bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Introduction
Authors: Ibrahim Farhana
Published: July 2022

This chapter contemplates on the multiple sources and forms of policing that structure everyday interaction on a microscopic scale, such as the family, the religious community, and the individual. It reviews how everyday interactions at home or at work among Muslims who lived in this region were continually engaged in policing—and producing—what it meant to live a secure and well-ordered life. The chapter then suggests that relations between state institutions and a borderland public—where mutual cooperation is of essence to the project of national security—go beyond the framework of patronage. It presents the concept of “adjacent sovereignty” to suggest that forms of policing that are elaborated through state institutions in fact derive much of their force through forms of local, even familial, sovereignty that operate in this borderland. Through a focus on forms of policing that play out at the level of the family and the religious community, the chapter seeks to reclaim some agency for India's Muslim citizen beyond the abjection of “bare life.” The chapter elaborates this with reference to early debates on policing and the constitution of the police force after Partition.
Policing Everyday Life on a Border
Authors: Ibrahim Farhana
Published: July 2022

This chapter reevaluates border policing in terms of networks of sociality rather than as a preconstituted institution or arm of state. It begins with debates on police reorganization that took place along this border in the years immediately following decolonization. These debates give us a critical perspective on what the state considered to be the essential attributes of professional policing: the cultivation of social distance, and attributes such as suspicion and the deployment of fear for effective crime fighting. Once these debates set the context for how institutional policing was envisioned, the chapter opens up the question of policing beyond its institutional or professional forms alone. It determines practices of policing—such as the use of suspicion, fear, and the management of information—as attributes that circulate beyond the formal confines of the police as an arm of the state alone: they can be located within families and communities. The chapter uses the figure of Gulbeg, a charismatic resident on the border, to think more broadly about forms of sovereignty that the author terms adjacent rather than nested within the state, and of modes of policing during times of peace.
Local Control and Global Access
Authors: Logvinenko Igor O.
Published: July 2022

This chapter unpacks the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of the Local Control and Global Access framework and situates it within existing scholarship on globalization and development to establish a link between the Russian political economy’s global and local realities. To maintain control of a major asset in Russia for an extended period, the chapter emphasizes that its owner must simultaneously exist in two separate worlds. It first discusses the political world where the rule of law (and the formal, predictable order that it imposes) does not exist. The chapter argues that control over the most valuable economic assets is managed via the informal and unpredictable rule of clout decided by personal connections. The chapter then elaborates on the second world: international financial markets, foreign courtrooms, spotless conference rooms of international law firms, automated stock exchanges, and investment roadshows. It highlights that this world is governed by the rule of law, formalism, and highly impersonal technical procedures reliably administered by third-party arbiters in foreign jurisdictions.
Conclusion
Authors: Logvinenko Igor O.
Published: July 2022

This chapter paints a pessimistic picture and offers lessons for rule-of-law reformers in Russia and elsewhere seeking to address globalized kleptocracies’ rise. It emphasizes that policymakers and reformers must develop a more sober appreciation for the importance of politics in matters of economic and financial regulation. When and if another window of opportunity for reform opens, the relationship between financial integration and redistribution of assets will be at the forefront of Russian politics. The chapter also highlights two fundamental errors made by most Western advocates of the spread of free markets, at least in Russia’s case. Western advocates of the spread of free markets did not appreciate the primacy of local politics in shaping economic policies and practices. It stresses that they assumed that the direction of influence would always flow from the West to the rest, from the rule-of-law economies to the rule-of-clout countries, for the benefit of both.
Singing Like Germans
Authors: Thurman Kira
Published: July 2022

This book tells the sweeping story of Black musicians in German-speaking Europe over more than a century. The book brings to life the incredible musical interactions and transnational collaborations among people of African descent and white Germans and Austrians. It explores how people reinforced or challenged racial identities in the concert hall. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, audiences assumed the categories of Blackness and Germanness were mutually exclusive. Yet on attending a performance of German music by a Black musician, many listeners were surprised to discover that German identity is not a biological marker but something that could be learned, performed, and mastered. While Germans and Austrians located their national identity in music, championing composers such as Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms as national heroes, the performance of their works by Black musicians complicated the public's understanding of who had the right to play them. Audiences wavered between seeing these musicians as the rightful heirs of Austro-German musical culture and dangerous outsiders to it. The book explores the tension between the supposedly transcendental powers of classical music and the global conversations that developed about who could perform it. It suggests that listening to music is not a passive experience, but an active process where racial and gendered categories are constantly made and unmade.
Counting Dreams
Authors: Thomas Roger K.
Published: July 2022

