings identify three main factors in the development of minority religious organizations: government failure in providing services (necessary factor) and religious ideology and mobilization of political support as secondary factors. All three are grounded in the ongoing conflict between the Palestinian minority group and the state.
Scientific Development of HTA—A Proposal by the Health Technology Assessment International Scientific Development and Capacity Building Committee
Authors: van der Wilt Gert Jan , Rüther Alric , Trowman Rebecca
Published: July 2019

Objectives

To report from the Scientific Development and Capacity Building Committee of Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) on activities that are being undertaken within HTAi regarding the promotion of scientific rigor in the field of health technology assessment (HTA).

Methods

Retrieval of definitions of HTA that the SDCB committee considered reflective of the current practice of HTA, followed by a narrative synthesis of the core components of HTA.

Results

Several definitions of HTA have been provided, all sharing the notion that HTA is the formal, systematic, and transparent inquiry into the meaning and value, broadly defined, of health technologies, when used in specific patient populations.

Many frameworks and tools have been developed for assessing the quality of specific tasks that may be conducted in the context of HTA. Collating such frameworks and tools is likely to be helpful in developing standards and in providing guidance as to how the scientific quality of HTA may be secured. Two current trends in HTA were noted: a stronger health systems focus, and the need to involve stakeholders throughout the HTA process. A wider systems’ perspective requires that plausible alternative scenarios are being developed, and wide consultation of various stakeholders is a prerequisite to the development of such scenarios with data from various sources.

Conclusions

Current trends in HTA will lead to different demands on the HTA expert. The task of this emerging policy professional would be not just to provide technical information for problem-solving, but also to combine it with a new function of facilitating public deliberation and learning.
Estimating the effectiveness of vaccine programs in dog populations
Authors: Wallace R.M. , Undurraga E.A. , Gibson A. , Boone J. , Pieracci E.G. , Gamble L. , Blanton J.D.
Published: July 2019

Dogs harbor numerous zoonotic pathogens, many of which are controlled through vaccination programs. The delivery of these programs can be difficult where resources are limited. We developed a dynamic model to estimate vaccination coverage and cost-per-dog vaccinated. The model considers the main factors that affect vaccination programs: dog demographics, effectiveness of strategies, efficacy of interventions and cost. The model was evaluated on data from 18 vaccination programs representing eight countries. Sensitivity analysis was performed for dog confinement and vaccination strategies. The average difference between modelled vaccination coverage and field data was 3.8% (2.3%–5.3%). Central point vaccination was the most cost-effective vaccination strategy when >88% of the dog population was confined. More active methods of vaccination, such as door-to-door or capture-vaccinate-release, achieved higher vaccination coverage in free-roaming dog populations but were more costly. This open-access tool can aid in planning more efficient vaccination campaigns in countries with limited resources.
Respiratory syncytial virus hospitalisations among young children: a data linkage study
Authors: Prasad Namrata , Newbern E. Claire , Trenholme Adrian A. , Wood Tim , Thompson Mark G. , Aminisani Nayyereh , Huang Q. Sue , Grant Cameron C.
Published: July 2019

We aimed to provide comprehensive estimates of laboratory-confirmed respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-associated hospitalisations. Between 2012 and 2015, active surveillance of acute respiratory infection (ARI) hospitalisations during winter seasons was used to estimate the seasonal incidence of laboratory-confirmed RSV hospitalisations in children aged <5 years in Auckland, New Zealand (NZ). Incidence rates were estimated by fine age group, ethnicity and socio-economic status (SES) strata. Additionally, RSV disease estimates determined through active surveillance were compared to rates estimated from hospital discharge codes. There were 5309 ARI hospitalisations among children during the study period, of which 3923 (73.9%) were tested for RSV and 1597 (40.7%) were RSV-positive. The seasonal incidence of RSV-associated ARI hospitalisations, once corrected for non-testing, was 6.1 (95% confidence intervals 5.8–6.4) per 1000 children <5 years old. The highest incidence was among children aged <3 months. Being of indigenous Māori or Pacific ethnicity or living in a neighbourhood with low SES independently increased the risk of an RSV-associated hospitalisation. RSV hospital discharge codes had a sensitivity of 71% for identifying laboratory-confirmed RSV cases. RSV infection is a leading cause of hospitalisation among children in NZ, with significant disparities by ethnicity and SES. Our findings highlight the need for effective RSV vaccines and therapies.
Building on an old feature inlangue d’Oïl: interrogatives in Vimeu Picard
Authors: Auger Julie , Villeneuve Anne-José
Published: July 2019

