bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
FUNCTIONAL ELECTRICAL STIMULATION FOR NEURO REHABILITATION. A NEW DESIGN PARADIGM
Authors: K. Subramanya , Kanakabettu Ajithanjaya Kumar Mijar
Published: May 2020

One of the most exciting recent advances in the neuroprosthetics field has been the application of biosignals in the design of functional electrical stimulation (FES) devices. An Electromyogram (EMG) measures the electrical activity in muscles and is often considered as ideal candidate biosignal for designing closed-loop controlled FES system. In this brief communication, we propose a novel design paradigm of a synergistic benefit of incorporating two different design principles in development of an EMG controlled FES system that hold promise for the future of rehabilitation of stroke and other neurological disorders. The proposed system will detect the residual EMG signals from the muscle and suitably adjust the stimulation current amplitude and stimulate the paralyzed muscles with a 'natural' EMG pattern envelope. We offer this design as a fruitful area for fuing recent advances in the neuroprosthetics field has been the application of biosignals in the design of functional electrical stimulation (FES) devices. An Electromyogram (EMG) measures the electrical activity in muscles and is often considered as ideal candidate biosignal for designing closed-loop controlled FES system. In this brief communication, we propose a novel design paradigm of a synergistic benefit of incorporating two different design principles in development of an EMG controlled FES system that hold promise for the future of rehabilitation of stroke and other neurological disorders. The proposed system will detect the residual EMG signals from the muscle and suitably adjust the stimulation current amplitude and stimulate the paralyzed muscles with a 'natural' EMG pattern envelope. We offer this design as a fruitful area for future research and clinical application.
LUMBAR EXTRADURAL SPONTANEOUS HEMATOMA WITH ACUTE PARAPARESIS
Authors: Hegde Deepak , Rai H. R. , Mathias Lawrence John , C. Vinay Kumar
Published: May 2020

Introduction: Primary epidural hematomas or “hematorrachis” are rare and less frequent in the lumbar region. It presents with acute onset of severe back pain and rapid development of signs of compression

Objective: To report a case of lumbar extradural spontaneous hematoma with acute paraparesis.

Case Report: A 65 year old male presented with acute back ache of 2weeks duration with Radicular pain and numbness of both feet. He had progressive asymmetrical weakness of the lower extremities without bowel/bladder involvement and inability to walk.Radiograph of spine shows Grade 1 listhesis of L4-L5.MRI of LS Spine s/o synovial cyst at L2-L3 level.Left Facet joint arthropathy L2-L3. Patient underwent L2 laminectomy with removal of synovial cyst and hematoma

Results: The patient had motor improvement of grade 3 power in hip and knee flexors and EHL AND EDL.3 months follow up showed grade 4 of all lower limb muscles with sensory numbness present on L3-L4 and L4-L5.

Conclusion: Spontaneous spinal extradural hematoma should be suspected in any patient who complains of local or referred spinal pain associated with acute limb weakness, sensory deficits, with or without cauda equina symptoms.
Natural History of Patients with Unresectable Cholangiocarcinoma
Authors: A. Sudhakar , K. Sravan Kumar , Girinadh L. R.S. , MuraliKrishna P.
Published: May 2020

Cholangiocarcinoma is a malignancy of the bile ducts. Globally, CCA is the second most common primary hepatic malignancy. These tumors usually progress insidiously, are difficult to diagnose, and have poor prognosis. Unfortunately, treatment options are discouraging. Data on the natural history of CCA in coastal Andhra Pradesh is limited. Our aim is to report the natural history of CCA in this region.
Falling Out of Love with the Franks: The Life and Writings of an Armenian Catholic Diplomat in the Service of Late Safavid Persia
Authors: Shapiro Henry R.
Published: April 2020

This article provides a biographical vignette of the Armenian merchant and diplomat Eḷia of Erzurum (1689–1750?), based on his unpublished Armenian chronicle and personal documents which are housed in Russian archives. Eḷia’s biography demonstrates the growing influence of European missionaries and states in the eighteenth-century Ottoman and Safavid empires, while his documents yield a fresh perspective on late Safavid diplomacy and modes of socialization with Christians. Eḷia suffered twelve years of imprisonment in Russia and great disappointment seeking work in Europe. His last known act was to write a scathing critique of Roman Catholic religion and culture. In sum, Eḷia’s life provides an opportunity for exploring the dynamic of global connection and disconnection in the early modern Islamic world.
Improved preparation of vitexin from hot water extract of Basella alba, the commercially available vegetable Malabar spinach (“Tsurumurasaki” in Japanese) and the application to semisynthesis of chafuroside B
Authors: Kurahayashi Kazuki , Hanaya Kengo , Higashibayashi Shuhei , Sugai Takeshi
Published: April 2020

