bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Digestion and nitrogen excretion by Holstein-Friesian cows fed grasses with lucerne or lucerne and plantain
Authors: Waghorn Garry , Griffin Amelia , Bryant Mark , Dalley Dawn
Published: August 2018

Forages and forage mixtures with greater tolerance of dry conditions than perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) are desirable for dairy farming in New Zealand, and a low urinary nitrogen (N) excretion is desirable to lessen pollution of waterways and ground water, and nitrous oxide emissions. Measurements were undertaken with late-lactation Holstein-Friesian cows (5/treatment) fed tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) with a substantial incursion of weed grasses, as either a sole diet (Grass), or with lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) or lucerne and plantain (Plantago lancelota L.), in metabolism stalls. Approximate ratios (DM basis) of Grass with lucerne (GL) were 55:45, and Grass with lucerne and plantain (GLP) were 55:25:20. Measurements included intakes, production, digestion, rumen function, and urinary excretion, including the circadian patterns of metabolite excretion with a focus on nitrogenous aspects. The DM intakes (kg/day) of cows fed Grass, GL and GLP were 14.9, 12.7 and 15.0 (P = 0.006), and DM digestibility (%) was 58.0, 59.8 and 61.9 (P = 0.006), respectively. Milk yields (kg/day) were Grass, 9.0; GL, 8.7 and GLP, 11.7 (P = 0.003) but composition was not affected by diet. Rumen digesta weight was greatest in cows fed Grass, averaging 23.4% of liveweight after morning feeding. The microbial growth (g/kg organic matter digested) was 16.8 in cows fed Grass and ~24.0 in the other diets. Dietary crude protein concentrations (g/100 g DM) were Grass, 15.4, GL, 20.1 and GLP, 18.3 and urinary N excretion (g/day) was lowest with the Grass diet but urinary N concentration was lowest from cows fed GLP. Daily creatinine excretion was unaffected by diet but there was a 2-fold range in excretion rates within 24 h and values from cows fed fresh forages are lower than published values from cows fed dry diets. Results showed that supplementation of poor quality pasture with lucerne or lucerne with plantain had minor effects on digestibility, and measurements of urinary N suggest a need for caution when predicting urinary N excretion from spot urine sampling in grazing trials.
Input-output effects in the bilingual first language acquisition of English and Polish
Authors: Gaskins Dorota
Published: August 2018

This diary study looks at the acquisition of early words in two bilingual sisters (0;9–2;03.22 and 0;9–1;09.13) exposed to English and Polish from birth. It examines whether their parents’ input recorded on video can explain the proportions of different types of words learnt. Their bias for social words is explained by these words being heard in isolation; that for nouns by competitive proportions of noun types heard in the input. Contrarily, the late acquisition of closed-class items is explained by their high usage rates as part of constructions. Meanwhile, high numbers of early verbs in both children’s Polish are explained by inflected Polish verbs being heard (a) in isolation and (b) at the beginning and end of utterances more frequently than their uninflected English counterparts. These results are discussed within the context of the usage-based theory, with focus on the impact of word types for the acquisition of word groups.
Simultaneous detection of eight species of tree nut in foods using two tetraplex polymerase chain reaction assays
Authors: Ito Mina , Mizota Taisei , Kitaguchi Takashi , Ohno Katsutoshi , Ohba Tetsuro , Tanaka Mitsuru
Published: August 2018

Tree nuts comprise a category of food allergens that must be included in the food labels in several countries. We developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method using eight specific primer pairs to detect eight representative tree nuts (almond, Brazil nut, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia nut, pecan, pistachio, and walnut) under the same experimental conditions. The specificity of the eight primer pairs was confirmed by PCR testing against a variety of plant and animal samples. The detection limit of the method ranged from 1 fg to 1 pg DNA of individual tree nuts. The method detected tree nut DNA in processed and unprocessed food. In addition, the primer pairs could be combined into two sets of tetraplex PCR system. The developed method is specific, sensitive, and efficient, making it useful for detecting trace amounts of eight species of tree nut in foods.
A mild Itô formula for SPDEs
Authors: Da Prato Giuseppe , Jentzen Arnulf , Röckner Michael
Published: August 2018

This article introduces a certain class of stochastic processes, which we suggest calling mild Itô processes, and a new, somehow mild, Itô-type formula for such processes. Examples of mild Itô processes are mild solutions of stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) and their numerical approximation processes. We illustrate the capacity of the mild Itô formula by several applications. In particular, we illustrate how the mild Itô formula can be used to derive improved a priori bounds for SPDEs, we demonstrate how the mild Itô formula can be employed to establish improved Hölder continuity properties for solutions of Kolmogorov partial differential equations (PDEs) in Hilbert spaces, and we illustrate how the mild Itô formula can be used to solve the weak convergence problem for numerical approximations of SPDEs with nonlinear diffusion coefficients.
Associated primes of powers of edge ideals and ear decompositions of graphs
Authors: Lam Ha , Trung Ngo
Published: August 2018

