bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Review of upper extremity passive joint impedance identification in people with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Authors: Filius Suzanne J. , Papa Kyriacos , Harlaar Jaap
Published: January 2025

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) progressively leads to loss of limb function due to muscle weakness. The incurable nature of the disease shifts the focus to improving quality of life, including assistive supports to improve arm function. Over time, the passive joint impedance (Jimp) of people with DMD increases. Force-based controlled motorised arm supports require a clear distinction between the user’s movement intention and passive forces, such as passive Jimp. Therefore, Jimp identification is essential. This review aims to define Jimp, identify factors influencing it, and outline experimental methods used for quantification, with a focus on the upper extremities in DMD. A literature review was performed in May 2021 and updated in March 2024 using SCOPUS, PubMed, IEEEXplore, and WebOfScience. The results reveal confusion in definitions and show various Jimp measuring practices for both DMD and individuals without muscle weakness. This study presents an overview and lists important parameters affecting passive Jimp, such as the joint’s position, velocity and the multi-articular nature of the upper arm muscles. For personalised passive Jimp compensation in arm supports, ramp-type perturbations with constant velocity across the full joint range appear most optimal for identifying the elevated and non-linear nature of the passive Jimp in DMD.
Improving preparedness for time critical prehospital care: a descriptive study of the first responder system in Central Norway
Authors: Lindeman Andreas , Næss Lars Eide , Vesterhus Lars , Bakken Ann-Britt Maude , Krüger Andreas , Haugland Helge
Published: January 2025

Background

First responders exist in several countries and have been a prehospital emergency medical resource in Norwegian municipalities since 2010. However, the Norwegian system has not yet been studied. The aim of this study was to describe the first responder system in Central Norway and how it is used as a supplement to emergency medical services (EMS).

Methods

We described incidents with dispatch of first responders in the catchment area of the Emergency Medical Communication Center of Sør-Trøndelag in Central Norway, using retrospective data recorded in the Norwegian Emergency Medical Information System between 2019 and 2023.

Results

First responders were dispatched to 460 incidents during the period. Of these, 441/460 (96%) incidents were assessed as “acute”, and 135/460 (29%) were assessed as possible cardiac arrests. Four large rural municipalities accounted for 234/460 (51%) of the incidents. One in four patients, 112/449 (25%), died within 30 days. EMS had a median response time of 29 min in our sample.

Conclusion

First responders are almost exclusively dispatched to high-severity incidents, with suspected cardiac arrest being the most common dispatch criteria. Our findings suggest that the first responder system contributes to rapid response in cases of acute illness and injury, especially in rural areas.
Blood-based epigenome-wide association study and prediction of alcohol consumption
Authors: Bernabeu Elena , Chybowska Aleksandra D. , Kresovich Jacob K. , Suderman Matthew , McCartney Daniel L. , Hillary Robert F. , Corley Janie , Valdés-Hernández Maria Del C. , Maniega Susana Muñoz , Bastin Mark E. , Wardlaw Joanna M. , Xu Zongli , Sandler Dale P. , Campbell Archie , Harris Sarah E. , McIntosh Andrew M. , Taylor Jack A. , Yousefi Paul , Cox Simon R. , Evans Kathryn L. , Robinson Matthew R. , Vallejos Catalina A. , Marioni Riccardo E.
Published: January 2025

Alcohol consumption is an important risk factor for multiple diseases. It is typically assessed via self-report, which is open to measurement error through recall bias. Instead, molecular data such as blood-based DNA methylation (DNAm) could be used to derive a more objective measure of alcohol consumption by incorporating information from cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites known to be linked to the trait. Here, we explore the epigenetic architecture of self-reported weekly units of alcohol consumption in the Generation Scotland study. We first create a blood-based epigenetic score (EpiScore) of alcohol consumption using elastic net penalized linear regression. We explore the effect of pre-filtering for CpG features ahead of elastic net, as well as differential patterns by sex and by units consumed in the last week relative to an average week. The final EpiScore was trained on 16,717 individuals and tested in four external cohorts: the Lothian Birth Cohorts (LBC) of 1921 and 1936, the Sister Study, and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (total N across studies > 10,000). The maximum Pearson correlation between the EpiScore and self-reported alcohol consumption within cohort ranged from 0.41 to 0.53. In LBC1936, higher EpiScore levels had significant associations with poorer global brain imaging metrics, whereas self-reported alcohol consumption did not. Finally, we identified two novel CpG loci via a Bayesian penalized regression epigenome-wide association study of alcohol consumption. Together, these findings show how DNAm can objectively characterize patterns of alcohol consumption that associate with brain health, unlike self-reported estimates.
Comparison of the Effectiveness of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen in the Management of Patent Ductus Arteriosus in Preterm Neonates: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Shah S. Mohsin Ali , Khan Shaista Azeem , Sadiq Faran , Gul Ruba , Sadiq Faizan , Khan Misbah Ullah , Khan Muhammad Khalid , Uzma Faryal , Khan Arooj , Khan Sabir
Published: January 2025