Hot water extraction of D-arabinofuranosylvitexin from the raw leaves of commercially available Basella alba “Tsurumurasaki” and subsequent acidic hydrolysis was improved to be a procedure using a high-pressure steam sterilizer to afford vitexin. The amount was estimated to be 14.1 mg from 1 g of dry weight of the raw leaves, whose recovery was calculated to be 95% based on the estimated content of D-arabinofuranosylvitexin in B. alba raw leaves. The product was dehydratively cyclized between hydroxy groups on the carbohydrate and flavone skeletons under modified Mitsunobu reaction conditions in N,N-dimethylformamide to give chafuroside B, which is known to be a bioactive Oolong tea polyphenol. Through these transformations, 10.2 mg of chafuroside B could be semisynthesized from 1 g of dry weight of the raw leaves, and the efficiency was improved compared to that from the extraction from Oolong tea (3.4 μg from 1 g of dry weight).
Quantitative proteomic analysis of trypsin‐treated extracellular vesicles to identify the real‐vesicular proteins
Authors: Choi Dongsic , Go Gyeongyun , Kim Dae‐Kyum , Lee Jaewook , Park Seon‐Min , Di Vizio Dolores , Gho Yong Song
Published: April 2020

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano‐sized vesicles surrounded by a lipid bilayer and released into the extracellular milieu by most of cells. Although various EV isolation methods have been established, most of the current methods isolate EVs with contaminated non‐vesicular proteins. By applying the label‐free quantitative proteomic analyses of human colon cancer cell SW480‐derived EVs, we identified trypsin‐sensitive and trypsin‐resistant vesicular proteins. Further systems biology and protein–protein interaction network analyses based on their cellular localization, we classified the trypsin‐sensitive and trypsin‐resistant vesicular proteins into two subgroups: 363 candidate real‐vesicular proteins and 151 contaminated non‐vesicular proteins. Moreover, the protein interaction network analyses showed that candidate real‐vesicular proteins are mainly derived from plasma membrane (46.8%), cytosol (36.6%), cytoskeleton (8.0%) and extracellular region (2.5%). On the other hand, most of the contaminated non‐vesicular proteins derived from nucleus, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria. In addition, ribosomal protein complexes and T‐complex proteins were classified as the contaminated non‐vesicular proteins. Taken together, our trypsin‐digested proteomic approach on EVs is an important advance to identify the real‐vesicular proteins that could help to understand EV biogenesis and protein cargo‐sorting mechanism during EV release, to identify more reliable EV diagnostic marker proteins, and to decode pathophysiological roles of EVs.
The many faces of the anti-COVID immune response
Authors: Vardhana Santosha A. , Wolchok Jedd D.
Published: April 2020

The novel 2019 strain of coronavirus is a source of profound morbidity and mortality worldwide. Compared with recent viral outbreaks, COVID-19 infection has a relatively high mortality rate, the reasons for which are not entirely clear. Furthermore, treatment options for COVID-19 infection are currently limited. In this Perspective, we explore the contributions of the innate and adaptive immune systems to both viral control as well as toxicity during COVID-19 infections and offer suggestions to both understand and therapeutically modulate anti-COVID immunity.
Understanding Communication Through a Historical Lens
Authors: Callahan Clark
Published: May 2020

Historical emergences of new communications technologies have had a dramatic impact on the structures of international contact. While these advances come in many forms, they all affect the ecology of international communications. Some forms of advances, such as the physical, are often overlooked and perhaps even trivialized. Advances like the stirrup and hay allowed increased movements, often in the form of conquests that brought disparate people and cultures into physical contact. Intellectual advancements such as the scientific method, mathematics like calculus and trigonometry, Copernicus’s heliocentrism, and Darwin’s theory of evolution bridged international boundaries through the formation and maintenance of international academic communities.
Kosovo and the European Union
Authors: Economides Spyros
Published: May 2020

The European Union’s involvement with and in Kosovo is of three main types. First, it participated in war diplomacy in the late 1990s in an attempt to find a peaceful solution to the Kosovo conflict between Kosovar Albanians and the Serb forces of the former Yugoslavia. This demonstrated of the Union’s limited ability to influence less powerful actors in its backyard through its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). This resulted from the difficulty the EU found in attempting to forge a consensus among its member states on a significant matter of regional security with humanitarian implications, the limitations in effectiveness of the EU’s civilian instruments of foreign policy, and the low credibility and influence stemming from the lack of an EU military capability. Second, the EU took a leading role in economic reconstruction and state-building in Kosovo following the end of the conflict. Initially, this was in tandem with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Subsequently, the EU became the lead organization, focusing its efforts not only on the physical and economic reconstruction of the territory but also on building human and administrative capacity and democratic institutions and establishing good governance and the rule of law, especially through its EULEX mission. Third, the EU attempted to help transform Kosovo beyond democratization toward EU integration through instruments such as the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP). A significant part of this process has also been linked with EU-led mediation attempts at resolving outstanding issues between Kosovo and Serbia through a process of normalization of relations without which EU accession cannot be envisaged.

