bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Local champions and change of governments: a longitudinal analysis of firms’ political ties in Gaziantep, Turkey
Authors: Sezer Lisa Ahsen , Özcan Gül Berna
Published: March 2024

This article examines business–politics ties during a shift from multi-party politics to competitive-authoritarian rule in Turkey. We conducted a longitudinal investigation of the political ties and performance ranking of top manufacturing firms in a provincial industrial centre, Gaziantep. The analysis demonstrates that major power transitions in centre politics elicited variegated local responses and intra-group contestations. The leading business elites sustained political capital through a multi-scalar diversification of political ties. Using an agent, network, and institutions framework, we highlight the political dynamics behind sub-national growth trajectories, and contribute to scholarship on urban party politics and elite localism in economic geography.
Identification of nectar sources foraged by female mosquitoes in Canada
Authors: Cassone Bryan J , Pilling Ben G , Borrego-Benjumea Ana , LeMoine Christophe M R
Published: March 2024

For many mosquito species, the females must obtain vertebrate blood to complete a gonotrophic cycle. These blood meals are frequently supplemented by feeding on sugary plant nectar, which sustains energy reserves needed for flight, mating, and overall fitness. Our understanding of mosquito nectar foraging behaviors is mostly limited to laboratory experiments and direct field observations, with little research into natural mosquito-host plant relationships done in North America. In this study, we collected nectar-fed female mosquitoes over a 2-year period in Manitoba, Canada, and amplified a fragment of the chloroplast rbcL gene to identify the plant species fed upon. We found that mosquitoes foraged from diverse plant families (e.g., grasses, trees, ornamentals, and legumes), but preferred certain species, most notably soybean and Kentucky blue grass. Moreover, there appeared to be some associations between plant feeding preferences and mosquito species, date of collection, landscape, and geographical region. Overall, this study implemented DNA barcoding to identify nectar sources forage by mosquitoes in the Canadian Prairies.
Humanitarian hacking: Merging refugee aid and digital capitalism
Authors: Henriksen Sofie Elbæk
Published: March 2024

Hackathons have become popular for helping refugees, among NGOs, volunteers, and corporations but their material impact has been limited. This article explores two Techfugees hackathons in Copenhagen organized with support from Google. The article conceptualizes humanitarian hacking as a space where refugee aid meets digital capitalism by examining the practices of ‘hacking the refugee crisis’ within the analytical framework of critical refugee and humanitarian innovation literature. Rather than providing novel digital solutions, hackathons reproduce existing imaginaries that cast digital technologies as effective, quick-fix solutions; tech companies as innovation experts and humanitarian actors; and refugees as entrepreneurial subjects not in need of aid but of platforms and market opportunities. Thus, while humanitarian hacking has limited impact for the intended beneficiaries, it produces value for hackathon participants and the sponsor organizations. Crucially, humanitarian hacking places tech companies at the forefront of humanitarian aid for refugees and reaffirms humanitarian innovation policy narratives and Silicon Valley corporate humanitarianism.
Generalized functional additive mixed models with (functional) compositional covariates for areal Covid-19 incidence curves
Authors: Eckardt Matthias , Mateu Jorge , Greven Sonja
Published: March 2024

We extend the generalized functional additive mixed model to include compositional and functional compositional (density) covariates carrying relative information of a whole. Relying on the isometric isomorphism of the Bayes Hilbert space of probability densities with a sub-space of the L2, we include functional compositions as transformed functional covariates with constrained yet interpretable effect function. The extended model allows for the estimation of linear, non-linear, and time-varying effects of scalar and functional covariates, as well as (correlated) functional random effects, in addition to the compositional effects. We use the model to estimate the effect of the age, sex, and smoking (functional) composition of the population on regional Covid-19 incidence data for Spain, while accounting for climatological and socio-demographic covariate effects and spatial correlation.
(Un)muzzled: Dogs in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Fiction
Authors: Krauze Olivia
Published: March 2024

This article considers the relationship between dogs as fictional constructs and the shifting dynamics of the novel form in the mid-nineteenth century in order to account more fully for their particular importance to realist writing. In revisiting three canonical novels associated with the realist tradition, Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son (1848), Charlotte Brontë’s Villette (1853), and George Eliot’s Adam Bede (1859), it demonstrates the ways in which writers regularly rely on dogs in depicting moments of deep personal and interpersonal conflict. Where most previous analyses of animals in Victorian fiction have tended to treat them as minor characters within their respective human narratives, this article is attuned to the affective functions of the domestic dog in contexts that exceed mere verisimilitude, exploring the significance of the connection between the dog’s textual body and the intense experience of grief, sexual desire, and anger respectively. I argue that the dog’s simultaneously narrative and extra-narrative position in the emergent realist novel reflects the genre’s larger formal tensions, generated by the representation of excess affects. These tensions are closely linked to the novel’s primary mode of representation: language. I conclude that it is the dog’s extralinguistic presence, predicated on its inability to encode affect in language, that marks it as the ideal, if increasingly unstable, nexus of powerful, unprocessed emotion in the mid-nineteenth-century novel.
Antifungal activity of 3,3’-dimethoxycurcumin (DMC) against dermatophytes and Candida species
Authors: Pattini Veridianna Camilo , Polaquini Carlos Roberto , Lemes Thiago Henrique , Brizzotti-Mazuchi Natália Seron , Sardi Janaína de Cássia Orlandi , Paziani Mário Henrique , Kress Marcia Regina von Zeska , de Almeida Margarete Tereza Gottardo , Regasini Luis Octávio
Published: March 2024

