bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optimizing off-axis fields for two-axis magnetometry with point defects
Authors: Beaver N. M. , Voce N. , Meisenheimer P. , Ramesh R. , Stevenson P.
Published: June 2024

Vector magnetometry is an essential tool for characterizing the distribution of currents and magnetization in a broad range of systems. Point defect sensors, like the nitrogen vacancy center in diamond, have demonstrated impressive sensitivity and spatial resolution for detecting these fields. Measuring the vector field at a single point in space using single defects, however, remains an outstanding challenge. We demonstrate that careful optimization of the static bias field can enable simultaneous measurement of multiple magnetic field components with enhanced sensitivity by leveraging the nonlinear Zeeman shift from transverse magnetic fields, realizing an improvement in transverse sensitivity from >200 μT/Hz (no bias field) to 30 μT/Hz. This work quantifies the trade-off between the increased frequency shift from second-order Zeeman effects with decreasing contrast as off-axis field components increase, demonstrating the measurement of multiple components of the magnetic field from an exemplar antiferromagnet with a complex magnetic texture.
Enhanced comprehensive energy storage properties in Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-based relaxor ferroelectric ceramics under a moderate electric field
Authors: Jiang Shunshun , Zhang Ji , Luo Huajie , Liu Lisha , Li Jinglei , Karpinsky Dmitry V. , Wang Jing , Wang Yaojin
Published: June 2024

Bismuth sodium titanate (Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3)-based relaxor ferroelectric ceramics have received ever-increasing interest for their potential application in dielectric capacitors owing to their sterling energy storage capability. Herein, the perovskite end-member Ba(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O3 (BFN) was incorporated into 0.7Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.3SrTiO3 (0.7BNT-0.3ST) ceramics to improve the relaxor characteristics and refine the grain, leading to slim polarization–electric field (P–E) hysteresis loops and enhanced electric breakdown strength. Particularly, the 0.85(0.7BNT-0.3ST)-0.15BFN ceramics achieved a high recoverable energy density of 5.7 J/cm3 and a high energy storage efficiency of 86.4% under a moderate electric field of 390 kV/cm. Additionally, remarkable stability in frequency, cycling, and temperature and excellent charge/discharge behavior were achieved at the same time. The above findings reveal that BFN-modified BNT-ST ceramics display greatly improved comprehensive energy storage properties, making them promising candidates in the field of electrostatic energy storage.
Unmet need for primary health care and subsequent inpatient hospitalisation in Aotearoa New Zealand. A cohort study
Authors: Pledger Megan , Cumming Jacqueline
Published: June 2024

Introduction The inability to afford a consultation with a general practitioner may lead to delays in accessing care pathways. Aim This study aimed to explore the characteristics of people by their unmet need for a general practitioner consultation because of cost, and the characteristics of subsequent inpatient hospitalisations. Methods From the New Zealand Health Surveys (2013/14–2018/19), two groups were formed based on their unmet need for a general practitioner consultation due to cost. These groups were compared by socio-demographic factors and subsequent inpatient hospitalisation characteristics during follow-up. Time to an inpatient hospitalisation was the outcome in a proportional hazards regression model with need status as the key variable. The model was expanded to include confounding variables: sex, age group, ethnicity, the New Zealand Deprivation Index and self-rated health. Results The need group, characterised by having a higher proportion of females, younger adults, Māori, increased socioeconomic deprivation and poorer self-rated health experienced a greater chance of hospitalisation, a similar number of visits during follow-up, shorter stays and a quicker time to hospitalisation compared to the no-need group. Proportional hazards survival models gave a 28% higher hazard rate for the time to an inpatient hospitalisation for the need group compared to the no-need group. The inclusion of all the confounders in the model gave a similar hazard ratio. Discussion Although consultation fees vary across general practices, it is evident that this may not eliminate the cost barriers to accessing care for some groups. Needing multiple consultations may contribute to persistent unmet needs.
Structural basis for activation of somatostatin receptor 5 by cyclic neuropeptide agonists
Authors: Li Jingru , You Chongzhao , Li Yang , Li Changyao , Fan Wenjia , Chen Zecai , Hu Wen , Wu Kai , Xu H. Eric , Zhao Li-Hua
Published: June 2024

