bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Chinese Computational Sociology
Authors: Hong Cheng Linda , Lu Yao 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
While applications of machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) methods have grown in the social sciences within diverse international contexts, these methods remain inherently Eurocentric and strikingly challenging to apply to non-European languages. There is an urgent need for decolonial reconstructions of ML and NLP applications within the social sciences, particularly in meaningfully reconfigured applications of ML and NLP to non-Western contexts. Endeavoring to answer such a cogent calling, this chapter reviews the existing literature that applies machine learning and NLP methods to sociological analyses of Chinese-language contexts. Synthesizing existing research, the authors introduce and establish a new and cutting-edge subfield situated at the intersections of China studies, computer science, and sociology: ‘Chinese computational sociology.’ Contributing the first review of the state of Chinese computational sociology, this chapter outlines the various challenges facing applications of ML and NLP methods for studying social issues in Chinese-language contexts, and suggests possible solutions to such limitations. Beyond existing challenges and solutions, this chapter critically considers future trajectories for Chinese computational sociology as a subfield in its own right.
Epistemic Infrastructures of Moral Decision-Making in the Ethics of Autonomous Driving
Authors: Indira Ganesh Maya 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
How should an autonomous vehicle be programmed to make decisions in the case of a crash that potentially jeopardizes multiple human lives? Can these human lives be considered equally worthy of saving? These questions have animated a recently popular academic field of inquiry, the ethics of autonomous driving. The adoption of customer-driven autonomous vehicles is concentrated in certain geographical areas and industrial sectors, yet ethics and moral decision-making in highly automated, algorithmically shaped social environments is a compelling site of social inquiry. This chapter is a case study about the epistemic and discursive transformations in ethics anchored to the trolley problem, a popular thought experiment, and to the Moral Machine project, which reframes the ethical in statistical and game-theoretical terms. Central to this shift is a reinvestment in utilitarianism to reframe ethics and morality through modes of gamification and algorithmic decision-making. This chapter takes an epistemic-infrastructural perspective and demonstrates how various intellectual genealogies eventually advance ethics, morality, and humanity to center computation rather than the social, infrastructural, and relational dimensions of automobility.
Burmese American Youth Experiences with Theravada Buddhism in the San Francisco Bay Area
Authors: Saruya Rachelle 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
How do children and young people in the Burmese diaspora learn Buddhism? What strategies do teachers use? And how do the students themselves view their experiences? This chapter attempts to answer these questions through the cases of two young lay females who both had short-term but highly impactful experiences: one as a temporary nun, and the other as a repeat attendee at a Buddhist youth camp. These experiences are contextualized, in the first instance with descriptions of the monastic space and the Burmese-language classes that prompted the subject’s choice of monastery, and in the second, with the history of the camp and exploration of its monastic spaces. In both these cases, Buddhism was not always taught directly by monks; that is, while they physically recalled the Buddha and Buddhism in terms of aesthetics, comportment, and the practice of sīla or “morality,” they were not usually the ones teaching Buddhism in the strictest sense. Thus, this research demonstrates the importance of studying lived Buddhism and how the laity—and especially the female laity—serve as active agents in the maintenance of Burmese Buddhism, and of Burmese culture more generally.
Eison, Preaching, and Performance in Medieval Japan
Authors: Quinter David 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
This chapter examines Eison’s (1201–1290) linked teaching, ritual, and cultic activities. Eison’s Shingon Ritsu movement spread broadly in medieval Japan, as he and disciples restored temples across the archipelago and conferred the precepts on male and female monastics, lay elites, and commoners alike. Venues for Eison’s activities ranged from small gatherings of monastics in temples and convents; to offering ceremonies at prisons, marketplaces, and outcast communities; to mass assemblies of monastics and laypeople and more private precept conferrals for court and warrior rulers. The chapter uses the diversity of venues and audiences for Eison’s early precepts-spreading activities to argue for the value of understanding both “preaching as performance” and performance as preaching in lived Buddhism. In so doing, this chapter underscores how greater attention to the performative dimensions of official religious leaders can nuance common portrayals of doctrine versus practice, elite versus popular, and institutional versus “everyday” religion.
The Fictional and Gnostic Mary Magdalene
Authors: Beavis Mary Ann 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Although ancient Gnosticism and modern fiction seem to be worlds apart, recent novels featuring Mary Magdalene as protagonist have taken advantage of the easy availability of English translations of ancient esoteric documents in their portrayals of her character. The chapter first provides a brief introduction to the portrayal of Mary Magdalene in noncanonical early Christian writings. This research is used in three well-known contemporary Mary Magdalene novels: Elizabeth George, Mary, Called the Magdalene; Ki Longfellow, The Secret Magdalene; and Kathleen McGowan, The Expected One. The tradition of the Magdalene as repentant prostitute is replaced by her portrayal as enlightened woman, albeit with a past that includes demonic possession. The conclusion considers the presentation of Gnosticism in these novels and the influence of popular culture on the public perception of biblical scholarship.
Mary Magdalene as a Social/Cultural/Political Model for Women
Authors: Valerio Adriana 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
This chapter looks into the figure of Mary Magdalene as a social, cultural, and political model for women. It starts with the key concept of feminist theology that aims to challenge ambiguities and false images formed around the female gender. Magdalene the apostle becomes a model for the promotion of the female role, as her being the protagonist of apostolate and missionary vocation begins to emerge. Erasing her role as an apostle blocked the ministerial roles of women for centuries, so her rediscovery can only favor a profound rethinking of the institution and ecclesial identity. Thus, the reconstruction of Magdalene’s history and representation represents a political operation and triggers a dynamics of change within the Church regarding the valorization of women’s roles.
Mary Magdalene in the Synoptic Gospel Narratives
