bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Non-van der Waals MCrS2 nanosheets with tunable two-dimensional ferromagnetism
Authors: Luo Na , Ma Hao , Zhang Tao , Wu Jiajing , Chen Zheng-Jie , Xu Minwei , Sun Yuanmiao , Peng Jing
Published: August 2024

Designing two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic materials with high Curie temperature is urgent for the development of spintronic technology. The exploration of non-van der Waals (vdW) ferromagnetic nanosheets play a vital role in enriching the 2D ferromagnetic materials family on account of the scarcity of vdW materials in nature. Herein, we report a non-vdW AgCrS2 material with antiferro-to-ferro-magnetism transition when it thinned down to monolayer. Based on it, a universal ion-exchange strategy was employed to replace Ag+ by the M (M = Li+, Na+, K+) cations, acquiring a series of 2D non-vdW M
x
Ag0.5−x
CrS2 materials with tunable ferromagnetism. The Curie temperature is higher than the AgCrS2 nanosheet, and reaches up to 160 K when M is K+. The theoretical calculations verify the ferromagnetism of AgCrS2 and M
x
Ag0.5−x
CrS2 nanosheet originated from CrS2 layer. The disorderly arranged M and Ag ions increase the asymmetry of the lattice structure of M
x
Ag0.5−x
CrS2, thereby strengthening the interlayer ferromagnetic coupling and raising the Curie temperature of the nanosheets. This work provides ideas for discovering more 2D ferromagnetic materials with high Curie temperature.
Application of three-dimensional MHD equilibrium calculation coupled with plasma response to island divertor experiments on J-TEXT
Authors: XIE 谢 Wei 伟 , LIANG 梁 Yunfeng 云峰 , JIANG 江 Zhonghe 中和 , SUZUKI Yasuhiro , LI 李 Li 莉 , HUA 华 Jiankun 建坤 , HUANG 黄 Jie 杰 , KNIEPS Alexander , ZHOU 周 Song 松 , MAO 毛 Feiyue 飞越 , XU 徐 Xin 鑫 , LI 黎 Keze 可泽 , YANG 杨 Yutong 雨桐 , JIN 金 Ziyang 子阳 , LI 李 Cunkai 存凯 , Team the J-TEXT
Published: August 2024

Three-dimensional (3D) equilibrium calculations, including the plasma rotation shielding effect to resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) produced by the island divertor (ID) coils, were carried out using the HINT and MARS-F codes on J-TEXT. Validation of 3D equilibrium calculations with experimental observations demonstrates that the shielding effect will prevent the penetration of the edge m/n = 3/1 mode component when the ID coil current is 4 kA, while change the size of magnetic islands once the current exceeds the penetration threshold. This indicates that equilibrium calculations including the plasma rotation shielding effect to RMPs can lead to better agreements with experimental observations compared to the vacuum approximation method. Additionally, the magnetic topology at the boundary undergoes changes, impacting the interaction between the plasma and the target plate. These results may be important in understanding RMP effects on edge transport and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability control, as well as divertor heat and particle flux distribution control.
The use of orthogonal analytical approaches to profile lipid nanoparticle physicochemical attributes
Authors: Davidson Callum G , Abdulrahman Rand , Punnabhum Panida , Cairns Michael , Rattray Nicholas J W , Capomaccio Robin , Treacher Kevin , Perrie Yvonne , Rattray Zahra
Published: August 2024

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have become a major disruptor within the drug delivery field of complex RNA molecules. The wide applicability of prototype nanomedicines has the potential to fill clinical requirements for use against current untreatable diseases. The uptake and implementation of analytical technologies to evaluate these prototype nanomedicines have not experienced similar growth rates, thus hindering the translation of LNPs. Here, we evaluate a model RNA-LNP formulation with a selection of routine and high-resolution orthogonal analytical techniques across studies on the manufacturing process parameter impact and formulation stability evaluation under refrigerated and ultra-low temperatures. We analysed a model cationic RNA-complexed LNP formulation via the process impact on formulation critical quality attributes, short-term refrigerated stability evaluation and frozen-storage stability using zetasizer dynamic light scattering and nanoparticle tracking analysis. We also evaluated freeze-/thaw-induced stress on LNP formulation using high-resolution field-flow fractionation. Statistical analysis and correlations between techniques were conducted to further enhance our understanding of LNP formulation design and its physicochemical attributes to facilitate LNP formulation clinical translation.
Highly reflective and high-Q thin resonant subwavelength gratings
Authors: Singh Gurpreet , Mitra Trishala , Madsen Søren P , Dantan Aurélien
Published: August 2024

We theoretically investigate the design of thin subwavelength gratings possessing high-reflectivity and high-Q resonances when illuminated at normal incidence by a Gaussian beam. We compare the performances of single-period and dual-period rectangular gratings using finite element method-based optimization and predict a close to two orders of magnitude improvement (×90) in their transmission loss-linewidth product, which is the relevant figure of merit for e.g. resonant mirror-based microcavity applications.
Angular excitation of exceptional points and pseudospetra of photonic lattices
Authors: Komis Ioannis , Makris Konstantinos G
Published: August 2024

