bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Double-sided structure grating for dual-functional polarizing or non-polarizing splitter
Authors: Huang Xu , Wang Bo
Published: May 2024

In this paper, a novel bidirectional dual-functional metal-dielectric reflective grating with a double-sided structure is described, which can achieve transverse-electric (TE) polarization in the -1st order and transverse-magnetic (TM) polarization in the 0th order as a polarizing beam splitter in the upper part of the grating or TE and TM polarizations in the -1st order with polarization-independent property in the lower part of the grating. The proposed grating works at wavelength 1550 nm under Littrow mounting. Rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) is used to optimize grating parameters. The upper part can achieve diffraction efficiencies of 99.53% and 99.11% for TE polarization in the -1st order and TM polarization in the 0th order, respectively. In addition, the extinction ratios of -1st order and 0th order are 58.87 dB and 52.02 dB, respectively. The lower part can achieve diffraction efficiencies of 99.41% and 99.26% for TE and TM polarizations in the -1st order, respectively. Furthermore, wide incident wavelength and angular bandwidths can be obtained in both the upper and lower parts. Such a high-efficiency dual-functional grating has a wide range of applications in optical systems.
Electronic energy levels and wave-functions evolution from 3-D to 2-D of a hydrogen atom confined by two parallel planes
Authors: Cabrera-Trujillo R
Published: May 2024

The compression of an atom produced by two planes induces a change in its electronic structure that evolves from a free atom in 3-D to a 2-D atom. This behavior is of importance in low-dimensional materials and high compression produced by an anvil cell. In this work, we study the evolution of the energy levels and electronic wave-functions of a hydrogen atom placed between two impenetrable planes as a function of the inter-plane separation through a numerical approach. As the inter-plane separation is reduced, the electron motion is restricted along the direction normal to the planes, similar to a particle in a box, while leaving the electron to move unrestricted along the planes, thus, breaking the spherical geometry of the H atom caused by the planes’ compression. The energy levels evolve from 3-D, described by nlm quantum numbers to a 2-D described by

n
′
ml
′

, where

l
′

is the quantum number for a particle in a box along the z direction and

n
′

is the principal quantum number of the 2-D atom radial direction. We evaluate the energy levels from 3-D to 2-D and the radial average distance 〈ρ〉 in cylindrical coordinates, as a function of the inter-plane separation D along the z-direction. We find that as the inter-plane separation is reduced, the angular momentum quantum number l merges to the z-component of the angular momentum and it produces two branches, a symmetric for l-even and one anti-symmetric for l-odd, connected to a particle in a box quantum number

l
′

along the z-axis with implications in the atom photo-luminescence, resulting from the symmetry of the system. Furthermore, states with l-odd merge with states with l-even, as they have the same energy and average distance when D → 0. We provide an Aufbau principle for it. Our results agree to the analytical solutions at the 3-D and 2-D limiting cases.
Metasurface loaded ceramic based MIMO antenna with improved gain and circular polarization characteristics
Authors: Yadav Abhimanyu , Dwivedi Ajay Kumar , Singh Indra Kumar , Penmatsa Krishna Kanth Varma , Das Gourab , Sharma Anand
Published: May 2024

In this communication, the conceptualization involves the design of a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) (dual-port) ring dielectric resonator antenna and the integration of a meta-surface onto this configuration. It introduces three distinctive attributes, which characterize the novelty of the proposed design: (a) facilitates the conversion of linearly polarized waves into circularly polarized counterparts; (b) contributes to a substantial enhancement in gain in between the working band; and (c) there is notable improvement in the isolation between the antenna ports to more than 25 dB. The experimental measurements validate the simulated results of proposed design and confirms its applicability in between 2.45–3.0 GHz. Notably, a 3-dB axial ratio is created in the frequency span of 2.56–2.99 GHz, along with an impressive gain of approximately 8.3 dBi. Its consistent radiation pattern and excellent diversity performance make it suitable for WiMAX (2.6 GHz) use.
Effect of CaCO3 filler reinforcement on PLA matrix composites fabricated through injection moulding
Authors: Krishnudu D Mohana , Reddy P Venkateshwar , Kumar M Vijay , Reddy R V Saikumar , Umamaheshwer Rao A C
Published: May 2024

Since a decade, the usage of traditional polymers and synthetic fibres has increased rapidly. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to implement biodegradable polymer composites and strict plastic usage guidelines in order to address a range of environmental and safety issues. This article discusses in detail about the use of bio-degradable material like Poly Lactic Acid(PLA) as the matrix and calcium carbonate as the reinforcement used in preparing composite laminates through injection moulding technique.The influence of the CaCO3 on the mechanical properties, as well as the degradation behaviour of the developed specimens was explored by employing Universal testing machine (UTM) and Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. The bonding of the functional compounds within the selected substances were observed through Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, respectively. The conclusions revealed that putting up to 15 wt% of CaCO3 to a PLA medium boosted the mechanical properties and the specimen containing 10 wt% of CaCO3 improved thermal persistence and received the deterioration point at nearly 245 °C–250 °C. Only traces of residue were found in the composites as determined by TGA. In conclusion, it can be said that the incorporation of powder, permitted the development of biodegradable materials with better specific properties which can possibly be leveraged in lieu of traditional resources in a variety of industrial applications.
Thermal response of nematicons in a parabolic potential
Authors: Sajitha N M , Suneera T P
Published: May 2024

