bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Value and Partisanship Basis of Left-Right Placement after the Financial Crisis
Authors: Rivero Carlos García , Kotzè Hennie
Published: December 2019

The concept of ideology has been related to economic inequality, state intervention in the economy, party identification, moral values and, more recently, to post-materialist values. It is also argued that the general public has a perception of this concept similar to that of the elites. This article analyses the left-right continuum at the elite and mass levels in five countries, before and after the recent severe financial crisis. It investigates: i) the relative weight of values vs partisanship as the basis of left-right self-placement; ii) whether political elites and citizens share the same factors underpinning ideology; and iii) whether there have been any changes in these factors as a consequence of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The study is a quantitative analysis making use of survey data. Findings indicate that both elites and masses concentrated in moderate positions both before and after the crisis; citizens do not follow elites when explaining left-right self-placement; and the financial crisis has led elites to move toward the right and the public toward the left. Before the crisis citizens used to base their position on the scale on partisanship more than on values. After the crisis, values surpassed partisanship. Elite placements were mainly based on values.
What Makes Urban Life Possible?
Authors: Thomas Alexander R. , Fulkerson Gregory M.
Published: December 2019

This article introduces and explains a novel concept – the urban-rural system – as a means for addressing the question, what makes urban life possible? To address this question, the authors examine the archaeological record from the first agrarian villages, market towns, and eventual first cities that arose during the late Paleolithic through early Neolithic world of the Fertile Crescent (roughly modern-day Syria and Iraq). Following this, they reflect on what the ancient record can teach us about urban dependency on rural resources and how this shapes environmental, economic, political, and cultural dynamics. They conclude with brief consideration of the contemporary utility of the urban-rural system concept, emphasizing the continued need urban populations have for rural resources.
Influencing Suicide Rates among the Elderly
Authors: Rosario Angela Louise C.
Published: December 2019

By focusing on the elderly suicide rates, this study lays out the different suicide regulation and prevention policies of three developed countries – Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea. The main goal is to compare and analyze how these policies, with disparate ways of handling suicide, influence elderly suicide rates in relation with their countries’ respective differing suicide determinants. By applying the ‘Method for Synthesizing about Public Policies’ created by Morestin, Gauvin, Hogue, and Benoit to check the status of efficiency and of any issues of public policies, it concludes that South Korea shows promise, while Japan’s suicide rates have certainly been scaling down. Conversely, in terms of the use of euthanasia, suicide rates in the Netherlands have been continuously rising.
The Future of Populism in a Comparative European and Global Context
Authors: Adam Frane , Tomšič Matevž
Published: December 2019

This article deals with the recent rise of populist tendencies and their meaning in contemporary democracies within the EU, including Eastern Europe. It stresses the importance of two interrelated and interconnected processes that provide a fertile ground for the emergence of different types of populism – crisis of parliamentary multi-party democracy and pressures of supranational integration and globalisation. Populism has the ambition to address both, to solve the political crisis and defend national sovereignty against globalism by personifying politics as a way of concentrating power. This means a tendency toward a (semi)-authoritarian (but still competitive) regime and state-led capitalism. In addition, new allies and protectors in an emerging new, multi-polar global order and outside of the EU and Western sphere are sought.
Can ‘Openness-to-change’ and ‘Conservation’ Values Predict the Diffusion of the Internet into European Homes?
Authors: Blekesaune Morten
Published: December 2019

This study investigated whether openness-to-change values (self-direction and stimulation) and conservation values (security and tradition) could predict the diffusion of the internet into homes by 2014, at the level of 159 European regions. All four value scales were correlated with the diffusion of the internet, after controlling for regional wealth and population density. Self-direction was by far the most consistent predictor of the diffusion of internet connections; a combination of self-direction and stimulation values could predict home internet use better than other combinations of human values. A longitudinal analysis, at the level of 25 countries, investigated the possibility of reverse causation (could the internet affect human values?), between 2004 and 2014. The study found no such effects.
Contested Authorities over Life Politics
Authors: Yurdakul Gökce , Rexer Gala , Eilat Shvat , Mutluer Nil
Published: December 2019

Conflicts between religious and secular discourses, norms, actors, and institutions are differently shaped across the Middle East and Europe in accordance with their specific socio-legal contexts. While current scholarship has often studied this tension by focusing on religious rituals, the authors shed new light on the way religion and secularity shape the everyday making of life politics by way of a three-country comparison of abortion debates in Germany, Turkey, and Israel. Through face-to-face interviews with stakeholders involved in interpreting secular abortion law, the authors analyze how social actors in three predominantly monotheistic countries and socio-political circumstances construe secular abortion laws differently in practice. The authors show that, contrary to common belief, contestations over abortion do not neatly divide between religious and secular authority, but they create gray zones of negotiation. Articulated through specific historical, political, and religious circumstances, such gray zones involve everyday decisions on human authority in determining abortion practices and differing understandings of women’s bodies.
Attitudes towards Women’s Paid Labor and Children in East Asia
Authors: Piotrowski Martin , Clark Rob , Tong Yuying , Schmitz Wyatt , Shibuya Kumiko
Published: December 2019