Authors: Howard Melanie A. 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Mary Magdalene appears in all three Synoptic Gospels as a witness to the final events of the gospel narratives, including the crucifixion, burial, tomb, and resurrection of Jesus. The chapter explores her characterization in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke as well as scholarly treatments of her in these texts. This exploration reveals that in Mark, Mary Magdalene serves to make a connection to the Gospel’s audience. Scholars of Matthew suggest that portrayals of Mary Magdalene differ from Mark’s, though there is no clear consensus for defining this difference. Luke’s depiction further marginalizes Mary Magdalene compared to Mark and Matthew. The chapter concludes by suggesting future directions for research on Mary Magdalene within and beyond the Synoptic Gospels, including opportunities for further examination of how she serves as a bridge character who helps to connect the events of the gospel narratives to the lives of the gospels’ audiences.
Refugees
Authors: Costa M. Victoria 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
This chapter examines the impact of states’ sovereign power to restrict movement of refugees across borders from a republican perspective that understands freedom as non-domination. It argues that freedom of movement across borders should be recognized as a very significant liberty, and that its protection is essential to living as a free person. It examines the current powers of states to interfere with the travels of refugees, and how these powers are not checked to protect the rights of refugees. It concludes that refugees are dominated by any state that enforces border controls designed to stop them from travelling to its territory. This is true even if we grant that states are particularistic agents with a primary responsibility to protect the interests of their own citizens and residents, and that there are important international norms that help advocate for and protect the rights of refugees.
Courts in the United States
Authors: Resnik Judith 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
This chapter moves courts from a backdrop to center stage in analyses of transitional justice. Often forgotten is courts’ history as institutions of exclusion in which persons were far from welcome. Transnational political movements succeeded in rendering courts inclusive, seen as venues open to the marginalized seeking to obtain some of what transitional justice aims for—legitimatization of past wrongs and paths forward. Moreover, social movements revamped metrics of courts’ legitimacy: women and men of all colors could be litigants, lawyers, judges, juries, and employees, and constitutional interpretation and statutes obliged governments to subsidize subsets of litigants lacking resources. These ambitious political-sociological aspirations have, of course, never been complete. Moreover, the egalitarian and redistributive potential of courts has been undermined by efforts to push cases out and by some localities using courts as sources of revenue through imposing fines and fees. Privatizing processes through law include reconfiguring decision-making in courts to push for alternative non-public resolutions, and legal doctrines cutting off legal claims or outsourcing resolution to private sector providers empowered to render final decisions. In the United States, the aegis of courts is thus narrowing and opportunities for state-based public accounting eroding. Remedies associated with ordinary justice go by the boards, along with healing, apology, new forms of relief, and public narratives of past wrongdoings that are hallmarks of transitional justice’s goals.
Haunted by Three Spirits
Authors: Zunino Marcos 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
What ghosts haunt transitional justice? This chapter examines the complex relationship of transitional justice with time through its spectral apparitions, omissions, and undertones. For that purpose, it relies on the imagery and narrative structure of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to engage with the current discourse and practice of transitional justiceIn this manner, the ghost of the past reveals a transitional justice with a selective history where some episodes and practices are highlighted while others are occluded and glossed over. The ghost of the present shows how current transitional justice processes marginalize certain victims and neglect certain experiences of violence. The ghost of the future gestures towards self-reflective anxieties and disquiet about what lies ahead for the field of transitional justice that are at odds with the optimism of some transitional justice institutions. These afterlives of transitional justice showcase a discourse and practice inextricably linked with temporality and ghosts. The ghost of the present shows how official transitional justice processes marginalize certain victims, ignore experiences of violence and push civil society organizations to carry out practices invoking uncertain presences.
LGBT People, the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights
Authors: Johnson Paul 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
A principal aim of the Council of Europe is the maintenance and further realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive but condensed assessment of the history and the contemporary state of human rights protection offered to LGBT people by the Council of Europe and, importantly, identify the gaps that currently exist in that protection. The chapter examines the work of the statutory organs of the Council of Europe—the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly—as well as the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on a wide range of issues relating to LGBT people.
Conformist Transmission
Authors: Morgan Thomas J. H. , van Leeuwen Edwin J. C. 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Conformist transmission is a transmission bias, or social learning strategy, that disproportionately favours popular cultural variants. Over the past 40 years it has received a great deal of attention, both theoretical and empirical. Here the authors provide an overview of the current state of this literature, including what conformist transmission is; how it relates to other similar terms; how it can be operationalized mathematically; its adaptive value; the impact it has upon cultural evolutionary dynamics; and the evidence for and against it in humans and other species. The authors conclude by identifying gaps in current theory and limitations of experimental work. In particular, the authors emphasize the need for theory that accounts for demonstrators with inconsistent preferences and the need for empirical work to carefully distinguish between conformist tendencies and conformist evolutionary dynamics.
Authoritarian Practices
Authors: Glasius Marlies 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
The use of the phrase “authoritarian practices” by political scientists is generally a response to the limitations of classifying regimes as either democratic or authoritarian. It seeks to remedy (a) the binary nature of the distinction, which by definition provides no space to detect “authoritarianness” in democracies, (b) the residual and passive nature of the concept of “authoritarian regimes” in such regime classification, (c) its focus on central state institutions, which likewise provides no space to detect “authoritarianness” in institutions or processes below, above, or beyond the state, or (d) a combination of these shortcomings. The chapter discusses four distinct but overlapping uses of “authoritarian practices,” and the conceptualizations and empirical studies that they have spawned, as well as some critiques. The final section will discuss recent convergence between these strands of literature, as well as drawing attention to avenues of research yet to be further pursued.
Normality analysis of numeric rating scale scores in patients with chronic axial spine pain before and after medial branch blocks: a multicenter study
Authors: Ehsanian Reza , Buttner Jordan A , Rivers W Evan , Nagpal Ameet , Patel Jaymin , Zheng Patricia , McCormick Zachary , Schneider Byron J 
Published: May 2024

