bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Wintertime Meteorological Influence on Coarse and Fine Particulate Matter at Mesra, Ranchi – Jharkhand India
Authors: Dhandapani Abisheg , Iqbal Jawed , Naresh Kumar R
Published: June 2024

The present study primarily focuses on comprehending the meteorological influence on Particulate Matter (PM) of different sizes, PM10, PM2.5, and PM1.0, at a regional site of carbonaceous aerosol emissions, source Apportionment, and climate impacts (COALESCE) network site in Mesra, Ranchi. PM10 mean concentration was 120.53 μg m−3, and PM2.5 was 98.36 μg m−3, exceeding the daily limit of 100 μg m−3 and 60 μg m−3 prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It is the first report of PM1.0 mean concentration (44.66 μg m−3) for this region. Meteorological parameters such as dry relative humidity (Mean = 71.30%), lower temperatures (Mean = 15.92°C), and lower planet boundary layer during winter enhance the particle phase partitioning. In addition, the wind was predominantly from the Southwest (SW) direction, where brick kiln manufacturing is located, carrying particles to the site. PM10 and PM1 had a strong correlation (r2 = 0.92), suggesting that the particles that form in the coagulation mode (PM1) come mainly from the combustible sources and the coarse mode PM10 largely comes from the non-combustible sources might have a possible chemical relationship. However, a detailed source apportionment study can suggest the potential sources and causes for the elevated concentration.
An Overview of Treatment Approaches for Handling of Common Effluent Treatment Plant’s Sludge
Authors: Kumari Sapna , Ahmad Kafeel , Khan Zahid A.
Published: June 2024

The common effluent treatment plant (CETP) receives untreated effluent generated from different types of industries for their treatment. During treatment, the sludge is separated in a clarifier and sent for consolidation in a dewatering unit (filter press, centrifuge, or sludge drying beds). This consolidated sludge contains organic/inorganic compounds, heavy metals, and other toxic or hazardous materials. The direct disposal of untreated sludge may cause contamination of soil, groundwater and may also adversely affect the environment. Therefore, there is an urgent need to handle this contaminated sludge to avoid its harmful impacts on soil, groundwater, and the environment. The present study reviews various sludge handling approaches used in CETPs, their advantages, applications, limitations, effectiveness, cost efficiency, and environmental impacts associated with them. It includes mechanical (consolidation or dewatering processes), various thermal (incineration, thermal plasma gasification, pyrolysis), and biological treatment (composting, vermicomposting, and anaerobic digestion) processes of sludge treatment/handling. The results shows that the CETP’s toxic sludge can be well treated by the thermal plasma gasification technique because this technique has many advantages, such as fewer emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), producing syngas (electricity generation), minimising ash generation, cost effective, etc., as compared to other techniques. The concluding remarks of the present study state that the suitability of the sludge handling approach depends on the characteristics and composition of the consolidated sludge.
Overview of treatment methods of tannery wastewater
Authors: Husain Atif , Ansari Mohd Asif , Khan Afzal Husain , Shadan Mohd , Baig M.Wasi
Published: June 2024

Poor waste management, particularly the wastewater from tanning procedures, has led to significant environmental issues and eventually harmed human health. Most tanneries still use traditional production techniques and release toxic heavy metals into the sewage system without properly treating it. In this regard, chromium (Cr) present in the effluent from tanneries is one of the toxins that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. This review paper summarized the research conducted on tannery effluent treatments by briefly covering the techniques for treating Cr metal and its removal efficiency. Further, future aspects and proposals have also discussed. Researchers have used various treatment methods such as activated sludge, chemical precipitation, coagulation, coagulation-aided sedimentation, membrane filtration and AOP (Advanced oxidation process). A review of the literature showed that the level of hazardous Cr has been significantly reduced to low amounts by using several physico-chemical treatment methods. This review paper will be helpful to practising engineers in the selection of proper methods for treating tannery effluent and researchers in conducting their future studies.
Modelling Of Seawater Intrusion In Munroe Island, Kollam District, Kerala, India
Authors: Ansari Aakhila , Meera V , Vinod P
Published: June 2024

Munroe Island is an island situated at the meeting point of Ashtamudi Lake and the Kallada River in Kerala’s Kollam district. It has been confronted with a substantial issue of salinity intrusion, which has been adversely impacting the groundwater’s quality on the island. To combat these, it is necessary to develop a groundwater management model. The present study aims the modelling of seawater intrusion using FEFLOW. The main objectives of this study are to develop a numerical model using FEFLOW for groundwater flow and contaminant transport, as well as to identify the affected areas and the extent of seawater intrusion. From 2015 to 2021, the ingress of saline water into the island was assessed, and a forecasted simulation of seawater intrusion was conducted for normal conditions and due to 1% increase in pumping conditions until the year 2050. The study revealed that Edachal South is the area most susceptible to seawater intrusion. In normal conditions, the extent of saline water intrusion is around 1.123 km, and under increased pumping scenarios, it is expected to rise by 3.3%. The study’s findings highlight that a significant portion of Munroe Island will be at risk of seawater intrusion by the end of 2050.
Low Impact Development-An effective tool towards urban flood resilience
Authors: Ambily P , Reddy B Sandeep Kumar , Ganesh D Chohan , Swaroop T Sai , Chithra N R
Published: June 2024

The uncertainties created by climate change and the pressure of urbanisation create unparalleled challenges to urban disaster management. Conventional solutions to urban infrastructure management are no longer sufficient to combat emerging challenges. Among all the disasters, floods require special attention because of the destruction it is causing to the economy and their frequency of occurrence. Managing urban pluvial floods is causing a real challenge due to the uncertainties about the source and direction of flow and the insufficiency of grey infrastructure. Low Impact Development (LID) technologies are recognised by many researchers as an effective method to support the existing grey infrastructure. In this paper, the authors analyse and understand the effectiveness of LID techniques in creating urban flood resilience. A frequently flooded region in the south-Indian, coastal city of Kochi is selected as the study region. The results indicate that, among the three experimented options of porous pavements, bio-retention cells and rain barrels, permeable pavements created the highest reduction in the run-off if used in isolation. However, a combination of various technologies is found to be more efficient than localised attempts in a micro-scale. The study also found that the efficacy of LID technologies depends on the local characteristics, including topography, soil type and spatial availability. The research can be further carried out using more LID technologies and linking it with the existing drainage network.
District-wise rainfall trend analysis by using non-parametric approach: A case of the State of Haryana, India
Authors: Panwar Manoj , Rathee Chetna , Kaur Harsimran
Published: June 2024

The current water usage in different sectors and climate change have created pressure on the universal availability of essential resources for life. Rainfall is an integral part of the entire water cycle. Planning for sustainable water management requires proper forecasting of Rainfall, which further involves trend analysis. Mann-Kendall analysis and Sen Slope estimation are established non-parametric tests for trend forecasting in hydrological data. The present research analysed the monthly and annual rainfall data of all districts of the state of Haryana for 1991-2019 using Mann Kendall and Sen Slope techniques at 95%, 90% and 80% significance level. The results show that overall rainfall in Haryana has a decreasing trend. The decreasing trend is more prominent for February, June, July and August. August has the highest number of districts, showing a negative direction. Only a few sections show an increasing trend at a low significance level. The researchers suggest implementing stringent and integrated sustainable water management policies in the state of Haryana for water security in future in light of climate change.
Behaviour of steel-fiber reinforced concrete at elevated temperatures
Authors: Golani Divyansh , Mohanty Sanjiv , Yadav Niranjan
Published: June 2024

The construction sector offers a wide variety of fibers that have the potential to enhance the properties of concrete, including its strength, durability, and visual appeal. This study focuses on investigating the effects of temperature on Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) and aims to present the findings of an experimental analysis. The experiment involved subjecting samples of both SFRC and regular concrete to various temperatures, ranging from room temperature to 100, 300, and 600°C. The objective was to analyse and compare the characteristics of these concretes under different temperature conditions. The SFRC utilized in the experiment consisted of hooked-end steel fibers, which were 30mm in length and 0.60mm in diameter. Both types of concrete underwent a series of tests to determine their compression, split tensile, and flexural strength. The obtained results were meticulously examined and evaluated to draw meaningful conclusions. The findings of our study revealed that the SFRC concrete not only exhibited improved strength but also demonstrated a commendable level of ductility. Additionally, this paper explores the comparison of crack patterns between the two types of concrete and discusses how these crack patterns contribute to enhancing the reliability of SFRC concrete. The experiments outcomes shed light on the potential benefits of using SFRC in construction applications, particularly in scenarios involving varying temperatures. By incorporating steel fibers, concrete can be fortified to withstand temperature fluctuations and maintain its structural integrity. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge in the field of construction materials and provides valuable insights for engineers and practitioners seeking to optimize the performance of concrete structures.
Grey Earned Duration Management
Authors: Kapuganti Chitti Babu , Balaji K.V.G.D , Kumar T. Santhosh , Mogili Sudhakar
Published: June 2024