The thermal response of nematicons in a parabolic potential has been numerically studied. Single-peak nematicons exist only in the absence of thermal response coefficients. Because focusing reorientational nonlinearity is dominant in this case. In the presence of thermal response, the competition between focusing reorientational and defocusing thermal nonlinearities leads to the transformation of single-peak to double-peak nematicons. In this domain, the defocusing thermal nonlinearity is greater than the focusing reorientational nonlinearity, resulting in double-peak nematicons. The energy landscape experienced by the light beam within the medium is modified by the competing nonlinearities. The presence of both focusing reorientational and defocusing thermal nonlinearities creates multiple maxima in the energy landscape, allowing for the stabilization of double-peak nematicons as equilibrium states. When a parabolic potential is present, periodic oscillations can be obtained in nematicon. For small values of thermal response coefficients, double-peak nematicons having periodic oscillations are obtained. The thermal response coefficients have significant impacts on the wavelength of the oscillations of double-peak nematicon. The wavelength has been found to increase with increasing thermal response coefficients. Large values of the thermal response coefficients result in a double-peak nematicon with no oscillations. The linear stability analysis shows that single-peak nematicons and double-peak nematicons having periodic oscillations are stable, while double-peak nematicon with a non-oscillatory nature is unstable.
Heuristic predictions of RMP configurations for ELM suppression in ITER burning plasmas and their impact on divertor performance
Authors: Frerichs H. , van Blarcum J. , Feng Y. , Li L. , Liu Y.Q. , Loarte A. , Park J-K. , Pitts R.A. , Schmitz O. , Yang S.M.
Published: May 2024

A subspace of resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) configurations for edge localized mode (ELM) suppression is predicted for H-mode burning plasmas at 15 MA current and 5.3 T magnetic field in ITER. Perturbations to the core plasma can be reduced by a factor of 2 for equivalent edge stability proxies, while the perturbed plasma boundary geometry remains mostly resilient. The striated domain of perturbed field lines connecting from the main plasma (normalized poloidal flux<1) to the divertor targets is found to be significantly larger than the expected heat load width in the absence of RMPs. This facilitates heat load spreading with peak values at an acceptable level below10MWm−2on the outer target already at moderate gas fueling and low Ne seeding for additional radiative dissipation of the100MWof power into the scrape-off layer (SOL). On the inner target, however, re-attachment is predicted away from the equilibrium strike point due to increased upstream heat flux, higher downstream temperature and less efficient impurity radiation.
Long-term temporal stability of the DarkSide-50 dark matter detector
Authors: Agnes P. , Albuquerque I.F.M. , Alexander T. , Alton A.K. , Ave M. , Back H.O. , Batignani G. , Biery K. , Bocci V. , Bonivento W.M. , Bottino B. , Bussino S. , Cadeddu M. , Cadoni M. , Calaprice F. , Caminata A. , Campos M.D. , Canci N. , Caravati M. , Cargioli N. , Cariello M. , Carlini M. , Cataudella V. , Cavalcante P. , Cavuoti S. , Chashin S. , Chepurnov A. , Cicalò C. , Covone G. , D'Angelo D. , Davini S. , De Candia A. , De Cecco S. , De Filippis G. , De Rosa G. , Derbin A.V. , Devoto A. , D'Incecco M. , Dionisi C. , Dordei F. , Downing M. , D'Urso D. , Fairbairn M. , Fiorillo G. , Franco D. , Gabriele F. , Galbiati C. , Ghiano C. , Giganti C. , Giovanetti G.K. , Goretti A.M. , Grilli di Cortona G. , Grobov A. , Gromov M. , Guan M. , Gulino M. , Hackett B.R. , Herner K. , Hessel T. , Hosseini B. , Hubaut F. , Hugues T. , Hungerford E.V. , Ianni An. , Ippolito V. , Keeter K. , Kendziora C.L. , Kimura M. , Kochanek I. , Korablev D. , Korga G. , Kubankin A. , Kuss M. , Kuźniak M. , La Commara M. , Lai M. , Li X. , Lissia M. , Longo G. , Lychagina O. , Machulin I.N. , Mapelli L.P. , Mari S.M. , Maricic J. , Messina A. , Milincic R. , Monroe J. , Morrocchi M. , Mougeot X. , Muratova V.N. , Musico P. , Nozdrina A.O. , Oleinik A. , Ortica F. , Pagani L. , Pallavicini M. , Pandola L. , Pantic E. , Paoloni E. , Pelczar K. , Pelliccia N. , Piacentini S. , Pocar A. , Poehlmann D.M. , Pordes S. , Poudel S.S. , Pralavorio P. , Price D.D. , Ragusa F. , Razeti M. , Razeto A. , Renshaw A.L. , Rescigno M. , Rode J. , Romani A. , Sablone D. , Samoylov O. , Sandford E. , Sands W. , Sanfilippo S. , Savarese C. , Schlitzer B. , Semenov D.A. , Shchagin A. , Sheshukov A. , Skorokhvatov M.D. , Smirnov O. , Sotnikov A. , Stracka S. , Suvorov Y. , Tartaglia R. , Testera G. , Tonazzo A. , Unzhakov E.V. , Vishneva A. , Vogelaar R.B. , Wada M. , Wang H. , Wang Y. , Westerdale S. , Wojcik M.M. , Xiao X. , Yang C. , Zuzel G. ,   The DarkSide-50 collaboration
Published: May 2024

