bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Advances in electron beam technology for environmental and biotechnological applications at Fraunhofer FEP
Authors: Teichmann T , Dincklage L , Schaap L L , Schreuder D , Blüthner R , Winckler F , Schopf S , König U , Zimmermann B , Mattausch G
Published: February 2023

An expanding part of electron beam technology developed at Fraunhofer FEP tackles ecological and biotechnological challenges of highest relevance. Antimicrobial and fungicidal effects of electron beam are exploited in the chemical-free phytosanitary treatment of seeds. Chemical pollutants but also pathogens in gaseous effluents and waste water can be efficiently neutralized. Medical products such as tools, packaging and implants can be sterilized, disinfected, or even biologically advantageously functionalized. Viruses can be inactivated via electron beam to produce vaccines with an excellent antigen conservation leading to a high degree of immunization with good reproducibility, but without the usage of additional chemicals. Plasma synthesis in electron beam-sustained discharges allows for an exceptionally efficient energy transfer to non-reactive greenhouse gases like CO2 and CH4 and is a promising approach to the economical, scalable production of media for sustainable chemical energy storage (Power to X - PtX), driving the energy transition and reducing greenhouse gases. The publication gives an overview of the recent advances of electron beam technology at Fraunhofer FEP in these emerging fields of application.
Climate and air pollution impacts of generating biopower from forest management residues in California
Authors: Fingerman Kevin R , Qiriazi Jerome , Barrientos Cassidy L , Blasdel Max , Comnick Jeffrey M , Harris Andrew R , Geronimo Carisse , Hsu Chih-Wei , Kane Jeffrey M , Oneil Elaine , Rios-Romero Sabrinna , Rogers Luke W , Severy Mark , Wright Micah C
Published: February 2023

California faces crisis conditions on its forested landscapes. A century of aggressive logging and fire suppression in combination with conditions exacerbated by climate change have created an ongoing ecological, economic, and public health emergency. Between commercial harvests on California’s working forestlands and the increasing number of acres the state treats each year for fire risk reduction and carbon sequestration, California forests generate millions of tons of woody residues annually—residues that are typically left or burned in the field. State policymakers have turned to biomass electricity generation as a key market for woody biomass in the hope that it can support sustainable forest management activities while also providing low-carbon renewable electricity. However, open questions surrounding the climate and air pollution performance of electricity generation from woody biomass have made it difficult to determine how best to manage the risks and opportunities posed by forest residues. The California Biomass Residue Emissions Characterization (C-BREC) model offers a spatially-explicit life cycle assessment framework to rigorously and transparently establish the climate and air pollution impacts of biopower from forest residues in California under current conditions. The C-BREC model characterizes the variable emissions from different biomass supply chains as well as the counterfactual emissions from prescribed burn, wildfire, and decay avoided by residue mobilization. We find that the life cycle ‘carbon footprint’ of biopower from woody residues generated by recent forest treatments in California ranges widely—from comparable with solar photovoltaic on the low end to comparable with natural gas on the high end. This variation stems largely from the heterogeneity in the fire and decay conditions these residues would encounter if left in the field, with utilization of residue that would otherwise have been burned in place offering the best climate and air quality performance. California’s energy and forest management policies should account for this variation to ensure desired climate benefits are achieved.
Enhanced Asian warming increases Arctic amplification
Authors: Xie Yongkun , Huang Jianping , Wu Guoxiong , Lei Nan , Liu Yimin
Published: February 2023

The Arctic has been experiencing prominent warming amplification. However, despite anthropogenic emissions and oceanic variability, whether Arctic amplification has a connection with land in the lower latitudes remains unknown. Here, we newly identify enhanced Asian warming as a factor underlying Arctic amplification. The simulations demonstrate that enhanced Asian warming contributes 22% of the wintertime amplified warming over the Barents–Kara Seas (BKS). We demonstrate that Asian warming remotely affects the Arctic by affecting poleward atmospheric heat and moisture transport. The external anomalous heat and moisture further trigger local feedbacks concerning sea ice-albedo feedback and changes in longwave radiation and evaporation, thus facilitating BKS warming amplification. The capacitor effect of the Arctic Ocean further modulates the seasonality of BKS warming via turbulent heat flux exchange between the atmosphere and ocean. Moreover, anomalous Rossby wave trains are responsible for the anomalous atmospheric circulations favoring the atmospheric heat and moisture transport into BKS. Our findings illuminate a new factor from remote lower latitudes affecting Arctic climate change.
Kaingin farming practices of Hanunuo farmers in Paclolo, Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines
Authors: Calitang G L , Orpiano R G
Published: February 2023

