bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mdm36 Is a Mitochondrial Fission-promoting Protein inSaccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Hammermeister Miriam , Schödel Kerstin , Westermann Benedikt
Published: May 2010

The division of mitochondrial membranes is a complex process mediated by the dynamin-related protein Dnm1 in yeast, acting in concert with several cofactors. We have identified Mdm36 as a mitochondria-associated protein required for efficient mitochondrial division. Δmdm36 mutants contain highly interconnected mitochondrial networks that strikingly resemble known fission mutants. Furthermore, mitochondrial fission induced by depolymerization of the actin cytoskeleton is blocked in Δmdm36 mutants, and the number of Dnm1 clusters on mitochondrial tips is reduced. Double mutant analyses indicate that Mdm36 acts antagonistically to fusion-promoting components, such as Fzo1 and Mdm30. The cell cortex-associated protein Num1 was shown previously to interact with Dnm1 and promote mitochondrial fission. We observed that mitochondria are highly motile and that their localization is not restricted to the cell periphery in Δmdm36 and Δnum1 mutants. Intriguingly, colocalization of Num1 and Dnm1 is abolished in the absence of Mdm36. These data suggest that Mdm36 is required for mitochondrial division by facilitating the formation of protein complexes containing Dnm1 and Num1 at the cell cortex. We propose a model that Mdm36-dependent formation of cell cortex anchors is required for the generation of tension on mitochondrial membranes to promote mitochondrial fission by Dnm1.
Arrestin-2 Interacts with the Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport Machinery to Modulate Endosomal Sorting of CXCR4
Authors: Malik Rohit , Marchese Adriano
Published: May 2010

The chemokine receptor CXCR4, a G protein-coupled receptor, is targeted for lysosomal degradation via a ubiquitin-dependent mechanism that involves the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery. We have reported recently that arrestin-2 also targets CXCR4 for lysosomal degradation; however, the molecular mechanisms by which this occurs remain poorly understood. Here, we show that arrestin-2 interacts with ESCRT-0, a protein complex that recognizes and sorts ubiquitinated cargo into the degradative pathway. Signal-transducing adaptor molecule (STAM)-1, but not related STAM-2, interacts directly with arrestin-2 and colocalizes with CXCR4 on early endosomal antigen 1-positive early endosomes. Depletion of STAM-1 by RNA interference and disruption of the arrestin-2/STAM-1 interaction accelerates agonist promoted degradation of CXCR4, suggesting that STAM-1 via its interaction with arrestin-2 negatively regulates CXCR4 endosomal sorting. Interestingly, disruption of this interaction blocks agonist promoted ubiquitination of hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (HRS) but not CXCR4 and STAM-1 ubiquitination. Our data suggest a mechanism whereby arrestin-2 via its interaction with STAM-1 modulates CXCR4 sorting by regulating the ubiquitination status of HRS.
A UIMA wrapper for the NCBO annotator
Authors: Roeder Christophe , Jonquet Clement , Shah Nigam H. , Baumgartner William A. , Verspoor Karin , Hunter Lawrence
Published: May 2010

Summary: The Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) framework and web services are emerging as useful tools for integrating biomedical text mining tools. This note describes our work, which wraps the National Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO) Annotator—an ontology-based annotation service—to make it available as a component in UIMA workflows.

Availability: This wrapper is freely available on the web at http://bionlp-uima.sourceforge.net/ as part of the UIMA tools distribution from the Center for Computational Pharmacology (CCP) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. It has been implemented in Java for support on Mac OS X, Linux and MS Windows.

Contact:  chris.roeder@ucdenver.edu
On safari to Random Jungle: a fast implementation of Random Forests for high-dimensional data
Authors: Schwarz Daniel F. , König Inke R. , Ziegler Andreas
Published: May 2010

Motivation: Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have proven to be a successful approach for helping unravel the genetic basis of complex genetic diseases. However, the identified associations are not well suited for disease prediction, and only a modest portion of the heritability can be explained for most diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes or Crohn's disease. This may partly be due to the low power of standard statistical approaches to detect gene–gene and gene–environment interactions when small marginal effects are present. A promising alternative is Random Forests, which have already been successfully applied in candidate gene analyses. Important single nucleotide polymorphisms are detected by permutation importance measures. To this day, the application to GWA data was highly cumbersome with existing implementations because of the high computational burden.

Results: Here, we present the new freely available software package Random Jungle (RJ), which facilitates the rapid analysis of GWA data. The program yields valid results and computes up to 159 times faster than the fastest alternative implementation, while still maintaining all options of other programs. Specifically, it offers the different permutation importance measures available. It includes new options such as the backward elimination method. We illustrate the application of RJ to a GWA of Crohn's disease. The most important single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) validate recent findings in the literature and reveal potential interactions.