The stability of a dark matter detector on the timescale of a few years is a key
requirement due to the large exposure needed to achieve a competitive sensitivity. It is
especially crucial to enable the detector to potentially detect any annual event rate modulation,
an expected dark matter signature. In this work, we present the performance history of the
DarkSide-50 dual-phase argon time projection chamber over its almost three-year
low-radioactivity argon run. In particular, we focus on the electroluminescence signal that
enables sensitivity to sub-keV energy depositions. The stability of the electroluminescence yield
is found to be better than 0.5%. Finally, we show the temporal evolution of the observed event
rate around the sub-keV region being consistent to the background prediction.
Expansion and differentiation of human neural stem cells on synthesized integrin binding peptide surfaces
Authors: Jiang Chenyang , Campbell-Rance Debbie , Wu Shujun , Wang Yanlin , Sun Huifang , Xu Yuming , Wen Xuejun
Published: May 2024

The extracellular matrix plays a crucial role in the growth of human neural stem cells (hNSCs) by forming a stem cell niche, both in vitro and in vivo. The demand for defined synthetic substrates has been increasing recently in stem cell research, reflecting the requirements for precise functions and safety concerns in potential clinical approaches. In this study, we tested the adhesion and expansion of one of the most representative hNSC lines, the ReNcell VM Human Neural Progenitor Cell Line, in a pure-synthesized short peptide-based in vitro niche using a previously established integrin-binding peptide array. Spontaneous cell differentiation was then induced using two different in vitro approaches to further confirm the multipotent features of cells treated with the peptides. Twelve different integrin-binding peptides were capable of supporting hNSC adhesion and expansion at varied proliferation rates. In the ReNcell medium-based differentiation approach, cells detached in almost all peptide-based groups, except integrin α5β1 binding peptide. In an altered differentiation process induced by retinoic acid containing neural differentiation medium, cell adhesion was retained in all 12 peptide groups. These peptides also appeared to have varied effects on the differentiation potential of hNSCs towards neurons and astrocytes. Our findings provide abundant options for the development of in vitro neural stem cell niches and will help develop promising tools for disease modeling and future stem cell therapies for neurological diseases.
Quantifying the extremity of 2022 Chinese Yangtze River Valley daily hot extreme: fixed or moving baseline matters
Authors: Li Lan , Zhou Tianjun , Zhang Wenxia , Gui Kexin
Published: May 2024

In 2022, an extreme heatwave struck the Yangtze River Valley (YRV) of China. Existing studies have highlighted its record-breaking magnitude by comparison with historical records using a fixed baseline. However, the quantification of extremity relies on the choice of baseline. While using fixed baseline allows us to understand the changes in extremes with the background warming, the use of moving baseline quantifies the extremity relative to recent climatology, and thus, takes into account the societal adaptation capability to global warming. Here, we revisit the 2022 heatwave in China and examine the extremity of daily hot extreme by comparing the two methods. Using a fixed baseline, daily hot extremes occurred in 2022 in the upper and middle reaches of YRV broke records since 1971. Nevertheless, using a moving baseline, daily hot extremes broke records only in the upper reaches (Sichuan Basin). In addition, it is not the most extreme event (measured by standard deviation (SD) anomalies), as China has experienced ∼13 more extreme events since 1971. The future projections show that, when using fixed baseline, 2022 Sichuan basin like extreme will occur every 2–12 years in 2081–2100 period under high-emissions scenarios, and will sweep China. Approximately 2%–25% of continental China will experience daily hot extreme with magnitude exceeding 5 SDs. Nevertheless, the projected changes based on moving climatology are weak, indicating that if we take measures to enhance our adaptability to background warming, the risks associated with hot extremes would be reduced in China.
A 21st century shift in the mechanisms of the early-winter United States snowfall variability
Authors: Liu Shizuo , Hu Shineng
Published: May 2024