Somatostatin receptor 5 (SSTR5) is an important G protein–coupled receptor and drug target for neuroendocrine tumors and pituitary disorders. This study presents two high-resolution cryogenicelectron microscope structures of the SSTR5-G
i
complexes bound to the cyclic neuropeptide agonists, cortistatin-17 (CST17) and octreotide, with resolutions of 2.7 Å and 2.9 Å, respectively. The structures reveal that binding of these peptides causes rearrangement of a “hydrophobic lock”, consisting of residues from transmembrane helices TM3 and TM6. This rearrangement triggers outward movement of TM6, enabling Gα
i
protein engagement and receptor activation. In addition to hydrophobic interactions, CST17 forms conserved polar contacts similar to somatostatin-14 binding to SSTR2, while further structural and functional analysis shows that extracellular loops differently recognize CST17 and octreotide. These insights elucidate agonist selectivity and activation mechanisms of SSTR5, providing valuable guidance for structure-based drug development targeting this therapeutically relevant receptor.
The economic case for scaling up health research and development: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Tortorice Daniel , Rappuoli Rino , Bloom David E.
Published: June 2024

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments directly funded vaccine research and development (R&D), quickly leading to multiple effective vaccines and resulting in enormous health and economic benefits to society. We develop a simple economic model showing this feat could potentially be repeated for other health challenges. Based on inputs from the economic and medical literatures, the model yields estimates of optimal R&D spending on treatments and vaccines for known diseases. Taking a global and societal perspective, we estimate the social benefits of such spending and a corresponding rate of return. Applications to Streptococcus A vaccines and Alzheimer’s disease treatments demonstrate the potential of enhanced research and development funding to unlock massive global health and health-related benefits. We estimate that these benefits range from 2 to 60 trillion (2020 US$) and that the corresponding rates of return on R&D spending range from 12% to 23% per year for 30 y. We discuss the current shortfall in R&D spending and public policies that can move current funding closer to the optimal level.
Airy-beam holographic sonogenetics for advancing neuromodulation precision and flexibility
Authors: Hu Zhongtao , Yang Yaoheng , Yang Leqi , Gong Yan , Chukwu Chinwendu , Ye Dezhuang , Yue Yimei , Yuan Jinyun , Kravitz Alexxai V. , Chen Hong
Published: June 2024

Advancing our understanding of brain function and developing treatments for neurological diseases hinge on the ability to modulate neuronal groups in specific brain areas without invasive techniques. Here, we introduce Airy-beam holographic sonogenetics (AhSonogenetics) as an implant-free, cell type–specific, spatially precise, and flexible neuromodulation approach in freely moving mice. AhSonogenetics utilizes wearable ultrasound devices manufactured using 3D-printed Airy-beam holographic metasurfaces. These devices are designed to manipulate neurons genetically engineered to express ultrasound-sensitive ion channels, enabling precise modulation of specific neuronal populations. By dynamically steering the focus of Airy beams through ultrasound frequency tuning, AhSonogenetics is capable of modulating neuronal populations within specific subregions of the striatum. One notable feature of AhSonogenetics is its ability to flexibly stimulate either the left or right striatum in a single mouse. This flexibility is achieved by simply switching the acoustic metasurface in the wearable ultrasound device, eliminating the need for multiple implants or interventions. AhSonogentocs also integrates seamlessly with in vivo calcium recording via fiber photometry, showcasing its compatibility with optical modalities without cross talk. Moreover, AhSonogenetics can generate double foci for bilateral stimulation and alleviate motor deficits in Parkinson’s disease mice. This advancement is significant since many neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, involve dysfunction in multiple brain regions. By enabling precise and flexible cell type–specific neuromodulation without invasive procedures, AhSonogenetics provides a powerful tool for investigating intact neural circuits and offers promising interventions for neurological disorders.
Multisubstrate specificity shaped the complex evolution of the aminotransferase family across the tree of life
Authors: Koper Kaan , Han Sang-Woo , Kothadia Ramani , Salamon Hugh , Yoshikuni Yasuo , Maeda Hiroshi A.
Published: June 2024

Aminotransferases (ATs) are an ancient enzyme family that play central roles in core nitrogen metabolism, essential to all organisms. However, many of the AT enzyme functions remain poorly defined, limiting our fundamental understanding of the nitrogen metabolic networks that exist in different organisms. Here, we traced the deep evolutionary history of the AT family by analyzing AT enzymes from 90 species spanning the tree of life (ToL). We found that each organism has maintained a relatively small and constant number of ATs. Mapping the distribution of ATs across the ToL uncovered that many essential AT reactions are carried out by taxon-specific AT enzymes due to wide-spread nonorthologous gene displacements. This complex evolutionary history explains the difficulty of homology-based AT functional prediction. Biochemical characterization of diverse aromatic ATs further revealed their broad substrate specificity, unlike other core metabolic enzymes that evolved to catalyze specific reactions today. Interestingly, however, we found that these AT enzymes that diverged over billion years share common signatures of multisubstrate specificity by employing different nonconserved active site residues. These findings illustrate that AT family enzymes had leveraged their inherent substrate promiscuity to maintain a small yet distinct set of multifunctional AT enzymes in different taxa. This evolutionary history of versatile ATs likely contributed to the establishment of robust and diverse nitrogen metabolic networks that exist throughout the ToL. The study provides a critical foundation to systematically determine diverse AT functions and underlying nitrogen metabolic networks across the ToL.
Development and validation of the Companion Animals Self-Expansion Scale
Authors: Ellis Annalyse , Stanton Sarah C.E. , Hawkins Roxanne D. , Loughnan Steve
Published: June 2024