Availability: The RJ software package is freely available at http://www.randomjungle.org

Contact:  inke.koenig@imbs.uni-luebeck.de; ziegler@imbs.uni-luebeck.de

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Predicting post-translational lysine acetylation using support vector machines
Authors: Gnad Florian , Ren Shubin , Choudhary Chunaram , Cox Jürgen , Mann Matthias
Published: May 2010

Motivation: Lysine acetylation is a post-translational protein modification and a primary regulatory mechanism that controls many cell signaling processes. Lysine acetylation sites are recognized by acetyltransferases and deacetylases through sequence patterns (motifs). Recently, we used high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify 3600 lysine acetylation sites on 1750 human proteins covering most of the previously annotated sites and providing the most comprehensive acetylome so far. This dataset should provide an excellent source to train support vector machines (SVMs) allowing the high accuracy in silico prediction of acetylated lysine residues.

Results: We developed a SVM to predict acetylated residues. The precision of our acetylation site predictor is 78% at 78% recall on input data containing equal numbers of modified and non-modified residues.

Availability: The online predictor is available at http://www.phosida.com

Contact:  mmann@biochem.mpg.de
The early origins of chronic heart failure: impaired placental growth and initiation of insulin resistance in childhood
Authors: Barker David J.P. , Gelow Jill , Thornburg Kent , Osmond Clive , Kajantie Eero , Eriksson Johan G.
Published: May 2010

Aims

Low birth weight and low placental weight predict later coronary heart disease and hypertension. This has led to the hypothesis that these diseases are initiated by foetal programming, the process by which foetal malnutrition leads to permanent changes in the body in ways that lead to chronic disease in later life. Here we examine the association between body and placental size at birth and later chronic heart failure.

Methods and results

We identified 187 patients taking medications for chronic heart failure in a birth cohort of 13 345 people born in Helsinki, Finland during 1934–44. Chronic heart failure was associated with a small placental surface area. In people born with a placental area less than 225 cm2, the odds ratio for chronic heart failure was 1.7 (1.1–2.5), compared with people born with a placental area greater than 295 cm2. The risk of heart failure was further increased by rapid gain in body mass index after the age of 2 years, a path of growth known to be linked to insulin resistance in later life. In a simultaneous regression, low body mass index at 2 years and high body mass index at 11 years were each associated with chronic heart failure (P = 0.008 and 0.001, respectively).

Conclusion

Chronic heart failure in adult life may be initiated by impaired placental growth which adversely affects cardiac development. People born with a vulnerable heart are more likely to develop chronic heart failure if they become insulin resistant.
Selectivity and escapement behaviour of five commercial fishery species in standard square- and diamond-mesh codends
Authors: Frandsen Rikke P. , Madsen Niels , Krag Ludvig A.
Published: May 2010

Frandsen, R. P., Madsen, N., and Krag, L. A. 2010. Selectivity and escapement behaviour of five commercial fishery species in standard square- and diamond-mesh codends. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 1721–1731. The Danish fishery for Nephrops (Nephrops norvegicus) is often conducted in a mixed-species setting, characterized by high rates of discards of several target species, including Nephrops and cod (Gadus morhua). Experiments were conducted to investigate and compare the selective properties of a standard 70 mm square-mesh codend (standard SMC) and a standard 90 mm diamond-mesh codend (standard DMC). Selectivity estimates for five commercial species are provided for both codends. The standard SMC yielded higher estimates of length at 50% retention/mesh size (hereafter SF) for Nephrops and roundfish than did the standard DMC, but no effect of codend type on SF was found for plaice (Pleuronectes platessa). Moreover, a novel codend cover design allowed assessment of the preferred direction of escapement in the codend. Whiting (Merlangius merlangus) and Nephrops showed pronounced, but opposite, vertical preference in the direction of escapement, with whiting escaping upwards and Nephrops downwards. A significant (p < 0.05) difference in the direction of escapement between the two codends was found for haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and whiting. Owing to the relatively small catches, the outcome is probably most applicable to Nephrops-directed fisheries under similar conditions, and caution should be taken not to extrapolate the results to other fisheries.
Demosthenes
Authors: Gagarin Michael
Published: May 2010

Demosthenes (b. 384–d. 322 bce) was one of the leading public figures in Athens in the third quarter of the 4th century—a statesman who led the Athenians in their ultimately unsuccessful struggle against Philip of Macedon, as well as the greatest of ancient Greek orators. Judgments of his public career have ranged from declaring him the heroic defender of Greek freedom to a failed strategist and manipulator of the people. Much less controversial is the judgment, common since Antiquity, of his preeminence as an orator. All these subjects and more are treated in Gunther Martin’s extremely useful 2019 book, The Oxford Handbook of Demosthenes.
Etruscans
Authors: Ridgway David
Published: May 2010