Throughout the post-war phases of the EU’s involvement in Kosovo, its efforts have been undermined by the most important outstanding issue, the disputed status of Kosovo. Kosovo was set on the path to increasing self-government and autonomy at the end of the conflict in 1999, but it was still legally part of sovereign Yugoslavia. In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence. While over 100 states recognized Kosovo, it never acquired enough recognitions to be eligible for UN membership: Serbia does not recognize it and, most importantly, neither do five EU member states. This status issue has seriously complicated the EU–Kosovo relationship in all its aspects and slowed down the prospect of “Euro-Atlantic integration” for Kosovo.
Public School Policies: Discrimination, Harassment, Bullying, and Accommodations
Authors: Cahill Sean
Published: May 2020

Discrimination, harassment, and bullying against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are a major concern. Research shows that such victimization starts early, occurring in elementary schools. Given the central role social media play in the lives of youth, cyberbullying is an increasing concern. Victimization also takes the form of sexual harassment. Anti-LGBTQ victimization can cause youth to distance themselves from the school environment both physically and emotionally, skipping school or dropping out entirely. Fighting back against victimization and other factors, such as family rejection, homelessness, and survival crimes such as shoplifting, can cause LGBTQ youth to become involved with the juvenile justice system at higher rates than their heterosexual and cisgender peers. Research also shows that victimization correlates with greater behavioral health burden, including substance use disparities, suicidal ideation, depression, self-esteem, and social integration. LGBTQ youth are more likely to feel unsafe at school, get in a fight at school, and carry a weapon to school. Victimization also negatively correlates with academic performance, and hopes and aspirations for the future, such as plans to attend college. There is limited research on the disproportionate racial/ethnic impacts of these phenomena.

A number of school-based programs and policies, and public policy interventions, have been initiated to ensure equal access to public education for LGBTQ youth. These include teacher and staff training, safe school programs, gay-straight alliances, and LGBT-focused schools. Policy interventions include nondiscrimination laws and regulations at the local and state level, interpretation of federal sex discrimination laws to encompass and prohibit some forms of anti-LGBT discrimination and harassment, and Congressional bills which would outlaw sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in public schools. Some state and federal laws, such as parental rights provisions and abstinence-only laws, inhibit educators’ and administrators’ ability promote tolerance and acceptance of LGBT youth and promote sexual health and reduce HIV/sexually transmitted infection risk. There are a number of gaps in the research on LGBT-related school policies, including how to engender better parent–child communication about LGBT identity development and sexual health and how to measure sexual behavior in an increasingly nonbinary world.
Progressive Christian Communities as Sites for LGBTQ Collective Action and Civic Behavior
Authors: Scroggs Barrett , McKnight Debra
Published: May 2020

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals have historically been considered non-religious. This disconnect has typically been due to the anti-LGBTQ stances that many religions have taken. However, as many Christian denominations begin to take more open and progressive stances on issues related to sexuality, gender, and identity, there are some in the LGBTQ community who desire and are able to reconcile their LGBTQ and religious identities. This is especially true for members of the LGBTQ community who grew up in Christian spaces. Prior research has explored LGBTQ participation in religious communities and has found that participation in these activities has positive implications for the well-being of the LGBTQ community. However, despite the growing number of Christian churches welcoming members of the LGBTQ community, the literature has not explored the implications for LGBTQ collective action and civic behavior within the context of progressive church communities.

Participation in social justice work, whether in formal or informal ways, can offer individuals an altruistic outlet to become actively involved in causes impacting the world around them. This social justice work may include attending a justice-themed rally, volunteering for an organization promoting equality, or engaging in dialogue with others to promote a justice-themed cause. Social justice work like this can be a form of activism, which has been found to be an important stage of LGBTQ identity development. Prior research has found that higher levels of minority group identification are associated with a higher likelihood of participation in collective action and that higher levels of church attendance are associated with higher levels of civic participation. The church has historically been a space for social justice behavior and thus can connect LGBTQ individuals to a deeper passion for social justice and civic behavior. Members of the LGBTQ community are able to reconcile their LGBTQ and religious identities. And through the connection to a church, they can engage in collective action connected to LGBTQ-related and other issues (e.g., women’s rights, the environment, poverty, immigration, and housing).
Party Systems in Latin America
Authors: Wills-Otero Laura
Published: May 2020

Since the beginning of the third wave of democratization in the late 1970s, Latin American party systems have confronted several challenges, and they have frequently been transformed. There have been various types of changes. While some systems collapsed in the 1990s (e.g., Venezuela and Peru), others realigned (Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay), or expanded (Argentina and Mexico), or were able to become consolidated and ensure their stability over time (e.g., Brazil). What factors explain the transformations in party systems during the past three decades, and how can Latin American party systems be classified according to their attributes?