Project management is the process of planning, organising, leading, monitoring, controlling, and closing a project. Earned Value Management (EVM) is the conventional method for monitoring and controlling construction projects. Schedule monitoring with EVM has a lower impact since it measures in budgetary terms. Earned Duration Method (EDM) was presented, which decouples schedule and cost aspects. The parameters in EDM monitors the health of the project schedule and gives the estimated completion date. EDM results are indeterministic, so the estimators require expertise in order to comprehend them. For this purpose, the present study proposes a new methodology entitled “Grey Earned Duration Management (GEDM)” by associating EDM and grey theory. From GEDM, estimators can get a clear idea about the degree of control measures to consider based on the project progress at a particular point in time. GEDM can precisely forecast the upper bound and lower bound of the estimated duration at completion for every tracking point. GEDM significantly enhances the results of EDM by providing a range of the estimated parameter. This paper also presents a case study to distinguish EDM and GEDM.
Synthesis of ZnO-TiO2-WO3 tertiary heterojunction for improved photocatalytic degradation of dyes using visible light
Authors: Thuy Pham Thi , Hue Bui Thi Cam , Sang Nguyen Xuan , Lieu Long Phuoc , Thanh Thuy Le Thi
Published: June 2024

A ZnO-TiO2-WO3 tertiary heterojunction was synthesized using the facile sol gel and calcination methods from Zn (II), Ti (IV) and W (VI) precursors. The ZnO-TiO2-WO3 material exhibits remarkable photocatalytic performance, settling the obstacles of the pristine ZnO, TiO2, and WO3 materials. The results indicate that the composite material possesses a nanoparticle morphology alongside individual component phases. Inclusion of WO3 expands the absorption range of the composite material towards the visible region and reduces the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs compared to single-phase ZnO and TiO2, where ZnO doping reduces the conduction band potential, while WO3 enhances the valence band potential, helping to convert H2O and OH into free radicals. Photocatalytic activity reveals a 92% degradation of methylene blue (20 mg/L) after 120 minutes of illumination, increased by 2 to 3 times compared to single-phase materials. An optimal Zn:Ti:W molar ratio of 6.4:5.5:1.0 was identified, which improves the hold of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Furthermore, the ZnO-TiO2-WO3 material also demonstrates robustness over four usage cycles, maitaining methylene blue degradation above 84% in visible light. These findings indicate that the ZnO-TiO2-WO3 tertiary heterojunction has been shown to be highly effective in the degradation of dye in wastewater, offering a promising approach to environmental remediation.
Study of three-dimensional spatial diffuse discharge in contact electrode structure applied to air purification
Authors: XU 徐 Shuai 帅 , LIU 刘 Wenzheng 文正 , QIN 秦 Jiaying 嘉莹 , SUN 孙 Yiwei 艺娓 , JIANG 姜 Xitao 希涛 , QI 祁 Qi 琪
Published: June 2024

In this work, based on the role of pre-ionization of the non-uniform electric field and its effect of reducing the collisional ionization coefficient, a diffuse dielectric barrier discharge plasma is formed in the open space outside the electrode structure at a lower voltage by constructing a three-dimensional non-uniform spatial electric field using a contact electrode structure. The air purification study is also carried out. Firstly, a contact electrode structure is constructed using a three-dimensional wire electrode. The distribution characteristics of the spatial electric field formed by this electrode structure are analyzed, and the effects of the non-uniform electric field and the different angles of the vertical wire on the generation of three-dimensional spatial diffuse discharge are investigated. Secondly, the copper foam contact electrode structure is constructed using copper foam material, and the effects of different mesh sizes on the electric field distribution are analyzed. The results show that as the mesh size of the copper foam becomes larger, a strong electric field region exists not only on the surface of the insulating layer, but also on the surface of the vertical wires inside the copper foam, i.e., the strong electric field region shows a three-dimensional distribution. Besides, as the mesh size increases, the area of the vertical strong electric field also increases. However, the electric field strength on the surface of the insulating layer gradually decreases. Therefore, the appropriate mesh size can effectively increase the discharge area, which is conducive to improving the air purification efficiency. Finally, a highly permeable stacked electrode structure of multilayer wire-copper foam is designed. In combination with an ozone treatment catalyst, an air purification device is fabricated, and the air purification experiment is carried out.
Political trust and public support for climate policy in Europe: the role of perceptions about politicians’ competence and integrity
Authors: Kulin Joakim , Johansson Sevä Ingemar , Fairbrother Malcolm
Published: June 2024

While previous studies on the relationship between political trust and support for climate policy have focused on the evaluative component of trust, namely whether politicians and the political system can be trusted or not, less is known about the role of different dimensions of trustworthiness that underlie such evaluations. In this study, we examine how perceptions about politicians’ competence and integrity, two central dimensions of trustworthiness, are related to public support for climate policies. Using survey data from four European countries (Sweden, Germany, Spain, and Poland), we find that people who think that politicians are competent are generally more likely to support climate policy. In contrast, we do not find such a relationship between integrity perceptions (e.g., corruption) and policy attitudes. These findings are consistent across national contexts and hold even when alternating the measures capturing competence and integrity perceptions. To bolster public support for climate policies, climate communication should prioritize addressing public concerns regarding politicians’ competence in designing sound climate policies, rather than alleviating concerns about their integrity, such as fears of corruption.
Net zero emission and sustainable development in electricity: emerging Asia’s Bangladesh context in global perspective
Authors: Ghosh Bablu K , Ahmed Sajib , Datta Ujjwal , Mekhilef Saad
Published: June 2024

Electricity plays a crucial role in the energy sector. Its production often leads to substantial CO2 emissions, contributing much to climate change. This issue is principally crucial in rapidly developing Asian economies where surging energy demands involve huge emission concerns. This study focuses on the assessment of net-zero emission (NZE) scenarios for electricity in emerging Asia. Following the guidelines of the International Energy Agency, the imperative of sustainable energy and environmental practices extends beyond developed economies to include developing ones. To mitigate emissions, innovative strategies to curtail non-renewable energy (RE) sources are essential. By exploring the dynamics of primary energy flow, and electricity-related emissions, this research emphasizes the significance of integrating substantial RE proportions within diverse setups. A theoretical framework is proposed by employing thermodynamic models that link energy mix configurations to environmental outcomes. Given the considerable population in developing Asian nations, a delicate equilibrium between energy demands and environmental stewardship is imperative, aligning with sustainable development goals. The study establishes the correlations between thermodynamic models and energy scenario variations, particularly within the context of the Global Energy and Climate model and NZE policy framework under universal energy access protocols. Hereafter, this paper examines Bangladesh’s energy management trajectory, focusing on its status as the most climate-vulnerable region in developing Asia and the world. Finally, a suitable energy management pathway for Bangladesh to contribute insights into the alignment of energy policies with environmental and development goals has been proposed to achieve sustainable energy futures.
Modeling natural resources exploitation in low-information environments
Authors: Muñoz-Álvarez Silvia , Gracia-Lázaro Carlos , Moreno Yamir
Published: June 2024

The sustainable exploitation of natural resources constitutes a real-world problem of interest for many fields. In this work, we study those situations in which the exploiting agents have information about the state of the resource and their own benefits and costs but not about the behavior or performance of the rest of the agents. Cognitive Hierarchy Theory provides a framework for those low-information scenarios by focusing on the assumptions that agents make about other individuals’ behavior. Motivated by this theory, we introduce a theoretical agent-based model in which agents exhibit varying degrees of rationalization when exploiting the resource, and this resource’s evolution is driven by a differential equation that mirrors the dynamics of real-world resource growth. Our results show that, although most regimes imply depletion, higher benefits and sustainability are obtained when agents assume overexploitation by the rest and try to compensate for it. Furthermore, many exploiting agents and a long-term perspective also involve a better resource state, reaching the optimal exploitation level when all these factors come together.
Did Anglophone Philosophers Design ‘the Enlightenment’?
Authors: Clark J C D
Published: June 2024

If English discourse was as explored in Chapter 3, how was it then employed by English, or Scots, philosophers? Chapter 4 retrieves the work of the earlier English historian of philosophy, Thomas Stanley, and finds there no parallels with later secularism. It offers longer analyses of the works of John Locke and David Hume. In Locke it finds no workable secular defence of human rights theory; in Hume it discerns only unsuccessful attempts to establish a ‘science of man’. In the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft it identifies her Anglican heritage, one that created an immediate rapport with Samuel Johnson; in William Godwin’s work, despite its brief fame, it finds no philosophy able to achieve his pacific withering away of the state. Whatever the sympathies of the elite with the philosophers responsive to the French Revolution, it finds a successful reply in what has been called the ‘anti-Jacobin novel’.
Was British Empiricism the Framework of Common Sense?
Authors: Clark J C D
Published: June 2024

The idea that British philosophy in the eighteenth century was dominated by an empiricism that originated with Locke came later to reinforce the notion that the Enlightenment represented the ‘common sense’ of the ‘common man’, and hence had the authority of practice; a misreading of Locke’s Essay Concerning Humane Understanding seemed to give this model the added authority of principle. Chapter 7 shows that ‘empiricism’, meaning a branch of epistemology, was of much later application to philosophy, and that it did not emerge fully fledged until the early twentieth century. In the eighteenth century the term ‘empiricism’ was in widespread use, but as an insult.
The Spectre of State Capitalism
Authors: Alami Ilias , Dixon Adam D
Published: June 2024

The state is back, and it means business. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, state-owned enterprises, sovereign funds, and policy banks have vastly expanded their control over assets and markets. Concurrently, governments have experimented with increasingly assertive modalities of statism, from techno-industrial policies and spatial development strategies to economic nationalism and trade and investment restrictions. This book argues that we are currently witnessing a historic arc in the trajectories of state intervention, characterized by a drastic reconfiguration of the state’s role as promoter, supervisor, shareholder-investor, and direct owner of capital across the world economy. It offers a comprehensive analysis of this ‘new state capitalism’, as commentators increasingly refer to it. It maps out its key empirical manifestations across a range of geographies, cases, and issue areas. The book shows that the new state capitalism is rooted in deep geopolitical economic and financial processes pertaining to the secular development of global capitalism, as much as it is the product of the geoeconomic agency of states and the global corporate strategies of leading firms. The book demonstrates that the proliferation of muscular modalities of statist interventionism and the increasing concentration of capital in the hands of states indicate foundational shifts in global capitalism. This includes a growing fusion of private and state capital and the development of flexible and liquid forms of property that collapse the distinction between state and private ownership, control, and management. This has fundamental implications for the nature and operations of global capitalism and world politics.
Theories, Tensions, Controversies
Authors: Alami Ilias , Dixon Adam D
Published: June 2024

The chapter critically reviews the theories, tensions, and controversies surrounding the study of state capitalism. To the students, researchers, and practitioners who are new to the field, this chapter will provide a useful overview and introduction of recent scholarship and debates on the new state capitalism. How has the ‘new’ state capitalism been theorized and explained? In exploring this question, the chapter synthesizes key arguments and identifies surprising silences and omissions, in four bodies of literature: strategic management, comparative capitalism, development studies, and global political economy. It notes difficulties in theorizing how state capitalism differs from other forms of capitalism, as well as problematic geographical assumptions concerning the nature and scale of state capitalism. Explanations tend to focus on the rise of a nationally scaled and relatively coherent variant of capitalism. These assumptions about the spatialities of the new state capitalism restrict readings of its rise and significance. Importantly, they leave little appreciation for the various forms of interconnections, inter-referentiality, and combination that may exist between the new repertoires of state intervention across the territorial borders of nation-states. They also preclude a reflection on the historic development and self-transformation of global capitalism, such as planetary mutations in the spheres of production, circulation, and distribution of value. This points to the need for an explicitly geographical approach, one that allows probing into the multiple spatialities (beyond nation-state centric territoriality) and temporalities (beyond that of catch-up development and crises) at the core of contemporary state capitalism.
The Problématique of State Capitalism
Authors: Alami Ilias , Dixon Adam D
Published: June 2024

This chapter focuses on theoretical reconstruction and conceptual development. It argues that unleashing the generative potential of state capitalism as a lens for analysis requires three conceptual moves. First, it requires rethinking how we conceive of state capitalism as a representational category. The chapter makes the case not to use state capitalism as a static analytical construct, but as a set of critical interrogations concerning the changing role of the state. Conceiving state capitalism as a research puzzle rather than a turnkey category ready to be deployed in empirical research can help us address the series of theoretical, political, and geographical conundrums raised by the present upward trajectory in the repertoires of state intervention. Second, unleashing the productive potential of state capitalism requires that we firmly locate it within a set of logical relations with other fundamental political economic categories, such as the capitalist state and capital accumulation. Instead of juxtaposing state capitalism to other varieties of capitalism (presumed to be more conventional), we must clearly articulate how the category relates to the capitalist state. For this, a solid grounding in materialist state theory is crucial. Third, bolstering the analytical purchase of the category state capitalism demands a keener attention to questions of space and time. To do so, the chapter brings state capitalism into conversation, epistemologically and methodologically, with the notion of uneven and combined development, thereby enabling a major conceptual and programmatic reorientation of the field. The chapter calls this ‘uneven and combined state capitalism’.
Expropriation of Capitalist by State Capitalist
Authors: Alami Ilias , Dixon Adam D
Published: June 2024

