bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Quest for Educational Equity in Schools in Mainland China & Hong Kong
Authors: Lin Jason Cong
Published: November 2024

In this essay, I introduce how and why minority groups and educational equity are understood and approached differently in Mainland China and Hong Kong. I describe how in the past few decades, China and Hong Kong have reformed their education systems to increase educational equity and I summarize the progress achieved. I also discuss the cultural, political, and social issues and challenges that contribute to the complexity surrounding educational equity in China and Hong Kong, elaborate on how educational equity remains a tricky issue in schools, and how different factors intersect to affect students' access to educational goods. Finally, I argue that schools in China and Hong Kong should continue both to reform their education systems to enhance the academic achievement and social development of marginalized students and to put more effort into empowering teachers and students to recognize and address the long-standing systemic and institutional obstacles.
Triangulating a Global Qing: China, Japan, and Europe in a Snuff Bottle
Authors: Kleutghen Kristina
Published: November 2024

In the early eighteenth century, a palm-sized snuff bottle was produced for China’s Kangxi 康熙 emperor (r. 1661–1722). Made in the Qing dynasty court workshops in Beijing, this tiny object paired European-style enamels (if not also imported pigments) painted on copper with two insets of Japanese black and gold maki-e lacquer. Combining Japanese and European materials in Chinese court arts is highly unusual, especially in so small an object, making the snuff bottle an extremely rare and rather experimental example. Yet this self-consciously globalizing object, whose imperial approval is present in the Kangxi reign mark (Kangxi nianzhi 康熙年製) on its base, reveals more than creative innovation and technical ingenuity. By combining materials, techniques, foreign origins, object function, and representational styles, it demonstrates a wide scope of foreign engagement on the part of the emperor who laid the foundation for the entire High Qing period (1662–1799).
Das Paradies: The Anthropocene Extinction in Global Art History
Authors: Ray Sugata
Published: November 2024

Taking the Flemish-born artist Roelant Savery’s Das Paradies (1626) as a starting point, this essay explores the role of European artistic cultures and collecting practices in inciting the ecocide of the post-1492 Anthropocene Extinction. In particular, I explore how Savery’s celebrated painting of Adam and Eve consuming the forbidden fruit amidst a verdant landscape inhabited by animals such as the now-extinct dodo, endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, became the pivotal foundation for scientific and cultural perceptions of the extinction of nonhuman life in colonial worlds as the natural outcome of European modernity’s global flows.
Making a Case for Ebony
Authors: Swan Claudia
Published: November 2024

This essay makes a case for assessing the significance of material and labor in the context of the global history of early modern art, through an analysis of a single case or cabinet dated to the second quarter of the seventeenth century: an imposing ebony chest inlaid with mother-of-pearl created by Herman Doomer (1595–1650), a contemporary and compatriot of the Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669). The essay endeavors to address the place of enslaved labor in Dutch seventeenth-century taste that favored foreign goods and materials.
Reason to Hope? Arendt, Foucault, and the Escape from Politics into History
Authors: Conroy Peter
Published: November 2024

On many occasions between the early 1950s and her death in 1976, Hannah Arendt argued that modern Western thought exhibited a recurring desire to “escape from politics into history.” What did she mean by this claim, and how valid was it, particularly in her own lifetime? This article explores these questions in two parts. The first part reconstructs her critique of the turn toward “the philosophy of history” in the modern age, and argues that her own project, in contrast, was an attempt to fulfill the hope for what she called “a new political philosophy.” That hope grew especially pronounced in the 1960s, when she monumentalized the American Revolution as a model of republican action while criticizing Marxism, Third Worldism, and the New Left. The second part asks whether this transformative decade witnessed a resurgence of the philosophy of history or fulfilled her hope for a new political philosophy. In doing so, it turns to Michel Foucault, who arguably emerged from this period as the most influential thinker in Western Europe and the United States. A kindred theorist in some respects, he did more than Arendt herself to fulfill the hope for a new kind of political thought, while developing a mode of critical genealogy that remains one of the most powerful alternatives to historical teleology today.
Politics, History, Freedom: Arendt, Foucault and the Politics of Genealogy
Authors: Owen David
Published: November 2024

Arguing that Arendt and Foucault can both be seen as engaged in the practice of genealogy, this article starts by sketching the background figures of Heidegger and Nietzsche that they hold in common and situates their relations to Nietzsche as emerging from dissatisfaction with the lack of historical groundedness in Heidegger’s philosophy. To develop this case and to provide that basis for some comparison between their approaches and diagnoses of the contemporary condition, it then offers an analysis of each of Arendt and Foucault against this Heidegger-Nietzsche background. Finally I draw attention to some salient similarities and differences between Arendt and Foucault that can provide a basis for critical dialogue between them.
Nostophiliac AI: Artificial Collective Memories, Large Datasets and AI Hallucinations
Authors: Kollias Phivos-Angelos
Published: November 2024

