Half Of Century Research Articles

Augustine on the Will: A Theological Account by Han-Luen Kantzer Komline, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020, pp. xv + 469, £90.00, hbk

Augustine on the Will: A Theological Account by Han-Luen Kantzer Komline, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020, pp. xv + 469, £90.00, hbk

Remembering Herbert Gutman's Work, Culture, and Society Fifty Years On

Remembering Herbert Gutman's <i>Work, Culture, and Society</i> Fifty Years On

Introduction

Introduction

The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation

The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation

The Ongoing Business of Chinese-Language Reform: A View from the Periphery of Hong Kong in the Past Half Century

Against the backdrop of the changing meaning of the “Chinese” language in Hong Kong, this article explores how Mandarin, once an unproblematic link to a nebulous Chinese nation for Hongkongers, now reflects anti-mainland sentiments. In the 1970s, Hong Kong Chinese who fought against English colonial oppression embraced Cantonese as their de facto Chinese language even as some conceded the broader allure of Mandarin. As the popularity of Cantonese rose, the appeal of Mandarin lingered but did not result in its higher currency. In the period leading up to the 1997 handover, while the colonial government did not mandate the study of Mandarin, its economic practicality surged, especially as the reform era engineered tremendous opportunities for Hongkongers in the mainland. Ironically, as Hongkongers have registered enhanced Mandarin proficiency, mounting resentment toward Mandarin in the city over the past two decades has come to represent a response to intensifying mainland control over Hong Kong.

Neurologic Complications With Vaccines: What We Know, What We Don't, and What We Should Do.

Over the previous half century, vaccines have shaped human life by eradicating or nearly eradicating infections that were once a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The number of infections for which vaccines are now available has steadily increased. The types of vaccines have evolved over the years from crude extracts to more refined messenger RNA or protein-based vaccines. With these well-defined manufacturing processes, the safety profile has also improved. Despite such measures, vaccines are not without side effects, including those that affect the nervous system. Numerous case reports and case series point to these possibilities. These issues have gathered much attention during the current mass vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and have resulted in some members of the public raising concerns about vaccine safety. The vaccine manufacturers have legal protection against vaccine side effects; however, there are active and passive surveillance programs put in place by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization, and the European Union. Action is needed that brings together manufactures, healthcare agencies, clinical and bench scientists, and legislatures on a global platform to investigate vaccine-related neurologic adverse events and develop ways to prevent and treat them.

Spatial-temporal Evolution of Global Aircraft Production Network: Evidence from 1741 Global Aircraft Firms

Triggered by the rising demand, a complex aircraft production network has been evolving during the past half century. In order to analysis the spatial-temporal evolution of this network, this paper establishes a novel and complex data by collecting 1774 major global aircraft manufacturers' production relationship from Jane's All the World' s Aircraft Development &amp; Production (1965-2021), and visualizes the spatial temporal characteristics of the global aircraft production network by using Social Net Analysis method. The characteristics are summarized as follows: (1) the main aircraft firms from 48 counties form a complex production network centered on the United States, Europe and China; (2) The production network remains diffusion during 1965-2005, but it retracts after 2005, which documents evidences of de-globalization trend in the aircraft industry; (3)AVIC, Airbus, Boeing, Textron, Lockheed, Kawasaki, Mitsubishi, Sikorsky, Bell, and Embraer are all ranked high in the study period and play the role of leading firms in the production network and drive the cooperative connections of other companies.

Non-Oxide Ceramics for Bone Implant Application: State-of-the-Art Overview with an Emphasis on the Acetabular Cup of Hip Joint Prosthesis

A rapidly developing area of ceramic science and technology involves research on the interaction between implanted biomaterials and the human body. Over the past half century, the use of bioceramics has revolutionized the surgical treatment of various diseases that primarily affect bone, thus contributing to significantly improving the quality of life of rehabilitated patients. Calcium phosphates, bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics are mostly used in tissue engineering applications where bone regeneration is the major goal, while stronger but almost inert biocompatible ceramics such as alumina and alumina/zirconia composites are preferable in joint prostheses. Over the last few years, non-oxide ceramics—primarily silicon nitride, silicon carbide and diamond-like coatings—have been proposed as new options in orthopaedics in order to overcome some tribological and biomechanical limitations of existing commercial products, yielding very promising results. This review is specifically addressed to these relatively less popular, non-oxide biomaterials for bone applications, highlighting their potential advantages and critical aspects deserving further research in the future. Special focus is also given to the use of non-oxide ceramics in the manufacturing of the acetabular cup, which is the most critical component of hip joint prostheses.

