bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optical and electrical properties of Cu-based all oxide semi-transparent photodetector
Authors: Kim Hong-Sik , Patel Malkeshkumar , Yadav Pankaj , Kim Joondong , Sohn Ahrum , Kim Dong-Wook
Published: September 2016

Zero-bias operating Cu oxide-based photodetector was achieved by using large-scale available sputtering method. Cu oxide (Cu2O or CuO) was used as p-type transparent layer to form a heterojunction by contacting n-type ZnO layer. All metal-oxide materials were employed to realize transparent device at room temperature and showed a high transparency (>75% at 600 nm) with excellent photoresponses. The structural, morphological, optical, and electrical properties of Cu oxides of CuO and Cu2O are evaluated in depth by UV-visible spectrometer, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy, and Hall measurements. We may suggest a route of high-functional Cu oxide-based photoelectric devices for the applications in flexible and transparent electronics.
Thiophene dendrimer-based low donor content solar cells
Authors: Stoltzfus Dani M. , Ma Chang-Qi , Nagiri Ravi C. R. , Clulow Andrew J. , Bäuerle Peter , Burn Paul L. , Gentle Ian R. , Meredith Paul
Published: September 2016

Low donor content solar cells containing polymeric and non-polymeric donors blended with fullerenes have been reported to give rise to efficient devices. In this letter, we report that a dendrimeric donor can also be used in solution-processed low donor content devices when blended with a fullerene. A third generation dendrimer containing 42 thiophene units (42T) was found to give power conversion efficiencies of up to 3.5% when blended with PC70BM in optimized devices. The best efficiency was measured with 10 mole percent (mol. %) of 42T in PC70BM and X-ray reflectometry showed that the blends were uniform. Importantly, while 42T comprised 10 mol. % of the film, it made up 31% of the film by volume. Finally, it was found that solvent annealing was required to achieve the largest open circuit voltage and highest device efficiencies.
Research Update: Overview of progress about efficiency and stability on perovskite solar cells
Authors: Ito Seigo
Published: September 2016

Due to the high conversion efficiency, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) solar cells are investigated for new practical energy resources for our future society. However, the perovskite solar cells have been quite unstable devices. In this manuscript, the history of perovskite solar cells is introduced, and then, the efforts to improve and understand the stability issue of perovskite solar cells are summarized.
Coulomb explosion of “hot spot”
Authors: Oreshkin V. I. , Oreshkin E. V. , Chaikovsky S. A. , Artyomov A. P.
Published: September 2016

The study presented in this paper has shown that the generation of hard x rays and high-energy ions, which are detected in pinch implosion experiments, may be associated with the Coulomb explosion of the hot spot that is formed due to the outflow of the material from the pinch cross point. During the process of material outflow, the temperature of the hot spot plasma increases, and conditions arise for the plasma electrons to become continuously accelerated. The runaway of electrons from the hot spot region results in the buildup of positive space charge in this region followed by a Coulomb explosion. The conditions for the hot spot plasma electrons to become continuously accelerated have been revealed, and the estimates have been obtained for the kinetic energy of the ions generated by the Coulomb explosion.
Turbulent kinetic energy production and flow structures in compressible homogeneous shear flow
Authors: Ma Zongqiang , Xiao Zuoli
Published: September 2016

The production of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and flow structures in compressible homogeneous turbulent shear flow (HTSF) are investigated by using direct numerical simulation. A theoretical analysis suggests that the vertical turbulent transport process should be responsible for the production of TKE in HTSF. It is manifested based on a conditional average method that the pure TKE production becomes increasingly larger in strain regions than in vortex regions of the flow. The velocity-derivative correlation in the shear plane is employed to identify the streaky structures in HTSF, which also tend to occur predominantly in strain regions of turbulence. Localized analyses of conditional averages reveal that the streaky structures in compressible HTSF are closely related to the negative productions of TKE. A comparative study implies that flow compressibility has a considerable effect on the spatial distributions and patterns of the strain- and vortex-dominated fields, which in turn cause the discrepancies in distribution of the TKE production and streaky structures between incompressible and compressible HTSFs.
Ultrasensitive optical microfiber coupler based sensors operating near the turning point of effective group index difference
Authors: Li Kaiwei , Zhang Ting , Liu Guigen , Zhang Nan , Zhang Mengying , Wei Lei
Published: September 2016