Optical parity-time (

PT

) symmetry has triggered a plethora of theoretical and experimental studies, and as a result non-Hermitian photonics is one of the frontiers of optics today. From unidirectional invisibility and coherent perfect absorbers to wireless power transfer and ultrasensitive sensors, non-hermiticity led to numerous important applications that rely on gain-loss synthetic structures. In particular, one such structure is that of complex photonic lattices that may exhibit exceptional points (EPs) around which the corresponding sensitivity is increased by orders of magnitude. Here, we investigate a new multiparametric family of non-Hermitian lattices that respects

PT

-symmetry, and examine their spectral sensitivity in terms of pseudospectra, as well, the angular excitation of the underlying EPs.
Assessing performance variability in a dual-fuel diesel engine using diesel and biogas: an experimental study across different compression ratios
Authors: Mali Sanjay D , Shah Pinkesh R , Shah Divyang R
Published: August 2024

The increasing concerns about energy security and environmental sustainability have intensified the search for alternative fuels. This study investigates the performance and emission characteristics of a dual-fuel diesel engine utilizing purified biogas and diesel across various compression ratios. A single-cylinder, direct-injection, water-cooled, variable compression ratio diesel engine was adapted to operate in dual-fuel mode, running experiments at compression ratios of 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 with a constant injection timing of 23° before top dead center under different load conditions. The study reveals a peak brake thermal efficiency of 33.25% at a compression ratio of 20, demonstrating the potential of biogas as a viable alternative fuel. Notably, while carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions decreased with higher compression ratios, nitrogen oxide emissions increased, highlighting a trade-off in emission characteristics. This work contributes to the understanding of biogas utilization in diesel engines, offering insights into optimizing engine performance and emissions through compression ratio adjustments. The findings can inform future developments in sustainable energy solutions.
Occurrence of the collective Ziman limit of heat transport in cubic semiconductors Si, Ge, AlAs and AlP: scattering channels and size effects
Authors: Sjakste Jelena , Markov Maxime , Sen Raja , Fugallo Giorgia , Paulatto Lorenzo , Vast Nathalie
Published: August 2024

In this work, we discuss the possibility of reaching the Ziman conditions for collective heat transport in cubic bulk semiconductors, such as Si, Ge, AlAs and AlP. In natural and enriched silicon and germanium, the collective heat transport limit is impossible to reach due to strong isotopic scattering. However, we show that in hyper-enriched silicon and germanium, as well as in materials with one single stable isotope like AlAs and AlP, at low temperatures, normal scattering plays an important role, making the observation of the collective heat transport possible. We further discuss the effects of sample sizes, and analyse our results for cubic materials by comparing them to bulk bismuth, in which second sound has been detected at cryogenic temperatures. We find that collective heat transport in cubic semiconductors studied in this work is expected to occur at temperatures between 10 and 20 K.
The Rediscovery of the Battlefield in the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Atherton Ian
Published: August 2024

In the 1720s and 1730s a new series of battlefield monuments began to be erected on past battlefields such as Lansdown (1643), the Boyne (1690), and even on the presumed site of the ancient Alleluia Victory (429). The chapter argues that these were the product of a new antiquarian interest in the past, and focused less on remembering the dead, and more on proclaiming the benefits of (often Protestant) liberty and ideas of the British as an ever-free nation. By the end of the eighteenth century it was commonplace for landowners to erect monuments to past battles on their estates, with examples including the Duke of Northumberland’s commemoration of Alnwick (1093) and Otterburn (1388), as well as monuments at Naseby (1645) and Bosworth (1485), harnessing histories to family lineage and aggrandisement.
Introduction
Authors: Swanton Christine
Published: August 2024

This book links together an account of love with virtue ethics. The overall moral theoretic framework presupposed is a form of virtue ethics; specifically target centred virtue ethics. It is a form of virtue ethics because the thick virtue concepts are deemed central to ethics and notions of rightness and excellence are understood in terms of virtuousness (whether of action, motive, or character). It is a form of target centred virtue ethics because what makes actions right, feelings appropriate, and traits of character virtues, is understood through the notion of the targets of the virtues. The targets of virtue are their aims, goals, or point and function in a life well lived. The modern development of virtue ethics as a moral theory has gone through several phases. I identify five, of which the most significant is the first, the wrenching away of ethics from what Williams called ‘morality that peculiar institution’ to the prioritizing of the thick concepts. In this work I contribute to the latest phase, a phase where one presupposes a type of virtue ethics (in my case the target centred virtue ethics already developed) and giving that view some normative content (an account of the place of love in virtue).
Love
Authors: Swanton Christine
Published: August 2024

