bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Complexity, Contingency, and Coherence in the History of Sexuality in Modern Germany: Some Theoretical and Interpretive Reflections
Authors: Dickinson Edward Ross 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThe politics of sexuality in modern Germany was complicated, contradictory, and multivalent. Reflecting on how to conceptualize that complexity is worthwhile, for doing so allows us to formulate multiple interpretive perspectives. After briefly sketching two of the most common scholarly interpretations, this article explores the usefulness of a third model, one in which the political dynamic of the broad and complex debate about sexuality is neither univalent (i.e., moving toward greater freedom or greater repression) nor binary (moving toward both), but “trivalent.” This perspective reveals the usefulness of seeing a political dynamic set up by conflicts and contrasts among three loose groupings that stand out among the many voices debating the nature and meaning of sexuality. At the same time, it uncovers and defines the productivity of multiple contradictions and conflicts, as well as the contingent coherences, they generated. Making use of particular readings of Foucauldian theory and the theory of complex systems, the article suggests the value of thinking about the politics of sexuality in terms of processes of change, as well as structures of power.
Fordist Connections: The Automotive Integration of the United States and Iran
Authors: Green Nile 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThis essay unravels the intertwined emergence of “Fordist” connections and conceptions of America in Iran during the 1920s. By focusing on the interplay of infrastructure and information, I use a Persian travelogue to chart the impact of motor transport that, in the wake of the First World War, connected a formerly isolated Iran to the Arab Mediterranean and thence to America. Compared to the extensive Levantine encounter with the Americas that from the 1870s generated an Arab diaspora and Arabic emigration literature from Buenos Aires to Detroit, the Iranian encounter with the United States was much later and more limited. This changed rapidly, however, with the opening of the “Nairn Way” and the importing of American automobiles, developments that tied Iran to the Levant at the very moment American strategists were coining the unitary spatial concept of a “Middle East.” In Iran, this conjunctural moment coincided with the rise of Riza Shah and the nationalist search for a third-power strategy to negate a century of Russian and British influence. Expanding the recent literature on Middle Eastern globalization, this essay uses ‘Abdullah Bahrami's 1926 travelogueAz Tihran ta Niyu Yurk(From Tehran to New York) to reconstruct what Iran's new nation-builders hoped to learn from the United States during the formative decade of U.S.-Iran relations. From behind the better-known story of petropolitics, Bahrami's travelogue captures the turning point when the United States first rose on the globalizing horizons of Iran's modernizing nationalists.
The Values of Versatility: Pharmacists, Plants, and Place in the French (Post)Colonial World
Authors: Monnais Laurence , Tousignant Noémi 
Published: March 2016

AbstractColonial pharmacists bio-prospected, acclimatized, chemically screened, and tinkered with plants and their parts, hoping to create products to supply colonial public health care, metropolitan industries, and imperial markets. This article's approach is to examine the trajectories of expertise of two French colonial pharmacists, Franck Guichard and Joseph Kerharo, to illuminate the history of modern medicinal plant research. Both men studied medicinal plants as part of their colonial duties, yet their interests in indigenous therapies exceeded and outlived colonial projects. We take this “overflow” as our point of departure to explore how science transformed medicinal plant values in French colonial and postcolonial contexts. Our focus is on the relationship between value and space—on the processes of conceptual and material (de-/re-)localization through which plant value is calculated, intensified, and distributed. We study and compare these processes in French Indochina and French West Africa where Guichard and Kerharo, respectively, engaged in them most intensively. We show that their engagements with matter, value, knowledge, and mobility defy easy categorizations of medicinal plant science as either extractive or neo-traditionalist. By eschewing simple equations of scientists' motivations with political projects and knowledge-production, we argue that approaching plant medicine through trajectories of expertise opens up grounds for finer analyses of how colonial power and projects, and their legacies, shaped scientific activity.
“With my head on the pillow”: Sovereignty, Ethics, and Evil among Undercover Police Investigators
Authors: Feldman Gregory 
Published: March 2016

