bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Justification of the parameters affecting the maneuverability of a four-wheeled tractor
Authors: Kambarov Bakhtiyor , Ashirov Vosit , Ravshanov Shavkat , Mirzayev Najmiddin
Published: February 2025

This paper presents the development and experimental design of an enhanced front driving axle for a new universal cotton cultivating tractor, designated as 4K4. The innovative axle design significantly increases the tractor's agrotechnical clearance, enabling improved performance in cotton cultivation. The 4K4 propulsion scheme enhances the tractor's traction capabilities by 15-18%, allowing it to efficiently operate machinery for cotton production across four or more rows simultaneously. A key advantage of the 4K4 configuration is the reduced vertical load on individual wheels, which contributes to superior directional stability and safer lateral static stability of the Machine Tractor Unit. This design feature not only optimizes the tractor's performance in cotton fields but also extends its utility, enabling year-round application in both transportation and various field operations. The research highlights the potential of this advanced tractor design to significantly improve efficiency and versatility in cotton cultivation, addressing the specific needs of the industry while offering broader agricultural applications.
The main elements of the holographic installation of non-destructive testing "Sofya Varvarchuk"
Authors: Belkin Evgeny , Poyarkov Vyacheslav
Published: February 2025

The paper investigates the installation Sofya Varvarchuk, which refers to measuring equipment, namely, devices for monitoring the topography of the microrelief of the surface of the part, as well as devices that control defects in the geometry of the complex-shaped surface. This can be applied to the working surfaces of the blades of gas and hydro turbines, propeller blades of marine vessels, etc. Non-destructive holographic control is carried out at the installation. A holographic image of the surface is recorded, geometric characteristics are removed from it, and a threedimensional geometric model of the surface is constructed using these characteristics. The obtained model is compared with the standard. The paper presents the latest technical developments for the Sofya Varvarchuk installation.
Optimizing screw shredder rotations for efficient shrubby tree branch processing
Authors: Ulashov Jonibek , Ivanov Timur , Toshmirzayev Murodilla , Karshieva Bogdagul , Khakimov Orifjon , Choriev Bekzod
Published: February 2025

The volume of trees and branches grown in Uzbekistan is increasing year by year. Foreign experiences on processing and use of antlers are analyzed. According to the analysis, it became known that in recent years the volume of bushy tree branches in our republic has increased by 2-3 times, and there is a need to prepare and use various products from the branches. Taking this into account, in our country, creation of the bushy tree branch crushing apparatus, one of the crucial jobs is the construction plan and the technological work method. Based on this, the number of rotations of the screw of the crushing device was studied. Researches were carried out by changing the number of revolutions of the screw or auger of the grinding machine from 800 r/min to 1200 r/min. When the number of revolutions of the grinding screw is 1000 r/min, the amount of small fractions in the content of crushed branches and the smallest amount of indestructibility was achieved, and it was found that the quality of crushing branches has an acceptable value.
Application of the PID Algorithm in Robot
Authors: Wang Zhiheng
Published: February 2025

Under the background of rapid development of science and technology and much attention in the field of robotics, the Vex robot is of great significance in the field of education, but there are difficulties in control. Given that the Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) algorithm is widely used in the control field and there are achievements and shortcomings in related research, this paper discusses in depth its application in the control of VEX robots, including the analysis of the mathematical principles of the PID algorithm, the specific operation steps in the practice of programming VEX robots, as well as the parameter optimization method through regression analysis. The results of the study show that this paper successfully analyzes the mathematical principles of the PID algorithm, has specific and effective steps in practice, and improves the machine rotational control performance through regression analysis. This research provides an important theoretical and practical basis for optimizing the application of the PID algorithm in VEX robots, which plays an important role in robot control, and the algorithm also has the potential to be applied and expanded in other operating robots.
Speech Synthesis Technology: Status and Challenges
Authors: Chen Caiyue
Published: February 2025

In recent years, speech synthesis technology has been more widely used in the field of artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction due to the excess of machine learning models to deep learning models. With the rise and development of applications such as intelligent voice assistants, voice navigation systems, generative macro modelling, and virtual reality, Users’ demand for voice systems is not limited to the generated sound as cold as robots and full of “inhuman” tones and rhythm, it is also desired to generate speech that is more natural, fluent, and free of mechanical sensations. This paper reviews the recent development of speech synthesis techniques and the interpretation of each step in the order of speech synthesis steps, two parts of acoustic modeling and wave pattern synthesis are described in detail. In addition, this article aims to introduce some typical Speech Synthesis technology and also summarizes the current applications and future prospects in the field of speech synthesis research.
Der Einsatz eines psychosozialen Screenings von Physiotherapeut*innen
in Österreich
Authors: Kopfauf Markus , Taxer Bernhard
Published: February 2025

Gelbe Flaggen (Yellow Flags) tragen zur Entwicklung chronischer Schmerzen bei.
Deren Bewertung mit Hilfe von Screening-Instrumenten wird in den höchsten
Qualitätsleitlinien empfohlen. Wie sich jedoch herausstellte, erheben viele
Physiotherapeut*innen (PTs) diese nicht. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es,
herauszufinden, welche Yellow Flags und welche entsprechenden Fragebögen für
muskuloskelettal assoziierte Schmerzen von PTs in Österreich regelmäßig erhoben
bzw. verwendet werden.

