bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Influence of Fines Content on the Mechanical Behavior of Methane Hydrate‐Bearing Sediments
Authors: Hyodo Masayuki , Wu Yang , Nakashima Koji , Kajiyama Shintaro , Nakata Yukio
Published: September 2017

Methane hydrate‐bearing sediments with different amounts of fines content and at three densities were artificially prepared under controlled temperature and pressure conditions. The void ratios of specimens after isotropic consolidation tend to decrease with a rise in fines content. The fines particles enter into the pore space between sand grains and densify the specimens. A series of triaxial compression tests were performed to systematically investigate the influences of fines content and density on the shear properties of hydrate‐free sediments and methane hydrate‐bearing sediments. The test results demonstrate that a rise in fines content within methane hydrate‐bearing sediments significantly enhances peak shear strength and promotes dilation behavior. These influences are particularly prominent for specimens at loose packing state. A decrease in void ratio increases the shear strength and stiffness of hydrate‐free sediments and methane hydrate‐bearing sediments containing fines content of 0% and 8.9%. It is noted that the formation of methane hydrate in samples with varying amounts of fines content increases the stress ratios at the critical state. The addition of fines particles into coarse‐grained sand grains alters the internal microstructure of sand matrix and the hydrate formation pattern in the pore space between sand grains and fines particles.
Seismicity Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing in Shales: A Bedding Plane Slip Model
Authors: Staněk František , Eisner Leo
Published: September 2017

Passive seismic monitoring of microseismic events induced in oil or gas reservoirs is known as microseismic monitoring. Microseismic monitoring is used to understand the process of hydraulic fracturing, which is a reservoir stimulation technique. We use a new geomechanical model with bedding plane slippage induced by hydraulic fractures within shale reservoirs to explain seismicity observed in a typical case study of hydraulic fracturing of a shale gas play in North America. Microseismic events propagating from the injection point are located at similar depths (within the uncertainty of their locations), and their source mechanisms are dominated by shear failure with both dip‐slip and strike‐slip senses of motion. The prevailing dip‐slip mechanisms have one nearly vertical nodal plane perpendicular to the minimum horizontal stress axis, while the other nodal plane is nearly horizontal. Such dip‐slip mechanisms can be explained by slippage along bedding planes activated by the aseismic opening of vertical hydraulic fractures. The model explains the observed prevailing orientation of the shear planes of the microseismic events, as well as the large difference between seismic and hydraulic energy.
Locating Microseism Sources Using Spurious Arrivals in Intercontinental Noise Correlations
Authors: Retailleau Lise , Boué Pierre , Stehly Laurent , Campillo Michel
Published: September 2017

The accuracy of Green's functions retrieved from seismic noise correlations in the microseism frequency band is limited by the uneven distribution of microseism sources at the surface of the Earth. As a result, correlation functions are often biased as compared to the expected Green's functions, and they can include spurious arrivals. These spurious arrivals are seismic arrivals that are visible on the correlation and do not belong to the theoretical impulse response. In this article, we propose to use Rayleigh wave spurious arrivals detected on correlation functions computed between European and United States seismic stations to locate microseism sources in the Atlantic Ocean. We perform a slant stack on a time distance gather of correlations obtained from an array of stations that comprises a regional deployment and a distant station. The arrival times and the apparent slowness of the spurious arrivals lead to the location of their source, which is obtained through a grid search procedure. We discuss improvements in the location through this methodology as compared to classical back projection of microseism energy. This method is interesting because it only requires an array and a distant station on each side of an ocean, conditions that can be met relatively easily.
Mapping of a Typhoon‐Driven Coastal Upwelling by Assimilating Coastal Acoustic Tomography Data
Authors: Chen Minmo , Kaneko Arata , Lin Ju , Zhang Chuanzheng
Published: September 2017

A typhoon‐driven upwelling event was observed with coastal acoustic tomography in Hiroshima Bay during September 2013. The tomography data were used to obtain state estimates from an ocean model, employing the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) for data assimilation. Hiroshima Bay was represented as a two‐layer system with a fresh, near‐surface layer overlaying a more saline, lower layer. Wind from the typhoon forced the surface layer southward, thus drawing the lower layer northward and causing upwelling. After the upwelling, these currents reversed for a period. During the upwelling, the total volume transports for the upper and lower layers were well balanced, showing continuity of the two layers. However, the total upper layer volume transported northward during the reverse‐flow period was significantly smaller than the total upper layer volume transported southward during the upwelling, and significantly larger than the total lower layer volume transported southward during the reverse‐flow period. The downstream reductions of transported volume indicated mixing fractions of 24%–30%, with water mixing at the interface of the upper and lower layers. Errors in state estimates were less than the changes in current and salinity associated with the upwelling.
Air‐Sea CO2 Exchange in the Ross Sea, Antarctica
Authors: DeJong Hans B. , Dunbar Robert B.
Published: September 2017