Dermatomycosis is an infection with global impacts caused especially by dermatophytes and Candida species. Current antifungal therapies involve drugs that face fungal resistance barriers. This clinical context emphasizes the need to discover new antifungal agents. Herein, the antifungal potential of 10 curcumin analogs was evaluated against four Candida and four dermatophyte species. The most active compound, 3,3’-dimethoxycurcumin, exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration values ranging from 1.9‒62.5 to 15.6‒62.5 µg ml−1 against dermatophytes and Candida species, respectively. According to the checkerboard method, the association between DMC and terbinafine demonstrated a synergistic effect against Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Epidermophyton floccosum. Ergosterol binding test indicated DMC forms a complex with ergosterol of Candida albicans, C. krusei, and C. tropicalis. However, results from the sorbitol protection assay indicated that DMC had no effect on the cell walls of Candida species. The in vivo toxicity, using Galleria mellonella larvae, indicated no toxic effect of DMC. Altogether, curcumin analog DMC was a promising antifungal agent with a promising ability to act against Candida and dermatophyte species.
Particle selection from an equilibrium DF
Authors: Sellwood J A
Published: March 2024

When starting an N-body simulation of an isolated galaxy, it is desirable to select particles from a distribution function to ensure that the model is in equilibrium. Random sampling from a DF is widely used, but results in a set of particles that differs by shot noise from that intended. This paper presents a method to reduce sampling noise that has been developed by the author in a many collaborations over a number of years. The technique has been partly described in past papers, though the ideas have not previously been gathered together, nor have its advantages been clearly demonstrated in past work. Of course, sampling errors can also be reduced by a brute force increase in the number of particles, but methods to achieve the same effect with fewer particles have obvious advantages. Here we not only describe the method, but also present three sets of simulations to illustrate the practical advantages of reducing sampling error. The improvements are not dramatic, but are clearly worth having.
Constraining primordial non-Gaussianity using neural networks
Authors: Nagarajappa Chandan G , Ma Yin-Zhe
Published: March 2024

We present a novel approach to estimate the value of primordial non-Gaussianity (fNL) parameter directly from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps using a convolutional neural network (CNN). While traditional methods rely on complex statistical techniques, this study proposes a simpler approach that employs a neural network to estimate fNL. The neural network model is trained on simulated CMB maps with known fNL in range of [−50, 50], and its performance is evaluated using various metrics. The results indicate that the proposed approach can accurately estimate fNL values from CMB maps with a significant reduction in complexity compared to traditional methods. With 500 validation data, the $f^{\rm output}_{\rm NL}$ against $f^{\rm input}_{\rm NL}$ graph can be fitted as y = ax + b, where $a=0.980^{+0.098}_{-0.102}$ and $b=0.277^{+0.098}_{-0.101}$, indicating the unbiasedness of the primordial non-Gaussianity estimation. The results suggest that the CNN technique can be widely applied to other cosmological parameter estimation directly from CMB images.
Representing low-mass black hole seeds in cosmological simulations: A new sub-grid stochastic seed model
Authors: Bhowmick Aklant K , Blecha Laura , Torrey Paul , Weinberger Rainer , Kelley Luke Zoltan , Vogelsberger Mark , Hernquist Lars , Somerville Rachel S
Published: March 2024

The physical origin of the seeds of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), with postulated initial masses ranging from ∼105 M⊙ to as low as ∼102 M⊙, is currently unknown. Most existing cosmological hydrodynamic simulations adopt very simple, ad hoc prescriptions for BH seeding and seed at unphysically high masses ∼105–106 M⊙. In this work, we introduce a novel sub-grid BH seeding model for cosmological simulations that is directly calibrated to high-resolution zoom simulations that explicitly resolve ∼103 M⊙ seeds forming within haloes with pristine, dense gas. We trace the BH growth along galaxy merger trees until their descendants reach masses of ∼104 or 105 M⊙. The results are used to build a new stochastic seeding model that directly seeds these descendants in lower resolution versions of our zoom region. Remarkably, we find that by seeding the descendants simply based on total galaxy mass, redshift and an environmental richness parameter, we can reproduce the results of the detailed gas-based seeding model. The baryonic properties of the host galaxies are well reproduced by the mass-based seeding criterion. The redshift-dependence of the mass-based criterion captures the combined influence of halo growth, dense gas formation, and metal enrichment on the formation of ∼103 M⊙ seeds. The environment-based seeding criterion seeds the descendants in rich environments with higher numbers of neighbouring galaxies. This accounts for the impact of unresolved merger dominated growth of BHs, which produces faster growth of descendants in richer environments with more extensive BH merger history. Our new seed model will be useful for representing a variety of low-mass seeding channels within next-generation larger volume uniform cosmological simulations.
Cosmic-Eν: An- emulator for the non-linear neutrino power spectrum
Authors: Upadhye Amol , Kwan Juliana , McCarthy Ian G , Salcido Jaime , Moran Kelly R , Lawrence Earl , Wong Yvonne Y Y
Published: March 2024