We propose and study an optical microfiber coupler (OMC) sensor working near the turning point of effective group index difference between the even supermode and odd supermode to achieve high refractive index (RI) sensitivity. Theoretical calculations reveal that infinite sensitivity can be obtained when the measured RI is close to the turning point value. This diameter-dependent turning point corresponds to the condition that the effective group index difference equals zero. To validate our proposed sensing mechanism, we experimentally demonstrate an ultrahigh sensitivity of 39541.7 nm/RIU at a low ambient RI of 1.3334 based on an OMC with the diameter of 1.4 μm. An even higher sensitivity can be achieved by carrying out the measurements at RI closer to the turning point. The resulting ultrasensitive RI sensing platform offers a substantial impact on a variety of applications from high performance trace analyte detection to small molecule sensing.
Research Update: Behind the high efficiency of hybrid perovskite solar cells
Authors: Fakharuddin Azhar , De Rossi Francesca , Watson Trystan M. , Schmidt-Mende Lukas , Jose Rajan
Published: September 2016

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) marked tremendous progress in a short period of time and offer bright hopes for cheap solar electricity. Despite high power conversion efficiency >20%, its poor operational stability as well as involvement of toxic, volatile, and less-abundant materials hinders its practical deployment. The fact that degradation and toxicity are typically observed in the most successful perovskite involving organic cation and toxic lead, i.e., CH3NH3PbX3, requires a deep understanding of their role in photovoltaic performance in order to envisage if a non-toxic, stable yet highly efficient device is feasible. Towards this, we first provide an overview of the basic chemistry and physics of halide perovskites and its correlation with its extraordinary properties such as crystal structure, bandgap, ferroelectricity, and electronic transport. We then discuss device related aspects such as the various device designs in PSCs and role of interfaces in origin of PV parameters particularly open circuit voltage, various film processing methods and their effect on morphology and characteristics of perovskite films, and the origin and elimination of hysteresis and operational stability in these devices. We then identify future perspectives for stable and efficient PSCs for practical deployment.
Monte Carlo simulations of Kα source generated by hot electrons-nanobrush target interactions
Authors: Zhao Jincui , Zheng Jianhua , Cao Lihua , Zhao Zongqing , Li Shu , Gu Yuqiu , Liu Jie
Published: September 2016

We focus on the transport processes from hot electrons to Kα x-ray emission in a copper nanobrush target. The physics on the enhancement of Kα photon yield and conversion efficiency from laser to Kα x-ray ηL→Kα is studied by combining Monte Carlo simulations and previous particle-in-cell simulation results. Simulation results show that Kα photon yield and electron-Kα photon conversion efficiency ηe−→Kα from nanobrush targets rise gradually and then stay nearly constant. Kα photon yield from the structured nanobrush target increases with peak number density n0, but the yield is a little less than that from the same-size planar target when the electron temperature T=400 keV and n0=1021 cm−3. It is because the number density of atoms and ions in the nanobrush target is almost one half of the foil target. Compared to the planar target, Kα photons after the nanobrush target are more than those before the target. Because it is easier for the electrons to enter the structured target surface, and Kα x-ray source is produced in the deeper position of the structured nanobrush target. Considering the realistic number of hot electrons produced by laser-nanobrush and -planar targets interaction, Kα photon yield in nanobrush targets has a significant enhancement of over 2–6 folds relative to laser-foil irradiation. The yield and ηL→Kα from the nanobrush target are, respectively, 5.42×109 sr−1 and 7.32×10−5 when laser strength Iλ2≈2×1018 W cm−2 μm2. The yield and ηL→Kα decrease gradually with the laser strength, but the values are always higher than that from the planar target. Therefore, the laser-nanobrush target interaction can produce brighter and smaller-size Kα photon source, compared to a planar target.
Nonlinear threshold effect in the Z-scan method of characterizing limiters for high-intensity laser light
Authors: Tereshchenko S. A. , Savelyev M. S. , Podgaetsky V. M. , Gerasimenko A. Yu. , Selishchev S. V.
Published: September 2016

A threshold model is described which permits one to determine the properties of limiters for high-powered laser light. It takes into account the threshold characteristics of the nonlinear optical interaction between the laser beam and the limiter working material. The traditional non-threshold model is a particular case of the threshold model when the limiting threshold is zero. The nonlinear characteristics of carbon nanotubes in liquid and solid media are obtained from experimental Z-scan data. Specifically, the nonlinear threshold effect was observed for aqueous dispersions of nanotubes, but not for nanotubes in solid polymethylmethacrylate. The threshold model fits the experimental Z-scan data better than the non-threshold model. Output characteristics were obtained that integrally describe the nonlinear properties of the optical limiters.
Growth and structure of In0.5Ga0.5Sb quantum dots on GaP(001)
Authors: Sala E. M. , Stracke G. , Selve S. , Niermann T. , Lehmann M. , Schlichting S. , Nippert F. , Callsen G. , Strittmatter A. , Bimberg D.
Published: September 2016

