bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The FarNet journey: Perceptions of Māori students engaged in secondary online learning
Authors: Bennett Carolyn , Barbour Michael K
Published: September 2023

This case study investigated the perceptions of Māori students in the Virtual Learning Network (VLN) on what constituted effective strategies for engaging them in online learning. The four secondary and five area schools in the FarNet cluster have around 63 students accessing the VLN. Around 80% of students, known as e-students, from the FarNet cluster receiving their education through the VLN are of Māori descent. The delivery of online classes have historically included a one hour video conferencing (VC) class, supported by hard copy materials and resources provided by the e-teacher or an online learning environment called a Learning Management System (LMS). The model that is now starting to emerge is a hybrid model which combines weekly VC classes, an LMS, a range of Web 2.0 tools and face-to-face meetings between student and teacher. Data collection included online surveys, the semi-structured interviews and the observation of the online classrooms with 23 students from nine school participating in FarNet. The data identified delivery models and Web 2.0 tools to engage students and the need for further instruction in order for students to be well prepared to work in this new learning environment. The data also suggested there were a variety of delivery models that students experienced, most supported by the LMS. While students identified a range of Web 2.0 strategies currently used by their e-teachers, they suggested that more opportunities to collaborate, communicate and discuss with their fellow e-students both in and outside of the set class time would further engage them, leading to a more enjoyable experience. The importance of building good relationships in an online environment was discussed. Based on these findings, we recommend professional development for e-teachers on using these emerging tools and better preparation of e-students for working in an online learning environment.
Using online assessment to replace invigilated assessment in times of a natural disaster: Are some online assessment conditions better than others?
Authors: Agnew Stephen Robert , Hickson Stephen
Published: September 2023

As a result of the Canterbury earthquake on 4 September 2010, and associated aftershocks on 22 February 2011 and 13 June 2011, final examinations in the two first-year Economics papers at Canterbury University were cancelled at short notice in Semester 1, 2011. The final examination weightings were spread over the remaining assessments to obtain a final grade for students. This paper attempts to establish how different online assessment conditions affected final grade distributions when online assessments were substituted for an invigilated final examination. Pearson correlation coefficients and Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients were used to show that there was a greater correlation between online quizzes and invigilated assessments when those quizzes were only available for a restricted period of time compared with the whole semester. We found that online quizzes were more closely correlated with invigilated assessments when the first attempt at a quiz was recorded, as opposed to the higher of two attempts. We also found that using the first attempt leads to less grade disruption when compared with a ‘normal’ semester that includes a final examination. Finally, the actual effect on student grades when online quizzes are substituted for a final examination is discussed.
A systematic review of small group communication in post-secondary online courses
Authors: JAHNG Namsook
Published: September 2023

The purpose of this systematic review is to establish a comprehensive understanding of research trend and findings of the current studies focused on small group communication in post-secondary online courses. Comprehensive searching electronic databases and step-by-step screening procedures were performed to locate a total of eighteen journal articles published in 2000-2009 as a final data included in the review. Two independent reviewers coded the studies completely, which were mapped inductively into four main categories based on common themes of their research focuses. The findings of individual studies were sub-categorized, synthesized, and summarized. To conclude, the review provides major findings extracted from the eighteen studies and discusses gaps and limitations of existing studies to make some suggestions for future research.
The disruptive potential of the Massive Open Online Course: A literature review
Authors: Jacoby Jean
Published: September 2023

The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a rapidly evolving phenomenon which has stimulated discussion in universities around the world. A central theme of these discussions, and much of the published literature on the phenomenon, is the potential of the MOOC to disrupt the way universities do business. The aim of this narrative literature review is to clarify disruptive innovation theory, and to examine the influence of MOOCs on higher education. Evidence from this review suggests that although MOOCs might have had a significant effect on a range of issues (including definitions of completion pedagogical approaches, delivery methods, certification, and business models), more systematic research is needed to evaluate the level, extent, and permanence of any disruption that may occur.
Emotion: the ‘e’ in engagement in online distance education in social work
Authors: Goldingay Sophie Jennifer
Published: September 2023

