bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
One-pot catalyst-switching synthesis of thermoresponsive amphiphilic diblock copolymers consisting of poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) and biodegradable polyesters
Authors: Fu Xiangming , Wang Yanqiu , Xu Liang , Narumi Atsushi , Sato Shin-ichiro , Shen Xiande , Kakuchi Toyoji
Published: March 2023

A method for the syntheses of thermoresponsive amphiphilic diblock copolymers through sequential organocatalyzed polymerizations using group transfer polymerization (GTP) and ring-opening polymerization (ROP), respectively, is described.
Dendritic NiS2@Co–N–C nanoarchitectures as bifunctional electrocatalysts for long-life Zn–air batteries
Authors: Ruan Yanli , Xu Hang , Lei Haikuo , Xue Wenjuan , Wang Tianyu , Song Shidong , Yu Yangyang , Zhang Gui-Rong , Mei Donghai
Published: March 2023

The constructed dendritic NiS2@Co–N–C/CNF material exhibited excellent bifunctional ORR and OER performance, as well as superior Zn–air cell performance and ultralong lifetime, exceeding those of most of the recently reported aqueous Zn–air batteries.
Recent advances in two-dimensional MXenes for zinc-ion batteries
Authors: Shen Yunfei , Lv Heng , Chen Long
Published: March 2023

MXene has been widely used in zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) because of its excellent conductivity, high hydrophilicity and good mechanical properties.
Compositionally tuned hybridization of n-type Ag0 : Ag2Se under ambient conditions towards excellent thermoelectric properties at room temperature
Authors: Tee Si Yin , Ponsford Daniel , Tan Xian Yi , Wang Xiaobai , Lay Chee Leng , Lee Coryl Jing Jun , Ni Xi Ping , Seng Debbie Hwee Leng , Thitsartarn Warintorn , Guan Guijian , Han Ming-Yong
Published: March 2023

Compositionally tuned hybridization of n-type Ag0 : Ag2Se is achieved under ambient conditions via an aqueous synthetic approach in the absence of surfactants towards excellent thermoelectric properties at room temperature.
Molecular assembly of carbon nitride-based composite membranes for photocatalytic sterilization and wound healing
Authors: Peng Xiaoxiao , Ma Jin , Zhou Zhixin , Yang Hong , Chen Jingjing , Chen Ran , Wu Kaiqing , Xi Guangcheng , Liu Songqin , Shen Yanfei , Zhang Yuanjian
Published: March 2023

A multifactorial mechanism for successful dissolution of polymeric carbon nitrides (pCN) was disclosed, enabling pCN to compound more advanced nanocomposites at the molecular level, beyond the traditional solar fuel applications in powders.
The Relationship Between Speech Perception, Speech Production, and Vocabulary Abilities in Children: Insights From By-Group and Continuous Analyses
Authors: Hearnshaw Stephanie , Baker Elise , Pomper Ron , McGregor Karla K. , Edwards Jan , Munro Natalie
Published: March 2023

Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between speech perception, speech production, and vocabulary abilities in children with and without speech sound disorders (SSDs), analyzing the data both by group and continuously.

Method:

Sixty-one Australian English–speaking children aged 48–69 months participated in this study. Children's speech production abilities ranged along the continuum from SSDs through to typical speech. Their vocabulary abilities ranged along the continuum from typical to above average (“lexically precocious”). Children completed routine speech and language assessments in addition to an experimental Australian English lexical and phonetic judgment task.

Results:

When analyzing data by group, there was no significant difference between the speech perception ability of children with SSDs and that of children without SSDs. Children with above-average vocabularies had significantly better speech perception ability than children with average vocabularies. When analyzing data continuously, speech production and vocabulary were both significant positive predictors of variance in speech perception ability, both individually in simple linear regression and when combined in multiple linear regression. There was also a significant positive correlation between perception and production of two of the four target phonemes tested (i.e., /k/ and /ʃ/) among children in the SSD group.

Conclusions:

Results from this study provide further insight into the complex relationship between speech perception, speech production, and vocabulary abilities in children. While there is a clinical and important need for categorical distinctions between SSDs and typically developing speech, findings further highlight the value of investigating speech production and vocabulary abilities continuously and categorically. By capturing the heterogeneity among children's speech production and vocabulary abilities, we can advance our understanding of SSDs in children.

Supplemental Material:

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.22229674
Effects of an Augmentative and Alternative Communication Technology Decoding Feature on Single-Word Reading by Individuals With Down Syndrome and Limited Functional Speech
Authors: Holyfield Christine , Pope Lauramarie , Light Janice , Jakobs Erik , Laubscher Emily , McNaughton David , Pfaff Olivia
Published: March 2023

Purpose:

Literacy skills are foundational to participation in adolescent and adult life, and decoding skills (i.e., sounding out to read words) are critical to literacy learning. Literacy also increases communication options for individuals with developmental disabilities who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Yet, current AAC technologies are limited in their support of literacy development (especially decoding skills) for the individuals with developmental disabilities who require them. The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of a new AAC feature designed to support decoding skills.