Stranski-Krastanov (SK) growth of In0.5Ga0.5Sb quantum dots (QDs) on GaP(001) by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy is demonstrated. A thin GaAs interlayer prior to QD deposition enables QD nucleation. The impact of a short Sb-flush before supplying InGaSb is investigated. QD growth gets partially suppressed for GaAs interlayer thicknesses below 6 monolayers. QD densities vary from 5 × 109 to 2 × 1011 cm−2 depending on material deposition and Sb-flush time. When In0.5Ga0.5Sb growth is carried out without Sb-flush, the QD density is generally decreased, and up to 60% larger QDs are obtained.
Room temperature ferroelectricity in continuous croconic acid thin films
Authors: Jiang Xuanyuan , Lu Haidong , Yin Yuewei , Zhang Xiaozhe , Wang Xiao , Yu Le , Ahmadi Zahra , Costa Paulo S. , DiChiara Anthony D. , Cheng Xuemei , Gruverman Alexei , Enders Axel , Xu Xiaoshan
Published: September 2016

Ferroelectricity at room temperature has been demonstrated in nanometer-thin quasi 2D croconic acid thin films, by the polarization hysteresis loop measurements in macroscopic capacitor geometry, along with observation and manipulation of the nanoscale domain structure by piezoresponse force microscopy. The fabrication of continuous thin films of the hydrogen-bonded croconic acid was achieved by the suppression of the thermal decomposition using low evaporation temperatures in high vacuum, combined with growth conditions far from thermal equilibrium. For nominal coverages ≥20 nm, quasi 2D and polycrystalline films, with an average grain size of 50–100 nm and 3.5 nm roughness, can be obtained. Spontaneous ferroelectric domain structures of the thin films have been observed and appear to correlate with the grain patterns. The application of this solvent-free growth protocol may be a key to the development of flexible organic ferroelectric thin films for electronic applications.
Abnormal temperature dependent behaviors of intersystem crossing and triplet-triplet annihilation in organic planar heterojunction devices
Authors: Xiang Jie , Chen Yingbing , Yuan De , Jia Weiyao , Zhang Qiaoming , Xiong Zuhong
Published: September 2016

Anomalous temperature dependent magneto-electroluminescence was observed at low and high magnetic field strength from organic planar heterojunction devices incorporated common phosphorescent host materials of N,N′-dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene (mCP) or 4,4′-N,N′-dicarbazole-biphenyl (CBP) as an emissive layer. We found that intersystem crossing became stronger with decreasing temperature and that triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) occurred at room temperature but ceased at low temperature. Analyses of the electroluminescence spectra of these devices and their temperature dependences indicated that the population of exciplex states increased at low temperature, which caused the abnormal behavior of intersystem crossing. Additionally, long lifetime of the excitons within mCP or CBP layer may allow TTA to occur at room temperature, while the reduced population of excitons at low temperature may account for the disappearance of TTA even though the excitons had increased lifetime.
Ion-beam-spurted dimethyl-sulfate-doped PEDOT:PSS composite-layer-aligning liquid crystal with low residual direct-current voltage
Authors: Liu Yang , Lee Ju Hwan , Seo Dae-Shik , Li Xiang-Dan
Published: September 2016

Thin ion-beam (IB)-spurted dimethyl sulfate/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (DMS/PEDOT:PSS) layers with improved electro-optic performance are presented for aligning liquid crystals. IB spurting is effective for enhancing the conductivity of such layers, as well as the anchoring energy of the liquid crystals sandwiched between them. Compared with a commercial twisted-nematic cell assembled with polyimide alignment layers, the same cell assembled with 3.0-keV IB-spurted DMS/PEDOT:PSS alignment layers shows a 38% faster switching and a 93% lower residual direct current. The improved electro-optic performance here is likely due to the enhanced electric field effect and the charge-releasing ability of thin IB-spurted DMS/PEDOT:PSS layers.
Giant photocurrent enhancement by transition metal doping in quantum dot sensitized solar cells
Authors: Rimal Gaurab , Pimachev Artem K. , Yost Andrew J. , Poudyal Uma , Maloney Scott , Wang Wenyong , Chien TeYu , Dahnovsky Yuri , Tang Jinke
Published: September 2016

A huge enhancement in the incident photon-to-current efficiency of PbS quantum dot (QD) sensitized solar cells by manganese doping is observed. In the presence of Mn dopants with relatively small concentration (4 at. %), the photoelectric current increases by an average of 300% (up to 700%). This effect cannot be explained by the light absorption mechanism because both the experimental and theoretical absorption spectra demonstrate several times decreases in the absorption coefficient. To explain such dramatic increase in the photocurrent we propose the electron tunneling mechanism from the LUMO of the QD excited state to the Zn2SnO4 (ZTO) semiconductor photoanode. This change is due to the presence of the Mn instead of Pb atom at the QD/ZTO interface. The ab initio calculations confirm this mechanism. This work proposes an alternative route for a significant improvement of the efficiency for quantum dot sensitized solar cells.
V3O5: Insulator-metal transition and electric-field-induced resistive-switching
Authors: Fisher B. , Patlagan L. , Chashka K. B. , Makarov C. , Reisner G. M.
Published: September 2016

