bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The electronic spectrum of the jet-cooled stibino (SbH2) free radical
Authors: Sunahori Fumie X. , Smith Tony C. , Clouthier Dennis J.
Published: January 2020

The Ã2A1−X̃2B1 electronic transition of the jet-cooled stibino (SbH2 and SbD2) free radical has been observed for the first time using laser induced fluorescence (LIF) detection. The radicals were produced by a pulsed electric discharge through a mixture of stibine (SbH3 or SbD3) in high pressure argon at the exit of a pulsed molecular beam valve. SbH2 exhibits only three LIF bands, assigned as 210, 000, and 201, with a fluorescence lifetime (τ), which decreases from ∼50 ns for 00 to <10 ns for 21. LIF transitions to the 00 (τ ∼ 2 µs), 21 (τ ∼ 400 ns), and 22 (τ ∼ 75 ns) upper vibronic states of SbD2 were also observed. High-resolution spectra exhibited large spin-rotation splittings and small resolved antimony hyperfine splittings due to a substantial Fermi contact interaction in the excited state. The experimentally determined rotational constants gave effective molecular structures of r0″ = 1.724(2) Å, θ0″ = 90.38(7)° and r0′ = 1.693(6) Å, θ0′ = 120.6(3)°. The ground state bending vibrational levels up to eight quanta (6404 cm−1) in SbH2 and 12 quanta (6853 cm−1) in SbD2 were measured from dispersed fluorescence spectra. All indications are that SbH2 undergoes a dissociative process at low vibrational energies in the excited electronic state.
Enhanced-tip Raman spectroscopy used to unravel the structure of nanodiamond-carbon films
Authors: Frank Jodi Ackerman
Published: January 2020

The method directly and nondestructively measures the nanocomposite parameters of films that were previously measurable only as data averages.
Lagrangian dynamics of the Malvinas Current are similar to Jupiter’s weather pattern dynamics
Authors: Bandari Anashe
Published: January 2020

A study of the near-surface Lagrangian dynamics of the Malvinas Current reports unique chevron features.
Decomposition of dimethyl polysulfides under solar irradiation in oxic aqueous solutions
Authors: Buchshtav Tamir , Kamyshny Alexey
Published: January 2020

Environmental contextThe quality of drinking water can be greatly compromised by the presence of dimethyl polysulfides. We studied the rate and mechanism of decomposition of dimethyl polysulfides in aqueous solution under solar irradiation, and found that they decompose photochemically in seconds to minutes, i.e. much faster than under dark conditions. These results suggest that photochemical pathways of dimethyl polysulfide decomposition may prevail in euphotic zones of natural aquatic systems.
AbstractThe presence of malodorous dimethyl polysulfides (DMPSs) has been documented in marine and limnic systems as well as in tap water distribution systems. These compounds compromise the quality of drinking water. Under oxic conditions and in the absence of radiation, DMPSs with n ≥ 3 sulfur atoms disproportionate into DMPSs with n+1 and n−1 sulfur atoms, and, finally, to dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) and S8. DMDS, in turn, decomposes to methyl mercaptan (MT) and methanesulfinic acid. Under these conditions, the half-lives of DMPSs vary from months for dimethyl pentasulfide (DM5S) to hundreds of thousands of years for DMDS. In this work, we studied the kinetics and mechanisms of the decomposition reactions of DMPSs with 2–5 sulfur atoms in aqueous solutions in the presence of oxygen and under exposure to solar radiation. The quantum yields of decomposition of DMPSs with 2, 3, 4 and 5 sulfur atoms do not depend on either the concentration of DMPSs or pH, and are 40±10, 2.0±0.2, 35±10 and 10±4 respectively. The quantum yields, which are higher than unity, suggest that under exposure to solar radiation the photochemical decomposition of DMPSs proceeds by a radical chain reaction mechanism. Half-lives of DMPSs in oxic aquatic solutions exposed to solar radiation under a very clear atmosphere and a solar elevation angle of 90° were calculated from the quantum yields and were found to be as low as 43±13s for DMDS, 40±4s for dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS), 2.1±0.6s for dimethyl tetrasulfide (DM4S) and 4.2±1.7s for DM5S.
Different forms and rates of nitrogen addition show variable effects on the soil hydrolytic enzyme activities in a meadow steppe
Authors: Wang Chengliang , Shi Baoku , Sun Wei , Guan Qingcheng
Published: January 2020

