bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Construction of extrusion processing window for P/M nickel-based superalloy using deep neural network and its validation
Authors: Wen H N , Jin J S , Wang X Y
Published: December 2022

Canning extrusion is an effective way to refine grains, eliminate defects from hot isostatic pressing consolidation and enhance mechanical properties of P/M nickel-based superalloy. The present research constructed the optimized extrusion processing window for superalloy in consideration of extrusion speed, initial billet temperature, and extrusion ratio to provide guidelines for the choice of extrusion parameters. The processing window was built by integrating the results of finite element (FE) simulations, extrusion experiments, and deep neural network (DNN). The peak extrusion load and temperature under different extrusion parameters were collected as input datasets by FE simulations. The DNN was trained by optimizing the learning parameters and then predicting the load and temperature over various extrusion conditions. Finally, the extrusion processing window was established, including an optimized processing zone and two instability zones. The extrusion experiments were performed to verify the reliability of the processing window, which could be able to promote the extrusion production of nickel-based superalloys with high efficiency and quality.
Comparison of two CDM-based models for necking and fracture limits of metal sheets under hot stamping conditions
Authors: Zhang R , Lin J
Published: December 2022

A unified viscoplastic constitutive model based on continuum damage mechanics (CDM) has been recently developed for the prediction of forming limit curves (FLCs) and fracture forming limit curves (FFLCs). In this CDM model, two damage variables which are strain path dependent (so called strain-based model) have been introduced to model the necking and fracture limits in sheet metal forming. In this study, the two damage variables have been modified by replacing the strain components with stress components to model stress path dependence (so called stress-based model). Then the two sets of CDM models have been analysed and compared in respect to their computational accuracy and efficiency. For this purpose, all the material constants in the models have been calibrated using the recently published data of 22MnB5 boron steel sheet under hot stamping conditions. Subsequently, the two models together with the calibrated material constants have been implemented into the commercial software ABAQUS using a user subroutine VUMAT, and applied to biaxial tests for the computation of both the necking and the fracture limit strains at hot stamping temperatures. Computational results show that there is little difference between the two CDM models with respect to the computed limit strain values, but the strain-based CDM model is more time-efficient.
New developments of formability evaluation methods for hot stamping
Authors: Li J , Cheng Q , Zhang R , Shi Z , Lin J
Published: December 2022

Formability is an essential material property that needs to be considered when selecting materials for hot stamping applications. Due to the difficulties of achieving rapid cooling before deformation and the failure of lubricant systems, however, it is challenging to use conventional Nakajima and Marciniak tests to evaluate the formability of materials under hot stamping conditions. Recently, biaxial test methods have shown great potential to overcome this challenge. In this paper, recent developments of the biaxial test methods for formability evaluation are reviewed, including testing machines, specimen designs, specimen heating methods, testing procedures, and limit strain determination methods. Compared to the Nakajima or the Marciniak tests, the biaxial test method can provide better simulation for hot stamping conditions and it can be a promising method for evaluating the formability of sheet metals under hot stamping conditions. However, more developments such as the standardisation of the specimen designs and the limit strain determination methods, are still needed for the wide use of the biaxial test method.
Microstructure evolution and interface characteristics of diffusion bonded dissimilar titanium alloys
Authors: Zhang Q W , Li T L , Wu J J , Li X F , Chen J , Wu G H
Published: December 2022

Microstructure evolution and interface characteristics of dissimilar TC4/TB8 titanium alloys subjected to diffusion bonding and aging treatment are investigated. TC4/TB8 alloys plates can be metallurgically bonded at 830°C for 2h under 18MPa. The microstructure of TC4 alloy is composed of fine intergranular β grains and equiaxed α grains due to recrystallization. The α grains characterized by lath-like, granular, and continuous layer morphology are precipitated from β matrix in the TB8 alloy during furnace cooling and aging treatment. Element distribution mapping and line-profile data indicate that Mo atoms diffuse from the enrichment area (TB8) to the depleted area (TC4), while a small amount of Al and V atoms diffuse along an opposite direction. In addition, the behavior of grain growth across the bonded interface is not obvious under the current parameters.
Full-space polarization conversion of electromagnetic waves at terahertz frequency based on metasurface
Authors: Pan Xunyong , Mao Yingji , Zhu Ziyi , Liu Aoli
Published: December 2022

In this paper, a full-space electromagnetic wave polarization converter working in the terahertz frequency was put forward, and its physical mechanism was also analyzed. The polarization converter could realize the reflection cross-polarization conversion in the frequency range of 3.16–3.75 THz, with the Polarization Conversion Rate (PCR) of more than 90%. In the frequency range of 0.43–2.15 THz, it could realize transmission cross-polarization conversion, with the PCR close to 100%. In short, the designed metasurface polarization converter has a simple structure, realizes full-space manipulation of electromagnetic waves, facilitates the miniaturization and integration of the system, and has the potential applications in antennas, imaging systems, remote sensors, and radiometers.
Endothelial PTP4A1 mitigates vascular inflammation via USF1/A20 axis-mediated NF-κB inactivation
Authors: Cho Min Ji , Lee Dong Gwang , Lee Jeong Woong , Hwang Byungtae , Yoon Sung-Jin , Lee Seon-Jin , Park Young-Jun , Park Seung-Ho , Lee Hee Gu , Kim Yong-Hoon , Lee Chul-Ho , Lee Jangwook , Lee Nam-Kyung , Han Tae-Su , Cho Hyun-Soo , Moon Jeong Hee , Lee Ga Seul , Bae Kwang-Hee , Hwang Geum-Sook , Lee Sang-Hak , Chung Sang J , Shim Sungbo , Cho Jaehyung , Oh Goo Taeg , Kwon Young-Guen , Park Jong-Gil , Min Jeong-Ki
Published: December 2022

Aims

The nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signalling pathway plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of multiple vascular diseases. However, in endothelial cells (ECs), the molecular mechanisms responsible for the negative regulation of the NF-κB pathway are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated a novel role for protein tyrosine phosphatase type IVA1 (PTP4A1) in NF-κB signalling in ECs.

Methods and results

In human tissues, human umbilical artery ECs, and mouse models for loss of function and gain of function of PTP4A1, we conducted histological analysis, immunostaining, laser-captured microdissection assay, lentiviral infection, small interfering RNA transfection, quantitative real-time PCR and reverse transcription-PCR, as well as luciferase reporter gene and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of PTP4A1 and overexpression of PTP4A1 in ECs indicated that PTP4A1 is critical for inhibiting the expression of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs). PTP4A1 increased the transcriptional activity of upstream stimulatory factor 1 (USF1) by dephosphorylating its S309 residue and subsequently inducing the transcription of tumour necrosis factor-alpha-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3/A20) and the inhibition of NF-κB activity. Studies on Ptp4a1 knockout or transgenic mice demonstrated that PTP4A1 potently regulates the interleukin 1β-induced expression of CAMs in vivo. In addition, we verified that PTP4A1 deficiency in apolipoprotein E knockout mice exacerbated high-fat high-cholesterol diet-induced atherogenesis with upregulated expression of CAMs.

Conclusion

Our data indicate that PTP4A1 is a novel negative regulator of vascular inflammation by inducing USF1/A20 axis-mediated NF-κB inactivation. Therefore, the expression and/or activation of PTP4A1 in ECs might be useful for the treatment of vascular inflammatory diseases.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions and the emergence of pathogen variants
Authors: Ashby Ben , Smith Cameron A , Thompson Robin N
Published: December 2022

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as social distancing and contact tracing, are important public health measures that can reduce pathogen transmission. In addition to playing a crucial role in suppressing transmission, NPIs influence pathogen evolution by mediating mutation supply, restricting the availability of susceptible hosts, and altering the strength of selection for novel variants. Yet it is unclear how NPIs might affect the emergence of novel variants that are able to escape pre-existing immunity (partially or fully), are more transmissible or cause greater mortality. We analyse a stochastic two-strain epidemiological model to determine how the strength and timing of NPIs affect the emergence of variants with similar or contrasting life-history characteristics to the wild type. We show that, while stronger and timelier NPIs generally reduce the likelihood of variant emergence, it is possible for more transmissible variants with high cross-immunity to have a greater probability of emerging at intermediate levels of NPIs. This is because intermediate levels of NPIs allow an epidemic of the wild type that is neither too small (facilitating high mutation supply), nor too large (leaving a large pool of susceptible hosts), to prevent a novel variant from becoming established in the host population. However, since one cannot predict the characteristics of a variant, the best strategy to prevent emergence is likely to be an implementation of strong, timely NPIs.
The four pillars of HFrEF therapy: is it time to treat heart failure regardless of ejection fraction?
Authors: Docherty Kieran F , Bayes-Genis Antoni , Butler Javed , Coats Andrew J S , Drazner Mark H , Joyce Emer , Lam Carolyn S P
Published: December 2022

The syndrome of heart failure (HF) has historically been dichotomized based on clinical trial inclusion criteria into patients with a reduced or preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) using a cut-off of above or below 40%. The majority of trial evidence for the benefits of disease-modifying pharmacological therapy has been in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), i.e. those with an LVEF ≤40%. Recently, the sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors empagliflozin and dapagliflozin have been shown to be the first drugs to improve outcomes in HF across the full spectrum of LVEF. There is, however, growing evidence that the benefits of many of the neurohumoral modulators shown to be beneficial in patients with HFrEF may extend to those with a higher LVEF above 40% but still below the normal range, i.e. HF with mildly reduced ejection fraction (HFmrEF). Whether the benefits of some of these medications also extend to patients with HF and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is an area of ongoing debate. This article will review the evidence for HF treatments across the full spectrum of LVEF, provide an overview of recently updated clinical practice guidelines, and address the question whether it may now be time to treat HF with some therapies regardless of ejection fraction.
Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and the intersection of cardio-renal-metabolic medicine #CaReMe
Authors: Marx Nikolaus , Cheng Alice Y Y , Agarwal Rajiv , Greene Stephen J , Abuhantash Hadi
Published: December 2022

Diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are important comorbidities in patients with heart failure (HF) that can complicate the clinical management and have major implications for morbidity and mortality. In addition, the presence of these comorbidities, particularly advanced CKD, is a limitation for the implementation of guideline-directed therapies in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Though clinical trials in patients with HFrEF trials included varying percentages of patients with diabetes and/or CKD, patients with advanced CKD have been excluded in most HF studies. Thus, management recommendations for these patients often have to be extrapolated from subgroup analyses. This article summarizes pathophysiological aspects of the interaction of HFrEF, CKD, and diabetes and addresses clinical aspects for the screening of these comorbidities. Moreover, current treatment options for patients with HFrEF and CKD and/or diabetes are discussed and novel strategies such as the use of the selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist Finerenone are addressed.
Mastication Fuels Did Not Alter Fire Severity or Stand Structure in an Upland Oak Woodland
Authors: Arthur Mary A , Blankenship Beth , Leuenberger Wendy , Winkenbach Jordan , Black Devin E
Published: December 2022

In the eastern deciduous forest region, open oak woodlands once occupied significant areas that are now closed-canopy forests, negatively affecting wildlife habitat and biodiversity. We superimposed midstory mastication and prescribed fire treatments onto sites with ice storm damage, subsequently subjected to sanitation thinning for management restoration. Mastication reduced stem density and basal area, created a variable cover of masticated material, and increased cover of forbs, graminoids, and tree regeneration. Prescribed fire was implemented two years after mastication treatment. We examined fuel changes and whether masticated fuels altered fire severity. Masticated duff depth decreased significantly two years after treatment; no change occurred on nonmasticated treatments. Masticated 1-hour fuels decreased 80% compared to 35% in nonmasticated treatments and masticated 10 h fuels decreased 45% compared to 9.6% in treatments without mastication. Prescribed fire reduced 1, 10, and 100 h fuels on the burn only treatment, and 10 h fuels on the mastication/burn treatment. Burn severity, measured by composite burn index, did not differ between treatments, nor did we measure significant effects of mastication on fire temperature or char height. Fire had no significant effect on stand structure but should be reexamined in three to five years. Repeated burning at three to five y intervals may also be beneficial.
Stress and Depression in Ohio Social Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Buffering Role of Social Connectedness
Authors: Park Daejun , Lee Mingun , Osborne Kara , Minnick Dane
Published: December 2022

Although social workers have an elevated risk of infection with COVID-19, no previous studies have investigated the virus’s impact on practitioners. Using survey data (N = 441), this study identified associations between stress, depression, and COVID-related factors and explored the role of social connectedness as a moderator for mental health among Ohio social workers. The results of the study showed that among social workers with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, 70 percent experienced moderate/high levels of stress, and 37 percent met the criteria for clinical depressive symptoms. Results from the multiple regression analyses showed that perceived stress was positively associated with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis for social workers, and depression was positively associated with working with a client with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. An interaction effect was also identified between social connectedness and social workers’ mental health. These findings suggest that the provision of individual or organizational interventions that emphasize social connectedness can help to protect social workers’ mental health.
Ensuring Safety of Patients in Complex Health Systems: A Focus on Primary Healthcare Service Relations in Nigeria
Authors: Uzochukwu Benjamin , Agwu Prince , Okeke Chinyere , Uzochukwu Adaora , Onwujekwe Obinna
Published: December 2022

Patient-centered healthcare is a goal for all health systems. However, given the inherent complexities of the health system as one with many nonlinear and dynamic components, the safety of patients could be affected. Therefore, there is the need to study these complexities to manage them toward optimal service delivery. The present study is a qualitative inquiry into the complexities of primary healthcare (PHC) in Nigeria and effects on patients’ safety across four PHC facilities in Enugu state in southeast Nigeria. It utilizes a framework that draws on the components of interprofessional collaboration, inclusive of health financing and health workforce satisfaction, to understand the complex PHC system and patient safety. The study findings show that the PHC system in the study area performs suboptimally on the three counts, which implies poor management of the complexities of the system such that patients are highly susceptible to harm. Making a commitment to addressing the shortcomings present in each of the three components will help to decomplexify PHC in line with the World Health Organization agenda of achieving resilient and strong health systems. Importantly, optimizing the psychosocial space in Nigeria’s PHC by employing qualified social workers and other psychosocial professionals is crucial for patient safety and a range of psychosocial activities that can enhance job satisfaction of health workers.
Insecticidal Activity of Jatropha Extracts Against the Azalea Lace Bug, Stephanitis pyrioides (Hemiptera: Tingidae)
Authors: Sampson B J , Tabanca N , Werle C T , Stringer S J , Wedge D E , Moraes R
Published: December 2022

We assessed bioactivity of ethanolic extracts from 35 species of Jatropha L. against an ornamental plant pest, the azalea lace bug, Stephanitis pyrioides (Scott). Jatropha extracts were prepared by air-drying stem, root, or whole plant material, grinding the tissue into a fine powder, adding 70% ethanol, and then vacuum filtering the contents. Emulsions included the extract diluted to the desired concentration in de-ionized water and 10% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Treatments involved pipetting 20 µl of emulsion onto three adult lace bugs in each well of a 96-well microtiter plate. Treated wells served as replicates for each of six extract concentrations and were arranged according to a RCBD. Extracts of Jatropha clavuligera Müll. Arg. and J. ribifolia (Pohl) Ballion from 0.06 to 0.50% were the most acutely bioactive with bug mortality exceeding that of the positive control – azadirachtin, a terpenoid and chief active ingredient in neem oil. At 1.00%, extracts of J. clavuligera, J. ribifolia and azadirachtin killed 100% of bugs within 3 hr. Jatropha clavuligera induced the lowest LC50 and ranked first in insecticidal potency based on ≥98% of bugs dying within 3 hr. Extracts of J. curcas L., J. gossypiifolia L., J. excisa Griseb, and azadirachtin were equally bioactive; although after 3 hr, the three Jatropha species killed bugs faster. When compared with DMSO, all extract emulsions were bioactive against adult bugs. Thus, active ingredients in a new biopesticide could be sourced from the stem, root, or whole plant extracts of at least five Jatropha species.
When Do States Repatriate Refugees? Evidence from the Middle East
Authors: Şahin-Mencütek Zeynep , Tsourapas Gerasimos
Published: December 2022

Which conditions affect whether a state will choose to repatriate forcibly displaced populations residing within its borders? One of the most pressing issues related to the protracted Syrian refugee situation concerns the future of over 5 million Syrians who sought shelter in neighboring states. With host countries pursuing disparate strategies on Syrians’ return, the existing literature has yet to provide a framework that is able to account for variation on host states’ policies toward refugee repatriation. In this paper, we expand upon the concept of the refugee rentier state to theorize inductively upon the conditions shaping states’ policymaking on repatriation. We draw upon multi-sited fieldwork across the three major refugee host states in the Eastern Mediterranean (Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey) to establish that a refugee rentier state's strategy is driven by domestic political economy costs related to the hosting of refugee populations as well as its geostrategic interests vis-à-vis these refugees’ country of origin. Using a comparative case study approach, we note how a state is more likely to pursue a blackmailing strategy based on threats if it faces high domestic political economy costs and adopts an interventionist policy vis-à-vis the sending state, as in the case of Turkey. Otherwise, it is more likely to pursue a backscratching strategy based on bargains, as in the case of Lebanon and Jordan. We conclude with a discussion on how this framework sheds light on refugee host states’ repatriation policies on a global scale.
Influenza Antiviral Use in Patients Hospitalized With Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza in the United States, FluSurv-NET, 2015–2019
Authors: Tenforde Mark W , Cummings Charisse N , O’Halloran Alissa C , Rothrock Gretchen , Kirley Pam Daily , Alden Nisha B , Meek James , Yousey-Hindes Kimberly , Openo Kyle P , Anderson Evan J , Monroe Maya L , Kim Sue , Nunez Val Tellez , McMahon Melissa , McMullen Chelsea , Khanlian Sarah A , Spina Nancy L , Muse Alison , Gaitán Maria A , Felsen Christina B , Lung Krista , Shiltz Eli , Sutton Melissa , Thomas Ann , Talbot H Keipp , Schaffner William , Price Andrea , Chatelain Ryan , Reed Carrie , Garg Shikha
Published: December 2022

From surveillance data of patients hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza in the United States during the 2015–2016 through 2018–2019 seasons, initiation of antiviral treatment increased from 86% to 94%, with increases seen across all age groups. However, 62% started therapy ≥3 days after illness onset, driven by late presentation to care.
Comic Crowds
Authors: Tønder Lars
Published: December 2022

This chapter explores Kierkegaard’s writings on comic power in order to develop fresh insight into questions about democracy, rhetoric, and crowd politics. Foregrounding Kierkegaard’s interest in the material and the sensorial—rather than the usual focus on Spirit and the transcendental—the chapter shows how Kierkegaard views comic power as a potential way of constituting the crowd as a collective in which individuals share in their singularity. The chapter uses examples from Kierkegaard’s own time, as well as more contemporary cases, to develop the implications of this argument. The baseline is an often-overlooked link between democracy and comic power. What a true democracy needs, Kierkegaard might have been meaning to suggest, is more—not less—comedy!
Breakin’ Down the Bloc
Authors: Aprahamian Serouj “Midus”
Published: December 2022

