bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intensive Oral Hygiene Interventions during Therapy of Acute Leukemia May Result in Detrimental Outcomes: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Dubashi Biswajit , Mote Nirmal Pratap , Krishnan B. , Kayal Smita , Kumar K.T. Harichandra , Abirami M. , Devi Nirmala , Ganesan Prasanth , Nisha Yadav
Published: September 2024

Objectives There are no standard guidelines on oro-dental care during induction therapy of acute leukemia (AL). This study aimed to assess the effect of intensive oral hygiene practice on oral mucositis, infection, and disease outcomes compared to standard clinical practice.

Materials and Methods Newly diagnosed patients with AL were randomized to receive either standard oral hygiene protocol (group A, n = 92) or comprehensive oral hygiene protocol (group B, n = 91). In group A, the oral hygiene indexes were measured by the dentist at baseline and at the end of treatment. In group B, weekly monitoring of oral hygiene indexes by the dentist and interventions in the form of oral cavity inspection, probing for gum health, and use of a soft toothbrush and education on oral hygiene practices were carried out.

Results The frequency of mucositis was higher in group B (60%) than in group A (40%; p = 0.09). There was no difference in the median Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S; 0.5 vs. 0.6) and Silness and Loe plaque index (0.4 vs. 0.25) between the groups. The local (11 vs. 1%; p = 0.005) and systemic infection rate (82.2 vs. 65.2%; p = 0.009) were higher in group B than in group A.

Conclusion This study failed to show the superiority of a comprehensive oral hygiene protocol compared to standard protocol in reducing oral mucositis in patients receiving induction therapy for AL. We hypothesize that frequent intervention in the oral cavity may lead to the dissemination of infection.
Pathology of the Proximal Radius in Juvenile Pugs
Authors: Obel Christina , Rondahl Veronica , Rohdin Cecilia , Friling Lisa , Bergström Annika
Published: September 2024

The aim of this study was to describe the physeal pathology of the proximal radius in four skeletally immature male Pugs. Physical examination, radiography, and computed tomography (CT) of the thoracic limbs were performed in all four dogs. Two Pugs were available for long-term follow-up and two Pugs were euthanatized after the diagnostic imaging results. Four male Pugs, aged between 6 and 7 months, were presented with a history of thoracic limb lameness lasting 2 to 3 months. Radiography and CT of the thoracic limbs showed irregularity of the proximal radial physes with varying degrees of radiolucency within the adjacent metaphyses. The pathology was associated with elbow joint incongruity and angular deformity of the antebrachium. Two dogs were euthanatized, one of which was autopsied, and histopathology of the proximal radius revealed bilateral physeal dysplasia. At long-term follow-up of the two surviving dogs, lameness had resolved. Radiography and CT scans of the thoracic limbs revealed normal bone opacity within the proximal radius and resolution of the radiolucent areas of the proximal radial physes. However, incongruity of the radioulnar joint remained. In this report, the resolution of identified physeal pathology at the proximal radius in juvenile Pugs demonstrates the potential for spontaneous remission despite the presence of notable radiographic changes.
Modified sensors open the door to temperature-sensing applications
Authors: Green Leigh Ann
Published: September 2024

Changing the design and substrate of a planar resonator adds to its list of uses.
Design and simulation of a Ka-band frequency doubling gyroklystron amplifier
Authors: Singh Abhijeet , Chauhan Madan Singh , Srivastava Neelam
Published: September 2024

The design methodology of a Ka-band frequency doubling two cavity gyroklystron has been discussed in this paper. In this study, the amplifier’s design and simulation are accomplished by employing nonlinear analysis and validated using particle-in-cell simulation techniques. The output cavity functions in the TE02 mode at two times the input signal frequency at the second harmonic of the cyclotron frequency, while the input cavity is powered by a 17.5 GHz source and functions in the TE01 mode at the first harmonic of the cyclotron resonance. The device’s performance has been examined both in the presence and in the absence of a beam. A number of factors were taken into account in order to optimize the interaction structure dimension to reach the device’s targeted performance. By adjusting the structural features and electron beam parameters, the device’s RF output power is assessed in an effort to increase efficiency. Simulation results estimate that the device displays a gain of 21.5 dB, an efficiency of 21.6%, a power of 227 kW, and a −3 dB bandwidth of ∼0.3%.
Temperature dependent self-assembly of lanthanide coordination polymers based on a benzimidazolium dicarboxylate linker: synthesis, structure and luminescence properties
Authors: You Li-Xin , Wang Wen-Yu , Wang Xiao-Juan , Xiong Gang , Wang Shu-Ju , Ding Fu , Liang Jin-Guang , Sun Ya-Guang
Published: September 2024