AbstractBased on intensive ethnographic fieldwork among an undercover police investigative team in a southern European Union member state, I argue that moments arise when this team acts “ethically” in spite of the legal and policy mandates surrounding their work. I understand ethical action to include action that people undertake because they refuse to bear any responsibility (active or passive) for events that they deem to be “evil,” lest such events become constitutive of their own personhood. This situation would preclude individuals from living in agreement with themselves. To this end, the article details some basic conditions in which this team works when operating outside of the law. This ethnographic analysis points to a form of political sovereignty that depends squarely upon particular speaking subjects rather than transcends and homogenizes those subjects as made evident in Agamben's “state of exception” argument. Those conditions include their particular place in the investigative process; egalitarianism among particular subjects; deep familiarity with each other; and an understanding of similarities between themselves and the targets of their investigations. Though fleeting in its appearance, the impetus to political action and a sovereign form premised upon particular speaking subjects can be well understood by developing certain implications in phenomenological anthropology and the anthropology of ethics. Most important among them is the need for mutual recognition among particular speaking subjects as political equals.
Sex, Death, and Aristocratic Empire: Iranian Jurisprudence in Late Antiquity
Authors: Payne Richard E. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractIn the Iranian Empire (226–636 CE), jurists drawn from the ranks of the Zoroastrian priestly elite developed a complex of institutions designed to guarantee the reproduction of aristocratic males as long as the empire endured. To overcome the high rate of mortality characteristic of preindustrial demographic regimes, they aimed to maximize the fertility rate without compromising their endogamous ideals through the institutions of reproductive coercion, temporary marriage, and “substitute-successorship.” Occupying a position between the varieties of monogamy and polygyny hitherto practiced in the Ancient Near East, the Iranian organization of sex enabled elites not only to reproduce their patrilineages reliably across multiple generations, but also to achieve an appropriate ratio of resources to number of offspring. As the backbone of this juridical architecture, the imperial court became the anchor of aristocratic power, and ruling and aristocratic dynasties became increasingly intertwined and interdependent, forming the patrilineal networks of the “Iranians”—the agents and beneficiaries of Iranian imperialism. The empire's aristocratic structure took shape through a sexual economy: the court created and circulated sexual and reproductive incentives that incorporated elite males into its network that was, thanks to its politically enhanced inclusive fitness, reliable and reproducible. In demonstrating the centrality of Zoroastrian cosmology to the construction and operation of the relevant juridical institutions, I seek to join the approaches of evolutionary biology and cultural anthropology to reproduction that have been pursued in opposition, to account for the historical role of sex in the consolidation of the Iranian Empire.
25-Hydroxyvitamin D concentration and all-cause mortality: the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study
Authors: Heath Alicia K , Williamson Elizabeth J , Kvaskoff David , Hodge Allison M , Ebeling Peter R , Baglietto Laura , Neale Rachel E , Giles Graham G , Eyles Darryl W , English Dallas R 
Published: March 2016

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate relationships between mortality and circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25(OH)D3) and 25-hydroxyergocalciferol (25(OH)D2).DesignCase–cohort study within the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS). We measured 25(OH)D2and 25(OH)D3in archived dried blood spots by LC–MS/MS. Cox regression was used to estimate mortality hazard ratios (HR), with adjustment for confounders.SettingGeneral community.SubjectsThe MCCS included 29 206 participants, who at recruitment in 1990–1994 were aged 40–69 years, had dried blood spots collected and no history of cancer. For the present study we selected participants who died by 31 December 2007 (n2410) and a random sample (sub-cohort,n2996).ResultsThe HR per 25 nmol/l increment in concentration of 25(OH)D and 25(OH)D3were 0·86 (95 % CI 0·78, 0·96;P=0·007) and 0·85 (95 % CI 0·77, 0·95;P=0·003), respectively. Of 5108 participants, sixty-three (1·2 %) had detectable 25(OH)D2; their mean 25(OH)D concentration was 11·9 (95 % CI 7·3, 16·6) nmol/l higher (P<0·001). The HR for detectable 25(OH)D2was 1·80 (95 % CI 1·09, 2·97;P=0·023); for those with detectable 25(OH)D2, the HR per 25 nmol/l increment in 25(OH)D was 1·06 (95 % CI 0·87, 1·29;Pinteraction=0·02). HR were similar for participants who reported being in good, very good or excellent health four years after recruitment.ConclusionsTotal 25(OH)D and 25(OH)D3concentrations were inversely associated with mortality. The finding that the inverse association for 25(OH)D was restricted to those with no detectable 25(OH)D2requires confirmation in populations with higher exposure to ergocalciferol.
A systematic review of instruments assessing dimensions of distress among caregivers of adult and pediatric cancer patients
Authors: Tanco Kimberson , Park Ji Chan , Cerana Agustina , Sisson Amy , Sobti Nikhil , Bruera Eduardo 
Published: March 2016