Picard faces challenges in its quest for recognition, in part due to its perceived similarity with French. While scholars recognize that Picard and French phonology, morphology and lexicon differ considerably, some scholars maintain that Picard syntax differs little from French. Suspecting that such assessments are based on superficial comparisons, we test their validity by performing comparative variationist analyses of Picard and French morphosyntactic structures. This article focuses on interrogatives. We compare older and contemporary written data, as well as contemporary oral data, and show that Picard and French use their shared structures differently and that the Picard Yes/No interrogative system is complex but constrained by two linguistic factors: polarity and person. We report very different distributions of SV, inversion and interrogative –tibased on polarity and show that negative markerspointandmieconstrain the choice of interrogative structure. For affirmative interrogatives, we show that the distribution of interrogative structures is strongly constrained by the subject person. A diachronic analysis of text from nine authors from three generations reveals overall stability over time, with some signs of convergence toward French in the middle generation but a reversal to the older patterns in the youngest generation.
Picard: amal aiméamong regional languages?
Authors: Hornsby David
Published: July 2019

Although often seen as a medieval rival to French, Picard has received far less official recognition and support than more celebrated regional languages such as Breton or Occitan. A shared history and high degree of linguistic similarity with the national language appear to have engendered a perception that it is simply ‘bad French’, but for supporters such Eloy (1997) Picard remainspotentiellement une vraie langue, worthy and in need of status enhancement initiatives enjoyed by other regional languages. Promotion of language status for Picard, however, is found to be fraught with practical difficulties, not least of which are a lack of territorial unity and major cultural differences between the north and south of the picardophone area. Equally importantly, the discourse of languagehood fosters notions of linguistic purity which ignore the extensive mixing of local, supralocal and national elements that has always been evident in Picard writing and speech. This in turn engenders linguistic insecurity, notably among urban working-class speakers, whose speech can all too easily be caricatured as both ‘bad French’ and ‘bad patois’, with obvious consequences for intergenerational transmission. The well-intentioned promotion of Picard as a regional language may therefore, perversely, be detrimental to the very varieties it serves.
Totality
Authors: Kornbluh Anna
Published: July 2019

“Totality” offers itself for reading under the rubric of “defamiliarization” less on the basis of our overfamiliarity with it than on account of our already estranged relationship to it. Not only literary critics but also cultural theorists, art historians, and philosophers bid “totality” adieu in the 1990s through the influence of Jean-François Lyotard's forging of a causal link between thought under the sign of totality and action under the sign of totalitarianism, and his ensuing imperative, “Let us wage a war on totality.” The war is over and done with now that the eminently influential Bruno Latour has decried the intellectual and political fallout of “totality” on his way to explicitly resignifying Margaret Thatcher's dictum, “There is no such thing as society.” Yet in the process of conflating academic method and political action, the victors in this war have shrouded totality in confusion. It is the goal of this brief essay to address this confusion, to defamiliarize our defamiliarization. Victorianists in particular should take up the problematic anew, since totality has long been the lynchpin of modernist and postmodernist dismissals of Victorian literature as at once naïve and sinister, encyclopedic and imperialist, bloated, boring, and baggy. When Victorianists have tried to defend against these dismissals, they have generally emphasized that the fiction of the period is more fragmented, self-reflexive, and modernist than such charges admit—that, in short, the novel should not be associated with totality. But this cedes too much ground to bad definitions of totality. Another path to reclaim the aesthetic strengths and epistemic benefits of our period's literature would be to strike at the root, regrounding better definitions.
Dickens's Talking Dogs: Allegories of Animal Voice in the Victorian Novel
Authors: Cohn Elisha
Published: July 2019

How does the category of the “animal” contribute to the Victorian novel? In the 1840s and 1850s, magazines offered endless short tales of “animal sagacity” that most commonly featured dogs, demonstrating the virtues of the species. An 1858 article inHousehold Words,“Old Dog Tray,” observes, “Alas! not a day will pass but we can descry human qualities in the brute, and brute qualities in the human being; and, alas again, how often we find a balance of love, fidelity, truth, generosity, on the side of the brute!” In the 1850s and 1860s, the analogies between human and animal behavior upon which these tales depended became a resource to the growing fields of comparative ethology and evolutionary theory—Frances Power Cobbe would suggest in 1877 that dogs had “reflex morality.” Meanwhile, novels from this period increasingly raised questions of the scientific, political, and aesthetic value of claims of resemblance among species. For Charles Dickens, whose work offered a capacious image of the London population, the question of who belongs in a family, a community, or a nation persistently turned to the status of animals. In his work, animal figures mark meditations on the conditions and limits of social inclusion.
Human in the Humanities
Authors: Auyoung Elaine
Published: July 2019

I first met Elaine Freedgood seven years ago, when she sent an abstract to me after her friend and colleague, Toral Gajarawala, came across a call for papers I had posted for an MLA session on fictional worlds. Since then, I've been just one of many people who have received tremendous behind-the-scenes support from Elaine, and I want to take some time to reflect on this profound but largely invisible way in which she has contributed to the profession. At the same time that Elaine has forged lifelong friendships with her students, continuing to support them long after they have moved on to new institutions and new stages of life, she has also cultivated close relationships with countless PhD candidates, job-seekers, and junior faculty members who never had a chance to pass through her classroom. What makes these relationships so special is precisely their unofficial, noninstitutional nature—in much the same way that it can be so important and life-changing for teenagers to have a “cool” adult in their lives who is not one of their parents.
Metaleptic Mourning
Authors: Christoff Alicia Mireles
Published: July 2019

