bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exposing the Reich
Authors: Harper David
Published: December 2024

As a WWII tour director for thirty-five years, David Harper has repeatedly heard the same questions from an extremely varied American and British audience: “Why did the Germans vote for Hitler? Did they know about the concentration camps? What did German soldiers and members of the SS feel about the extermination camps and the war crimes they were committing? How do today’s Germans view Hitler and the Third Reich? What is the country doing at present to address those dark pages of its history and to remember the victims of Hitler’s regime? Do the right-wing demonstrations in Germany portend a resurgence of Nazi ideology today?”

All these questions and many more are addressed in Exposing the Reich. The book seeks to promote an understanding of how the devastation and tragedy of the war and the concurrent genocide could happen. It studies the lethal blend of inciting hatred, ongoing indoctrination, justification for drastic action, and the complete control of all media.

How many people know, for instance, that Hitler was writing an opera when he lived in Vienna or how he developed his antisemitic outlook while living there? Few know about the early political and ideological influences on Hitler’s worldview, such as those instigated by his little-known mentor, Eckart. Who has ever heard about Hitler’s “second book,” in which he revealed his major foreign policy plans, a manuscript that remained secret? How many realize that Hitler’s regime planned on replacing Christianity with its own “religion” and substituting Mein Kampf for the Bible? Why did Hitler name his regime the “Third” Reich, and why did he choose the swastika as its logo? Why did the fine arts enjoy such an honored status during the Reich? What were the lesser-known original purposes of the concentration camp system established in Germany just weeks after Hitler seized power? Who realizes that, just prior to Hitler seizing power, the Jewish population in Germany was a mere 0.7%?

These, and countless more insights regarding the Third Reich, are revealed in Exposing the Reich. From young students to well-informed history buffs, readers will gain a wealth of new insights into Hitler and his regime of terror.
Agent of the Iron Cross
Authors: Mills Bill
Published: December 2024

From Publishers Weekly: "Devotees of cloak-and-dagger intrigue will revel in this thrilling and complex account."

On January 16th Witzke and several confederates departed Mexico City for the U.S. border. After crossing 1500 miles of rugged territory, encountering bandits and other hazards along the way, Witzke reached Nogales. But unknown to the saboteur-assassin, the German espionage network in Mexico had been penetrated by Allied intelligence and one of his companions was a double agent.

The Witzke mission was the intelligence game played at its highest level - a plan for destruction on a massive scale, violent insurrection, and assassination, complete with master spies and double agents, diabolical sabotage devices, secret codes, and invisible ink. Meticulously researched and written in the style of an adventure novel, Agent of the Iron Cross is the first detailed account of this legendary espionage operation.
The Feldenkrais Method for Instrumentalists
Authors: Nelson Samuel H. , Blades Elizabeth L.
Published: December 2024

Every musician is an athlete. Athletes hone their bodies, coordinate their reflexes, and train their minds seeking to perfect a balance of strength, skills, and agility. Complicated, demanding, and repetitious movements often result in unnatural and difficult positions which put instrumentalists at risk of injury. However, when movement and task are coordinated well and freely, the athlete-instrumentalist finds themselves in “the zone” or “the flow,” a magical place where art and athleticism meet.

The Feldenkrais Method is a movement-based self-discovery processthat aims for performance with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, thus reducing the chance of injury and even helping speed up recovery time from an injury. Samuel H. Nelson and Elizabeth Blades provide a guide to the Feldenkrais Method tailored specifically for instrumentalists. The book includes many “Awareness Through Movement” activities and lessons as well as case studies and examples specific to different instrument types.
God's Diplomats
Authors: Gaetan Victor
Published: December 2024

Using inside sources and extensive field reporting about the secretive, high-stakes world of international diplomacy, Vatican reporter Victor Gaetan takes readers to the Holy See to explicate Pope Francis's diplomacy, show why it works, and to offer readers a startling contrast to the dangerous inadequacies of recent U.S. international decisions.
Rural Revisions of Golden Age Drama
Authors: García-Martín Elena
Published: December 2024

This work focuses on rural community versions of Spanish Early Modern Theatre and deals with cultural heritage and the contemporary impact of Golden Age theatre on local rural communities. To this end, I examine the burgeoning of annual rural Golden Age theatre festivals that generate site-centered, non-professional productions of the plays, and revisit the conflict between tradition and innovation, between popular and high culture between authority of literary heritage and the people's right to the canon. The selection of Early Modern plays set in actual Spanish communities—Fuenteovejuna, El Alcalde de Zalamea, Numancia and Los tres blasones de España—renders an overview of the effect of these important works on their respective communities and focuses on the theatrical festivals as peripheral, subaltern, hybrid cultural phenomena. I take into consideration not only traditional and significant studies on these four renowned plays, but recent theories on staging, performance and popular reception and agency.