Cosmology is poised to measure the neutrino mass sum Mν and has identified several smaller-scale observables sensitive to neutrinos, necessitating accurate predictions of neutrino clustering over a wide range of length scales. The FlowsForTheMasses non-linear perturbation theory for the the massive neutrino power spectrum, $\Delta ^2_\nu (k)$, agrees with its companion N-body simulation at the $10~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}-15~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ level for k ≤ 1 h Mpc−1. Building upon the Mira-Titan IV emulator for the cold matter, we use FlowsForTheMasses to construct an emulator for $\Delta ^2_\nu (k)$, Cosmic-Eν, which covers a large range of cosmological parameters and neutrino fractions Ων, 0h2 ≤ 0.01 (Mν ≤ 0.93 eV). Consistent with FlowsForTheMasses at the 3.5 per cent level, it returns a power spectrum in milliseconds. Ranking the neutrinos by initial momenta, we also emulate the power spectra of momentum deciles, providing information about their perturbed distribution function. Comparing a Mν = 0.15 eV model to a wide range of N-body simulation methods, we find agreement to 3 per cent for k ≤ 3kFS = 0.17 h Mpc−1 and to 19 per cent for k ≤ 0.4 h Mpc−1. We find that the enhancement factor, the ratio of $\Delta ^2_\nu (k)$ to its linear-response equivalent, is most strongly correlated with Ων, 0h2, and also with the clustering amplitude σ8. Furthermore, non-linearities enhance the free-streaming-limit scaling $\partial \log (\Delta ^2_\nu /\Delta ^2_{\rm m}) / \partial \log (M_\nu)$ beyond its linear value of 4, increasing the Mν-sensitivity of the small-scale neutrino density.
Ring nebulae around Wolf–Rayet stars in M33 as seen by SITELLE
Authors: Tuquet Selin , St-Louis Nicole , Drissen Laurent , Raaijmakers Sylvain , Rousseau-Nepton Laurie , Martin René Pierre , Robert Carmelle , Amram Philippe
Published: March 2024

We have conducted an analysis of nebulae around Wolf–Rayet (WR) stars in M33 using data collected by the imaging Fourier transform spectrometer SITELLE at the Canada–France–Hawaii telescope as part of the SIGNALS Large Program. Of the 211 known WR stars in M33, 178 are located in the fields observed in this study. We present the results of this analysis in the form of a comprehensive summary of all nebulae found around the observed WR stars. Based on three criteria we find to be the most effective for their detection, we detect a clear association with a circumstellar bubble around 33 of them (19 per cent). Our results show that the presence of bubbles does not correlate with the spectral type of the central star. The mean diameter of the WR nebulae we have found is 21 parsec.
Outward migration in Nascent stellar groups
Authors: Stahler Steven W
Published: March 2024

As a stellar group forms within its parent molecular cloud, new members first appear in the deep interior. These overcrowded stars continually diffuse outward to the cloud boundary, and even beyond. Observations have so far documented only the interior drift. Those stars that actually leave the cloud form an expanding envelope that I call the ‘stellar mantle.’ Simple fluid models for the cloud and mantle illustrate their basic structure. The mantle’s expansion speed is subsonic with respect to the cloud’s dynamical temperature. I describe, in qualitative terms, how the expanding mantle and Galactic tidal radius might together shape the evolution of specific types of stellar groups. The massive stars in OB associations form in clouds that contract before extruding a substantial mantle. In contrast, the more slowly evolving clouds forming open clusters and T associations have extended mantles that encounter a shrinking tidal radius. These clouds are dispersed by internal stellar outflows. If the remaining group of stars is gravitationally bound, it appears as a long-lived open cluster, truncated by the tidal radius. If the group is unbound, it is a late-stage T association that will soon be torn apart by the tidal force. The ‘distributed’ populations of pre-main sequence stars observed in the outskirts of several star-forming regions are too distant to be stellar mantles. Rather, they could be the remnants of especially low-mass T associations.
The first measurements of carbon isotopic ratios in post-RGB stars: SZ Mon and DF Cyg
Authors: Mohorian Maksym , Kamath Devika , Menon Meghna , Ventura Paolo , Van Winckel Hans , García-Hernández D A , Masseron Thomas
Published: March 2024