In February 2003 my close friend Jeff Hubbard died in a car accident, taking the curve of an icy metro Detroit highway exit ramp too fast late one weekend night. He was twenty years old and had been living at home with his parents since we graduated from high school, working odd jobs—a host at a Mexican restaurant, a temporary letter carrier for the USPS—and helping take care of his young nephew. I was in college in New York, and a friend called to give me the news. I knew that I needed to go home to Michigan for the funeral to believe that it had really happened.
DISTALITY OF CERTAIN ACTIONS ON -ADIC SPHERES
Authors: SHAH RIDDHI , YADAV ALOK KUMAR
Published: July 2019

Consider the action of $\operatorname{GL}(n,\mathbb{Q}_{p})$ on the $p$-adic unit sphere ${\mathcal{S}}_{n}$ arising from the linear action on $\mathbb{Q}_{p}^{n}\setminus \{0\}$. We show that for the action of a semigroup $\mathfrak{S}$ of $\operatorname{GL}(n,\mathbb{Q}_{p})$ on ${\mathcal{S}}_{n}$, the following are equivalent: (1) $\mathfrak{S}$ acts distally on ${\mathcal{S}}_{n}$; (2) the closure of the image of $\mathfrak{S}$ in $\operatorname{PGL}(n,\mathbb{Q}_{p})$ is a compact group. On ${\mathcal{S}}_{n}$, we consider the ‘affine’ maps $\overline{T}_{a}$ corresponding to $T$ in $\operatorname{GL}(n,\mathbb{Q}_{p})$ and a nonzero $a$ in $\mathbb{Q}_{p}^{n}$ satisfying $\Vert T^{-1}(a)\Vert _{p}<1$. We show that there exists a compact open subgroup $V$, which depends on $T$, such that $\overline{T}_{a}$ is distal for every nonzero $a\in V$ if and only if $T$ acts distally on ${\mathcal{S}}_{n}$. The dynamics of ‘affine’ maps on $p$-adic unit spheres is quite different from that on the real unit spheres.
Degree Resultatives as Second-Order Constructions
Authors: Hoeksema Jack , Napoli Donna Jo
Published: July 2019

Resultatives in English and Dutch have developed special degree readings. These readings stem from a reinterpretation of the resultative predicate as indicating a high degree rather than an actual result. For example, when a parent saysI love youtodeath, one need not call the cops, since the sentence is not about love turning lethal, but merely indicative of a high degree of affection. Such cases have often been noted in the literature as idiomatic, but this view ignores the fact that these are not isolated cases but productive constructions that can be used with a variety of verbs. We explore various resultative constructions in English and Dutch, and give a classification of the subtypes involved as well as their diachronic development from ordinary to degree interpretation. We link these subtypes to lexical semantic classes of verbs. Both English and Dutch show a steady growth in the lexical and structural diversity of degree resultatives throughout the early modern and contemporary periods (1600-2000). We focus in our paper on the period 1800-2000, for which we did an extensive corpus study using the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) and Delpher (a collection of digitized Dutch newspapers, journals, magazines, and other resources). One of our findings is that, similar to other types of expressive language, such as degree modification and emphatic negation, taboo expressions play a role in degree resultatives; in fact, their role is excessive. We outline a number of the commonalities among the semantic domains of expressive language used in resultatives.
Eating Cotton: Cottonseed, Crisco, and Consumer Ignorance
Authors: Veit Helen Zoe
Published: July 2019

Americans have eaten significant amounts of cottonseed oil since the late nineteenth century. Yet for generations, few Americans have known how often they eat foods made from the cotton plant. Crisco paved the way for this kind of consumer ignorance. Launched by the Procter & Gamble company in 1911, Crisco was a wholly new product: a solid fat made entirely from liquid cottonseed oil, the result of the novel technology of hydrogenation. Responding to tenacious prejudice against cottonseed, Crisco's marketers made consumer ignorance acceptable by promoting the idea that industrial processing was akin to purification and encouraging consumers to put trust in brands rather than to focus on ingredients. The Progressive Era is supposed to be a period when food processing became increasingly transparent, and in some ways it was. But in the wake of the Pure Food legislation of 1906 and in conjunction with an exploding food advertising industry that highlighted factory processing as a unique virtue, American consumers increasingly trusted both government oversight and industrial food production. Cottonseed oil's history is ultimately a story of consumers’ growing confidence in highly processed food and their growing comfort with ignorance about the ingredients that went into it.
Ocean Dynamics of Outer Solar System Satellites
Authors: Soderlund Krista M.
Published: July 2019