Although many people experience a close and complex relationship with their companion animals, our understanding and measurement of this relationship has lagged far behind that of human-human relationships. Important advances in human-human relationship concepts and measurement have yet to be applied in the context of human-companion animal relationships, including the critically relevant concept ofself-expansion(i.e. the process through which positive content is added to the self). The aim of this research was to develop and validate a new full and short-form measure of self-expansion within the human-companion animal relationship, the Companion Animals Self-Expansion Scale (CASES). The sample included in the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) phase consisted of 366 adult English-speaking companion animal owners, while the sample included in the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) phase consisted of 368 adult English-speaking companion animal owners. All participants completed demographic questions and the CASES. Analyses revealed the full version of the CASES to be 15 items, six of which were retained for the short form of the scale based on their consistently high-factor loadings and theoretically relevant content. The CASES, as well as its short form, the CASES-SF, are both reliable and valid in measuring self-expansion within the human-companion animal relationship.
An intelligent compound fault diagnosis method using generalized zero-shot model of bearing
Authors: Cen Jian , Zhao Bichuang , Liu Xi , Huang Hankun , Chen Duheng , Huang Haolin , Chen Ke
Published: June 2024

Compound fault occurrence has been unpredictable, especially in industrial scenarios where it is difficult to collect a large number of labeled samples for compound fault. Based on this, this paper proposes a generative generalized zero-shot learning (GZSL) model aimed at synthesizing compound fault features through training with single fault samples. These synthesized features are then used for the recognition of compound fault. Firstly, in order to construct an accurate and effective semantic vector, the semantic generation module and discriminator are utilized to generate the semantics of compound fault. Secondly, a feature extraction module based on CNN is designed to extract various fault features from the two-dimensional time-frequency diagram. Finally, a fault semantic matching module is designed to match the feature vectors of compound faults with the generated fault semantic vectors. This enables the identification of unseen compound fault by computing their maximum similarity. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieved H scores of 75.83 and 69.24 on two real fault datasets, ensuring the correct classification of compound fault to the greatest extent possible.
Fault diagnosis method for imbalanced and unlabeled data based on bayesian graph balanced learning
Authors: Zhou Ziyou
Published: June 2024

In fault diagnosis, it is crucial to address the combined challenges of imbalanced sample sizes and unlabeled data. Traditional methods often generate pseudo-samples or pseudo-labels. These can lead to inaccurate diagnostic outcomes if they are not representative of the original data. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an innovative fault diagnosis method based on bayesian graph balanced learning (BGBL). Firstly, a balancing strategy was developed to tackle sample imbalance by assigning and optimizing weights for samples in imbalanced categories. Graph theory techniques were then used on unlabeled data to establish and update category beliefs. Following this, posterior estimates of samples were derived within the bayesian neural networks framework. This led to the training of a fault diagnosis model. Finally, fault diagnosis was conducted using this trained model. Three sets of experiments were conducted on the planetary gearbox fault dataset. The results showed that the proposed BGBL method significantly improved the accuracy of fault diagnosis. Specifically, under conditions of imbalanced data and missing labels, the BGBL method increased the accuracy by over 26% compared to existing methods. This demonstrates its effectiveness in these challenging scenarios.
Synergistic effect of graphene nanoplatelets and titanium dioxide nanopowder-reinforced aluminium nanohybrid composites on mechanical properties
Authors: Chaurasia Rahul , Sarangi Saroj Kumar
Published: June 2024

