bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Danish Wind Power: Alternating Currents
Authors: Araújo Kathleen
Published: November 2020

According to Michael Zarin, Director of Government Relations with Vestas Wind Systems, there is nothing “alternative” about wind power anymore (Biello, 2010). After all, wind generation is the most cost-effective option for new grid-connected power in markets like Mexico, South Africa, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Canada, and the United States (Renewable Energy Policy Network [REN21], 2016). At 433 GW of cumulatively installed capacity in 2015 worldwide, more than half was added in the past 5 years (REN21, 2016). This technology may be used by individuals, communities, and utilities. It can be grid-connected or off- grid, and be used onshore or offshore. This chapter examines the influences and evolution of the Danish wind transition, highlighting how ingenuity and often less-obvious incremental advances produced a world-class industry. It reveals how citizens can be important catalysts of energy system change. The case also indicates that innovations can emerge in practices and policy, not just technology, science or industry. Denmark is a cultural and traditional technology leader for modern wind power. This country of roughly 5.6 million people and GDP of approximately $65 billion in 2016 (ppp) (Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], n.d.) is where today’s dominant, wind turbine design was established and where state-of-the art wind technology testing centers are based. It is also the site of the first, commercial-scale offshore wind farm, built in 1991. Denmark has a world-class hub for wind energy technology (Megavind, 2013; State of Green, 2015; Renewable Energy World, 2016). Top-ranked companies like Vestas, LM Wind Power, Siemens Wind Power, A2SEA, and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind are among those that base core parts of their global operations in Denmark. A close network of wind engineers and their professional affiliates drives the industry, which includes ancillary services and subcomponent supplies. Wind energy technology also represents one of Denmark’s top-ranked exports (United Nations Comtrade, n.d.). Currently, Denmark has more wind power capacity per person than does any other country in the world (REN21, 2017). This Northern European nation is on track to derive 50% of its electricity from wind power by 2020.
Atorvastatin Calcium (Lipitor)
Authors: Li Jie Jack
Published: November 2020

To the human body, cholesterol (2) is a Janus-faced molecule. On the one hand, it is an indispensable building block for life—about 23% of total body cholesterol resides in the brain, making up one-tenth of the solid substance of the brain. Red blood cell membranes are also rich in cholesterol, which helps stabilize the cell membranes and protect cells. Furthermore, cholesterol is also the precursor of hormones such as progesterone, testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol. On the other hand, cholesterol helps plaque buildup, which constricts or blocks arteries, leading to angina, heart attack, stroke, and many other cardiovascular diseases. To date, the experimental, genetic, and epidemiologic evidence all point to escalating cholesterol levels as a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Other major risk factors include obesity, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and inactive lifestyle. Depending on different water-soluble carriers, cholesterol could have starkly opposing effects on the heart. Cholesterol in low-density lipoprotein (LDL), often known as “bad” cholesterol, is the fundamental carrier of blood cholesterol to body cells. It can slowly build up in the walls of the arteries feeding the brain and heart and can form plaques. In contrast, cholesterol in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), frequently dubbed “good” cholesterol, is a carrier that takes cholesterol away from the arteries and brings it to the liver, where it can be removed from circulation by metabolism. The higher the levels of HDL, the better. In general, women have higher levels of HDL, which may explain why women have longer life expectations than men. Their higher levels of estrogen are somehow correlated to higher HDL-cholesterol levels. Many attempts have been made to lower cholesterol levels. In the 1950s and 1960s, estrogen was tried but was quickly abandoned because it caused feminizing side effects on men. Thyroid hormone also had unacceptable side effects, such as trembling. Resins such as cholestyramine were used as bile acid sequestrants, or bile acid binding resins. The approach was not popular in patients because they were difficult to swallow—literally.
Sitagliptin (Januvia)
Authors: Li Jie Jack
Published: November 2020