Method:

Three individuals who had limited functional speech and limited literacy skills, specifically two adolescents and one young adult with Down syndrome, participated in the study. The study used a single-subject, multiple-probe, across-participants design.

Results:

All three participants demonstrated increases in reading performance, including decoding of novel words. High variability in performance was observed, however, and no participant reached reading mastery. Still, analysis reveals that for all participants, interacting using the new app feature increased reading.

Conclusions:

These results offer preliminary evidence that an AAC technology feature that provides models of decoding (upon selection of AAC picture symbols) can support individuals with Down syndrome in building decoding skills. While not intended to replace instruction, this initial study offers initial evidence in its efficacy as a supplemental avenue for supporting literacy in individuals with developmental disabilities who use AAC.
Bipartite consensus for networked Euler–Lagrange systems with cooperative–competitive interactions and time delays
Authors: Zhang Jianing , Wang Fujie , Wen Guilin
Published: March 2023

This paper investigates the coordinated behaviour of the multiple Euler–Lagrange systems under diverse interactions with time delays. Specially, in the case of undirected interconnection, the proportional plus damping control strategy is proposed and the sufficient conditions of bipartite consensus are derived via energy function based approach. Subsequently, a velocity‐free controller is further developed by introducing a novel second‐order auxiliary system to each agent. In the case of directed network, by fully investigating the property of the Laplacian matrix associated with the cooperative–competitive interactions, a bipartite consensus controller is devised and the input–output property analysis of the system transfer function in frequency domain is presented. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented algorithms.
Experimental oscillator strengths of Al I lines for near-infrared astrophysical spectroscopy
Authors: Burheim M. , Hartman H. , Nilsson H.
Published: March 2023

Context. Elemental abundances can be determined from stellar spectra, making it possible to study galactic formation and evolution. Accurate atomic data is essential for the reliable interpretation and modeling of astrophysical spectra. In this work, we perform laboratory studies on neutral aluminium. This element is found, for example, in young, massive stars and it is a key element for tracing ongoing nucleosynthesis throughout the Galaxy. The near-infrared (NIR) wavelength region is of particular importance, since extinction in this region is lower than for optical wavelengths. This makes the NIR wavelength region a better probe for highly obscured regions, such as those located close to the Galactic center.

Aims. We investigate the spectrum of neutral aluminium with the aim to provide oscillator strengths (f-values) of improved accuracy for lines in the NIR and optical regions (670–4200 nm).

Methods. Measurements of high-resolution spectra were performed using a Fourier transform spectrometer and a hollow cathode discharge lamp. The f-values were derived from experimental line intensities combined with published radiative lifetimes.

Results. We report oscillator strengths for 12 lines in the NIR and optical spectral regions, with an accuracy between 2 and 11%, as well as branching fractions for an additional 16 lines.
Radio and infrared study of the supernova remnant candidate HESS J1912+101
Authors: Duvidovich L. , Petriella A.
Published: March 2023

Aims.We provide new insights into theγ-ray emission from HESS J1912+101, a TeV supernova remnant candidate probably associated with the radio pulsar PSR J1913+1011.

Methods.We obtained new observations at 1.5 GHz using the VLA in the D configuration, with the purpose of detecting the radio shell of the putative remnant. In addition, we observed a single pointing at 6.0 GHz toward PSR J1913+1011 to look for a radio pulsar wind nebula. We also studied the properties of the surrounding interstellar medium using data of the13CO, HI, and infrared emissions, obtained from public surveys.

Results.We do not find evidence of a radio shell down to the sensitivity of the new image at 1.5 GHz. We detect faint diffuse emission around PSR J1913+1011 at 6.0 GHz, which could represent a radio pulsar wind nebula powered by the pulsar. We find dense ambient gas at ~60 km s−1, which shows a good spatial correspondence with the TeV emission only in the western and eastern directions. There is also dense gas near the center of HESS J1912+101, where the TeV emission is weak. Using infrared data, we identify an active star-forming region in the western part of the shell.