Abstract

Objective
The statistical analysis typically used to compare pain before and after interventions assumes that scores are normally distributed. The present study evaluates whether numeric rating scale (NRS) scores, specifically NRS-11 scores, are indeed normally distributed in a clinically relevant cohort of adults with chronic axial spine pain before and after analgesic intervention.

Methods
Retrospective review from 4 academic medical centers of prospectively collected data from a uniform pain diary administered to consecutive patients after they had undergone medial branch blocks. The pain diary assessed NRS-11 scores immediately before injection and at 12 different time points after injection up to 48 hours. D’Agostino–Pearson tests were used to test normality at all time points.

Results
One hundred fifty pain diaries were reviewed, and despite normally distributed pre-injection NRS-11 scores (K2 = 0.655, P = .72), all post-injection NRS-11 data were not normally distributed (K2 = 9.70– 17.62, P = .0001–.008).

Conclusions
Although the results of parametric analyses of NRS-11 scores are commonly reported in pain research, some properties of the NRS-11 do not satisfy the assumptions required for these analyses. The data demonstrate non-normal distributions in post-intervention NRS-11 scores, thereby violating a key requisite for parametric analysis. We urge pain researchers to consider appropriate statistical analysis and reporting for non-normally distributed NRS-11 scores to ensure accurate interpretation and communication of these data. Practicing pain physicians should similarly recognize that parametric post-intervention pain score statistics might not accurately describe the data and should expect articles to utilize measures of normality to justify the selected statistical methods.
Determinants of tofacitinib discontinuation in adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis during long-term extension studies up to 9.5 years
Authors: Curtis Jeffrey R , Wollenhaupt Jürgen , Tas Sander W , Chatzidionysiou Katerina , Wang Lisy , Roberts Kevin , Tsekouras Vassilis 
Published: May 2024

Abstract

Objectives
To examine determinants of tofacitinib discontinuation due to voluntary (i.e. patient-driven) or involuntary reasons (i.e. protocol mandated) in long-term extension (LTE) studies of patients with RA to inform clinical practice, clinical study execution and data capture.

Methods
This post hoc analysis used pooled data from patients receiving tofacitinib 5 or 10 mg twice daily (BID) in LTE studies. Outcomes included time to voluntary/involuntary discontinuation (and baseline predictors), including by geographic region. Exposure-adjusted event rates (EAERs) were calculated for adverse events (AEs), serious AEs (SAEs) and discontinuations due to AEs/SAEs.