AbstractObjective:Caregivers of cancer patients face intense demands throughout the course of the disease, survivorship, and bereavement. Caregiver burden, needs, satisfaction, quality of life, and other significant areas of caregiving are not monitored regularly in the clinic setting, resulting in a need to address the availability and clinical effectiveness of cancer caregiver distress tools. This review aimed to determine the availability of cancer caregiver instruments, the variation of instruments between different domains of distress, and that between adult and pediatric cancer patient populations.Method:A literature search was conducted using various databases from 1937 to 2013. Original articles on instruments were extracted separately if not included in the original literature search. The instruments were divided into different areas of caregiver distress and into adult versus pediatric populations. Psychometric data were also evaluated.Results:A total of 5,541 articles were reviewed, and 135 articles (2.4%) were accepted based on our inclusion criteria. Some 59 instruments were identified, which fell into the following categories: burden (n = 26, 44%); satisfaction with healthcare delivery (n = 5, 8.5%); needs (n = 14, 23.7%); quality of life (n = 9, 15.3%); and other issues (n = 5, 8.5%). The median number of items was 29 (4–125): 20/59 instruments (33.9%) had ≤20 items; 13 (22%) had ≤20 items and were psychometrically sound, with 12 of these 13 (92.3%) being self-report questionnaires. There were 44 instruments (74.6%) that measured caregiver distress for adult cancer patients and 15 (25.4%) for caregivers of pediatric patients.Significance of results:There is a significant number of cancer caregiver instruments that are self-reported, concise, and psychometrically sound, which makes them attractive for further research into their clinical use, outcomes, and effectiveness.
Grain physical characteristic of the Australian wild rices
Authors: Tikapunya Tiparat , Fox Glen , Furtado Agnelo , Henry Robert 
Published: March 2016

AbstractRice yield improvement is required to support increasing global rice demand. However, the limited genetic diversity within the cultivated rice gene pool may be a major obstacle. Australian wild rice which has been largely genetically isolated from cultivated rice might be a new source of genetic variation for use in improving rice production. The physical properties of Oryza australiensis and of the two perennial Australian Wild rice taxa-belonging to the A genome wild rice were evaluated. Seeds collected from rice in the wild were generally smaller than those from domesticated rice. The wild rice A genome collections were classified as extra-long paddy rice with grains that were long or medium, while O. australiensis was categorized as long paddy rice with a short grain. However, these wild rices were slender compared with domesticated rice. The grain colour of these wild rices varied from light red brown to dark brown compared with domesticated rice which is brighter, with less redness and more yellowness than the wild rice. The physical characteristics of the grains of the Australian wild rice indicate that these rice grains may be successfully processed using current rice processing techniques and may be a useful novel food especially in the coloured rice market.
Asia Pacific and Global Order in the Post 9–11 World
Authors: Han Sung-Joo 
Published: March 2016