Background

Patent ductus arteriosus is one of the most common cardiac conditions affecting the neonates. Considering the lack of studies done on this topic in healthcare settings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, this study aims to find out the comparative effectiveness of paracetamol and ibuprofen in management of PDA in our healthcare setting to conclude a better management option for the condition.

Objective

To find and compare the effectiveness of paracetamol and ibuprofen in the closure of patent ductus arteriosus in preterm neonates.

Methodology

This randomized controlled trial was conducted in the Department of Nursery and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan, from 10th April 2024 to 10th October 2024. A total of 256 neonates of both genders with patent ductus arteriosus were included. Group A received oral paracetamol, and Group B received oral ibuprofen. The effectiveness of the treatments was evaluated at the end of the treatment period.

Results

The age range in this study was from 48 to 96 h, with a mean age of 71.79 ± 13.10 h in Group A and 73.40 ± 11.81 h in Group B. Efficacy was observed in 107 (83.6%) patients in Group A compared to 90 (70.3%) patients in Group B, showing a statistically significant difference (P = 0.011).

Conclusion

Our study has concluded that paracetamol is more effective than ibuprofen in closing patent ductus arteriosus. The trials were retrospectively registered at NIH Trial Registry (NCT06601114) https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06601114 dated 15/09/2024.
Light and dark biofilm adaptation impacts larval settlement in diverse coral species
Authors: O’Brien Paul A. , Bell Sara C. , Rix Laura , Turnlund Abigail C. , Kjeldsen Shannon R. , Webster Nicole S. , Negri Andrew P. , Abdul Wahab Muhammad A. , Vanwonterghem Inka
Published: January 2025

Background

Recovery of degraded coral reefs is reliant upon the recruitment of coral larvae, yet the mechanisms behind coral larval settlement are not well understood, especially for non-acroporid species. Biofilms associated with reef substrates, such as coral rubble or crustose coralline algae, can induce coral larval settlement; however, the specific biochemical cues and the microorganisms that produce them remain largely unknown. Here, we assessed larval settlement responses in five non-acroporid broadcast-spawning coral species in the families Merulinidae, Lobophyllidae and Poritidae to biofilms developed in aquaria for either one or two months under light and dark treatments. Biofilms were characterised using 16S rRNA gene sequencing to identify the taxa associated with settlement induction and/or inhibition.

Results

We show that light and biofilm age are critical factors in the development of settlement inducing biofilms, where different biofilm compositions impacted larval settlement behaviour. Further, we show that specific biofilm taxa were either positively or negatively correlated with coral settlement, indicating potential inducers or inhibitors. Although these taxa were generally specific to each coral species, we observed bacteria classified as Flavobacteriaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, Rhizobiaceae and Pirellulaceae to be consistently correlated with larval settlement across multiple coral species.

Conclusions

Our work identifies novel microbial groups that significantly influence coral larval settlement, which can be targeted for the discovery of settlement-inducing metabolites for implementation in reef restoration programs. Furthermore, our results reinforce that the biofilm community on coral reef substrates plays a crucial role in influencing coral larval recruitment, thereby impacting the recovery of coral reefs.
Warrick score in rheumatoid-arthritis interstitial lung disease: a promising tool for assessing the extent and progression of lung involvement
Authors: Karadag Duygu Temiz , Dogan Sevtap , Gokcen Neslihan , Cagdas Oznur Sadioglu , Yazici Ayten , Cefle Ayse
Published: January 2025

Background

The clinical manifestations and course of rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) exhibits considerable heterogeneity. In this study, we aimed to explore radiographic progression over a defined period, employing the Warrick score as a semi-quantitative measure in early RA-ILD, and to assess the associated risk factors for progression.