The effects of mixed inorganic and organic nitrogen (N) addition on soil enzyme activities and the underlying mechanism remain unclear, especially in complex field conditions. We conducted a mesocosm experiment with two rates of N addition (10 and 20 g N m–2 year–1) and four ratios of N addition (inorganic N:organic N = 10:0, 7:3, 3:7 and 1:9) and measured enzyme activities, soil physicochemical properties, microbial biomass and vegetation indicators. Generally, soil enzyme activities involved in carbon (C), N and phosphorus cycling increased with the increase of N addition rate. Compared to the single inorganic N addition treatment, enzyme activities were highest under mixed N addition treatments, especially medium organic N addition. The variations in soil enzyme activities across different treatments were tightly linked to the soil microbial biomass C, dissolved organic C and soil pH. These findings provide a good understanding of the response trends of soil hydrolytic enzyme activities in a meadow steppe to changes in N deposition rate and form.
Experimental design of Cu content in weathering resistance steel for industrial atmosphere application
Authors: Yan Xuqiang , Yu Qiang , Guo Kai , Sun Rui , Zhu Siyuan , Wang Qingfeng , Gao Yuwei
Published: January 2020

In this paper, the effect of sulfur dioxide (SO2) on the corrosion behavior of weathering steel with different copper (Cu) contents in a simulated industrial environment was studied. The results showed that the corrosion occurred in three distinct stages with the corrosion kinetics characterized via the parameter of ‘n’. For the first and second stage with n > 1 and n < 1, the corrosion of weathering steel was accelerated and reduced, respectively. The third stage witnessed the minimum value of n, indicating a lowest corrosion rate. As the Cu content increased from 0.15% to 0.50%, the corrosion weight gained and corrosion rate remarkably decreased. In contrast, when the Cu contents increased from 0.50% to 0.70%, the corrosion rate began to slightly decrease. With the Cu addition, the stable α-FeOOH phase in the rust layer was refined, which increased the electrochemical impedance accordingly lowered the electrochemical reaction rate and ultimately enhanced the corrosion resistance. In this work, we have studied the corrosion mechanism of Cu element on the weathering steel in the industrial atmosphere, and studied the effect of Cu content on the corrosion resistance of weathering steel. The research shows that the content of the effect is not great, so the recommended amount of Cu in weathering steel is not more than 0.50%.
On the dependence of ionic transport on crystal orientation in NaSICON-type solid electrolytes
Authors: Ladenstein Lukas , Lunghammer Sarah , Wang Eric Y , Miara Lincoln J , Wilkening H Martin R , Redhammer Günther J , Rettenwander Daniel
Published: January 2020

The dependence of ionic transport on crystal orientations in NaSICON-type solid electrolytes is studied on flux-grown M3Sc2(PO4)3 (M = Na, Ag) single crystals with well-defined facets. Herein, we provide the first impedance spectroscopy study to characterize ion conduction along different crystallographic orientations in this important class of materials for electrochemical energy storage systems. Moreover, we used single crystal x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, 23Na NMR spin-lattice relaxation measurements, and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to study the interplay of structure and ion transport taking place at different length scales. We conclude that the phase behavior in NaSICON-type materials is strongly linked to ion diffusion. At room temperature, ionic conductivity is slightly anisotropic along the crystallographic orientations [001] and [100]. The slightly different activation energies are related to diffusion bottlenecks solely changing along [001]. This change is caused by anisotropic thermal lattice expansion. With increasing temperature, ion transport increasingly becomes isotropic finally resulting in an order-disorder phase transition from C2/c to R−3c. This phase transition is associated with a clear change in activation energy solely along [001]; it can be traced back to the increasing jump distance along this crystal orientation with temperature. Astonishingly, changing the ionic charge carrier, i.e. when going from Na+ to Ag+, shifts the phase transition temperature by 140 K towards lower temperature. The Arrhenius behavior remains, however, similar. This finding is related to the higher mobility of Ag+ in the NaSICON framework leading to isotropic ion diffusion at much lower temperatures. Overall, flux-grown M3Sc2(PO4)3 allowed us to show that ionic transport parameters and phase stability sensitively depend on crystal chemistry.
Encapsulation of Na4MnV(PO4)3 in robust dual-carbon framework rendering high-energy, durable sodium storage
Authors: Cai Congcong , Hu Ping , Zhu Ting , Chen Chengmeng , Hu Guangwu , Liu Zhenhui , Tian Yu , Chen Qiang , Zhou Liang , Mai Liqiang
Published: January 2020