Although the Ross Sea is one of the most productive regions in Antarctica, it is not clear to what extent this region is an atmospheric CO2 sink. We calculate instantaneous CO2 flux rates with in situ pCO2 and wind speed data from 20 cruises in the Ross Sea. In addition, we estimate annual CO2 fluxes into the Ross Sea with nutrient budgets from a late summer cruise. We find that the Ross Sea is a lesser atmospheric CO2 sink (–7.5 ± 0.5 Tg C yr−1, −1.3 ± 0.1 mol C m−2 yr−1) than previously reported (–13 Tg C yr−1, −1.7 to −4.2 mol C m−2 yr−1). One exception is Terra Nova Bay (TNB) in the western Ross Sea, with CO2 flux rates (–4.8 ± 0.3 mol C m−2, January–March) that are 3–4 times greater than the Ross Sea mean. The majority of the CO2 flux into TNB occurs during the late summer with instantaneous CO2 flux rates up to −246 mmol C m−2 d−1. These extraordinary CO2 flux rates are caused by the unique coupling of strong katabatic winds and low surface pCO2 values. Although strong katabatic winds deepen the mixed layer and entrain CO2‐rich water from below, late season net community productivity maintains low surface water pCO2 levels. While TNB only covers ∼1% (3,600 km2) of the Ross Sea continental shelf, extraordinary air‐to‐sea CO2 fluxes during the late summer may be regular features in many of the major sea ice production polynyas (148,000 km2 combined), including Antarctic Bottom Water formation regions.
Internal Solitary Wave Reflection Near Dongsha Atoll, the South China Sea
Authors: Bai Xiaolin , Li Xiaofeng , Lamb Kevin G. , Hu Jianyu
Published: September 2017

Internal solitary wave (ISW) reflection is rarely observed in satellite images, even in the South China Sea (SCS), where the strongest and most energetic ISWs in the world have been observed. Compared to the large number of satellite images showing shoaling ISW in the SCS, fewer than 10 satellite images have been reported showing ISW reflection. In this study, we collect recent satellite images and implement a numerical model to analyze ISW reflection near Dongsha Atoll, in the SCS. Satellite observations show that the reflection appears to be associated with the large‐amplitude ISWs generated by strong tidal currents in Luzon Strait. Numerical simulations show that ISWs break when reaching the sloping bottom. Part of ISW energy is reflected by mode‐1 waves and their trailing mode‐2 waves. The mode‐1 waves have two types: long inertia‐gravity waves and breaking ISW‐induced short waves. They propagate quickly but induce weak vertical velocity and surface imprints. Mode‐2 waves induce strong vertical velocity, showing visible signature in satellites. Horizontal distribution of the energy indicates that a maximum energy of about 2% of the incident energy is contained in a single reflected wave. This could explain why the reflected waves are rarely observed, because reflected waves must be sufficiently large to be detected in satellite images. Although individual wave's energy is small, in total up to 20% of the incident wave is reflected by the groups of mode‐1 and mode‐2 waves. This suggests that ISW reflection has a significant impact on energy distribution over the continental slopes.
The Dynamics of Cuba Anticyclones (CubANs) and Interaction With the Loop Current/Florida Current System
Authors: Kourafalou Vassiliki , Androulidakis Yannis , Le Hénaff Matthieu , Kang HeeSook
Published: September 2017

Mesoscale anticyclonic eddies along the northern Cuban coast (CubANs) have been identified in the Straits of Florida, associated with the northward shift of the Florida Current (FC) and the anticyclonic curvature of the Loop Current (LC) at the western entrance of the Straits. The dynamics of CubAN eddies and their interaction with the LC/FC system are described for the first time using satellite, drifter and buoy data, and a high‐resolution model. It is shown that the evolution of CubANs to the south of the FC front complements the evolution of cyclonic eddies to the north of the FC, advancing previous studies on synergy between FC meandering and eddy activity. Two types of CubAN eddies are characterized: (a) a main anticyclonic cell (type “A”) within the core of the LC during retracted phase conditions, associated with the process of LC Eddy (LCE) shedding from an extended LC, and (b) an individual, distinct anticyclonic eddy that is released from the main LC core and is advected eastward, along the northern Cuban coast (type “B”). There are also mixed cases, when the process of LCE shedding has started, so a type “A” CubAN is being formed, in the presence of one or more eastward progressing type “B” eddies. CubAN evolution is associated with an increased mixed layer and weaker stratification of the upper ocean along the eddy's track. The cyclonic activity along the Cuban coast and wind‐induced upwelling events also contribute to the evolution and fate of the CubAN eddies.
The 2004 Sumatra tsunami in the Southeastern Pacific Ocean: New Global Insight from Observations and Modeling
Authors: Rabinovich A. B. , Titov V. V. , Moore C. W. , Eblé M. C.
Published: September 2017

The 2004 Sumatra tsunami was an unprecedented global disaster measured throughout the world oceans. The present study focused on a region of the southeastern Pacific Ocean where the “westward” circumferentially propagating tsunami branch converged with the “eastward” branch, based on data from fortuitously placed Chilean DART 32401 and tide gauges along the coast of South America. By comparison of the tsunami and background spectra, we suppressed the influence of topography and reconstructed coastal “spectral ratios” that were in close agreement with a ratio at DART 32401 and spectral ratios in other oceans. Findings indicate that even remote tsunami records carry spectral source signatures (“birth‐marks”). The 2004 tsunami waves were found to occupy the broad frequency band of 0.25–10 cph with the prominent ratio peak at period of 40 min related to the southern fast‐slip source domain. This rupture “hot‐spot” of ∼350 km was responsible for the global impact of the 2004 tsunami. Data from DART 32401 provided validation of model results: the simulated maximum tsunami wave height of 2.25 cm was a conservative approximation to the measured height of 2.05 cm; the computed tsunami travel time of 25 h 35 min to DART 32401, although 20 min earlier than the actual travel time, provided a favorable result in comparison with 24 h 25 min estimated from classical kinematic theory. The numerical simulations consistently reproduced the wave height changes observed along the coast of South America, including local amplification of tsunami waves at the northern stations of Arica (72 cm) and Callao (67 cm).
The Mass‐Dimensional Properties of Cirrus Clouds During TC4
Authors: Mascio Jeana , Xu Zhuocan , Mace Gerald G.
Published: September 2017

Remote sensing retrievals and ice microphysical parameterizations in global climate models typically use assumptions about the distribution of ice mass as a function of particle size using mass‐dimensional (m‐D) relationships. This study investigates the ice crystal m‐D properties of tropical anvil cirrus during the Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling Experiment (TC4) to better document the distribution of ice mass with size in this particular class of tropical ice clouds. Two optimal estimation algorithms (XIWC and MZ) are used to estimate the m‐D relationship for each particle size distribution (PSD) collected in situ. The XIWC algorithm minimizes the difference between measured ice water content (IWC) and PSD calculated IWC, while the MZ algorithm minimizes the difference between measured radar reflectivity factors and those calculated from the in situ PSDs. Results from these algorithms are compared to previous studies to establish consistency of the methodologies. The XIWC results show that both parameters in the m‐D relationship increase with temperature. Changes in m‐D with temperature have substantial implications for remote sensing retrievals. With the prefactor varying by a factor of 5 and the exponent varying by some 16% over a typical range of ice cloud temperatures, forward modeling errors in radar reflectivity could be typically in excess of 5 dB, further suggesting that retrievals of IWC and precipitation rates from radar measurements in ice clouds be in error by factors easily exceeding 3.
Subtropical Dust Storms and Downslope Wind Events
Authors: Pokharel Ashok Kumar , Kaplan Michael L. , Fiedler Stephanie
Published: September 2017

We performed detailed mesoscale observational analyses and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations to study the terrain‐induced downslope winds that generated dust‐emitting winds at the beginning of three strong subtropical dust storms in three distinctly different regions of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. We revisit the Harmattan dust storm of 2 March 2004, the Saudi dust storm of 9 March 2009, and the Bodélé Depression dust storm of 8 December 2011 and use high‐resolution WRF modeling to assess the dynamical processes during the onset of the storms in more depth. Our results highlight the generation of terrain‐induced downslope winds in response to the transition of the atmospheric flow from a subcritical to supercritical state in all three cases. These events precede the unbalanced adjustment processes in the lee of the mountain ranges that produced larger‐scale dust aerosol mobilization and transport. We see that only the higher‐resolution data sets can resolve the mesoscale processes, which are mainly responsible for creating strong low‐level terrain‐induced downslope winds leading to the initial dust storms.
Mutual Dependence Between Sedimentary Organic Carbon and Infaunal Macrobenthos Resolved by Mechanistic Modeling
Authors: Zhang Wenyan , Wirtz Kai
Published: September 2017

The mutual dependence between sedimentary total organic carbon (TOC) and infaunal macrobenthos is here quantified by a mechanistic model. The model describes (i) the vertical distribution of infaunal macrobenthic biomass resulting from a trade‐off between nutritional benefit (quantity and quality of TOC) and the costs of burial (respiration) and mortality, and (ii) the variable vertical distribution of TOC being in turn shaped by bioturbation of local macrobenthos. In contrast to conventional approaches, our model emphasizes variations of bioturbation both spatially and temporally depending on local food resources and macrobenthic biomass. Our implementation of the dynamic interaction between TOC and infaunal macrobenthos is able to capture a temporal benthic response to both depositional and erosional environments and provides improved estimates of the material exchange flux at the sediment‐water interface. Applications to literature data for the North Sea demonstrate the robustness and accuracy of the model and its potential as an analysis tool for the status of TOC and macrobenthos in marine sediments. Results indicate that the vertical distribution of infaunal biomass is shaped by both the quantity and the quality of OC, while the community structure is determined only by the quality of OC. Bioturbation intensity may differ by 1 order of magnitude over different seasons owing to variations in the OC input, resulting in a significant modulation on the distribution of OC. Our relatively simple implementation may further improve models of early diagenesis and marine food web dynamics by mechanistically connecting the vertical distribution of both TOC and macrobenthic biomass.
Sources, Sinks, and Subsidies: Terrestrial Carbon Storage in Mid‐latitude Fjords
Authors: Smeaton Craig , Austin William E. N.
Published: September 2017