This chapter focuses on basic characteristics of relational love—love between a lover and a beloved. Relational love is our usual notion of love but there is another aspect of love, what I call ‘lovingness’ (Chapter 2). The analysis of love will have the following broad theoretical features: The notion of love has multiple criteria of application such that love can be understood not merely as susceptible to rival conceptions but to rival concepts. These criteria of application are combinatorially vague. Love is an essentially contested concept. Love is a prototype concept. The relative importance of the various criteria of love is exhibited by investigating the varying roles they play in the multifarious virtues where love in some form is salient. No one criterion of love is deemed to be more important than another in all contexts and all forms of love.
Beneficence and Caring
Authors: Swanton Christine
Published: August 2024

This chapter is tasked with understanding how forms of impartial and universal love can be virtues and what makes them virtues. For this task I am much indebted to Kant. Here I am focused on beneficence and caring. The chapter begins by explicating Kant’s notion of beneficence as a duty of virtue of (universal) love. It considers problems of combining universality and particularity as features of the duty and shows how these features are compatible with virtue. Several problems are considered including just what kind of ‘coming close’ (the moral force of love) is demanded by beneficence, and the relation between beneficence as a universal virtue of love and obligation and permission. We turn then to the controversial idea of caring as an Aristotelian virtue of love before considering the virtues of the one-caring and the cared-for.
Latinx Media Production: The (In)Visibility of Bilingual Spaces in the American Media Landscape
Authors: Retis Jessica
Published: August 2024

Latinx media have been part of the U.S. cultural industry for more than two centuries. In the realm of ever-changing scenarios, these outlets have encountered spaces to communicate with bicultural and bilingual audiences at transnational and diasporic levels. By reviewing the origins, development, and early 21st-century trends and future scenarios, this essay examines how even though Latinx media have played a relevant role in the American media landscape, they have remained (in)visible. Historiographical perspective is implemented to compare the growth of Latinx communities along with the launch of print and broadcast media as well as the advent of new technologies and social media.
Global Political Economy, Platforms, and Media Industries
Authors: Jin Dal Yong
Published: August 2024

Critical political economy has emphasized the tensions and power relations between global forces and local forces as well as the political and the economic. Since media ownership has become one of the major elements to widening the existing gaps between a few powerful actors and the majority of underprivileged players, critical political economy focuses on the significant role of ownership in media and communication studies. Critical political economy has also continued to emphasize the structural change in media industries in the broader socio-economic milieu. In the early 21st century, critical political economy has shifted its emphasis toward digital platforms, such as over-the-top service platforms like Netflix, social media platforms like YouTube, and search engines like Google, as these digital platforms supported by artificial intelligence algorithms and big data are primary actors in the global cultural industries. They are not only shifting the milieu surrounding cultural industries but also transforming the entire value chain in cultural production, including the production of popular culture, the circulation of cultural products, and the consumption of cultural content. Critical political economy needs to analyze power relations between platform owners and platform users as well as between a few countries in the Global North that possess these digital platforms and the majority of countries in the Global South that, owing to the lack of capital, manpower, and know-how, cannot advance their own platforms. This implies that critical political economy needs to analyze how global digital platforms as part of Western cultural industries have controlled and manipulated local cultural industries. By discussing the change and continuity in the cultural industries in the digital media–driven media environment, which expedites the concentration of the industry, new international division of labor, and platform imperialism practice, critical political economy will shed light on the existing debates about power relations within the broader society.
Climate Services in South America
Authors: Vera Carolina
Published: August 2024

Significant advances in the implementation of climate services in South America have occurred in response to the challenge proposed by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 2009 to expand and strengthen such climate services aimed at the public in general and key socioeconomic sectors, in particular. An evaluation of these advances, as well as their achievements, limitations, and own challenges is presented. The approach of this evaluation is based on the analysis of a representative set of climate services experiences in the region.

In general, South America has made considerable progress in conducting initiatives that operationally provide climate monitoring and prediction information, such as the WMO regional climate centers. There are also promising experiences of climate services in some regions and countries, aimed at sectors such as agriculture, water, and disaster risk management, among others. Likewise, the levels of climate predictability existing in various regions of the continent have allowed the development of regional seasonal prediction tools, which, in some cases, have been integrated with information on non-climatic factors to provide guidance oriented to specific sectors. Also, participatory frameworks engaging the different actors involved, including frameworks based on co-production strategies, ensure stronger appropriation of climate services by decision makers. Successful examples include the development of agro-climatic predictions to support decision-making and agricultural practices, hydroclimatic predictions to make decisions related to the generation and provision of electrical energy, and monitoring and prediction tools to prevent the vector-borne diseases.

However, a good portion of these efforts focuses mainly on the provision of climate services and not enough on their actual use. On the other hand, most efforts are under development and implementation through short- or medium-term projects. Therefore, the strengthening and growth of climate services in South America require the consolidation and expansion of not only the regional monitoring and prediction capacities, but also of the personnel and resources of the participating institutions in continuous linkage with the users.
National Identities in Soviet Central Asia, 1940s to 1991
Authors: Fourniau Vincent
Published: August 2024

When conceived and implemented by the Bolshevik leaders, the nationality policy, or policy of nationalities, toward the many non-Slavic and non-Russian peoples of their new entity was a novelty in the state policies known at that time in the field of addressing ethnocultural diversity by central governments.

