bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On Meteors and Comets: Is the Crime of Ecocide Back to Stay?
Authors: Negri Stefania
Published: July 2022

Crimes against the environment affect fundamental values and collective interests shared by the international community as a whole. The ‘global’ nature of the protected interests and the erga omnes character of many international environmental obligations are the main arguments in favour of the international criminalisation of certain environmental harms. This paper offers a survey of the development of international law with regard to the legal definition and consequences of environmental crimes from the perspective of both the law of state responsibility and international criminal law, up to the latest definition of ecocide and the proposal for its inclusion in the Rome Statute as formulated by the Panel of Independent Experts convened by the Stop Ecocide Foundation. In so doing, the legal regime related to environmental crimes is also considered through the environmental ethics lens, so as to evidence the progressive evolution from an anthropocentric approach to the ecocentric view which characterises the new legal definition of the crime of ecocide.
The Mental Incapacity Defence in International Criminal Law: Ramifications from the Ongwen Trial Judgment
Authors: Chifflet Pascale , Freckelton Ian
Published: July 2022

The defence of mental incapacity raises unique challenges in the particular context of mass atrocity and international criminal law. Yet, it has remained largely unexplored in the jurisprudence of international courts and tribunals. The Trial Chamber judgment issued by the International Criminal Court in the case of Dominic Ongwen offered a unique opportunity to remedy this and clarify the legal contours of the defence. Unfortunately, the court engaged minimally with these issues. This article examines the court’s reasoning in the Ongwen case and the lessons that may be learnt from it about the operation of the defence, particularly in relation to the treatment of expert evidence. It is contended that while there were significant shortcomings in the claim put forward by Ongwen in the aftermath of the judgment, the prospects of advancing a successful defence of mental incapacity based on control-related disorders in the future appear limited.
‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’: Implied Obligations and the Responsibility to Protect
Authors: Kinchin Niamh
Published: July 2022

The General rules of interpretation in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (vclt) do not only apply to treaties; they also apply to the constitutions of International Organizations (io). A holistic approach to treaty interpretation that combines a textual application of the vclt with a teleological approach to the constitution’s “object and purpose” responds to the need to consider it as a living instrument. However, traditional treaty interpretation is less able to respond to an io’s need to behave as an organization with values and responsibilities that reflect contemporary expectations of accountability. Such challenges could be addressed through the adoption of an extended teleological approach, being the extension of the doctrine of implied powers to implied obligations. The application of implied obligations to the ‘responsibility to protect’ transforms it from a norm to binding legal duty and in doing so, addresses accountability gaps in international governance.
The Semantics of Sharpness and the Prohibition of the Pungent
Authors: Spiers Carmen S.
Published: July 2022

This study proposes a new understanding of the semantics behind Sanskrit śigru-, which Lubotsky (2002) suggested is a loanword from Scythian related to Old Persian *θigra(ka)- and Modern Persian sīr “garlic.” Although śigru- has been assumed to refer to Moringa oleifera Lam. “drumstick tree,” Meulenbeld (2009=2018) has shown that in Āyurvedic literature it is not exclusively used to denote moringa, but must have referred to various pungent, pro-pitta plants. Lubotsky proposed that what links śigru- (as moringa) to Iranian words for garlic is the idea of a sharp shape. However, given Meulenbeld’s conclusions, enhanced by the survey of śigru- in non-Āyurvedic literature undertaken here, the author proposes that the connection is sharp taste rather than shape. The pungent connection is supported by the fact that Dharma texts forbid eating śigru- along with garlic and onions, as well as by semantic developments of the Sanskrit root tij-. Finally, the survey allows for some cultural explanations of the traditional garlic-and-onion prohibition.
Semantics and Etymology in Yāska’s Nirukta
Authors: Visigalli Paolo
Published: July 2022

This paper provides a new interpretation of a type of etymological explanation (T) characteristic of Yāska’s Nirukta. The proposed interpretation sheds light on Yāska’s distinctive ideas on the relation between semantics and etymology. Exemplified by the occurrence meghaḥ … mehati iti sataḥ, T conveys the following information: the noun to be explained is a name (nāman-) that denotes a certain thing (sattva-) as characterized by a certain action. In the example, the noun meghaḥ is a name that denotes the thing cloud as emitting rain-water (mehati). T operates with two ideas intersecting semantics and etymology: (1) names denote things in relation to the latter’s association with a name-giving action; (2) one thing can receive various names in relation to various name-giving actions. While (1) underlies Yāska’s etymologies in general, (2) informs T as well as the structural organization of noun groups in the Nighaṇṭu ‘Thesaurus’, the word-list constituting the root-text commented upon in the Nirukta. Recognition that (2) underlies both T and the Nighaṇṭu noun groups is consistent with the observation that most nouns explained with T occur in the Nighaṇṭu.
A Note on Equiprobability Prior to 1500
Authors: Thakkar Mark
Published: July 2022

Rudolf Schuessler has argued that sixteenth-century thinkers developed a concept of equal probability that was virtually absent before 1500 and that may have contributed to the birth of mathematical probability shortly after 1650. This note uses additional textual evidence to argue that the concept of equal probability was in fact generally available to medieval thinkers. It is true that ascriptions of equal probability are comparatively rare in medieval texts, but this can be explained without positing a conceptual blind spot.
In the Spirit of Zarathustra: Intertextual Legitimation in Pahlavi Literature
Authors: Weinreich Matthias
Published: July 2022

The present study investigates the intertextual relationship between the Pahlavi “Story of Jōišt ī Friyān” and the biography of Zarathustra, as recorded in pre-modern Zoroastrian sources. The first part of the study contains the presentation and analysis of intertextual fragments within the Pahlavi tale, which can be discerned as referencing the Zoroastrian prophet’s life and deeds, forging an associative link between the central character of the story and the image of Zarathustra. The second part provides an attempt to explain why the author of the story might have considered such a link necessary and what could have inspired him to choose Zarathustra’s image and associate it with his protagonist.
On an Enigmatic Deity with a Dragon on a Chorasmian Silver Bowl from Dagestan
Authors: Compareti Matteo
Published: July 2022

At least five specimens constituting the small group of Chorasmian silver vessels present an image of the Mesopotamian goddess Nana who was very popular in pre-Islamic Central Asia. One silver bowl found in Dagestan at present kept in the State Hermitage Museum is embellished with the image of a deity sitting on a dragon whose identity is not clear. Scholars considered this deity to be a woman because of her clean-shaven face, long hair and garments. However, Kushan rulers had been representing on their coins one Zoroastrian god as a woman since the 2nd century A.D. He was Tir, the god of the planet Mercury who had connections to the Avestan rain god Tishtrya. Despite the problematic associations between Tir and Tishtrya, Central Asian peoples had superimposed this Zoroastrian god to Mesopotamian Nabu who was the patron of scribes and the original “husband” of Nana. Nabu’s symbolic animal was a dragon that is very similar to the one on the Chorasmian bowl from Dagestan. Most likely, Chorasmian artists kept reproducing on their metalwork iconographic elements that originated in Mesopotamia after adapting them to their own religious and cultural sphere.
The Jewish–Tat Relations and the Issue of Mountain Jews Identity (Part II)
Authors: Adamczewski Przemysław
Published: July 2022

This is the second part of the contribution published in Iran and the Caucasus, vol. 25(1) (2021): 29–47.
Pluralized Collectives in Young Avestan: A Morphosyntactic Explanation of the Replacement of the YAv. nom.-acc.pl.n. Endings and by -āiš, and -īš
Authors: Kloekhorst Alwin
Published: July 2022

This article studies Young Avestan forms in -āiš (formally instr.pl.m./n. of a-stems), (formally nom.-acc.pl.f. of ā-stems) and -īš (formally nom.pl.f. of ī-stems) that are used in contexts where neuter nom.-acc.pl. / collective forms in (a-stems) and (consonantstems) are expected. It is argued that these forms in -āiš, , and -īš are secondarily created pluralizations of original neuter collectives in reaction to the syntactic change according to which their original singular verbal concord is in Young Avestan times changed to plural verbal concord. The choice for forming these newly pluralized collectives with the endings -āiš, , and -īš lies in the fact that these are the plural variants of the singular endings (instr.sg.m./n. of a-stems), (nom.sg.f. of ā-stems) and (nom.sg.f. of ī-stems), respectively, which are formally identical to the collective neuter endings (a-stems) and (consonant-stems). The ‘collective plural’ forms in -āiš, , and -īš can thus be explained through a simple four-part analogy.
An Early Media Transition in the Middle East
Authors: Sauer Rebecca
Published: July 2022

More than 1,000 years prior to the ‘print revolution’, a massive media transformation took place in the Middle East, namely, the introduction of paper during the eighth century. Accompanied by several further technological changes, the new writing surface—purportedly brought to Central Asia by Chinese prisoners of war—led to an increasing availability of written sources, an ‘explosion of books’. In this paper, I examine the details of this early media transformation, survey how literary and historical sources discussed this development and give insight into the developments it entailed in just a few centuries. The main part of the paper deals with sources from the Mamluk period (1250–1517) that witnessed a thorough literarization of all parts of communal and personal life.
Meandering Through the Magazine
Authors: Armbrust Walter
Published: July 2022

In the context of the Middle East, conventionally, ‘new media’ have been viewed as digital media that have emerged over roughly the past two to three decades. The advent of any new medium has always disrupted the affordances of existing media—a fact widely recognized in historically inflected media studies. My paper explores the illustrated magazine in interwar Egypt. In this case the form of the printed artifact itself necessitated novel reading practices; this made it both distinctive in the field of print culture, and legible by means used to analyze audiovisual and digital media. I explore the illustrated magazine through a close reading of a single issue of al-Ithnayn, a popular variety magazine from the mid-1930s; I show how such concepts as flow, remediation and hypertextuality help us understand the cultural and sensory impact of such materials, and particularly their key position between audiocentric and ocularcentric reading cultures. The significance of al-Ithnayn cannot be reduced to a generic instantiation of what had by that time become a global medium. It also expressed social tensions of its time and facilitated readers’ own negotiations with a broad emergence of new media beyond the magazine itself.
‘Translating’ Orality and Sociability into Print
Authors: Winckler Barbara
Published: July 2022

The Beirut-based women’s magazine al-Mar’a al-Jadida (The new woman, 1921–1927), edited by Julia Tu‘ma Dimashqiyya, regularly published articles that reported on cultural events, summarizing and quoting from speeches and poems delivered during the meetings of Jami‘at al-Sayyidat (the Women’s League) or in other forums. In this paper I examine how these forms of orality and sociability were ‘translated’ into print, and for what purpose. While journals of the Nahda period (late nineteenth/early twentieth century) are usually considered primarily educational media and forums for controversial debates, I argue, based on an analysis of selected articles from al-Mar’a al-Jadida, that these texts strongly express the aim of the journal editor and the contributors to build a community of shared values. Inspired by research in media studies that speaks against both media determinism and notions of media purity, in this paper I look at the interplay between the journal and more ephemeral forms of communication. Drawing on recent trends in periodical research that project journals as more than mere vessels for texts and other content, I examine al-Mar’a al-Jadida as a form and a media actor in its own right.
Early Egyptian Radio
Authors: Fahmy Ziad
Published: July 2022

This article historically traces some of Egypt’s early private radio stations which operated from the late-1920s until May 1934 when they were all forcefully shut down by the Egyptian government. It sheds light on this important early period in Egyptian media history and highlights the role of many unacknowledged early radio pioneers. More importantly, the article analyzes the early forced transition to government-controlled radio and the impact this sudden shift must have had on the owners, producers and listeners of these stations as well as its broader implications on Egypt’s media landscape. This top-down transition from media-capitalism to what I call media-etatism started with radio in the 1930s and, later on under Gamal Abdel Nasser, expanded to print and other media, exemplifying state control of media in Egypt for at least an entire generation.
Relaunching the Arab Intellectual
Authors: Albers Yvonne
Published: July 2022

One year after the 1967 June War, also known as al-naksa, the Syrian poet Adunis announced the launching of a new cultural journal: Mawaqif. The article discusses how that launch in 1968 became the point of culmination in the poet’s strategy to emancipate himself from the poetry journal Shiʿr after resigning from its editorial board in 1964. A close examination of Adunis’s public interventions before and right after 1967 and Mawaqif’s subsequent first issue will show how crisis narratives and the practice of periodical editing serve cultural actors as a strategy of intellectual self-fashioning to gain a distinct position in the cultural field of their time. Mawaqif would accordingly emerge not as a cultural product of the ‘crisis’ that the June War has allegedly constituted but as one of the cultural producers of this moment as a crisis.
Public and Private Diaries
Authors: Pepe Teresa
Published: July 2022

This article analyzes a number of Egyptian blogs in relation to their print ancestors, in particular private notebooks written by young effendis in the 1920s and public fictional diaries serialized in the periodical press in the same period in Egypt. It compares the media transition taking place in Egypt in the early 2000s following the adoption of blogging and social media to the one occurring in the early decades of the twentieth century following the popularization of printed products. Using theories from media studies and rhetorical studies, it shows how the blog inherits some of the formal and stylistic features of private diaries as well as their anti-authoritarian attitude. Yet it also shows how compared to its ancestors, the blog favors an unprecedented exposure of personal, private issues in public, turning self-writing into a social, communicative activity. Similarly, autofiction and subversive styles of writing are techniques that bloggers borrow from the fictional print diaries in order to write about their private lives in public. However, digital tools, with their mode of circulation, temporality and increasing exposure to state and informal censorship, make it increasingly difficult for bloggers to keep a room of their own.
Arabic Prose Poetry
Authors: Fayek Nevine
Published: July 2022

This article attempts to outline the most significant linguistic and conceptual transformations brought about by the developing periodical press and the translation movement in Egypt toward the beginning of the twentieth century. Both these phenomena entailed the need for new writing practices, which in turn led to intense discussions about the form and status of the literary/poetic text. While poetry constitutes the core of this discussion, the most relevant conceptual transformation that shall be highlighted here is the unprecedented move to involve prose as an equal component or tool of expression into the debate on how to (re)define poetry.
Post-Soviet Believers in Migration
Authors: Penttilä Maija Tuuli
Published: July 2022

Understanding of space is central in migrant identity-building and integration to a host society. Identity also relates to time, which is effectuated by memory. This article shows how the interplay between religiosity and space may be central to believers’ identity narratives. Religiosity and memories of the past may affiliate migrants to a specific country. Through narrative analysis, I have shown five different ways Russian speakers from various denominations in Finland affiliate spatially—whether to the past country which does not exist anymore, country of origin, two home countries, host country or the global society. Each narrative has its own way of memorizing. The article shows multiplicity in Russian-speaking believers’ life courses and present-day identity-building in Finland. The article also demonstrates, in a migration situation, the effect on identity narratives of denominational background and recognition as sectarian or necessity of remediation.
Muslim Women’s Narratives of Veiling and Identity in Post-Soviet Contexts
Authors: Shisheliakina Alena
Published: July 2022

