bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bundling of unhealthy food products in Johannesburg, South Africa: an exploratory study
Authors: Weiner Renay , Naidoo Darshen , Mahomedy Sameera , Goldstein Susan
Published: November 2024

South Africa has high levels of obesity and overweight, which contribute to non-communicable diseases and are associated with poor diets high in ultra-processed foods. Bundling occurs when two or more products are packaged and sold together, often at a discount and is a marketing strategy for unhealthy foods. Given the paucity of data on bundling of unhealthy foods, this exploratory study sought to document how unhealthy foods are bundled together to be more attractive to consumers in Johannesburg, South Africa. Fifty food outlets were included and compared across two regions. In-store photos were taken of bundles and individual items, and data were captured on the costs of the bundle and of individual components. Descriptive analysis and the contents of the bundles based on the photographs and promotional material were conducted. Almost half of all outlets had more than five bundles and nearly a quarter had bundles targeting children. Most children’s meals were burgers, and all had fries as part of the bundle. The average savings per bundle when compared to the combined cost of individual items was R21,39 overall, or 18%. The study demonstrated that unhealthy food bundling is a common practice in food outlets in Johannesburg, often with cost advantages and promotional appeal. Policy options for promoting a favourable food environment include regulating portion sizes of bundles and offering healthy options as part of a bundle. Marketing food to children by bundling unhealthy food with toys is of particular concern and is prohibited in the recently gazetted Regulations Relating to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs.
How to write an effective journal peer review using a staged writing approach: a best-practice guide for early-career researchers
Authors: August Ella T , Brouwer Andrew F
Published: November 2024

Journal peer review is a gatekeeper in the scientific process, determining which papers are published in academic journals. It also supports authors in improving their papers before they go to press. Training for early-career researchers on how to conduct a high-quality peer review is scarce, however, and there are concerns about the quality of peer review in the health sciences. Standardized training and guidance may help reviewers to improve the quality of their feedback. In this paper, we approach peer review as a staged writing activity and apply writing process best practices to help early-career researchers and others learn to create a comprehensive and respectful peer-review report. The writing stages of reading, planning and composing are reflected in our three-step peer-review process. The first step involves reading the entire manuscript to get a sense of the paper as a whole. The second step is to comprehensive evaluate the paper. The third step, of writing the review, emphasizes a respectful tone, providing feedback that motivates revision as well as balance in pointing out strengths and making suggestions. Detailed checklists that are provided in the Supplementary material (available as Supplementary data at IJE online) aid in the paper evaluation process and examples demonstrate points about writing an effective review.
Genetically Diverse Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates Manipulate Inflammasome and Interleukin 1β Secretion Independently of Macrophage Metabolic Rewiring
Authors: Fernandes Ana Isabel , Pinto Alexandre Jorge , Silvério Diogo , Zedler Ulrike , Ferreira Carolina , Duarte Iola F , Silvestre Ricardo , Dorhoi Anca , Saraiva Margarida
Published: November 2024

The diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis impacts the outcome of tuberculosis. We previously showed that M. tuberculosis isolates obtained from patients with severe disease induced low inflammasome activation and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) production by infected macrophages. Here we questioned whether this differential modulation of macrophages by M. tuberculosis isolates depended on distinct metabolic reprogramming. We found that the macrophage metabolic landscape was similar regardless of the infecting M. tuberculosis isolate. Paralleling single–Toll-like receptor (TLR) activated macrophages, glycolysis inhibition during infection impaired IL-1β secretion. However, departing from TLR -based models, in infected macrophages, IL-1β secretion was independent of mitochondrial metabolic changes and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α). Additionally, we found an unappreciated impact of a host metabolic inhibitor on the pathogen, and show that inflammasome activation and IL-1β production by macrophages require metabolically active bacteria. Our study highlights the potential confounding effect of host metabolic inhibitors on the pathogen and uncoupling of M. tuberculosis-inflammasome modulation from the host metabolic reprogramming.
Outcomes after a virological failure to first-line second-generation INSTI-based therapy in a real-life setting
Authors: Papaioannu Borjesson Rebecka , Clemente Tommaso , Diotallevi Sara , Lolatto Riccardo , Forniti Arianna , Bottanelli Martina , Galli Laura , Gianotti Nicola , Muccini Camilla , Hasson Hamid , Castagna Antonella , Spagnuolo Vincenzo
Published: November 2024

Background

Virological failures of first-line second-generation (SG) INSTI-based regimens are rare, usually characterized by low viremia and absence of drug resistance mutations.

Objectives

To explore the efficacy of rescue regimens introduced after virological failure (VF) to a first-line SG-INSTI therapy.

Patients and methods

This was a retrospective study on people living with HIV (PWH) failing a first-line SG-INSTI regimen [DTG/3TC, BIC/FTC/TAF, DTG-based three-drug regimen (DTG-3DR)] between 24 March 2016 and 31 December 2021. Follow-up accrued from the second viral load (VL) ≥ 50 copies/mL under SG-INSTI regimen (baseline) until virological success (VS, achievement of at least one VL < 50 copies/mL after baseline) or last visit. Cumulative probabilities of VS were estimated by Kaplan–Meier curves and compared using a log-rank test.

