bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Generalised covariance intersection‐Gamma Gaussian Inverse Wishart‐Poisson multi‐Bernoulli Mixture: An intelligent multiple extended target tracking scheme for mobile aquaculture sensor networks
Authors: Lv Chunfeng , Zhu Jianping , Peng Zhiguang
Published: January 2024

Poisson multi‐Bernoulli Mixture (PMBM) filter has been known as an available or practical point and multiple extended target tracking (METT) method. The authors present an improved PMBM filter with adaptive detection probability and adaptive newborn distributions, accompanying with an associated distributed fusion strategy for the tracking extended multiple targets. First, the augmented state of unknown and changing target detection probability is assumed as Gamma (GAM) distribution. Second, extended states are described by Inverse Wishart (IW) distribution based on this augmented state, accompanying with dynamic states presented by Gaussian distribution. And then, an adaptive newborn distribution is adopted to describe the newborn targets appearing arbitrarily. Consequently, the closed‐form solutions of the proposed filter can be derived by approximating the intensity of newborn and potential targets to the Gamma Gaussian Inverse Wishart (GGIW) form. Moreover, the fused means that Generalised Covariance Intersection (GCI) is performed in such a large‐scale aquaculture sensor network. Experiments are presented to verify the availability of the GCI‐GGIW‐PMBM method, and comparisons with other METT filters also demonstrate that tracking behaviours are improved largely.
JWST discovers an AGN ionization cone but only weak radiatively driven feedback in a powerful z ≈ 3.5 radio-loud AGN
Authors: Wang Wuji , Wylezalek Dominika , De Breuck Carlos , Vernet Joël , Rupke David S. N. , Zakamska Nadia L. , Vayner Andrey , Lehnert Matthew D. , Nesvadba Nicole P. H. , Stern Daniel
Published: January 2024

We present the first results from a JWST program studying the role played by powerful radio jets in the evolution of the most massive galaxies at the onset of cosmic noon. Using NIRSpec integral field spectroscopy, we detected 24 rest-frame optical emission lines from the z = 3.5892 radio galaxy 4C+19.71, which contains one of the most energetic radio jets known, making it perfect for testing radio mode feedback on the interstellar medium (ISM) of a M⋆ ∼ 1011 M⊙ galaxy. The rich spectrum enables line ratio diagnostics, showing that the radiation from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) dominates the ionization of the entire ISM out to at least 25 kpc, the edge of the detection. Subkiloparsec resolution reveals filamentary structures and emission blobs in the warm ionized ISM distributed on scales of ∼5 to ∼20 kpc. A large fraction of the extended gaseous nebula is located near the systemic velocity. This nebula thus may be the patchy ISM that is illuminated by the AGN after the passage of the jet. A radiative-driven outflow was observed within ∼5 kpc from the nucleus. The inefficient coupling (≲10−4) between this outflow and the quasar and the lack of extreme gas motions on galactic scales are inconsistent with other high-z powerful quasars. Combining our data with ground-based studies, we conclude that only a minor fraction of the feedback processes is happening on < 25 kpc scales.
The cataclysmic variable orbital period gap: More evident than ever
Authors: Schreiber Matthias R. , Belloni Diogo , Schwope Axel D.
Published: January 2024

Context.Recently, large and homogeneous samples of cataclysmic variables identified by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) were published. In these samples, the famous orbital period gap, which is a dearth of systems in the orbital period range ∼2 − 3 h and the defining feature of most evolutionary models for cataclysmic variables, has been claimed not to be clearly present. If true, this finding would completely change our picture of cataclysmic variable evolution.

Aims.In this Letter we focus on potential differences with respect to the orbital period gap between cataclysmic variables in which the magnetic field of the white dwarf is strong enough to connect with that of the donor star, so-called polars, and non-polar cataclysmic variables as the white dwarf magnetic field in polars has been predicted to reduce the strength of angular momentum loss through magnetic braking.

Methods.We separated the SDSS I–IV sample of cataclysmic variables into polars and non-polar systems and performed statistical tests to evaluate whether the period distributions are bimodal as predicted by the standard model for cataclysmic variable evolution or not. We also compared the SDSS I–IV period distribution of non-polars to that of other samples of cataclysmic variables.

Results.We confirm the existence of a period gap in the SDSS I–IV sample of non-polar cataclysmic variables with > 98% confidence. The boundaries of the orbital period gap are 147 and 191 min, with the lower boundary being different to previously published values (129 min). The orbital period distribution of polars from SDSS I–IV is clearly different and does not show a similar period gap.