Fjords are recognized as globally important sites for the burial and long‐term storage of carbon (C) within sediments. The proximity of fjords to the terrestrial environment in combination with their geomorphology and hydrography results in the fjordic sediments being subsidized with organic carbon (OC) from the terrestrial environment. It has been well documented that terrestrial OC (OCterr) is an important component of coastal sediments, yet our understanding of the quantity of OCterr stored in these sediments remains poorly constrained. Utilizing Bayesian isotopic sediment fingerprinting techniques to the surface sediments of Loch Sunart, we estimate that 42.0 ± 10.1% of the OC is terrestrial in origin. Through combining these outputs with sedimentary OC stock estimates, we have calculated that the surface sediments (0–15 cm) hold 0.1 megaton (Mt) OCterr and estimate that the postglacial sediment held within the fjord contains 3.96 Mt OCterr. When these totals are compared to the quantity of OC stored in the adjacent terrestrial environment, it is clear that the fjord's catchment stores a greater amount of OCterr in the form of vegetation and soil. Though when normalized for area the results suggest that the marine sediments are a more effective long‐term store of OCterr than the adjacent terrestrial environment. This striking result highlights the importance of the terrestrial environment as a source of OC to the coastal ocean and that the OCterr subsidy to the marine sediments is a significant mechanism for the long‐term storage of OC in coastal marine sediments.
Popular Culture Forms: Science Fiction
Authors: Milner Andrew
Published: September 2017

In science fiction, as in much myth, folktale, and fantasy, the entire narrative is dominated by what Darko Suvin calls the “novum,” that is, a fictional novelty or innovation not found in empirical reality.
Exocerebrum
Authors: Bartra Roger
Published: September 2017

Exocerebrum (
exocerebro
in Spanish) is a concept developed by Mexican anthropologist Roger Bartra to explain human consciousness. It is a symbolic system of cultural prostheses that substitutes the cerebral circuits that are incapable by themselves of completing functions that are characteristic of human mental behavior.
Food Waste
Authors: Reynolds Christian , Mavrakis Vicki
Published: September 2017

Food waste is more than just an unwarranted economic and environmental problem. Food waste provides information on societal values, norms, and beliefs through the classification of what is and what is not considered food waste. This entry discusses the evolution of the “hidden” practice of food waste, and how different conceptions and theories of food waste have emerged over the last 50 years.
Voluntary Simplicity Movement
Authors: Alexander Samuel
Published: September 2017

The voluntary simplicity movement can be understood broadly as a diverse social movement made up of people who are resisting high consumption lifestyles and who are seeking, in various ways, a lower consumption but higher quality of life alternative. Variously defended by its advocates on personal, social, humanitarian, ecological, and even spiritual grounds, voluntary simplicity is based on the assumption that human beings can live meaningful, free, happy, and infinitely diverse lives while consuming no more than a sustainable and equitable share of nature.
Cultural Dopes
Authors: Lynch Michael
Published: September 2017

The term “cultural dope” was first used by Harold Garfinkel, the founder of ethnomethodology (a research program for investigating the social and interactional production of actions in specific circumstances). The term “cultural dope” invites criticism of social scientific models that place specific actions in a dependent relationship to general cultural norms and institutional structures. According to such models, “actors” are unreflective rule followers who reproduce patterns of action without being aware of how they do so. However, the implied critique of deterministic cultural models does not imply a contrary model of the individual as a fully conscious, self‐reflexive rational agent, but instead suggests that specific actions and interactions are bound up in particular situations and interpersonal relations that do not simply follow from generalized rules, plans, ideologies, or other stable cultural conditions.
Cyberlibertarianism
Authors: Dahlberg Lincoln
Published: September 2017

Cyberlibertarianism is the name given to any discourse that sees the Internet and related digital media technology as paving the way to individual liberty, free from centralized bureaucratic systems. Many digital media commentators and practitioners who can be categorized as cyberlibertarian argue that liberty is realized through Internet communication escaping governments and enhancing free markets. However, there are also other forms of cyberlibertarianism that do not so readily embrace free markets, including an anarchist variety that sees the Internet as enabling freedom through bypassing not just governments but also capitalist systems. This entry discusses the meaning of the term “cyberlibertarianism” by sketching its various historical articulations.
B
achelard,
G
aston (1884–1962)
Authors: Chimisso Cristina
Published: September 2017

Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) was a French philosopher who wrote on science and the imagination. He is the main representative of the French tradition in the philosophy of science that has been named historical epistemology. Of particular importance for subsequent scholars have been his concepts of epistemological break, epistemological obstacle, and regional rationalism. His views of knowledge as rectified error, and of scientific object as sharply distinct from the natural object, have also been influential. The philosophers Michel Foucault and Louis Althusser and the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu have drawn significantly on his philosophy.
Clientelism
Authors: Casullo Maria Esperanza
Published: September 2017

Clientelism, or the exchange of goods and services for votes, is believed to be an endemic pathology of the new democracies of the developing world. As the democratic transition created a higher number of recent democracies, the academic production on the topic of clientelism has multiplied. However, there is a puzzling disparity between the central role that the clientelistic pathology supposedly plays in explaining the weak party institutionalization and the lack of programmatic competition in semiperipheral democracies and the relative paucity of hard data evidence about the true impact of clientelistic practices on electoral success. That goods are offered in return for votes is undeniable, but authors find somewhat contradictory evidence as to what the actual effectiveness of such offerings is. In recent years some scholars go as far as to argue that the concept of “clientelism” itself is deeply flawed, in that it presupposes that “poor people's politics” is inherently less civic‐minded and less valuable than the political activism of the higher classes; this obscures the many ways in which the poor engage in active protest and claim‐making.
Malaria
Authors: Austin Kelly , Mejia Maria Theresa
Published: September 2017

Malaria is a preventable and treatable parasitic disease that represents a leading cause of death and underdevelopment in many less developed nations located in tropical and subtropical regions. High levels of cross‐national variation in malaria rates across zones in which the anopheles mosquito is endemic, including eradication in more developed regions of the world, suggests the significance of large‐scale social, environmental, and economic factors in shaping vulnerabilities to this pandemic. Poverty, gender inequalities, and environmental degradation all contribute to current trends in the global distribution of malaria, thus making the patterns of this infectious disease an important sociological issue.
Liminal
Authors: Cody Kevina
Published: September 2017

Liminal
or
liminality
can best be understood as both a state and a process at the midpoint of a transition or rite of passage. Although it is primarily the work of Victor Turner that has explored the liminal stage between two identifiable states, the theorizations of Arnold Van Gennep in relation to rites of passage are also foundational. The theory of liminality as one of Turner's three identified cultural manifestations of communitas became a nexus around which his most prolific theorizations revolved. The liminal phase of a transition represents an instance of incompleteness when the “liminars” – the ritual subjects in this phase – slip through the classifications that traditionally locate states and positions in cultural space. Turner's later work shows an evolution toward a further conceptualization of the liminal – the liminoid – in the context of the kinds of practices pertinent to industrial societies.
Healthcare, Universal
Authors: Lanford Daniel , Quadagno Jill
Published: September 2017

Universal healthcare is broadly understood as the availability of basic health services to all people or citizens in a nation. Currently 75 nations have healthcare systems that can be classified as universal. Yet there is considerable variation across nations in how this goal is achieved. The United States stands alone as the only advanced nation lacking universal healthcare. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 was designed to reduce the number of uninsured through a mix of private incentives and public support. Although the ACA has reduced the number of people without health insurance, it is unlikely to fully achieve universal coverage. Around the world, countries may move toward or away from universal healthcare. Movements in either direction will affect access to healthcare, healthcare costs, and health outcomes.
Netnography
Authors: Kozinets Robert V.
Published: September 2017

Netnography is a specific approach to conducting ethnographic research that uses the archival and communications functions of contemporary Internet‐based technologies such as mobile phones, tablets, and laptop computers. Netnography seeks to reveal the essence of human beings in an increasingly technological age. Netnography begins with ethnography's participant‐observational, humanistic, and often socially critical stance and selectively adds specifically adapted practices that include the use of search engines, data analytics, representational methods, digital delivery, and specific ethical procedures. Netnographic procedures eschew traditional assumptions about the nature and solidity of communities and culture, situating the research in notions of networked social interaction. Netnography, whose representational aims bridge digital humanities, data sciences, and cultural research approaches, is currently being adopted across the social sciences.
B
ooth,
C
harles (1840–1916)
Authors: Davies Wayne K.D.
Published: September 2017

Charles Booth was a successful businessman who was concerned about the extent of poverty in late Victorian cities. In 1886 he set out to establish what he saw as the “facts” of poverty and the way people lived and worked in London. His 17 volumes on the topic remain a landmark study of urban life. Updated in 1902–1903, they revealed that over 30 percent lived in poverty. The volumes provided vivid descriptions of the conditions of life and work in different occupations as well as of the varied character of the areas of London. Although criticized for what some saw as excessive fact‐gathering, his work produced major advances in the interpretation of urban areas, especially through its systematic approach, its development of a social classification, its detailed maps of the degree of poverty and of social condition in each street on London, and its discussion of the social contribution of religious organizations. However, Booth's empirical emphasis meant that he was less interested in developing concepts or theories. The development of state pensions for the aged in 1909 owed much to his advocacy of this policy.
T
aishang
Authors: Hsiao Hsin‐Huang Michael
Published: September 2017