This article explores the concept of Artificial Collective Memories as an interplay between collective memory and large datasets employed by ai algorithms. A collective memory represents “the recollection of events shared by a group” (Roediger, 2015). It includes lived experiences and human interactions. Contrarily, large datasets used by ai algorithms, such as Large Language Models (llm s) or text-to-image models, are amassed by scraping internet data representing human communication. Those large datasets and the vast number of digitised representations of memories they encapsulate are references to the collective memories they represent, which we refer to as “Artificial Collective Memories”. Using our audio-visual project Nostophiliac ai as the starting point of this discourse and with references to our projects The ai Oracle and ai Reconstructing Realities, we are exploring areas of convergence between artificial intelligence and collective memories. With this article, we aim to enhance our understanding of ai by examining it through the lens of collective memory and, inversely, to obtain fresh insights on human collective memory through observations of generative ai’s applications.
Prospective Overruling and the Non-Retroactivity of the Law
Authors: Alvim Teresa Arruda
Published: November 2024

This paper analyses the new outlines of the “mechanism” of adjustment, introduced into the Brazilian legal system by the 2015 Code of Civil Procedure. This mechanism already existed, within the scope of the concentrated control of constitutionality, but it now allows the postponement of the effects of the overruling by the superior courts. However, the Code of Civil Procedure does not regulate the subject in a detailed manner, having left out a number of problems that, while not solved by means of statutory law, must be adequately solved by means of case law and by jurists.
‘We were persistently othering them out’: Reconceptualising ‘safeguarding’ for young people experiencing extra-familial risks and harms during transition to adulthood
Authors: Huegler Nathalie , Damman Jeri L. , Ruch Gillian , Bowyer Susannah
Published: November 2024

Background:

The transition to adulthood may involve experiences of risk and harm – including, for some young people, abuse, violence or exploitation in peer and community contexts. In the UK, such extra-familial risks and harms have prompted safeguarding responses in policy and practice. However, safeguarding conceptualisations are significantly different for young people under 18 than for those over 18, leading to service and system gaps in transition. The concept of Transitional Safeguarding seeks to address this, advocating for more integrated approaches that centre the needs, voices and lived experiences of young people.

Objectives:

Based on findings from a study on early-stage innovation developments aligned with Transitional Safeguarding, this paper considers issues and dilemmas linked to reconceptualising ‘safeguarding’ so as to better protect young people experiencing extra-familial risks and harms during transition to adulthood.

Methods:

A 4-year study followed safeguarding innovation developments in selected local areas in England, based on a qualitative case study approach that involved ethnography, interviews and documentary analysis.

Findings:

The paper highlights gaps in safeguarding services and systems for young people around age 18, when support may either significantly decrease or stop altogether. The intersecting dynamics of risks, harms and unmet needs point to the importance of multi-agency collaboration, beyond service-centric threshold definitions. The need to systemically and systematically involve young people in support and innovation development is also emphasised.

Conclusions:

The boundary-spanning change which the Transitional Safeguarding approach advocates requires significant shifts to create conditions capable of addressing risks and harms during transition to adulthood, as well as their structural drivers. Navigating these shifts remains a key challenge for local services and systems engaged in Transitional Safeguarding innovation, and their efforts need to be supported by policy frameworks and adequate funding.
Does Local Representation Reduce Self-Determination Conflict?
Authors: Corvalan Alejandro
Published: November 2024

There is ample evidence that the political exclusion of minorities from state power increases the risk of conflict. Nevertheless, do these same results apply to local representation? I explore this question using the success in mayoral elections of the Chilean Mapuche, a deprived indigenous minority in a longstanding conflict against the Chilean state. Combining a novel database on conflict and a surname strategy to single out Mapuche mayors, panel evidence suggests a negative association between minority mayors and local self-determination conflict. To provide identification, I exploit an electoral reform that exogenously changes the candidates’ probability of being elected. Land invasions, a primary type of conflict strategy for ethnic minorities, significantly decreased after the election of Mapuche mayors. I discuss the role of local horizontal inequalities and coercion as possible mechanisms.
Justifications for Imposing Strict and Absolute Criminal Liability, and the Case for a Halfway House Defence
Authors: Wong Aaron H. L.
Published: November 2024

The imposition of strict criminal liability is often controversial. This article first revisits the important functions of mens rea and establishes that imposing strict liability is prima facie unfair. This article then turns to explore arguments in favour of imposing strict liability, and evaluates whether these arguments are convincing. After establishing that displacing the requirement for the prosecution to prove mens rea can be justified in some circumstances, this article explores different alternatives that allow a balance to be struck between achieving the purpose of criminalisation and minimising the infringement of the presumption of innocence. Through a comparative analysis, it is suggested that enabling a halfway house defence through statutory construction by the courts would be valuable.
Perceptions of Electoral Integrity and Election-Related (Non-)Compliance: Evidence from Germany
Authors: Schnaudt Christian
Published: November 2024