Conclusions.The SDSS samples as well as previous samples of cataclysmic variables are consistent with the standard theory of cataclysmic variable evolution. Magnetic braking does indeed seem get disrupted around the fully convective boundary, which causes a detached phase during cataclysmic variable evolution. In polars, the white dwarf magnetic field reduces the strength of magnetic braking and consequently the orbital period distribution of polars does not display an equally profound and extended period gap as non-polars. It remains unclear why the breaking rates derived from the rotation of single stars in open clusters favour prescriptions that are unable to explain the orbital period distribution of cataclysmic variables.
The dichotomy property in stabilizability of 2 × 2 linear hyperbolic systems
Authors: Huang Xu , Wang Zhiqiang , Zhou Shijie
Published: January 2024

This paper is devoted to discuss the stabilizability of a class of 2 × 2 non-homogeneous hyperbolic systems. Motivated by the example in the Section 5.6 of Bastin and Coron’s book in 2016, we analyze the influence of the interval lengthLon stabilizability of the system. By spectral analysis, we prove that either the system is stabilizable for allL> 0 or it possesses the dichotomy property: there exists a critical lengthLc> 0 such that the system is stabilizable forL∈ (0,Lc) but unstabilizable forL∈ [Lc,+∞). In addition, forL∈ [Lc, +∞), we obtain that the system can reach equilibrium state in finite time by backstepping control combined with observer. Finally, we also provide some numerical simulations to confirm our developed analytical criteria.
Green initiative in a two-echelon Supply chain with co-ordination and contract
Authors: Ghosh Santanu Kumar , Goswami Palash
Published: January 2024

In recent times, environmental responsibility is an important factor that determines the success of a Supply Chain. In this study, we have considered green production in the light of various co-ordinations and contracts. This is a two-echelon Supply chain consisting of one manufacturer who designs and develops a green product and the retailer sells it to the environmentally aware customers and the awareness is converted to actual purchasing behaviour by the retailers marketing strategy and the manufacturer’s product design and development which includes technology usage to develop the greenness,packaging and several other factors which were not studied earlier. All these factors are involved in our demand function which is distinct from the existing literature. The model is developed under three contracts, Price-only, green marketing cost sharing and two-part tariff contracts. This is an well-established fact that co-ordination enhances the economic benefits to every tier member of a chain. Our findings also establish that co-ordination and co-operation among members will enhance their environmental sustainability. In this way they can carry out their social responsibilities towards our environment. It is also noticed that as the environmental consciousness of the consumers increases, the cost sharing contract is more profitable for manufacturer than that for retailer whereas the price only contract is profitable for the retailer.
Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Computed Tomography Scan versus Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Emergency Department for the Evaluation of Dizziness: A Systematic Review
Authors: Ashiq Ishfaq Nabeel , Khan Safeer , Yousaf Adil
Published: January 2024

Introduction Both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) play significant roles in assessing patients with dizziness. However, understanding the comparative capabilities of these imaging methods in detecting pathological causes is crucial for determining the most suitable modality. This review aims to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of MRI and CT scans in managing patients with acute dizziness in the emergency department.

Methods Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we conducted a comprehensive search in various databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane library, British Medical Journals, and ScienceDirect) from 2010 to 2023. We used the QUADAS-2 tool to assess bias risk, considering MRI as the reference standard and CT scan as the index test.

Results The final analysis included six studies, with 3,993 patients (48% male, 52% female; average age: 56.7 years). Three studies were of high quality, two of medium quality, and one of low quality. Central ischemia was the predominant diagnosis for dizziness. MRI demonstrated higher diagnostic efficacy for stroke compared with CT scans, while mixed results were observed for other multiple diseases when both MRI and CT scans were used.

Conclusion MRI outperforms CT scans in diagnosing dizziness-related strokes. However, for other causes of dizziness, there is no significant difference between these techniques. Nevertheless, it is crucial to acknowledge the limitations associated with MRI. Consequently, to address these concerns, the selection of an imaging technique should be tailored to the individual based on factors such as their clinical presentation, comorbidities, and socioeconomic circumstances.
Additional Role of 3D ASL Perfusion in Skull Base Lesions
Authors: Naghath J. Fairoze , Peter S. Babu
Published: January 2024

Background Arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion imaging is widely used since its main advantage is that no intravenous contrast is needed. Given that perfusion is a crucial biological characteristic for identifying tumor lesions, the qualitative noncontrast perfusion characteristics of these lesions were examined.

Aim We attempted utilizing the three-dimensional (3D) ASL technique to characterize skull base lesions and to highlight its crucial role in differentiating lesions.

Methods and Material 3D ASL imaging of 20 patients with posterior skull base lesions was performed in a 3-T magnetic resonance (MR) system (Siemens Healthineers, Skyra, Erlangen, Germany). The common differential diagnoses of skull base lesions could be distinguished based on this qualitative evaluation.