Using data from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) fourth module on family and changing gender roles, the authors explore cross-national differences in the prevalence of non-traditional attitudes towards women’s paid labor and children’s interference in parents’ lives in China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Their results show that variation in attitude configurations and their determinants differ across each setting in ways that are inconsistent with existing theoretical explanations formulated to explain both macro- and micro-level mechanisms of differences in attitudes. The authors therefore propose a paradigm shift in cross-national attitudinal research along the lines proposed by the Theory of Conjunctural Action (TCA), which recognizes the path-dependent interplay of local schematic and material elements of social structure that operate at multiple levels of analysis.
The Sovereignty of Finance? Distress and the Financialization of Sovereign Debt
Authors: Aitken Rob
Published: December 2019

This article argues that the relationship between finance and state sovereignty is neither automatic nor understandable in some generalized manner. To develop this argument, I pay particular attention to the financialization of distressed sovereign debt, especially sovereign debt defaults in the Global South with particular reference to Argentina’s default in 2001 and the string of legal cases it triggered. These legal processes breathed a strange after-life into Argentina’s defaulted debt by converting that debt into fully commodified financial contracts. I argue that the financialization of sovereign debt is enabled by a long and complex evolution in the application of the doctrine of restrictive sovereign immunity. This financialization, moreover, is indicative of ways in which forms of financial distress are reworked as renewed sources of financial value. This provokes questions about the very relationship between waste and value in our global political economy.
Research Opportunities for Renewable Energy Electrification in Remote Areas of Costa Rica
Authors: Richmond-Navarro Gustavo , Madriz-Vargas Rolando , Ureña-Sandí Noel , Barrientos-Johansson Fabian
Published: December 2019

Most countries around the world are politically driven to move toward a low-carbon future by embracing renewable energy technologies for electricity generation. With abundance of renewable energy resources, Costa Rica produces over 95 percent of its electricity from hydro, geothermal, and wind power plants. Only one percent of its population live without electricity, mainly in remote territories where rural off-grid electrification is very challenging. The purpose of this research is to contribute to enhancing the opportunities to reach universal electricity access in Costa Rica by studying some cases. A comparison with the African situation is made in order to find common points of benefit and learning.

This article highlights that a greater level of engagement is needed from local leaders to develop efficient solutions in Costa Rica, and brings a relevant comparison with Africa’s energy needs as well.
Production Environments of Digital Innovations: a Scalar Perspective on Cultural Legitimacy in Zambian Coding Networks
Authors: Schmitt Daniel
Published: December 2019

The rise of digital innovations is critical to many people and organizations in the Global South. By looking at programmers and their associated networks as digital production environment, this article aims to shed light on digital innovation processes to get a better understanding of those networks’ inherent characteristics. With analyzing coding networks in Zambia’s capital Lusaka, the study combines cultural legitimacy as a perspective from innovation scholars with scale. The case study is built on Geels’ and Verhees’ (2011) conceptualization of frames that stakeholders use to promote technology, and shows how members of coding networks produce and push legitimacy. Looking through the lenses of scale at perceived plausibility and salience of the production of frames, a variety of promoted frames around technology in connection to their actor’s credibility, empirical fit, and macro-cultural resonance are identified. Further, the research identifies influence structures within coding networks effecting their members scope of actions.
Priests of Ur in the Old Babylonian Period: a Reappraisal in Light of the 2017 Discoveries at Ur/Tell Muqayyar
Authors: Charpin Dominique
Published: December 2019

Thirty-two years after the publication of Le Clergé d’Ur au siècle d’Hammurabi (1986), a reappraisal of the situation is made possible by collations of already known texts, and by new tablets provided by the resumption of excavations on the site of Tell Muqayyer. The question of the estate properties within the city of Ur will first be examined: generally, the members of the clergy owned the houses they inhabited, which were not the property of the temple of the Moon-god Nanna. Then the evidence about the specific situation of the purification priests devoted to the god Enki-of-Eridu will be studied: the older data are supplemented by new ones discovered in 2017 in a house occupied by a Babylonian general. Finally, the level of literacy of the clergy and the role they played in education will be examined; here again, the 2017 season provides new evidence thanks to the discovery of a house inhabited by an intendant of the temple of the goddess Ningal.
Babylonian Priesthood during the Third Millennium BCE: Between Sacred and Profane
Authors: Steinkeller Piotr
Published: December 2019

This article offers an overview of the early Babylonian priesthood, as it was organized and operated during the third millennium BCE. It is emphasized that the priests and priestesses proper, i.e., individuals who were specifically concerned with cultic matters, represented a relatively small segment of the employees of temple households. Much more numerous within these institutions (which might more appropriately be termed “temple communities”) were the individuals whose roles were of either administrative or economic character. Focusing on the administrators of temple households, and identifying them as “Managerial Class,” the article argues that, during Pre-Sargonic times, this social group wielded great economic and political power, which at times even exceeded that of the emerging secular leaders (such as ensiks and lugals). To demonstrate this point, an interaction between these two competing centers of powers (particularly in the city-state of Lagaš) is studied in detail.