Five new coordination polymers, namely [Ln(L)(NO3)2]n (Ln = La (1), Pr (2) and Sm (3)), [Eu(L)(NO3)2·1.5H2O]n (4) and [Tb(L)(OAc)2(H2O)·3H2O]n (5) (HOAc = CH3COOH), were synthesised by reaction of lanthanide nitrates with 1,3-bis(4-carboxybenzyl)benzimidazolium chloride (H2L+Cl−) under solvothermal conditions. All the coordination polymers were characterised by powder X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, elemental analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Complexes 1–5 exhibit two different 2-D structures due to the variation in reaction temperature. Complexes 1–4 are isostructural and crystallised in the monoclinic system, C2/c space group, showing a two-dimensional layer with Ln chains linked by L− ligands. Complex 5 crystallised in the P21/n space group, featuring a 2-D layer different from 1–4 with Tb dimers linked by L− ligands through carboxylates. Further, the luminescence properties of complexes 3–5 were investigated. In addition, the fluorescence lifetime and quantum efficiency of complex 4 were measured.
Diversity of ammonia sources in Tianjin: nitrogen isotope analyses and simulations of aerosol ammonium
Authors: Wu Libin , Zhang Yiwen , Xiao Yunting , Zhu Jialei , Shi Zongbo , Wang Yuantao , Xu Hong , Hu Wei , Deng Junjun , Tang Miao , Fu Pingqing
Published: September 2024

Environmental context Atmospheric particulate NH4+, primarily produced from the reaction of NH3 and acids, is an important component of PM2.5. In this study, nitrogen stable isotope analyses and an atmospheric chemistry model were used to estimate the contribution of major NH3 sources to particulate NH4+ in Tianjin, a megacity in North China Plain (NCP). Our research has implications for investigations of NH3 emission sources and relevant pollution control in Tianjin and NCP. Rationale The North China Plain (NCP) has been identified as an NH3 emission hotspot. Source apportionment of NH3 is a prerequisite for controlling NH3 or NH4+ pollution. Nitrogen stable isotope (δ15N) analysis is a promising method for NH3 source apportionment but its accuracy is still in question. Methodology In this study, daytime and nighttime PM2.5 samples were collected from two sites in Tianjin, NCP, in autumn. Concentrations and δ15N of particulate NH4+ were then measured. Nitrogen stable isotope analyses and isotope mixing model (MixSIAR), and an atmospheric chemistry model (WRF-CMAQ-ISAM) were used to estimate the sources of NH3 in Tianjin. Results Results from the MixSIAR and WRF-CMAQ-ISAM models suggested that all the sources including livestock breeding, N-fertiliser application, fossil fuels, NH3 slip (especially from traffic), human waste and biomass burning (mostly from bioapplication) were non-negligible to NH3 and NH4+ in Tianjin. This high complexity is due to significant agricultural and industrial production and residential life in Tianjin and the surrounding regions. Our results indicate all NH3 sources need to be considered if we want to reduce NH4+ pollution in Tianjin in autumn.
Lipin1 depletion coordinates neuronal signaling pathways to promote motor and sensory axon regeneration after spinal cord injury
Authors: Chen Weitao , Wu Junqiang , Yang Chao , Li Suying , Liu Zhewei , An Yongyan , Wang Xuejie , Cao Jiaming , Xu Jiahui , Duan Yangyang , Yuan Xue , Zhang Xin , Zhou Yiren , Ip Jacque Pak Kan , Fu Amy K. Y. , Ip Nancy Y. , Yao Zhongping , Liu Kai
Published: September 2024

Adult central nervous system (CNS) neurons down-regulate growth programs after injury, leading to persistent regeneration failure. Coordinated lipids metabolism is required to synthesize membrane components during axon regeneration. However, lipids also function as cell signaling molecules. Whether lipid signaling contributes to axon regeneration remains unclear. In this study, we showed that lipin1 orchestrates mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) and STAT3 signaling pathways to determine axon regeneration. We established an mTOR-lipin1-phosphatidic acid/lysophosphatidic acid-mTOR loop that acts as a positive feedback inhibitory signaling, contributing to the persistent suppression of CNS axon regeneration following injury. In addition, lipin1 knockdown (KD) enhances corticospinal tract (CST) sprouting after unilateral pyramidotomy and promotes CST regeneration following complete spinal cord injury (SCI). Furthermore, lipin1 KD enhances sensory axon regeneration after SCI. Overall, our research reveals that lipin1 functions as a central regulator to coordinate mTOR and STAT3 signaling pathways in the CNS neurons and highlights the potential of lipin1 as a promising therapeutic target for promoting the regeneration of motor and sensory axons after SCI.
Etiology of craniofacial and cardiac malformations in a mouse model of
SF3B4
-related syndromes
Authors: Kumar Shruti , Bareke Eric , Lee Jimmy , Carlson Emma , Merkuri Fjodor , Schwager Evelyn E. , Maglio Steven , Fish Jennifer L. , Majewski Jacek , Jerome-Majewska Loydie A.
Published: September 2024