Snowfall is a critical element of natural disasters to the United States (US) with strong climatic and socioeconomic influences. Meanwhile, snowfall acts as a driving force to the US water supplies for agriculture, drinking water and hydropower. However, so far, what factors influence the US snowfall variations and how these factors change under global warming remain unclear. Here, we found that large-scale influences of the early-winter US snowfall experienced a shift from the Pacific to the Atlantic side around 2000, through observational analysis and climate model simulations. The Pacific/North American pattern was identified as a dominant driver of the early-winter US snowfall before 2000, but its impact became much weaker in the 21st century as its associated western North American cell shifted northward away from the US. Instead, the tropical and subpolar North Atlantic surface temperature has been influencing the early-winter US snowfall variations via teleconnections after 2000. This changed influence of US snowfall around 2000 is demonstrated to be related to the observed global warming pattern since the 1950s. Our study provides new perspectives in understanding large-scale snowfall pattern and variability and its connection to the global warming pattern.
Insect pests in smallholding coconut plantation in Marga Sungsang Village, Banyuasin Regency, South Sumatra, Indonesia
Authors: Anggraini E , Riyanti T E , Irsan C , Hamidson H , Sefrila M , Kurnianingsih A , Sitepu S F
Published: May 2024

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is one of the plantation crop commodities from the Palmae family that is widely cultivated in almost all regions in Indonesia, especially in South Sumatra. Insect pest attack is the main problem faced by farmers. Coconut farmers face this problem in Marga Sungsang Village, Banyuasin II District, Banyuasin Regency, South Sumatra Province. Therefore, this study aims to determine the insect pests that attack coconut plants. The research was conducted in May 2023 with field observations and interviews with coconut farmers. Observations were made through direct observation of pests on coconut plants owned by farmers covering an area of 4 hectares. Observations were made on infested plants by observing the types of pests and symptoms of attack. Meanwhile, interviews were conducted to find out the cultivation techniques used by farmers. The results showed that insect pests found in coconut smallholding plantations (C. nucifera L.) in Marga Sungsang Village, Banyuasin Regency are six species with 2.114 individuals consisting of orders namely Hemiptera, Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, and Coleoptera. There were six insect pests: Auloracanthus sp., Aleurodicus sp., Trilophidia sp, Phlaeoba infumata, Pteroma sp., and Oryctes rhinoceros.
Evaluation of cotton varieties resistant to Amrasca biguttula (Hemiptera: Ciccadelidae) in the Indonesian agroecosystem to mitigate climate change impacts
Authors: Sunarto D A , Sujak S , Rizal M , Rahardjo B T , Tarno H , Nurindah N
Published: May 2024

Climate change employs substantial effects on agroecosystems, particularly the dynamics between plants and herbivores. In response, the adoption of pest-resistant varieties has emerged as a critical strategy within agroecosystems, notably in Indonesia’s cotton Integrated Pest Management (IPM). This research focused on evaluating the response of five cotton lines, which adapted to the Indonesian agroecosystem, to the cotton leafhopper (Amrasca biguttula) as a mitigating measure to climate change. Two upland cotton varieties, Tamcot SP 37 (susceptible) and LRA 5166 (resistant), served as standards for susceptibility and resistance to leafhoppers. The study examined leaf morphological characters, specifically trichome density, known to act as oviposition deterrents for leafhopper females, indicative of non-preference resistance. Low damage scores and high leaf trichome density comparable to the resistant variety (LRA 5166) were indicators of notable field resistance in lines 06062/3/3 and 06062/3/4 against A. biguttula during observations that spanned 35 to 105 days post-planting. These findings highlight the potential of these lines as promising cotton varieties, marked by their resilience to A. biguttula, fostering sustainable cultivation practices that address climate change impacts. This study underscores the intricate dynamics between plant-insect interactions and resilience strategies within agroecosystems.
Deformable vector fields warping for modelling of irregular breathing
Authors: Giovannelli Anna Chiara , Köthe Andreas , Duetschler Alisha , Safai Sairos , Meer David , Zhang Ye , Weber Damien Charles , Lomax Antony John , Fattori Giovanni
Published: May 2024

Purpose4D computed tomography (4DCT) is the clinical standard to image organ motion in radiotherapy, although it is limited in imaging breathing variability. We propose a method to transfer breathing motion across longitudinal imaging datasets to include intra-patient variability and verify its performance in lung cancer patients. Methods Five repeated control 4DCTs for 6 non-small cell lung cancer patients were combined into multi-breath datasets (m4DCT) by merging stages of deformable image registration to isolate respiratory motion. The displacement of the centre of mass of the primary tumour and its volume changes were evaluated to quantify intra-patient differences. Internal target volumes defined on the m4DCT were compared with those conventionally drawn on the 4DCT.Results Motion analysis suggests no discontinuity at the junction between successive breaths, confirming the method's ability to merge repeated imaging into a continuum. Motion (variability) is primarily in superior-inferior direction and goes from 14.4 mm (8.7 mm) down to 0.1 mm (0.6 mm), respectively for tumours located in the lower lobes or most apical ones. On average, up to 65% and 74% of the tumour volume was subject to expansion or contraction in the inhalation and exhalation phases. These variations lead to an enlargement of the ITV up to 8% of its volume in our dataset.Conclusion 4DCT can be extended to model variable breathing motion by adding synthetic phases from multiple time-resolved images. The inclusion of this improved knowledge of patients' breathing allows better definition of treatment volumes and their margins for radiation therapy.
XPS analysis of molecular contamination and sp2 amorphous carbon on oxidized (100) diamond
Authors: Vidrio Ricardo , Vincent Daniel , Bachman Benjamin , Saucedo Cesar , Zahedian Maryam , Xu Zihong , Lai Junyu , Grotjohn Timothy A , Kolkowitz Shimon , Seo Jung-Hun , Hamers Robert J , Ray Keith G , Ma Zhenqiang , Choy Jennifer T
Published: May 2024

