bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Flexible thermoelectric films from electrodeposited Bi2Te3 on recycled carbon fibre-Modulation of Seebeck coefficient by electrode pre-treatment
Authors: Jagadish Priyanka R. , Phei Li Lau , Cheah Su Fern Erica , Ca Tou Lim , Shi Pei Ng , Beng Soon Yeoh , Chan Andy , Khalid Mohammad , Chandran Davannendran
Published: July 2019

Recycled carbon fibre (RCF) sheets were electrodeposited with bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3), a state-of-art thermoelectric compound, to produce an n-type thermoelectric module which serves as a precursor to the development of a flexible thermoelectric module. The primary objective of this study is to determine the effects of electrode pre-treatment on the Seebeck coefficient and surface morphology of the RCF electrode. The RCF electrode pre-treatment methods include solvent cleaning via isopropanol, electrochemical polarization using phosphate buffer solution (PBS), and thermal annealing at 350°C with 5% hydrogen in argon gas. The main thermoelectric property, the Seebeck coefficient, which is a measure of the magnitude of an induced thermoelectric voltage due to the thermal gradient across the material, is reported. The surface morphologies and elemental composition of the post-electrodeposited carbon fibres were also studied and reported by Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX). Electrochemical polarization method yielded -13.38 μV/K in Seebeck coefficient compared to -12.23 μV/K of control sample. Solvent cleaned and heat treated samples have lower Seebeck coefficient values of -10.70 μV/K and -10.71 μV/K respectively compared to control sample. SEM images show promising surface properties improvement of the electrodeposited RCF which have been subjected to pre-treatment.
Early warning system on flood hazard in river flow area based on radio frequency
Authors: Finawan A , Tahir R , Eliyani E , Fauziah A , Jannifar A
Published: July 2019

Aceh Province is rich with river flow attractions, and foreign tourists who use the location as a tourist spot for bathing or to enjoy the cool and peaceful natural scenery. These tourism objects often experience sudden flooding in the event of high intensity rain in the upper mountains of the river. Flooding can be caused enormous harm to humans both property losses and loss of life. These problems need to be pursued with a number of steps including measuring the signs of flooding upstream, sending information on signs of flooding from upstream to tourist attractions, and building an Early Warning System (EWS) for flood hazards. This system consists of two parts, namely the flood level detector that was applied in the upstream part of the river and the delivery section of river status information in the form of a siren alarm and an appeal through loudspeakers. Information conveyed to tourists in form by loudspeaker that visitor have to be careful and danger. Flood status was sent to the recipient system in the river flow of tourism area by using radio frequency. The ultrasonic sensors were used to detect the distance of the water surface of the river to the sensor up to 300 cm. The frequency radio can transmit data in the range of 550 m. River status was stated in 3 statuses, namely danger, standby and normal with the distance of the sensor to the water surface of each less than 260 cm, less than 275 cm and more than 275 cm. This system has been tested and can work well as a EWS to avoid properties losses and fatalities. A critical finding about this study is EWS could be adopted by a method using flood level detector and siren alarm.
Effectiveness of die hole on wood pellet density quality improvement
Authors: Ginting Arifin , Mawardi I , Jannifar A , Semaun Hasyim Sariyusda , Razali Anzieb Mawardi
Published: July 2019

The characteristics of wood pellets determine the quality of the formation process determines the characteristics produced. One of the process variables was the hole in the die. The aim of the study was to increase the density value of wood pellets by modifying the hole with a slope angle of 450. The method of this study started from modifying the hole by making taper shapes on the hole of the surface, raw material preparation, mixing, printing, drying, and analysis stages. Whereas the variation in the administration of tapioca adhesive was carried out differently starting from 10%, 15% and 20% tapioca adhesive. The results showed that the modification of the die shape in this case the die hole from a straight shape to a tapered shape and enlarged at the end of the hole greatly influenced the characteristics of wood pellets, especially in the resulting density value. The characteristics of wood pellets produced in this study that water content ranged from 10.49% - 7.13%, the heating value ranged from 17077-17291 J/g and the density ranged from 0.82 g/cm3 - 0.86 g/cm3.
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and the Associated Risk of Elevated Blood Pressure: A Cross-sectional Analysis of 3- to 17-Year-Olds in Germany
Authors: Arnold Christine , Ullrich Charlotte , Wensing Michel , Pfinder Manuela
Published: July 2019

BACKGROUND

As the prevalence of obesity and high blood pressure increases among the population, early action is needed to reduce blood pressure. Certain lifestyles during pregnancy have negative effects resulting in high blood pressure for children and adolescents. Using data from the “German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents” (KiGGS), this study analyzed: (i) the association between low-to-moderate prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and the risk of increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure and (ii) whether associations were modified by socioeconomic status (SES), prenatal smoke exposure (PSE), and body mass index (BMI) of the children and adolescents.