Employing the descriptive method of research, this study was conducted to determine the “kaingin” farming practices of the Hanunuos in the indigenous communities of Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro. A set of items was developed, validated, and used as interview schedule in gathering data from the 60 Hanunuo farmers. Focus group discussion was also conducted. Frequency and percentage distribution, standard deviation, and weighted means were used. The Hanunuo farmers were middle aged (mean=42 years old); mostly females; elementary undergraduate; affiliated to at least one organization; and had long farming experience in a 1.03-hectare “kaingin” farm acquired through Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title. Their “kaingin” farm productivity was low, mainly from rice and corn. Legumes, root crops, vegetables and fruit crops were likewise grown. Similar to other “kaingin” farmers, the Hanunuos adopted mixed or diversified cropping, direct sowing, zero tillage, no fertilization, and less use of chemicals. Harvesting was manual and they practiced sun drying and seed storage. Confronted by low yields and income, technical support services must be provided to enhance farm productivity, and crops that could maximize the potential of “kaingin” farms must be identified. They must be properly educated for the protection and conservation of upland resources.
Agroforestry System Based on Local Wisdom for Small Island Communities
Authors: Arafah Nur , Hidrawati
Published: February 2023

The communities of small islands have local wisdom in the agroforestry system as a form of adaptation to agricultural technology in a dry land with dry climates. This study aims to find and explain agroforestry systems based on local wisdom in small islands. The study was conducted in April-December 2021. The case study is located on Wangi-Wangi Island, Wakatobi Regency, Southeast Sulawesi Province with the consideration that this area can represent the characteristics of the agroforestry system in small island communities in the Southeast Sulawesi archipelago. Data were collected through observation, interviews, and literature studies using the triangulation method. Data were analyzed descriptively and qualitatively using historical and phenomenological approaches. The results showed that there were agroforestry systems based on local wisdom, namely weli’a, rawu’a, and ontoala. The three systems are applied to different topographical characteristics of the land and have been proven to be socially, economically, and ecologically beneficial.
Agroforestry as Rehabilitation Strategy System in Orang Kayo Hitam Peat Swamp Park Forest, Jambi - Indonesia
Authors: Wulandari C , Iswandaru D , Novriyanti N
Published: February 2023

Tropical peat forest ecosystems are unique and have multiple social, economic, and ecological benefits. Factors such as excessive drainage and frequent fires cause peatland degradation. Rehabilitation of deforested and drained tropical peat swamp forests is globally relevant in the context of deforestation and forest degradation. One management system that can be implemented in these conditions combines crops and forest plants (agroforestry). The challenges of the agroforestry application strategy in forest parks are the status of the land, which is a conservation area, and the characteristics of the surrounding community and field conditions. Based on these conditions, it is necessary to conduct this research to support the Orang Kayo Hitam (OKH) forest park development strategy appropriately. The research was conducted in May – June 2021 and used Force Field Analysis based on the opinions of 231 respondents. Based on the research results, it is known that respondents stated that the highest internal driving force is motivation to improve family’s economic from agroforestry products (score 52) and the external one is availability of endemic plants (score 45). The respondent’s opinion about the highest internal inhibiting factor is related to public knowledge of benefits from endemic plant species (score 39), while for external is related to market networks for Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP) market (score 43).
Influence of Biochar and Biofertilizer Mixture on Coffea spp. Planted in an Agroforestry Ecosystem
Authors: Victoria K S , Gonzales K K M P , Gestiada E C , Aggangan N S
Published: February 2023

Coffee (Coffea spp.) is considered as one of the high-value commercial crops of the world. The study assessed the growth of mature and fruiting coffee in an already-established agroforestry ecosystems amended with biofertilizer, biochar, and vermicompost mixture. Field experiments were conducted on three coffee farms within the provinces of Laguna and Batangas, Luzon Island, Philippines (coded as Sta. Maria (Laguna), Lipa1 and Lipa2 (Batangas) with treatments: control, MYKORICH® biofertilizer (MRICH), 15% bamboo biochar (BB) and MRICH+BB. All trees were applied with one kg vermicompost per tree during the start of the experiment applied at 3-4 in below the soil surface, half m away from the base of the tree. MRICH+BB consistently gave a high significant increase of 221% stem diameter increment in Sta. Maria and 214% in Lipa2 after six months to three years. In Lipa1, BB treatment gave the highest increment (20.75 mm). Soil in Sta. Maria gave the highest spore count (136 per 50 g soil) when treated with MRICH. MRICH also promoted the highest nitrogen-fixing bacterial count (15.43 CFU x 106) in Lipa2. Highest fruit yield was gathered from MRICH+BB in Sta. Maria (2,010 g per tree) and Lipa1 (1,640 g per tree) while MRICH in Lipa2 (1,390 g tree). Positive effect was also observed on soil physico-chemical characteristics (OM, N, P, K, CEC) when inoculated with either MRICH or MRICH+BB treatments. These findings can be of significance to develop a low-input sustainable system on agroforestry soils using combined biofertilizers, biochar and vermicompost.
Urban Forestry in Kota Kinabalu: Home Garden practices by urban villages for biodiversity, socio-economic and environmental services
Authors: Kodoh J , Jaunis O , Maid M , Lintangah W , Mojiol A R
Published: February 2023