The research involved crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries between literature, history, geography, and politics by centering on the appropriation and re-examination of a past that is continuously revised through contemporary performance, and which is adjusted to fit the needs and desires of the context in which it is interpreted. This diachronic approach allows for a new perspective on contemporary performances which question cultural politics, redefine tradition and transcend geo-political boundaries.
Physical Hazard Control
Authors: Spellman Frank R.
Published: December 2024

People deal with physical hazards every day at the workplace, in their homes, on the roadways, and in many other areas. In any situation, people face potential hazard—often more than one hazard in each situation—and these hazards often lead to serious injury. But it is possible to mitigate the effects of many of these hazards, or even prevent them altogether?

In Physical Hazard Control: Preventing Injuries in the Workplace, author Frank Spellman focuses on controlling physical hazards at work to prevent injury, illness, and death. This up-to-date edition features the lasted information on proper controls for many types of physical hazards, including layout and building design, safeguarding of machinery, confined space entry, noise, radiation, ergonomics, electricity, thermal stressors, hand tools, machining, mobile equipment, materials handling, and workplace violence.

Discussions of engineering controls, administrative controls (including safe work practices), and the use of personal protective equipment are supplemented with real-world examples and solutions.

The second edition of Physical Hazard Control: Preventing Injuries in the Workplace, presents a completely updated, practical guide focusing on a variety of physical hazards and controls. It is an informative text for students, a quick reference for safety professionals, and a useful guide for anyone looking to improve workplace safety.
Psychoanalytic Conversations with States of Spirit Possession
Authors: Masih Shalini
Published: December 2024

Shalini Masih grew up in a stimulating environment of priests and healers, witnessing firsthand states of spirit possession and exorcism. In adulthood, she revisited these experiences, motivating her to extend psychoanalysis outside the clinic's realms into spaces of traditional healing. The outcome of her detailed exploration acknowledges the hugely productive interface between cultural manifestations and concerns of psychoanalysis without reducing the phenomenon of spirit possession to something formulaic. Instead, Psychoanalytic Conversations with States of Spirit Possession: Beauty in Brokenness highlights the intrinsic beauty of this complex experience, illustrating relevant themes through culturally sensitive psychoanalytic conversations with participants who felt haunted and possessed by ghosts. The author's journey reveals the ghosts of her own inner world. She draws upon her reveries, dreams, and nightmares to make sense of the unconscious processes in her informant's testimonies, journeys that are so often undertaken from one grotesque ghost to another until these ghastly beings reappear as broken part-selves in search of the glue of spiritual meaning.
The Social Life of Unsustainable Mass Consumption
Authors: Boström Magnus
Published: December 2024

The Social Life of Unsustainable Mass Consumption draws on a variety of theories and research to contribute to our understanding of unsustainable mass consumption. It addresses the role of identities, social relations, interactions, belonging, and status comparison, and how perceived time scarcity is both a cause and an effect of consumption. It examines the power of consumer norms and how overconsumption is normalized and shows how consumption is embedded in the time-space arrangements of everyday life. Magnus Boström contextualizes such drivers within the larger institutional and infrastructural forces underlying mass consumption, including the economy, growth politics, and the problematic promises of consumer culture. Boström further draws on lessons from lived experiments of consuming less and discuss how insights about the flaws of consumer culture can help shape a growing critique and countermovement – a collective detox from consumerism.
Self, Identity, and Collective Action
Authors: Tremblay Francine
Published: December 2024

Based on the work of George Herbert Mead, Han Joas, and Axel Honneth, as well as the author’s own personal and academic identities and journeys, Self, Identity, and Collective Action argues that the self and action are strictly related. Reading these authors provided Francine Tremblay with the theoretical ground to stand on while thinking about identity and how it is linked to civic participation. She posits that Mead’s work and its link to action must be revisited and given its rightful place in sociology, and thatsociology must be radical, committed, and passionate.
On Dwelling
Authors: Skocz Dennis E.
Published: December 2024

On Dwelling: Poetry, Place, and Politics unfolds the meaning of dwelling as both being in the world, and being on the earth with others. Dennis E. Skocz traces a path from the places we call home, through the global market place (said to foster a “world without borders”), to the planet we co-inhabit. The book addresses themes of displacement, contested space, and estrangement along with specific issues like migration, ethnic division, and resource use. Embracing the discourses of poetry, philosophy, and politics the book uses a cross-disciplinary approach to tackle the diversity and complexity of the topic. The investigation is grounded in phenomenology, with economics, jurisprudence, political theory, geo-physics, cultural anthropology, and other sciences coming into play. It builds on first-person “lived experience” and the “lifeworld” as a concrete basis for understanding. Challenged by real-world issues of co-existence, the book culminates in sketching a “political space” where stakeholders in the future of the planet can collaborate across the globe for the earth and its dwellers.
Social Justice from Outside the Walls
Authors: Mulhearn Ann Youngblood
Published: December 2024

Social Justice from Outside the Walls: Catholic Women in Memphis, 1950–1970 by Ann Youngblood Mulhearn examines the intersections of faith, race, and gender within the social justice movements in twentieth-century Memphis, Tennessee. Weaving together the biographies of six Catholic women and drawing upon the activists’ own published writing and personal interviews, this book disrupts assumptions that racial and social justice was primarily a Protestant concern. Motivated by the tenets of their Catholic faith, these women, both Black and white, used existing social, political, and religious organizations to further the causes of racial and social justice. When these structures were not available, the women created them, transforming traditional women’s organizations into vehicles of social and political activism. As a small representation of progressive Catholics active in the South, these six Catholic women redefined their perceptions and expectations of themselves both as women and Catholics. In doing so, they challenged contemporary gender norms as well as the patriarchal hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Their intertwined stories highlight the significant contributions made by Catholics and Catholic theology to the civil rights movement on the local level and further refine our understanding of larger national movements.
Conservation, Preservation, and Recreation at Glacier National Park
Authors: Wieland Maureen
Published: December 2024

This book navigates the complicated tensions involved in effectively communication the National Park Service’s mission to both conserve and preserve nature while also offering recreational experiences to the public. Maureen Wieland utilizes first-hand qualitative research conducted in Glacier National Park in Montana, one of America’s most highly visited parks, to weave together historical, interview, and observational data from both visitors and employees of the park to build a collaborative understanding of the park’s environmental status and mission. Through discussion of climate change, policy change, and environmental education at Glacier National Park, Wieland explores the complicated nature of the National Park Service as an organization and how national parks will evolve in the future. Scholars of communication, environmental studies, and public relations will find this book of particular interest.
Hackers as Heroes in German Film and Television
Authors: Mahan William
Published: December 2024

This book examines German feature films and television series centered around the figure of the computer hacker as a hero, introducing the German hacker genre to the ongoing scholarly discussion of genre in German cinema. William Mahan argues that the genre reflects a history of youth resistance, a complex political landscape, and an obsession with Datenschutz (data protection) in the German context to make the hacker an archetypal character with both national and global cultural appeal. Ultimately, Mahan posits, the continued prevalence of the hacker over the last twenty-five years suggests that while remaining relevant, the figure has also evolved and become dynamic in connection to developing technologies. Scholars of film studies, German studies, and cultural studies will find this book of particular interest.
Spinoza’s Argument for Substance Monism
Authors: Martin Christopher
Published: December 2024

In Spinoza’s Argument for Substance Monism: Why There Is Only One Thing, Christopher Martin provides an interpretation and defense of this argument, using speculative metaphysics as a method to show how the key terms and concepts are employed and fit together. Specifically, Martin argues that (i) Spinoza’s understanding of substance and attribute departs only slightly from dominant historic notions; (ii) his definition of God in terms of attributes instead of perfections is quite helpful and (mostly) compatible with more traditional definitions; and (iii) Spinoza’s pairing of causal and conceptual relations is more intuitive than we think. Martin also shows how these essences function as causes and explains why, with Spinoza’s understanding of emanation and conceptual independence, any substance must have every attribute. These features of Spinoza’s argument explain and defend his ultimate claim that God/Nature is the only substantial being in existence. This book demonstrates how approachable and compelling Spinoza’s argument is and illustrates the practice and potential of speculative metaphysics for specialists and non-specialists alike.
New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan
Authors: Sairambay Yerkebulan
Published: December 2024

New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Young People in Eurasia confronts the sociological problem of the usage of new media by young people in political participation, particularly in Eurasian countries. The author explains how and why new media promotes political participation among young people in Russia and Kazakhstan. While there has been no shortage of analysis about the interlinkage between new media and political participation, this research is different—it explains the mechanisms and reasons of new-media-assisted political participation. This book develops two models—theoretical and New-Media-Led Political Participation—that better explain how new-media use translates into political participation. These models are of paramount importance for the study of new-media-led political participation, which builds in-depth knowledge to the research area from a post-communist perspective. This book not only sheds light on the ways in which, and the reasons why, new media contributes to the nature of political participation, but also explains why citizens use new media in their political participation. The author sets his sights on what occurs downstream, i.e., not in the minds of political leaders and/or well-known oppositionists but on the ground in specific contexts such as cities, towns, and villages by young people.
Cold War Children's Television
Authors: Cvetkovic Vibiana Bowman
Published: December 2024

Cold War Children's Television: Philadelphia as a Case Study examines a culturally significant phenomenon of the Cold War—the locally produced hosted children's show. The Cold War era and the coming of age of commercial television were entwined not only chronologically but societally. The era of the locally produced hosted show closed in the wake of Sesame Street due to shifts in social policy, industry economics, and rising expectations for children programming. Through the lens of cultural and historical analysis, this book reveals that beyond that nostalgia lies a vital visual form that thrived in the Cold War era; one that reflected the ideals of childhood, media, and nation of a societal terrain from which the American children's television host emerged.
Carceral Recovery
Authors: Khan Sanaullah
Published: December 2024

The book explores the interrelation between carceral conditions and substance use by considering the intersections between drug markets, sidewalks, households, and prisons in Baltimore. Sanaullah Khan argues that while housing, medicalization, and incarceration fundamentally create the conditions for substance use, individuals are increasingly experiencing the paradoxes of care and punishment by being propelled into a new regime of recovery which creates new pharmaceuticalized identities. By shedding light on how addiction and the impetus for healing moves through families and institutions of the state, Khan provides an account of the different competing forces that shape substance use, recovery, and relapse. Through a combination of archival research and ethnography, the book makes a case for disentangling punishment from recovery.
An Ethnomusicologist's Last Lecture
Authors: Loza Steven
Published: December 2024

An Ethnomusicologist’s Last Lecture: Music and Globalism, Philosophy and Religion explores the frustration of many scholars and artists with the content and directions of studies on music, which continue to be mostly based on Western thought, methods, theories, and even the modes of communicating ideas, and mostly through written, published works. Steven Loza argues that this pattern has pervaded both philosophy and ethnomusicology, fields which should be much more globally based in terms of intellectual analysis, culturally diverse points of view, and the recognition of multiple ways of thinking and doing. He criticizes what he perceives as an intellectual hegemony and biased approach to studying music, including the standards to which academics are held responsible, the manner in which we and our students have had to study music, and the forms by which we are pressured to present our findings, many times adapting theories and ideas that have nothing to do with the cultures we are examining through a one way microscope – and often a distorted lens. Loza takes the reader through an assortment of historical and contemporary global examples of musical expression, creative artists, and thinkers, looking for ways that we can assess how music both reflects and enacts culturally diverse peoples’ beliefs, thoughts, and world views.
Protecting Abortion Access
Authors: Crookston Shara
Published: December 2024

In a post Roe society where abortion is becoming increasingly difficult to access, abortion clinic escorts ensure patient safety and comfort. This qualitative study highlights the challenges and motivations escorts experienced at clinics across the country both pre and post Dobbs. Drawing on interviews with clinic escorts, the author examines how increasing abortion restrictions, lack of police support, massive clinic closures, and upticks in anti-abortion protesting from Christian organizations impact the clinic escorts’ work and their perceived ability to keep the sidewalks of their clinics peaceful for patients seeking abortion care.
Russian Hackers and the War in Ukraine
Authors: Sweet Julia
Published: December 2024

Since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine (February 2022), hackers have become more active on a global scale. The clashes between Russian and Ukrainian “cyber armies” are at its central front line. Russian Hackers and the War in Ukraine: Digital Threats and Real-World Consequences scrutinizes the unique situation where cyber criminals, who usually operate clandestinely, have surfaced and looked for public attention and approval. This book does not cover technical aspects of hacking. Instead, it scrutinizes the public activity of Russian hacker groups including building their brand, communicating with supporters, their financial situation, and other crucial aspects. This research draws mainly on open sources such as social media entries comprised of texts, videos, images, and chat comments which were collected through daily monitoring of the hacking groups’ activities.
Art and Praise in Kierkegaard’s Works of Love
Authors: McCombs Richard
Published: December 2024

Since art is essential to the love of one’s neighbor as oneself and to love’s chief goal of building up one another, we cannot understand love without also understanding its art. Observing that praise is ubiquitous in Søren Kierkegaard’s writings, Richard McCombs interprets Kierkegaard’s Works of Love as a eulogy of love’s arts of forgiveness, peace-making, and building up one’s neighbor in maturity and charity. Kierkegaard stresses love's ability to achieve results, calling love irresistible and almost magical in overcoming obstacles to its purposes; living the life of faith and love involves skillful attention to the specificity of the episodes in an individual’s life, and the creative imagining of new ways of enacting these virtues. McCombs argues that Kierkegaard’s ideas about the art of love reveal limits or exceptions to his individualism and to his anti-consequentialism in ethics. Art and Praise in Kierkegaard’s Works of Love explores Kierkegaard’s distinct praises of love through texts like Works of Love, The Brothers Karamazov, and Middlemarch to illustrate, complement, and sometimes correct Kierkegaard’s profound account of love’s art and wisdom, suggesting ways that the art of praise bears on other questions in aesthetics, ethics, and religion.
Urban Guerrilla vs. Citizens Revolution
Authors: Buckley Nicolás
Published: December 2024

