bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
‘Doing fifty-five in a fifty-four’: Hip hop, cop voice and the cadence of white supremacy in the United States
Authors: Stoever Jennifer Lynn
Published: December 2018

This article examines how police officers in the United States use a racialized and gendered way of speaking called ‘cop voice’ to provoke fear and extreme forms of compliance from people of colour. Through autoethnographic analysis coupled with sonic attention to how Jay-Z (‘99 Problems’), Public Enemy (‘Get the Fuck Out of Dodge’) and Prince Paul (‘The Men in Blue’) represent ‘cop voice’ through shifts in their rapping flow or by using white guest rappers, ‘Doing 55 in a 54’ argues that police weaponize their voices. Identifying and listening closely to these examples of cop voice reveal how people who are raced as ‘white’ in the United States mobilize this subject position in their voices through particular cadences that audibly signify racial authority, while at the same time, never hearing themselves as doing so.
Your voice is hair: Speculations toward a metaphor for styling vocal identity
Authors: Bonenfant Yvon
Published: December 2018

This article explores the styling of vocal identity through blending together descriptions, assertions, and theorizations that result from an artistic, or arts-practice-led, research process. It asserts that hair-styling can be used as an interesting and potent metaphor for inviting audiences to more consciously experience the styling act of shaping their vocal emanations. With reference to the installation Curious Replicas, which invites audiences in to play with vocal soundings by opening up possibilities for voice-change, the author suggests that with each utterance, each of us emits a temporally travelling cloud of auditory, tactile and visual data that he calls a multisensory vocal identity projection (MVIP), a concept which he builds from assertions in Kreiman’s and Sidtis’ (2011) extended study of studies. The installation tries to give public audiences agency over how their MVIPs are generated and then celebrated as aestheticized products, while troubling aspects of how these projections function, and conjoining them to an experience of intersensory inundation, that includes sound, touch and vision. The writing makes a range of claims that link voice production, interactive art use, and corporeal self-styling, and touches on models for understanding user behaviour derived from fashion studies. The article is more concerned with the concepts it troubles, than with drawing clear conclusions, and as such, situates itself within what artistic discourse does best: it speculates.
The signification of the signed voice
Authors: MacIntyre Alexis Deighton
Published: December 2018

Embodiment is central to voice studies, but describing vocality as a material figure requires that the embodied voice be defined, implicitly and/or in stark terms. Consequently, apparently self-evident loci of the voice emerge as the throat, mouth, tongue, and ear, yet these physical sites reveal a narrow view of voicing. In particular, Deafness and sign language hold a tenuous position at the fringe of voice studies, to be evaded or invoked only as a special case. Examining voice as it is conceived of by Deaf people and academics, hearing culture, and voice studies, as well as cognitive neuroscience, I argue that the forces excluding Deaf voice and language rely on truisms from western metaphysics. Rooted in the mind-body divide, these assumptions regard gesture and movement as primitive or beast-like. In discourse surrounding the voice, they are manifest in terminology that privileges tone, timbre, pitch, and high-frequency material vibration. This embodied turn is driven by latent beliefs surrounding sound and its associated anatomy, resulting therefore in the omission not only of sign language, but of gesture and other nonverbal vocal actions. Intrinsically linked with the body, rhythm encounters a similar fate. In critique of sound quality and the division of senses, I draw together Deaf insights with neurobiological investigations of multimodality, action perception, and rhythm cognition, and submit that temporal and action-based frameworks offer an alternative means by which to source the vocal body, one that fluidly accommodates hearing voices, Deaf voices, and the movements they share in common.
Fan artefacts and doing it themselves: The home-made graphics of punk devotees
Authors: Bestley Russ , Burgess Paul
Published: December 2018

Punk’s embrace of autonomous, do-it-yourself artistic production has been widely documented as a key element of the punk ‘explosion’. At times, however, the rhetoric has exceeded the actual practice and the boundary between DIY authorship and professional production has become blurred. Although much early punk visual material was indeed raw, rough and ready, and often appeared to run counter to any kind of formal aesthetic criteria in respect to design or taste, it was also widely the product of trained graphic designers and illustrators with a keen awareness of the appropriate visual language required to reflect a new, self-styled, anarchic and polemical subculture. Even many of the celebrated ‘do-it-yourself’ punk pioneers relied on access to professional services for reproduction, including printers, prepress art workers and specialist record sleeve manufacturers. However, much like the punks who chose to make their own outfits, rather than buy ‘official’ clothing from the burgeoning punk boutique (and mail order) market, some fans and enthusiasts attempted to create their own punk graphics or decided to adopt a naïve model of détournement to adapt or personalize jackets, shirts, school bags, scrapbooks and even record sleeves within their own collections. These home-made artefacts can be viewed as products of subcultural participation and belonging, as an individual’s response to punk’s call to arms and as markers of possession. They may also help us to better understand an underlying, distilled and unmediated interpretation of punk’s ‘natural’ visual language.
Exhibition Reviews
Authors: Binns Rebecca , Trowell Ian
Published: December 2018

The House of Fame: An Exhibition Convened by Linder, Nottingham Contemporary Gallery, UK, 24 March–24 June 2018