In trying to answer these questions, scholars of Latin America have undertaken studies that are both theoretically and empirically rich. Their work has increased our knowledge of the party systems and representative democracies in the region. Different factors have been highlighted in order to explain the changes these systems have undergone since the third wave of democratization. Some works emphasize the importance of institutional reforms introduced by politicians or by constitutional assemblies. The questions they address are the following: What political reforms have been introduced into Latin American political systems, and what effects have they had on the party systems in different countries? The researchers do not limit their attention to reforms of electoral systems. For example, some of them also study decentralization processes and their effects on party systems. From a different perspective, other authors focus on changes in electoral preferences and their effects on the configuration of political power, exploring how regional economic, political, and social changes have affected voter preferences and the political configuration of party systems. Still others consider the crises of democratic representation in these countries, underlining the decline in the programmatic character of parties as an explanatory variable for the crises and noting that the level of institutionalization of a party system declines when parties abandon this distinctive feature and become clientelistic or personalistic instead.

On the other hand, in order to describe party systems and to observe the changes they have undergone, academics have proposed a set of concepts and measurements that make it possible to identify their levels of institutionalization (i.e., stability vs. volatility), nationalization, and programmatic structuration, among other aspects. The operationalization of these concepts has provided researchers with useful data for describing, comparing, and analyzing the party systems of the region transversely over time.

Understanding the transformation and characteristics of Latin American party systems over time sheds light on both the progress democratic regimes have made and the setbacks they have suffered within specific countries and in the region at large.
The Path to Black Citizenship in Peru: Ethno-Racial Legislation and the Political Recognition of Afro-Descendants in the Country
Authors: Noles Cotito Mariela I.
Published: May 2020

The formulation of legislation aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of racial and ethnic minorities in Latin America is a phenomenon that only became prevalent in the late 20th century. In fact, it was not until the end of the 1980s that a number of countries in the region began the process of constructing Black citizenship and providing Black people citizenship rights. During this period, deemed “multicultural constitutionalism,” some Latin American countries began to identify as multicultural states and/or included Black and Afro-descendant populations in their constitutional texts. The second stage of this process continued between 1990 and 2000, wherein some countries adopted a number of policies to address and eradicate racial inequality. Through these political choices, the adopting countries moved away from a structure of color-blind legalism and toward the official recognition of Indigenous and Black peoples’ collective rights.

In Peru, although the political constitution was not amended, a robust body of ethno-racial legislation was introduced after the year 2000, demarking a structural shift in the country’s racial politics. This normative integration included the development of a number of national institutions and the promulgation of political measures promoting the advancement of Afro-descendants and other ethnic minorities. This integration process also led to the revision of existing legislation on racism and racial discrimination. By enacting this process, Peru committed to developing a process that would recognize Black citizenship in the country—one that began with the recognition of the political subjectivity of Black Peruvians and the creation of institutions for their social and political advancement.
History of the History of Psychology
Authors: Brock Adrian C.
Published: May 2020

Reflexivity has been a common theme in the literature on the history of psychology in recent years. Reflecting on the history of psychology is for historians of psychology the ultimate reflexive step. Germany is widely regarded as the homeland of “modern” or “scientific” psychology. It is here that the oldest surviving work with the word “psychology” in the title was published in 1590. It was also here that the first book with the title History of Psychology [Geschichte der Psychologie] was published in 1808. This reflects the fact that a substantial literature on psychology had already been published in Continental Europe by the end of the 18th century. Several other works on the history of psychology were published in German-speaking countries in the 19th century and in the years leading up to the First World War. English-speaking countries were relatively late in adopting psychology, but it grew rapidly in the United States when it was adopted, and the country was already the dominant power in the field by the outbreak of the First World War. Several works on the history of psychology were published in the United States around the same time, suggesting that disciplines and disciplinary history tend to appear simultaneously. This is because disciplines use their history to create a distinct identity for themselves. The history of psychology was widely taught in American psychology departments, and several textbooks were published to support these courses. E. G. Boring’s A History of Experimental Psychology (1929, 1950) was by far the most influential of these textbooks, and it has profoundly shaped the understanding of psychologists of the history of their field. For example, it was Boring who traced the history of the discipline to the establishment of Wilhelm Wundt’s laboratory for experimental psychology at the University of Leipzig in 1879. In 1979–1980, was widely celebrated as the “centennial” of psychology and the XXII International Congress of Psychology was held in Leipzig to mark the occasion. Prior to the 1960s, the history of psychology was mainly a pedagogical field, and it still is as far as many psychologists are concerned. However, it also became an area of specialization during this decade. This was partly due to a few psychologists adopting it as their main area of interest and partly due to historians of science becoming more interested in the field. A large body of scholarly literature has been produced, including some scholarly textbooks, but this literature exists side by side with more traditional textbooks for which there is still a significant demand. There are signs that the history of psychology has been facing difficulties as a branch of psychology in Europe and North America in recent years. However, interest in the field has been growing among psychologists in other parts of the world and among historians of science. This situation will inevitably have implications for the content of the field.
The Macy Conferences on Cybernetics: Reinstantiating the Mind
Authors: Abraham Tara H.
Published: May 2020