This policy was based on the creation of a new status, that of nationality, which applied to all citizens of the USSR, in parallel to Soviet citizenship. The status of nationality created new rights, compared to the previous political order, in the areas of language and culture for non-Russian peoples. It was also accompanied by a territorial component, which can be said to be the foundation of the Soviet state, since the latter was created as a federal state and remained a federation throughout its history.

This important feature of the Soviet state continued until the end of its existence in December 1991. The nationality policy has certainly undergone inflections throughout its seventy-year history, depending on political, geostrategic, demographic, and economic factors, but it has continued to structure the functioning of the state and the Soviet societal mosaic. From 1945 onward, there was a long period during which the nationalities increasingly appropriated this “national status” by broadening its contours and trying to make it more and more a tool for autonomy, whereas it had been designed to be a tool for integration within the Soviet order.

A double process of integration–autonomization has actually dominated the period since 1945. It has varied greatly in intensity among the nationalities, and of course, the nationalities enjoying the existence of a republic that bears their name experienced the most dynamic facets of this dual process. On the whole, it is mostly observable in the field of practices and, on local scales and environments, no doubt the reason why it has remained understudied. This double process deserves today to be really taken into account in the field of Soviet studies.

As the period 1945–1991 immediately precedes the present one, it is essential to examine more closely what can thus be called “national history” within Soviet history, not as a study of the fate of each nationality taken separately during the seventy years of the Soviet era but as an intrinsic and distinct part of Soviet history with its own rules.
The History of Natural Hazards in the Philippines
Authors: Bankoff Gregory
Published: August 2024

The danger from natural hazards is omnipresent in the Philippines. Disasters like typhoons, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and fires, among others, occur so often that they have become embedded in socioeconomic norms and practices and, over time, communities have learned to adapt to their regularity. Typhoons, and the epiphenomenal floods that too habitually accompany them, have caused more loss of life and property than any other natural hazard, and the magnitude and frequency of both are only likely to increase with climate change. Earthquakes not only have repeatedly racked urban centers and rural neighborhoods, leading to tremendous destruction and loss of life, but in the 21st century also threaten the cultural heritage of the nation. Volcanic eruptions have punctuated the history of the archipelago, causing significant population movement as well as economic disruption. Urban fires, largely the product of colonial settlement, remain a largely hidden and unrecorded menace, especially in areas of more informal housing that ring most modern population centers. In sum, the constant exposure to these risks has played a pivotal role in shaping the country’s historical development and in influencing its contemporary culture.
Dakar (Senegal): A Modern Capital
Authors: Bigon Liora
Published: August 2024

The capital city of Senegal, Dakar—whose metropolitan area comprises a population of 3,835,000 (about 23 percent of the country’s population as of 2021)—is a thriving cosmopolitan city and the largest city in Senegal. The beginning of this coastal settlement, according to Lebou oral traditions, dates to the 15th century. The Lebou are the Indigenous people who originally inhabited the area and have maintained a meaningful presence on Cap-Vert Peninsula, over which the modern city of Dakar extends. Established as the main deepwater port in West Africa and as a capital city on the territorial and regional levels during the French colonial regime, early-21st-century Dakar has experienced steady growth as a prominent point for in-country, regional, and transnational migration. Generating about half of the nation’s gross domestic product, the metropolis is characterized by great ethnolinguistic diversity; a moderate, democratized sociopolitical tradition of governance; a predominance of several Sufi tariqas (religious orders); and considerable artistic creativity. Dakar is one of the earliest sites in sub-Saharan tropical Africa of European settlement, which was initiated by the Portuguese in the mid-15th century. Metropolitan Dakar—positioned against the background of the transatlantic slave trade, subsequent French imperialism, and the crystallization of Islam since the beginning of the European settlement —has a unique historical, cultural, and physical heritage. The city has also won remarkable scholarly attention in multidisciplinary fields on the part of both its local and overseas scholars. However, its main challenges throughout the early 21st century have continued to be successful decentralization, the provision of adequate infrastructure, and a simplification of its complex systems of urban governance. It has also faced the challenges of the proliferation of uncontrolled peri-urban and extraformal growth, a housing crisis, and poverty.
Indians in South Africa
Authors: Vahed Goolam
Published: August 2024