Diabetes has been known since antiquity. In fact, the term “diabetes mellitus” comes from the Greek meaning “siphon and honey” due to the excess excretion (siphon or faucet) of hyperglycemic (sweetened, or honeyed) urine associated with diabetes. In ancient times, diabetes was mostly type I, which usually manifests acutely in the young, secondary to certain underlying insults (possibly infections) to the islet cells of the pancreas resulting in an absolute lack of insulin. Insulin was discovered by Banting and Best in 1921, and insulin injection has literally saved millions of lives since then. With the wondrous efficacy that insulin bestows, type I diabetes is largely controlled because type I diabetes is insulindependent. However, type II diabetes, a more prevalent form of diabetes, is not insulin-dependent. In ancient times, when nutrition was scarce and obesity was not prevalent, type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was extremely rare. Indeed, type II diabetes is a disease more frequently associated with maturity, obesity, and gradually increasing blood glucose concentrations, and it may be asymptomatic for some time, only discovered on routine glucose screening. In fact, with the increasing body weight of the general population of the developed world, type II diabetes is becoming an epidemic. Serious complications of diabetes include nephropathy (kidney diseases), neuropathy (nerve damage), and retinopathy (blindness). Diabetes is the most common cause of blindness and amputation in the elderly in the United States. Oral diabetes drugs are required for most type II diabetic patients. Diabetes drugs may be classified into four categories: (a) agents that augment the supply of insulin such as sulfonylureas; (b) agents that enhance the effectiveness of insulin such as biguanides and thiazolidinediones; (c) GLP agonists; and (d) DPP4 Inhibitors. The efficacy of all the antidiabetic drugs can be monitored by measuring glycosylated hemoglobin (HaA1c) as a long term marker of elevated blood glucose. The amount of HaA1c reflects the average level over the last 120 days, the life span of a red blood cell, and should remain below 7%.
Duloxetine Hydrochloride (Cymbalta)
Authors: Li Jie Jack
Published: November 2020

“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” Nietzsche’s words ring true to many. Depression is romanticized at times due to its association with poets and artists, but in reality depression, especially major depressive disorder (MDD), can be debilitating. There are two types of depression: MDD and bipolar, also known as manic–depressive illness. Severe changes in mood is the primary clinical manifestation of both disorders. MDD presents as feelings of intense sadness and despair with little drive for either socialization or communication; physical changes such as insomnia, anorexia, and sexual dysfunction can also occur. Mania is manifested by excessive elation, irritability, insomnia, hyperactivity, and impaired judgment. It may afflict as much as 1% of the population. MDD is among the most common psychiatric disorders in humans, affecting up to 10% of men and 20% of women over the course of their lives. Among those affected, 28% experience a moderate degree of functional impairment, while 59% experience severe reductions in their normal functional ability. About 19 million Americans suffer from depression per year. In terms of disease burden, MDD ranks as the fourth most costly illness in the world, with estimated annual costs of depression in the US amounting to approximately $43.7 billion. While we all agree that depression exists, we do not all agree on the causes of depression. The exact causes of depression are not definitively known. However, in the 1950s, it was observed that in addition to its other pharmacological properties, reserpine (a Rauwolfia alkaloid) induced a depressive state in normal patients and also depleted levels of neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT). This observation and others led to the hypothesis that the biological basis of major mood disorders may include abnormal monoamine neurotransmission. Substances such as NE, serotonin, and dopamine (DA) mediate neurotransmission. These substances are released from presynaptic neurons, cross the synaptic gap, and interact with receptors on the postsynaptic cells. The synthesis, transmission, and processing of these neurotransmitters provide a number of points of intervention through which a pharmacological agent may affect transmission.
The Barrick Veto
Authors: Taillant Jorge Daniel
Published: November 2020

Buenos Aires, Argentina—October 23, 2008. The team at the Environment Secretariat could not believe the outcome of the congressional vote the previous day, October 22. Argentina had achieved the world’s first national glacier protection law, the Minimum Standards Law for the Protection of Glaciers and the Periglacial Environment. The law was strongly conservationist and excluded all industrial activities on or near glaciers and in the periglacial environment. It declared glaciers a strategic reserve, defined glaciers broadly to protect even small perennial ice patches, and banned mining in glacier and periglacial areas. Some of the more salient text read:. . . Article 1. The present law establishes the minimum standards for the protection of glaciers and the periglacial environment with the objective of preserving them as strategic reserves of hydrological resources and as providers of water recharge for hydrographic basins. Article 2. Definition. To the effects of the present law, glaciers are all perennial stable or slowly flowing ice mass, with or without interstitial water, formed by the recrystallization of snow, located in different ecosystems, no matter what their size, dimension or state of conservation. The rock debris material of each glacier is considered a constituent part of the glacier, as are the internal and superficial water courses. Likewise, the periglacial environment is the area of the high mountain with frozen grounds that acts as a regulator of hydrological resources. Article 6. Prohibited Activities. The following activities are hereby prohibited on glaciers as they could affect their natural condition or the functions cited in Article 1, or as they would imply their destruction, moving, or interference with their movement, in particular: a)The liberation, dispersion or deposit of contaminating substances or elements, chemical products or residue of any nature or volume. The construction of architectural works or infrastructure with the exception of those necessary for scientific research. Mining or hydrocarbon exploration or exploitation. This restriction includes activities in periglacial areas saturated in ice. Emplacement of industries. . . . It took a while for the implications of the law to sink in.
Amazing Glacier Stuff
Authors: Taillant Jorge Daniel
Published: November 2020