This article contends that the September 11th terrorist attacks have had a significant effect on the Asian regional order as well as on the global order. Globally, they have had two seemingly contradictory effects. On the one hand, the post-9.11 situation has presented the major powers of the world, including the United States, Russia and China, to build a “system of concert,” overcoming their rivalries and conflicting interests. It seems to have given new impetus to the promotion of multilateralism in international relations. On the other hand, it has helped to revive and rediscover what is known as realism in international politics, realism that recognizes the supremacy of the state and national interest as individual states become the main protector of their citizens in times of crises.The system of concert is also evolving in East Asia which, until September 11th, 2001, had been slow in catching up with the Western world (Europe and America) in international cooperation and multilateral mechanisms. Most remarkable in this regard is the improved relations between China and the United States and, secondarily, between China and Japan. Even though sources of conflict remain among various countries, major powers such as the United States, Russia, China and Japan now place greater emphasis upon cooperation and mutual assistance in fighting global terrorism. It nevertheless seems that Asians will continue to live in a regional order where a new system of concert that evolves in the aftermath of the 9–11 attacks coexists with a traditional geopolitical and real politics order.
State Mediation of Global Financial Forces: Different Paths of Structural Reforms in Japan and South Korea
Authors: Tiberghien Yves 
Published: March 2016

This article compares the process of corporate structural reforms in Japan and South Korea in the late 1990s and raises two questions. Why have state-led economies such as Japan and South Korea engaged in politically costly corporate structural reforms in the late 1990s? What explains the variation in the reform process between Japan and South Korea?I argue that the process of structural reforms in state-led economies has been the result of state mediation of global financial forces. The rise of portfolio capital inflows increases the pressure for domestic reforms, a change that is common to Japan and Korea in the late 1990s. However, the actual success of structural reforms depends on the ability of the elite bureaucracy to mediate among between global investors, domestic interest groups and the general public. In contrast to Korea, Japan exhibits a low level of bureaucratic control over the legislative agenda and a situation of tripolar deadlock.The evidence presented here includes quantitative data, government documents, and legislative records as well as information gathered from over 100 interviews with bureaucrats, politicians, business leaders, labor leaders, and other actors in the two countries.
How Americans Feel About Asian Countries and Why
Authors: Page Benjamin I. , Rabinovich Julia , Tully David G. 
Published: March 2016

Americans' feelings about foreign countries are embedded in foreign policy belief systems and affect policy preferences. The analysis of nine surveys of the US general public conducted between 1978 and 2006 indicates that on average Americans have had rather lukewarm or slightly cool, nearly neutral, feelings toward China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Indonesia; warm feelings toward Japan and Australia; and cold feelings toward North Korea and (at least since 2001) toward Pakistan and Afghanistan.Individuals' feelings are affected by certain personal and social characteristics. High levels of formal education tend to make people feel considerably warmer toward most of these countries—especially Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. Education increases information: those who know more about the world generally express warmer feelings. But most important are internationalist attitudes, especially putting a relatively low priority on US domestic threats and concerns, embracing capitalism and world markets, and espousing world antipoverty goals. National security considerations play only a limited part. Policy implications are discussed.
Development, the Second Time Around: The Political Logic of Developing Western China
Authors: Shih Victor 
Published: March 2016

The Great Development of the West is no more than grand conferences held in the west (Xibu Dakaifa zhishi xibu dakaihui).—State Council officials in charge of developing the westOn the surface, the Great Development of the West (GDW, Xibu Dakaifa) campaign seems like a classic maneuver by a developmental state to bolster the growth of an underdeveloped region. Even in 2002, GDP per capita in western China, which includes the provinces of Xinjiang, Tibet, Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Qinghai, Yunnan, and Guizhou, remained at U.S.$666, or just more than half of the national average (see Table 1). The poorest province in China, Guizhou, had a GDP per capita of only U.S.$375, roughly equivalent to Haiti's GDP per capita in 1999. The effort to develop western China, according to the official rhetoric, was aimed at shifting western China's developmental trajectory closer to that of the rest of China, thus decreasing regional inequality and bolstering overall growth.
Sexuelles Risikoverhalten im Jugendalter
Authors: Propp Olga , Schulz Wolfgang , Foran Heather 
Published: April 2016