Na4MnV(PO4)3 (NMVP) is a green, cheap, and high-energy cathode material for sodium-ion batteries. However, the low electrical conductivity severely limits its sodium storage performance. Herein, we report the spray-drying synthesis of robust and highly conductive reduced graphene oxide/amorphous carbon framework encapsulated NMVP (NMVP@rGO/AC) composite microspheres. The unique dual-carbon encapsulation architecture enables the NMVP@rGO/AC a high specific capacity (100 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1) with durable cyclability (capacity retention of 77.5% for 500 cycles). In situ XRD measurements reveal the reversible extraction/insertion of Na+ via unique solid-solution and two-phase reactions during de-sodiation/sodiation processes. This work provides a versatile platform for the construction of rGO/AC dual-carbon encapsulated active materials for electrochemical energy storage.
Injection of intense low-energy reactor-based positron beams into a supported magnetic dipole trap
Authors: Horn-Stanja J , Stenson E V , Stoneking M R , Singer M , Hergenhahn U , Nißl S , Saitoh H , Pedersen T Sunn , Dickmann M , Hugenschmidt C , Danielson J R
Published: January 2020

An increased low-energy positron flux is obtained from the reactor based NEPOMUC source when using its primary beam at energies as low as 20 eV. First experiments with this beam in a supported magnetic dipole trap resulted in the maximum current of injected positrons to date. According to single-particle simulations, remaining limitations in the injection efficiency, observed in the experiment, can be attributed to the spatial spread of the beam. In the first trapping measurements with this beam, top-down asymmetries in the electrostatic trapping potential are found to be detrimental to confinement.
Cisneros, Sandra
Authors: Herrera Olga L.
Published: January 2020

Sandra Cisneros is one of the best-known and most influential Chicana authors in American literature. Beginning with her first chapbook publication in 1980, the poetry collection Bad Boys, Cisneros has written and published fiction, poetry, and essays with a distinct Chicana feminist consciousness. Drawing on her experience as an only daughter in a large Mexican American family, Cisneros challenges patriarchal hierarchies in Latino/a culture in her work, as well as those grounded in race, class, and gender in US culture more generally. As part of a larger Chicana feminist intellectual critique of gender roles within Latino/a culture, Cisneros’s fiction and poetry examine the social roles for women in marriage and motherhood and identify the archetypal figures of the Virgin of Guadalupe, La Malinche, and La Llorona as sources of oppression within discourse and practice. Innovative in form and language, her work explores the influence of these figures on the lives of women and imagines new, more liberating possibilities in the recuperation of their agency, self-determination, and independence. Cisneros joins this revisionary work with one of her primary thematic concerns, the Chicana writer’s need to break with cultural expectations in order to establish herself and develop her talents. Her innovations in genre and language, such as the hybrid poetic prose used in The House on Mango Street, demonstrate formally the results of a Chicana feminist resistance to class-inflected literary conventions. From the publication of The House on Mango Street (1984) through the poetry collections My Wicked Wicked Ways (1987) and Loose Woman (1994) and the short story collection Woman Hollering Creek (1991), to the publication of Caramelo or Puro Cuento (2002) and her book of essays, A Home of My Own (2014), Cisneros explores with depth and compassion the struggles of Latina women to break down patriarchal conventions and create for themselves a space for self-expression and creativity.
(The) Transpacific Turns
Authors: Chen Tina
Published: January 2020

The concept of the “transpacific” has inherent asymmetries that must be explored in order to generate a more nuanced interpretive logic of transpacific possibility. Such epistemic asymmetry should be considered not simply as a description of the massive inequalities undergirding the geopolitical arrangements of the transpacific world, but also as a catalyst through which transpacific knowledge and critical orientations of the transpacific are produced. Scholarship evidences three key turns—through militarization, the ecological, and indigeneity—that collectively work to map the uneven terrain of the transpacific. The poet Lawson Inada’s wry observation about the epistemic, economic, and aesthetic challenges posed by the transpacific—that “the problem . . . is water”—provides a starting point from which to trace a fluid genealogy of transpacific literary and cultural production. This fluid genealogy traces alternative versions of the transpacific as “imaginable ageographies” to counterbalance the existing architectural ideas about security, economics, and militarization that have delimited this arena. Analysis of a wide range of texts demonstrates that transpacific asymmetry and transpacific interconnection can both be usefully leveraged to disrupt hierarchies of knowledge and practice.
Mixed Race Asian American Literature
Authors: Ho Jennifer Ann
Published: January 2020

Asian American literature was born from two mixed race Eurasian sisters, Edith Maude Eaton and Winnifred Eaton, who wrote in the early 20th century under the pen names Sui Sin Far and Onoto Watanna, respectively. Edith spent her career chronicling, in fiction and non-fiction, the lives of Chinese in North America, and recounted her own multiracial experiences in the autobiographical “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian,” while Winnifred is best known for her popular fiction about the exotica of Japan, novels and stories that include several mixed race protagonists. More than thirty years later, Kathleen Tamagawa penned a mixed race memoir, Holy Prayers in a Horse’s Ear, describing the difficulties of living as a biracial Japanese-white woman trying to assimilate into the white mainstream of US society.