What if citizens feel that election outcomes are the result of electoral manipulation and fraud rather than the outcome of a genuinely democratic process? Do they still obey the laws and regulations of newly elected governments, or do they refuse to give governments their allegiance? Analyzing individual-level survey data from Germany, this study sheds light on the nexus between electoral integrity perceptions and compliance. It shows that citizens who perceive the integrity of elections as compromised are more likely to view election-related non-compliance justified. Moreover, citizens’ views concerning the fairness of elections and the justifiability of election-related non-compliance matter for their law-abiding behavior in other domains: Those who consider the electoral process fraudulent and election-related non-compliance justifiable adhere less often to governmental regulations pertaining to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings entail important implications for effective democratic governance and questions of electoral backsliding and democratic erosion more generally.
‘When we put our thoughts and ideas together, policy makers are listening to us’: Hope-work and the potential of participatory research
Authors: Power Maddy , Patrick Ruth
Published: November 2024

This article brings together a theorisation of hope with the everyday practices of participatory research against a difficult – often entrenched – policy context. We posit that ‘hope-labour’ can characterise engagement in participatory research, which can itself be generative of hope as part of resistance to the status quo. This novel analysis links, and is relevant to, broader theorisations of resistance and critical policy analysis. While there is a growing recognition of the need to subvert traditional forms of political activism and engagement, there has been less specific theorisation of how and why participatory research might play a role. This article corrects this, drawing directly on four years of participatory research working with parents and carers living on a low income to explicate how hope manifests in our practice. We argue it is important to recognise and carefully work through the significant ethical challenges which characterise hope-labour in participatory research. These include how hope is mobilised and the markedly different ‘stakes’ at play in working with hope for researchers and participants. These represent stubborn challenges, and it is incumbent on researchers to be transparent with participants about them in line with an ethics of reciprocity and feminist research praxis. Research can be aimed at a different – and radical – future, because of its orientation towards delivering substantive changes but also, and significantly, because it foregrounds a fresh, different way of collaborating and connecting, one that values and incorporates a diversity of expertise and promotes collective self-determination rather than competition.
Change in Governance Modes in Marine Protected Areas that Overlap with Fishing Territories: A Study of Cuba and Brazil
Authors: Silva Manuela Dreyer da , Teixeira Cristina Frutuoso , Tielves Raimundo Vento , Silva Christian Luiz da , Ramos Ania Bustio , Nascimento Décio Estevão do , Heyes Heather
Published: November 2024

This article discusses governance in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), particularly the possibility of formulating arrangements capable of confronting the effects of the ocean grabbing process in fishing territories. Through the articulation of experiences in MPAs in Cuba and Brazil and the content analysis of technical-scientific documents produced on the daily governance of these areas, legal frameworks in both countries, and peer-reviewed articles, this study identifies vectors of change in established modes of governance. The identified vectors are potential verifiers of equity and socio-environmental justice criteria in governance processes that can encourage recognition of traditional fisher’s rights to deliberation on access and use of resources in these areas. On the other hand, the conclusions drawn also reveal the limits of these arrangements when considering the ambiguity of the legal regimes that outline the creation and implementation of MPAs.
The Challenge of Balancing Innovation and Tradition in the Public Sector: The Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Digital Transformation
Authors: Nagel Maximilian L.
Published: November 2024

This conceptual article investigates the critical role of street-level bureaucrats (SLB) as potential “eliminators” of dysfunctional policies and drivers of digital change in the public sector. Working on the front lines of government, they have a distinctive viewpoint that allows them to challenge persistent ineffective policies. The present work introduces a framework that illustrates the roles SLBs could assume within the context of the ongoing digitalization reform of German public administration. It explores the conditions under which public servants are likely to be reflexive about existing practices—including reform practices—and can promote real innovation.
Local Government Reform and the Urban-Rural Relation: A Comparison of Leicester, the United Kingdom and Weihai, China
Authors: Liang Yuan , Liu Jinyuan , Kou Guirong
Published: November 2024

Since the twentieth century, urban expansion has gradually become a global issue. As the first country to urbanize, Britain faced tense urban-rural relations caused by urban expansion after World War II. Similarly, in the twenty-first century, China, as the world’s largest urban entity, faces the same issue due to its rapid urbanization. Both countries have undertaken local government reforms to address this problem, achieving similar results at certain points in time. However, due to differing national contexts and political traditions, their processes and directions vary significantly. This article examines Leicester and Leicestershire in the United Kingdom, and Weihai and Wendeng in China, as cases for comparative study. It aims to analyze the similarities and differences in local government reforms and the evolution of urban-rural relations in these two countries, as well as the reasons behind the differences.
Racial Disparity in Parenting Practice Among Parents With Young Children
Authors: Lee Kyunghee
Published: November 2024