The growing urbanization has greatly reduced biodiversity. Home gardening is a crucial approach for biodiversity preservation, particularly in metropolitan settings with a dearth of green spaces. The goal of this study is to determine the types of trees and crops growing in urban villages in Kota Kinabalu, as well as the socioeconomic and environmental benefits that urban residents receive from their home gardens, which serve as urban forests. In four urban villages, the data were gathered through observation and household questionnaires. Interviews have been conducted with 217 respondents in total. The results showed that the respondents planted a total of 14 different crop and tree types, with Misai Kucing (Orthosiphon stamineus) and mango tree (Mangifera spp.), Pandan (Pandanus sp.) and Red Onion (Allium ascalonicum) being the most popular trees and crops. The garden’s key contributions were lowering the temperature in the residential areas and as a leisure activity area. There was little correlation between the social benefit of urban forestry and the function of home gardens such as for food supply, medicinal use and hobby. Due to the small-scale home gardens, the economic contribution was little but complemented domestic requirements. The promotion of agroforestry systems in urban areas needs to be stepped up to preserve biodiversity, meet the demand for food and medicine, and provide environmental benefits.
Financial feasibility analysis of Shorea balangeran as a paludiculture species for peatland restoration in Central Kalimantan
Authors: Ardhana A , Yuwati T W , Hidayat D C
Published: February 2023

Shorea balangeran is a potential paludicultural commodity for industry and a medicinal commodity for malaria, diabetes, and diarrhea. This type of plant has proven to be very good for peatland restoration, but it takes a long time to take advantage of the timber. This study aims to analyze the financial feasibility of the S. balangeran plant cultivation business in Tanjung Taruna village. Primary data were gathered through interviews with farmers who grow S. balangeran, while secondary data for some of the assumptions used were gathered from a variety of related literature. The analysis showed that the cultivation was quite feasible, with a positive NPV of IDR. 13,131,668. However, from the calculation of IRR 12%, BCR 1.01, and PP 20 years, it was clear that the business was feasible with a high risk if planted in monoculture. Therefore, the cultivation of S. balangeran needs to be done through intercropping or agroforestry.
Pulsed gas–liquid discharge plasma catalytic degradation of bisphenol A over graphene/CdS: process parameters optimization and O3 activation mechanism analysis
Authors: JIANG 姜 Nan 楠 , LI 李 Xuechuan 学川 , LI 李 Ju 举 , LI 李 Jie 杰 , LIAO 廖 Bing 兵 , PENG 彭 Bangfa 邦发 , LIU 刘 Guo 国
Published: February 2023

In the present work, pulsed gas–liquid hybrid discharge plasma coupled with graphene/CdS catalyst was evaluated to eliminate bisphenol A (BPA) in wastewater. The optimization of a series of process parameters was performed in terms of BPA degradation performance. The experimental results demonstrated that nearly 90% of BPA (20 mg l−1) in the synthetic wastewater (pH = 7.5, σ = 10 μS m−1) was degraded by the plasma catalytic system over 0.2 g l−1 graphene/CdS at 19 kV with a 4 l min−1 air flow rate and 10 mm electrode gap within 60 min. The BPA removal rate increased with increasing the discharge voltage and decreasing the initial BPA concentration or solution conductivity. Nevertheless, either too high or too low an air flow rate, electrode gap, catalyst dosage or initial solution pH would lead to a decrease in BPA degradation. Moreover, optical emission spectroscopy was used to gain information on short-lived reactive species formed from the pulsed gas–liquid hybrid discharge plasma system. The results indicated the existence of several highly oxidative free radicals such as ·O and ·OH. Finally, the activation pathway of O3 on the catalyst surface was analyzed by density functional theory.
Gallium-doped zinc oxide: nonlinear reflection and transmission measurements and modeling in the ENZ region
Authors: Ball Adam , Secondo Ray , Diroll Benjamin T , Fomra Dhruv , Ding Kai , Avrutin Vitaly , Özgür Ümit , Kinsey Nathaniel
Published: February 2023