V3O5 is one of the two vanadium oxides that exhibit insulator to metal transitions above room temperature. We report on the DC I–V characteristics of polycrystalline samples and single-crystals of V3O5 over a wide range of currents. For all samples self-heating induced hysteretic nonlinear conductivity followed at higher currents by onset of negative differential resistivity regime, and finally, at highest currents, by switching to the metallic state. Slow switching towards a partially transformed state with a prolonged memory is typical of polycrystalline samples. High currents applied in the metallic state of one of the single crystals affected the oxygen content of the material and even caused appearance and disappearance of a VO2 inclusion. Simple and reproducible I–V plots were obtained for a single crystal with the currents that barely induced the metallic state.
Evidence for room-temperature in-diffusion of nickel into silicon
Authors: Yarykin Nikolai , Weber Jörg
Published: September 2016

Interstitial nickel in crystalline Si is shown to be a fast diffuser at room temperature. In this study, Ni is incorporated in Si by wet chemical etching in nickel-contaminated alkaline solutions. Nickel in-diffusion is observed by means of detecting the electrically active NiVO defect, which is formed due to Ni capture to the vacancy–oxygen complex in electron-irradiated Si. The depth profiles of the NiVO concentration measured by the deep-level transient spectroscopy technique extend to ∼15 μm in the samples doped with Ni at 35 °C for 30 min. This allows us to get a lower estimate for the nickel diffusivity at this temperature as 10−9 cm2/s. The activation energy for electron emission from the NiVO level and the apparent capture cross section are equal to 371 meV and 3 × 10−15 cm2, respectively. The NiVO complex dissociates at 300 °C reestablishing the initial concentration of the VO centers.
Effect of flame remelting on microstructure and wear behaviour of plasma sprayed NiCrBSi-30%Mo coating
Authors: Yang X.-C. , Li G.-L. , Wang H.-D. , Dong T.-S. , Kang J.-J.
Published: September 2016

The effects of flame remelting on the microstructural features, mechanical properties and dry sliding wear properties of supersonic plasma sprayed NiCrBSi-30 wt-% Mo coating were evaluated. The modified microstructure of the flame remelted coating, such as reduction in micro-defects, decrease in line roughness, laminar architecture elimination and material homogenisation was obtained. The Vickers micro-hardness and elastic modulus measurement showed an enhancement for flame remelted coating. The main wear mechanism of the as-sprayed coating was adhesive/delaminative wear. While the main wear mechanism of the flame remelted coating was adhesive wear. The wear resistance of flame remelted coating surpassed that of the as-sprayed coating and was by far superior to the substrate.
Mechanism of improved hydrogen embrittlement resistance of low-temperature plasma carburised stainless steel
Authors: Li Y. , Li W. , Zhu X. , Zhou H. , Jin X.
Published: September 2016

The present paper focuses on the underlying principles of the effect of S-phase on reducing hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility. Hydrogen permeation test indicates that S-phase formed by low-temperature carburising has minor effect on hydrogen diffusion. Moreover, hydrogen-induced phase transformation caused by hydrogen charging is suppressed in the presence of S-phase. The kernel average misorientation result indicates that lattice distortion introduced by hydrogen charging is suppressed in the presence of S-phase. Cross-sectional EBSD investigations on the surface layer of fractured samples show that S-phase remains extremely stable during tensile deformation after hydrogen charging.
Regarding the ‘Hole Argument’ and the ‘Problem of Time’
Authors: Gryb Sean , Thébault Karim P. Y.
Published: September 2016

The canonical formalism of general relativity affords a particularly interesting characterization of the infamous hole argument. It also provides a natural formalism in which to relate the hole argument to the problem of time in classical and quantum gravity. Conceptual and formal inadequacies within the representative language of canonical gravity will be shown to be at the heart of both the canonical hole argument and the problem of time. Interesting and fruitful work at the interface of physics and philosophy relates to the challenge of resolving such inadequacies.
Prioritarianism
Authors: Holtug Nils
Published: September 2016

Prioritarianism is a principle of distributive justice. Roughly, it states that we should give priority to the worse off in the distribution of advantages. This principle has received a great deal of attention in political theory since Derek Parfit first introduced the distinction between egalitarianism and prioritarianism in his Lindley Lecture, published in 1991. In the present article, prioritarianism is defined in terms of a number of structural features of the principle. These structural features are also used to distinguish between this principle and other distributive principles such as utilitarianism, egalitarianism, and leximin. Prioritarianism is mostly discussed as an axiological principle that orders outcomes with respect to their (moral) value, but it is also clarified how it can be incorporated in a criterion of right actions, choices, or policies. Furthermore, different aspects of the principle that need to be further specified to arrive at a full-fledged distributive theory are discussed, including the weights that give priority to the worse off, currency (what kind of advantages should be distributed), temporal unit (the temporal span in which one has to be worse off in order to be entitled to priority), scope (whether the principle applies globally or only domestically, and whether, for example, future generations and non-human animals are covered by the principle), and risk. For each aspect, different possible views are distinguished and discussed. Finally, it is discussed how prioritarianism may be justified, for example, by outlining and discussing the argument that, unlike certain other distribution-sensitive principles such as egalitarianism, prioritarianism is not vulnerable to the so-called “leveling down objection.”
Role Theory As an Empirical Theory of International Relations: From Metaphor to Formal Model
Authors: Walker Stephen G.
Published: September 2016

Role theory as an empirical theory of international relations has an underlying logical structure with the ability to generate different models of cooperation and conflict in world politics at multiple levels of analysis: system-oriented models of incentives and role constraints; actor-centered models of role conceptions and expectations; action-focused models of cues and role enactment. The emphasis at each of these levels of analysis is on strategic interaction, which makes role theory a theory of international relations between ego and alter as well as a theory of their respective foreign policy decisions.

The logical and empirical applications of role theory’s models to world politics have morphed from metaphor and analogy into formal models of prediction and explanation that meet the criteria of testability associated with an empirical theory of international relations. These criteria include the logical rules of deductive inference and the correspondence rules of empirical falsifiability associated with the systematic comparison of empirical cases.

The pattern of migration and evolution of role resembles the earlier pattern of importing game as a metaphor and introducing the logical structure of game theory into the field of international relations. Binary role theory employs the concepts of role theory and a set of game theory models to analyze conflict and cooperation in world politics. The role metaphor and the concepts of binary role theory provide a substantive “theory of payoffs” for game theory. The latter’s formal models help transform the logical structure of role theory from a metaphor or analogy to a logically coherent and empirically testable theory of international relations.
Clarifying Causal Mechanisms in International Relations
Authors: James Patrick
Published: September 2016

Theory and evidence about causal mechanisms, at some point (probably) long ago, reached the carrying capacity for integration into knowledge through expression in words alone. Causal mechanisms, through the implementation of systemism in the discipline of international relations, need clarifying. Systemism is used to convey and analyze the contents of a primary source, Causes of War, by Jack Levy and William Thompson. Explaining war is the most long-standing empirical problem, in the sense of Laudan, in the field of international relations. (Laudan suggested, quite helpfully, a shift from empirical content to problem-solving ability for assessing theories with regard to scientific progress.) The diagrammatic approach from systemism is used to translate a narrative from Levy and Thompson into a series of figures that include causal mechanisms from respective areas of theorizing about the causes of war. The overall purpose of this exercise is to show how the approach from systemism possesses the potential to convey causal mechanisms in a way that facilitates scientific progress. All of this augurs well for a visual turn—toward approaches, such as systemism, that can help to more effectively assemble the massive amount of information now available into knowledge about international relations.

Systemism’s essence has been conveyed by its most long-standing exponent, Bunge: a commitment to building comprehensive theories. Systemism transcends reductionism and holism as the other available “coherent views” with respect to operation of a social system. Instead of theorizing at the level of the system (holism) or its components (reductionism), systemism allows for linkages operating at macro- and microlevels, along with back and forth between them. Systemism also includes inputs from, and outputs to, the environment. This comprehensive procedure facilitates the comparison of alternative visions regarding cause and effect. Thus systemism is an approach rather than a substantive theory. One of its distinguishing merits is a capacity to facilitate criticism and comparison of theories through their representation in diagrams that are constructed under a set of rules to convey causal mechanisms.
Women’s Anti-Mining Activism and Development
Authors: Jenkins Katy
Published: September 2016

The extractive industries play a prominent but controversial role in the economies and development strategies of countries across the global South, often leading to clashes between local communities and governments and Transnational Corporations (TNCs) keen to exploit mineral reserves. Mining thus provides a multifaceted lens through which to engage with key questions about Development—who decides, who benefits, and who should be responsible for dealing with the long-term legacies of mining and associated issues of sustainability and environmental devastation? Women’s anti-mining activism is an important but underresearched element in this scenario and one that provides an interesting way to explore the complexities surrounding mining and development, from a gendered perspective, raising a number of questions and directions for future research.

