Intersectionality, Resistance, and History-Making: A Conversation Between Carolyn D'Cruz, Ruth DeSouza, Samia Khatun, and Crystal McKinnon, Facilitated by Jordana Silverstein

A good, solid, history-writing practice is one which, I think, shakes people's ideas of the world and their place in it, compelling them to imagine new social, cultural and political formations which can provide an account of life. Kimberle Crenshaw's development of the term 'intersectionality', and the ways it has been taken up by people of colour within the academy internationally, as well as by activists, provides one example of such imaginative work. Because when you spend some time in the Australian History academic scene, at conferences, in departments, talking to other academics, it's quickly noticeable that one of its key features is its hegemonic whiteness. Even in those spaces that aspire to avoid whiteness, it's inescapable, visible daily, as well as in the themes at conferences, the keynote speakers chosen, the food served, the knowledge shared. When it came time for the Australian Women's History Network conference in 2016, which carried the theme of 'Intersections in History', it felt like this could provide a way of modelling a different kind of Australian academic History space. What would a conversation look like that skipped over the presence of white Anglo Australians, I wondered? What if we just left them to the side? What if we gathered together some of the smartest, sharpest thinkers in Melbourne academia, and spoke amongst ourselves, coming up with new formations of knowledge? And so we did: Crystal, Samia, Ruth and Carolyn gathered together, I asked them some questions, and we had a conversation that, in numerous ways, challenged white hegemonies. We've recreated some of that conversation below, as a way of continuing to think together, and to find new ways of making this thinking public

Panorama quantitativo dos programas de pós-graduação stricto sensu em tecnologia da informação no Brasil

Com apenas 40 anos de existência, a Tecnologia da Informação (TI) tem sido objeto de estudo de diferentes áreas de pesquisa, tais como Administração, Computação, Ciências Sociais, Ciência da Informação e Comunicação. O objetivo desta pesquisa é apresentar um panorama quantitativo dos Programas de Pós-graduação Stricto Sensu na área de Tecnologia da Informação no Brasil. Para a realização desta pesquisa documental de abordagem quantitativa utilizou-se a Plataforma Sucupira da CAPES para a coleta de dados, tendo como recorte a coleta de dados em efetuada em dezembro de 2016. Os principais resultados auferidos indicam a existência de 249 cursos distribuídos em 178 Programas estabelecidos no país. Há 76 cursos de doutorado, 138 mestrados acadêmicos e 35 mestrados profissionais distribuídos em 97 Instituições de Ensino Superior. Assim, treze das 49 áreas de avaliação da CAPES têm cursos embasados com esta temática, com destaque para ‘Ciência da Computação’, além das áreas ‘Interdisciplinar’, ‘Comunicação e Informação’ e ‘Engenharias IV’, predominantemente com notas de avaliação ‘4’ e ‘3’. Há maior presença de Programas na Região Sudeste Cita sugerida: F. L. Falchi de Magalhães, R. Del Raso Garcia, C. Coutinho Gonçalves de Souza, R. dos Santos Sartoratto, E. C. Costa Pastore Franco, M. A. Gaspar, “Panorama Quantitativo dos Programas de Pós-graduação Stricto Sensu em Tecnologia da Informação no Brasil,” Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnología en Educación y Educación en Tecnología, Nº 21, pp. 52-61, 2018. DOI: 10.24215/18509959.21.e06 do Brasil, notadamente nos estados de São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro e Minas Gerais, sendo que as universidades federais se destacam perante outras instituições de ensino superior. Conclui-se que a TI como escopo de pesquisas está em plena expansão no país, sendo a sua abrangência interdisciplinar constatada nesta pesquisa.With only 40 years of existence, Information Technology (IT) has been the object of study of different areas of research, such as Administration, Computing, Social Sciences, Information Science and Communication. This research aims to present a quantitative overview of the postgraduate programs in the area of Information Technology in Brazil. To accomplish this goal, a quantitative approach was performed by a documental research and the Sucupira/CAPES Platform was used for the data collection proceed in December 2016. The main results indicate the existence of 249 courses distributed in 178 Postgraduate Programs offered in the country. There are 76 doctorates courses, 138 academic masters and 35 professional masters, distributed in 97 Higher Education Institutions. Thus, 13 of 49 areas CAPES’ evaluation have courses based in this topic, with emphasis on ‘Computer Science’, ‘Interdisciplinary’, ‘Communication and Information’, and ‘Electrical Engineering’, predominantly with ‘4’ and ‘3’ grades in CAPES’ evaluation. There is greater presence of Postgraduate Programs in the Southeast Region, notably the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, and the Federal universities stand out to other higher education institutions. As a conclusion, IT is in expansion, and IT is increasing its interdisciplinary scope.Facultad de Informátic

Patterns and universals of mate poaching across 53 nations : the effects of sex, culture, and personality on romantically attracting another person’s partner

As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, 16,954 participants from 53 nations were administered an anonymous survey about experiences with romantic attraction. Mate poaching--romantically attracting someone who is already in a relationship--was most common in Southern Europe, South America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe and was relatively infrequent in Africa, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Evolutionary and social-role hypotheses received empirical support. Men were more likely than women to report having made and succumbed to short-term poaching across all regions, but differences between men and women were often smaller in more gender-egalitarian regions. People who try to steal another's mate possess similar personality traits across all regions, as do those who frequently receive and succumb to the poaching attempts by others. The authors conclude that human mate-poaching experiences are universally linked to sex, culture, and the robust influence of personal dispositions.peer-reviewe

Are men universally more dismissing than women? Gender differences in romantic attachment across 62 cultural regions