Eine selbst gestaltete Online-Umfrage mit Single-Choice-, Multiple-Choice- und
offenen Fragen wurde über den Verteiler von Physio Austria und über Verteiler
von Fachhochschulen verschickt. Nur PTs, die im muskuloskelettalen Bereich tätig
sind, unabhängig vom spezifischen Arbeitssetting, wurden in diese Umfrage
einbezogen.

Am Ende des Durchführungszeitraums nahmen 127 PTs an der Umfrage teil. Es ergaben
sich dabei folgende Ergebnisse: (1) Die wichtigsten Yellow Flags, die zur
Chronifizierung von muskuloskelettalen Schmerzen beitragen (Depressivität,
anhaltender Stress, passive Bewältigungsstrategien, angstorientiertes Verhalten)
werden von 75–91% der PTs (n=127) oft bis immer angegeben; (2) 50% der
befragten PTs kennen keinen der genannten unidimensionalen Fragebögen (TSK etc.)
und 51% kennen keinen der multidimensionalen Fragebögen (OMSQ etc.). PTs, die
die entsprechenden Screening-Instrumente kennen, verwenden diese nur in sehr
geringem Ausmaß oft bis immer.

Diese Untersuchung zeigt, dass einzelne Yellow Flags von den befragten PTs
regelmäßig erhoben werden, aber nur 39% ein gezieltes Screening von Yellow Flags
anwenden, obwohl sich immerhin 94% der Befragten für deren Erhebung
verantwortlich fühlen.

Aufgrund der reduzierten Differenzierungsfähigkeit zwischen den einzelnen Flaggen
bei muskuloskelettalen Schmerzen sollte für das Screening von Yellow Flags ein
Screening-Tool eingesetzt werden. Damit die Durchführung eines standardisierten,
von Leitlinien empfohlenen Screenings in Zukunft möglich wird, müssen PTs die
entsprechenden multi- und unidimensionalen Fragebögen kennenlernen und die
Fähigkeit erwerben, diese richtig einzusetzen.
Brave New Komplementär- und Alternativmedizin (CAM)?
Authors: Steckhan Nico
Published: February 2025

KI hat das Potenzial, die Komplementär- und Alternativmedizin (CAM) in Kombination mit modernen medizinischen Praktiken zu verbessern, indem sie die Diagnostik präziser macht, Behandlungen personalisiert und sogar eine bessere Präventivmedizin ermöglicht. Doch diese Integration muss sorgfältig gesteuert werden, um zu vermeiden, dass die Kluft zwischen reduktionistischen und ganzheitlichen Ansätzen weiter vertieft wird. Stattdessen sollte das Ziel darin bestehen, sicherzustellen, dass KI die komplementären Stärken beider Ansätze verstärkt, um eine effektivere, patientenorientierte Gesundheitsversorgung zu bieten.
Heilpraktiker – ein Berufsstand und sein Gesetz: nach 85 Jahren dringendst erneuerungsbedürftig!
Authors: Stange Rainer
Published: February 2025

Ein erweiterter Tagungsbericht zu "Historische Perspektiven auf Entstehung und Folgen des Heilpraktikergesetzes von 1939" am 3.12.2024 in Berlin
Dynamic equivalence in the translation of evocative texts
Authors: Zhu Mo
Published: February 2025

Bopiliao Historic Block is a popular tourist attraction for visitors from all over the world, with many of its ancient
buildings well preserved through the centuries. This paper focuses on the English translation of Bopiliao’s audio guide text. Based
on the theories of Newmark’s (1981) evocative text and Nida’s
(2012) dynamic equivalence, this paper examines the translation strategies in Bopiliao’s audio guide text from linguistic and
cultural perspectives for the purpose of naturalness. Despite some translation errors in the last three sections, the target text of the
Bopiliao’s audio guide proves out to be a successful example of tourism translation.
De «estorbos humanos» a fuente de ingresos
Authors: Campos Manuel Gómez
Published: February 2025