This book tells the story of Nomura Bōtō, a Buddhist nun, writer, poet, and activist who joined the movement to oppose the Tokugawa Shogunate and restore imperial rule. Banished for her political activities, Bōtō was imprisoned on a remote island until her comrades rescued her in a dramatic jailbreak, spiriting her away under gunfire. The book examines Bōtō's life, writing, and legacy, and provides annotated translations of two of her literary diaries, shedding light on life and society in Japan's tumultuous bakumatsu period and challenging preconceptions about women's roles in the era. The book interweaves analysis of Bōtō's poetry and diaries with the history of her life and activism, examining their interrelationship and revealing how she brought two worlds—the poetic and the political—together. The book illustrates Bōtō's significant role in the loyalist movement, depicting the adventurous life of a complex woman in Japan on the cusp of the Meiji Restoration.
In Chōshū
Authors: Thomas Roger K.
Published: July 2022

This chapter explores Nomura Bōtō's life in Chōshū. It starts with a narrative of her rescue from Himeshima by Fuji Shirō and Takasugi Shinsaku. Bōtō took care of Takasugi following his illness. Debates rose whether the poetry monument in Shimonoseki was written by Bōtō or Takasugi. The Bōshū Diary shows her life after exile in Chōshū and Yamaguchi. The chapter discusses how Bōtō passed away after being consumed by her illness. She spent her last twelve days alive writing poetry. Prior to her death, Bōtō had heard from Sumikawa Senzō that overthrowing the bakufu was halted after the individual died of natural causes.
Death, Power, and Apotheosis in Ancient Egypt
Authors: Troche Julia
Published: July 2022

This book uniquely considers how power was constructed, maintained, and challenged in ancient Egypt through mortuary culture and apotheosis, or how certain dead in ancient Egypt became gods. Rather than focus on the imagined afterlife and its preparation, the book provides a novel treatment of mortuary culture exploring how the dead were mobilized to negotiate social, religious, and political capital in ancient Egypt before the New Kingdom. The book explores the perceived agency of esteemed dead in ancient Egyptian social, political, and religious life during the Old and Middle Kingdoms (c. 2700–1650 BCE) by utilizing a wide range of evidence, from epigraphic and literary sources to visual and material artifacts. As a result, the book is an important contribution to current scholarship in its collection and presentation of data, the framework it establishes for identifying distinguished and deified dead, and its novel argumentation, which adds to the larger academic conversation about power negotiation and the perceived agency of the dead in ancient Egypt.
Disenchanted Wanderer
Authors: Cronin Glenn
Published: July 2022

This book is the first comprehensive English-language study in over half a century of the life and ideas of Konstantin Nikolaevich Leontiev (1831–1891), one of the most important thinkers in nineteenth-century Russia on political, social, and religious matters. The book gives the reader a broad overview of Leontiev's life and varied career as novelist, army doctor, diplomat, journalist, censor, and, late in life, ordained monk. Reviewing Leontiev's creative work and his writing on aesthetics and literary criticism, the book goes on to examine Leontiev's sociopolitical writing and his theory of the rise and fall of cultures and civilizations, placing his thought in the context of his contemporaries and predecessors in Slavophile and Russian nationalist circles. It also examines Leontiev's religious views, including his ascetic brand of Orthodoxy, informed by his experiences of the monastic communities of Mount Athos and Optina Pustyn, and his late attraction to Roman Catholicism under the influence of the theologian Vladimir Solovyev. The book concludes with a review of Leontiev's prophetic vision for the twentieth century and his conviction that, after a period of wars, socialism would triumph under the banner of a new Constantine the Great. It considers how far this vision foretold the rise to power of Joseph Stalin, an aspect of Leontiev's legacy that previously had not received the attention it merits. The book demonstrates that Leontiev was a deeply moral thinker and a radical conservative.
When Leaders Use Preventive Military Force
Authors: Elizabeth Whitlark Rachel
Published: July 2022

This chapter poses one central question: When do states decide to use preventive military force to forestall or destroy an adversary's nuclear weapons program? It aims to understand why some leaders use preventive war, others consider it, and still others never contemplate it as a counterproliferation strategy. The chapter argues that leaders have different prior beliefs about nuclear matters, which influence how these leaders, once in executive office, approach proliferation challenges that arise. The chapter also chronicles significant leader disagreement about the magnitude of threats posed by nuclear proliferation generally and by specific states' nuclear programs, which are central to understanding this variation in behavior. It contends that leaders' beliefs formed prior to or early in leaders' tenure in executive office (before the case of interest) are what shape their later preventive war decisions. The chapter contributes to our growing understanding of the domestic sources of nuclear politics writ large.
The Filipino Migration Experience
Authors: Roces Mina
Published: July 2022

This book introduces a new dimension to the usual depiction of migrants as disenfranchised workers or marginal ethnic groups. The book suggests alternative ways of conceptualizing Filipino migrantsas critics of the family and cultural constructions of sexuality, as consumers and investors, as philanthropists, as activists, and, as historians. They have been able to transform fundamental social institutions and well-entrenched traditional norms, as well as alter the business, economic and cultural landscapes of both the homeland and the host countries to which they have migrated. The book tells the story of the Filipino migration experience from the perspective of the migrants themselves, tapping into hitherto underused primary sources from the “migrant archives” and more than seventy interviews. Bringing the fields of Filipino migration studies and Filipina/o/x American studies together, the book analyzes some of the areas where Filipino migrants have forever changed the status quo.
Advocacy and Its Impacts, 1970s to circa 2000
Authors: Roces Mina
Published: July 2022

