Psychological essentialism, implicit theories, and intergroup relations

Research on implicit person theories shows that beliefs about the malleability of human attributes have important implications for social cognition, interpersonal behavior, and intergroup relations. We argue that these implications can be understood within the framework of psychological essentialism, which extends work on implicit theories in promising directions. We review evidence that immutability beliefs covary with a broader set of essentialist beliefs, and that these essentialist beliefs are associated with stereotyping and prejudice. We then present recent studies indicating that associations between implicit person theories and stereotyping may be explained in terms of essentialist beliefs, implying a significant role for these beliefs in the psychology of group perception. Finally, we propose ways in which research and theory on essentialist beliefs might clarify and advance research on implicit person theories.

Making trouble: Ethnographic designs on ruling relations for students and teachers in non-academic pathways

Since 2009, all Australian states require young people to be ‘earning or learning’ until age 17. Secondary schools and vocational colleges now accommodate students for whom the conventional academic pathways of the past were not designed. The paper reflects on a project designed to explore the moral orders in these institutional settings for managing such students in extended compulsory schooling. Originally designed as classroom ethnographies, the project involved observations over three to four weeks and interviews with teachers and students in five sites in towns experiencing high youth unemployment. The project aimed to support teachers to work productively in such classrooms with such students, under the assumption that teachers orchestrate classroom interactions. However, it became clear events in these classrooms were being shaped by relations and parties above and beyond the classroom, as much as by those present. Teachers and students were observed to both comply with, and push against, the layers of policy and institutional processes regulating their behaviours. This paper re-thinks the original project through the gaze and resources of institutional ethnography, to better account for the layers of accountabilities and documentation practices that impacted on both teacher and student behaviours. By tracing the extended webs of ‘ruling relations’, it shows both how teachers and students could make trouble for the institutional moral order, and then be held accountable for this trouble.

Pedagogical relations in the age of big data [Commentary]

Introduction A pedagogical relationship - the relationship produced through teaching and learning - is, according to phenomenologist Max van Maanen, ‘the most profound relationship an adult can have with a child’ (van Maanen 1982). But what does it mean for a teacher to have a ‘profound’ relationship with a student in digital times? What, indeed, is an optimal pedagogical relationship at a time when the exponential proliferation and transformation of information across the globe is making for unprecedented social and cultural change? Does it involve both parties in a Facebook friendship? Being snappy with Snapchat? Tumbling around on Tumblr? There is now ample evidence of a growing trend to displace face-to-face interaction by virtual connections. One effect of these technologically mediated relationships is that a growing number of young people experience relationships as ‘mile-wide, inch-deep’ phenomena. It is timely, in this context, to explore how pedagogical relationships are being transmuted by Big Data, and to ask about the implications this has for current and future generations of professional educators.

Differential processing of thematic and categorical conceptual relations in spoken word production

Studies of semantic context effects in spoken word production have typically distinguished between categorical (or taxonomic) and associative relations. However, associates tend to confound semantic features or morphological representations, such as whole-part relations and compounds (e.g., BOAT-anchor, BEE-hive). Using a picture-word interference paradigm and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we manipulated categorical (COW-rat) and thematic (COW-pasture) TARGET-distractor relations in a balanced design, finding interference and facilitation effects on naming latencies, respectively, as well as differential patterns of brain activation compared with an unrelated distractor condition. While both types of distractor relation activated the middle portion of the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) consistent with retrieval of conceptual or lexical representations, categorical relations involved additional activation of posterior left MTG, consistent with retrieval of a lexical cohort. Thematic relations involved additional activation of the left angular gyrus. These results converge with recent lesion evidence implicating the left inferior parietal lobe in processing thematic relations and may indicate a potential role for this region during spoken word production.

Interference from object part relations in spoken word production: Behavioural and fMRI evidence

Objects presented in categorically related contexts are typically named slower than objects presented in unrelated contexts, a phenomenon termed semantic interference. However, not all semantic relationships induce interference. In the present study, we investigated the influence of object part-relations in the blocked cyclic naming paradigm. In Experiment 1 we established that an object's parts do induce a semantic interference effect when named in context compared to unrelated parts (e.g., leaf, root, nut, bark; for tree). In Experiment 2) we replicated the effect during perfusion functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify the cerebral regions involved. The interference effect was associated with significant perfusion signal increases in the hippocampal formation and decreases in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We failed to observe significant perfusion signal changes in the left lateral temporal lobe, a region that shows reliable activity for interference effects induced by categorical relations in the same paradigm and is proposed to mediate lexical-semantic processing. We interpret these results as supporting recent explanations of semantic interference in blocked cyclic naming that implicate working memory mechanisms. However, given the failure to observe significant perfusion signal changes in the left temporal lobe, the results provide only partial support for accounts that assume semantic interference in this paradigm arises solely due to lexical-level processes.