El turismo cultural es una actividad valorada por su potencial para valorar y preservar el patrimonio, fortalecer la identidad
local y generar ingresos económicos. Los gobiernos, como el de Senegal, a menudo implementan diversas estrategias para mejorar la imagen
del país y atraer más turistas. Estas estrategias buscan presentar una imagen positiva del destino a través de diferentes canales como la
publicidad o las redes sociales. Senegal es uno de los destinos turísticos más populares en África Occidental, con una gran cantidad de
turistas procedentes de países francófonos europeos y norteamericanos (Collignon, 1984: 1), de
forma que la imagen que exportan al extranjero es determinante. No obstante, en la década de 1970, en un intento por mejorar esa imagen
del país y por «vender» este producto, el primer presidente senegalés Sédar Senghor y su gobierno trataron de erradicar la mendicidad de
los talibés. Este hecho generó una discriminación hacia esta minoría, ya que se trataba de eliminar de la sociedad a este grupo de niños
que asisten a las escuelas coránicas y que suelen pedir limosna en las calles (Semin, 2018). Este estudio analizará esta problemática cultural,
cincuenta años después, a través de un análisis traductológico, donde se examinarán las técnicas de traducción para abordar los culturemas
presentes en la obra La Grève des bàttu (1979) de Aminata Sow Fall,
traducida al español como La Huelga de los Mendigos (2017), que narra
una rebelión de los mendigos contra estas políticas. Además, se comparará esta obra con la imagen actual exportada por el Ministerio de
Turismo de Senegal y el tipo de turismo predominante. Con este estudio, se busca proporcionar herramientas para la traducción literaria
(francés-español) con una presencia del sector turístico senegalés.
Heterogeneous mesoscale concrete model bonded with PZT sensor for electromechanical admittance-based structural damage identification
Authors: Yang Zeliang , Ai Demi , Zhu Hongping
Published: February 2025

Finite element method (FEM) facilitates the simulation of electro-mechanical coupling interaction between piezoceramic (PZT) transducers and concrete structures, while traditional simulations that assume homogenization of concrete materials often limits accurate resolution of electromechanical admittance (EMA) responses and the EMA-based structural damage identification. To this end, this paper proposed a heterogeneous 3D mesoscale concrete model for resolving the electromechanical admittance (EMA) responses and the EMA-based structural damage identification using surface-bonded piezoceramic (PZT) sensor. A novel approach was developed to establish a mesoscale concrete model with high-content aggregates using FEM. Comparative studies were conducted between the proposed mesoscale model and traditional homogeneous models, focusing on six aspects: mesh size, random aggregate distribution, aggregate shapes, ITZ properties, aggregate content and concrete damage identification. To validate the proposed model, rigorous experiments were performed on concrete cubes with varying coarse aggregate ratios. Numerical and experimental results demonstrated that a mesh size of 2 mm is optimal for EMA analysis within the frequency range of 40 Hz to 400 kHz. Differences in aggregate distribution and shapes can lead to peak amplitude fluctuations of up to 2.64% and 2.80% in the conductance signatures. The proposed mesoscale model showed more accurate resolution of EMA responses and higher accuracy for the EMA-based damage detection than traditional homogeneous model, which could be potentially applied to the modelling of complex infrastructures.
Multi-protocol Quantum Key Distribution Decoding Chip
Authors: Zhang Chun-xue , Li Jian-Guang , Wang Yue , Chen Wei , Zhang Jia-Shun , An Jun-Ming
Published: February 2025

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a method for secure communication that utilizes quantum mechanics principles to distribute cryptographic keys between parties. Integrated photonics offers benefits such as compactness, scalability, energy efficiency, and the ability for extensive integration. We have achieved the decoding of the BB84 phase encoding and decoding, time-bin phase QKD, and Coherent One Way (COW) protocol on a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) platform. At the optimal temperature, our chip successfully prepared quantum states, performed decoding, and calculated the secure key rate of the time-bin phase-decoding QKD to be 80.46 kbps over a 20km transmission with a quantum bit error rate (QBER) of 4.23%. The secure key rate of the COW protocol is 18.18kbps, with a phase error rate of 3.627% and a time error rate of 0. 377%. The uniqueness of this technology lies in its combination of high integration and protocol flexibility, providing an innovative solution for the development of future quantum communication networks.
RF Detection of Split-Gate Modes in Si-MOS Quantum Dots
Authors: Chu Ning , Zhu Sheng-Kai , Li Ao-Ran , Wang Chu , Liao Wei-Zhu , Cao Gang , Li Hai-Ou , Guo Guo-Ping
Published: February 2025

Radio frequency (RF) reflectometry is an effective and sensitive technique for detecting charge signal in semiconductor quantum dots, and its measurement bandwidth can reach the MHz level. However, in accumulation mode devices, the presence of parasitic capacitance makes RF reflectometry more difficult. The universal approach is relocating the ion implantation region approximately 10 μm from the center of the Single-Electron Transistor (SET) and optimizing the design of the accumulation gates. But, this method puts forward more stringent requirements for micro-nano fabrication processing. Here, we propose a split-gate structure that enables RF reflectometry when the ion-implanted region and the ohmic contact are farther from the SET center. In Si-MOS devices, we employ a split-gate structure to achieve RF detection, with the ion-implanted region located 150 μm away from the center of the SET. Within an integration time of 140 nanoseconds, we achieved a readout fidelity exceeding 99.8% and a detection bandwidth of over 2 MHz. This is an alternative solution for micro-nano fabrication processing that cannot achieve ion implantation areas closer to the center of the chip, and is applicable to various silicon-based semiconductor systems.
Combining gravimetric with electrical transduction methods for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by Langmuir-Blodgett films from fluorescently labeled phospholipids.
Authors: Ivanov George R. , Marinov Yordan G. , Vlakhov Todor E. , Amova Anna
Published: February 2025

