bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A 3D printed plant model for accurate and reliable 3D plant phenotyping
Authors: Bömer Jonas , Esser Felix , Marks Elias , Rosu Radu Alexandru , Behnke Sven , Klingbeil Lasse , Kuhlmann Heiner , Stachniss Cyrill , Mahlein Anne-Katrin , Paulus Stefan
Published: June 2024

Background

This study addresses the importance of precise referencing in 3-dimensional (3D) plant phenotyping, which is crucial for advancing plant breeding and improving crop production. Traditionally, reference data in plant phenotyping rely on invasive methods. Recent advancements in 3D sensing technologies offer the possibility to collect parameters that cannot be referenced by manual measurements. This work focuses on evaluating a 3D printed sugar beet plant model as a referencing tool.

Results

Fused deposition modeling has turned out to be a suitable 3D printing technique for creating reference objects in 3D plant phenotyping. Production deviations of the created reference model were in a low and acceptable range. We were able to achieve deviations ranging from −10 mm to +5 mm. In parallel, we demonstrated a high-dimensional stability of the reference model, reaching only ±4 mm deformation over the course of 1 year. Detailed print files, assembly descriptions, and benchmark parameters are provided, facilitating replication and benefiting the research community.

Conclusion

Consumer-grade 3D printing was utilized to create a stable and reproducible 3D reference model of a sugar beet plant, addressing challenges in referencing morphological parameters in 3D plant phenotyping. The reference model is applicable in 3 demonstrated use cases: evaluating and comparing 3D sensor systems, investigating the potential accuracy of parameter extraction algorithms, and continuously monitoring these algorithms in practical experiments in greenhouse and field experiments. Using this approach, it is possible to monitor the extraction of a nonverifiable parameter and create reference data. The process serves as a model for developing reference models for other agricultural crops.
The Effect of Etrasimod on Fecal Calprotectin and High-sensitivity C-reactive Protein: Results From the ELEVATE UC Clinical Program
Authors: Jairath Vipul , Rubin David T , Verstockt Bram , Çekin Ayhan H , Abreu Maria T , Lees Charlie W , Fellmann Marc , Woolcott John C , Crosby Catherine , Wu Joseph , Bhattacharjee Abhishek , Herman David , Gu Guibao , Siegmund Britta
Published: June 2024

Background

Biomarkers offer potential alternatives to endoscopies in monitoring ulcerative colitis (UC) progression and therapeutic response. This post hoc analysis of the ELEVATE UC clinical program assessed potential predictive values of fecal calprotectin (fCAL) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) as biomarkers and associated responses to etrasimod, an oral, once-daily, selective sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P)1,4,5 receptor modulator for the treatment of moderately to severely active UC, in 2 phase 3 clinical trials.

Methods

In ELEVATE UC 52 and ELEVATE UC 12, patients were randomized 2:1 to 2 mg of etrasimod once daily or placebo for 52 or 12 weeks, respectively. Fecal calprotectin/hsCRP differences between responders and nonresponders for efficacy end points (clinical remission, clinical response, endoscopic improvement-histologic remission [EIHR]) were assessed by Wilcoxon P-values. Sensitivity and specificity were presented as receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves with area under the curve (AUC).

Results

In ELEVATE UC 52 and ELEVATE UC 12, 289 and 238 patients received etrasimod and 144 and 116 received placebo, respectively. Baseline fCAL/hsCRP concentrations were generally balanced. Both trials had lower week-12 median fCAL levels in week-12 responders vs nonresponders receiving etrasimod for clinical remission, clinical response, and EIHR (all P < .001), with similar trends for hsCRP levels (all P < .01). For etrasimod, AUCs for fCAL/hsCRP and EIHR were 0.85/0.74 (week 12; ELEVATE UC 52), 0.83/0.69 (week 52; ELEVATE UC 52), and 0.80/0.65 (week 12; ELEVATE UC 12).

Conclusions

Fecal calprotectin/hsCRP levels decreased with etrasimod treatment; ROC analyses indicated a prognostic correlation between fCAL changes during induction and short-/long-term treatment response.
Model order reduction in parallel of discrete-time linear systems based on Meixner and Krawtchouk polynomials
Authors: Xu Kang-Li , Li Zhen , Jiang Yao-Lin , Li Li
Published: June 2024

In this paper, based on the partition technique, we use Meixner and Krawtchouk polynomials to present an input-independent model order reduction method. Our main contributions are twofold. First, the explicit difference relations of Meixner polynomials and Krawtchouk polynomials are expressed in an unified form. The parallel computation is carried out on the partitioned subsystems using the Krylov subspaces by which one can generate reduced systems independent of the expansion coefficients of input and can save the computation time. Second, a parallel adaptive enrichment strategy is used to choose the reduced order of reduced systems. Theoretical analysis shows that the proposed method characterizes the property of invariable coefficients. Finally, two numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed method achieves good reduction results in terms of accuracy and reduced CPU time.
Integrating computer vision algorithms and RFID system for identification and tracking of group-housed animals: an example with pigs
Authors: Mora Mónica , Piles Miriam , David Ingrid , Rosa Guilherme J M
Published: June 2024