The efficacy of oxygen (O) surface terminations on diamond is an important factor for the performance and stability for diamond-based quantum sensors and electronics. Given the wide breadth of O-termination techniques, it can be difficult to discern which method would yield the highest and most consistent O coverage. Furthermore, the interpretation of surface characterization techniques is complicated by surface morphology and purity, which if not accounted for will yield inconsistent determination of the oxygen coverage. We present a comprehensive approach to consistently prepare and analyze oxygen termination of surfaces on (100) single-crystalline diamond. We report on x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterization of diamond surfaces treated with six oxidation methods that include various wet chemical oxidation techniques, photochemical oxidation with UV illumination, and steam oxidation using atomic layer deposition (ALD). Our analysis entails a rigorous XPS peak-fitting procedure for measuring the functionalization of O-terminated diamond. The findings herein have provided molecular-level insights on oxidized surfaces in (100) diamond, including the demonstration of clear correlation between the measured oxygen atomic percentage and the presence of molecular contaminants containing nitrogen, silicon, and sulfur. We also provide a comparison of the sp2 carbon content with the O1s atomic percentage and discern a correlation with the diamond samples treated with dry oxidation which eventually tapers off at a max O1s atomic percentage value of 7.09 ± 0.40%. Given these results, we conclude that the dry oxidation methods yield some of the highest oxygen amounts, with the ALD water vapor technique proving to be the cleanest technique out of all the oxidation methods explored in this work.
Finitely presented condensed groups
Authors: Osin Denis
Published: May 2024

Let

G

\mathcal {G}

denote the space of finitely generated marked groups. For any finitely generated group

G
G

, we construct a continuous, injective map

f
f

from the space of subgroups

S
u
b
(
G
)

Sub(G)

to

G

\mathcal {G}

that sends conjugate subgroups to isomorphic marked groups; in addition, if

G
G

is finitely presented and

H
≤
G

H\le G

is finitely generated, then

f
(
H
)

f(H)

is finitely presented. This result allows us to transfer various topological phenomena occurring in

S
u
b
(
G
)

Sub(G)

to

G

\mathcal {G}

. In particular, we provide the first example of a finitely presented group whose isomorphism class in

G

\mathcal {G}

has no isolated points.
Hazlitt, Persuasion, and Progressivism
Authors: Canuel Mark
Published: May 2024

William Hazlitt’s essays repeatedly refer to a notion of enlightened “progress” over time, characterized by an increase of knowledge and cultivation that overcomes ancient “barbarism.” He even targets a wide variety of groups from religious dissenters to utilitarians as obstacles to his project, because of their embrace of superstitious and idolatrous impulses. Ultimately, however, Hazlitt shows a great deal more discomfort with traditional notions of improvement and the rhetorical arts supporting them than such statements might imply. For he champions art forms as progressive only in a limited and skeptical way—only insofar as they invite competing persuasions rather than mastering any normative trajectory of thought or taste. Works of art for Hazlitt are public things, functioning as tenuous holding spaces for contending judgments.
Thomas Campbell’s Magic Lantern
Authors: Zimmerman Sarah
Published: May 2024

The Romantic-era public lecture room offered new challenges and opportunities for spoken persuasion, and Thomas Campbell seized the chance to argue that poetry could speak to the moment and the future as well as popular sciences like chemistry that dominated that cultural arena. Acculturated in the Scottish Enlightenment, Campbell was fully at home in the lecture room and plucked an instructive metaphor from that pedagogical space: poetry was infinitely renewable because poets were like magic lanterns, projecting fresh, persuasive views of their continually changing environments through the lenses of their own variable feelings and associations. His critical account of poetry as an immersive audiovisual medium highlights its kinship with a medium of the future: cinema. Campbell offers a distinctive Romantic definition of poetry that departs from canonical associations with solitude, interiority, and intimacy, by insisting on its compatibility with a public lecture culture characterized instead by sociability, urbanity, and multidisciplinarity.
Persuasion, Power, and Democracy in De Quincey
Authors: Adams Maeve
Published: May 2024

This essay re-examines Thomas De Quincey’s theory of the “literature of power”: a notoriously complex conception of aesthetics that accords distinctive epistemological, moral, and political purpose to literary—as opposed to scientific—forms of writing. Joining contemporary efforts to craft a new rhetoric in the wake of the Enlightenment, when classical rhetoric and its ancient arts of persuasion lost authority to the science of proof, De Quincey reimagines the role that literary invention could play in the ongoing emergence of modern democracy. Despite being an avowed Tory, De Quincey formulates a theory of rhetoric, literary aesthetics, and power in which the kind of moral deliberation suited to a more inclusive governance serves as a weapon against the despotic exercise of power.
Nation and Ethnicity in Asian Theater and Performance
Authors: Wetmore Kevin J.
Published: May 2024