Results
Of 4967 patients, 2463 (49.6%) discontinued [1552/4967 (31.2%) voluntarily, 911/4967 (18.3%) involuntarily] and 55 (1.1%) died over the course of 9.5 years. When involuntary discontinuation was present as a competing risk for voluntary discontinuation, patients who stayed on combination therapy and with higher patient-assessed pain were significantly more likely to discontinue for voluntary reasons (P &lt; 0.05). Older patients, those enrolled in Asia, Europe or Latin America (vs USA or Canada) or with RF+/anti-CCP+ status were significantly less likely to discontinue for voluntary reasons (P &lt; 0.05). Small numeric differences in disease activity were observed between geographic regions in patients who discontinued or completed the studies. EAERs were generally higher for tofacitinib 10 vs 5 mg BID, irrespective of discontinuation reason.

Conclusion
The factors associated with voluntary/involuntary discontinuation of tofacitinib suggest that treatment persistence in RA studies is partly predictable, which may be reflected in clinical practice. Applying these results may improve our understanding of attrition and inform future study design/execution.

Trial registrations
ClinicalTrials.gov (http://clinicaltrials.gov): NCT00413699 and NCT00661661.
Comparing clinical profiles in spondyloarthritis with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis: insights from the ASAS-PerSpA study
Authors: Rios Rodriguez Valeria , Duran Tugba Izci , Torgutalp Murat , López-Medina Clementina , Dougados Maxime , Kishimoto Mitsumasa , Ono Keisuke , Protopopov Mikhail , Haibel Hildrun , Rademacher Judith , Poddubnyy Denis , Proft Fabian 
Published: May 2024

Abstract

Objectives
Assuming SpA manifestations may vary among patients with different inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) subtypes, we explored the clinical characteristics associated with the presence of Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA).

Methods
We included 3152 patients of ASAS-PerSpA study diagnosed with either axial SpA or peripheral SpA, according to their treating rheumatologist. Of these, 146 (4.6%) had confirmed IBD by endoscopy and were categorized into CD or UC groups. Demographics, clinical characteristics, treatments and patient-reported outcomes were compared between the two subgroups.

Results
From 146 patients included in the current analysis, 87 (59.6%) had CD [75 (86.2%) axial SpA and 12 (13.8%) peripheral SpA], and 39 (26.7%) had UC [34 (87.2%) axial SpA and 5 (12.8%) peripheral SpA]. CD and UC groups had similar age with average of 44.9 (13.5) vs 44.0 (13.0) years, respectively, and a slight male predominance in CD (63.2%) compared with UC (51.3%). Diagnostic delay for SpA was 7.0 (6.9) years for CD and 8.8 (8.1) years for UC. Chronic back pain was the most reported symptom present in 95.4% of CD patients and 89.7% of UC patients. Both groups had similar musculoskeletal phenotyping, with higher frequency of psoriasis (15.4%) and uveitis 28.2% in UC; and higher tendency to be HLA-B27 positive in CD (51.9% in CD vs.s 39.4% in UC).

Conclusion
In our analysis patients with SpA and concurrent CD or UC had mainly similar musculoskeletal phenotypes. However, they differ slightly in extra-musculoskeletal manifestations and HLA-B27 prevalence.
Mobile phone thermography of the toes in patients with systemic sclerosis—a pilot study
Authors: Lim Ruey , Dinsdale Graham , Manning Joanne , Heal Calvin , Murray Andrea , Herrick Ariane L 
Published: May 2024

Abstract

Objectives
To investigate the hypotheses that in patients with SSc, the temperature gradient between the dorsum of the foot and toes (distal–dorsal difference [DDD]) is ‘more negative’ (toes cooler) than in healthy controls, is greatest along the first (great) toe and that the severities of thermographic abnormalities in the feet and hands are correlated.

Methods
Thermographic images of the dorsum of each hand and foot were captured using a thermal camera attached to an iPhone in 40 patients with SSc and 20 healthy controls. DDDs along the fingers (index, middle, ring and little) and toes (great toe and ‘others’) were measured.

Results
There was a non-significant trend for the great toes to be colder in patients with SSc than in controls. The mean great toe DDD was more negative in patients (right: −2.89°C, left: −2.91°C, mean: −2.90°C) than in controls (right: −2.36°C, left: −2.42°C, mean: −2.39°C) (P = 0.37 for mean values). Patients’ great toes were colder than ‘other’ (lesser) toes (right: −2.58°C, left: −2.63°C), although not significantly. In patients with SSc, finger and great toe temperature gradients were correlated (r = 0.406, ρ = 0.01).

Conclusion
Our findings suggest that the great toe is the coldest in patients with SSc and that patients with the coldest fingers tend to have the coldest toes. Severe RP symptoms in the hands should prompt podiatry assessment and foot care education. Mobile phone thermography is a convenient tool for assessing the digital vasculature but first requires validation in larger studies with a longitudinal component.