bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Classification
Authors: Upton Graham , Brawn Dan
Published: October 2023

This chapter introduces several methods for dividing a set of multi-variable data into groups of similar individuals. To judge the success of a method, a data set where the true classes are known into two parts called the training set and the test set. Each method uses the data in the training set to make predictions about the classes of the members in the test set. One method, naive Bayes, determines, for each test individual, the probability (based on the background characteristics) of that individual belonging to a particular class. The class with the highest probability is selected k-nearest neighbour approach studies the classes of the k members in the test set that have the most similar backgrounds to the test individual. Another method, the classification tree, is based on the successive splits of the data that effectively form classes for the test set; selecting random tests sets then leads to a so-called random forest. A final possibility is to take the majority vote from a number of different types of classifier.
Paneling Construal and Viewpoint
Authors: Borkent Mike
Published: October 2023

This chapter examines how comics prompt the construction of viewpoints and construal of content linking abstraction, embodiment, and convention. It begins by relating abstraction and viewpoint construction through genres and art styles. It then examines viewpoint and construal in more fine-grained features of bodily cues, facial expressions, gestures, and postures, as well as synesthetic qualities of sound effects and balloons. It shows how cognitive processes activate domain knowledge and embodied cues like body schemas and change blindness, mental metaphors about language, and synesthetic perceptual analogies to build a multisensory and view pointed mental scenario out of the multimodal cues in a panel or short sequence.
Expanded Viewpoint Networks
Authors: Borkent Mike
Published: October 2023

This chapter continues to develop around the concepts of construal and viewpoint begun in the previous chapter, focusing on aspects that are more commonly considered figurative: metonymy, metaphor, and other creative blends. It shows how pictorial, verbal, and structural modalities offer creative opportunities for meaning construction, and how conspicuous depictions can launch figurative interpretations. These elaborations on meanings expand the networks of comprehension, while relying on the same embodied pathways of meaning construction through blending and simulation.
Building Your Consortium of Support
Authors: Timmons Jill
Published: October 2023

Chapter 9 introduces the reader to the nuts and bolts of grant proposal budgets and the all-important consortium of support. As the author points out, once a descriptive and persuasive project abstract is developed, the next step is in honing a detailed and credible budget that demonstrates one’s cognizant understanding of financial principles. This chapter offers concrete examples and guidelines that undergird all successful budgets. Moreover, the author delves deeply into the development of the critical consortium of support that is required prior to submitting any budget. Essentially, it provides concrete evidence regarding the cost-sharing resources one already has in place. This is the essential foundation of a dynamic project budget. Those preliminary cost-sharing partners sign on to the efficacy of one’s grant proposal, in essence vetting the project. Furthermore, the author explores the principle of money attracting money, making it much easier to obtain financial support from those larger more significant funders once there is a diverse and dynamic consortium of preliminary support in place. In this chapter you will find a real-life story about one musician’s successful grant awards and the winding path she took to the acquisition of funding. Lastly, this chapter includes principles and strategies for building effective collaborations with funders, and the skillful networking required to develop dynamic funding consortia.
Double Games
Authors: Andersson Ruben , Keen David
Published: October 2023

Chapter 5 considers the “fight against illegal migration” and its winners and losers. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, certain kinds of international migration have increasingly been framed as a threat by Western destination states in particular. The resulting “securitization” has triggered cascading consequences. One consequence is the huge growth in the human smuggling market. Another is the increasing opportunity for poorer states to use migration as a bargaining chip, echoing the systemic relations observed in the war on terror. While nowhere near as large in funding terms as the war on terror, the escalating fight against migration (and its associated war on smugglers) has nevertheless ended up creating huge “collateral losses” in political and human terms, including the thousands of deaths along migratory routes and the extensive support for authoritarian regimes that promise cooperation.
The Hall of Mirrors
Authors: Andersson Ruben , Keen David
Published: October 2023

Chapter 7 examines the distorted information or knowledge environment that has been constructed around all our wars and fights. In this “hall of mirrors,” nothing is quite what it seems. Almost any failure can be reflected back as a success. The stronger the fixation on a particular threat, the more pronounced the distortion—and the easier it becomes to mislead the voters who pay for the intervention. The chapter goes on to suggest that what is to some extent “new” about “failure as success” stems partly from post–Cold War changes to the security environment and partly from increasing market pressures on competing bureaucracies, media organizations, and other key actors. Both these factors are deeply political and deeply tied up with a (post)modern obsession over optics. On a positive note, the chapter suggests that one key dimension through which to start dismantling disastrous systems of intervention would be via changes to the knowledge environment. Such changes are crucial when it comes to establishing clear lines of responsibility for the wreckage.
Waging Peace
Authors: Andersson Ruben , Keen David
Published: October 2023

Chapter 10 briefly examines the global political and economic system in which the war and security systems of Wreckonomics have been unfolding and interacting. The chapter discusses inequality and insecurity as two fundamental problems that are exacerbated rather than ameliorated by war and security interventions. Relatedly, it analyzes the “politics of distraction” that has fed the various wars and fights covered in the book, while doing little to address ordinary people’s sense of insecurity. Cautioning against the “wreckonomic” dangers of ready-made solutions, the chapter emphasizes that productive change will be elusive unless accompanied by an understanding of the mechanisms that make endless wars and endless wrecking so persistent and profitable.
Where and How Do Social Workers Practice?
Authors: Corcoran Jacqueline , Wolk Courtney Benjamin
Published: October 2023

This chapter sets up the context for working with youths and families. The different settings where social workers work, alongside colleagues from other mental health/counseling disciplines, include traditional mental health settings such as outpatient, inpatient, and residential treatment settings. Social workers are also in settings where mental health treatment is delivered to youths outside the traditional mental health system, especially the school context but also primary care and home-based services. The values of social work, namely service and the importance of working with family relationships, are discussed, along with the place of evidence-based treatment within these values. When working with children, ethical issues and dilemmas sometimes arise, and many of these have to do with confidentiality. For this reason, the chapter explores with vignettes and reader reflection some common dilemmas surrounding confidentiality.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Authors: Corcoran Jacqueline , Wolk Courtney Benjamin
Published: October 2023

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder with undetermined biological origins, which may include heredity, pregnancy and birth complications, and other environmental exposures. Children with ASD demonstrate impairments in social interaction and social communication, as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report the U.S. prevalence as 1 in 54 youths, and rates of diagnosis have increased over time. Assessment is a complex process ideally conducted by multidisciplinary teams, with early identification being key to positive adjustment. Comorbidity, particularly for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and anxiety, is high, so youths with ASD will be represented in mental health settings. Behavioral interventions have received the most research support. A case involving a child with comorbid ASD and obsessive-compulsive disorder illustrates the application of assessment and intervention strategies.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder
Authors: Corcoran Jacqueline , Wolk Courtney Benjamin
Published: October 2023

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) are discussed together in this chapter because they may both feature symptoms of anger, defiance, rebellion, lying, and school problems. They are differentiated by the extent of antisocial behavior present, but overall, disruptive behavior disorders are highly prevalent in U.S. youths at a rate of 10%. There is recognition and exploration in this chapter about possible overdiagnosis in youths who identify as African American or Black. The current understanding of ODD and CD indicates they arise from an interaction of genetic risk and environmental adversity. According to the National Survey of Children’s Health, only about half of youths with disruptive behavior disorders received treatment in the past year. Parent-involved behavior treatment, often called parent training, has the most empirical support. Family therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy have also been endorsed. Evidence-based assessment and intervention strategies are applied to two cases.
Depressive Disorders
Authors: Corcoran Jacqueline , Wolk Courtney Benjamin
Published: October 2023

Depression is a serious problem that is rare in childhood and increases dramatically in adolescence for reasons that may include hormonal and cognitive development, increased social demands, and social media. Family history and genetics influence the development of depression, but so do stressful environments. Therefore, those who work with teenagers, especially in child welfare, foster care, juvenile justice, and schools, should be aware of the signs and be able to screen and assess for symptoms in youths. Social workers should be knowledgeable about evidence-based interventions, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and antidepressants, and should know that group intervention is an effective modality for this population. Social workers should be able to make appropriate referrals for treatment and advocate to ensure that adolescents with depression receive optimal intervention.
The microcanonical ensemble and introduction to molecular dynamics
Authors: Tuckerman Mark E.
Published: October 2023

Chapter 3 comprises a detailed presentation of the classical microcanonical ensemble and its generation via molecular dynamics simulations. The chapter begins with a discussion of the basic thermodynamics of the ensemble and the connection between the entropy and the microcanonical partition function through Boltzmann’s relation. An ensemble distribution is constructed from a Dirac δ-function expressing that the ensemble consists of all microstates having specified energy E, particle number N, and volume V. The microcanonical ensemble is then used to derive several key results including conditions of thermal equilibrium and the ideal gas law. The chapter then presents the method of molecular dynamics and its use in generating a microcanonical distribution under the assumption of ergodicity. Algorithms for numerical integration of Hamilton’s equations are derived from a Taylor series and, later, from the Liouville operator and the classical propagator. The chapter concludes with a discussion of constraints, multiple time-scale motion, rigid body motion, and advantages of symplectic algorithms.
Free-energy calculations
Authors: Tuckerman Mark E.
Published: October 2023

The importance and challenge of calculating free energies using the statistical mechanical concepts developed in Chapters 1-7 are the topics in Chapter 8. The role of free energy calculations in problems such as drug-enzyme interactions, protein, and peptide conformational landscapes, chemical reaction profiles, and crystal polymorph ranking is highlighted. Techniques for computing free energies are discussed in detail and range from basic approach such as umbrella sampling, free energy perturbation, thermodynamic integration, and the bluemoon ensemble are presented. The challenge of treating rare events in free energy calculations is discussed together with the concepts of collective variables, reaction coordinates, and the need for targeted advanced sampling methods; these include metadynamics, the Jarzynski equality, Wang-Landau sampling, and driven adiabatic free energy dynamics. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the committor distribution as an ideal reaction coordinate and the use of the histogram test for collective variables considered as putative reaction coordinates
Quantum mechanics
Authors: Tuckerman Mark E.
Published: October 2023

Chapter 9 begins laying a foundation for quantum statistical mechanics with a discussion of relevant topics in quantum mechanics. The fundamental postulates of quantum mechanics are reviewed, beginning with the definition of a quantum state and the introduction of the concept of a state vector in a Hilbert space. The representation of observables as Hermitian operators on Hilbert space vectors is described; it is shown that the eigenvalues of Hermitian operators are real and, therefore, constitute possible outcomes of measurements made on these observables. The notions compatible and non-compatible observables and implication for the measurement problem are presented. The time-dependent Schrödinger equation is introduced as generating the time-evolution of the state vector, and it is shown how to cast the Schrödinger equation into a coordinate basis to yield the wave equation of quantum mechanics. Coordinate and momentum bases and their properties are desribed. Several analytically solvable quantum systems are presented as illustrative examples. The chapter concludes with a discussion of spin and the treatment identical particles
Quantum ensembles and the density matrix
Authors: Tuckerman Mark E.
Published: October 2023

Chapter 10 introduces the concept of quantum ensembles and their descrption via the ensemble density matrix. The chapter begins by setting up the quantum manybody problem and demonstrating the difficulty in solving the time-independent Schrödinger equation for the energy eigenvalues of a manybody Hamiltonian. This naturally leads to the concept of quantum ensembles and their formulation in terms of the density matrix. Eigenvalues of the density matrx are shown to represent probabilities associated with the quantum states that constitute the ensemble. The time-dependence of the density matrix is shown to be determined by the quantum Liouville equation. The quantum Liouville equation is solved under equilibrium conditions, and the solutions are shown to commute with the Hamiltonian. Thus, the eigenvalues of the solution are shown give the probabilities associated with different energy levels. Quantum partition functions in different ensembles are derived from these eigenvalues. Finally, the quantum analog of entropy maximization is used to derive the quantum canonical ensemble.
The Feynman path integral
Authors: Tuckerman Mark E.
Published: October 2023

The focus of Chapter 12 is the Feynman path integral formulations of quantum mechanics and quantum statistical mechanics. The connection between real-time quantum propagator and the density matrix is established via the Wick rotation, and a Trotter expansion is used to derive discrete path integral expressions for both. The continuous limit of the discrete path integral is derived to yield the functional integral formulation of the path integral. The construction of estimators and their averages for computing quantum observables is discussed. Next, the path integral is extended to incorporate Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac, and Bose-Einstein statistics, and a useful recursive formula for the partition function is derived that accelerates convergence by building up N-body partition functions from those of smaller systems. Quantum free energies are discussed, and algorithms for the evaluation of path integrals using molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo are presented. The chapter concludes with a discussion of higher-order factorizations and ring-polymer contraction methods to reduce the computational overhead of path-integral calculations
Quantum time-dependent statistical mechanics
Authors: Tuckerman Mark E.
Published: October 2023

Chapter 14 covers the statistical mechanics of driven quantum systems and the non-equilibrium ensembles associated with them. The topic is presented both from the state-vector and density matrix perspectives. The chapter begins with a discussion of driving forces resulting from light-matter interactions and their treatment via time-dependent perturbation theory. The Fermi Golden Rule is derived, and it is shown how to incorporate the Golden Rule into the calculation of frequency spectra within the canonical ensemble, which then connects to canonical quantum time correlation functions. The formalism is derived again from the quantum Liouville equation. The discussion then turns to the challenge of computing quantum time correlation functions and approximate techniques based on the Feynman path integral of Chapter 12. These schemes include centroid and ring-polymer molecular dynamics as well as open-path integral methods
The Objection of Illegality
Authors: Lenaerts Koen , Gutman Kathleen , Nowak Janek Tomasz
Published: October 2023

This chapter discusses the objection of illegality, which is an indirect form of legality control established by the Treaties. It is not an independent right of action, but rather an incidental plea in law intended to avoid the application of unlawful Union acts of general application to the detriment of parties who are not entitled to challenge them. Moreover, the objection of illegality may only be raised in the context of direct actions lodged before the Union Courts. This chapter elaborates on the essential function of the objection of illegality and the linkage between the acts against which this objection can be raised and the status of the invoking party, with particular regard to natural and legal persons, Member States, and Union institutions.
Application for an Opinion on the Compatibility with the Treaties of an International Agreement to Be Concluded by the Union
Authors: Lenaerts Koen , Gutman Kathleen , Nowak Janek Tomasz
Published: October 2023

This chapter looks into the procedure for assessing the compatibility with the Treaties of an international agreement to be concluded by the Union. It discusses the nature and purpose of this procedure, along with its relationship with other procedures set down in the Treaties. It also addresses the agreements covered by this procedure and the extent of the Court’s jurisdiction to give opinions.
Proceedings Brought by Officials and Other Servants of the Union (Staff Cases)
Authors: Lenaerts Koen , Gutman Kathleen , Nowak Janek Tomasz
Published: October 2023

This chapter covers the proceedings brought by officials and other servants of the Union against the Union. It addresses the particularities of the pre-litigation procedure and the procedure before the Union Courts, along with the relationship between them.
Jurisdiction of the Union Courts over Disputes Relating to Intellectual Property Rights
Authors: Lenaerts Koen , Gutman Kathleen , Nowak Janek Tomasz
Published: October 2023

This chapter examines the jurisdiction of the Union Courts over disputes concerning intellectual property rights (EU trade marks, Community plant variety rights, and Community designs). It discusses the system of legal protection relating to these intellectual property rights and the extent of the jurisdiction of the General Court in this context.
Appeals
Authors: Lenaerts Koen , Gutman Kathleen , Nowak Janek Tomasz
Published: October 2023

This chapter discusses the appeal procedure by which a party may bring an appeal before the Court of Justice against a decision of the General Court based on alleged errors of law committed by the latter Court in reaching its decision, with a view to setting aside, in whole or in part, that decision. It evaluates key issues relating to points of law versus questions of fact, the types of decisions which may be the subject of an appeal, the pleas which may be raised, and the consequences of successful and unsuccessful appeals. It also delves into cross-appeals and the newly introduced preliminary admission mechanism for appeals.
Start of the Procedure
Authors: Lenaerts Koen , Gutman Kathleen , Nowak Janek Tomasz
Published: October 2023

This chapter discusses key issues related to the commencement of proceedings before the Union Courts. It considers the act initiating proceedings, methods of service of procedural documents, language arrangements, representation of parties, time-limits, and legal aid.
Incidental Elements of the Procedure
Authors: Lenaerts Koen , Gutman Kathleen , Nowak Janek Tomasz
Published: October 2023

This chapter covers incidental elements of the proceedings before the Union Courts. It addresses intervention, expedited procedures, and the urgent preliminary ruling procedure, along with the confidential treatment of documents in the course of proceedings. It also considers the disposal of cases on account of preliminary issues, discontinuance, withdrawal of a reference for a preliminary ruling, and other grounds for not proceeding to judgment.
Main Elements of the Procedure
Authors: Lenaerts Koen , Gutman Kathleen , Nowak Janek Tomasz
Published: October 2023

This chapter elaborates on the main elements of the proceedings before the Union Courts. It discusses certain procedures for dealing with cases, such as joinder, stay, and deferment. It also addresses the various parts of the procedure in chronological order, including the written part of the procedure, the preliminary report and assignment of cases, the measures of organization of procedure and measures of inquiry which may be taken by the Union Courts, and the oral part of the procedure.
Attention
Authors: Lyon Aidan
Published: October 2023

This chapter presents a unifying theory of the psychedelic experiences induced by psychedelics and meditation. Both psychedelics and meditation are widely reported to 'expand’ awareness, and, given the close relationship between awareness and attention, the chapter argues that a natural target of analysis is that of the attentional system. In the case of meditation, this is especially clear since many meditative practices involve attentional training. In contrast, the case of psychedelics is less clear. This is partly due to limitations on empirical research, but more importantly, because psychedelics regularly induce impairments to attentional performance. However, the chapter argues that we need to distinguish performance on attentional tasks from other qualities of attention. The chapter then proposes that psychedelics regularly disrupt the attentional system, impairing attentional performance but, at the same time, freeing up attentional resources, thus creating an attentional surplus that facilitates expansions of awareness.
Maintenance and Reduction of Capital
Authors: Ferran Eilís , Howell Elizabeth , Steffek Felix
Published: October 2023