Precision livestock farming aims to individually and automatically monitor animal activity to ensure their health, well-being, and productivity. Computer vision has emerged as a promising tool for this purpose. However, accurately tracking individuals using imaging remains challenging, especially in group housing where animals may have similar appearances. Close interaction or crowding among animals can lead to the loss or swapping of animal IDs, compromising tracking accuracy. To address this challenge, we implemented a framework combining a tracking-by-detection method with a radio frequency identification (RFID) system. We tested this approach using twelve pigs in a single pen as an illustrative example. Three of the pigs had distinctive natural coat markings, enabling their visual identification within the group. The remaining pigs either shared similar coat color patterns or were entirely white, making them visually indistinguishable from each other. We employed the latest version of the You Only Look Once (YOLOv8) and BoT-SORT algorithms for detection and tracking, respectively. YOLOv8 was fine-tuned with a dataset of 3,600 images to detect and classify different pig classes, achieving a mean average precision of all the classes of 99%. The fine-tuned YOLOv8 model and the tracker BoT-SORT were then applied to a 166.7-min video comprising 100,018 frames. Results showed that pigs with distinguishable coat color markings could be tracked 91% of the time on average. For pigs with similar coat color, the RFID system was used to identify individual animals when they entered the feeding station, and this RFID identification was linked to the image trajectory of each pig, both backward and forward. The two pigs with similar markings could be tracked for an average of 48.6 min, while the seven white pigs could be tracked for an average of 59.1 min. In all cases, the tracking time assigned to each pig matched the ground truth 90% of the time or more. Thus, our proposed framework enabled reliable tracking of group-housed pigs for extended periods, offering a promising alternative to the independent use of image or RFID approaches alone. This approach represents a significant step forward in combining multiple devices for animal identification, tracking, and traceability, particularly when homogeneous animals are kept in groups.
Deaf adolescents’ quality of life: a questionnaire in Italian Sign Language
Authors: Gragnaniello Manuela , Gianfreda Gabriele , Pennacchi Barbara , Lucioli Tommaso , Resca Alessandra , Tomasuolo Elena , Rinaldi Pasquale
Published: June 2024

For some deaf people, sign language is the preferred language, the one in which they feel most comfortable. However, there are very few assessment tools developed or adapted for sign languages. The aim of this study was to translate and adapt in Italian Sign Language (LIS) the Italian version of the Youth Quality of Life Instrument—Deaf and Hard of Hearing Module (YQOL-DHH). The YQOL-DHH is a questionnaire assessing health-related quality of life in young deaf people. The guidelines provided by the authors of the original version were followed. Further controls and changes were made to take into account variability in signers’ linguistic skills. This work and availability of the YQOL-DHH questionnaire in LIS, in addition to the Italian version, will ensure accessibility for Italian deaf adolescents.
Pneumo-peritoneum, pneumo-retroperitoneum and subcutaneous emphysema following endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography with sphincterotomy—an uncommon complication case report
Authors: Premakrishna S , Gobishangar Sreekanthan , Nilojan Jude Selvakumar , Vaikunthan Gnanapragasam , Thirunavukkarasu Jothini
Published: June 2024

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is invasive for pancreaticobiliary diseases. Perforation is a rare but severe complication among its associated risks. A 45-year-old female with biliary colic and multiple gallbladder calculi was diagnosed with choledocholithiasis based on imaging showing CBD dilation and gallstones. ERCP was planned for stone removal. Sphincterotomy was performed, but stone retrieval attempts failed, leading to severe pneumo-peritoneum and respiratory compromise. Immediate CBD stenting was done, avoiding surgical intervention. The patient recovered uneventfully, later undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy with CBD exploration and stone removal. ERCP-related perforations, rare but severe, involve retroperitoneal air collection. Clinical signs include abdominal discomfort, and imaging confirms diagnosis. Management varies by type, with some requiring surgical repair. Conservative management sufficed in this case, with successful patient recovery. ERCP-related complications like pneumo-peritoneum require prompt diagnosis and conservative management if no perforation is evident.
Experiences of young women in the practice of squirting: a descriptive qualitative study
Authors: Cutillas-Blasco Selene , Ruiz-Gonzalez Cristofer , Rueda-Ruzafa Lola , Ropero-Padilla Carmen , Roman Pablo , Rodriguez-Arrastia Miguel
Published: June 2024

Background

While female ejaculation is viewed as a potential enhancer of women’s sexual experiences and their relationships with their sexual partners, existing studies to date emphasize the need for further exploration of the squirting phenomenon.