In memory of Itamar Singer
Kings, Priests, and Power in the Neo-Assyrian Period
Authors: Zaia Shana
Published: December 2019

Despite a relative dearth of information in the surviving corpus about Assyrian priests’ more routine concerns, the Assyrian state correspondence contains some details that can improve our knowledge of priests’ daily lives, rights, and responsibilities. Using four case studies, this paper analyzes situations in which priests are accused of misconduct or crimes to better understand the powers and expectations of individual priestly offices as well as the realities of everyday life that might have rendered these boundaries more flexible or surmountable. These cases of irregularities reveal that cultic personnel had distinct economic, legal, and judicial roles and were sometimes able to extend their powers when necessary to manage issues such as crime and shortages in resources, only requesting royal intervention as a last resort.
The United Front Principle
Authors: Sapio Flora
Published: December 2019

This paper contributes to existing work by exploring how the idea of the United Front in China has gradually changed and developed over time. This has had the power to shape policies and institutions which, at least in the intentions of their reformers, will have a definite impact outside the borders of the People’s Republic of China.
The Dao of CSR
Authors: Hawes Colin , Young Angus
Published: December 2019

Widespread corporate scandals involving corruption, environmental pollution, IP theft and food/product safety demonstrate that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has not yet taken root among Chinese business firms. One major reason is that Chinese managers view CSR as a foreign concept, an externally imposed set of rules, that fails to resonate with their internal worldview. This paper proposes a new approach to CSR based on ‘vital energy’ (qi) circulating within an organically integrated moral cosmos (dao)—a traditional Chinese ecological worldview that overcomes cultural barriers to acceptance, while simultaneously drawing on insights from contemporary behavioural economics and materials science. The paper provides Chinese conceptual tools to transform an externally imposed burden on business firms into an internally generated, ecologically situated, creative and productive corporate evolution.
Visualising Female Authorship. Author Portraits and the Representation of Female Literary Authority in the Eighteenth-Century Dutch Republic
Authors: van Deinsen Lieke
Published: December 2019

This article discusses printed author portraits of women writers as vehicles of public image in the male-dominated eighteenth-century book market. It shows how Dutch women writers responded to the growing demand for author portraits and used their portrait engravings to shape their public image. It proved to be a fine line between showcasing literary aspirations and maintaining female modesty.
The Library of Leufstabruk: An Eighteenth Century Portal of Cultural Transfer Between Sweden and the Dutch Republic
Authors: Alsemgeest Alex
Published: December 2019

The library of Leufstabruk is an eighteenth century private library in Sweden that was built up by industrialist and entomologist Charles De Geer (1720-1778). Approximately 1500 contemporary titles from the library were purchased by mail-order from the booksellers Samuel (II) and Johannes Luchtmans in Leiden. Leufstabruk was, however, not only a place where Enlightenment literature was brought in, but also a centre of knowledge production. In this article, I will explore Leufstabruk as a portal for cultural transfer between Sweden and the Dutch Republic, and consider how this collection may serve as a frame to rethink the emergence of Sweden as a centre of knowledge creation in the eighteenth century
Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility under the 2018 Petroleum Host and Impacted Communities Development Trust Bill: Is Nigeria Rehashing Past Mistakes?
Authors: Amodu Nojeem
Published: December 2019

The 2018 Petroleum Host and Impacted Communities Development Trust Bill before the Nigerian National Assembly was proposed to foster sustainable development (SD) and embed corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the oil and gas corporate activities within host communities. From the backdrop of SD and CSR as regulatory concepts, this article scrutinizes the Bill for its viability to realize its objectives in its current form. It raises concerns about: (i) perceived negligence by the government to provide social services and public goods, seeming to outsource such responsibilities to the business community; (ii) the reduction of CSR to capital or community development projects; and (iii) the absence of useful delimitation criteria to determine host and impacted communities. The article argues that past mistakes are being rehashed and queries the capacity of the Bill to live up to stakeholders’ expectations. Using the normative contributions of global templates such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the article recommends policy and regulatory changes to the Bill’s governance structure towards embedding effective CSR and engendering SD in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Legal Framework to Gender-Based Violence, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Indigenous Women in Cameroon
Authors: Ageh Agejo Patrick
Published: December 2019