Ocean worlds are prevalent in the solar system. Focusing on Enceladus, Titan, Europa, and Ganymede, I use rotating convection theory and numerical simulations to predict ocean currents and the potential for ice‐ocean coupling. When the influence of rotation is relatively strong, the oceans have multiple zonal jets, axial convective motions, and most efficient heat transfer at high latitudes. This regime is most relevant to Enceladus and possibly to Titan and may help explain their long‐wavelength topography. For a more moderate rotational influence, fewer zonal jets form, Hadley‐like circulation cells develop, and heat flux peaks near the equator. This regime is predicted for Europa, where it may help drive geologic activity via thermocompositional diapirism in the ice shell, and is possible for Titan. Weak rotational influence allows concentric zonal flows and overturning cells with no preferred orientation. Predictions for Ganymede's ocean span multiple regimes.
Effects of Roughness Reynolds Number on Scalar Transfer Mechanisms at the Sediment‐Water Interface
Authors: He G. J. , Han X. , Fang H. W. , Reible D. , Huang L.
Published: July 2019

The passive scalar transport across a sediment‐water interface (SWI) is of fundamental importance to river environments. A model for scalar transfer from water to organic sediment bed is developed. The bed is formed by packed particles so that combined effect of permeability and roughness can be considered. Large‐eddy simulation is used to get spatial and temporal information. The numerical results are compared to data from laboratory experiments, which stress the importance of considering bed roughness to better characterize the turbulent diffusion across the SWI. From the smooth regime to the transitionally regime, the turbulent diffusion exceeds the molecular diffusion and the dominating role at the interface changes from molecular diffusion to turbulent diffusion. In the completely rough regime, the molecular diffusive flux can be ignored compared with the turbulent flux. Moreover, turbulent Schmidt number is found to be higher near the SWI and lower around the middle of flow depth, ranging from 0.5 to 1. The results will be helpful to design the parameterization for the scalar transport over streams, rivers, or coastal areas where flow near the bed surface is relatively high and hyporheic exchange is affected by roughness and bed permeability.
Migration of Very Long Period Seismicity at Aso Volcano, Japan, Associated With the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake
Authors: Hendriyana Andri , Tsuji Takeshi
Published: July 2019

Earthquakes are known to precede volcanic activity, including long‐period or very long period (VLP) volcanic seismicity. However, the relationships among earthquakes, VLP seismicity, and volcanic eruptions are not well understood. Here we present the locations of VLP seismicity at Aso volcano, Japan, between January 2015 and December 2016, a period that includes the Mw 7.0 Kumamoto earthquake and phreatomagmatic eruptions. By using a differential‐time backprojection method developed in this study to accurately locate VLP events, we clearly identified two distinct VLP clusters. Whereas the eastern cluster was active during eruptions, the western cluster displayed intense VLP seismicity only for a few months after the earthquake. The western cluster may be associated with opening of new fractures during the earthquake. This study explores the mechanisms that can relate earthquake to volcanic activities and provides a new approach to analyze the dynamic behaviors inside volcanoes that may yield useful information for hazard evaluation.
Disentangling the Simultaneous Effects of Inertial Losses and Fracture Dilation on Permeability of Pressurized Fractured Rocks
Authors: Zhou Jia‐Qing , Chen Yi‐Feng , Tang Huiming , Wang Lichun , Cardenas M. Bayani
Published: July 2019

How fluids flow through pressurized fractured rocks is relevant to many engineering applications and geophysical processes including fault rupturing, hydraulic fracturing, induced seismicity, fluid extraction, and contaminant transport. With increasing fluid pressure and concomitantly elevated hydraulic gradient, the permeability of fractured rock is reduced because of inertial losses within the fluid. There is an accompanying flow regime change when this happens. On the other hand, increasing pressure causes fracture dilation which enhances permeability. In this case, the fracture geometry changes. These two competing consequences of increasing pressure had always been studied independently. Here we present an analytical expression for fractured rock permeability where flow regime and medium geometry simultaneously co‐evolve. The theory was applied to core and field flow tests. With continuously increasing fluid pressure, the inertial effect on permeability first dominates over that of fracture dilation and this dominance theoretically reverses at Forchheimer number = 1/3.
Single‐Column Emulation of Reanalysis of the Northeast Pacific Marine Boundary Layer
Authors: McGibbon J. , Bretherton C. S.
Published: July 2019

An artificial neural network is trained to reproduce thermodynamic tendencies and boundary layer properties from European Center for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5th Generation high resolution realization reanalysis data over the summertime northeast Pacific stratocumulus to trade cumulus transition region. The network is trained prognostically using 7‐day forecasts rather than using diagnosed instantaneous tendencies alone. The resulting model, Machine‐Assisted Reanalysis Boundary Layer Emulation, skillfully reproduces the boundary layer structure and cloud properties of the reanalysis data in 7‐day single‐column prognostic simulations over withheld testing periods. Radiative heating profiles are well simulated, and the mean climatology and variability of the stratocumulus to cumulus transition are accurately reproduced. Machine‐Assisted Reanalysis Boundary Layer Emulation more closely tracks the reanalysis than does a comparable configuration of the underlying forecast model.
Impacts of the ENSO Lifecycle on Stratospheric Ozone and Temperature
Authors: Lin Jialin , Qian Taotao
Published: July 2019