Results and Conclusions Glomus tumor has a strikingly increased perfusion when compared to meningiomas. The perfusion characteristics of metastasis depends on the primary tumor. Chondrosarcomas have a heterogeneously increased perfusion. Chordomas have variable perfusion, which helps in prognosticating the tumors. ASL benefits pediatric patients and in renal failure as well since it avoids the ethical ambiguity associated with contrast agents.
Demand for 5G from residential customers in Germany: a quantitative online survey using the Van Westendorp method
Authors: Ebert Jasmin , Winzer Peter
Published: January 2024

To investigate the demand for 5G in Germany, we applied the Van Westendorp Method (VWM) to measure willingness to pay (WTP) and price sensitivity (N = 504). The results show that more than half already own a 5G smartphone and these customers are less price sensitive. The accepted price range for the monthly 5G surcharge ranges between 10.00 and 15.40 Euros. Two thirds want more transparency in 5G pricing, while price is the most crucial factor (4.2/5.0), followed by data volume (4.1/5.0) and network operator/coverage (4.0/5.0). The results are particularly interesting for providers as the target group for 5G is quite diverse.
Risk management strategy for supply chain sustainability and resilience capability
Authors: Han Neungho , Um Juneho
Published: January 2024

Supply chain sustainability-related risks that have an undesirable environmental, social and economic impact result in global supply chain uncertainty and complexity. This paper investigates the relationships between supply chain sustainability risks, global uncertainty and mitigating strategies to attain supply chain resilience capability. The paper suggests the supply chain resilience capability and four fundamental risk-mitigating strategies to cope with supply chain sustainability risks. Data collected via survey were employed for structural equation modelling and moderation tests to explore appropriate mitigating strategies for differing sustainability risk environments. The results suggest a structural procedure for better supply chain resilience under diverse sustainability risks. Inspired by the literature gap, the study empirically examines how sustainability risks and global uncertainty influence supply chain resilience and provides the most effective risk management strategies among accept, avoid, control, share/transfer according to different sustainability risks. There is a lack of empirical research investigating how to address the supply chain sustainability risk through the provision of effective mitigating strategies for better supply chain resilience capability. The results provide insight for future research in supply chain resilience and sustainability studies.
Organizational justice perception and employees’ social loafing in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic: the mediating role of organizational commitment
Authors: Chen Chong , Wang Beibei , An Hongfei , Luo Min
Published: January 2024

As the cornerstone of enterprises, employees have played a pivotal role in navigating the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring the survival and growth of businesses. The global wave of unemployment triggered by the pandemic has given rise to innovative work engagements, including remote work and employee sharing. This shift prompts employees to reconsider their relationship with the organization, the extent of their collaboration, and their commitment to sustaining the enterprise’s viability and development. Amidst the diverse performance level of employees, the question arises: will they redouble their efforts to showcase their value or succumb to a state of inertia? Additionally, the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has brought about adverse impacts, making enterprises think about how to inhibit employees’ social loafing, stimulate their enthusiasm, and to rely on collective strength to overcome the crisis. During the pandemic, uncertainty of the work environment was elevated, and the factors influecing employees’ social loafing, perception of organizational justice, and organizational commitment became more significant. Based on the social exchange theory, this paper conducts research on how employees’ perception of organizational justice level weakens their social loafing and incorporates organizational commitment into the research framework in order to explore new presentations of relationships between these variables in the context of the epidemic. Through the data analysis of 276 questionnaires, the study found that: (1) the organizational justice has a negative impact on the social loafing of employees; (2) the organizational commitment plays a complete mediating role between the organizational justice and employees’ social loafing.
Wandering Jew
Authors: Lampert-Weissig Lisa
Published: January 2024

The legend of the Wandering Jew tells of a man who refused Jesus rest as Jesus struggled to Calvary. In response, Jesus bestowed a curse: the man would henceforth be unable to die, doomed to wait until Judgment Day. According to the Christian tradition of the legend, this experience converted the man to Christianity. Immortal, the cursed man now roams the earth, telling all he encounters of the events of the Passion and other historical events that he has experienced firsthand since that time. The legend circulated orally for centuries and artists, writers, and thinkers from around the world have also engaged with the legend through works of literary, visual, musical, and plastic art, as well as polemic, journalism, and philosophy. The Wandering Jew’s curse has often been understood as a metaphor for the Jewish diaspora, interpreted as punishment for alleged Jewish crimes against Christ. This Christian version of the legend has dominated these adaptations, but there is also an important strand of Jewish responses to the legend that center Jewish experience and provide a Jewish perspective on Jewish–Christian relations in the diaspora. From the textual origins of the medieval period through to 21st-century examples, both Jewish and Christian interpretive strands of the legend reveal the contours of “contact zones” between Jews and Christians. They also reflect on the history of these contacts and anticipate this history’s end, frequently by imagining the apocalyptic end of history itself.
Russian Populism
Authors: Robinson Neil
Published: January 2024