This chapter is about what glaciers—and particularly what glacial and periglacial melt—mean to people and communities around the world. We often don’t realize that people interact daily with glaciers. Some go to visit and hike on glaciers or to photograph them for their magnificent beauty. Some ski on glaciers. Others extract water from glaciers for personal and industrial use. Others fear glaciers for their potent fury and destruction. People and communities are adapting to climate change and its impacts on glaciers, sometimes without even knowing it. Others are very aware of glacier vulnerability and are taking measures to address the changing cryosphere. They are mitigating circumstances and are adapting to impacts. In this chapter, we share stories and facts about glaciers and periglacial environments, which most people are probably unfamiliar with, and we explain how lives in these environments are changing due to climate change. Few people have heard of glacier tsunamis, but they exist, they’re real, they’re ferocious, and they can kill. Scientists call them glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs). And as climate change deepens, more and more GLOF phenomena can be expected. Imagine you live at the foot of a mountain range like the Rocky Mountains, the Himalayas, or the Central Andes. On a nice sunny day, you can see the snow-capped mountains in the distance, maybe 20 or 30 km (12–18 mi) out, maybe even more. You are sitting at home when all of a sudden you feel shaking and hear a rumble. People start screaming. You look out the window and see people running frantically and erratically about. Then a woman yells, “The mountain! It’s coming! Run!” Imagine a large glacier the size of a dozen or so city blocks, perched atop a mountain. It’s 180 meters thick (600 ft), which is as tall as a sixty-story building. Below it, time and climate have formed a lake, a glacier lake occupying the same spot where the glacier once rested, pushing rock and earth out and forward as the glacier flowed downhill when it was solidly frozen and healthy.
Final Words
Authors: Taillant Jorge Daniel
Published: November 2020

In the preceding chapters of this book, we’ve traveled through a world of ice that was probably largely uncharted for most of us. Hopefully, we’ve learned a little bit about these fantastic frozen natural resources that play such a fundamental role in the sustainability and balance of our global ecosystem. Glaciers are melting. They are in danger because we have placed them in danger and, as such, we need to take note of and responsibility for this vulnerability, not only to protect glaciers but also to protect the very essence of our global habitat. Glaciers have been unprotected because they are obscure, removed, alien to our daily lives, located in far away places that are for the most part inhospitable to our way of life. And yet, they are a fundamental and integral part of our way of life. With modern tools like the Internet and programs like Google Earth, we can get closer to these fabulous vulnerable resources, to learn about them and work to protect them. The world is challenged today to address global climate change. If we envision a sustainable and harmonious environment in our future, we must progressively move away from fossil fuels and introduce a more balanced and sustainable mix of energy sources grounded on renewable energy. We must find solutions to generating, harnessing, transporting, and managing renewable energies, and we must progressively phase out oil and gas from our daily lives. It is possible; it just takes personal and collective conviction to set ourselves in motion to achieve this goal. Glaciers are a majestic resource, inspiring awe and wonder in a world of frozen beauty that awaits our discovery but that also alerts us to our excesses and indifference. We are losing our glaciers because we have ignored the extreme vulnerability of our planetary ecosystem, and we now must face difficult decisions about policy, consumption, and lifestyle changes that shake the foundations of our society. Global climate change for many seems intangible.
Eco-Nomics
Authors: Caradonna Jeremy L.
Published: November 2020

The environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s overshadows a second, less heralded intellectual development that took place at the exact same time: the birth of “ecological economics.” A cluster of nonconforming economists in this period drew on the fledgling science of ecology to rethink many of the assumptions of neoclassical economics, with its “growthmania,” general indifference toward pollution and ecosystem destruction, and dogmatic belief that “tastes and preferences” are innate in humans rather than culturally shaped. What emerged was a new school of thought that integrated ecological concerns into an essentially capitalist economic framework. These iconoclasts brought together the dual nature of the Greek word “oikos” (literally: household), which is the etymological root of both “economics” and “ecology.” They asserted that the human “household” could not exist without a healthy and functional natural environment. This has become the essential insight of economic sustainability—the second “E” of sustainability: that the world needs economic systems that exist harmoniously with nature (and which promote social equality and justice). Those who practice the economics of sustainability in the present day— William E. Rees, Mathis Wackernagel, Peter Victor, Tim Jackson, Richard Heinberg, and many others—are the heirs of these early critics who challenged the hegemony of business-as-usual economics. First-wave ecological economics shares the readability of the classic environmental works discussed in the previous chapter. The main authors associated with ecological economics—E. J. Mishan, E. F. Schumacher, Kenneth Boulding, Howard T. Odum, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Herman Daly, Amory Lovins, and the members of the shadowy-sounding Club of Rome—went out of their way to write nontechnical books that were meant to appeal to the average-educated reader. Collectively, these authors ask deep and penetrating philosophical questions: What is the point of endless economic growth? What are the environmental costs of a wasteful and fossil-fuel-addicted consumer society? What is the best way to measure the well-being of a society? What is the role of economics in ensuring that human society remains within its ecological limits and avoids overshoot and collapse? How can nature, society, and the economy be studied as a single system?
The Long-Term Ecological Research Stimulus: Research, Education, and Leadership Development at Individual and Community Levels
Authors: Gosz James R.
Published: November 2020