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemical compounds found in various products that easily vaporize and reach in the environment under normal conditions. They adversely affect the environment and human health. Hence, portable in-field chemical sensors with the possibility for continuous monitoring of VOCs are in great demand. Such sensors should have a smooth, thin sensing layer for fast detection. After this layer captures the studied VOC, the signal has to be transduced into a proper electrical signal for further manipulation and display. The best method for producing the sensing layer is the Langmuir and Blodgett (LB) method for layer-after-layer deposition. We use LB monolayers from a fluorescently head-labeled phospholipid DPPE-NBD. It forms stable 3D aggregates thus highly increasing the surface-to-volume ratio even when a monolayer is deposited. Therefore, a fast and very sensitive sensor is prepared. We measured VOCs with LB films from lipids with gravimetric detection using a 434 MHz two-port Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) resonator with gold electrodes. We also used the SAW resonators’ interdigitated electrodes to enhance the signal in the Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) detection method. Combining the two complementary transduction techniques – gravimetry and electrical methods on a single device gives additional selectivity to the chemical sensor. So a highly sensitive chemical sensor for VOCs can be prepared with the suggested approach.
Poly(Lactic Acid)-based active packages loaded with polyphenolic compounds
Authors: Milenkova Sofia , Marudova Maria , Viraneva Asya
Published: February 2025

Extension of shelf life of food products is a long time desired and tested outcome of different innovative packaging techniques and materials. When it comes to novel materials, biopolymer-based ones stand out. Most of them possess proper mechanical and permeability properties, however not all of them are able to inhibit microorganism growing and food spoilage. But when a biopolymer-based film is combined with active compounds, such as polyphenolic ones, an antioxidant effect along with antimicrobial one is observed. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the potential of poly(lactic acid) film incorporated with different polyphenols. The obtained polymer-polyphenol structures are characterized mechanically regarding their Young modulus, strain at break and stress at break. Their wettability and water vapour transmission rates are also examined. As they are intended to be applied as packaging materials, their water uptake is evaluated. Since the structures will be embedded with polyphenolic compounds, their morphology and antioxidant activity are obtained.
OTA upgrade design for new generation of domestic safe and controllable protection measurement and control devices
Authors: Bai Jialin , Zhao Wuzhi , Zhou Xian , Han Shengguo , Jiang Yi
Published: February 2025

In order to meet the increasing demand for high reliability and high security of power systems, this paper proposes an OTA online upgrade design program for a new generation of home-made safety and controllable protection measurement and control devices. The program includes the upgrade package’s composition, the upgrade file’s credible verification, and the online upgrade process. The design realizes remote upgrade of device software through a wireless network, which not only improves the upgrade efficiency but also ensures the safety and reliability of the upgrade process through a series of security measures. This paper describes in detail the composition of the upgrade package, the credible verification method of the upgrade file, and the online upgrade process, which provides effective technical support for the remote operation and maintenance of protection measurement and control devices.
Simulation study of charge distribution characteristics on the surface of silicon nitride ceramics
Authors: Zhang Jinyin , Xu Xiaoyu , Wei Xiaoxing , Huang Chen , Yu Zexuan , Qi Bo
Published: February 2025

Pure SF6 gas-insulated high-voltage DC through-wall casings use internal epoxy resin pillar insulators. During operation, temperature gradients and the long-term effects of the DC electric field lead to the accumulation of surface charge on the gas-solid insulation surface. This accumulation can easily trigger flashovers along the insulator’s gas-solid interface. The charge distribution characteristics of silicon nitride material in the DC electric field are less influenced by temperature gradients, making it a viable substitute for epoxy resin materials used in SF6 gas insulation support. In this paper, for the spatiotemporal variation of surface charge of epoxy resin and silicon nitride ceramic materials under a DC electric field, the material parameters are set based on the measured resistivity-temperature variation curves of epoxy and silicon nitride. The SF6 gas flow is considered to obtain a more accurate temperature distribution through the coupling of the heat flow field. The Schottky injection equation is introduced to take into account the influence of the surface charge accumulation process over a long period and to establish a more precise temperature distribution under the coupling of the DC electric field, the heat flow field, and the gas laminar flow field. The surface charge simulation model of epoxy and silicon nitride ceramics considering Schottky injection and bipolar carrier migration and transport model in SF6 under the multi-field coupling of the gas laminar flow field is established to analyze the dominant mechanism of the surface charge accumulation of epoxy and silicon nitride ceramics under the effect of the measured temperature gradient and to analyze the long-term change rule of the surface charge in the space and time.
Accelerating New Hire Networks
Authors: Zehner Deb , Pryor Greg
Published: February 2025