METHODS

We applied multivariate logistic regression analyses and stratified analyses by SES, PSE, and BMI with cross-sectional data from the KiGGS study (N = 14,253) to examine the association between PAE and prehypertension or hypertension in 3- to 17-year-olds.

RESULTS

Of the surveyed children and adolescents, 13.7% had a systolic prehypertension and 11.5% had a diastolic prehypertension. A further 7.5% were identified as having systolic hypertension and 6.0% diastolic hypertension. In the regression analyses, PAE resulted in a decreased risk of systolic prehypertension (odds ratio [OR]: 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.70, 0.99) and diastolic prehypertension (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.68, 0.98). Risk reductions were not significant in surveyed children and adolescents with hypertension. Interactions between PAE and SES, PSE, and offspring BMI were not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Contrary to our initial hypothesis, PAE reduces the risk of prehypertension. Animal studies suggest that vasodilation is induced by nitric oxide in small quantities of PAE.
Factors that affect non-independent mate choice
Authors: Scauzillo Ryan C , Ferkin Michael H
Published: July 2019

Mate choice is generally regarded as an independent event, but a growing body of evidence indicates that it can be influenced by social information provided by conspecifics. This is known as non-independent mate choice. Individuals use information gathered by observing interactions between conspecifics to copy or not copy the mate choice of these conspecifics. In this review, we examine the factors that affect non-independent mate choice and mate choice copying and how it is influenced by social and environmental information that is available to the subject or focal individual. Specifically, we discuss how non-independent mate choice and whether individuals copy the choices of conspecifics can be influenced by factors such as habitat and differences in ecology, mating system and parental care. We focus on the social information provided to the focal animal, the model and the audience. Nearly all studies of non-independent mate choice and mate copying have focused on individuals in species that use visual cues as the source of social information. Nevertheless, we highlight studies that indicate that individuals in some species may use chemical cues and signals as sources of social information that may affect non-independent mate choice and mate copying.
Iron and fecundity among Tsimane’ women of Bolivia
Authors: Miller Elizabeth M , Khalil Maie
Published: July 2019

Background and objectives

Iron is critical for women’s reproduction, and iron-deficiency anemia is a global health problem for mothers. While public health programs have aimed to correct iron deficiency in reproductive-aged women with supplementation, a small group of studies have shown that too much iron also has negative effects on birth outcomes. We hypothesize that women’s iron levels evolved within a narrow optimum, and predict that hemoglobin (Hb) levels would be associated with women’s fecundity.

Methodology

We used the publicly available, longitudinal Tsimane’ Amazonian Panel Study to test the association between -Hb levels and hazard of having a next birth (a measure of fecundity) among 116 parous, reproductive-aged Tsimane’ women of Bolivia. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to model Hb level and other predictors against the event of next birth across the observation period, which began at each woman’s previous birth.

Results

The higher the Hb level, the lower the hazard of a woman giving birth within the study observation period (hazard ratio=0.82, P = 0.03). However, there was no evidence that low Hb reduced women’s fecundity.

Conclusions and implications

These results demonstrate that high Hb influences women’s fecundity. These results supports the growing body of literature showing that iron metabolism is critical for understanding the evolution of women’s reproduction. More work is needed to determine the evolved optimal range of iron levels for reproductive-aged women.

Lay summary

Lower chance of pregnancy among Tsimane’ women with high Hb levels, suggesting evolved optimal Hb levels in women.
Large diversity in Danish health literacy profiles: perspectives for care of long-term illness and multimorbidity
Authors: Aaby Anna , Beauchamp Alison , O’Hara Jonathan , Maindal Helle T
Published: July 2019

Background

Health literacy is an important, modifiable, social determinant of health. This study aims to explore health literacy challenges of people with long-term illness or multimorbidity and provide detailed profiles revealing health literacy strengths and weaknesses within a Danish population.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study among Danish individuals (n = 490), health literacy was assessed using the nine-scale Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Using multiple logistic regression and hierarchical cluster analysis, we estimated the association between HLQ scale scores and the likelihood of long-term illness and multimorbidity, and identified socio-demographic and health characteristics related to profiles of health literacy strengths and weaknesses.

Results

An increase in ‘actively managing my health’ and ‘social support for health’ decreased the odds of having a long-term illness [odds ratio, OR 0.53 (0.31–0.9); OR 0.43 (0.24–0.74)] and multimorbidity [OR 0.51 (0.26–0.98); OR 0.33 (0.17–0.62)], respectively. Conversely, an increase in ‘healthcare provider support’ increased the odds of having long-term illness [OR 2.97 (1.78–5.08)] and multimorbidity [OR 2.94 (1.53–5.87)], respectively. Five profiles were identified based on the cluster analysis. Each cluster was characterized by specific health characteristics, e.g. Cluster A by better health status (χ2 = 39.976 (4), P < 0.001) and well-being (χ2 = 28.832 (4), P < 0.001) and Cluster D by poor health status (χ2 = 39.976 (4), P < 0.001) and increased likelihood of long-term illness (χ2 = 18.641 (4), P < 0.001).

Conclusions

The association of health literacy with long-term illness and multimorbidity in combination with the health literacy profiling based on cluster analysis provides a comprehensive needs assessment and a promising starting point for the development of health literacy responsive interventions.
Pathogen suppression by microbial volatile organic compounds in soils
Authors: de Boer Wietse , Li Xiaogang , Meisner Annelein , Garbeva Paolina
Published: July 2019

There is increasing evidence that microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) play an important role in interactions between microbes in soils. In this minireview, we zoom in on the possible role of mVOCs in the suppression of plant-pathogenic soil fungi. In particular, we have screened the literature to see what the actual evidence is that mVOCs in soil atmospheres can contribute to pathogen suppression. Furthermore, we discuss biotic and abiotic factors that influence the production of suppressive mVOCs in soils. Since microbes producing mVOCs in soils are part of microbial communities, community ecological aspects such as diversity and assembly play an important role in the composition of produced mVOC blends. These aspects have not received much attention so far. In addition, the fluctuating abiotic conditions in soils, such as changing moisture contents, influence mVOC production and activity. The biotic and abiotic complexity of the soil environment hampers the extrapolation of the production and suppressing activity of mVOCs by microbial isolates on artificial growth media. Yet, several pathogen suppressive mVOCs produced by pure cultures do also occur in soil atmospheres. Therefore, an integration of lab and field studies on the production of mVOCs is needed to understand and predict the composition and dynamics of mVOCs in soil atmospheres. This knowledge, together with the knowledge of the chemistry and physical behaviour of mVOCs in soils, forms the basis for the development of sustainable management strategies to enhance the natural control of soil-borne pathogens with mVOCs. Possibilities for the mVOC-based control of soil-borne pathogens are discussed.
Understanding the Cause of Weight Gain in Patients With IBD on Anti-TNF Medications
Authors: Winter Rachel W , Friedman Sonia
Published: July 2019

This article investigates the factors that are associated with weight gain in patients on anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) medications. What remains unanswered is whether remission of disease activity, the anti-TNF medications themselves, or both are responsible for abnormal weight gain in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
Plankton community responses to pulsed upwelling events in the southern Taiwan Strait
Authors: Zhong Yanping , Hu Jun , Laws Edward A , Liu Xin , Chen Jixin , Huang Bangqin
Published: July 2019

We used field observations (mapping and time-series observations) and satellite data to investigate the changes of environmental factors and plankton community structure during four pulsed upwelling events in the southern Taiwan Strait (STWS) during August 2004 and July 2005. Based on the surface temperature, salinity, and concentrations of nitrate, oxygen, and chlorophyll a (Chl a), we identified three stages of upwelling: recent, mature, and aged upwelled water. Diatoms and Synechococcus dominated during the first two and third stages of the upwelling, respectively. In recently upwelled water, phytoplankton grew rapidly, and nutrient concentrations were relatively high. Diatoms accounted for >69% of the total Chl a in recently upwelled and mature water. As the upwelled water aged, the phytoplankton community shifted to coexistence of diatoms and Synechococcus. The microzooplankton community was dominated by aloricate ciliates and tintinnids during upwelling, but the abundance of heterotrophic dinoflagellates increased as the upwelled water matured. Microzooplankton grazing reached a maximum during the mature stage and approximately balanced phytoplankton growth in aged, upwelled water. Overall, our study revealed rapid changes in the plankton community during the different stages of upwelling that reflected the complex and dynamic nature of upwelling systems.
The Supervision (or Not) of the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention
Authors: Sharpe Marina
Published: July 2019

This article covers the supervision of the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (1969 Convention). It begins by defining treaty supervision and describing key understandings of it in the international refugee law literature. These are then harnessed to create a model of supervision (the Supervisory Model) to frame the ensuing discussion. How the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees is supervised is presented within this Supervisory Model, by way of background. The article then moves on to its principal focus, beginning with an overview of the calls for, and claims regarding, supervision of the 1969 Convention. The need for supervision is then established based on two principal elements. First, the 1969 Convention’s incomplete implementation in States parties to the treaty, in both refugee status determination and in relation to rights guaranteed by the instrument. Secondly, existing bodies with quasi-supervisory or supervisory mandates – the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – are not effectively redressing such implementation deficiencies. With the need for supervision established, a new supervisory mechanism is proposed and the procedural options to create it are outlined.
Longitudinal Change of Body Mass Index Is Associated With Alanine Aminotransferase Elevation After Complete Viral Suppression in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients
Authors: Wang Kaifeng , Lin Weiyin , Kuang Zhe , Fan Rong , Liang Xieer , Peng Jie , Guo Yabing , Chen Jinjun , Liu Zhihong , Hu Xiaoyun , Wu Yaobo , Shen Sheng , Sun Jian , Hou Jinlin
Published: July 2019

Background

Little is known about cause and intervention for alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation after complete viral suppression in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).

Methods

In this prospective cohort study, patients with CHB who were treated with nucleos(t)ide analogs and maintained undetectable levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) for at least 6 months were enrolled. Patients were followed up at 6-month intervals, and anthropometric, biochemical, and virological assessments were performed.

Results

Of 1965 patients with median follow-up of 18.36 months, one third of patients experienced ALT elevation. Baseline high body mass index ([BMI] defined as ≥25 kg/m2), younger age, and liver cirrhosis independently increased the risk of longitudinal ALT elevation. At the end of follow-up, 89 (4.8%) patients reverted to low BMI, and 92 (5.0%) developed to high BMI. Compared with persistent high BMI, reversion to low BMI reduced the risk of ALT elevation (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.19–0.77); compared with persistent low BMI, onset of high BMI increased the risk of ALT elevation (aOR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.02–3.11).

Conclusions

High BMI is an independent predictor for ALT elevation after complete HBV DNA suppression. Improvement of BMI may have a beneficial effect on ALT normalization and even long-term outcomes.
Evaluating the impact of a hospital scale-up phase of a quality improvement intervention in Ghana on mortality for children under five
Authors: Singh Kavita , Speizer Ilene , Barker Pierre M , Agyeman-Duah Josephine Nana Afrakoma , Agula Justina , Akpakli Jonas Kofi , Akparibo Salomey , Dasoberi Ireneous N , Kanyoke Ernest , Steenwijk Johanna Hermina , Yabang Elma , Twum-Danso Nana A Y , Sodzi-Tettey Sodzi
Published: July 2019

Objective

To evaluate the scale-up phase of a national quality improvement initiative across hospitals in Southern Ghana.

Design

This evaluation used a comparison of pre- and post-intervention means to assess changes in outcomes over time. Multivariable interrupted time series analyses were performed to determine whether change categories (interventions) tested were associated with improvements in the outcomes.

Setting

Hospitals in Southern Ghana

Participants

The data sources were monthly outcome data from intervention hospitals along with program records.

Intervention

The project used a quality improvement approach whereby process failures were identified by health staff and process changes were implemented in hospitals and their corresponding communities. The three change categories were: timely care-seeking, prompt provision of care and adherence to protocols.

Main outcome measures

Facility-level neonatal mortality, facility-level postneonatal infant mortality and facility-level postneonatal under-five mortality.

Results

There were significant improvements for two outcomes from the pre-intervention to the post-intervention phase. Postneonatal infant mortality dropped from 44.3 to 21.1 postneonatal infant deaths per 1000 admissions, while postneonatal under-five mortality fell from 23.1 to 11.8 postneonatal under-five deaths per 1000 admissions. The multivariable interrupted time series analysis indicated that over the long-term the prompt provision of care change category was significantly associated with reduced postneonatal under five mortality (β = −0.0024, 95% CI −0.0051, 0.0003, P < 0.10).

Conclusions

The reduced postneonatal under-five mortality achieved in this project gives support to the promotion of quality improvement as a means to achieve health impacts at scale.
Developing a university-accredited Lean Six Sigma curriculum to overcome system blindness
Authors: McNamara Martin , Teeling SeÁn Paul
Published: July 2019

This paper discusses the development of a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) postgraduate education programme that has enabled the delivery of over 90 quality improvement projects led by its graduates across 50 healthcare organizations in Ireland. A key success factor in embedding and sustaining LSS in these organizations was the accreditation by a major, national, research-intensive university of the LSS education programme from which the students graduated. To ensure the programme’s approval by the university it was necessary to contextualize LSS within established conceptual frameworks. This helped counter misconceptions that what was proposed was technical training in tools and techniques to provide quick fixes for routine healthcare process issues. Two related conceptual frameworks were selected to frame the curriculum: Senge’s Fifth Discipline and Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge. This paper focuses on how a central element of both frameworks, systems thinking or appreciation for a system, was enacted in the curriculum using Oshry’s work on system blindness. Showing how systems thinking was conceptualized in the curriculum established the legitimacy and credibility of the programme within academia. This led to the approval of the first university-accredited graduate programme in LSS for healthcare in Ireland.
Ecomorphology of Neotropical Electric Fishes: An Integrative Approach to Testing the Relationships between Form, Function, and Trophic Ecology
Authors: Evans K M , Kim L Y , Schubert B A , Albert J S
Published: July 2019