Taishang are a special social and economic product of Taiwan's unique international political situation. Taishang refers to Taiwanese businesses outside Taiwan and has become very popular since 2000, when their presence and activities in China and Southeast Asia have become socially noticeable, and even politically sensitive. The sociological uniqueness of Taishang lies in the fact that they have to practice their business on their own, without the Taiwanese state's official and diplomatic protection. Taiwan has no formal diplomatic relations in any countries in Southeast Asia, while the political relations between Taiwan and China remain tense and conflictual. In this rather strange and extraordinary political economic context, the ways Taishang manage their businesses and cope with their explicit and implicit political risks are thus of great interest and are worth investigating. Three important features of Taishang's business practice and managerial style in Southeast Asia are highlighted here; and the way Taishang have been forced to develop their unique “political connection” with government officials in China in order to enhance and defend their business destiny is also characterized.
Social Media
Authors: Slevin James
Published: September 2017

Communication is a central feature of all forms social life. The study of the relationship between modern societies and the development of modern communication media has become a key area of sociological interest. The phrase
social media
indicates an intensification of this development, relationship, and interest. Despite all the popular attention they receive, social media and the impact of their development and use remain poorly understood. A major challenge in defining social media is the argument that all media are social in that they are developed and used by people and enable various forms of social action and interaction. In order to understand social media as a new development in communication and highlight their key characteristics from a sociological perspective, we must first dwell on the separate terms
social
and
media
, then progress from there.
Famine
Authors: Khondker Habibul Haque
Published: September 2017

Famine, defined as excessive mortality due to extreme and protracted shortage of food, resulting from a mixture of political and economic factors, has been part of human history. Traditional thoughts of the causes of famine focused on acts of God or of nature. Later, the idea developed that famines were caused by population growth far exceeding growth in food production; however, famine still occurred in the twentieth century when there was a food surplus. The primary causes of famine in the twentieth and twenty‐first centuries can be attributed to poverty, social inequality, and failed governance.
Pentecostalism
Authors: Hunt Stephen
Published: September 2017

Initially described as the emergent “third force” in Christianity, alongside Roman Catholicism and traditional Protestantism, Pentecostalism is now frequently designated as the most significant and fastest‐growing expression of global Christianity. Characterized by an ecstatic and esoteric form of Christianity evidenced in the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and subsequent experiences of the “charismata” – exemplified by speaking in tongues – that are emblematic of belief in an imminent God, the movement has attracted an immense quantity of sociological analyses. With its beginnings traceable to the first decade of the twentieth century, the Pentecostal movement currently displays numerous streams, which complicate matters of definition and measurement. Sociological debates range over its true origins; relationship to modernity, secularity, and societal change; and the question as to whether it constitutes a unique form of sectarianism and fundamentalism. Similarly, much scrutiny has focused upon its appeal to specific social groups and whether its attraction has historically been related to various forms of deprivation. Additional sociological concerns include processes of routinization, which may lead to denominationalism, on the one hand, and further dynamics of revival on the other, alongside an analysis of the extent and nature of its diversity of expression at a global level.
Treadmill of Destruction
Authors: Hooks Gregory , Smith Chad L.
Published: September 2017

The treadmill of destruction framework calls attention to the environmental harm resulting from war and war‐making. Geopolitical competition and arms races push military organizations to voraciously consume nonrenewable resources and dump highly toxic waste products. War devastates the lived environment for millions of people and poisons large tracts of land. In the twenty‐first century, the absolute size of the military in affluent nations of the global north are shrinking and this may result in a “greening” of the military in these affluent nations. But the environmental risks of war have not disappeared: they are being shifted to the vulnerable peoples and places in the global south.
War and Development in the Twenty‐First Century
Authors: Hooks Gregory
Published: September 2017

Scholars and practitioners are placing emphasis on moving beyond defining development in narrowly economic terms. Instead, development emphasizes human capabilities and broad participation in decision‐making. This critical understanding of development calls into question assertions that war and preparation of war contributed to development in Europe (ca. 1500–2000) or in East Asia (post‐World War II). Only with a transition to democracy and turn away from militarism did these regimes begin to pursue developmental policies. In the twenty‐first century, wars are concentrated in the nations of the global south. Wars have been characterized as “development in reverse” – they destroy the institutions needed for development and reverse fragile gains in food security, child and maternal health, and environmental sustainability. For practitioners and scholars of development, the lessons are clear. Development is only possible when peace is firmly established. Development cannot be understood or promoted without a full consideration of war and social conflict.
C
ouch,
C
arl (1925–1994)
Authors: Chen Shen‐Ling
Published: September 2017