Print! Tearing It Up, Somerset House South Wing, 8 June–22 August 2018 and The Music That Saved a Decade: Divining the Eighties Underground, Barbican Music Library, 14 July–3 October 2018
José Emilio Pacheco en el imaginario de la poesía mexicana reciente: ética de escritura y política de lectura
Authors: Ruiz-Pérez Ignacio
Published: December 2018

El objetivo de este artículo es demostrar que parte del legado de José Emilio Pacheco en la poesía mexicana reciente consiste en diversas estrategias discursivas (dicción espuria, cuestionamiento de la autoridad textual, subjetividad descentrada, entre otros) en concordancia con un país continuamente en crisis. Es decir, en la poesía de Pacheco se puede ya ubicar un código de lectura y una política de escritura que convierte el texto en un espacio de reflexión y de resistencia. Mi propuesta en este ensayo, en definitiva, es que el sistema poético de la última lírica mexicana responde a los retos políticos y sociales inmediatos del país en un entorno global y transnacional, rasgos que se pueden ubicar avant la lettre en la visionaria obra de José Emilio Pacheco.
La poesía mexicana del siglo XXI ante la crisis institucional: apuntes para un panorama estético
Authors: Aguilera López Jorge , Castañeda Barrera Eva
Published: December 2018

El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar una revisión de los procedimientos estilísticos más destacados que han sido parte de los discursos poéticos mexicanos en su relación con la realidad política, social y económica del siglo xxi. Se realiza una consideración contextual de los acontecimientos político-electorales que derivaron en una profunda crisis institucional durante los últimos 18 años, así como los cambios del campo literario mexicano del mismo periodo, y posteriormente se revisa cómo fue que estas condiciones socio-históricas determinaron la emergencia de nuevas formas discursivas en diálogo directo, a veces más, a veces menos evidentes, con dicha realidad.
Panorama de la poesía mexicana contemporánea escrita en lenguas originarias
Authors: Del Ángel Diana , Ortiz Maciel Mariana
Published: December 2018

Este artículo resume las circunstancias sociales e históricas en las cuales algunas de las lenguas prehispánicas han sobrevivido después de la Conquista. También muestra cómo la modificación de las políticas culturales (como las reformas educativas o los apoyos institucionales) han afectado y siguen afectando la creación y la diseminación de la poesía escrita en lenguas nativas, y cómo los intentos bien intencionados de apoyar las condiciones de escritura creativa condicionan e incluso limitan esta práctica. Finalmente, este artículo proporciona una breve muestra cronológica de algunos poetas cuyo trabajo nos da idea de la riqueza literaria y cultural de este tipo de poesía.
La poesía mexicana vista desde España: puntos de partida y encuentro en dieciocho años
Authors: Ballester Pardo Ignacio
Published: December 2018

Un estudio sobre poesía mexicana contemporánea desde España permite advertir las conexiones literarias entre dos países que comparten lengua, referentes y problemas. Durante el tercer milenio la lírica viene condicionada, en parte, por becas, premios, editoriales, antologías, universidades y poéticas. Dicho contexto nos ayuda a entender los paralelismos que se generan a ambos lados. Los proyectos que se comprometen con lo social no son respaldados por el Estado, pero terminan siendo reconocidos con importantes galardones. Asimismo, las pequeñas editoriales ofrecen en México una amplia variedad de textos que nadie lee y casi nadie critica. En España existen algunos esfuerzos por recoger la vitalidad del género literario en la capital del idioma; no obstante, la universidad puede ayudar a acercar esas constelaciones poéticas a un público escaso que continúa basándose en una división maniquea de lo que es joven y maduro.
La dictadura y la postdictadura chilena y su contrarrevolución cultural
Authors: Rojo Grínor
Published: December 2018

Este artículo argumenta que el 11 de septiembre de 1973 se dio comienzo a una contrarrevolución en Chile, que esa contrarrevolución no sólo fue de lo obrado por el presidente Salvador Allende entre 1970 y 1973 sino de lo obrado por el pueblo chileno desde los años veinte y treinta del siglo pasado y, finalmente, que esa contrarrevolución tiene una arista cultural importante. Se sostiene, además, que, con posterioridad al término de la dictadura, no ha habido en Chile un recobro pleno de la democracia sino que la contrarrevolución autoritaria, aunque morigerada en ciertos aspectos, ha seguido en pie y que consistentemente también ha seguido en pie su perspectiva cultural.
Photogenic Urban Landscapes: Towards an Intermedial Framework for Landscape Criticism in the Age of Social Media
Authors: Despard Erin
Published: December 2018