In this paper, we give a complete description of the associated primes of every power of the edge ideal in terms of generalized ear decompositions of the graph. This result establishes a surprising relationship between two seemingly unrelated notions of commutative algebra and combinatorics. It covers all previous major results in this topic and has several interesting consequences.
Vietnamese American Literature
Authors: Janette Michele
Published: August 2018

While the Vietnam War looms large in American national culture of the 20th century, Vietnam, Vietnamese people, and Vietnamese American experiences have been little attended to. Vietnamese American literature engages this erasure both in writing about Vietnamese perspectives on that war and by expanding the signification of “Vietnam” beyond being a synonym for a war. Beginning in the 1960s, Vietnamese American literature in English was dominated for the next few decades by memoirs, largely designed to educate American readers about Vietnamese politics and history. Rather than continuing to offer Vietnam as it appears in much other American literature, as a surreal backdrop to a US psychic wound, these writers narrate Vietnam, Vietnamese people, and Vietnamese Americans with autonomous geographical, philosophical, emotional, and intellectual presence and perspective, and often provide direct analysis and critique of both the South Vietnamese regime and its American ally. In the late 20th and 21st centuries, Vietnamese American literature has diversified in both form and content, expanding the field beyond direct engagement with the Vietnam War and the refugee experience, in work that rewrites canonical Western characters and genres, that challenges normative literary forms as well as social identities, and that explores US racialization, consumerism, and popular culture. In addition to writing Vietnam and Vietnamese American experiences into the national American imaginary landscape, this literature reconfigures the demonized and threatening tropes of the threatening, untrustworthy “gook,” and the passive, dependent “victim” figure, into the socially necessary and beneficial “critical refugee.” Through the experiences of marginalization, trauma, and survival, the critical refugee possesses insights and knowledge necessary for a 21st century of increasing displaced populations, whether from war, famine, or natural disaster. This critical perspective is also more transnational than nationalistic or exilic, exploring both physical and imaginary transnational connections.
Jürgen Habermas and Communication Studies
Authors: Rountree John
Published: August 2018

Jürgen Habermas is a primary figure in the Frankfurt School of critical theory that emerged in Germany after World War II. He wrote several important works addressing a variety of fields, including legal hermeneutics, to liberal political philosophy, to systems theory, and language analysis. Throughout his research, he has lauded intersubjective “communicative action” as a key paradigm for politics, law, and ethics.

Habermas’s theory of communicative action frames human beings as rational arguers. In his view, communication involves discussants disputing “validity claims” to gain mutual understanding and reach consensus. When he applies this communicative action perspective to culture and society, Habermas diagnoses the pathologies that occur when people coordinate their actions strategically through artificial systems rather than cooperatively through dialogue. When he applies it to ethical theory, he draws out the assumptions interlocutors must make when they argue—they are obliged to attempt to justify claims so that they could be universally accepted by those involved in the discourse.

In addition to theorizing communication, Habermas throughout his work analyzes the structures and systems that enable public communication in civil society. From this perspective, democratic society relies on spaces and institutions that allow for the public to debate matters of common concern, particularly when they involve the state. In his historical account, Habermas argues that the “public sphere” transformed during the Enlightenment to give communicative outlets to an emerging bourgeois class. From a legal and philosophical perspective, he outlines conditions for political and communicative agency in a modern constitutional state.

Communication scholars have had a mixed reaction to Habermas. He offers a vision of critical theory that allows for practical reason, but some assert that his theories are too idealistic and counterfactual to apply to real-life discourse. However, other scholars have nuanced his theory by putting him in dialogue with the rhetorical tradition. Publics and counterpublics especially have become common parlance and have helped explain protest, advocacy, and the constitution of communities in democratic culture.
Game Studies
Authors: Chess Shira
Published: August 2018

As a nascent form of screen culture, video games provide a challenging new lens to think about emerging media. Because video games do not abide by traditional narrative structure and because many different kinds of media objects fall under the purview of video games, they provide particular complications for researchers. In turn, within video game studies, which has been a growing field since the early 2000s, researchers often focus on a specific approach to understanding video games: studying the industry, studying audiences, or studying games as texts. Additionally, many researchers have found it useful to consider “assemblage”-type approaches that look holistically at several aspects of a video game object in order to understand the game from a broader context.
Alzheimer’s, Age Panic, Neuroscience: Media Discourses of Dementia and Care
Authors: Kaplan E. Ann , Chivers Sally
Published: August 2018