Russia has a long history of populism. Russia’s 19th-century populist movement is often seen as one of the founding moments of modern populism, and the movement and its successors were among the main revolutionary forces against Tsarism. More recently, parties like the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation have been labeled populist, and President Vladimir Putin has been called a populist. This article looks at these different strands of Russian populism. It reviews the development of 19th-century populism—narodnichestvo—and how it developed ideas about the possibility of constructing a Russian socialism based on peasant communes. It examines how narodnichestvo veered between propaganda work and terrorist activity and how this set the pattern for the revolutionary activity of the first populists’ successors, the Social Revolutionary Party, which was formed in the early 20th century. The article then looks at the different forms that post-Soviet populizm (as populism is labeled in modern Russian) has taken. It looks at the ideas of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and then looks at why Putin has been called a populist, focusing on the ideas that he put forward from 2011 onward about Russia as a particular form of civilization and state. These ideas, it is argued, formed the core of an “official” populism that, while effective as a means of arguing for Putin’s return to the presidency in 2012, is politically sterile.
Police Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and Formal Social Control
Authors: Worden Robert E. , Holladay Beau P. , McLean Sarah J.
Published: January 2024

Procedurally just policing (PJP) has been hailed as a path to greater police legitimacy—which is to say, public trust and confidence in police and a sense of obligation to defer to police and obey the law. Greater police legitimacy is expected to lead to improved public cooperation with law enforcement, such as in reporting crime and calling the police. PJP entails treating people with respect, allowing them “voice,” and demonstrating that their needs and concerns have been taken into account and that police decisions rest on facts and the law. Police agencies can promote PJP by training officers, deploying body-worn cameras, and enhancing the fairness with which officers are treated by the organization. Empirical evidence on these expectations is mixed and raises a number of issues that preclude causal inferences, calling for a careful assessment of research methods and findings.
The Natural Scene Network
Authors: Beck Diane , Walther Dirk B.
Published: January 2024

Interest in the neural representations of scenes centered first on the idea that the primate visual system evolved in the context of natural scene statistics, but with the advent of functional magnetic resonance imaging, interest turned to scenes as a category of visual representation distinct from that of objects, faces, or bodies. Research comparing such categories revealed a scene network comprised of the parahippocampal place area, the medial place area, and the occipital place area. The network has been linked to a variety of functions, including navigation, categorization, and contextual processing. Moreover, much is known about both the visual representations of scenes within the network as well as its role in and connections to the brain’s semantic system. To fully understand the scene network, however, more work is needed to both break it down into its constituent parts and integrate what is known into a coherent system or systems.
Understanding How Humans Learn and Adapt to Changing Environments
Authors: Cochrane Aaron , Bavelier Daphne
Published: January 2024

Compared to other animals or to artificial agents, humans are unique in the extent of their abilities to learn and adapt to changing environments. When focusing on skill learning and model-based approaches, learning can be conceived as a progression of increasing, then decreasing, dimensions of representing knowledge. First, initial learning demands exploration of the learning space and the identification of the relevant dimensions for the novel task at hand. Second, intermediate learning requires a refinement of these relevant dimensions of knowledge and behavior to continue improving performance while increasing efficiency. Such improvements utilize chunking or other forms of dimensionality reduction to diminish task complexity. Finally, late learning ensures automatization of behavior through habit formation and expertise development, thereby reducing the need to effortfully control behavior. While automatization greatly increases efficiency, there is also a trade-off with the ability to generalize, with late learning tending to be highly specific to the learned features and contexts. In each of these phases a variety of interacting factors are relevant: Declarative instructions, prior knowledge, attentional deployment, and cognitive fitness have unique roles to play. Neural contributions to processes involved also shift from earlier to later points in learning as effortfulness initially increases and then gives way to automaticity. Interestingly, video games excel at providing uniquely supportive environments to guide the learner through each of these learning stages. This fact makes video games a useful tool for both studying learning, due to their engaging nature and dynamic range of complexity, as well as engendering learning in domains such as education or cognitive training.
Neural Processing of Speech Using Intracranial Electroencephalography: Sound Representations in the Auditory Cortex
Authors: Hamilton Liberty S.
Published: January 2024