Results

Overall, of 521 naïve PWH who started a first-line SG-INSTI regimen, 45 (8.6%) had VF after a median of 14.9 (IQR = 6.9–25.9) months: 33/395 (8.4%) individuals failed a DTG-3DR, 11/102 (10.8%) a BIC/FTC/TAF and 1/24 (4.2%) failed a DTG/3TC.

At baseline, 12/45 (27%) PWH changed antiretroviral therapy [median baseline VL 134 (IQR = 81–233) copies/mL], while 33 (73%) maintained their failing regimen [median baseline VL 75 (IQR = 60–145) copies/mL].

During a median follow-up of 5.13 (IQR = 3.8–7.1) months, 34 (75.6%) PWH achieved VS: 25/33 (75.8%) maintaining their failing regimen, 9/12 (75%) switched regimen; the estimated 6- and 12-months probabilities of VS were 59% and 84%, respectively.

There was no difference in VS curves between PWH who maintained their failing regimen and those who switched therapy.

Conclusions

Most individuals remained on their failing regimen, achieving spontaneous virological suppression in most cases. These data help to understand a real-life VF scenario in the context of the current SG-INSTI era.
Distributed, immutable, and transparent biomedical limited data set request management on multi-capacity network
Authors: Yu Yufei , Edelson Maxim , Pham Anh , Pekar Jonathan E , Johnson Brian , Post Kai , Kuo Tsung-Ting
Published: November 2024

Objective

Our study aimed to expedite data sharing requests of Limited Data Sets (LDS) through the development of a streamlined platform that allows distributed, immutable management of network activities, provides transparent and intuitive auditing of data access history, and systematically evaluated it on a multi-capacity network setting for meaningful efficiency metrics.

Materials and Methods

We developed a blockchain-based system with six types of smart contracts to automate the LDS sharing process among major stakeholders. Our workflow included metadata initialization, access-request processing, and audit-log querying. We evaluated our system using synthetic data on three machines with varying specifications to emulate real-world scenarios. The data employed included ∼1000 researcher requests and ∼360 000 log queries.

Results

On average, it took ∼2.5 s to register and respond to a researcher access request. The average runtime for an audit-log query with non-empty output was ∼3 ms. The runtime metrics at each institution showed general trends affiliated with their computational capacity.

Discussion

Our system can reduce the LDS sharing request time from potentially hours to seconds, while enhancing data access transparency in a multi-institutional setting. There were variations in performance across sites that could be attributed to differences in hardware specifications. The performance gains became marginal beyond certain hardware thresholds, pointing to the influence of external factors such as network speeds.

Conclusion

Our blockchain-based system can potentially accelerate clinical research by strengthening the data access process, expediting access and delivery of data links, increasing transparency with clear audit trails, and reinforcing trust in medical data management. Our smart contracts are available at: https://github.com/graceyufei/LDS-Request-Management.
Stability of spatial orbits around Earth–Moon triangular libration points
Authors: Liu Mu-Lin , Hou Xi-Yun , Li Bo-Sheng , Li Hao-Han
Published: November 2024

The stability of spatial orbits around the triangular libration points in the ephemeris model of the Earth–Moon system is studied. Five contributions are made: (1) practical stable spatial orbits in the ephemeris Earth–Moon system lasting thousands of years or even longer are first reported, and spatial stable regions are identified. (2) The mechanism that shapes the boundaries of the spatial stable regions is investigated, and is found to be related to resonances among the precession rates of the lunar orbit, the precession rates of the small body, the mean orbital motion of the Sun, and the libration frequency of the co-orbital motion. (3) Influence on the spatial stable regions from the solar radiation pressure is studied. It is found that the spatial stable region generally shrinks with increasing solar radiation pressure strength. Dust grains with sizes of millimetres in magnitude or smaller generally escape in hundreds of years while objects with larger sizes can stay for thousands of years or even longer; (4) difference between the bi-circular problem model and the ephemeris model in describing the spatial stable regions is presented. (5) The observation of possible objects in the spatial stable orbits is discussed. With the public’s growing interest in the cislunar space, the current study is a good attempt to enhance the understanding of the practical orbital dynamics in the cislunar space.
Three dimensional end-to-end simulation for kilonova emission from a black hole neutron star merger
Authors: Kawaguchi Kyohei , Domoto Nanae , Fujibayashi Sho , Hamidani Hamid , Hayashi Kota , Shibata Masaru , Tanaka Masaomi , Wanajo Shinya
Published: November 2024

We study long-term evolution of the matter ejected in a black hole neutron star (BH–NS) merger employing the results of a long-term numerical-relativity simulation and nucleosynthesis calculation, in which both dynamical and post-merger ejecta formation is consistently followed. In particular, we employ the results for the merger of a $1.35\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$ NS and a $5.4\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$ BH with the dimensionless spin of 0.75. We confirm the finding in the previous studies that thermal pressure induced by radioactive heating in the ejecta significantly modifies the morphology of the ejecta. We then compute the kilonova (KN) light curves employing the ejecta profile obtained by the long-term evolution. We find that our present BH–NS model results in a KN light curve that is fainter yet more enduring than that observed in AT2017gfo. This is due to the fact that the emission is primarily powered by the lanthanide-rich dynamical ejecta, in which a long photon diffusion time-scale is realized by the large mass and high opacity. While the peak brightness of the KN emission in both the optical and near-infrared bands is fainter than or comparable to those of binary NS models, the time-scale maintaining the peak brightness is much longer in the near-infrared band for the BH–NS KN model. Our result indicates that a BH–NS merger with massive ejecta can observationally be identified by the long lasting (>two weeks) near-infrared emission.
New insight into the orbital parameters of the gamma-ray binary HESS J0632 + 057
Authors: Matchett Natalie , van Soelen Brian
Published: November 2024

The gamma-ray binary HESS J0632 + 057 consists of a Be star and an undetected compact object in a $\sim$317 d orbit. The interpretation of the emission from this system is complicated by the lack of a clear orbital solution, as two different and incompatible orbital solutions were obtained by previous radial velocity studies of this source. In order to address this, we report on 24 new observations, covering $\sim$60 per cent of the orbit which we have undertaken with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). We obtained new radial velocity measurements by cross-correlating the narrower spectral features and fitting Voigt profiles to the wings of the Balmer emission lines. Additionally, we find an indication of orbital variability in the equivalent widths and V/R ratio of the Balmer lines. Using the combined data from this study, as well as archival data from the earlier radial velocity studies, we have derived updated orbital solutions. Using reported H $\alpha$ emission radial velocities – previously not considered for the orbital solution – along with the new SALT data, a solution is obtained where the brighter peak in the X-ray and gamma-ray light curves is closer to periastron. However, continuing sparse coverage in the data around the expected phases of periastron indicates that the orbital solution could be improved with further observation.
A statistical and multiwavelength photometric approach to investigate a young embedded open star cluster: NGC 6193
Authors: Sheikh A H , Deka Simanta , Medhi Biman J
Published: November 2024

We present a statistical and multiwavelength photometric study of the young open cluster NGC 6193. To determine cluster membership, we used an unsupervised ensemble-based machine-learning approach and identified 246 cluster members with a search radius of 30 arcmin using $Gaia$ DR3 astrometry data. From isochrone fitting using asteca, we found that NGC 6193 is a very young open cluster with an age of 4.22 Myr at a distance of 1.295 Kpc having metallicity, z$\sim$ 0.023 and an extinction of $A_v$$\sim$ 1.452. We analysed the mass function (MF) for NGC 6193 using the Monte Carlo method. The MF is found to be segmented at mass $\sim$0.69 M$_{\odot }$ and MF slope for the low-mass end, $\Gamma _\mathit{ B}$ = 2.09, and for the high-mass end $\Gamma _\mathit{ A}$ = −1.09. The young stellar objects (YSOs) have been identified using the $(J-H)\ \mathrm{ versus}\ (H-K)$ colour–colour diagram and the identified YSOs have masses 0.15 to 6.0 M$_{\odot }$ and ages $\le$3 Myr. We determined the extinction using the PNICER technique, which is found to be consistent with the dust structure obtained from the 22 $\mu \mathrm{m}$ dust continuum emissions map of WISE for the cluster region. We found that NGC 6193 is a dynamically young cluster with mass segregation, which may have resulted from either primordial star formation processes or early dynamical evolution. We also performed orbit analysis using galpy and the cluster is found to be within the solar circle. Finally, at the end, we discussed the star formation scenario in the cluster region.
Miscentring of optical galaxy clusters based on Sunyaev–Zeldovich counterparts
Authors: Ding Jupiter , Dalal Roohi , Sunayama Tomomi , Strauss Michael A , Oguri Masamune , Okabe Nobuhiro , Hilton Matt , Monteiro-Oliveira Rogério , Sifón Cristóbal , Staggs Suzanne T
Published: November 2024

The ‘miscentring effect’, i.e. the offset between a galaxy cluster’s optically defined centre and the centre of its gravitational potential, is a significant systematic effect on brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) studies and cluster lensing analyses. We perform a cross-match between the optical cluster catalogue from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey S19A Data Release and the Sunyaev–Zeldovich cluster catalogue from Data Release 5 of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). We obtain a sample of 186 clusters in common in the redshift range $0.1 \le z \le 1.4$ over an area of 469 deg$^2$. By modelling the distribution of centring offsets in this fiducial sample, we find a miscentred fraction (corresponding to clusters offset by more than 330 kpc) of ∼25 per cent, a value consistent with previous miscentring studies. We examine the image of each miscentred cluster in our sample and identify one of several reasons to explain the miscentring. Some clusters show significant miscentring for astrophysical reasons, i.e. ongoing cluster mergers. Others are miscentred due to non-astrophysical, systematic effects in the HSC data or the cluster-finding algorithm. After removing all clusters with clear, non-astrophysical causes of miscentring from the sample, we find a considerably smaller miscentred fraction, $\sim 10~\,\rm per\,cent$. We show that the gravitational lensing signal within 1 Mpc of miscentred clusters is considerably smaller than that of well-centred clusters, and we suggest that the ACT SZ centres are a better estimate of the true cluster potential centroid.
Particle fragmentation inside planet-induced spiral waves
Authors: Eriksson Linn E J , Yang Chao-Chin , Armitage Philip J
Published: November 2024

Growing planets interact with their surrounding protoplanetary disc, generating feedback effects that may promote or suppress nearby planet formation. We study how spiral waves launched by planets affect the motion and collisional evolution of particles in the disc. To this end, we perform local 2D hydrodynamical simulations that include a gap-opening planet and integrate particle trajectories within the gas field. Our results show that particle trajectories bend at the location of the spiral wave, and collisions occurring within the spiral exhibit significantly enhanced collisional velocities compared to elsewhere. To quantify this effect, we ran simulations with varying planetary masses and particle sizes. The resulting collisional velocities within the spiral far exceed the typical fragmentation threshold, even for collisions between particles of relatively similar sizes and for planetary masses below the pebble isolation mass. If collisions within the spiral are frequent, this effect could lead to progressively smaller particle sizes as the radial distance from the planet decreases, impacting processes such as gap filtering, pebble accretion, and planetesimal formation.
Prophylactic 2-week glecaprevir/pibrentasvir in hepatitis C positive-to-negative kidney transplantation
Authors: Dieter Rebecca A , Mattoo Aprajita , Hotchkis Perry , Jaffe Ian S , Weldon Elaina P , Berger Jonathan C , Ali Nicole M , Montgomery Robert A , Lonze Bonnie E
Published: November 2024

Background and hypothesis

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive-to-negative kidney transplants require direct-acting antiviral therapy, but the optimal timing and duration remain unclear. We hypothesized that a 14-day prophylactic course of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir 300/120 mg (GLE/PIB) would be safe and effective at treating donor-derived HCV viremia.

Methods

This was a prospective, single-center, single-arm, open-label pilot study. Twenty adult HCV-negative recipients of HCV nucleic acid amplification test positive deceased-donor kidneys (HCV positive-to-negative) received a 14-day course of GLE/PIB, with the first dose pretransplant. HCV RNA viral load (VL) was monitored on postoperative days (POD) 1, 3, 7, and 13. If VL was undetectable on POD 13, GLE/PIB was stopped, and if detectable, GLE/PIB was continued to complete an 8-week course. Surveillance monitoring continued after treatment to ensure sustained viral response (SVR). The primary outcome was efficacy of 14-day prophylactic GLE/PIB. Secondary outcomes included patient and allograft survival, the incidence, timing, and clearance of HCV viremia, and safety events.

Results

Seven out of 20 subjects (35%) never developed detectable HCV viremia. Only one subject had a detectable, but nonquantifiable, VL on POD 13 and completed an 8-week course. All subjects achieved SVR 12 weeks post-treatment with no relapses through 1-year follow-up. Mean time to undetectable HCV RNA VL was 10.5 (±4.7) days and mean peak VL was 371 (±715) copies/mL. Six-month and 1-year patient and allograft survival were 100% and 95%.

Conclusion

A 14-day course of prophylactic GLE/PIB is safe and effective for HCV positive-to-negative kidney transplants and may prevent HCV transmission or significantly reduce the VL for those with detectable transmission, allowing rapid clearance within 2 weeks.
The Role of Sex in the Effects of Smoking and Nicotine on Cardiovascular Function, Atherosclerosis, and Inflammation
Authors: Centner Ann Marie , Cullen Abigail E , Khalili Leila , Ukhanov Vladimir , Hill Stephanie , Deitado Riley , Hwang Hyun Seok , Azeez Tooyib , La Favor Justin D , Laitano Orlando , Parvatiyar Michelle S , Chelko Stephen P , Salazar Gloria
Published: November 2024

Introduction

Cigarette smoke (CS) invokes an inflammatory response associated with vascular dysfunction and atherosclerosis. The role of sex and nicotine in CS effects on cardiovascular function and atherosclerosis is unexplored.

Aims and Methods

Male and female C57Bl/6 WT (wild type) and ApoE-/- mice were exposed to CS and nicotine with access to chow and water ad libitum for 16 weeks to fill this gap. Heart rate and endothelial function were measured in the aorta of WT mice, while the lipid profile, cytokines, chemokines, and plaque area and composition were assessed in ApoE-/- mice.

Results

CS increased heart rate similarly in both sexes and induced a more substantial impairment in endothelial function in males and more plaque in females than nicotine. Necrotic core areas were similar for both treatments in both sexes, while females had higher collagen deposition across treatments. Both treatments elevated senescence-associated GLB1/-galactosidase (SA-GLB1) and interleukin 17A (IL17A) similarly in both sexes. CS upregulated cholesterol in both sexes, triglycerides, very low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand-5 (CXCL5/LIX) only in males, and LDL and IL1A only in females. Additionally, nicotine metabolism showed sex-specific responses to nicotine but not smoking.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that sex influences cardiovascular function and atherosclerosis following exposure to nicotine and CS.

Implications

The purpose of this study was to fill the existing literature gap through assessment of the differential sex effects of CS and nicotine on vascular function and atherosclerosis to identify sex-specific risk factors. We show sex-specific differences in endothelial function, plaque, inflammation, and extracellular matrix (ECM) regulators with exposure to CS and nicotine, which underscore the importance of assessing sex in tobacco and nicotine exposure studies. This study also shows the negative effect of oral nicotine administration as many oral dissolvable nicotine products, such as pouches and gum, are becoming increasingly popular among adolescents and young adults.
Victorian Literature and Translation
Authors: Drury Annmarie
Published: November 2024

Translating done in the Victorian era, as well as the later translation of Victorian literature out of English, has remarkable cultural, historical and theoretical significance. Until the early 2000s, scholarly thought about Victorian translation often focused on the debate in the 1850s between Matthew Arnold and Francis Newman (which took place in prefaces and lectures) about the best meter for translating Homer or on Edward FitzGerald’s widely read Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which FitzGerald published in 1859 and repeatedly revised. Since the first decade of the 21st century, however, Victorianist scholarship has benefited from generative new approaches to understanding translation in the era. While this scholarship addresses the Arnold–Newman debates and FitzGerald, it reaches beyond those subjects. It is characterized by dynamic interplay between theoretical understandings of translation and literary-historical scholarship on translation practices, including the circulation of translations. To gain insight into Victorian literature and translation, it helps to identify spheres of inquiry which, while intrinsically related, are also distinct. One can think about Victorian literature and translation by asking what translations into English were made in the era, by whom, and how, and what their effects were in Victorian Britain—cultural and linguistic consequences, that is, or effects upon translation practice. One can ask about the traveling of texts—how did literature move, and why? What Victorian literature was translated into other languages during the era or, on a longer timeline, after the nineteenth century? One can ask how Victorian translation practices and notions of translation contributed to later understandings of what translation may be. From a similarly historical perspective, one might ask how understandings of language, and how practices of language learning, shaped translation in the Victorian era and later. One can investigate contemporary theories of translation and experiment with how bringing those to the Victorian context illuminates dimensions of translation practice, or one can ask how dimensions of the 19th-century translation experience might contribute a new insight to contemporary theory. The link between Victorian translation and Victorian imperialism, inextricably involved in many of the preceding questions, also comprises a subject in its own right. Inquiring into the link between translating and the cultural politics of imperialism illuminates issues of power pertinent to translation more broadly, concerning such matters as the relation between more and less dominant languages and the publishing market for world literature.
Why Some Countries Have Problem-Solving Courts (with Waleed A. Jami, Kylie Kulak, and Monica K. Miller)
Authors: Jami Waleed A. , Kulak Kylie , Miller Monica K.
Published: November 2024

As problem-solving courts have grown in prevalence in the United States and across the globe, numerous factors and features of these countries increase the likelihood of those countries adopting them. Some factors that might increase the likelihood of a country adopting a problem-solving court include (1) necessity or practicality; (2) changes in social structure, such as changes in which institutions address social and personal issues; (3) advances in science (including social science) and medicine which include differences in attributions; (4) a catalyst that suddenly brings attention and change to society’s sentiment toward a social issue; and (5) changes in society’s sentiment toward a social issue without a catalyst. Interviews from citizens in these countries are included that touch upon these factors and might explain why the described countries have adopted problem-solving courts.
Agency, Activism, and Agenda-Setting
Authors: Clark Meredith D.
Published: November 2024

From its origins as part of organizer Alicia Garza’s “love letter to Black people” posted on Facebook, to its misrepresentation as a “terrorist movement,” #BlackLivesMatter has been described as many things by many people. Beyond the hashtag, the phrase is symbolic of Black agency in digital spaces as demonstrated through organizing, amplifying, educating, and collective grieving practices performed during the first and second waves of the Movement for Black Lives. But a focus on this movement alone erases a critical part of Black digital cultural history. This chapter relies on participant narratives from individuals outside of mainstream media coverage of Black movement leaders and spaces to discuss how Black Twitter conceived its role in the ongoing fight for racial justice.
Preparing to Be a Mariachi Singer
Authors: Ulloa Juanita
Published: November 2024

This chapter is a solid starting place for beginning singers after Chapter 1. The chapter identifies the human voice as the portable instrument every ranchera performer shares. It is potentially the most powerful vehicle of expression that unites a group. The chapter describes different kinds of vocal roles singers play and expectations for them in the mariachi world. It calls for readers to stop and think about where they fit in best at this time, as well as where they dream to be in the future. Colorful pictures of costumes from different regions in Mexico are featured, all considered appropriate for both dancers and singers, along with the traditional black traje de charro. Singers are expected to wear appropriate dress and dramatic stage make-up in the ranchera tradition. This chapter also delineates starting ideas for developing awareness on how singers use microphones. All commercial singers use microphones in both rehearsals and performances. Excellent singers plan out and choreograph their use of the microphone within each song and between songs as part of their presentation.
Problems for Propositions and Issues for the Semantics of Modals
Authors: Moltmann Friederike
Published: November 2024