The Macy Conferences on Cybernetics were a series of 10 interdisciplinary scientific meetings that took place in New York between 1946 and 1953. The meetings were sponsored by the Macy Foundation, which aimed to promote interdisciplinary approaches to the social, behavioral, and medical sciences. Co-organized by neuropsychiatrist Warren S. McCulloch and Frank Fremont-Smith, medical director of the Macy Foundation, the meetings brought together a variety of scientists from mathematics, psychology, engineering, anthropology, physics, ecology, psychiatry, neurophysiology, linguistics, and sociology. The conferences strove to apply tools from the physical sciences and mathematics to problems in the biological and human sciences. Such tools stemmed first from Norbert Wiener’s work on the anti-aircraft predictor, in which he employed the concept of negative feedback to explain purposeful behavior, and second from McCulloch’s work with Walter Pitts on the logic of neural activity, which purported to embody logical reasoning in the physiology of the brain. Wiener and McCulloch touted the practice of hypothetical modelling as a bridge over the divide between the natural and the artificial, and a method for explaining purposeful behavior in organisms and machines.

Discussions at the Macy Conferences expanded on this work, and participants discussed and debated models of cognitive functions such as sensation, communication, memory, and learning, all cast as functions of the mind and exemplars of purposeful behavior. Thus, the meetings signal a major shift in 20th-century psychology, when discussions of the mind took on a more central place in psychological discourse. Behaviorist psychologists in the early 20th century had largely rejected concepts of mind as unscientific and not objective. The Macy Conferences, in contrast, placed the mind at the nexus of interdisciplinary inquiry across the divide between the physical and human sciences, and helped to bring back the mind as a topic of objective, scientific inquiry in psychology and in the emerging cognitive sciences.
Robert White and the Study of Lives
Authors: Fancher Raymond E.
Published: May 2020

Robert Winthrop White was an important psychologist and personality researcher at Harvard University during the middle years of the 1900s. First as a student and then chief lieutenant and colleague of Henry A. Murray at the Harvard Psychological Clinic, White became a leading proponent of Murray’s intensively case study-oriented “personological” approach to personality analysis and description. This approach emphasized that personality is not a fixed entity but a constantly changing and developing configuration of many different factors, which must be appreciated as a whole and is best conveyed in the context of individual life histories. Although sometimes overshadowed by both Murray and Harvard personality psychologist Gordon Allport, who both promoted the life study approach, White became the most prolific and skilled early practitioner of that approach. His early case study of “Earnst” was the only one selected to illustrate the Murray project’s personological approach in the seminal 1938 work Explorations in Personality. As the “caretaker” director of the clinic in the late 1930s and early 1940s, White oversaw the collection of numerous further case histories, several of which became the foundations of four highly influential books: The Abnormal Personality, Lives in Progress, Opinions and Personality, and The Enterprise of Living. In 1959, White made important contributions to the theory of motivation by asserting that the standard conception of motives as tension-reducing instincts or drives was severely limited and should be complemented by an innate “effectance” motive: an innate tendency to seek rather than reduce tension while achieving “competence” in dealing with the outside world.
Organizational Trust in Schools
Authors: Tschannen-Moran Megan
Published: May 2020

Trust is increasingly recognized by scholars and practitioners alike as a vital element of high-functioning schools. Schools that cultivate high-trust environments are in a better position to accomplish the challenging task of educating a diverse group of students in a changing world. Trust supports schools’ effectiveness and persistence in reform efforts, as well as a culture of innovation and continuous learning. It is also a source of social and financial capital for schools. And most importantly, trust is closely related to student outcomes. Therefore, the study of trust is important because it can support these vital functions in schools. There are a number of conceptual and measurement issues, however, that make the study of organizational trust in schools a challenge. One of the ongoing challenges is how to best define trust, and how we might understand the characteristics trustors assess in making trust judgments. Making clear distinctions between the act of extending trust and being trustworthy is important and will help advance the study of trust relationships in schools. There are also issues with level of analysis, as trust as an organizational property may function differently than at the interpersonal level. Another challenge is the dynamic nature of organizational trust, which may change dramatically with a change in leadership or a major conflict between various factions of teachers. There are a number of promising directions for future research about organizational trust in schools. These include how to foster initial trust, how to sustain trust over time, and how to rebuild broken trust. It would also be useful to delve more deeply into the role trust plays in educator innovation and learning, and why trust seems to play such a potent role in creating the conditions for learning.
Bootstrapping in Macroeconometrics
Authors: Herwartz Helmut , Lange Alexander
Published: May 2020