When people listen to speech and other natural sounds, their brains must take in a noisy acoustic signal and transform it into a robust mapping that eventually helps them communicate and understand the world around them. People hear what was said, who said it, and how they said it, and each of these aspects is encoded in brain activity across different auditory regions. Intracranial recordings in patients with epilepsy, also called electrocorticography or stereoelectroencephalography, have provided a unique window into understanding these processes at a high spatiotemporal resolution. These intracranial recordings are typically performed during clinical treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy or to monitor brain function during neurosurgery. The access to direct recordings of activity in the human brain is a benefit of this method, but it comes with important caveats. Research using intracranial recordings has uncovered how the brain represents acoustic information, including frequency, spectrotemporal modulations, and pitch, and how that information progresses to more complex representations, including phonological information, relative pitch, and prosody. In addition, intracranial recordings have been used to uncover the role of attention and context on top-down modification of perceptual information in the brain. Finally, research has shown both overlapping and distinct brain responses for speech and other natural sounds such as music.
Mobilities across European Banglascapes
Authors: Della Puppa Francesco
Published: January 2024

Bangladeshi migration to Europe began as early as the 1600s, when young Bengali men worked as deckhands on British ships bound for London. The British capital became home to what would become, in the following centuries, the largest Bangladeshi community in Europe.

However, in the 1970s, the United Kingdom and other continental European countries that had traditionally been destinations for international migration (e.g., the Federal Republic of Germany, France, and Switzerland), tightened their control over new arrivals. At the same time, Mediterranean European countries, which had recently undergone profound social and economic transformations, established themselves as new destinations for migration from the “Global South.” This meant that by the 1990s, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal were among the main destinations for Bangladeshi migration to Europe.

The next twenty years saw the 2008 global economic crisis (which hit southern European countries particularly hard) as well as changes in the expectations and the legal and family status of Bangladeshi migrants in Mediterranean Europe (the second generation was born, and the first generation had acquired European passports). Hence, a new migration began to take shape, with Bangladeshi communities again moving to London, but this time from Mediterranean Europe.

However, the migratory mobility of these Bangladeshi Europeans has not ended: while some have settled in the United Kingdom, even acquiring British citizenship, many others, because of the disillusionments concerning the United Kingdom as well as the implementation of Brexit, have decided to retrace their steps partially, returning to Mediterranean Europe or settling in other European countries. Meanwhile, many unskilled Bangladeshi workers who previously migrated to Libya also find themselves undertaking a further migration, crossing the Mediterranean to claim asylum in Italy. This demonstrates the ever-increasing complexity of interwoven mobilities across European Banglascapes.
History of Archaeology in Ghana
Authors: Apoh Wazi , Amartey Samuel
Published: January 2024

The conduct of archaeological research and scholarship in Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) dates back to the 1920s. However, before the 20th century, some antiquarian practices were pursued by European scientists, missionaries, merchants, and enslavers. Expatriate archaeologists dominated archaeological research in Ghana until the 1980s when the number of local scholars started increasing. The University of Ghana remains the only institution of higher learning in Ghana where academic and scientific archaeology is practiced through the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies (DAHS), which was established in 1951. Until the 1980s, prehistoric Stone Age archaeology dominated the thematic research landscape. However, from the 1980s onward, indigenous and expatriate archaeologists steered attention to sites dating to periods after 1000 ce. This was in response to the need to build new histories for the postcolonial nation-state of Ghana. By the close of the 20th century, local researchers had taken over the scholarly landscape of archaeology in the country. The Department of Archaeology was rebranded as the DAHS to make the discipline more meaningful and economically viable for national development. Since 2010, the department has dramatically diversified its thematic and temporal foci. Aside from Iron Age studies, prehistory, historical archaeology, state formation, and Atlantic–global encounters, themes such as public archaeology, developmental archaeology, restitution, bioarchaeology, archaeobotany, museology, slavery studies, and environmental humanities are emerging as practical ways of diversifying the field of archaeology in Ghana. These emerging and innovative themes are attractive and underscore the growing number of students pursuing archaeology at the University of Ghana.
The Archaeology of Nok Culture in Nigeria (2nd/1st Millennium BCE)
Authors: Franke Gabriele
Published: January 2024

The elaborate terracotta figurines of central Nigerian Nok culture date back to the early 1st millennium bce and represent the earliest large-size sculptural tradition in sub-Saharan Africa. Archaeological finds from the mid-20th century suggested that they appeared together with iron production and pointed to an early complex society preceding later Nigerian societies, such as Ile-Ife and Benin, which feature evidence for social differentiation and political organization. Fieldwork in the last fifteen years has yielded signs of specialization in terracotta and iron production, but no evidence for social or political complexity. Nok people were small-scale farmers living in dispersed homesteads from the mid-2nd millennium bce, when they arrived in the region from the north, and sharing the same lifeways, the same ceramic style, and, from 900 bce onward, the widely distributed use of highly standardized terracotta figurines. The earliest evidence for iron production is found at least one hundred years after the appearance of the first terracotta figurines, so that no link between the figurines and the presence of iron can be established. Excavations in 2016 have proven the spatial and temporal connection between terracotta figurine depositions and stone-pot arrangements interpreted as graves, indicating an ancestral belief system further revealed by evidence of feasting and mortuary rituals recurring over time. Thus, while no social or political complexity can be postulated for Nok culture based on the current evidence, the terracotta figurines and their use in mortuary rituals point to a complex ritual system spread over a large area in central Nigeria. Nok culture with its characteristic figurines and pottery disappears in the last centuries bce and is succeeded by people with new crops and different pottery in the early 1st millennium ce.
Ahmadu Bamba
Authors: Ngom Fallou
Published: January 2024