The first persons of Indian descent in South Africa arrived as slaves transported there by the Dutch East India Company during the 17th century and were integrated into the “Cape Coloured” and “Malay” populations. Most Indians in South Africa are descendants of migrants who arrived in substantive numbers from 1860 as indentured workers on the sugar plantations of the British colony of Natal and free migrants who followed from the 1870s. After completing their indentures, many chose to remain in Natal, moving off the plantations and making lives for themselves as market gardeners and hawkers. The period after 1920 witnessed the rapid urbanization of Indians and the entry of many into industrial work. The merchant class, while hounded by racist legislation, consolidated a presence in both urban and rural areas. Despite government threats of repatriation, Indians were eventually accepted as citizens in 1961, albeit without the vote and subject to discriminatory legislation. In the first half of the 20th century Indians relied on India for redress. From the 1950s, they built nonracial alliances with the majority African population and played vital roles in the antiapartheid liberation movement. However, when nonracial democracy loomed, over 60 percent of Indians voted for the former white minority parties in the first democratic elections in 1994. Many were concerned about the implications of majority rule. This angst reflected that relations between Africans and Indians had been strained at particular historical junctures as Indians tried to negotiate a political identity within a field of Black consciousness, nonracialism, and African Nationalism. The rubric of “Indian” has been challenged in the postapartheid period by rupturing along religious, ethnic, and class lines. However, it is difficult to escape race identity since “Indian” continues to be a racial, as well as legal and political, identity in South Africa. This, together with many Indians’ relatively privileged position vis-à-vis Africans and rising xenophobia and Afrophobia in a context of widespread poverty, continues to subject many to concerns about their place in the fabric of South African society. This has powered a steady trickle of business and professional emigration. The working classes on the other hand remain embedded in a township “place” identity.
Child Slavery in Africa
Authors: Whyte Christine
Published: August 2024

Historically, children formed a significant proportion of enslaved people in the African continent. In most cases, newborn infants inherited the status of slavery from their mothers or, less commonly, their fathers. Unlike the racialized systems of slavery in the Caribbean and the Americas, the unfree status of African children born to enslaved parents was often slightly different and marginally closer to the status of free children of the household. Children were also frequently targeted for enslavement, through kidnapping, trafficking, or pawning, due to their potential for training in specific crafts and professions, their dependent status and their physically smaller size.

On the African continent, the laws and rules governing slave status were worked out in detail for each community. The same was true of childhood. Many societies practiced challenging or elaborate rituals of adulthood, which allowed individuals to enter fully into the social, political, and economic life of a community. Childhood and slavery shared some features of exclusion from full adult life and rights. In addition to these Indigenous legal and social frameworks, colonial rule introduced and imposed Eurocentric notions of childhood, slavery, and freedom on African colonies.

This diversity makes the African continent an important context for exploring the experiences of enslaved children as well as reflecting on these changing categories and definitions. Enslaved African children also played a sizable role in the African Diasporas in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Enslaved Africans carried their own notions of childhood, family, and coming-of-age with them on these forced migrations, and children made up a large proportion of the captives on ships, particularly during the 19th century’s illegal transatlantic trade and throughout the course of the Indian Ocean trade. African children would also play central roles in the campaigns to abolish and end the slave trade and slavery.
Slavery in Senegambia
Authors: Klein Martin A.
Published: August 2024

When Portuguese navigators reached the Senegal River in 1444, the region was already involved in the trans-Saharan slave trade. This meant that slaves were already part of Senegambian life as warriors, concubines, and farm workers. From the middle of the 17th century, demand for slaves in the West Indies led to an increase in prices and in the demand for slaves, which mostly came from the Bambara region of western Mali. The slave trade contributed to a series of Muslim revolutions as strict Muslim communities attacked both those laxer in their religious obligations and European colonizers. The trade in the Senegal River was in the 18th century dominated by female entrepreneurs known as signares. In the Gambia, juula traders brought slaves either to British factors or to James Island. Abolition in both Senegal and the Gambia began in the early 19th century but for long affected only areas under colonial rule. The process was a slow one because the expansion of peanut exports increased the demand for slaves and led to caution on the part of colonial regimes. Even after slavery was legally abolished in the early 20th century, the stigma of slave origins and some obligations persisted into the 21st century.
Runaway Communities in Central and South Africa
Authors: Alfagali Crislayne
Published: August 2024

The formation of fugitive communities in Central and Southern Africa is a recent historiographical topic. The lives and trajectories of fugitives have undoubtedly received much more attention in studies of the African presence in the Americas. Focusing on Africa is to return to the perspective that resistance to slavery, forced labor, and colonialism began on the continent. It is getting to know the local dynamics and the history of a continent in constant transformation. In particular, as it pertains to the regions of Central and Southern Africa, it resumes debates over the so-called precolonial period given that covered highlights of colonial occupation and exploration long before the Berlin Conference. Stories about escapes that led to the formation of runaway communities are referred to in a variety of ways—cipaka, mocambos, muttolo, quilombos, ocilombo, drosters, musitu—were privileged, with special attention to the political, economic, and cultural relationships that shaped the experience of those who chose or were forced to leave their home communities. Highlighting a diversity of experiences, gender differences, legal statuses (free, freed, enslaved), ethnic and identity formations, religious and political values, and situations of forced labor and exile (servants, soldiers, exiles, and convicts in general) are investigated.
The Aḥmadiyya Movement in Islam
Authors: Friedmann Yohanan
Published: August 2024