For most of the nine centuries prior to the Augustan settlement of Italy in 27 bce, the Etruscans were the most significant indigenous inhabitants of the Italian peninsula. At its height, their civilization amounted to a great deal more than a pale reflection of the glory that was contemporary Greece, or an eccentric prelude to the grandeur that was destined to suffuse Republican and Imperial Rome. Treated in its own right and on its own terms, the archaeological, architectural, artistic, historical, linguistic, political, and religious record of the largely autonomous Etruscan cities is indispensable to the proper understanding of the whole pre-Roman Mediterranean.
Roman History: Early to Republic
Authors: Gruen Erich S.
Published: May 2010

The Roman Republic continues to intrigue researchers and students alike. The rise of a small city to become mistress of the Mediterranean provoked the great Greek historian Polybius already in the 2nd century bce and still fascinates scholars, whose output consistently swells a bibliography that can only be very selectively surveyed here. The vision of the Republic left a deep impression upon medieval Europe, upon writers and thinkers like Machiavelli, Montesquieu, and the American Founding Fathers, and it resonates even with contemporary political theorists. The achievement of the Roman Republic and the foundations upon which it rested remain subjects of compelling interest.
Homer
Authors: Rutherford R.B.
Published: May 2010

“Homer” is the name given to the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the greatest and probably earliest surviving Greek epic poems. Nothing whatsoever is known about his life and career: even his date is uncertain. Currently the general consensus is that he composed at some time in the period 750–650 bce. Even in ancient times wide disagreement existed as to his place and date. The question whether the Iliad and the Odyssey were by the same poet was also already aired in Antiquity; in general, modern scholars have answered in the negative. Many other poems were sometimes ascribed to Homer in ancient literature, but these are now considered later and inferior; many of them do not survive. The question of authorship cannot be separated from the debate as to the nature of the poems’ composition and the processes of transmission, and much of the evidence derives from detailed study of the language, especially the so-called formulae (repeated phrases and lines that are usually taken as indications of oral composition). Several features of the poems are noteworthy in stylistic terms, especially the speeches and the similes.
Ovid
Authors: Myers K. Sara
Published: May 2010

All of Ovid’s poetry bears the hallmarks of his distinctive style: humor, wit (often expressed through word play), great literary learning displayed with a light touch, self-awareness and literary self-consciousness (often characterized as irony), and a profound interest in the human condition. His extensive and varied poetic career exhibits his ability to innovate and manipulate the conventions and content of a range of literary genres, mainly through the expansion of the range of elegy. Ovid’s dense intertextuality also reveals him as a masterful interpreter of the earlier Greek and Latin literary tradition. Once viewed as apolitical, Ovid’s works are now read as challenging, commenting, and engaging with Augustus’s ongoing transformation of Roman cultural and political institutions.
Ancient Crete
Authors: Chaniotis Angelos , Kotsonas Antonis
Published: May 2010

The island of Crete holds a special position in classical studies, primarily as the birthplace of the earliest “high culture” in Europe: the Minoan civilization of the Bronze Age. But in addition to the artistic and cultural achievements of the “Minoans,” Crete is the only Greek region whose history can be studied on the basis of written sources (Egyptian hieroglyphic documents, Linear B texts, Greek literary sources and inscriptions), almost continually from c. 1400 bce to Late Antiquity. It is the first Greek area where script was used (Cretan hieroglyphics, Linear A, and Linear B); and being an island with a diverse landscape, in relative proximity to mainland Greece but strategically located in the center of the eastern Mediterranean, it offers interesting paradigms for the study of ancient political organization, society, and culture in changing historical contexts. Understandably, Minoan Crete has been studied more intensely than later periods of Cretan history. This is not a bibliography of Minoan archaeology and art history. Although it attempts to cover Cretan history from the processes that led to the appearance of the palaces (c. 2000 bce) to Late Antiquity (c. 5th century ce), it places more emphasis on the periods of Cretan history for which written sources exist. This bibliography does not always follow the traditional periodization of Greek history and art history because it corresponds to the periods of Cretan history. The “Cretan Renaissance” (c. 900–630), roughly the Geometric, Orientalizing, and Early Archaic periods of art history, is taken here as a single period, in which Crete was a pioneer in art and culture. A major change occurred around 630 bce: trade and the arts did not disappear but lost their innovative power, and Cretan institutions seem to petrify; the Late Archaic and Classical periods are therefore taken as a single unit (c. 630–c. 336 bce). In the remaining centuries Crete kept pace with the rest of the Greek world, first integrated in the Hellenistic world (c. 336–67 bce) and then in the Roman Empire (67 bce–284 ce); finally, Late Antiquity (c. 284–mid-7th century ce) is clearly defined through Diocletian’s reforms and the advance of Christianity, and the beginning of the Arab raids.
Greek Art
Authors: Mylonopoulos Ioannis
Published: May 2010