This study examines the variations of stratospheric temperature and ozone associated with the lifecycle of El Nino‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Significant stratospheric temperature and ozone anomalies are found not only during El Nino and La Nina, but also during the transition phases in between, and anomalies during the cold‐to‐warm transition generally mirror those during the warm‐to‐cold transition. Zonal mean temperature anomalies propagate slowly upward over northern midlatitudes but downward over the Arctic. The strongest ozone anomalies over Antarctica occur one year after El Nino and La Nina, which show a dipole structure between the upper stratosphere and the lower stratosphere. The ozone anomalies are associated with anomalous Brewer‐Dobson circulation and anomalous Eliassen‐Palm flux divergence.
Empathy and Forgiveness Among Mozambican Wives
Authors: Vera Cruz Germano , Mullet Etienne
Published: July 2019

The relationship between empathy and forgiveness was assessed in a sample of Mozambican wives. A sample of 225 wives was presented with 24 vignettes depicting an affair between a husband and a woman. Vignettes were composed of all combinations of three factors: the length of the marriage, the severity of the affair, and the presence and nature of apologies. Wives were asked to judge the extent to which, in such circumstances, they would be able to regain the ability to empathize with their husband and, later, the degree to which they would feel able to forgive him. Through cluster analysis, qualitatively different positions were found. For 47%, it was never easy either to regain empathy or to forgive. For 8%, it was always easy. For 28%, it depended on the severity of the affair and on the presence of apologies. For the remaining 18%, it also depended on the length of marriage. Overall, in 71% of the cases, positions were similar with regard to both, empathy and forgiveness. Nevertheless, in 29% of the cases, positions differed. Because for most wives empathy was thus very closely associated with forgiveness, the results suggest that empathy-centered psychological therapies can be considered as quite appropriate in the Mozambican context in situations in which women would like to forgive more or less severe transgressions. However, given that for 21% of the women the empathy–forgiveness association appeared to be much weaker, alternative therapies based on practices developed by local women’s associations should also be considered.
Teaching About Women and Gender From a Transnational and Intersectional Feminist Perspective
Authors: Canetto Silvia Sara
Published: July 2019

Teaching about women and gender in psychology has been transformed in response to the field’s leading frameworks (e.g., diversity, intersectionality). For example, the content of U.S. psychology of women and gender textbooks has evolved, from a focus on a privileged range of humanity and a reliance on laboratory studies of college students, to addressing real-life issues of a diversity of women and men. The content of U.S. psychology of women and gender textbooks is, however, still centered on U.S. women and men and without acknowledgment of the cultural specificity of U.S. experiences. It also lags behind in terms of another important framework, that is, a transnational perspective. This article features a review of analytics for teaching about women and gender from a transnational and intersectional feminist perspective in psychology. These analytics are that (a) all theories and research findings are culture-bound; (b) there is variability in gender equality within and across countries; (c) historical perspectives on gender are critical in the psychology of women and gender class; (d) an examination of transnational systems and forces is necessary in the psychology of women and gender class; and (e) women’s experiences are not the same everywhere because of intersectionalities and context, but are similar as related to patriarchy being a transnationally dominant system. Sample practices and resources to teach about women and gender based on these transnational and intersectional feminist analytics are described.
Foetal oestrogens and autism
Authors: Baron-Cohen Simon , Tsompanidis Alexandros , Auyeung Bonnie , Nørgaard-Pedersen Bent , Hougaard David M. , Abdallah Morsi , Cohen Arieh , Pohl Alexa
Published: July 2019

Elevated latent prenatal steroidogenic activity has been found in the amniotic fluid of autistic boys, based on measuring prenatal androgens and other steroid hormones. To date, it is unclear if other prenatal steroids also contribute to autism likelihood. Prenatal oestrogens need to be investigated, as they play a key role in synaptogenesis and corticogenesis during prenatal development, in both males and females. Here we test whether levels of prenatal oestriol, oestradiol, oestrone and oestrone sulphate in amniotic fluid are associated with autism, in the same Danish Historic Birth Cohort, in which prenatal androgens were measured, using univariate logistic regression (n = 98 cases, n = 177 controls). We also make a like-to-like comparison between the prenatal oestrogens and androgens. Oestradiol, oestrone, oestriol and progesterone each related to autism in univariate analyses after correction with false discovery rate. A comparison of standardised odds ratios showed that oestradiol, oestrone and progesterone had the largest effects on autism likelihood. These results for the first time show that prenatal oestrogens contribute to autism likelihood, extending the finding of elevated prenatal steroidogenic activity in autism. This likely affects sexual differentiation, brain development and function.
Viruses as key reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment
Authors: Debroas Didier , Siguret Cléa
Published: July 2019