The mid-19th century was an era when the French colonial administration was consolidating its control over colonies in French West Africa. Having witnessed armed resistance movements from non-Muslim and Muslim leaders in the region, the French administration was suspicious of popular leaders who did not support the colonial agenda. Some were killed, and others were arrested, exiled, or put under house arrest in order to destroy their movements. Ahmadu Bamba (1853–1927) was one of the Muslim leaders the French administration regarded as a threat to colonial rule. Because he did not share the position of local Muslim leaders who allied with the Wolof ruling nobility whom he regarded as unjust, Bamba founded a new Sufi movement that sought to provide the masses with an ethics-centered Islamic education. His conflict with the Muslim leaders and Wolof aristocratic rulers exacerbated his tension with French administrators who saw him as an imminent threat. As a result, Bamba was arrested and exiled in Gabon (1895–1902) and Mauritania (1903–1907) and was kept under house arrest in Ceyeen-Jolof (1907–1912) and Diourbel (1912–1927). The exiles and arrests, which were designed to destroy his movement, did not work as his Murīdiyya order has become one of Senegal’s most culturally, economically, and politically powerful movements, with committed members spread around the world. His legacy endures. He was a prolific writer and has left an impressive corpus of Arabic texts that continue to guide his followers around the world. His senior disciples, who translated his ethos to the broader Wolof audiences using Wolofal or Wolof ʿAjamī (Wolof written with the Arabic script), have also left a rich corpus of primary sources that capture the history, traditions, and doctrine of the Murīdiyya from Murīd perspectives. Unfortunately, these sources remain largely inaccessible to academics.
Leverage Cycle Theory of Economic Crises and Booms
Authors: Geanakoplos John
Published: January 2024

Traditionally, booms and busts have been attributed to investors’ excessive or insufficient demand, irrational exuberance and panics, or fraud. The leverage cycle begins with the observation that much of demand is facilitated by borrowing and that crashes often occur simultaneously with the withdrawal of lending. Uncertainty scares lenders before investors.

Lenders are worried about default and therefore attach credit terms like collateral or minimum credit ratings to their contracts. The credit surface, depicting interest rates as a function of the credit terms, emerges in leverage cycle equilibrium. The leverage cycle is about booms when credit terms, especially collateral, are chosen to be loose, and busts when they suddenly become tight, in contrast to the traditional fixation on the (riskless) interest rate.

Leverage cycle crashes are triggered at the top of the cycle by scary bad news, which has three effects. The bad news reduces every agent’s valuation of the asset. The increased uncertainty steepens the credit surface, causing leverage to plummet on new loans, explaining the withdrawal of credit. The high valuation leveraged investors holding the asset lose wealth when the price falls; if their debts are due, they lose liquid wealth and face margin calls. Each effect feeds back and exacerbates the others and increases the uncertainty.

The credit surface is steeper for long loans than short loans because uncertainty is higher. Investors respond by borrowing short, creating a maturity mismatch and voluntarily exposing themselves to margin calls. When uncertainty rises, the credit surface steepens more for low credit rating agents than for high rated agents, leading to more inequality..

The leverage cycle also applies to banks, leading to a theory of insolvency runs rather than panic runs. The leverage cycle policy implication for banks is that there should be transparency, which will induce depositors or regulators to hold down bank leverage before insolvency is reached. This is contrary to the view that opaqueness is a virtue of banks because it lessens panic.
Earnings Inequality in Latin America: A Three-Decade Retrospective
Authors: Fernández Manuel , Serrano Gabriela
Published: January 2024