This chapter examines the common law maintenance of capital principle and its continuing importance in preventing the wrongful extraction of value from a company through disguised distributions. Recent case law that clarifies directors’ duties with respect to creditors’ interests is considered. The chapter also considers the circumstances in which a company can reduce its capital either with the approval of the court or based on a directors’ solvency statement. Recent cases that have begun to interpret the solvency statement procedure are examined. Specific examples of reductions of capital in the context of group reorganization schemes of arrangement are provided. The chapter includes an examination of the case for the UK to move away from the traditional legal capital approach and towards the more modern liquidity/solvency-based approach that has found favour in some other countries.
Public Spending by Other Means?
Authors: Hood Christopher , King Maia , McLean Iain , Piotrowska Barbara Maria
Published: October 2023

Starting with a vignette about how a major remodelling of the Treasury’s building in Whitehall was financed in the early 2000s, this chapter explores what happened to the fiscal constitution for public spending under New Labour. It describes the New Labour fiscal framework (including fiscal rules, new categories of spending, and multi-year spending reviews) and shows how those changes played out during two initial years of restraint, through a period of sharply rising spending that tested institutional capacity to secure ‘more for more’, followed by global financial crisis leading to part-nationalization of the banks, efforts at fiscal stimulus and then preparations for fiscal consolidation. It traces three big changes that conveniently did not fully count as ‘public spending’, namely the boom in private financing of public infrastructure, the development of tax credits, and the move to loans and fees in tertiary education in place of an older system of grants.
As Others Saw It
Authors: Hood Christopher , King Maia , McLean Iain , Piotrowska Barbara Maria
Published: October 2023

Starting with a vignette about perception of the UK as a roller-coaster, feast-and-famine performer over public spending in international perspective (and some different views about roller-coasting), this chapter suggests that claim is easier to assert than to prove. It explores how the UK spending control system was rated by international bodies around the period of the study, notably by IMF, OECD, and the International Budget Partnership. It shows that in those ratings the UK broadly scored well, being ranked among the vanguard states in its reviewing practice and accounting developments even though it ran into fiscal emergencies twice over the period. It suggests that the way the UK system was evaluated depended on the relative weight given to the more ‘political’ as against the more ‘technocratic’ features of its fiscal constitution, and that the Treasury may have seen limited budgetary openness as a price worth paying for greater central control.
The Case for Strategic Political Theory
Authors: Nili Shmuel
Published: October 2023

This opening chapter presents and defends strategic political theorizing, elaborating on the strategic effort to argue from bad premises to better policies. Linking this effort to a democratic hope regarding the possible philosophical quality of political discourse, the chapter argues that the strategic attempt to systematize even unreasonable views held by fellow citizens embodies multiple valuable forms of respect among co-citizens. The chapter anticipates in detail the worry that by working to systematize unreasonable positions, strategic theorizing legitimates reprehensible views. It also anticipates skepticism concerning strategic theorizing’s practical hopes. Finally, the chapter takes up applied issues concerning the actual pursuit of strategic theorizing, bearing both on the choice among possible subjects for such theorizing, and on the audience that strategic theorists should seek.
Counterfactual Pretenders
Authors: Nicosia Marissa
Published: October 2023

The two chronicle plays considered in this chapter are all about succession gone wrong. Richard III is a lord protector who murders the rightful heir and usurps the throne; the pretender Perkin Warbeck postures as the surviving heir who has now returned to claim the throne. Both Richard and Perkin are pretenders in the sense that they are claimants to the throne, and the plays that they inhabit will show whether their claims are just or false. Moreover, these plays ask what might have happened if history as we know it had taken a different turn when they propose counterfactual narratives as pleasurable drama—futures that might have happened, but did not. Although these plays are ultimately conservative and reestablish the status quo of monarchical succession, their dramatic impact resides in entertaining alternative lines of succession that briefly or potentially might have structured the nation’s future.
Bad News
Authors: Nicosia Marissa
Published: October 2023

Chapter 4 connects the chronicle plays written for the public stage to the play pamphlet, a hybrid of printed professional drama, pamphlet literature, and contemporary journalism that responded to the political crises of the English Civil Wars and revolution. The chapter demonstrates that play pamphlets transform formal and material features from chronicle plays to imagine succession gone wrong, political distress, and temporal confusion with the ultimate goal of inspiring readers to take direct action. The Levellers Levell’d critiques a burgeoning new social movement and the future it imagines for the nation by taking it to task for circulating The Agreement of the People as a printed pamphlet. The Craftie Cromwell series proposes a future in which Cromwell becomes king to encourage royalist readers to prevent that future at whatever cost. These brief, timely plays imagine futures that their authors hope will never arrive.
Escaping the Practice of Exclusion
Authors: Hoover Fushcia-Ann , Scarlett Rachel D.
Published: October 2023