Strong nonlinear materials have been sought after for decades for applications in telecommunications, sensing, and quantum optics. Gallium-doped zinc oxide is a II–VI transparent conducting oxide that shows promising nonlinearities similar to indium tin oxide and aluminum-doped zinc oxide for the telecommunications band. Here we explore its nonlinearities in the epsilon near zero (ENZ) region and show n
2,eff values on the order of 4.5 × 10−3 cm2GW−1 for IR pumping on 200–300 nm thin films. Measuring nonlinear changes in transmission and reflection with a white light source probe in the near-IR while exciting in the near-IR provides data in both time and wavelength. Three films varying in thickness, optical loss, and ENZ crossover wavelength are numerically modeled and compared to experimental data showing agreement for both dispersion and temporal relaxation. In addition, we discuss optimal excitation and probing wavelengths occur around ENZ for thick films but are red-shifted for thin films where our model provides an additional degree of freedom to explore. Obtaining accurate nonlinear measurements is a difficult and time-consuming task where our method in this paper provides experimental and modeled data to the community for an ENZ material of interest.
Ancient Rhetoric
Authors: Jarratt Susan C.
Published: February 2023

In the Greek-speaking cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, effective and artful speech was highly valued: practiced and reflected upon from the time of Homer (ca. 8th-century bce), and conceptualized as “rhetoric” in the 5th and 4th centuries bce. At the moment of its emergence, rhetoric was bifurcated: the new discipline of philosophy denigrated it as a realm of mere opinion and potential deception while teachers and public figures began a process of building from its resources an elaborate edifice of training—a paideia—essential for success in political, legal, and cultural life. Consolidated as the queen of arts in the medieval curriculum, rhetoric was studied by European and Arabic scholars and remained at the center of elite learning for centuries, reaching a high point in the Renaissance, when significant texts of ancient rhetoric were revived. With the study of ancient Greek and Latin languages and literature at its foundation, this model of university education was adopted by colleges in the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. The rise of modern science and the utilitarianism of the Industrial Age eroded this classical foundation in the late 19th century. The rediscovery of ancient rhetoric in 20th-century U.S. university departments of speech communication beginning in the 1920s and 1930s and a decade or so later in the adjacent fields of English and composition studies has brought ancient rhetorical concepts and debates under new scrutiny. A story dominated by readings of Aristotle’s Rhetoric for most of 20th century has been transformed by revisionist reinterpretations from the 1990s onward emphasizing, among other changes, (a) a sophistic line of influence running from classical Athens through the Roman imperial period, (b) a revaluation of epideictic (ceremonial) rhetoric with its wide range of genres, and (c) a shift in periodization to take in late antiquity and the Byzantine era. Twenty-first-century scholars draw on ancient sources to generate new rhetorical conceptions of time, space, energy, and imagination, putting visual and material as well as verbal texts under analysis in this dynamic field of study.
Climate Change Impacts on Cities in the Baltic Sea Region
Authors: Deppisch Sonja
Published: February 2023

While not all projected climate change impacts are affecting especially and directly at all the cities of the Baltic Sea region (bsr), including its basin, those cities expect very different direct as well as indirect impacts of climate change. The impacts are also a matter of location, if the city with its built structures and concentration of population is located in the northern or southern part of this basin, or more inland or directly at the coast. As there are many different definitions in use trying to determine what a city is, also in the different national contexts of the bsr, here it is cities in the sense of being human-dominated densely populated areas, which are also characterized by higher concentrations of built-up areas, infrastructure, and soil-sealing as well as socioeconomic roles than rural settlements are. Those characteristics render cities also especially vulnerable to climate change impacts while there are some opportunities arising too.

There are many studies on climate change impacts on the Baltic Sea itself as well as on the various ecosystems, but the studies on the observed as well as potential future impacts of climate change on cities are disperse, many are also of a national character or concentrating on a small number of cases, leaving some cities not well studied at all. This renders an all-encompassing picture on the cities within the bsr difficult and even more complicated as every city provides a mix of built-up and open structures, of socioeconomic structure and role in a region, nation-state, or even on an international level, and further characteristics. Their urban development is dependent on manifold various interdependencies as well as climatic and nonclimatic drivers, such as, to name just a few diverse examples, urban to international governance processes, or topography and location, or also different socioeconomic vulnerabilities within the Baltic Sea basin. Accordingly every urban society and structure provides specific exposure, vulnerabilities, and adaptive capacity. Generally, the cities of the bsr have to deal with the impacts of temperature rise, natural hazards, and extreme events, and, depending on location and topography, with sea-level rise. With reference to temperature rise and the increase of heat waves, it is important to consider that cities of a certain size within the Baltic Sea basin contribute to their own urban climatic conditions and provide already urban heat islands. Also, urban planning and building facilitated by local political decisions contribute to the extent of urban floods as well as their damage, as these are regulating, for example, the sealing of soils or new built-up areas in flood-prone zones.
Intergroup Contact
Authors: Blaylock Danielle L. , Briggs Nina
Published: February 2023