The Aḥmadiyya Movement in Islam is a modern Muslim messianic movement established in 1889 by Ghulām Aḥmad in Qādiyān, a town in the Indian Punjab province. The Aḥmadī Movement became one of the most controversial and most active movements in modern Islam. The movement was accused of rejecting the Muslim dogma asserting the finality of Muḥammad’s prophethood, and therefore aroused fierce opposition of the Sunnī Muslim mainstream. After the partition of India in 1947, the Aḥmadī issue became a major constitutional problem in Pakistan. The Sunnī Muslim mainstream demanded the formal exclusion of the Aḥmadīs from the Muslim fold. This objective was attained in 1974: against fierce opposition of the Aḥmadīs, the Pakistani parliament adopted a constitutional amendment declaring them non-Muslims. In 1984, within the framework of the general trend of Islamization in Pakistan, a presidential “Ordinance no. XX of 1984” transformed the religious observance of the Aḥmadīs into a criminal offense, punishable by three years of imprisonment and a fine. Following its promulgation, the headquarters of the Aḥmadī Movement moved from Rabwa (in Pakistan) to London.

The article explains the Aḥmadī interpretation of the dogma relating to the finality of Muḥammad’s prophethood, the reinterpretation of the jihād idea and the substantial change that it introduced into the Muslim beliefs concerning Jesus. It also describes the ideological roots of the split between the Qādiyānī and Lāhorī sections of the movement. A substantial part of the article is devoted to the expansion of the movement in numerous countries of the world.
Iconophobia and Iconophilia
Authors: Džalto Davor
Published: August 2024

Iconophobia (the fear of images) and iconophilia (the love of images) can be found, in a variety of forms, across different cultures and historical periods. Both iconophobia and iconophilia are related to another crucial concept—idolatry (the worship of images/idols)—and the corresponding practices of image veneration and image destruction (iconoclasm). Contrary to the popular view that Judaism and Islam are, by definition, aniconic and iconophobic, while Christianity (especially Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism) is iconophilic, all three major monotheistic traditions have demonstrated iconophilic, iconophobic, and iconoclastic tendencies. Some Judaisms, Christianities, and Islams have been using images in a variety of ways and have been defending them with theological arguments. Other Judaisms, Christianities, and Islams have rejected images, formulating iconophobic theologies, and the most radical tendencies within these traditions have also been physically destroying images that they perceived as “idols.”

In order to understand the phenomena of iconophilia, iconophobia, iconoclasm, and idolatry, it is necessary to situate them within broader historical, cultural, and religious contexts. Within, formally speaking, one and the same tradition (e.g., Rabbinic Judaism or Sunni Islam), one comes across different positions on these issues, depending on the cultural and political climate, the broader set of issues that individual authors were trying to address, as well as on author’s personal preferences.

In the history of Europe, all these tendencies have left their trace. Among the most important episodes in the history of iconophilic and iconophobic tendencies in the West are early disputes on images within the Christian communities of the 1st century ce, iconoclasm in the Eastern Roman Empire in the 8th–9th centuries, as well as the Western responses to this crisis, in the form of Libri Carolini and the Council of Frankfurt (794). The character of modern approaches to both religious and non-religious images, and the development of modern image theories, were under a strong influence of the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation movement. These were not only religious but also broader cultural movements, exhibiting their iconophilic and iconophobic aspects. Other cultural and political developments, most notably the French Revolution (1789), also exhibited their iconoclastic and iconophilic dimensions, which contributed to the development of modern aesthetics and the concept of “fine arts.” In this sense, in addition to traditional religiously motivated iconophobias, one can also speak of modern secular-religious iconophobia associated with the modern concept of the “artwork” and the phenomena of “disappearance” and “emptiness” in the history of modern art and aesthetics. Many late modern or postmodern concepts and phenomena, such as “simulacrum” or the destruction of monuments associated with political ideologies, religions, or imperial heritage, demonstrate contemporary iconophilic and iconophobic tendencies.
The Descriptive Tradition in Chinese Phonetics
Authors: Hu Fang
Published: August 2024

Even though the study of speech sounds has a long history in China, Chinese linguistics occurred as a modern discipline under the Western influence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bernhard Karlgren and Yuen-ren Chao established a descriptive tradition in Chinese phonetics that was rooted in Chinese philology. The idea was to provide a new scientific way for the description of speech sounds in modern languages and dialects on the one hand, and to explain the development of the sounds in the history on the other. Chinese linguistics has henceforth adopted a pan-chronic approach. Phonetics and phonology are integral to the study of speech sounds, and synchronic and diachronic aspects are parts of linguistics. Chinese phonetics has a descriptive spirit, rather than being theory oriented. From the very beginning, Chinese phonetics has been developing toward an evidence-based, experimental approach. This is because in a descriptive tradition, phonetic diversities and phonological universals need to be explained not only by abstract rules or principles but also by physical substances.