Aim

The study sought to explore experiences and perceptions about the phenomenon of squirting in young adult women.

Methods

A descriptive qualitative study was conducted. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted between December 2022 and March 2023. Seventeen young adult women who experienced squirting were recruited using a convenience and snowball sampling. ATLAS.ti v.9 software was used for a thematic analysis of the interview data. The study adhered to the recommendations for reporting qualitative research (Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research).

Outcomes

The outcomes included (1) exploring factors influencing initial squirting experiences, (2) insights gained through squirting experiences, (3) communication as the cornerstone in sexual relationships, and (4) resources and sources for knowledge on the squirting phenomenon.

Results

After the analysis of the results, the following subthemes emerged: (1) first perceptions on squirting, (2) facilitating factors, (3) physical sensations and psychological aspects in squirting experience, (4) sources of information about squirting and (5) addressing squirting in comprehensive sex education.

Clinical Implications

Frontline healthcare providers should undergo specific training to address anxiety related to squirting among certain individuals and enhance societal awareness while offering emotional support for diverse sexual response variations.

Strengths and Limitations

Acknowledging limitations in our study of young women’s experiences with squirting, a more diverse sample could provide alternative insights. Despite this, our findings contribute valuable knowledge, suggesting avenues for professional training to promote sexual and reproductive health in a more realistic and sensitive manner.

Conclusion

This study explored the emotional and psychological effects of squirting on women’s sexual experiences, ranging from heightened arousal to feelings of humiliation and embarrassment. It emphasized the importance of a partner’s reaction in interpreting the event and the limited understanding of squirting, often influenced by pornography.
A common chord: to what extent can small urban green space support people and songbirds?
Authors: Hayes Hursh Sheryl , Perry Elizabeth E , Drake David
Published: June 2024

Large, vegetatively diverse, and connected green space is often considered essential to conservation. Yet, these criteria can be impractical when applied to densely populated or under-resourced urban areas and evoke mixed sentiments from people. Conventional urban green space is often smaller, minimally vegetated, and contains open mowed areas that are inadequate for many wildlife species and fail to provide opportunities for nature connection in biodiverse environments. As songbirds are well liked and globally distributed, they present an opportunity to rethink urban green spaces, particularly small urban green spaces, that contain landscape qualities where the needs of people and songbirds converge. We conducted a comprehensive search of peer-reviewed publications to examine the natural, structural, and anthropogenic factors associated with songbird richness in small (<2 ha) urban green spaces. Overall, small urban green spaces that incorporated a variety of habitats and native plant species, particularly trees, supported songbird richness. In some cases, songbird richness in small green spaces was equivalent to richness reported in larger green spaces. Interestingly, connectivity between green spaces was not significant in the majority of articles that examined the factor. This outcome removes a possible obstruction to green space allocation and has the potential to jumpstart the placement of green space into historically and perpetually under-resourced communities. Finally, associations with anthropogenic factors had few positive associations with songbird richness, but this category of factors was also reported the least often. Collectively, these results provide feasible options to improve human health, nature connections, and songbird conservation.
Queer Theory
Authors: Roman Christopher M.
Published: June 2024

Queer theory is difficult to define as a unified theory. Queer theory has many different manifestations, and many voices contributing to it. Queer theory as an academic study appeared in the 1990s building on the concept of queer recovered in the 1980s and now used as a term for non-normative sexualities and further utilized in activist circles during the rise of HIV/AIDS. Activism, in the form of groups such as ACT-UP, had a profound influence on the theory part of queer theory. Queer theory as a term was coined by Teresa de Lauretis in 1990 as a way to transcend codified gay and lesbian identities. Queer theory then questions sexual identity and resists fixed categories of gender and sexuality such as the gender binary (male, female). It calls into question normativity, broadly defined as norms propagated by heteronormative institutions and thought. Many scholars employ “queer” as a verb meaning to question its normality. Queer can also work as an identity which challenges both heterosexual identity but also LGBT identities that have become normalized (also called homonormativity). Though veering into many different directions, queer theory shares the goals of showing how gender and sexuality is both constructed and performed.
Science and Technology (in Literature of the Atlantic World)
Authors: Read David T.
Published: June 2024