This chapter discusses the struggles of Filipino when it comes to their status as an ethnic minority group. Case studies reveal how Filipino migrant advocates understood intersectionality and were able to transcend their own class positions to address the issues faced by youth and women of Filipino ethnicities. The chapter references Operation Manong in Hawaii and the Filipino Women’s Working Party in Australia as examples. It includes how Filipina activism impacted domestic violence cases in Australia. Data from the migrant archives illustrate the diversity, scope, and serious nature of the trials faced by Filipino migrants.
Conclusion
Authors: Roces Mina
Published: July 2022

This chapter explicates the perspective of migrant influences by highlighting the previous discussion of their roles as consumers, investors, historians, and philanthropists. In 1988, President Corazon Aquino referred to Filipino migrant workers as bagong bayani which elevated their status as noble citizens on par with national heroes. Additionally, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) honors outstanding overseas Filipino workers through the Bagong Bayani Awards. There were debates on how the Philippine government used the bagong bayani discourse to justify labor export and labor out-migration. However, Filipino migrants are not shy in using the label to empower or legitimize migrant activism.
Introduction
Authors: Sigurðsson Jón Viðar
Published: July 2022

This chapter emphasizes the book's focus — the Vikings and their activities inside Scandinavia. It highlights that the succeeding texts will look at some key aspects in Scandinavia's formation during the Viking Age: politics, social networks, conspicuous consumption, warrior mentality, social stratification, religion, farms, and power centers. The chapter provides the context that the Danish kings dominated politics in Scandinavia. It describes the two types of Viking Age friendships — the vertical relationship between chieftains and householders and the horizontal connections between chieftains and kings. The chapter then discusses the Scandinavian Viking Age society as a showy society, characterized by conspicuous consumption. It also points out that the coexistence of a warrior mentality and presumed peacefulness within Scandinavia did not create a contradiction — in other words, the majority of violence took place outside Scandinavia. The chapter also gives a glimpse of social stratification and Norse religion. Then it discusses farms as the basic building block of Scandinavian society during the Viking Age, both socially and economically. The production of food was also the focus of the entire society. Viking Age society lived hand-to-mouth, and there was no form of food storage that could be relied on in the event of a crisis. The chapter explains why the kings' and chieftains' farms were the power centers of society. It also introduces the two main types of Viking ships: the langskip, a warship, and the knarr, a merchant vessel.
The Powerful Danish Kings
Authors: Sigurðsson Jón Viðar
Published: July 2022

This chapter tackles the political developments in Scandinavia, focusing on the Danish kings. It tells the story of how they developed Jelling, which lies in southern Jylland, into both their personal residence and the center of the kingdom. Furthermore, the chapter dissects the inscription on the large Jelling stone which read: “King Harald ordered this monument made in memory of Gorm, his father, and in memory of Thyra, his mother; that Harald who won for himself all of Denmark (Danmǫrk) and Norway (Norvegr) and made the Danes Christian.” Over a thousand years later, Harald's nickname, Bluetooth, was borrowed by Intel developers for the name of its new wireless technology — for just as Harald had united Scandinavia, so the Intel engineers saw their innovation as one that could unite digital devices. Furthermore, the chapter discusses the impact of hegemony over Viken, which afforded the Danish kings control over the trade routes to and from northern Norway, along the coast, up the main waterways, and inland.
Honor and Posthumous Reputation
Authors: Sigurðsson Jón Viðar
Published: July 2022

This chapter focuses on four visible and concrete tools used during the Viking Age to shape the ideology of the population: feasts, gifts, skaldic poetry, and monumental burial mounds. These helped bring honor to the members of the social elite and ensure a good posthumous reputation for them. The chapter tackles how powerful men in Scandinavian society competed with each other to build the greatest hall and to organize the greatest feasts. The feasts were public events that created a common experience for the participants and were probably the most straightforward and fundamental way of materializing an ideology. The chapter describes three kinds of feasts: entrepreneur feasts, patron feasts, and diacritical feasts. Gifts in the Viking Age also signified wealth and was used as a marketing trick to acquire more friends and expand one's power base. Kings and chieftains valued giving the right types of gifts — jewelry, good horses, gold, rings, clothes, and weaponry — to the right people at the right time. The gift-giving process was publicly staged, and it was crucial to follow the rules of the game; otherwise, the purpose of the gift might be misinterpreted and the recipient could take offense. Highlighting the importance of honor and posthumous reputation in the Viking Age, kings and chieftains held it crucial to have poems composed about their achievements, so that they would be retold not only in the present, but from generation to generation. The chapter also elaborates the building of burial mounds.
Introduction
Authors: Michlin-Shapir Vera
Published: July 2022

