bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Real-time hazard detection and mitigation on construction sites based on artificial neural networks
Authors: Wang Jianqi
Published: December 2023

As construction site safety problems appear more and more often, China, as a global infrastructure power, gives high importance and attention to them, so the research of construction site safety early warning technology is very necessary. In this paper, we introduce the technology related to the topic and analyze the early warning process. The anchor nodes are classified by K-nearest neighbor algorithm, and the optimal number of anchor nodes are selected to participate in the positioning. By optimizing the weights of the weighted prime positioning algorithm to make it more rationalized, it is experimentally proven to have better accuracy and higher efficiency than the existing personnel positioning algorithm; it is expected to be able to provide smooth and stable, timely and accurate early warning, predict ten common construction risks, and effectively avoid the construction risks.
Non-invasive detection of renal disease biomarkers through breath analysis
Authors: Khokhar Manoj
Published: December 2023

Breath biomarkers are substances found in exhaled breath that can be used for non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of medical conditions, including kidney disease. Detection techniques include mass spectrometry (MS), gas chromatography (GC), and electrochemical sensors. Biosensors, such as GC-MS or electronic nose (e-nose) devices, can be used to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath associated with metabolic changes in the body, including the kidneys. E-nose devices could provide an early indication of potential kidney problems through the detection of VOCs associated with kidney dysfunction. This review discusses the sources of breath biomarkers for monitoring renal disease during dialysis and different biosensor approaches for detecting exhaled breath biomarkers. The future of using various types of biosensor-based real-time breathing diagnosis for renal failure is also discussed.
Fast and high precision phase recovery technology of single-shot ineterferogram based on depth convolution neural network
Authors: Kuang Yu , Li Jiawen , Liu Fengwei , Wu Yongqian , Zhang Rongzhu
Published: December 2023

Phase retrieval from single interferogram is of great interest for the possibility of dynamic phase measurement. However, it is a very complicated process in reality since the unknowns and knows are highly unequal. In this paper, we propose a fast phase recovery method from single interferogram based on deep convolution neural network. The network is trained based on supervised learning to achieve the purpose of quickly obtaining unwrapped phase results from a single interferogram. To improve the detection accuracy, a modified set establishment model has been propose to improve the practicability of the fringe data. The simulation and experimental results show that the root mean square value of residual phase extraction error by this method is closed to 0.01λ (λ = 632.8 nm), and the constructed depth convolution neural network model has significant flexibility and effective generalization ability for phase recovery of single frame interference fringe.
Optimal MEA structure and operating conditions for fuel cell reactors with hydrogen peroxide and power cogeneration
Authors: Yang Jie , Ding Ruimin , Liu Chang , Xu Qinchao , Liu Shanshan , Yin Xi
Published: December 2023

The cogeneration of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and power in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) reactors via two-electron oxygen reduction reaction on the cathode is an economical, low-carbon, and green route for the on-site production of H2O2. However, in practice, the H2O2 that cannot be collected timely will accumulate and self-decompose in the catalyst layer (CL), reducing the H2O2 generation efficiency. Thus, accelerating the mass transport of H2O2 within the cathode CL is critical to efficient H2O2 generation in PEMFC. Herein, we investigated the effects of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) fabrication process, cathode CL thickness, and cathode carrier water flow rate on H2O2 generation and cell performance in a PEMFC reactor. The results show that the catalyst-coated membrane-type MEA exhibits high power output due to its lower proton transport resistance. However, the formed CL with a dense structure significantly limits H2O2 collection efficiency. The catalyst-coated gas diffusion electrode (GDE)-type MEA formed macroporous structures in the cathode CL, facilitating carrier water entry and H2O2 drainage. In particular, carbon cloth GDE with thin CL could construct rich macroscopic liquid channels, thus maximizing the generation of H2O2, but will impede fuel cell performance. These results suggest that the construction of a well-connected interface between CL and proton exchange membrane (PEM) in MEA and the establishment of a macroscopic pore structure of the CL are the keys to improve the cell performance and H2O2 collection efficiency.
Atomic layer deposition in advanced display technologies: from photoluminescence to encapsulation
Authors: Chen Rong , Cao Kun , Wen Yanwei , Yang Fan , Wang Jian , Liu Xiao , Shan Bin
Published: December 2023

Driven by the growing demand for next-generation displays, the development of advanced luminescent materials with exceptional photoelectric properties is rapidly accelerating, with such materials including quantum dots and phosphors, etc. Nevertheless, the primary challenge preventing the practical application of these luminescent materials lies in meeting the required durability standards. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has, therefore, been employed to stabilize luminescent materials, and as a result, flexible display devices have been fabricated through material modification, surface and interface engineering, encapsulation, cross-scale manufacturing, and simulations. In addition, the appropriate equipment has been developed for both spatial ALD and fluidized ALD to satisfy the low-cost, high-efficiency, and high-reliability manufacturing requirements. This strategic approach establishes the groundwork for the development of ultra-stable luminescent materials, highly efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and thin-film packaging. Ultimately, this significantly enhances their potential applicability in LED illumination and backlighted displays, marking a notable advancement in the display industry.
Classifying legal systems
Authors: Ragone Sabrina , Smorto Guido
Published: December 2023