Pathogenic variants in SF3B4, a component of the U2 snRNP complex important for branchpoint sequence recognition and splicing, are responsible for the acrofacial disorders Nager and Rodriguez Syndrome, also known as
SF3B4
-related syndromes. Patients exhibit malformations in the head, face, limbs, vertebrae as well as the heart. To uncover the etiology of craniofacial malformations found in
SF3B4
-related syndromes, mutant mouse lines with homozygous deletion of
Sf3b4
in neural crest cells (NCC) were generated. Like in human patients, these embryos had craniofacial and cardiac malformations with variable expressivity and penetrance. The severity and survival of
Sf3b4
NCC mutants was modified by the level of
Sf3b4
in neighboring non-NCC. RNA sequencing analysis of heads of embryos prior to morphological abnormalities revealed significant changes in expression of genes forming the NCC regulatory network, as well as an increase in exon skipping. Additionally, several key histone modifiers involved in craniofacial and cardiac development showed increased exon skipping. Increased exon skipping was also associated with use of a more proximal branch point, as well as an enrichment in thymidine bases in the 50 bp around the branch points. We propose that decrease in
Sf3b4
causes changes in the expression and splicing of transcripts required for proper craniofacial and cardiac development, leading to abnormalities.
The deflection angle and quasi-periodic oscillations of an extended gravitational decoupled black hole solution
Authors: Mushtaq Farzan , Tiecheng Xia , Ditta Allah , Mustafa G , Maurya S K
Published: September 2024

In weak field limits, we compute the deflection angle of a gravitational decoupling extended black hole (BH) solution. We obtained the Gaussian optical curvature by examining the null geodesic equations with the help of Gauss–Bonnet theorem (GBT). We also looked into the deflection angle of light by a black hole in weak field limits with the use of the Gibbons–Werner method. We verify the graphical behavior of the black hole after determining the deflection angle of light. Additionally, in the presence of the plasma medium, we also determine the deflection angle of the light and examine its graphical behavior. Furthermore, we compute the Einstein ring via gravitational decoupling extended black hole solution. We also compute the quasi-periodic oscillations and discuss their graphical behavior.
Rapid hologram generation through backward ray tracing and adaptive-resolution wavefront recording plane
Authors: Zhu 朱 Jianying 建英 , Bi 毕 Yong 勇 , Sun 孙 Minyuan 敏远 , Gao 高 Weinan 伟男
Published: September 2024

An advanced method for rapidly computing holograms of large three-dimensional (3D) objects combines backward ray tracing with adaptive resolution wavefront recording plane (WRP) and adaptive angular spectrum propagation. In the initial phase, a WRP with adjustable resolution and sampling interval based on the object’s size is defined to capture detailed information from large 3D objects. The second phase employs an adaptive angular spectrum method (ASM) to efficiently compute the propagation from the large-sized WRP to the small-sized computer-generated hologram (CGH). The computation process is accelerated using CUDA and OptiX. Optical experiments confirm that the algorithm can generate high-quality holograms with shadow and occlusion effects at a resolution of 1024 × 1024 in 29 ms.
Corrosion Resistance Improvement of Mild Steel
Authors: Sheashea M , Zagloul B , Zorainy M , Naeem I , Gobara M
Published: September 2024

Corrosion’s devastating consequences have become a big issue all over the world. One of the corrosion damage aspects are related to decontamination solutions which are essential for rapid degradation of toxic agents. The decontamination solutions should be non-corrosive to avoid deterioration of steel container. Decontamination solutions comprising have high chlorinating activity so they have a corrosive effect on mild which are used in fabrication of storage tanks. In this case, using inhibitors is one of the most effective strategies to limit the rate of corrosion. This work describes the effect of different compounds; (zinc chromate, cinnamaldehyde, sodium tripolyphosphate, zinc ortho-phosphate, ammonium molybdate and thiourea) on the rate of corrosion of mild steel within dichloroisocyanuric acid decontamination solution. Meanwhile, these inhibitors should not affect active chlorine content which is responsible for the decontamination process. By using kelthoff and AquaChec® methods for measuring active chlorine, it was found that only zinc chromate passed the tests. For measuring electrochemical behaviour of mild steel in decontamination solutions, different techniques were used. Zinc chromate inhibition on mild steel in a 0.5% dichloroisocyanuric acid solution at different temperatures (298–313 K) were studied utilising electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, weight loss, and potentiodynamic polarisation. The results reveal that zinc chromate is an excellent mild steel corrosion inhibitor in dichloroisocyanuric acid, with an inhibition efficacy of 96% at a concentration of 0.005 M. Finally, surface morphology of mild was also investigated using SEM.
Decarbonizing natural gas infrastructure: blending hydrogen for sustainable energy
Authors: Tawfik Z I , El-Sheltawy S T , Abdelghany A R
Published: September 2024

The paper explores the potential of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier and its integration into existing natural gas systems to reduce carbon intensity. It highlights the need for infrastructure impact studies and significant investment to realize the vision of green hydrogen. It also discusses the properties of hydrogen compared to natural gas, its production methods, and the potential for blending hydrogen into existing natural gas pipelines. Additionally, it provides insights into Egypt’s energy sector and its efforts to embrace renewable energy. It concludes by summarizing notable studies and projects related to hydrogen-natural gas blending. The blending of hydrogen into natural gas systems is an important and achievable first step towards full conversion to 100% hydrogen. The paper presents a compilation of hydrogen blending projects from different countries, showcasing the collaborative efforts and advancements in integrating hydrogen into existing energy systems.
Gamma ray shielding ability of Y3+ doped borophosphate glasses
Authors: Hafiz M. S. , El-Feky M. G. , Ibrahim Eman , Gomaa N. S. , El-Taher Atef
Published: September 2024