Many social work students approach the pre-practicum practice skills unit with dread, due to the required role-play exercises designed to prepare them for practicum.  Online distance students may be seen to be challenged even further in their preparation for practicum due to a perception that they are learning practice skills on their own. A survey of online distance education social work students who had completed the practice skills course in 2012 showed that a number struggled to remain engaged and felt isolated.  A large percentage did not engage in all the set tasks, which may have contributed to them feeling unprepared for their first practicum experience. A pedagogy involving extensive online peer interaction linked to formative assessment of role plays was implemented for a subsequent cohort in the practice skills unit, with the aim of improving online distance students’ opportunity and motivation to practice the required skills prior to their practicum. Learning platform usage data for students in the 2013 cohort showed that the number of times students accessed online readings and used interactive technology increased. Interestingly, while both cohorts expressed a positive emotional experience in relation to their learning in the end of trimester Student Evaluation Survey, only the 2013 cohort spontaneously articulated the content of what they actually learnt despite both groups being asked the same questions.  This suggests that the ongoing peer interaction generated by the intervention resulted in a deeper and enduring learning experience. In addition, students in the 2013 cohort demonstrated a feeling of being connected with the unit and the teaching staff. It is posited that a combination of reduced isolation and alienation, and ongoing peer feedback and self-reflection, has a multipronged positive impact on the process of learning, including a positive emotional experience as well as a developing sense of pride in one’s professional identity and competence.
Blended online learning in initial teacher education: A Professional Inquiry on preservice teachers’ inquiry projects
Authors: Hunt Anne-Marie
Published: September 2023

Online and blended learning bring opportunities and challenges, including more opportunities for authentic activities (Gikandi, Morrow, & Davis, 2011). Blended online environments are now a common mode for pre-service teacher education, providing interesting opportunities to develop and showcase alternative approaches that blend with practice in the field. This paper presents a case study of an online course that supported 55 student teacher inquiries into the practice of teaching. The author describes some successful strategies, using a range of e-learning tools, including the university’s Moodle learning management system, in the professional inquiry focused course that she led. The study informs course and programme redesign to encourage student teachers to develop their own networks of practice during pre-service tertiary education.
Video Captions for Online Courses: Do YouTube’s Auto-generated Captions Meet Deaf Students’ Needs?
Authors: Parton Becky Sue
Published: September 2023

Providing captions for videos used in online courses is an area of interest for institutions of higher education. There are legal and ethical ramifications as well as time constraints to consider. Captioning tools are available, but some universities rely on the auto-generated YouTube captions. This study looked at a particular type of video—the weekly informal news update created by individual professors for their online classes—to see if automatic captions (also known as subtitles) are sufficiently accurate to meet the needs of deaf students. A total of 68 minutes of video captions were analysed and 525 phrase-level errors were found. On average, therefore, there were 7.7 phrase errors per minute. Findings indicate that auto-generated captions are too inaccurate to be used exclusively. Additional studies are needed to determine whether they can provide a starting point for a process of captioning that reduces the preparation time.
Designing for Learner success (D4LS) at Otago Polytechnic: From an E-learning designer’s perspective
Authors: Gedera Dilani
Published: September 2023

Otago Polytechnic (OP) is currently involved in redesigning and redeveloping its programmes and courses under an institution-wide project, Designing for Learner success (D4LS). This project has aimed to improve the overall learner success rates, to enhance leaner satisfaction with learning experience, and also to better integrate development of learner capabilities within programmes at OP. D4LS utilizes a robust and systematic structure which involves several phases. As an E-learning designer in the D4LS project, I will focus on the development phase in this article and discuss how using an agile approach facilitated the design and development of high quality products (e.g. Moodle courses, learning activities and assessments). Furthermore, I will discuss some challenges and limitations encountered in the development phase. In response to these challenges and limitations, several recommendations will be made in order to mitigate the issues discussed.
What are the influences on teacher mobile technology self-efficacy within secondary school classrooms?
Authors: Tilton Jo , Hartnett Maggie
Published: September 2023

As digital technologies develop and change, so do the ways these tools are integrated into classrooms. In particular, as mobile digital technologies become ubiquitous there is a need to investigate how teachers engage with these tools—both personally and professionally. Research has consistently shown that teachers’ underlying beliefs and attitudes (particularly their self-efficacy beliefs) are key elements that influence use and integration of digital technologies in the classroom. In this paper, changes to and factors influencing teachers’ mobile digital technology self-efficacy beliefs, and their subsequent classroom use of devices, are examined in the context of a one-to-one iPad mini device programme in an international school. Results indicate that all of the teacher participants reported an increase in the use of the iPad mini in the classroom, partly as a result of students’ development of collective efficacy. As well as this collective efficacy, which supported the increased use of devices, other factors supported the development of teacher self-efficacy. These included modelling and coaching from colleagues, but mastery (or actual experience) was the foremost contributor to the development of teachers’ mobile technology self-efficacy. This study revealed that allowing teachers time to experience mastery in relation to mobile technology use, and having access to expertise (both colleagues and students), were key elements in building self-efficacy for teachers over time. Perceptions of device value and device affordances were also identified as factors that fostered the development of self-efficacy and subsequent mobile device implementation and use.
An evaluation of the accessibility of top-ranking university websites: Accessibility rates from 2005 to 2015
Authors: Alahmadi Tahani Jaser , Drew Steve
Published: September 2023