Theater and performance are powerful tools for definition of national and ethnic identity. Nation, nationalism, ethnicity and identity are all unstable terms and concepts. In the 17th through the 20th centuries, there occurred a fundamental imposition of Western culture onto already-existent Asian cultures. Much of contemporary Asian nations and cultures saw their original, precolonial forms shaped and transformed first by colonialism, then by war, and finally by a postcolonial period starting in the postwar period through the early 21st century. In the wake of imperialism and colonialism, a number of Asian nations and cultures have used indigenous arts to reassert an unbroken sense of national or ethnic identity, rejecting Western models of theater while simultaneously embracing Western modes of performance and critique. Often, modern Asian nations would either invent traditions or move a tradition out of its original context in order to reimagine that tradition for the entire nation. National identity versus ethnic identity versus cultural identity, which can be the same or completely mutually exclusive within a community or individual, varies depending on the ethnic construction of the state and the nation. The theater thus both shapes national understanding of identities and, in turn, is shaped by it. Models for understanding nation, ethnicity, and identity can be found by examining individual case studies: the Japanese sense of the Japanese and the Other who lives in Japan (specifically Zainichi or Korean Japanese); the separate national identities of the two Koreas, which also shapes and is shaped by their individual sense of ethnic identity; the multicultural, multinational, and multiethnic nature of Singaporean society; and the Asian diaspora creating new variants on national and ethnic identity. Theater can both construct or challenge national identities, and it can also be exploited to assert a specific identity in the service of the nation-state or dominant ethnic group. Globalization and technology also challenge and reinforce ideas of nation, culture, and ethnicity.
Literature and National Formation in 19th-Century Latin America
Authors: Castro Andrea , Soriano Salkjelsvik Kari
Published: May 2024

There is more to the formation of a nation than the political reforms needed for the construction of a national state. To create a sense of national belonging, a collective consciousness among citizens is as crucial, and literature plays an important role in this effort. Issues connected to literature—its relation to Europe, the dangers of imitation, the creation of literary histories, the institutionalization of language, the role of translation, and so on—were discussed all over Latin America during the 19th century. Authors tried to pave the way for literary expressions that could give form to their national specificity. Literature sought to showcase the nation’s history, customs, people, national symbols, and landscapes—from mountains and valleys to cities and pueblos. In so doing, it engaged with an unruly and changing historical, cultural, and ideological space.
The Lira Popular in Chile: An Important Latin American Broadside from the Late 19th and 20th Centuries
Authors: Malacchini Soto Simoné
Published: May 2024

Lira Popular refers to the group of broadsides printed in Chile between 1860 and 1920, a period considered to be “classic,” although reappearing into the early 21st century. In these broadsides, verses written in ten-line stanzas, called originally décimas in Spain (a metric consisting of stanzas of ten eight-syllable verses), that were dedicated to both the human (daily, historical, love, news topics) and the divine (religious topics) were published. Over time, the content of the sheets evolved to become more newsworthy by portraying journalistic events of a criminal nature. Each sheet contained four to eight poems, although they generally consisted of five or six. They were undated and generally contained compositions by a single popular poet (although there are cases of sheets signed by more than one poet). The poet included their name at the end of the paper and sometimes added their address in order to market their sheets, as well as the print shop that often functioned as a place of sale. Although the phenomenon is also called string literature, it has not been confirmed that, in Chile, these sheets were hung for sale.

The name Lira Popular is usually associated with the popular poet Juan Bautista Peralta, who titled his sheets in this way, perhaps parodying a literature magazine of the time called Lira Chilena; however, among the popular poets themselves, this phenomenon was already called “popular verses” or “popular poetry,” even referring to the sheet with the term lira.
Black Nationalism: History and Art of Solidarity
Authors: Avilez GerShun
Published: May 2024