Urban Guerrilla vs Citizens Revolution: The Ecuadorian Dilemma at the Turn of the Century examines how trauma and modernity affected the daily lives of Ecuadorian guerrilla activists. Utilizing oral histories and archival study, this book describes the lives of activists in the Ecuadorian guerrilla group ¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!. Dr. Nicolas Buckley demonstrates not only how these AVC activist’s life stories reveal their traumas, but also how their traumas are proof that modern Ecuador is still anchored in its colonial past. Further, Dr. Buckley explores two identities that emerged in Latin America, the “mestizo” versus the “indigenous.”
Entanglements of Rare Diseases in the Baltic Sea Region
Authors: Rajtar Malgorzata , Król Katarzyna E.
Published: December 2024

Although rare diseases have captured public attention in recent decades, the lived experiences of people affected by these conditions remain on the periphery of medical anthropological inquiry. Focusing on Poland, Finland, and Sweden, and foregrounding notions of “rare” or “chronic” disease as an embedded category, this book critically analyzes entanglements between people and families with rare diseases and care practices that involve local healthcare policies, practitioners, and treatment modalities. Drawing on locally grounded case studies, Entanglements of Rare Diseases in the Baltic Sea Region constitutes a unique and important contribution to both global medicine and social science scholarship.
Expressivity in Modern Poetry
Authors: Wellman Donald
Published: December 2024

Expressivity in Modern Poetry explores three interrelated subjects. The first is a general exposition of the radical or deeply realistic aspects of the poetry and visual arts of the modem period. The focus is on the works of Ezra Pound as understood through a prism of postmodern thought. The second subject is the poetry and poetics of Charles Olson, a pivotal figure during the transition from modernism to postmodemism. The third subject is contemporary innovative poetry with special attention to transcultural, neobarroco, and language-centered aspects of composition. The grounding for this section is found in the works of William Carlos Williams, Aime Cesaire, and Jose Lezama Lima. A reversal of the relation between the center and periphery-decentering the New York-to-Paris vector-is crucial for understanding the Caribbean as a seedbed for both innovative and identity-based poetics. Wellman's purpose is to amplify the cultural importance of expressivity in a field where critical discussion is often dominated by constructivism and conceptualism. Expressivity in Modern Poetry offers a new reading of the relation between twentieth-century modernism and contemporary poetic practice.
American Public Memory and the Holocaust
Authors: Costello Lisa A.
Published: December 2024

The recent rise of global antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and American white nationalism has created a dangerous challenge to Holocaust public memory on an unprecedented scale. This book is a timely exploration of the ways in which next-generation Holocaust survivors combine old and new media to bring newer generations of audiences into active engagement with Holocaust histories. Readers have been socialized to expect memorialization artifacts about the Holocaust to come in the form of diaries, memoirs, photos, or documentaries in which gender is often absent or marginalized. This book shows a complex process of remembering the past that can positively shift our orientations toward others. Using gender, performance, and rhetoric as a frame, Lisa Costello questions public memory as gender neutral while showing how new forms of memorialization like digital archives, YouTube posts, hybrid memoirs, and small films build emotional connections that bring us closer to the past.
Healers and Patients Talk
Authors: Griffith Véronique A. S.
Published: December 2024

Endometriosis is not a common word. Some people associate it with difficult patients, pain during sex, and infertility. Others link it to stigma, grief, and not being believed by their doctors. In Healers and Patients Talk, Véronique A. S. Griffith provides insight into interactions between patients and health professionals in the clinical setting. Griffith examines the varied and contested enactments of endometriosis, the multiple ways in which people understand and use the term endometriosis, and the complex pathways to the diagnosis. Endometriosis is a label historically bestowed on white, heterosexual, cisgendered career women. Griffith offers ideas as to how such exclusionary practices developed over time.
The Long Telegram 2. 0
Authors: Eltsov Peter
Published: December 2024

The Long Telegram 2.0: A Neo-Kennanite Approach to Russia lays out an original argument for understanding Russia that goes deep into its history, starting with the tri-partite dictum “orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality,” formulated in 1833 by count Sergey Uvarov. The author explores Uvarov’s triad in the context of modern Russia, adding five more traits: exceptionalism, expansionism, historical primordialism, worship of the military, and glorification of suffering. The author argues that, as presently constituted, Russia cannot become a democracy, and, sooner than later, it will disintegrate, replicating the fate of the Soviet Union. The key reasons for these, according to the author, are: weak mechanisms for the transition of power, poorly developed institutions of the state, feeble economy and education, frail ideology, and, most importantly, the lack of a unified national identity.