Accessibility evaluation is an important equity step in assessing effectiveness and usefulness of online learning materials for disabled students. With popular uptake of blended and online learning it is timely to evaluate the accessibility attained by universities in their websites and Learning Management Systems (LMS) .The present study considers this question for the period 2005 through 2015. Previous studies in this area have indicated that university websites have become gradually inaccessible, as the complexity of their content increases, and that the amount of attention being paid to this problem by the universities is low. This study employed a comparative quantitative method, and a random sample of universities’ websites was evaluated using the accessibility evaluation tool designed by AChecker. The inclusion of the specific universities chosen for this study was based on their ranking in the world, and/or in the Oceania and Arab regions. Moreover, the evaluation is organised by page type: homepage, administration page or course description/syllabus page. Thus, through a statistical and empirical study, we demonstrated that there was no significant improvement in the accessibility of universities’ web sites between 2005 and 2015. Furthermore, access to media and document files had the most influential accessibility errors. In addition, there were 27,308 (33%) total home page errors among the 180 evaluated pages from 60 of the top world, Oceania and Arab universities’ sites. There are no significant differences in accessibility level between top-ranking universities in developed or developing countries. Therefore, with participation rate at universities expanding world-wide and equity being a common corporate theme there is a growing need for universities to commit to and responsibly address accessibility to online learning materials for disabled students.
Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning: Changes to the Journal, Changes in the Field
Authors: Fields Alison J , Hartnett Maggie
Published: September 2023

Change and more change. This editorial, like the last, notes several changes happening within the Journal and in the wider context of open, flexible, and distance learning. A quick look at some of the social commentary on change provides the backdrop for events and decisions described more fully in this issue of the journal. Changes to the editorial team and Editorial Advisory Board are announced and the papers for this issue are introduced. Ideas to identify change, manage change and live with change are set within the world of open, flexible, and distance learning.
Social media and e-learning in response to seismic events: Resilient practices
Authors: Tull Susan P.C. , Dabner Nicki , Ayebi-Arthur Kofi
Published: September 2023

The motivation to adopt innovative communication and e-learning practices in education settings can be stimulated by events such as natural disasters.  Education institutions in the Pacific Rim cannot avoid the likelihood of natural disasters that could close one or more buildings on a campus and impact their ability to continue current educational practices. For one university, the impetus to innovate was a series of seismic events. This paper presents findings from studies that identified resilient practices within this ‘late adopter’ university in New Zealand. The findings indicate that the combined use of social media and e-learning to support teaching, learning, communication and related organisational practices fosters resilience for students, staff and organisations in times of crises. Recommendations are presented that have relevance to all educational organisations which could be impacted by similar events.
Reading and Studying on the Screen, and, Addendum: two articles
Authors: Nichols Mark
Published: September 2023

As distance education moves increasingly towards online provision, and because of the benefits provided by online approaches, students will be expected to engage with more resources available on screen. Contemporary forms of reading from the screen include reading from tablet devices, LCD monitors, and smartphones. However, print remains the preferred means of reading text, and student preference for print is accentuated when reading involves thorough study (Ackerman & Lauterman, 2012; Foasberg, 2014). Education providers face an interesting challenge. Although many learners prefer having access to printed materials, on-screen reading can improve education’s convenience, portability, media-richness, engagement, support, and data-evidenced practice. In this context it is timely to consider the potential for on-screen reading from the perspective of learning design. This article considers studies related to reading on screen, and suggests good practice principles for on-screen-only learning design.In 2016 the article “Reading and Studying on the Screen: An Overview of Literature Towards Good Learning Design Practice” was published. The article overviewed comparative studies related to reading on screen and reading from print, and proposed recommendations for on-screen learning design. This addendum to that article considers additional studies that have been analysed in subsequent blog posts (see “An Update to ‘Reading and Studying From the Screen’” [http://tel-lingit.blogspot.com/2018/02/an-update-to-reading-and-studying-from.html] and “A Further Update to ‘Reading and Studying From the Screen’” [https://tel-lingit.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-further-update-to-reading-and.html]) up to the end of November 2018. As this is an invited addendum, I’ll take the opportunity to adopt a more personal and self-disclosing style to talk more about my own position and experience regarding digital education and on-screen reading. This piece alternates is both scholarly and polemic.
Perception of Artificial Intelligence by Customers of Science Centers
Authors:   University of Lodz, Poland, Faculty of Management, Gregor Bogdan , Gotwald Beata ,   University of Lodz, Poland, Faculty of Management
Published: September 2023