Food justice or food sovereignty? Understanding the rise of urban food movements in the USA

As world food and fuel prices threaten expanding urban populations, there is greater need for the urban poor to have access and claims over how and where food is produced and distributed. This is especially the case in marginalized urban settings where high proportions of the population are food insecure. The global movement for food sovereignty has been one attempt to reclaim rights and participation in the food system and challenge corporate food regimes. However, given its origins from the peasant farmers' movement, La Via Campesina, food sovereignty is often considered a rural issue when increasingly its demands for fair food systems are urban in nature. Through interviews with scholars, urban food activists, non-governmental and grassroots organizations in Oakland and New Orleans in the United States of America, we examine the extent to which food sovereignty has become embedded as a concept, strategy and practice. We consider food sovereignty alongside other dominant US social movements such as food justice, and find that while many organizations do not use the language of food sovereignty explicitly, the motives behind urban food activism are similar across movements as local actors draw on elements of each in practice. Overall, however, because of the different histories, geographic contexts, and relations to state and capital, food justice and food sovereignty differ as strategies and approaches. We conclude that the US urban food sovereignty movement is limited by neoliberal structural contexts that dampen its approach and radical framework. Similarly, we see restrictions on urban food justice movements that are also operating within a broader framework of market neoliberalism. However, we find that food justice was reported as an approach more aligned with the socio-historical context in both cities, due to its origins in broader class and race struggles.

Speaking the bitter truth: The role of the creative imagination in the process of healing

This chapter is concerned with the complexity and difficulty of truth telling as it is played out in two graphic novels: Stitches: A Memoir (Small 2009) and Why We Broke Up (Handler & Kalman, 2011). These texts establish a link between creative imagination and pain as the central protagonists come to see the therapeutic value of literature and film in helping them understand the complex emotional worlds they inhabit and the bitter truths about love and relationships. The discussion examines how these texts privilege a particular kind of independent subjectivity through aesthetic creation and appropriation. It also considers how speaking and silence are co-present elements in gender relations and each has its part to play in the double process of suffering and healing.

HLA class I associations of ankylosing spondylitis in the white population in the United Kingdom

Objective - To investigate the HLA class I associations of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in the white population, with particular reference to HLA-B27 subtypes. Methods - HLA-B27 and -B60 typing was performed in 284 white patients with AS. Allele frequencies of HLA-B27 and HLA-B60 from 5926 white bone marrow donors were used for comparison. HLA-B27 subtyping was performed by single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) in all HLA-B27 positive AS patients, and 154 HLA-B27 positive ethnically matched blood donors. Results - The strong association of HLA-B27 and AS was confirmed (odds ratio (OR) 171, 95% confidence interval (CI) 135 to 218; p < 10-99). The association of HLA-B60 with AS was confirmed in HLA-B27 positive cases (OR 3.6, 95% CI 2.1 to 6.3; p < 5 x 10-5), and a similar association was demonstrated in HLA-B27 negative AS (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.1 to 11.4; p < 0.05). No significant difference was observed in the frequencies of HLA-B27 allelic subtypes in patients and controls (HLA-B*2702, three of 172 patients v five of 154 controls; HLA-B*2705, 169 of 172 patients v 147 of 154 controls; HkA-B*2708, none of 172 patients v two of 154 controls), and no novel HLA-B27 alleles were detected. Conclusion - HLA-B27 and -B60 are associated with susceptibility to AS, but differences in BLA-B27 subtype do not affect susceptibility to AS in this white population.