Zusammenfassung. Im Jugendalter nimmt die Prävalenz von sexuellem Risikoverhalten (SR) zu. Familiäre und individuelle Bedingungen stehen in Zusammenhang mit SR. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Querschnittsstudie bestand in der Überprüfung eines Modells, das individuelle und familiäre Faktoren zu SR in Beziehung setzt. Die Stichprobe der 12- bis 17-jährigen Jugendlichen (N = 246) stammt aus dem DFG-Projekt „Zukunft Familie III”. Im Rahmen eines Strukturgleichungsmodells wiesen die familiäre Lebensumwelt direkt sowie indirekt via externalisierende Verhaltensauffälligkeiten und Alkoholmissbrauch signifikante Zusammenhänge zu SR auf. Das Modell klärte etwa 25 % der Varianz auf. Diese Ergebnisse bieten einen ersten Ansatz für mögliche Korrelate von SR und können bei der zielgerichteten Anpassung von Präventionsmaßnahmen helfen.
Differences down-under: alcohol-fueled methanogenesis by archaea present in Australian macropodids
Authors: Hoedt Emily C , Cuív Páraic Ó , Evans Paul N , Smith Wendy J M , McSweeney Chris S , Denman Stuart E , Morrison Mark 
Published: March 2016

Abstract
The Australian macropodids (kangaroos and wallabies) possess a distinctive foregut microbiota that contributes to their reduced methane emissions. However, methanogenic archaea are present within the macropodid foregut, although there is scant understanding of these microbes. Here, an isolate taxonomically assigned to the Methanosphaera genus (Methanosphaera sp. WGK6) was recovered from the anterior sacciform forestomach contents of a Western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus). Like the human gut isolate Methanosphaera stadtmanae DSMZ 3091T, strain WGK6 is a methylotroph with no capacity for autotrophic growth. In contrast, though with the human isolate, strain WGK6 was found to utilize ethanol to support growth, but principally as a source of reducing power. Both the WGK6 and DSMZ 3091T genomes are very similar in terms of their size, synteny and G:C content. However, the WGK6 genome was found to encode contiguous genes encoding putative alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases, which are absent from the DSMZ 3091T genome. Interestingly, homologs of these genes are present in the genomes for several other members of the Methanobacteriales. In WGK6, these genes are cotranscribed under both growth conditions, and we propose the two genes provide a plausible explanation for the ability of WGK6 to utilize ethanol for methanol reduction to methane. Furthermore, our in vitro studies suggest that ethanol supports a greater cell yield per mol of methane formed compared to hydrogen-dependent growth. Taken together, this expansion in metabolic versatility can explain the persistence of these archaea in the kangaroo foregut, and their abundance in these ‘low-methane-emitting’ herbivores.
Computations of uncertainty mediate acute stress responses in humans
Authors: de Berker Archy O. , Rutledge Robb B. , Mathys Christoph , Marshall Louise , Cross Gemma F. , Dolan Raymond J. , Bestmann Sven 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThe effects of stress are frequently studied, yet its proximal causes remain unclear. Here we demonstrate that subjective estimates of uncertainty predict the dynamics of subjective and physiological stress responses. Subjects learned a probabilistic mapping between visual stimuli and electric shocks. Salivary cortisol confirmed that our stressor elicited changes in endocrine activity. Using a hierarchical Bayesian learning model, we quantified the relationship between the different forms of subjective task uncertainty and acute stress responses. Subjective stress, pupil diameter and skin conductance all tracked the evolution of irreducible uncertainty. We observed a coupling between emotional and somatic state, with subjective and physiological tuning to uncertainty tightly correlated. Furthermore, the uncertainty tuning of subjective and physiological stress predicted individual task performance, consistent with an adaptive role for stress in learning under uncertain threat. Our finding that stress responses are tuned to environmental uncertainty provides new insight into their generation and likely adaptive function.