Conclusions.Based on the poor spatial match between the ambient gas and the TeV emission (which shows a good correlation in the western and eastern directions and an anticorrelation in the other directions), we conclude that the hadronic mechanism alone does not give a satisfactory explanation of theγrays from HESS J1912+101. Additional contributions may come from leptonic processes in the shell of the supernova remnant, together with contributions from PSR J1913+1011 and its pulsar wind nebula and/or from the star-forming region. A confident determination of the distance to the putative remnant is necessary to determine whether these sources are associated or just appear superimposed in the line of sight.
Gamma-Ray and Neutrino Emissions from Starforming and Starburst Galaxies
Authors: Ambrosone Antonio , Chianese Marco , Fiorillo Damiano F.G. , Marinelli Antonio , Miele Gennaro
Published: March 2023

Experimental observations have demonstrated a strong correlation between the star formation rate and the gamma-ray lumosities of starforming and starburst galaxies (SFGs and SBGs). However, the real origin of these emissions is still under debate. In this contribution, we present several updates on their non-thermal radiations, revisiting both their point-like and cumulative (diﬀuse) emission properties. From the point-like side, we discuss the potential- ities of future neutrino (KM3NeT/ARCA, IceCube-gen2) telescopes to quanti- tively scrutinize their expected properties from diﬀerent cosmic-ray transport models. From the diﬀuse perspective, we investigate a model based on a data- driven blending of spectral indexes, hence taking into account the changes in the properties of individual emitters. Strikingly, SFGs and SBGs can explain 25% (up to 40%) of the diﬀuse High-Energy Starting Events (HESE) data, without overshooting the gamma-ray limits regarding non-blazar sources.
Searching for multi-messenger signals with the Pierre Auger Observatory
Authors: Guido Eleonora
Published: March 2023

The Pierre Auger Observatory [1], primarily designed for the detection of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic rays, has been proven to be also an excellent tool in multi-messenger searches. With its unprecedented exposure to UHE particles, it is exploited to set stringent upper limits on the diﬀuse ﬂux of UHE photons and neutrinos and to look for neutral particles associated with steady sources and transient events, such as gravitational waves. All these searches can provide key information to investigate the most energetic phenomena in the Universe and answer some of the most important still-open questions in astrophysics.
Direct Detection of Dark Matter with DarkSide-20k
Authors: Agnes Paolo
Published: March 2023

DarkSide run since mid 2015 a 50-kg-active-mass dual phase Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC), ﬁlled with low radioactivity argon from an underground source and produced world class results for both the low mass (< 20 GeV/c2) and high mass ( > 100 GeV/c2) direct detection search for dark matter. The next stage of the DarkSide program will be a new generation experiment involving a global collaboration from all the current Argon based experiments. DarkSide-20k, is designed as a 20-tonne ﬁducial mass dual phase Liquid Argon TPC with SiPM based cryogenic photosensors, and is expected to be free of any instrumental background for an exposure of >100 tonne year. Like its predecessor, DarkSide-20k will be housed at the INFN Gran Sasso (LNGS) underground laboratory, and it is expected to attain a WIMP-nucleon cross section exclusion sensitivity of 7.4 × 10−48 cm2 for a WIMP mass of 1 TeV/c2 in a 200 t yr run. DarkSide-20k will be installed inside a membrane cryostat containing more than 700 t of liquid Argon and be surrounded by an active neutron veto based on a Gd-loaded acrylic shell. The talk will give the latest updates of the ongoing R&D and prototype tests validating the initial design. A subsequent objective, towards the end of the next decade, will be the construction of the ultimate detector, ARGO, with a 300 t ﬁducial mass to push the sensitivity to the neutrino ﬂoor region for high mass WIMPs.
Pierre Auger Observatory and Super Heavy Dark Matter
Authors: Aloisio Roberto
Published: March 2023

We briefly discuss the connection of the Pierre Auger Observatory data with a large class of dark matter models based on the early universe generation of super heavy particles, their role in the solution of the dark matter problem, highlighting the remarkable constraining capabilities of the Auger observations.
The GAPS experiment: Low-energy antinuclei measurements for dark matter searches
Authors: Marcelli N.
Published: March 2023

GAPS (General Anti-Particle Spectrometer) is a balloon-borne experiment designed to measure low-energy (<0.25 GeV/n) cosmic antinuclei (i.e., antiprotons, antideuterons, and antihelium nuclei) as a signature of dark matter annihilation or decay. According to viable beyond-the-Standard Model theories, the predicted dark matter signal in the low-energy antideuterons and antihelium nuclei channels is several orders of magnitude higher than the astrophysical background. The experiment will conduct a series of at least three long-duration balloon flights at high altitudes from Antarctica. The instrument is composed of a Si(Li) tracker surrounded by a Time-of-Flight system made of plastic scintillators. GAPS uses the novel exotic-atom detection technique in which an antinucleus is captured by the tracker material and forms an exotic atom. This excited exotic atom decays within the order of nanoseconds emitting X-rays at specific energies defined by the atomic transitions and annihilates emitting secondary particles (mainly pions and protons). The measured quantities (e.g., dE/dx, time of flight, annihilation vertex position, X-rays energies, etc.) allow for identifying antinuclei with high precision.
The KM3NeT data acquisition system - Status and evolution
Authors: Chiarusi Tommaso , Giorgio Emidio , Zito Daniele
Published: March 2023