Purpose: The aim of the article is an attempt to answer the question of customers’ knowledge on AI and its application in marketing. Design/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews with 203 people (residents of Lodzkie and Mazowieckie voivodships) who visited a science center at least once were conducted in 2019. In the sampling, the snowball effect was used. The problems concerning artificial intelligence were a part of bigger research (other matters were focused on omnichannel environment and wearables). Findings: The research results showed that respondents understand the term “artificial intelligence” (AI) in a highly intuitive manner, which often remains in conflict with the classical meaning of the term. The perception of scope and usage of AI is based mainly on stereotypes and representations sourced in mass media. The main advantages of AI noticed by respondents were time savings and offers better adjusted to their needs, while the major disadvantages were the limitation of choice in terms of preferred products (for example, during online shopping) and threats of data leaks. Respondents were supporters of usage of AI in marketing in the scope limited by law. Research limitations/implications: The usage of non-probabilistic sampling, a relatively small sample and the usage of qualitative analysis methods were major limitations of the conducted research. As the research resorted only to the people with previous experiences with science centers’ offer, the possibility to generalize research results was restricted (due to the specific profile of those entities’ customers). Originality/value: The presented paper is a part of the research area related to the usage of new technologies in cultural institutions, especially science centers’ marketing activities. The research was aimed at diagnosing how respondents understand the term “artificial intelligence” and what their attitude towards the usage of AI in marketing is. The cognitive value of the paper might also be seen in the focus on a relatively narrow and homogenous group of respondents (science centers’ customers). The reason is relatively low popularity of research in that group and their bigger knowledge and technology acceptance (as compared to the general public).
Corporate Rebranding and Its Meaning – Theory Perspective
Authors:   University of Economics and Business, Poland, Mróz-Gorgoń Barbara , Haenlein Michael ,   ESCP Europe Business School, France
Published: September 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to introduce the theoretical conditions related to corporate rebranding issues – in the perspective of marketing theory, management theory and organizational theory, through literature analysis (both Polish and foreign sources – well-known Polish journals and prestigious international journals) from these three areas. Design/methodology/approach: The article is based on a literature review within the field of management and marketing theory, with account being taken of the meaning of the rebranding process in the context of the organizational theory. The article presents models of corporate rebranding and well-structured definitions. Findings: Organizations and their corporate brands that currently operate in a hyper competitive and highly turbulent environment are constantly looking for sources of competitive advantage. Brand creators are trying to give it a unique character and stand out from the others. The brand is therefore assumed to be an entity that directly reaches the hearts and minds of consumers. However, how to maintain this emotion associated with a given brand, how to permanently reach the hearts of consumers who change their tastes and penchants so quickly? This change in the environment and consumer trends often forces evolutions in the entire marketing strategy of the organization as well as in the strategy regarding the brand and/or its architecture. These changes can be both slow and rapid, involving many or just one or more selected elements related to branding (evolutionary and revolutionary rebranding). Research limitations/implications: There are still few publications in the literature describing and explaining the effects of rebranding strategies carried out in various ways, both in the marketing context as well as in the psychological (consumer reactions) and sociological context (consumer trends impact). Neither does this article does explore this research area, which implies further research for authors. Originality/value: The presented research is a new approach to the subject and thus can make an original contribution to the science of brand management.
Gut microbiota and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
Authors: Kim Boyeon , Kim Bukyung
Published: September 2023

The gut microbiota has been reported to exert a significant influence on various physiological responses of hosts. Extensive evidence has recently emerged linking metabolic and cardiovascular disorders to the gut microbiota. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common underlying metabolic disorder, and its prevalence is increasing worldwide. In this study, we aim to review the relationship between the gut microbiota and NAFLD, and explore the potential of the gut microbiota as a novel target for NAFLD treatment.
Comunicación política a través de Telegram: el caso de Revolución Identitaria (RI)
Authors: Gómez Fernández Eva
Published: September 2023

Revolución Identitaria (RI) es un canal de Telegram que se creó en 2021 durante la pandemia de la COVID-19. Desde su génesis ha difundido un mensaje que se adscribe al aceleracionismo de signo neonazi que toma elementos de la ultraderecha estadounidense y del supremacismo afrikáner en detrimento del nacionalcatolicismo español. Este artículo empleará el método netnográfico, que deviene de la etnografía tradicional, para extraer y analizar los datos cuantitativos y cualitativos de su cuenta oficial de Telegram. Una vez compilados se analizará el discurso de este medio de difusión para comprender que la reformulación del neonazismo se ha adaptado a las coyunturas sociopolíticas de este momento histórico. Los resultados que se han obtenido entroncan con la creencia de que, para este fenómeno ideológico, la juventud debe ser el motor que constituya un etnoestado blanco a través de una guerra racial.
“Solo sí es sí”: Análisis de la violencia sexual en series de streaming y su recepción por audiencias juveniles
Authors: Simón-Astudillo Iris
Published: September 2023