Greek art is all about images: images of gods, images of heroes, and images of humans. The self-awareness of the Greeks is reflected in the ways they decided to visualize themselves and the world, both real and imaginary, surrounding them. For a long period of time, the study of Greek art followed the interpretive path of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who understood Greek artistic expression in an almost biological way: just like a living organism, Greek art had its early formative period, a time of vigor, and a final moment of decay. Strongly influenced by the Renaissance concept of artistic genius, generations of scholars devoted themselves to the recognition and analysis of the styles of artists known mainly through literary sources, following the methods founded by Adolf Furtwängler and John D. Beazley. Nowadays, although stylistic analysis remains a conditio sine qua non for the understanding of Greek art, scholars have moved toward a more contextual appreciation of art as a historical and cultural phenomenon firmly rooted in its own social, political, and intellectual frame. Statues, reliefs, and vases are no longer considered mere objects of art, an aesthetic delight in a museum showcase, but evidence for the ways a culture visualized and artistically reinvented abstract philosophical ideas, political concepts, religious beliefs, or social constructs. One should always take into consideration, however, that there is nothing like the all-encompassing Greek art, but rather many different artistic expressions in the many separate political and geographical entities of the Greek Mediterranean world.
Social Work Research Methods
Authors: Rubin Allen
Published: May 2010

Social work research means conducting an investigation in accordance with the scientific method. The aim of social work research is to build the social work knowledge base in order to solve practical problems in social work practice or social policy. Investigating phenomena in accordance with the scientific method requires maximal adherence to empirical principles, such as basing conclusions on observations that have been gathered in a systematic, comprehensive, and objective fashion. The resources in this entry discuss how to do that as well as how to utilize and teach research methods in social work. Other professions and disciplines commonly produce applied research that can guide social policy or social work practice. Yet no commonly accepted distinction exists at this time between social work research methods and research methods in allied fields relevant to social work. Consequently useful references pertaining to research methods in allied fields that can be applied to social work research are included in this entry.
Severe and Persistent Mental Illness: Adults
Authors: Rubin Allen
Published: May 2010

This entry provides sources on severe and persistent mental illness that are relevant for social work practitioners, focusing in particular on schizophrenia and to a lesser extent bipolar disorder. Although other disorders are touched upon, this entry does not provide a comprehensive list of sources on other disorders, such as the various mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), personality disorders, phobias, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, and so on. Nevertheless some of the books in the section Treatment of Various Mental Illnesses include chapters on the treatment of other disorders. Each section of this entry is limited to those sources that are the most up-to-date and the most useful to social workers involved in the care of people with severe and persistent mental illnesses or to students who will work with that target population.
Group Work
Authors: Macgowan Mark J.
Published: May 2010

Group work can be defined as “goal-directed activity with small treatment and task groups aimed at meeting socioemotional needs and accomplishing tasks” (see Textbooks,Toseland and Rivas 2009, p. 12). As a general overview, this bibliography includes a wide range of topics, but the depth of citations within areas is limited to notable publications and those primarily related to social work with groups. In addition the emphasis is on works published after 1995, though classics or older but unique publications are included. Most of the references are to topics related to treatment groups, that is, groups whose primary purpose is to meet the socioemotional needs of its members, usually done in small groups consisting of up to fifteen group members. However, a section is included that is specifically related to task groups, whose primary purpose is to accomplish tasks related to the needs of persons outside of the group. The best source for an overview of the fundamentals of group work is the section Textbooks.
Group Work across Populations, Challenges, and Settings
Authors: Macgowan Mark J.
Published: May 2010

Group work may be defined as “goal-directed activity with small treatment and task groups aimed at meeting socioemotional needs and accomplishing tasks” (Toseland and Rivas 2009, p. 12, see General Overviews). This entry is restricted to materials related to treatment groups whose primary purpose is to meet the socioemotional needs of its members, usually involving small groups consisting of up to fifteen members. To keep the material current with developments in group work research that have occurred in the last decade, the emphasis is on publications since 2000.
Research
Authors: Saini Michael
Published: May 2010

Research is a systematic methodological approach to collecting and analyzing information to create new knowledge. The research process generally adheres to a set of strict protocols, methods, and established structures, as the research should be a transparent process to allow others enough information to replicate the study or to assess the credibility and applicability of the research findings. Knowledge of social work research provides consumers with the ability to understand and utilize research findings to inform and enhance practice and policies. Although social work research includes a variety of philosophical assumptions to guide the production, evaluation, and dissemination of research, it is often the research question itself that dictates the methodological design of the study. It is within this nonhierarchical approach to research that this online bibliography considers quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method designs and systematic reviews as well as the various philosophical assumptions, ethical issues, and issues related to diversity in research.
Juvenile Justice
Authors: Rapp-Paglicci Lisa
Published: May 2010