Four selected Y2O3 doped borophosphate glass samples are prepared using melt quench technique. The structural properties such as density and molar volume are measured. The density (ρ) increases from 3.1384 to 3.4613 g/cm3 whereas molar volume (Vm) decreases from 60.84 to 55.00 cm3 mol−1 with addition of Y2O3 cm3 mol−1 content. The lattice of the glasses has been tested via X-ray diffraction which is a good technique for confirming the structural properties of these glasses and FTIR spectra. In addition, radiation shielding parameters for glasses were performed theoretically utilizing XCOM program for various gamma ray energy and experimentally using NaI(Ti) scintillation detector, The glasses were irradiated using energies 0.664, 1.174 and 1.334 MeV emitted by Cs-137 and Co-60 radioactive point sources respectively. Shielding parameters as leaner (μ), mass attenuation coefficients (μ/ρ) and half value layer (HVL), tenth value layer (TVL) and mean free path (MFP). The concentration of Y2O3 increases the (μ/ρ) increases, the HVL, TVL, and MFP values have inverse way. Superior radiation shielding is confirmed by the glass sample containing (3%, mole) of yttrium oxide. The results show that the borophosphate glasses doped with Y2O3 can be used to shield gamma rays.
RUL prediction of lithium-ion battery based on BiLSTM
Authors: Wang Jin , Yan Shubin , Zhang Wei , Wu Taiquan
Published: September 2024

In this paper, in order to avoid the unavoidable degradation of the Remaining Useful Life(RUL) of lithium batteries in course of use, which may lead to the inability of lithium batteries to work normally or even cause safety accidents, finding a way to effectively predict the remaining life of lithium batteries in advance is significant. Therefore, the generator and discriminator models are constructed through a multilayer bidirectional length and Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory(BiLSTM) model, which expands fewer data samples, making the sample data volume greatly improved, and avoiding the overfitting of the subsequent deep learning models under the fewer sample data. In BiLSTM, the hidden layer preserves the internal state of bidirectional data, and the key information is preserved and discarded through the internal Long Short-Term Memory(LSTM) module, so as not to cause any damage to the battery. information is preserved and discarded to avoid the problem of gradient disappearance that occurs when the data is dependent for a long time, and the GAN-BiLSTM model is suggested to deal with the issue of low precision and accuracy of deep learning methods with small samples.
Wireless transmission method of electromagnetic wave of cross screw signal
Authors: Jie Wu , Yang Ge
Published: September 2024

Based on the near-bit azimuthing gamma measuring instrument developed by Changqing Drilling Company, this paper uses comsol multiphysics(COMSOL) numerical simulation software to build the electromagnetic wave wireless transmission model of cross-bolt signal while drilling. By using finite element method and a large amount of calculation and analysis, the influence law of source distance, drill wire conductivity, borehole and mud conductivity and other parameters on the response characteristics is obtained. The simulation modeling method presented in this paper and the conclusions obtained have important guiding significance for further optimizing and upgrading the near-bit wireless short-pass device and better understanding and mastering the signal transmission law of this kind of instrument.
Design of real-time & historical database for photovoltaic power plant
Authors: Cheng Guo , Liu Qiang , Kai Yu Zhao , Zhong Huang Yong , Cai Chen Hua
Published: September 2024

The real-time & historical database of photovoltaic power plant monitoring system is used to store and manage the real-time and historical data, including power plant parameters, environmental data, and photovoltaic unit data and so on. Analyzing of this data is helpful for monitoring the status of the plant equipment, performing maintenance, and enhancing the operational efficiency of the power plant. The data models and database function of the database is designed. The data models include tags, data processing, and data storage models. Database function include the modules of the collection, storage, compression, and index query. The data collection module utilizes dynamic link libraries to access database data and configures parameters through a comprehensive data collection framework. The storage strategies involve in a combination of in-memory databases and disk-based historical databases, incorporating secondary caching technology and cloud server storage techniques. The data compression module is achieved through secondary compression methods. The index query module encompass time index files and the secondary index files to improve query speed and real-time system performance. The designed elements collectively establish an efficient monitoring system database.
Based on CNN-LSTM for photovoltaic output prediction of multi-scale method
Authors: Zhang Hanlin , Tang Zheng , Deng Yunyi , Wang Kai
Published: September 2024

To maximize power generating efficiency, accurate forecast of generation power is the very important job for the photovoltaic generation system. In this paper, photovoltaic production is forecasted using a understanding way called multi-scale based on convolutional neural network-long short-term memory network (CNN-LSTM) for photovoltaic output prediction of multi-scale method. However, existing methods are often challenged by the multi-scale nature of the data when dealing with PV output prediction, so a more efficient method is needed to overcome difficulties. Therefore, this paper put forward an idea of a multi-scale method based on CNN-LSTM, which combines CNN and LSTM to accurately predict photovoltaic output at different time scales. The CNN-LSTM model can achieve the precision of 0.9097 for 15 minutes, the prediction accuracy of 0.8750 for 1 hour, and the prediction accuracy of 0.7987 for 4 hours, which can prove that the model can meet the scheduling rules.
Experiments on waste heat thermoelectric generator for power transformer and its field application
Authors: Zhang Wenjie , Weng Shile , Luo Hu , Li Guoneng , Cai Yong , Gao Jian , Zhang Fei , Yang Bin
Published: September 2024