Due to their effectiveness, lightweight materials have gained international attention in recent decades, with industrial sectors being the primary users of them. Metal matrix composites with nanohybrid reinforcement are a unique composite system combination that enhances the material’s mechanical qualities. In the present article, the mechanical properties of graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) and titanium dioxide (TiO2)-reinforced aluminium 7075 alloy are discussed with varying weight percentages of reinforcements prepared by the stir casting technique. 1 wt.% GNP with and 3 wt.% TiO2-reinforced composites show optimum properties within the range of reinforcement studied, with a 71.9% increment in tensile strength and an 86.6% improvement in microhardness observed; however, elongation is decreased by 31.7% in contrast to the base alloy. Maximum toughness is found to be in 0.5 wt.% GNP with 1 wt.% TiO2-reinforced nanohybrid composites. XRD results show phase analysis. SEM analysis of the fractured surface reveals a mixture of ductile and brittle fractures.
The tenseless sunshine of the conscious mind
Authors: Torrengo Giuliano
Published: June 2024

In this final chapter the author considers the interaction between theorizing about temporal experience and making hypotheses about the nature of time. The aim is to show how the overall picture of temporal experience sketched in the previous chapters does not require a dynamic universe, or an objective flow, and indeed sits better with a static, block universe view. The chapter presents and contrasts two competing models of temporal experience, based on the A-theoretic and B-theoretic metaphysics respectively: the wave model and the sunshine model. The author contends that the wave model falls short in explanatory power compared to the sunshine model. The chapter defends the latter against specific objections and unveils its more profound and unexpected consequences.
Boxed In
Authors: Darby Derrick , Martinez Eduardo J
Published: June 2024

One’s life takes shape around identities. Race, religion, sexual orientation, and other collective identities impose scripts that dictate how one should think, act, and associate. African Americans should support reparations and affirmative action. Evangelical Christians should associate with true believers and feel outraged by same sex-marriage. Gays and lesbians should come out and engage in LBGTQ+ activism. When identities are scripted too tightly, individuals get boxed in and democracy suffers. In Boxed In: Making Identities Safe for Democracy, philosophers Derrick Darby and Eduardo J. Martinez diagnose the profound challenge that inflexible identities pose for democracy and offer a novel prescription that involves taking up civic responsibilities to search for, make visible, and attend to group differences in background, perspective, and empowerment. Using a wide range of examples from fútbol fans to Jay-Z’s beef with Oprah, to literal box-checking on the US Census, Darby and Martinez illustrate how scripting identities too tightly can box people in, and they reveal what can be done to mitigate it. Weaving philosophical analysis with empirical research on identities, coalitions, and social movements, Boxed In prescribes making identities safe for democracy by undertaking responsibilities that help people break free from tight scripts that box them in and work together while taking their differences seriously.
Identity Trouble
Authors: Darby Derrick , Martinez Eduardo J
Published: June 2024

This chapter analyzes the identity trouble that arises when boxing in is pervasive in the political domain, as well as the existing debate about how to respond to this trouble. It highlights four tendencies of political behavior and reasoning that are constitutive components of identity trouble, and which together comprise an ethos of boxing in. It makes the case that identity trouble and the ethos of boxing in threaten the democratic function of advancing shared goals. Responding to identity trouble requires a way to restore and maintain democratic citizens’ problem-solving capabilities, by sustaining successful democratic cooperation, despite the threat of tightly scripted identities. This chapter then summarizes the disagreement between identity politics skeptics and optimists about how to respond to identity trouble, and includes an argument that an emphasis on unity is insufficient for addressing this trouble.
Collective Self-Authorship Processes
Authors: Darby Derrick , Martinez Eduardo J
Published: June 2024

This chapter explains how collective self-authorship (CSA) unfolds over time through various processes. The chapter includes a taxonomy of different kinds of heterogeneity that can impact CSA: differences of background, empowerment, and perspective. Identity scripts can be more or less flexible or restrictive with respect to group heterogeneity, depending on how group members answer two key questions: Who is among us? What is required of us? This chapter also includes an analysis of the role of accountability mechanisms in making CSA processes responsive to group heterogeneity, and the chains of accountability that these mechanisms can create. It concludes with a discussion of intersectionality, an alternative approach to addressing group heterogeneity, and how it relates to the perspective defended in this book.
Conclusion
Authors: Darby Derrick , Martinez Eduardo J
Published: June 2024

This Conclusion summarizes how the framework presented in this book can be used to respond to Rustin’s dilemma and how it can be enacted to make change over time. It notes the importance of addressing Rustin’s dilemma, via the uptake of civic responsibilities to make collective self-authorship processes accountable to group heterogeneity, in order to tackle major challenges such as climate change and economic inequality. It is important to not expect quick fixes given how entrenched some tight scripts are, while also recognizing new opportunities to resist boxing in and build new coalitions. The chapter also calls attention to the importance of the work of previous generations for creating the current set of opportunities and the importance of not dropping the baton for future generations.
Legislative Authority and Interpretation in the European Union
Authors: van den Brink Martijn
Published: June 2024