This chapter gives a general description of the ontological and semantic views developed in the book against the background of standard views of propositional attitudes and modals. It motivates the ontology of modal and attitudinal objects intuitively, contrasting it with the familiar ontology of propositions and of events and states. It presents well-known problems for propositions as abstract objects as well as recent theories of cognitive propositions and shows how attitudinal objects avoid those problems given their mind-dependence and the fact that they play a different role in the semantics of attitude reports than as arguments of attitudinal relations. It points out convergences of the semantics of modal sentences based on modal objects with recent ‘localized’ approaches to modals. It critically discusses recent semantic analyses that take clausal complements to be predicates of the Davidsonian event argument of attitude verbs.
Object-based Truthmaker Semantics, Norms of Truth, and Direction of Fit
Authors: Moltmann Friederike
Published: November 2024

This chapter introduces truthmaker semantics as developed by Kit Fine (‘sentence-based truthmaker semantics’) and extends it to attitudinal and modal objects as ‘object-based truthmaker semantics’. It presents specific motivations for satisfiables having a truthmaker-based content, rather than a content based on possible worlds. It argues that satisfiables of possibility differ from satisfiables of necessity by not having violators and shows that possible-worlds semantics, unlike truthmaker semantics, is unable to provide a unified meaning of sentences as properties of satisfiables of both sorts. It gives an account of different types of satisfaction conditions as distinguished in Chapter 2, making use of the notion of directions of fit. Truth is treated as a non-action-guiding norm of objects with a word/mind-to-world direction of fit; objects with a world-to-word/mind direction of fit impose a norm on actions that are potential satisfiers. In an appendix, the chapter critically discusses the deflationist view of truth.
The Column of Trajan
Authors: Holliday Peter J.
Published: November 2024

Chapter 4 demonstrates the different narrative modes exploited by the Romans for historical commemorations by contrasting the allegorical Cancelleria Reliefs of Domitian to the documentary imagery of the helical frieze of the Column of Trajan in Rome. The Column was the crowning monument of the Forum of Trajan, designed by Apollodorus of Damascus to commemorate Trajan’s victories in the Dacian Wars. Its reliefs combine different perspectival systems to form a sequential narrative that is interpreted as a visual illustration of Trajan’s Commentarii. A further contrast between the Column and the Tropaeum Traiani at Adamclisi in modern Romania demonstrates how Roman makers often used classicizing imagery in the capital while deploying other styles to address provincial audiences.
The Benin Plaques
Authors: Holliday Peter J.
Published: November 2024

Chapter 8 examines the so-called Benin bronzes that commemorated the wars of the Edo kings of Benin during their period of imperial expansion. Although they provide evidence for African and European cultural exchanges, they also indicate indigenous African metallurgical practices. Rather than chronicling a rigid, linear construct of history, the plaques’ narrative strategy embraces polysemy that invites multiple readings, both individually and in groups based on their original installation in the Royal Palace at Benin City, a site of intricate political and cosmological significance. The removal of the plaques from Benin in the nineteenth century therefore illustrates how separation from their original context can obliterate a work’s meaning.
The Death of General Wolfe
Authors: Holliday Peter J.
Published: November 2024

This chapter examines the intersection of academic history painting and the use of historical subjects to promote ideological and imperial agendas. Benjamin West’s The Death of General Wolfe commemorates the British victory at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (Siege of Québec), which marked the turning point in the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War). West deployed the full arsenal of practices as set forth by academicians like Reynolds to fashion a continuous narrative that cast Wolfe as a secular saint; at the same time, West claimed to break with conventional practice by representing the scene in contemporary dress rather than classical garb. Like his fellow American, John Singleton Copley, West’s utilization of innovative realism enhanced the perceived authenticity of his images. Both artists also benefited from new patterns of private patronage no longer dependent on the state or church.
Traveling Wave Reduction, Elliptic Functions, and Connections to KdV
Authors: Carretero-González R. , Frantzeskakis D.J. , Kevrekidis P.G.
Published: November 2024

This chapter presents the derivation of traveling solutions to the KdV equation. By constraining the solutions of the KdV to have a permanent traveling form, one reduces the original PDE model to an ODE one. This reduction allows us to cast the KdV traveling solutions as orbits within an effective potential energy landscape under Newton’s second law of motion. The inherent nonlinearity of the KdV yields a cubic effective potential whose corresponding general solutions can be written in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions which are introduced in this chapter. These elliptic solutions contain, in one limit, sinusoidal (periodic) traveling waves and, in the opposite limit, localized (hyperbolic-type) traveling waves corresponding to the quintessential soliton solutions. In fact, these elliptic solutions interpolate between these two limits and explicitly describe solutions of any period in terms of the so-called cnoidal waves.
A Final Touch From KdV: Invariances and Self-Similar Solutions
Authors: Carretero-González R. , Frantzeskakis D.J. , Kevrekidis P.G.
Published: November 2024