Very few people would have predicted that a former Soviet Republic, Armenia, would be the site of a burgeoning Hip Hop dance scene. Yet today, you can find a weekly class that teaches breaking, popping, or locking throughout the capital, Yerevan, as well as in outlying areas such as Abovyan and Charentsavan. Competitions take place regularly with guests who are visiting from throughout the former Soviet Union, Europe, and North America, and some dancers who make a living off teaching and performing Hip Hop dance styles. This chapter takes an in-depth look at the development of breaking within the country. Through qualitative interviews with practitioners and direct participant observation, it traces how—and more importantly, why—an artform from a region as far removed as the Bronx, New York, has been adopted by young people in Armenia. It argues that Hip Hop’s embodied practices have helped b-girls and b-boys challenge constrictions and forge new identities at a time of immense socioeconomic transformation, lending support to what dance scholar Halifu Osumare (2007) has identified as the “connective marginalities” developed through global Hip Hop culture.
Twerking and P-Popping in the Context of the New Orleans Local Hip Hop Scene
Authors: Miller Matt
Published: December 2022

After nationwide exposure through performances by the artists Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé, and Big Freedia, twerking—a shaking dance that originated in New Orleans in the early 1990s—became a flashpoint of controversy around issues of sexuality, morality, gender, and cultural appropriation. This chapter traces the evolution of twerking from local phenomenon with roots in the vernacular music culture of New Orleans to sensationalized, mass-mediated phenomenon. New Orleans has been a focal point for the development and evolution of African American social dance since the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and the city has been at the center of the emergence of several important dance-music genres including jazz, R & B, and funk. In the last three decades, as Hip Hop and rap have become the dominant frame of musical reference among African American youth, the city has continued to act as an influential presence in the national scene. The chapter will show that, despite its eroticized image, twerking, or p-popping, is not a product of strip clubs or the adult-entertainment industry but, rather, a dance with deep roots in the vernacular African American music culture of New Orleans. In the process of wider popularization and exposure, the dance brought issues of sexuality, gender, and morality into focus within a racially inflected framework.
The Camera in the Cypher
Authors: Fleet Lakewood Vanessa
Published: December 2022

This chapter examines Martha Cooper’s visual influence on public conceptions of hip hop dance. While working as a staff photographer at the New York Post in January 1980, Cooper had an encounter with a group of boys at a police station that resulted in the earliest publicly recorded images of breaking. Tracing the diffusion and multiplication of images associated with this event in print and lens-based media, the chapter observes the historical permissions and conditions that allowed breaking to enter mass-mediated forms of discourse. It draws on theoretical interventions addressing the force of hypervisibility on the movement, congregation, and performance of Black subjects. It argues that lens-based media both depicted and fabricated the aesthetics of outlawry that defined breaking’s early cultural formation.
The Vault
Authors: Sakalauskas Marc “Scramblelock”
Published: December 2022

Streetdancers who want to learn more about their particular style often begin by collecting dance footage. However, there are a few who collect seriously for the purpose of archiving the history and development of these styles. Although there are those who have built up extensive libraries of b-boying footage—consisting of events, solo videos, practices, showcases, interviews, and even rap videos featuring the dance—the archiving of funk dances such as locking and popping has not been as common or as easy a task. This chapter discusses the personal journey of Marc “Scramblelock” Sakalauskas in developing an active and dynamic library of streetdance footage, with a focus on breaking, locking, and popping. It also discusses how the collection was built, the methods of categorization used, and the other directions the project has taken in the digital era.
Introduction
Authors: Sugirtharajah R. S.
Published: December 2022

This volume is about the Bible, biblical and modern empires, and the emergence of postcolonial biblical criticism, both in its potency to unsettle and as an intervening, and a contestory force. The introduction narrates the complicated history of how the nature and character of the Bible, empires, the postcolonial criticism have evolved and changed over the years. It also documents how a number of biblical projects such as canonization, the quest for the lives of Jesus, and Gospel Harmonies were closely aligned with imperial projects. In particular, it castigates the hesitation among mainstream Western biblical scholars in offering a critique of empires – a primary concern of postcolonial criticism. The assembled essays here are situated in their contexts and show where they converge and diverge. They provide exegetical examples of how champions and opponents of empire utilized the biblical narratives to support or subvert their respective causes. They also explore how postcolonialism intersects with related areas such as gender studies, race relations, postmodern concerns, environmental issues, liberation theology and imperial translation projects. These contributors amplify and extend the usefulness of postcolonial biblical criticism in understanding both the colonial past and the contemporary world.
Trans-Atlantic Trade
Authors: Brown Colin , Tabet Sylvie
Published: December 2022

bstract: The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union and its Member States (CETA) is the only modern instrument governing trans-Atlantic trade that bridges differences between European and North American approaches in trade agreements. This Chapter analyses that agreement, looking at the innovative approaches that are taken and how they interact with and the effect they have had on Canadian and EU policy more generally. The chapter also examines the procedure for the implementation and ratification of CETA. The conclusion and ratification of CETA raised a number of legal issues, in particular with respect to the scope of the European Union’s powers to conclude broad and comprehensive free trade agreements (FTAs) including investment protection provisions.
International Trade Policy in Latin America (Pacific Alliance—MERCOSUR)
Authors: Changanaquí Miranda Jorge Luis , Cusipuma Frisancho John Ramiro
Published: December 2022