This chapter explores what happened to Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It notes Crimea as a location of great significance for Russia's national identity. Aside from an outburst of patriotism after the annexation of Crimea, the Russian society under Vladimir Putin continued to manifest a sense of dislocation regarding its national identity. Researchers underlined how Soviet nationalism became Russians' post-Soviet victimhood. However, present studies suggest the failure to consider the impact of globalization and late modernity on Russian society and national identity. The chapter expounds on the historical dislocations of Russian identity. In line with this, Putin focused his first presidency on restoring to Russia a stable and unified sense of identity.
Seeking Stability in a Fluid Russia
Authors: Michlin-Shapir Vera
Published: July 2022

This chapter explains how the government's disregard for the new late modern trends shaped Russian citizenship that doomed its policies to fail. Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to normalize citizenship policies in line with his restricted law aimed to stabilize citizenship legislation in 2002. As part of Putin's attempt to create normal citizenship, the fields of citizenship and migration have undergone a process of conceptual securitization wherein civilian spheres of life are required to be controlled and protected by the state. This chapter explores the difficulties of millions of former Soviet citizens becoming a foreigner in their own country.
Epilogue
Authors: Michlin-Shapir Vera
Published: July 2022

This chapter explores the Russian identity in the post-Soviet period. It clarifies that the title used the theoretical framework of late modernity to rearticulate the Russian national identification. The research found that citizenship legislation, media discourse, and holiday practices helped people construct and express their self-identification and sense of belonging to the collective. Additionally, the passing of national identities was intrinsically tied to globalization. The chapter also notes how late modern neoliberal trends and their shortcomings affected Russian national identification It also includes the fluid Russianness framework as being useful in understanding identification in President Vladimir Putin's regime because it used reflexive tools of late modernity.
“You Can Tell a Fighter Pilot (But You Can’t Tell Him Much)”
Authors: Hankins Michael W.
Published: July 2022

This chapter dives deeper into the five elements of fighter pilot culture, the various ways in which they expressed themselves, and how the culture evolved through various contexts — from World War I through the Vietnam era. It looks at aggressiveness as the element that sets fighter pilots apart, citing key figures who illustrated this tenet such as Kiffin Rockwell, the first American pilot to shoot down a German aircraft; Victor Chapman, the first US pilot to be killed in aerial combat; and Colonel James Jabara, the first US pilot to achieve ace status in Korea. The chapter also tackles individualism, pointing out that preference for solo flying and self-reliance reflected a key component of fighter pilot culture. A fighter pilot could easily feel isolated, encased in the cockpit, and alone at the controls of a powerful machine of war. Next, the chapter discusses the third core element of this culture: technology. It highlights how the fighter pilot culture is tied specifically to technologies that enhance the role of air-to-air combat — giving more importance to agility and maneuverability over other characteristics such as range or payload. Focusing on the element of heroic imagery, the chapter describes how fighter pilots tended to talk of themselves in heroic terms. Furthermore, it looks at the tight-knit community of fighter pilots that often sees itself as under threat from outsiders and is carefully guarded. Last, the chapter tackles how masculinity is intertwined with all these defining elements.
“The Lord’s Work”
Authors: Hankins Michael W.
Published: July 2022

This chapter discusses how Lieutenant Colonel John Boyd, Pierre Sprey, and their associates viewed the F-15 Eagle as too big, too sophisticated, and too expensive. The group, which saw themselves as guerrilla fighters against the US government, advocated for an entirely new aircraft that culminated in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. On July 18, 1968, Sprey had written a memo to General James Ferguson, commander of AFSC, outlining the problems with the F-X, proposing large-scale changes to bring down the weight and size, remove most or all the avionics, and increase its maneuverability. But Ferguson took no action, prompting Sprey to carry the debate into public. The chapter also explores the activities of the Fighter Mafia, an underground group, initially consisting of Boyd, Sprey, Chuck Myers, and Thomas Christie. Other key members were Harry Hillaker, the chief of General Dynamics' preliminary design division in Fort Worth, Texas, and test pilot Colonel Everest Riccioni who had flown P-38 and P-51 fighters in World War II. It was Riccioni who floated the idea of the group calling themselves the “Fighter Mafia,” with himself as their “Godfather.” This “mafia” tried to hide their activities, fearing that they might be overheard. Any reference to work on the F-XX was called “the Lord's work,” a coded term. Along the way, the Fighter Mafia's extremism also began to alienate their former allies.
Writing Heresy
Authors: Hankins Michael W.
Published: July 2022

This chapter tackles how the Fighter Mafia's frustration with the lightweight fighter (LWF) drove the group to look beyond the Air Force and attempt to effect change in the entire military. The Fighter Mafia cultivated the allegory of themselves and the Air Force as competing religious orders. Referring to their efforts as “the Lord's work,” they took on the role of religious zealots, fighting against what they saw as corrupt orthodoxy. In the 1980s, the Fighter Mafia evolved into a larger group, known as the Military Reform movement. The movement published conference papers, briefings, newspapers, articles in professional and popular magazines, and books. Its concerns went beyond aircraft, encompassing budgets, procurement policy, research and development processes, and doctrine. Yet, they still spoke of the same elements: agility, maneuverability, the ability to surprise, and the conviction that machines needed to be simple. This reform movement incorporated many of the original fighter pilot stereotypes — strong individualism; distrust or resistance to authority; a focus on specific technologies that addressed the movement's values; protection of its community; use of heroic and religious imagery; and above all, aggressiveness.
“Zealots of the Classic Variety”
Authors: Hankins Michael W.
Published: July 2022

This chapter looks back at the time of national anxiety and self-doubt in the US, in the wake of the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the subsequent economic turmoil. During that time, the Military Reform movement was popularized by James Fallows, the Washington editor for The Atlantic magazine. Fallows met extensively with John Boyd and the other Reformers and published “The Muscle-Bound Superpower” in 1979. This was the first full public presentation of the Reformers' views — that military technology had gotten too complex, and the system was too full of corrupt insiders. The chapter explores how the Reformers' efforts soon drew allies from within the military and in Congress.
Kicking Vietnam Syndrome
Authors: Hankins Michael W.
Published: July 2022

This chapter focuses on how the new doctrines and technologies developed after Vietnam were put to the test in Iraq in 1991. Operation Desert Storm was based on extensive use of the technologies and strategies that the Fighter Mafia and the Reformers had opposed. John Boyd and his fellow Reformers had predicted a future war in which large fleets of aircraft battled for air superiority in ferocious dogfights. They argued that this hypothetical scenario demanded smaller, simpler aircraft, relying on the flying skill of the individual pilot. Furthermore, they assumed that the large all-weather radar of the F-15 Eagle was unnecessary and made it vulnerable. The Reformers also assumed that missiles would be useless. However, the skies over Iraq in 1991 debunked these assumptions as radar played a key role in gaining and maintaining air superiority; air-to-air combat did not involve the types of aircraft that the Reformers thought it should; and according to Western intelligence sources, Iraqi fighter pilots were poorly trained and inexperienced. For many observers, the Gulf War proved the Reformers wrong. On the other hand, the Reformers themselves took it as a validation. Most of the Reformers' ideas went untested in the Gulf War. What is clear is that the Reformers' vision was not applicable to all wars.
Freeze!
Authors: Maar Henry Richard, III
Published: July 2022

This book chronicles the rise of the transformative and transnational Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign. Amid an escalating Cold War that pitted the nuclear arsenal of the United States against that of the Soviet Union, the grassroots peace movement emerged sweeping the nation and uniting people around the world. The solution for the arms race that the Campaign proposed: a bilateral freeze on the building, testing, and deployment of nuclear weapons on the part of two superpowers of the US and the USSR. That simple but powerful proposition stirred popular sentiment and provoked protest in the streets and on screen from New York City to London to Berlin. Movie stars and scholars, bishops and reverends, governors and congress members, and, ultimately, US President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev took a stand for or against the Freeze proposal. With the Reagan administration so openly discussing the prospect of winnable and survivable nuclear warfare like never before, the Freeze movement forcefully translated decades of private fears into public action. Drawing upon extensive archival research in recently declassified materials, the book illuminates how the Freeze campaign demonstrated the power and importance of grassroots peace activism in all levels of society. The Freeze movement played an instrumental role in shaping public opinion and American politics, helping establish the conditions that would bring the Cold War to an end.
Food taboos during pregnancy: meta-analysis on cross cultural differences suggests specific, diet-related pressures on childbirth among agriculturalists
Authors: Maggiulli Ornella , Rufo Fabrizio , Johns Sarah E. , Wells Jonathan C.K.
Published: July 2022