Drawing on cultural geography, visual cultural studies and theories of media ecology, this essay lays out a framework for collaboration between media scholars, architects and critics, positioning photographic social media such as Instagram as a means for pursuing questions about the changing role of landscape in the visual mediation of urban social life and public culture. While buildings and urban infrastructure also have mediating functions, I focus on designed landscapes such as public parks because they mediate visual perception in a manner that is historically intertwined with that of photography. Responding to existing interest in the critical reading of landscape values as well as research on new photographic forms and practices arising from social media use, I suggest that we take seriously the idea that landscape is itself a form of media. Attending to its ongoing interactions with other media will enable us both to specify the nature of its intermediality in a given time and place, and open a new space for reflexivity and critique. Beginning with an account of what is at stake in the visual mediation accomplished through urban landscapes on the one hand, and in the study of social media use on the other, I make a case for a critical, qualitative analysis of photographic content as opposed to quantitative analytics of the data associated with it. I then present an example of the kind of analysis I have in mind, drawing from an exploratory case study of photographs from Grand Park in Los Angeles (Rios Clementi Hale). In the process, I flesh out the concept of intermediality as it pertains to designed landscapes and demonstrate the kinds of questions and pedagogical opportunities such an approach may open.
Transformando un colegio tradicional en una comunidad
Authors: Moya Martínez Rosa María
Published: December 2018

En el presente artículo, desde la experiencia de una madre, se relata el progresivo cambio metodológico emprendido en un colegio público del ensanche de Elche. A través de la formación y colocando al niño como centro del aprendizaje, familias y maestros han conseguido hacer una escuela de la que están más orgullosos, una escuela mejor.
ELECTRE ME: a proposal of an outranking modeling in situations with several evaluators
Authors: Costa Helder Gomes , Nepomuceno Livia Dias De Oliveira , Pereira Valdecy
Published: December 2018

Highlights: This paper describes an original proposal for modeling Multicriteria problems taking into account more than one evaluator. It allows each evaluator to have its own set of criteria. It also avoids the incoherency of adopting compensatory techniques into non-compensatory algorithms.

Goal: This paper describes an original proposal for modeling multicriteria situations where multiple evaluators take part of the evaluation process. This proposal allows each evaluator to have its own set of criteria, including their weights, and also avoids the usual inconsistency of adopting pre-processing compensatory methods for introducing it into non-compensatory algorithms.

Design / Methodology / Approach: In order to better describe how ELECTRE ME works, a multicriteria-multiple evaluator situation is modeled by ELECTRE TRI ME (as we have called the ELECTRE TRI variation that incorporates the principles of multiple evaluators).

Results: ELECTRE ME was able to avoid the inconsistency of adopting contradictory mechanisms of aggregating preferences while modeling multicriteria & multiple evaluators problems (first called here as MCDA-ME).

Limitations: Although the proposal focuses in situations with multiple evaluators, there is no restriction for its application in situations where there is only one decision maker.

Practical implications: Another important feature of ELECTRE ME is that it allows each evaluator to consider its own set of criteria and its own scale for evaluation.

Originality / Value:  ELECTRE ME avoids a contradictory approach to use compensatory algorithms (such as weighted mean) as an input in non-compensatory outranking methods. Despite the fact that non-compensatory principle is in the heart of the ELECTRE methods, it has not found a previous proposal with the attributes shown in this study: to incorporate outranking concepts in situations where more than one evaluator is present and, by extension, allow each evaluator to have its own set of criteria.
Proposal and evaluation of a method to implement the lean construction principles
Authors: Costella Marcelo Fabiano , Bugnotto Gustavo , Pinzon Analice , Lopes Paulo Eduardo , Dalcanton Francieli
Published: December 2018

Since there is a gap between the concepts of the lean construction philosophy and an effective method of implementation in construction companies, the objective of this paper is to propose and evaluate a method to implement the lean construction principles. The method was constructed and evaluated through the application during 120 days of an action research in a pre-cast concrete company involving both researchers and the members of the company. The lean construction implementation method has three stages (preparation, application, and deployment), and it consists of three steps in each stage, totaling 9 steps. The evaluation of the method was satisfactory since the application was methodologically successful. In addition, it resulted in a cycle time reduction of 23.5% and the share of value-adding activities increased from 57.8% to 72.6%.
As políticas de ampliação de oportunidades educacionais no Brasil e as trajetórias escolares na Educação de Jovens e Adultos no Ensino Médio na cidade do Rio de Janeiro
Authors: Julião Elionaldo Fernandes , Peregrino Ferreira Mônica Dias
Published: December 2018

As políticas de expansão escolar no Brasil desenhadas a partir da década de 1990 ampliaram o acesso da população ao ensino fundamental, alcançando, em 2010, 98,2% da população residente na faixa etária de 6 a 14 anos. Por outro lado, segundo dados divulgados pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, em 2012, ainda há 8,6% da população de 15 anos ou mais analfabetas; 8,1% de jovens entre 18 e 24 anos frequentando o ensino fundamental; 34,2% o ensino médio; e 51,3% o ensino superior. O dado mostra-nos que embora estejamos universalizando o acesso ao ensino fundamental na faixa etária de 6 a 14 anos, ainda amargamos o resultado de um grande número de jovens que, por problemas de retenção e evasão, mantém-se, ou fora da escola, ou em situação de defasagem escolar. Levando em consideração tais questões, este artigo, fruto de pesquisa realizada no estado do Rio de Janeiro/ Brasil sobre o ensino médio na educação de jovens e adultos, tem como objetivo refletir sobre a ampliação da obrigatoriedade escolar da educação básica no país a partir dos efeitos desta expansão sobre os processos de escolarização em seus níveis e modalidades de ensino.
“Del dicho al hecho hay un gran trecho”: Obstáculos para la expansión de la escolaridad media en Uruguay.
Authors: Mancebo María Ester , Pérez Zorrilla Julia
Published: December 2018