Unlike traditional first order asymptotic approximations, the bootstrap is a simulation method to solve inferential issues in statistics and econometrics conditional on the available sample information (e.g. constructing confidence intervals, generating critical values for test statistics). Even though econometric theory yet provides sophisticated central limit theory covering various data characteristics, bootstrap approaches are of particular appeal if establishing asymptotic pivotalness of (econometric) diagnostics is infeasible or requires rather complex assessments of estimation uncertainty. Moreover, empirical macroeconomic analysis is typically constrained by short- to medium-sized time windows of sample information, and convergence of macroeconometric model estimates toward their asymptotic limits is often slow. Consistent bootstrap schemes have the potential to improve empirical significance levels in macroeconometric analysis and, moreover, could avoid explicit assessments of estimation uncertainty. In addition, as time-varying (co)variance structures and unmodeled serial correlation patterns are frequently diagnosed in macroeconometric analysis, more advanced bootstrap techniques (e.g., wild bootstrap, moving-block bootstrap) have been developed to account for nonpivotalness as a results of such data characteristics.
The Clinton Scandals
Authors: Harrington Clodagh
Published: May 2020

The Clinton scandals have settled in the annals of American political history in the context of the era’s recurrent presidential misbehavior. Viewed through a historical lens, the activities, investigation, and impeachment trial of the forty-second president are almost inevitably measured against the weight of Watergate and Iran-Contra. As a result, the actions and consequences of this high-profile moment in the late-20th-century political history of the United States arguably took on a weightier meaning than it might otherwise have. If Watergate tested the U.S. constitutional system to its limits and Iran-Contra was arguably as grave, the Clinton affair was crisis-light by comparison. Originating with an investigation into a failed 1970s Arkansas land deal by Bill Clinton and his wife, the saga developed to include such meandering subplots as Filegate, Travelgate, Troopergate, the death of White House counsel Vince Foster, and, most infamously, the president’s affair with a White House intern. Unlike Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, even Bill Clinton’s most ardent critics could not find a national security threat among the myriad scandals linked to his name.

By the time that Justice Department appointee Robert Fiske was replaced as prosecutor by the infinitely more zealous Kenneth Starr, the case had become synonymous with the culture wars that permeated 1990s American society. As the Whitewater and related tentacles of the investigation failed to result in any meaningfully negative impact on the president, it was his marital infidelities that came closest to unseating him. Pursued with vigor by the Independent Counsel, his supporters remained loyal as his detractors spotted political opportunity via his lapses in judgment.

Certain key factors made the Clinton scandal particular to its era. First, in an unprecedented development, the personal indiscretion aspect of the story broke via the Internet. In addition, had the Independent Counsel legislation not been renewed, prosecutor Fiske would likely have wrapped up his investigation in a timely fashion with no intention of pursuing an impeachment path. And, the relentless cable news cycle and increasingly febrile partisan atmosphere of the decade ensured that the nation remained as focused as it was divided on the topic.
Paradigm Function Morphology: Assumptions and Innovations
Authors: Stump Gregory
Published: May 2020

Paradigm Function Morphology (PFM) is an evolving approach to modeling morphological systems in a precise and enlightening way. The fundamental insight of PFM is that words have both content and form and that in the context of an appropriately organized lexicon, a language’s morphology deduces a complex word’s form from its content. PFM is therefore a realizational theory: a language’s grammar and lexicon are assumed to provide a precise characterization of a word’s content, from which the language’s morphology then projects the corresponding form. Morphemes per se have no role in this theory; by contrast, paradigms have the essential role of defining the content that is realized by a language’s morphology. At the core of PFM is the notion of a paradigm function, a formal representation of the relation between a word’s content and its form; the definition of a language’s paradigm function is therefore the definition of its inflectional morphology. Recent elaborations of this idea assume a distinction between content paradigms and form paradigms, which makes it possible to account for a fact that is otherwise irreconcilable with current morphological theory—the fact that the set of morphosyntactic properties that determines a word’s syntax and semantics often differs from the set of properties (some of them morphomic) that determines a word’s inflectional form. Another recent innovation is the assumption that affixes and rules of morphology may be complex in the sense that they may be factored into smaller affixes and rules; the evidence favoring this assumption is manifold.
On the modelling of tropical tree growth: the importance of intra-specific trait variation, non-linear functions and phenotypic integration
Authors: Yang Jie , Song Xiaoyang , Cao Min , Deng Xiaobao , Zhang Wenfu , Yang Xiaofei , Swenson Nathan G
Published: April 2020

Background and Aims

The composition and dynamics of plant communities arise from individual-level demographic outcomes, which are driven by interactions between phenotypes and the environment. Functional traits that can be measured across plants are frequently used to model plant growth and survival. Perhaps surprisingly, species average trait values are often used in these studies and, in some cases, these trait values come from other regions or averages calculated from global databases. This data aggregation potentially results in a large loss of valuable information that probably results in models of plant performance that are weak or even misleading.