Las series de streaming han ganado una gran popularidad gracias a la expansión de plataformas como Netflix y HBO. El nuevo formato favorito de las y los jóvenes alberga problemáticas sociales como la violencia sexual cuya representación debe utilizarse como instrumento de educación informal positiva para la audiencia. Pero no ha sido así en las ficciones estrenadas antes del #MeToo, por lo que el presente estudio utiliza una metodología mixta para indagar en la forma de abordar esta cuestión en la actualidad. Se ha realizado un análisis de contenido de las series Euphoria, Westworld, The End of The F*** World, La Casa de Papel y Normal People, así como veinte entrevistas a jóvenes consumidores para explorar la recepción de estas producciones. Los resultados obtenidos muestran un avance en la representación al alejarse del imaginario compartido de “la violación del callejón” para mostrar otros escenarios como la presión ejercida por una pareja o la difusión de imágenes íntimas. A pesar de esto, las series analizadas aún no muestran la cuestión del consentimiento de una forma explícita ni tratan la violencia sexual como un problema social. Por tanto, la audiencia percibe las agresiones como un ataque individual sin raíz patriarcal.
The visual frame of the political candidate on Instagram: the 2021 Catalan regional elections
Authors: Gordillo-Rodríguez María-Teresa , Bellido-Pérez Elena
Published: September 2023

Social networks are tools for constructing digital identity, making online impression management possible. This study explains, in the context of the politainment age, the way in which Instagram allows political candidates to build their digital image; that is, to perform online self-representation. Specifically, the focus of this paper is the image of political candidates on Instagram during the campaign of the 2021 Catalan regional elections on February 14. It links Goffman’s (1956) theory of the presentation of the self in everyday life to both current research approaches to online self-representation and Grabe and Bucy’s (2009) visual framing theory. The objective is to study the type of elements employed by candidates for constructing their photographic and video stage settings and, therefore, their digital identities during the election campaign. After an operationalization of Goffman’s and Grabe and Bucy’s theories resulting in 27 items, a content analysis was carried out on a total of 215 Instagram posts of the eight main candidates published between 29 January and 13 February 2021. It has been observed that all political candidates show themselves in a more professional way, and it couldn’t be affirmed that a certain visual frame is attached to a certain ideology. In line with previous research, our results show that the ‘ideal candidate’ was the predominating frame, although particularities corresponding to the 2021 Catalan context were observed. Implications to the current context of online political communication are identified and discussed.
The Self-Selfness of Vasiliy Rozanov
Authors: Akimov Oleg Yur'evich
Published: September 2023

Our approach bases on the explication of Rosanov’s creativity as the special intention, that implements the unspeakable Self-Selfness of Vasiliy Rosanov. The ineffability of Self-Selfness can be dialectical expressed by Rosanov through phenomena, of that consists the Rosanov’s world. This ineffability actualizes by Rosanov by means of understanding as a filled emptiness, that determinates the specialties and the structure of the understood objects. The exposition of this emptiness conditions the antinomies of Rosanov’s creativity: one sides is understanding by Rosanov the closed world, other sides it corresponds with the world of things. Rosanov mythically fills the void, using the intimate personal contact with the things. We consider the creativity of Rosanov as the synthesis of both this global directions of Rosanov’s theory: the vision of understanding through things, this vision causes the special perception of things by Rosanov. The things are by Rosanov neither material objects, nor the ideal essences. This are by Rosanov the givens, inherent to the understanding. At the same time Rosanov examines the things through understanding, including it with help of the carnivalisation in his own special world. This method defines in our opinion style and content of Rosanov’s works. The thinker realizes by means of the carnivalisation the understanding, according to the concrete things, creating the special world of life (reality). For Rosanov this world is the second world.
Danzas ancentrales en Costa Rica: sistematización de dos danzas del pueblo Ngäbe, Coto Brus
Authors: Li-Bonilla Federico , Torres-Vindas Javier , Cordero Prendas Angelica
Published: September 2023

Se presenta un trabajo etnográfico y descriptivo que transcribe dos danzas ancestrales del pueblo Ngäbe, ubicado en Coto Brus de Costa Rica. El aporte es sistematizar de la forma menos invasiva y decolonial el material recopilado en varias giras de campo entre 2015 a 2018 a estos territorios. Se presenta el texto en dos momentos. El prime-ro, presenta la relevancia, motivaciones, el trabajo de campo y los distintos actores involucrados. El segundo, relata las danzas de forma menos invasiva que hemos lo-grado construir. Se incluye un anexo fotográfico como memoria y tributo al pueblo Ngäbe.
Diversity and evolution of cerebellar folding in mammals
Authors: Heuer Katja , Traut Nicolas , de Sousa Alexandra Allison , Valk Sofie Louise , Clavel Julien , Toro Roberto
Published: September 2023

