bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Conserved forkhead dimerization motif controls DNA replication timing and spatial organization of chromosomes in
S. cerevisiae
Authors: Ostrow A. Zachary , Kalhor Reza , Gan Yan , Villwock Sandra K. , Linke Christian , Barberis Matteo , Chen Lin , Aparicio Oscar M.
Published: March 2017

Significance

The spatial organization of chromatin within the nucleus regulates genomic functions including DNA repair, transcription, and replication. For example, replication origins cluster prior to initiating replication, likely to aggregate the many necessary factors, but the mechanism is poorly understood. We recently discovered yeast “Forkhead Box” (Fox) DNA binding proteins, Forkhead 1 (Fkh1) and Forkhead 2 (Fkh2), as required for this origin clustering and regulation of initiation timing. This study reveals that Fkh1 and Fkh2 share a structural motif that allows dimerization to bring distal DNA binding sites into close proximity. Mutation that disrupts dimerization ablates origin clustering and deregulates origin activation, suggesting causality between origin clustering and initiation control. We propose that Fkh1 and Fkh2 and related Fox proteins in metazoans establish chromatin architecture.
Neonatal
CX26
removal impairs neocortical development and leads to elevated anxiety
Authors: Su Xin , Chen Jing-Jing , Liu Lin-Yun , Huang Qian , Zhang Li-Zhao , Li Xiao-Yang , He Xiang-Nan , Lu Wenlian , Sun Shan , Li Huawei , Yu Yong-Chun
Published: March 2017

Significance

It has long been postulated that the formation of electrically coupled neuronal domains guides the emergence of chemically transmitting neuronal connections in the developing neocortex. However, whether electrical coupling broadly contributes to in vivo neocortical circuit development and animal behavior remains largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that specific deletion of
Connexin 26
(
CX26
) in neocortical excitatory neurons around birth significantly reduces the frequency and size of spontaneous network oscillations.
CX26
deletion at early, but not late, postnatal stages, impairs dendritic morphology and excitatory synapse development. Moreover,
CX26-
conditional knockout (
CX26
-cKO) mice exhibit increased anxiety-like behavior. Our data suggest that transient electrical coupling between excitatory neurons is critical for proper development and function of the neocortex.
Consequences of a price incentive on free riding and electric energy consumption
Authors: Elinder Mikael , Escobar Sebastian , Petré Ingel
Published: March 2017

Significance

We show that a simple and common price incentive is highly effective in reducing electric energy consumption (EEC). When EEC is billed and metered at the apartment level compared with when tenants have unlimited EEC included in the rent, annual EEC falls by about 25%. Moreover, the reduction in EEC comes almost exclusively from households with very high EEC before the policy change. The results suggest that most tenants benefit, whereas only a small group of free riders stand to lose from this policy change. The policy is cost-effective, with a cost per reduced kilowatt hour of US$0.01, and for each invested dollar, the social value of reductions in air pollution, including CO2, is $2.
Selection of DNA aptamers with two modified bases
Authors: Gawande Bharat N. , Rohloff John C. , Carter Jeffrey D. , von Carlowitz Ira , Zhang Chi , Schneider Daniel J. , Janjic Nebojsa
Published: March 2017

Significance

Aptamers are now used ubiquitously as binding agents for a broad range of applications. Natural (unmodified) DNA and RNA aptamers have considerably less chemical diversity than protein-based ligands such as antibodies, limiting their utility. Aptamers possessing a single chemical modification have helped bridge this diversity gap. We report the selection and identification of aptamers with two diversity-enhancing chemical modifications that bind and inhibit proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), a representative human therapeutic protein target. The addition of a second modification, especially in certain pairwise combinations, resulted in significant improvements in affinity, ligand efficiency, epitope coverage, metabolic stability, and inhibitory activity. Extensively chemically functionalized aptamers have the potential to become the next generation of nucleic-acid–based ligands.
Auxin response cell-autonomously controls ground tissue initiation in the early
Arabidopsis
embryo
Authors: Möller Barbara K. , ten Hove Colette A. , Xiang Daoquan , Williams Nerys , López Lorena González , Yoshida Saiko , Smit Margot , Datla Raju , Weijers Dolf
Published: March 2017

Significance

Higher plants are built from three major tissue types: epidermis, ground tissue, and vascular tissue. Each of these differentiates into several functionally distinct cell types. Although identity switches for the different cell types within the major three tissues have been identified, mechanisms that trigger the initiation of the three tissues themselves have remained obscure. Auxin response, in particular the auxin-dependent transcription factor MONOPTEROS (MP), plays a critical role in
Arabidopsis
embryonic root initiation. In our study, we identify a set of embryonic MP target genes and show that MP acts as a very first regulator of ground tissue initiation. Moreover, our data provide a framework for the simultaneous formation of multiple cell types by the same transcriptional regulator.
SM protein Munc18-2 facilitates transition of Syntaxin 11-mediated lipid mixing to complete fusion for T-lymphocyte cytotoxicity
Authors: Spessott Waldo A. , Sanmillan Maria L. , McCormick Margaret E. , Kulkarni Vineet V. , Giraudo Claudio G.
Published: March 2017