Through the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, I have learned to appreciate the complexity of environmental dynamics when they are analyzed at multiple time and space scales. My experience as a postdoctoral fellow and in the LTER program facilitated much of my understanding of interdisciplinary research because of access to multiple disciplinary approaches and accumulation of long-term and multiple- scale information. My teaching of science benefited through recognition of the need for a combination of a deep understanding of each discipline’s role in an issue (reductionist approach) and the collaborative need for integrating disciplines to fully understand complexity. No single discipline can answer the complexity in an environmental question. I have improved my communication with the public through the combination of teaching and research reporting. The challenge is to develop the information in ways that can be communicated: free of scientific jargon, containing only essential data, and developed in scenarios that are recognized as real-life situations. The public has many forms and levels of understanding—there are K to gray and ordinary citizens and policy-makers; consequently, communication needs to be targeted appropriately. I value the role of collaboration; there is tremendous satisfaction and reward from working in teams that can accomplish so much more than can an individual. This collaboration requires compromise, interaction, and time, but those that strive for this approach to science are well recognized. I am fortunate in being in positions that have created opportunities for sustaining a long career in stimulating interdisciplinary and collaborative science. I had a traditional forest management and soil science education (Michigan Technological University and the University of Idaho). However, my entrée into ecosystem science was set up by my very valuable postdoctoral fellowship at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest under the guidance of Gene Likens from 1969 to 1970, before the formation of the LTER program. The Hubbard Brook experience, quite literally, educated me about systems thinking, with the watershed approach to understanding integrated responses from complex, multifactor interactions and influences of forest management as disturbances.
From the Eclipse of Aldebaranium and Cassiopeium to the Priority Conflict Between Celtium and Hafnium
Authors: Fontani Marco , Costa Mariagrazia , Orna Mary Virginia
Published: November 2020

In 1794, Finnish scientist Johan Gadolin discovered the first of the rare earth elements in some ore deposits at Ytterby, Sweden. He called the oxide of the new element that he had isolated ytterbia and ytterbite the ore from which he had extracted it. Three years later, Anders Gustaf Ekeberg verified Gadolin’s discoveries and proposed the name of yttria (or yttric earths) for the oxide and gadolinite for the ore. For many years, chemists, among them L. N. Vauquelin, J. J. Berzelius, and M. H. Klaproth, wrestled with the problem that perhaps Gadolin’s yttrium was not a simple body but in reality contained other elements. In 1842, the Swedish chemist C. G. Mosander described how, by means of the fractional precipitations of the oxalates from dilute solutions of oxalic acid and by treatment of the hydroxides with dilute ammoniacal solutions, he seemed to have succeeded in extracting three new elements. The first was yttrium, the most basic; the second was erbium, the least basic; and the intermediate fraction he called terbium. The names terbium, erbium, and ytterbium derive from the name of the town, Ytterby. The names that Mosander gave to the three elements derived from the sequence in which they were separated: the name yttrium was not changed out of respect for Gadolin. The first element that he extracted, Mosander called terbium, and the following one he called erbium. He removed a letter from the word terbium because he had isolated it later. In the following years, it was discovered that both erbium and terbium were not single elements but mixtures of elements yet unknown. A practice developed that we might call an entente cordiale: when a discoverer split a presumed element into its constituents, one element retained the name already given by its preceding discoverer. This usage was respected by everyone, including Urbain, who, in 1907, presented his discoveries with the names neo-ytterbium and lutecium. Only Auer von Welsbach, a renowned Austrian chemist, did not respect this tacit “gentlemen’s agreement” and called the elements with atomic numbers 70 and 71 aldebaranium and cassiopeium.
The Obsession of Physicists with the Frontier: The Case of Ausonium and Hesperium, Littorium and Mussolinium
Authors: Fontani Marco , Costa Mariagrazia , Orna Mary Virginia
Published: November 2020