This study examined the racial disparity in parenting practices among families with young children. Based on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-K: 2011 (The ECLS-K: 2011, n = 18,043), parents were categorized as White (46.9%), Black/African–American (13.2%), Hispanic (25.3%), Asian–American (8.5%), and Other races (Native Hawaiian, other Pacific Islander, and American Indian, 6.1%). Parenting practices included parents’ teaching behaviors (reading a book, telling a story), expectations toward their children’s education, parental involvement, and parental discipline practices. Asian–American parents showed more authoritarian parenting practices, African–American parents were more engaged, and Hispanic parents exhibited more discipline. White families are more likely to provide supportive and less harsh environments, and parents of other races (Native Hawaiian, other Pacific Islander, and American Indian) used less authoritative discipline and had lower expectations toward children’s education. Parental education programs about the similarities and differences of culturally competent parenting practices could contribute to positive child development.
Measuring the precise effect of eating out on calorie intake: The case of Korea
Authors: Cho Seungyeon
Published: November 2024

Background: Estimating the actual impact of eating out on calorie intake poses challenges due to the potential endogeneity of eating out. Controlling for endogeneity is essential to obtain more precise estimates. Aim: This study estimates the effect of eating out on calorie intake, specifically focusing on dinner among the three daily meals. Methods: The endogenous treatment effect model is employed, utilizing restricted-access data from the 2017 to 2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. To aid model identification, daily precipitation is used as an instrumental variable influencing the decision to eat dinner out. Results: Eating dinner out results in an additional intake of 388.39 Kcal compared to eating at home, whereas the model that does not control for the endogeneity estimates a 261 Kcal increase. The increase in calorie intake from eating dinner out varies significantly depending on individual characteristics. Conclusion: Eating out leads to a substantial amount of calorie intake. Managing the frequency of eating out at a reasonable level could play a crucial role in preventing obesity.
High Variability of Lateral Extra-articular Tenodesis Femoral Tunnel Position With Landmark-Based Techniques
Authors: Kanakamedala Ajay C. , Kruckeberg Bradley M. , Jochl Olivia M. , Whalen Ryan J. , Cinque Mark E. , Hackett Thomas R. , Godin Jonathan A. , Vidal Armando F.
Published: November 2024

Background:

The utilization of lateral extra-articular tenodesis (LET) augmentation for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction has increased. Various fixation points have been recommended based on tactile and anatomic landmarks; however, there is limited reporting of the accuracy or precision of these techniques in clinical practice.

Purpose/Hypothesis:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether LET fixation points identified using anatomic landmarks and tactile techniques would fall within a predefined radiographic zone. It was hypothesized that the majority of LET fixation points would be inside the radiographic zone.

Study Design:

Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 4.

Methods:

Postoperative lateral knee radiographs of patients who underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with LET using a landmark-based technique without fluoroscopy between January 2018 and September 2023 were reviewed. Fixation points were measured by 2 raters based on their distance from an extension of the posterior femoral cortex line (PFCL) distally and a line perpendicular to the PFCL at the posterior condylar flare (PCF). Patients were excluded if the tunnel position could not be identified or if postoperative radiographs were malrotated. The mean LET position and percentage of points within the radiographic isometric zone, defined as 4 ± 4 mm posterior and 4 ± 3 mm anterior to the PFCL and 6 ± 4 mm distal and 20 ± 5 mm proximal to the PCF were calculated.

Results:

Complete data sets were obtained for 47 cases. The mean LET position was 6.4 ± 7.1 mm (range, –9 to 27.3 mm) anterior to the PFCL and 1.8 ± 7.6 mm (range, –16.7 to 12.6 mm) proximal to the PCF. Overall, 53% of LET fixation points were within the predefined radiographic zone. Of the malpositioned tunnels (n = 22), their locations relative to the radiographic zone were anterior (n = 18), posterior (n = 2), proximal (n = 1), and anterior and distal (n = 1).

Conclusion:

This study found large variation in the location of LET fixation points, and almost half of fixation points were outside the predefined radiographic zone. Accurate and precise tunnel placement is one of multiple factors that may be important to minimize the risk of lateral compartment overconstraint, anterior cruciate ligament graft failure, and anisometry leading to LET graft loosening.
Osteochondritis Dissecans of the Capitellum: Influence of Activity on Lesion Location Within a Zone of Propensity
Authors: Clark V. Claire , Wyatt Charles W. , Hawkins Nolan D. , Van Pelt Robert L. , Huang Sharon G. , Johnson Benjamin L. , Ellis Henry B. , Wilson Philip L.
Published: November 2024

Background:

There may be an association between repetitive stress on the elbow and capitellar osteochondritis dissecans (COCD). The influence of activity on the characteristics or specific location of the lesion within a capitellar zone of propensity remains unclear.

Purpose/Hypothesis:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate COCD in gymnasts and baseball players compared with a non–upper extremity (non-UE) sport COCD cohort. It was hypothesized that activity would influence presentation and lesion location and characteristics.

Study Design:

Cross-sectional study, Level of evidence, 3.