Carl Couch was the founder of the New Iowa School of Symbolic Interaction. His key areas of scholarship include symbolic interactionism, New Iowa School of Laboratory Research, and information technologies.
Slow Food
Authors: Hsu Eric L. , Everuss Louis
Published: September 2017

The slow food movement developed out of a protest at the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Rome. Since then, the movement has spread to many other parts of the world. The objectives and practices of the slow food movement have led scholars working in sociology to connect it to several broader contemporary social movements. This entry details these social movements and describes how the slow food movement is linked to the antiglobalization movement and the growing discontent with high‐speed and socially isolated lifestyles. It also covers criticisms of the slow food movement, which question its efficacy, inclusivity, and scope.
Media Refusal
Authors: Portwood‐Stacer Laura
Published: September 2017

Media refusal is the voluntary nonuse of a media technology or nonconsumption of media content, entailing an encompassing, resistant attitude toward the media in question. Historically, all forms of mass communication have had their detractors; practices of media refusal are present wherever media is. Research often focuses on individual motivations for refusal; popular discourse often discusses nonuse as a remedy for pathological patterns of use of new media (e.g., committing “Facebook suicide” in response to a perceived Facebook addiction).
Cool Hunting
Authors: Esposti Piergiorgio Degli , Mascio Antonella
Published: September 2017

The term “cool hunter” was first used in an article by Malcolm Gladwell forThe New Yorker(1997). Cool hunting activity can be defined as the research of cutting‐edge trends from observation and prediction of mundane and other consumption behaviors in specific groups of people. The cool hunter researcher first came to light in the 1990s breaking the traditional patterns of market research through the careful observation of the world of consumption, analyzing everyday life in multiple contexts and by using ethnographic, anthropological, and nonstandard sociological observation techniques.
Popular Culture Icons: Grateful Dead and Deadheads
Authors: Adams Rebecca G.
Published: September 2017

The Grateful Dead is usually described as a psychedelic rock band, but its improvisational music cannot be neatly categorized as rock or, for that matter, as folk, blues, jazz, or country, though each of these types influenced it, as did classical and other genres as well.
G
arfinkel,
H
arold (1917–2011)
Authors: Heritage John
Published: September 2017

Harold Garfinkel was a sociological theorist and founder of the sociological subfield of ethnomethodology. A student of Talcott Parsons after World War II, he developed an approach to social action theory that began from Weber's notion of
verstehen
. However, rather than focusing on
verstehen
as an element of sociological method, he examined it primarily as a characteristic of everyday understanding within the social world. Much of his career was occupied with analyzing the properties of the knowledge and reasoning practices that are central to
verstehende
processes in the construction of mutual understanding and social action in everyday social life. His ideas have diffused widely in sociology, and stimulated the development of several subfields.
Popular Culture Icons: The Simpsons
Authors: Ritzer Jeremy
Published: September 2017

The Simpsons
, an American animated television show, has transcended the position of a mere popular cultural artifact to the status of a bona fide sociological phenomenon. Instead of just entertaining the masses, the show devotes a significant amount of time to addressing social issues.
Absenteeism
Authors: Johns Gary
Published: September 2017

Absenteeism is failing to report for scheduled work. As such, it is the violation of a social obligation to be in a particular place at a particular time (Harrison and Martocchio, 1998). Traditionally, absenteeism was viewed as an indicator of poor individual performance and a breach of an implicit contract between employee and employer. Thus, it was seen as a management problem and framed in economic or quasi‐economic terms. Indeed, economists most frequently view absenteeism in labor supply terms. More recently, absenteeism has increasingly been viewed as an indicator of psychological, medical, or social adjustment to work.
Accommodation
Authors: Dennis Rutledge M. , Dennis Kimya N.
Published: September 2017

The act of accommodation entails a process more similar to an art rather than a science. With respect to individual to individual and group to group relations, those involved must constantly weigh situations, interactions, and relations, historical and contemporary, and try, as best they can, to have their actions and attitudes fit and reflect specific ongoing events. The term accommodation has been used to describe intergroup relations between dominant and nondominant groups, and between the powerful and the powerless. Indeed, the act of accommodation may simply reflect times when groups bide their time until they are re able to fight numerically and militarily stronger groups at another time and place. Thus accommodation may reflect a momentary “giving in.” Accommodation internationally may represent appeasement when, in the case of Neville Chamberlain's stance towards Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and imperial Japan, the act of accommodating to them was seen by their leaders as a sign of weakness, thus precipitating the plunge into World WarII.
Affect Control Theory
Authors: Cannon Bryan C. , Robinson Dawn T.
Published: September 2017