Men and women have different health profiles which necessitate different health needs, as a result of their biology and their distinct status in society. Discrimination and harmful traditional practices in many societies in the global south further affect the reproductive health of indigenous women. The paper will highlight discrimination against women in patriarchal indigenous communities in Cameroon. The paper focuses on violations that affect women’s reproductive health. The paper will discuss these violations in light of the country’s commitment to Sustainable Development Goal No. 3 on good health and well-being and Goal No. 5 on gender equality. The paper will also highlight the national and international laws addressing the right to the reproductive health of indigenous women. It will also examine gender-sensitive interventions, legislation and policies put in place by the indigenous community and the Government of Cameroon if any. The paper will end with conclusion and suggestions/recommendations on ways to improve the reproductive health of indigenous women in Cameroon.
A Dig through Archives and Depots
Authors: Bettineschi Cinzia , Deotto Giulia , Begg Donald James Ian , Molin Gianmario , Zanovello Paola , Fassone Alessia , Greco Christian , Borla Matilde , Angelini Ivana
Published: December 2019

Despite the key role of the Ptolemaic period in the history of glass technology, very little is known on the workshop activities and on the organization of the production. This is mainly due to the limits of the documentation currently available, consisting of very few archaeological contexts often poorly preserved. This contribution presents a first overview of the material and archival record related to the 1931 excavations in the Ptolemaic inlay workshop of Tebtynis (Fayum oasis, Egypt). Unlike other coeval sites, the data from Tebtynis revealed a complete set of evidence related to the stratigraphy and the topography of the craft area, to the shape and size of the kiln, to the furniture, the tools, the raw materials, and the finished products discovered. The interpretation of the data provides the opportunity to propose new hypotheses on the function of the spaces and the tools, but also on the chronology of the workshop, contributing to shedding light on the technological and empirical knowledge of the ancient Egyptian glassmakers in a crucial moment of glass history.
An Overlooked Construction Manual for the Quadrans Vetustissimus
Authors: Nothaft C. Philipp E.
Published: December 2019

This article presents an edition and brief analysis of the previously overlooked text De compositione quadrae, which is transmitted as part of a scientific miscellany assembled at Worcester Cathedral Priory no later than 1140. De compositione quadrae offers hitherto unavailable information on the construction of the so-called quadrans vetustissimus, a version of the universal horary quadrant circulating in Latin Europe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It is particularly noteworthy for its description of a graphical method of inscribing the months of the Julian calendar on the quadrant’s cursor, which successfully approximates the sine function that determines the change of solar declination in the course of a year.
Contributions to Animal Ceroplastics
Authors: Sánchez de Lollano Prieto Joaquín , Sánchez Ortiz Alicia
Published: December 2019

The aim of this article is to disseminate the scientific and artistic contribution made by Cristóbal Garrigó de Nis (1800–1863). A professor of veterinary medicine, his career as an anatomical sculptor has left us one of the most unique ceroplastic collections in Spain. It currently forms part of the Complutense Veterinary Museum (Madrid). This article presents previously unpublished data about his personal life and professional activity that was gathered from primary sources – archives and the press – of the era. This has allowed us to reconstruct his life story, find out more about his dual training and understand the reasons that led him to create the teaching models for the anatomical cabinet of the Royal Veterinary School in Madrid. Of special interest are his main contributions to the manufacture of these anatomical pieces and specifically his invention of his own papier-mâché paste in 1848.
Esperienza, Teacher of All Things
Authors: Fix Adam
Published: December 2019

This paper reexamines the music and experimental science of Vincenzo Galilei through the lens of artisanal epistemology. Where previous scholars have questioned the veracity of Vincenzo’s experiments, I unpack how Vincenzo himself understood and utilized esperienza. Arguing against Cohen and Prins especially, I assert that Vincenzo’s esperienza functioned as a rational-empirical way of studying nature. I then show how esperienza played analogous roles in his science and practice. By treating his music as artisanal epistemology, I portray Vincenzo’s musical composition, like his experimentalism, as a form of natural knowledge-making. He deployed esperienza in science to capture knowledge of consonance and in art to express knowledge of music’s effects on passions. Finally, I situate Vincenzo within broader humanistic and artistic trends and consider his influence on Galileo. This study explores Renaissance music at the nexus of mathematical theory and empirical and instrumental practice while reinterpreting the early modern concept of esperienza.
The Proposed EU Human Rights Sanctions Regime
Authors: van der Have Nienke
Published: December 2019

The initiative for a European Union (EU) human rights sanctions regime that targets individual human rights offenders builds upon an interesting trend set by the United States’ Magnitsky Act. It has the potential to contribute to the development of international law and allow states and the EU to take on a more progressive attitude in relation to gross human rights violations committed worldwide. As an EU-wide initiative, it also has the opportunity to break with the muddled past and set a positive example. To do so, there are several important factors to consider related to the conceptual aim of the regime, its demarcation and potential effectiveness in practice.
“The Spiritual is Political”
Authors: Felitti Karina
Published: December 2019