Formalized by Gordon Allport in 1954, the contact hypothesis posits that positive contact between members of different groups can, under certain conditions, reduce prejudice and promote more harmonious intergroup relations. These conditions include contact situations which promote equal status between group members, encourage the pursuit of common goals, are characterized by cooperation as opposed to competition, and have institutional support or authority sanction. Among social scientists, positive intergroup contact is among the most effective strategies for reducing prejudice, with an impressive research base attesting to its effectiveness across contexts and target-groups using a variety of methodological approaches. The effects of contact are found to generalize from the interaction partner to the wider outgroup, and to other secondary outgroups not directly involved in the contact experience; this is particularly true when group membership is made salient during the encounter. Contact can take a variety of direct forms, from more intense and sustained interactions between close friends to brief encounters between strangers, as well as more indirect forms such as intergroup interactions through various computer-mediated forums, imagined interactions between the self and an outgroup partner, to observation or awareness of interactions involving other ingroup and outgroup members. While several mediators have been suggested, the contact–prejudice relationship appears to be driven by a reduction in negative affect, such as anxiety, and by inducing positive affective processes, such as empathy. Evidence suggests that positive contact can be particularly beneficial for individuals with pre-existing negative attitudes. For members of advantaged groups, positive intergroup contact is associated with a greater support for intergroup equality and social change; however, for disadvantaged groups, positive intergroup contact can lead to a sedative effect where perceived intergroup harmony can reduce perceptions of inequality and dampen the motivation to engage in activity to support social change. Emerging research exploring the effects of negative contact experiences suggests that negative contact can exacerbate intergroup bias through similar and distinct routes as positive contact reduces it. Critics point to methodological concerns and a research base that neglects more complex and nuanced interactions found in the real world, particularly those in historically divided societies. However, recent technological and statistical innovations offer the potential to advance the field’s understanding of how positive intergroup contact can be used to promote a more harmonious society.
Human–Computer Interaction
Authors: Rapp Amon
Published: February 2023

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a multidisciplinary field of research that focuses on the understanding and design of interaction between humans and computers. HCI has its roots in Human Factors and Ergonomics and cognitive sciences, but over the years it has underwent a variety of deep transformations, by importing a variety of approaches, theories, and methods from other disciplines, like anthropology and sociology. Theoretical perspectives like phenomenology, social practices theories, and grounded theory, are now fruitfully used by HCI researchers to interpret the behavior of people interacting with technology and ground the design of new interactive systems. In the same vein, HCI techniques for understanding, designing, and evaluating the interaction span from ethnography, semi-structured interviews, participatory design, and scenario-based design, to controlled experiments, usability testing, and research through design methods. At the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, HCI tackles practically every aspect of people’s lives, including matters like, techno-spirituality, global crises, death, sexuality, physical and cognitive disabilities, as well as technologies like wearable devices, self-changing and bio-interfaces, robots, virtual, mixed, and augmented reality applications. In this complex landscape, several promising lines of HCI research, which intertwine the individual, social, and organizational levels of the usage of technologies, are “gameful” interaction, self-tracking and behavior change technologies, and conversational agents.
Binocular Vision
Authors: McKee Suzanne , Verghese Preeti
Published: February 2023

This article describes human binocular vision. While it is focused primarily on human stereopsis, it also briefly tells about other binocular functions, including binocular summation, rivalry, and vergence, the eye movement that is driven by stereopsis. Stereopsis refers to the depth perception generated by small differences in the locations of visual features in the two retinal images; these differences in retinal location are called disparities. Disparities are detected by special binocularly driven cortical neurons whose properties are outlined here; the article also describes studies that have used fMRI imaging to show that many areas of human cortex respond to depth based on disparity. The development of stereopsis in human infants, as well as clinical abnormalities in stereopsis, is also documented.
Coloniality, Student Mobilizations, and Higher Education
Authors: Patel Leigh
Published: February 2023

Higher education in many spaces worldwide has been a contested space and therefore marked by student protests against colonialism and its articulations of oppression since formal education was established. In times of social movements and change, protest in the streets also spread to college campuses, sometimes in global waves. The premiere institutions in the United States, the Ivy League, were built almost exclusively using enslaved labor. Both private and public colleges in Canada and the United States and other settler colonies occupy Indigenous lands, severing land from relation to First Peoples through ongoing genocide and erasure. Colonization and totalitarianism have prompted student protests in many regions of the world and at various times in history. Because higher education is itself is a contested space in various nation-states, long-historied traditions of student mobilizations have agitated higher education’s practices borne of occupation, extraction, and exclusivity. Changes in admissions policies, faculty hiring and retention, government support, and curriculum have all been impacted by student mobilizations. These changes have been subject to being tampered down by the sheer bureaucratic weight in higher education, but they have also made important changes in access to the knowledge systems that are taught in college classrooms and the impacts that graduates make beyond their college years. Dating back to the 1600s, student protest and mobilizations have been informed by internal political education that has shaped the design of public pedagogies through the form of protests. In lyrical fashion, student mobilizations, often formed in opposition to the university, have much to teach about collective struggles for freedom that are intertwined with learning.
The Destructive Long-Term Impact of Disasters on Black and Brown Schooling Communities in the United States
Authors: Davis Cassandra R.
Published: February 2023