Synopsis

The relationship between form and function is thought to play an integral role in structuring broad-scale patterns of morphological evolution and resource utilization. In ecomorphological studies, mechanical performance is widely understood to constrain the evolution of form and function. However, the relationship between form, function, and resource utilization is less clear. Additionally, seasonal fluctuations in resource availability may further complicate patterns of resource use. How organisms cope with these complexities, and the effect of these factors on broadscale patterns of morphological evolution is also poorly understood. Here we use three-dimensional geometric morphometrics, biomechanics, stable isotope analysis, and gut-content analysis to study trophic evolution in a clade of riverine-adapted electric fishes from a region with high seasonal variability; the Amazon River. We find significant and phylogenetically structured relationships among measures of trophic ecology and skull shape. We also recover a significant relationship between the mechanical advantage of the mandible and trophic position, where species feeding at higher trophic levels have narrower jaws with lower mechanical advantages, and species feeding at lower trophic levels have deeper jaws with higher mechanical advantages. Our results indicate that selection is driving the evolution of mandible shape and performance toward specialization on different trophic ecologies.
Administration of Tumescence in Pediatric Burn Patients Causes Significant Hypertension
Authors: Weis Holly B , Meinhardt Kyle E , Minhajuddin Abu , Viroslav Hannah , Colletti Meaghan , Weis Joshua J , Taveras Luis R , Madni Tarik D , Imran Jonathan B , Clark Audra T , Pickett Maryanne L , Phelan Herb A , Ambardekar Aditee P
Published: July 2019

The effects of injecting tumescence containing phenylephrine in pediatric burn patients are unknown, but anecdotally our clinicians note a high incidence of hypertension requiring treatment. This study sought to determine whether tumescence with phenylephrine was associated with hypertension requiring treatment in our pediatric burn patients. This was a retrospective cohort study of pediatric burn patients who underwent tangential excision with split-thickness autografting, excision alone, or autografting alone from 2013 to 2017. Records were reviewed for hypertensive episodes, defined as ≥2 consecutive blood pressure readings that were >2 SD above normal. Published intraoperative age- and sex-adjusted standards were used to define reference values. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used when appropriate. In total, 258 operations were evaluated. Mean patient age was 7.6 ± 5.2 years, and 64.7% were male. Patients were predominately white (69.8%). Overall, there was a 62.8% incidence of hypertension. On univariate logistic regression analysis, duration of operation, estimated blood loss, treated TBSA, and weight-adjusted volume of tumescence were significant predictors of intraoperative hypertension (P < .01). On multivariate analysis, weight-adjusted volume of tumescence alone was significantly associated with the presence of hypertension with an odds ratio of 2.0 (95% confidence interval: 1.33–3.04). Of the 162 operations which exhibited at least one episode of significant hypertension, 128 cases (79%) were treated. Intraoperative administration of phenylephrine-containing tumescence in pediatric burn patients is associated with clinically significant hypertension requiring treatment. This practice should be conducted with caution in pediatric burn operations until its clinical implications are defined.
Mechanisms by Which Obesity Impacts Survival from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Authors: Orgel Etan , Sea Jessica L , Mittelman Steven D
Published: July 2019

The prevalence of obesity has steadily risen over the past decades, even doubling in more than 70 countries. High levels of body fat (adiposity) and obesity are associated with endocrine and hormonal dysregulation, cardiovascular compromise, hepatic dysfunction, pancreatitis, changes in drug metabolism and clearance, inflammation, and metabolic stress. It is thus unsurprising that obesity can affect the development of and survival from a wide variety of malignancies. This review focuses on acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common malignancy in children, to explore the multiple mechanisms connecting acute lymphoblastic leukemia, obesity, and adipocytes, and the implications for leukemia therapy.
Transnational Public Policy as an International Practice in Investment Arbitration
Authors: Marcoux Jean-Michel
Published: July 2019

International investment arbitration tribunals have used the doctrine of transnational public policy to prevent claimants whose investments are tainted with illegality from obtaining redress. Whereas tribunals generally have the authority to apply transnational public policy when deciding a claim, they have often assumed rather than demonstrated the obligation for foreign investors to comply with the doctrine. This article proposes an interdisciplinary account that draws upon ‘international practices’ in International Relations theory to understand the normative pull toward this obligation. It does so by shedding light on tribunals’ general lack of consideration for a proper legal basis to impose an obligation on foreign investors to comply with transnational public policy. It then suggests that the normativity of the doctrine primarily rests on a practice that is reproduced and reinforced by tribunals themselves. Understanding transnational public policy as an international practice ultimately illustrates the role of tribunals to reform international investment law.
The Role of the United Nations in Promoting Transparency in the International Treaty Framework
Authors: Agar Jonathan , Mobech Christel
Published: July 2019