The authors thank Susan Sprecher (USA), Del Paulhus (Canada), Glenn D. Wilson (England), Qazi Rahman (England), Alois Angleitner (Germany), Angelika Hofhansl (Austria), Tamio Imagawa (Japan), Minoru Wada (Japan), Junichi Taniguchi (Japan), and Yuji Kanemasa (Japan) for helping with data collection and contributing significantly to the samples used in this study.Gender differences in the dismissing form of adult romantic attachment were investigated as part of the International Sexuality Description Project—a survey study of 17,804 people from 62 cultural regions. Contrary to research findings previously reported in Western cultures, we found that men were not significantly more dismissing than women across all cultural regions. Gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment were evident in most cultures, but were typically only small to moderate in magnitude. Looking across cultures, the degree of gender differentiation in dismissing romantic attachment was predictably associated with sociocultural indicators. Generally, these associations supported evolutionary theories of romantic attachment, with smaller gender differences evident in cultures with high–stress and high–fertility reproductive environments. Social role theories of human sexuality received less support in that more progressive sex–role ideologies and national gender equity indexes were not cross–culturally linked as expected to smaller gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment.peer-reviewe

The impact of employee level and work stress on mental health and GP service use: an analysis of a sample of Australian government employees

BACKGROUND: This study sought to identify the extent to which employee level and work stressors were associated with mental health problems experienced by Australian government employees, and with their use of primary care services. METHODS: 806 government employees aged between 40 and 44 years were surveyed as part of an epidemiological study conducted in Australia. Data collected from participants included sociodemographic attributes, physical health, psychological measures and work stressors relating to job control, job demands, job security and skills discretion at work. For 88% of these participants, information on visits made to general practitioners (GPs) for the six months before and after their survey interview was obtained from health insurance records. RESULTS: When work stress and personal factors were taken into account, men at more junior levels reported better mental health, more positive affect and used fewer GP services. Women at middle-management levels obtained less GP care than their more senior counterparts. Both men and women who reported higher levels of work stress were found to have poorer mental health and well-being. The impact of such stressors on GP service use, however, differed for men and women. CONCLUSION: Measures of work stress and not employee level affect the mental health and well-being of government employees. For governments with responsibility for funding health care services, reducing work stress experienced by their own employees offers potential benefits by improving the health of their workforce and reducing outlays for such services

A inclusão dos migrantes internacionais nas políticas do sistema de saúde brasileiro: o caso dos haitianos no Amazonas

Resumo A partir do enfoque etnográfico sobre as redes sociais articuladas em torno da questão do imigrante no Amazonas, o artigo reflete sobre como o Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) respondeu às demandas colocadas por um contingente inesperado de novos usuários, tendo em vista os princípios doutrinários que lhe dão sustentação, especialmente o da equidade. O foco é a onda de imigração haitiana rumo ao Brasil, iniciada em fevereiro de 2010 pelos estados fronteiriços da região Norte: Acre, Rondônia e Amazonas, concentrando-se neste último, descrevendo alguns aspectos do período mais crítico da imigração (entre março de 2010 e março de 2012) e sua recepção pelo SUS

Mechanism-free repurposing of drugs for C9orf72-related ALS/FTD using large-scale genomic data

Repeat expansions in the C9orf72 gene are the most common genetic cause of (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Like other genetic forms of neurodegeneration, pinpointing the precise mechanism(s) by which this mutation leads to neuronal death remains elusive, and this lack of knowledge hampers the development of therapy for C9orf72-related disease. We used an agnostic approach based on genomic data (n = 41,273 ALS and healthy samples, and n = 1,516 C9orf72 carriers) to overcome these bottlenecks. Our drug-repurposing screen, based on gene- and expression-pattern matching and information about the genetic variants influencing onset age among C9orf72 carriers, identified acamprosate, a γ-aminobutyric acid analog, as a potentially repurposable treatment for patients carrying C9orf72 repeat expansions. We validated its neuroprotective effect in cell models and showed comparable efficacy to riluzole, the current standard of care. Our work highlights the potential value of genomics in repurposing drugs in situations where the underlying pathomechanisms are inherently complex. VIDEO ABSTRACT.</p

Multi-ancestry GWAS of the electrocardiographic PR interval identifies 202 loci underlying cardiac conduction

The electrocardiographic PR interval reflects atrioventricular conduction, and is associated with conduction abnormalities, pacemaker implantation, atrial fibrillation (AF), and cardiovascular mortality. Here we report a multi-ancestry (N=293,051) genome-wide association meta-analysis for the PR interval, discovering 202 loci of which 141 have not previously been reported. Variants at identified loci increase the percentage of heritability explained, from 33.5% to 62.6%. We observe enrichment for cardiac muscle developmental/contractile and cytoskeletal genes, highlighting key regulation processes for atrioventricular conduction. Additionally, 8 loci not previously reported harbor genes underlying inherited arrhythmic syndromes and/or cardiomyopathies suggesting a role for these genes in cardiovascular pathology in the general population. We show that polygenic predisposition to PR interval duration is an endophenotype for cardiovascular disease, including distal conduction disease, AF, and atrioventricular pre-excitation. These findings advance our understanding of the polygenic basis of cardiac conduction, and the genetic relationship between PR interval duration and cardiovascular disease. On the electrocardiogram, the PR interval reflects conduction from the atria to ventricles and also serves as risk indicator of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Here, the authors perform genome-wide meta-analyses for PR interval in multiple ancestries and identify 141 previously unreported genetic loci.Peer reviewe

Global maps of soil temperature

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km2 resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km2 pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world\u27s major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (−0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications