bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Unveiling the enigmatic and ambiguous: A new Frullania species from New Caledonia
Authors: LARRAÍN JUAN , VON KONRAT MATT , NGUYEN LAN-HUONG , CARTER BENJAMIN E. , AGUERO BLANKA , TABUA MEREIA , THOUVENOT LOUIS
Published: February 2019

Frullania is a large and taxonomically complex genus with over 300 accepted species. A new liverwort species, Frullania thouvenotiana sp. nov. from New Caledonia, is described and illustrated. The new species, and its placement in Frullania subg. Microfrullania, is based on morphology with support from previously published sequence data. Diagnostic characters associated with the leaf, especially the leaf margin, distinguishes it from all other species of Frullania, including similar species with a distribution comprising Fiji and New Zealand. A brief comparison is made with morphologically allied species, and an artificial key is provided. Frullania neocaledonica is also proposed to be a synonym of F. chevalieri.
Geocalyx heinrichsii sp. nov., the first representative of Geocalycaceae (Jungermanniales, Marchantiophyta) in Baltic amber
Authors: KATAGIRI TOMOYUKI
Published: February 2019

Geocalyx heinrichsii T.Katag. is described as a new leafy liverwort species from Eocene Baltic amber. It is characterized by (1) small sized shoots less than 1 mm wide including leaves, (2) bifid underleaves, not connate with leaf bases, (3) presence of gemmiferous ascending microphyllous shoot, and (4) 1–2-celled spherical to ellipsoidal gemmae. This is the first fossil record for the genus Geocalyx and for the family Geocalycaceae (Jungermanniales, Marchantiophyta) from Baltic amber, and constitutes an important addition to our knowledge of the Eocene Baltic liverwort flora.
Lectotypification of Carex insignis (Cyperaceae)
Authors: MALLICK TANMOY , NASKAR SAIKAT , GHOSH ASOK
Published: February 2019

Carex insignis Boott (1858: 5) is the name applied to a species that belongs to Carex sect. Decorae (Kükenthal) Ohwi (1936: 338). It occurs in East, South and South-East Asia (Liang et al. 2010). Global Carex Group (2016) found section Decorae to be polyphyletic, being their representatives placed on the Core Carex clade, within the “small Core Carex” or early diverging within “large Core Carex” subclade. Unfortunately, C. insignis was not included in that phylogenetic study.
Annotated checklist and distribution of the Socotran Archipelago Herpetofauna (Reptilia)
Authors: RAZZETTI EDOARDO , SINDACO ROBERTO , GRIECO CRISTINA , PELLA FRANCESCA , ZILIANI UGO , PUPIN FABIO , RISERVATO ELISA , PELLITTERI-ROSA DANIELE , BUTIKOFER LUCA , SULEIMAN AHMED SAEED , AL-ASEILY BADAR AWADH , CARUGATI CATERINA , BONCOMPAGNI ELEONORA , FASOLA MAURO
Published: February 2019

We update the knowledge on the 30 terrestrial reptile species of Socotra, an archipelago well known for its highly endemic flora and fauna. We use the records obtained during several surveys throughout all the islands of the archipelago, carried out between 2007 and 2010, as well as the bibliographic records. We recorded all the known species of terrestrial reptiles for the islands (Chamaeleo monachus, Haemodracon riebeckii, Haemodracon trachyrhinus, Hemidactylus dracaenacolus, H. granti, H. homoeolepis, H. flaviviridis, H. forbesi, H. inintellectus, H. oxyrhinus, H. robustus, H. pumilio, Pristurus abdelkuri, P. guichardi, P. obsti, P. insignoides, P. insignis, P. sokotranus, P. samhaensis, Mesalina balfouri, M. kuri, Hakaria simonyi, Trachylepis socotrana, Pachycalamus brevis, Leptotyphlops filiformis, L. macrurus, L. wilsoni, Typhlops socotranus, Ditypophis vivax, Hemerophis socotrae). We report for the first time the occurrence of Hemidactylus robustus in Samha Island. H. homoeolepis is excluded from the fauna of Abd al-Kuri Island.
Description of the final instar larvae of Acanthagrion gracile (Rambur) and Acanthagrion lancea Selys (Odonata: Coenagrionidae)
Authors: ANJOS-SANTOS DANIELLE , CARRIÇO CÉSAR , COSTA JANIRA MARTINS , SANTOS TATIANA CHRYSOSTOMO
Published: February 2019

The final instar larvae of Acanthagrion gracile and A. lancea are described and illustrated based on reared specimens from Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo States, Brazil, being compared with the other known larvae of this genus.
Robust and Secured Medical Image Watermarking Using Daub4 and CoAST Transforms
Authors: Kavitha V. , Palanisamy C. , Sureshkumar T.
Published: February 2019

A hybrid watermarking technique using wavelet and Shearlet transform is proposed in this paper. The DWT variant Daub4 transform model is applied on the medical image to generate different frequency sub-bands. The HL and LH sub-bands which are resistant to compression attacks are chosen
for second level of transformation, a DST variant 'Cone adaptive Shearlet transform' technique is used to calculate the Shearlet coefficients of the selected sub-bands. By using SVD on the Shearlet coefficients, the singular values of watermark image are embedded into the singular values of
the host image. The proposed approach is examined using three medical images and a watermark image. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is robust against JPEG compression, Geometric and Noise attacks.
A Fast Contrast Improved Zero-Phase Filtered Delay Multiply and Sum in Ultrasound Computed Tomography
Authors: Lou Cuijuan , Song Junjie , Zhou Liang , Peng Yang , Ding Mingyue , Yuchi Ming
Published: February 2019

In linear array B-mode imaging, the zero-phase filtered delay multiply and sum beamforming (ZPF-DMAS) weighted by space-time smoothing coherence factor (StS-CF) has been proved to enhance the image contrast resolution than the traditional delay and sum method. However, the large number
of virtual received signals may increase the computational cost of this method in ultrasound computed tomography (USCT) with ring array. Here, a method with less computation amount is proposed in USCT: the received signals are separated into different groups by their spatial lag; the groups
form a new smaller size receive aperture; StS-CF is finally applied to the new receive aperture. CIRS model 055A is tested to compare the performances of the proposed method and ZPF-DMAS. The results show that the computational complexity has been reduced by N*B*D((M2–3M)/2+1)
multiplications, supposing there are N ultrasound waves transmitted, B scan lines, D imaging points on each line and M-element receive aperture. StS-CF with a subarray size of L = 16 (far less than half the receive aperture) and P = 5 time samples
gives the best result in USCT, which is different from that in linear array B-mode imaging. The proposed method can enhance contrast ratio about 6.3 dB and 5.7 dB for the cystic mass and dense mass than ZPF-DMAS, respectively.
Measuring ARTSE2017: Results from Wyoming and New York
Authors: Fowler Jennifer , Wang Junhong , Ross Deborah , Colligan Thomas , Godfrey Jaxen
Published: February 2019

The 21 August 2017 total solar eclipse was the first total eclipse on the mainland of the United States since 1979. The Atmospheric Responses of 2017 Total Solar Eclipse (ARTSE2017) project was created to observe the response of the atmosphere to the shadow of the moon. During the eclipse, 10 sites launched radiosondes in a very rapid, serial weather balloon deployment along the totality path, and high-resolution mesoscale meteorological network (mesonet) data were collected in three states. Here, we focus on the results obtained from the radiosonde field campaign in Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and the New York State Mesonet (NYSM). In Fort Laramie, 36 people from 13 institutions flew 19 radiosondes and launched 5 large balloons carrying video payloads before, during, and after the eclipse while continuously recording surface weather data. Preliminary analysis of the radiosonde data provided inconclusive evidence of eclipse-driven gravity waves but showed that the short duration of darkness during totality was enough to alter boundary layer (BL) height, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, substantially. The statewide impact of the partial eclipse in New York State (NYS) was observed for solar radiation, surface temperature, surface wind, and surface-layer lapse rate using NYSM data. Importantly, the radiosonde and mesonet data collected during the eclipse will be available for public access. ARTSE2017 also focused on education, including students from all demographics (undergraduate and K–12) and the general public. Finally, we summarize goals accomplished from leveraging resources for education, research, and workforce development on undergraduate students from a variety of fields.
Estimates of Gradients in Radar Moments Using a Linear Least Squares Derivative Technique
Authors: Mahalik Matthew C. , Smith Brandon R. , Elmore Kimberly L. , Kingfield Darrel M. , Ortega Kiel L. , Smith Travis M.
Published: February 2019

The local, linear, least squares derivative (LLSD) approach to radar analysis is a method of quantifying gradients in radar data by fitting a least squares plane to a neighborhood of range bins and finding its slope. When applied to radial velocity fields, for example, LLSD yields part of the azimuthal (rotational) and radial (divergent) components of horizontal shear, which, under certain geometric assumptions, estimate one-half of the two-dimensional vertical vorticity and horizontal divergence equations, respectively. Recent advances in computational capacity as well as increased usage of LLSD products by the meteorological community have motivated an overhaul of the LLSD methodology’s application to radar data. This paper documents the mathematical foundation of the updated LLSD approach, including a complete derivation of its equation set, discussion of its limitations, and considerations for other types of implementation. In addition, updated azimuthal shear calculations are validated against theoretical vorticity using simulated circulations. Applications to nontraditional radar data and new applications to nonvelocity radar data including reflectivity at horizontal polarization, spectrum width, and polarimetric moments are also explored. These LLSD gradient calculations may be leveraged to identify and interrogate a wide variety of severe weather phenomena, either directly by operational forecasters or indirectly as part of future automated algorithms.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Dynamics of Post-Conflict Political Partnership in Sudan
Authors: Ahmed Einas
Published: February 2019