Environmental racism and discrimination are often seen as social and political decisions of the past, with minimal influence on contemporary environmental health and management. In reality, decision-making around urban nature and green space planning is influenced by both historical and contemporary racism and other forms of discrimination. For the first time in decades, we see increased awareness, interest, and engagement with environmental justice (EJ) across diverse sectors of society including conservation biology, the geosciences, urban ecology, and planning. Unfortunately, engagement with EJ has yet to yield large-scale equitable change in environmental decision-making and conservation practices. This work breaks down how discriminatory practices and language are codified in how we approach contemporary urban conservation and planning and outline how environmental decision-making perpetuates environmental racism and discrimination. This work provides specific case studies across multiple cities to demonstrate the misalignment between EJ, objectivity-based intentions, and planning and conservation outcomes. It highlights examples from communities of color that have long been doing the work of pushing their respective countries toward better environmental stewardship and conservation practices. Finally, it concludes with a path forward for urban conservation and planning that align with EJ. Ultimately, if urban conservation and biodiversity researchers and practitioners are serious about protecting biodiversity, advancing EJ, and building inclusive conservation practices, then we must recognize the hidden ways inequality and environmental racism are built into contemporary decision-making and land management practices.
Portland’s Conservation Organizations
Authors: Guderyahn Laura , Logalbo Mary
Published: October 2023

This work details how two Portland, OR urban conservation organizations work intentionally with their community to provide support, resources, and understanding as part of their mission for urban nature. It provides an honest accounting of successes, failures, misunderstandings, and missteps in equitable urban conservation. The West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District (WMSWCD) is a publicly funded conservation organization in Portland that partners with other local organizations and governments to provide private landowners with the resources and information to improve air and water quality, biodiversity habitat, and soil health. WMSWCD often partners with Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) to combine resources and fulfil PP&R’s goals of connecting people to place, self, and others to build a legacy of care and enjoyment of Portland’s parks, public places, and natural areas. Diverse conservation organizations, including PP&R and WMSWCD, have resolved to pursue diversity, equity, and inclusion as integral parts of their missions in Portland. These organizations do so in an area with a legacy of two centuries of legal, institutional, and economic racism and classism that have inequitably distributed land and natural resources. These challenges and troubling statistics have been identified and plans or statements have been made committing local organizations to address these findings. With a foundation of commitment to racial equity in place, WMSWCD, PP&R, and other partners have gathered to launch a collaborative effort for community-tailored outreach, listening sessions, and engagement to improve equitable and enhanced stewardship of urban natural resources.
Multicity Ecological Networks for Addressing Urban Biodiversity Conservation
Authors: Magle Seth , Fidino Mason , Lehrer Liza , Magle Tobin , Aronson Myla
Published: October 2023

Urban environments are uniquely variable within and across regions, differing along a complex set of biophysical axes. This work describes the primary sources of this variation including biological, geophysical, cultural, economic, and policy differences within and between cities. In addition, it explains why these variances are important to the distribution and abundance of urban biodiversity. The emergence of multicity networks and datasets—including the National Science Foundation’s Urban LTER projects (Baltimore Ecosystem Study, Central Arizona-Phoenix, and Minneapolis-St. Paul), the Urban Biodiversity Research Coordination Network (UrBioNet), the Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN), WildCam, and others—is integral to urban biodiversity science, predicting future scenarios for unsampled neighborhoods or cities, and conservation. Multicity networks facilitate long-term sampling and allow inferences across vast spatial scales, including capturing variation between regions, cities, and sites; different types of urban development; different degrees of urban intensity; different socioeconomic factors; different policies and cultural norms; and varying attitudes toward biodiversity. Such information facilitates a broad array of urban conservation issues, informing when and how conservation strategies should be implemented for a given city. Finally, this work reviews some of the major findings from urban research networks and concludes with recommendations to improve on multicity data collection in the future. This includes the need for more data from outside of North America, more data on rarely sampled taxa such as herpetofauna and fish, more collaboration between networks, and networks that span across disciplines.
Integrating Molecular Methods with a Social-Ecological Focus to Advance Urban Biodiversity Management
Authors: Avilés-Rodríguez Kevin , Hughes Kim , Richardson Jonathan L. , Munshi-South Jason
Published: October 2023

Many urban wildlife species are relatively rare, difficult to capture, and not routinely observed. Over the last 30 years, molecular genetic tools have been adopted for a wide range of ecological, evolutionary, and management applications. This work reviews how these tools are used and highlights how these approaches can guide urban conservation decision-making. Further, it highlights how molecular tools are integral to understanding how human societal conditions allow us to describe biodiversity patterns within cities at the scale of individual buildings, city blocks, or neighborhoods. This work underscores a need for better incorporating human social and economic variation into understanding genetic connectivity in biodiversity within and across urban areas. This synthesis demonstrates the power of modern molecular methods for conservation in general but especially in cities and provides a framework for prioritizing and achieving urban biodiversity conservation goals.
Conclusion—Biodiversity for the People
Authors: Schell Christopher J. , Lambert Max R. , Roches Simone Des , Gallo Travis , Harris Nyeema C.
Published: October 2023