Significance

Vital physiological processes—such as the cytotoxic immune response—require the coordinated action of the atypical fusion protein Syntaxin 11 (STX11) and the Sec/Munc protein Munc18-2 for releasing effector proteins housed in membrane-enclosed secretory granules. Human mutations in STX11 and Munc18-2 genes lead to severe immunodeficiency and hemostasis disorders. However it is still unclear how STX11, a lipid-anchored SNARE, and Munc18-2 mediate membrane fusion. By using an in vitro fusion assay, we found that STX11 mainly mediates lipid mixing when combined with human lymphocyte-interacting SNAREs. Remarkably, Munc18-2 induces association among these SNAREs and facilitates the transition from a hemifusion-like state to complete fusion. Our findings support a model in which SM proteins play a direct role in membrane merging.
Comparative genomics uncovers the prolific and distinctive metabolic potential of the cyanobacterial genus
Moorea
Authors: Leao Tiago , Castelão Guilherme , Korobeynikov Anton , Monroe Emily A. , Podell Sheila , Glukhov Evgenia , Allen Eric E. , Gerwick William H. , Gerwick Lena
Published: March 2017

Significance

The genus
Moorea
has yielded more than 40% of all reported marine cyanobacterial natural products. Preliminary genomic data suggest that many more natural products are yet to be discovered. However, incomplete genomic information has hampered the discovery of novel compounds using genome-mining approaches. Here, we report a complete genome of a filamentous marine tropical cyanobacterium,
Moorea producens
PAL, along with the improvement of other three
Moorea
draft genomes. Our analyses revealed a vast and distinctive natural product metabolic potential in these strains, highlighting that they are still an excellent source of unique metabolites despite previous extensive studies.
Bioinformatic analysis of riboswitch structures uncovers variant classes with altered ligand specificity
Authors: Weinberg Zasha , Nelson James W. , Lünse Christina E. , Sherlock Madeline E. , Breaker Ronald R.
Published: March 2017

Significance

In the 15 y since metabolite-binding riboswitches were first experimentally validated, only 4 examples of riboswitch classes with altered specificity have been confirmed by experiments out of ∼30 distinct structural architectures. In contrast, evolutionary changes in ligand specificity of proteins are routinely reported. To further investigate the propensity for natural adaptation of riboswitch specificity, we developed a structural bioinformatics method to systematically search for variant riboswitches with altered ligand recognition. This search method yielded evidence for altered specificity within five riboswitch classes, including validation of a second riboswitch class that senses 2′-deoxyguanosine.
Solar fuels photoanode materials discovery by integrating high-throughput theory and experiment
Authors: Yan Qimin , Yu Jie , Suram Santosh K. , Zhou Lan , Shinde Aniketa , Newhouse Paul F. , Chen Wei , Li Guo , Persson Kristin A. , Gregoire John M. , Neaton Jeffrey B.
Published: March 2017

Significance

Combining high-throughput computation and experiment accelerates the discovery of photoelectrocatalysts for water oxidation and explains the origin of their functionality, establishing ternary metal vanadates as a prolific class of photoanode materials for generation of chemical fuels from sunlight.
Multiple origins of viral capsid proteins from cellular ancestors
Authors: Krupovic Mart , Koonin Eugene V.
Published: March 2017

Significance

The entire history of life is the story of virus–host coevolution. Therefore the origins and evolution of viruses are an essential component of this process. A signature feature of the virus state is the capsid, the proteinaceous shell that encases the viral genome. Although homologous capsid proteins are encoded by highly diverse viruses, there are at least 20 unrelated varieties of these proteins. We show here that many, if not all, capsid proteins evolved from ancestral proteins of cellular organisms on multiple, independent occasions. These findings reveal a stronger connection between the virosphere and cellular life forms than previously suspected.
Formation and size distribution of self-assembled vesicles
Authors: Huang Changjin , Quinn David , Sadovsky Yoel , Suresh Subra , Hsia K. Jimmy
Published: March 2017

Significance

Small unilamellar vesicles formed via self-assembly of phospholipids or block copolymers have been investigated in the context of human physiology and biomedical research. Here, we present both energetics and thermodynamics analyses that incorporate nonlinear elasticity to predict, in a unique manner, the limiting size and size distribution of vesicles as well as to identify the conditions for the formation of stable open vesicles, disks, and closed spherical vesicles. In addition to providing a comprehensive understanding of vesicle formation, the framework presented here may be adapted to develop tools for in vivo liquid biopsies and to elucidate the biophysical features of extracellular vesicles, thus suggesting new approaches to diagnostics and therapeutics for cancer and other diseases.
Unique spectral signatures of the nucleic acid dye acridine orange can distinguish cell death by apoptosis and necroptosis
Authors: Plemel Jason R. , Caprariello Andrew V. , Keough Michael B. , Henry Tyler J. , Tsutsui Shigeki , Chu Tak H. , Schenk Geert J. , Klaver Roel , Yong V. Wee , Stys Peter K.
Published: March 2017