Huge waste heat is dissipating from massive power transformers, and recovering such waste heat for power generation and heating purpose attracts attentions of power sectors and scientists. This study demonstrates the possibility of cogeneration of electric power and domestic hot water on the basis of thermoelectric technology. A thermoelectric generator (TEG) unit with 48 TE modules (TEMs) is designed and tested. Experiments showed that an electric power of 13.2 W is generated by the abovementioned TEG unit when the hot-/cold-liquid temperatures are 348.3.0 K and 297.4 K, respectively. Two waste heat TEGs with 80 units, incorporated with a total number of 3840 TEMs, is designed for a 50,000 kVA power transformer in Huzhou city (Zhejiang, China). Field tests indicate that over 800 W of electric power and 200 kW of hot water are cogenerated. The annual energy saving rate is over 173 tce based on the energy reference coefficients of 0.305 kgce/kWh for electricity and 0.0341 kgce/MJ for heating power, respectively. The abovementioned energy saving rate corresponds to a payback period less than 2 years.
Improved reduced order model for study of coupled phenomena
Authors: Garg Shubham , Hiremath Kirankumar R
Published: September 2024

Many interesting phenomena in applications are based on interactions between their constituent sub-systems. The first principle exact models of these phenomena can be quite complicated. Therefore, many practitioners prefer to use so-called phenomenological models, which are generally known as models based on coupled mode theory (CMT). This type of reduced-order model captures the dominant behavior of the system under appropriate conditions. Quite often, these validity conditions are qualitatively described, but no detailed mathematical analysis is provided. This work addresses this issue and presents improvements in the traditional phenomenological models. Although an LC circuit model is used for illustration due to its simplicity, the results in this work are equally applicable to a wide variety of coupled models. A detailed mathematical analysis is carried out to quantify the order of approximation involved in the model-based CMT. Using it, the validity of the model in the regime from weak coupling to strong coupling is analytically investigated. An improved reduced-order model is proposed, which gives better results than the traditional phenomenological model. The analytical studies are verified with numerical simulations, which clearly show better validity of the proposed improved model of coupled systems.
Flexible thermistors based on laser-induced graphene from polyetherimide
Authors: Houeix Yann , Habboush Shayma , Gomez-Gijon Sonia , Rodriguez Noel , Romero Francisco J , Rivadeneyra Almudena
Published: September 2024

The importance of temperature sensors has notably increased in recent years, paralleling the surge in demand for flexible and stretchable sensor technologies. In this study, we fabricate and characterize a flexible resistive temperature sensor based on laser-induced graphene (LIG) on Polyetherimide (PEI). The structure and morphology of LIG are thoughtfully characterized proving the formation of a graphitic-based structure. Subsequently, the sensors were evaluated in terms of their temperature response, impact of relative humidity, and bending cycles. The results reveal that the PEI-LIG flexible thermistor exhibits a high sensitivity of −0.159%/°C, with minimal influence from humidity. These findings contribute to advancing the research in inexpensive flexible temperature sensing technology, providing insights into material selection and sensor design for diverse applications.
Totalitarian Domination and Big Brotherism
Authors: Khodadadi Bahman
Published: September 2024

Chapter 6 analyses the parameters of a penal policy that is derived from theocratic normativity as a coherently designed set of roles and functions, and systematically confronts these findings with existing international human rights standards and universal legal norms. The chapter discusses how the theocentric world-view taken by the Iranian theocracy reacts to the notion of a ‘right to be/do wrong’ within the framework of criminal law. It explores the ravenous criminal law thanks to the lack of legal clarity about the features of wrongdoing and wide-open-to-interpretation wording of offense descriptions in the Islamic Penal Code. It argues that the paternalistic penal policy and intrusiveness of the criminal law system functions as a barrier to the applicability of criminal law as a last resort (ultima ratio), within the framework of ideological penal policy. This chapter closes with an examination of how capitalizing on the docile body of the condemned through public punishment has resulted in a penal Machiavellianism through well-founded fear of justice.
Placemaking: Teotihuacan’s Altepetl
Authors: Sugiyama Nawa
Published: September 2024

The dedicatory spectacles at the Moon Pyramid were part of the ritualized production of the altepetl (water mountain) of Teotihuacan. A performative approach captures the underlying messages communicated through interpersonal interactions between ritualized bodies (human and nonhuman persons) and the ritual stage. As the altepetl encapsulates the entanglements among place, community, and social structure, it embodies sovereignty through its co-production. In addition, a descriptive procession along the ceremonial precinct introducing the three major pyramids personifies an encounter with the subline power of monumentalism to make present and solid the essentially eternal and intangible experience of cosmic order. The narrative highlights the physicality of the ceremonial core while situating the spatiotemporal dynamic of the ceremonial landscape within an archaeologically grounded chronology of Teotihuacan.
Animals Inhabiting the Altepetl
Authors: Sugiyama Nawa
Published: September 2024