Age discrimination, long habitual internationally, is now developing into age panic as longevity becomes the norm. People are increasingly living through their 80s and 90s, threatening social systems—not just health care, but also education, transportation, and economics. A by-product of longevity is Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or dementia more broadly, and this the focus of our essay. Five million people in the United States (the greater part women) currently have Alzheimer’s or dementia, and the figure is projected to grow exponentially as the baby boom generation ages. Fear, and other powerful affects, are generated in the aging Eurocentric public through overwhelmingly negative images of dementia. Prominent circulating AD images portray white, middle-class women and men; they are typically cared for by heroic family members, with the occasional, backgrounded appearances of racialized care workers. Such discourses betray a noticeable ageism, together with gendering, racialization, and medicalization of the illness. The reification of neuroscience studies of AD perpetuates understanding of AD subjects as having lost their subjectivity and as a burden to health-care systems. As the politics of care becomes ever more fraught with the increase in numbers of diagnosed elderly people, media discourses take on particular significance. Largely negative, images have obvious implications for long-term care in discourse and in practice. Since improving care depends on how the AD subject is visualized and conceptualized, critical analyses of works dealing with age panic, and especially how it arises in relation to cultural understandings of dementia, are essential. Critiques by humanists and psychologists may contribute to improving care of AD subjects, both in long-term facilities and “in place.” Improved care can contribute to transforming the popular understanding of a dementia crisis, thus addressing the central impetus of age panic. Meanwhile, new films, fiction, memoirs, and graphic arts projects are powerful complements to psychological studies aimed at developing new ways of seeing AD subjects.
The Meaning, Origin, and Consequences of Populist Politics
Authors: Singer Matthew
Published: August 2018

Scholars disagree about whether populism is best understood as a collection of specific policy proposals, a party organization led by a charismatic leader, or political rhetoric that conceptualizes politics as the conflict between a conspiratirial elite and the public will. Valid cross-national indicators of these concepts have been developed but are limited in their scope. The emerging data suggests that populist organizational and rhetorical strategies remain relatively uncommon and vary in their frequency across geographic regions but are used by parties across the ideological spectrum and frequently are winning electoral strategies.

The most commonly explored correlates of populism’s rise are social and economic exclusion, weak political representation, economic and corruption crises, and diffusion across countries. Populists’ embrace of anti-elite sentiment helps explain their electoral appeal among voters who also agree with populist parties’ policy programs. We know much less, however, about the factors that explain how populists maintain their power once they are elected or the consequences of populist rule for democracy.
Motivation in Sport and Performance
Authors: Roberts Glyn C. , Nerstad Christina G. L. , Lemyre P. Nicolas
Published: August 2018

Motivation is the largest single topic in psychology, with at least 32 theories that attempt to explain why people are or are not motivated to achieve. Within sport psychology research, there are a plethora of techniques of how to increase and sustain motivation (strategies to enhance agency beliefs, self-regulation, goal setting, and others). However, when explaining the conceptual undergirding of motivation in sport, the why of motivation, two theories predominate: Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Both theories predict the same outcomes, such as increased achievement striving, sustained behavior change, and perceptions of well-being, but they differ in why those outcomes occur. AGT assumes that individuals cognitively evaluate the competence demands and meaningfulness of the activity, and that those perceptions govern behavior. SDT assumes that individuals are driven by three basic needs, competence, autonomy, and relatedness, and the satisfaction of those needs govern behavior. The following discusses both theories and concludes that each has their strengths and weaknesses.
Metamemory and Cognitive Aging
Authors: Hertzog Christopher , Curley Taylor
Published: August 2018

Metamemory is defined as cognitions about memory and related processes. Related terms in the literature include metacognition, self-evaluation, memory self-efficacy, executive function, self-regulation, cognitive control, and strategic behavior. Metamemory is a multidimensional construct that includes knowledge about how memory works, beliefs about memory (including beliefs about one’s own memory such as memory self-efficacy), monitoring of memory and related processes and products, and metacognitive control, in which adaptive changes in processing approaches and strategies may be contemplated if monitoring of memory processes (encoding, retention, retrieval) indicates that alternative strategies may be required. Older adults generally believe that their memory has declined and that, on average, they have less control over memory and lower memory self-efficacy than young and middle-aged adults. Many but not all aspects of online memory monitoring are well preserved in old age, such as the ability to discriminate between information that has been learned versus not learned. A major exception concerns confidence judgments concerning whether recognition memory decisions are correct; older adults are more prone to high-confidence memory errors, believing they are recognizing something they have not encountered previously. The evidence regarding metacognitive control is more mixed, with some hints that older adults do not use monitoring to adjust control behaviors (e.g., devoting more time and effort to studying items they believe have not yet been well-learned). However, any age deficits in self-regulation based on memory monitoring or adaptive strategy use can probably be addressed through instructions, practice, or training. In general, older adults seem capable of exerting metacognitive control in memory studies, although they may not necessarily do so without explicit support or prompting.
Neuroendocrine Mechanisms of Circadian Rhythms in Diurnal Species
Authors: Yan Lily , Smale Laura , Nunez Antonio A.
Published: August 2018