In this contribution, we present the data acquisition system system of the KM3NeT neutrino telescopes, ARCA and ORCA, already operating while under construction at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. The DAQ system implements a modular and scalable hardware-triggerless streaming readout of the optical modules in the telescopes. Handling a raw incoming throughput up to hundreds of Gbps, it is integrated with the online alert system of the KM3NeT Multimessenger program. The system will evolve according to a new design, currently under validation, which will grant the extension of the telescope to the aimed cubic kilometer scale.
Magnetic property measurement and analysis of high-frequency soft magnetic materials under non-sinusoidal excitation considering temperature effect
Authors: Li Yongjian , Jin Chuhao , Yang Ming , Mu Shenghui , Zhang Changgeng
Published: March 2023

Electrical equipment operates under various temperatures and non-sinusoidal excitation, which makes magnetic properties of soft magnetic materials quite different from those under room temperature and sinusoidal excitation. Magnetic properties and loss characteristics of the ferrite (N87) and nanocrystalline alloy (FT-3KL) are measured and analyzed in the range of 25 °C to 125 °C from 5 kHz to 20 kHz under both square and rectangular excitation with different duty ratios. The temperature dependence of these materials under different conditions is systematically compared with normalization method. The comprehensive performance of core materials is discussed in combination with the experimental phenomena and results.
A null stem analysis of Persian copular verbs
Authors: Okubo Wataru , Nomoto Hiroki
Published: March 2023

Traditional grammars of Persian recognize two copular series for the affirmative indicative present tense, which we call the independent copulas and dependent copulas. The former has been considered as a full verb whereas the latter has been described as an enclitic. This paper explores the syntactic and phonological properties of the two copular series by looking into cases in which only one form is grammatical. We propose that the dependent copulas are not enclitics but have the same internal structure as the independent copulas, consisting of a null verbal stem and a person inflectional suffix. Through examinations of the syntactic operations of A-bar movement via association with an enclitic focus particle and ellipsis of the complement, as well as stress assignment in copular constructions, we demonstrate that nonparallel grammatical judgments arise from unsuccessful stress assignment, which results from the absence of overt material in the complement. This work contributes a new look at the copular system in Persian and beyond, which has not been extensively investigated in the literature.
Ensuring Animal Well-Being in Animal-Assisted Service Programs: Ethics Meets Practice Learning at Green Chimneys
Authors: Kinoshita Miyako , Kaufmann Michael
Published: March 2023

This paper illustrates the complexity of meeting a high and constant standard of animal welfare at Green Chimneys, a residential treatment facility and therapeutic day school for children with psychiatric diagnosis ages K-12. Green Chimneys incorporates over 300 animals of various species in animal-assisted education and therapy programs. Ensuring the well-being of horses, farm animals, camels, reptiles, dogs, and wild birds in captivity demands a practical, systemic, and most of all, flexible philosophical animal welfare framework. Implementing a consistent animal care program, in a larger community of students and adults who often have divergent beliefs about the treatment of animals, is challenging.

Examples of ethical struggles that impact practical, real life animal care and treatment decisions are included. The authors also describe their ongoing communication process regarding animal care with their team, with the goal of encouraging other programs to engage in similar conversations and recognize that ethically caring for and working with animals in a human-service setting is an ongoing journey.
The effect of the surface morphology of the aluminium oxide layer on the physical and bacterial attachment behavior
Authors: Kaya Şevval , Sarıbıyık Oğuz Yunus
Published: March 2023

Coating of the metal surface for different fields such as corrosion resistance, hydrophobic surface, and conductivity properties enhance the material quality for different application. Furthermore, controlling the morphological structures and the size of the coating materials is one of the most important factors for designing their functionality. The new approaches to the effect of surface properties at the atomic level on bacterial adhesion offer new perspectives on this subject. In this study, the effect of the different current densities on the morphological microstructural features, microhardness properties, and bacterial attachment behavior of the protective aluminum oxide layer was investigated by using different analytical and instrumental methods. The Staphylococcus aureus was used as a model bacteria for attachment tests. The result presented in the current study exhibited that the crystal morphology, microhardness, and bacterial adhesion features have changed depending on the applied current density. Increasing the current density from 1.5 to 1.7 raises the microhardness from 88 to 126 (Vickers) and causes higher surface roughness by 56 nm, 114 nm and 124 nm respectively. The high number of the attached bacteria were determined on the more roughness surface during the study.
Measuring complex refractive index through deep-learning-enabled optical reflectometry
Authors: Wang Ziyang , Lin Yuxuan Cosmi , Zhang Kunyan , Wu Wenjing , Huang Shengxi
Published: March 2023