Based on ethnographic materials, the article discusses Muslim women’s narratives as an expression of the process of identity negotiation in the post-Soviet cultural context. Muslim women’s narratives based on Islamic, ethnic, gendered epistemologies are intertwined with each other and hybrid. Muslim-Tatar women’s identity as women, Muslims and Tatars is tied together, while simultaneously being fragmented and peripheral to male identity. Since the Russian state imbues veiling with political meaning, Muslim women identity is politicized, therefore veiling as a part of Muslim-Tatar women’s identity is negotiated not only inside of the Muslim-Tatar community, but outside due to external discourses.
The Quest for Survival, Cohesion and Voice for the Muslim Minority in Maniema, dr Congo
Authors: Leinweber Ashley E.
Published: July 2022

The history of the Congolese Muslim minority was one of marginalization. Islam arrived in the Maniema province of eastern Congo in the pre-colonial period with Swahili-Arab traders in search of ivory and slaves. Congolese Muslims experienced intense repression during Belgian colonial rule, resulting in detachment from politics and the state. In addition, deep internal divisions at local, provincial, and national levels riddled the community for decades. Surprisingly, in the post-war period the Muslim minority became increasingly active, as evidenced by a proliferation of Islamic associations. This article analyzes the Muslim minority in Maniema by focusing on their survival during historic marginalization from the state, their cohesion to overcome internal divisions, and their search for a voice to engage in social and political life. It argues that while the Congolese Muslim minority was successful at survival, the quest to form a cohesive community able to speak with one voice has remained mostly elusive.
The Ahmadis of Cape Town and the Spectre of Heresy: Polemics, Apostates and Boycotts
Authors: Mahomed Nadeem
Published: July 2022

The principal issue which this paper addresses is the identity and status of the minority Ahmadi community within the larger majoritarian Sunni Muslim community in Cape Town (itself a minority in the country), which was characterised by hostility, violence and exclusion perpetrated against the Ahmadi community. By examining archival material, local Muslim publications and interviews regarding events that transpired during the 1960s, I will argue that the tools of public avowal and socio-economic boycotts were wielded as weapons to buttress the authority of a Sunni clerical leadership as custodians of an orthodox Islamic heritage and a Sunni iteration of Islamic theology and Muslim life against what was considered to be a heretical manifestation in the form of Ahmadiyyat.
Between the Local and the Global: The Iranian Revolution and Sunni-Shia Relations in South Africa
Authors: Vahed Goolam
Published: July 2022

This article charts the contours of Sunni-Shia relations in South Africa, with a particular focus on the period since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which was received positively by many Muslims in a context of American hegemony globally and heightened anti-apartheid political activism locally. The growth of Saudi Arabian funded religious organisations within the Sunni majority community, and similar investment by Iran in emerging and existing Shia communities have fuelled relations between Sunni and Shia globally. This article considers the increasing tensions between Shias and mainstream Sunni Ulema in South Africa. The period has been witness to growing anti-Shia discourse, a physical attack against worshippers in a Shia mosque and a failed attempt at a truce. The growth in broadcast and social media and religious transnationalism have exacerbated historic fissures and antagonism, and these tensions seem destined to deepen and spread in the period ahead.
Triple Helix Twins: Operationalizing the Sustainability Agenda in the Northern Black Forest National Park in Germany
Authors: Gebhardt Christiane , Almeida Mariza , Etzkowitz Henry
Published: July 2022

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gives policy recommendations based on scientific research and agreed climate targets. We outline the concepts and requirements for implementing the sustainability goals. The Triple Helix Twin model is tested as method to analyze the governance of environmental policy formation and implementation. The model is applied to the controversial case of creating the large-scale natural area Northern Park Black Forest in Germany in the period of 2011 to 2014. The protected zone was set up employing criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN (Category II National Parks). The findings indicate that the creation of protected areas need the participation of stakeholders to address so-called wicked problems that arise between diverse social needs and science based expert knowledge. Findings contribute to the operationalization of the Triple Helix Twins (THT) model for analysing policy impact and transformational governance. We recommend to employ the Triple Helix Twins for future comparative research of the transition from high level concept to local realization.
Primal consonants and the evolution of consonant inventories
Authors: Bybee Joan , Easterday Shelece
Published: July 2022

Lindblom and Maddieson (1988) observe that “basic” consonants occur in all consonant inventories, but that larger inventories additionally include “elaborated” consonants, which depart from neutral phonation modes, places, and manners of articulation. The hypothesis that larger inventories arise from the smaller ones via sound change is tested here using a database of phonetic processes cataloged from a sample of 81 genealogically diverse languages. The database contains processes that create a large majority of the proposed articulatory elaborations, strongly supporting this hypothesis. We further examine the question of whether the basic consonants are also created by sound change. Our somewhat surprising finding is that certain basic consonants (/p t k b d g m n ŋ s l/) are very rarely created anew, raising questions about how they come to be common in consonant inventories and how they survive processes of sound change and lexical replacement over long periods of time.
Role of heterosis for photosynthetic traits and sink organs in seed yield enhancement in safflower
Authors: Anjani K. , Pasala Ratnakumar , Sudhakara Babu S.N.
Published: July 2022