This chapter describes two trajectories in the Moon Pyramid’s ritualized production. Burials 2 and 6’s incorporation into Building 4 was vital in performing and experiencing the cosmos materialized in the Moon Pyramid as the altepetl of Teotihuacan. Subsequent placement of Burials 3 and 5 highlights the fluid and constant reconfigurations of sovereignty formations at Teotihuacan, wherein animal matter seems to have taken a decidedly distinct form of participation. Especially in Burial 5, the positionality of corporeal animal forms seems to shift vis-à-vis specific individuals (likely regal and foreign) and other nonhuman forms just as Teotihuacan’s footprint in Mesoamerica was about to reach its maximum extent. Interpersonal interaction with Teotihuacan’s public during their residency in the city transformed corporeal animal forms into master guardians that inhabited the altepetl. Animal matter was an active participant in the processes of placemaking and sovereignty during elaborate ritualized performances at Teotihuacan.
Epilogue: A Thick Description of Burial 6
Authors: Sugiyama Nawa
Published: September 2024

This experimental chapter attempts to bring the narrative of the participant-observer to the forefront of our understanding of the past. It is a fight against the “othering” of the past wherein research conventions reduce the living voices of its subject to little more than tabulations. The chapter asserts that archaeologists can provide a “thick description” (sensu Geertz) of ancient ritual performances because these contexts explicitly materialize social values to substantiate them through controlled repetition, distribution, and representation, which are retrievable in the archaeological record. In creating the narrative from the perspective of Stone-Rabbit and his daughter Four-Petal-Flower, the chapter offers fuller truths in the very imperfections of the reconstructions, full of many a wink and grimaced “adjustments,” that serve to humanize the past.
Introduction
Authors: Katila Pia , Pierce Colfer Carol J , de Jong Wil , Galloway Glenn , Pacheco Pablo , Winkel Georg
Published: September 2024

The introductory chapter presents the aims of the book and situates forest restoration within the discourse on sustainable development. It presents the global and regional restoration goals, agreements, and commitments, and discusses different understandings and modalities of forest restoration. It discusses the linkages between forest restoration and ecosystem services and considers forest restoration and its potential in the context of deforestation and forest degradation. It emphasizes the crucial importance of the socioecological and political contexts where restoration is implemented in shaping restoration goals, policies, and approaches and the related outcomes. The chapter positions the various chapters of the book within the discussions on forest restoration including potential social and ecological benefits, synergies, and trade-offs.
Decolonial environmental justice in landscape restoration
Authors: Ramcilovic-Suominen Sabaheta , Chomba Susan , Larson Anne M , Sinclair Fergus
Published: September 2024

This chapter presents ways of enhancing justice in international landscape restoration. Departing from the three-dimensional environmental justice framework, we draw from decolonial and indigenous justice perspectives, placing particular attention on epistemic justice, relational ontology, self-determination, and self-governance. Current international landscape restoration is embedded in (neo)colonial and neoliberal protection efforts, which risk injustice, violence, and oppression; including denying, ignoring and/or erasing local epistemologies, politics, and histories; and weakening local people’s rights and access to territories and livelihoods. Major barriers to effective, just, and equitable landscape restoration include: (i) prioritizing global over local knowledge systems, logics, and politics; (ii) targeting small-scale over large-scale drivers of land degradation; (iii) offshoring burdens onto local peoples; and (iv) relying on state authority and institutional structures, thereby bypassing customary and indigenous authorities. We propose a set of questions and conditions for policymakers and scholars to reflect upon when designing and analyzing landscape restoration efforts.
Forest restoration for climate change mitigation and adaptation
Authors: Kübler Daniel , Günter Sven
Published: September 2024

This chapter explores forest restoration’s potential contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation. We summarize global mitigation estimates of forest restoration, highlighting how methodological differences lead to variations in outcomes. We review how geographical regions, forest restoration approaches, and wood uses impact climate change mitigation potential. We highlight risks that may limit this potential, focusing on natural, socioeconomic, and management-related factors. Subsequently, we explore climate change adaptation potential by describing how forest restoration can improve the adaptive capacity of people and forests. Finally, we discuss synergies and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation. We conclude that the feasibility of large-scale forest restoration is challenged by multiple critical issues, including the need to address underlying economic and social drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. Nevertheless, forest restoration is a worthwhile investment in sustainable land use, aiming for multiple benefits, including climate change mitigation and adaptation effects.
Introduction
Authors: Kishi Madoka
Published: September 2024

Taking up Foucault’s underattended insight that sexuality sutures the individual body and the population, the Introduction theorizes the sexuality of population. Setting out the major theoretical and historical throughlines of the project, it historicizes the Progressive Era consolidation of the US biopolitical state, at a moment when the term “race suicide” was popularized and the concept of suicide underwent reconfiguration. Charting how the anthropomorphizing trope of the social body—the rhetoric that undergirds race suicide—came to life under biopower’s regime, it elaborates how the US social body was discursively animated as a precarious life that needs protection from enemies: the external threat of immigrants and the internal threat of degeneration. Thus, this Introduction traces how race, sexuality, and the social body were amalgamated together to constitute the biopolitical mandate to live and reproduce, and how suicide was reimagined as a way to sidestep this coagulation’s bracing impact.
Sacrificial Ecstasy
Authors: Kishi Madoka
Published: September 2024