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations experienced the great resignation and a continuation of high amounts of remote work. As a result, organizations faced the challenge of onboarding new hires effectively in this new, largely virtual context, including ensuring they could nurture crucial relationships. In this case, this chapter shares how one large global consulting company responded quickly by applying research-based relationship-building practices to accelerate new hire success. The organization created a 6-month pilot program in which new hires learned and applied these practices, and their network connectivity and satisfaction improved compared to that of a control group, ultimately leading to increased retention. This case provides a detailed blueprint for how organizations can help new hires develop critical relationship-building practices, leverage manager support, and use organizational network analysis to monitor the impact of their efforts.
How Do Entrepreneurs Experience and Navigate the Unexpected?
Authors: Wood Matthew , Bakker Rene , Guo Sheila
Published: February 2025

Unexpected events are common and critical, but scholarly understanding of how entrepreneurs cognitively cope with them is relatively limited. “Entrepreneurial re-action” is a cognitive mechanism that entrepreneurs use to navigate the unexpected. It is used to reflect changes in the entrepreneur’s mental frame, such that the direction of action and, in some cases, the target for action are recast. Triggering these changes are variations in unexpected events as a distinct set of new developments linked to entrepreneurs’ projects. Specifically, unexpected events vary in their source, valence, magnitude, and duration, which serve as elements that call into question entrepreneurs’ assessments of the desirability and feasibility of their endeavors and influence the likelihood of entrepreneurial reaction. From this base, three cognitive pathways—assimilation, accommodation, and replacement—are central to the concept of entrepreneurial reaction. Assimilation involves integrating new information into existing mental frameworks with minimal change. Accommodation requires a more substantial restructuring of these frameworks to incorporate new realities. Replacement is the most drastic form of reaction, involving the abandonment of the original framework and the creation of a new one. Each path influences the action trajectories that entrepreneurs plan and/or execute. Conceptualizing entrepreneurial reaction as a distinct process provides a basis for understanding how entrepreneurs manage uncertainty and complexity in their environments.
Machine Learning in Environmental and Climate Science: Overview and Introduction
Authors: Hsieh William W.
Published: February 2025

Machine learning (ML), a major branch of artificial intelligence, has been advancing environmental science beyond what is possible with the traditional approaches of physics, chemistry, biology, and statistics. ML and statistics are both data science approaches; however, relative to statistics, ML trades off interpretability for prediction accuracy. Poor interpretability initially hindered the acceptance of ML methods in environmental science. ML methods are now widely used in the fields of atmospheric science, oceanography, cryospheric science, hydrology, forestry, agricultural science, and climate science.

The most common ML methods are neural network (NN) models, inspired by biological NNs in animal brains. Deep learning, that is, deep NN models, has become prominent since the mid-2010s, with the number of layers of mapping in deep NN models being much larger than in the earlier NN models.

ML methods were initially introduced into environmental science as nonlinear statistical tools, with no direct relation to numerical models based on physics (“physics” being used in the broadest sense, i.e., physics + chemistry + biology, etc.). The recent merging of the two entirely different approaches, ML and numerical modeling, points to a new future for environmental and climate science.
Emotion Regulation
Authors: Preece David A. , Ditzer Julia , Gross James J.
Published: February 2025

Emotion regulation is the activation of a goal to modify an unfolding emotional response. It involves changes in how emotions are experienced or expressed. As specified in the process model of emotion regulation, emotion regulation occurs across several stages: identification of whether or not to attempt to regulate the emotion; selection of an emotion regulation strategy; implementation of the regulation strategy; and monitoring of the impact of the strategy to inform decisions on whether to maintain, switch, or stop the emotion regulation attempts. Successful emotion regulation requires strong functioning at all these stages, with the capacity to flexibly use regulation strategies that fit one’s context. Emotion regulation is important for well-being and interpersonal functioning, and difficulties in emotion regulation are a key mechanism for the development and maintenance of a range of psychopathologies. Emotion regulation can be validly assessed via a variety of methods, including psychometric questionnaires, ecological momentary assessment, and laboratory-based experimental paradigms. Evidence-based psychotherapy approaches, such as cognitive behavior therapy, commonly focus on the teaching of emotion regulation skills. Thus, emotion regulation has high clinical relevance and is central to healthy functioning.
Exploring the Potential for Empowerment Outcomes Through Public Participation in Scientific Research
Authors: Armstrong Anne K. , Shinbrot Xoco , Hauptfeld Rina S.
Published: February 2025

Public participation in scientific research (PPSR) programs, also known as citizen or community science programs, rely on public engagement with scientists and the scientific process. PPSR scholars and practitioners alike evaluate the outcomes of programs, often highlighting elements such as the reliability and accuracy of layperson-collected data and the acquisition of science literacy. Engaging in community-oriented science also leads to social–emotional outcomes, such as empowerment and empowerment-related characteristics, including social capital and self-efficacy.

While much of PPSR falls under the “contributory” model, in which non-scientists collect data but have little role in designing data collection, interpreting, or disseminating the data, PPSR programs are more likely to be empowering if they involve community members more extensively in other aspects of the monitoring process. This extensive involvement could include data collection protocol design, recruiting participants, and assisting with data analysis, interpretation, and dissemination.