Optical spectroscopy is indispensable for research and development in nanoscience and nanotechnology, microelectronics, energy, and advanced manufacturing. Advanced optical spectroscopy tools often require both specifically designed high-end instrumentation and intricate data analysis techniques. Beyond the common analytical tools, deep learning methods are well suited for interpreting high-dimensional and complicated spectroscopy data. They offer great opportunities to extract subtle and deep information about optical properties of materials with simpler optical setups, which would otherwise require sophisticated instrumentation. In this work, we propose a computational approach based on a conventional tabletop optical microscope and a deep learning model called ReflectoNet. Without any prior knowledge about the multilayer substrates, ReflectoNet can predict the complex refractive indices of thin films and 2D materials on top of these nontrivial substrates from experimentally measured optical reflectance spectra with high accuracies. This task was not feasible previously with traditional reflectometry or ellipsometry methods. Fundamental physical principles, such as the Kramers–Kronig relations, are spontaneously learned by the model without any further training. This approach enables in-operando optical characterization of functional materials and 2D materials within complex photonic structures or optoelectronic devices.
Coordinating Knowledge: A New Lens to Understanding the Role of Technology in Episodic Coordination
Authors: Karahanna Elena , Claggett Jennifer
Published: March 2023

Previous research in coordination lacked a practical explication of the metaknowledge used to enact coordination, which is particularly problematic as more coordination processes become (or attempt to become) digitized. One can better understand this meta knowledge by focusing on the coordination episode. The authors of this article define coordinating knowledge as knowledge that facilitates the exchange of information between two or more actors in order to achieve a shared goal by guiding (a) the timing, (b) the selection of actors, (c) the content, and (d) the method of the exchange. By integrating four bodies of literature (structured mechanisms, domain expertise, team familiarity, and transactive memory systems) that provide important insights into coordination the authors anatomize the framework into 14 specific types of coordinating knowledge that can impact how a coordination episode is enacted and its outcomes. Specifically, coordinating knowledge about triggers refers to knowledge indicating a need to initiate a coordination episode and may take the form of time-scheduled triggers, event-sequence triggers, and emergent triggers. Coordinating knowledge about actors refers to knowledge that helps select with whom to coordinate and may take the form of role, assignment, or individual knowledge about actors. Coordinating knowledge about content refers to knowledge that either helps select or present content shared during the coordination episode and may take the form of predetermined content selection or presentation, emergent content selection, recipient-tailored content selection, and shared understanding. Finally, coordinating knowledge about method refers to knowledge that helps select the appropriate medium of communication for a coordination episode and may take the form of predetermined method selection, media-fit method selection, or recipient-tailored method selection. Coordinating knowledge is conceptualized as a profile construct with meaningful combinations of coordinating knowledge that can be used to address different coordination dependencies and other contingencies. This conceptual framework affords a new understanding of how coordination is enacted and opens avenues to future research to explore how the presence and utilization of specific types of coordinating knowledge are likely to impact coordination performance. By explicating and elaborating upon coordinating knowledge, scholars and practitioners will be better positioned to design information systems to aid in the exchange of information by embedding different types of coordinating knowledge. Thus, the coordinating knowledge lens will be useful in understanding the evolving role of technology in coordination processes.
Queer Sexualities in Latin America
Authors: Domínguez Ruvalcaba Héctor
Published: March 2023

As a field of study constituted by contributions coming from various disciplines and methodologies, queer studies in Latin America can only be understood as a multiplicity of discourses that discipline, regulate, vindicate, or bring into critical view dissident expressions of gender and sexuality. These discursive formations have given rise to moral, scientific, political, and aesthetic conceptualizations through which sexually diverse bodies in this region have been understood. Notable academic texts published since the 1980s have studied the diversity of sexual identities in different modes of representation, including the fields of history, ethnography, and literature, as well as performance, journalistic, cinematographic, and television discourses. The selection for this multidisciplinary review was based on the following thematic axis: colonial studies of Latin American queerness; modern history and literature on sexual dissidence; ethnographies of sexual diversity; and the studies of film, media, and performance.
Multilateral Crisis Responders: United Nations and Its Partners in Humanitarian Crisis Management
Authors: Jeong Bok Gyo , Yeo Jungwon
Published: March 2023

A humanitarian crisis is the main focus of the United Nations’ (the UN’s) primary organizations and its special agencies since its foundation in 1945. The UN refers to a humanitarian crisis as an event or series of events that represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security, or well-being of a community or other large group of people. The nature of a humanitarian crisis is complex, signifying the importance of the collaboration and coordination among the UN and its multilateral partner agencies in the crisis management process.