Sources and sinks of bottom water oxygen in a seasonally hypoxic fjord

Deoxygenation of the ocean has been occurring over the last half century, particularly in poorly ventilated coastal waters. In coastal and estuarine environments, both the water column and sediments play key roles in controlling oxygen variability. In this study, we focus on controls of oxygen concentration in Bedford Basin (BB), a 70 m deep, seasonally hypoxic semi-enclosed fjord on the West Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia. The basin is connected to the Scotian Shelf via a narrow 20 m deep sill that restricts the resupply of bottom water. Hypoxia was recorded seasonally in 2018, 2019 and 2021 with minimum oxygen concentration of 5, 6.7 and 2.7 μM, respectively. Using a 1-D benthic-pelagic coupled model we investigate oxygen consumption and resupply processes during these years. The model was constrained with weekly water column measurements of temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a fluorescence and dissolved oxygen from a monitoring station in the central basin together with seasonal measurements of benthic diffusive oxygen uptake. Our model suggested that 29-81%, and up to 36% of bottom water re-oxygenation occurred during the winter mixing period and through summer/fall intrusions of Scotian Shelf water, respectively. Occasional shelf water intrusions occurred rapidly, on a timescale of a few hours, and delivered equivalent amounts of oxygen as winter mixing and were sufficient to end bottom water hypoxia. Collectively, these mechanisms supplied the majority of the oxygen delivered to the bottom water. Oxygen supply to bottom waters during periods of water column stratification accounted for 19-36% of the annual flux. The mean benthic uptake was 12 ± 8 mmol m-2 d-1 and contributed ~20% of the total oxygen consumption below the sill depth. In 2021, sea surface temperature (SST) was unusually high and likely resulted in 50% less bottom water oxygenation compared to 2018 and 2019 due to increased stratification; SST in BB was found to be increasing at a rate of 0.11 ± 0.02 °C/year. Climate control on water column stratification are discussed and numerical experiments are used to compare the effects of different water column mixing scenarios on bottom water oxygenation.

Life expectancy across countries: Convergence, divergence and fluctuations

We document the evolution of life expectancies around the world during 1960-2015 using graphical analysis, statistical decomposition of survival gains by age-groups and by measuring the contribution of each age-group to changes in the global and regional distributions of life expectancy at birth. We emphasize three findings. First, enormous gains in early-life survival have led to unconditional convergence in life expectancy at birth across countries while late-life longevity has diverged. Gains have been higher for females than males. Secondly, global and regional survival gains among the elderly, though smaller than among the young, have strongly influenced changes in country rankings of life expectancy at birth with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa. Country rankings for late-life survival have changed relatively more than for younger ages. Third, the divergence in survival gains among the elderly is related to disparities in healthcare access, driven in part by within- and between-country income inequality. While providing fresh insight into the uneven pace of health changes during the past half century, these results also highlight how policy can address the socio-economic and demographic consequences of aging.

Optimized treatment of childhood B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) accounts for about 75% of childhood leukemia cases, and B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) accounts for more than 80% of childhood ALL cases. Over the past half century, new molecular biological targets discovered by new techniques have been used in precise stratification of disease prognosis, and there has been a gradual increase in the 5-year overall survival rate of childhood ALL. With the increasing attention to long-term quality of life, the treatment of childhood B-ALL has been constantly optimized from induction therapy to the intensity of maintenance therapy, including the treatment of extramedullary leukemia without radiotherapy, which has been tried with successful results. The realization of optimized treatment also benefits from the development of new techniques associated with immunology and molecular biology and the establishment of standardized clinical cohorts and corresponding biobanks. This article summarizes the relevant research on the implementation of precise stratification and the intensity reduction and optimization treatment of B-ALL in recent years, providing reference for clinicians.

The Role of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in the Treatment of Surgical Site Infections: A Narrative Review.