Antibiotic resistance is a rapidly growing health care problem globally and causes many illnesses and deaths. Bacteria can acquire antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) by horizontal transfer mediated by mobile genetic elements, where the role of phages in their dissemination in natural environments has not yet been clearly resolved. From metagenomic studies, we showed that the mean proportion of predicted ARGs found in prophages (0–0.0028%) was lower than those present in the free viruses (0.001–0.1%). Beta-lactamase, from viruses in the swine gut, represented 0.10 % of the predicted genes. Overall, in the environment, the ARG distribution associated with viruses was strongly linked to human activity, and the low dN/dS ratio observed advocated for a negative selection of the ARGs harbored by the viruses. Our network approach showed that viruses were linked to putative pathogens (Enterobacterales and vibrionaceae) and were considered key vehicles in ARG transfer, similar to plasmids. Therefore, these ARGs could then be disseminated at larger temporal and spatial scales than those included in the bacterial genomes, allowing for time-delayed genetic exchanges.
Cep131 overexpression promotes centrosome amplification and colon cancer progression by regulating Plk4 stability
Authors: Kim Dong Hyun , Ahn Jong Seog , Han Ho Jin , Kim Hye-Min , Hwang Joonsung , Lee Kyung Ho , Cha-Molstad Hyunjoo , Ryoo In-Ja , Jang Jae-Hyuk , Ko Sung-Kyun , Yang Jin Ok , Lee Hee Gu , Lee Sangku , Song Eun Joo , Kim Jin Young , Huh Yang Hoon , Kwon Yong Tae , Soung Nak-Kyun , Kim Bo Yeon
Published: July 2019

The initiation of centrosome duplication is regulated by the Plk4/STIL/hsSAS-6 axis; however, the involvement of other centrosomal proteins in this process remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that Cep131 physically interacts with Plk4 following phosphorylation of residues S21 and T205. Localizing at the centriole, phosphorylated Cep131 has an increased capability to interact with STIL, leading to further activation and stabilization of Plk4 for initiating centrosome duplication. Moreover, we found that Cep131 overexpression resulted in centrosome amplification by excessive recruitment of STIL to the centriole and subsequent stabilization of Plk4, contributing to centrosome amplification. The xenograft mouse model also showed that both centrosome amplification and colon cancer growth were significantly increased by Cep131 overexpression. These findings demonstrate that Cep131 is a novel substrate of Plk4, and that phosphorylation or dysregulated Cep131 overexpression promotes Plk4 stabilization and therefore centrosome amplification, establishing a perspective in understanding a relationship between centrosome amplification and cancer development.
Highly active nanostructured CoS2/CoS heterojunction electrocatalysts for aqueous polysulfide/iodide redox flow batteries
Authors: Ma Dui , Hu Bo , Wu Wenda , Liu Xi , Zai Jiantao , Shu Chen , Tadesse Tsega Tsegaye , Chen Liwei , Qian Xuefeng , Liu T. Leo
Published: July 2019

Aqueous polysulfide/iodide redox flow batteries are attractive for scalable energy storage due to their high energy density and low cost. However, their energy efficiency and power density are usually limited by poor electrochemical kinetics of the redox reactions of polysulfide/iodide ions on graphite electrodes, which has become the main obstacle for their practical applications. Here, CoS2/CoS heterojunction nanoparticles with uneven charge distribution, which are synthesized in situ on graphite felt by a one-step solvothermal process, can significantly boost electrocatalytic activities of I−/I3− and S2−/Sx2− redox reactions by improving absorptivity of charged ions and promoting charge transfer. The polysulfide/iodide flow battery with the graphene felt-CoS2/CoS heterojunction can deliver a high energy efficiency of 84.5% at a current density of 10 mA cm−2, a power density of 86.2 mW cm−2 and a stable energy efficiency retention of 96% after approximately 1000 h of continuous operation.
Activation of DR3 signaling causes loss of ILC3s and exacerbates intestinal inflammation
Authors: Li Jingyu , Shi Wenli , Sun Hanxiao , Ji Yan , Chen Yuqin , Guo Xiaohuan , Sheng Huiming , Shu Jie , Zhou Liang , Cai Ting , Qiu Ju
Published: July 2019

TNF-like ligand 1 A (TL1A) and death receptor 3 (DR3) are a ligand-receptor pair involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. Group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) regulate intestinal immunity and highly express DR3. Here, we report that activation of DR3 signaling by an agonistic anti-DR3 antibody increases GM-CSF production from ILC3s through the p38 MAPK pathway. GM-CSF causes accumulation of eosinophils, neutrophils and CD11b+CD11c+ myeloid cells, resulting in loss of ILC3s from the intestine in an IL-23-dependent manner and exacerbating colitis. Blockade of GM-CSF or IL-23 reverses anti-DR3 antibody-driven ILC3 loss, whereas overexpression of IL-23 induces loss of ILC3s in the absence of GM-CSF. Neutralization of TL1A by soluble DR3 ameliorates both DSS and anti-CD40 antibody-induced colitis. Moreover, ILC3s are required for the deleterious effect of anti-DR3 antibodies on innate colitis. These findings clarify the process and consequences of DR3 signaling-induced intestinal inflammation through regulation of ILC3s.
Polarity signaling ensures epidermal homeostasis by coupling cellular mechanics and genomic integrity
Authors: Dias Gomes Martim , Letzian Soriba , Saynisch Michael , Iden Sandra
Published: July 2019