Dusty post-red giant branch (post-RGB) stars are low- and intermediate-mass stars where the RGB evolution was prematurely terminated by a poorly understood binary interaction. These binary stars are considered to be low-luminosity analogues of post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) binary stars. In this study, we investigated the chemical composition of two dusty post-RGB binary stars, SZ Mon and DF Cyg, using multiwavelength spectroscopic data from HERMES/Mercator (optical) and the APOGEE survey (near-infrared). Owing to challenges posed by existing spectral analysis tools for the study of evolved stars with complex atmospheres, we developed E-iSpec: a dedicated spectral analysis tool for evolved stars, to consistently determine atmospheric parameters, elemental abundances, and carbon isotopic ratios. Our abundance analysis revealed that observed depletion patterns and estimated depletion efficiencies resemble those found in post-AGB binary stars. However, the onset of chemical depletion in post-RGB targets occurs at higher condensation temperatures ($T_{\rm turn-off,~post-RGB}\approx 1\, 400$ K), than in most post-AGB stars ($T_{\rm turn-off,~post-AGB}\approx 1\, 100$ K). Additionally, our study resulted in the first estimates of carbon isotopic ratios for post-RGB stars (12C/13CSZ Mon = 8 ± 4, 12C/13CDF Cyg = 12 ± 3). We found that the observationally derived CNO abundances and the carbon isotopic ratios of our post-RGB binary targets are in good agreement with theoretical predictions from the ATON single star evolutionary models involving first dredge-up and moderately deep extra mixing. This agreement emphasizes that in post-RGB binary targets, the observed CNO abundances reflect the chemical composition expected from single star nucleosynthesis (i.e. convective and non-convective mixing processes) occurring during the RGB phase before it is terminated.
Revisiting the time-integrated polarizations of gamma-ray burst prompt phase
Authors: Sui Li-Qiang , Lan Mi-Xiang
Published: March 2024

In previous studies, the time evolution information is missed in deducing the time-integrated polarizations of gamma-ray burst prompt emission. Here, it is considered and the time-integrated polarizations is investigated through the summation of the time-resolved ones. The statistical properties of the distribution of the time-integrated polarization degree (Π) can be read from the q–Π curve, where q ≡ θV/θj. θV and θj are the observational and jet half-opening angles, respectively. Hence, only the q–Π curves are studied. In addition to a toroidal magnetic field in the radiation region, an aligned field is also discussed. We found the predicted time-integrated polarization degree is around $(40\!-\!50)\,\, \mathrm{ per\,cent}$ for High-energy Polarimetry Detector (HPD) onboard POLAR-2 and is roughly $(30\!-\!40)\,\, \mathrm{ per\,cent}$ for its Low-energy Polarimetry Detector (LPD). Therefore, Π value detected by the HPD will be larger than that of the LPD in statistics and the result of the former estimations will underestimate the value of Π in an ordered field. There are mainly two types of the q–Π curve profiles, corresponding to two ordered magnetic field configurations.
Adaptation in Unstable Environments and Global Gene Losses: Small but Stable Gene Networks by the May–Wigner Theory
Authors: Xu Shaohua , Shao Shao , Feng Xiao , Li Sen , Zhang Lingjie , Wu Weihong , Liu Min , Tracy Miles E , Zhong Cairong , Guo Zixiao , Wu Chung-I , Shi Suhua , He Ziwen
Published: March 2024

Although gene loss is common in evolution, it remains unclear whether it is an adaptive process. In a survey of seven major mangrove clades that are woody plants in the intertidal zones of daily environmental perturbations, we noticed that they generally evolved reduced gene numbers. We then focused on the largest clade of Rhizophoreae and observed the continual gene set reduction in each of the eight species. A great majority of gene losses are concentrated on environmental interaction processes, presumably to cope with the constant fluctuations in the tidal environments. Genes of the general processes for woody plants are largely retained. In particular, fewer gene losses are found in physiological traits such as viviparous seeds, high salinity, and high tannin content. Given the broad and continual genome reductions, we propose the May–Wigner theory (MWT) of system stability as a possible mechanism. In MWT, the most effective solution for buffering continual perturbations is to reduce the size of the system (or to weaken the total genic interactions). Mangroves are unique as immovable inhabitants of the compound environments in the land–sea interface, where environmental gradients (such as salinity) fluctuate constantly, often drastically. Extending MWT to gene regulatory network (GRN), computer simulations and transcriptome analyses support the stabilizing effects of smaller gene sets in mangroves vis-à-vis inland plants. In summary, we show the adaptive significance of gene losses in mangrove plants, including the specific role of promoting phenotype innovation and a general role in stabilizing GRN in unstable environments as predicted by MWT.
Distinct functions for the paralogous RBM41 and U11/U12-65K proteins in the minor spliceosome
Authors: Norppa Antto J , Chowdhury Iftekhar , van Rooijen Laura E , Ravantti Janne J , Snel Berend , Varjosalo Markku , Frilander Mikko J
Published: March 2024