PPSR scholarship often touts empowerment as an outcome, yet few scholars adequately define empowerment or provide clear explanations of how they account for or measure empowerment as a result of their efforts. Researchers across disciplines conceptualize the term “empowerment” in different ways and at different scales, from individual and psychological empowerment, to community-level and political or economic empowerment. Self-efficacy, or the belief that one can accomplish something, and social capital are both elements of empowerment and feature in PPSR scholarship as desired outcomes.

PPSR programs can also be disempowering, particularly if local communities feel overburdened by program costs or are excluded from the program. Lack of data privacy or sovereignty and the use of technologies such as data loggers that render data collection processes opaque may also hinder empowerment.

Even as research about PPSR has flourished since the turn of the 21st century, some challenges and questions remain. Significant PPSR research has been undertaken to demonstrate the quality of citizen-collected data, but not nearly as much attention is paid to the quality of data collected about those participants and what they have taken away from the experience. An adjacent challenge is a tendency of PPSR programs themselves to attract White and affluent participants, which means that citizen data on air quality, for example, may include major gaps of knowledge in those locations that might need information about air quality the most.

There is a pressing need for greater theoretical and methodological rigor in PPSR studies to mitigate bias and ensure the integrity of findings, as there is a critical gap in research examining the potential negative impacts of citizen science. Moving forward, addressing these challenges and gaps in knowledge requires collaborative efforts among researchers and practitioners.
Urban Slavery along the West African Coast
Authors: Adelsui-Adeluyi Ademide , Benjamin Jody
Published: February 2025

Slavery in cities created unique communities of coercion, and the study of urban slavery in coastal West Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries combines three sometimes distinct fields: histories of the Atlantic slave trade, African slavery, and the study of urban history in West Africa. The study of urban slavery in West Africa provides unique insights into the impact of cities on forced labor and how these labor relations shaped the growth and evolution of urban space. The urban history of coastal West Africa became entangled with the Atlantic slave trade beginning in the 15th century, but it is also an outcome of longer regional histories of urbanism. From northern Senegal to southeastern Nigeria, coastal communities that had once been on the periphery of larger interior settlements grew in importance with the expansion of Atlantic commerce that by the 18th century was dominated by slave trading. By putting slavery and urban history into the same analytical framework, scholars have explored distinctions between rural, plantation, and city-based slavery, while also exploring the ways in which these cities are tied to the West African interior and the wider Atlantic world. In distinguishing between the experiences of men and women, and the impact of age on slavery, they have shown how urban slavery was often characterized by the paradoxes of forced labor and increased mobility and autonomy. To review the nature and evolution of urban slavery over time and space in these towns and cities, scholars draw on conclusions from the literature on cities on the West African coast: including Saint Louis du Senegal, Cape Coast, Ouidah, Lagos, Bonny, and Old Calabar.
Samory
Authors: Cissé Chikouna
Published: February 2025

The captive trade was undoubtedly one of the fundamental driving forces behind the hegemonic project of Samory Touré, the famous Malinke figure who emerged from Upper Guinea in West Africa in the late 19th century. As part of his war economy, he was one of the pillars of the quadrangular trade (captive, horse, rifle, foodstuffs) initiated by the Malinke conqueror. But beyond this economic analysis, these precious spoils of war also played a part in the demographic history of West Africa at the end of the 19th century. According to several estimates, tens of thousands of captives were sold by Samory and his Sofas throughout West Africa. Captives and fugitives escaping the fate of captivity were the driving force behind the human dispersal triggered by Samory’s wars and slave trades. This episode constituted a further stratum in the Malinke expansion toward the forest and the West African coast, and its consequences are still visible in the spatial distribution of communities and socialization processes in this region of Africa. Thousands of captives and fugitives returned to their homelands after Samory was captured in September 1898, encouraged by the French authorities in their policy of repopulation to provide the manpower needed to begin the economic exploitation of the colonies. Others chose to take up residence in their new homeland, contributing to the formation of Malinke diasporas, mainly in the forest zone and on the West African coast. Subsequently, these captives and other fugitives became smugglers or aided in the dissemination of the cultural, material, and spiritual characteristics of Malinke and Islamic civilization in their various refuges. Malinke art, folklore, music, Islam, style of dress, language and forms of socialization enabled Mande culture to spread beyond its traditional bases.
Sovereignty and Human Rights in Africa
Authors: Makinda Samuel M. , Leahy Angela
Published: February 2025