Following this assessment, the author defines a strategy for dealing with Russia, based on a combination of offensive realism and realpolitik, recommending that the West copes with Russia in a more pragmatic manner. The book includes the author’s translation of a unique historical document from the 1860s: a pamphlet calling for the independence of Siberia on the example of the American revolution.
Perspective Chapter: Advanced Nanotechnology Approach for Heavy Metal Toxicity – Analysis, Treatment, and Removal
Authors: Seid Ali Yimer , Shaw Ibrahim , Liu Yang , Chen Chuanpin
Published: December 2024

Heavy metal pollution is the contamination of the environment by toxic metals, which can lead to life-threatening diseases such as lung cancer, infertility, cardiovascular diseases, and nervous system disruptions. Monitoring and eliminating heavy metal residues from food, water, and environmental samples is crucial for public health safety. Nanomaterials have emerged as promising tools in dealing with heavy toxicity in the environment, offering numerous advantages over traditional methods. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of nanotechnology-based approaches to heavy metal toxicity and assesses the environmental impacts of toxic HMs on health. It explores the use of various nanomaterials to detect and safely eliminate heavy metal pollution and discusses different nanotechnology-based methods for monitoring HMs in environmental sources. The chapter is designed to be engaging and informative for a broad audience while providing technical depth for expert readers.
Cross-Cultural Differences: A Review of a Random Sample of Cross-Cultural Studies on Speech Acts
Authors: Rashed Hosni Hala
Published: December 2024

The rapidly increasing movement of people across borders brings more and more cultures into contact and increases the need for cross-cultural communication as well as the potential for cross-cultural misunderstanding. Thus, raising cultural awareness and learning the different cultural practices have become highly important in the increasingly growing and culturally diverse world. For this reason, this study provides a review of some cross-cultural studies on speech acts with the aim of highlighting the effect of culture on the perception/performance of these speech acts and giving some insights into how to avoid cross-cultural misunderstandings. This review highlights the importance of having deep respect for cultural differences and developing a sense of acceptance toward the fact that there are many ways to view the world and many ways to perform different speech acts.
Perspective Chapter: Collaborative Learning Benefits and Its Role in Critical Thinking
Authors: Ansari Zanub , Naseer Sabila
Published: December 2024

“Collaborative Learning” is instructional method in which students of diverse performance levels engage and work communally in small groups to achieve common goals or to find collective solution of particular problem. At current time, our education system and learning process are not limited to individualized approach but have extended to collaborative learning, including mutual activities. This chapter highlights different types of collaborative learning, such as Think-Pair-Share, Problem-Based Learning, Guided Designs, Case Studies, Simulations, Peer Teaching, Small Group Discussion, Peer Editing, Jigsaw Strategy, Using Roles in Group Work, Catch Up, Fishbowl Debates, Team-Based Learning, Number Heads Together, and Concept Mapping. Further benefits of collaborative learning have been discussed in learning process, as it is a kind of relationship among students who foster positive interdependence, individual accountability, interpersonal skills, development of higher-level thinking, communication skills, self-management, leadership skills, and most significantly critical thinking. Critical thinking involves asking appropriate questions, gathering and creatively sorting relevant information, relating new information to existing knowledge, reexamining beliefs, reasoning logically, and drawing reliable conclusions. After reviewing scientific papers, importance of collaborative learning is highlighted, so that policymakers can bring fruitful changes to make addition of collaborative projects and activities in education system. Particularly, promotion of student’s interaction in groups as well as interaction among students and faculty is increased; this will cause student retention and enhance their self-esteem and responsibility.
Anesthesiologic Management of Patients with Opioids or Psychoactive Substance Use
Authors: Zoppellari Roberto , Vason Milo , Alessandro Locatelli Carlo
Published: December 2024

This chapter focuses on the pharmacological interactions between opioids or psychoactive substances, such as cocaine, amphetamines, products containing tetrahydrocannabinol and cathinones with anesthetic drugs, and provides recommendations during the perioperative period for recognizing risks and reducing complications. Substance use can be suspected or confirmed in the preoperative phase via physical examination, anamnesis and toxicological tests. Assessment of appropriate timing of surgery is necessary, requiring, in case of opioid dependence, careful evaluation of treatment. Regional anesthesia is preferred in opioid users. General anesthesia could control cardiovascular alterations due to the central and peripheral neurotransmitter effects of psychostimulants. Indications and contraindications regarding anesthetic drugs and intraoperative strategies are discussed. Important postoperative implications include the use of intensive care unit; close respiratory and cardiovascular monitoring; multimodal analgesia and pain control; and withdrawal prevention. Finally, the review provides suggestions on how to approach the patient with other healthcare providers for offering opportunities to treat substance use disorder.
Fascial Plane Blocks
Authors: Khamis Mohammed
Published: December 2024