Methods

RA-ILD patients underwent consecutive Warrick scoring based on initial high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) at diagnosis and the first follow-up. Associations between Warrick scores, pulmonary function tests, and patient characteristics were analyzed. The ROC curve assessed the predictive performance of the Warrick score change rate for ILD progression, while multivariable logistic regression analysis identified risk factors for progression.

Results

Significant correlations were found between Warrick scores and age at RA-ILD diagnosis, age at ILD diagnosis, and baseline DAS28-ESR. For the severity score, correlations were r = 0.359, r = 0.372, and r = 0.298 (p = 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.014, respectively); for the extent score, r = 0.364, r = 0.318, and r = 0.255 (p = 0.001, p = 0.005, p = 0.038, respectively); and for the total score, r = 0.376, r = 0.367, and r = 0.280 (p < 0.001, p = 0.001, p = 0.022, respectively). Annual changes in severity, extent, and total Warrick scores showed sensitivities of 91–97% and specificities of 98% for predicting progression over a 5-year follow-up. Cut-off values were 0.0278 for the severity score (AUC 0.954), 0.0227 for extent score (AUC 0.976), and 0.0694 for total score (AUC 0.946). Warrick severity, extent, and total scores increased significantly during follow-up. Age > 50 years (OR 7.7; p = 0.028) and baseline usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern (OR 3.1, p = 0.041) were identified as risk factors for progression.

Conclusions

Advanced age and UIP pattern were significant risk factors for progression. Warrick scoring may may help predict progression in RA-ILD, particularly through changes in severity, extent, and total scores. Due to the retrospective design and small sample size, further prospective studies with larger cohorts are needed to confirm these findings and validate Warrick scoring as a reliable marker for RA-ILD progression.
Vibration control and energy harvesting of adjacent structures by electromagnetic dampers considering soil-structure interaction
Authors: Kang Xiaofang , Wu Zongqin , He Wei , Wang Xinqi , Jiang Xueqin
Published: January 2025

With rapid urbanization, the increasing density of buildings in urban areas has forced us to consider interactions between adjacent structures. However, most studies have focused on fixed foundations, neglecting soil-structure interactions (SSI). This paper addresses this gap by investigating the optimization of two adjacent structures using electromagnetic inerter dampers (EMID) under SSI. The EMID system, equipped with energy harvesting capabilities, was optimized using the Monte Carlo search method, with results demonstrating a significant reduction in dynamic response. Specifically, frequency and time domain analyses show that the EMID system reduces peak displacement and acceleration by up to 41.23% compared to uncontrolled structures. Additionally, the system efficiently converts seismic energy into electrical energy, with energy harvesting reaching peak values under intense seismic waves, such as those observed in Mexico City earthquake conditions. This innovative system not only enhances seismic performance, particularly in soft soil conditions, but also offers energy resilience by supplying emergency power, thus highlighting its potential for sustainable urban infrastructure.
Polygenic diseases
Authors: Dolomatov Sergey , Zukow Walery , Zhukova Anna , Smirnova Svetlana
Published: January 2025

Background: Recent advances in molecular genetics have revolutionized our understanding of hereditary diseases, particularly polygenic (multifactorial) conditions. This comprehensive review examines the genetic basis of common polygenic diseases, including diabetes, preeclampsia, breast cancer, and factors influencing athletic performance.
Material and Methods: Analysis of current literature covering genetic aspects of polygenic diseases, focusing on gene polymorphisms, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and their role in disease development. The review encompasses nutrigenetics, sports genomics, and genetic markers associated with athletic performance and injury risk.
Results: Gene polymorphisms significantly impact disease susceptibility and progression. For type 2 diabetes, over 600 candidate genes have been identified. In preeclampsia, multiple genes influence maternal-fetal interactions and vascular function. Breast cancer involves complex interactions between high and moderate penetrance genes, with over 300 SNPs identified. Athletic performance is influenced by both genetic factors (approximately 66%) and environmental conditions, with specific genetic markers associated with endurance, strength, and injury risk.
Conclusions: Polygenic diseases result from complex interactions between multiple genes and environmental factors. Understanding these interactions enables more effective personalized approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Integration of genetic testing into clinical practice offers opportunities for improved patient outcomes through targeted interventions and personalized medicine strategies.
Illuminati, Rothschilds, Zionisten
Authors: Baier Jakob J.
Published: January 2025