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are among the most prevalent postoperative complications, with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the past half century, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the administration of 100% oxygen intermittently under a certain pressure, has been used as either a primary or alternative therapy for the management or treatment of chronic wounds and infections. This narrative review aims to gather information and evidence supporting the role of HBOT in the treatment of SSIs. We followed the Scale for the Quality Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA) guidelines and scrutinized the most relevant studies identified in Medline (via PubMed), Scopus, and Web of Science. Our review indicated that HBOT can result in rapid healing and epithelialization of various wounds and has potential beneficial effects in the treatment of SSIs or other similar infections following cardiac, neuromuscular scoliosis, coronary artery bypass, and urogenital surgeries. Moreover, it was a safe therapeutic procedure in most cases. The mechanisms related to the antimicrobial activity of HBOT include direct bactericidal effects through the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the immunomodulatory effect of HBOT that increase the antimicrobial effects of the immune system, and the synergistic effects of HBOT with antibiotics. We emphasized the essential need for further studies, especially randomized clinical trials and longitudinal studies, to better standardize HBOT procedures as well as to determine its full benefits and possible side effects.

Review of “The Global Rules of Art: The Emergence and Divisions of a Cultural World Economy”

Larissa Buchholz has written a magnificent account of the Global art market over the last half century. The book combines extensive, and highly nuanced, discussion of a wide range of relevant cultural theories, with an enormous amount of wonderfully researched data and studies of the Global art market and the relevant personnel including artists, curators, gallerists, art critics, art purchasers, and museum personnel. As a result, the book is an empirical and theoretical treasure for those interested in Global art. Buchholz’s motive for starting this study was a desire to understand how some artists from geographic locations that were, historically, outside geographic mainstream locations such as Western Europe and the United States, had nevertheless managed to become successful in the global art world and market. She was especially struck by the well-known paradox that, despite so much talk of a new era of globalization and openness, empirical studies such as those by French sociologist Alain Quemin, showed that contemporary visual arts were dominated by artists from a small number of Western countries. So her research turned to case studies of the very small number of exceptions, artists from “non-Western” countries who had succeeded in the Global art market.

Colloquium : Room temperature superconductivity: The roles of theory and materials design

For half a century after the discovery of superconductivity, materials exploration for better superconductors proceeded without knowledge of the underlying mechanism. The 1957 BCS theory cleared that up: the superconducting state occurs due to pairing of electrons over the Fermi surface. Over the following half century higher critical temperature T$_c$ was achieved only serendipitously as new materials were synthesized. Meanwhile the formal theory of phonon-coupled superconductivity at the material-dependent level became highly developed: given a known compound, its value of T$_c$, the superconducting gap function, and several other properties of the superconducting state became available independent of further experimental input. More recently, density functional theory based computational materials design has progressed to a predictive level -- new materials can be predicted on the basis of various numerical algorithms. Taken together, these capabilities enable theoretical prediction of new superconductors. Here the process that resulted in three new highest temperature superconductors, predicted numerically, confirmed experimentally -- SH$_3$, LaH$_{10}$, and YH$_9$ -- is recounted. These hydrides have T$_c$ in the 200-280K range at megabar pressures, and here the development will be chronicled. Current activities and challenges are discussed, together with Regularities in compressed hydrides that can guide further exploration.

The War on the EPA: America's Endangered Environmental Protections. By William M.Alley and RosemarieAlleyRowman &amp; Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.2020. pp. 289, ISBN: 978‐1‐5381‐3150‐3 U.S. List Price $33.00

The War on the <scp>EPA</scp>: America's Endangered Environmental Protections. By William M.Alley and RosemarieAlleyRowman &amp; Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.2020. pp. 289, <scp>ISBN</scp>: 978‐1‐5381‐3150‐3 U.S. List Price $33.00

Theodore Roosevelt and the Unionist Memory of the Civil War: Experience, History, and Politics, 1861–1918

AbstractThe meaning of the Civil War, America’s most violent experience, continued to be debated well into the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. The long shadow cast by David Blight’s influential Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2001) has meant that debates about the impact and prevalence of reconciliationist rhetoric dominate the literature. This paper adds to a growing body of scholarship that questions the reconciliationist narrative and stresses instead the partisan understanding of the Civil War still prevalent into the twentieth century. In particular, this article uses Theodore Roosevelt’s “memory” of the Civil War to explore the linkages between the Civil War Era and the Age of Empire. It makes two arguments: 1) that in an era when a “reconciliationist” understanding of the Civil War was becoming more prominent, more often than not Roosevelt used his voice as a historian and political figure to assert a “Unionist” interpretation; and 2) that Roosevelt used this memory of the Civil War to advocate for three specific political causes: American empire, the New Nationalism, and American entry into World War I. The paper’s argument and historiographical intervention help scholars of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era to re-imagine the role of Civil War memory in the half century following Appomattox Courthouse.