This chapter traces the prehistory of race suicide discourse in New England in the 1880s, for the region was both the historical center of American Anglo-Saxonism and the place where the drop in the white birthrate was first reported with alarm. The diminishing fertility of New England Anglo-Saxons was often associated with neurasthenia, a disease that designated the debilitation of nerves caused by overcivilization. Reading Henry James’s queer heroine Olive Chancellor—a dedicated Boston feminist who desires to sacrifice her life to the cause of women—under the sign of such a diagnosis, this chapter argues that The Bostonians theorizes how the suicidality of a neurasthenic subject forges a queer intimacy with the social body. While Chancellor’s desire for sacrificial death and its quasi-religious, metaphysical eros is ultimately not granted, it is to be fulfilled in the suicide of the protagonist of James’s next novel, which was published immediately after The Bostonians: The Princess Casamassima.
With John Ashbery at the Harvard Film Archive, Saturday, May 2, 2009
Authors: MacDonald Scott
Published: September 2024

John Ashbery, at Harvard to receive the university’s arts medal, talks about his passion for film, his admiration for Pierre Delpeut’s Lyrical Nitrate and Chuck Jones’s Duck Amuck, his Andy Warhol Screen Test, and his reaction to three films—Mutiny (1983), The Exquisite Hour (1989), Variations (1998)—whose filmmakers, Abigail Child, Phil Solomon, and Nathaniel Dorsky, in separate interviews with Scott MacDonald, had cited Ashbery’s poetry as a crucial influence. Though a cinephile, Ashbery was unaware of these independent filmmakers and surprised to see their work. He admired all three films and mentioned his appreciation for Pierre Delpeut’s Lyrical Nitrate (1991) and Bill Morrison’s Decasia (2002). Ashbery’s poem, “They Knew What They Wanted,” composed entirely of movie titles, is included.
Daniel Lindsay and TJ Martin, on LA92
Authors: MacDonald Scott
Published: September 2024

For LA92 (2017), Daniel Lindsay and TJ Martin scoured news archives and personal archives throughout the Los Angeles area to provide a complex, panoramic document of the widespread violent response to the exoneration of the police officers who were caught on video brutally beating Rodney King. Seeing what official news outlets did not show in 1992 demonstrates how fully commercial television news is committed to providing information without upsetting consumers. Lindsay and Martin have created an ongoing collaboration that allows them to produce engaging cinema in a wide variety of ways. Before they made LA92, they had made an Oscar-winning direct-cinema documentary about a white coach and a black high school football team working together in the Deep South (Undefeated, 2011), and they would go on to make Tina (2021), a biopic of Tina Turner during her later years as she looks back on her life.
Paul Cronin
Authors: MacDonald Scott
Published: September 2024

Paul Cronin is as likely to identify himself as a historian as a filmmaker, though he is both. His epic A Time to Stir—in a seven-and-a-half-hour version and a fifteen-and a half-hour version, both available via his website—documents the Columbia University rebellion of 1968, when students took over the campus to protest Columbia’s connections with the Vietnam War and the racial implications of the university’s decision to build a gym in a public park between the campus and Harlem. The combination of photo and cinema records of the events of that week and the memories of 700 veterans of the event interviewed for the project make A Time to Stir a fascinating addition to modern documentary and modern historical research. Cronin talks about the genesis of the project and its gradual evolution during more than a decade.
A Dictionary of Oil & Gas Industry Terms
Authors: Roberts Peter
Published: September 2024

Over 7,000 entries

Roberts’ dictionary is a comprehensive yet concise guide to the various legal, regulatory, technical, commercial, and financial abbreviations, acronyms, terms and phrases which define the oil and gas industry today. Written by a leading practitioner and containing over 7,000 definitions plus a series of technical and narrative appendices, this is an essential guide to interpreting the industry’s extensive and complex jargon.
Optimal Distinctiveness
Authors: Taeuscher Karl
Published: September 2024

Optimal distinctiveness research is a rapidly growing area of scholarship that integrates key theoretical insights from strategic management and institutional theory. Strategic management research highlights differentiation as a key driver of competitive advantage and superior performance, while institutional theory emphasizes conformity as a central driver of organizational legitimacy and resource acquisition. Optimal distinctiveness research synthesizes these two perspectives and explores the tension that arises from conflicting pressures for differentiation (distinctiveness) and conformity (similarity). This emerging body of research departs from traditional positioning research in strategic management—which primarily explored corporations’ strategic positions within mature industries—by attending to a variety of competitive settings (e.g., newly emerging market categories, online marketplaces), forms of differentiation (e.g., based on product features, narratives, or category affiliations), levels of analysis (e.g., business level, product level), and performance outcomes (e.g., customer demand, resource acquisition, audience evaluations). By advancing understanding about a broad array of phenomena, optimal distinctiveness research has profound implications for strategic management, entrepreneurship, and organization studies.