This article analyses the circulation of feminist ideas and practices in women’s circles and connected workshops geared to urban middle-class heterosexual cisgender women, and the presence of spiritual elements in massive feminist mobilisations in contemporary Argentina. It uses a qualitative methodology based on ethnographic observations, interviews and analyses of digital content carried out between 2014 and October 2019. In a national and international context of feminist visibility and broad availability of spiritual goods and services, I explore the relations between secularisation and sexual politics, and spirituality and feminisms. The outcomes show a secular-based feminism permeable to spiritual practices and an increasing participation of women who define themselves as spiritual in feminist demonstrations. They also suggest that this convergence assists in the dissemination of sexual and reproductive rights in a definition that integrates notions of bodily knowledge, self-management, empowerment and spiritual wellness.
The Parting of Ways between ʿAlid Shiʿism and Abbasid Shiʿism: An Analysis of the Missives between the Caliph al-Manṣūr and Muḥammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya
Authors: Tor D.G.
Published: December 2019

The Abbasid Revolution rode to power on a religious ideology based upon ʿAlī’s legitimacy and the Abbasid Muḥammad b. ʿAlī’s supposed appointment as imam by ʿAlī’s grandson Abū Hāshim. In the wake of the Revolution, however, the differences between the Hāshimiyya and purely ʿAlid branches of the proto-Shiʿa came to a head. This article demonstrates that the pivotal theological turning point occurred in the year 145/762, as a result of the revolt of the Ḥasanid Muḥammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. The article’s close reading of the arguments adduced in the purported correspondence between the two sides, preserved uniquely in al-Ṭabarī’s chronicle, reveals why in the wake of this revolt the Abbasids ultimately found the legitimating theology of their original daʿwa to be untenable.
The Notion of gharīb in Arabic Lexica
Authors: Baalbaki Ramzi
Published: December 2019

From very early in the Islamic linguistic tradition, the study of strange words, patterns, and constructions (gharīb) has been of interest. For the early philologists, words and expressions were “gharīb” when they were in use in the language of the Bedouins (Aʿrāb) but were rare in the contemporary language of those who collected the material. In this article, the early gharīb lexica and the development of the genre of gharīb works in later centuries is discussed, focusing on gharīb al-lugha (gharīb in the speech of the Arabs, kalām al-ʿArab), gharīb al-Qurʾān, and gharīb al-Ḥadīth, respectively.
Area-based Management ToolsDeveloping Regulatory Frameworks for Areas beyond National Jurisdiction
Authors: Warner Robin
Published: December 2019

The increasing intensity and impacts of human activities in the global oceans pose significant threats to the extensive repository of marine species, habitats and ecosystems in the vast marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (abnj). This article examines the scope of these threats and the role of area-based management mechanisms such as marine protected areas (mpas) in addressing those threats. It discusses the law and policy rationale for establishing mpas in abnj and some regional examples of mpa designation in the North East Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Antarctica and the Sargasso Sea. Finally, it reviews global initiatives in the United Nations to develop a more integrated and cross-sectoral framework for conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in abnj including the designation of a representative network of mpas in these largely neglected areas of the ocean.
Area-based Protection beyond National Jurisdiction
Authors: Scott Karen N.
Published: December 2019

This article provides a critical overview of the current international legal framework for the designation of area-based protection beyond national jurisdiction as well as selected examples of global and regional practice to date. It highlights some of the legal and other challenges in employing spatial management tools in a three dimensional and highly dynamic environment that lies beyond the jurisdiction of states or of any one overarching institution. The article concludes with a brief assessment of the various proposals that are currently under discussion as part of the negotiations for an instrument to support the conservation of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (the BBNJ negotiations) to create a global framework for the designation of MPAs and other area-based measures beyond the jurisdiction of states.
Zhao Luanluan and Her Tale
Authors: Milburn Olivia
Published: December 2019

Zhao Luanluan 趙鸞鸞 is the main protagonist of an early Ming dynasty work of fiction, the “Luanluan zhuan” 鸞鸞傳 or “The Tale of Luanluan” by Li Changqi 李昌祺 (1376–1452), which is found in his collection of twenty-two short stories: Jiandeng yuhua 剪燈餘話 (More Stories Written While Trimming the Lamp). Zhao Luanluan is here described as a woman poet who is caught up in the fall of the Yuan dynasty, but subsequently she was further fictionalized as a Tang dynasty courtesan, and her poetic works reattributed to this imaginary person. Furthermore other related fictional female poets of the Ming dynasty have also been treated as genuine historical individuals, and their writings are included in many major anthologies of women’s poetry. This paper argues that the boundaries between genuine female poets and fictional female poets created by male writers have been consistently ignored.
Reconstructing Buddhist Monasteries in Post-Taiping China
Authors: Scott Gregory Adam
Published: December 2019