Fascial plane blocks have been widely introduced as a competitive alternative to paravertebral, epidural, and perineural blocks. They represent a paradigm shift as they do not require visualization of the nerves or injection of local anesthetic close to the nerves. However, there are a number of controversial issues surrounding these new blocks, including their efficacy, evidence, indication, and technique. This has not diminished their popularity or their acceptance into protocols, guidelines, and clinical practice. Although they undoubtedly have a role to play in modern anesthesia, a deeper understanding of fascia is required to improve outcomes.
A Review of the State-of-the-Art in Fractional-Order PID Controllers
Authors: Emre Yokuş Yunus , Engin Ayten Umut , Kartcı Aslıhan
Published: December 2024

Fractional-order (FO) PID controllers are becoming increasingly popular for various industrial applications due to the advantages they can offer. The increasing tendency toward the utilization of FOPID controllers is mainly owing to the fact that these controllers have extra tuning knobs that allow coherent adjustment of the dynamics of control systems. Nonetheless, there are several critical points that remain underexplored in the existing literature, namely: (i) What are the significant advantages of FOPID controllers in comparison with integer-order (IO) PID controllers? (ii) For the real-time implementation of FOPID controllers, approximations equivalent to high-order linear controllers are used. In this case, what are the benefits of using FOPID controllers? Lastly, (iii) What are the advantages of having a near-ideal FO behavior in the control practice? In this chapter, we attempt to address these issues through conducting a comprehensive review of relevant publications in the rapidly growing literature on FO control, outlines the milestones and disadvantages, and presents future perspectives for the industrialization of FO control. Moreover, we draw conclusions and formulate suggestions for future searches. In conclusion, this chapter helps the beginners to get started quickly and to learn how to select, tune, approximate, and implement FOPID controllers in the frequency domain.
Massive MIMO Antenna Arrays for Low-Frequency Bands
Authors: Atia Abdalmalak Kerlos , El Yousfi Ahmed , Segovia Vargas Daniel
Published: December 2024

5G and future mobile communications increasingly emphasize massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology to meet the demanding requirements for higher capacity and data rates. Solutions for high-frequency bands above 1 GHz exist, but increasing MIMO order in low-frequency bands remains unexplored despite their advantages as wider coverage. This chapter summarizes the challenges of designing base station antennas for massive MIMO at 5G New-Radio (5G-NR) 700 MHz bands, transitioning from 4T4R to 16T16R dual-polarized MIMO without increasing overall size. Hence, compact antennas are required without sacrificing the array performance, especially in terms of broadband, gain, half-power beamwidth (HPBW), and isolation. The main requirements for a proper radiating element are summarized. Three candidates are presented based on ultrawideband and resonating structures (including spirals, differential patches, and Dielectric Resonator Antennas (DRAs)) followed by performance studies in isolated and subarray configurations. A differential metallic cap-loaded multi-layer DRA element proves to be a strong candidate. A truncated-version of three subarrays is investigated demonstrating outstanding capability with broadband, flat gain of 8 dBi, and average HPBW below 35°. Also, potential extension from 4T4R to 32T32R is analyzed, which remains unattainable with other solutions at low frequencies. Finally, the fabrication and measurement of a preliminary element are discussed.
Ghani Mersenne and Fermat Entropy for Some Dendrimers and Their Structure-Property Modeling
Authors: Usman Ghani Muhammad , Ajaz K. Kirmani Syed , Sultan Faisal , Tchier Fairouz
Published: December 2024

The mathematical language provided by various topological index types may be used to identify various properties of chemical components in a molecular structure. Within the framework of valency-based topological indices, we examine eight different dendrimer architectures. This chapter proposes two novel molecular descriptors, the Mersenne index and the Fermat index, by combining the essential notions of the Mersenne number and the Fermat number. The molecules with the highest Mersenne index and Fermat index values are found in the classes of some dendrimer families, including poly or propyl ether-imine dendrimer, polyethylene amido amine dendrimer, porphyrin dendrimer, zinc porphyrin dendrimer, porphyrin-cored dendrimer-I, porphyrin-cored dendrimer-II, porphyrin-cored dendrimer-III, and porphyrin-cored dendrimer-IV. The Fermat index differs from the Mersenne index in that it grows with the value of n, as the Fermat number is always increasing by increasing the value of n. Also, we show that the Mersenne index and the Fermat index are always members of the set of integers (Z) for any graph of chemical compounds.
Performance Enhancement of Geopolymers through Natural Fiber Reinforcement: Sustainable Alternative Construction Materials
Authors: Bantie Zenamarkos , Abera Desalegn
Published: December 2024