Methods:

Consecutive patients presenting with COCD treated in a tertiary sports medicine practice between March 2006 and March 2021 were reviewed. Demographic and imaging lesion characteristics were recorded. The sagittal inclination angle position of the lesion center relative to the humeral shaft was recorded. Intra- and interrater reliability was confirmed (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.808; intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.824, respectively). Participants were analyzed by activity.

Results:

A total of 126 elbows were identified: 68 in gymnasts, 31 in baseball players, and 27 in patients with no history of UE sports. The mean age of the participants was 12.5 years (range, 8-18 years). All (100%) unilateral cases of osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) in baseball players occurred in the dominant throwing arm, compared with less hand-dominance correlation in gymnasts (64%) and non-UE athletes (67%). Significantly, 14 of the 20 (70%) patients with bilateral OCD were gymnasts ( P = .036). In non-UE athletes, lesions occurred at a mean sagittal inclination angle of 52.7° (±13.8°), with a mean lateral containment of 4.7 (±2.1) mm. In gymnasts, lesions occurred more posteriorly at 41.2° (±14.9°), with a lateral containment of 3.6 (±1.9) mm. In baseball players, COCDs occurred at 55.1° (±11.9°), with a lateral containment of 2.5 (±1.6) mm. These more posterior lesion positions in gymnasts ( P = .001) and lesser lesion containment noted in gymnasts ( P = .015) and baseball players ( P < .001) were significant.

Conclusion:

Compared with COCD lesions in adolescents with no history of UE sports, gymnastics participation (impact weightbearing) correlated with a higher rate of bilateral lesion formation and a more posterior (extended) lesion position. Baseball participation (resulting in valgus shear forces in the elbow) resulted in a sagittal position similar to non-UE lesions, but more lateral and with less containment.
The makings of the debtor: Morality tales and economic reasoning in contemporary neoliberal societies
Authors: Thorup Mikkel
Published: November 2024

This article explores both how the debtor became a key actor in contemporary society and relatedly how indebtedness went from being a deplorable, exceptional condition to be avoided to a normal everyday precondition of modern life. Personifying the credit side of futurity, possibilities, enjoyment or accumulation, the debtor is an ambivalent and precarious actor, never an end unto itself, but always a means to something else. The debtor is always embedded in cautionary tales. She or he needs to redeem and discipline her-/himself to become economically sound and accepted within the free market order. In line with this, while crucial for the functioning of neoliberal society, the debtor has not been a project or focus of neoliberal theory. This article explores how the debtor – despite debt being a prominent part of neoliberalism, was not theorized by neoliberals but by their critics both within academia and in activist circles.
Effect of Mind Mapping-Based Scaffolding on Elementary Students’ Computational Thinking in Block-Based Programming
Authors: Gao Xuemin , Yang Yuqin , Du Yuxia , Sun Daner
Published: November 2024

Block-based visual programming tools are widely used in elementary education. Nonetheless, these tools alone may not ensure the spontaneous and efficient acquisition of concepts and skills in computational thinking (CT). Using mind mapping as a form of scaffolding to facilitate the visualization of abstract thinking processes may enhance the effectiveness of programming instruction. This study therefore investigated the effects of mind mapping-based scaffolding that integrates five CT skills on elementary students’ CT development. Eighty-six fifth-grade students participated in our pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study. In the experimental group, mind mapping-based scaffolding was used to help students learn programming, while in the comparison group it was not used. The results showed that both groups achieved significant improvements in concept understanding and skill development; however, students instructed using mind mapping-based scaffolding obtained notably superior performance in understanding CT concepts and mastering CT skills. The results also revealed that the students had positive perceptions of mind mapping-based scaffolding, although challenges were also identified. This study enriches the relevant empirical research and offers insights for practitioners on designing effective scaffolding to promote students’ CT development.
Improving the strength-ductility synergy and surface properties of NiFe29Cr21CuMo-based alloy laser welding subsequent deep cryogenic treatment and vacuum plasma WC20Cr3C2NiX coating
Authors: Muthusamy A , Saravanan M , Selvabharathi R
Published: November 2024