El presente artículo analiza los obstáculos que han tenido los gobiernos del Frente Amplio para construir políticas que permitieran concretar la letra de la Ley General de Educación de 2008 en cuanto a la consagración del derecho a la educación y el cumplimiento con la obligatoriedad escolar de la educación media. Para ello, se realizó un análisis cualitativo de documentos (normas e informes institucionales) y de 49 entrevistas semi-estructuradas realizadas a autoridades educativas, mandos medios, legisladores, sindicalistas, responsables de programas de inclusión educativa y especialistas realizadas entre los años 2011 y 2015. De este modo, se identificaron tres fuentes de bloqueo en el proceso de la política educativa del nivel medio: la fragmentación institucional del sistema educativo; el desacuerdo ideológico entre las autoridades gubernamentales y dentro del partido de gobierno; y el veto ejercido por el actor sindical de secundaria. La interacción de estos factores permite comprender el estancamiento de la política educativa de secundaria en el período 2005-2017.
La obligatoriedad desafiada ¿Quién abandona a quién? La exclusión escolar de lxs jóvenes en condición de vulnerabilidad
Authors: Gluz Nora , Rodríguez Moyano Inés
Published: December 2018

Argentina, al igual que otros países de América Latina, con el cambio de siglo inicia un proceso político que algunos autores han caracterizado como de “nuevo signo”, en el que los gobiernos de este período avanzan en la revalorización de la política frente a la “mano invisible” del mercado y en la ampliación de derechos a partir de garantizar el acceso a mecanismos de protección social a grupos históricamente excluidos. El denominado periodo “kirchnerista” (2003-2015) que protagonizó esa etapa en la Argentina, se distinguió por la puesta en marcha de nuevas regulaciones tendientes a ampliar la escolaridad a través de intervenciones que sustentaron la responsabilidad estatal frente a las trayectorias de los nuevos públicos escolares que debían, por ley, integrarse al nivel secundario (Ley de Educación Nacional Nro. 26.206). Si bien los avances legislativos y las políticas desplegadas que acompañaron ese proceso, significaron un importante esfuerzo público hacia la consecución de ese derecho, las medidas dispuestas no han logrado interpelar a un sector de lxs jóvenes en situación de extrema vulnerabilidad social que se encuentran fuera del sistema escolar y, muchos de ellxs también, fuera de los sistemas de protección social. En este artículo nos interesa someter a discusión cómo las categorías oficiales que dan cuenta de este fenómeno resultan insuficientes para comprender de forma compleja el problema de la exclusión escolar, y, por ende, para construir alternativas de actuación apropiadas para estos grupos poblacionales .Toma como fuente empírica los resultados de investigación sobre las llamadas “políticas de inclusión” en la escuela secundaria, desarrollada durante el año 2014 y 2015 en la Provincia de Buenos Aires, jurisdicción que precisamente se caracterizó por el desarrollo en el período bajo estudio de un extenso conjunto de medidas tendientes a mejorar los procesos de integración a la denominada “nueva secundaria” a través de dispositivos hacia los grupos juveniles que no habían completado la educación básica obligatoria. El objetivo de este artículo será presentar desde la perspectiva de esxs jóvenes, un análisis de los procesos conducentes a la desescolarización y la capacidad de las políticas vigentes de intervenir sobre ellos.
Surgical treatment of craniovertebral stenosis in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type I, II, and VI
Authors: Mironov S. P. , Kolesov S. V. , Pereverzev V. S. , Kolbovsky D. A. , Kuleshov A. A. , Vetrile M. S. , Kazmin A. I.
Published: December 2018

To analyze surgical treatment of craniovertebral stenosis in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis. Material and Methods. A total of 9 patients (4 men, 5 women) with mucopolysaccharidosis were operated on for craniovertebral stenosis in 2012–2017. All patients underwent clinical examination, standard radiography of the cervical spine with functional tests to assess atlantooccipital stability according to Rothman, and MRI to determine the degree of the spinal cord compression, stenosis of the spinal canal, and changes in soft tissues surrounding the spinal canal due to fibrosis and accumulation of glycosaminoglycans. Maximum stenosis at the C0–C2 level was noted in 5 patients, at C1–C2 in 2, at C2–C4 in 1, and at C0–C1 in 1. Myelopathy in the upper cervical spine was detected in five cases. The overall somatic and functional statuses, as well as neurological parameters were assessed. Follow-up examination and X-ray examination were performed at 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery, and further every 6 months. Results. The average follow-up period was 2.5 years. The age of the patients varied from 1.8 to 34 years. After 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery, instrumentation was radiologically stable in all cases, there were no bone resorption signs around the elements of instrumentation. Seven patients showed a regression of neurologic symptoms and positive dynamics in the somatic status according to the assessment scales. In one patient, the neurological status remained unchanged. In one case, a temporary deterioration in the condition was noted after a failed intubation attempt, which required emergency tracheostomy, and operation was postponed to a later date to stabilize the condition. Complications after surgical treatment were observed in five patients. In one case, pseudoarthrosis, rod fracture, and instrumentation instability developed 1.5 years after the intervention, and revision surgery was required. Wound healing problems were observed in three patients and a liquorrhea in the early postoperative period, which was stopped without revision intervention – in one case. Conclusion. Decompression and stabilization in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis should be performed in advance, before any neurological disorder development. Fixation is required to prevent the development of instability, post-laminectomy deformities, and progression of cicatricial stenosis. Timely initiation of enzyme-replacement therapy improves the results of mucopolysaccharidosis treatment.
Metabolic profile and biological activities of Lavandula stoechas L.
Authors: Karan Tunay
Published: December 2018