The number of mixed race Asian American authors rose in the mid- to late 20th century due to an increase in mixed race marriages and Asian immigration. The turn of the 21st century saw prominent multiracial Asian American authors writing about Asian American lives, mixed race Asian American authors choosing not to write about multiracial Asian American characters, and monoracial Asian American writers who populate their fiction with multiracial Asian American characters. Among these authors, Ruth Ozeki stands out as someone who has consistently focused her attention on multiracial Asian American characters, illustrating the richness of their mixed race experiences even as her fictional storyworlds shine a light on the environmental issues in a globalized world.
Asian Americanist Critique and Listening Practices of Contemporary Popular Music
Authors: Kim Lee Summer
Published: January 2020

What is Asian American popular music? How do we identify it, define it, and listen to it? What work is being done by naming a genre as such, and need it even be named? Asian Americanist scholars and music critics have grappled with these questions, articulating the political desires for Asian American representation, recognition, and inclusion, while at the same time remaining wary of how such desires reiterate liberal multiculturalist discourses of assimilation and inclusion. A growing body of interdisciplinary work in American studies, performance studies, critical race and ethnic studies, queer studies, and sound and popular music studies has addressed the historical emergence, visibility, and representation of Asian Americans in popular music. This work has become less concerned with finding out what “Asian American popular music” is and more interested in how Asian Americanist critique can be rooted in minoritarian listening practices so that one might consider the myriad ways Asian Americans—as professional and amateur performers, musicians, virtuosic singers, karaoke goers, YouTube users, listeners, critics, and fans—actively shape and negotiate the soundscapes of US popular music with its visual, sonic, and other sensorial markers of Asian racialization.
New Orleans and Asian American Literature and Culture
Authors: Nguyen Marguerite
Published: January 2020

New Orleans has long been a city vital to the American imagination, known for its deep colonial and cultural history while, at the same time, evolving into the post-Katrina “city that care forgot.” Shaped by Spanish, French, and British imperialisms and situated at the edge of the American South, the Gulf Coast, and the Caribbean, New Orleans is a geography distinguished by transnational crosscurrents and intense meteorological activity; an economically and politically strategic port town, it is a below-sea-level city continuously vulnerable to environmental disaster. Typically neglected in dominant mappings of the city, however, are the area’s Pacific ties that have also helped to make New Orleans. Ever since the mid-19th century, various Asian and Asian American groups have populated southern Louisiana as immigrants, workers, traders, and refugees. After the Civil War, thousands of Chinese and Filipinos arrived in the region as a supposed replacement for slave labor. In the mid-20th century, the US government dispersed numerous Japanese Americans to the area after internment, while since the late 20th century, New Orleans has been home to one of the densest populations of Vietnam War refugees in the country. These migrations spurred the creation of ethnic enclaves and cultural practices that have directly and tangentially defined New Orleans, providing significant labor pools and offering illustrative narratives of post-disaster rebuilding. Given the region’s rich Pacific history and daily environmental vulnerability, engaging New Orleanian culture compels an Asian Americanist ecocritical approach, or one that engages the relationship among space, matter, culture, and critique, and attends to regional details as well as Pacific contexts. Some of the more prominent portrayals of Asian Louisiana, such as those by Lafcadio Hearn and Robert Olen Butler, have tended to exoticize their subject. By contrast, examining works by Bao Phi, An-My Lê, and Anna Kazumi Stahl reveals alternative ecologies of Louisiana that contribute to a stronger understanding of racial relations in the region, further specifies the Gulf Coast’s transnational dynamics, and foregrounds the value of Asian American studies for ecocriticism (and vice versa). These artists’ portrayals of disaster-oriented landscapes show how attention to overlooked Asian American ecologies reveals the fundamental spatial, economic, and environmental precariousness of our times for marginalized communities.
Global South Korea in 21st-Century Asian American Literature
Authors: Kim Na-Rae
Published: January 2020

Since the start of the 21st-century, a general consensus has emerged that South Korea is a “global” phenomenon. Growing references to celebrated aspects of Korean culture and society—such as K-pop or Korean food—in literature, television, video, and film index a perceptual shift regarding South Korea. However, Korean American literature has tirelessly interrogated Korea’s place in the world, tracing and exposing often elided links and histories upon which its current prominence depends. Attending to Korean American and a growing spectrum of Asian American literary imaginations of South Korea in the 21st century illustrates the particularity of the nation’s curious global presence. Doing so also allows for an examination of the fissures between the perception and reality of global South Korea, of current assumptions about globalization, and of non-US-centric sites of affiliations notable in Asian American literature. Writers including Jimin Han, Patricia Park, Krys Lee, Jane Jeong Trenka, Maurene Goo, and May Lee-Yang exhibit divergent patterns and approaches and together highlight multiple facets of the structural entanglements that comprise global South Korea. These include changing patterns and motives for migration to and from Korea; redefining “Koreanness”; the complexities of “globalization,” and the oft-celebrated Korean Wave, or hallyu.
Case Study Research: A State-of-the-Art Perspective
Authors: Volmar Eric , Eisenhardt Kathleen M.
Published: January 2020