In this chapter we begin by introducing some natural invariances satisfied by the solutions to the KdV equation. In particular, we will see how using simple scaling laws (on the waveform, space, and time) allow us to connect one solution to an entire family of solutions with rescaled sizes (height and width) and velocity. We also show how changing the background height where a KdV waveform is supported changes its traveling velocity. This, in turn, gives a hint of why waves in shallower channels travel slower! Maybe you have experienced this on the beach? Finally, we will make use of the connection between space and time to explore self-similar solutions. These self-similar solutions grow in height and/or width at particular rates that can be connected with the time evolution variable and thus they can be seen as steady states on appropriately transformed, “co-expanding”, space-time frames.
Actions, Symmetries, Conservation Laws, Noether’s Theorem, and All That
Authors: Carretero-González R. , Frantzeskakis D.J. , Kevrekidis P.G.
Published: November 2024

In this chapter we provide a general and powerful framework to study a large class of PDEs through their Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms. The presentation is based around the idea of the principle of least action which, through functional derivatives, enables one to cast suitable PDEs as extrema of the action. This in turn, allows us to state and use Noether’s theorem to relate invariances of the original PDE with its conserved quantities. We apply this formalism to the NLS equation to find its principal conserved quantities associated with physical symmetries and, importantly, to connect it with the linearized eigenvalue problem that describes the stability of its solutions. Finally, we will discuss extensions of this approach to other Hamiltonian PDEs such as the sG and KdV models.
Inverse Scattering Transform II – the NLS Equation*
Authors: Carretero-González R. , Frantzeskakis D.J. , Kevrekidis P.G.
Published: November 2024

In this chapter we extend the material on the Inverse Scattering Transform (IST) presented in Chap. 11. In particular, for pedagogical reasons, Chap. 11 follows the historical (earlier) treatment of the IST based on the scalar Gel’fand-Levitan-Marchenko (GLM) integral equation while, in this chapter, the IST for the NLS follows a matrix formulation. Furthermore, in addition to the matrix GLM equation that is used for the inverse problem, here we also cover the more modern and elegant approach to the inverse problem based on formulating it as a Riemann-Hilbert problem (RHP). As we will see, the poles for the ensuing RHP will be located at the discrete eigenvalues of the scattering problem which will allow for the construction of the corresponding eigenfunctions.
A Model Civil Procedure Code for England and Wales
Authors: Sorabji John
Published: November 2024

Civil procedure law is integral to our understanding of access to justice, dispute resolution, and ultimately the rule of law. However, the field is rapidly changing, shifting dispute resolution away from courts and judgments, towards other legal pathways such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and Ombudsman. Similarly, the increasing digitisation of society and looming potential of AI will profoundly influence future reforms. Civil justice is thus at a critical turning point. In response to these developments, John Sorabji proposes a new model civil procedure code for England and Wales. Building on the work of the ALI/UNIDROIT Principles of Transnational Civil Procedure and the ELI-UNIDROIT Model European Rules of Civil Procedure, he articulates a simplified, principle-based, seventeen-part approach that covers all major stages from issue to enforcement, with sections on costs and funding, provisional measures, access to evidence and privileges, case statements, hearings, and dispute management.
Governance of the Civil Dispute Resolution System
Authors: Sorabji John
Published: November 2024

Civil justice systems serve several purposes, each of which promotes the effective and efficient rule of law. They prevent disputes arising. They promote the consensual resolution of disputes. Ultimately, they determine disputes through court adjudication. Historically, these three purposes and the means through which they can be achieved have not been explicitly co-ordinated by the State. This Part sets out a model for such co-ordination. It proposes that the three purposes and the means to achieve them be governed by a single Civil Dispute Resolution Council, established by the State, and a number of subject specific sub-committees. Through the work of such a Council, each of the three purposes could be given effect through the effective integration of preventive, consensual, and adjudicative forms of dispute resolution into a single, holistic system.
Civil Court Administration
Authors: Sorabji John
Published: November 2024

The English and Welsh courts’ jurisdiction is currently bifurcated. This Part proposes the unification of the County Court and the High Court to create a single, civil court. It also proposes the remodelling of the High Court into vertical Divisions and specialisation within those Divisions. Its aim is to promote a more efficient and proportionate structure, and one that will more readily facilitate effective and uniform digitisation of procedure across all jurisdictions. Structural reform is complemented by administrative reform. This Part also proposes the replacement of the present partnership model of court administration with a judicial model. It draws on experience from Australia in this regard, and particularly proposes that court staff become employees of the court rather than civil servants, not least to give greater effect to judicial independence and impartiality.
Pre-Action Dispute Management
Authors: Sorabji John
Published: November 2024