The attempt to find the first synthetic transuranium elements occurred via investigations completely different from anything that one could imagine. They were conducted in Rome by the renowned team of “the boys of Via Panisperna,” led by the young Enrico Fermi, affectionately called “the Pope” by his colleagues because, like the Supreme Pontiff, he was considered infallible. Nevertheless, this presumed infallibility in every area of the experimental sciences ought not stray into radiochemistry. Such hubris led to a spot on an otherwise splendid record: a clumsy interpretation of data that led to the doubtful attribution of the discovery of two transuranium elements. The hasty attempt to first name, and then retract, the two radioelements, would tarnish the prestigious and somewhat controversial figure of Enrico Fermi. On the other hand, this nonexistent discovery also sped the Roman professor to Stockholm, to receive the 1938 Nobel prize in physics. On March 25, 1934, Enrico Fermi announced the observation of neutron-induced radiation in samples of aluminum and fluorine. This brilliant experiment was the culmination of preceding discoveries: that of the neutron and that of artificial radioactivity (produced by means of α particles, deuterons, and protons). The following October, a second and crucial discovery was announced: the braking effect of hydrogenous substances on the radioactivity induced by neutrons, the first step toward the utilization of nuclear energy. The year 1934, thanks to Fermi’s research, was one of great expectations for the rebirth of Italian physics, an area that for centuries had remained in the backwater compared to the United States and the great countries of Europe. At the beginning of the 1930s, the members of Fermi’s team had explained the theory of. decay and, after 1934, with their induced radioactivity experiments, had also laid down the guidelines for research on the physics of neutrons. Rome became a reference point for nuclear research on the international level. The project of the director of the Rome Physics Institute, Senator Orso Mario Corbino (1876–1937), was nearly accomplished, a project that, from the end of the 1920s, Corbino had believed in and had not spared any expense to realize, investing all of his resources in the youthful Fermi, who was called to occupy the first chair in theoretical physics in Italy, created especially for him, when he was only 25 years of age.
Misadventures in Radiochemistry
Authors: Fontani Marco , Costa Mariagrazia , Orna Mary Virginia
Published: November 2020

Soon after the death of Pierre Curie, his widow Marie Skłodowska Curie, began to assume a prominent role in the laboratory, to which she presumably could not have aspired if her husband had survived. Within three years of her husband’s fatal accident (1906), the number of researchers in the small laboratory in Paris’ Rue Cuvier, grew from seven to 24. Marie Curie had a managerial approach to the running of the laboratory and soon increased her international prestige, gaining supremacy in the field of radioactivity. Her scientific authority was evident while Pierre was still living, but it came into prominence internationally when she criticized two claims, one substantially erroneous, of a German and of an English colleague. However, before we can pronounce on the disagreements that arose, we must look at the state of confusion that came in the wake of the discovery of radioactivity, slowly recognized by many scientists to actually be the alchemists’ transmutational dream– with a hook. Once scientists realized that one of their major articles of faith, that is, the immutability of the atom, was demolished by the radioactive decay phenomenon, they found themselves sailing on an uncharted sea. Physicists could deal with the study of rays, the measurement of energy, and the eventual necessity of measurement of half-life. But they also found that the decays gave rise to new products whose separation one from the other required the expertise of chemists. Some physicists, like Marie Curie, became expert at these separations; others came to rely on chemists to untangle the many decay sequences that would eventually lead to the key principles necessary for understanding the phenomenon. For some decades, the tried and true way of identifying and characterizing a new simple substance depended upon the determination of its atomic weight. These new substances were so fleeting and in such infinitesimally small quantities that new methods had to be invented such as electrochemical and conservation of momentum techniques. One clever method that relied on chemical similarity was the use of a so-called “carrier.”
Transitioning to Renewable Sources of Electricity: Motivations, Policy, and Potential
Authors: Schelly Chelsea
Published: November 2020

The electricity grid in the United States may be the largest, most pervasive technological system ever constructed to meet the needs and comforts of human beings (Nye 1997). Although it is less than 150 years old, the electricity infrastructure of this nation is ubiquitous; power lines stretch across deserts, forests, states, highways, and the entire nation in order to provide electricity to residences, businesses, and communities. The electricity carried by these transmission lines is generally produced using fossil fuels (mostly coal; see US Energy Information Administration 2012) and is most commonly generated at a monstrously large facility (a coal plant, a nuclear facility, or a hydropower dam). Our electricity infrastructure was constructed to carry enormous amounts of electricity across vast geographical expanses, based on the massive generation facilities and concentrated fossil fuel based energy sources that defined the system and its use. However, there are increasing concerns regarding the sources of our energy supply. Many of these concerns are related to climate change and how carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels contribute to rising global temperatures and the climate instability of the planet (Brown 2003). Additional concerns include the host of other environmental damages caused by the use of coal (Epstein et al. 2011), nuclear energy (Slovic et al. 1991), and hydro-electricity (Dincer 1998); other debates involve worries about nearing or reaching peak energy supplies (Brown 2003), energy security (Yergin 2006), and the aging transmission grid (Amin 2003). For a multitude of reasons, many would agree that it’s time to rethink our dependence on fossil fuel based forms of energy and move toward alternative, renewable energy sources (Brown 2003, pp. 116–135). The good news is, the renewable energy industry gets bigger every year, with more energy from renewable sources being produced, sold, and used (Sherwood 2011). Some US states have enacted renewable energy standards requiring that a certain percentage of their electricity supply come from renewable sources. Tax incentives, subsidies, and various forms of rebates, in financially incentivizing renewable energy adoption, also provide evidence that we are indeed moving in the direction of clean, renewable sources of energy.
Food Security and Gender
Authors: Dodson Belinda , Goebel Allison
Published: November 2020