Despite the fact that legislation has, in the past decades, become the cornerstone of European integration, the legislature’s place in the European Union’s (EU’s) institutional framework remains neglected in legal scholarship. This book explores the virtues of the legislative process and the nature of legislative acts, and it asks how moving the legislature from the sidelines to the centre of legal analysis changes our understanding of the judiciary’s proper role in EU law-making. The first part of the book elaborates an account of the allocation of EU legislative versus judicial authority, examining when judicial deference is due to legislation and when, on the other hand, legislative provisions may legitimately be subject to judicial review. The second part sets forth a theory of legislative interpretation according to which judicial officials can interpret legislative provisions in accordance with legislative intent. The book shows, in a nutshell, that the legislative process should be associated with important values that the judicial process cannot be associated with to the same extent. Legislative decision-making lends demo(i)cratic legitimacy to EU law and improves the quality of EU law-making, while legislation is more likely to be complied with by its addressees than case law. These values militate for judicial deference to the choices of the legislature in all but exceptional circumstances and for an interpretation of legislation that observes legislative intent.
Realising Legal and Social Change
Authors: van den Brink Martijn
Published: June 2024

This chapter evaluates the institutional capacity of the legislature and the judiciary. It explains that the legislature is better at initiating legal change and realising social change; that is, it is a better lawmaker than the Court of Justice of the European Union, and legislation is more likely than case law to generate its intended effects domestically. Together with the account of institutional legitimacy from Chapter II, these findings are elaborated in a theory of judicial deference that rests on three principles: institutional legitimacy, institutional capacity, and institutional collaboration. More specifically, the form of judicial deference defended is in line with so-called restrictive institutionalism, which favours the imposition of and adherence to relatively precise legislative rules for reasons associated with the rule of law and democratic legitimacy. Finally, it is shown that restrictive institutionalism is compatible with European Union primary law and appropriate for adjudicating both maximum and minimum harmonisation.
Legislative Rules
Authors: van den Brink Martijn
Published: June 2024

This chapter clarifies the notion of legislative intent by elucidating the rule-based nature of legislative acts. Academic writing on the interpretation of European Union law likes to emphasise its open-ended nature, which, for some, means that legislative purpose must be the object of interpretation. Instead, this chapter explains that legislation establishes a complex set of legislative rules that together constitute the means whereby the legislature seeks to achieve its intended state of affairs. Judges must feel bound by the constraints of these rules, even if it forces them to decide contrary to the purposes underlying the rules. While rule-based decision-making can generate arbitrary outcomes, which may motivate judicial officials to collapse rules into their purpose, it also attains values such as predictability, certainty, and consistency. The EU can effectively coordinate the behaviour of its citizens only if the addressees of legislation abide by legislative rules.
Genealogy of the Indigenous as an Enemy: Critique of Moral, Criminal, and Neoliberal Reason in Chile
Authors: Del Valle-Rojas Carlos
Published: June 2024

The cultural industry, especially the hegemonic media and dominant literature, constitutes a complex system specialized in the production of enemies. This process of enmity has a historical, systematic, planned, institutionalized, and ideological character, whose primary purpose is to build the Indigenous image as a discredited, marginalized, and excluded condition. Original peoples and later Indigenous movements have been portrayed in an economic-political framework through which the moral, productive, and political interests of those who exercise power prevail.

Different theoretical and empirical works show the predominance of civilizing rationality and a colonial matrix of power. This focuses on the process of enmity through different strategies, such as stereotyping, stigmatization, criminalization, and entrepreneurship.

There are various theoretical-conceptual perspectives, such as (a) critical structuralist, (b) deconstructivist, (c) postcolonial, (d) decolonial, and (e) spectral. They have relentlessly tried to explain the presence of the Indigenous otherness about a hegemonic “us.” This is a complex empirical journey full of evidence ranging from extermination to dispossession.

From a historical perspective, there are three significant milestones: (a) a moral-civilizing mode of production and reproduction throughout the 19th century, (b) a criminal-punitive mode during the 20th century, and (c) a neoliberal-productive mode during the 21st century. These rationalities, with their apparent transitions and overlaps, converge in the fabrication of the Indigenous person—Mapuche people in the Chilean case—as an enemy whose mask changes according to the sociopolitical and economic context threats.
Half Sibling Relationships and Family Communication
Authors: Oliver-Blackburn Bailey M.
Published: June 2024