One unique tradition of Chinese linguistics uses an active-articulator-based terminology for describing the place of articulation. The active-articulator-based terminology captures an anterior versus posterior distinction between apical articulations in Mandarin dialects. Meanwhile, it introduced confusion when the active-articulator-based terminology was used as a general framework. Linguistic contrasts of phonation and aspiration in consonants are of particular interest in Chinese linguistics because they are correlated with tonal developments. Wu dialects are rich in laryngeal distinction, and fine-grained phonetic details reveal how obstruent devoicing has been interweaving with tones.

Chinese vowels are featured by apical vowels and diphthongs. Apical vowels function as vowels in Chinese syllables, but there is a long debate on whether apical vowels are vowels or syllabic consonants. Accumulative evidence from both acoustic and articulatory studies shows that apical vowels are more vowel-like than consonant-like. Chinese dialects have complex inventories of diphthongs and triphthongs and even teraphthongs in a few rare cases. The nature of diphthong is essential to the understanding of the complexity of Chinese syllables. And there is a typological difference between falling and rising diphthongs in Chinese dialects. Falling diphthongs are a single articulatory event with a dynamic spectral target, while rising diphthongs are sequences of two spectral targets.
Joyner, Mildred “Mit”
Authors: Logan Sadye L. M.
Published: August 2024

Mildred “Mit” Joyner, DPS, MSW, LCSW (1949–2023), the former president of the National Association of Social Workers, the Council on Social Work Education Board Chair, and Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD), was a champion for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion for more than three decades. She was a visionary who served extensively across various social work organizations domestically and internationally. She was also a champion of peace and justice at the community level.
Review of the Komarovieae (Apiaceae) with inclusion of monotypic Afghan genus Mastigosciadium and description of a new genus from Northern Balochistan, Pakistan
Authors: Sultan Amir , Khan Nazar , Kljuykov Eugene , Khan Amjad , Samigullin Tahir , Lyskov Dmitry
Published: August 2024

The tribe Komarovieae (Apiaceae) comprises 13 species distributed in Central Asia, Northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and southwest, central, and eastern China. The clade includes eight genera (six of them are monotypic), which bear a lot of apomorphic features and have very few common characters. Our morphological and molecular studies have shown that enigmatic Afghan monotypic genus Mastigosciadium is also a part of Komarovieae, despite critical morphological uniqueness even to this group. In addition, a new genus and species, endemic to Zhob district of Pakistan is described and illustrated. The new taxon is recognized by molecular phylogenetic analysis of nrITS and rps16 as a part of Komarovieae. Common morphological features for the species of Komarovieae are provided. After review, the clade comprises 10 genera and 15 species.
Evolutionary perspectives on mRNA signatures of neurodegeneration-related brain remodelling
Authors: Shen Ting , McMillan Corey T
Published: August 2024

This scientific commentary refers to ‘Frontotemporal lobar degeneration targets brain regions linked to expression of recently evolved genes’ by Pasquini et al. (https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae205).
Preventability of Hospital Deaths in Patients With Non-Ventilator Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia
Authors: Tatara Alexander M , Apostolopoulou Anna , Agan Anna A , DelloStritto Laura , Rhee Chanu , Klompas Michael
Published: August 2024

Background

Crude and adjusted mortality rates for patients with non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP) are among the highest of all healthcare-associated infections, leading to calls for greater prevention. Patients prone to NV-HAP, however, tend to be severely ill at baseline, making it unclear whether their high mortality rates are due to NV-HAP, their underlying conditions, or both.

Methods

Two infectious disease physicians conducted detailed medical record reviews on 150 randomly selected adults from 4 hospitals who died in-hospital following an NV-HAP event between April 2016 and May 2021. Reviewers abstracted risk factors, estimated the preventability of NV-HAP, identified causes of death, and adjudicated the preventability of death.

Results

The patients’ median age was 69.3 (IQR, 60.7–77.4) years and 43.3% were female. Comorbidities were common: 57% had cancer, 30% chronic kidney disease, 29% chronic lung disease, and 27% had heart failure. At least 1 hospice-eligible condition was present before NV-HAP in 54% and “Do Not Resuscitate” orders in 24%. Most (99%) had difficult-to-modify NV-HAP risk factors: 76% altered mental status, 35% dysphagia, and 27% nasogastric/orogastric tubes. NV-HAP was deemed possibly or probably preventable in 21% and hospital death likely or very likely preventable in 8.6%.