The process of brain folding is thought to play an important role in the development and organisation of the cerebrum and the cerebellum. The study of cerebellar folding is challenging due to the small size and abundance of its folia. In consequence, little is known about its anatomical diversity and evolution. We constituted an open collection of histological data from 56 mammalian species and manually segmented the cerebrum and the cerebellum. We developed methods to measure the geometry of cerebellar folia and to estimate the thickness of the molecular layer. We used phylogenetic comparative methods to study the diversity and evolution of cerebellar folding and its relationship with the anatomy of the cerebrum. Our results show that the evolution of cerebellar and cerebral anatomy follows a stabilising selection process. We observed two groups of phenotypes changing concertedly through evolution: a group of ‘diverse’ phenotypes – varying over several orders of magnitude together with body size, and a group of ‘stable’ phenotypes varying over less than 1 order of magnitude across species. Our analyses confirmed the strong correlation between cerebral and cerebellar volumes across species, and showed in addition that large cerebella are disproportionately more folded than smaller ones. Compared with the extreme variations in cerebellar surface area, folial anatomy and molecular layer thickness varied only slightly, showing a much smaller increase in the larger cerebella. We discuss how these findings could provide new insights into the diversity and evolution of cerebellar folding, the mechanisms of cerebellar and cerebral folding, and their potential influence on the organisation of the brain across species.
PerTurboID, a targeted in situ method reveals the impact of kinase deletion on its local protein environment in the cytoadhesion complex of malaria-causing parasites
Authors: Davies Heledd , Belda Hugo , Broncel Malgorzata , Dalimot Jill , Treeck Moritz
Published: September 2023

Reverse genetics is key to understanding protein function, but the mechanistic connection between a gene of interest and the observed phenotype is not always clear. Here we describe the use of proximity labeling using TurboID and site-specific quantification of biotinylated peptides to measure changes to the local protein environment of selected targets upon perturbation. We apply this technique, which we call PerTurboID, to understand how the Plasmodium falciparum-exported kinase, FIKK4.1, regulates the function of the major virulence factor of the malaria-causing parasite, PfEMP1. We generated independent TurboID fusions of two proteins that are predicted substrates of FIKK4.1 in a FIKK4.1 conditional KO parasite line. Comparing the abundance of site-specific biotinylated peptides between wildtype and kinase deletion lines reveals the differential accessibility of proteins to biotinylation, indicating changes to localization, protein–protein interactions, or protein structure which are mediated by FIKK4.1 activity. We further show that FIKK4.1 is likely the only FIKK kinase that controls surface levels of PfEMP1, but not other surface antigens, on the infected red blood cell under standard culture conditions. We believe PerTurboID is broadly applicable to study the impact of genetic or environmental perturbation on a selected cellular niche.
New York Politics
Authors: Schneier Edward V. , Pole Antoinette , Maniscalco Anthony
Published: September 2023

This book examines aspects of state government that are often hidden in the secret sessions of the parties' legislative conferences: the closed-door budget; a complicated array of opaque agencies, authorities, and local governments; and a campaign finance system that lacks transparency. New York is unique among the American states in the existence of regional and demographic divisions, making it difficult to govern. The book brings clarity and understanding to the politics of the Empire State. This third edition combines historical, legal, statistical, and journalistic sources with the candid perspectives of legislators, lobbyists, and other public officials. Critical updates and new information include an analysis of the rise and fall of Governor Andrew Cuomo, coverage of growing demographic diversity in New York State and its government, and the impact of unified government when the legislature and executive branch are both controlled by the Democratic Party.
The Ideological Scramble for Africa
Authors: Gerits Frank
Published: September 2023

This book examines how African leaders in the 1950s and 1960s crafted an anticolonial modernization project. Rather than choose Cold War sides between East and West, anticolonial nationalists worked to reverse the psychological and cultural destruction of colonialism. Kwame Nkrumah's African Union was envisioned as a federation of liberation to challenge the extant imperial forces: the US empire of liberty, the Soviet empire of equality, and the European empires of exploitation. In the 1950s, the goal of proving the potency of a pan-African ideology shaped the agenda of the Bandung Conference and Ghana's support for African liberation, while also determining what was at stake in the Congo crisis and in the fight against white minority rule in southern and eastern Africa. In the 1960s, the attempt to remake African psychology was abandoned, and socioeconomic development came into focus. Anticolonial nationalists did not simply resist or utilize imperial and Cold War pressures but drew strength from the example of the Haitian Revolution of 1791, in which Toussaint Louverture demanded the universal application of Europe's Enlightenment values. The liberationists of the postwar period wanted to redesign society in the image of the revolution that had created them. The book demonstrates that the Cold War struggle between capitalism and Communism was only one of two ideological struggles that picked up speed after 1945; the battle between liberation and imperialism proved to be more enduring.
Problem Solver
Authors: Einhorn Cheryl Strauss
Published: September 2023