Most of the researches on peace agreements conclude that power-sharing arrangements included in these are mostly to the detriment of long-term democratic transformation. The basic argument of these studies is that peace deals consolidate mainly the power of the signatories to the detriment of other major political forces. This article illustrates that, in contrast to many cases, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which was signed in 2005 between the government of Sudan represented by the ruling party, the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), has led to an important political transformation in state structure as well as in power relations. Although the CPA enhanced the legitimacy of the SPLM and the NCP and consolidated their political domination, it, nevertheless, contributed to a significant political opening for other political forces in the North and in the South. The CPA put an end to the historically exclusive political hegemony of the North. This article focuses on the dynamics of relations between the SPLM and the NCP during the transitional period and illustrates how these dynamics have impacted upon the process of political transformation.
The Boko Haram Uprising and Islamic Revivalism in Nigeria
Authors: Adesoji Abimbola
Published: February 2019

From the 1980 Maitatsine uprising to the 2009 Boko Haram up-rising, Nigeria was bedevilled by ethno-religious conflicts with devastating human and material losses. But the Boko Haram uprising of July 2009 was significant in that it not only set a precedent, but also reinforced the attempts by Islamic conservative elements at imposing a variant of Islamic religious ideology on a secular state. Whereas the religious sensitivity of Nigerians provided fertile ground for the breeding of the Boko Haram sect, the sect's blossoming was also aided by the prevailing economic dislocation in Nigerian society, the advent of party politics (and the associated desperation of politicians for political power), and the ambivalence of some vocal Islamic leaders, who, though they did not actively embark on insurrection, either did nothing to stop it from fomenting, or only feebly condemned it. These internal factors coupled with growing Islamic fundamentalism around the world make a highly volatile Nigerian society prone to violence, as evidenced by the Boko Haram uprising. Given the approach of the Nigerian state to religious conflict, this violence may remain a recurring problem. This paper documents and analyses the Boko Haram uprising, as well as its links with the promotion of Islamic revivalism and the challenges it poses to the secularity of the Nigerian state.
Democratisation and Political Participation of Mbororo in Western Cameroon
Authors: Mouiche Ibrahim
Published: February 2019

Over the last two decades, the Mbororo – a “marginal” ethnic group – have experienced some unexpected rewards due to a new policy in Cameroon's West Region. Among the changes that affected the Mbororo were the following: a new legal-institutional framework (the 1996 Constitution), the consequences of the multi-party competition since 1990, and the mobilisation outside of political parties in the framework of an association for the promotion of ethnic interests (the MBOSCUDA, founded 1992). The combination of these factors has led to a Mbororo political awakening. This contribution aims to better understand the determinants and key players in this development.
Defining the Nation: National Identity in South Sudanese Media Discourse
Authors: Frahm Ole
Published: February 2019

This article examines debates about national identity in the media landscape of post-referendum and post-independence South Sudan. Having never existed as a sovereign state and with its citizens being a minority group in Sudan, collective action among South Sudanese has historically been shaped in response to external pressures: in particular, the aggressive nation-building pursued by successive Khartoum governments that sought to Arabize and Islamize the South. Today, in the absence of a clear-cut enemy, it is a major challenge for South Sudan to devise a common identity that unites the putative nation beyond competing loyalties to ethnicity, tribe and family. Analysing opinion pieces from South Sudanese online media and placing them in the context of contemporary African nationalism, this article gives an initial overview of the issues that dominate the public debate on national identity: fear of tribalism and regionalism, commemoration of the liberation struggle, language politics, and the role of Christianity.
Land Transactions and Chieftaincies in Southwestern Togo
Authors: Gardini Marco
Published: February 2019

Land access is becoming a crucial issue in many African contexts, where groups and individuals are coping with land scarcity and increasing competition over resources. Based on fieldwork carried out in the southwestern region of Togo, this paper explores the plurality and adaptability of the forms of land access that have historically emerged from changing economic and political landscapes characterized by the rise and the decline of cocoa cultivation. Moreover, it analyses the current strategies (from manipulation of group membership and land title registration to renegotiation of previous sharecropping agreements) subjects in asymmetrical power relations use to reinforce or contest rights over land in a context of rising social tensions.
Local Communities’ and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights to Forests in Central Africa: From Hope to Challenges
Authors: Assembe-Mvondo Samuel
Published: February 2019

This paper reviews the various rights of local communities and indigenous peoples over forest resources in Central Africa. Indeed, in 2010, the Council of Ministers of the Commission des Forêts d'Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC) adopted the Subregional Guidelines on the Participation of Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples and NGOs in Sustainable Forest Management in Central Africa. A survey of this subregional legal instrument highlights a genuine commitment by states to consolidate the benefits and the emerging rights that can improve the living conditions of vulnerable communities and strengthen the subregional regime of sustainable forest management. However, the effectiveness of the subregional guidelines hinges on the administrative acts and practical measures of member states to incorporate this instrument into their domestic legal systems and to enforce it.
Gender, Gays and Gain: The Sexualised Politics of Donor Aid in Malawi
Authors: Chanika Emmie , Lwanda John L. , Muula Adamson S.
Published: February 2019

Many Malawian politicians have exploited religious and cultural discourses, encouraging the discourse of the “God-fearing Malawi nation” while also acknowledging the country as a secular state. This discourse -which most recently underwent further development in the early 1980s when Christians and Muslims, funded by donor money, accelerated their evangelical drives in the context of a one-party Malawi – resonates with a patriarchal, conservative political dispensation. This paper traces the evolution of the “God-fearing nation” discourse in Malawian politics. It posits that the government used the “gay rights issue” as a strategy to disorient human rights activists and donors. Gay rights were de-linked from other civil rights, forcing a binary approach toward gay rights, which were seen by government supporters as “anti-Christian”, “anti-Malawian” concepts. The debate with donors enabled the government to claim “sovereign autonomy” and galvanise the population into an anti-aid mentality (better no aid than aid that supports homosexuality).
Frames in the Ethiopian Debate on Biofuels
Authors: Portner Brigitte
Published: February 2019

Biofuel production, while highly contested, is supported by a number of policies worldwide. Ethiopia was among the first sub-Saharan countries to devise a biofuel policy strategy to guide the associated demand toward sustainable development. In this paper, I discuss Ethiopia's biofuel policy from an interpretative research position using a frames approach and argue that useful insights can be obtained by paying more attention to national contexts and values represented in the debates on whether biofuel production can or will contribute to sustainable development. To this end, I was able to distinguish three major frames used in the Ethiopian debate on biofuels: an environmental rehabilitation frame, a green revolution frame and a legitimacy frame. The article concludes that actors advocating for frames related to social and human issues have difficulties entering the debate and forming alliances, and that those voices need to be included in order for Ethiopia to develop a sustainable biofuel sector.
The Impact of Drug Trafficking on Informal Security Actors in Kenya
Authors: Schuberth Moritz
Published: February 2019

The Kenyan state is currently under pressure from two sides: First, numerous non-state armed groups have taken over the provision of security in areas where the state is practically absent. Second, drug-trafficking organizations are gaining ground as the country is increasingly being used as a major transit hub for narcotics. This article investigates the relationship between drug trafficking and informal security provision in Kenya and draws analogies from comparable experiences in Latin America and West Africa. Field research in Kenya has demonstrated that profit-oriented, informal security actors in Mombasa work for drug lords, while their counterparts in Nairobi are more likely to be hired by politicians. Moreover, faith-based vigilante groups in both cities appear to be less susceptible to external manipulation by drug traffickers. The article concludes by considering the potential consequences of an expansion of the drug trade in Kenya.
What is Nigeria? Unsettling the Myth of Exceptionalism
Authors: Akpome Aghogho
Published: February 2019

This article explores perceptions and representations of Nigeria and Nigerians in the popular global imaginary. It analyses selected popular media narratives in order to foreground contradictions and paradoxes in the ways in which the country and people of Nigeria are discursively constructed. By doing so, it interrogates stereotypes of corruption and criminality as well as myths of exceptionalism about Nigeria and Nigerians originating from both within and outside the country. The analysis reveals that the generalised portrayal of Nigeria and Nigerians as exceptional social subjects is characterised by contradictions and inaccuracies in dominant representational practices and cannot be justified by the verifiable empirical information available on the country and its people.
Why Corporatism Collapsed in South Africa: The Significance of NEDLAC
Authors: Kim Yejoo , van der Westhuizen Janis
Published: February 2019

The National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) was established as a corporatist institution, defined as a representative and consensus-seeking body coordinating to reach agreement through negotiation and discussion involving the state, organised business, and organised labour. It signalled the equal participation of the state and societal actors in the decision-making process in democratic South Africa. However, after two decades, NEDLAC is facing questions regarding its relevance. The imbalance in the power dynamics diminished the power of labour to bargain vis-à-vis the state and business. Labour's inability to represent a broader constituency beyond the formally employed, the lack of technical capacity within the labour movement, and NEDLAC's organisational inefficiency negatively affected the corporatist institution, which is now on the verge of demise.
China's and Japan's Foreign Aid Policies vis-à-vis Lusophone Africa
Authors: de Medeiros Carvalho Pedro Miguel Amakasu Raposo
Published: February 2019

This article compares the evolution of China's and Japan's foreign policies to Lusophone Africa, focusing on the period post-2000. The lack of analysis on Beijing's and Tokyo's respective aid policies towards Portuguese-speaking African countries (Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa, PALOP) makes this study relevant. Arguably, Japan's development “edge” over China in terms of the “aid model” approach towards PALOP countries is under threat. This raises questions about China's changing pattern of aid, characterised by an increasing amount of “soft” aid towards PALOP states outside of trade and investment relations, which is much in line with Japan's aid philosophy and, according to observers, less neocolonialist than Japan's previous aid practices. This paper asks which model of cooperation is morally better and which is more effective, as both donors have interests in PALOP countries beyond development assistance. It finds complementarities in the two countries’ aid allocation to PALOP states, such as poverty eradication given the sectoral diversity of Chinese aid, and the empowerment of local communities fostered by Japanese aid's emphasis on grassroots and human-security projects.
Down to Earth Again: The Third Stage of African Growth Perceptions
Authors: Asche Helmut
Published: February 2019

Research on African economies has arrived at the third stage of perceptions in recent times – after “Africa's growth tragedy” and “Emerging Africa,” we have now come back down to earth. An analysis of five stylised facts contributes to the sobering account: per capita income levels rising only moderately; “hyperglobalisation” or “peak trade” in the world economy likely coming to an end; African economies exhibiting limited structural change; employment and labour productivity trends going somewhat in the wrong direction and at the expense of manufacturing; and industrialisation peaking earlier in global development and at lower levels of employment, rendering an industry-led development path for Africa even more difficult than previously thought. By analysing these trends, we are better able to pinpoint the challenges that governments, parliaments, and the private sector will face in terms of defining policies to sustain the impressive record of the growth period in Africa which began in the mid-1990s and continues today. As the continent's growth was, despite inflated figures on African middle classes, not inclusive enough, sympathy for all sorts of cash transfer programmes, including unconditional transfers, is rising in formerly reticent quarters. Fresh excitement over social subsidies in Africa should, however, not come at the expense of smart productive subsidies, which have the potential to tackle the agro-industrial root causes of the limited structural change recorded.
50 Years of Africa Spectrum
Authors: Eckert Andreas
Published: February 2019

This article offers a portrait of the journal Africa Spectrum (known through 2008 as Afrika Spectrum), which just celebrated its 50th birthday. The essay outlines both the political and institutional context of its founding and traces its major transformations in format and content. Africa Spectrum's metamorphosis also reflects significant changes and trends in African studies in Germany and beyond. One of the journal's main features has been its strong interdisciplinary character and its geographically wide coverage. Over the last decade, Africa Spectrum has successfully trans formed itself from a mainly German enterprise into a highly visible international journal.
Burundi after the 2015 Elections: A Conference Report
Authors: Grauvogel Julia
Published: February 2019

The unrest in Burundi following President Nkurunziza's controversial re-election has put the country high on the international agenda, but research on the resurgence of turmoil is still in its infancy. A workshop held on 3 and 4 March 2016 in Freiburg, Germany, whose focus was Burundi after the 2015 elections, aimed to go beyond short-term accounts of the current unrests and extend past theorising in an attempt to address the current conflict. Special attention was paid to the interaction between external attempts to address the crisis and domestic contestation. The issues examined included the construction of Burundi as a case of successful transition to peace, the conflict's neglected legacies, and the (perceived) inadequacy of past approaches to address the current crisis, such as security sector reform, power sharing, and term limits. This also allowed us to rethink approaches developed to understand peacebuilding in Burundi since 2000.
Zupta's Next Nightmare: The South African Local Government Elections of 3 August 2016
Authors: Engel Ulf
Published: February 2019

On 3 August 2016 South Africa held its fifth local government elections (LGE) since the end of Apartheid in 1994. Against a backdrop of increasing political frustration with the ruling party's poor performance and continued debates about corruption and cronyism in the highest government circles, the African National Congress (ANC) maintained its dominant position but lost 8 per cent of the aggregate vote (53.91 per cent). The Democratic Alliance (DA) gained some 3 per cent (26.89 per cent) of the vote, and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), first-time LGE campaigners, garnered 8.02 per cent. Importantly, the ANC lost control of three of the seven big metropolitan municipalities it had previously held. Since there was no clear-cut majority in four of the eight metros, coalition politics and the art of compromise will become a major feature of South African politics in the coming years. The elections were highly competitive and considered free and fair. At 57.97 per cent, voter turnout was slightly higher than in 2011.
The Metastable City and the Politics of Crystallisation: Protesting and Policing in Kampala
Authors: Philipps Joschka , Kagoro Jude
Published: February 2019

When protests break out in downtown Kampala they tend to transform a fluid urban environment into bounded political camps, and myriad ambiguous concerns into comparatively clear-cut political issues. This article traces this process and conceptualises Kampala's urban politics as a politics of crystallisation: as attempts to structure highly fluid dynamics into something concrete. The article is based on ethnographic research amongst opposition activists and the police forces. Both seek to activate political boundaries and make people gravitate towards their respective side. But in line with the fluidity of urban everyday life, they also work and collaborate across these boundaries. The national regime and the opposition thus function not as permanent, stable structures, but as processes, as fields of gravity whose emergence is incited and inhibited, financed, and policed. Drawing on Gilbert Simondon's theory of individuation and AbdouMaliq Simone's work on urbanity, this analytical framework offers a dynamic reading of urban contentious politics in general, and a reinterpretation of the paradoxes of power in African politics in particular.
Nigeria and Democratic Progress by Elections in Africa
Authors: Carbone Giovanni , Cassani Andrea
Published: February 2019