Chapter 2 describes how comparative law highlights commonalities and differences in law across space and time. The chapter focuses on taxonomies and on the gathering of the numerous legal systems worldwide into a limited number of types based on common patterns. It traces the evolution from conventional classifications of national legal systems into well-defined legal families to a more open-ended and inclusive understanding of legal traditions and their varying influences on local laws. The chapter then describes how comparative law has proved to be a powerful means of understanding how, when, and by whom changes in law occur, and of grasping the rules and patterns of legal change.
An evolving field
Authors: Ragone Sabrina , Smorto Guido
Published: December 2023

This short closing chapter briefly considers the tendency of comparative law to move away from the original limitations of the discipline to widen its field of enquiry—Western and state laws as the conventional units of analysis, written rules as the sole legal sources, functionalism as the only possible methodology, and private law as the main field of study—and it reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of the growing diversity of laws, topics, sources, methods, and aims in comparative legal studies.
Indications for adjuvant radiotherapy in high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma with clear margins: a Delphi consensus
Authors: Moscarella Elvira , Di Brizzi Eugenia Veronica , Alpi Paolo , Arcelli Alessandra , Badellino Serena , Bossi Paolo , Calzavara-Pinton Pier Giacomo , Di Stefani Alessandro , Dika Emi , Eibenschutz Laura , Fargnoli Maria Concetta , Fionda Bruno , Gravina Giovanni Luca , Leonulli Barbara Grilli , Longo Caterina , Lospalluti Lucia , Nardone Valerio , Pimpinelli Nicola , Quaglino Pietro , Queirolo Paola , Rubegni Pietro , Tagliaferri Luca , Troiani Teresa , Vavassori Andrea , Argenziano Giuseppe
Published: December 2023

The aim of this study was to provide indications for adjuvant radiotherapy in high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.
After TWAIL’s Success, What Next? Afterword to the Foreword by Antony Anghie
Authors: Becker Lorca Arnulf
Published: December 2023

In the span of two decades, Third World approaches to international law (TWAIL) experienced a meteoric rise, becoming not only one of the most interesting but also one of the dominant approaches to international law. This Afterword to the Foreword by Antony Anghie reflects upon the rise of TWAIL and its significance to the discipline of international law. I argue that having become part of the disciplinary mainstream, TWAIL ‘civilizes’ international law, making it more difficult for international lawyers to ignore or dismiss the colonial origins and legacies of their field. As TWAIL leaves a mark on international law, new spaces for international legal action by the peoples of the global South might have been opened. Does greater action weaken TWAIL’s central insights about colonial origins and legacies? Maybe, and if so, a mainstream TWAIL opens also disciplinary space for other critical approaches that shine light on Third World experiences of international law that point not just to oppression but also to North/South engagement and, potentially, Southern resistance.
A chromosome-level assembly of the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus genome with annotation of its repetitive elements
Authors: Arnqvist Göran , Westerberg Ivar , Galbraith James , Sayadi Ahmed , Scofield Douglas G , Olsen Remi-André , Immonen Elina , Bonath Franziska , Ewels Philip , Suh Alexander
Published: December 2023

Callosobruchus maculatus is a major agricultural pest of legume crops worldwide and an established model system in ecology and evolution. Yet, current molecular biological resources for this species are limited. Here, we employ Hi-C sequencing to generate a greatly improved genome assembly and we annotate its repetitive elements in a dedicated in-depth effort where we manually curate and classify the most abundant unclassified repeat subfamilies. We present a scaffolded chromosome-level assembly, which is 1.01 Gb in total length with 86% being contained within the 9 autosomes and the X chromosome. Repetitive sequences accounted for 70% of the total assembly. DNA transposons covered 18% of the genome, with the most abundant superfamily being Tc1-Mariner (9.75% of the genome). This new chromosome-level genome assembly of C. maculatus will enable future genetic and evolutionary studies not only of this important species but of beetles more generally.
Distinct neurogenetic mechanisms establish the same chemosensory valence state at different life stages in Caenorhabditis elegans
Authors: Banerjee Navonil , Rojas Palato Elisa J , Shih Pei-Yin , Sternberg Paul W , Hallem Elissa A
Published: December 2023