Half siblings are brothers and sisters who share only one biological parent and are thus, half biologically related. Although half siblings may be the result of extramarital/partnership affairs or post-bereavement, most are the result of a divorce and remarriage. Half sibling research is rare, and existing research and even national and international statistical reporting agencies often incorrectly conflate half siblings with stepsiblings. Research that can be found on half siblings often illustrates a “deficit-comparison” approach where half and stepsiblings are compared to full biological siblings and studied for how they fall short of biological sibling outcomes. Early research speculates that children who reside with half siblings experience poorer educational outcomes, report significantly more depressive symptoms, exhibit poorer coping skills, are more likely to engage in risky behavior such as early sexual activity and drug and alcohol use, and have more strained sibling and parental relationships compared to those with no half siblings or those with only full biological siblings. The challenges that exist for half sibling relationships are often hypothesized as associated with either family structure (half siblings located within a complex stepfamily) or explained through evolutionary perspectives of Darwinian fitness. However, research on half siblings overall is mixed, with studies also positing these outcomes are not due to the presence of half siblings and that there are instead positive implications from having a half sibling on individual outcomes, sibling relationship quality, and overall family functioning. Overall, half siblings can form quality relationships and half brothers and sisters who share a residence, are closer in age, of the same gender, spend more quality time with one another, have parents who prosaically intervene on their behalf, and who emphasize their positive relationship and connection through addressing terms and sharing backstories of their family’s origins are more likely to report a positive relationship.
Slavery in the Cities of the Interior of West Africa
Authors: Mbow Penda , Klein Martin A.
Published: June 2024

Cities have played an important role in West African history. In the vast majority of African urban complexes, slavery and the slave trade have played an important role. As in most parts of the world, slavery has roots in the distant past, but its importance was increased by the demand for African slaves, first by the dynamic civilizations of the Mediterranean and the Middle East and then by European global imperialism. The efforts of Africa enslavers to supply these foreign markets meant the slaves were available for use within Africa. The number of those kept and used within Africa was generally greater than those exported. They were used as agricultural labor, concubines, soldiers, administrators, porters, servants, and artisans. There were contrasting patterns of slave use: peasants with small slave holdings, states incorporating slaves as soldiers and administrators, and a largely Muslim merchant class, which lived in cities but maintained large rural plantations. The process began in the 1st millennium bce but reached a peak in the long 18th century, when militarized states evolved to meet the demand for slave labor in the West Indies.
The Economics of Abortion Policy
Authors: Clarke Damian
Published: June 2024

The economic literature on abortion policy broadly is broad, studying abortion reforms that have occurred over the past two centuries, with a concentration of studies examining policy reform over the 20th and 21st centuries. The literature has examined a range of policies: both those which restrict access and those which legalize elective abortion; but within these two broad classes, the precise nature of policy reform can vary greatly. Policy reforms studied range from specific types of limits or financial barriers restricting access for particular age groups to policies which entirely criminalize or legalize elective abortion. Policies have been studied that restrict or relax individual access as well as impose regulations on abortion providers. The economic literature on abortion reform has illuminated a number of clear links, showing that increased availability of abortion decreases rates of unintended births, and vice versa when access to abortion is limited. These effects have been shown to have downstream impacts in many domains such as family formation, educational attainment, and labor market attachment, as well as impacts on health, empowerment, and broader measures of well-being such as life satisfaction and exposure to intimate partner violence.

There is mixed evidence when examining the impact that abortion reform has on cohorts of children exposed to reform variation. Across contexts abortion reforms have been shown to affect the composition of cohorts of children via differential rates of access to abortion, though this compositional effect is context-dependent, and as such a number of different patterns have been documented. Compositional effects of policies often also have been shown to have a geographic component, given that certain types of individuals are more easily able to travel to access abortion where restrictions are in place in one area but not in another.

Much of what is known in the economic literature on abortion is gleaned from country-level case studies and cohort variation in access, with this evidence generated from a relatively small number of countries in which reforms have occurred and data is available. In general, much of the literature available covers low fertility and industrialized settings. Additional evidence from other settings would allow for a broader understanding of how abortion reform affects well-being.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
Authors: Reidy Joseph P.
Published: June 2024

On March 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a bill creating the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. Congress granted the bureau control over affairs relating to the formerly enslaved people in the Confederate States and also charged it with administering relief to war refugees and managing the confiscated and abandoned land in federal possession. In theory, its agents would transform the habits and beliefs associated with slavery into those that prevailed in the free states of the North. Practical challenges abounded, and the original view that the intervention would be brief proved to be naïve. Complicating matters, Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, viewed the bureau as a bone of contention in his dispute with Congressional Republicans over which branch of government would control Reconstruction, the process of returning the seceded states to full standing in national affairs. Overriding Johnson’s vetoes, Congress extended the bureau’s mandate, first to 1868 and eventually to 1872. From the beginning, Southern critics accused the bureau of creating labor strife and stirring hatred between the races, a characterization that formed a central plank in later Lost Cause mythology regarding the evils of Reconstruction. Only decades into the 20th century did historians succeed in rehabilitating the reputation of this pioneering federal agency and its important contributions to restoring stability to the Southern economy and assisting formerly enslaved Southerners in asserting their rights as free and equal citizens of the republic.
The Religious Program of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace
Authors: ter Haar Barend
Published: June 2024

The Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (taiping tianguo太平天國) was a major religious movement that caused a civil war in 19th-century China with a devastating impact on the then Qing dynasty empire. It was shaped by the 1837 visions of the Hakka literatus Hong Xiuquan 洪秀全 (1814–1864), in which he received an assignment from the Heavenly Father (his version of the Christian God) to clear the world of demons. These were initially identified as the ruler of the underworld, ancestors, or local deities; later they came to be identified as the Manchus of the ruling Qing dynasty. Hong was influenced by early missionary texts by Protestant missionaries of English and German backgrounds. An equally important event was the appearance in 1848 of Yang Xiuqing 楊秀清 (c. 1820–1856), who successfully claimed that the Heavenly Father regularly descended in him to give instructions to the movement’s following, including Hong himself. In the same year, another man claimed to be the almost equally important voice of Jesus as the savior of the world. Thanks to the rich body of texts produced by the movement itself, a lot is known about the voices of Yang Xiuqing and his colleague but also about the movement’s interpretations of early 19th-century Western Protestantism. Central narratives were the story of Moses, who led the chosen people out of Egypt to the promised land; the death of Jesus on the cross to carry the sins of humankind; and, of course, the visions of Hong Xiuquan and the descent of the Heavenly Father and Jesus into human vessels. The story of Moses probably formed the crucial inspiration for the long trek of the movement from the Guangxi province in the far south to the central Chinese city and former capital of Nanjing on the Yangzi River. The historiography around the movement is extremely diverse, with Chinese communist and nationalist versions but also extensive English language writing. Some scholars stress the Christian dimension, whereas others would stress the combination of indigenous interpretations of Christian texts against a local religious background. Central among the indigenous influences is the conception of the world as filled with demonic beings who can and should be expelled by means of violence, using a sword and a seal.
Receptive Multilingualism in Germanic Languages
Authors: Gooskens Charlotte
Published: June 2024

Many languages and dialects are spoken in the Germanic language area. When speakers with different native language backgrounds want to communicate, they need to find ways to cross linguistic borders. Speakers often use English as a lingua franca, or they learn each other’s languages. However, this asks considerable time and effort. Many speakers feel insecure when speaking a foreign language, or they may not master it well enough to communicate at more than a basic level. An alternative communication mode is receptive multilingualism. This is a form of communication in which interactants speak their own language but are able to understand the language of the other well enough to communicate successfully. It is easier for most speakers to express themselves in their first language than in a foreign language. In addition, language is an important part of identity and therefore it is important for many individuals to use their native language when communicating with others.

A prerequisite for receptive multilingualism is mutual intelligibility between the languages of the interactants. To be able to communicate successfully, the participants in a conversation do not need to be able to speak the language of the conversation partner, but they need a certain level of understanding of the other speaker’s language. The level of intelligibility relies on similarities between the languages of the interactants. In general, languages that are closely related are mutually intelligible to a higher extent than less closely related languages. However, receptive multilingualism can also be successful if the interactants have been exposed to or have learned each other’s languages to an extent that is sufficient to understand them.

Receptive multilingualism has received a considerable amount of attention among scholars, educators, and policymakers in the Germanic language area. This is especially true in mainland Scandinavia, where this kind of communication between Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians is often put into practice. However, receptive multilingualism is also used among speakers with other Germanic language backgrounds. Even in the case of less closely related Germanic languages, such as German and Dutch or Frisian and Danish, there is often a potential for communication by means of receptive multilingualism. When speakers want to communicate in this mode, only a little exposure or instruction is sufficient to make them aware of important differences and similarities between their own language and the language of the speaker.
Null Subjects in the Romance Languages
Authors: Costa João
Published: June 2024

Some Romance languages have null subjects, that is, these languages have the capacity of leaving the subject of the sentence unexpressed. The property of having null subjects is not uniform across Romance. Different Romance languages have different types of null subjects, which has an impact on their distribution and interpretation.
Natural Hazards and Public Health in Urban Areas
Authors: Sheehan Mary C.
Published: June 2024

The world’s cities face natural hazards that expose their large, concentrated populations to health, safety, and well-being risks. The most important of these hazards in the urban context can be grouped into several categories: meteorological and hydrological, including extreme heat, flooding, and drought; environmental, including air pollution and wildfires; and geological, including earthquakes. Multiple natural hazards may affect an urban area simultaneously or in sequence, while any hazard may create a cascading interaction with the urban built environment. This produces the potential for what has been called “connected hazard events.” While earthquakes and extreme heat may lead to the deadliest urban disasters, connected hazard events contribute substantially to the full health burden of urban natural hazards. Thus, human activity—including rapid urbanization, biodiversity loss, and climate change—is increasing the frequency, severity, and complexity of many natural hazard-triggered disasters.