Current research on this topic not only highlights the highly unequal power relations operating in this context, but also elucidates the ways in which grassroots women’s voices are heard (or not heard) in the global arena; the gendered nature and dynamics of community decision making; the high levels of violence and intimidation common to the experiences of many women anti-mining activists; and the constraints and challenges women face as activists. More broadly, research on women’s anti-mining activism contributes to analyze the gendered nature of the extractivist model of development.

Significant gaps in the existing literature provide productive avenues for future research. In particular, there is the potential to explore alternative visions of Development through engaging with women activists’ agendas, ambitions, and perspectives. However, there is also a need to further develop an understanding of the multiple challenges women activists face in this highly charged scenario and to analyze how the women themselves navigate and tackle these challenges. Finally, conducting research in this context presents particular methodological challenges. In this regard, it is important to consider possible approaches that might bring the perspectives of grassroots women anti-mining activists to the fore.
Down Syndrome From a Neurodevelopmental Perspective
Authors: Tudella Eloisa , Duque Weber Meyene , Fioroni Ribeiro da Silva Carolina , Hamamura Moriyama Cristina
Published: September 2016

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common chromosomal condition associated with intellectual disability. Individuals with DS have restrictions on social participation. In addition, affected body structures and functions and activity limitations may lead to incapacity and impact individuals, families, health systems, and society. Evidence suggests using a window of therapeutic opportunity in early childhood when neuroplasticity is intense and that it is essential to plan treatment strategies for different phases of life. Pharmacological interventions have also been studied to improve cognitive performance, but effectiveness has not been proven. Nevertheless, early clinical interventions (e.g., physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy) are recommended to help children with DS acquire developmental milestones. The literature presents strong biopsychosocial and economic arguments for early intervention, starting with protection, support, and promotion of development of individuals with DS from conception to aging.
Psychological Imagery in Sport and Performance
Authors: Munroe-Chandler Krista J. , Guerrero Michelle D.
Published: September 2016

Imagery, which can be used by anyone, is appealing to performers because it is executed individually and can be performed at anytime and anywhere. The breadth of the application of imagery is far reaching. Briefly, imagery is creating or recreating experiences in one’s mind. From the early theories of imagery (e.g., psychoneuromuscular) to the more recent imagery models (e.g., PETTLEP), understanding the way in which imagery works is essential to furthering our knowledge and developing strong research and intervention programs aimed at enhanced performance. The measurement of imagery ability and frequency provides a way of monitoring the progression of imagery use and imagery ability. Despite the individual differences known to impact imagery use (e.g., type of task, imagery perspective, imagery speed), imagery remains a key psychological skill integral to a performer’s success.
Collective Mobilization and Social Protest
Authors: van Zomeren Martijn
Published: September 2016

The social psychology of collective mobilization and social protest reflects a long-standing interest within this discipline in the larger question of how social change comes about through the exercise of collective agency. Yet, within this very same discipline, different approaches have suggested different motivations for why people protest, including emotional, agentic, identity, and moral motivations. Although each of these approaches first tended toward development of insulated models or theories, the next phase has been more integrative in nature, giving rise to multi-motive models of collective mobilization and social protest that combined predictions from different approaches, which improved their explanatory power and theoretical scope.

Together with this first development toward integration, a second development has also clearly left its mark on the field. This development refers to the rapid internationalization of the field, with studies on collective mobilization and social protest being conducted across the world, leading to very diverse participant samples and contextual characteristics. These studies typically also vary methodologically, including survey, experiment, interview, longitudinal, and other methods. This second trend—toward diversity—fits well with the first integrative trend and will lead to more in-depth and integrative understanding of the social-psychological workings of collective mobilization and social protest. However, this will require innovative conceptual and empirical work in order to map the structural (particularly, political and cultural) conditions under which different motivations matter with respect to mobilization and protest.
Critical Vocational-Technical Education and Training: Learning for Economy, Equity, and Environment
Authors: Gregson James
Published: September 2016

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Please check back later for the full article.

In The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems (2008), Van Jones envisions the possibility of a green economy that addresses not only the current environmental crises but also the promise of the green economy to lift out of poverty those low-income communities and communities of color that have been so devastated by industrial capitalism. While Van Jones, an advocate of natural capitalism and the first African American author of an environmental best seller, recognizes the role of green job training programs in the preparation of workers for green construction, alternative energy (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal energy installation), and sustainable agriculture and food systems, he does not address the curriculum and instruction appropriate for such job training programs. In this article, an overview is provided of the historical roots for critical Vocational-Technical Education and Training (VTET) and of how VTET is situated in the current discourse of the green economy. In doing so, it is posited that a critical vocational-technical education provides the promise of helping to address not only the environmental and socio-economic problems of the day, but also the educational problems associated with neoliberal policies and practices.
Area-based Responses to Educational Disadvantage
Authors: Kerr Kirstin , Dyson Alan
Published: September 2016