Genetic basis of heterosis has been exploited for yield improvement in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) but little is known about physiological basis of heterosis for yield. The objective of this study was to quantify the physiological basis of heterosis for seed yield in safflower by examining 19 safflower hybrids and their parents for photosynthetic traits, and yield and its components. The results showed that heterosis for yield and its components was high and positive but was low and negative for photosynthetic traits in most of the hybrids studied. There were weak and non-significant relations between photosynthetic traits and yield and its components. Hybrids were more efficient in translocating photoassimilates to two major sink organs viz., number of seeds and number of capitula despite having low net photosynthesis than parents. Seed yield increase in safflower is more sink-than source-limited and was necessary through heterosis for sink organs. Heterosis breeding for larger sink size with parallel increase in effectiveness of sink organs in translocation of photo-assimilates is suggested for yield improvement in safflower.
The Development of a STEAM Program about Global Energy with a Focus on Democratic Citizenship
Authors: Park Young-Shin , Mun Kongju , Hwang Yohan , Green James
Published: July 2022

This study explored democratic citizenship (DC) for students by developing a DC framework (DCF) with eight components. We employed the DCF to examine what and how much DC was included in Korean science textbooks and lab books focused on the topic of energy for Grades K–12. We found different DC components were included at different grade levels and some components were not present at all. To help address the uneven distribution of these components, we developed four DC inclusive science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) books related to the topic of energy. These books were designed with the DCF to foster rich DC learning experiences in school science. We engaged 13 teachers as consultants in a validation process when developing the DC inclusive STEAM books. This study describes the development and implementation of the DCF for preparing supplemental science curriculum materials that can improve students’ appreciation for DC.
Illiterature as World Literature
Authors: Kebsi Jyhene
Published: July 2022

This paper looks at the field of world literature through the lens of the narratives of paperless migrants. I propose a paradigm of world literary texts that criticize the barriers preventing or restricting Southern border crossers’ ability to circulate freely in this so-called global village. Hakim Abderrezak coined the neologism “illiterature” in order to refer to the literature of “illegal” migration. This paper situates illiterature within the ongoing debate over the redefinition of world literature. It sheds light on contemporary theorizations of world literature in order to show that illiterature represents a transnational genre that incarnates a cross-national interaction exemplary of a world literary model that criticizes the hierarchy of mobility and the unequal access to movement.
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Diplomatic Recognition of Taiwan, 1950–2016
Authors: Rich Timothy S. , Dahmer Andi
Published: July 2022

What explains why some countries recognise Taiwan despite attempts by the People’s Republic of China to pressure some to switch recognition? We argue for moving beyond ‘dollar diplomacy’ claims to unpack additional economic influences that might help explain why some states favour Taiwan. Using cross-national evidence from all countries (1950–2016), we find multiple economic factors influencing recognition and conclude that Taiwan’s comparative success in certain regions cannot be explained by broad structural factors.
‘No One at School Can Speak Pangcah’: Family Language Policy in an Indigenous Home in Taiwan
Authors: Lakaw Sifo , Friedman P. Kerim
Published: July 2022

Olic is one of the only members of her generation to be raised speaking Pangcah (Amis) as her first language. Through an exploration of how one family is fighting to save this endangered Austronesian language, we analyse the challenges facing Indigenous language revitalisation in Taiwan. Particular attention is paid to the child’s transition from the home to formal—Mandarin-medium—schooling. In doing so, we draw on recent work that emphasises the agency of children in shaping family language policy (also referred to as ‘family language planning’). How do children’s experiences at school shape their—and other family members’—linguistic behaviour at home? After comparing Taiwan’s current family language policy to similar efforts elsewhere, we conclude by arguing that taking children’s agency seriously means that family language policy must be combined with changes in formal schooling as well—changes that are best implemented by the Indigenous communities themselves.
Toward the Platformization of African Film Distribution? Netflix in Nigeria
Authors: Jedlowski Alessandro
Published: July 2022

This essay provides an analysis of the impact of Netflix on the African screen media sector, by focusing on the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood). It follows the invitation to study Netflix in specific socio-historical and national contexts that several scholars have formulated over the past few years as a way to respond to the complexity of the emerging landscape of internet-distributed television. In order to achieve this objective, the essay focuses on the impact of Netflix’s involvement on the production and distribution of Nigerian content, offering also a few insights on the equally important topic of Netflix’s impact on African audiences. The overall aim is to historicize Netflix’s intervention, detailing the phases of its involvement in Nigeria, its specificities in relation to the intervention of previous local and international actors in the field of content production and distribution (on both streaming and digital television networks), and the controversies its arrival triggers among film professionals in the largest African screen media industry.
A new species of an unexplored diatom genus: Gomphosphenia minima sp. nov. (Cymbellales, Rhoicospheniaceae)
Authors: GONZÁLEZ-PAZ LORENA , ALMEIDA SALOMÉ F.P. , BLANCO SAÚL , DELGADO CRISTINA
Published: July 2022