An animal's preference for many chemosensory cues remains constant despite dramatic changes in the animal's internal state. The mechanisms that maintain chemosensory preference across different physiological contexts remain poorly understood. We previously showed that distinct patterns of neural activity and motor output are evoked by carbon dioxide (CO2) in starved adults vs dauers of Caenorhabditis elegans, despite the two life stages displaying the same preference (attraction) for CO2. However, how the distinct CO2-evoked neural dynamics and motor patterns contribute to CO2 attraction at the two life stages remained unclear. Here, using a CO2 chemotaxis assay, we show that different interneurons are employed to drive CO2 attraction at the two life stages. We also investigate the molecular mechanisms that mediate CO2 attraction in dauers vs adults. We show that insulin signaling promotes CO2 attraction in dauers but not starved adults and that different combinations of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides are used for CO2 attraction at the two life stages. Our findings provide new insight into the distinct molecular and cellular mechanisms used by C. elegans at two different life stages to generate attractive behavioral responses to CO2.
Identification of genetic and environmental factors influencing aerial root traits that support biological nitrogen fixation in sorghum
Authors: Wolf Emily S A , Vela Saddie , Wilker Jennifer , Davis Alyssa , Robert Madalen , Infante Valentina , Venado Rafael E , Voiniciuc Cătălin , Ané Jean-Michel , Vermerris Wilfred
Published: December 2023

Plant breeding and genetics play a major role in the adaptation of plants to meet human needs. The current requirement to make agriculture more sustainable can be partly met by a greater reliance on biological nitrogen fixation by symbiotic diazotrophic microorganisms that provide crop plants with ammonium. Select accessions of the cereal crop sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) form mucilage-producing aerial roots that harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Breeding programs aimed at developing sorghum varieties that support diazotrophs will benefit from a detailed understanding of the genetic and environmental factors contributing to aerial root formation. A genome-wide association study of the sorghum minicore, a collection of 242 landraces, and 30 accessions from the sorghum association panel was conducted in Florida and Wisconsin and under 2 fertilizer treatments to identify loci associated with the number of nodes with aerial roots and aerial root diameter. Sequence variation in genes encoding transcription factors that control phytohormone signaling and root system architecture showed significant associations with these traits. In addition, the location had a significant effect on the phenotypes. Concurrently, we developed F2 populations from crosses between bioenergy sorghums and a landrace that produced extensive aerial roots to evaluate the mode of inheritance of the loci identified by the genome-wide association study. Furthermore, the mucilage collected from aerial roots contained polysaccharides rich in galactose, arabinose, and fucose, whose composition displayed minimal variation among 10 genotypes and 2 fertilizer treatments. These combined results support the development of sorghums with the ability to acquire nitrogen via biological nitrogen fixation.
Innovation opportunities and backward linkages in mining: an analysis of Argentinean knowledge-intensive mining suppliers (KIMS)
Authors: Stubrin Lilia , Marin Anabel , Murguía Diego
Published: December 2023

This paper aims at contributing to better comprehend the opportunities for innovation in the mining sector that are leveraged by local knowledge-intensive mining suppliers (KIMS) in developing mineral-rich countries. Drawing on the innovation and global value chain (GVC) bodies of literature as well as previous empirical studies on KIMS in developing mining countries, we analytically distinguish among three types of innovation approaches that local KIMS can pursue. Each of them is associated with main sources of innovation opportunities, type of inputs supplied, and prevailing market structures and entry barriers. The distinction among innovation strategies together with an analysis that combines firm- and market-level dimensions helped us to better comprehend the types of innovation opportunities that local KIMS in Argentina are adopting and the nature of challenges they encounter. The empirical analysis is based on the novel fieldwork data collected in 2019 and 2022. The findings of the paper hold significance to inform productive and innovation policies regarding the type of interventions that may be more effective for Argentina in the current technological and market circumstances that the mining industry is facing.
Psychosocial Functioning of Parents of Youth Receiving Intensive Interdisciplinary Pain Treatment
Authors: Christofferson Jennifer , Scheurich Jennifer A , Black William R , Hoffart Cara M , Wallace Dustin P
Published: December 2023

Objective

Parents of youth with chronic pain report psychosocial difficulties, yet treatment often focuses on improving their child’s functioning and pain. This study evaluated changes in parents’ social and emotional functioning and explored predictors of change, as they completed a parent-focused intervention while their child was enrolled in an intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment (IIPT) program.

Methods

Parents (n = 69) completed questionnaires at baseline and weekly (average duration of 4 weeks) during their child’s participation in IIPT. Parents engaged in 3 groups per week providing education, therapeutic art, and psychotherapy (3 hr/week total).

Results

At baseline, 38% of parents reported scores in the clinically elevated range for at least 1 psychosocial variable. Linear mixed modeling for the full sample indicated reduced parent anxiety (t = −2.72, p <.01) and depression (t = −3.59, p <.001), but not increased emotional support (t = 1.86, p >. 05) or reduced social isolation (t = −1.20, p >.05). For parents with at least moderately elevated psychosocial concerns, statistically significant improvements were observed for all 4 outcomes (all p’s<.01). Psychological flexibility, cognitive reappraisal, and emotional suppression were found to be related to changes in parent outcomes (anxiety, depression, isolation, and support).