Countries across the world struggle to break the relationship between socio-economic disadvantage and educational outcomes. Even in otherwise affluent countries, children and young people from poor and marginalized families tend to do badly in education, and their lack of educational success makes it more likely that they will remain in poverty as adults. Moreover, socio-economic disadvantage and educational failure in these countries tend to be concentrated in particular places, such as the poor neighborhoods of large cities or of post-industrial towns. This has led policy-makers and practitioners in many administrations to favor area-based initiatives (ABIs), which target such places, as one set of responses to social and educational disadvantage. Some ABIs are limited to funding schools more generously in disadvantaged areas or giving them additional support and flexibilities. The more ambitious initiatives, however, seek to develop multistrand interventions to tackle both the educational and the social and economic problems of areas simultaneously.

The evaluation evidence suggests that these initiatives have so far met with limited success at best. This has led some critics to conclude that there is a fundamental contradiction in their use of purely local interventions to tackle problems that originate outside ABIs’ target areas, in macro-level social and economic processes. However, it is possible to construct a convincing rationale for these initiatives by understanding the social ecologies that shape children’s outcomes, and by formulating holistic interventions aimed at reducing the risks in those ecologies and enhancing children’s resilience in the face of those risks. There is, moreover, evidence of a new generation of ABIs that has begun to emerge recently. These new ABIs are able to operate strategically and over the long-term, rather than being bound by the short-term nature of policy-making. These newer initiatives may offer a better prospect of tackling the link between social and educational disadvantage, even in unpromising economic circumstances, and even within the context of “politics as usual.”
Operation Pedro Pan: The Migration of Unaccompanied Cuban Children to the United States, 1960–1962
Authors: Casavantes Bradford Anita
Published: September 2016

Between the autumn of 1960 and October of 1962, the parents of more than fourteen thousand Cuban children made the difficult decision to send their children alone to the United States, where a young Irish immigrant priest, Father Bryan O. Walsh, arranged for them to be cared for by U.S. foster homes and in Catholic children’s homes and orphanages. The Cuban children’s exodus would later become known as Operation Pedro Pan; the federally funded and Catholic Church–administered program that was established to care for these children would be called the Cuban Children’s Program. Their interconnected trajectories are central to the history of post-revolutionary Cuba and of the Miami Cuban exile community, and shed important light on U.S.-Cuba and U.S.-Latin America relations during the height of the Cold War.
The Spanish Language in Latin America since Independence
Authors: Stavans Ilan
Published: September 2016

The Spanish language arrived in Latin America as a tool of Iberian colonization. Indigenous languages struggled to survive under the implacable presence of an imperial tongue serving not only to make all subjects part of the Spanish Empire but also, and primarily, as a mechanism to evangelize a population considered by the conquistadors, soldiers, missionaries, and entrepreneurs as barbaric. During the age of independence (1810–1910), defined by bloody armed movements, the emerging republics in Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean Basin declared their autonomy by seceding politically, economically, and legally from Spain while pushing for a vigorous nationalist agenda that shaped them as nations. Spanish was an agglutinating force toward a new collective identity, regionally and locally. Important figures like Venezuelan philologist, lexicographer, and diplomat Andrés Bello established an agenda that helped define the cultural parameters of the young republics in terms of grammar, syntax, and morphology. Followers include Rufino José Cuervo.

Various aesthetic movements, such as modernismo, led by figures like Rubén Darío and José Martí, helped consolidate a transnational sense of linguistic unity. During the 20th century, the nationalist fever spread throughout Latin America, encouraging educators to establish pedagogical patterns that emphasized the uniqueness of the language within the country’s context. The effort was supported by ethnographers, anthropologists, and sociolinguists like the Cuban Fernando Ortiz and Venezuelan Ángel Rosenblat intent on finding what was local in the language. Simultaneously, each nation developed its own idiosyncratic media, which, again, allowed for verbal peculiarities to be included while also driving toward a standardized form. In this atmosphere, the Spanish language has been used as an organ of control by the state. It is also an invaluable tool through which to understand regional, national, and cultural differences.

By the end of the millennium, a new phenomenon emerged, not in Latin America per se yet intimately linked to it: Spanglish. It is a hybrid tongue used by millions of immigrants in the United States, whose power is increasing as time goes by. Spanglish has the potential of reconfiguring the way the Spanish language is understood in the future.
The Brazilian Military Regime, 1964–1985
Authors: Napolitano Marcos
Published: September 2016

Since its establishment in 1889, the history of the Brazilian republic was marked by the centrality of the armed forces, particularly the army, in political life. But between 1964 and 1985, the military was in direct command of the state, imposing indirectly elected generals as president. After overthrowing the reformist center-left government of João Goulart on March 31, 1964, the military installed a tutelary authoritarian regime to control civil society and the political system, serving as a political model for similar regimes in Latin America during the Cold War.