Interpretations of sovereignty and human rights in Africa have changed several times since the colonial period. Under colonialism, international society allowed the ruling powers to deny sovereignty to African political entities while also violating the African people’s rights with impunity. Since World War II, understandings of sovereignty and rights in Africa have been influenced by at least five sets of agents: the Cold War, the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the African Union (AU), and the African people and their political leaders. As a result, sovereignty and rights have shifted from championing the self-determination of peoples as the route to sovereign statehood, through the celebration of sovereignty and nonintervention in domestic affairs while neglecting human rights protections during the Cold War, to the increasing salience of human rights and democratic renewal in the immediate post–Cold War era. The early post–Cold War period led to the establishment of an extensive human rights infrastructure. A theoretical framework derived from the concept of interpretive communities demonstrates how major wars and other system-wide political, economic, and social shocks have brought about changes in the core values of global governance, which, in turn, have led to these shifts. The concept of interpretive communities helps to reveal the ways in which hegemonic states, scholars, civil society groups, intergovernmental organizations, and other international actors adopt particular understandings of sovereignty and human rights. Africa’s rights instruments have also faced many challenges, including the OAU’s and AU’s tendency to privilege sovereignty over rights, the continued resistance of states to rights machinery, domestic challenges that hinder the realization of rights, and the weakness of enforcement and accountability mechanisms. This lack of robust enforcement mechanisms remains a key element of the relationship between sovereignty and rights.
Illiberal Politics in Southeast Europe
Authors: Kapidžić Damir
Published: February 2025

Illiberal politics describes a set of policies that parties in government implement to skew the electoral playing field to their advantage, indefinitely. It is a process-oriented concept that is used to investigate the mechanisms behind trends of autocratization that lead to competitive authoritarianism and regime change. As autocratization is gradual, it is only the sum of illiberal politics that finally pushes a country toward authoritarianism. Such mechanisms can involve foreign actors and outside influences, and they often rely on structural conditions that favor strong executives, extensive links between political and economic power, a reliance on informal politics, and a weak rule of law. Through an exploration of academic debates and empirical studies, the aim is to make better sense of a world that has entered a new phase of autocratization, where some elements of democracy are purposefully eroded while others are kept intact. Southeast Europe, a region that has dabbled in the “gray zone” between democracy and authoritarianism for several decades, serves to both illustrate and investigate conditions that support illiberal politics.
The Political Economy of Organized Crime and the Prison System in Latin America
Authors: Pontón Daniel , Álvarez Velasco Carla
Published: February 2025

Within the criminological literature, little research reflects the relationship between criminal justice–punishment–international political economy (IPE) and transnational organized crime (TOC). However, the dialogue between these disciplines contributes to understand the factors that promote the spread and growth of criminal structures at the transnational level. The literature of the role of prison systems in Latin America and their relations with TOC shows that, in peripheral contexts such as Latin America, where punitivism and precariousness converge, prisons have ceased to be an appendix of a country’s criminal policy and have become a driving force behind TOC.
Carreño’s Manual de urbanidad : A Reference for Citizenship, Manners and a Publishing Sensation since 1853
Authors: Schell Patience
Published: February 2025

Venezuelan Manuel Antonio Carreño’s 1853 Manual de urbanidad y buenas maneras quickly became a bestseller in the Spanish-speaking world and its currency continues into the 21st century. Since its first publication, the Manual and the abridged Compendio version have been printed, reprinted, updated, satirized, adapted, and used as the ultimate word on manners, civility, and morals throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The history of the Manual de urbanidad is the history of a publishing sensation, as well as a history of aspirations, values and social changes in the societies that embraced the book.

This article offers a brief biographical overview of Carreño’s life before analyzing the contents of his original Manual, including consideration of authorial intent. The vast majority of the text offered detailed rules on behavior in a wide range of settings and situations, but, for Carreño, good manners were founded on and tied to both Catholic morality and the responsibilities of citizenship. The book became a classroom text and standard reference work, which was also plagiarized and adapted. While 19th-century versions remained remarkably unchanged, in the 20th century, new social norms, new technologies and new places of sociability influenced updated versions. At the same time, 19th-century versions continued to be republished and mined for material. In the 21st century, Carreño’s text has continued to be republished and updated but also modified, satirized, and used for inspiration for other texts and public interventions.

Carreño’s text has offered generations of readers certainty about how to handle every social conundrum; Carreño’s name became synonymous with good manners and a shorthand for his books even as Carreño himself, as a Venezuela author, disappeared from view. Since 1853, Carreño’s Manual, and its many versions, has shown remarkable continuity and, at the same time, malleability as a text. Each country and each generation continue to find their own “Carreño.”
lex Acilia on repetundae
Authors: Beggio Tommaso
Published: February 2025

The lex Acilia on repetundae dating from 123–122 bce is an epigraphic law contained on one side of the so-called tabula Bembina and dealing with the crimen pecuniae repetundae (usually translated as “extortion,” yet the so-called pecuniae repetundae represent the “money that should be recovered”). The text of this epigraphic law has to do with the establishment of a new permanent court (quaestio perpetua) de repetundis by a Roman lex publica with the aim to punish the improper acquisition of property and goods by a Roman magistrate or official of the government or his agent. The statute intended to provide an effective way for non-Romans, allies of Rome, provincial communities, or Roman citizens living in the provinces to get redress for injustices done against them by Roman governors and officials in the provinces.
Qalatga Darband
Authors: MacGinnis John
Published: February 2025