The Taiping War (1850–1864) destroyed tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of religious sites across China. In the wake of the destruction, Buddhist and other religious leaders led reconstruction campaigns to rebuild temples and monasteries that had been destroyed. This article examines some general trends in the post-Taiping religious reconstruction, and looks at a few case studies of well-known Buddhist monasteries that were rebuilt in the years following the war. I argue that not only was the post-war reconstruction a lively and energetic process, but that it helped to shape Buddhist religious culture long after the first phase of reconstructions were completed. Reconstruction was not simply a return to the status quo ante bellum, but rather an opportunity to introduce change into what was normally a highly stable system.
Loss, Nostalgia, and Hope: the Ming-Qing Transition in the Fiction of “the Hazy Crossing Ferryman of Xiaoxiang”
Authors: Macdonald Alastair Ewan
Published: December 2019

This paper examines the reactions to the trauma of the Ming-Qing dynastic transition in the novellas of a writer known only as “Xiaoxiang mijinduzhe” (The Hazy Crossing Ferryman of Xiaoxiang). His works provide an informative contrast to the more celebrated loyalist literature of the same era: they express unease at foreign rule but do not show an idealistic loyalism to the Ming. Though the Yongle period (1402–1424) of the Ming is held up as a lost golden age, the post-Yongle Ming dynasty is portrayed as an era of corruption and chaos, presided over by incompetent and/or dissolute emperors. The novellas also reflect on the lessons of the transition on a deeper level, questioning the long-standing cultural preference for the civil arts over the martial arts. While the novellas acknowledge the poignancy of the passing of an era, they also strike hopeful notes for the future under the Qing.
From Adam to ʿĀdil Shāh: Rethinking Inter-Religious Encounter in the Tārīkh-i Firishteh
Authors: Peterson Jonathan R.
Published: December 2019

Despite the Tārīkh-i Firishteh’s continued importance for scholarship on early-modern South Asia, little attention has been paid to analyzing the text’s introduction, where its author, Muḥammad Qāsim Astarābādī (Firishteh), articulates a conception of historical time in part by critiquing the Mahabharata. Existing scholarship on the Introduction has invoked the conceptual framework of ‘encounters’ between Persianate and Sanskritic cultural spheres, where Firishteh’s critique of the Mahabharata is made possible through Mughal engagement with Sanskrit texts. By analyzing two registers of the Introduction—tārīkh as a mode of historical narration central to dynastic legitimation, and Abū al-Fażl’s use of the Mahabharata as a way to critique certain Abrahamic conceptions of genesis—this paper suggests that the language of ‘encounter’ is ultimately ill-suited to understanding the Introduction’s most controversial passages.
Vicious Habits
Authors: Wilson Sven E. , Roudiez Christopher , DeSomer Heather , Lewis Coralee , Yetter Noelle
Published: December 2019

We analyze a random sample of 15,049 white veterans and 5,329 black veterans of the US Civil War examined by physicians between 1890 and 1906. We calculate a period prevalence of STI of 1.2–1.7 % among whites and 4.2–8.0 % among blacks, even though blacks and whites had almost identical prevalence of STI s in their wartime medical records. Furthermore, we find evidence that Board physicians were on the lookout for STI s among black veterans that could be used to justify denial of pension support. With or without STI s, blacks were rejected at roughly twice the rate of whites during this time period. Currently, racial disparities are even higher today than in this historical period, with blacks currently having a 5–15 times higher incidence than whites. We invite a critical reflection upon practices of screening and measurement systems to assess properly the degree to which racial prejudice may be part of these systems.
Development of an abdominal wall abscess caused by fish bone ingestion: a case report
Authors: Kuwahara Kiyomitsu , Mokuno Yasuji , Matsubara Hideo , Kaneko Hirokazu , Shamoto Mikihiro , Iyomasa Shinsuke
Published: December 2019

Background

A small percentage of patients with foreign body ingestion develop complications, which have a variety of clinical presentations. Less than 1% of cases require surgical intervention. We present a patient with an abdominal wall abscess resulting from a fish bone that pierced the cecum. The patient was treated laparoscopically.

Case presentation

A 55-year-old Japanese man presented to our hospital with a complaint of right lower abdominal pain. A physical examination revealed tenderness, swelling, and redness at the right iliac fossa. Computed tomography showed a low-density area with rim enhancement in his right internal oblique muscle and a hyperdense 20 mm-long pointed object in the wall of the adjacent cecum. Based on the findings we suspected an abdominal wall abscess resulting from a migrating ingested fish bone. He was administered antibiotics as conservative treatment, and the abscess was not seen on subsequent computed tomography.

Two months after the initial treatment, he presented with the same symptoms, and a computed tomography scan showed the foreign body in the same location as before with the same low-density area. We diagnosed the low-density area as recurrence of the abdominal wall abscess. He underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove the foreign body. His appendix, and part of his cecum and the parietal peritoneum that included the foreign body, were resected. He had an uneventful postoperative course, and at 1 year after the surgery, the abdominal wall abscess had not recurred.