Elections do not always advance democratisation, yet they can. We outline a democratisation-by-elections model according to which the opportunities for political change opened up by each electoral round build on previous election-related democratic progress. We focus on Nigeria, interpret the recent executive turnover in light of previous elections, and set the country within the comparative context of Africa's democratisation. Using a new Africa Leadership Change dataset, we use election-related events to examine the diverse routes that African regimes have taken since 1990. The analysis highlights two major syndromes: democratic stagnation and recession. In a sizeable group, however, the institutionalisation of democracy has been making gradual progress. While there is no predetermined way to advance democracy, the reiteration of elections can be instrumental in such advancement.
Conference Report: The Legacy of Armed Conflicts: Southern African and Comparative Perspectives
Authors: Piccolino Giulia
Published: February 2019

This report deals with the international workshop “The Legacy of Armed Conflicts: Southern African and Comparative Perspectives,” held on 28–29 July 2016 at the University of Pretoria. The workshop facilitated discussions and exchanges between regional and comparative experts and focused on three themes: the relationship between peace processes and long-term peacebuilding, the role of former armed actors in post-conflict societies, and the persistence of violence after conflict. The importance of legitimacy for peacebuilding was often evoked as was the necessity to consider the continuity between armed conflict and other forms of violent and non-violent social action.
Conflict Resolution and Crime Surveillance in Kenya: Local Peace Committees and Nyumba Kumi
Authors: Kioko Eric Mutisya
Published: February 2019

In the wake of widespread interethnic “clashes” and al-Shabaab terrorist attacks in Kenya over the last few years, the state has embarked on the devolution of capacities for ensuring security and peace to the local level. The state gave the rights to handle specific local conflicts and crime prevention to local peace committees in an attempt to standardise an aspect of customary law, and to Nyumba Kumi committees in a strategy of anchoring community policing at the household level. These changes were conditioned and framed by ideas of decentralisation and the delegation of responsibilities from the state to the community level. In this paper, the following questions are raised: Are hybrid governance arrangements effective and appropriate? To what extent do peace committees and Nyumba Kumi provide institutional support for peaceful conflict management and crime prevention in Kenya? What guarantees and what constrains their success? The author draws on ethnographic data from the Maasai–Kikuyu borderlands near Lake Naivasha, a former hotspot of interethnic clashes.
Renegotiated (Post)Colonial Relations within the New Portuguese Migration to Angola
Authors: Waldorff Pétur
Published: February 2019

This article examines the new wave of Portuguese migration to Luanda in the first decade after Angola's civil war, a time characterised by extensive economic growth and shifting economic prospects in Angola. It frames Portuguese–Angolan relations in contemporary Angola, relations that are sometimes portrayed as amicable and influenced by a common brotherhood, as multifaceted. This article distinguishes different social, cultural, and historic interpretations of this migration and investigates how such interpretations influence people's relations, identities, feelings, and personal understandings of the social, political, and historic contexts that people confront on a daily basis in contemporary Luanda, a capital city where “colonial encounters in postcolonial contexts” have increasingly become everyday occurrences. It argues that at the intersections of Angolan and Portuguese contact in Angola, new configurations of power are being produced and reproduced against the backdrop of its colonial history and Lusotropicalist myths, where colonial and postcolonial inequalities, as well as economic opportunities, are brought to the fore in both Angolan and Portuguese imaginaries.
“Gender Refugees” in South Africa: The “Common-Sense” Paradox
Authors: Camminga B
Published: February 2019

South Africa is the only country on the African continent that constitutionally protects transgender asylum seekers. In light of this, it has seen a marked rise in the emergence of this category of person within the asylum system. Drawing on research carried out between 2012 and 2015, I argue that transgender-identified refugees or “gender refugees” from Africa, living in South Africa, rather than accessing refuge continue to experience significant hindrances to their survival comparable with the persecution experienced in their countries of origin. I argue this is in part due to the nature of their asylum claim in relation to gender as a wider system of “common-sense” dichotomous administration, something which remains relatively constant across countries of origin and refugee-receiving countries. Rather than being protected gender refugees, because they are read as violating the rules of normative gender, they find themselves paradoxically with rights, but unable to access them.
Cross-Scale Systemic Resilience: Implications for Organization Studies
Authors: Williams Amanda , Whiteman Gail , Kennedy Steve
Published: February 2019

In this article, we posit that a cross-scale perspective is valuable for studies of organizational resilience. Existing research in our field primarily focuses on the resilience of organizations, that is, the factors that enhance or detract from an organization’s viability in the face of threat. While this organization level focus makes important contributions to theory, organizational resilience is also intrinsically dependent upon the resilience of broader social-ecological systems in which the firm is embedded. Moreover, long-term organizational resilience cannot be well managed without an understanding of the feedback effects across nested systems. For instance, a narrow focus on optimizing organizational resilience from one firm’s perspective may come at the expense of social-ecological functioning and ultimately undermine managers’ efforts at long-term organizational survival. We suggest that insights from natural science may help organizational scholars to examine cross-scale resilience and conceptualize organizational actions within and across temporal and spatial dynamics. We develop propositions taking a complex adaptive systems perspective to identify issues related to focal scale, slow variables and feedback, and diversity and redundancy. We illustrate our theoretical argument using an example of Unilever and palm oil production in Borneo.
The peacenik and the spook as the diplomatic avant-garde
Authors: Lehrs Lior
Published: February 2019