Circadian rhythms are endogenous daily rhythms evident in behavior and physiology. In mammals, these rhythms are controlled by a hierarchical network of oscillators showing a coherent circadian coordination or coupling. The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) sits on top of the hierarchy and coordinates the phase of oscillators in other brain regions and in peripheral organs, including endocrine glands. The phase of the SCN oscillator, in reference to the daily light-dark cycle, is identical across mammalian species regardless of whether they are most active during the day or night, that is, diurnal or nocturnal. However, the extra-SCN or peripheral oscillators are out of phase and are often reversed by 180° across diurnal and nocturnal mammals. In the endocrine system, with the notable exception of the pattern of pineal melatonin secretion, which features elevated levels at night regardless of the activity profile of the species, most endocrine rhythms show a 180° reversal when diurnal and nocturnal species are compared. There is also evidence of differences between nocturnal and diurnal species with respect to their rhythms in sensitivity or responsiveness to hormonal stimulation. One of the major unanswered questions in the field of comparative endocrinology relates to the mechanism responsible for the differential coupling in diurnal and nocturnal mammals of extra-SCN oscillators and overt circadian rhythms with the SCN oscillator and the light dark cycle. Viable hypotheses include species-specific switches from excitation to inhibition at key nodes between the SCN and its targets, the presence of extra-SCN signals that converge on SCN targets and reverse the outcome of SCN signals, and changes in oscillatory parameters between the oscillator of the SCN and those outside the SCN resulting in an anti-phase coupling among key oscillators.
Life Stories, Criminal Justice, and Caring Research
Authors: Rogers Chrissie
Published: August 2018

In the context of offenders who have learning difficulties, autism, and/or social, emotional, and mental health problems, their families, and professionals who work with them, caring and ethical research processes can be explored via fieldnotes. Conducting life story interviews and recording fieldnotes within qualitative criminological, education, and sociological research have long since been used to document and analyze communities and institutions and the private and public spheres. They richly tell us about specific research contexts, or everyday lives and relationships, that interview transcripts alone perhaps overlook. It is in the process of recording and reflecting upon research relationships that we can see and understand care-full research. But caring and ethical research works in an interdependent and relational way. Therefore, the participant and the researcher are at times vulnerable, and recognition of this is critical in considering meaningful and healthy research practices. However, the acknowledgment of the fact that particular types of research can be messy, chaotic, and emotional is necessary in understanding caring research.
Photographs as Sources in African History
Authors: Gordon Robert , Kurzwelly Jonatan
Published: August 2018

Much has changed since photographs were used simply as apt illustrations and depictions of reality. The field of visual history has now become an important and legitimate area of rigorous enquiry. Photography and photographs as source material for research is now a widespread practice in history, anthropology, sociology and other social sciences and humanities. Both the historical trajectory of this medium in Africa, as well as some important theoretical and methodological issues which Africanists should be aware of, are introduced here. Photography is heavily imbricated in the rise of modernity. Different visual eras are delineated as technology and accessibility of the medium became easier to use and more accessible, moving on a continuum from daguerreotypes featuring mostly portraits and landscapes done by professionals largely for the elite to carte d’visite to postcards and stereoscopic-cards which decline with the introduction of spool photography epitomized by the inimitable Kodak, led to access by the broad middle class. After several innovations featuring 35 mm cameras and slides, digital photography arrived and made the medium even more accessible with smartphones leading the proverbial gaze to be turned into a glaze.

Alongside the historical development of photography, it is necessary to understand the different theoretical and methodological implications in the study and uses of this medium. Photography in itself can be understood through materialist, idealist and social constructivist ontological approaches. Whereas the latter is predominant in history and social sciences, a complementarity of different perspectives should be applied when using and assessing photographs as sources. For purposes of historical research the meaning of a photograph is established largely through contextual information about the image, its making, its different uses, and distribution. It is also important to consider how meaning is established in relation to other photographs or texts (i.e., through intertextuality). Issues include the assessment of images, ways of evaluating their credibility, and the questions scholars might ask in interpreting the meanings of the images, including identifying the provenance of the image, as well as the context in which the image appears. Was it intended for public or only private distribution? Was it in an archive, album, used in a publication, as a postcard and how might it be captioned? What affective meaning might it convey? How might one detect a fake? Besides using archival images, photography might also be used for photo elicitation and other experimental or participatory research methods.
Numerical Data and Statistical Sources
Authors: Gardner Leigh
Published: August 2018