The topic of juvenile justice is expansive, and multiple fields, such as social work, criminology, psychology, law, and education, are engaged in its study, policies, and practice. This entry focuses on social work’s perspective of juvenile justice but does include other fields. Several components are included under the umbrella of juvenile justice, such as the juvenile justice system (courts, probation, sanctions, and so forth); the juvenile offender; demographics, theories about delinquency, and so forth; intervention (empirically based prevention, intervention, programs, and so forth); and policies (laws and rules pertinent to juveniles in both the juvenile and the criminal justice systems). In addition, numerous subspecialties are encompassed under the umbrella of juvenile justice, such as sexual offenders, child maltreatment, family violence, school bullying and violence, the death penalty, substance abuse, violent offenders, racial inequities, female offenders, mentally ill juvenile offenders, and gangs. Regrettably, this bibliography cannot cover all of these topics; however, it will include resources on the juvenile court, juvenile gangs, female juvenile offenders, race and juvenile justice, and treatment and prevention.
Meta-analysis
Authors: Montgomery Paul , Morton Matthew
Published: May 2010

This article organizes a wide range of selected resources for understanding and executing meta-analyses. Meta-analysis refers to “statistical techniques used to analyse and synthesise results of multiple studies on the same topic” (see Introductory Works, Littell, et al. 2008, pp. 176). Although meta-analysis encompasses the statistical aspects of research synthesis, the process is situated within other processes involving the selection and inclusion of studies as well as the reporting and interpretation of results. In particular meta-analysis should generally be conducted within the context of a systematic review in order to ensure that the process of gathering and appraising data for meta-analysis is as credible and transparent as possible. Therefore this bibliography also provides resources related to bias, assessing study quality, unpublished data, and other nonquantitative aspects of research synthesis that have direct implications for meta-analysis.
Multiculturalism
Authors: Lee Eun-Kyoung Othelia
Published: May 2010

Multiculturalism has been defined as an ideology that suggests that society should consist of, or at least recognize and include with equal status, diverse cultural groups (see Textbooks). Multiculturalism is often considered the opposite of monoculturalism, which implies a normative cultural unity and preexisting homogeneity. Monoculturalism assumes rejection of differences and a belief in the superiority of a dominant culture, while multiculturalism represents acceptance, appreciation, utilization, and celebration of similarity and differences (see Development of Multicultural Social Work Practice). This entry identifies multicultural resources with specific reference to social work’s adaptation of multiculturalism. While the identified references are focused on social work applications, relevant ones dealing with cross-cultural counseling, multicultural education, and organizational diversity are selected.
Field Education
Authors: Bogo Marion
Published: May 2010

Field education in social work is a component of social work education programs where students learn to practice social work through educationally focused service experiences in agency and community settings. Field education is also referred to as field instruction and field practicum, and earlier it was known as fieldwork or student supervision. The term “practice learning” is used in the United Kingdom to refer to field education. The aim of field education is to promote practice competence through students’ learning to integrate and apply the knowledge, values, and skills of social work while also offering services to individuals, families, groups, and communities. Students can also do field work in administration, planning, or policy development activities. An experienced social worker, usually an employee of the service setting, provides educationally focused field instruction and is accountable for services provided to clients. Schools of social work provide orientation and training for field instructors and linkage to the program through some form of faculty field liaison or field seminar. Field education is expected to be systematic, with educational objectives or outcomes specified as practice behaviors, the provision of relevant learning activities, and assessment of students’ mastery of practice competencies.
Clinical Social Work Practice with Adult Lesbians
Authors: Hunter Ski
Published: May 2010

Lesbians were not notable in the United States until the term “lesbian” became widely used in the 19th and 20th centuries. The source of the term is not known, but it probably came from the name of the home of Sappho, who lived on the Greek island of Lesbos around 600 bce. This entry reflects a more current time and identifies resources focused on clinical interventions with lesbians (published between 1990 and 2008). Several online bibliographies are included that have older references on interventions. Most materials are selected from the research in social work and psychology. Lesbians are significantly more likely to seek a mental health professional than are heterosexual women. Also, more lesbian couples than gay couples seek professional help. Nevertheless, considerable materials also include gay persons and sometimes bisexual and transgender persons. Heterosexual persons are also sometimes included for comparison purposes.
Families
Authors: Coleman Heather
Published: May 2010