Methods

We present individual-level trait and fine-scale growth data from >500 co-occurring individual trees from 20 species in a Chinese tropical rain forest. We construct Bayesian models of growth informed by theory and construct hierarchical Bayesian models that utilize both individual- and species-level trait data, and compare these models with models only using individual-level data.

Key Results

We show that trait–growth relationships measured at the individual level vary across species, are often weak using commonly measured traits and do not align with the results of analyses conducted at the species level. However, when we construct individual-level models of growth using leaf area ratio approximations and integrated phenotypes, we generated strong predictive models of tree growth.

Conclusions

Here, we have shown that individual-level models of tree growth that are built using integrative traits always outperform individual-level models of tree growth that use commonly measured traits. Furthermore, individual-level models, generally, do not support the findings of trait–growth relationships quantified at the species level. This indicates that aggregating trait and growth data to the species level results in poorer and probably misleading models of how traits are related to tree performance.
Death Due to Fractal Wood Burning: An Emerging Public Health Problem
Authors: Campbell Harold , Nizamani Rabia , Jones Samuel W , Williams Felicia N
Published: April 2020

The art of pyrography, burning designs in wood, dates back to prehistory. Risks of traditional techniques included cutaneous burns and airway injury. Fractal wood burning is a niche technique using a high-voltage electrical source to burn branched designs into wood. While this technique has grown in popularity, the associated risks are not well understood. We describe a patient who presented to our burn center after sustaining high-voltage electrical injuries while making fractal wood art using an improvised a high-voltage transformer. During the wood-burning process, he contacted the electrodes and suffered full-thickness electrical burns to the neck, chest, and bilateral upper extremities. Bilateral upper extremity fasciotomies were performed on admission. Multiple subsequent operations culminated with autografting to most of the wounds and complex reconstruction of the left thumb. In evaluating online news reports, we found 25 unique individuals with death or injury attributed to fractal wood burning from July 2016 to January 2020. Five sustained substantial injuries, while 20 reportedly died. Ages ranged from 17 years old to the 60s. One death and one injury occurred in females, with the remainder of reports involving males. Of the survivors, four sustained significant upper extremity electrical injuries and three suffered cardiac arrest at the time of injury. Fractal wood burning is associated with devastating high-voltage electrical injuries and death. Prevention efforts should be focused on education about the potential for death and permanently disabling injuries from this art form.
Revision of the West African species of Scyllarus Fabricius, 1775 (Decapoda: Achelata: Scyllaridae), with the description of three phyllosoma stages of S. caparti Holthuis, 1952 and an updated identification key
Authors: Genis-Armero Rebeca , González-Gordillo J Ignacio , Cuesta Jose A , Capaccioni-Azzati Romana , Palero Ferran
Published: April 2020

West African species of ScyllarusFabricius, 1775 (Achelata, Scyllaridae) are poorly known, mostly due to the difficulties of sampling Eastern Atlantic tropical waters. Recent expeditions carried out by the Universidad de Cádiz and the Instituto Español de Oceanografía collected phyllosoma larvae from Cape Verde Islands (CVI) and fresh Scyllarus adults from continental West Africa. Larval stages VII, IX, and X (final stage) of S. capartiHolthuis, 1952 are analyzed using DNA barcoding methods and described for the first time. A comprehensive identification key is provided, summarizing our current knowledge on the phyllosomas of Scyllarus. Together with a revision of museum collections, the new molecular and morphological data obtained here supports the polyphyletic origin of AcantharctusHolthuis, 2002. The West African A. posteli (Forest, 1963) is found to belong to Scyllarus and it is closest to another species from Atlantic shallow waters (i.e. S. paradoxusMiers 1881), whereas the Pacific Ocean A. delfini (Bouvier, 1909) would belong to CrenarctusHolthuis, 2002.
Particle acceleration in low-power hotspots: modelling the broad-band spectral energy distribution
Authors: Migliori G , Orienti M , Coccato L , Brunetti G , D’Ammando F , Mack K-H , Prieto M A
Published: April 2020