This chapter explores the role played by the United Nations in promoting transparency in the international treaty framework, as mandated under Article 102 of the Charter on the registration and publication of treaties. Beginning with an exploration of the historical origins of Article 102, an overview is provided of the role played by the different organs of the Organization in the registration and publication process. Drawing on the thousands of entries in the UN electronic treaty database, as well as the practice of the Secretariat of the United Nations in exercising its functions under Article 102, the chapter further explores some key trends in global treaty-making activity. Finally, consideration is given to the challenges faced by the Organization in realizing the aims of Article 102 and how the registration and publication process could be reinvigorated through action by member states in the General Assembly.
Comparative Environmental Law
Authors: Viñuales Jorge E.
Published: July 2019

This volume examines the building blocks of environmental law across different jurisdictions. More specifically, it provides a cartography of environmental law, with a focus on its underlying logic, main arrangements and their variations, and how it is embedded within the broader legal arrangements developed to tackle other questions. In this context, this preliminary chapter provides an overview of the comparative method as it applies to the overall research project leading to the present volume. It discusses descriptive and evolutionary approaches, the conceptual approach, the functionalist approach, the factual approach, legal formants, the contextualist approach, and legal transplants. It then considers a range of methodologies proposed by comparative law experts, including the bottom-up functionalism and top-down functionalism, before explaining the methodology used for the organization of this book. The chapter concludes by summarizing a tentative structure of comparative environmental law as a single overall technology.
People’s Republic of China
Authors: Wang Xi
Published: July 2019

This chapter examines the environmental law system of the People’s Republic of China. It first provides an overview of the allocation of powers within the Chinese system as regards environmental protection, taking into account the relevant constitutional provisions for environmental governance. In particular, it discusses China’s political system and powers relating to environmental legislation, law enforcement inspection, oversight of government work, review and approval of governmental budgets for environmental protection, and appointment and dismissal of governmental officials involved in environmental protection. The chapter goes on to consider the structure and substance of China’s environmental law before turning to the implementation of the environmental law framework, placing emphasis on the role of administrative institutions and judicial organization relating to environmental protection. Finally, it analyses the process of environmental governance in China by the IPPEP Model, a conceptual model that describes the Interactions of Parties in Process of Environmental Protection (IPPEP).
Environmental Law and Private Law
Authors: Howarth David
Published: July 2019

This chapter examines the relationship between environmental law and private law. It first explains what private law is before discussing two aspects of the relationship between environmental law and private law: private law as environmental law and environmental law in private law. The chapter shows how private law can act as environmental law in three distinct ways: it can facilitate agreements protective of the environment, grant rights to prevent or to demand compensation for environmental harm, and refuse to facilitate agreements that harm the environment. Actionable damage, conditions of liability, causation, remedies, particular problems of climate change litigation, and refusal to enforce environmentally damaging agreements are also discussed. The chapter concludes with an analysis of two dimensions of environmental law in private law: environmental crimes as the basis of private law actions and environmental regulatory compliance as a defence in private law actions.
The discovery of weak coherent pulsations in the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 1313 X-2
Authors: Sathyaprakash R , Roberts T P , Walton D J , Fuerst F , Bachetti M , Pinto C , Alston W N , Earnshaw H P , Fabian A C , Middleton M J , Soria R
Published: July 2019

We report the detection of weak pulsations from the archetypal ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 1313 X-2. Acceleration searches reveal sinusoidal pulsations in segments of two out of six new deep observations of this object, with a period of ∼1.5 s and a pulsed fraction of ${\sim } 5{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. We use Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate that the individual detections are unlikely to originate in false Poisson noise detections given their very close frequencies; their strong similarity to other pulsations detected from ULXs also argues they are real. The presence of a large bubble nebula surrounding NGC 1313 X-2 implies an age of order 1 Myr for the accreting phase of the ULX, which implies that the neutron star’s (NS) magnetic field has not been suppressed over time by accreted material, nor has the NS collapsed into a black hole, despite an average energy output into the nebula two orders of magnitude above Eddington. This argues that most of the accreted material has been expelled over the lifetime of the ULX, favouring physical models including strong winds and/or jets for NS ULXs.
Do evolved stars in the LMC show dual dust chemistry?
Authors: Marini E , Dell’Agli F , García-Hernández D A , Groenewegen M A T , Puccetti S , Ventura P , Villaver E
Published: July 2019

We study a group of evolved M-stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, characterized by a peculiar spectral energy distribution. While the 9.7 $\mu$m feature arises from silicate particles, the whole infrared data seem to suggest the presence of an additional featureless dust species. We propose that the circumstellar envelopes of these sources are characterized by a dual dust chemistry, with an internal region, harbouring carbonaceous particles, and an external zone, populated by silicate, iron, and alumina dust grains. Based on the comparison with results from stellar modelling that describe the dust formation process, we deduce that these stars descend from low-mass (M < 2 M⊙) objects, formed 1–4 Gyr ago, currently evolving either in the post-AGB phase or through an after-pulse phase, when the shell CNO nuclear activity is temporarily extinguished. Possible observations able to confirm or disregard the present hypothesis are discussed.
Habits of Mind as a Framework for Assessment in Music Education
Authors: Hogan Jillian , Winner Ellen
Published: July 2019