Imagining our global future is an extraordinary challenge. Due to our escalating climate crisis, it is uncertain how recognizable our environmental landscape will be 100–150 years from the present. Inarguably, the increased frequencies of once-in-a-lifetime storms, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires already suggest that our current context is ominous. Building solutions that minimize impending catastrophe is therefore a particularly urgent endeavor, one that will undoubtedly require transdisciplinary, agile, and resilient tools that leverage collective forms of knowledge. The development of those tools will require all peoples’ experience and knowledge, emphasizing the need for environmental equity and access. Simultaneously, conserving species will be imperative components that maintain our ecosystem health and function. This work outlines how merging environmental equity and biodiversity conservation will be an essential formula for weathering the figurative and literal storms induced by climate change. In addition, it pinpoints key priorities and gaps in urban conservation research that may be critical components to ecological application and policy designed to fight future disasters. Further, it speculates on the contexts of future urban biodiversity management landscapes if eco-equitable conservation policies are centered at multiple scales of governance. In closing, it stresses that the future blueprint for eco-equitable conservation and climate mitigation has always been embedded in the environmental justice narratives of the past.
Vantage Point, 1972
Authors: Barry Frank
Published: October 2023

Identification of the largest manufacturing employers in operation in Ireland in 1972 provides us with a snapshot of the economy of the time and also of its history. Some of the firms preceded the foundation of the state. Others dated from the moderate protection of the 1920s, still more from the full-scale protection of the 1930s and the various stages of outward reorientation of the post-war era. The dates at which each of the firms emerged into significance serve as an introduction to the economic history of the state. Already by 1972 foreign corporations accounted for a disproportionately high share of manufacturing employment in Ireland. The firm-level database indicates that this was roughly evenly divided between protectionist-era ‘tariff factories’, export-oriented foreign firms that had established greenfield operations under the new post-war policy regime, and a heretofore largely ignored class of foreign firms that had acquired existing businesses as trade liberalization loomed. The gender composition of individual sectors is examined. Sectarian divisions in Irish business life that had persisted into the 1960s disappeared alongside the liberalization of the economy.
Trade Liberalization and the Road to Europe
Authors: Barry Frank
Published: October 2023

T. K. Whitaker, Secretary of the Department of Finance and lead author of the 1958 report which is generally credited with triggering the dismantling of protectionism, underestimated the difficulties of the adjustment required. It would in any case be another five years before tariff barriers would begin to be dismantled. These steps were taken as part of the campaign to gain entry to the European Economic Community, which could not have been envisaged at the time of the Whitaker Report. De Gaulle’s veto of the British application gave Ireland a further ten years to prepare. Education was revamped, new export-oriented foreign industry expanded, a Free Trade Area Agreement (AIFTA) was signed with the United Kingdom, the Exchequer’s dependence on trade taxes was reduced, and restructuring of protectionist-era industry began. This chapter provides details of the major restructurings and mergers and acquisitions of the period. Much of Whitaker’s advice however, particularly on macroeconomic policy and cost competitiveness, was ignored. AIFTA was associated with far more industrial redundancies than had been anticipated. By 1972, export-oriented foreign firms accounted for almost 20 per cent of manufacturing employment, with the United States the single most significant source of inward investment. Responsibility for the contested issue of regional industrial dispersal was ultimately devolved to the Industrial Development Authority. The competitive pressures associated with trade liberalization contributed to the erosion of enduring sectarian divisions in the workplace and in Irish business life.
THE VACUUM AS A DYNAMICAL SYSTEM
Authors: Steane Andrew
Published: October 2023

The vacuum of space, as it is seen in modern physics (quantum field theory) is itself a highly structured combination of fields in their joint state of least energy. This structure is described. Terminology such as ‘bare particle’ and ‘virtual particle’ is explained, with an emphasis on keeping in view the fact that the net result is smooth and dormant.
THE MAGICIAN’S BOX
Authors: Steane Andrew
Published: October 2023

An issue in popular assumptions about Darwinian evolution is briefly looked at. Large parts of the modern-day Christian movement worldwide are comfortable with Darwinian evolution and have positively contributed to its elucidation in mainstream science. But this fact is hidden from public view. In cultural tropes and lecture-hall showmanship, Christianity is presented as uniformly endorsing an anti-evolutionary creationism. That presentation is misleading. So why is it being offered?
CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT AND EVOLUTION
Authors: Steane Andrew
Published: October 2023