Here, we identify RBM41 as a novel unique protein component of the minor spliceosome. RBM41 has no previously recognized cellular function but has been identified as a paralog of U11/U12-65K, a known unique component of the U11/U12 di-snRNP. Both proteins use their highly similar C-terminal RRMs to bind to 3′-terminal stem-loops in U12 and U6atac snRNAs with comparable affinity. Our BioID data indicate that the unique N-terminal domain of RBM41 is necessary for its association with complexes containing DHX8, an RNA helicase, which in the major spliceosome drives the release of mature mRNA from the spliceosome. Consistently, we show that RBM41 associates with excised U12-type intron lariats, is present in the U12 mono-snRNP, and is enriched in Cajal bodies, together suggesting that RBM41 functions in the post-splicing steps of the minor spliceosome assembly/disassembly cycle. This contrasts with U11/U12-65K, which uses its N-terminal region to interact with U11 snRNP during intron recognition. Finally, while RBM41 knockout cells are viable, they show alterations in U12-type 3′ splice site usage. Together, our results highlight the role of the 3′-terminal stem-loop of U12 snRNA as a dynamic binding platform for the U11/U12-65K and RBM41 proteins, which function at distinct stages of the assembly/disassembly cycle.
Two redundant transcription factor binding sites in a single enhancer are essential for mammalian sex determination
Authors: Ridnik Meshi , Abberbock Elisheva , Alipov Veronica , Lhermann Shelly Ziv , Kaufman Shoham , Lubman Maor , Poulat Francis , Gonen Nitzan
Published: March 2024

Male development in mammals depends on the activity of the two SOX gene: Sry and Sox9, in the embryonic testis. As deletion of Enhancer 13 (Enh13) of the Sox9 gene results in XY male-to-female sex reversal, we explored the critical elements necessary for its function and hence, for testis and male development. Here, we demonstrate that while microdeletions of individual transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) in Enh13 lead to normal testicular development, combined microdeletions of just two SRY/SOX binding motifs can alone fully abolish Enh13 activity leading to XY male-to-female sex reversal. This suggests that for proper male development to occur, these few nucleotides of non-coding DNA must be intact. Interestingly, we show that depending on the nature of these TFBS mutations, dramatically different phenotypic outcomes can occur, providing a molecular explanation for the distinct clinical outcomes observed in patients harboring different variants in the same enhancer.
GD3 ganglioside is a promising therapeutic target for glioma patients.
Authors: Hein Victoria , Baeza-Kallee Nathalie , Bertucci Alexandre , Colin Carole , Tchoghandjian Aurélie , Figarella-Branger Dominique , Tabouret Emeline
Published: March 2024

Glioblastoma is the most frequent and aggressive primary brain tumor in adults. Currently, no curative treatment is available. Despite first-line treatment composed by the association of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, relapse remains inevitable in a median delay of 6 to 10 months. Improving patient management and developing new therapeutic strategies are therefore a critical medical need in neuro-oncology. Gangliosides are sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids, the most abundant in the nervous system, representing attractive therapeutic targets. The ganglioside GD3 is highly expressed in neuroectoderm-derived tumors such as melanoma and neuroblastoma, but also in gliomas. Moreover, interesting results, including our own, have reported the involvement of GD3 in the stemness of glioblastoma cells. In this review, we will first describe the characteristics of the ganglioside GD3 and its enzyme, the GD3 synthase (GD3S), including their biosynthesis and metabolism. Then, we will detail their expression and role in gliomas. Finally, we will summarize the current knowledge regarding the therapeutic development opportunities against GD3 and GD3S.
Dual-Vaping of Nicotine and Cannabis Among Adults Who Currently Use Tobacco Products in Five New England States
Authors: Liu Jessica , Hanby Elaine , Kingsley Melody , Winickoff Jonathan P , Gundersen Daniel A , Tan Andy S L
Published: March 2024

Introduction

Current measures of vaping behaviors in the U.S. do not distinguish what substances participants are vaping and to what extent they are dual-vaping nicotine and cannabis. This study describes the use of new survey questions that more specifically ask whether participants who vape are vaping nicotine, cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), or another substance.

Aims and Methods

Adults, who reported any past 30-day tobacco use, from five New England states participated in an online survey from April 2021 to July 2022. Participants who vaped were asked, “Have you used any of the following vape substances in the past 30 days?” with the possible responses of nicotine, cannabis, CBD, other, and “don’t know.” Dual use of both nicotine and cannabis was defined as the vaping of both nicotine and cannabis and/or CBD in the past 30 days, operationalized as a dichotomous outcome. Data were collected in monthly, repeated cross-sectional waves. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine correlates of dual-vaping.

Results

The analytic sample included 1547 adults who reported past 30-day tobacco use (mean age 42.9 years, 62.8% female, 85.4% White, 48.5% income of less than $50 000). Over one-quarter (26.1%) reported dual-vaping in the past 30 days. Identifying as male (p = .002) and self-rated anxiety (p = .043) were associated with a higher odds of dual-vaping.

Conclusions

Our findings show that a sizable proportion of a sample of New England adults who have used tobacco in the past 30 days are dual-vaping nicotine and cannabis. Adequate survey measures for assessing the vaping of multiple substances can help in better screening and characterization of health behaviors around dual-use.

Implications

This study addresses a key gap in adequate survey measures for assessing vaping of multiple substances. We found that among adults with past 30-day tobacco use, dual-vaping was prevalent and associated with different correlates, such as self-reported anxiety and education level, compared to sole-vaping of nicotine or cannabis. Our findings may help in characterizing and targeting future population-level surveillance and intervention efforts for multiple substance use behaviors.
An Intense Out-of-Season Rebound of Influenza Activity After the Relaxation of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Restrictions in Beijing, China
Authors: Zhang Li , Duan Wei , Ma Chunna , Zhang Jiaojiao , Sun Ying , Ma Jiaxin , Wang Yingying , Zhang Daitao , Wang Quanyi , Liu Jue , Liu Min
Published: March 2024

Background

The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of epidemic characteristics of influenza activity pre– and post–coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Beijing, China.