Conclusions

Findings support the benefit of parent-focused interventions in addition to child-focused interventions. Many parents of youth participating in IIPT had elevated scores for at least 1 psychosocial concern at baseline. Brief, parent-focused intervention including psychoeducation, therapeutic art, and psychotherapy targeting mindfulness, acceptance, and values had a significant impact on these parents, particularly those with greater struggles at baseline.
Spatial modelling of infectious diseases with covariate measurement error
Authors: Amiri Leila , Torabi Mahmoud , Deardon Rob
Published: December 2023

In spatial infectious disease models, it is typical to assume that only the distance between susceptible and infectious individuals is important for modelling, but not the actual spatial locations of the individuals. Recently introduced geographically-dependent individual level models (GD-ILMs) can be used to also consider the effect of spatial locations of individuals and the distance between susceptible and infectious individuals for determining the risk of infection. In these models, it is assumed that the covariates used to predict the occurrence of disease are measured accurately. However, there are many applications in which covariates are prone to measurement error. For instance, to study risk factors for influenza, people with low socio-economic status (SES) are known to be more at risk compared to the rest of the population. However, SES is prone to measurement error. In this paper, we propose a GD-ILM which accounts for measurement error in both individual-level and area-level covariates. A Monte Carlo expectation conditional maximisation algorithm is used for inference. We use models fitted to data to predict areas with high average infectivity rates. We evaluate the performance of the proposed approach through simulation studies and by a real-data application on influenza data in Manitoba, Canada.
Mining for meaning: how text mining can uncover the French Liberal School’s key ideas
Authors: Borja Francisco A
Published: December 2023

This investigation shows that through word embedding and co-occurrence, a researcher can deduce key concepts within a corpus that, with adequate academic contextual knowledge, can guide the investigator to conclude if the corpus belongs to or has been influenced by a particular school of thought. Specifically, we have conducted an extensive analysis of the Journal des Economistes, a prominent platform for the dissemination of ideas within the French Liberal School which run from 1841 to 1936, to demonstrate the effectiveness of these tools in the context of distant reading. We have thus shown how the concepts discussed within the journal, reflect the concerns of the French Liberal School for the concepts of value, commerce, freedom of exchange, freedom, and labor, through statistical methods, as opposed to a close reading of the text.
The impact of the WHIM on the IGM thermal state determined from the low-z Lyman α forest
Authors: Hu Teng , Khaire Vikram , Hennawi Joseph F , Oñorbe Jose , Walther Michael , Lukic Zarija , Davies Frederick
Published: December 2023

At z ≲ 1, shock heating caused by large-scale velocity flows and possibly violent feedback from galaxy formation, converts a significant fraction of the cool gas (T ∼ 104 K) in the intergalactic medium (IGM) into warm–hot phase (WHIM) with T > 105 K, resulting in a significant deviation from the previously tight power-law IGM temperature–density relationship, $T=T_0 (\rho / {\bar{\rho }})^{\gamma -1}$. This study explores the impact of the WHIM on measurements of the low-z IGM thermal state, [T0, γ], based on the b–$N_{{\rm H\,{\small I}}} $ distribution of the Ly α forest. Exploiting a machine learning-enabled simulation-based inference method trained on Nyx hydrodynamical simulations, we demonstrate that [T0, γ] can still be reliably measured from the b–$N_{{\rm H\,{\small I}}} $ distribution at z = 0.1, notwithstanding the substantial WHIM in the IGM. To investigate the effects of different feedback, we apply this inference methodology to mock spectra derived from the IllustrisTNG and Illustris simulations at z = 0.1. The results suggest that the underlying [T0, γ] of both simulations can be recovered with biases as low as |Δlog (T0/K)| ≲ 0.05 dex, |Δγ| ≲ 0.1, smaller than the precision of a typical measurement. Given the large differences in the volume-weighted WHIM fractions between the three simulations (Illustris 38 per cent, IllustrisTNG 10 per cent, and Nyx 4 per cent), we conclude that the b–$N_{{\rm H\,{\small I}}} $ distribution is not sensitive to the WHIM under realistic conditions. Finally, we investigate the physical properties of the detectable Ly α absorbers, and discover that although their T and Δ distributions remain mostly unaffected by feedback, they are correlated with the photoionization rate used in the simulation.
Nicotine Delivery and Changes in Withdrawal and Craving During Acute Electronic Cigarette, Heated Tobacco Product, and Cigarette Use Among a Sample of Black and White People Who Smoke
Authors: Leavens Eleanor L S , Lambart Leah , Diaz Francisco J , Wagener Theodore L , Ahluwalia Jasjit S , Benowitz Neal , Nollen Nicole L
Published: December 2023

Introduction

E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) may serve as potential options for harm reduction for smokers if they possess reward profiles similar to cigarettes. Little is known about the abuse liability of HTPs and e-cigarettes versus cigarettes in racial/ethnic minority smokers.

Aims and Methods

Twenty-two nicotine-deprived people who smoke (black [n = 12] and white [n = 10]) completed three visits that included a standardized 10-puff bout followed by a 50-minute ad libitum use assessment with their usual brand cigarette (UBC), an e-cigarette, and HTP. Visits were completed in a randomized crossover design and were separated by a minimum 48-hour washout period. Assessments included plasma nicotine, Cmax, and reductions in craving and withdrawal.