The use of numerical data and statistical sources in African history has expanded in recent decades, facilitated by technological advances and the digitization of primary sources. This expansion has included new analysis of traditional measures (population, government, and trade) as well as new sources of individual-level data such as census returns, marriage registers, and military and police records. Overall, this work has allowed for a more comprehensive quantitative picture of Africa’s history, and in particular facilitated comparisons within Africa and between African countries and other parts of the world. However, there remain misunderstandings about the collection, use, and interpretation of these data. Increasingly sophisticated methods of quantitative analysis can alienate scholars who have an intimate knowledge of the data and how they are produced, but lack specialist methodological training. At the same time, limited understanding of the origins and reliability of quantitative data can lead to misinterpretation.
Egyptian‐Sudanese Trade in the Ottoman Period to 1882
Authors: Walz Terence
Published: August 2018

Egypt’s trade in the Ottoman period with the Sudanic kingdoms to its south waxed and waned according to political conditions at either end of its trade routes. During the 16th and 17th centuries, powerful kingdoms developed in the area of Sinnar (near modern-day Khartoum) and to the west in the area of Darfur. The trade route connecting western Sudan to Egypt, known as the Forty Days Road, was ancient, probably dating to the Pharaonic period, but it experienced a remarkable revival in the 17th century when the Keira sultans of Darfur consolidated their rule in western Sudan and engaged in trade with Egypt in order to obtain luxury goods. In the following two centuries, trade between Egypt, Sinnar, and Darfur flourished, the pattern being that Egyptian, Syrian, and European-made goods were exchanged primarily for Sudanic exports of slaves, ivory, ostrich feathers, and livestock. Sudanese merchants, known as jallaba, came to Egypt and Egyptians settled in the Sudan as a result of these developments. Asyut was the town in Upper Egypt chiefly benefiting from the revival of the caravan trade, but the primary trade destination was Cairo, whence most merchants went.

In 1820, the Egyptians invaded the Sudan and trade between the two countries fell under a different set of rules and regulations. Initially monopolized by the government, items in the trade began to be sold by individual traders, and after 1839, when the Muhammad Ali, ruler of Egypt, was forced to withdraw from lands his army had conquered in Arabia and the Levant, European free enterprise soon became a major economic force in the Nile Valley. For a brief period, between 1845 and 1860, Egyptian middlemen, working closely with jallaba, profited richly from the Sudan trade, the city of Asyut prospered, but eventually they fell victim to European economic domination.
The Economics of Families and Health
Authors: Averett Susan , Kohn Jennifer
Published: August 2018

An individual’s health is produced in large part by family investments that start before birth and continue to the end of life. The health of an individual is intertwined with practically every economic decision including education, marriage, fertility, labor market, and investments. These outcomes in turn affect income and wealth and hence have implications for intergenerational transfer of economic advantage or disadvantage. A rich body of theoretical and empirical work considers the role of the family in health production over the life cycle and the role of health in household economic decisions. This literature starts by considering family inputs regarding health at birth, then moves through adolescence and midlife, where relationship decisions affect health. After midlife, health, particularly the health of family members, becomes an input into retirement and investment decisions. The literature on family and health showcases economists’ skills in modeling complex family dynamics, deriving theoretical predictions, and using clever econometric strategies to identify causal effects.
The Independence of New Spain and the Establishment of the Mexican Republic, 1808–1824
Authors: Rodríguez O. Jaime E.
Published: August 2018

The independence of New Spain was not the result of an anti-colonial struggle. Rather, it was a consequence of a great political revolution that culminated in the dissolution of the Spanish Monarchy, a world-wide political system. The movement was an integral part of the broader process that was transforming antiguo régimen societies into modern liberal nation states. The new country of Mexico that emerged from the break up of the Spanish Monarchy retained many of the shared institutions, traditions, and practices of the past. Although political ideas, structures and practices evolved rapidly after 1808, antiguo régimen social, economic, and institutional relationships changed slowly. Throughout this period of transformation, new political processes and liberal institutions merged with established traditions and practices.