Affect control theory offers a rigorous and generative model of how individuals interpret and respond to social events through cultural lenses. Developed by David R. Heise, this theory is stated as a set of mathematical equations and enables researchers to use computer simulations to explore the predicted behaviors, emotions, and identity impressions of individuals interacting within and between cultures. These equations model affective meanings within a control system, capturing the way that individuals create and conserve their working understandings of social situations by managing affect. These equations are empirically grounded, and require specification from data collected within the cultures represented by the models.
Affirmative Action (Race and Ethnic Quotas)
Authors: Stone John
Published: September 2017

Affirmative action is a term applied to policies designed to redress inequalities created by historical legacies of racial, ethnic, and other types of group discrimination and disadvantage. Such policies have also been called affirmative discrimination, usually by those opposed to such measures, or positive discrimination, by proponents of these strategies. Like most social action aimed at redistributing resources and opportunities between groups, affirmative action is generally a controversial set of procedures and can lead to violent protests and opposition. The scope of affirmative action can be applied to a variety of different social institutions, but access to (higher) education, employment opportunities, and political quotas are the major arenas where affirmative action has been used. Differential group access to educational or employment positions is nothing new as powerful groups in most societies have tended to monopolize life chances, even when the society claims to be based on egalitarian principles. What makes affirmative action so prone to conflict is that it represents an attempt to mitigate or reverse such inequalities for the sake of disadvantaged and generally less powerful groups.
Aging and Social Support
Authors: Dykstra Pearl
Published: September 2017

Social support is a powerful predictor of living a healthy and long life. Large, well‐controlled prospective studies show that social support has an impact on older adults’ health independently of potentially confounded factors such as socioeconomic status, health‐risk behaviors, use of health services, and personality (Uchino 2004). This entry discusses social support and then considers how it is related to aging.
Aging and Work Performance
Authors: Hardy Melissa
Published: September 2017

In the US, work performance, narrowly defined, is measured by productivity; more broadly conceived, it denotes how well individual workers master requisite skills, complete tasks, execute instructions, interact with colleagues, and contribute to the success of the enterprise. Perhaps as a holdover from the earlier part of the twentieth century, older workers often are assumed to be less productive than their younger counterparts. When worker productivity was a function of the speed of repetitive tasks in physically demanding jobs, and the “innovations” of the shorter work week led to a faster pace on the production line, the age‐related declines in strength and endurance likely would have created age‐related reductions in productivity. In part, these changes involved a growing role of innovative technology in the workplace; however, it was not the technological change, per se, that made work more difficult for older workers. It was the speed at which the machines were operated.
Aging and Work Performance
Authors: Hardy Melissa , Reyes Adriana
Published: September 2017

Work performance refers as much to the “doing” of the job as to the “result.” Even so, as the workforces of many industrialized countries grow older, concerns about the relationship between age, work performance, and productivity have become more prominent. Many factors fuel these concerns, including persistent negative stereotypes of older workers (Posthuma and Campion, 2009), a paucity of studies with data and designs capable of producing convincing evidence, and fundamental methodological differences in how to best measure work performance (Hardy, 2006). Narrowly defined, work performance is equated with individual productivity; more broadly conceived, it denotes how well workers master the requisite skills, complete tasks, execute instructions, interact with colleagues, and contribute to the success of the enterprise (Skirbekk, 2008). Work performance relies on a combination of “soft” (reliability, accuracy, commitment, sociability) and “hard” (technological expertise, mental and physical capacity, flexibility) skills and has an important collective dimension, which complicates the process of making individual‐level assessments. Employers recently have been adopting competency‐based work performance reviews designed to capture the quantity and quality of the work performed; however, negative stereotypes can bias any assessment (Finkelstein, Burke, and Raju, 1995).
AIDS, Sociology of
Authors: Kippax Susan
Published: September 2017

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is caused by a retrovirus identified in 1984: the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Thirty years later, it is estimated that around 36 million people are living with HIV, with 95 percent living in low‐ and middle‐income countries (UNAIDS, 2013). There is at present no cure for AIDS and no effective prophylactic vaccine for HIV, and the number of people living with HIV continues to grow. In 1996 a successful treatment was developed, anti‐retro viral therapy (ART), which blocks HIV from entering the body's immune cells to effectively slow the progression from HIV to AIDS to death. As a result the number of AIDS deaths is declining with 1.6 million AIDS deaths in 2012, down from 2.3 million in 2005. Although ART lowers the viral load, it does not eradicate the virus in those infected, and the number of people living with HIV worldwide (HIV prevalence) is increasing. Furthermore, for every person who initiates treatment, between three and four more persons become infected. On a more positive note, since 1999, the year in which it is thought that the epidemic peaked globally, the number of new infections (HIV incidence) has fallen. The overall growth of the global epidemic appears to have stabilized with the annual number of new HIV infections steadily declining; although levels remain high with around 2.3 million new infections globally in 2012, a 33 percent decline from 3.4 million in 2001 (UNAIDS, 2013).