Cellular injury and death are ubiquitous features of disease, yet tools to detect them are limited and insensitive to subtle pathological changes. Acridine orange (AO), a nucleic acid dye with unique spectral properties, enables real-time measurement of RNA and DNA as proxies for cell viability during exposure to various noxious stimuli. This tool illuminates spectral signatures unique to various modes of cell death, such as cells undergoing apoptosis versus necrosis/necroptosis. This new approach also shows that cellular RNA decreases during necrotic, necroptotic, and apoptotic cell death caused by demyelinating, ischemic, and traumatic injuries, implying its involvement in a wide spectrum of tissue pathologies. Furthermore, cells with pathologically low levels of cytoplasmic RNA are detected earlier and in higher numbers than with standard markers including TdT-mediated dUTP biotin nick-end labeling and cleaved caspase 3 immunofluorescence. Our technique highlights AO-labeled cytoplasmic RNA as an important early marker of cellular injury and a sensitive indicator of various modes of cell death in a range of experimental models.
ELKS1 localizes the synaptic vesicle priming protein bMunc13-2 to a specific subset of active zones
Authors: Kawabe Hiroshi , Mitkovski Miso , Kaeser Pascal S. , Hirrlinger Johannes , Opazo Felipe , Nestvogel Dennis , Kalla Stefan , Fejtova Anna , Verrier Sophie E. , Bungers Simon R. , Cooper Benjamin H. , Varoqueaux Frederique , Wang Yun , Nehring Ralf B. , Gundelfinger Eckart D. , Rosenmund Christian , Rizzoli Silvio O. , Südhof Thomas C. , Rhee Jeong-Seop , Brose Nils
Published: March 2017

Presynaptic active zones (AZs) are unique subcellular structures at neuronal synapses, which contain a network of specific proteins that control synaptic vesicle (SV) tethering, priming, and fusion. Munc13s are core AZ proteins with an essential function in SV priming. In hippocampal neurons, two different Munc13s—Munc13-1 and bMunc13-2—mediate opposite forms of presynaptic short-term plasticity and thus differentially affect neuronal network characteristics. We found that most presynapses of cortical and hippocampal neurons contain only Munc13-1, whereas ∼10% contain both Munc13-1 and bMunc13-2. Whereas the presynaptic recruitment and activation of Munc13-1 depends on Rab3-interacting proteins (RIMs), we demonstrate here that bMunc13-2 is recruited to synapses by the AZ protein ELKS1, but not ELKS2, and that this recruitment determines basal SV priming and short-term plasticity. Thus, synapse-specific interactions of different Munc13 isoforms with ELKS1 or RIMs are key determinants of the molecular and functional heterogeneity of presynaptic AZs.
Structural analysis of the role of TPX2 in branching microtubule nucleation
Authors: Alfaro-Aco Raymundo , Thawani Akanksha , Petry Sabine
Published: March 2017

The mitotic spindle consists of microtubules (MTs), which are nucleated by the γ-tubulin ring complex (γ-TuRC). How the γ-TuRC gets activated at the right time and location remains elusive. Recently, it was uncovered that MTs nucleate from preexisting MTs within the mitotic spindle, which requires the protein TPX2, but the mechanism basis for TPX2 action is unknown. Here, we investigate the role of TPX2 in branching MT nucleation. We establish the domain organization of Xenopus laevis TPX2 and define the minimal TPX2 version that stimulates branching MT nucleation, which we find is unrelated to TPX2’s ability to nucleate MTs in vitro. Several domains of TPX2 contribute to its MT-binding and bundling activities. However, the property necessary for TPX2 to induce branching MT nucleation is contained within newly identified γ-TuRC nucleation activator motifs. Separation-of-function mutations leave the binding of TPX2 to γ-TuRC intact, whereas branching MT nucleation is abolished, suggesting that TPX2 may activate γ-TuRC to promote branching MT nucleation.
AKR1B1 promotes basal-like breast cancer progression by a positive feedback loop that activates the EMT program
Authors: Wu Xuebiao , Li Xiaoli , Fu Qiang , Cao Qianhua , Chen Xingyu , Wang Mengjie , Yu Jie , Long Jingpei , Yao Jun , Liu Huixin , Wang Danping , Liao Ruocen , Dong Chenfang
Published: March 2017

Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is associated with high-grade, distant metastasis and poor prognosis. Elucidating the determinants of aggressiveness in BLBC may facilitate the development of novel interventions for this challenging disease. In this study, we show that aldo-keto reductase 1 member B1 (AKR1B1) overexpression highly correlates with BLBC and predicts poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. Mechanistically, Twist2 transcriptionally induces AKR1B1 expression, leading to nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation. In turn, NF-κB up-regulates Twist2 expression, thereby fulfilling a positive feedback loop that activates the epithelial–mesenchymal transition program and enhances cancer stem cell (CSC)–like properties in BLBC. AKR1B1 expression promotes, whereas AKR1B1 knockdown inhibits, tumorigenicity and metastasis. Importantly, epalrestat, an AKR1B1 inhibitor that has been approved for the treatment of diabetic complications, significantly suppresses CSC properties, tumorigenicity, and metastasis of BLBC cells. Together, our study identifies AKR1B1 as a key modulator of tumor aggressiveness and suggests that pharmacologic inhibition of AKR1B1 has the potential to become a valuable therapeutic strategy for BLBC.
Occipital Nerve Stimulation Attenuates Neuronal Firing Response to Mechanical Stimuli in the Ventral Posteromedial Thalamus of a Rodent Model of Chronic Migraine
Authors: Walling Ian , Smith Heather , Gee Lucy E. , Kaszuba Brian , Chockalingam Arun , Barborica Andrei , Donos Cristian , Shin Damian S. , Pilitsis Julie G.
Published: March 2017

BACKGROUND

Chronic migraine (CM) is a highly debilitating disease, and many patients remain refractory to medicinal therapy. Given the convergent nature of neuronal networks in the ventral posteromedial nucleus (VPM) and the evidence of sensitization of pain circuitry in this disease, we hypothesize CM rats will have increased VPM neuronal firing, which can be attenuated using occipital nerve stimulation (ONS).

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether VPM firing frequency differs between CM and sham rats, and whether ONS significantly alters firing rates during the application of mechanical stimuli.

METHODS

Fourteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were infused with inflammatory media once daily through an epidural cannula for 2 wk to induce a CM state. Sham animals (n = 6) underwent cannula surgery but received no inflammatory media. ONS electrodes were implanted bilaterally and single-unit recordings were performed in the VPM of anesthetized rats during mechanical stimulation of the face and forepaw in the presence and absence of ONS.

RESULTS

CM rats had significantly higher neuronal firing rates (P < .001) and bursting activity (P < .01) in response to mechanical stimuli when compared to shams. ONS significantly reduced neuronal firing in the VPM of CM rats during the application of 0.8 g (P = .04), 4.0 g (P = .04), and 15.0 g (P = .02) Von Frey filaments. ONS reduced bursting activity in CM rats during the 4.0 and 15 g filaments (P < .05). No significant changes in bursting activity or firing frequency were noted in sham animals during ONS.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrate that neuronal spike frequencies and bursting activity in the VPM are increased in an animal model of CM compared to shams. Our results suggest that the mechanism of ONS may involve attenuation of neurons in the VPM of CM rats during the application of mechanical stimuli.
Graphical Displays for Public Opinion Research
Authors: Schneider Saundra K. , Jacoby William G.
Published: March 2017

This chapter takes steps toward promoting the effective use of graphical displays in journal articles and research monographs on public opinion and survey research. It provides specific advice and guidelines about determining when a graph would be useful for communicating quantitative information; features to consider in selecting a graph for displaying data or analytic results; and characteristics and details associated with specific types of graphs that help to maximize the information they convey to their audience. The overall objective is to encourage survey researchers and public opinion scholars to use graphs in an effective manner, making them useful tools for conveying information about the data and analyses that comprise the central components of empirical research efforts.
Auditory Systems of Drosophila and Other Invertebrates
Authors: Chung Yun Doo , Lee Jeongmi
Published: March 2017

Hearing in invertebrates has evolved independently as an adaptation to avoid predators or to mediate intraspecific communication. Although many invertebrate groups are able to respond to sound stimuli, insects are the only group in which hearing is widely used. Therefore, we will focus here on the auditory systems of some well-known insect models. Appearance of the ability to perceive sound in insects is presumably a quite recent event in evolution. As a result of independent evolution, diverse types of hearing organs are evolved in insects. Here we will introduce basic features of insect ears and the mechanisms through which sound stimuli are converted into neuronal electric signals. We will also summarize our current understanding of neural processing of auditory information, including tonotopy, sound localization, and pattern recognition.
Rock Art and Aesthetics
Authors: Heyd Thomas
Published: March 2017

Rock art constitutes a significant cultural testimony, providing insights into the visual imagery of lifeways that are fundamentally different from those of people today. The extant corpus of humanly-made markings on rock is an extraordinary testimony of peoples’ cares, interests, and capacities, preserved thanks to its emplacement on (relatively) durable surfaces. This highly diverse phenomenon, present on many thousands of sites around the globe, to date has only received limited attention from the point of view of aesthetics. In this chapter, the author explores misconceptions of art and aesthetics that have contributed to this gap in research and outlines the value of closely attending to the aesthetic sensibilities and artistic capacities of those who made, and originally appreciated, these remarkable manifestations.
Optical Dating of Rock Art
Authors: Roberts Richard G.
Published: March 2017