Pregnancy is the most delicate stage of human life history as well as a common target of food taboos across cultures. Despite puzzling evidence that many pregnant women across the world reduce their intake of nutritious foods to accomplish cultural norms, no study has provided statistical analysis of cross-cultural variation in food taboos during pregnancy. Moreover, antenatal practices among forager and agriculturalists have never been compared, despite subsistence mode being known to affect staple foods and lifestyle directly. This gap hinders to us from understanding the overall threats attributed to pregnancy, and their perceived nutritional causes around the world. The present study constitutes the first cross-cultural meta-analysis on food taboos during pregnancy. We examined thirty-two articles on dietary antenatal restrictions among agricultural and non-agricultural societies, in order to: (i) identify cross-culturally targeted animal, plant and miscellaneous foods; (ii) define major clusters of taboo focus; (iii) test the hypothesis that food types and clusters of focus distribute differently between agricultural and non-agricultural taboos; and (iv) test the hypothesis that food types distribute differently across the clusters of taboo focus. All data were analysed in SPSS and RStudio using chi-squared tests and Fisher’s exact tests. We detected a gradient in taboo focus that ranged from no direct physiological interest to the fear of varied physiological complications to a very specific concern over increased birth weight and difficult delivery. Non-agricultural taboos were more likely to target non-domesticated animal foods and to be justified by concerns not directly linked to the physiological sphere, whereas agricultural taboos tended to targed more cultivated and processed products and showed a stronger association with concerns over increased birth weight. Despite some methodological discrepancies in the existing literature on food taboos during pregnancy, our results illustrate that such cultural traits are useful for detecting perception of biological pressures on reproduction across cultures. Indeed, the widespread concern over birth weight and carbohydrate rich foods overlaps with clinical evidence that obstructed labor is a major threat to maternal life in Africa, Asia and Eurasia. Furthermore, asymmetry in the frequency of such concern across subsistence modes aligns with the evolutionary perspective that agriculture may have exacerbated delivery complications. This study highlights the need for the improved understanding of dietary behaviors during pregnancy across the world, addressing the role of obstructed labor as a key point of convergence between clinical, evolutionary and cultural issues in human behavior.
An impact assessment of insecticides application on the non-targeted mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse) in Punjab rice fields, Pakistan
Authors: Khan Hafiz Azhar Ali
Published: July 2022

Insecticidal control of insect pests of rice crop may influence the environment and nontarget species in rice fields. Aedes albopictus, one of the most common nontarget species present in rice fields, received lethal and sublethal exposures to insecticides used in rice cultivated fields. The present work explores the effects of insecticides in six non-targeted Ae. albopictus strains collected from rice fields with a history of insecticidal usage in comparison with a laboratory susceptible reference strain (REF) and a strain (LHR) collected from a rice field with no, or minimal, history of insecticidal usage. Two types of effects, the resistance development and performance of biological traits, were studied by selecting seven commonly used insecticides in rice fields in Punjab, Pakistan. The results revealed that the strains collected from the rice fields with histories of insecticidal usage exhibited significant levels of resistance to flonicamid, chlorantraniliprole, gamma-cyhalothrin, fipronil, monomehypo, triazophos, and carbofuran, when compared with REF and LHR strains. In addition, Ae. albopictus strains revealed a significantly weaker performance of biological traits (rate of pupae formation, survival of male and female adults (except females of OKR and MTN strains), and ovipositing females) than those of the REF and LHR strains. However, the fecundity of all field strains was only significantly different with that of the REF strain. In conclusion, the results highlight the problem of the negative effects of insecticidal usage in rice fields on nontarget species present in the same environment, and emphasize the need to adopt pest management activities that are safe for the environment.
Wide space sowing achieved high productivity and effective nitrogen use of irrigated wheat in South Shanxi, China
Authors: Wang Qiang , Noor Hafeez , Sun Min , Ren Aixia , Feng Yu , Qiao Peng , Zhang Jingjing , Gao Zhiqiang
Published: July 2022

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a staple crop worldwide, and its yield has improved since the green revolution, which was attributed to chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizer application. However, regular N application decreases N use efficiency (NUE, the ratio of grain dry matter yield to N supply from soil and fertilizer). Various practices have been implemented to maintain high crop yield and improve NUE. Nowadays, the enhanced sowing method, i.e., wide space sowing (WS), has improved the productivity of wheat crops. However, how the sowing method and N application rate affect N use and yield productivity has not been fully elucidated. Field experiments with treatments using two sowing methods (WS, and drill sowing, DS) and four N application rates (0, 180, 240, and 300 kg ha−1, represented as N0, N180, N240, and N300, respectively) were conducted from 2017 to 2019. The results showed that grain yield under WS was 13.57–16.38% higher than that under DS. The yield advantage under WS was attributed to an increased ear number. Both the higher stem and productive stem percentage accounted for the increased ear number under WS. Higher total N quantity and larger leaf area index at anthesis under WS contributed to higher dry matter production, resulting in higher grain yield. Higher dry matter production was due to pre-anthesis dry weight and post-anthesis dry weight. The wheat crop under WS had a 12.44–15.00% higher NUE than that under DS. The increased NUE under WS was attributed to higher N uptake efficiency (the ratio of total N quantity at maturity to N supply from soil and fertilizer), which was the result of greater total N quantity. The higher total N quantity under WS was due to both higher pre-anthesis N uptake and post-anthesis N uptake. Remarkably, compared to DS with 240 kg N ha−1, WS with 180 kg N ha−1 had almost equal grain yield, dry matter, and total N quantity. Therefore, wheat crops under WS could achieve both high NUE and grain yield simultaneously with only moderate N fertilizer in South Shanxi, China.
Students’ Perception of Their Physics Teachers’ Classroom Practices
Authors: Dah Maxwell,
Published: July 2022