The UN takes the approach of “disaster risk management” that aims to enhance (a) resilience, the ability of people, societies, and countries to recover from negative shocks; and (b) prosperity, derived from successfully managing positive shocks that create opportunities for development. The UN’s emergency measures aim to ensure a transition from relief to rehabilitation and development.

The UN suggests a humanitarian coordination model. In particular, the UN established guiding principles for the international community’s response to humanitarian crises that were built based on the General Assembly resolution 46/182. The resolution provides the foundation for the establishment of the Office of the Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, which facilitates interagency analysis and makes major decisions in humanitarian emergency responses. The resolution also identifies a range of other organizations and entities that could contribute to an international humanitarian crisis management system.

The UN’s multilateral partners in humanitarian crisis response include (a) the UN’s special agencies including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA); (b) civil society and government of affected countries; (c) both national and international Red Cross and Red Crescent societies; (d) domestic and international nongovernmental organizations; and (e) international governmental organizations.
Mental Rotation and Visual Imagery
Authors: Mast Fred W. , Gurtner Lilla M.
Published: March 2023

Mental rotation is the ability to mentally represent the hypothetical view of an object rotated away from its actual viewpoint. It can be experimentally tested by a paradigm in which participants judge whether two stimuli are identical or not. The two stimuli are rotated and the size of angle between the two determines how long participants will take to come to a decision. This suggests that mental rotation is a mental process analogous to real rotation. This finding has been of importance for mental imagery research more broadly because (a) it illustrated that, unlike in behavioristic thinking, it is possible to research mental processes in a scientific way, and (b) because it was the foundation of many experiments supporting the similarities between mental imagery and perception, both in terms of brain activation and in terms of computational models.
Peripheral Vision: A Critical Component of Many Visual Tasks
Authors: Rosenholtz Ruth
Published: March 2023

In understanding human visual perception, an important component consists of what people can perceive at a glance. If that glance provides the observer with sufficient task-relevant information, this affords efficient processing. If not, one must move one’s eyes and integrate information across glances and over time, which is necessarily slower and limited by both working memory and the ability to integrate that information. Vision at a glance has to do in large part with the strengths and limitations of peripheral vision, and in particular with visual crowding. Understanding peripheral vision has helped unify a number of aspects of vision.
Eyewitness Memory
Authors: Wixted John T.
Published: March 2023

Eyewitness testimony during a criminal trial, even when made in good faith, is widely considered to be unreliable because (a) basic-science research has shown how malleable eyewitness memory can be and (b) many real-world wrongful convictions involve eyewitness misidentifications of innocent defendants. However, like other forms of forensic evidence, there are conditions under which declarations based on eyewitness memory are reliable and conditions under which they are unreliable. Precisely because memory is so malleable, declarations based on eyewitness memory are the most reliable on the first test conducted early in a police investigation. Indeed, the very act of testing memory changes (i.e., contaminates) memory, and this is true whether memory is tested by a police interview (recall of details) or by a police photo lineup (face recognition). For example, because of the contaminating effect of the first test, a witness who initially recalls a detail with low confidence is at risk of later recalling that same detail with higher confidence. Similarly, a witness who initially identifies a suspect from a photo lineup with low confidence is at risk of later identifying that same suspect with higher confidence. In addition, memory can be contaminated by extraneous factors that occur after the first test (e.g., conversations with other people), leading to higher confidence or even to an altogether different memory decision (e.g., initially claiming that a person well known to the witness was not the perpetrator but later remembering that he was). Unbeknownst to police investigators, any change in a witness’s good-faith memory of events after the first test is far more likely to reflect memory contamination than it is to reflect a more successful search of memory. Moreover, and critically, this is true no matter how the witness rationalizes the inconsistency (e.g., “I was nervous on the first test but then I calmed down and searched my memory more carefully, and now I am positive he is the perpetrator”). A witness has no awareness of the insidious effects of memory contamination and certainly has no scientific expertise in the underlying memory mechanisms involved. Therefore, asking why a witness’s memory-based declaration changed from one test to the next is a question for a memory expert, not an eyewitness. A memory expert can explain that the main problem with relying on eyewitness memory is not that it is unreliable. Instead, the main problem is that the criminal justice system ignores the results of the reliable first test of uncontaminated memory and instead relies on the results of subsequent unreliable tests of contaminated memory to win a conviction. Assuming good faith on the part of the eyewitness, this practice should be reversed by relying on the results of the first test of uncontaminated memory and ignoring all later tests, especially the maximally contaminated test of memory that occurs under oath at trial.
Education Research Beyond Cyborg Subjectivities
Authors: Gough Annette , Gough Noel
Published: March 2023