Like the concept of the Atlantic world itself, the topic of this bibliography lacks precise borders and will continue to develop as scholars fill in the various gaps in knowledge inevitably present in a relatively new field of inquiry. In the current instance the field registers paradoxically as both broad and narrow: during the roughly 350 years between the first European contact with the Americas and the end of the slave trade, the Atlantic zone of exchange is rich with scientific, technological, and literary activity, but combinations of “science” and/or “technology” with “literature” in the Atlantic context are relatively rare as well as distributed unevenly. Researchers working in this general area are likely to encounter problems of definition and classification, but a couple of points relating to the organization of the field should not cause much debate. First, whatever else the term may imply, “literature” in this instance is written and exists in material records, as texts. Practically, this means that “Atlantic” literature is limited to those regions of the Atlantic that produced such records. Second, most of what falls under the aegis of “science” in the Atlantic context can be classified as either natural history (i.e., the observation, description, and classification of the order of nature) or medicine; with some notable exceptions this continues to be the case well into the nineteenth century, distinct from the experimental program of post-Newtonian science. With these points in mind, one can begin to organize into plausible categories the available evidence of contact in the Atlantic world between science and/or technology and literature. One category includes texts that obviously belong to a traditional literary genre but that speak to or about scientific matters. Another involves texts with scientific aspects written without any intent on the part of the authors to produce literary works, but that over time have been assimilated into particular literary traditions. Some texts are literature-adjacent: their authors are understood to be “literary” in some fashion, though the texts themselves might not be. Such categories are necessarily fluid, but one aspect is true of all of them: they rely upon an idea of transatlantic communication, a trade in words, facts, ideas, and observations from center to periphery and vice versa. Whatever combinations of science and literature emerge in the Atlantic world, they recognize, and often appeal to, a right to converse with other parts of that world.
Sexual Reproduction
Authors: Thierauf Doreen
Published: June 2024

With the rise of academic second-wave feminism in the 1970s and 1980s, interest in Victorian reproduction, including issues of pregnancy, childbirth, and maternity, exploded. Where earlier second-wave literary scholarship on Victorian reproductive issues relied on psychoanalytic methods—which tend to read intimate relationships symbolically and are less invested in historical framing—the field’s historical turn has by now produced a vast archive of deeply contextualized scholarship which is itself dwarfed by available archival documents and literary works still waiting to be mined. At present, literary scholarship tends to trail historians’ inquiries by a decade or two, and scholars interested in matters of reproduction in Victorian literature should be prepared to encounter mature corpora of excellent historiography and sprawling untapped archives, both online and physical. To provide a sense of the vastness of this terrain, this bibliography dedicates much space to primary and historical sources as these are indispensable for navigating the field. Besides foci on pregnancy, birth, and childrearing, each of the three sections of this entry includes subsections on obstetrics and gynecology; contraception, Neo-Malthusianism, and eugenics; miscarriage, abortion, and infanticide; as well as venereal disease and infertility. Since the 1990s, both historical and literary scholarship have widened their scope to include non-white, poor, and colonial experiences, but the field is still dominated by a focus on middle-class white women in England. More nuanced inquiries into fatherhood, queer parentage, and non-European locales are urgently needed.
Selective Sweeps
Authors: Stephan Wolfgang , Pavlidis Pavlos
Published: June 2024

A large fraction of the genome of all organisms studied to date is subject to mutations that are effectively neutral with respect to their fitness effects, and hence evolve under genetic drift, as described by the neutral theory. In an extended version, this theory also agrees with the observation that the great majority of newly arising mutations that do affect fitness are mildly deleterious, and the predominant mode of natural selection is purifying in nature, removing these deleterious mutations from populations. Natural populations are rarely at demographic equilibrium, and commonly have undergone recent historical changes. The combined effects of population size changes, population structure, and migration shape patterns of within-species genetic variation. Although these effects are genome-wide, they cannot be assumed to affect patterns of variation uniformly across the genome, and indeed may produce different effects in different genomic regions, mimicking expectations under selection. A combination of genetic drift (as modulated by the demographic history of the population) with both direct and linked purifying selection shapes patterns of genomic variation. Thus, a baseline model taking joint account of all of these effects is essential for genomic analysis. Although beneficial mutations are a comparatively small fraction of all new mutations, some of them may reach fixation or high frequencies and are thus important in evolution. If the fitness effects of these beneficial mutations are sufficiently strong, they may cause selective sweeps (i.e., localized reductions of genetic variation along genomes). Such localized patterns of reduced genetic variation have been convincingly described in a variety of organisms. In some cases, these genetic changes have been meaningfully connected with both phenotype and fitness. The effects of these comparatively rare, localized positive selection events are best characterized and quantified as additional to the genome-wide processes just described. However, in the absence of an appropriate baseline model accounting for these processes that are common to the genome as a whole, adaptive storytelling may result. For more than twenty years, inference methods have been developed to detect selective sweeps and localize the targets of positive selection in the genome. These methods are based on population genetic models that—in the simplest case—describe the effect of an individual beneficial allele on linked neutral variation (driven from a single copy to fixation). Such a single-sweep model may be extended to recurrent selective sweeps, in which sweeps occur along the genome independently according to a time-homogeneous process. In addition, soft sweeps may occur, which are either caused after an environmental change by positive selection on standing genetic variation or by multiple adaptive mutations.
Parallel Speciation
Authors: Johannesson Kerstin
Published: June 2024