Pre-Action Dispute Management moves beyond the development of the CPR’s Pre-Action Protocols. It incorporates into effective dispute management steps to prevent disputes arising, the means to resolve disputes consensually, and where disputes result in the commencement of proceedings, the means to manage them proportionately. Where prevention is concerned, its focus is twofold. It promotes prevention on a case-by-case basis. At a more generic level it makes provision for the identification of issues of law or fact that give rise to large numbers of disputes. Identification can then lead to law reform. Consensual dispute resolution is promoted by integrating and co-ordinating both public sector and private sector dispute resolution services into the overarching civil dispute resolution system. These steps are promoted by the use of digital procedures, not least the creation of dispute management accounts to be used by lawyers and parties to disputes.
Vowel harmony
Authors: Özçelik Öner
Published: November 2024

This chapter examines vowel harmony in Turkish, including both backness and rounding harmonies. I use a Feature Geometric framework in accounting for both types of (canonical) vowel harmony, as well as their less well-known counterpart, non-canonical vowel harmony, which is characterized by disharmonic vowel sequences. I explain these “exceptional” cases in the same way as canonical vowel harmony, while using prespecification. For example, non-canonical vowel harmony of the type initiated by certain stem-final consonants, such as the palatal lateral appearing in the context of back vowels, is, I argue, because these consonants have secondary articulators that are underlyingly specified, which then renders the consonant opaque with regard to vowel harmony, and spreads its own front features (through the V-Place made available via its secondary articulator) to the following vowels, resulting in the appearance of an exception to vowel harmony. In addition to treating canonical and non-canonical vowel harmony in a unified manner, the approach enables a view of the regressive (right-to-left) harmony observed via the alternations of the epenthetic vowel in certain loanwords as derived from the properties of the progressive (left-to-right) harmony. The two types of vowel harmony are thus argued to be one and the same.
Word stress
Authors: Özçelik Öner
Published: November 2024

This chapter analyzes word stress in Turkish, examining both regular (word-final) and exceptional (non-final) cases, with a focus on the well-known phenomena of pre-stressing and autostressed suffix driven exceptions, as well as some less-known facts, such as the behavior of a group of pre-pre-stressing suffixes and the native reduplicative prefix. All of these exceptional cases, along with regular cases, are accounted for via the same machinery and in a unified manner. In this analysis, the Turkish phonology cannot parse syllables into feet. That is, there is no algorithm for the Turkish grammar to assign foot structure; regular final “stress” is thus argued to be intonational prominence, and not “stress,” falling on the final syllables of prosodic words. On the other hand, certain morphemes—those that drive exceptional stress—are underlyingly footed, and are, thus, footed in the surface representation as well, because of faithfulness to the underlying information. The underlying foot edges are then turned into well-formed binary feet by the grammar/constraint ranking. Crucially, the information that is prespecified is not stress or a well-formed foot, but instead the edges of a foot, with no restrictions imposed on their shape underlyingly, thereby maximally satisfying the Richness of the Base.
Powering the ‘Developmental State’
Authors: Lavers Tom , Terrefe Biruk , Gebresenbet Fana
Published: November 2024

Limited progress with industrialization during the 2000s led the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) to launch the two five-year Growth and Transformation Plans that consolidated what the government described as its ‘developmental state’ strategy focused on maintaining rapid growth rates and finally achieving the structural transformation of the economy. This chapter examines this upsurge in ambition and, in doing so, highlights a central contradiction in the EPRDF’s ‘developmental state’ project. This is that, unlike the East Asian states on which the government modelled itself, Ethiopia struggled to build and empower the technical and bureaucratic expertise required to deliver on the political elite’s developmental ambitions. The result in the electricity sector was that political pressure for ever-more rapid progress combined with reliance on foreign contractors to bypass technical input, resulting in a series of increasingly risky and inefficient projects.
Designing the Blue Nile Dam
Authors: Lavers Tom
Published: November 2024

This chapter tackles the question of why the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) bears little resemblance to any previous proposal for a Blue Nile dam over the preceding century. While the GERD occupies one of the sites long identified for a Blue Nile dam, the dam is far larger than any other previously considered anywhere in the basin. This chapter argues that the answer lies in two main factors. First, the antagonistic nature of Nile hydropolitics has meant that dam building—from Egypt’s High Aswan Dam through to Ethiopia’s GERD—has been used to establish control over the river’s waters within national territory and to maximize national benefits while disregarding the interests of other riparians. Second, the GERD’s enormous installed capacity reflects the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front’s over-ambitious, politically driven design process that has shaped the design of most of its dams, albeit on a larger scale.
Ethiopia’s Renaissance, Dams, and State-Led Development in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Lavers Tom
Published: November 2024

This final chapter summarizes the book’s key arguments, highlighting, in particular, how the centralization of political power under the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front was essential to overcome the multi-scalar political barriers that had constrained dam building under past regimes and undermined the planning process by bypassing technical input into decision making. In doing so, the chapter emphasizes the utility of the multi-scalar approach to the analysis of the politics of dam building. Moreover, the chapter highlights the book’s contributions to the three literatures noted in Chapter 1. Ethiopia has been held up as a leading example of state-led development, one of the main protagonists in the twenty-first-century wave of dam building, and as a potential leader in the transition to renewable energy. The Ethiopian experience is certainly of great significance to each of these debates. However, analysis of Ethiopia’s ‘developmental state’ reveals notable failings alongside high-profile achievements.