Black nationalism is an important element of African American political organizing and cultural production. It is a theory that emphasizes three primary principles: (a) the idea of a racial consciousness; (b) the idea that people of African descent share a linked fate, and (c) the need for collectivity and collective action to undermine anti-Blackness. Many forms of cultural production convey the general tenets of nationalism, but cultural figures also reshape and redefine the political rhetoric. Early orators and writers such as Maria Stewart and David Walker emphasize the idea of linked fate and insist upon a racial consciousness. This desire for a racial collectivity becomes connected to a desire for a nation-state. Thinkers such as Martin Delany make an argument for a Black nation-state more explicitly and consider emigration as a means to help the cause of ending Black oppression in America. The desire for a Black state lessens in its fervor after Blacks are made citizens with the Emancipation Proclamation; there is new hope for life in the US and for the possibility of rights. Nevertheless, the political destruction of Reconstruction following the Civil War and the rise of anti-Black violence (lynching) chip away at such hopefulness. At the beginning of the 20th century, Marcus Garvey resuscitates in his speeches and writings the goal of a Black state for peoples of African descent living in the Americas; he also turns his attention to working-class Blacks, which few of his nationalist predecessors had done. Garvey’s life and work are influential on Black activism later in the 20th century, especially the Black Power Movement. Activists from this movement emphasize autonomy and solidarity but are less concerned with an actual Black state. One can witness the active artistic engagement of the Black Power Movement in the Black Arts Movement, perhaps best exemplified by the writings of LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka). Both the Black Power Movement and the Black Arts Movement are often connected to masculinism and patriarchy, but Black feminist writers engage with nationalism as well and refuse limiting ideas around identity, as seen in the work of Elaine Brown and Alice Walker. Similarly, queer artists such as Marlon Riggs embrace, rather than reject, nationalism; they express the complexity of Black queer existence. The fact that nationalism is an impactful force in cultural production at the end of the 20th century does not mean that political organizing rooted in nationalism disappears in the contemporary world. Fatal violence against Black people energized social organizing in the 21st century in the form of the Black Lives Matter Movement. This movement and the artists creating in and around it, such as Danez Smith, focus on Black collectivity in the face of ongoing violence. These artists and thinkers show how nationalism remains valuable to Black populations and demonstrate that this philosophy evolves over time as policies and organizational priorities change.
Cold War Institutions and the American Writer
Authors: Barnhisel Greg
Published: May 2024

The Cold War shaped American literature more fundamentally than the political and cultural climate of any other era apart from the antebellum period. It was both an unavoidable topic for writers and a kind of ethos: the realization that, for the first time, humanity could destroy itself. Apart from these geopolitical concerns, Cold War–era literature wrestled with the thrilling and terrifying growth of technology, with consumerism, with paranoia and a crackdown on dissent. Once-insurgent literary modernism and its aging progenitors found themselves embraced by elite culture, while their inheritors sought to preserve modernism’s experimentation and fertility while avoiding the totalizing ideologies that had marred it.

Driving, shaping, steering, and fueling American literary production, dissemination, and reception was a set of newly powerful and pervasive institutions that saw themselves as both embodying and defending American values of “freedom” and “free expression.” These institutions included elite universities (which for the first time were teaching contemporary literature), the cultural-diplomatic agencies of the federal government, major nonprofit foundations, and the publishing industry. Such institutions were largely populated by, and as a result primarily promoted, White male authors, but over the course of the Cold War era authors from a much more diverse set of backgrounds—initially Jewish Americans, but eventually women, African Americans, Native Americans, Latino/a Americans, and Asian Americans—demanded entry into mainstream American literary culture.
Social Interaction in VR
Authors: Han Eugy , Bailenson Jeremy N.
Published: May 2024

Social interaction is one of the most popular use cases of virtual reality (VR). Virtual worlds accessed through VR headsets can immerse people in diverse places and present its users however they wish to be represented. The affordances of this technology allow people to connect with themselves, others, and their surroundings in unique ways. Research has shown that social norms found in the physical world transfer over to virtual worlds. People respond to virtual people in a manner similar to how they would treat people in the physical world. Although virtual worlds and the physical world share similarities, they have many differences. Virtual reality is not—and does not necessarily need to be—a veridical representation of the physical world. Virtual reality has the ability to transform everything, such as what people look like, how they behave, where they are, and how they see things. Cues related to people, such as their visual appearance and nonverbal behavior, or place, such as the surrounding environment and perspective, can be augmented, filtered, or suppressed. These transformations also lead to significant psychological and behavioral effects, affecting how people build trust, engage with others, or communicate nonverbally. Whereas some of these transformations may be unintentional, such as technological by-products, other transformations can be intentional. As a result, it is critical to understand how social interactions occur differently in these transformed environments.
Atmosphere, Economy, and Their Holistic Framings in the Twentieth Century and Beyond
Authors: Naylor Robert Luke
Published: May 2024

Despite apocalyptic discourse surrounding climate change since the 1970s, climate and weather have a longer history of being conceptualized as useful entities in the Anglophone world. The adversities of the Great Depression and hopes for a better postwar future led to climate being designated as a limitless resource—an object integral to the national economy that organizations, most notably governments, could draw upon to operate more effectively, especially against adversity. With a resurgence of neo-Malthusian perspectives in the 1970s, fears over resource scarcity reframed atmospheric resources as being strictly limited, and the concurrent rise of environmentalism challenged the idea that the atmosphere should be seen as a useful entity for industry. Instead, the economy–atmosphere relationship increasingly began to be framed through climate impact assessments, which analyzed the ability of climatic changes to perturb human systems. In addition, economic fragmentation, marketization, and privatization challenged the concept of national resources, meaning that by the end of the 1980s, the idea of the atmospheric resource had fallen from vogue. In the context of such marketization, the meteorological applications industry experienced rapid growth, leading some to advocate seeing the sector as a weather forecasting enterprise to encourage a renewed integrated perspective on weather impacts, forecasts, and policy. In contrast, in 2015, scholars identified how climate change has been reconstructed as a market transition by political and business elites, as climate change came to be seen as a market opportunity that was disconnected from goings-on in the material atmosphere. This disconnection can be seen as the culmination of a long process of conceptually disintegrating economy from the material atmosphere that began with the dismantling of the atmospheric resource concept.
Astrocytes
Authors: Verkhratsky Alexei
Published: May 2024