Recent research shows that hurricanes, tropical storms, and flooding are likely to increase in quantity and intensity. Yet, despite the frequency of these hazards, there is little work that documents the relationship between disasters, low-income communities of color, and schooling. There is a dearth of literature documenting how these communities in high-impacted areas are affected, recover, and remain resilient following a storm.
Origins, Concepts, and Trends in Intercultural Education
Authors: Gube Jan
Published: February 2023

Intercultural education is an approach that responds to societal change arising from the contact, noncontact, and conflict among cultural groups. It envisions the prospects and challenges of living together in pluralistic societies. Globally, intercultural education has prominent origins in various European societies. Scholars and practitioners have also developed and practiced intercultural education in parts of North America and Latin America. As an epistemology, interculturality underpins intercultural education in recognizing and promoting equitable relations across cultural groups. At its forefront is the attention to equality issues in culturally diverse societies, which espouses the mutual accommodation of majority, minority, and Indigenous populations through dialogue and shared cultural expressions. Intercultural education seeks to prepare learners to live in diversity by supporting their understanding of inequalities, fostering respect, developing intercultural communicative skills, and resolving conflict. In practice, intercultural education involves developing skill sets and cultivating values related to intercultural competence, intercultural communication, intercultural dialogue, intercultural encounter, and intercultural sensitivity individually and collectively with the support of communities and institutions. While it continues to be promising in terms of supporting societies to engage with changes in cultural demographics and promoting interactions among different groups, intercultural education is not invulnerable to persistent and emerging societal problems, particularly those that have been legitimized politically, such as anti-immigration and nationalist movements that fuel racism and xenophobia. Intercultural education can at times be confined to the intellectual ambit of the diverse societies in Europe or the Global North. It is also prone to risks in its neo-assimilationist and technocratic tendencies, putting to question its explanatory value in addressing structural and evolving forms of racism. A need for intercultural education theorists, proponents, and practitioners would be to confront racial injustices that operate in novel ways. This need suggests the efforts to restore the humanity, respect, and social justice that sustain societies to thrive on the peaceful coexistence and cooperation among different cultures.
African Religions in Early America and the United States
Authors: Brown Ras Michael
Published: February 2023

Africans brought their religious cultures to the lands that became the United States beginning in the early stages of European colonization in the 16th century through the end of enslavement in the mid-19th century. Their religions included diverse Indigenous African religious cultures in addition to their multiple interpretations of Islam and Christianity that often became integral to their plural spiritualities. These plural spiritualities promoted simultaneous engagement with as many religious experiences and expressions as people needed or wanted. This manner of nurturing complex spiritual ecologies allowed Africans cast into Atlantic captivity to recreate their religious communities around ways of “becoming,” “dwelling,” and “healing” that resonated between the diverse religious cultures thrust together through slavery. African religions provided enslaved people with the spiritual force and weapons needed to battle their condition and captors, as they did in varied forms in New York, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and points in between.
Digital Solutions to Public Health Issues
Authors: Tan Si Ying , Lim Jeremy Fung Yen
Published: February 2023

Digital health technology has been adopted rapidly by countries as tools to promote good public health outcomes over the last decade. The COVID-19 pandemic that occurred since November 2019 has further accelerated the salience and relevance of digital health technology in tackling public health issues as countries start to implement movement restriction policies that pose a challenge to the physical delivery of healthcare services. Unarguably, the pandemic has elevated the significances of digital solutions to public health issues, which include improving access to an increased range of health services and the potential of cost-saving, maximizing population-wide health impacts through behavioral modifications, and controlling and managing public health emergencies. In general, digital technology in public health has three major applications—monitoring, decision support, and education. Monitoring is especially relevant in the context of effective disease screening and pandemic surveillance, decision support applies to the promotion of behavior modifications and resource optimization, while education serves to improve population-level health awareness and knowledge. Despite the promises of digital solutions to address various public health issues, there are unintended consequences that could arise consequent to their widespread applications, resulting in governance challenges and ethical issues in their applications, such as data privacy and erosion of trust, safety, cybersecurity, algorithmic bias, liability, autonomy, and social justice. To reap tangible benefits and positive impacts from large-scale deployment of various digital health solutions, countries need to anchor their national digital health policies or strategies by considering not only their benefits and applications, but also various governance challenges and ethical issues that could ensue during their implementations.
Using Lifestyle Interventions to Reduce Alzheimer’s Risk in African Americans
Authors: Newton, Jr. Robert L. , Rebok George W. , McLeod Andrew , Carmichael Owen
Published: February 2023