Medicinal and aromatic plants play a significant role in drug discovery. Lavandula stoechas L. has been used as folk medicine to treat various diseases. The aim of this work is to investigate the phytochemisty of Lavandula stoechas with biological activities. An aerial part of the plant was extracted with methanol. Another sample of plant was boiled in water then aqueous part was extracted with ethyl acetate. Identification and quantification of phenolic compounds, organic acids and flavonoids in methanol extract were carried out by High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Time of Flight/Mass Spectrometry, HPLC-TOF/MS. Rosmarinic acid was found as a chief compound (80.9%). The essential oil was generated by steam distillation and identified by GC-MS. The main constituents were camphor (48.1%) and fenchone (30.5%). The essential oil exhibited good insecticidal activity on Sitophilus granarius and Sitophilus oryzae pests as 43.3% and 62.9% mortality, respectively. However, the methanol extract has only insecticidal activity against S. granaries (50.0%). The antioxidant activities were investigated using assays of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) radical scavenging, reducing power (FRAP), and 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS•+) radical scavenging on both extracts. In addition, total phenolic contents were determined. Total phenolic content of EtOAc extract was found as 2.18 g GAE (Gallic acid equivalent) phenolic compounds/kg plant. Whereas, total phenolic of methanol was 3.33 g GAE/kg plant. EtOAc extract revealed the considerable DPPH• scavenging, ABTS•+ scavenging and reducing power activities with the values of 28.71 (IC50, µg/ml), 8.72 (IC50, µg/ml) and 6.99 (µmol trolox equivalent/mg extract) respectively.
Investigation of association between CD40 current gene variants (rs4810485, rs1883832 and rs3765459) and serum CD154 protein levels in Iranian migraineurs
Authors: Ramroodi Norullah , Saboori Hadi , Sanadgol Nima
Published: December 2018

Migraine is a chronic neurological disease described by recurrent moderate to severe headaches often in association with neuro-inflammation. As cytokines are affect the immune response and migraine exacerbation, the current study aimed to investigate the possible associations between CD40 polymorphisms and level of soluble CD154 protein with migraine. In a prospective case-control study, we studied blood samples of 190 patients with migraine (migraineurs) and 200 healthy controls (HCs) from southeast Iran. Genotyping for the CD40 (rs4810485-intron, rs1883832-5´-UTR, and rs3765459-intron) gene variants were executed using PCR-RFLP and soluble CD154 protein levels were measured via ELISA method. Among CD40 gene variants, rs1883832 (TC genotype) was significantly associated with migraine (P = 0.007, OR = 2.326, 95% CI = 1.258-4.303).  No significant associations observed between the rs4810485 and rs3765459 SNPs with migraine. The most frequent genotypes for CD40 were GG in rs4810485 (51.5%) and rs3765459 (62.1%) as well as TC in rs1883832 (53.7%). There was no statistically relationship between these gene variants and different subclasses of migraine. Concentration of soluble CD40L among patients with rs1883832 (TC genotype) were significantly (P = 0.027, OR = 0.417, CI = 0.192-0.906) higher in compared to healthy controls. Our findings showed that in CD40 rs1883832, TC genotype may have a role in migraine susceptibility. Therefore, it suggested that in addition to other factors, CD40 rs1883832 (TC genotype) genetic variation may also play a critical role in the etiology of migraine.
Association between SATB2 gene polymorphism and cleft palate only risk in eastern Guangdong population and a meta-analysis
Authors: Zhang Wancong , Tan Linwang , Xing Yue , Zhao Hanxing , Shi Lungang , Zhou Jianda , Lang Xing , Cai Jianxiong , Tang Shijie
Published: December 2018

To characterize the associations between the cleft palate (CPO) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 (SATB2). We recruited 241 CPO and performed a case-control study with 242 controls. Concurrently, 103 of the patients and their normal parents were recruited to perform a case-parent trio study. Sixteen selected SNPs were genotyped. Furthermore, A meta-analysis was used to enhance the robustness of our conclusions. The case-control study provided no support for the hypothesis that any of the 16 selected SNPs played a significant role in CPO. In the meta-analysis, we also did not find that the SATB2 was associated with nonsyndromic cleft palate risk, in Asians or in Caucasians. The 16 selected SNPs do not contribute to the development of CPO.
Protective effect of date extract on rat nephrotoxicity induced by gentamicin, clinical, histological and antioxidant evidences
Authors: Celik Ozgur Yasar , Irak Kivanc
Published: December 2018