Conclusions

Most patients who die following NV-HAP have multiple, severe underlying comorbidities and difficult-to-modify risk factors for NV-HAP. Only 1 in 5 NV-HAPs that culminated in death and 1 in 12 deaths following NV-HAP were judged potentially preventable. This does not diminish the importance of NV-HAP prevention programs but informs expectations about the potential magnitude of their impact on hospital deaths.
Pitavastatin Is Well-Tolerated With no Detrimental Effects on Physical Function
Authors: Erlandson Kristine M , Umbleja Triin , Ribaudo Heather J , Schrack Jennifer A , Overton Edgar T , Fichtenbaum Carl J , Fitch Kathleen V , Roa Jhoanna C , Diggs Marissa R , Wood Kenneth , Zanni Markella V , Bloomfield Gerald S , Malvestutto Carlos , Aberg Judith A , Rodriguez-Barradas Maria C , Morones Rosalba Gomez , Breaux Katherine , Douglas Pamela S , Grinspoon Steven K , Brown Todd T
Published: August 2024

Background

Little is known about the potential benefits or harms of statins on physical function among people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH).

Methods

REPRIEVE was a double-blind randomized controlled trial evaluating pitavastatin for primary prevention of major adverse cardiovascular events in PWH. Time to complete 10 chair rises, 4-m gait speed, grip strength, and a modified short physical performance test were assessed annually for up to 5 years in the ancillary study PREPARE and analyzed using linear mixed models.

Findings

Of 602 PWH, 52% were randomized to pitavastatin and 48% to placebo. Median age was 51 years; 18% were female at birth; 2% transgender; and 40% Black, and 18% Hispanic. Median PREPARE follow-up was 4.7 (4.3–5.0) years. Muscle symptoms (grade ≥3 or treatment-limiting) occurred in 5% of both groups. There was no evidence of decline in chair rise rate in either treatment group and no difference in the pitavastatin group compared to placebo (estimated difference −0.10 [95% confidence interval, −.30 to 0.10] rises/min/year; P = .31). Small declines over time were observed in other physical function tests in both treatment groups, with no apparent differences between groups.

Interpretation

We observed minimal declines in physical function over 5 years of follow-up among middle-aged PWH, with no differences among PWH randomized to pitavastatin compared to placebo. This finding, combined with low prevalence of myalgias, supports the long-term safety of statin therapy on physical function, when used for primary prevention of major adverse cardiovascular events among PWH.
Effect of targeted education of patients with atrial fibrillation on unplanned cardiovascular outcomes: results of the multicentre randomized AF-EduCare trial
Authors: Desteghe Lien , Delesie Michiel , Knaepen Lieselotte , Önder Rana , Verbeeck Johan , Dendale Paul , Phlips Thomas , Haemers Peter , Saenen Johan , Ector Joris , Vijgen Johan , Heidbuchel Hein
Published: August 2024

Aims

Trials on integrated care for atrial fibrillation (AF) showed mixed results in different AF populations using various approaches. The multicentre, randomized AF-EduCare trial evaluated the effect of targeted patient education on unplanned cardiovascular outcomes.

Methods and results

Patients willing to participate were randomly assigned to in-person education, online education, or standard care (SC) and followed for minimum 18 months. Education focused on four aspects of integrated AF care: (i) knowledge on AF and oral anticoagulation; (ii) reinforcement of medication adherence; (iii) awareness about risk factors; and (iv) reachability for AF-related questions. The primary endpoint was the composite of cumulative events of unplanned cardiovascular hospitalizations and consultations, emergency department visits for cardiovascular reasons, and cardiovascular death. A total of 1038 patients (69.8 ± 9.2 years) were followed up for 26.9 ± 9.4 months. Education (both in-person and online) significantly improved AF-related knowledge compared to SC (P < 0.001), increased patient awareness about risk factors, led to high medication adherence, and encouraged patients to ask health-related questions. However, in-person education did not show an effect on the primary outcome compared to SC [HR 1.02 (0.91–1.14); P = 0.80] that was also not the case when comparing online education vs. SC [HR 1.18 (0.95–1.46), P = 0.65]. Exploratory subgroup analyses showed a heterogeneous effect over the centres, but a positive impact of in-person education in patients with asymptomatic AF, being 70 years old or younger, and without a history of heart failure.

Conclusion

AF-EduCare showed that intensive targeted patient education did not lead to less unplanned cardiovascular events in the AF patient population as a whole, although subgroups might benefit.
‘The nation does not even know what a jury is’: trust, fear and judicial reconstruction in the French Revolution, 1789–91
Authors: Andress David
Published: August 2024

The long and turbulent debates in the French National Constituent Assembly of 1789–91 over the creation of a jury system offer a window into the problematic nature of political trust in the French Revolution. The corruption of French mœurs, and the uncertain and contradictory place of the jury in their regeneration, preoccupied Assembly deputies. While courtroom juries were initially taken for granted as a vital pillar of the new constitution, debate repeatedly disparaged the mental and moral capacity of the French to actually weigh evidence and deliver fair verdicts, in the face of potentially intimidatory criminals and a ‘public opinion’ depicted in increasingly untrustworthy terms. The structure eventually erected sought to constrain jurors’ decision-making to an ‘infallible’ emotive response to sensory stimuli, and to ban them from rationally reviewing written evidence. This reflected deeper problems with revolutionary elites’ willingness to grant autonomy and legitimacy to the wider population: to trust the people.