Parallel speciation is a young concept, derived as a specific case from the more general concept of parallel evolution. It was coined by Dolph Schluter and Laura Nagel in a seminal paper from 1995. In this paper they illustrated parallel speciation using the three-spined stickleback that repeatedly form freshwater ecotypes from marine ancestral populations. However, already in 1993 Schluter and McPhail provided a review on “replicate adaptive radiation” discussing parallel evolution of fish ecotypes in postglacial lakes and of Anolis lizards on Caribbean islands. Parallel speciation is essentially equivalent to parallel evolution of reproductive isolation, and both can be partial rather than complete. And similar to the more general discussion on speciation, it is mostly impossible to draw the line between partial and complete. The core attribute of parallel speciation is that traits leading to reproductive isolation evolve repeatedly and independently when a species is distributed over contrasting environments. The driver of parallel speciation is divergent natural selection. Mostly the reproductive barriers are not the direct target of selection but evolve as a by-product of repeated adaptation to different environments. For example, a species evolves into a small ecotype in one type of habitat and a large in another, and due to the size differences individuals of the different ecotypes avoid mating with each other while individuals from different locations of the same ecotype remain compatible. The expectation under parallel speciation is that barriers to reproduction between different ecotypes establish in contact zones where the environment shifts, despite these populations being phylogenetically the most closely related. However, there are no barriers between individuals of similar ecotype coming from different areas (when these are brought together in experimental tests).
Theology, Migration, and Environmental Change
Authors: Slater Gary
Published: June 2024

This chapter examines the relationship among theology, migration, and environmental change. The chapter focuses first on the migration-environment relationship, which has received greater attention among scholars and the general public. It then surveys the less-commented-upon theological implications of that relationship in the form of some existing projects and potential further lines of inquiry. A key observation is that although the relationship between migration and environmental change manifests itself in multiple discourses—scientific, humanitarian, security, religious, and journalistic—and has been the subject of many empirical projects, the engagement with the topic has been riven with discrepancies in both academic and public contexts. Despite a consensus among scholars that the environmental impact on migration is measured and difficult to isolate, albeit real and important, public narratives of climate-caused cross-border migration “invasion” or “flood” persist. Interrogating such narratives not only requires engaging with deep assumptions about migration and environmental change; it is also a gateway to exploring the issue’s theological dimension, which takes the form of asking how care for the human and nonhuman other can meet within the commitments of a given faith tradition.
The Ebbs and Flows of Online Music Genres
Authors: Whelan Andrew , Nowak Raphaël
Published: June 2024

The chapter critically discusses how the category of “music genre” is understood and theorized in the digital era. It first reviews the scholarly conceptualization of the category of music genre, particularly in the discipline of sociology, notably through an emphasis on the negotiation of genre conventions that constitute the category. It then situates genres categories in relation to, and opposition with, categories such as global pop and World Music. Drawing on this initial discussion, the chapter goes on to explore how the affordances of different digital technologies contribute to redefining the understanding and boundaries of music genres. The authors draw on particular examples of online music genres to highlight the increasing pace at which conventions evolve, as well as the discursive inputs of members of the genre communities.
Hebrews, the Catholic Epistles, and the Arithmetic of Canon Lists
Authors: Rothschild Clare K.
Published: June 2024

Early Christianity shows evidence of only modest commitments to numerological theology. By the fourth century, however, at about the same time as New Testament canon lists flower, Christian interest in numerological symbolism blossoms. The impetus for both developments may be the same. Late antique Christian writers repeatedly condemn the magical use of numbers as associated with Babylonian sources, Pythagoreans, philosophers (e.g., neo-Platonism), and so-called gnostics. At the same time, they use it. Medieval theologians demonstrate a clear interest in establishing numerical relationships between the divine and human realms. This so-called theology of numbers endorses the divine power inherent in integers. Exegesis of the Gospel of John and Johannine writings, including Revelation, was popular, insofar as these texts contain deliberate number symbolism. The Apocalypse of Peter and the Shepherd of Hermas too received attention for their ample numerological references. In addition to exegesis, medieval theologians express interest in the numerical symbolism of the organization of biblical writings. In the twelfth century, faith in numbers as symbols, together with a determination to find number symbolism in the organization of the Bible, soars. This essay considers the extent to which medieval theologians in their discussion of the canon are building on late antique antecedents and explores the hypothesis that numerology and concepts of proportion played a greater role in the articulation of “God’s plan” as it relates to Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles than has hitherto been realized.
Awe, Wonder, and the Emotional Substrates of Religious Experience
Authors: Fuller Robert C.
Published: June 2024