Methods

Epidemiologic data were collected from the influenza surveillance system in Beijing. We compared epidemic intensity, epidemic onset and duration, and influenza transmissibility during the 2022–2023 season with pre-COVID-19 seasons from 2014 to 2020.

Results

The overall incidence rate of influenza in the 2022–2023 season was significantly higher than that of the pre-COVID-19 period, with the record-high level of epidemic intensity in Beijing. The onset and duration of the influenza epidemic period in 2022–2023 season was notably later and shorter than that of the 2014–2020 seasons. Maximum daily instantaneous reproduction number (Rt) of the 2022–2023 season (Rt = 2.31) was much higher than that of the pre-COVID-19 period (Rt = 1.49). The incidence of influenza A(H1N1) and A(H3N2) were the highest among children aged 0–4 years and 5–14 years, respectively, in the 2022–2023 season.

Conclusions

A late, intense, and short-term peak influenza activity was observed in the 2022–2023 season in Beijing. Children <15 years old were impacted the most by the interruption of influenza circulation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maintaining continuous surveillance and developing targeted public health strategies of influenza is necessary.
The Behavior Assessment System for Children
Authors: Kim Jihye , Harrell-Williams Leigh M. , Kamphaus Randy W.
Published: March 2024

The Behavioral Assessment System for Children–Third Edition (BASC-3) offers practitioners a practical tool kit with complementary scales and interviews for assessing both positive and negative behaviors across home and school settings, using different informants and methods for measuring behavior as a broadband assessment tool. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview and review of the BASC-3 components, uses, research literature, and interpretation of validity indexes. Components of the BASC-3 include the Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS), Flex Monitor, Student Observation System (SOS), Structured Developmental History (SDH), Parenting Relationship Questionnaire (PRQ), Teacher Rating Scales (TRS), Parent Rating Scales (PRS), and Self-Report of Personality (SRP). The uses of various BASC-3 components in longitudinal research, forensic assessment, and mental health screening applications are also discussed. The chapter concludes with a description of how the BASC-3 is conceptualized based on the premise that children’s behavioral problems and strengths are best understood as dimensional rather than categorical phenomena.
‘Our Finest and Most Popular Airs Are Modern’
Authors: Burns Joanne
Published: March 2024

The Irish Romantic poet and song-writer Thomas Moore is now best remembered for his successful series of published songs, the Irish Melodies (1808–1834), in which he wrote and set words to pre-existing Irish airs. Although the last twenty years have witnessed a scholarly re-evaluation of Moore, Moore’s various and extensive writings on the nature of music and adaptation, particularly in relation to the Irish Melodies, have yet to be fully investigated. This chapter examines Moore’s discussion of Irish song in one neglected but highly significant piece of writing, the simply titled ‘Prefatory Letter on Music’ (1810), which was added to the third number of the Irish Melodies series. In this preface, Moore surveys at length a number of issues pertinent to the project of arranging and writing lyrics for Irish songs. He considers the linking of music and Irish history, the antiquity of Irish music, alongside issues of melody, harmony, and arrangement. By unpacking some of Moore’s arguments in this letter, the author shows that Moore’s outlook on Irish music, much like his wider concepts and ideas regarding music and song more generally, is distinctly ‘modern’.
Judaism
Authors: Desmangles Leslie G.
Published: March 2024

The Jewish presence in the Caribbean originated shortly after Christopher Columbus’s arrival to the New World at the end of the fifteenth century. Little is known about these early Jewish settlers, but most seem to have been adventurers and traders who traveled from place to place with the hope of making a fortune. Recent accounts by historians reveal a more discernible presence of Jewish religious communities in the region in the seventeenth century. During the Inquisition, thousands of Jews who fled Spain and Portugal sought refuge in other parts of Europe. This chapter traces a short history of the formation of the Sephardic communities in the Caribbean. Special attention is given to the tenets of the Sephardic tradition, the decline of the Jewish religious practices in the Caribbean, and the ardent initiatives to preserve the Jewish heritage throughout the region.
Islam
Authors: Kassim Halima-Sa’adia , Polar Perry
Published: March 2024

This chapter presents a case study for understanding Islam in the Caribbean, which primarily focuses on the particularity of the population in Trinidad and Tobago. The Muslim population is representative of the multiethnic nature of the society, especially since it comprises descendants from African slaves, Indian indentured laborers, and the Syrian-Lebanese community. The chapter also considers the perception of halal food assurance among selected Muslim food businesses in a multireligious society from a Muslim perspective. The findings indicate the contentions between the Muslim and non-Muslim understanding and appreciation of halal, and between trust and visible assurance systems. The chapter reveals how the findings added to the emerging corpus of work on the halal food assurance industry.
Haiti
Authors: Rey Terry
Published: March 2024

This chapter provides an overview of the religions within Haiti. It looks into Haitian religious history and culture while providing signposts for the present and future of religion in the world’s first independent black republic. The religion in Haiti has always been characterized by vibrant diversity and dynamic innovation and change. The majority of people living in the Republic of Haiti are Christian, particularly Catholics who practice Vodou, which is an African-derived religion that remains majoritarian. Smaller communities of non-Christian religions also find a home in the region, most of whom are believers in either Islam or Protestantism. The chapter reveals the decline of Vodou and the decreasing power and prestige of the Catholic Church in the future.
Trinidad and Tobago
Authors: Forde Maarit
Published: March 2024

This chapter examines the diverse religious landscape of Trinidad and Tobago. The landscape of the regions reflects migrations and transnational religious connections in the country’s colonial and postcolonial history. Moreover, the development of landscape is intertwined with the key concepts of hierarchical power relations, exploitation, othering, emerging civil society, and struggle for rights and political representation. The chapter also considers the value complex of respectability in postslavery Trinidad and Tobago. It discusses the religious practices and beliefs of the colonial laboring population within the region in correlation with politics of mixing, purity, and demarcation in struggles for rights and citizenship.
Divination in Afro-Caribbean Religions
Authors: Grillo Laura S.
Published: March 2024

This chapter presents principles of divination and approaches to the study of Afro-Caribbean forms. Divination is the pivot on which critical religious practices—initiation, healing and protection, sacrifice, and possession trance—hinge. It commissions or sanctions these other rites. The chapter presents various practices in the Caribbean in detail, tracing their African origins while underscoring a common underlying logic. Featured traditions are obi, Ifá, and diloggun divination in Lucumí tradition in Cuba; Palo Monte and Kongo divinatory forms in Cuba; obeah and Myal in Jamaica; Possession trance and divination in Haitian Vodou; Hoodoo in the Caribbean Flows; and the healing arts in Trinidad and Tobago. These traditions are presented in historical context, including shifting power relations: race and empire; the criminalization and denigration of African-derived traditions by colonial law; vying interpretations by insiders and outsiders. It concludes by considering the mobility, fluidity, and vitality of divinatory practices in the region.
Religion and Literature in the Colonial Spanish Caribbean
Authors: Matibag Eugenio
Published: March 2024

This chapter explores the importance of religion and literature in the colonial Spanish Caribbean. The system of spiritual beliefs, practices, and texts served as an instrument for the imposition, deployment, and reproduction of colonial power. Doctrinal authority was established and exercised through textual (re)production, propagation, and enactment, which then matters greatly when interpreting the new American realities congruent with the Christian cosmology and imperial worldview. Spanish Caribbean literature’s multifaceted and multicultural vision offers a diverse panoply of perspectives and value systems that affirm, contest, or critique the dominant system of the region’s pastoral power. The chapter then elaborates on the role of literature in reproducing, reframing, and recodifying multiple discourses of religious faith.
Making Caribbean Religious Musics
Authors: Glazier Stephen D.
Published: March 2024

This chapter provides an accessible overview of the development of Caribbean musics. Caribbean musics often reflect the melodies and cadences of Caribbean languages and evidence a strong sense of local rhythm. Certain stylistic elements are unique to each island. Caribbean musical styles were inspired—to one degree or another—by musics from Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America. There are few vestiges of aboriginal (Arawak and island-Carib) musics. Chronologically, aboriginal (Arawak and island-Carib) musics came first, followed by European musics, followed by African musics, followed, lastly, by musics from Asia. Aboriginal and European musics have had the least impact while African and Asian musics have had the greatest impact.
Material Religion
Authors: Tsang Martin A.
Published: March 2024

This chapter explains that the concept and application of materiality bring to the fore relationships between the worlds of spirit, people, and things. Materiality plays a significant and central role in shaping the practice and ontologies of Caribbean religions of predominantly African origins. Additionally, materials develop social and communal presences that go beyond static understandings of the nonhuman world. More often than not, the application of specific materials ignited racist and stereotyped imaginings in mass media, painting a grim and inaccurate portrayal of Caribbean religious practices. The stereotypical images spoke volumes of the long history of persecution and ridicule of practitioners of African religions in the hemisphere.
Popular Culture and Caribbean Religions
Authors: Aponte Edwin David
Published: March 2024

This chapter details the impact of popular culture within Caribbean religious traditions. It elaborates on how the Caribbean is shaped by the combination of these forces, peoples, histories, and religious and spiritual traditions and practices. Pop culture refers to a site of collective identity, creativity, and struggle groups with certain dominance and power that seek to define and constrict the people. Meanwhile, the diversity of religious belief and practice in Caribbean cultures demonstrates a type of religious and spiritual pluralism that exists side by side with official forms of religion. Thus, in Caribbean contexts, religion and popular culture working together show more than a type of religious coexistence manifested as popular pluralism.
Food
Authors: Pérez Elizabeth
Published: March 2024

This chapter provides an overview of food as a central yet undertheorized component of Caribbean religions. In the history and anthropology of religion, food has been approached most often according to the social function of its consumption and factors that may restrict it. The eminently social dimensions of food consumption are considered alongside the cultural implications and contingent histories of its preparation. The chapter reveals how women and gay men usually occupy the space for cooking in Caribbean religions, but their culinary labor has remained invisible. It highlights the importance of socialization in religious kitchen spaces as they played roles in converting newcomers into practitioners.
Rice
Authors: Coclanis Peter A.
Published: March 2024