A central concern in this rapidly growing body of research is to understand how positions on the continuum between similarity and distinctiveness affect performance outcomes. Early optimal distinctiveness research showed that organizations often benefit from positioning themselves near the middle of this continuum, where the relationship between their distinctiveness and performance resembles an inverted U-shape. Over time, however, scholars spotlighted various contingencies that shape the distinctiveness–performance relationship, pointing to important boundary conditions under which organizations derive the most desirable (i.e., optimal) outcomes through low or high levels of distinctiveness. Extant research also shows that organizations can strategically alleviate the tension between differentiation and conformity by, for instance, buffering legitimacy in alternative ways or by differentiating on dimensions that do not impose any related conformity pressures. Scholarship further explores the sources of heterogeneity in organizations’ distinctiveness, including the conditions and strategic considerations that lead organizations to pursue distinctiveness. Toward this aim, extant research particularly emphasizes organizations’ strategic efforts to attain optimal distinctiveness through storytelling and other symbolic forms of differentiation and conformity. Collectively, these explorations help to understand why, when, and how organizations pursue distinctiveness and how distinctiveness shapes varied performance outcomes.
The Japanese Empire and Russia, 1868–1945
Authors: Wolff David
Published: September 2024

As Russia expanded eastward in the early and mid-19th century, it came into increasing contact with the Japanese Empire. In turn, after the modernizing Meiji revolution premised, in large part, on fears of Western countries, such as Russia, the Japanese began to expand westward, leading to further collisions. War was avoided for the first thirty six years, but the next forty years were bloody, with Russia and Japan fighting three times. Although the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 (called the “Japanese-Russian War” in Japanese) has been depicted in Japan as a victory and the apogee of empire, it also put the Island Empire on the road to future wars it could not ultimately win. The USSR was one of the victor nations taking the Japanese surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. Thus, Russia played an active role in both the glorious heights and shattering conclusion of the Japanese Empire. The clashes with Japan also influenced Russian history. Russia’s defeat in every land battle and the loss of two-thirds of its naval forces defied expectations and set off a sequence of events that, among other causes, fatally weakened the Russian Empire, both internally and externally. Revenge would come forty years later. Although Stalin failed to garner many of the fruits of victory he had hoped for, especially in regard to Japan, the very presence of vast Soviet armies in the Chinese northeast at the end of World War II put them in a position to midwife the Chinese communist revolution, mainly by handing over the captured Japanese weapons to Mao Zedong’s army. The meeting of Russia and Japan in the period from 1868 to 1945 gave birth to modern northeast Asia, a region whose rapid and recent rise to prosperity has been riddled with conflicts and controversies.
Nationalism and Decolonization in Benin
Authors: Seely Jennifer C.
Published: September 2024

Political authority in Benin has historically swung from the uneasy coexistence of multiple leaders representing ethno-regional groups to dominance by one leader in a quest for stability and unity. The country’s struggles to maintain democracy in the face of authoritarian pressures from the early 2010s exemplifies this trend. In precolonial times, disparate kingdoms and acephalous societies coexisted on the territory, with the Kingdom of Dahomey as the most centralized and well-documented political unit. The French effort to unify and stabilize the country under colonial rule from 1894 required military force but withstood the pressure for greater representation and indigenous control only to 1960. The political fault lines that emerged in the late-colonial period followed ethno-regional lines, with multiple powerful regional leaders vying for control at independence under a new, democratic constitution. The instability that resulted from multiple contenders for power made room for military intervention in the form of coups d’état from 1963 to 1972, after which time a military dictatorship was firmly installed under Mathieu Kérékou.

By the late 1980s, economic mismanagement by government and people’s yearning for freedom produced a dramatic democratic transition in Benin, kicking off a wave of similar transitions throughout sub-Saharan Africa in the early 1990s. A new democratic constitution institutionalized political participation and competition rather than dictatorial rule, and the country successfully navigated several rounds of elections and transfers of power. Ethnic fragmentation contributed to a proliferation of political parties, usually centered around one leader drawing support from a particular geographic area. From 2006, the presidency was held by candidates with business backgrounds, reflecting voters’ hopes for much needed economic development in one of the poorer countries in the world. President Patrice Talon (first elected 2016) has reimposed greater centralization and control, moving the country away from democratic rule and power sharing and closer to authoritarian rule.
Slavery and State-Building
Authors: Klein Martin A.
Published: September 2024

Before the middle of the 2nd millennium ce, most Africans lived in relatively small-scale societies. An important role in the development of more complex societies was played by using slaves. Even among the least complex societies, “big men” developed entourages of kin, clients, pawns, and slaves. Out of struggles with other “big men,” chiefdoms and early states evolved. States gradually became larger, more complex, and more centralized. The most complex states developed in the Sudanic belt that stretched across Africa just south of the Sahara. Islam justified enslavement, horses facilitated it, and slaves were a major item of trade. They were not only menial slaves doing agricultural and artisanal labor but also soldiers and administrators. With the development of the Atlantic slave trade, this process was replicated but on a much larger scale. The 17th century saw the emergence of a series of powerful slave-trading and slave-using states. The end of the transatlantic slave trade in the 19th century did not end the slaving cycle but, instead, diverted slaves to producing commodities for export. If anything, slaving increased as did the use of slaves, particularly in states led by or created by warlords. The armies that conquered Africa at the end of the century were also largely slave armies, and many former slaves took on subaltern roles in the colonial administration. Slave women in harems also played a role as the mothers of princes and sometimes as administrators within royal households.