Dissection of class III major histocompatibility complex haplotypes associated with rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. We have previously identified a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) haplotype involving the lymphotoxin α (LTA) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) loci (termed haplotype LTA-TNF2) on chromosome 6 that shows differential association with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on HLA-DRB1*0404 and *0401 haplotypes, suggesting the presence of additional non-HLA-DRB1 RA susceptibility genes on these haplotypes. To refine this association, we performed a case-control association study using both SNPs and microsatellite markers in haplotypes matched either for HLA-DRB1*0404 or for HLA-DRB1*0401. Methods. Fourteen SNPs lying between HLA-DRB1 and LTA were genotyped in 87 DRB1*04-positive families. High-density microsatellite typing was performed using 24 markers spanning 2,500 kb centered around the TNF gene in 305 DRB1*0401 or *0404 cases and 400 DRB1*0401 or *0404 controls. Single-marker, 2-marker, and 3-marker minihaplotypes were constructed and their frequencies compared between the DRB1*0401 and DRB1*0404 matched case and control haplotypes. Results. Marked preservation of major histocompatibility complex haplotypes was seen, with chromosomes carrying LTA-TNF2 and either DRB1*0401 or DRB1*0404 both carrying an identical SNP haplotype across the 1-Mb region between TNF and HLA-DRB1. Using microsatellite markers, we observed two 3-marker minihaplotypes that were significantly overrepresented in the DRB1*0404 case haplotypes (P = 0.00024 and P = 0.00097). Conclusion. The presence of a single extended SNP haplotype between LTA-TNF2 and both DRB1*0401 and DRB1*0404 is evidence against this region harboring the genetic effects in linkage disequillbrium with LTA-TNF2. Two RA-associated haplotypes on the background of DRB1*0404 were identified in a 126-kb region surrounding and centromeric to the TNF locus.

On robust face recognition via sparse coding: The good, the bad and the ugly

In the field of face recognition, sparse representation (SR) has received considerable attention during the past few years, with a focus on holistic descriptors in closed-set identification applications. The underlying assumption in such SR-based methods is that each class in the gallery has sufficient samples and the query lies on the subspace spanned by the gallery of the same class. Unfortunately, such an assumption is easily violated in the face verification scenario, where the task is to determine if two faces (where one or both have not been seen before) belong to the same person. In this study, the authors propose an alternative approach to SR-based face verification, where SR encoding is performed on local image patches rather than the entire face. The obtained sparse signals are pooled via averaging to form multiple region descriptors, which then form an overall face descriptor. Owing to the deliberate loss of spatial relations within each region (caused by averaging), the resulting descriptor is robust to misalignment and various image deformations. Within the proposed framework, they evaluate several SR encoding techniques: l1-minimisation, Sparse Autoencoder Neural Network (SANN) and an implicit probabilistic technique based on Gaussian mixture models. Thorough experiments on AR, FERET, exYaleB, BANCA and ChokePoint datasets show that the local SR approach obtains considerably better and more robust performance than several previous state-of-the-art holistic SR methods, on both the traditional closed-set identification task and the more applicable face verification task. The experiments also show that l1-minimisation-based encoding has a considerably higher computational cost when compared with SANN-based and probabilistic encoding, but leads to higher recognition rates.

Common variants in the HLA-DRB1-HLA-DQA1 HLA class II region are associated with susceptibility to visceral leishmaniasis

To identify susceptibility loci for visceral leishmaniasis, we undertook genome-wide association studies in two populations: 989 cases and 1,089 controls from India and 357 cases in 308 Brazilian families (1,970 individuals). The HLA-DRB1-HLA-DQA1 locus was the only region to show strong evidence of association in both populations. Replication at this region was undertaken in a second Indian population comprising 941 cases and 990 controls, and combined analysis across the three cohorts for rs9271858 at this locus showed P combined = 2.76 × 10 -17 and odds ratio (OR) = 1.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.30-1.52. A conditional analysis provided evidence for multiple associations within the HLA-DRB1-HLA-DQA1 region, and a model in which risk differed between three groups of haplotypes better explained the signal and was significant in the Indian discovery and replication cohorts. In conclusion, the HLA-DRB1-HLA-DQA1 HLA class II region contributes to visceral leishmaniasis susceptibility in India and Brazil, suggesting shared genetic risk factors for visceral leishmaniasis that cross the epidemiological divides of geography and parasite species. © 2013 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.