Theory building from case studies is a research strategy that combines grounded theory building with case studies. Its purpose is to develop novel, accurate, parsimonious, and robust theory that emerges from and is grounded in data. Case research is well-suited to address “big picture” theoretical gaps and dilemmas, particularly when existing theory is inadequate. Further, this research strategy is particularly useful for answering questions of “how” through its deep and longitudinal immersion in a focal phenomenon. The process of conducting case study research includes a thorough literature review to identify an appropriate and compelling research question, a rigorous study design that involves artful theoretical sampling, rich and complete data collection from multiple sources, and a creative yet systematic grounded theory building process to analyze the cases and build emergent theory about significant phenomena. Rigorous theory building case research is fundamentally centered on strong emergent theory with precise theoretical logic and robust grounding in empirical data. Not surprisingly then, theory building case research is disproportionately represented among the most highly cited and award-winning research.
Postcolonial Approaches to Communication and Culture
Authors: Luthra Rashmi
Published: January 2020

The decolonization of nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in the late 20th century made possible the arrival of postcolonial academics who engaged in a critical and thoroughgoing analysis of the ways in which colonial histories have affected and continue to influence not only our understanding of phenomena, such as culture, but have influenced the very frames and processes of the creation and dissemination of knowledge about phenomena such as culture. While this work was initiated by postcolonial scholars of literature, postcolonial theory and frameworks have been adopted by several allied fields, including the communication field. Since the 1990s, communication scholars have been using postcolonial frameworks to deconstruct the colonial and neocolonial representations and tropes present in news and popular culture discourses. They have also brought communication theory to bear upon key concepts within postcolonial study, such as hybridity and diaspora. In the mid-1990s communication scholars joined the larger debate on the continued relevance of the postcolonial framework, and as with postcolonial scholars in other fields, they have continued to insist that the interruptive and political impetus of postcolonial theory provides an important entry point for the study of a world still shot through with colonial and neocolonial power relations. Although there is still a lot of scope to make the postcolonial approach more central to the communication field and its subfields, communication scholars have continued to use postcolonial theory to shed important insight on several vital communication issues. Feminist scholars of communication have been at the forefront of the effort to increase awareness and use of postcolonial frameworks for the study of communication.
Partha Chatterjee and Political Thought: Community, Culture, and the Present
Authors: Biswas Moinak
Published: January 2020

Partha Chatterjee (b. 1947) is one of the most widely read social scientists working in South Asia today. His work, located at the intersection of history, political theory, and anthropology, has been influential in cultural and literary studies as well as history and political theory. He was one of the founding members of the Subaltern Studies group, which undertook new research into colonial society and culture with a focus on peasant consciousness. Chatterjee’s major publications in the 1980s and early 1990s dealt with peasantry and politics, but also explored the domain of elite culture and ideology. An important concern in this phase was nationhood and community, with Gramsci’s idea of passive revolution providing a conceptual grid. Chatterjee emerged as a major theorist of nationalism in the wake of his books on the subject. Since the 1990s, he has attempted to conceptualize the new turn in Indian politics after the Emergency (1975–1977). The Foucauldian idea of “governmentality” has played a central role in this work. The concept of “political society” that he has developed in this phase has made a major contribution to the discourse on Indian democracy. Alongside, he has continued his research in the history of empire and colonialism, extending his investigations to the “early modern” period in Indian history. A critique of Western liberal political thought runs through all his recent work, uniting historical, cultural, and political explorations.
Gatekeeping and Journalism
Authors: Shoemaker Pamela J.
Published: January 2020

One of the oldest social science theories applied to the study of communication, the gatekeeping approach emphasizes the movement of bits of information through channels, with an emphasis on decision points (gates) and decision-makers (gatekeepers). Forces on both sides of a gate can either help or hinder the information’s passage through a channel. The gatekeeping process shapes and produces various images of reality, not only because some bits of information are selected and others rejected, but because communication agents put information together in different ways. In addition, the timing and repetition of information can affect the prominence of events or topics and can influence the probability of future information diffusion.

Gatekeeping was originally modeled as a series of linear processes within the mass media, but in the late 20th century the flow of information through the mass and social media began to interact. Information is now understood to flow among journalists, among social media users, and among agents of both types of media. All such communication agents are gatekeepers. In addition, we can study these networked interconnections as one level of analysis, with the supra-gatekeepers (such as Facebook or Twitter) adding their own gatekeeping processes over and beyond those of their own clients of the mass media.