This entry identifies family resources pertaining to social work family theories. Given the multidisciplinary work in family therapy, this entry also includes classical works from related disciplines. Social work’s involvement with families has taken two paths, spawning the need to present resources from both categories. The first category falls under what is known as family casework, family social work, or home-based family services, which unfold in the home and community of families facing ecological challenges. The second path is family therapy that occurs in offices and focuses on internal family dynamics. Social workers in both streams draw from similar family theory; however, family social work also integrates ecosystems theory. The origins of family social work can be traced to Mary E. Richmond, who advocated for a family approach. In the late 1950s allied disciplines took an interest in families of schizophrenics and developed family therapy as a method of intervention. Since then family therapy has evolved, and ideas have been cumulative. Social workers have also worked alongside allied disciplines, often making it difficult to delineate social works’ stand-alone contributions. Nichols and Schwartz 2009 (cited under Textbooks) acknowledged the contributions of early social workers to family theory.
Rural Social Work Practice
Authors: Lohmann Nancy , Lohmann Roger
Published: May 2010

Rural social work may be defined as the practice of social work in any setting identified by those present in the area as rural. This may include farming, mining, fishing, logging, or ranching communities and small towns and villages of many types. There is ongoing debate over how to definitively categorize rural areas, but generally such debate is mostly restricted to those who believe themselves to be, or have an interest in, rural areas, however defined. The most widely used definitions involve uses of census data for population and area. In addition to the traditional rural-urban distinction (less than twenty-five hundred people) and the more recent nonmetropolitan areas distinction, in 2000 the U.S. census introduced an entirely new category of “micropolitan” areas. In all three cases rural is the residual category of those areas that are not urban. Rural social workers tend to utilize the full range of professional knowledge and skills and to share social work values. It is primarily the distinctive characteristics of rural settings that set rural practice apart.
Analytic Approaches to Aesthetics
Authors: Lamarque Peter
Published: May 2010

Aesthetics is broadly that branch of philosophy concerned with fundamental questions about the nature of beauty, the nature of art, and the principles of art criticism. Some of these questions go back to the ancient Greeks, but systematic study of the foundations of aesthetics did not begin until the 18th century. Analytic philosophers turned their attention to this branch of the subject relatively late and in the 1940s and 50s tended to be scornful of what they found (John Passmore famously wrote of the “dreariness” of aesthetics in 1951 in the journal Mind). However, in the fifty years up to the turn of the 21st century, and beyond that point, analytic approaches to aesthetics developed with considerable sophistication and there is now a huge literature on all aspects of the subject under the broad heading of “analytic aesthetics.” Other approaches exist, of course, notably that associated with Continental philosophy, which is more historically oriented. The analytic approach is rooted in the analysis of concepts (albeit increasingly informed by work in the empirical sciences) and tends to examine issues about the nature of art and the aesthetic qualities of objects in an ahistorical manner, even if noting and evaluating ideas from earlier periods. In the years since the early 1990s there has been a notable growth in attention to the individual arts (music, painting, literature, film, etc.). Important developments in the aesthetics of nature and the environment have also occurred.
George Berkeley
Authors: Flage Daniel , Pearce Kenneth
Published: May 2010

George Berkeley (b. 1685–d. 1753) was an Irish philosopher best known for his defense of immaterialism, the thesis that perceived objects are only ideas and do not exist outside the minds that perceive them (in Berkeley’s famous phrase, their esse is percipi, i.e., their being is to be perceived). This thesis was defended in Berkeley’s two most famous works, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (PHK) and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (DHP). While Berkeley scholars have traditionally focused on the arguments in metaphysics and epistemology contained in these two books written in Berkeley’s youth, more recent scholarship has given more attention to other texts and topics, including Berkeley’s later works and his contributions to philosophy of language; philosophy of religion; philosophy of science; and social, political, and economic philosophy.
Free Will
Authors: Timpe Kevin
Published: May 2010

Free will is a perennial issue in philosophy, both in terms of the history of philosophy and in contemporary discussions. Aspects of free will relate to a wide range of philosophical issues, but especially to metaphysics and ethics. For roughly the past three decades, the literatures on free will and moral responsibility have overlapped to such a degree that it is impossible to separate them. This entry focuses on contemporary discussions about the nature and existence of free will, as well as its relationship to work in the sciences and philosophy of religion.
Philosophy of Language
Authors: Wolf Michael P.
Published: May 2010