This chapter examines the role of emotions in religious experience. Scientific studies of emotion provide significant insight into how different emotions (e.g., fear, guilt, awe, wonder) causally influence human thought and feeling. There really is no such thing as an emotion-free experience. It is instead a matter of which specific emotion is present and how strongly it was evoked. Emotions such as fear and guilt underlie many religious experiences as evidenced by the ubiquity of petitionary prayer and rituals of contrition or penance. The emotions of awe and wonder are, however, the two emotions that produce the cognitive and affective characteristics associated with mystical religious experience. Awe and wonder evoke vivid sensations of being engulfed by an ineffable “more,” stimulate abstract or metaphysical contemplation, and enhance ethical sensibilities. This overview of the modern study of emotions helps us understand the mix of biological and cultural factors underlying religious experience.
On Summoning the Gods to Visual Appearance
Authors: Asprem Egil
Published: June 2024

This chapter considers a cross-historical selection of cases from the ritual magical traditions and discusses explanations of how such practices may produce subjectively convincing experiences of otherworldly beings on the one hand, and methodological questions of how we might best study them on the other. The chapter argues that our best model is found in the framework of predictive processing, through which magical ritual should be seen as an expectation management technology that manipulates material-environmental, sensory-motor, and ideational/conceptual processes in ways that set the practitioner up for certain kinds of perception-like experiences. The picture emerging is that magical ritual produces (hetero)phenomenologically similar experience narratives through a variety of different techniques, which include elements such as sensory deprivation, hallucinogenic substances, (auto)hypnosis, hypnagogic states, and visualization, but are always grounded in a material-semiotic dimension through which things, gestures, and sensations are imbued with meanings that point towards an otherworldly reality.
Introduction
Authors: Chowrimootoo Christopher , Guthrie Kate
Published: June 2024

Recent years have witnessed an explosion of scholarly interest in the middlebrow. Where previously it attracted downright hostility, scholars have begun to interrogate the middlebrow’s history. In addition to building a more nuanced historical picture, they have asked why it was such an uncomfortable category, and what its occlusion in scholarship has meant for historiography. This volume brings together scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds to delve more deeply into these questions and to ask how reanimating the middlebrow might radically reshape our understanding of music history. Using the paradigmatic Leonard Bernstein as an entry point, this chapter introduces the values, practices, and debates that have shaped the middlebrow over the past 150 years. It explores why, from the late nineteenth century, commentators, creatives, and audiences began organizing culture into “highbrow” and “lowbrow”; and it traces how, from the outset, these categories were complicated by middlebrow institutions, artworks, and reception modes that fell “in between.” The chapter reveals how and why imagined distinctions between highbrow and lowbrow were traditionally endorsed by the academy—notably, in the subdisciplinary separation of art from popular music studies. Viewing long-standing musicological antipathy toward the middlebrow as a further product of this polarized outlook, it begins to stake the ground for middlebrow studies within musicology. Ultimately, the middlebrow emerges as a vital critical apparatus in the pursuit of a more variegated and inclusive history of twentieth-century culture.
Noisy Feeds
Authors: Macklem Michelle
Published: June 2024

This chapter critically analyzes the place of noncommercial podcasting created by artists and makers who use sound to examine their environments, identity, and interconnectedness. The chapter traces the history of early field recordists from their association with colonial practices to the use of field recording to subvert these practices and create Indigenous agency. It argues that new audio devices and platforms have made it easier to share and connect personal recordings and to record complex spur-of-the-moment acts of witnessing. The chapter draws on primary research with artists and practitioners in the field who are actively using podcasts as a method of disseminating their work or building community around shared values of listening and building greater understanding and mutual belonging.
The Invisible Art of Audio Storytelling
Authors: McHugh Siobhán
Published: June 2024

Narrative podcasts and radio documentaries are a built form, as carefully crafted as a good film. They apply the grammar, logic, and aesthetics of the audio medium to storytelling technique, paying particular attention to tone, texture, and temporality. This chapter examines the poetics of sound by conceptualizing the craft behind the making of three accomplished audio stories to deepen the way that both creatives and their audiences can engage with narrative audio works. The works analyzed are The Saigon Tapes and Goodbye to All This, from Falling Tree Productions in the United Kingdom, and Marrying Out from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Casting on Podcasts
Authors: Hyland Wang Jennifer
Published: June 2024

Early knitting podcasts offer scholars a record of early independent female audio production, community practices, and political activism that deserves examination. Within the heavily gendered environment of early 2000s podcasting, a renewed interest in crafting influenced female-centric podcast development. This chapter argues that the earliest knitting podcasts created an identity for female podcasters as “makers,” which was a critical precondition for female participation in this new medium. Through both producing and listening to knitting podcasts, knitters established a communal identity as creatives, claimed space in early podcasting, and reimagined their power as wives, mothers, and do-it-yourself citizens. Through digital and audio practices, female knitters were able to symbolically reconfigure their access to public spaces like podcasting and to the realm of politics inscribed therein.
Educating the Public
Authors: Shepperd Josh
Published: June 2024