Music making requires many kinds of habits of mind—broad thinking dispositions potentially useful outside of the music room. Teaching for habits of mind is prevalent in both general and other areas of arts education. This chapter reports a preliminary analysis of the habits of mind that were systematically observed and thematically coded in twenty-four rehearsals of six public high school music ensembles: band, choir, and orchestra. Preliminary results reveal evidence of eight habits of mind being taught: engage and persist, evaluate, express, imagine, listen, notice, participate in community, and set goals and be prepared. However, two habits of mind that the researchers expected to find taught were not observed: appreciate ambiguity and use creativity. These two nonobserved habits are ones that arts advocates and theorists assume are central to arts education. The chapter discusses how authentic assessment of habits of mind in the music classroom may require novel methods, including the development of classroom environments that foster additional levels of student agency.
What Is Cultural Fit?
Authors: Mobasseri Sanaz , Goldberg Amir , Srivastava Sameer B.
Published: July 2019

How people fit into social groups is a core topic of investigation across multiple sociological subfields, including education, immigration, and organizations. In this chapter, we synthesize findings from these literatures to develop an overarching framework for conceptualizing and measuring the level of cultural fit and the dynamics of enculturation between individuals and social groups. We distinguish between the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of fitting in, which previous work has tended to either examine in isolation or to conflate. Reviewing the literature through this lens enables us to identify the strengths and limitations of unitary—that is, primarily cognitive or primarily behavioral—approaches to studying cultural fit. In contrast, we develop a theoretical framework that integrates the two perspectives and highlights the value of considering their interplay over time. We then identify promising theoretical pathways that can link the two dimensions of cultural fit. We conclude by discussing the implications of pursuing these conceptual routes for research methods and provide some illustrative examples of such work.
Cultural Blind Spots and Blind Fields
Authors: Friedman Asia
Published: July 2019

This chapter elaborates the concept of cultural blind spots, which are social patterns of inattention. Both sensory and cognitive forms of selective attention are foundational mechanisms of the social construction process. Despite this, and despite the presence of the unattended in social life as a consistent but often implicit theme in social theory, cultural blind spots have never previously been explicitly theorized. Nonetheless, there is a rich conceptual foundation for a social theory of blind spots in research establishing thinking and perceiving as sociocultural processes, as well as in studies of everyday life and the taken for granted. A synthesis of this theoretical background suggests two different cognitive processes that create blind spots—focusing and habituation—each with a slightly different structure of attention and relationship to power, normativity, and the unmarked. Despite these differences, both types of blind spots provide insight into social construction as a process of excluding information, and both suggest analytic strategies for revealing the previously inattended. Key strategies discussed include adopting mindsets conducive to deautomatization and defamiliarization and analytically creating attentional shifts through reversing, marking the unmarked, filter analysis, and multisensory research.
Cognition and Social Meaning in Economic Sociology
Authors: Bandelj Nina , Zoeller Christoffer J. P.
Published: July 2019

This chapter reviews the literature on cognition and social meaning in economic sociology, with special attention to the case of money. The first part discusses subfields related to economic sociology that have carved space for attention to the role of cognitive processes, or cognitive embeddedness, including the institutional logics, conceptions of control, and classification/categorization perspectives. The second part takes up one central economic object, money, to compare and contrast the behavioral economics perspective on mental accounting with the research on the social meaning of money and relational work, which emphasizes how money’s multiple meanings and forms influence the negotiation of social-economic relations.
Getting a Foot in the Door
Authors: Peña-Alves Stephanie
Published: July 2019

This chapter explores sociocultural frames of metaphor in the case of door metaphors to highlight the cognitive sociology of access. Bridging and building on insights in cognitive linguistics and cognitive sociology, it contends that metaphorical projection involves generic sociomental processes. To illustrate this theoretical claim, the chapter analyzes how social structures of relevance and markedness in the built environment pattern the conceptual structures of door metaphors. It also analyzes individuals’ strategic use of door metaphors to shape metaphorical politics of access in the abstract. Attempting to broaden both the cognitive sociology of metaphor and the sociology of access, it concludes with a discussion of the promise of a distinctly cognitive sociology of access.
Reasoned Persuasion
Authors: Grofman Bernard
Published: July 2019