In addition to looking at various pairwise relationships between gatekeepers, gatekeeping theory should go beyond to instead consider the entire web of gatekeepers as a whole or system. A system is composed of elements (gatekeepers), interactions (relationships among them), and a goal or function. Multiple functions have been proposed by 20th-century scholars (such as socialization, entertainment, or surveillance) for the mass media, but scholars should now consider the function(s) of the gatekeeping system (mass and social media, as well as supra-gatekeepers) as a whole. Although each type of medium can be analyzed as its own system, such analysis would not facilitate new thinking about the various ways in which these partial systems affect one another and how the whole system functions beyond the simple addition of its parts.
Journalistic Organizations: Arenas for Professional and Symbolic Struggles
Authors: Le Cam Florence
Published: January 2020

From the end of the 19th century until the present, journalists have created associations, trade unions, clubs, and major international networks to organize workers, defend their rights, set out their duties, establish rules of good conduct, and structure their professional journalistic skills. These journalistic organizations are central actors in the history of the professionalization of journalistic groups around the world. They have enabled journalists to make their demands public, exchange views with journalists from other countries, and sometimes even promote and achieve legal recognition of their profession. In general terms, they have provided journalists with fora to discuss their working conditions, their profession, and the social role of the media and journalism. In this way, they have helped to structure not only discourses and practices, but also networks of solidarity at both national and international levels.

These organizations can exist in different arenas: within media companies, at the national level, or internationally. And, despite their variety over time, they have often pursued similar objectives: protect journalists’ pay and employment conditions and status; conceive strategies to maintain a certain form of autonomy in authoritarian political contexts; nourish international networking ambitions that have made it possible to disseminate ways of doing and thinking journalism; and finally generate a set of actions that aims to defend the ethics of journalism, the quality of news, and the lives of journalists.
News as Genre
Authors: Mast Jelle
Published: January 2020

The term “genre,” typically understood as a conventional categorization of recognizable texts or discursive practices based on perceived similarities and differences, has become quite commonsensical across academic, professional, and everyday settings. One has to look no further than, for instance, the catalogues or profiles of on-demand (streaming) services and (other) niche providers in today’s fragmented news media landscape, categories of professional press or broadcast award competitions, or, for that matter, the sections of an average newspaper, news website or app, or television schedule, to see a genre logic at work. Hiding behind this ubiquity, though, is a complex multidimensional notion that weaves together authorial intentions or industrial practices, textual configurations, and audience interpretations and uses, evoking a web of interactions between the textual and contextual, the material and immaterial, the consistent and contingent. A tripartite conception of genre as an enabling, shared set of codes and conventions thus suggests the term’s associated overtones of the “generic,” “patterned,” “recurrent,” “routine,” and the like. Yet, at the same time, by shedding light on the practical uses of genres and the wider contexts of their production and reception, it also opens up to contemporary conceptions looking afresh at genre by primarily accentuating its discursive, dynamic, and contingent qualities.

As such, genre has been defined as a purposive communicative event that is socially embedded in a particular discourse community and materializes through the affordances of available media (technologies) while providing an entry point into broader group identities, sociocultural belief systems and normative political ideals or epistemologies. Applied to the present context, an image emerges of journalistic genres as a heterogeneous and hierarchical set of socially situated groupings of texts or practices tied to a range of coexisting journalistic (sub)cultures and the normative professional values they adhere to, emerging and evolving in interaction with technological developments, social change, and the wider cultural atmosphere. Understanding news through the lens of genre resonates particularly well, then, in a networked, hybrid and (self-)reflexive media environment, where the normative foundations of (the) news (paradigm), and journalism broadly are being reexamined. Developments in the shifting landscape of news/journalism such as an interpretive turn, a (new) narrative wave, soft news, and the appropriation and transgressions of taken for granted conventions and expectations in “fake news” and cross-generic forms, render the concept of “genre” ever more visible, and valuable for the field of journalism studies. For in line with journalism studies’ multidisciplinary constellation, a multiperspectival view on genre provides a rich, dialogic site where scholars adopting different approaches could meet around the heterogeneous subject of what news is, could be, or should be.
The European External Action Service (EEAS)
Authors: Juncos Ana E. , Pomorska Karolina
Published: January 2020

The European External Action Service, with its 140 delegations all over the world and its headquarters in Brussels is a unique institution, which has been likened to a state diplomatic service or EU ministry of foreign affairs. The composition of the EEAS and its functions have been the result of complex negotiations between the member states of the European Union and EU institutions. The ability of the EEAS to have an influence in the European Union’s foreign policy process and outcome is still a subject of controversy, not least because it co-exists with 28 national diplomatic services. The impact of the establishment of the EEAS on the emergence of a esprit de corps among its ranks and whether it has led to the transformation of European diplomacy as a result constitutes other key questions in existing scholarly debates.
Cyprus and the European Union
Authors: Stavridis Stelios , Tsardanidis Charalambos
Published: January 2020

