bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Material Networks and Culture Change
Authors: Birch Jennifer
Published: November 2023

Diachronic social network analysis (SNA) of archaeological data is increasingly being used to frame and explain processes of cultural change in multiple world regions. Whether implicitly or explicitly, such studies foreground the materiality of culture change in an attempt to infer the less-tangible properties of social and cultural dynamics. This chapter considers theoretical and methodological frameworks for studying cultural change through SNA, including application of theories from the broader social sciences. Emphasis is placed on those archaeological theories that pair especially well with SNA of material culture and the importance of chronological control in such studies. Although few archaeological studies explicitly purport to be concerned with cultural change (instead of other heuristics including interaction, collective action, and religious movements), multiple case studies are provided that demonstrate how SNA of archaeological materials is contributing to regional and disciplinary conversations about culture change in multiple world regions.
Network Modeling of the Spread of Disease
Authors: Vlach Marek
Published: November 2023

The presence of various epidemic diseases can be expected within past human populations. They are well attested through vivid narratives of literary-rich civilizations such as the Roman empire as well as the 2020 pandemic. Traditionally, much of the study of such phenomena has been anchored in paleopathological evidence from skeletal remains. Nevertheless, like the integration of methodological tools such as social network analysis in archaeological studies, network concepts have become important for modeling in epidemiology. Epidemiological modeling has developed various methodological approaches after nearly a century of development. Early approaches were dominated by so-called compartmental models that used various forms and concepts of population structure, which have been gradually complemented with analyses of more complex structures through network analyses. Heterogeneous contact patterns of connections have already proven that the structure of communication networks significantly conditions the resulting epidemic dynamics and its impact. Therefore, methodological intersections between network analyses and epidemiological models render great potential for future studies of past epidemics. Formalization of the featuring entities (e.g. individuals, communities, or entire cities) through their position within a multilevel social network provides a framework to analyze our qualitative and quantitative assumptions about disease transmission. Despite the presence of empirical paleopathological datasets, independent validation of network models using this data is still scarce. New possibilities in pathogen identification—e.g. genomics—could help to bridge future gaps between our theoretical models and empirical data.
Beyond the Node-Link Diagram
Authors: Bach Benjamin , van Garderen Mereke
Published: November 2023

This chapter gives an overview over visualization techniques beyond the node-link diagram. Node-link diagrams are by far the most common visual representation to visualize networks, showing nodes as points, and links as lines or arcs between them. However, with increasing size of a network, as well as data about time and temporal change, geography, or other attributes about node and links, alternative representations are required. Starting from a discussion of the problems of visualizing dense networks through node-link diagrams (i.e. hairballs), this chapter discusses a range of alternatives to node-link diagrams: adjacency matrices to compare networks and visualize multivariate networks; techniques for networks with different node and link types; networks with quantitative attributes on nodes, Ontologies, networks changing over time, and geographic networks. The chapter concludes with a pointer to common network visualization tools and a discussion of how to choose among the wide range of visualization techniques.
Paleolithic Social Networks and Behavioral Modernity
Authors: Gravel-Miguel Claudine , Coward Fiona
Published: November 2023

In this chapter, we discuss some of the challenges researchers face when using formal analysis methods to study Paleolithic social networks. We also present alternative and complementary methods that can mitigate those challenges; in particular, we argue that agent-based models are useful tools for testing formal methods and exploring network questions that cannot be answered solely from the archaeological record. We use such a model to show how different social behaviors are reflected in material networks, and to evaluate the accuracy of a popular method of reconstructing Paleolithic networks. Finally, we identify a number of fruitful areas that could be targeted by Paleolithic network analysts, as well as questions for which social network analysis techniques may be particularly well suited.
Networks and Religious Transformations
Authors: Kaše Vojtěch , Glomb Tomáš , Fousek Jan
Published: November 2023

This chapter demonstrates the potential of formal network analysis for the study of religious transformations in past societies. It proposes that the study of these phenomena can especially profit from employing methods associated with studying three types of network structures: spatial networks, social networks, and textual networks. The chapter discusses the applicability of these network structures with respect to three levels of analysis for studying religion and religious transformations in human societies: a micro level, analyzing religion with respect to individual religious groups or communities; a meso level, approaching religion on the level of religious traditions; and a macro level, dealing with religion from a long-term, macrohistorical perspective of human evolution. Finally, the chapter proposes that network approaches can help to bridge the gap between the rather traditional historical study of religion and recent naturalistic approaches to religion.
Migration and Archaeological Network Research
Authors: Mills Barbara J. , Peeples Matthew A.
Published: November 2023

In this chapter, we focus on how the study of past migrations can be conducted through network-based approaches, and especially the application of formal social network analysis. Network approaches are particularly well-suited to the study of migration because many definitions are based on structural characteristics, such as “chain” or “leapfrog” patterns. They also allow migration studies to go beyond the use of static culture areas to look at relationships that crosscut those areas. We discuss how archaeologists use network analyses to look at different dimensions of migration including social, temporal and spatial scales; the social make-up of migrating groups; migration causes; the degree of pre- and post-migration connectivity; and how migration does or does not result in major transformations. We argue that network analysis of migration histories is ripe for new applications but that analyses should explicitly consider how variation along each dimension of migration may provide different expectations, constraints, and opportunities.
Networks and Museum Collections
Authors: Griffin Sarah M. , Klimm Florian
Published: November 2023

This chapter explores different methods for constructing and analyzing networks from museum collection data, using a dataset provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as a case study. To investigate how the use of different media (i.e. materials and techniques) vary across the collection, networks concerning the media associated with each object are constructed, specifically a two-mode object–medium network and a one-mode network of medium co-occurrence. Within these networks, nodes are ranked by their centralities to identify abundant and important media, which are then considered in relation to museum practices, such as the categorization of objects into separate departments. In order to identify how the media used in the production of the objects change over time, a temporal co-occurrence network is investigated as a multilayer network. Investigating multiple centuries individually as separate layers reveals a change in media use over time. By creating new perspectives on the collection made possible with digital tools and that are less determined by some of the subjective choices concerning the curation and care of the collections, we believe temporal networks of museum datasets can reveal valuable insights on museum collections. Similar methods may also be applied to collections of objects outside of museums, such as archaeological assemblages.
Material Culture Similarity and Co-occurrence Networks
Authors: Blair Elliot H.
Published: November 2023

This chapter discusses critical considerations for the construction, analysis, and interpretation of material culture similarity and co-occurrence networks, particularly considering archaeological data and how such networks can be used to interpret past relational processes. Drawing on four different anthropological case studies, this chapter specifically focuses on the processes of abstraction and representation in material culture networks. For the former, the importance of establishing clear linkages between the material culture similarities being used to construct formal networks with the social, relational processes of the past is highlighted. For the latter, the need to carefully consider the use of appropriate similarity indices, the possibilities of unimodal and bimodal network construction, and the need for increased scrutiny of network layout algorithms and visualization choices are emphasized.
Nearest and Relative Neighborhood Networks
Authors: Jiménez-Badillo Diego
Published: November 2023

This chapter describes several models for retrieving networks useful to investigate the effect of space on the formation of links between archaeological entities. Two approaches are described: (a) measurement of linear distances, and (b) application of the relative neighborhood concept. The latter yields a family of proximity networks known as relative neighborhood graph, Gabriel graph, β-skeleton and limited neighborhood graph. The chapter also offers references on graph-theoretic properties that can be used to characterize the structure of such networks. The final section discusses three promising areas of application in archaeology.
The Ideas of Prosperity and Solidarity in European International Law
Authors: Lythgoe Gail , Rasulov Akbar
Published: November 2023

Two distinct traditions of thinking about the ideas of prosperity and solidarity have taken shape in recent decades in European international law. One of them has developed in the context of a distinctly regionalist way of approaching matters of international legal governance that is known today as European law; the other has taken shape in the context of Europe’s post-colonial engagement with the legacies of European imperialism. What both traditions have in common is their ability to refract and problematize not only the general idea of ‘Europeanness’ but also its relationship with law, space, and justice. What separates them is the radically different answers they give to these questions and the vision of international law’s constitutional principles and guiding values.
International Law in Europe and Legal Realism
Authors: Shany Yuval , Varaki Maria
Published: November 2023

This chapter explores the effect of legal realism on European approaches to international law and invites readers to view realism as a sensibility tool, offering thereby a nuanced understanding of its actual impact in Europe. The chapter argues that the relationships between law and power and law and social reality were always an inherent component of European legal development throughout a dialectic process that accommodated a more complex and ever-evolving adaptability. In this regard, particular structural features and contemporary trends of international law are examined and questioned via the lenses of legal realism, challenging broadly accepted presuppositions of a European legal ‘purity’ which are hostile towards realism.
Russia
Authors: Rusinova Vera
Published: November 2023

This chapter should be considered as an outline of a reflective and inevitably subjective analysis of the main traits of Russian approaches to international law, its roots, content, dynamics, contradictions, failures and successes. It starts by setting the scene and grasping what can be distinguished as especially relevant for the political and legal layers of the Russian approach to international law and how they interrelate with each other. It then proceeds with a reflective presentation of the Russian (and Soviet) contribution to the evolution of international law and, finally, summarises some contemporary traits of the national approach. This chapter contributes to existing scholarship on Russian approaches to international law by subjecting them to critical analysis, that tries not to ignore a reality that does not fit some established constructions and assumptions.
The United Kingdom
Authors: Harrison James , Wood Michael
Published: November 2023

This chapter analyses the stance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) towards international law and the extent to which it sits within a broader European tradition. It discusses some of the UK’s most significant contributions to the international legal system, particularly through its role in establishing the multilateral system after World War II and support for international dispute settlement. It also considers some of the implications of the UK’s colonial past for its position in the international community. The chapter then goes on to examine whether there is a particular ‘British approach’ to international law, evident either in the work of British practitioners and academics, or through the manner in which international law is received into domestic law in the UK. At a time when the UK has recently withdrawn from the European Union (EU), it is more important than ever to examine the treatment of international law in the UK. International law is arguably more prominent in post-Brexit Britain, given that many international commitments were previously given effect through EU law, but now have to be implemented directly. The chapter concludes by observing that despite some differences that have arisen as a result of Brexit, the UK continues to share many core values with other European nations and it is still an active member of many ‘European’ institutions.
Greece
Authors: Iakovidis Iakovos V. , Tzevelekos Vassilis P.
Published: November 2023

The chapter assesses the contribution of Greece and of Greek scholars/practitioners to public international law. Following the introductory Section 1, Section 2 discusses how the Greek legal order receives international law, highlighting Greece’s openness to rules pertaining to European integration and giving a characteristic example showing how international rules received in the municipal order may ‘bounce back’ to the international order and impact it, as state practice for instance. Section 3 discusses Greece’s direct contribution to international law, giving select examples of international hard and soft law rules aiming at protecting both Greece’s individual interests and the international community’s collective interests. Section 4 discusses indirect contribution to international law through relevant international case law concerning Greece and through the international reach of Greek scholarship. Section 5 discusses how Greek foreign policy employs international law to settle disputes peacefully and to advance, outside of national interests, international peace. Section 6 concludes the chapter.
Gendering Development and Social Control in the Iberian Empires in Africa, 1950s–1970s
Authors: Stucki Andreas
Published: November 2023

In the 1950s and 1960s, ‘cultural uplifting’ of women in the Global South went hand in hand with the mantra of socio-economic development. This essay contends that the Iberian empires followed the general path set by international bodies and other European colonial powers, notwithstanding their cultural and ideological peculiarities. The sustained focus on the relationship between the violent socio-economic changes and the cultural transformations of African societies during the Portuguese colonial wars in Angola and Mozambique (1961–1974) and Spain’s oft-forgotten imperial War in Ifni-Sahara (1957–1958) allows us to assess the interrelated and gendered processes of forced resettlement and community development schemes in the Portuguese and Spanish territories during periods of armed conflict. Furthermore, this essay highlights the remarkable analogies between conceptions of women’s roles in society held by the Angolan and Mozambican revolutionary nationalists and the Iberian colonizers. In order to support the revolution, African women were once again called on to transmit cultural values to the next generation. By juxtaposing revolutionaries’ notions of women’s roles in the envisaged independent societies with the Portuguese and Spanish imperial projects, both continuity and revolutionary rupture become visible. Overall, the essay shows that concepts of ‘women’s advancement’ did not evolve in isolation, but in a broader context of war and violence.
The Geneva Conventions, Insurgency, and Decolonization
Authors: van Dijk Boyd
Published: November 2023

How has international humanitarian law (IHL) been deployed by anti-colonial and imperial actors? To what extent did IHL change the nature of wars of decolonization? And how should we understand the discipline’s role in undermining or legitimizing imperial counter-insurgency? In revisiting these questions, this chapter aims to develop new analytical and historiographical perspectives on IHL’s history in relation to decolonization and insurgency. It seeks to move the historiography’s lens beyond singular narratives of IHL’s past in order to gain a sharper focus on the diversity of sources, voices, and actors shaping decolonization. Recognizing the discipline’s diverse origins and analysing what law meant in times of anti-colonial insurgency opens the entirety of its history to new types of analysis transgressing disciplinary and methodological boundaries.
‘Independence or Death’? Rank and File Recruitment, Ideology, and Desertion during the Wars of Decolonization in Indonesia and Malaysia, c.1945–1960
Authors: Frakking Roel
Published: November 2023

This chapter’s main aim is to reintroduce dynamism into debates on insurgent recruitment and desertion by highlighting insurgents’ temporary alliances with the forces of both incumbent and insurgent forces. It analyses peoples’ motivations to take up arms during the wars of decolonization in Indonesia and Malaysia. Despite insurgent leaders’ insistence on ubiquitous anti-colonial fervour, insurgents’ personal experiences show the motivational limits of ideology. Access to food or personal advancement equally placed ‘normal’ people alongside long-time nationalists and revolutionized youths. In this context, violence made sense: it, too, pushed into activism people in search of safety. Lastly, the chapter examines insurgent organization cohesion. Circumstances that prompted recruitment caused desertion, too, but when insurgent cells were threatened by colonial forces. The motivation to desert was multiplied where insurgents fell out with their superiors.
The Cyprus Revolt and the ‘Prickly Subject’ of Truces
Authors: Hadjiathanasiou Maria
Published: November 2023

This chapter focuses on the four truces declared by the Greek Cypriot guerrilla organization EOKA during the Cyprus anti-colonial revolt for political union with Greece (1955–1959). The chapter aims to trace the history of EOKA’s truces, exploring how and why these came into being and the British response to them. In examining their effect, I reveal that the ‘prickly subject’ of truces was always received with suspicion by the British and colonial governments, hence,, all truces remained unilateral. Not accepting to believe in EOKA’s ‘magnanimous reasons’ for ordering a truce, the British refused calling off counter-insurgency operations throughout the ‘Cyprus Emergency’. Instead, a general amnesty was given to the guerilla fighters only when a political agreement was reached on the future of Cyprus. The chapter shows that distrust and disbelief were the default mode of interaction between the two warring sides. It does not only exemplify the self-evident, in other words that when truces were declared violence ceased for a while, but more importantly, that during this timethe parties attended to other considerations thus, benefitting from these unilateral truces. EOKA was pursuing its ideological goals, recovering, reorganizing, and ensuring coherence within its ranks. However, EOKA was not the only party to benefit from these unilateral truces. The wartime order achieved also gave time to the British forces to recoup and import soldiers, but also other actors participating in the effort to find a mutually agreeable solution to the Cyprus issue.
Humanitarian Illusions
Authors: Kuzmarov Jeremy
Published: November 2023

In 2007, the US army re-released its counter-insurgency manual with an introduction by General David Petraeus and his deputy Colonel John A. Nagl. The manual offered a strategy for defeating guerrilla insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq using a hearts and minds approach alongside calibrated political policing operations. The strategy adopted in the manual had been previously adopted by the US military during the Vietnam War, and before that in fighting the left-wing Huk guerilla insurgency in the Philippines, and had been borrowed from European colonial powers. Success in achieving stated aims was ultimately elusive because the US repeatedly underestimated the political strength of its enemy and alienated the public by supporting corrupt client governments. At the end of the day, counter-insurgency was largely a public relations strategy designed to win the informational and propaganda war. The latter could never be won because of the political circumstances and violence experienced by the people living under foreign occupation that the rhetoric of counter-insurgency tried to sanitize.
Counter-Insurgency and the Russian ‘Way of War’
Authors: Marshall Alex
Published: November 2023

Counter-insurgency theory typically assumes that the praxis of counter-insurgency itself constitutes a special military discipline or a particular ‘military art’, requiring independent doctrine and training. This school of thought has in turn generated generations of thinkers and writers, from Hubert Lyautey and David Galula to General Petraeus and David Kilcullen, who have claimed special insight into the art of counter-insurgency practice. Within this paradigm, Russian military campaigns in the past and present bearing counter-insurgency characteristics have also been traditionally critiqued as particularly brutal, artless, ineffective, and futile. More recently, they have also been critiqued as exemplars of the ‘authoritarian model’ of counter-insurgency, held up as the antithesis of modern Western praxis. This chapter critically re-examines both sets of assumptions, to argue that Russian praxis simultaneously does represent counter-insurgency as traditionally practiced by all countries, and that it also undermines Western paradigms of counter-insurgency as a special or specific ‘art of war’, meriting its own doctrines and cadres of military and academic specialists. In doing so, it adopts a historical overview, running from the basmachi insurgency of the 1920s through stabilization of the Western borderlands after World War Two to the Soviet state-building effort in Afghanistan.
Guns, Grain, and Gold
Authors: MacMaster Neil
Published: November 2023

In the classic Maoist doctrine of revolutionary warfare, often shared by COIN specialists, guerrilla forces found a logistic support base among isolated mountain populations. A case study of the Algerian War (1954–1962) shows how ‘vanguard’ militants arriving from the cities, far from imposing revolutionary organizations on ‘primitive’ peasants, had to adapt to pre-existing rural forms of social and political organization. During a vital early phase, when guerrilla organization was at its most fragile, insurgents turned to ‘traditional’ forms of peasant networks for vital supplies like weapons, food, and taxes. In the construction of a counter-state, the insurgents adapted rather than destroyed colonial local government structures, as well as those of the village assemblies.
Late Colonial Counter-Insurgency as an Intellectual Challenge
Authors: Harinck Christiaan
Published: November 2023

From October 1945 to August 1949, the Netherlands fought and ultimately lost a costly decolonization war in Indonesia, ending her place among the major colonial powers. In many ways, it was an unwinnable war, as so many of the early decolonization wars were. But the changing tides of history were not apparent to all when the Second World War ended in Asia. What did become apparent to the Dutch metropolitan and colonial authorities, soon after the fighting began, was that, politically and militarily, the Indonesian insurgency in its scale, reach, and intensity surpassed anything seen before. And it came at a time when Dutch armed forces were still in tatters from their Second World War defeats both at home (1940) and in the colonies (1941–1942). As a result of fighting a difficult counter-insurgency campaign amidst a rapidly changing political landscape, the Dutch military’s core views, adaptability, effectiveness, and capabilities were thoroughly tested. The Indonesian War, therefore, provided the Dutch military with a major challenge, not only in physical and practical terms, but also intellectually. This raises the question how the Dutch military responded to this challenge, and how we can account for that response. Specifically, this chapter will address this question with an emphasis on the development of Dutch tactical doctrine and within the analytical contexts of violent decolonization and the development of military thought on counter-insurgency.
The Insurgent Strategies of the ALN in Algeria (1954–1962)
Authors: Arezki Saphia
Published: November 2023

Focused on the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale’s (FLN) armed wing, the Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN), this chapter examines the insurgent strategies it devised. Several questions will be addressed. How did ALN strategies evolve during the conflict? Where did violence fit into the FLN-ALN strategy to secure the allegiance of local populations? What forms did such violence take? And how did the progressive internationalization of the Algerian War affect ALN tactics and prospects, particularly as French security forces locked down Algeria’s cities and land frontiers? Winning global support was always a high priority for the FLN leadership; indeed, the 1 November 1954 declaration announcing the FLN’s commitment to fight a war of independence identified the movement’s first external goal as the ‘Internationalization of the Algerian problem’. What might be further explored is the way in which this objective affected the actions and objectives of both FLN politics and ALN operations.
Beyond the State/Rebel Dichotomy in Twentieth Century African Warfare
Authors: Krause Jonathan , Larmer Miles
Published: November 2023

Understanding of the history of armed conflict in twentieth-century Africa has often been limited by a focus on the state affiliations of armed forces. Histories of ‘imperial’ conquest and resistance often did little to explain the underlying motivations of indigenous forces fighting on either side. Likewise, the ostensible dichotomy between armed liberation movements and the ‘loyalist’ troops of colonial armies often disguised shared military practices and instances in which ‘rebels’ became loyalists. Decolonization theoretically legitimized the establishment of new nation-state armies, but many post-colonial regimes were undermined by continuing contestation of national identities involving conflicts between state armies that occupied ‘rebel’ areas, and rebel movements that aspired to take control of states. From the 1990s, studies of warfare in Africa increasingly recognized the extent to which the division between state and rebel forces, for example in the Congo Wars, masked the considerable interaction, interchange, and similarities between these armed forces, to the extent that they may best be understood as mutually constituted. This chapter aims to challenge established understandings of conflict in modern African history and to contribute to the wider historiographical analysis of conflict between states and insurgents in the wider (post-)colonial world.
Insurgencies in Early Post-Colonial Indonesia
Authors: Keppy Peter , Luttikhuis Bart , Wahid Abdul
Published: November 2023

In the 1950s, shortly after independence from the Netherlands in 1949, Indonesia experienced a number of significant rebellions. These insurgencies were part of a much greater number of smaller outbursts of violence that are central here. They are of interest, firstly, as they invite us to question the common notion of tension between the regions and the political centre of the Republic of Indonesia. The cases in this essay demonstrate that smaller insurgencies occurred for a prolonged period in what are considered core centres of support for the Republic of Indonesia, i.e. Java and Sumatra. While the major rebellions aimed at overthrowing or breaking up the unitary state, the aims of the smaller insurgencies remained opaque. Some insurgencies aimed at transforming the incumbent government and its policies. Many, however, were of a vague politico-criminal and local nature. Secondly, a closer examination of the small insurgencies shows more clearly than the major recorded rebellions that the borders between insurgency, crime, and vigilantism were often blurred. Thirdly, many of these small insurgencies were not isolated incidents. We should rather consider them as integrated chains of events, often involving similar social groups, in most cases demobilized soldiers and guerrilla fighters.
To Forget and Remember
Authors: Branche Raphaëlle
Published: November 2023

The war waged against Algerian nationalists by French military forces ended with several amnesties, the first of which started immediately after the March 1962 ceasefire and the last of which was implemented twenty years later. Apart from the amnesty aimed at Algerians imprisoned during the conflict, other amnesties effectively whitewashed the crimes of French soldiers, ultra-extremists, and French anti-war activists. The logic of these laws was twofold, and its elements will be compared. Focused on the ‘actions’ of the French soldiers, the 1962 amnesty was meant to perpetuate the culture of impunity that was effectively legally guaranteed during the course of the war. That amnesty gave rise to a specific political agenda among military veterans, who demanded political, symbolic, and legal recognition of their war service, as well as financial recompense for their tour of duty in Algeria. Meanwhile, owing to that culture of impunity the issue of war crimes remained unaddressed. On the other hand, former French activists as well as anticolonialists or draft-dodgers were concerned by the terms of several amnesties issued between 1962 and 1982. Most of these amnesties are linked, on the one hand, to the intention of the French Fifth Republic to bring internecine tensions to an end and, on the other hand, to the political agenda of former French activists settled in metropolitan France after the Algerian independence. This chapter argues that these amnesties afforded political and social visibility to nostalgic narratives about French Algeria and its ‘martyrs’. The effects of the amnesty targeting French soldiers are more complex, and their legacies are still unfolding.
Coping as an Essential Process of Everyday Motivational Resilience in School
Authors: Skinner Ellen A. , Saxton Emily A.
Published: November 2023

The study of academic coping focuses on how children and adolescents deal with the challenges, problems, and setbacks they encounter daily in their academic work. Coping transactions have the potential to create a zone of proximal development: They provide students with opportunities to assemble, practice, and consolidate a rich and flexible set of use-dependent tools for dealing productively with and learning from stressful encounters. Over time, the construction of a repertoire of adaptive coping strategies allows students to engage more fully in demanding learning activities, recover more quickly from setbacks, feel more efficacious, and learn more from challenging schoolwork. Despite its centrality as a key process of everyday resilience, however, the construct of academic coping has had surprisingly little impact on mainstream work in educational science. The goals of this chapter are threefold. First, the authors make the conceptual and empirical case that academic coping deserves to be incorporated into educational research and interventions. Second, the authors identify theoretical and methodological shortcomings of this research to date, and suggest some solutions. Third, the authors specify the place and purpose of academic coping alongside other closely related motivational and regulatory processes. In this way, the authors hope to improve future investigations conducted by researchers already dedicated to the topic, while also encouraging other educational researchers to integrate academic coping into their programs of study and intervention.
Academically At-Risk Learners in School Contexts
Authors: Cleary Timothy J. , Callan Gregory L. , Rubenstein Lisa DaVia
Published: November 2023

Self-regulation plays a key role in children’s and adolescents’ academic, social-emotional, and physical health, as it helps them manage, control, and adapt their behaviors and thoughts to produce a desired end state. However, many academically at-risk learners have underlying exceptionalities that may affect the development and use of self-regulation processes. This chapter explores the link between student characteristics, self-regulated learning (SRL) skills, and academic outcomes, and details how innovative interventions support the development of SRL skills. Specifically, this chapter (a) examines the nature of regulatory skills among students with ADHD, SLD, and gifted underachievement and (b) reviews specific interventions that address motivation, metacognition, and strategy training. Future research should continue to explore the intersection among motivational, strategic, and metacognition among neurodiverse populations, but should place particular emphasis on feasibility and usability of reflection-based activities that may result in the most adaptive and healthy forms of strategic adaptation and motivation in students.
Genetics of sleep medication purchases suggests causality from sleep problems to psychiatric traits
Authors: Broberg Martin , Helaakoski Viola , Kiiskinen Tuomo , Paunio Tiina , Jones Samuel E , Mars Nina , Lane Jacqueline M ,   FinnGen, Saxena Richa , Ollila Hanna M
Published: November 2023

Study Objectives

Over 10% of the population in Europe and in the United States use sleep medication to manage sleep problems. Our objective was to elucidate genetic risk factors and clinical correlates that contribute to sleep medication purchase and estimate the comorbid impact of sleep problems.

Methods

We performed epidemiological analysis for psychiatric diagnoses, and genetic association studies of sleep medication purchase in 797 714 individuals from FinnGen Release 7 (N = 311 892) and from the UK Biobank (N = 485 822). Post-association analyses included genetic correlation, co-localization, Mendelian randomization (MR), and polygenic risk estimation.

Results

In a GWAS we identified 27 genetic loci significantly associated with sleep medication, located in genes associated with sleep; AUTS2, CACNA1C, MEIS1, KIRREL3, PAX8, GABRA2, psychiatric traits; CACNA1C, HIST1H2BD, NUDT12. TOPAZ1 and TSNARE1. Co-localization and expression analysis emphasized effects on the KPNA2, GABRA2, and CACNA1C expression in the brain. Sleep medications use was epidemiologically related to psychiatric traits in FinnGen (OR [95% (CI)] = 3.86 [3.78 to 3.94], p < 2 × 10−16), and the association was accentuated by genetic correlation and MR; depression (rg = 0.55 (0.027), p = 2.86 × 10−89, p MR = 4.5 × 10−5), schizophrenia (rg = 0.25 (0.026), p = 2.52 × 10−21, p MR = 2 × 10−4), and anxiety (rg = 0.44 (0.047), p = 2.88 × 10−27, p MR = 8.6 × 10−12).

Conclusions

These results demonstrate the genetics behind sleep problems and the association between sleep problems and psychiatric traits. Our results highlight the scientific basis for sleep management in treating the impact of psychiatric diseases.
Association between sleep traits and biological aging risk: a Mendelian randomization study based on 157 227 cases and 179 332 controls
Authors: Wang Mei , Yang Meiqi , Liang Shuang , Wang Nanxi , Wang Yifan , Sambou Muhammed Lamin , Qin Na , Zhu Meng , Wang Cheng , Jiang Yue , Dai Juncheng
Published: November 2023

Study Objectives

To investigate whether sleep traits are associated with the risk of biological aging using a case–control design with Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses.

Methods

We studied 336 559 participants in the UK Biobank cohort, including 157 227 cases of accelerated biological aging and 179 332 controls. PhenoAge, derived from clinical traits, estimated biological ages, and the discrepancies from chronological age were defined as age accelerations (PhenoAgeAccel). Sleep behaviors were assessed with a standardized questionnaire. propensity score matching matched control participants to age-accelerated participants, and a conditional multivariable logistic regression model estimated odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Causal relationships between sleep traits and PhenoAgeAccel were explored using linear and nonlinear MR methods.

Results

A U-shaped association was found between sleep duration and PhenoAgeAccel risk. Short sleepers had a 7% higher risk (OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.11), while long sleepers had an 18% higher risk (OR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.15 to 1.22), compared to normal sleepers (6–8 hours/day). Evening chronotype was linked to higher PhenoAgeAccel risk than morning chronotype (OR = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.10 to 1.18), while no significant associations were found for insomnia or snoring. Morning chronotype had a protective effect on PhenoAgeAccel risk (OR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.79 to 0.95) per linear MR analysis. Genetically predicted sleep duration showed a U-shaped relationship with PhenoAgeAccel, suggesting a nonlinear association (pnonlinear < 0.001).

Conclusions

The study suggests that improving sleep can slow biological aging, highlighting the importance of optimizing sleep as an intervention to mitigate aging’s adverse effects.
Characteristics of wind-sand transportation along railways in the eastern fringe of the Taklimakan Desert and sand control system
Authors: Dong Hongguang , Cheng Jianjun , Ma Benteng , Li Yupeng , Chen Yuanqing
Published: November 2023

This paper focuses on the Korla-Ruoqiang desert railway line, utilizing ERA5 (ERA5 is the fifth generation of ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) atmospheric reanalysis global climate data) wind data to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the wind energy environment along the line in all aspects, reveals the characteristics of wind-sand transport, and puts forward the countermeasures to prevent and control wind-sand disasters. The results of the study indicate that: (1) the wind-sand along the line mainly occurs in the spring and summer seasons, and the dominant sand-moving directions are easterly (ENE, E and NNE) and northeasterly (NE). (2) The average annual sand-moving wind speed ranges from 5.80 m/s to 7.25 m/s, and the annual frequency of sand-moving ranges from 11.99% to 37.26%. (3) The annual sand drift potential (DP) along the line ranges from 69.20 VU to 607.24 VU, with three types of wind energy environments: low, medium and high. The resultant drift potential (RDP) ranges from 45.52 VU to 547.49 VU, and the wind variability index (RDP/DP) is between 0.54 and 0.90. (4) The average sand transport quantity along the line ranges from 2.92 m³/m/a to 9.09 m³/m/a. Based on these results, we optimize the sand blocking, sand fixing and wind erosion prevention measures for different types of wind-sand environments, establish a scientific and efficient wind-sand protection and control system to solve the wind-sand problems and provide a scientific foundation for the prevention and control of wind-sand disasters along the line.
Bedside Politics and Precarious Care
Authors: Felder Martijn , Schuurmans Jitse , van Pijkeren Nienke , Kuijper Syb , Bal Roland , Wallenburg Iris
Published: November 2023

Health care systems are facing soaring workforce shortages, challenging their ability to secure timely access to good-quality care. In this context, nurses make difficult decisions about which patients to deliver care to, transfer to other providers, or strategically ignore. Yet, we still know little about how nurses engage in situated practices of bedside rationing. Building on the work of Giorgio Agamben and Judith Butler, we have developed a research agenda that homes in on a politics of bedside rationing. We argue that this agenda is essential to better understand the implications of scarcity for nursing and to explore new ways to cope with challenges faced.
Inter-physician Communication in Pediatric Orthopaedics: What do Pediatricians Want to Hear From us?
Authors: Rajendra Ravi , Laporte Shay , Leonardi Claudia , Clement R. Carter
Published: November 2023

Background:

Pediatric orthopaedic surgeons often communicate with general pediatric providers to facilitate patient care, but little data exist on communication preferences. This study investigates pediatric provider preferences regarding when they would like to receive patient updates from pediatric orthopedists, which communication modalities they prefer, and what information they like to receive.