Latin American countries have some of the highest levels of income inequality in the world. However, earnings inequality have significantly changed over time, increasing during the 1980s and 1990s, declining sharply in the 2000s, and stagnating or even increasing in some countries since 2015. Macroeconomic instability in the region in the 1980s and early 1990s, as well as the introduction of structural reforms like trade, capital, and financial liberalization, affected the patterns of relative demand and relative earnings across skill-demographic groups in the 1990s, increasing inequality. Significant gains in educational attainment, the demographic transition, and rising female labor force participation changed the skill-demographic composition of labor supply, pushing the education and experience premiums downward, but this was not enough to counteract demand-side trends. At the turn of the 21st century, improved external conditions, driven by China’s massive increase in demand for commodities, boosted economies across Latin America, which began to grow rapidly. Growth was accompanied by a positive shift in the relative demand for less-educated workers, stronger labor institutions, rising minimum wages, and declining labor informality, a confluence of factors that reduced earnings inequality. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, particularly after the end of the commodities price boom in 2014, economic growth decelerated, and the pace of inequality decline stagnated. There is extensive literature documenting and trying to explain the causes of recent earnings inequality dynamics in Latin America. This literature is examined in terms of themes, methodological approaches, and key findings. The focus is on earnings inequality and how developments in labor markets have shaped it.
Gender and Reproductive Health Empowerment
Authors: Wood Shannon N. , Yirgu Robel , Karp Celia
Published: January 2024

Gender and reproductive health empowerment are central concepts for understanding and improving population health and well-being. Beginning in the 1990s, global platforms, including the United Nations, began recognizing gender-based inequities, including violence against women and lack of women’s participation in education and the economy, as social determinants of health. Since the 1990s there has been growing international interest in the concept of empowerment as a means for understanding the mechanisms that drive outcomes related to health and development. Although several definitions of empowerment have evolved over the past 30 years, the pivotal work of Dr. Naila Kabeer has grounded many interpretations of women’s empowerment as a process by which a woman has the individual capacity and freedom to act on her own choices in life. To date, the lack of comparable empowerment definitions remains a major hindrance to conducting comprehensive research that links empowerment to health outcomes. Additionally, while most recognize empowerment as a multidimensional process, the majority of measures used for examining this concept have been unidimensional (focused on agency, self-efficacy, household decision-making, etc.), thereby limiting the understanding of empowerment across populations, geographies, and contexts. Subsequent framing of women’s empowerment has focused specifically on sexual and reproductive empowerment, recognizing that women may be empowered in certain realms (e.g., economic), but not in others (e.g., autonomy in contraceptive decisions). Developments in the conceptualization of reproductive empowerment since 2015 have paved the way for improved measurement and exploration of this concept, yet gaps in research remain.
Ensuring the Public Value of Long-Term Care Services
Authors: Ibrahim Joseph E.
Published: January 2024

Many seniors needing social and clinical care come from vulnerable populations that have difficulty accessing services, a great need for those services, and/or potentially impaired decision-making skills. At the same time, when seniors use services on a routine basis, they become increasingly dependent on the individual service provider. The aged care sector has a duty to provide “public value”—that is, to provide a valuable contribution to society within existing resource constraints. This requires more than simply addressing the basic individual needs of care recipients. Ethical factors must be considered in policies around services to vulnerable seniors and potential issues in addressing suboptimal quality of care, neglect, and abuse of seniors, as demonstrated by continuing public news of poor care provided to seniors in nursing homes, social care, and residential care settings.
Friendship in International Politics
Authors: Haugevik Kristin
Published: January 2024

In the international political discourse of the early 21st century, claims of friendship and “special ties” between states and their leaders are commonplace. Frequently reported by international media, such claims are often used as entry points for scholars and pundits seeking to evaluate the contents, relative strength, and present-day conditions of a given state-to-state relationship. Advancing the claim that friendships not only exist but also matter in and to the international political domain, international relations scholars began in the mid-2000s to trace and explore friendship—as a concept and practice—across time, societies, cultural contexts, and scientific disciplines. As part of the research agenda on friendship in international politics, scholars have explored why, how, and under what conditions friendships between states emerge, evolve, subsist, and dissolve; how amicable structures are typically organized; how they manifest themselves on a day-to-day basis; and what short- and long-term implications they may have for international political processes, dynamics, outcomes, and orders.
The Nuclear Physics of Neutron Stars
Authors: Piekarewicz Jorge
Published: January 2024

Neutron stars—compact objects with masses similar to that of our Sun but radii comparable to the size of a city—contain the densest form of matter in the universe that can be probed in terrestrial laboratories as well as in earth- and space-based observatories. The historical detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star merger has opened the new era of multimessenger astronomy and has propelled neutron stars to the center of a variety of disciplines, such as astrophysics, general relativity, nuclear physics, and particle physics. The main input required to study the structure of neutron stars is the pressure support generated by its constituents against gravitational collapse. These include neutrons, protons, electrons, and perhaps even more exotic constituents. As such, nuclear physics plays a prominent role in elucidating the fascinating structure, dynamics, and composition of neutron stars.
Natural Food
Authors: Kideckel Michael S.
Published: January 2024