Two broad movements emerged in the Spanish World, a great political revolution that sought to transform the Spanish Monarchy into a modern nation state with the most radical constitution of the 19th century, and a fragmented insurgency that relied on force to secure local autonomy or home rule. These two overlapping processes influenced in a variety of ways. Neither can be understood in isolation.
Nature Conservation and Protection in Mexico
Authors: Wakild Emily
Published: August 2018

Conservation, in broad terms, has been a dynamic and nuanced practice throughout Mexican history. Nature conservation and protection include individual practices such as planting trees to protect watersheds, seasonal hunting bans, land set-asides such as national parks, and the ideas and values that shape these actions. Three broad eras are analyzed to provide a kaleidoscopic view of how some people living in Mexican territory have understood and acted for nature conservation. The first era, stretching from the pre-Columbian through the colonial eras, was characterized by an abundance of nature relative to people using it. The reasons for conservation were infrequent but did emerge, particularly in urban settings. The second era, the administrative era from the 1820s to the 1980s, included early national claims, revolutionary policies, and the reach of global institutions into domestic conservation policy. Nature’s limitations became apparent due to overuse and development which inspired formal responses to limit exploitation. The third era, from 1982 to the present, involves an age of abstraction where conservation has been reimagined for various purposes by a culture increasingly removed from an appreciation of the practical and aesthetic qualities of nature.
José Guadalupe Posada and Visual Culture in Porfirian Mexico
Authors: Buffington Robert M. , Osciel Salazar Jesus
Published: August 2018

José Guadalupe Posada (b. Aguascalientes, February 2, 1852; d. Mexico City, January 20, 1913) was a prolific printmaker of exceptional technique, range, and originality. By the time of his death, his images had become a staple of Mexico City popular culture, appearing regularly in theatrical posters, advertisements, book illustrations, broadsides, and the penny press. Despite his popularity with impresarios, advertisers, publishers, editors, and readers, Posada received scant formal recognition during his lifetime. That changed in the 1920s with his “discovery” by prominent artists and art critics including internationally renowned muralists Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. By the 1940s, exhibitions of his work had begun to appear in major galleries and museums in the United States and Europe, promoted as evidence of a unique visual aesthetic rooted in traditional Mexican culture and committed to exposing the long-standing oppression of the Mexican people at the hands of corrupt politicians, greedy bourgeoisie, cruel caciques (local party bosses), and foreign interlopers. Although scholars have disputed the genealogy and political nature of Posada’s vision, the revolutionary nationalist interpretation of Rivera, Orozco, and others has provided inspiration and a sense of cultural legitimacy for succeeding generations of artists in Mexico and throughout the Mexican diaspora. Posada is best known for his striking calaveras, notably Calavera Catrina, a fashionable female skull with bows and a fancy hat; and La Calavera Oaxaqueña, a machete-wielding male skeleton dressed in a charro outfit. Published in conjunction with the annual celebrations for Day of the Dead (October 31–November 2) and accompanied by satiric verses, Posada’s calaveras poke fun at the pretentions of the living in the face of their inevitable mortality.
The Zoque Carnivals of Northwestern Chiapas, Mexico
Authors: Newell Gillian E.
Published: August 2018

Every year, in the days just prior to Catholic Ash Wednesday, the indigenous Zoque peoples of northwestern Chiapas, Mexico, celebrate “carnival.” In doing so, they affirm their ethnic identity, take pride in a native vision of the cosmos, and retrace their real and fictive modern and ancient family lineages. Zoque carnival is an “encounter,” or meké in Zoque language, which entails more than the word at first glance would imply. Scholars, however, have analyzed carnivals, be they state-promoted or not, as inversions, nationalistic celebrations, or representations of local, regional, and national history. They often argue that carnivals exist primarily to represent, celebrate, or be a logical result of cultural diversity. Why are the native Zoque carnivals of northwestern Chiapas different? What are these Zoque carnivals? What do they represent to the Zoque people themselves and to non-Zoque people? Why are carnival studies from an “encountering” ethnographic standpoint interesting avenues to develop and pursue?
Travel and Transport in Mexico
Authors: Freeman J. Brian , Guajardo Soto Guillermo
Published: August 2018

In his 1950 study, Mexico: The Struggle for Peace and Bread, historian Frank Tannenbaum remarked that “physical geography could not have been better designed to isolate Mexico from the world and Mexicans from one another.” He recognized, like others before him, that the difficulty of travel by foot, water, or wheel across the country’s troublesome landscape was an unavoidable element of its history. Its distinctive topography of endless mountains but few navigable rivers had functioned, in some sense, as a historical actor in the larger story of Mexico. In the mid-19th century, Lucas Alamán had recognized as much when he lamented that nature had denied the country “all means of interior communication,” while three centuries before that, conquistador Hernán Cortés reportedly apprised Emperor Charles V of the geography of his new dominion by presenting him with a crumpled piece of paper. Over the last half-millennium, however, technological innovation, use, and adaptation radically altered how humans moved in and through the Mexican landscape. New modes of movement—from railway travel to human flight—were incorporated into a mosaic of older practices of mobility. Along the way, these material transformations were entangled with changing economic, political, and cultural ideas that left their own imprint on the history of travel and transportation.
CAFOs: Farm Animals and Industrialized Livestock Production
Authors: MacDonald James M.
Published: August 2018

Industrialized livestock production can be characterized by five key attributes: confinement feeding of animals, separation of feed and livestock production, specialization, large size, and close vertical linkages with buyers. Industrialized livestock operations—popularly known as CAFOs, for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations—have spread rapidly in developed and developing countries; by the early 21st century, they accounted for three quarters of poultry production and over half of global pork production, and held a growing foothold in dairy production.