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effect of the date extract (Phoenix dactylifera) on certain biochemical parameters and total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS) and oxidative stress index in nephrotoxicity induced by gentamicin. The rats used in the study were randomly selected and divided into 4 groups, each consisting of 8 rats: control group, date extract (DE) group, gentamicin (GEN) group, gentamicin+date extract (GEN+DE) group. Blood samples and kidney tissues were taken 24 hours after eight days of trial. Urea, Creatinine, BUN, Na, Cl and K analyzes on the serum samples were carried out in auto analyzer. One of the kidney tissues was examined histopathologically. The supernatant, which was obtained by homogenizing the other kidney tissue was used in TAS and TOS analyzes. OSI was calculated using the formula. Urea, Creatinine, and BUN levels were higher in the GEN group, when compared to the other groups (p<0.001), while Na (p<0.05), Cl and K levels (p<0.001) were lower than those of the other groups. When the control group and the GEN group were compared, it was observed that the level of TAS decreased in the renal tissue and the level of TAS increased in the GEN+DE group. It was determined that TOS (p<0.01) and OSI (p<0.001) levels increased in the GEN group and renal TOS and OSI levels decreased in the GEN+DE group when compared to the GEN group. In conclusion, when the histopathological changes in kidney tissue with antioxidant and oxidant status in nephrotoxicity with gentamicin are examined, it can be said that date extract with gentamicin attenuates nephrotoxicity caused by gentamicin and date extract protects the kidney.
Pinealectomy alters IFN-Î³ and IL-10 levels in primary thymocyte culture of rats
Authors: Sahin Zafer , Sandal Suleyman , Yilmaz Bayram , Bulmus Ozgur , Ozdemir Gokcen , Kutlu Selim , Godekmerdan Ahmet , Kelestimur Haluk
Published: December 2018

Melatonin, produced mainly by the pineal gland, has an immunomodulatory role. However, the effects of the pineal gland and/or melatonin on thymus cytokine levels such as interferon-gamma (IFN-Î³), interleukin (IL)-4, and IL-10 are not well known. Twenty-one male Wistar rats (220-250 gr) were randomly divided into three groups (n=7): intact control, sham, and pinealectomy. Primary thymocyte cultures were prepared from each group and dispensed into well plates as Control, DMSO (or vehicle), Sham-pinealectomy, Pinealectomy, Pinealectomy+10µM melatonin, and Pinealectomy+100µM melatonin. IFN-Î³, IL-4, and IL-10 concentrations were measured in the thymocytes (as nonstimulated and Concanavalin A-stimulated) after 24 h. IFN-Î³ levels significantly increased and IL-10 levels significantly decreased in both media prepared from pinealectomized rats. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of IL-4. In the pinealectomy+10µM melatonin group, IFN-Î³ and IL-10 levels did not differ from the pinealectomy group. However, the dose of 100µM melatonin caused a decrease in levels of IFN-Î³ in both thymocyte media and an increase in the concentration of IL-10 in Concanavalin A-stimulated thymocytes. In conclusion, pineal gland and/or melatonin affect IFN-Î³ and IL-10 levels in the thymus gland.
Characterization and optimization of extracellular L-Asparaginase production by selected Actinomycete strain isolated from an algerian wheat bran
Authors: Chergui Achour , Kecha Mouloud , Tighrine Abderrahmane , Adrar Nabil , Bouzida Samira , Titouche Yacine , Boughani Lhadi , Kadri Nabil , Houali Karim
Published: December 2018

L-Asparaginase is an enzyme that hydrolyses the amino acid L-Asparagine into aspartic acid and ammonia. As a medication, L-Asparaginase is used in chemotherapy to treat acute lymphoblastic leukaemia by depleting circulating Asparagine and depriving tumor cells. Interest in Actinomycetes as potential producers of antibiotics and enzymes encouraged us to investigate an isolated strain (CA01) from soft wheat bran.The Actinomycete strain was characterized based on its morphological and biochemical characteristics and selected due to a proved promising ability to produce L-Asparaginase optimized in both solid and liquid media cultures.The conditions of enzyme production were standardized according to a one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) experimental design.To obtain optimal medium combination, a Box-Behnken Response Surface Methodology (RSM) has been adopted by choosing the most influential factors. The optimal conditions for the enzyme production were (g/l): L-Asparagine 10.7; Glucose 2.7; starch 7, in based medium containing (g/l): K2HPO4 0.5; MgSO4, 7H2O 0.1, corresponding to an optimal enzymatic activity of 8.03 IU/ml at 27.83°C. The maximum production of enzyme was reached on the sixth day of experiment. The ANOVA test (P value Ë‚ 0.05) and adjusted R2 values close to the experimental R2 show that the obtained model of the active L-Asparaginase of CA01 strain production is significant with the following linear terms: temperature, substrate concentration, Glucose concentration and there squared.
Der Umgang mit streitenden Schülern im Edubba’a nach den sumerischen Schulstreitgesprächen Enkiḫeĝal und Enkitalu und Ĝirinisa und Enkimanšum
Authors: Ceccarelli Manuel
Published: December 2018