Results

UBC delivered significantly greater levels of nicotine compared to the e-cigarette (p < .001) and HTP (p < .01) during both the standardized and ad libitum sessions. HTP delivered more nicotine than the e-cigarette during the standardized puffing session (p = .047) but not the ad libitum session. Only craving during the standardized puffing session and not the ad libitum session showed significant differences across products (p < .001) such that UBC resulted in the greatest reduction followed by HTP and e-cigarette.

Conclusions

Despite greater nicotine delivery from the UBC compared to e-cigarette and HTP, participants reported reductions in craving and withdrawal across products, particularly following ad libitum use.

Implications

Use of participant’s UBCs (UBC) resulted in greater nicotine delivery compared to both the e-cigarette and HTP. Despite this relative difference in nicotine delivery, participants reported reductions in craving and withdrawal across products, particularly following ad libitum use. These findings suggest that in this sample of black and white people who smoke, HTPs and e-cigarettes provided significant relief from negative symptoms that maintain smoking.
Seroprevalence of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Remained Extremely Low in Taiwan Until the Vaccination Program Was Implemented
Authors: Chen Yun-Yuan , Yang Min-Hui , Lai Jou-Zhen , Chen Jen-Wei , Wang Yun-Long , Wei Sheng-Tang , Hou Sheng-Mou , Chen Chien-Jen , Wu Ho-Sheng
Published: December 2023

Background

The Taiwanese government made a concerted effort to contain a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) nosocomial outbreak of variant B.1.429, shortly before universal vaccination program implementation. This study aimed to investigate seroprevalence in the highest-risk regions.

Methods

Between January and February 2021, we retrieved 10 000 repository serum samples from blood donors to examine for antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S) antigens. A positive result was confirmed if anti-N and anti-S antibodies were positive. Overall, 2000 donors residing in the highest-risk district and donating blood in January 2021 were further examined for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. We estimated seroprevalence and compared the epidemic curve between confirmed COVID-19 cases and blood donors with positive antibodies or viral RNA.

Results

Twenty-one cases with COVID-19 were confirmed in the nosocomial cluster, with an incidence of 1.27/100 000 in the COVID-affected districts. Among 4888 close contacts of the nosocomial cases, 20 (0.4%) became confirmed cases during isolation. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 2 of the 10000 blood donors, showing a seroprevalence of 2/10000 (95% CI, 0.55–7.29). None of the 2000 donors who underwent tests for SARS-CoV-2 RNA were positive. The SARS-CoV-2 infection epidemic curve was observed sporadically in blood donors compared with the nosocomial cluster.

Conclusions

In early 2021, an extremely low anti-SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among blood donors was observed. Epidemic control measures through precise close contact tracing, testing, and isolation effectively contained SARS-CoV-2 transmission before universal vaccination program implementation.
National Institutes of Health Funding for Tuberculosis Comorbidities Is Disproportionate to Their Epidemiologic Impact
Authors: Carwile Madeline , Pan Susie Jiaxing , Zhang Victoria , Dauphinais Madolyn , Cintron Chelsie , Flynn David , Tang Alice M , Sinha Pranay
Published: December 2023

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading infectious killer worldwide. We systematically searched the National Institutes of Health Research, Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results (RePORTER) website to compare research funding for key TB comorbidities—undernutrition, alcohol use, human immunodeficiency virus, tobacco use, and diabetes—and found a large mismatch between the population attributable fraction of these risk factors and the funding allocated to them.
Introduction
Authors: Vesey Alyxandra
Published: December 2023

This book examines the ubiquity of brand partnerships in contemporary consumer culture through the lens of female musicians’ labor and posits that contemporary female artists use them as an imperfect resource for creative expression. Its title riffs on “extended play,” a recording that split the difference between a single and an album that emerged at the turn of the 1920s and has served since the mid-1940s as a way for recording artists to stretch out musical cycles by capitalizing on fans’ hunger for B-sides, alternate tracks, transformative covers, or songs that did not make it onto full-length recordings but nonetheless shaped a musician’s creative trajectory. Brand partnerships, which are frequently tightly coordinated with album and tour cycles, serve a similar commercial function. For female-identified artists, brand partnerships often double as a bargaining chip for career longevity. Despite the hypervisibility of a constellation of female pop stars, the music business is structured around gender inequality. Furthermore, few women receive songwriting or producer credit that would give them access to higher royalties. Thus, brand partnerships can serve as opportunities for female musicians to create products that use corporate underwriters to celebrate feminized knowledge or broaden women’s associations with masculinized skillsets that build upon or reinforce their musical talents as performers, instrumentalists, songwriters, and producers. The introduction examines how the rise of collaborative music merchandise is a product of the simultaneous rise of self-branding and popular feminism in the music industries.
The Play
Authors: Rachnavali Premchand
Published: December 2023