A section of modern-day atheism has sought to associate the scientific study of natural history with atheism, as if the latter had unique access to scientific credentials. This is both illogical and anti-educational. The claim that atheism is the sole or the main champion of reason and rationality, and can fairly look on others as if their reason, or their commitment to reason, was in question, is deeply unjust. To suspect another’s very rationality before they have even opened their mouth to speak is to place them in a subhuman category. This horrible practice should no longer pass unchallenged. But if we present evolution in a more level way, with its joys and pains given their due weight, then it need not be threatening to any reasonable outlook on life.
GETTING PAST BRIGHTLAND
Authors: Steane Andrew
Published: October 2023

The final chapter offers a look back over themes of the book, and a look at the way forward. The nature and value of freewill is briefly highlighted. The heart of the book is about offering to the next generation a balanced and liberating view of their own moral stature. We finish with a view of how science interacts with the arts and humanities without being competent to replace them.
KNOWLEDGE, EXPERTISE, AND TECHNICAL AIMS IN THE CREATION OF THE PIEZOELECTRIC SONAR
Authors: Katzir Shaul
Published: October 2023

The chapter examines how and why physicist Paul Langevin succeeded in contriving the piezoelectric sonar, which originated in inventor Konstantin Chilowsky’s suggestion of echo ultrasonic sounding technique for submarine detection. Suggested following the sinking of the Titanic, the idea grew in urgency with the commencement of WWI submarine warfare. Comparing Chilowsky’s suggestions with a ‘missed’ multiple of three similar inventions, the chapter highlights the former’s advantage and the elements from Chilowsky’s experience that made his invention possible. Langevin developed sonar further, making it practical by employing piezoelectricity. A comparison with Ernest Rutherford’s use of the effect for similar ends without achieving sonar demonstrates how Langevin’s success was due to his thorough knowledge of piezoelectricity and the precise manner in which he defined the technical problem. Thus, both the crisis of the war which led to Langevin to develop technology and his scientific expertise allowed for the first practical application of piezoelectricity.
THE APPLICATION OF PIEZOELECTRIC RESONANCE: FREQUENCY STANDARDS AND CONTROL
Authors: Katzir Shaul
Published: October 2023

The chapter analyses academic physicist Walter Cady’s invention of piezoelectric frequency standard and crystal frequency control, the improvement of the latter by his colleague George Pierce, and its early implementation by a government laboratory. It shows how Cady built on his recent discovery of piezoelectric resonance to invent measuring devices and then to utilize his laboratory expertise with the effect, which he continued to study, to contrive a highly useful practical technology. Laboratory expertise and practice with Cady’s crystals, but also experience with commercial devices, helped Pierce to simplify Cady’s method. On the other hand, the large research laboratory at AT&T, which had a clear commercial interest in the method, preferred to rely on Cady and his expertise, rather than take the risk of developing a completely new technology. This did not stop AT&T from claiming rights to Cady’s invention by exploiting formal legal conditions.
The Sun at Work
Authors: Littmann Mark , Espenak Fred
Published: October 2023

This chapter focuses on the features of the Sun. It starts with the Sun’s composition of a hydrogen atom colliding and fusing with another hydrogen nucleus, which results in energy that creates light and heat. The photosphere and chromosphere can be observed for their prominences and flares that are rooted and stretched into the corona. However, the chromosphere is concealed from view by the overwhelming glare of the photosphere, so early scientists had to rely on the photosphere to study the Sun. The chapter notes that total solar eclipses and scientific instruments and theories helped further research as the Moon allowed scientists to see a part of the Sun never seen before.
Remembering the All-American Eclipse of 2017
Authors: Littmann Mark , Espenak Fred
Published: October 2023

This chapter recalls the All-American Eclipse of 2017. Even if the path of totality did not come to them or they could not go to it, 216 million American adults stopped what they were doing to view the phenomenon in some way. People witnessed the eclipse either by looking up to the sky or watching through the television, computer, or smartphone. Additionally, many thousands of visitors from other countries made a pilgrimage to the United States in 2017 to see the Sun in total eclipse. The chapter considers various narratives of people who experienced the total eclipse in different parts of the United States.
When Is the Next One? Total Eclipses: 2025–2033
Authors: Littmann Mark , Espenak Fred
Published: October 2023

This chapter notes the predictions for the next eclipse. Even though there are no predicted total solar eclipses in 2026, a series of eclipses are expected for the following consecutive years. A total eclipse of the Sun will pay a visit to Spain in 2026, then a second total eclipse in 2027, which is less than a year later. Meanwhile, Australia will get two total solar eclipses in less than two and a half years around 2028. The chapter then considers the locations of other eclipses, referencing the Pacific Ocean, the United States, and Alaska. It mentions how every total solar eclipse has its own uniqueness and special fascination.