The term “philosophy of language” is generally used more restrictively than newcomers to the discipline might expect. While philosophers of almost every stripe have something to say about language, people who speak of “philosophy of language” generally intend to restrict it to philosophers in the analytic tradition over the last one hundred years or so. This entry reflects that general convention. The entry also breaks the field down by major topic areas, with each later topic including at least one cornerstone work (usually more) and greater attention to recent papers of interest. The topics above (beyond the review of textbooks and supplements) may be thought of as falling into major groups based on a number of larger themes and questions in the field. After some historical review, we consider what our view on what languages must be: how do things become meaningful within a language and how do speakers adhere to the rules governing the language? We then look at how truth should be understood and, more narrowly, whether there are analytic truths (statements that are true in virtue of the meanings of their terms). Questions of how words themselves come to refer to or stand for parts of the world are then considered, both invariantly and in ways that are sensitive to context, including expressions of propositional attitudes. Two sections after that address more pragmatic matters in the philosophy of language: what is it to perform a speech act (and thus communicate with others) and what is it to use an expression metaphorically, deviating from accepted usage and yet being acknowledged by other speakers? We close with a review of an emerging debate between minimalists and contextualists over the degree to which the meanings of most of the language are fixed.
Moral Responsibility
Authors: Williams Garrath
Published: May 2010

This article focuses on compatibilist approaches to moral responsibility—that is, approaches that see moral responsibility as compatible with the causal order of the world. A separate Oxford Bibliographies in Philosophy article considers “Free Will” and incompatibilist perspectives. Those approaches tend to give less attention to the forms of interaction involved in holding responsible and to the position of those who suffer wrongdoing. However, as Peter Strawson pointed out in a seminal essay (see Responsibility and the Reactive Sentiments), moral responsibility is intimately related to our reactions to one another. Similarly, consequentialist thinkers stress the social effects of holding people responsible for their actions, and these approaches have seen a marked revival in recent years (see Utilitarian and Consequentialist Approaches). This reflects a wider trend to consider the practices by which we hold people responsible and how these bear on relationships and wider social and political structures. Moral responsibility also bears on other topics of great practical importance, only briefly mentioned here. These include responsibility under the law (see the separate Oxford Bibliographies in Philosophy article on “Punishment”), the responsibilities of groups and organizations, accountability within organizations, and how distributive justice and individual responsibility are related.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Philosophy of History
Authors: Duquette David
Published: May 2010

Hegel’s philosophy of history emphasizes the development of freedom and the consciousness of freedom over the course of world history. For G. W. F. Hegel (b. 1770–d. 1831), this development is marked by conflict and struggle, rather than smooth uninterrupted progress, and is manifested for the most part in political developments construed broadly, including world-historical events such as the French Revolution, in the significant actions of world-historical “heroes” such as Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte, and in the achievements of peoples and nations. According to Hegel, the end or goal of history is the actualization of freedom in the life of the modern nation-state. He claimed that history was a rational process of development and that it could be understood and made intelligible for anyone willing to look at it rationally, which means looking at it holistically and as an endeavor of the World Spirit with a discernible purpose. Moreover, he attempted to show that history exhibited real progress toward the ultimate goal of freedom and that the modern period, the time in which he lived up until his death in 1831, brought this development to fruition and, in a way, a culmination. This theory of history has been both highly influential and controversial—it is essential to any overall study of the philosophy of history.
Feminist Philosophy
Authors: Tanesini Alessandra
Published: May 2010

Feminist perspectives in all academic disciplines are concerned with questions about the status of women. Feminists offer analyses of, and propose solutions for, the disadvantage suffered by women in many societies. They provide accounts of gender and gender roles, sexuality and sex, and femininity; they uncover whatever biases might be present in the presuppositions of a theory or line of inquiry. This entry is specifically concerned with feminist philosophy, broadly conceived, which involves approaching feminist questions and problems from a philosophical perspective, and looking at the traditional questions of philosophy so as to reveal possible sexist assumptions and to propose alternative nonsexist proposals.
Social Learning Theory
Authors: Holt Thomas
Published: May 2010

Social learning theory has had a distinct and lasting impact on the field of criminology. This framework evolved from Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association in the 1940s, which argued that crime is learned through interactions with intimate peers where individuals acquire definitions that support or refute the violation of law. This theory was revised in Burgess and Akers 1966 (see Social Learning) to become a Differential Association-Reinforcement model recognizing the impact of peer attitudes and reactions to delinquency. The theory was further revised in the 1970s and 1980s to become a social learning model developed by Ronald Akers. This model builds from the previous work by recognizing the significance of delinquent peers, differential definitions of and reinforcement for offending behaviors, and the influence of imitation of peer behavior. Finally, Akers adapted the model in 1998 to become a macro-level model of delinquency and crime by arguing that social learning mediates the influence of structural factors on offending. This perspective provides a distinct framework to understand the influence of human agency, social forces, and peers on behavior.
Marriage and Dowry
Authors: Cowan Alexander
Published: May 2010