Our decisions are expressions of who we are and how we move through the world. Rarely, though, do we examine our decisions or even look inward to consider the psychology of our decision-making. Instead, we often make decisions based on what we call instinct (which relies on cognitive bias), false assumptions, mis-remembering, and mental mistakes. Truthfully, we don't see the world as it is; we see it as we are. We can develop self-knowledge about our decision-making styles. We can wake ourselves up to how biases cloud our judgment and impede good decision-making—and we can counter bias. From there, we can transform our decision-making habits to make better big decisions alone and together. This book provides the tools to identify the five basic decision-making approaches, or “Problem Solver Profiles” (PSPs): Adventurer, Detective, Listener, Thinker, and Visionary, your dominant—and secondary—PSPs, tools to assess other peoples' PSPs, each PSP's decision-making strengths, blind spots, and biases, how your PSP impacts your outlook on life and your risk appetite, and how to use your PSP to maximize your decision strengths.
Nature on the Doorstep
Authors: Douglas Angela E.
Published: September 2023

This book reveals the simple pleasures of paying attention to the natural world in one's own backyard over the course of a year. In weekly letters, the author shares the joys and curiosities of a decidedly ordinary patch of green in upstate New York cultivated through the art of “strategic neglect”—sometimes taking a hand to manage wildlife, more often letting nature go its own way. From the first flowers of spring to cardinals singing in the winter, the book shows us the magic of welcoming unexpected plant and animal life into one's backyard. A paean to the richness we find when we stop to look and let be, the book celebrates the role humble backyards play both in conservation efforts and in an expanded appreciation of the living world.
Alluring Opportunities
Authors: Cleveland Todd
Published: September 2023

This book examines the lives of African laborers in the tourism industry in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique and the social ascension that many of these workers achieved in spite of demanding conditions. From the origin of the colonial period until its end in 1975, the tourism industry developed on the backs of these laborers and ultimately became an important source of foreign exchange for Portugal. The book explores the daily experiences of local tourism workers in the genesis and expansion of this vital industry with an analytical utility that transcends Africa's borders by complicating the narrative established and reinforced by an expansive body of literature that stresses the exploitation of indigenous tourism workers. The book argues that just as foreign tourists embraced the opportunity to travel to various locations in Mozambique, so too did many Indigenous laborers seize opportunities for employment in the tourism industry in an effort to realize social mobility via both the steady wages that they earned and their daily interactions with sojourning clientele. The book reconstructs these workers' lives, highlighting their critical contributions to the local industry, while also prompting a reconsideration of indigenous labor and social mobility in colonial Africa. As a result, it reveals new ways of thinking, more broadly, about the ways that tourism shapes processes of empire, interracial interactions, and power relations.
Arab and American Dimensions of the Israel/Palestine Issue
Authors: Telhami Shibley
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores the dimensions of Arabs and Americans in the Israel/Palestine issue. It explains the significance of the Arab dimension since interest-based global policies assumed that Palestine has been central to the Arab public, if not to their governments. Meanwhile, the American dimension is important since the nation holds the principal global power while being Israel's principal enabler by providing a technological military edge. Due to the shift between Arab and American politics, the force pushing for a two state solution weakened. The chapter mentions the signs of public opinion shifting to be more accepting of a one state outcome with full equality unlike the Arab and American ruling elites remaining closely tied to the two state paradigm.
Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics
Authors: Honig Bonnie
Published: September 2023

This book, originally published in 1993, has been called a founding text of agonism, which treats political contestation not as a regrettably necessary way to correct political imperfections but as a necessary, sometimes joyful feature of democratic life. As the author writes in the preface to this thirtieth anniversary edition, “the agonism that informs this book is democratic: it is committed to shared spaces and relational practices in which diverse groups and individuals set and reset the terms of living together as equals.” By rethinking the established relation between politics and political theory, the author argues that political theorists of opposing positions often treat political theory less as an exploration of politics than as a series of devices for its displacement. The author characterizes Kant, Rawls, and Sandel as virtue theorists of politics, arguing that they rely on principles of right, rationality, community, and law to protect their political theories from the conflict and uncertainty of political reality. Drawing on Nietzsche and Arendt as well as Machiavelli and Derrida, the book explores an alternative politics of virtù, which treats the disruptions of political order as valued sites of democratic freedom and individuality.
Corruption Plots
Authors: Ranganathan Malini , Pike David L. , Doshi Sapana
Published: September 2023