Epithelial homeostasis requires balanced progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation, whereas disrupting this equilibrium fosters degeneration or cancer. Here we studied how cell polarity signaling orchestrates epidermal self-renewal and differentiation. Using genetic ablation, quantitative imaging, mechanochemical reconstitution and atomic force microscopy, we find that mammalian Par3 couples genome integrity and epidermal fate through shaping keratinocyte mechanics, rather than mitotic spindle orientation. Par3 inactivation impairs RhoA activity, actomyosin contractility and viscoelasticity, eliciting mitotic failures that trigger aneuploidy, mitosis-dependent DNA damage responses, p53 stabilization and premature differentiation. Importantly, reconstituting myosin activity is sufficient to restore mitotic fidelity, genome integrity, and balanced differentiation and stratification. Collectively, this study deciphers a mechanical signaling network in which Par3 acts upstream of Rho/actomyosin contractility to promote intrinsic force generation, thereby maintaining mitotic accuracy and cellular fitness at the genomic level. Disturbing this network may compromise not only epidermal homeostasis but potentially also that of other self-renewing epithelia.
Author Correction: Ultrafast and highly sensitive infrared photodetectors based on two-dimensional oxyselenide crystals
Authors: Yin Jianbo , Tan Zhenjun , Hong Hao , Wu Jinxiong , Yuan Hongtao , Liu Yujing , Chen Cheng , Tan Congwei , Yao Fengrui , Li Tianran , Chen Yulin , Liu Zhongfan , Liu Kaihui , Peng Hailin
Published: July 2019

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper
Differential mechanisms of action of the trace amines octopamine, synephrine and tyramine on the porcine coronary and mesenteric artery
Authors: Koh Andy Hsien Wei , Chess-Williams Russ , Lohning Anna Elizabeth
Published: July 2019

Trace amines such as p-tyramine, p-octopamine and p-synephrine are found in low concentrations in animals and plants. Consumption of pre-workout supplements containing these plant-derived amines has been associated with cardiovascular side effects. The aim of this study was to determine the mechanisms of action of these trace amines on porcine isolated coronary and mesenteric arteries. Noradrenaline caused contraction of mesenteric arteries and relaxation of coronary arteries. In both tissues, all three trace amines induced contractions with similar potencies and responses were unaffected by the β-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol (1 µM), the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NNA (100 µM), or the TAAR-1 antagonist, EPPTB (100 nM). However, the contractile responses of mesenteric arteries, but not coronary arteries, were significantly reduced by depletion of endogenous noradrenaline. Mesenteric responses to all three amines were abolished in the presence of prazosin (1 µM) whereas residual contractile responses remained in the coronary artery which were inhibited by a high concentration (100 µM) of EPPTB. The results suggest complex responses of the coronary artery to the trace amines, with activity at α1-adrenoceptors and potentially TAARs other than TAAR-1. In contrast the actions of the amines on the mesenteric artery appeared to involve indirect sympathomimetic actions and direct actions on α1-adrenoceptors.
Prognostic Significance of Metabolic Parameters and Textural Features on 18F-FDG PET/CT in Invasive Ductal Carcinoma of Breast
Authors: Chang Chin-Chuan , Chen Chao-Jung , Hsu Wen-Ling , Chang Shu-Min , Huang Ying-Fong , Tyan Yu-Chang
Published: July 2019

To investigate the prognostic significance of metabolic parameters and texture analysis on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) in patients with breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), from August 2005 to May 2015, IDC patients who had undergone pre-treatment FDG PET/CT were enrolled. The metabolic parameters, including maximal standardized uptake value of breast tumor (SUVbt) and ipsilateral axillary lymph node (SUVln), metabolic tumor volume (MTVbt) and total lesion glycolysis (TLGbt) of breast tumor, whole-body MTV (MTVwb) and whole-body TLG (TLGwb) were recorded. Nine textural features of tumor (four co-occurrence matrices and five SUV-based statistics) were measured. The prognostic significance of above parameters and clinical factors was assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Thirty-five patients were enrolled. Patients with low and high MTVwb had 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) of 81.0 and 14.3% (p < 0.0001). The 5-year overall survival for low and high MTVwb was 88.5% and 43.6% (p = 0.0005). Multivariate analyses showed MTVwb was an independent prognostic factor for PFS (HR: 8.29, 95% CI: 2.17–31.64, p = 0.0020). The SUV, TLG and textural features were not independently predictive. Elevated MTVwb was an independent predictor for shorter PFS in patients with breast IDC.
Screening older adults for amnestic mild cognitive impairment and early-stage Alzheimer’s disease using upper-extremity dual-tasking
Authors: Toosizadeh Nima , Ehsani Hossein , Wendel Christopher , Zamrini Edward , Connor Kathy O’ , Mohler Jane
Published: July 2019