Food security has reemerged in recent years as a global policy issue and growing area of academic inquiry, notably since the food price crisis of 2008 (Brown 2008; Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] 2008; Oxfam International 2008; Clapp and Cohen 2009). Three dominant narratives distinguish this current wave of food security discourse. First is its framing at the global scale, with threats to worldwide food production back on the agenda in ways recalling the 1970s’ Limits To Growth (Meadows et al. 1972) movement, often expressed in relation to the effects of global climate change on agricultural systems (Beddington et al. 2012). Second is the casting of food security as a matter of international political security. In addition to the food riots of 2008 (O’Brien 2012), food price increases have been put forward as one of the causes, or at least a contributing factor, of the “Arab Spring” (Johnstone and Mazo 2011; The Economist 2012). Third, and countering the global narrative, is a narrative of “food sovereignty”, which calls for alternative food networks that embed food production and consumption at the local scale and urges delinking from global, corporate agricultural production systems and commodity chains (Patel 2007; Martinez-Torres and Rosset 2010; Via Campesina 2011). Paralleling these competing understandings of food security versus food sovereignty are competing versions and practices of agricultural science: One version is high-tech, profit-motivated, and funded largely by corporations (e.g., Monsanto, Cargill, Syngenta); another version is lower-tech, environmentally and socially motivated, based on farmer participation (e.g., Bezner Kerr 2010), and commonly linked to agrarian social movements. What these seemingly competing narratives have in common, however, is a shared emphasis on food production. In the global narrative, this is usually framed in terms of increased global food demand, as a result of population growth and urbanization, in the face of environmental threats and limits to land and water resources. Framing food security in these terms, especially when done at the global scale, acts to marginalize issues of unequal access to food—a marginalization that also occurs on the basis of gender.
Of Baby Bottles and Bisphenol A: Debates about the Safety of an Endocrine Disruptor
Authors: Vogel Sarah A.
Published: November 2020

In a 2009 episode of The Simpsons, Marge Simpson baked what she considered the ultimate healthy, socially conscious, safe snack food: “home­made, organic, nongluten, fairtrade zucchini cupcakes.” Proudly presenting the cupcakes to her daughter’s playgroup, Marge was asked what kind of butter she’d used. “None!” she exclaimed; she had baked the cupcakes in a nonstick pan. But Marge’s beaming pride quickly dissolved into embarrassment when she learned of her apparent eco-stupidity. Marge didn’t know that nonstick pans were made with PFOA (perflurooctanoic acid). “There is only one thing more dangerous than PFOAs, Marge,” one mother declared. “Plastics made with BPAs. Never, ever let your child near any product with the number 7.” At that moment, a child tips a cup up to his mouth revealing the number 7 on the bottom of the cup. The mothers scream in unison and run hysterically out of the house. Bisphenol A (or BPA) had become a three-letter household word. The chemical, used for over a half-century in plastics, was now at the center of a contentious scientific and political debate as well as fodder for prime-time cultural satire. Was BPA safe? On the one hand, a growing number of researchers, championed by environmental and health advocates, point to a growing body of research suggestive of serious health risks of BPA. This includes animal research on low-level effects of BPA exposure on prostate and mammary gland development and neurobehavioral function and development; a small but growing body of epidemiological research on BPA exposures and cardio­vascular disease, diabetes, and social behavioral problems; and evidence of widespread, low-level human exposure including in pregnant women (vom Saal et al. 2007; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2008). On the other hand, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its counterpart in Europe, the European Food Safety Authority, maintain that the levels in food are low enough to be considered safe for all humans.
The Structure and Properties of Water
Authors: Bunker Bruce C. , Casey William H.
Published: November 2020

Water is one of the most complex fluids on Earth. Even after intense study, there are many aspects regarding the structure, properties, and chemistry of water that are not well understood. In this chapter, we highlight the attributes of water that dictate many of the reactions that take place between water and oxides. We start with a single water molecule and progress to water clusters, then finally to extended liquid and solid phases. This chapter provides a baseline for evaluating what happens when water encounters simple ions, soluble oxide complexes called hydrolysis products, and extended oxide phases. The primary phenomenon highlighted in this chapter is hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding dominates the structure and properties of water and influences many water–oxide interactions. A single water molecule has eight valence electrons around a central oxygen anion. These electrons are contained in four sp3-hybridized molecular orbitals arranged as lobes that extend from the oxygen in a tetrahedral geometry. Each orbital is occupied by two electrons. Two of the lobes are bonded to protons; the other two lobes are referred to as lone pairs of electrons. The H–O–H bond angle of 104.5° is close to the tetrahedral angle of 109.5°. The O–H bond length in a single water molecule is 0.96 Ǻ. It is important to recognize that this bond length is really a measure of the electron density associated with the oxygen lone pair bonded to the proton. This is because a proton is so incredibly small (with an ionic radius of only 1.3·10−5 Ǻ) that it makes no contribution to the net bond length. The entire water molecule has a hard sphere diameter of 2.9 Ǻ, which is fairly typical for an oxygen anion. This means the unoccupied lone pairs are distended relative to the protonated lone pairs, extending out to roughly 1.9 Ǻ. The unequal distribution of charges introduces a dipole within the water molecule that facilitates electrostatic interactions with other molecules.
The Colloidal Chemistry of Oxides
Authors: Bunker Bruce C. , Casey William H.
Published: November 2020