This chapter zooms in on the paradigmatic organizational forms of the new state capitalism: state enterprises, sovereign funds, and other state-capital hybrids. How can we explain their global rise and organizational transformation into increasingly sophisticated and globally competitive forms? Why do they increasingly emulate the practices and organizational goals of comparable private-sector entities, adopt the techniques of modern finance, resort to mixed-ownership, and extend their operations across geographic space? After critically engaging with arguments which emphasize the role of firm strategies, developmentalist logics, financialized norms, and Polanyian double movements, the chapter develops an explanatory model of organizational change grounded in historical-geographical materialism and economic geographies of the firm. The expansion of state ownership (the role of states as owners) created the conditions for a massive round of centralization of capital as state property (the mass of capital controlled by states) since the early 2000s. This historically unprecedented phenomenon is arguably the elephant in the room of state capitalism studies. The modern, marketized, globally spread state-capital hybrid emerged as an ‘organizational fix’ to mediate the geographical contradictions and imperatives associated with this process: in order to be able to invest across geographies and sectors, acquire target firms across borders, develop portfolio diversification strategies, and manage global operations, state-capital hybrids developed new skills and competencies, reconfigured their internal structures and relations with other firms and financial actors, and developed more flexible and liquid forms of property in order to expand control across the planetary circuits of capital without full ownership.
The Rhetorical Weaponization of the New State Capitalism
Authors: Alami Ilias , Dixon Adam D
Published: June 2024

Drawing upon critical geopolitics, this chapter explores the importance of geopolitical discourse, and in particular the rhetorical weaponization of the new state capitalism in academic, policy-making, and popular analyses. The chapter contends that, on the one hand, the emerging new spatiality of the global economy, and on the other, the parallel development of new geopolitical rivalries manifesting most notably around China and the United States, but also the uneasy position of the EU in this new geopolitical environment, have prompted the need for new discursive frames and geopolitical lines of reasoning. The category state capitalism operates as a form of geopolitical knowledge in this new global context. It projects meaning and identity across space by reinstituting a simple narrative of competition between two easily identifiable protagonists—(Western) democratic free-market capitalism and its deviant ‘other’, (Eastern) authoritarian state capitalism—and by reactivating older geopolitical grand narratives, such as the Cold War. This imaginary is saturated with notions of hostility, competition, but also deviance and abnormality, which portray non-West political economies as a threat to global security. The chapter then traces out some of the effects that are produced by the mobilization of these discourses in two policy areas, where the category state capitalism is rapidly entering the main political lexicon, thereby discursively enabling Western business and state actors to politically justify tougher policy stances vis-à-vis what they refer to as ‘rogue’ state capitalist countries and firms: (1) diplomacy and foreign policy; and (2) trade, technology, competition regulation, and investment screening.
Annihilation and dislocation
Authors: Echevarria II Antulio J.
Published: June 2024

Annihilation and dislocation represent the “ideal outcome” in military strategy: a swift victory with as few casualties and economic costs as possible. Annihilation seeks to reduce an adversary’s physical capacity to fight, usually in a single battle or “lightning” campaign, such as Hannibal’s victory against the Romans in Cannae (216 bce). Dislocation endeavors to reduce an opponent’s willingness to fight by causing confusion or disorientation through unexpected maneuvers or the use of surprise, such as Hitler’s blitzkrieg conquests in the Second World War. Annihilation and dislocation strategies can be considered high risk, high reward. They both require military forces trained well enough, and led effectively enough, to execute complex maneuvers.
Winning without fighting: information and cyber power
Authors: Echevarria II Antulio J.
Published: June 2024

“Winning without fighting: information and cyber power” discusses the role of cyber power in reducing a rival power’s physical capacity and willingness to fight. This issue is important for contemporary military strategists because cyber power—the ability to operate within cyberspace with relative security—is comparatively new and has political advantages in that it rarely causes human casualties. The difference between cyber war and cyber power is explained before discussing cyber power’s indispensability to military strategy. It is difficult to imagine any exercise of military force today that would not also involve an attendant use of cyber power.
What causes military strategies to succeed or fail?
Authors: Echevarria II Antulio J.
Published: June 2024

How can military strategists improve the odds of success while reducing the chances of failure? “What causes military strategies to succeed or fail?” identifies four tasks are necessary for a successful strategy: a critical appraisal of the adversary’s strengths and weaknesses matched against one’s own; the net assessment should serve as a baseline for developing courses of action that weaken the foe enough to get what one wants; the head of state must select a suitable military commander to develop and implement the desired strategy; and sound war plans are needed to pull everything together. Military strategies often fail because the opposing party refuses to concede, even if continuing to fight is patently self-destructive.
Plague
Authors: McMillen Christian W.
Published: June 2024

The plague is a disease caused by a bacillus, Yersinia pestis, transmitted by the bite of an infected flea. There have been three main periods of the pandemic. It first appeared in the sixth century CE with several epidemics in Europe and the Near East lasting until the end of the eight century. The second pandemic—the Black Death—began in 1347 and killed up to half of the continent’s population. The last European outbreak was in Russia in 1770. The third pandemic began in China in 1890 and spread rapidly around the Pacific world. Improved sanitation, isolation, and new antibiotics help, but the plague still exists today.
Smallpox
Authors: McMillen Christian W.
Published: June 2024