The purpose of the study was to investigate students’ perception of their physics teachers’ classroom practices. The study was conducted in eight (8) senior high schools in the Hohoe Municipality in the Volta Region of Ghana. Descriptive cross-sectional survey design was employed in carrying out the study. A total sample of 200 senior high school physics students were involved in the study. A questionnaire consisting mainly of closed ended items was used in collecting data from respondents. Data collected was analysed using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. It was found that physics teachers do not often motivate students and make them appreciate the fact that the things they learn in physics are important. Based on the findings, it was recommended that physics teachers make learning of physics interesting by making students appreciate the importance of what they teach, often encourage students to study physics and also show interest in the overall success of their students.
The Moderation Effects of Demographic Variables on Trust of Mobile Phone Banking Services; a Case Study of Smallholder Farmers in Dodoma Region, Tanzania
Authors: Rwezaula Anicet A. , Chachage Bukaza L. , Tonya Emmanuel M.
Published: July 2022

This study analyzed the moderation effect of demographic variables on the trust in mobile phone banking services among smallholder farmers in the Dodoma Region. The study employed a quantitative research design with cross-sectional field surveys and structured questionnaires were employed as the research methods. The study employed a sample size of 355 smallholder farmers who were drawn by simple random sampling from grapes farmers. SPSS was used as an analytical tool for quantitative data analysis. Multiple linear regressions and Fisher’s Z-transformation were involved to test the moderating effect of demographic variables.

Results show that demographic factors namely sex, age, experience, level of income, level of education, and marital status were significant moderating variables. However, the level of education did not show any moderating effect. Our results suggest that by integrating the accessibility and ease of use from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), age, sex, and experience from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and security and privacy from the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), the research provides insights into the factors influencing consumers’ trust in mobile phone banking services. Besides, the results of moderating effect improve our understanding of the demographic differences, which influence the degree of mobile banking adoption. Besides, the results of moderating effect improve our understanding of the demographic differences, which influence the degree of mobile banking adoption. This study will help researchers and service providers to come up with improved mobile phone trust frameworks with a greater understanding of the influence of demographic variables.

No similar study had been done in sub-Saharan African countries. Therefore, the study provides new knowledge and insight into the influence of demographic variables on the trust in mobile phone banking services.
Robustness and reproducibility of an artificial intelligence‐assisted online segmentation and adaptive planning process for online adaptive radiation therapy
Authors: Chapman John W. , Lam Dao , Cai Bin , Hugo Geoffrey D.
Published: July 2022

Clinical implementation of online adaptive radiation therapy requires initial and ongoing performance assessment of the underlying auto‐segmentation and adaptive planning algorithms, although a straightforward and efficient process for this in phantom is lacking. The purpose of this work was to investigate robustness and repeatability of the artificial intelligence‐assisted online segmentation and adaptive planning process on the Varian Ethos adaptive platform, and to develop an end‐to‐end test strategy for online adaptive radiation therapy. Five synthetic deformations were generated and applied to a computed tomography image of an anthropomorphic pelvis phantom, and reference treatment plans were generated from each of the resulting deformed images. The undeformed phantom was repeatedly imaged, and the online adaptive process was performed including auto‐segmentation, review and manual correction of contours, and adaptive plan creation. One adaptive fractions in five different deformation scenarios were performed. The manually corrected contours had a high degree of consistency (> 93% Dice similarity coefficient and < 1.0 mm mean surface distance) across repeated fractions, with no significant variation across the synthetic deformation instance except for bowel (p = 0.026, one‐way ANOVA). Adaptive treatment plans also resulted in highly consistent dose–volume values for targets and organs at risk. A straightforward and efficient process was developed and used to quantify a set of organ specific contouring and dosimetric action levels to help establish uncertainty bounds for an end‐to‐end test on the Varian Ethos system.
Study: Four medications have best evidence for treating AUD
Authors: Knopf Alison
Published: July 2022

A recent study looked at the comparative efficacy and safety of different medications for adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Using published randomized clinical trials, each of which reported on alcohol consumption, dropouts, and dropouts due to adverse events within four weeks, the researchers focused on total abstinence and reduced heavy drinking.
Correlation Among Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, and Thermal Stability of a Novel HPDC Al–12Si Alloy with Minor Sc
Authors: Zhao Beibei , Zhang Jiaying , Ye Bing , Wang Liyang , Bai Yang , Yu Xin
Published: July 2022