Colloids are defined as suspensions of finely divided particles in a continuous medium that do not settle rapidly and are not readily filtered. To be more specific, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry defines a colloid as any material for which one or more of its three dimensions lies within the size range of 1 to 1000 nm. As the nucleation and growth of oxides from aqueous solutions almost always produces suspensions containing submicron particles (see Chapter 7), typical oxide suspensions fall squarely within the colloidal domain. In this book, we consider colloidal particles to represent oxides or hydroxides that are small enough to stay in aqueous suspensions for more than a few hours, yet are larger and lacking in the specific molecular structures of typical hydrolysis products (see Chapter 5). Given the density range of most oxides (from around 2−10 g/cm3), the sizes of most colloidal oxides fall within the limits of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (see Section 8.4.5). Colloidal oxide particles suspended in water represent a complex chemical environment. At the molecular level, protons, ions, small molecules, and polymeric species interact with particle surfaces to create charged surface sites and promote adsorption and desorption phenomena (see Chapter 6). These modified surfaces perturb the adjacent liquid, creating ordered solvent layers and strong concentration gradients in ions and other dissolved species. These interfacial phenomena generate a range of forces called interaction potentials. Such forces determine whether particles repel each other (leading to stable suspensions) or are attracted to one another, resulting in agglomeration and sedimentation phenomena. The length scales of those components of the oxide–water interface that influence the interaction potentials to be discussed in this chapter are introduced in Figure 8.1. At the subatomic level, the correlated polarization of electron clouds gives rise to dispersion forces described by quantum mechanics that contribute to van der Waals interactions. At the atomic level, the inherent charge on each exposed oxygen anion that terminates the oxide surface is controlled by local chemical bonds to adjacent cations (see Chapter 6).
Oxide Films in Metal Corrosion: Oxide Defect Chemistry
Authors: Bunker Bruce C. , Casey William H.
Published: November 2020

Most metals used by our society corrode, from the mild tarnish on silver to the green patina that coats our copper statues and electrical wiring to the red rust on our cars and iron bridges (Fig. 12.1, Plate 17). Metal corrosion often involves the conversion of metals into either oxides or their soluble hydrolysis products. The metals we use in our structures, as well as in electronic and magnetic devices, are destroyed as a result of this conversion. It has been estimated that the annual cost of metallic corrosion to the U.S. economy is hundreds of billions of dollars (5% of the gross national product). Therefore, enormous efforts have been made to understand why metals corrode, and what can be done to inhibit corrosion processes. Stainless steel is just one example of humankind’s attempts to limit corrosion processes. Other examples include the use of inert paints on ships to prevent saline corrosion, coating iron with zinc to galvanize it, and exploiting electrochemical strategies, such as using sacrificial anodes that corrode instead of iron, as a means of protecting more important materials’ components. The number of comprehensive texts and reviews regarding metal corrosion scales with its economic impact, with more than 1000 articles being published on the topic per year. Those of you interested in more comprehensive discussions regarding how specific metals corrode in specific environments such as seawater and acid rain should see other works. Our focus in this chapter is to highlight how metal corrosion is mediated by the presence of oxides, with an emphasis on reactions that occur in water. This overview highlights the basic properties of oxide films that give rise to a wide range of complicated metal corrosion phenomena. The discussion draws on many concepts highlighted in other chapters of this book: surface chemistry (Chapter 6), electrochemistry (Chapter 11), and oxide dissolution (Chapter 16). Metal corrosion often involves electrochemical reactions in which the metal is oxidized by either water or O2.
Hunting Hype
Authors: Kemmerer Lisa
Published: November 2020