Astrocytes belong to an extended class of astroglia, a class of neural cells of ectodermal, neuroepithelial origin that sustain homeostasis and provide for defense of the brain and the spinal cord. Astroglial cells support homeostasis of the central nervous system at all levels of organization from molecular to organ-wide. Astrocytes cannot generate action potentials, being thus electrically nonexcitable cells. Astrocytic excitability is intracellular, being mediated by associations with spatiotemporal fluctuations of cytoplasmic ions and second messengers in response to chemical or mechanical stimulation. Astrocytes express an extended complement of receptors to neurotransmitters and neurohormones that allow them to coordinate their homeostatic function with neuronal activity. Astrocytic homeostatic responses are primarily mediated by plasmalemmal transporters, which in turn are regulated by cytoplasmic concentration of Na+ ions. Peripheral astrocytic processes, known as leaflets, establish intimate contacts with synapses forming an astroglial synaptic cradle. Astrocytes regulate synaptogenesis, synaptic isolation, synaptic maintenance, and synaptic extinction, thus being fundamental for neuronal plasticity. Loss of astrocytic homeostatic function leads to neuronal damage and is a universal part of pathogenesis of many neurological diseases.
Foreign Trade in Tokugawa Japan
Authors: Hellyer Robert
Published: May 2024

Despite common portrayals, Tokugawa Japan (1603–1868) was not a completely isolated or closed state that turned away from foreign trade. Instead, it maintained consistent but limited trading links with other Asian states and groups, as well as with the Dutch East India Company. The structure of foreign trade was defined by early modern Japan’s political system, in which the Tokugawa shogunate ruled as the central authority, dominating roughly 260 lords who exercised broad autonomy within their individual feudal domains. The Tokugawa shogunate directly administered trade with Chinese and Dutch merchants at the port of Nagasaki. However, in the north, the Matsumae domain controlled trade with Indigenous Ainu tribes, while to the west, the Tsushima domain maintained commercial ties with Chosŏn Korea. To the south, the Satsuma domain manipulated to its benefit the foreign trade of the Ryukyu Kingdom, over which it exercised suzerainty. In response to internal and external trends, the shogunate periodically revised the parameters of foreign trade. During the first century of the Tokugawa era, Japan’s foreign trade centered on exporting silver to China, in exchange for silk. In the mid-18th century, Japan definitively ended silver exports, focusing instead on exporting copper and marine products, which were used to obtain medicinal goods, primarily from China. Under Western military and diplomatic pressure, in the late 1850s, the Tokugawa shogunate signed a series of treaties with Western states that reshaped the structure of foreign trade. Beginning in 1859, Western and other foreign merchants began to reside in three treaty ports that became the main venues of foreign commerce. Japan’s foreign trade thus transitioned from a focus on exchanges with China and other Asian states. Instead, foreign trade, especially exports of silk and tea, centered on Western nations, a trend that accelerated in the closing years of the Tokugawa period.
Nationalism, Decolonization, and Development in Kenya
Authors: Moskowitz Kara
Published: May 2024

In colonial Kenya, the British administration appropriated fertile lands for European settlers. The resulting land shortage, alongside coercive policies such as taxation, forced many African families to become laborers on white farms or in cities. As land scarcity heightened and labor conditions worsened, African communities in Kenya engaged in various forms of anticolonial resistance, ranging from strikes to protests to violent conflicts like Mau Mau. In the 1940s, the colonial state began responding to African resistance with development and welfare. Development not only failed to improve standards of living, but it also allowed the state to intervene more aggressively into African lives. The imposition of misguided and unwanted programs, which also relied on communal forced labor, produced only greater discontentment. In cities especially, workers appropriated the language of development as a new basis to make claims. Building on mounting protests and shifting global politics, nationalist politics intensified, and as a result, processes of decolonization formally started in 1960.

During independence negotiations, contestations for land shaped political alliances and drove heated debates over the structure of the postcolonial government. Prior to the resolution of these issues, the colonial administration began enacting land resettlement. These programs—based on the principle of willing buyer–willing seller at market value—protected white settlers and further entrenched class, ethnic, and gender inequalities. Kenya gained independence with a federal constitution, but Jomo Kenyatta and the KANU (Kenya African National Union) party that came into power opposed regionalism. Within a year, Kenya had become a de facto one-party state, and the federal constitution was abolished. Though Kenyatta adeptly strengthened and preserved his power, postcolonial Kenya witnessed the rise of populist, ethnonationalist, and separatist movements. While none have been wholly successful, Kenya’s economic and political inequalities, its unmet promises of decolonization, and its ethnic antagonisms have ensured continual protest and a fractured nation.