Conclusions

An abdominal wall abscess developed in association with the migration of an ingested fish bone. We suggest that a laparoscopic surgical resection of the portion of the bowel that includes the foreign body is a useful option for selected cases.
A novel method for the analytical solution of fractional Zakharov–Kuznetsov equations
Authors: Shah Rasool , Khan Hassan , Baleanu Dumitru , Kumam Poom , Arif Muhammad
Published: December 2019

In this article, an efficient analytical technique, called Laplace–Adomian decomposition method, is used to obtain the solution of fractional Zakharov– Kuznetsov equations. The fractional derivatives are described in terms of Caputo sense. The solution of the suggested technique is represented in a series form of Adomian components, which is convergent to the exact solution of the given problems. Furthermore, the results of the present method have shown close relations with the exact approaches of the investigated problems. Illustrative examples are discussed, showing the validity of the current method. The attractive and straightforward procedure of the present method suggests that this method can easily be extended for the solutions of other nonlinear fractional-order partial differential equations.
Implementation of PRRSV status classification system in swine breeding herds from a large integrated group in Spain
Authors: Torrents D. , Miranda J. , Pedrazuela R. , Gauger P. C. , Ramirez A. , Linhares D. C. L.
Published: December 2019

Background

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is an endemic swine disease causing significant productive and economic losses. Knowledge of PRRS epidemiology is crucial to develop control strategies against this disease. In that regard, classifying farms according to PRRS virus (PRRSV) shedding and exposure, and understanding key drivers of change in status over time, provides great applied knowledge for developing disease control programs. In most European countries, PRRSV monitoring is performed most frequently at the individual farm level although criteria selected for monitoring varies among different regions and farms. The aim of this study was to implement a systematic monitoring program for PRRSV in Spanish sow farms. Breeding herds were classified according to a standardized PRRSV infection status using sampling programs and terminology currently adopted in the United States (US), which allowed an evaluation of PRRSV epidemiology in a large integrated Spanish group during a one-year study period (February 2017–March 2018).

Results

Fifteen farms achieved a stable PRRSV status after the first 4 consecutive samplings and 20 farms were classified as unstable. One of the farms maintained a stable status throughout the duration of the whole monitoring period.

Among the 20 farms classified as unstable at the beginning of the monitoring protocol, 9 farms (45%) never reached the stable status and 11 farms (55%) reached stable status afterwards during the monitoring study period.

From PRRSV PCR positive pools, there were 47 different PRRSV nucleotide sequences from 24 different farms. More than one PRRSV sequence was obtained from 15 farms. In the farms with more than one sequence detected, we observed recirculation of the same PRRSV field strain in 7 farms and introduction of a different PRRSV strain in 5 farms and both events in 3 farms.

Conclusions

Systematic monitoring for PRRSV in breeding herds established a basis of knowledge of PRRSV epidemiology at the farm level and provided key data to classify farms according to PRRSV exposure and shedding status. These data allow further evaluation of the impact of the PRRSV farm status on production and economic performance in breeding herds and additional investigation of factors related to PRRSV epidemiology.
Self-reported diet management, dietary quality, and blood pressure control in Korean adults with hypertension
Authors: Shim Jee-Seon , Jung Sun Jae , Kim Hyeon Chang
Published: December 2019

Objectives

Hypertension control is a major public health concern. Daily preventive practices of the affected individual are essential for controlling blood pressure (BP). We investigated the association of diet management practice, dietary quality, and BP control among Korean adults with known hypertension.

Methods

We included 4107 participants aged 40–79 years who reported physician-diagnosed hypertension in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013–2016. Dietary management practice was defined by self-report, and dietary intakes were assessed by a 24-h dietary recall. Dietary quality and adherence were evaluated based on the Korean Healthy Eating Index (KHEI) using food and nutrient intakes assessed by a 24-h dietary recall. BP control was defined as systolic/diastolic BP < 140/90 mmHg.

Results

While the prevalence of dietary management was higher in women than men, BP control rate was not different by sex. Dietary management practice had no significant association with BP control in both men and women. Only in men, dietary quality was positively associated with BP control (OR: 1.10 per KHEI 10 score increase, 95% CI: 1.00–1.20,p-value = 0.04). Men who had a highly adherent diet seemed to have a higher possibility of BP control, but there was no statistical significance (OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 0.84–2.81,p-value = 0.16).

Conclusions

A high-quality diet was positively associated with BP control in Korean men aware of their hypertension. Our findings highlight the beneficial impact of dietary management as a means for achieving blood pressure control.
The Effect of Perimenopausal Transdermal Estradiol and Micronized Progesterone on Markers of Risk for Arterial Disease
Authors: Gordon Jennifer L , Rubinow David R , Watkins Lana , Hinderliter Alan L , Caughey Melissa C , Girdler Susan S
Published: December 2019

Background

The arterial effects of hormone therapy remain controversial. This study tested the effects of transdermal estradiol plus intermittent micronized progesterone (TE + IMP) in healthy perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women on several mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of arterial disease.