Black and Queer, Music on Screen

Abstract While Black Studies and Queer Studies have offered a range of terms and methods for considering sound, music, and musicality in audiovisual work over the last half century, studies of sound and music in audiovisual media that have attempted to define these latter disciplines have tended to neglect or simply ignore those innovations. The result is a lack of attention and analysis given to key forces and voices at important moments of media transition. This editor's introduction surveys relevant methods and exemplars to demonstrate this problem of disciplinary blind spots and suggests ways that contributions to this special issue help to address and reorient it.

Introduction: Theorizing the psychology of deglobalization

The unprecedented pace and scope of globalization over the past half century have had major impacts on the field of psychology. We observe that since the 2008 financial crisis, there have been increased academic and political concerns with “deglobalization,” which is often associated with terrorism, xenophobia, authoritarianism, Brexit, the US–China trade war, the Russian war on Ukraine, and the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the phenomenon of deglobalization is historically uncertain but intellectually and politically significant enough to warrant analysis. Thus, in this special issue, we begin to theorize the psychology of deglobalization by addressing several foundational issues: the major manifestations of deglobalization in relation to psychosocial life, the dialectical relations between globalization and deglobalization, and possible ways to respond to the challenges of deglobalization. In the meantime, we flesh out these theoretical perspectives using the cases of nationalism, neoliberalism, White supremacy, far-right politics, dehumanization, isolationism, and trade conflicts.

Key Discoveries in Plant Pathology During the Past Half Century: Impacts on the Life Sciences and on Plant Disease Management

Plant pathology plays a critical role in safeguarding plant health, food security, and food safety through science-based solutions to protect plants against recurring and emerging diseases. In addition, plant pathology contributed significantly to basic discoveries that have had broad impacts on the life sciences beyond plant pathology. In December 2021, The American Phytopathological Society (APS) conducted a survey among its members and among the readership of its journals to identify and rank key discoveries in plant pathology that have had broad impacts on science and/or practical disease management during the past half century. Based on the responses received, key discoveries that have broadly impacted the life sciences during that period include the Agrobacterium Ti plasmid and its mechanism in T-DNA transfer, bacterial ice nucleation, cloning of resistance genes, discovery of viroids, effectors and their mechanisms, pattern-triggered immunity and effector-triggered immunity, RNA interference and gene silencing, structure and function of R genes, transcription activator-like effectors, and type-III secretion system and hrp/hrc. Major advances that significantly impacted practical disease management include the deployment and management of host resistance genes; the application of disease models and forecasting systems; the introduction of modern systemic fungicides and host resistance inducers, along with a better understanding of fungicide resistance mechanisms and management; and the utilization of biological controls and suppressive soils, including the implementation of methyl-bromide alternatives. In this special issue, experts from the pertinent fields review the discovery process, recent progress, and impacts of some of the highest ranked discoveries in each category while also pointing out future directions for new discoveries in fundamental and applied plant pathology.

The Keys to Controlling Wheat Rusts: Identification and Deployment of Genetic Resistance.

Rust diseases are among the major constraints for wheat production worldwide due to the emergence and spread of highly destructive races of Puccinia. The most common approach to minimise yield losses due to rust is to use cultivars that are genetically resistant. Modern wheat cultivars, landraces, and wild relatives can contain undiscovered resistance genes, which typically encode kinase or nucleotide-binding site leucine rich repeat domain containing receptor proteins. Recent research has shown these genes can provide either resistance in all growth stages (all-stage resistance; ASR) or specially in later growth stages (adult-plant resistance; APR). ASR genes are pathogen and race-specific, meaning they can function against selected races of the rust fungus due to the necessity to recognise specific avirulence molecules in the pathogen. APR genes are either pathogen specific or multipathogen resistant but often race-nonspecific. Prediction of resistance genes through rust infection screening alone remains complex when more than one resistance gene is present. However, breakthroughs during the past half century such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) based genotyping techniques and resistance gene isolation strategies such as MutRenSeq (Mutagenesis, Resistance gene enrichment and Sequencing), MutChromSeq (Mutagenesis and Chromosome Sequencing), and AgRenSeq (Association genetics combined with RenSeq) enable rapid transfer of resistance from source to modern cultivars. There is a strong need for combining multiple genes for better efficacy and longer-lasting resistance. Hence techniques such gene cassette creation speed up the gene combination process, but their widespread adoption and commercial use is limited due to their transgenic nature.