Cement manufacturing consumes a huge amount of energy and raw materials, resulting in the emission of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, resource depletion, and environmental degradation. Recently, geopolymer composites emerged as promising alternatives to the traditional cementitious materials for their cost-effectiveness and environmental-friendly processing technology, offering similar technical properties as traditional cements with superior performances. However, geopolymers have relatively low tensile and flexural strengths, fragile breakage, and low ductility, limiting their use in the construction sector. Recent advances in the area revealed that fiber-reinforcing geopolymeric matrices overcome these and other related deficiencies. Various natural fibers have been researched as reinforcement of geopolymer matrices to provide improved tensile and flexural strengths, reduced density, and improved thermal and acoustic insulation properties. This review is intended to analyze and discuss the performance enhancements and macro- and microstructural modifications of geopolymer composites through natural fiber reinforcement.
Gene-Environment Interactions in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Insights from Mexican American Populations
Authors: G. Manusov Eron , P. Diego Vincent , Almeida Marcio , Galan Jacob A. , Bala Auwal A. , Arriaga Marco A. , S. Garcia-Rodriguez Natasha , Hernandez Renee , Kumar Satish , Blangero John , Williams-Blangero Sarah
Published: December 2024

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is a prevalent and complex condition influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. This chapter explores the genotype-by-environment interactions that contribute to the development and progression of NAFLD in the Mexican American population. Using advanced genetic epidemiology and bioinformatics approaches, we investigated how specific genetic variants interact with environmental factors such as depression, acculturation stress, and social determinants of health, to influence NAFLD risk and severity. Our findings reveal significant genotype-by-environment interactions for key NAFLD-related traits, including HbA1c, AST/ALT ratio, and steatosis-controlled attenuation parameter (CAP). We also discuss the application of cutting-edge proteomic and transcriptomic techniques in identifying novel biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for NAFLD. This comprehensive analysis provides insights into the molecular mechanisms of NAFLD in Mexican Americans and provides support for developing targeted prevention strategies and personalized healthcare.
Oral Health Status among Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women
Authors: Wadhwa Medha , Kalyan Pulkit , Deshpande Anshula , Deshpande Neeraj
Published: December 2024

Pregnancy, lasting about 41 weeks, causes significant physiological, biochemical, and physical changes in a woman’s body, including the oral cavity. Hormonal shifts, particularly in estrogen and progesterone, increase tissue sensitivity, leading to oral issues like gingivitis, periodontitis, tooth erosion, and dental caries. Changes in saliva pH, dietary imbalances, and poor hygiene further contribute to these problems, including lesions like granulomas. Post-pregnancy, the loss of bone calcification for milk production adds to oral health concerns. Poor oral health during pregnancy has been linked to adverse outcomes like preterm birth and gestational diabetes. Thus, healthcare providers must educate pregnant and breastfeeding women on oral health risks. Collaboration between obstetricians and dentists is essential in minimizing these risks through education and prevention.
GDPR Compliance in Video Surveillance Systems and Applications
Authors: Elena Mihaescu Roxana , Ghenescu Marian , Carata Serban
Published: December 2024

With the evolution of video processing, the volume of video data has increased significantly, and access to high-risk data is becoming very easy. This chapter will classify the data regarded as high risk according to current regulations and detail both the GDPR and EDPS regulations and how they affect the processing and recording of personal data. Afterward, we will present a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art solutions in the literature, ensuring compliance with GDPR. Throughout the chapter, we will describe the importance of ensuring compliance with the current GDPR and the challenges that a video processing system faces in this process. To exemplify the impact of GDPR on video systems, we will present our application for detecting what is considered high-risk data and how GDPR affects these applications. To adapt video surveillance systems and applications to be GDPR-compliant, we have also implemented a lightweight software solution, which can be easily integrated into any existing video processing system. This solution requires a minimal addition of computational and hardware resources, being suitable for any video application. Video surveillance systems and video analytics applications must align with GDPR and protect sensitive and personal data.
The Wettability of PMMA Surface by Aqueous Solutions of Anionic Gemini Surfactants with Different Hydrophobic Carbon Chain Lengths
Authors: Hang Zhe , Zhang Lu , Liu Fenrong , Ma Wangjing
Published: December 2024

This study investigates the synthesis of several new Gemini surfactants with various hydrophobic carbon chain length amide groups (C12, C14, C16, and C18) using triethylenetetramine, maleic anhydride, and internal olefins with different carbon chain lengths as raw materials. The research examined the adsorption mechanism and hydrophilic modification capacity of four different kinds of Gemini surfactants on the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) surface. Surface tension and contact angle data for each Gemini surfactant were used to compute the adhesion work and adhesion tension. According to the surface activity parameters, the critical micelle concentration and maximum adsorption amount decrease with the increase in the length of the hydrophobic carbon chain. However, the equilibrium surface tension first decreases and then increases with the increase in the length of the hydrophobic carbon chain. The four surfactants exhibit complex self-aggregation behavior in the solution due to their long hydrophobic chain structure and flexible spacer. The four surfactants are heavily adsorbed on the PMMA surface, forming semicolloidal aggregates, according to the combination of contact angle measurements, adhesion tension, and interfacial tension data. Moreover, compared with literature, the four surfactants synthesized in this study show better hydrophilic modification ability on the PMMA surface.