This chapter provides the English translation of Premchand’s play Karbala, which begins with a list of the male and female characters, including Hussain, the son of Hazrat Ali and Zainab, his sister. The play tells the story of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussain, who sacrificed his life, along with that of his family members and companions in the desert of Karbala to resist the corrupt ruler Yazid. Karbala reflects Premchand’s profound and enlightening grasp of the communal conflict in early-nineteenth-century India and his unique way of imagining the nation along with the Gandhian principles of communal harmony and co-existence of religions. Premchand wrote the play about Islamic history to spread awareness among the Hindus about the high ideals of Islam. In the play, Muslim characters use a vocabulary closer to Hindustani with a hint of Persianized diction, while the Hindu characters speak chaste, Sanskritized Hindi.
When to Put Commas before And or But
Authors: Spector Stephen
Published: December 2023

It’s your choice whether to put a comma before and when joining two main clauses. If you do, it adds a brief pause that can enhance the clarity and rhythm of your sentence. You can use a comma before and to emphasize that the second clause is distinct, not merely an extension of the first.
Using Commas after If-Clauses
Authors: Spector Stephen
Published: December 2023

In this quotation, the if-clause opens the sentence and is followed by a natural pause, so it should be followed with a comma, as in version B.
When to Hyphenate
Authors: Spector Stephen
Published: December 2023

As Mr. Spock, the elf-eared, half-Vulcan science officer and first mate of the Starship Enterprise, he created a role that turned him from a journeyman into a star. . . . As it turned out, Spock was a lifelong project. The five-year mission stretched to nearly half a century.
The Phonology/Syntax Interface
Authors: Archibald John
Published: December 2023

This chapter explores the phonology/syntax interface to reveal how phonological matters are critical to understanding aspects of syntactic behaviour in bilinguals. The chapter presents two case studies. The first looks at the role of prosody in sentence processing in hearing and hard-of-hearing populations by focussing on aspects of relative clause attachment preferences and sentential reanalysis. The second looks at the acquisition of L2 WH-questions in learners of Japanese within the framework of Contiguity Theory. The chapter argues that L2 learners construct grammars which are governed by universal properties such as phonological contiguity even though this is not part of the L1 grammar of WH-movement. The resulting grammars are hierarchical and recursive. The chapter demonstrates that the learners acquire the abstract phonology of the L2, though not nativelike phonetic implementation.
Home Visiting Programs
Authors: Eisenberg Daniel , Raghavan Ramesh
Published: December 2023

As the first in a series of case studies in the book, this chapter examines how home visiting programs represent one of the most promising investments in children’s mental health. The programs typically employ a trained professional or peer who repeatedly visits the home of an infant or young child. The home visitor engages in a variety of activities designed at strengthening the home environment, parental capacity, and child health and well-being. The chapter examines home visiting programs broadly and then examines in more depth two specific programs with particularly strong evidence: the Nurse–Family Partnership and Family Connects. The chapter presents data from economic evaluations of key home visiting programs, suggesting that investing in these programs is sound public policy. It concludes with a discussion of ways to enhance equity through these programs.
Four Centuries of Sedleian Professors
Authors: Hollings Christopher D.
Published: December 2023

The Sedleian Professorship of Natural Philosophy is one of Oxford’s oldest chairs, founded in the early part of the seventeenth century, alongside a number of other such posts, most notably the Savilian Professorships of Geometry and Astronomy, with which it has always been closely associated. Originally a university position whose sole duty was to lecture on natural philosophy, the Sedleian Chair has developed over four centuries into a role that encompasses both teaching and research. Along the way its focus has been narrowed from natural philosophy to applied mathematics. Indeed, the Sedleian Chair arguably has had the most interesting and varied development of any such professorship, with several twists and turns along the way. In this first chapter, we describe the foundation and general trends in the development of the chair by way of providing background for the stories of the individual professors that follow in the remaining chapters.
The Settlor’s Conscience
Authors: Agnew Sinéad
Published: December 2023

This chapter explores the relevance of the settlor’s conscience to express trusts, and it considers both self-declared trusts and trusts by transfer. It explains the link between the idea of conscience and trustees’ duties, and the central significance of factual knowledge to the recognition and imposition of such duties. It explains further how, although the idea of conscience as applied knowledge is relevant to self-declarations of trust, ideas of assumption of responsibility and settlor autonomy are crucial to understanding why the settlor’s conscience is bound by the duties of an express trustee, while the courts are also concerned to preserve the conventional force and reliability of self-declarations and their equivalents. The chapter also examines the circumstances in which a settlor’s conscience will be bound by a custodial duty to rescue an express trust which would otherwise fail due to incomplete constitution or disclaimer. It argues that although the idea of conscience as applied knowledge is relevant, the settlor’s actions are crucial. In the context of the rule in Re Rose and disclaimer, it is possible to draw an analogy with the assumption of responsibility rationale that underpins self-declared trusts. But the Pennington v Waine doctrine signals a greater concern to protect those who may rely on the settlor’s actions (eg a beneficiary or a trustee) to their detriment. It remains to be seen whether the courts have struck the right balance and, as the chapter shows, the use of the language of unconscionability to justify outcomes can raise more questions than it answers.
Historical Conceptions of the Express Trust, c 1600–1900
Authors: Foster David
Published: December 2023