The novel research work focused on enhancing the mechanical properties and joining strengths of laser welding (LW) procedures on a sample of NiFe29Cr21CuMo-based alloy. Moreover, the surface properties and microstructure were improved by vacuum plasma spraying the WC20Cr3C2NiX coating (vacuum plasma spray coating (VPSC)) and deep cryogenic treatment (DCT). Based on temperature, two DCTs (DCT-(L)–(H)) were carried out: −180°C and 250°C on twin boundaries structure, NiFeCr phase, CrMo structure, and µ-austenite lattice structure was observed of the inner surface layer. The plasma spray WC20Cr3C2NiX coating technology was used to improve the outer layer and residual stress. The DCT and VPSC process investigations using electron backscatter diffraction demonstrated unambiguously that the inner and outer surface layer of the µ′(Ni–Fe2Cr3), Fe–CrC, β′-Fe2Cr4, CrCoMn structure, and twin boundary's structure were present. Heat inputs on plasma spray coating samples were more affected in the inner and outer surface layer to the formation of strong crystallographic NiCr phase, β′-Ni/Cr, and CrC/Mn structure. Moreover, the CrMn structure, Fe(AsO4) phase, and NiFeBCr phase abruptly increased the hardness value of DCT-(L) samples of the outer surface. The DCT-(H)–VPSC method yielded a hardness value of 18% highly present. Peak profile investigation revealed the various ranges: 0 to −600 µm for LW + DCT-(H) coating samples, 225–350 µm for LW + DCT-(L) coating samples, and −100 to −200 µm for LW + DCT-(L)–(H) coating. Electrochemical analysis employing potential dynamic polarization was used to assess each sample's corrosion resistance. The corrosion resistance and surface characteristics of DCT and VPSC were superior.
Evaluation of Awareness and Perception Regarding Conflict of Interest in Research Among the Postgraduate Students in a Tertiary Care Center
Authors: Ghajbhiye Snehalata , Tripathi Raakhi , Jalgoankar Sharmila , Pohregaonkar Antara , Ourasang Sumit
Published: November 2024

Background and Objectives

Conflict of interest (COI) exists when a set of circumstances creates a risk that a secondary interest will unduly influence professional judgment or actions regarding a primary interest. This knowledge regarding ethics and rights is given to postgraduate students in their first year of residency through various training programs. In this training, one of the concepts taught is COI. There is no available literature regarding awareness of COI among postgraduate students who are going to be future researchers; hence we decided to conduct this study.

Materials and Methods

It was a cross-sectional, observational, single-center, questionnaire-based Study. The validated questionnaire was administered to the postgraduate students after obtaining their written informed consent. These questions were designed based on four domains: Awareness, perception, case scenarios, and application of COI. The responses were recorded as Yes/No & presented in descriptive statistics.

Results

The mean age of the participants was 28.67 years with a standard deviation (SD) of 1.92. Sixty-one percent of were female. More than 85% of postgraduate residents have an awareness of COI. Also, 70% of participants felt that increased protocol deviations and 91% reported research study outcomes are likely to be positive when there is COI in the study. Ninety-three percent of participants thought that education regarding COI was necessary.

Conclusion

The majority of postgraduate students had an awareness of COI. Postgraduate students perceived that the results of the study involving COI may not be credible, and formal education and training are required in this area.
Gastric SMARCA4-Deficient Undifferentiated Carcinoma: A Report of 4 Patients and Literature Review
Authors: Zhong Yuanli , Liu Jin , Sun Ke , Wang Gangping , Li Baizhou , Liu Yuqing , Chen Nuo , Chen Zhenwei
Published: November 2024

SMARCA4-deficient undifferentiated carcinoma (SMARCA4-DUC) of the stomach is a rare gastric tumor that has been receiving increased attention in recent years. With its varied pathological presentations, accurate diagnosis can be challenging. In order to improve our understanding of this aggressive neoplasm, we have carefully documented and analyzed 4 patients with gastric SMARCA4-DUC, adding to the overall knowledge of this uncommon malignancy. The patients were all men, with an average age of 69 years (range 57–76 years). The tumors were located in the gastric antrum (2 patients), the gastric body (1 patient), and the cardia (1 patient). Microscopically, the 3 surgical specimens exhibited similar morphological features: large to medium sized tumor cells, round, irregular to epithelioid undifferentiated cells in solid sheets or discohesive nests, with no obvious stromal reaction. In one patient, short spindle cells arranged in reticular, pseudopapillary, and disorderly patterns were observed amidst extensive interstitial edema. Some areas displayed a lymphoma-like starry sky phenomenon. The biopsy specimens showed large cells diffusely distributed in the submucosa, presenting pale pink cytoplasm, fine chromatin, and prominent large red nucleoli resembling melanoma. All 4 patients demonstrated BRG1 (SMARCA4) loss, INI1 (SMARCB1) retention, and focal positivity for epithelial markers (AE1/AE3 or epithelial membrane antigen). Three patients had clinically advanced (stages IIIC−IV) disease. Follow-up revealed that 1 patient deceased within 4.8 months. This article expands the morphological spectrum of this cancer, providing new insights for accurate cancer diagnosis.
Social Capital, Waste Generation, and Firm Performance
Authors: Isayev Mugabil , Farooq Omar , Bakhadirov Mukhammadfoik , Farajova Fidan
Published: November 2024

This study explores how social capital influences the relationship between waste generation and firm performance. Using data from 2973 non-financial firms across 50 countries from 2010 to 2020, we find that the adverse effects of waste generation on firm performance are more pronounced in countries with high social capital. Specifically, the interaction term between social capital and waste generation is significantly negative, suggesting that firms in these countries experience a greater decline in performance due to waste generation. Our results are robust across various estimation strategies, including Fama–MacBeth, pooled OLS, and panel regressions, and hold under different sample structures and proxies for waste generation. These findings underscore the critical role of social capital in moderating the environmental impact on firm performance, highlighting the need for stricter waste management regulations in countries with low social capital.
Quasi-static indentation characteristics of foam-filled sandwich composite structures with additively manufactured CFRP and GFRP corrugated cores
Authors: Shah SZH , Lee Juhyeong , Altaf Khurram , Mohammad M , Hussain MZ , Choudhry RS
Published: November 2024