The term “cyborg,” as a combination of “cybernetics” and “organism,” was coined by Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline in 1960 in a paper presented at a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conference on space exploration as a representation of a particular challenge of space travel: physically adapting a human body to survive in a hostile environment rather than modifying the environment. Soon after, NASA commissioned “The Cyborg Study” to investigate the theoretical possibilities of incorporating life support–related technologies into future spacecraft design. From the beginning, cyborgs were seen as the realization of a transhumanist goal—liberating humans from the limitations of the body and its environment by means of mechanization. Outside of space exploration, the term “cyborg” has evolved to encompass an expansive mesh of the mythological, metaphorical, and technical. Initially mainly taken up by science fiction writers to create superhumans, the notion entered cultural studies in the 1980s, particularly through Donna Haraway’s feminist “cyborg manifesto,” which argues that we are all cyborgs. Since then, terminology has shifted, and cyborgs are more likely called “posthumans,” “more-than-humans,” “other-than-humans,” or “companion species.” Discussions of cyborg and posthuman subjectivities in educational research have taken two main directions. The first argues that with equipment like tablets, smartphones, and laptops, students and teachers are already cyborgs—hybrids of human and machine—accessing information, resources, networks, groups, personal relations, libraries, and mass media through the Internet. Other research has investigated how the construction of cyborg and posthuman subjectivities changes the relationships between humans and their surroundings, devising new social, ethical, and discursive ways of thinking and representation.
Marxists of the Maghreb: Leftist Parties and Movements of North Africa
Authors: Buehler Matt , Jones Matthew R.
Published: March 2023

In the 21st century, scholars of North Africa—known as the “Maghreb”—have focused on predicting variation in the political fortunes of Islamist political parties and social movements, some of the most potent opposition forces to the region’s authoritarian regimes. Less researched, however, are the region’s leftist political parties and social movements. Historically, such socialist or socialist-inspired groups have also played a key role in the Maghreb’s domestic politics since decolonization. They often have similar origins in the anticolonial struggle, social constituencies of support, and understandings of conflict in society. They diverge, however, in their relationship to political power: Whereas in Tunisia and Algeria the leaders of socialist-inspired political parties became autocrats, the leaders of such parties in Morocco and Mauritania remained oppositionists. Over time, nearly all traditional socialist parties of the Maghreb have declined in political influence and popularity, becoming either sclerotic ruling parties or co-opted and weak opposition parties. The traditional leftist parties’ waning influence has opened space for the emergence of new, more confrontational leftist groups from civil society. While some of these splinter leftist groups emphasize traditional socialist material concerns (e.g., economic inequality, class relations, and unemployment), others stress nonmaterial issues, like the human rights of political, ethnic, and sexual minorities. Splintering the Maghreb’s leftists in this way has created a colorful mosaic of groups that have taken up a diverse variety of progressive causes in contemporary politics.
History of Ghana
Authors: Owusu-Ansah David
Published: March 2023

Taking its name from the medieval West African kingdom of Ghana when it gained political independence in 1957, the former British colony of the Gold Coast is known for its pan-African stance, gold and cocoa production, and national commitment to Western formal education. The Portuguese, the first European nation to arrive on the Costa da Mina (the Gold Coast) in 1471, reported of coastal communities organized under the leadership of chiefs. The position of the chief, with the support of local elders, illustrates the stratified political structures and chains of authority from the small village to the centralized states with whom the early Europeans and other foreign traders conducted commerce.

Attracted by its gold deposits, merchants from several European nations followed the Portuguese to establish competing commercial ports on the 300-mile coastline. They invested in and defended the trading posts as forts and castles. Some of these establishments are now preserved as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in remembrance of the transatlantic slave trade. To the northern fringes of the Akan forest and through the Volta Basin, Mande Muslim traders from the old Western Sudanese empires, as well as Hausa merchants from the northeast, arrived as early as the 15th century to exchange Sahelian products for gold, slaves, and kola nuts. The history of Muslim engagement in the commerce from the north is linked to the spread of Islam in the territories. The European missionary activities on the southern coast introduced Western formal education and Christianity.

The contemporary boundaries of Ghana can be traced to the history of precolonial state formation resulting from local wars of expansion and consolidation of territories by the powerful ethnic kingdoms, especially of the Akan nations. The long Asante resistance to the British presence and the ultimate European territorial delineations led to the consolidation of British rule of the Gold Coast in 1902 to commence the colonial era. Ghana’s independence from British rule was historic, as it represented the first Black sub-Saharan African nation to become independent. But, for the first thirty-five years after independence, the rule of law was intermittent, as the military overthrew civil administrations deemed corrupt or incompetent to address ongoing national economic challenges. The return to civilian constitutional rule, a free press, and successive changes of government through the ballot box since 1992, despite economic and development challenges, gave room to grow the nation’s democracy.
Women in Ghana
Authors: Adomako Ampofo Akosua , Atobrah Deborah
Published: March 2023