There are many aspects to understanding the effects of persuasion, including the role of factors such as emotions, biases in cognitive processing, and context effects. This chapter, however, is limited to what it labels as “reasoned persuasion,” which we may think of as the “reasoned response” half of dual-process theories of persuasion. The chapter examines the role of beliefs and values primarily from a Bayesian perspective. It presents theoretical expectations derived from this perspective in terms of twenty-five propositions, with particular attention to the updating of beliefs based on new information received and on how persuasion ultimately affects behavior. Because these propositions follow logically from the key idea that choices are primarily, but not exclusively, a function of beliefs and values, these propositions have been labeled as “laws.”
Persuasion and Issue Voting
Authors: Grofman Bernard
Published: July 2019

This article examines neo-Downsian models of party competition and voter choice, with a special emphasis on Riker’s notion of heresthetics. It argues that platform location is only one way in which parties or candidates compete to motivate voters to support them, with the neo-Downsian literature having moved well beyond the “classic comic book” version of Downs as simply predicting convergence to the views of the median voter when elections involve two-party contests held under plurality rules in single seat constituencies. The article considers a variety of models, including ones that emphasize the importance of changes in the location of the status quo, models with assimilation and contrast effects, models that look at differential issue salience and persuasion about the importance weights to be attached to different issue dimensions, and models that involve the introduction of new dimensions of political competition.
The Energy Politics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Authors: Woertz Eckart
Published: July 2019

Oil and gas play a paramount role in economic development, the domestic social contract, and the international relations of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This chapter analyzes the historic development of the oil, gas, and refining sectors in various MENA countries and the rising domestic energy consumption and other factors behind current transitions toward renewables and nuclear energy. Economic diversification has become an urgent development priority to provide jobs for a youthful population. This entails a balancing act between the public sector and business communities. Renewables, nuclear energy, and natural gas can help to free oil for export that is currently consumed domestically, but on their own they do not provide comparable rent income to the region’s rentier states. Energy transitions are not only a technical and economic matter, but also have social and political implications.
Reactions, Reflections, and Renewal
Authors: Crump Stephen
Published: July 2019

This chapter draws together the arguments, ideas, concepts, recommendations, case studies, and empirical data provided in the preceding chapters built on and around the conceptual framework set up in the first two chapters. The chapter does not attempt to replicate or repeat the many and varied points of view expressed in the detailed and informative work of the author contributions but rather to be summative, reflective, and forward-looking. This handbook has observed that modern times are hard times, changing times, where enactments in higher education have never been more crucial, nor more closely watched. The handbook also argues for critical thinking, for diversity, for social and economic progress as cornerstones of innovation and renewal, thus survival, of the vibrant but troubled ecosystem universities have become. In looking for solutions, reflecting back to when the common and public good was also a cornerstone of why universities existed, helps re-justify their elevated place in all social systems.
Paul and Scripture
Authors: Watson Francis
Published: July 2019

This essay gives a programmatic account of Paul’s engagement with scripture, focusing especially on Paul’s most frequently cited source texts: Genesis and Psalms. Paul’s engagement with scripture, it is argued, is shaped by three main factors. First, he views himself not primarily as an interpreter of scripture but as a proclaimer of the gospel. Second, Paul’s own Pharisaic past makes him acutely aware that most of his fellow Jews read the same texts he does, and yet do not share his faith in Jesus as the crucified and risen Messiah. Third, Paul’s scriptural interpretation occurs in the context of letters addressed to communities he has founded. Paul does not engage with scripture to the same extent in all his letters. It would be a mistake to characterize him as, always and in every respect, a ‘biblical theologian’. Yet it would be a greater mistake to underestimate the value and significance he attributes to scripture.
Paternal Rights, Child Welfare and the Law in Nineteenth-Century Britain and Ireland
Authors: Griffin Ben
Published: July 2019

This article problematizes the persistence of sexual inequality in Britain, by examining the intellectual work performed by judges as they sought to preserve men's paternal rights from new challenges in the nineteenth century. One set of challenges included changing understandings of childhood and male domestic authority, another derived from the peculiarities of British state formation. The article argues that the gender order was repeatedly unsettled by two processes of state formation: first, the efforts of reformers to rationalize the multiplicity of jurisdictions that characterized the ancien régime; second, the process of bringing within one polity the separate bodies of law found in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Judicial efforts to reconfigure paternal rights in the face of these challenges produced a more severely patriarchal model of paternal rights than had existed before, but this proved short-lived. At the end of the nineteenth century, conflicts within the legal elite unravelled this patriarchal settlement in favour of a new model, which endured until the 1970s. This body of law was still profoundly inegalitarian, but used a more expansive definition of child welfare to place new limits on paternal power. Exploring this story reveals the extent to which the fragmentation of the juridical state created a double standard between rich and poor, with the rights of rich fathers enjoying much greater legal protection than those of the poor. The article argues that we should not see the law as a stable patriarchal monolith but as a gendered system that was continuously being reconstructed at the point of use by actors with considerable freedom of manoeuvre. Any history of the law must therefore also be a history of judicial mentalities.