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the quasi-static indentation performance of polyurethane (PU) foam-filled carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) corrugated sandwich composite structures (SCSs) under different indenter tip geometries (conical, trapezoidal, hemispherical, pyramidal, and cylindrical shapes). The SCSs were produced using hybrid manufacturing methods: (1) the facesheets were fabricated using the vacuum-assisted resin infusion (VARI) process, (2) the CFRP and GFRP corrugated cores were additively manufactured using the fused filament fabrication (FFF) process, and (3) the self-expanding PU foam-filled the open spaces in the core. The results elucidated that the indenter tip geometry and core material have a large influence on the indentation performance of SCSs. The cylindrical indenter showed the highest peak load, bending stiffness, and damage severity, while the conical indenter offered the lowest peak load, energy absorption, and damage severity. Among different core materials, CFRP corrugated core SCSs exhibited higher peak loads, specific energy absorption, and damage severity compared to ones with GFRP core. The primary damage modes were observed using an optical microscope, showing facesheet rupture, debonding between facesheets and core, core crushing, foam densification, and shear plugging. Shear plugging is a unique failure mode observed with cylindrical indenter tip geometry due to the blunt edges of the indenter, which induced large damages in SCSs. These findings provide new insight into the design and development of lightweight additively manufactured SCSs, which will benefit a wide range of industries and applications.
Dietary Intake of Chromista Oil Alters Hepatic Metabolomic Profile of Mice With Excess Fat Mass
Authors: Rust Bret M , Nielsen Forrest H , Yan Lin
Published: November 2024

Increasing dietary intake of fish oil is frequently recommended for decreasing the risk for cardiovascular diseases and improving metabolic health. We hypothesised that dietary intake of chromista oil (a marine food product and a rich source of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) ameliorates metabolic impairments in mice with established excess adiposity. Three-to 4-week-old mice (male) were fed a control (n = 12) or a high-fat diet (HFD, n = 24) for 12 weeks to establish body fat mass. Then, mice on the HFD were assigned to 2 groups (n = 12 each) with 1 continuing being fed the HFD and the other fed the HFD with chromista oil for an additional 12 weeks. Intake of chromista oil did not affect body weight and body adiposity of the mice fed the HFD; mice fed the HFD had significantly more body weight and fat mass than control mice. The flattened daily oscillations of respiratory exchange ratio induced by the HFD were not changed by chromista oil intake. Intake of chromista oil significantly increased plasma concentration of insulin, the calculated value of HOMA-IR, and plasma concentration of adiponectin in the mice fed the HFD. However, blood glucose was unaffected by chromista oil. Transcription of genes encoding circadian rhythm and fatty acid metabolism of the 2 HFD-fed groups were similar. Untargeted metabolomic analysis showed that intake of chromista oil altered the hepatic metabolomic profile with substantial alterations in amino acid metabolism. Findings from this study indicate that dietary intake of chromista oil does not improve glucose homeostasis or alter the diminished metabolic flexibility in mice with excess adiposity induced by the HFD. Targeted metabolomic analysis is warranted to investigate the effects of dietary chromista oil, as a source of n-3 poly unsaturated fatty acids, on metabolism in models of obesity.
Pre-service teachers’ experiences of an activist approach in a health and physical education teacher education context
Authors: Luguetti Carla , Turelli Fabiana , Speranza Danielle , Wachter Julie , Konjarski Loretta
Published: November 2024

In the past four decades, health and physical education teacher education (HPETE) research has grown, emphasising social justice and activist approaches as a way to challenge the status quo of systems of oppression, including capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy, racism, LGBTQI+ phobia, and ableism. Despite a wealth of research on social justice and activist approaches in HPETE, there is a notable gap in understanding the outcomes for pre-service teachers (PSTs), necessitating further exploration into the impact and effectiveness of these approaches. This study aimed to explore PSTs’ experiences of an activist approach in an HPETE context. Participants included a teacher educator/researcher and 65 PSTs who experienced the activist approach within their HPETE program while working with school students. Data were collected from: (a) field notes from the teacher educator; (b) reflective diaries from the PSTs; (c) focus groups with the PSTs; and (d) artefacts from the PSTs. Findings were discussed under three themes highlighting the experiences of PSTs engaging with an activist approach in an HPETE program. First, the study underscored how PSTs understood and valued students’ voices and embraced a student-centred approach. Second, PSTs emphasised the pivotal role of building relationships and creating safe spaces within the health and physical education environment. Third, the findings underscored how PSTs understood the messiness in teaching and the need to understand students’ needs in experiencing the activist approach. By investigating PSTs’ encounters with the activist approach, the study provided insights into its effectiveness in enhancing PSTs’ learnings and informing their pedagogical practices.
The dual impact of social media on Asian Americans’ racial identity and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Chen Simin Michelle , Song Sanga , Kim Hyejin
Published: November 2024