This chapter explores the developments in trade policy in Latin America. In the past decades, Latin American States have shifted their trading policy from import substitution to free trade, building a vast web of trade agreements with the main economies of the world. New provisions, such as trade-related disciplines pertaining to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), regulatory cooperation, gender, among others, have been included in trade agreements. On the other hand, the establishment of disciplines such as labour and environment in RTAs has presented difficulties. The Pacific Alliance and MERCOSUR, both trading blocs which encompass the main actors of the region, have accomplished several milestones in trade openness. However, there has not been a wide development in trade agreements between Latin American countries despite the potential benefits that convergence might bring.
An Introduction to Core Principles of International Trade Law
Authors: Lockhart Nicolas , Connolly Katherine
Published: December 2022

This chapter sets out the core principles of international trade law, covering the typical range of obligations and exceptions that apply to international trade in goods and services, under both the WTO covered agreements and FTAs. The first two topics cover the “bedrock” principles of international trade law: market access (covering tariff barriers, quantitative restrictions, non-tariff barriers, and some services-specific market access considerations); and non-discrimination (as between domestic and imported goods; and between imported goods from different sources). The third topic covers various ‘good governance’ obligations, which require transparency and proper administration by national authorities, with respect to their trade-related measures. The penultimate topic covers obligations that balance competing trade interests of different WTO Members, including permitted grounds for preferential trade treatment of imports, the grant of subsidies, and the imposition of trade remedies on imports. Finally, we consider the rules that look to balance competing trade and non-trade interests, including the general and security exceptions in the GATT 1994, and the SPS and TBT Agreements.
Trade in Goods
Authors: Ramírez Hernández Ricardo
Published: December 2022

As international trade became more sophisticated, the ‘traditional’ trade in goods topics seemed to be entering an extinction phase and be substituted by other forms of trade regulation, such as technical barriers or sanitary measures. However, in recent years and for different reasons, many of them reclaimed their relevance. This chapter also discusses an essential tool for the operation of trade in goods, which is tariff classification, as well as an often overlooked but fundamental issue in trade in goods regulation, which are the rules of origin. Global value chain operations could not be conceived without rules of origin. Finally, the COVID 19 pandemic revealed how vulnerable international trade could be to import and export restrictions, such as quotas or licences, and how important trade facilitation could be to bolster trade and even to save lives.
Food Safety
Authors: Echols Marsha
Published: December 2022

The WTO’s SPS Agreement creates a new trade bargain by restricting Members’ sovereignty with respect to food safety regulation with a “system” expanding on beyond the exception in Article XX(b)to GATT 1947. The essence of the SPS bargain is a ‘system’ created principally through Articles 2, 4 and 5 and Annexes B and C to the SPS Agreement. This ‘system’ inserts into the trade bargain extensive new rules about food safety regulation, based on objective and harmonized standards, scientific principles (objective evidence of a qualitative or quantitative nature) and risk assessment. The system leaves a Member little ability to consider national or regional food history and culture with respect to its decisions to food safety for protecting human life and health. However, the bargain offers the promise to a WTO Member that relinquishing some regulatory authority will be rewarded with expected commercial benefits and commitments from trading partners. In FTAs concluded after the SPS Agreement, nations affirm their SPS rights and obligations: they affirm their sovereign right to enact a sanitary measure and their obligation to base that measure on scientific principles such as objectivity, and to maintain the measure only with sufficient scientific evidence of a qualitative or quantitative nature. At the same time, like the international system that has evolved through the work of the ‘Three Sisters’, FTA partners have added ‘risk management’ and ‘risk communication’ as steps in the development of a food safety measure. The result might be a gradual shift toward an SPS system that extends beyond a purely scientific assessment of risk, including factors relevant to the protection of the health of consumers and the promotion of fair practices in food trade.
International Trade Law Institutions
Authors: Flett James , Mataija Mislav
Published: December 2022

This chapter summarizes and analyses the institutional law of the WTO, that is, the entities that make-up or operate within the WTO, how they are constituted, their powers and responsibilities (general and specific, conferred, delegated, or implied), the procedures governing the conduct of their proceedings, and the relationships between them. Absent an executive or parliament, the focus is on the relationship between the legislature (in its various guises) and the judicial branch, which is critical to understanding both the current state and eventual future of the WTO. The main institutional aspects of certain other international trade agreements are also reviewed and discussed.
The Regulation of International Trade and (Democratic) Legitimacy
Authors: Elsig Manfred
Published: December 2022