The acceleration and radiative processes active in low-power radio hotspots are investigated by means of new deep near-infrared (NIR) and optical Very Large Telescope (VLT) observations, complemented with archival, high-sensitivity VLT, radio Very Large Array (VLA), and X-ray Chandra data. For the three studied radio galaxies (3C 105, 3C 195, and 3C 227), we confirm the detection of NIR/optical counterparts of the observed radio hotspots. We resolve multiple components in 3C 227 West and in 3C 105 South and characterize the diffuse NIR/optical emission of the latter. We show that the linear size of this component (≳4 kpc) makes 3C 105 South a compelling case for particles’ re-acceleration in the post-shock region. Modelling of the radio-to-X-ray spectral energy distribution (SED) of 3C 195 South and 3C 227 W1 gives clues on the origin of the detected X-ray emission. In the context of inverse Compton models, the peculiarly steep synchrotron curve of 3C 195 South sets constraints on the shape of the radiating particles’ spectrum that are testable with better knowledge of the SED shape at low (≲GHz) radio frequencies and in X-rays. The X-ray emission of 3C 227 W1 can be explained with an additional synchrotron component originating in compact (<100 pc) regions, such those revealed by radio observations at 22 GHz, provided that efficient particle acceleration (γ ≳ 107) is ongoing. The emerging picture is that of systems in which different acceleration and radiative processes co-exist.
SERRATE interacts with the nuclear exosome targeting (NEXT) complex to degrade primary miRNA precursors in Arabidopsis
Authors: Bajczyk Mateusz , Lange Heike , Bielewicz Dawid , Szewc Lukasz , Bhat Susheel S , Dolata Jakub , Kuhn Lauriane , Szweykowska-Kulinska Zofia , Gagliardi Dominique , Jarmolowski Artur
Published: April 2020

SERRATE/ARS2 is a conserved RNA effector protein involved in transcription, processing and export of different types of RNAs. In Arabidopsis, the best-studied function of SERRATE (SE) is to promote miRNA processing. Here, we report that SE interacts with the nuclear exosome targeting (NEXT) complex, comprising the RNA helicase HEN2, the RNA binding protein RBM7 and one of the two zinc-knuckle proteins ZCCHC8A/ZCCHC8B. The identification of common targets of SE and HEN2 by RNA-seq supports the idea that SE cooperates with NEXT for RNA surveillance by the nuclear exosome. Among the RNA targets accumulating in absence of SE or NEXT are miRNA precursors. Loss of NEXT components results in the accumulation of pri-miRNAs without affecting levels of miRNAs, indicating that NEXT is, unlike SE, not required for miRNA processing. As compared to se-2, se-2 hen2-2 double mutants showed increased accumulation of pri-miRNAs, but partially restored levels of mature miRNAs and attenuated developmental defects. We propose that the slow degradation of pri-miRNAs caused by loss of HEN2 compensates for the poor miRNA processing efficiency in se-2 mutants, and that SE regulates miRNA biogenesis through its double contribution in promoting miRNA processing but also pri-miRNA degradation through the recruitment of the NEXT complex.
RNF8 has both KU-dependent and independent roles in chromosomal break repair
Authors: Tsai Linda Jillianne , Lopezcolorado Felicia Wednesday , Bhargava Ragini , Mendez-Dorantes Carlos , Jahanshir Eva , Stark Jeremy M
Published: April 2020

Chromosomal double strand breaks (DSBs) can initiate several signaling events, such as ubiquitination, however the precise influence of such signaling on DSB repair outcomes remains poorly understood. With an RNA interference screen, we found that the E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF8 suppresses a deletion rearrangement mediated by canonical non-homologous end joining (C-NHEJ). We also found that RNF8 suppresses EJ without insertion/deletion mutations, which is a hallmark of C-NHEJ. Conversely, RNF8 promotes alternative EJ (ALT-EJ) events involving microhomology that is embedded from the edge of the DSB. These ALT-EJ events likely require limited end resection, whereas RNF8 is not required for single-strand annealing repair involving extensive end resection. Thus, RNF8 appears to specifically facilitate repair events requiring limited end resection, which we find is dependent on the DSB end protection factor KU. However, we also find that RNF8 is important for homology-directed repair (HDR) independently of KU, which appears linked to promoting PALB2 function. Finally, the influence of RNF8 on EJ is distinct from 53BP1 and the ALT-EJ factor, POLQ. We suggest that RNF8 mediates both ALT-EJ and HDR, but via distinct mechanisms, since only the former is dependent on KU.
COVID-19 and the future of microfinance: evidence and insights from Pakistan
Authors: Malik Kashif , Meki Muhammad , Morduch Jonathan , Ogden Timothy , Quinn Simon , Said Farah
Published: April 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens lives and livelihoods, and, with that, has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities. We focus on implications for local microfinance institutions in Pakistan, a country with a mature microfinance sector, serving a large number of households. The institutions serve populations poorly-served by traditional commercial banks, helping customers invest in microenterprises, save, and maintain liquidity. We report results from ‘rapid response’ phone surveys of about 1,000 microenterprise owners, a survey of about 200 microfinance loan officers, and interviews with regulators and senior representatives of microfinance institutions. We ran these surveys starting about a week after the country went into lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. We find that, on average, week-on-week sales and household income both fell by about 90 per cent. Households’ primary immediate concern in early April became how to secure food. As a result, 70 per cent of the sample of current microfinance borrowers reported that they could not repay their loans; loan officers anticipated a repayment rate of just 34 per cent in April 2020. We build from the results to argue that COVID-19 represents a crisis for microfinance in low-income communities. It is also a chance to consider the future of microfinance, and we suggest insights for policy reform.