Based on social identity theory and the resilience literature, this study explored the ways social media impacted Asian Americans’ emotional well-being, racial identity negotiation, and coping strategies amid the surge in anti-Asian discourses during the Covid-19 pandemic. We interviewed 32 Asian Americans aged 18–59 ( M = 26.63, SD = 7.66; 28% = Ethnic Chinese) who had experienced anti-Asian sentiment on social media during the pandemic. Our study shows that social media played a contradictory role in how Asian Americans experience and cope with the surge in anti-Asian sentiment. Findings from our thematic analysis demonstrate that (1) the negative experiences of social media in conjunction with racial identity that influences Asian Americans’ psychological well-being, (2) the positive role of social media offering a space for collective solidarity, and (3) the positive role of social media activism as a means of collective coping and resilience.
The rule of the anus? Queer imaginaries of power in central Africa
Authors: Hendriks Thomas
Published: November 2024

Peter Geschiere’s most recent writings have come to attend, in increasing detail, to the moral and political panic provoked by the alleged rise of “homosexuality” in Cameroun. This article celebrates Geschiere’s queer turn for its original perspective on postcolonial political dynamics in the region. It particularly focusses on his rich analysis of recurring homophobic associations between same-sex sexuality and the elite procurement of illicit wealth that foreground the anus as a central figure of the popular imagination. This article stretches Geschiere’s interpretation of “anusocratie” by confronting his uptake of Achille Mbembe’s and Joseph Tonda’s remarks on anality-as-passivity with ethnographically informed counterexamples from the DR Congo that render anality as a queer force. This article also suggests some further possibilities and hypotheses that can help situate the supposed rise of anal sex as an occult technique for enrichment and empowerment within longer genealogies of power and transgression in Central Africa.
‘A debt never dies’: Navigating trust and betrayal in southeastern Nigeria
Authors: Smith Daniel Jordan
Published: November 2024

In southeastern Nigeria, Igbo-speaking people commonly assert that “a debt never dies.” In anthropology, it is well established that debts contribute to constituting social relations. Whether related to money or not, debt has wide social significance and invites moral and metaphorical interpretations. The Igbo provide a particularly salient case for exploring the multidimensional implications of debt because they regularly deploy the concept across a range of domains well beyond the businesses for which they are renowned. In honor of Peter Geschiere, this paper focuses on debt in southeastern Nigeria as a vehicle to examine sociality and its underbelly. Several ethnographic examples of debt are presented and analyzed drawing on Geschiere’s insights to illuminate and explain what can otherwise appear to be paradoxical tensions and connections between cooperation and conflict, trust and betrayal, and other antinomies integral to everyday life.
In honorary of Peter Geschiere, articulation of reproduction: Parents, daughters, and education in north Cameroonian society
Authors: Santen José van
Published: November 2024

As Peter Geschiere focussed in his early work - based on Marxism - on the articulation of modes of production, in this essay I put reproduction central, emphasizing change in and attitude towards old and new forms of education in north Cameroonian society. I indicate that articulation of forms of reproduction, shows us that ‘modern/colonial’ education co-exists with former forms of education and how it interrupts the gain (and retain) or control elderly people may have over younger women in general, or on their autonomy. Does education - as a means of reproduction - lead to new forms of what could be called a class-society? Can such an approach make visible a possible subdominant position or a possible autonomy of women as active agents? Or even the intersection of gender, education, ethnicity and/or religion? this essay, based on three extended case-studies (fieldwork since 1986), I contribute to a study of ‘longue durée', which importance has always be underlined by Geschiere. It shows the complexity of the influence of new forms of education in this area throughout time.
The burden of being atypical: The impact of (A)typicality in leader profiles on organizational reputation
Authors: Jeong Young-Chul , Lim Jaegoo , Shin Donghoon , Bazmohammadi Saeid
Published: November 2024

Despite growing interest in appointing top leaders with atypical biographical profiles, many organizations follow typical expectations of what a leader’s profile looks like and avoid deviations from such expectations. This article aims to answer why such changes to leadership atypicality can be difficult by examining a major disadvantage of atypical leader profiles—organizational reputational penalties. Drawing on institutional theory and leadership categorization theory, we propose that atypical components in a leader’s profile are met with greater skepticism and scrutiny of leadership capability from external stakeholders, thereby leading to reputation losses. We examine this argument by developing and testing hypotheses on the reputational impact of atypicality in deans’ profiles in American law schools from 1998 to 2016. Our results show that atypical attributes of a leader’s profile are negatively associated with organizational reputation across a broad spectrum of deans’ key profile attributes, including their career path, education credentials, and gender minorities. We discuss the implications of these findings for the study of organizational atypicality and reputation.