This chapter analyzes the unique origins and structure of American public radio as neither a national broadcaster along European lines nor a commercial enterprise, but a highly localized system originally based on educational goals defined by the needs of public educators and carried out initially by state universities and educational institutions. It examines the limits and pressures that were exerted over educational radio as advocates and practitioners struggled to define a vision alternative to commercial broadcasting. Through an idiosyncratic combination of the efforts of government agencies, grass-roots activism, classroom educators, universities, philanthropic organizations, and private industry, US public radio emerged in the 1960s as a nonprofit industry that sought to downplay its overtly educational function to produce informative and socially conscious programming outside the pressures of the commercial marketplace.
Community Radio in Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: Doliwa Urszula
Published: June 2024

The growth of media freedom in central and eastern Europe (CEE) cannot be called a steadily upward process. Instead, it is marked by a series of backward steps, which have led to increased state control over the media. Looking at community radio development in CEE from this perspective, just such a backward step marks the 2020s. Instead of the growth of a third sector operating alongside state and commercial media, there are increasing challenges facing independent, community-oriented broadcasting in some countries. This chapter discusses community radio development in Poland from 1989 to 2021 as an example of this troubling trend, providing a summary of historical research and discourse analysis based on mixed qualitative and quantitative methods carried out over the past fifteen years, consisting of semistructured interviews, document analyses, content analysis, and direct observations as a participant in the struggle for community media in eastern Europe.
“A Golden Age of Audio”
Authors: Baade Christina
Published: June 2024

Since the introduction of the Amazon Echo in late 2014, smart speakers have been adopted by a wide range of households. As an “audio-first” technology, their materiality, interactivity, and ubiquity change what we mean by radioness—remediating both radio and audio streaming. This chapter investigates the radioness of smart speakers through two complementary lenses. First, it examines their impact on the music, streaming audio, and radio by analyzing media coverage of smart speakers’ adoption and impact, including market research organizations, mainstream news outlets, and the trade press. Second, it examines smart speakers as domestic artifacts, drawing on autoethnographic strategies, design thinking, and scholarship on domesticity. The domestic comfort and technological ease that smart speakers promise are animated by their nostalgic, radio-like status, but it is also their radioness that helps obscure their imbrication with the logic of contemporary big tech.
Segregation on the Airwaves
Authors: Ribeiro Nelson
Published: June 2024

The chapter presents a history of broadcasting in the Portuguese African colonies between the early 1930s and late 1960s, demonstrating the shortcomings of the state broadcaster and the central role played in Mozambique and Angola by private radio clubs established by white elites. Broadcasting policy to and in the Portuguese territories is placed in the context of the nationalistic dictatorship. The chapter demonstrates how the winds of decolonization led the Lisbon government to introduce changes in its colonial policy that, although they did not alter its main characteristics, had a profound impact on the role attributed to radio broadcasting. Finally, the chapter discusses how programs in African languages were first aired by stations in Angola and Mozambique and how they were used as tools of psychological warfare by the Portuguese regime when its propaganda was challenged by broadcasts produced by independence movements that reached the Portuguese colonies from abroad.
Recuperating a Critical Tradition
Authors: Fuller-Seeley Kathy , Brown Laura C.
Published: June 2024

Radio critics Jack Gould of the New York Times and John Crosby of the New York Herald Tribune brought serious criticism to American network radio in 1946. They decried the abundance of violence in radio dramas, the crass commercialism of giveaway shows, and the reluctance of sponsors to allow programs to address real issues. Their prominent reviews and wide readership brought additional pressure on radio sponsors, agency liaisons, network executives, and producers to improve and raised awareness of critical program appreciation among listeners. They led the nationwide expansion of journalistic broadcasting coverage, despite the rapid turn of attention to the promise of television. This examination of the achievements (and shortcomings) of these critics in wielding powerful voices of evaluation complicates our understanding of how American network radio was produced and experienced from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s.
Korean Radio Drama
Authors: Kim Jina E.
Published: June 2024

This chapter examines the inception of South Korea’s postwar radio culture by analyzing 1960s radio dramas, focusing on voice and voice performance. What kinds of indexical and iconic voices contributed to the popularity of the radio dramas in the 1960s? How does analysis of sound and voice add to the understanding of radio as an important tool for technopolitics, gender formations, and modernizing affect? The chapter argues that the dominance of the dramatic radio narratives of the 1960s depended on the expressive power of the melodramatic voicescape and its ability to provoke similar affective responses from the audience. It identifies three dominant melodramatic voices: the stammering father, the confessional lover, and the bewailing husband, created by male voice performers to reflect the gender and political crisis of the era. Drawing from textual, visual, and audio sources, the chapter highlights how these voice performances shaped a melodramatic voicescape.
The Archaeology of the United Monarchy and the Kingdom of Israel
Authors: Maeir Aren M.
Published: June 2024