The academic study of women in Ghana has received considerable attention, particularly from a feminist perspective or gender framework since the 1980s, albeit with some important studies preceding this period. Earlier studies from the 1960s–1970s mainly approached the “woman question” from an anthropological, historical, and later sociological perspective, paying attention to descriptions of women’s lives prior to colonialism and the effects of colonial rule. These studies underscored the importance of the complementary roles women and men played, submitting that colonialism was responsible for introducing forms of gender inequality and domesticity that had not existed hitherto. Prior to colonial rule, women generally enjoyed significant status from their roles not only as wives and mothers, but also as sisters, rulers, priestesses, and performers in their own right. At the same time, some accounts of women’s lives point to the hardships they suffered because they were exploited for their social and economic value, for example as slaves or pawns. Both before and during colonial rule, especially during the years of struggle for independence, women were important organizers, and not just around gender issues. Several studies discuss the important place of women in the Nkrumah-led government just prior to and immediately after independence in 1957; however, women’s relationship with the postcolonial state was not given much attention until the 1980s.

After the first UN International Women’s Conference held in Mexico City in 1975, and the establishment of a women’s bureau, the National Council on Women and Development in 1986, more instrumental and also quantitative-survey approaches were employed that described women’s so-called objective status, especially in the areas of education, work, and health. In conformity with the times, a women-in-development approach to examining women’s status was favored by practitioners but also some scholars. By 1994, when the Development and Women’s Studies Programme was established at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, feminist approaches were more common and also brought with them an interrogation of the postcolonial state’s relationship with women. Women’s organizing and activism around such issues as livelihoods, access to land and other resources, and gender-based violence, took center stage as groups like the Network for Women’s Rights (NETRIGHT), the Domestic-Violence Coalition, and the Women’s Manifesto Coalition emerged. The problematics of gender roles and social relations, especially within the context of marriage, received much attention. Contestations among scholar-activists and femocrats are also discussed, as well as the institutional challenges of feminist work. Intergenerational collaborations as well as tensions occupy a significant place in contemporary theorizing and practice since 2000, especially the role of social media feminism.
The History of Togo and the Togolese People
Authors: Kothor Marius , Lawrance Benjamin N.
Published: March 2023

The history of Togo and the Togolese people may best be told as a pluralizing historical narrative. Togo’s history is first narrated in a relatively conventional framework, which one might find in any historical dictionary or encyclopedia, to show how national histories can weave, bend, and misdirect attention at particular national and regional dimensions. A subsequent richer retelling of Togolese history via a transnational and translocal approach, inclusive of women in events in the region, broadens an historian’s understanding of the history of Togo and the Togolese people to offer new insights beyond those of the traditional nation-state and area studies models. The archives of Togo are scattered around the world, notably in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Great Britain. Scholarship on Togo, covering themes from the precolonial period to the postcolonial epoch and present day, is well developed and multilingual.
Agricultural Slavery in Africa
Authors: Gardini Marco
Published: March 2023

In Africa, slaves have been employed in many different ways: in mines and manufacturing; as concubines and domestics; as soldiers; as members of the administration or royal servants; as porters, stock boys, and paddlers of canoes; and as commercial agents. However, most enslaved men and women in many African contexts worked in agriculture in both decentralized and centralized political entities and in a variety of ways. These ranged from plantation systems, where members of the ruling class might employ hundreds, if not thousands, of slaves in their estates, to smallholder systems, where the slaves performed virtually the same activities and economic functions as lineage members and could hope to be (partially) assimilated in their masters’ society. Between—and within—these two poles, however, there were many different social settings in which many categories of slaves could exist side by side while experiencing dissimilar social positions and being exposed to different working conditions.
Hausa Diasporas and Slavery in Africa, the Atlantic, and the Muslim World
Authors: Lefebvre Camille
Published: March 2023

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hausa diasporas related to slavery were scattered broadly across continents and oceans. Individuals and groups who spoke Hausa, and therefore could define themselves or be considered Hausa, migrated and settled in different areas of the world in relation to slavery and slave trafficking. Hausas participated in the Atlantic, Islamic, and Ottoman slave trades both as slavers and as enslaved cargoes,some Hausas contributed to the management and organization of slave-trafficking operations and others were forced to migrate as slaves. Over the course of the 18th to the 20th century, Hausa diasporas related to slavery altered their trajectories and strategies in response to regional and global transformations, first because of the inclusion of hausa phone areas in the Atlantic slave traffic, secondly because of West African jihads, thirdly because of the gradual end of trans-Atlantic and trans-Saharan slave trafficking in the age of abolition, and at last because of European imperialism.