This book illuminates how corruption is fundamental to global storytelling about how states and elites abuse entrusted power in late capitalism. The millennial city of the global South is a charged setting for allegations of corruption, with skyscrapers, land grabs, and slum evictions invoking outrage at deepening economic polarization. Drawing on ethnography in Bengaluru and Mumbai and a cross-section of literary and cinematic stories from cities around the world, the book pays close attention to the racial, caste, class, and gender locations of the narrators, spaces, and publics imagined to be harmed by corruption. The book demonstrates how corruption talk is leveraged to make sense of unequal spatial change and used opportunistically by those who are themselves implicated in wrongdoing. Offering a wide-ranging analysis of urban worlds, the book reveals the ethical, spatial, and political stakes of storytelling and how vital it is to examine the corruption plot in all its contradictions.
Conclusion
Authors: Kostovicova Denisa
Published: September 2023

This chapter addresses the paradox of reconciliation. It recaps the book's main arguments and findings about reconciliation through good-quality deliberation and discursive solidarity in transitional justice consultations. The chapter reflects on the scope of the research and charts directions for future research emerging from this book's contribution to the scholarship on transitional justice and peacebuilding from a deliberation perspective. The chapter particularly points to the role of identity talk in deliberation and makes a case for the study of deliberative intergroup contact to advance our understanding of interethnic communication in the reconstruction of postconflict societies. It examines policy implications, focusing on the role of deliberation as a specific type of discussion-based approach to postconflict reconciliation; the role of civil society actors in repairing interethnic relations; and the value of regional transitional justice efforts as a policy space for addressing legacies of human rights violations resulting from cross-border dynamics of violence in contemporary conflicts.
Stalemate
Authors: Ong Andrew
Published: September 2023

This book reveals the history and contemporary politics of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Asia's strongest insurgent army on Myanmar's border with China. The book recounts how a highland group, often dismissed as rebels or narcotraffickers, maintains a relational autonomy between two powerful lowland states. The Wa polity engages rather than evades these surrounding states, yet it struggles to fit into their registers of sovereignty and statehood. The book examines political culture among Wa elites and people, UWSA external relations, and capital flows with neighboring China, showing how Wa autonomy is enacted through careful navigation of complex borderland geopolitics and the shadow economy. The book analyzes the seeming stalemate between the Myanmar state and the UWSA as one of tactical dissonance—adopting simultaneous postures of authority and subordination and creating disruptions and connections. It illuminates how seemingly ambiguous and disorderly practices of political signaling, economic regulation, and military governance produce relative stability, challenging our assumptions about state-like processes at the peripheries.
A Kullback-Liebler divergence-based representation algorithm for malware detection
Authors: Aboaoja Faitouri A. , Zainal Anazida , Ghaleb Fuad A. , Alghamdi Norah Saleh , Saeed Faisal , Alhuwayji Husayn
Published: September 2023

Background

Malware, malicious software, is the major security concern of the digital realm. Conventional cyber-security solutions are challenged by sophisticated malicious behaviors. Currently, an overlap between malicious and legitimate behaviors causes more difficulties in characterizing those behaviors as malicious or legitimate activities. For instance, evasive malware often mimics legitimate behaviors, and evasion techniques are utilized by legitimate and malicious software.

Problem

Most of the existing solutions use the traditional term of frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) technique or its concept to represent malware behaviors. However, the traditional TF-IDF and the developed techniques represent the features, especially the shared ones, inaccurately because those techniques calculate a weight for each feature without considering its distribution in each class; instead, the generated weight is generated based on the distribution of the feature among all the documents. Such presumption can reduce the meaning of those features, and when those features are used to classify malware, they lead to a high false alarms.

Method

This study proposes a Kullback-Liebler Divergence-based Term Frequency-Probability Class Distribution (KLD-based TF-PCD) algorithm to represent the extracted features based on the differences between the probability distributions of the terms in malware and benign classes. Unlike the existing solution, the proposed algorithm increases the weights of the important features by using the Kullback-Liebler Divergence tool to measure the differences between their probability distributions in malware and benign classes.

Results

The experimental results show that the proposed KLD-based TF-PCD algorithm achieved an accuracy of 0.972, the false positive rate of 0.037, and the F-measure of 0.978. Such results were significant compared to the related work studies. Thus, the proposed KLD-based TF-PCD algorithm contributes to improving the security of cyberspace.

Conclusion

New meaningful characteristics have been added by the proposed algorithm to promote the learned knowledge of the classifiers, and thus increase their ability to classify malicious behaviors accurately.