The world was declared smallpox-free in 1980, but this endemic and pandemic disease had killed hundreds of millions of people over the preceding millennium. Smallpox was first described in fourth-century China, but the most deadly epidemics occurred from the early sixteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. ‘Smallpox’ considers how the disease became such a killer in the Americas, explaining virgin soil epidemics. It also describes the development of vaccination by Edward Jenner in the late eighteenth century, which was a success, but major epidemics continued to break out. Once enough people had been vaccinated, smallpox, with no non-human host, had no place to go. The Smallpox Eradication Program, led by the WHO, killed it off.
Influenza
Authors: McMillen Christian W.
Published: June 2024

The influenza that swept across the globe in three waves in 1918–1919 was the worst pandemic in history since the Black Death. Pandemic influenza had erupted before—most recently and severely in 1889–1892. But none approached the impact of the post–World War I pandemic, which killed at least fifty million people. ‘Influenza’ explains that more young adults and females were affected. Influenza can jump from animals to humans and back because it changes rapidly and often via antigenic drift. There were further pandemics in 1957, 1968, and 2009, and there will be more in the future. There is still much to learn about influenza.
HIV/AIDS
Authors: McMillen Christian W.
Published: June 2024

HIV/AIDS had been percolating in central Africa since the early twentieth century, but it appeared in its now recognizable form in the spring of 1981. Doctors in America spotted a strange increase in rare infections and Kaposi’s sarcoma, especially in sexually active gay men. In 1982, it was named acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). ‘HIV/AIDS’ explains that soon afterward the virus was identified as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a complex retrovirus with several different identities. HIV makes its way into the body via infected fluids and can affect all members of society. There is no vaccine, but HIV/AIDS is now treatable, although access to drugs is uneven.
COVID-19
Authors: McMillen Christian W.
Published: June 2024

COVID- 19 emerged at the end of 2019 and killed millions across the world. The pandemic followed the contours laid out by past pandemics. There was differential susceptibility; some had access to health care while many others did not; those least able to protect themselves were the poor and the vulnerable. Responses to the pandemic varied tremendously. Some countries went into long lockdowns; others responded aggressively early on and then relaxed; still others took a more laissez-faire approach. There was no unified global response. Further, many people bristled at what they perceived to be onerous demands mask mandates and social distancing. Others complied with such regulations. Shutting downs schools proved to be controversial. A vaccine was developed in a remarkably short period of time and has been effective. Many still wonder about the origins of COVID-19. Figuring out the mystery might help in responding to a future pandemic.
Surveillance: A Very Short Introduction
Authors: Lyon David
Published: June 2024

Surveillance: A Very Short Introduction examines the key processors of and concepts surrounding surveillance. It explains that surveillance is central to doing business, meeting friends, organizing governance, maintaining security, and being entertained. Surveillance makes people visible to organizations. However, the processes and involved parties behind the free-flowing data provided by surveillance and its subsequent social and personal consequences raise criticisms. Additionally, Surveillance: A Very Short Introduction details how surveillance depends on technologies to process data, while also considering its current global growth and prevalence. It then discusses ethics of surveillance and its development of cultural features before considering its potential to evoke political struggles as well as everyday limitation strategies.
Visible lives: invisible watchers
Authors: Lyon David
Published: June 2024

This chapter explains how people’s lives are made visible to invisible watchers. It starts with the definition of surveillance, which originates from notions and practices of watching and visibility. Surveillance embraces a wide range of modes for making people and their activities ‘visible’. Even though surveillance has also become more invisible because of the technically obscure systems by which it operates, people themselves are more and more visible at an increasing rate in the modern world due to various factors like social media. The chapter explains the spectrum of surveillance systems that may directly serve the cause of evil and violence or could be guided by principles such as people’s dignity, freedom, peace of mind, and security.
Questioning surveillance: critical probes
Authors: Lyon David
Published: June 2024