Methods

Healthy perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women, ages 45 to 60 years, were enrolled in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Women were randomized to receive TE (0.1 mg/day) + IMP (200 mg/day for 12 days) or identical placebo patches and pills for 12 months. Outcomes included: change in stress reactivity composite z-score (combining inflammatory, cortisol, and hemodynamic responses to a standardized psychological laboratory stressor); flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery (an index of vascular endothelial function); baroreflex sensitivity; and metabolic risk (presence of the metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance), all assessed at baseline and at months 6 and 12.

Results

Of 172 women enrolled, those assigned to TE + IMP tended to have higher resting baroreflex sensitivity than those assigned to placebo across the 6- and 12-month visits. Although treatment groups did not differ in terms of the other prespecified outcomes, a significant treatment-by-age interaction was found for FMD and stress reactivity such that an age-related decrease in FMD and increase in stress reactivity were seen among women assigned to placebo but not those assigned to TE + IMP. Women on TE + IMP also had lower resting diastolic blood pressure, lower levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and higher baroreflex sensitivity during stress testing.

Conclusions

TE + IMP tended to improve cardiac autonomic control and prevented age-related changes in stress reactivity and endothelial function among healthy perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women.
Associations Between Maternal Thyroid Function in Pregnancy and Obstetric and Perinatal Outcomes
Authors: Lee Sun Y , Cabral Howard J , Aschengrau Ann , Pearce Elizabeth N
Published: December 2019

Context

The effects of maternal subclinical hypothyroidism on pregnancy outcomes are not clear.

Objective

We aimed to assess potential associations between maternal thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH]) levels in pregnancy and obstetric and perinatal outcomes.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

Tertiary academic medical center.

Patients

Women aged ≥18 years with a singleton gestation and no known thyroid disease seen for prenatal care at Boston Medical Center from January 1, 2003 through May 22, 2014, and their fetuses and infants were included.

Main Outcome Measures

Risk ratios of adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes.

Results

A total of 8,413 pregnant women (mean age 29.1 years, 15% white, 60% black, 13% Hispanic) and their fetuses and infants (mean gestational age at birth 38.5 weeks, 52% male, mean birth weight 3.2 kg) were included in the analyses. The median (interquartile range) TSH level was 1.06(0.62–1.60) mIU/L, and 130 women (1.6%) had TSH > 4 mIU/L. Maternal TSH levels > 4 mIU/L were associated with increased risks of prematurity (risk ratio [RR] 2.17 [95% confidence interval 1.15–4.07] P = .016) and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) (RR 2.83 [95% confidence interval 1.02–7.86] P = .046) compared to TSH levels ≤ 4 mIU/L. Although not statistically significant, TSH levels > 4 mIU/L were also associated with increased RRs for fetal loss, preeclampsia/eclampsia, and low birth weight. TSH levels > 4 mIU/L were not associated with preterm labor, placental abruption, cesarean section, gestational hypertension or diabetes, or neonatal intensive care unit admission.

Conclusion

Maternal serum TSH concentration > 4 mIU/L in pregnancy was associated with approximately 2-fold increased risks of prematurity and RDS in offspring. Elevated TSH was also associated with statistically non-significant increases in the risk of fetal loss, preeclampsia/eclampsia, and low birth weight.
Assessment of inducible clindamycin resistance and Hyper Variable Region (HVR) of mecA gene in clinical staphylococci
Authors: Khan Amir Afzal , Farooq Jahanzaib , Abid Madiha , Zahra Rabaab
Published: December 2019

Objective: To study the prevalence of inducible clindamycin along with vancomycin and methicillin resistance and assessment of hyper variable region (HVR) of mecA gene among different clinical isolates of Staphylococcus spp.

Methods: A total of 176 clinical isolates of Staphylococci were collected from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad during 2014-2015. The sample sources were pus, blood, urine, sputum, tracheal secretions and tissue fluids. Bacterial identification was done by colony morphology and biochemical tests. Kirby-Bauer disc-diffusion method was carried out to assess the susceptibility against different antibiotics. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were done for vancomycin resistance. Double Disk Diffusion test (D-test) was used to detect the clindamycin inducible resistance. PCR was performed to detect erm(C), mecA and HVR genes.

Results: Clindamycin inducible resistance among Staphylococcal isolates was found to be 7%, whereas in S. aureus it was 4%, and in coagulase negative Staphylococci (CoNS) it was 11%. The highest resistance was observed against fosfomycin, fusidic acid and cefoxitin. Vancomycin resistance was observed in 23 isolates (13%) of Staphylococci. erm(C), mecA and HVR genes were found in 18%, 50% and 42% respectively.

Conclusions: D-test must be performed routinely to avoid clindamycin failure. A high level of resistance against vancomycin in Staphylococcal isolates is a concern for public health.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.2.665

How to cite this:Khan AA, Farooq J, Abid M, Zahra R. Assessment of inducible clindamycin resistance and Hyper Variable Region (HVR) of mecA gene in clinical staphylococci. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(2):136-140. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.2.665

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