The purpose of the current study was to develop an objective tool based on dual-task performance for screening early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI of the Alzheimer’s type). Dual-task involved a simultaneous execution of a sensor-based upper-extremity function (UEF) motor task (normal or rapid speed) and a cognitive task of counting numbers backward (by ones or threes). Motor function speed and variability were recorded and compared between cognitive groups using ANOVAs, adjusted for age, gender, and body mass index. Cognitive indexes were developed using multivariable ordinal logistic models to predict the cognitive status using UEF parameters. Ninety-one participants were recruited; 35 cognitive normal (CN, age = 83.8 ± 6.9), 34 MCI (age = 83.9 ± 6.6), and 22 AD (age = 84.1 ± 6.1). Flexion number and sensor-based motion variability parameters, within the normal pace elbow flexion, showed significant between-group differences (maximum effect size of 1.10 for CN versus MCI and 1.39 for CN versus AD, p < 0.0001). Using these parameters, the cognitive status (both MCI and AD) was predicted with a receiver operating characteristic area under curve of 0.83 (sensitivity = 0.82 and specificity = 0.72). Findings suggest that measures of motor function speed and accuracy within a more practical upper-extremity test (instead of walking) may provide enough complexity for cognitive impairment assessment.
The influence of dilute aluminum and molybdenum on stacking fault and twin formation in FeNiCoCr-based high entropy alloys based on density functional theory
Authors: Yu Peijun , Zhuang Yu , Chou Jyh-Pin , Wei Jie , Lo Yu-Chieh , Hu Alice
Published: July 2019

Stacking faults, as defects of disordered crystallographic planes, are one of the most important slipping mechanisms in the commonly seen lattice, face-centered cubic (FCC). Such defects can initiate twinning which strengthens mechanical properties, e.g. twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP), of high entropy alloys (HEAs) at cryogenic temperatures. In this work, by using density functional theory (DFT), the twinning initiated from stacking faults is discussed with regard to two different solute elements, Al and Mo, in the FeNiCoCr HEAs. Our results show that adding aluminum (Al) has noticeable enhancement of twinnability while molybdenum (Mo) only induces more stacking faults in the FeNiCoCr-based HEAs.
Taxonomy of Arabian Temnothorax Mayr (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) with description of a new species enhanced by x-ray microtomography
Authors: Sharaf Mostafa R. , Aldawood Abdulrahman S. , Economo Evan P. , Wachkoo Aijaz Ahmad , Hita Garcia Francisco
Published: July 2019

Temnothorax elmenshawyisp. n., a new ant species from the Asir Mountains of the southwestern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is described based on the worker caste. The new species is a member of theT. exilisspecies group and is distinguished from the other species included in this group by the impressed metanotal groove, the short, acute and broadly-based propodeal spines, the finely punctate posterior half of cephalic surface, and absence of a median clypeal carina. Despite extensive collecting by the authors at the type locality, only two specimens are available for description, suggesting that this species may be rare and likely endemic to the Asir Mountains. The species description is complemented by still images of volume renderings of a 3D model and a 3D rotation video of the holotype based on x-ray microtomography (micro-CT), allowing remote in-depth examination of the specimen. The virtual micro-CT data is provided as cybertype dataset and freely available onlinehttps://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4gg39k6, as well as 3D surface model (Sketchfab.com, https://skfb.ly/6HYRz). An updated identification key to the Arabian species is presented.
Transformation of normal cells by aberrant activation of YAP via cMyc with TEAD
Authors: Nishimoto Masazumi , Uranishi Kousuke , Asaka Masamitsu N. , Suzuki Ayumu , Mizuno Yosuke , Hirasaki Masataka , Okuda Akihiko
Published: July 2019

YAP (also known as YAP1 or YAP65) is a transcriptional coactivator that interacts with a number of transcription factors including RUNX and TEAD and plays a pivotal role in controlling cell growth. YAP is classified as a proto-oncogene. However, the mechanism by which activated YAP induces cancerous changes is not well known. Here we demonstrate that overexpression of YAP in NIH3T3 cells was sufficient for inducing tumorigenic transformation of cells. Mechanistically, YAP exerts its function in cooperation with the TEAD transcription factor. Our data also show that cMYC is a critical factor that acts downstream of the YAP/TEAD complex. Furthermore, we also found that aberrant activation of YAP is sufficient to drive tumorigenic transformation of non-immortalized mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Together our data indicate that YAP can be categorized as a new type of proto-oncogene distinct from typical oncogenes, such as H-RAS, whose expression in non-immortalized cells is tightly linked to senescence.