This chapter discusses the historical and analytical conceptions of the express trust in the period c 1600–1900. Particular emphasis is placed upon the historical conception of the trust as a ‘confidence annexed in privity’ and the slow reification of the beneficiary’s right under a trust in the case law and treatise literature of the period. This aspect of the trust’s history is explored through the development of rules governing the exigibility and enforceability of the beneficiary’s right and provides historical context to the more analytical treatments of the trust in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the significance of the school of analytical jurisprudence in shaping modern conceptions of the trust—most notably by applying the language of rights in rem and rights in personam to equitable rights.
The fall and rise of vowel length in Bantu
Authors: Hyman Larry M.
Published: December 2023

Although Proto-Bantu is reconstructed with a vowel length contrast on roots, many Bantu languages have modified the inherited system. This chapter distinguishes four different vowel length systems which (1) maintain the length contrast inherited from the proto language; (2) maintain the contrast, but have added restrictions which shorten long vowels in pre-(ante-)penultimate word position and/or on head nouns and verbs that are not final in their XP; (3) have lost the contrast with or without creating new long vowels; (4) have lost the contrast but have added phrase-level penultimate lengthening. The chapter proposes that the positional restrictions fed into the ultimate loss of the contrast in types (3) and (4), with a concomitant shift from root prominence (at the word level) to penultimate prominence (at the intonational and phrase level). In covering the historical developments in Bantu, the chapter describes some Bantu vowel length systems that may not be duplicated elsewhere in the world.
Typology and history of unusual traits in Nivaclé
Authors: Campbell Lyle
Published: December 2023

Nivaclé (a Matacoan language spoken in Argentina and Paraguay) has a number of unusual typological traits, some of them unique. This chapter examines several of these unusual traits for their typological implications, attempts to reconstruct them to Proto-Matacoan or to determine their origins, and considers their implications for general claims about language typology and language change. The traits considered involve a unique speech sound unknown elsewhere; a valency-increasing morpheme that can be attached to several lexical categories, not just to verbs; nominal tense (and the total lack of verbal tense); the role of demonstratives in inferring tense and evidentiality; the rich directional/locative morphology, lack of oblique constructions, and their typological implications for general understanding of transitivity; genitive noun classifiers; and lexical suffixes and their implications for grammaticalization and typology.
The surface position of Hittite subordinating kuit
Authors: Melchert H. Craig
Published: December 2023

As elucidated by Gary Holland, the Hittite subordinating conjunction kuit ‘because’ developed in Middle Hittite from a relative construction with kuit (uttar) ‘(the matter) which,’ which by ellipsis of the head noun and omission of the contextually redundant resumptive pronoun of the main clause was reanalyzed as ‘as to the fact that, seeing that, because.’ This history predicts that kuit stands in C, like other subordinators (e.g. maḫḫan ‘when’). Its normal clause-second surface position is due to its prosodic weakness that leads to required hosting by one full constituent. However, there are a number of examples where kuit appears in a far later position. These may provisionally be explained as instances where a full nominal subject is in focus or topicalized, followed by another topicalized constituent.
PIE *meh2- ‘grow, be fruitful’ and Proto-Basque *ma, *maha ‘fruit’
Authors: Blevins Juliette
Published: December 2023

Two well researched and widely accepted terms for ‘apple, apple tree’ are reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European. One, *h2éb(ō̆)l-, reflected in Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, and Slavic, has a phonological form that seems un-Indo-European, and is attributed by some to prehistoric borrowing from a non-Indo-European language. Another, *méh2l-o-, is based primarily on Greek, and, on this basis, its Proto-Indo-European ancestry has also been questioned. Even so, the similarity between the two roots is striking, and has led some researchers to attempt to derive one from the other, or both from a single parent term, with little success. In this note, data from an unlikely source lends potential support to a PIE root *meh2- ‘grow (big), flourish, be fruitful,’ and to a stem derived from this root that may refer to a culturally important plant. The unlikely source is Proto-Basque.
Paradigm structure in Sanskrit reduplicants
Authors: Steriade Donca
Published: December 2023

Sanskrit reduplicants regulate their vocalism as a function of their size. CV reduplicants prefer high vowels, heavier ones opt for a. To meet this high-iff-light condition, certain light reduplicants adopt the vocalism of a reduced root allomorph. The latter is not a standard Base: it need not coexist in one word, or in one derivation, with the reduplicant itself. Neither the standard phonological cycle, nor Base-Reduplicant or Input-Output correspondence by themselves explain this pattern, but a variety of Optimal Paradigms (McCarthy 2005; Bjorkman 2010) does, in which reduplicants seek to achieve mutual identity, in a process where Markedness and Faithfulness interact.
Community-participatory orthography development in the Máíjùnà communities of Peruvian Amazonia
Authors: Beier Christine , Michael Lev
Published: December 2023