This chapter focuses on how recent developments in the trading system can be assessed in light of concepts of (democratic) legitimacy. It addresses input and output legitimacy concerns and discusses how the politics in the World Trade Organization and in the growing network of preferential trade agreements have evolved in recent years. Overall, the chapter argues that the perceived level of legitimacy of venues for international trade regulation has decreased in recent years, starting with the trade policy turn during the Trump Administration. The chapter also provides a cautionary note that increasing US-China rivalry and the rise of populism will further negatively impact on the overall perceived legitimacy of international trade institutions.
The Relationships between Workplace Uncertainty and Employee Proactivity
Authors: Wang Dan , Sheng Zitong , Parker Sharon
Published: December 2022

This chapter provides a review of the relationships between uncertainty and employee proactive behavior in organizations. The authors suggest that uncertainty deserves more attention because it influences employees’ proactivity in complex ways. The authors also discuss the implications of employee proactivity in influencing uncertainty and propose a feedback-loop model. Specifically, the feedback-loop model suggests that exogenous uncertainty impacts endogenous uncertainty and leads to an increase or reduction in the motivational states related to proactivity, thereby shaping employees’ engagement in proactive behavior. The feedback-loop model further suggests that proactive behavior can take two forms, opportunity-creating and problem-fixing, which have different implications for uncertainty. The authors argue that in the short run, opportunity-creating proactive behavior promotes endogenous uncertainty, whereas problem-fixing proactive behavior reduces endogenous uncertainty. In the long run, both two types of proactive behavior have the potential to reduce exogenous uncertainty.
Correlative Structures in Dravidian
Authors: Steever Sanford B.
Published: December 2022

This chapter discusses the structure, function, and history of correlative relative clauses (CRCs) in Dravidian and argues (contra prior descriptions of CRCs as borrowings from Indo-Aryan (IA), and limited to the written languages) that apart from North Dravidian borrowings from IA, CRCs are grounded in Dravidian morphosyntax and may be projected to Proto-Dravidian, before IA influence. Some assumptions and consequences of the borrowing hypothesis are contested (e.g. that a language should have just one means of forming relative clauses, stemming from the 19th-century ideology of primitive vs. advanced languages). Multiple, distinct CRCs are used when morphological and syntactic factors disfavour the formation of adnominal relative clauses (ARCs). CRCs may access rungs of the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy inaccessible to ARCs, penetrate into syntactic islands, or relativise sentences with predicate nominals.
Entrepreneurship in Culture
Authors: Konrad Elmar D. , Vecco Marilena
Published: December 2022

Private cultural enterprises are measured not only by the quality of their artistic offerings and social impact but also by their economic success. Particularly in view of tight public budgets and the increasing number of start-ups and project initiatives in the cultural sector, interaction of and a synthesis between artistic output and economic efficiency are desirable. Founders and managers of such enterprises therefore increasingly refer to, and apply, entrepreneurial measures of success to assess their performance. In this chapter, the influence of entrepreneurial behavior on success in the private cultural sector is analyzed by using tools of entrepreneurship research. Specifically, the present study discusses the entrepreneurial excellence model, showing that the presence of entrepreneurial competences and the entrepreneurial behavior of the founders and managers of private cultural enterprises are indeed fundamental to success. This leads us to conclude that entrepreneurship and culture are not incompatible, but rather have a synergistic effect.
The Changing Face of Mission Studies since the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Stanley Brian
Published: December 2022

This chapter surveys the main trends in the emergence and evolution of the academic study of Christian missions since the late nineteenth century. It notes the pioneering roles in the development of “the science of missions” (Missionswissenschaft) played by the Catholic Joseph Schmidlin and the Protestants Gustav Warneck and J. H. Oldham, secretary of the World Missionary Conference 1910, and founding editor of the International Review of Missions (1912). The chapter goes on to discuss the changing relationship of mission studies or “missiology” to new fields of study, such as the history of religions and later of “world Christianity.” Attention is paid to the formation of the International Association for Mission Studies in 1972. Recent years have witnessed the gradual diversification of the mission studies community, which is now fully ecumenical, inclusive in terms of gender, and more reflective of the contributions of non-Western scholars and church leaders.
Ears Still Tingling? Mission Communication Explored
Authors: Ogden Val
Published: December 2022