The question of what makes food natural or unnatural has spawned controversy for generations. Many people desire “natural food,” but all people struggle to define it. Its definition has been the subject of marketing lawsuits and government hearings. Within Europe and the United States, especially, people have turned to the phrase “natural food” to signal religious commitments, respond to food safety regulations, market their product, and advance political objectives. The definition of natural food at any given moment illuminates much about the values, trends, and political and economic dynamics of that period.
Living Fermented Foods and Drinks
Authors: Read James
Published: January 2024

Fermentation is the process by which microbes transform ingredients into a palatable product or ferment. Its customary uses are food preservation (as in sauerkraut) and alcohol production (as in wine or beer), though it is also highly regarded for flavor enhancement and health benefits. Research into fermentation is multidisciplinary, covering fields ranging from history and anthropology to microbiology and nutrition.

Fermentation has been intentionally employed as a preparation technique through which microbes and humans have domesticated each other for at least 13,000 years, across cultures spanning from Japan (miso) to Mexico (tepache). It is central to many foods and drinks, but when referring to “ferments” in a culinary context, most people do not mean bread, beer, or olives but, rather, the likes of kimchi, kombucha, and kefir. These could broadly be termed as “living ferments,” as they have at least the potential to contain live and active microbes when they arrive on our plate. This quality of vitality is not only merely useful for classification but also for indication of how they are made (such that there is no inherent pasteurization or dehydration to create the final product).

To categorize ferments further, they can be grouped as vegetables (such as kimchi, sauerkraut, pao cai, and gundruk), no/low-alcohol drinks (such as tepache, tejuino, atole agrio, kombucha, and juniper beer), dairy (such as yogurt, kefir, dahi, amasi, and tätmjölk), and soybeans (miso, soy sauce, douchi, koji, doubanjiang, gochujang, tempeh, natto, and meju).

Ferments can be made either by inoculation with a starter culture or by spontaneous (or wild) fermentation. In either case, competition and collaboration within the microbial community results in different species occupying their own niches, some of which are crafted for them through fermentation techniques and some of which the microbes develop for themselves. This adaptation is mirrored on a coevolutionary scale, as humans and microbes have made homes for and of each other.
Class Mobility among US Farmworkers
Authors: Korsunsky Alex
Published: January 2024

Racial hierarchies have defined US agriculture from its beginnings, structuring access to land and imposing boundaries between farmers and farmworkers. Racialized exclusion from other economic opportunities and from the full protection of the law have been key factors curtailing farmworkers’ opportunities for upward mobility within agriculture. Despite these barriers, farmworkers have consistently attempted to move up the agricultural hierarchy and establish themselves as independent farmers.

In the wake of the Civil War, formerly enslaved Black workers sought to acquire land to farm. Some succeeded, but their ability to advance was severely limited, and many remained trapped in debt peonage or sharecropping arrangements. Despite widespread anti-Asian sentiment and legal prohibitions on land ownership in the late 19th and early 20th century, some Asian immigrant farmworkers in California and in other West Coast states established themselves as successful orchardists and truck farmers. As agribusiness came to increasingly rely on Mexican farm labor in the early 20th century (a trend that accelerated and expanded geographically from the Second World War onward), Mexican workers’ immigration status as Bracero guest workers or undocumented migrants often kept them mobile and legally barred from putting down roots.

As more Mexican farmworkers began to settle in the latter part of the 20th century, increasing numbers of them found ways to access farmland. Others achieved economic mobility by transitioning from seasonal to year-round jobs, occupying more specialized and responsible roles, becoming labor contractors, and establishing nonfarm businesses to supply growing immigrant communities. Studies of class mobility among Mexican immigrant farmers reveal not only the barriers they have faced, but also the resources that these farmers have used to seek advancement, including their experience in agriculture, access to labor, and capacity to self-exploit their own labor. The turn to agriculture is not purely a financial decision, but also reflects personal and cultural values and aspirations, and links some farmers into wider social movements organized around the concept of food justice.
Children’s Food: Historical, Sociocultural, and Public Health Perspectives
Authors: Moffat Tina
Published: January 2024

The category of children’s food was invented in the 20th century with the rise of nutrition sciences, the industrialization of food, and changing societal attitudes to children and childhood that resulted in newfound autonomy and food purchasing power for children in middle- and upper-income countries. Studies of children’s food can be found in both the public health and social sciences. There is some transdisciplinary overlap among topics such as children’s first foods, the marketing of unhealthy food to children, school food, food allergies, and children’s food security. Studies in public health sciences have been more concerned with the nutritional aspects of children’s food, whereas the social sciences literature has taken up the examination of children’s food as a reflection of adult preoccupations with children and childhood within neoliberal and capitalist societies. To date, there is a dearth of studies that include children’s perspectives, though the field is changing with more calls to include children as active participants in studies of children’s food.