The site of Qalatga Darband offers a unique insight into the presence of the Parthian Empire along a stretch of the Lower Zab in the western Zagros Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. The site commands the Darband-i Rania, a strategic pass controlling a key artery of communication by both river and road linking Mesopotamia with Iran. Explorations of the site through surface survey, excavation, and remote sensing have begun to yield the layout of the city, as well as investigate some of its most prominent features such as the city wall, a square fort, and a fortified manor house. The site is notable for the many manifestations of Greek influence, including Corinthian architecture, terracotta roof tiling, Hellenistic sculpture, and facilities for producing olive oil. Destruction horizons in the fortified manor are tentatively identified as relating to the campaigns of Lucullus through Armenia 68–67 bce and of Mark Anthony through Media Atropatene in 36 bce.
Syntactic Structure and Processing of Brazilian Indigenous Languages
Authors: Maia Marcus
Published: February 2025

Several experimental studies in the areas of experimental syntax and sentence processing have been carried out not only by the author’s research group but also by other researchers with members of non-Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic societies. A pioneer priming study is reported investigating the relationship between a spatial and empathetic inflection system in Karajá verbs and coreference assignment in the language. The middle voice is studied in speeded judgment experiments, comparing two Brazilian Indigenous languages, Karajá and Xavante, with Brazilian Portuguese (BP), to establish that the Karajá equipollent system, which marks morphologically the causative alternation, unlike BP and Xavante, renders both middle and transitive sentences equally accepted. Then, the causative alternation system in Karajá is further explored through an eye-tracking experiment that compares the processing of Karajá and BP speakers with Karajá late bilinguals in BP to discover that the morphological facilitation effect found in Karajá L1 is not transferred to BP as a second language. The article then proceeds to survey studies investigating the comprehension of different recursive constructions in Karajá and in Pirahã, calling into question the claim that the Pirahã language would lack indirect recursion. Finally, an eye-tracking study developed by a Kaingang native speaker as part of her PhD dissertation is briefly reported, showing the psychological reality of evidentials in the reading of Kaingang sentences.
Participial Clauses in the Romance Languages
Authors: Soare Elena
Published: February 2025

Participles are nonfinite verbal forms that can function as adjectives or as reduced clauses in secondary predications. In most traditional descriptions, they are considered to “participate” in both the verbal and the adjectival categories. Romance participles are inherited from Latin. Broadly, Romance languages have present participles that are active, past participles that are passive, and gerunds. Participles are mixed categories: They have verbal, adjectival, and nominal features. In verbal contexts, participles retain more verbal properties and can project direct objects or be modified by adverbials (such as in les mots désignant souvent des objets ‘the words often designating objects’), while in adjectival contexts, they can be modified by degree adverbs and be negated by negative prefixes (such as il était très fatigué ‘he was very tired’ or un livre inintéressant ‘an uninteresting book’). Due to their mixed status, participles easily undergo category change, becoming verbs, adjectives, or nouns. Given their flexibility, participles enter a large variety of constructions, including absolutes, reduced relatives, complement clauses, and adjunct participles.
Whiteness
Authors: Hartley Jesse , Hafen Quinn
Published: February 2025

An overview of whiteness and its relevance to social work is provided. Whiteness is defined in the context of Black scholarship on the subject and subsequently conceptualized as hyper-visible to people of color and seemingly invisible to whites. The normative social construction of whiteness is explored as both an ideology of superiority and as prized property. Overt and covert manifestations of whiteness are delineated, including white ignorance, overfocus on white privilege, white saviorism, predatory white antiracism, and whitelash. These manifestations of whiteness are then illustrated and examined in social work education, practice, and research. The impacts and implications of social work’s reproduction of whiteness are discussed and recommendations from scholars of color are presented.
Sex-dependent increases in oxytocin levels in response to intravenous kisspeptin in humans
Authors: Galbiati F , Plessow F , Plummer L , Campbell M B , Nazarloo S , Carter C S , Carroll R S , Kim H K , Pereira S A , Paulis D , Davis J M , Miller K K , Kaiser U B , Seminara S B , Aulinas A , Lawson E A
Published: February 2025

Background

A clinically significant oxytocin-deficient state (OXT-D) has been established in adults with arginine vasopressin deficiency and there is a need to develop diagnostic testing. Kisspeptin (KP) is a candidate for such a test as KP receptors are found on oxytocinergic neurons, and KP administration increases plasma OXT in animals. We hypothesized that intravenous KP administration would increase peripheral OXT levels post-injection in healthy adults.

Methods

KP-112-121 (KP analog, 0.24 nmol/kg bolus) was administered to 12 healthy adults (50% female). Serum OXT was measured before and 10, 20, 40, 60 minutes after KP administration.

Results

Males and females did not differ significantly in age, BMI, or baseline OXT levels. Ten minutes after KP, OXT increased by 18.8% from baseline (FDR-p=0.004) with a greater increase in males than females (31.9% vs. 5.7%, respectively, FDR-p=0.004).

Conclusions

Our data support KP as a candidate for a provocative test to identify OXT-D in males.