This chapter traces the history of rice worldwide from the origins of cultivation in Asia to the present day. In so doing, it devotes attention to the key role rice plays in many parts of the world, traces the diffusion of the cereal grain from the places wherein it originated, and details and analyzes historical patterns relating to its production, exchange, and consumption. It treats the nutritional characteristics of the cereal, as well as its various uses, discusses some of the long-term economic and political implications of rice cultivation, and ends by laying out some of the uncertainties relating to rice production going forward.
Coffee
Authors: McCook Stuart
Published: March 2024

Since about 1400, coffee cultivation has spread from a small corner of Eastern Africa across the global tropics. Coffee is primarily a global cash crop; farmers produce it for markets overseas. The expansion of coffee cultivation in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific was intimately bound up with European colonialism, from the seventeenth through to the mid-twentieth centuries. Since the mid-nineteenth century, however, the bulk of the world’s coffee has been produced in the Americas, especially Brazil. For the past century, the global coffee industry has been plagued by chronic economic instability caused by overproduction and ecological instability caused by diseases, pests, and climate change. Partly because of these challenges, there has been tremendous innovation in how coffee is farmed and traded, as farmers seek to produce coffee in ways that are ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable.
Famine
Authors: Smith Jenny Leigh
Published: March 2024

The rise of agriculture some 14,000 years ago increased the number and severity of famines in the world, and because of this famines have played a major role in world history. Early agrarian societies developed important survival strategies to protect against starvation that are still used today. As the population of the world increased and the economy became more complex, the profile of famines changed. No longer caused by absolute scarcity, famines evolved and were increasingly caused by poor people having limited purchasing power of food. This represented a fundamental shift in why famines happened. New charitable organizations developed to help feed the hungry poor. Many of these institutions still exist and perform similar work today. Due to the rise of global capitalism and expanding colonial powers, famines intensified and became more frequent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The twentieth century experienced many small-scale famines as a result of war. Two major twentieth-century famines in the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China were essentially forms of state-sponsored civil war. In the second half of the twentieth century, new scientific approaches to feeding and managing nutrition dramatically reduced famine deaths. Likewise, new humanitarian organizations focused specifically on accessing and addressing the needs of starving populations emerged and expanded rapidly. In the twenty-first century, famines are still a real and present danger. Famines will probably never be eliminated, but they appear to be becoming less severe.
Adorno and Ecofeminism
Authors: Bernstein Jay
Published: March 2024

Adorno’s critical theory is distinctive in arguing, first, that human domination—of man over woman, master over slave, lord over serf, capitalist class over proletarian class, colonizer over colonized—arose from and remains hostage to the project of controlling nature, within and without. And, second, because the project of controlling and dominating nature for the sake of species reproduction and wealth creation, as the social formation of the drive to self-preservation, is the organizing project of historical humanity, there emerged with liberal capitalism the predominance and hegemony of instrumental reason over all other formations of reason. The pathologies of liberal capitalism—above all the unique combination of growing inequality and the destruction of Holocene nature through global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions—are the direct product of these convergent and mutually supporting structures of domination. This chapter provides a defense of Adorno’s genealogy of enlightened modernity in relation to how his critical theory overlaps and converges with the organizing theorems of ecofeminism. Ecofeminism, so understood, deserves to be recognized as the inheritor of the tradition of first-generation critical theory.
English language education and educational policy in the Philippines
Authors: Martinez Julius C. , Martin Isabel Pefianco
Published: March 2024

This chapter presents different perspectives on, or approaches to, English language teaching (ELT) in the Philippines. It begins with a description of the monolingual bias that is evident in government policies which include the use of English as the language of assessment, especially in national and international tests of English proficiency and literacy. The chapter proceeds with a discussion of three pluralist approaches to English, namely, ‘world Englishes’, ‘multilingualism’, and ‘translanguaging’, that claim to reject this monolingual bias. Language education policies or classroom practices that are informed by each perspective are described. A number of issues about these perspectives in relation to the monolingual bias are likewise raised. The chapter ends by underscoring the agency of Filipino teachers of English who are caught between monolingual and pluralist perspectives on ELT. Three propositions in relation to teacher agency are also put forward.
English in the Southeast Asian business-process outsourcing industry and call centres
Authors: Cruz Priscilla Angela T. , Lockwood Jane
Published: March 2024

At a time when varieties of English are being increasingly accepted as mainstream and tolerance of deviations from standard English are on the rise, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, specifically contact centres, is far less tolerant of variation from standard English. This chapter problematizes the position of varieties of English in Southeast Asian contact centres. Englishes are examined in light of business practices at recruitment, communications training agendas, communication performance benchmarking, and coaching support. Furthermore, this chapter examines the relationship between Englishes and the seemingly deficient English that needs to be addressed where contact centre customer service representative (CSR) support is concerned. We argue for the need of BPOs to anchor their practices on developing the meaning-making skills that ensure customer service call success.