This chapter looks at archaeological evidence for the period from the start of David’s reign until the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians, i.e., around 1000–722 BCE. It also addresses the debates that have arisen about this evidence. The chapter includes a discussion of archaeological chronology for the Iron II period before turning to the question whether the United Monarchy actually existed. The bulk of the chapter consists of a survey of the archaeological evidence relating to the northern kingdom by regions. Special attention is devoted to a discussion of cultural differences between Israel and Judah that appear in the archaeological record.
The Reception of the Books of Kings in Rabbinic Literature
Authors: Lavee Moshe
Published: June 2024

This chapter surveys references to Kings in rabbinic literature (Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmuds, and relevant midrashim). It also discusses the dynamics of rabbinic reception of these books and sketches the main themes and aspects of that reception. The chapter demonstrates that the relative marginalization of Kings as a textbook for midrashic analysis is belied by the continuing vitality of the characters and stories of Kings in rabbinic literature at large. The literature also “rabbinized” these characters and stories by portraying them with the spirit and values of the rabbis and their interest in Torah study and communal religious activities. This is quite distinct from these characters’ original political and historical settings and concerns.
The Books of Kings, Deuteronomy, and the Deuteronomistic History
Authors: Müller Reinhard
Published: June 2024

This chapter shows that the book of the torah that was allegedly found in the temple under king Josiah is implicitly presented in the narrative of the Enneateuch as the book written by Moses according to Deut 31:9. The literary connection between Kings and Deuteronomy created by this motif appears loose and superficial, since Kings makes almost no further reference to the written Mosaic torah. The literary historical relationship between Kings and Deuteronomy was conceived by Martin Noth in his hypothesis of a coherent Deuteronomistic History. Three angles for reconstructing the literary-historical relationship between both books are presented. First is the textual history of Kings and its implications for reconstructing the literary history of the Deuteronomistic terms and phrases. Second are the overlaps and differences between Kings and Deuteronomy. Third are the evaluations of the kings in the books of Kings and their conceptual relationship with Deuteronomy.
Realism and the Politics of Frequency in Filmmaking
Authors: Weissman Terri
Published: June 2024

In December 1967, a collective of American photographers and filmmakers formed a radical news service called Newsreel with the goal of creating an alternative to the politically biased coverage presented by network television news. One of Newsreel’s earliest films, I.S. 201 and Report from Newark (1968), documents the contentious events around a Malcolm X memorial parade in East Harlem and provides an update on living conditions in Newark, New Jersey, eight months after an uprising there led to violent clashes with police. Shortly after the completion of I.S. 201 and Report from Newark, several Newsreel members traveled to Cuba, where they saw Santiago Alvarez’s film NOW! (1965). Set to Lena Horne’s song “Now” (1963) about the failures of the United States to combat inequality, Alvarez’s film collages together found imagery from American newspapers and other sources to create a powerful statement about racism, police violence, and American hypocrisy. This essay brings Newsreel’s I.S. 201 into conversation with Alvarez’s NOW! to show how the visual and acoustic fields of both move and adjust with their audience, creating a sonic and visual pulse—a vibrational force—that challenges traditional notions of realism and evidence as somehow static or self-evident.
The Politics of Resistance to Land Alienation
Authors: Adnan Shapan
Published: June 2024

This chapter puts forward an alternative framing of the politics of resistance to land alienation. It distinguishes land alienation from land control and land concentration, defining it as the separation or expulsion of the preexisting holders from their lands by force or voluntary/market transactions. Resistance from below to prevent and stop such processes, or to recover previously alienated lands, constitutestruggles against expulsion. Differences between overt-covert, violent-nonviolent, and intermediate forms of resistance are noted and the conditions of transformation between them are explored. When the winners and losers from land alienation are differentiated by ethnic, racial, religious, or other identity-based traits, contestations involving the biopolitics of discrimination and othering may be activated. Differences between resistance to land alienation mediating primitive accumulation or accumulation by dispossession (ABD), and capitalist accumulation, are pointed out. Dynamic interactions between the politics of land alienation and resistance can lead to flexibility, adaptive change, or innovation in their respective strategies. Dramatic reversals in state policies of acquiring land can be brought about when their legitimacy is questioned by politically committed strategies of resistance. Active struggles against land alienation can be undermined by strategies combining coercion and persuasion, while innovative counterstrategies can pre-empt the very possibility of potential resistance.