In conflicts between a state and a non-state actor, such as a paramilitary or terrorist organization, when no official diplomatic relations and recognition exists, there is a need for actors who can serve as a “diplomatic avant-garde.” This article identifies a diplomatic pattern in which breakthroughs occur through cooperative work between two types of actors: unofficial citizen diplomats and key figures in intelligence bodies. Each actor brings specific resources: unofficial actors have contacts with the non-state actor, while intelligence officers can offer backing from within the official system of the state. The article analyzes the topic using three case studies: Brendan Duddy and the MI6 officer Michael Oatley (UK and the Provisional IRA, 1975–1993); Willie Esterhuyse and the head of the South African National Intelligence Service, Neil Barnard (South African government and the ANC, 1987– 1990); and Gershon Baskin and the Mossad official David Meidan (Israel and Hamas, 2011). This study examines the unique relations between these two types of actors and how their collaboration promoted negotiations with non-state armed actors. It analyzes three stages: establishment of contact between these actors, persuasion of the relevant parties, and the breakthrough moment when talks shifted to an official back channel.
The Protection from Harassment Act 1997: Failures by the Criminal Justice System in a Social Media Age
Authors: Bliss Laura
Published: February 2019

This article will critically examine how the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 is currently being used to tackle online abuse. The use of the Internet to abuse another is on the increase, with the police receiving increasing reports concerning abuse conducted online. This article will examine the failures by the criminal justice system to adequately apply the Protection from Harassment Act in a technology-based world. It will be put forward that changes are needed within the criminal justice system in order to better protect victims of cyber harassment and cyberstalking.
On white-collar boxing and social class
Authors: Wright Edward J.
Published: February 2019

This article is based on the first sociological research of white-collar boxing in the UK. Grounded in an ethnography of a boxing gym in the Midlands, the article argues that the term ‘white-collar boxing’ in this context is immediately misleading, and entails the term being used in a way with which sociologists are unaccustomed. Whereas white-collar boxing originated in the context of post-industrial New York City as a pastime only for the extremely wealthy, the situation in the UK is different. Participants actively reject this understanding of white-collar boxing. The term white-collar boxing does not signify the social class of participants, but refers to their novice status. Given that boxing is an example through which Bourdieu’s theory of distinction is discussed, and that white-collar boxing is a distinctly late-modern version of the sport containing an erroneous class signifier, this version of the sport is a site through which such discussions of consumption can be furthered. Whilst consumed by actors in various class positions, a logic of distinction is present in white-collar boxing, which becomes recognisable through analysis of the ‘plurality of consumption experiences’. This is proffered as a concept which can aid in the analysis of consumption beyond white-collar boxing.
Social Interventions Targeting Social Relations Among Older People at Nursing Homes: A Qualitative Synthesized Systematic Review
Authors: Mikkelsen Anne Sophie Bech , Petersen Signe , Dragsted Anne Cathrine , Kristiansen Maria
Published: February 2019

Social relations are part of the complex set of factors affecting health and well-being in old age. This systematic review seeks to uncover whether social interventions have an effect on social and health-related measures among nursing home residents. The authors screened PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO for relevant peer-reviewed literature. Interventions were included if (1) they focused primarily on social relations or related terms such as loneliness, social support, social isolation, social network, or being involuntarily alone either as the base theory of the intervention or as an outcome measure of the intervention; (2) they were implemented at nursing homes (or similar setting); (3) they had a narrative activity as its core (as opposed to dancing, gardening or other physical activity); (4) their participants met either physically or nonphysically, ie, via video-conference or the like; and if (5) they targeted residents at a nursing home. The authors systematically appraised the quality of the final selection of studies using the Mixed Methods Assessments Tool (MMAT) version 2011 and did a qualitative synthesis of the final study selection. A total of 10 studies were included. Reminiscence therapy was the most common intervention. Studies also included video-conference, cognitive, and support group interventions. All studies found the social interventions brought about positive trends on either/or the social and health-related measures included. Despite limited and very diverse evidence, our systematic review indicated a positive social and health-related potential of social interventions for older people living in nursing homes or similar institutions.
An optimal measurement method for spatial distribution of radio frequency identification multi-tag based on image analysis and PSO
Authors: Yu Xiaolei , Zhou Yujun , Liu Zhenlu , Zhao Zhimin
Published: February 2019