Public health risk from natural hazards in urban areas is determined by the type of hazard; the extent and nature of population exposure; population vulnerability factors such as age, health status, housing quality, economic well-being, and social conditions; and the capacity of urban systems to cope, adapt and learn. Populations in cities of all sizes and income categories face natural hazards. Among those at highest risk are urban dwellers in the coastal cities of Asia and Africa, and in the informal settlements of the world’s largest cities. While cities in wealthier countries report greater value of assets damaged in hazard events, those in lower income countries report more lives lost, and more people affected by injury, illness, or displacement. Policy and practice strategies for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation can reduce the risks and enhance the capacity of city dwellers. Risk and vulnerability assessments, hazard monitoring and mapping, early warning systems, health preparedness and response, nature-based solutions, and population health surveillance are among the strategies with a growing evidence base. Involving city public health agencies can strengthen their impact. Enhanced collaboration of public health and urban planning; more consistent metrics, monitoring, and research, particularly in the most vulnerable low- and middle-income country cities; and developing a culture of preparedness are opportunities to reduce health risks from natural hazards in urban areas.
Relocation due to Climate Change
Authors: Bier Vicki M. , King Susan B.
Published: June 2024

Coastal flooding due to sea-level rise associated with climate change is likely to lead to long-term relocation (as opposed to short-term evacuation) of sizable populations from at-risk areas. Flooding has major adverse effects on the people affected by it, making it advantageous for people to relocate proactively (before experiencing major flooding) rather than only in the aftermath of flooding. However, relocation itself can also be associated with significant hardship, both financial and otherwise, making planning and assistance important in facilitating relocation.

Several social and cultural factors, including social capital and social cohesion, can affect the extent to which vulnerable populations are resilient to the risk of disasters such as flooding. A number of actions and planning efforts can enhance resilience and minimize adverse impacts of both flooding and relocation. These include planning efforts to reduce the need for relocation in at-risk areas, economic incentives to facilitate and encourage voluntary relocation, assistance to support people in preparing for relocation, and planning to accommodate relocatees in possible receiving communities. In particular, receiving communities will need to deal with considerations of housing availability. In all of these processes, special attention is needed to effectively address issues of equity (e.g., difficulties experienced by low-income or less educated individuals in accessing available aid) as well as differing levels of community administrative capacity. Finally, disaster planning has historically focused primarily on the needs of homeowners; further attention to the needs of renters is therefore needed. Many of these tasks require leadership and coordination at the national and state levels (e.g., to review and possibly redesign assistance and financial-aid programs for disaster preparedness and recovery to improve equity).
Mis- and Disinformation
Authors: Shou Yiyun , Kuru Ozan , Newman Eryn , Smithson Michael
Published: June 2024

Mis- and disinformation have been a major challenge in risk communication and management of natural hazards. Mis- and disinformation create obstacles by misleading the public about natural hazards, including risks, and consequently can adversely impact individual citizens’ behaviours. The origin and spread of mis- and disinformation involve a range of social and psychological factors. The issue of what is regarded as valid or invalid information boils down to socially constructed persuasions and agreements about what is true and what is not. The mechanism behind persuasion about misinformation could benefit from understanding persuasion about information in general. Some key psychological aspects of people’s susceptibility to mis- and disinformation centre around how people accept or reject knowledge, process information, and perceive knowledge and truth. Meanwhile, critical social and environmental aspects such as media and group dynamics facilitate the transmission and generation of mis- and disinformation. Both psychological and social factors can amplify each other in contributing to the difficulty in battling mis- and disinformation in the contemporary digital era. Combating mis- and disinformation requires efforts from various stakeholders, especially the media, government, and regulators. There have been increasing efforts from the scientific community, media, and governments to address the detrimental impacts of mis- and disinformation. A number of strategies and interventions have been introduced or implemented at the media and policymaking levels. However, there are critiques of these approaches and calls for more multilateral efforts to address mis- and disinformation in a larger societal context.