Gomphosphenia minima sp. nov. is a new freshwater diatom described from central Portugal,  found in samples from a mountain stream. The species is described here based on light and scanning electron microscopy. This taxon is compared with other Gomphosphenia taxa such as G. fontinalis, G. lingulatiformis and G. tackei. Gomphosphenia minima sp. nov. is characterized by clavate to linear-lanceolate valves with rounded apices and a wide axial area not clearly separated from the central area. This taxon can be confused with G. fontinalis in terms of length and the shape of the central and axial area but they can be easily differentiated because the new species is narrower and the stria density is lower. The new species was found in low abundance in February 2012 and the stream had low electric conductivity levels, neutral pH values, low water temperature and low nutrient content.
Three New Carnivorous sponge species (Demospongiae: Cladorhizidae) from the Seamounts of the Central Indian Ridge
Authors: RENGAIYAN PERIASAMY , INGOLE BABAN
Published: July 2022

Deep-sea sponges are an imperative component of benthos. They accumulate the suspended organic matter by filtering large quantities of water and, with their intricate structures, provide the most suitable habitats for various associated organisms. We describe three new cadorhizid sponges from the Central Indian Ridge (CIR), Indian Ocean. The sponges are part of the benthic sledge collection conducted onboard the MGS Sagar in the CIR region. A detailed taxonomic description of two novel species, Asbestopluma (Asbestopluma) indiyansis sp. nov., and Asbestopluma (A.) bharatiyae sp. nov. are provided based on the morphological and molecular (mtCOI and 28S) markers. In addition, another new carnivorous species Chondrocladia sagari sp. nov. is described based on the morphological and mtCOI marker. The systematic and descriptions of new species are discussed based on the structural and phylogenetic analysis. Our study shows that the cladorhizid fauna of the seamounts from the CIR are unique and represent regionally endemic benthic habitats.
Anacroneuria (Plecoptera: Perlidae) from Central Brazil: new species, new geographic records, and taxonomic notes
Authors: MIGUEL MARINA , DE ALMEIDA LUCAS HENRIQUE , NOVAES MARCOS CARNEIRO , DA CONCEIÇÃO BISPO PITÁGORAS
Published: July 2022

In the present study, adult specimens of Anacroneuria collected in streams were studied in order to understand the diversity of the genus in Central Brazil. Herein, a new species (A. froehlichi n. sp.) is described, new geographic occurrences are recorded (A. amargosa Righi-Cavallaro & Froehlich, 2013; A. mineira Novaes & Bispo, 2014; A. minuta Klapálek, 1922; A. ofaye Froehlich, 2007; A. payagua Froehlich, 2007; A. singela Duarte & Lecci, 2016; and A. singularis Righi-Cavallaro & Lecci, 2010), and taxonomic comments are made. Additionally, photographs of the paratypes of A. dourada Jewett, 1960 and A. galba Jewett, 1960 are presented. A total of 16 species of Anacroneuria are now recorded in Central Brazil.
Notes on the genus Pseudovelia Hoberlandt, 1950 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Veliidae) with description of four new species from the East and Southeast Asian mainland
Authors: LI ZIHE , JIN ZEZHONG , BU WENJUN , YE ZHEN
Published: July 2022

Four species of the genus Pseudovelia Hoberlandt, 1950 from the East and Southeast Asian mainland are described as new: Pseudovelia curvisetae sp. nov. from Yunnan of China, P. shaanxiensis sp. nov. from Shaanxi of China, P. zhengi sp. nov. from Anhui of China and P. plauta sp. nov. from Malaysia. In addition, P. buccula Andersen, 1983 and P. takarai Miyamoto, 1964 are newly recorded from China. Photographs of the male and female dorsal habitus, male fore, middle, and hind legs, and male genitalic structures are provided, accompanied by line drawings of male genitalic structures and a distribution map.
A new species of the genus Misgurnus (Cypriniformes, Cobitidae) from Ryukyu Islands, Japan
Authors: NAKAJIMA JUN , HASHIGUCHI YASUYUKI
Published: July 2022

A new loach species, Misgurnus amamianus, is described based on 27 type specimens sampled from Ryukyu Islands, Japan. This new species can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characteristics. 1) In adult males, a lamina circularis at the base of the pectoral fin is poleaxe-shaped and rounded at the back. 2) The last ray of dorsal fin is not branched, and its length is less than half the length of the second-branched soft ray. 3) The projected length from the posterior edge of the anal-fin base to the caudal-fin base is longer than the length from the insertion point of the pelvic fin to the anterior edge of the anal-fin base. 4) The ridges on the caudal peduncle at the upper and lower edges are weakly developed. The validity of this new species is also supported by the phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial DNA control region.
A new species of Delma Gray 1831 (Squamata: Pygopodidae) from the Hunter Valley and Liverpool Plains of New South Wales
Authors: MAHONY STEPHEN V. , CUTAJAR TIMOTHY , ROWLEY JODI J.L.
Published: July 2022