When faced with the ecological horrors of animal agriculture, some look to hunting as an escape—as the environmentally friendly way to put meat on the table. This chapter explores the environmental effects of hunting, exposing a handful of myths that help to make this sport appear to be environmentally friendly, animal friendly, socially acceptable—even morally exemplary. As noted, this book is written specifically for those who have a choice as to what they eat. This book is not a criticism of those who truly have few dietary options (for example, due to affordability or lack of availability). . . .For millennia men dreamed of acquiring absolute mastery over nature, of converting the cosmos into one immense hunting ground. . . . . . .—HORKHEIMER AND ADORNO 2 4 8 . . . In the United States, wildlife conservation was established by hunters for hunters because of hunters. In the late 19th century, Theodore Roosevelt complained that commercial hunters had decimated wildlife—that a comparatively small population of “market” hunters profited while the nation was stripped of hunter-target species (S. Fox 123). To address these concerns, he founded the Boone and Crockett Club (BCC) in 1897, with the following mission: “[T] o promote the conservation and management of wildlife, especially big game, and its habitat, to preserve and encourage hunting and to maintain the highest ethical standards of fair chase and sportsmanship in North America” (“About the B & C Club”). “Conservation” is a utilitarian, human-centered term promoting the protection of wildlife and wilderness for human use. Accordingly, the BCC promoted laws protecting “every citizen’s freedom to hunt and fish,” and established wildlife as “owned by the people and managed in trust for the people by government agencies” (“About the B & C Club”). As a result of the BCC, the U.S. government was placed in charge of managing wildlife on behalf of hunters.
Charismatic Leaders
Authors: Gorman Sara E. , Gorman Jack M.
Published: November 2020

In this chapter, as in the last, we explore the ways in which skeptical science beliefs are formed in social environments. This time, however, we focus specifically on the leaders of anti-science groups, people we call “charismatic leaders.” While behavioral economists and cognitive psychologists have spent much time analyzing the ways in which individual shortcuts and cognitive errors cause irrational beliefs, here we turn to social psychologists to inform us about how being in a group affects the way we process risk, the way we understand complexity, how we decide to whom we give credibility, and how we determine what is true and what is false. We will see that in some cases, people in groups make decisions or hold beliefs that do not resemble decisions or beliefs they would hold on their own. In this way, groups can be said to have transformative capacity. The formation of cooperative groups was foundational in the evolution of the human species. Groups are essential for success¬ful human society. In this chapter, however, we explore the ways in which anti- science groups form around a particular type of leader. Although groups have many important and interesting dynamics, the role of the charismatic leader is a central feature of science denial groups in particular. We will look at several such charismatic leaders in this chapter: Peter Duesberg, Andrew Wakefield, Jenny McCarthy, Gilles- Éric Séralini, and Wayne LaPierre. We will also look at the ways in which our brains and minds work in social settings and how exactly we are persuaded. Indeed, some of the features that make us most human, such as our ability to empathize using our imaginations and our desire to be accepted and integrated into social groups— indeed, some of the very things that enable our society to function— are also some of the features that render us most irrational and most prone to the wiles of the charismatic leader. Before we discuss the figure of the charismatic leader, it is important to examine what factors enable leadership success in the first place. In many ways, leadership is actually created by followers.
Brief Clinical Consultations: General Approach to Brief Clinical Consultations
Authors: Mehta Gautam , Iqbal Bilal
Published: November 2020

The new Station 5, Integrative Clinical Assessment involves two 10-minute encounters, each known as a ‘Brief Clinical Consultation’. Following an introductory referral, the candidate has 8 minutes to undertake a focused history and examination to solve a clinical problem, answer any questions the patient may have and explain their investigation and/or treatment plan to the patient. The remaining 2 minutes are spent with the examiners, to relate the relevant physical findings and differential diagnosis. Remember, you are not expected to take a complete history or conduct a complete and thorough examination, as you would in the other stations. Candidates should be prepared to encounter scenarios relating to: 1. Old Station 5 cases, i.e. skin, eye, locomotor, and endocrine systems. 2. Other stations of the examination (stations 1 and 3). 3. Medical problems encountered in everyday practice, i.e. chest pain, hypotension, jaundice, and deterioration in renal function. In principle, this station can include any possible inpatient and outpatient medical scenario, and therefore providing a comprehensive selection of cases will never be feasible. Some patients may not display a wealth of clinical signs, and this often occurs in everyday practice. The candidate should understand the key principles, and develop the art of integrative clinical assessment. This will ensure success in any clinical scenario provided. This integrated approach is a test of higher clinical reasoning and professionalism, rather than a simple test of clinical skills— this should be kept in mind when preparing for this station. The compilation of 20 cases in this section is designed to achieve this, and encourages the candidate to adopt a uniform style, and a thoughtful approach and strategy in tackling this station. • Explanatory referrals are provided in the 5 minute interval before the station. • Read these carefully, and identify the clinical problem(s). • Develop a differential diagnosis based on the limited information available, even before seeing the patient. • A preliminary differential diagnosis will initially help guide the focused history. • The history and examination should not be seen as separate components, where the history is followed by the examination. • Instead, both history and examination should be integrated.