Currently, there are no pharmacological interventions that have been shown to reduce the risk of developing dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease. However, it is recognized that modifiable behaviors are associated with increased risk of developing dementias. Lifestyle interventions are designed to assist participants in changing these modifiable behaviors. Typical behaviors targeted include dietary intake, sleep patterns, and social, cognitive, and physical activities. It is hypothesized that these effects occur through physiological and biological pathways. African Americans have a high risk of developing dementias, and altering lifestyle behaviors may be effective for reducing risk in this population. Identifying these interventions is important, as effective interventions for a majority non-Hispanic White population do not necessarily translate into effective interventions for African Americans.
CBRN Terrorism
Authors: Binder Markus K. , Ackerman Gary A.
Published: February 2023

Although comprising only a tiny proportion of all terrorist plots and attacks, the prospect of terrorists employing chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons has raised substantial concerns among both policymakers and the general public. While CBRN terrorist events do represent a real, asymmetric threat (with at least 558 incidents recorded in extant databases), most of these incidents would not constitute the use of genuine weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This is because, to form a viable weapon, the toxic chemical, biological pathogen, hazardous radioisotope, or fissile material must be combined with an effective delivery system; as the scale of the intended effects of such a weapon increases, so generally does its sophistication and the difficulty of acquiring or producing it. The threat of CBRN terrorism can be parsed into a consideration of both the motivations underlying its pursuit and the capabilities required to successfully deploy a CBRN weapon. A wide variety of factors can prompt terrorists to pursue a CBRN weapon. These can be usefully categorized into ideological or psychological drivers, operational and instrumental purposes, and organizational motives. At the same time, while terrorists can conceivably acquire a CBRN capability via state or nonstate sponsors, theft, or purchase, the most likely avenue is internal development of a weapon or an attack on a nuclear, chemical, or biological facility. Historically, there have been over 200 actual uses by terrorists of CBRN agents, with chemical incidents being the most common type. Most incidents have not resulted in many casualties, although there are a handful of mass-casualty incidents of CBRN terrorism. Past perpetrators reflect a diverse array of ideologies and have selected a wide range of delivery methods. Yet, past trends may not be a reliable indicator of the future threat. While low-end CBRN terrorism events will likely continue to predominate, and the COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to appreciably increase the threat of bioterrorism, emerging technologies that facilitate acquisition efforts and the precedent set by groups like the Islamic State indicate that the potential for CBRN terrorism to result in a genuine WMD event will persist and might even increase over time. Therefore, while authorities must be careful not to exaggerate or amplify the threat of CBRN terrorism, CBRN terrorism is a phenomenon that requires continued attention, with efforts to prevent it that remain commensurate with the extant level of the threat.
Islamic Philanthropy in the United States
Authors: Tunc Esra
Published: February 2023

Muslims in the United States—a religious community that is diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, and class—demonstrate various understandings, practices, and forms of Islamic philanthropy. For example, for members of the Nation of Islam in the 1960s and 1970s, giving was connected to resisting racial injustice through self-help. During the same period, members of the Muslim Students Association—mostly made up of immigrants to the United States—were establishing their own institutions to meet their needs as a religious minority. In addition to these various examples of philanthropy, Islamic philanthropy—in line with mainstream philanthropy and as related to socio-legal regulations of philanthropy such as tax regulations—has evolved in terms of institutionalization and professionalization since the late 20th century. US Muslim philanthropic institutions grew rapidly after the 1980s and diversified in the aftermath of 9/11. In particular, Muslim nonprofit organizations have emerged in a variety of fields, ranging from humanitarian organizations to social-justice advocacy organizations. In these settings, Muslim giving engages with a range of ethical commitments to social, economic, racial, and gender justice. Notably, some of these Muslim nonprofit organizations also claim themselves to be “zakat eligible.” Zakat is commonly translated as “obligatory Muslim giving,” and these nonprofit organizations have expanded its meaning to encompass various causes, including social-justice-related causes. New forms of philanthropy in nonprofit and for-profit settings since the 2010s, within and beyond Muslim contexts, are also increasingly connecting giving to techniques and strategies common in finance capitalism to increase their effect. For example, some nonprofit organizations have built endowments through investment-based companies. These meanings and forms of Islamic philanthropy demonstrate how traditions of Muslim giving and charity are in conversation with Islamic ethical and legal frameworks. Along with the incorporation of Islamic philanthropy into professionalization and financialization, there are also other forms of giving that have not been professionalized and financialized, such as mutual aid initiatives. Islamic philanthropy in the United States has not developed along a linear timeline toward formalization; rather, a more nuanced picture of Muslim giving—which is continually being interpreted, practiced, and experienced—can be seen by recognizing the multiplicity of meanings, practices, and forms of Muslim giving.
Critical Race Studies
Authors: Ortiz Larry , Nakaoka Susan
Published: February 2023