The Striped Legless Lizard Delma impar Fischer 1882 occurs in grasslands of south-eastern Australia where it is sometimes sympatric with several congeners. Previous molecular analyses have revealed mitochondrial divergence between the northern and southern lineages of D. impar, but the status of a recently detected population assigned to the species in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales (NSW), 250 km north of other populations, remains unknown. Via morphological and molecular analyses across the known distribution of D. impar, we distinguish the population from the Hunter Valley, Liverpool Plains region as a unique taxon and describe this species as D. vescolineata sp. nov. The new species is divergent from D. impar in both nuclear and mitochondrial analysis, and differing facial scalation and colour patterning from the limited number of specimens available. The degree of mitochondrial and nuclear divergence between the previously identified northern and southern clades of D. impar is consistent with a single species. This is the first description of a Delma from south-eastern Australia since 1974, but the second new vertebrate taxon identified from the Hunter Valley region within a decade. Our research highlights our incomplete understanding of the biodiversity of the Hunter Valley region, despite its relative proximity to populous areas. The range of D. vescolineata sp. nov. is restricted and heavily overlaps with major habitat modification including mining and grazing, with no parks or reserves in this distribution protecting the species’ grassland habitat. Gathering more data to understand conservation status of this species should be a priority.
Description of a stunning new species of Phlegra Simon, 1876 from southern Spain and redescription of an enigmatic Phlegra species from northern Africa (Araneae: Salticidae)
Authors: AZARKINA GALINA N. , PÉREZ-GÓMEZ ÁLVARO , SÁNCHEZ-GARCÍA IÑIGO
Published: July 2022

A new species of jumping spider, Phlegra blaugrana sp. nov., is described (♂♀, Cádiz Province, Spain). Phlegra nitidiventris Lucas, 1846 is redescribed, and the female is described for the first time. Phlegra sapphirina Thorell, 1875 syn. nov. is synonymized with P. nitidiventris. A distribution map for P. blaugrana sp. nov. and P. nitidiventris is provided, and elements of the courtship behaviour of P. blaugrana sp. nov. are described.
Review of the Indian species of the genus Eurymeros Bhat (Braconidae: Alysiinae) with some nomenclatural changes
Authors: GUPTA ANKITA , VAN ACHTERBERG CORNELIS
Published: July 2022

The genus Eurymeros Bhat (Braconidae, Alysiinae) is reviewed from India and three species E. gibbosa Sharma 1983, E. mangifera Sharma 1983, and E. namkumensis Sharma & Naqvi 1993, are transferred to the genus Euscelinus Westwood 1882 (comb. nov.; Braconidae, Doryctinae) and synonymized with the type species (Euscelinus sarawacus Westwood 1882; syn. nov.). The type species and only known species E. tumespiraculum Bhat is redescribed.
A new species of the genus Curculio Linnaeus, 1758 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from Hungary and the Balkan Peninsula
Authors: SZÉNÁSI VALENTIN
Published: July 2022

The new species Curculio gyongyiae sp. nov. from Hungary, Croatia and Greece is described and illustrated. A key for identifying the Hungarian Curculio and a map of distribution of the new species in Hungary are also given.
Product-Harm Crises and Spillover Effects: A Case Study of the Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Scandal in eBay Used Car Auction Markets
Authors: Che Xiaogang , Katayama Hajime , Lee Peter
Published: July 2022

The Volkswagen emissions scandal began in 2015, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that diesel cars produced by Volkswagen from 2009 through 2015 were in violation of emissions standards. The authors analyze the impact of this announcement on transaction prices for Volkswagen cars on the U.S. eBay Motors. The main focus is on Volkswagen cars other than the 2009–2015 diesel models—namely, vehicles that did not violate agency standards, enabling an assessment of whether the negative shock received by the emissions standards violators spilled over to other Volkswagen models that were in compliance. The difference-in-differences results show that final bid prices declined after the announcement by 14% for nonviolating diesel cars and 9% for nonviolating gasoline cars. The analysis also provides little evidence of considerable changes in the numbers of participating bidders, bidding strategies, numbers of listings, and reserve-price strategies, suggesting that the drops in prices likely resulted from lowered willingness to pay from buyers.
Consumer Responses to COVID Policy Across the World: The Role of Community Resilience
Authors: Krasnikov Alexander V. , Shultz Clifford J. , Rebiazina Vera A.
Published: July 2022