This article describes the principles of optical dating—an umbrella term for a family of related techniques based on the storage of radiation energy in light-sensitive traps in natural minerals—and its application to rock art. Optical dating has been applied predominantly to sand- and silt-sized grains of quartz (optically stimulated luminescence, OSL) and feldspar (infrared stimulated luminescence, IRSL) that were exposed to sunlight prior to deposition, where the age represents the time elapsed since the grains were last bleached by the sun’s rays. Only a few studies have used OSL or IRSL dating to constrain the age of rock paintings and engravings, and these applications can be grouped under two broad headings: dating of associated sediments and dating of rock surfaces. These studies are briefly reviewed in this chapter, together with some comments on future directions and challenges for OSL and IRSL dating of rock art.
Tracing Symbolic Behaviour Across the Southern Arc
Authors: Franklin Natalie R. , Habgood Philip J.
Published: March 2017

This chapter traces early expressions of symbolic behaviour:—rock art, personal ornaments, occurrences of ochre, notational pieces, and mortuary practices—across the southern arc dispersal route of modern humans out of Africa to Sahul, from some 70–60,000 years ago. These aspects of symbolic behaviour do not display a consistent pattern of appearance along the southern arc, and dates for their appearance/preservation do not become progressively more recent as modern humans moved east out of Africa. These results are explained using the demographic, social, and symbolic framework proposed to account for geographical and chronological patterning observed in the ‘package’ of traits reflecting modern human behaviour. In this model, the appearance of symbolic behaviour is determined by levels of local/regional population pressure necessitating (or not) the need for identity signalling, ‘bonding’ behaviour/open social networks, and ‘bounding’ or emblemic behaviour/closed social networks.
The Future of Interdisciplinarity
Authors: Frodeman Robert
Published: March 2017

“The Future of Interdisciplinarity” explores the role of interdisciplinarity within the ecology of knowledge production and use. Cultural transformation, much of it driven by information and communication technologies, suggests the need to rethink the theoretical space of interdisciplinarity. Three themes are highlighted here: the rhetorical and policy dimensions of interdisciplinarity, the future of the research university, and issues of accountability and impact. Overall, interdisciplinary challenges should be seen as more a matter of political philosophy than epistemology, with attention concentrated on the ways in which interdisciplinarians can connect disciplinary expertise to community needs, highlighting both the capacities and limitations of knowledge.
Interdisciplinary Arts
Authors: Augsburg Tanya
Published: March 2017

This chapter offers a brief and necessarily incomplete overview of what has been written on the interdisciplinary arts within academic scholarship on the creative arts. The author identifies five major integrative aspects highlighted in the existing literature on the interdisciplinary arts: (1) the Wagnerian Gestamtkunstwerk, i.e., the `total work of art;’ (2) the legacy of the historical avant-garde, with its focus on radical juxtaposition; (3) the continuation of post WWII arts experimentation in between and among multiple art mediums simultaneously with Happenings, intermedia and multimedia; (4) the intersections between art, science, and/or technology; and (5) interdisciplinary arts as its own emergent subject of inquiry, practice, and research. The chapter additionally includes a brief overview of the transdisciplinary arts. It concludes with the observation that considerations of current developments in interdisciplinary arts will serve to advance the understanding of interdisciplinarity in general.
Cognitive Science
Authors: Thagard Paul
Published: March 2017

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence, embracing psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, and computer modeling (artificial intelligence). After a review of the history of the field and its contributing disciplines, this chapter examines some of the main theoretical and experimental advances that cognitive science has accomplished over the past half-century, deriving lessons that might be useful for researchers in any emerging interdisciplinary area. The intellectual benefits of interdisciplinary research dramatically outweigh the personal and social difficulties of operating in more than one field. For theoretical, experimental, and practical progress, the separate disciplines that study the mind need to be interdependent, relying on each other for ideas and methods that complement their own.
Situating Feminist Studies
Authors: Messer-Davidow Ellen
Published: March 2017

Feminist studies in the United States and India emerged from women’s activism during the same decades, but they developed significant differences both institutionally and intellectually. These differences resulted from the host country’s demographics, languages, economies, politics, and cultures. Today US feminist studies is an academic enterprise that produces and disseminates scholarly knowledge through academic programs, centers, projects, and publications that bear the imprint of the (inter)disciplinary order and conform to its standards. India’s feminist studies resides in a multisector infrastructure of academic centers, associations, unions, nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, and publishers that produce academic, activist, and popular knowledges. Intended to fuel change, the knowledges are circulated across sectors and channeled to local communities. Intellectually, US and Indian feminist research proceed from different assumptions about population groups, communities, multiple and interactive identities, global-local relays, and the diversity that intersectional analysis needs to capture.
Knowledge Formations
Authors: Turner Stephen
Published: March 2017

Knowledge is socially distributed, and the distribution of knowledge is socially structured, but the distribution and the structures within which it is produced and reproduced—often two separate things—have varied enormously. Disciplines are one knowledge formation of special significance. They can be thought of as very old, or as a very recent phenomenon: In the very old sense, disciplines begin with the creation of rituals of certification and exclusion related to knowledge; in the more recent sense, they are the product of university organization, and especially that part of university organization that joins research and teaching, knowledge production and reproduction, in the modern research university. If we understand the general structural constraints on knowledge formations, we can understand the peculiar strengths of disciplines, as well as the historical alternatives to disciplines and the motives for finding alternatives.
Interdisciplinarity in Ethics
Authors: Mitcham Carl , Wang Nan
Published: March 2017