The Republic of Cyprus (or Cyprus) joined the European Union (EU) in May 2004 and adopted the single currency (the euro) in 2008. This article consists of three parts: it begins with a historical contextualization, explaining the reasons for Cyprus’ application for an Association Agreement with the (then) European Economic Community (EEC), and also examining the latter´s reaction and policy towards the 1974 Turkish invasion following a failed coup d´état against the Makarios Presidency that has led to a divided island since then (Part 1). In brief, what is known as the “Cyprus Problem.” This part also looks at the evolution of the Association Agreement during the period since 1975 which ended with the conclusion of a customs union Agreement between Cyprus and the European Community in 1987. The article next turns to an analysis of the Republic of Cyprus´ EU accession negotiations process (Part 2). It also covers the impact (or lack thereof) of various reunification plans, and most notably what is seen as the culmination of such efforts in the so-called 2002–2004 Annan Plans. The following section presents an assessment of how Cyprus has fared as a member state since it joined the EU (Part 3). It covers several key questions regarding the EU–Cyprus relationship. Whereas this article is not about the Cyprus problem itself, but as will be made clear throughout this study, it remains the dominant issue for the island. Others issues encompass EU relations with the Turkish-Cypriot community, the question of Turkey´s EU accession, the impact of the economic crisis of 2013, as well as energy security considerations following the discovery of gas in the region. The study concludes that being in the EU offers better perspectives for the Republic of Cyprus than if it had been kept outside it. If only because as the Accession Treaty makes it clear: it is the whole island that has joined the EU albeit the acquis communautaire cannot apply to the north, occupied, part of the Island following the invasion by Turkey. But all Cypriots are EU citizens. Yet, to a large extent, the experience of Cyprus prior to and after EU membership also reflects the kind of specific problems that a “small state” is facing in its international relations.
LGBT People as a Relatively Politically Powerless Group
Authors: Proctor Andrew
Published: January 2020

As a group engaged in struggles for representation and inclusion, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people have vied for access to social and political power. There is little dispute that LGBT people are a relatively powerless group in society, but the extent to which the group is powerless is subject to debate in political science. Scholars disagree over the extent of powerlessness because the definition of power is contested among political scientists. As such, scholars have examined the powerlessness of LGBT people in varying ways and reached different conclusions about the success the group has had in achieving rights and visibility.

LGBT powerlessness emerges from the group’s status as sexual and gender minorities. Over time, the boundaries that constitute the group have shifted in response to power asymmetries between LGBT people and cisgender, heterosexuals who control access to political and social institutions. In addition, power asymmetries have emerged within the LGBT community at the intersection of race, class, and gender as well as across subgroups of the acronym LGBT. Thus, the distribution of power and powerlessness vary within the group as well as between the group and dominant groups in society. These within- and across-group variations in power shape LGBT group boundaries, representation and public opinion, and voting behavior. The powerlessness of LGBT people must be understood in relation to these contingencies that define the group’s boundaries, and the ways in which power is distributed within and across groups.
The Evolution of Transgender Policies in the United States
Authors: Lombardi Emilia
Published: January 2020

In the United States, increasing numbers of transgender people are coming forward and working to change legislation to better protect their lives and identities. These changes have come over a long period of time with the work of transgender people and allies. Societal acceptance and support for transgender people has evolved, first in the provision of medical resources allowing for physical changes, and later in legislation supporting and protecting people’s ability to publicly and legally express their gender. However, these changes have not been always been to benefit transgender people as others sought to control and limit people’s ability to express nonnormative genders. Policy changes occur in reaction to transgender people, but at the same time, transgender people have been working to allow themselves the freedom to express their genders freely.

Major changes first began when scientists and medical professionals became interested in medical technologies such as hormones and its affects on people’s bodies. It was these discoveries that also interested people who felt dysphoric about their gender expression and saw these procedures as being able to reduce their pain and improve their lives. The movement to utilize surgical techniques soon followed. As more people sought these services, medical professionals developed guidelines to identify those who would benefit from the procedures and how to utilize these technologies safely to help people transition from one gender to another. As more people were able to transition, policies arose to prevent or limit people’s ability to express their identity, but transgender people and allies also organized to counter this movement and propose policies that are more supportive and protective for them.
The European Union, Latin America, and the Caribbean
Authors: Gratius Susanne
Published: January 2020

Since 1957, the European Union (EU) has been a constant and reliable partner of Latin America, on the one hand, and the Caribbean, on the other. It still offers a unique model of idealist interregionalism based on the promotion of its own integration model, combined with limited economic interests, soft power and, more recently, shared global visions such as sustainable development, Compared with the two bigger external actors, the United States and China, the EU is a normative actor that complements and sometimes counterbalances (in the cases of Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico) relations with the dominant power. Although, in relative terms, trade exchanges have declined since the 1990s, Latin America and the EU share a solid network of multilevel and contractual relations integrated by political dialogue, development cooperation, and investment flows. The EU signed free trade agreements plus (dialogue and cooperation) with Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, the Caribbean, and Central America. In June 2019 finalized a twenty year process of free trade negotiations between the EU and MERCOSUR. Once in force and approved by EU institutions and the four South American states, the EU-MERCOSUR association agreement will reactivate trade exchange grounded on economic, political, social and cultural cooperation between state and non-state actors. Nonetheless, it remains unclear if the 32 states involved in the mixed agreement (European Commission’s exclusive trade competences plus EU member states) will approve the deal in a foreseeable future.
Women and Political Power in Brazil
Authors: Dos Santos Pedro A. G. , Thomé Debora
Published: January 2020

Women have been historically excluded from positions of power in Brazil. Since the dawn of republicanism in the late 19th century, the political system has been dominated by men, and two long periods of authoritarianism stunted both the development of a strong women’s movement and the entrance of women into formal politics. Nevertheless, women have always been involved in the political process, and women’s groups have fought for women’s rights since the dawn of the republic. Successful examples include the suffrage movement, women’s movements that helped the return to democracy in the 1980s, and small victories such as domestic violence laws and maintenance of the status quo in the abortion law and reproductive rights.

The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century marked the slow increased presence of women in elected positions. The implementation of a gender quota law in 1996 and continued pressure by women politicians, those in the state apparatus, and women’s movements brought the issue of women’s representation to the forefront of debates about democratic development in Brazil. Although women still face strong barriers to enter the electoral arena, developments in the early 21st century such as the strengthening of the quota law show that the political space is slowly opening its doors to women.
Indigenous Politics and Resistance in Latin America: Continuity and Change
Authors: Lupien Pascal
Published: January 2020

Indigenous social movements have become influential political actors in Latin America over the past three decades. Indigenous peoples continue to experience higher than average political, social and economic marginalization throughout the region. The powerful organizations created by Indigenous groups and the positive outcomes they have achieved despite these barriers have produced a body of research that examines how these social movements emerged, why some have succeeded in influencing policy, the construction of collective identity, and the strategies and tactics used. Indigenous movements have made claims based on their status as pre-colonial peoples; their demands include land rights, control over natural resources, cultural recognition, and political autonomy. Indigenous movements in countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador, and Mexico have used disruptive tactics such as marches and roadblocks to demand the attention of governments, the public and media. They have also strategically participated in building alliances across borders, supporting political parties, and undertaking legal action against powerful actors including the state and extractive industries. The high-profile Indigenous protest cycle that marked the 1990s and early 2000s across Latin America began to wind down during the first decade of the 21st century, but Indigenous movements continue to engage in both politics and protest. In the digital age, they have adapted their tactics to include social media and other technologies.
Ambivalence in Political Decision Making
Authors: Warner Dane , Gainous Jason
Published: January 2020

Behavioral research largely treats attitudinal ambivalence as a component of attitude strength. Specifically, attitudinal ambivalence exists when someone simultaneously possesses positive and negative evaluations of a single attitude object. Ambivalent individuals do not have a single “true” attitude about political issues but rather a store of multiple and sometimes conflicting attitudes that they might draw upon at any given time when making a decision. Research has suggested that such ambivalence is quite common when it comes to political attitudes. Thus, understanding the measurement of ambivalence, the sources of ambivalence, and the consequences of ambivalence is critical to understanding political decision making. Ambivalence measures largely fall within one of two types: Meta-attitudinal measures where individuals assess their own ambivalence and operative measures where researchers construct indicators that assess ambivalence without individuals’ cognizance that it is being measured. Most research suggests that operative measures perform better. Research generally assumes that the causes of ambivalence are rooted in individual differences in attitude strength that may result from a host of individual or combined sources. The most common sources of ambivalence researchers focus on are value conflict, differences in political knowledge, Context/Political Environment, and Cross-Cutting Information/Conflicting Networks/Groups. Finally, some of the most prevalent consequences of ambivalence are an increase in susceptibility to influence, an effect on the rate of political participation, and increased variance in vote choice. It is here, in the consequences of ambivalence, where the most direct connection to political decision making is evident. In a democratic society, the decision centered on for whom one votes, is perhaps, the quintessential political decision.