The Old Babylonian schoolmasters used the literary form of the dialogue to compose texts that were conceived as didactic material to improve the Sumerian speaking skills of their pupils and to teach them specific moral values. Some of these compositions can be labeled as school-disputes based on to their content and were probably performed at school. The ends of the school-disputes Enkiḫeĝal and Enkitalu and Ĝirinisa and Enkimanšum are particularly interesting because they provide some insight into how the schoolmasters dealt with quarreling students. In this respect Enkiḫeĝal und Enkitalu stands out for its challenge of corporal punishment. In Ĝirinisa and Enkimanšum one can note that school discipline implies a fraternal attitude between students. This fraternal attitude presupposed and reinforced the scribe’s self-confidence to form a cohesive cultural community.
Bemerkung zu zwei Mischwesen in der späturukzeitlichen Rollsiegelmotivik
Authors: Lau Daniel
Published: December 2018

This contribution explores two exceptional motifs in Late Uruk glyptic that have been identified as demons. Introducing the concept of pareidolia in Mesopotamian archaeology, a different perception of these motifs is suggested, according to which they might present representations of two entangled human beings.
The Verbal Syntax of Hattian
Authors: Schrijver Peter
Published: December 2018

There is much controversy over the question of the syntactic alignment of Hattian. A resolution is complicated by the fact that Hattian has a poor case morphology. This investigation into the functions of the prefixes waa= and eš= (with various allomorphs), which occur both as plural prefixes to nouns and as verbal prefixes expressing third person plural actants, attempts to resolve the issue on the basis of a detailed study of the relevant material. As it turns out, Hattian has a split system, with an accusative base in verbal forms that do not contain the prefix tu= and an ergative base in verbal forms that do contain that prefix. Intransitive subject, transitive subject and object are all morphosyntactically distinguished, so that it can be argued that Hattian has a split three-way system of alignment. This complicated system is typologically similar to alignment in Sumerian.
Making new biomarkers a reality: the case of serum human epididymis protein 4
Authors: Ferraro Simona , Panteghini Mauro
Published: December 2018

Background

Measurement of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in serum has recently been proposed for clinical use in the framework of ovarian cancer (OvCa). We sought to retrace the translational phase and the clinical implementation steps boosting HE4’s clinical value and discuss the effects of its introduction on the diagnostic and management pathways.

Methods

Meta-analyses of running evidence have preliminarily suggested that HE4 may overcome carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) in identifying OvCa, showing however several gaps that need to be considered, i.e. definition of biomarker diagnostic performance in the early detection of OvCa, added diagnostic value, biological and lifestyle factors of variation, and optimal interpretative criteria. Investigation of the influencing factors has shown that renal impairment represents a major limitation for HE4’s diagnostic power. On the other hand, the demonstration of the substantial equivalence of results obtained by commercially available assays allows recommending harmonized thresholds for diagnostic purpose, even if the study of HE4’s biological variation has clarified that the longitudinal interpretation of the biomarker changes according to the reference change value could be more appropriate.

We used HE4 as an example for describing the long and bumpy road for making a new biomarker a reality, and the issues that should be checked and the information that should be provided in moving a novel biomarker from its discovery to an effective clinical adoption.
Prenatal diagnosis of 17-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase deficiency (17OHD) in a case of 46,XY sex discordance and low maternal serum estriol
Authors: Mohnach Lauren , Mazzola Sarah , Shumer Daniel , Berman Deborah R.
Published: December 2018

Background

A discrepancy between the fetal karyotype and the appearance of genitalia on ultrasound can be a diagnostic challenge. In these cases, it is difficult to shorten the extensive list of differential diagnoses without information on internal anatomy and endocrine profile.

Case presentation

Here, we describe a diagnosis of 17-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase deficiency (17OHD), which was suspected based on low maternal serum estriol in the setting of 46,XY genitalia discordance. Through collaboration between maternal-fetal medicine and disorders of sex development (DSD) teams, the patient was counseled about the diagnosis and postnatal management plans were made.

Conclusions

This case illustrates how prenatal diagnosis of this rare condition led to reduced parental stress and seamless transition to postnatal care.
Me, Myself and I: Self-fetishisation in the Age of the Selfie
Authors: Madureira Miriam
Published: December 2018

In this article, I deal with some new aspects of the late-modern constitution of subjectivity, related to the use of new communication technologies. By developing some intuitions associated with an interpretation of contemporary social life based mostly on Marx’s conception of fetishism, I hope to offer a provisional account of a few consequences of such developments for the conception of the self. I differentiate among several dimensions of a process through which the self-objectification enhanced by those developments leads to self-fetishisation and self-commodification, as well as capitalisation, and indicate its possible contradictions. I argue that while self-objectification is in itself not a problem, reflecting only a shift towards a conception of authenticity which is no longer related to something like an inner true core, self-fetishisation and its consequences contradicts this process’ own promises.
August Wilson, Afrofuturism, & Gem of the Ocean
Authors: Boynton Anthony Dwayne
Published: December 2018