“Interdisciplinarity in Ethics” begins with a schematic overview of how ethics in the West has bridged (1) individuals and social orders through virtue ethics (Greece), (2) reason and revelation through deontology (medieval period), and (3) science and politics in consequentialist utilitarianism (modern period). In counterpoint, it observes how China adds to virtue ethical interdisciplinarity efforts (4) to harmonize humans with the cosmos and (5) to integrate the human inner and outer selves. From this dual historicophilosophical perspective, the chapter then examines how recent ethical challenges from science and technology have pushed interdisciplinarity into ethics in (6) a more literal sense: critically reflecting on the ways human actions are being transformed by science and technology in bioethics, nuclear ethics, environmental ethics, information ethics, and the professional ethics of scientists and engineers. It concludes by arguing for increased interdisciplinarity in ethics in the form of more internal synergies between science and ethics.
Comparing Methods for Cross-Disciplinary Research
Authors: O’Rourke Michael
Published: March 2017

The methods of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research (hereafter, “cross-disciplinary research” or CDR) are “fragmented”, that is, distributed in unconnected ways across the intellectual landscape. Fragmentation results in inefficiency, which motivates systematic organization of methods. Systematic organization has value for both cross-disciplinary practitioners and theorists since it structures thinking about the range of variables that shape CDR, enhancing efficiency and prospects for project success. “Comparing Methods for Cross-Disciplinary Research” contributes a comparative, philosophical perspective to the systematic organization of CDR methods. After a brief historical review, the chapter analyzes and illustrates CDR methods. A comparative assessment of CDR methods is then presented that surveys a sample of prominent approaches to the organization of CDR methods before describing an alternate approach. The chapter closes with a discussion of outstanding challenges for those interested in comparing and organizing cross-disciplinary methods.
Typologies of Interdisciplinarity
Authors: Klein Julie Thompson
Published: March 2017

The dominant structure of knowledge in the twentieth century was division into domains of disciplinary specialization. In the latter half of the century this system was challenged by an increasing number of interdisciplinary activities. This chapter examines typologies of interdisciplinary activities, identifying patterns of consensus and fault lines of debate from the first major classification scheme in 1970 and continues to recent taxonomies that recognize new developments. The chapter compares similarities and differences in a framework of multidisciplinary juxtaposition and alignment of disciplines, interdisciplinary integration and collaboration, and transdisciplinary synthesis and trans-sector problem solving. It further distinguishes major variants of methodological versus theoretical interdisciplinarity, bridge building versus restructuring, and instrumental versus critical interdisciplinarity. Typologies are neither neutral nor static. They reflect choices of representation in a semantic web of differing purposes, contexts, organizational structures, and epistemological frameworks. They reassert, extend, interrogate, and reformulate existing classifications to address both ongoing and unmet needs.
Sustainability Sciences
Authors: Fernandes Valdir , Philippi Jr. Arlindo
Published: March 2017

The concept of sustainability refers to the human awakening about the finite nature of natural resources. Occurring as a political and social process, sustainability placed on development agendas the discussion about the limitations on the biosphere to sustain economic growth; access to basic conditions of universal healthcare and education; and the threat posed to ancient cultural traditions. This process led to the creation of an interdisciplinary research field with transdisciplinary impacts. This chapter, “Sustainability Sciences: Political and Epistemological Approaches,” discusses the challenges of knowledge production in this field as well as its historical development alongside environmental and political issues. The discussion is established from the historical development of environmental issues and the international political movement that culminated in the perspective of sustainability; of the evolution of sustainability as a scientific research field; and finally from the political and epistemological aspects that shape the sustainability sciences.
Religious Studies and Religious Practice
Authors: Fredericks Sarah E.
Published: March 2017

The academic study of religion uses multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary methods because of the nature of religion and the interaction between religious practice and religious studies. Prior to modernity, the study and practice of religion were integrated and separate disciplines were often assumed to study a unified subject. Thus, the terms “multidisciplinary,” “interdisciplinary,” and “transdisciplinary,” which presume strictly separated disciplines do not apply to this period. In modernity, faith-based claims in the guise of objectivity often characterized the academic study of religion, a position increasingly critiqued by academics in the late twentieth century. Yet, new modes of transdisciplinary work demonstrate how scholarship and religious practice may mutually inform each other. Ecumenical and interfaith initiatives share features with multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research methods and may yield helpful insights for these academic endeavors even though their commitment to an overarching worldview and life in communities set them apart.
Interdisciplinarity in the Fields of Law, Justice, and Criminology
Authors: Henry Stuart
Published: March 2017