In this paper, a multi-tag optimization method based on image analysis and particle swarm optimization (PSO) neural network is proposed to verify the effect of radio frequency identification (RFID) multi-tag distribution on the performance of the system. A RFID tag detection system is proposed with two charge coupled device (CCD). This system can automatically focus on the tag according to its position, so it can obtain the image information more accurately by template matching and edge detection method. Therefore, the spatial structure of multi-tag and the corresponding reading distance can be obtained for training. Because of its excellent performance in multi-objective optimization, the PSO neural network is used to train and predict multi-tag distribution at the maximum reading distance. Compared with other neural networks, PSO is more accurate and its uptime is shorter for RFID multi-tag analysis.
Technoscience Rent: Toward a Theory of Rentiership for Technoscientific Capitalism
Authors: Birch Kean
Published: February 2019

Contemporary, technoscientific capitalism is characterized by the (re)configuration of a range of “things” (e.g., infrastructure, data, knowledge, bodies) as assets or capitalized property. Accumulation strategies have changed as a result of this assetization process. Rather than entrepreneurial strategies based on commodity production, technoscientific capitalism is increasingly underpinned by rentiership or the appropriation of value through ownership and control rights (e.g., intellectual property [IP]), monopoly conditions, and regulatory or market devices and practices (e.g., investment dispute courts, exclusivity agreements). While rentiership is often presented as a negative phenomenon (e.g., distorting markets, unearned income) in both neoclassical and Marxist political economy literatures—and much in between—in this paper, I conceptualize rentiership as a technoeconomic practice and process framed by insights from science and technology studies (STS). So, rather than a problematic “side effect” of capitalism, the concept of rentiership enables us to understand how different forms of value extraction constitute, and are constituted by, different forms of technoscience. This allows STS to contribute a distinctive analytical approach to ongoing debates in political economy about economic rents and rent-seeking.
Development of second-order theory of mind: Assessment of environmental influences using a dynamic system approach
Authors: Papera Massimiliano , Richards Anne , van Geert Paul , Valentini Costanza
Published: February 2019

Theory of mind refers to the ability to attribute beliefs to oneself and others. The present study used a dynamic systems approach to assess how environment may affect the development of second-order theory of mind (e.g., “John knows that Mary knows that he went out yesterday”). Theory of mind is divided into two major dimensions: comprehension (i.e., to understand a mental state) and prediction (i.e., to predict someone else’s future behavior or mental state). Two age groups were assessed: 5–6- and 10–11-year-old children. In both age groups, participants were assigned to a condition of “support” (help provided) or “no support” (help not provided). Results show that second-order theory of mind follows a dynamic growth law that depends on support. Support facilitates performance in theory of mind production (i.e., to predict one’s future behavior) for both the 5–6- and 10–11-year-old children. Interestingly, the 5–6-year-olds who received support presented an increase in the second-order prediction performance at the expense of the second-order comprehension, suggesting that a temporary dip in comprehension performance may facilitate the development of mental rules to predict one’s future behavior.
Preparing political science students for a non-academic career: Experiences from a novel course module
Authors: Broms Rasmus , de Fine Licht Jenny
Published: February 2019

Higher education is increasingly expected not only to provide students with disciplinary knowledge and skills but also to prepare them for a future career. As political science is a diverse discipline and does not train students for a certain profession, its students often feel uncertain of the career paths available to them and how their expertise can be used in a future career. In this article, we present and discuss the course ‘The Professional Political Scientist’, given at the bachelor’s level at the Department of Political Science at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, which is an attempt to fill this gap. We present the preparatory work, the design, the pedagogy behind the themes and exercises included in the curriculum, as well as the experiences and evaluations of the first three rounds of the course. Finally, we provide suggestions for teachers interested in developing similar courses.
Adsorption for copper(II) ion with chitosan-SP/PET composite adsorbent enhanced by electric field
Authors: Song Yunfei , Kong Aiqun , Ji Yanhong , He Benqiao , Wang Hong , Li Jianxin
Published: February 2019

A method combining adsorption with electric field-driven ion enrichment to remove the trace metal ions in wastewater was investigated. Composite adsorbent prepared from chitosan (CS) and sodium phytate (SP) supported into polyethylene glycol terephthalate (PET) nonwoven fabric by nonsolvent induced phase separation was employed and located near the cathode in a pair of titanium plate electrodes. Results showed the removal rate of copper ions (Cu(II)) adsorbed onto CS-SP/PET adsorbent was increased from 56% to 88% for 10 mg L−1 Cu(II) solution when the applied voltage was from 0 to 1.2 V. The adsorption behavior was well correlated with the Langmuir isotherm model. And adsorption process fitted well for pseudo-second-order kinetic equation, suggesting that chemical adsorption was rate-limiting step. And the energy consumption was economical, about 4.35 × 10−3 kW·h for 1 m3 of water with 10 mg L−1 Cu(II). It was suggested that the adsorption performance for Cu(II) with CS-SP/PET adsorbent was enhanced due to the enrichment of Cu(II) under electric field. This work provides a new way to remove trace heavy metal ions from wastewater.