This chapter describes a model for community-participatory orthography development and a successful experience with this model among the Máíjùnà people of Peruvian Amazonia. The model is guided by two overarching goals: first, that all decisions about orthography design lie in the hands of community members; and second, that these decisions be made from the best-informed position possible, grounded in both linguistic expertise and an intimate knowledge of relevant local social and political concerns. We describe in detail the training of community linguists in relevant aspects of linguistics, and the collaborative analysis and deliberation process by which community linguists design an orthography. Both challenges and successes of using this model are described, including ideological issues surrounding language variation, challenges related to the phonoloɡical analysis of the language, and the endorsement of the new orthography by the Máíjùnà indigenous federation, and its subsequent recognition by the Peruvian Ministry of Education.
Child-directed speech as a potential source of phonetic precursor enhancement in sound change
Authors: Yu Alan C.L. , To Carol Kit-sun , Yao Yao
Published: December 2023

Phonetically natural sound changes are often assumed to have articulatory, auditory, perceptual, or aerodynamic origins. Any account of sound change must reckon with enhancement of phonetic precursors in order to account for the emergence of categorical sound patterns. Recent studies have advocated viewing child-directed speech (CDS) as a form of hyperspeech. From the perspective of sound change, the child’s phonetic inputs, skewed by the enhancing characteristics of CDS, might led the child’s own production to reflect those enhanced features. To investigate the role of the linguistic inputs to child language acquisition as a potential engine of enhancement that propels (or hinders) sound change, we examined the production of 26 Hong Kong Cantonese-speaking mothers when speaking to their children and to another adult. While well-established sound changes in progress exhibit a “reversal to standard” pattern in CDS, gradient phonetic variation not only is not reduced in CDS, but, in some mothers’ cases, the variation is amplified.
Gradualness and abruptness in linguistic split
Authors: Bowern Claire
Published: December 2023

While the Nyulnyulan languages have long been identified as a clear family, two languages from the geographic center of the family have been difficult to classify. In this chapter, I use previously unutilized archival finds to discuss a conundrum long noted in linguistics, often characterized as the competition of gradualist diffusionist models versus abrupt splits that are typically represented on linguistic trees. The Nyulnyulan family has been claimed to form an old dialect continuum down the Dampier Peninsula, with overlapping changes that make it difficult to discern one “language” from another or to posit clear subgroups. I dispute this claim and argue that both linguistically and culturally, there are distinct language units. I use a combination of fieldwork data, historical reconstruction, and archival resources to show how changes have locally diffused, but subsequent population shifts and local realignments have created sharp junctures between varieties.
Disrupted development in the Congo
Authors: Radley Ben
Published: December 2023

This introductory chapter sets out the book’s aims and contributions, outlines its main lines of argument, and details the theoretical foundations underpinning the African Mining Consensus, which holds that transnational mining corporations are best placed to drive structurally transformative processes of mining-based development on the continent. It then moves on to document how, in establishing this Consensus position, proponents have tended to misrepresent or disregard some of the classic critiques of peripheral development mounted by a pioneering group of early development economists. These critiques focused on the specific challenges and constraints faced by income-poor peripheral countries seeking development through deeper integration with the global capitalist economy. Returning to these earlier critiques provides helpful lenses with which to explore, with some adaptation, several axes of tension within the ongoing process of foreign corporate-led mining industrialization in low-income African countries that are overlooked by the absent or simplistic representation of these critiques by Consensus proponents.
Introduction
Authors: Eichler Alexander , Zilberberg Oded
Published: December 2023

In this introduction, we review historical examples of parametric phenomena and discuss why this topic is still at the focus of many research fields today. Parametric modulation can originate in various way, such as a change in the tension of a mechanical string, a child alternatively standing and squatting on a swing, the effect of waves hitting a ship to change its buoyancy center, a variation in the effective capacitance of an electrical resonator, or an increase of the polarization of an optical medium in response to electromagnetic waves. All of these seemingly disparate examples obey very similar equations, and many of them can be used for similar technological applications.
The Duffing Resonator
Authors: Eichler Alexander , Zilberberg Oded
Published: December 2023

In this chapter, we introduce the Duffing nonlinearity (a quartic potential) and study its effects, including an amplitude-dependent frequency shift, a reduction of the driven amplitude, and hysteresis. We then generalize the discussion to cubic potentials, whose effects are similar in nature to those of the Duffing nonlinearity. We present how to deal with the nonlinearity mathematically based on the van der Pol transformation and the averaging method to first and second order.
Parametric Resonators with Force Noise
Authors: Eichler Alexander , Zilberberg Oded
Published: December 2023

In this chapter, we apply the concept of force fluctuations to the parametric resonator. Force fluctuations have important consequences and lead to new phenomena below and above the parametric threshold. We revisit the characteristic exponent analysis that we encountered in chapter 3 and find that fluctuations lead to additional frequencies that depend on the nonlinear quasi-potential around a solution. If the force noise is large enough, it can activate hopping between varius quasi-potential extrema (attractors). To study these stochastic effects, the probability density approach introduced in chapter 4 is harnessed.