Several models of interdisciplinarity exist in law, justice, and criminology. In law, knowledge integration is by hybridization with other disciplines (e.g., law and sociology); each contextualizes the framework of rules and procedures. Interdisciplinarity challenges law’s effective practice and complicates its penchant for logical simplicity. Criminology’s engagement with interdisciplinarity is grounded in multidisciplinary explanations of crime, integrative attempts to produce comprehensive analytical explanatory frameworks, and attempts to transcend the limits of organized disciplinary knowledge production. Criminology’s thirty-year dalliance with interdisciplinarity raises questions of whether disciplines embody interdisciplinarity, and what precisely should be integrated: concepts, propositions, or theories that address different levels of analysis (e.g., micro-meso-macro). Questions are raised about how integration should occur, in what sequence, and with what effects on causality. Many of these issues are illustrated in Robert Agnew’s Toward a Unified Criminology. Transdisciplinary approaches question what counts as knowledge and focus on multiple “knowledge formations.”
Health Research, Practice, and Education
Authors: McMurtry Angus , Kilgour Kelly N. , Rohse Shanta
Published: March 2017

Interdisciplinary health science and interprofessional healthcare are distinct yet intertwined fields that are driven by a similar challenge: Complex health problems that are too broad or multifaceted to be solved through the logic of a single discipline. A few factors distinguish them from other interdisciplinary areas, however, including (1) their foci—cancer, diabetes, infectious disease and so forth—which are quite literally matters of life and death; and (2) that they are generally carried out by teams of collaborating specialists, so issues of interpersonal dynamics, negotiation, and collaborative learning are especially important. “Health Research, Practice and Education” defines and critically reviews the two fields. More specifically, it compares their differing approaches to a number of emerging issues: stakeholder engagement and transdisciplinarity, the complexity of human health, the development of more sophisticated theories of collaboration and teamwork, practical conditions that support collaboration and teamwork, and finally, issues of evaluation and measurement.
Computation and Simulation
Authors: Lenhard Johannes
Published: March 2017

Simulation modeling makes use of computational resources in fields that are not of a mathematical nature. The first part of this chapter introduces four phases of the historical development of computation and simulation (C&S) and discusses their relationship to interdisciplinarity. Starting with a pioneering phase, C&S went through disciplinary specialization, ubiquitous diffusion, and a recent infrastructural turn. The second part of the chapter explores aspects of the interdisciplinary dynamics of C&S, especially the interplay between complexity, experimentation, and visualization. Then, C&S is put in relationship to Shinn’s “research technology” and Galison’s “trading zones.” Finally, the chapter observes a recent turn toward network-like interdisciplinary integration.
Taming Wickedness by Interdisciplinary Design
Authors: Boradkar Prasad
Published: March 2017

The word “design” is most frequently employed to refer to the action of planning and making (designing something), and to describe the end result or artifact of this action (a design). Designers often refer to their activity as problem-solving and view their work as a response to opportunities and needs in the market identified by corporations, entrepreneurs, consumers, governments, and nonprofit organizations. Design practice tackles problems that can range from the creation of such small things as business cards to the planning of entire urban systems. Horst Rittel argues that the problems design handles are wicked (as well as incorrigible and ill-behaved) and new methodologies are required to tame them. The sheer wickedness and complexity of these issues warrants engagement with other disciplines. This chapter suggests that transdisciplinarity is one of the most promising strategies for dealing with and taming the wicked, ill-behaved, and incorrigible problems of design.
Interdisciplinarity and the Institutional Context of Knowledge in the American Research University
Authors: Crow Michael M. , Dabars William B.
Published: March 2017

This chapter assesses the accommodation of interdisciplinarity in the American research university in terms of the reflexive relationship between knowledge production and its institutional context. Although the tacit assumption in academic culture is that institutional frameworks have already been optimally configured to facilitate knowledge production, the process remains defined by the traditional correlation between academic disciplines and departments, and, more broadly, the filiopietism and isomorphism that impede the development of new models for the set of research universities. Entrenchment in discipline-based departments mirrors an academic culture that prizes individualism over teamwork and the discovery of specialized knowledge over problem-based collaboration. An overview of theoretical approaches and relevant models in this context precedes a brief historical survey of the institutional accommodation of interdisciplinarity. The chapter issues a call for mutual intelligibility among academic disciplines, and concludes with a case study.
The Need for Disciplines in the Modern Research University
Authors: Jacobs Jerry A.
Published: March 2017

How does the concept of interdisciplinarity relate to the established liberal arts disciplines? “The Need for Disciplines in the Modern Research University” suggests that disciplines are an indispensable feature of a modern research university. Disciplines represent an institutionalized form of specialization that is inevitable in the context of the vast and rapidly growing domains of knowledge. They are forms of social organization that generate, evaluate, organize, and disseminate research and scholarship. A closer examination reveals that disciplines have many virtues: They are broad, not narrow; open, not siloed; dynamic, not ossified, and their contributions will be essential for addressing any of the world’s grand challenges. Specific policies intended to promote interdisciplinarity need to be designed in ways to strengthen the disciplinary strengths of the university.
The Challenge of Funding Interdisciplinary Research
Authors: König Thomas , Gorman Michael E.
Published: March 2017