Industrialized systems have created significant improvements in agricultural productivity, leading to greater output of meat and dairy products for given commitments of land, feed, labor, housing, and equipment. They have also been effective at developing, applying, and disseminating research leading to persistent improvements in animal genetics, breeding, feed formulations, and biosecurity. The reduced prices associated with productivity improvements support increased meat and dairy product consumption in low and middle income countries, while reducing the resources used for such consumption in higher income countries.

The high-stocking densities associated with confined feeding also exacerbate several social costs associated with livestock production. Animals in high-density environments may be exposed to diseases, subject to attacks from other animals, and unable to engage in natural behaviors, raising concerns about higher levels of fear, pain, stress, and boredom. Such animal welfare concerns have realized greater salience in recent years.

By consolidating large numbers of animals in a location, industrial systems also concentrate animal wastes, often in levels that exceed the capacity of local cropland to absorb the nutrients in manure. While the productivity improvements associated with industrial systems reduce the resource demands of agriculture, excessive localized concentrations of manure can lean to environmental damage through contamination of ground and surface water and through volatilization of nitrogen nutrients into airborne pollutants.

Finally, animals in industrialized systems are often provided with antibiotics in their feed or water, in order to treat and prevent disease, but also to realize improved feed absorption (“a production purpose”). Bacteria are developing resistance to many important antibiotic drugs; the extensive use of such drugs in human and animal medicine has contributed to the spread of antibiotic resistance, with consequent health risks to humans.

The social costs associated with industrialized production have led to a range of regulatory interventions, primarily in North America and Europe, as well as private sector attempts to alter the incentives that producers face through the development of labels and through associated adjustments within supply chains.
Gender Differences in Spousal Caregivers’ Care and Housework: Fact or Fiction?
Authors: Langner Laura A , Furstenberg Frank F
Published: August 2018

Objective

Many studies reveal a gender gap in spousal care during late life. However, this gap could be an artifact of methodological limitations (small and unrepresentative cross-sectional samples). Using a data set that overcomes these limitations, we re-examine the question of gender differences in spousal care and housework adjustment when a serious illness occurs.

Method

We use biannual waves between 2001 and 2015 of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study and growth curve analyses. We follow couples longitudinally (identified in the household questionnaire) to analyze shifts in spousal care hours and housework plus errand hours that occur as a response to the spousal care need. We test for interactions with levels of care need and with gender.

Results

We found that men increase their care hours as much as women do, resulting in similar care hours. They also increase their housework and errand hours more than women do. Yet at lower levels of spousal care need, women still do more housework and errands because they spent more time doing housework before the illness.

Discussion

Even in a context of children’s decreasing availability to care for parents, male spouses assume the required caregiving role in systems relying on a mixture of public and private care.
4. Starting out at law school
Authors: Moore Imogen , Newbery-Jones Craig
Published: August 2018

Starting legal studies is an exciting time. However, the student might also feel a bit apprehensive about commencing a new and challenging programme of study, joining a new institution, approaching new ways of working, facing new expectations, and meeting new people. Whether they are moving away from home for the first time, changing degree courses or changing their career, some nerves and concerns are completely natural. This chapter looks at both the transition to university and an introduction to the law school itself. It explores some of the different challenges that may be faced and provides strategies to meet those challenges. It also explains a bit more about the law school and the early days to help the student to settle in as quickly as possible.
6. Studying law: Developing (Legal) Skills
Authors: Moore Imogen , Newbery-Jones Craig
Published: August 2018

This chapter discusses the general skills for employment that the student will develop while studying law. It will also focus on some of the more specific ‘legal’ skills they will acquire. General skills are true transferable skills. This means that they are applicable in most, if not all, spheres of employment. These include collaboration/teamwork, problem solving, researching (hardcopy and digital) and referencing, decision making, time management, project management; and oral, written and digital communication. Subject-specific skills are the employability skills that are relevant to specific types of employment or academic subjects. These include advocacy, negotiation skills, client interviewing, letter writing, and legal research.
8. Learning in law—Reading, Research and More
Authors: Moore Imogen , Newbery-Jones Craig
Published: August 2018