The microstructure, mechanical properties, and thermal stability of high‐pressure die casting (HPDC) Al–12Si–Sc alloy with 0.1 wt% Sc addition are investigated. Compared with the commercial A380 alloy, the alloy shows a significant refinement of α‐Al and eutectic Si microstructure. Meanwhile, β‐Fe with irregular morphology shows a smaller size and lower volume fraction in Al–12Si–Sc alloy. Upon as‐cast state, the elongation of the alloy is improved to 6.7% with an ultimate tensile strength of 332 MPa, which is a better combination of ductility and strength in the literature. After thermal exposure at 200 °C for 200 h, it retains tensile strength of 277 MPa and holds the microhardness up to 90 HV even exposure for 1000 h. These excellent properties may widen the application of HPDC Al–Si alloy for the cylinder block and cylinder head.
Disinfector‐Assisted Low Temperature Reduced Graphene Oxide‐Protein Surgical Dressing for the Postoperative Photothermal Treatment of Melanoma
Authors: Wu Yuanhao , Yang Junyao , van Teijlingen Alexander , Berardo Alice , Corridori Ilaria , Feng Jingyu , Xu Jing , Titirici Maria‐Magdalena , Rodriguez‐Cabello Jose Carlos , Pugno Nicola M , Sun Jiaming , Wang Wen , Tuttle Tell , Mata Alvaro
Published: July 2022

Materials that combine the functionalities of both of proteins and graphene are of great interest for the engineering of biosensing, drug delivery, and regenerative devices. Graphene oxide (GO) offers an opportunity to design GO‐protein interactions but the need for harsh reduction processes to enable GO photoexcitation remains a limitation. A disinfector‐assisted low temperature method to reduce GO‐protein materials and fabricate surgical dressings with tuneable photothermal efficiency and bioactive properties for the postoperative treatment of melanoma is reported. The approach harnesses the capacity of 70% ethanol to penetrate the protein shell of microorganisms to infiltrate GO‐protein complexes and reduce GO at low temperature (85 °C) while maintaining the material structure and bioactivity. Both experiments and coarse‐grained simulations are used to describe the reduction process and assess the material properties. In vitro and in vivo validation revealed the capacity of the dressings to prevent tumor recurrence and promote healing after tumor resection.
Droplet Microarray Based Screening Identifies Proteins for Maintaining Pluripotency of hiPSCs
Authors: Liu Yanxi , Bertels Sarah , Reischl Markus , Peravali Ravindra , Bastmeyer Martin , Popova Anna A. , Levkin Pavel A.
Published: July 2022

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are crucial for disease modeling, drug discovery, and personalized medicine. Animal‐derived materials hinderapplications of hiPSCs in medical fields. Thus, novel and well‐defined substrate coatings capable of maintaining hiPSC pluripotency are important for advancing biomedical applications of hiPSCs. Here a miniaturized droplet microarray (DMA) platform to investigate 11 well‐defined proteins, their 55 binary and 165 ternary combinations for their ability to maintainpluripotency of hiPSCs when applied as a surface coating, is used. Using this screening approach, ten protein group coatings are identified, which promote significantly higher NANOG expression of hiPSCs in comparison with Matrigel coating. With two of the identified coatings, long‐term pluripotency maintenance of hiPSCs and subsequent differentiation into three germ layers are achieved. Compared with conventional high‐throughput screening (HTS) in 96‐well plates, the DMA platform uses only 83 µL of protein solution (0.83 µg total protein) and only ≈2.8 × 105 cells, decreasing the amount of proteins and cells ≈860 and 25‐fold, respectively. The identified proteins will be essential for research and applications using hiPSCs, while the DMA platform demonstrates great potential for miniaturized HTS of scarce cells or expensive materials such as recombinant proteins.
A Room‐Temperature Ferroelectric Resonant Tunneling Diode
Authors: Ma Zhijun , Zhang Qi , Tao Lingling , Wang Yihao , Sando Daniel , Zhou Jinling , Guo Yizhong , Lord Michael , Zhou Peng , Ruan Yongqi , Wang Zhiwei , Hamilton Alex , Gruverman Alexei , Tsymbal Evgeny Y. , Zhang Tianjin , Valanoor Nagarajan
Published: July 2022

Resonant tunneling is a quantum‐mechanical effect in which electron transport is controlled by the discrete energy levels within a quantum‐well (QW) structure. A ferroelectric resonant tunneling diode (RTD) exploits the switchable electric polarization state of the QW barrier to tune the device resistance. Here, the discovery of robust room‐temperature ferroelectric‐modulated resonant tunneling and negative differential resistance (NDR) behaviors in all‐perovskite‐oxide BaTiO3/SrRuO3/BaTiO3 QW structures is reported. The resonant current amplitude and voltage are tunable by the switchable polarization of the BaTiO3 ferroelectric with the NDR ratio modulated by ≈3 orders of magnitude and an OFF/ON resistance ratio exceeding a factor of 2 × 104. The observed NDR effect is explained an energy bandgap between Ru‐t2g and Ru‐eg orbitals driven by electron–electron correlations, as follows from density functional theory calculations. This study paves the way for ferroelectric‐based quantum‐tunneling devices in future oxide electronics.