The military passed arbitrary laws and severely repressed left-wing political groups and social movements while also seeking to accelerate capitalist development and the “national integration” of Brazil’s vast territory. They intended to modernize Brazilian industry and carry out bold infrastructure projects. On the other hand, they faced strong opposition from civil society, led by political groups, artists, intellectuals, and press outlets of diverse ideological backgrounds (Marxists, liberals, socialists, and progressive Catholics). These groups were divided between total refusal to negotiate with the military and critical adherence to the policies of the generals’ governments, composing a complex relationship between society and the state.

Understanding the role of the military regime in Brazilian history requires a combination of historical research and historiographic criticism in light of the disputes over memory that continue to divide social and political actors.
Physical Vulnerability in Earthquake Risk Assessment
Authors: Meslem Abdelghani , Lang Dominik H.
Published: September 2016

In the fields of earthquake engineering and seismic risk reduction the term “physical vulnerability” defines the component that translates the relationship between seismic shaking intensity, dynamic structural uake damage and loss assessment discipline in the early 1980s, which aimed at predicting the consequences of earthquake shaking for an individual building or a portfolio of buildings. In general, physical vulnerability has become one of the main key components used as model input data by agencies when developinresponse (physical damage), and cost of repair for a particular class of buildings or infrastructure facilities. The concept of physical vulnerability started with the development of the earthqg prevention and mitigation actions, code provisions, and guidelines. The same may apply to insurance and reinsurance industry in developing catastrophe models (also known as CAT models).

Since the late 1990s, a blossoming of methodologies and procedures can be observed, which range from empirical to basic and more advanced analytical, implemented for modelling and measuring physical vulnerability. These methods use approaches that differ in terms of level of complexity, calculation efforts (in evaluating the seismic demand-to-structural response and damage analysis) and modelling assumptions adopted in the development process. At this stage, one of the challenges that is often encountered is that some of these assumptions may highly affect the reliability and accuracy of the resulted physical vulnerability models in a negative way, hence introducing important uncertainties in estimating and predicting the inherent risk (i.e., estimated damage and losses).

Other challenges that are commonly encountered when developing physical vulnerability models are the paucity of exposure information and the lack of knowledge due to either technical or nontechnical problems, such as inventory data that would allow for accurate building stock modeling, or economic data that would allow for a better conversion from damage to monetary losses. Hence, these physical vulnerability models will carry different types of intrinsic uncertainties of both aleatory and epistemic character. To come up with appropriate predictions on expected damage and losses of an individual asset (e.g., a building) or a class of assets (e.g., a building typology class, a group of buildings), reliable physical vulnerability models have to be generated considering all these peculiarities and the associated intrinsic uncertainties at each stage of the development process.
Natural Environments, Health, and Well-Being
Authors: van den Bosch Matilda
Published: September 2016

Human beings are part of natural ecosystems and depend on them for their survival. In a rapidly changing environment and with increasing urbanization, this dependence is challenged. Natural environments affect human health and well-being both directly and indirectly. Urban green and blue areas provide opportunities for stress recovery and physical activity. They offer spaces for social interactions in the neighborhood and places for children’s play. Chronic stress, physical inactivity, and lack of social cohesion are three major risk factors for noncommunicable diseases, and therefore abundant urban greenery is an important asset for health promotion.

Through numerous ecosystem services natural environments play a fundamental role in protecting health. Various populations depend on nature for basic material, such as fresh water, wood, fuel, and nutritious food. Biodiverse natural areas are also necessary for regulating the environment and for mitigating and adapting to climate change. For example, tree canopy cover can reduce the urban heat island effect substantially, preventing excess morbidity during heat waves. This natural heat-reducing effect also lessens the need for air conditioning systems and as a consequence decreases energy spending. Urban trees also support storm-water management, preventing flooding and related health issues. Air pollution is a major threat to population health. Urban trees sequester pollutants and, even though the effect may be relatively small, given the severity of the problem it may still have some public-health implications.

The evidence around the effects of natural environments on health and well-being is steadily increasing. Several pathways and mechanisms are suggested, such as health services through functional ecosystems, early life exposure to biodiverse microbiota, which is important for the immune-system development, and sensory exposure, which has direct neurobiological impact supporting cognitive development and stress resilience. Support for several pathways is at hand that shows lower mortality rates and prevalence of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, healthier pregnancy outcomes, reduced health inequalities, and improved mental health in urban areas with greater amounts of green and blue space.

Altogether, the interactions between healthy natural environments and healthy people are multiple and complex, and require interdisciplinary attention and action for full understanding and resilient development of both nature and human beings.