This chapter examines the criticisms regarding surveillance. It starts with identification systems being intended to lead to appropriate intervention in the lives of specific individuals or groups. Even though surveillance can be very beneficial in some contexts, the very techniques on which surveillance depends and the corporate and governmental powers that promote it also make it questionable. The chapter then examines different ways of questioning surveillance while considering the key concepts of privacy and ethics. It looks into how surveillance affects the management and labour frictions and the conflict concerning gender and indignity, especially when everyday human life is touched by surveillance.
Encountering surveillance: what to do?
Authors: Lyon David
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses some strategies on how to handle everyday surveillance. It acknowledges the personal unease around surveillance, sensitive data, and egregious data-handling activities, citing that data, algorithms, and organizational protocols are so arcane and invisible to non-expert citizens compared to state and corporate actors. Legal instruments to curb unnecessary, inappropriate, excessive, and illegal surveillance expanded in later 20th-century computerization, especially after privacy and data protection laws became the backbone of governmental efforts to curtail and govern surveillance. The chapter mentions the increasing regularity of various threats, such as data breaches, subtle cyber-warfare, and state surveillance overreach. It also considers the future of surveillance trends, including higher levels of digital citizenship.
Mediating pathways between neighborhood disadvantage and cardiovascular risk: quasi-experimental evidence from a Danish refugee dispersal policy
Authors: Kim Min Hee , Frøslev Trine , White Justin S , Glymour M Maria , Ilango Sindana D , Sørensen Henrik T , Pedersen Lars , Hamad Rita
Published: June 2024

Research has documented that neighborhood disadvantage is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk, but it is unclear which mechanistic pathways mediate this association across the life course. Leveraging a natural experiment in which refugees to Denmark were quasi-randomly assigned to neighborhoods across the country during 1986-1998, and using 30 years of follow-up data from population and health registers, we assessed whether and how individual-level poverty, unstable employment, and poor mental health mediate the relation between neighborhood disadvantage and the risk of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and type 2 diabetes among Danish refugees (n = 40 811). Linear probability models using the discrete time-survival framework showed that neighborhood disadvantage was associated with increased risk of hypertension (0.05 percentage points [pp] per year [95% CI, −0.00 to 0.10]); hyperlipidemia (0.03 pp per year [95% CI, −0.01 to 0.07]), and diabetes (0.01 pp per year [95% CI, −0.02 to 0.03]). The Baron-Kenny product-of-coefficients method for counterfactual mediation analysis indicated that cumulative income mediated 6%-28% of the disadvantage effect on these outcomes. We find limited evidence of mediation by unstable employment and poor mental health. This study informs our theoretical understanding of the pathways linking neighborhood disadvantage with cardiovascular disease risk and identifies income security as a promising point of intervention to be studied in future research.
345 Protecting workers from chemical hazards in Europe now and in the future
Authors: McGuinness Sharon
Published: June 2024

Exposure to chemical hazards in the workplace has been and remains a key concern of the European Union (EU) and Member State (MS) authorities. As workers are exposed to ever increasing numbers of chemical substances and mixtures as well as existing and new hazards associated with these, ensuring our regulatory framework in Europe can address and meet these challenges is a constant focus. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is an EU Agency that has a role in the implementation of a wide range of chemical specific legislation together with the EU Commission and the Member States. The presentation will focus on two specific regulations, namely, the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation and the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CL) Regulation. We will show how our work on chemical safety under these regulations can protect workers from chemical hazards and exposures. We will also discuss ECHA’s role in providing scientific opinions on occupational exposure limits. Finally, an outline of how new legislation and efforts arising from the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability will contribute to the protection of workers from chemical hazards in the future, will be presented.
24 Containment Performance (CP): a risk-based, SF6-free method for evaluating fume cupboards as part of an overall facility management
Authors: Poffet Jean-Michel
Published: June 2024

Introduction

At the EPFL Campus there are 1,150 fume cupboards, among the main engineering controls of occupational exposure in laboratories. Ensuring that cupboards provide the required user safety and level of containment demands a special risk-based management strategy from the logistics department. Robot-Aided On-site Testing of Fume Cupboard (2022, M. Bittner, C. Moirandat, Annals of Work Exposures and Health) has assisted EPFL in developing its CP risk-based methodology.

Protection goals

According to the American Chemical Society (ACS) the hazard level in research laboratories belongs typically to Chemicals Safety Level 3 (CSL3) (2015, ACS, Identifying and evaluating hazards in research laboratories). The CP considers a limit of 1 ppm of isopropanol (IPA) as the maximum acceptable exposure value given most solvent’s occupational exposure limits.

Method

Signals from multiple IPA sensors on a robot go through several tests (chronic and acute risk, containment) elaborated based on expert judgments and statistics. The CP combines these results to determine if a hood can be qualified for a CSL3. Rapid on-site tests can be performed with the normal sash opening at 50 (QCSL3-50) or 40 cm (QCSL3-40) in case of limited aeraulic capacity.

Outcomes

Installation qualification, periodic checks (5 years), data management, user instruction, and labelling were introduced at EPFL. After two years, this approach demonstrated its ability to identify poor laboratory aeraulic design, defective cupboards, and perturbing currants. The CP showed a better discriminatory ability than the robustness test in the old European standard EN14175 “Fume cupboards and could become the new tool for fume cupboard installation, maintenance programs, and performance qualification without SF6.