Methods:

We developed a 19-question e-mail survey to evaluate provider preferences on communication modality, timing, frequency, and what data they deem important as it relates to musculoskeletal patient care.

Results:

A total of 111 general pediatric providers in our geographical region completed the survey. Among the providers, 55.9% preferred fax, 40.5% electronic health record inbox message, 19.8% e-mail, 12.6% mail, and 7.2% call/voicemail. The majority (67.9%) preferred information in a traditional note format, whereas 24.8% preferred a summary in paragraph format. Patient diagnosis and treatment plan for shared patients were the most important pieces of information for general pediatric providers to receive from pediatric orthopedists. Of various patient-specific scenarios included in the survey, referrals for osteomyelitis concern, fractures requiring surgery, scoliosis concern, and developmental dysplasia of the hip requiring treatment were considered most important for pediatric orthopedists to send updates. In terms of frequency of communication, over half of the pediatric providers (59.5%) desired updates after the first visit and after care plan changes (50.5%).

Conclusion:

Only 43.5% of pediatric providers feel like current communication with pediatric orthopaedic surgeons is “always” or “often” adequate. Most of our surveyed providers preferred occasional SOAP notes through fax as communication from pediatric orthopaedic surgeons. The communication deemed most important to providers related to referrals where the provider makes the initial diagnosis and then refers the patient to orthopaedics for a condition with potential long-term patient impacts. Finally, providers felt communication was most important after the first pediatric orthopaedic office visit.

Evidence:

Level III, survey based
Low Back Pain: Utilization of Urgent Cares Relative to Emergency Departments
Authors: Dhodapkar Meera M. , Modrak Maxwell , Halperin Scott J. , Gouzoulis Michael J. , Rubio Daniel R. , Grauer Jonathan N.
Published: November 2023

Study design/setting.

Retrospective study.

Objective.

To understand why patients utilize emergency departments (EDs) versus urgent care centers for low back pain (LBP).

Summary of Background Data.

LBP is a common reason for ED visits. In the setting of trauma or recent surgery, the resources of EDs may be needed. However, urgent care centers may be appropriate for other cases.

Materials and Methods.

Adult patients below 65 years of age presenting to the ED or urgent care on the day of diagnosis of LBP were identified from the 2019 PearlDiver M151 administrative database. Exclusion criteria included history of radiculopathy or sciatica, spinal surgery, spinal cord injury, other traumatic, neoplastic, or infectious diagnoses in the 90 days prior, or Medicare insurance. Patient age, sex, Elixhauser comorbidity index, geographic region, insurance, and management strategies were extracted. Factors associated with urgent care relative to ED utilization were assessed using multivariable analysis.

Results.

Of 356,284 LBP patients, ED visits were identified for 345,390 (96.9%) and urgent care visits for 10,894 (3.1%). Factors associated with urgent care use relative to the ED were: geographic region [relative to Midwest; Northeast odds ratio (OR): 5.49, South OR: 1.54, West OR: 1.32], insurance (relative to Medicaid; commercial OR: 4.06), lower Elixhauser comorbidity index (OR: 1.28 per two-point decrease), and higher age (OR: 1.10 per decade), female sex (OR: 1.09), and use of advanced imaging (OR: 0.08) within 1 week (P<0.001 for all).

Conclusions.

Most patients presenting for a first diagnosis of isolated LBP went to the ED relative to urgent care. The greatest drivers of urgent care versus ED utilization for LBP were insurance type and geographic region. Utilization of advanced imaging was higher among ED patients, but rates of surgical intervention were similar between those seen in the ED and urgent care.
Immunotherapy rechallenge of advanced lung adenocarcinoma with cadonilimab (PD-1/CTLA-4 Bi-specific antibody): a case report
Authors: Wang Xuan , Yang , Kunning , Yang Yang , Wang Xinling , Yuan Kede
Published: November 2023

Lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) is a common pulmonary malignant disease with poor prognosis. Immunotherapeutic strategies are the current cornerstone of first-line therapy in driver-negative advanced lung ADC, but there is no treatment standard once the disease has progressed after the first-line application of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Clinically, immunotherapy rechallenges are being attempted. However, it is undeniable that there are still great limitations to rechallenging patients with single- or double-ICI immunotherapy though immunotherapy rechallenges can bring new benefits. Cadonilimab (AK104), a unique bi-specific antibody targeting PD-1/CTLA-4, has similar biological activity but lower toxicity than the combination of CTLA-4 and PD-1 antibodies. Herein, we report a case of advanced lung ADC rechallenged with cadonilimab as a posterior-line therapy. The condition of the patient was maintained at stable disease for 6 months. This might provide a new idea and choice for the challenge of immunotherapy resistance.