The authors examine the role of community resilience in consumer mental, behavioral, and attitudinal responses to policy interventions implemented in response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Three adaptive capacities (economic development, communication and information, and transformative potential) are used to capture community resilience in various geographies. Using a difference-in-difference approach in a large sample of consumers from multiple countries that introduced such interventions in March and April 2020, the authors assess the moderating effect of these capacities on the strength of the impact of interventions on mental health, personal protective behavior, and the perception of such policies. The measure of COVID policy intervention reflects mandatory closure of workplaces, transportation, and schools. Significant findings include robust empirical evidence that adaptive capacities mitigate the negative impact of COVID policy intervention on mental health. Furthermore, the policy's impact on personal protective behaviors was more substantial in countries with higher levels of economic equality, communication spending, social engagement, and human development. Economic development and communication and information capacities strengthened the positive impact of the intervention on the perception of such policies. This research offers actionable insights on individual responses during COVID for managers, marketers, and policy makers.
Genome-wide identification, phylogenetic analysis, and expression profiles of trihelix transcription factor family genes in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) under abiotic stress conditions
Authors: Li Kuiyin , Fan Yue , Zhou Guangyi , Liu Xiaojuan , Chen Songshu , Chang Xiangcai , Wu Wenqiang , Duan Lili , Yao Maoxing , Wang Rui , Wang Zili , Yang Mingfang , Ding Yanqing , Ren Mingjian , Fan Yu , Zhang Liyi
Published: July 2022

Background

The trihelix family of transcription factors plays essential roles in the growth, development, and abiotic stress response of plants. Although several studies have been performed on the trihelix gene family in several dicots and monocots, this gene family is yet to be studied inChenopodium quinoa(quinoa).

Results

In this study, 47C. quinoatrihelix (CqTH) genes were in the quinoa genome. Phylogenetic analysis of the CqTH and trihelix genes fromArabidopsis thalianaandBeta vulgarisrevealed that the genes were clustered into five subfamilies: SIP1, GTγ, GT1, GT2, and SH4. Additionally, synteny analysis revealed that the CqTH genes were located on 17 chromosomes, with the exception of chromosomes 8 and 11, and 23 pairs of segmental duplication genes were detected. Furthermore, expression patterns of 10 CqTH genes in different plant tissues and at different developmental stages under abiotic stress and phytohormone treatment were examined. Among the 10 genes,CqTH02,CqTH25,CqTH18,CqTH19,CqTH25,CqTH31, andCqTH36, were highly expressed in unripe achenes 21 d after flowering and in mature achenes compared with other plant tissues. Notably, the 10 CqTH genes were upregulated in UV-treated leaves, whereasCqTH36was consistently upregulated in the leaves under all abiotic stress conditions.

Conclusions

The findings of this study suggest that gene duplication could be a major driver of trihelix gene evolution in quinoa. These findings could serve as a basis for future studies on the roles of CqTH transcription factors and present potential genetic markers for breeding stress-resistant and high-yielding quinoa varieties.
Evaluating the cardioprotective effect of metformin on myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury using dynamic 18F-FDG micro-PET/CT imaging
Authors: Su Hang , Lu Diyu , Shen Mingkui , Feng Li , Xu Chuangye
Published: July 2022

Background

The molecular mechanisms of protective effect of metformin (Met) on ischemic myocardium have not been fully understood. This study aims to evaluate the cardioprotective effect of metformin on myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury (MIRI) in rat models at different time points using dynamic 18F-FDG micro-PET/CT imaging.

Methods

The I/R injury model in SD rats was established by ligation of left anterior descending coronary artery near the pulmonary arch root for 30 min. SD rats (n = 12) were randomly divided into 2 groups: Control group (n = 6) without any intervention and Met group (n = 6) with oral administration of metformin (50 mg/kg) twice a day. Gated 18F-FDG (40Mbq) micro-PET/CT imaging was performed for 10 min at different time points (day 1st, day 7th, day 14th and day 30th after operation). Volumes of interest were drawn to identify different myocardium regions (ischemia center, peri-ischemia area and remote area). Standardized uptake values (SUVs) (SUVmean and SUVmax) were analyzed to evaluate the FDG uptake activity, and then the center/remote ratio was calculated. In addition, the left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV) and LV ejection fraction (LVEF) were obtained. On the 30th day, all rats were scarified and myocardial ischemia was analyzed by HE staining and confirmed by pathology.

Results

In the Control group, the center/remote ratio showed no obvious change trend at each time point after reperfusion, while the LV EDV increased gradually over time, and they were significantly negatively correlated (r = − 0.507, p < 0.05). In the Met group, the center/remote ratio gradually increased with time, there was no significant correlation between center/remote ratio and LV EDV (r = − 0.078, p > 0.05). On the 30th day, the center/remote ratio of the Met group was significantly higher than that of the Control group (0.81 ± 0.06 vs. 0.65 ± 0.09, p < 0.05), while LV EDV in Met group was significantly lower than in Control group (358.21 ± 22.62 vs. 457.53 ± 29.91, p < 0.05). There was no significant difference of LVEF between Met group and Control group at different time points after reperfusion (p < 0.05). HE staining showed that the myocardial infarction and fibrosis in ischemic center area of the Control group was more serious than that of the Met group.

Conclusions

Met could attenuate the severity of MIRI, delay and prevent the progress of LV remodeling. The cardioprotective progress could be dynamically assessed by 18F-FDG micro-PET/CT imaging.