Critical race theory originated in law as a framework for legal studies analyzing the United States’ persistent racial divide. As an upstream theory, it focuses on the underlying social structures and cultural assumptions upholding White supremacy. Since the early 2000s, social work scholars have begun to apply critical race theory tenets to all aspects of the profession, from education to practice. Considering social work’s historic commitment to social justice, and the most recent declarations of the Council on Social Work Education as committed to antiracist education, this article advances the idea that critical race studies in social work is necessary, but the relationship requires serious and ongoing interrogation to unearth the profession’s White supremist roots.
A comparative plastomic analysis ofZiziphus jujubavar.spinosa(Bunge) Hu ex H. F. Chow and implication of the origin of Chinese jujube
Authors: Du Shuhui , Hu Xiaoyan , Guo Yuanting , Wang Shengji , Yang Xiuyun , Wu Zhenzhen , Huang Yuyin
Published: February 2023

Comparative plastomics can be used to explicitly dissect various types of plastome variation. In the present study, the plastome variation pattern of Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa (also called sour jujube) and its phylogenomic relationship with Chinese jujube were investigated. Plastomes of 21 sour jujube individuals were sequenced and assembled. The length of the sour jujube plastomes ranged between 159399 and 161279 bp. The plastomes exhibited collinearity of structure, gene order and content. The most divergent regions were located in the intergenic spacers, such as trnR-UCU-atpA and psbZ-trnG-UCC. Sliding window analysis demonstrated that the sequence variation among the sour jujube plastomes was relatively low. Sixty-two to 76 SSRs with 4 motif types were identified in the sour jujube plastomes with a predominant motif type of A/T. Three protein-coding genes exhibited higher nonsynonymous/synonymous substitution ratios, indicating that these genes may undergo positive selection. A total of 80 SNPs were detected and 1266 potential RNA editing sites of 23 protein-coding genes were predicted. In the phylogenomic tree constructed, sour jujube has a sister relationship to Chinese jujube, which indicates that Chinese jujube may have originated or been domesticated from sour jujube. The present study explicitly investigated the individual-level plastome variation of sour jujube and provides potential valuable molecular markers for future genetic-related study of this lineage.
The presence of territorial damselfish predicts choosy client species richness at cleaning stations
Authors: Dunkley Katie , Whittey Kathryn E , Ellison Amy , Perkins Sarah E , Cable Jo , Herbert-Read James E
Published: February 2023

Mutualisms are driven by partners deciding to interact with one another to gain specific services or rewards. As predicted by biological market theory, partners should be selected based on the likelihood, quality, reward level, and or services each partner can offer. Third-party species that are not directly involved in the interaction, however, may indirectly affect the occurrence and or quality of the services provided, thereby affecting which partners are selected or avoided. We investigated how different clients of the sharknose goby (Elacatinus evelynae) cleaner fish were distributed across cleaning stations, and asked what characteristics, relating to biological market theory, affected this distribution. Through quantifying the visitation and cleaning patterns of client fish that can choose which cleaning station(s) to visit, we found that the relative species richness of visiting clients at stations was negatively associated with the presence of disruptive territorial damselfish at the station. Our study highlights, therefore, the need to consider the indirect effects of third-party species and their interactions (e.g., agonistic interactions) when attempting to understand mutualistic interactions between species. Moreover, we highlight how cooperative interactions may be indirectly governed by external partners.
Brain plasticity and auditory spatial adaptation in patients with unilateral hearing loss
Authors: Alzaher Mariam , Strelnikov Kuzma , Marx Mathieu , Barone Pascal
Published: February 2023

The ability to localize sounds in patients with Unilateral Hearing Loss (UHL) is usually disrupted due to alteration in the integration of binaural cues. Nonetheless, some patients are able to compensate deficit using adaptive strategies. In this study, we explored the neural correlates underlying this adaptation. Twenty-one patients with UHL were separated into 3 groups using cluster analysis based on their binaural performance. The resulting clusters were referred to as better, moderate, and poorer performers cluster (BPC, MPC, and PPC). We measured the mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by deviant sounds located at 10°, 20°, and 100° from a standard positioned at 50° ipsilateral to the deaf ear. The BPC exhibited significant MMN for all 3 deviants, similar to normal hearing (NH) subjects. In contrast, there was no significant MMN for 10° and 20° deviants for the PPC and for NH when one ear was plugged and muffed. Scalp distribution was maximal over central regions in BPC, while PPC showed more frontal MMN distribution. Thus, the BPC exhibited a contralateral activation pattern, similar to NH, while the PPC exhibited more symmetrical hemispheric activation. MMN can be used as a neural marker to reflect spatial adaptation in patients with UHL.