The history of marriage is inseparable from the history of the family as an institution and from the history of the female experience. Thematically, it falls into four linked categories, the making of marriages, the ceremonies surrounding marriage (Marriage Rituals), which were both religious and secular and could span lengthy periods of time, the functioning of marriage within the couple, and the social and economic roles of widows and widowers. Dowries, the sums of money and material goods which were normally transferred to the husband or his family at the time of getting married but later returned to widows, played a central role in all four of these categories. Interest in these issues first emerged in the 1960s and found a place among the historians linked to the journals Annales: Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations in France (see Annales: Histoire, Sciences sociales, cited under Journals), Quaderni Storici in Italy (also cited under Journals), and the Cambridge Group for the Study of Population and Social Structure in the United Kingdom. Multiple studies from all parts of Europe have blossomed as a result.
Petrarch
Authors: Kallendorf Craig
Published: May 2010

Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca, b. 1304–d. 1374) occupies a unique position in Renaissance studies. While modern scholarship has shown that others laid the foundation for him, Petrarch was the first to insist forcefully and polemically that the culture of his day needed reorientation toward the past. In a peculiarly modern act of self-presentation, he put himself forward as the one to effect this reorientation, something for which he received credit, in his day and in ours. The scope of his intellectual activity was enormous, ranging from the scholarly study of classical Antiquity to the production of many creative works, the ones in Latin known principally in the early 21st century to specialists, but one of which, the Canzoniere, set the standard for lyric poetry for generations to follow.
Paris
Authors: Diefendorf Barbara B.
Published: May 2010

With a population of two hundred to three hundred thousand people, Paris was the largest city in northern Europe during the 16th century. Its greatest growth came during the prosperous first half of the century, especially after King Francis I (r. 1515–1547) announced his intention to spend more time in Paris, instead of the Loire Valley castles favored by his predecessors. Although the court remained peripatetic, the shift in focus to the Île-de-France encouraged considerable building and also the spread of Renaissance arts and culture. The outbreak of religious war in 1562 hampered but did not extinguish the cultivation of a new taste for learning and a distinctive French Renaissance style of art and architecture that married classical motifs favored by the Italian Renaissance to indigenous traditions and style.
Johannes Kepler
Authors: Rabin Sheila J.
Published: May 2010

The mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (b. 1571–d. 1630) was a leading figure in what is commonly regarded as the scientific revolution. He is best known for his three laws of planetary motion (the planets move round the sun in an ellipse, and the sun is one of the foci; as they revolve, a radius vector drawn from the sun shows that the planets sweep out equal areas in equal times; the squares of the periodic times of any two planets is proportional to the cubes of their mean distances from the sun), which are still valid today, but at the time they were formulated they battled the prevailing belief in uniform circular planetary motion. At the same time he developed the idea of a celestial physics: that is, he maintained that the celestial bodies are physical, such as the earth, and moved by physical forces. His studies in optics were also pathbreaking: he showed that the eye was an optical instrument and worked according to natural laws, and he intuited the workings of the retina and the brain. He was also able to describe how lenses worked. He realized light propagated in spheres and formulated his intensity law—that the intensity of light is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source. Like most astronomers of his day, Kepler was an astrologer, but he tried to reform the way astrology was done and maintained it had limited validity. Kepler had originally studied for the ministry and wrote a number of theological works. His scientific writing is suffused with his piety. Because of his writings on astrology and the religious tenor of his nontheological writings scholars debate whether Kepler was a number mystic and whether mysticism influenced his scientific discoveries. This is perhaps a factor in the lack of studies about Kepler in English relative to other major players in the scientific revolution until the last several decades.
The Reformation
Authors: Hillerbrand Hans , Roczniak Wladyslaw
Published: May 2010

The Reformation of the 16th century, sometimes known as “Protestant Reformation” in order to distinguish it from a Catholic “Reformation,” was a pan-European movement that called for reform of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the entirety of Christian society. For many of the reformers, however, more was at issue than mere reform; they called for a fundamental re-conceptualization of theology. The Reformation failed in influencing the Catholic Church. Martin Luther, the early leader of the movement, was excommunicated by the Catholic Church, but defiantly pursued his understanding of the Christian faith. As a result of the Reformation new Protestant churches with distinct theological profiles emerged. Several features have characterized scholarship on the Reformation. For one, the historiography of the Reformation has traditionally tended to followed confessional lines, with Protestant scholars painting a negative picture of the state of the Catholic Church on the eve of the Reformation, and an exuberant picture of the achievements of the reformers. Catholic scholars saw things the other way around. More recently a more judicious treatment, less confessionally oriented, of the religious turbulence of the 16th century has emerged. Also, historians of the Reformation have employed different conceptual frames of reference, particularly regarding the question of the primary factor (religion, politics, personal ambition, economics) of the turbulence. This bibliography considers the broad outlines of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Other entries consider the Reformation in England, France, and the German lands; the Catholic Reformation; the Radical Sects; and key Reformation individuals.