While a good part of legal education will take place in classrooms and lecture theatres, successful learning in law also relies to a great extent on individual, autonomous study: reading, research, thinking, and reflecting. Learning law is about much more than what and how law is taught. This chapter looks at the crucial role of the student in the learning process, and how they may be able to enhance their learning in law by understanding learning strengths and working with them. It also focuses on effective reading, research, note making, and reflection — how to make best use of time and the materials available.
9. Teaching in Law—Seminars, Lectures and More
Authors: Moore Imogen , Newbery-Jones Craig
Published: August 2018

Every law programme will make use of a range of different teaching opportunities, with differing aims and approaches — all designed to help the student to learn. This chapter looks at the different classes the student may come across during their legal studies, particularly lectures, tutorials, and seminars, and how to get the best out of them. Although many law schools take a largely traditional approach to teaching and learning, they may come across different approaches, such as problem-based learning, peer learning, or clinical legal education. These may be found within individual modules or across the whole curriculum, and embedded in the teaching structure or just used to enhance a more traditional approach.
12. Completing assignments: Assessment specific skills
Authors: Moore Imogen , Newbery-Jones Craig
Published: August 2018

To successfully complete specific assessments, the student will need to know what is expected of them, and develop the skills to deal with it. Depending on where they are studying law and the optional subjects they choose, they may come across many different forms of assessment, or only a very narrow range. This chapter looks at some of the different forms of assessment that they may come across, and gives tips on how they can approach them to enhance chances of success. These include exams, essays, problem questions, multiple choice tests; advocacy, oral presentations, and video submissions; and reflective reports. The chapter also considers group work for assessment.
16. Study abroad
Authors: Moore Imogen , Newbery-Jones Craig
Published: August 2018

Most universities will offer the opportunity to spend some time studying abroad during the course of a law programme. Spending time studying abroad can be an inspiring and valuable experience. It can enhance the study skills, social skills, and employability, as well as offering the chance to experience a new place and culture and just do something a little bit different. But studying abroad also brings challenges. This chapter looks at different ways in which the student can experience study abroad, and the benefits that commonly accrue from the experience. It also considers some of the downsides to help the student to weigh up their options properly, and to ensure that they are fully prepared for both their time abroad, and their return home.
17. Expanding legal skills—mooting, negotiation and more
Authors: Moore Imogen , Newbery-Jones Craig
Published: August 2018

A law degree can provide the student with opportunities to put their knowledge of law and your legal skills into practice, and further develop skills that are key to legal practice. This is important if they want to pursue a career as a lawyer of course, but is of much wider value in developing specific skills to enhance employability more generally. This chapter explores the important legal skills-related extracurricular activities that are commonly available, considering the value of these programmes to the successful law student. It explains how these activities can further develop skills such as analysis and critical thinking, while also developing transferable skills such as professionalism, teamwork, presentation, and timeliness.
18. Volunteering, paid work and other extra-curricular opportunities
Authors: Moore Imogen , Newbery-Jones Craig
Published: August 2018

Studying law — attending classes, reading, writing essays — is obviously an essential factor in becoming a successful law student. However, ‘just’ studying law, in the sense of completing the strict requirements of the law programme, is rarely enough for success in the longer term. The extra factor, and what makes the experience as a law student so much more valuable, is extra-curricular activity — the things the student can do even though there is no obligation to do them for the purposes of the course. This chapter considers extra-curricular opportunities, ranging from very law-focused activity such as working at a law clinic, to things not obviously connected with the law such as volunteering in the local community, paid work in the student union or bar, or involvement in sports or music.
21. A successful future
Authors: Moore Imogen , Newbery-Jones Craig
Published: August 2018

This final chapter looks forward to a successful future beyond law school. It starts by considering what may, but need not, be the last contact with the institution, and then thinks about ways in which the student can use the legal skills and personal attributes that they have developed during their studies in the future. It ends by briefly revisiting the notion of success, to see what that might mean as the student moves on to a successful future. It argues that whether or not the student achieves ‘success’ depends on how it is defined. Whether plans are ambitious or modest, couched in absolute terms, or in terms of effort, it is highly unlikely that future plans will all run smoothly. Perhaps the most valuable skill of the successful law student is resilience. They will need to be able to process disappointment or unexpected developments, and move on.
8. General tips on legal writing
Authors: Strong S I
Published: August 2018

This chapter offers tips on legal writing, not only describing why it is important to have a good writing style, why it is necessary to learn the rules of grammar and why every law student should work to develop a good writing style but also providing a series of succinct and practical tips on what constitutes good legal writing. The discussion also provides a brief description of the basic rules of legal citation sufficient for most student purposes. The chapter concludes with a series of self-tests and exercises to help the student overcome any problem areas. Writing tips are provided throughout the chapter.