Public research funding agencies today are required to address proactively interdisciplinary research. “The Challenge of Funding Interdisciplinary Research: A Look Inside Public Research Funding Agencies” looks specifically at two funding agencies—the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the EU European Research Council (ERC)—and how these bodies promote interdisciplinarity, on the one hand, and how they claim to identify it, on the other. Inevitably, this gives the funding agencies some definition power over what interdisciplinary research actually is or should be. At the same time, there are organizational constraints that restrict the funding agencies’ capacity to fully embrace novel ways of interdisciplinary collaboration and investigation.
Interdisciplinarity and the Student Voice
Authors: Gombrich Carl , Hogan Michael
Published: March 2017

“Interdisciplinarity and the Student Voice” seeks a richer understanding of the student experience in encountering interdisciplinarity at the undergraduate level and explores the psychology of interdisciplinary education. The student experience of the interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences BASc degree at University College London is examined, using 13 extended semistructured interviews. Students are asked questions that encourage them to reflect on the interdisciplinary nature of their program and their relationship to interdisciplinary learning. Themes of openness, creativity, bridging, and perspective-taking emerge. In this chapter, connections are made between these themes and the theory and practice of interdisciplinary education as well as the recent study of metacognition. The student voice is seen to substantiate current ideas of the value of interdisciplinary education from a number of perspectives and to suggest further research.
Interdisciplinarity and the Earth Sciences
Authors: Baker Victor R.
Published: March 2017

The inherent interdisciplinary of the Earth sciences derives from combining aspects of other disciplines when studying the Earth. Though most commonly viewed as providing science-as-knowledge, the Earth sciences can yield greater societal benefit through their nature-directed transdisciplinarity. As an example, paleoflood hydrology involves a relating to the complexities of natural world that overcomes limitations imposed when simplifying reality in order to make predictions. Paleoflood hydrology discovers the natural recordings of ancient (but very real) cataclysmic processes that have the documented ability to cause harm. The commonsense recognition that what has actually happened can indeed happen again provides much more incentive to generate engaged and wise public action than does an abstract prediction of the so-called hundred-year flood. This kind of science differs from that of its constituent disciplines, and it has great potential for making progress on many issues of current societal concern through public education, communication, and guided policy.
Innovation and Trends in Water Law
Authors: Cullet Philippe
Published: March 2017

Law is at the center of policy and political issues concerning water. Yet, until relatively recently, water law has often been either sidestepped or considered only through limited lenses in international policy debates. This is changing rapidly, in part because increasing economic, social, and physical scarcity of water is fostering increasing conflicts over access to water. This has led to increasing attention to water law and to significant water law reforms. This chapter provides an overview of the basic structure of water law and analyzes recent reforms, with a focus on developments in India where legal reform has been a central part of water-sector reforms. It highlights some of the most contentious issues surrounding legal reforms, in particular the tension between equity and justice, on the one hand, and efficiency and willingness to pay on the other hand, as well as the broader issue of privatization.
Scale Matters
Authors: Connor W.R.
Published: March 2017

By examining variations in scale and techniques of expansion and contraction in Thucydides’ narrative, the essay identifies a mimetic principle in his writing—that the presentation of an episode in the work should normally be proportionate to its significance. Significance, however, is not measured by purely military factors. In fact, expansion is often an indicator of intense suffering, pathos. Among the techniques of expansion and compression discussed are allusions, superlatives, figures of speech (such as litotes), direct and indirect discourse, day-by-day narrative, enargeia (vividness) and thematic repetition (“reprise”). Many of these techniques, although not all, were also discussed among the ancient rhetoricians, who were alert to their emotional power.
Kinēsis, Navies, and the Power Trap in Thucydides
Authors: Saxonhouse Arlene W.
Published: March 2017

In the Archaeology of his History, Thucydides traces those factors that led to the rise of the cities that face one another in the war that he records. Foremost among them is the navy. I contend that this focus on the navy as the basis of political power captures for Thucydides the connection between movement and power: possession of power is not a static condition but always entails the unending search for more power, allowing the cities who possess navies/power no respite from constant motion. In contrast to what I call the “power trap” that ultimately leads to the destruction of the city engaged in the constant motion of pursuing power after power stands the permanence of the speech, the logoi, of the historian who can offer an “everlasting possession” such as eludes the political leaders of cities such as Athens caught up as they are in the power trap.
The Regime (Politeia) in Thucydides
Authors: Jaffe Seth
Published: March 2017

This chapter discusses the importance of domestic politics generally and the regime in particular in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. It examines Thucydides’ presentation of the rule of the one (kingship or tyranny), the few (oligarchy), and the many (democracy), and concludes by suggesting that there are three principles of political rule that Thucydides himself endorses: the rule of the wise, the rule of law, and a mixed regime, with reference to his praise of the regime of the Five Thousand at Athens in the eighth book. Throughout the History, the matter of the regime is explored in relation to the broader phenomenon of war, in which avoiding civil war proves of paramount importance. The difference between Thucydides and the later Socratics, for whom the question of the regime is of central importance, revolves around the question of the primacy of war or peace.