That the mighty mission of God erupted out of distinctive, communicative acts is hardly fresh news. Texts such as Genesis 1:3, 1 Kings 19:11–13, John 1:1, and Acts 2:4 have for generations invited engagement with Scripture via the concept of communication. This chapter discusses significant insights to be gained from examining missiology/mission studies through a communications optic, and what areas of crucial focus emerge for twenty-first-century ears, eyes, and voices. Historical material from Lausanne, the Ecumenical Movement more generally, and the World Association for Christian Communication is held up to contemporary scrutiny, noting how emphases have evolved and how the missional principles which remain are anchored in the choppy waters of ever-expanding global communications’ possibilities such as digital media. The chapter urges that the prophetic voice of mission communication be heard with greater clarity in the cause of religious freedom, transparency, and truth.
Christian Mission and Postcolonialism
Authors: Sebastian J. Jayakiran
Published: December 2022

What does postcolonial theory and theology have to say about the history of Christian mission and missiological thinking and praxis? Recognizing that postcolonialism involves a strategy of reading and interpretation that attends to the margins of what is perceived as normative history, this chapter contextualizes how the Bible was used when missionaries disseminated forms of Christianity. It further explores what effects Christianity had then and now, when independent nations are still coming to terms with their colonial past and its legacies. In addition, it problematizes the easy acceptance of a particular way of understanding mission as the mission of God (missio Dei) by using postcolonial approaches which interrogate the way in which such concepts came to dominate missiological thinking and theological imagination. It finally asks if the possibility of understanding mission as our mission to God offers us creative ways of understanding mission and our calling in a postcolonial reality.
Christianity in Chinese Soil
Authors: Ruokanen Miikka , Yongtao Chen
Published: December 2022

The chapter focuses on three main features in the development of Christianity in China: first, a perpetual tendency toward the contextualization/inculturation of the Christian faith; second, tension between the suspicion of foreign interference in Chinese society and the welcome of Western science and social values introduced by missionaries; and third, criticism of imported Western denominationalism. The chapter demonstrates how these features appeared in Chinese Christianity from mission initiatives and indigenous movements from the seventh century ce up to contemporary modern urban post-denominational congregations and their pursuit of the political, social, and cultural Sinicization of the faith. It analyzes the reasons for the phenomenal growth of Protestantism in China. Moreover, it discusses the possibility that Chinese Christians—on the basis of the tendency towards contextualization and nondenominationalism, and because of their experience of suffering resulting in deep devotion and spiritual vigor—could make a global impact shaping world Christianity.
Theory and Method in Mission Studies/Missiology
Authors: Nagy Dorottya
Published: December 2022

The present chapter addresses questions related to theory and method within missiological research. Acknowledging institutionalization, constellation, and contingency as formative dynamics for mission studies, the article elaborates on the notions of relationality, interculturality, and contextuality as possible epistemological entries for deepening conversations on methodology. Choosing this path, the study underlines the need to address the question of agency critically throughout the research process, starting with the person of the researcher. Studying agency implies the discovery of the manifold God-perceptions (theoria-theologia) enclosed in research, which in their turn question any single-ideologically-minded form of missiological praxis and provide space for new theoretical and methodical insights. The chapter initiates conversation on the spatial turn and spiritual turn as two such insights, and it calls for intercultural relationality, which underscores the normative nature of any missiological research. Normativity is always situational, actual, and empirical; it is always partial and becoming in intercultural relationality.
Christian Mission, Religious Pluralism, and Interreligious Dialogue
Authors: Mayer Annemarie C.
Published: December 2022

From the Great Commission it would logically follow that over time all other religions disappear due to Christian mission. Yet other religions continue to exist. Therefore, this chapter first asks: How does Christianity theologically deal with the factual plurality of religions, given that God wills the salvation of all? Which parameters of a Christian theology of religions inform both Christian mission and interreligious dialogue? Secondly, the differentiation between religious pluralism and plurality leads to the question of how plurality can strengthen religious identity, since such identity seems a prerequisite for interreligious dialogue. Moreover, also the connotations of “dialogue” in different religions are not always positive. All this leads, thirdly, to addressing the relation between dialogue and mission: Does dialogue compromise Christian faith and indicate that mission failed? Or is dialogue a means of mission? Is it just a tactical move or a sound tool? Is mission eventually replaced by dialogue?
Christian Missionary Constructions of Hinduism
Authors: Swamy Muthuraj
Published: December 2022

Christian missionary approaches to Hinduism, in both the past and present, receive significant attention in mission studies. In the contemporary context (i.e., the past three decades or so), postcolonial approaches, empire studies, and critical world-religion categories have helped to develop new perspectives about Christian missionary attitudes to Hinduism during the colonial period. This chapter reviews literature and studies two arguments. First is the view that Christian missionaries have contributed hugely to the colonial construction or imagination or invention of Hinduism as one unified religion. Second, Christian attitudes to secularism and related categories (like enlightenment, rationalism, etc.), as well as religious-secular distinctions in the West, have shaped mission to Hindus. The discussion in this chapter is set against the context where the Hindutva forces are politically pushing hard for Hindu nationalism on the basis of Hinduism as one religion, and attacking secularists and religious minorities as the problematic other in India.