Fine mapping of the MHC Class III region demonstrates association of AIF1 and rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. The heritability of RA has been estimated to be ∼55%, of which the MHC contributes about one-third. HLA-DRB1 alleles are strongly associated with RA, but it is likely that significant non-DRB1 MHC genetic susceptibility factors are involved. Previously, we identified two three-marker haplotypes in a 106-kb region in the MHC class III region immediately centromeric to TNF, which are strongly associated with RA on HLA-DRB1*0404 haplotypes. In the present study, we aimed to refine these associations further using a combination of genotyping and gene expression studies. Methods. Thirty-nine nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 95 DRB1*0404 carrying unrelated RA cases, 125 DRB1*0404 - carrying healthy controls and 87 parent-case trio RA families in which the affected child carried HLA-DRB1*04. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to assess the expression of the positional candidate MHC class III genes APOM, BAT2, BAT3, BAT4, BAT5, AIF1, C6orf47, CSNK2β and LY6G5C, and the housekeeper genes, hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) and β2-microglobulin (B2M) in 31 RA cases and 21 ethnically, age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Synovial membrane specimens from RA, PsA and OA cases were stained by an indirect immunoperoxidase technique using a mouse-anti-human AIF1 monoclonal antibody. Results. Association was observed between RA and single markers or two marker haplotypes involving AIF1, BAT3 and CSNK. AIF1 was also significantly overexpressed in RA mononuclear cells (1.5- to 1.9-fold difference, P = 0.02 vs HPRT, P = 0.002 vs B2M). AIF1 protein was clearly expressed by synovial macrophages in all the inflammatory synovial samples in contrast to the non-inflammatory OA samples. Conclusions. The results of the genotyping and expression studies presented here suggest a role for AIF1 in both the aetiology and pathogenesis of RA.

Localization of type 1 diabetes susceptibility to the MHC class I genes HLA-B and HLA-A

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on chromosome 6 is associated with susceptibility to more common diseases than any other region of the human genome, including almost all disorders classified as autoimmune. In type 1 diabetes the major genetic susceptibility determinants have been mapped to the MHC class II genes HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DRB1 (refs 1–3), but these genes cannot completely explain the association between type 1 diabetes and the MHC region4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Owing to the region's extreme gene density, the multiplicity of disease-associated alleles, strong associations between alleles, limited genotyping capability, and inadequate statistical approaches and sample sizes, which, and how many, loci within the MHC determine susceptibility remains unclear. Here, in several large type 1 diabetes data sets, we analyse a combined total of 1,729 polymorphisms, and apply statistical methods—recursive partitioning and regression...

A New Class Of Photo-Cross-Linkable Side-Chain Liquid Crystalline Polymers Containing Bis(Benzylidene)Cyclohexanone Units

This paper reports a new class of photo-cross-linkable side chain liquid crystalline polymers (PSCLCPs) based on the bis(benzylidene)cyclohexanone unit, which functions as both a mesogen and a photoactive center. Polymers with the bis(benzylidene)cyclohexanone unit and varying spacer length have been synthesized. Copolymers of bis(benzylidene)cyclohexanone containing monomer and cholesterol benzoate containing monomer with different compositions have also been prepared. All these polymers have been structurally characterized by spectroscopic techniques. Thermal transitions were studied by DSC, and mesophases were identified by polarized light optical microscopy (POM). The intermediate compounds OH-x, the monomers SCLCM-x, and the corresponding polymers PSCLCP-x, which are essentially based on bis(benzylidene)cyclohexanone, all show a nematic mesophase. Transition temperatures were observed to decrease with increasing spacer length. The copolymers with varying compositions exhibit a cholesteric mesophase, and the transition temperatures increase with the cholesteric benzoate units in the copolymer. Photolysis of the low molecular weight liquid crystalline bis(benzylidene)-cyclohexanone compound reveals that there are two kinds of photoreactions in these systems: the EZ photoisomerization and 2 pi + 2 pi addition. The EZ photoisomerization in the LC phase disrupts the parallel stacking of the mesogens, resulting in the transition from the LC phase to the isotropic phase. The photoreaction involving the 2 pi + 2 pi addition of the bis(benzylidene)cyclohexanone units in the polymer results in the cross-linking of the chains. The liquid crystalline induced circular dichroism (LCICD) studies of the cholesterol benzoate copolymers revealed that the cholesteric supramolecular order remains even after the photo-cross-linking.