August Wilson's Century Cycle is as much a theatrical experiment of black cultural history and sociology as it is one of storytelling. Though often considered a realist playwright, Wilson walks beyond the realist landscape into speculative and imagined ones in Gem of the Ocean. His investment in cultural critique and history enhances the possibility of an enriching analysis of his work as speculative fiction. This research project locates the ties between Wilson’s affinity with history and the creation of a dystopian Pittsburgh in the play. In Wilson’s work, set in 1904, the antebellum past is so close to the post-Emancipation present, temporally and socio-politically, that there is almost no difference at all. The flattening of time Wilson insinuates through the milieu, a capitalist-police state, is articulated through characters’ relationship with it. Wilson is welcomed in conclusion into black speculative traditions of re-imagining time and using cultural histories to critique cultural realities.
“At This Age, This Is Who I Am”: CeCe Winans, Exilic Consciousness, and the American Popular Music Star System
Authors: Nelson Angela M.
Published: December 2018

My paper addresses the intersections of the American popular music star system, Black female Gospel singers, Gospel Music, and the exilic consciousness of the Sanctified Church with special attention to life and music of Gospelwoman Priscilla Marie “CeCe” Winans Love. I argue that CeCe Winans and the marketing campaign for Winans’ album Let Them Fall in Love, is indicative of the encroachment of American popular music’s star system into self-elected “exiled” Gospel Music and into the lives of “exiled” Gospelwomen. Gospelwomen are 20th and 21st century urban African American Protestant Christian women who are paid for singing Gospel Music and who have recorded at least one Gospel album for national distribution. The self-elected exile of Gospelwomen refers to their decision to live a life based on the values of the Kingdom of God while encountering and negotiating opposing values in American popular culture. Gospelwomen and Gospel Music are impacted by the demands of stardom in America’s celebrity culture which includes achieved success and branding. Gospelwomen negotiate these components of stardom molding them into mechanisms that conform to their beliefs and needs.
Secular Stagnation, Unemployment Hysteresis and Monetary Policy in EMU: Scratches but Not Scars?
Authors: Belke Ansgar
Published: December 2018

The strength of mutually reinforcing links between the demand and supply sides of the macroeconomy is an important issue for policymakers which has emerged from the financial crisis. The prevailing view that only cyclical policies influence the demand side, and structural policies affect the supply side has been challenged in two dimensions. Firstly, long periods of weak demand have the potential to lead to rising structural unemployment and a permanently lower capital stock – inducing hysteresis effects. Secondly, if one believes in the relevance of hysteresis in the form propagated by [Blanchard, Olivier J., and Lawrence H. Summers. 1986. “Hysteresis and the European Unemployment Problem.” In NBER Macroeconomics Annual, edited by Fischer, S., Vol. 1, 15–78. Cambridge: MIT Press], stronger demand fueled, for instance, by monetary policy may, as a corollary, be able to reverse such effects. This paper argues that the Blanchard and Summers type of hysteresis should, however, not be taken literally and not taken as the basis of one-to-one into recommendations for monetary policy and/or the monetary policy strategy. We show that bluntly pointing to the hard form of “reverse hysteresis” and implementing bold counter-cyclical monetary (and fiscal) policies to cope with hysteretic unemployment is neither necessary nor sufficient. Instead, we argue that it is necessary to refer to subtler forms of hysteresis, which are more compatible with the data. These subtler forms still leave some room for monetary policy to maneuver, but in a much more complex way. If long-term unemployment is stagnating even during an upturn, they may even serve as a basis to recommend a contractionary monetary policy stance. At the same time, however, inequality which is causing persistent or even permanent demand deficiencies becomes relevant as hurdle for lower unemployment in the hysteresis context. Seen on the whole, thus, a second wave of hysteresis-based research on monetary policy options following the first wave in the 1980s should clearly be on the agenda.
Recent Advances in Novel DNA Guiding Nanofabrication and Nanotechnology
Authors: Suo Zhiguang , Chen Jingqi , Hu Ziheng , Liu Yihao , Xing Feifei , Feng Lingyan
Published: December 2018

DNA as life’s genetic material has been widely investigated around the world. In recent years, with the fiery researches on nanomaterials, it also plays an important role in the development of material science due to its extraordinary molecular recognition capability and prominent structural features. In this mini review, we mainly overview the recent progresses of DNA guiding self-assembled nanostructures and nanofabrication. Typical DNA tile-based assembly and DNA origami nanotechnologies are presented, utilizing the recent 3D topology methods to fabricate multidimensional structures with unique properties. Then the site-specific nanomaterials synthesis and nano-DNA recognition on different DNA scaffolds/templates are demonstrated with excellent addressability, biocompatibility and structural programmability. Various nanomaterials, such as metals, carbon family materials, quantum dots, metal-organic frameworks, and DNA-based liquid crystals are briefly summarized. Finally, the present limitation and future promising development directions are discussed in conclusion and perspective. We wish this review would provide useful information toward the broader scientific interests in DNA nanotechnology.