Hiphop ist die weltweit bedeutendste Jugendkultur. In Deutschland hat sich der Gangsta-Rap seit der Jahrtausendwende zum kommerziell erfolgreichsten Subgenre der Sparte entwickelt. Seit einigen Jahren sorgen aber nicht nur gewaltaffirmative, misogyne, homo- und transfeindliche Botschaften des deutschen Gangsta-Rap für öffentliche Skandale, sondern vor allem dessen antisemitischen Inhalte. Jakob Baier beleuchtet, auf welche Weise diese Ideologeme auf historische und kulturelle Wurzeln im US-amerikanischen Rap zurückgehen und sich mit der Zeit auch im deutschsprachigen Gangsta-Rap etabliert haben. Wie seine Untersuchung an einer Vielzahl von Beispielen unterschiedlicher Vertreter des deutschen Gangsta-Rap und ihrer Produkte zeigt, werden antisemitische Weltdeutungen in die genrespezifischen autoritären Gesellschaftsvorstellungen, hypermaskulinen Geschlechterbilder und heroischen Machtfantasien integriert. Durch die Analyse ausgewählter Fallbeispiele legt die Studie eine grundlegende Struktur der antisemitischen Welterklärungsideologie im deutschen Gangsta-Rap offen und findet Antworten auf die Frage, warum der Antisemitismus in diesem Teil der Populärkultur der Gegenwart besonders unverhüllt zutage tritt. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
The Application Value of an Artificial Intelligence-Driven Intestinal Image Recognition Model to Evaluate Intestinal Preparation before Colonoscopy
Authors: Xu Xirong , Liu Jiahao , Qiu Jianwei , Fan Benfang , He Tao , Feng Shichun , Sun Jinjie , Ge Zhenming
Published: January 2025

Aims/Background Artificial intelligence (AI), with advantages such as automatic feature extraction and high data processing capacity and being unaffected by fatigue, can accurately analyze images obtained from colonoscopy, assess the quality of bowel preparation, and reduce the subjectivity of the operating physician, which may help to achieve standardization and normalization of colonoscopy. In this study, we aimed to explore the value of using an AI-driven intestinal image recognition model to evaluate intestinal preparation before colonoscopy.

Methods In this retrospective analysis, we analyzed the clinical data of 98 patients who underwent colonoscopy in Nantong First People’s Hospital from May 2023 to October 2023. Among them, 47 cases were evaluated based on the intestinal preparation map and the last fecal characteristics (Regular group), and 51 cases were evaluated using an AI-driven intestinal image recognition model (AI group). The duration of colonoscopy examination, intestinal cleanliness, incidence of adverse reactions, and satisfaction with intestinal preparation of the two groups were analyzed.

Results The time for colonoscopy in the AI group was shorter than that in the Regular group, and the intestinal cleanliness score in the AI group was higher than that in the Regular group (p < 0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in the AI group (3.92%) was lower than that in the Regular group (10.64%), but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The satisfaction rate of intestinal preparation in the AI group (96.08%) was comparable to that of the Regular group (82.98%) (p > 0.05).

Conclusion Compared with the assessment based solely on the intestinal preparation map and the last fecal characteristics, the application of AI intestinal image recognition model in intestinal preparation before colonoscopy can shorten the time of colonoscopy and improve intestinal cleanliness, but with comparable patient satisfaction and safety.
Métodos para síntese verde de nanopartículas de prata
Authors: Carvalho Pinheiro Ricardo de Jesus , Silva Ferreira Ernando
Published: January 2025

A nanociência é um campo emergente impulsionado por ferramentas avançadas que permitem manipular fenômenos em nanoescala, possibilitando a criação de estruturas organizadas com aplicações industriais. Embora a síntese tradicional de nanopartículas (NPs) enfrente desafios como o uso de solventes tóxicos, geração de resíduos nocivos e altos custos, a síntese verde surge como uma alternativa sustentável. Utilizando recursos biológicos, como plantas, bactérias e fungos, essa abordagem reduz os impactos ambientais e simplifica a produção. No caso das nanopartículas de prata (NPsAg), metabólitos de extratos vegetais estabilizam os íons de prata (Ag+1), gerando NPs altamente específicas com grande potencial tecnológico.
Durable Inequalities in Exploitative Labor Situations in the Global South
Authors: Lindner Ulrike , Pelican Michaela
Published: January 2025

Over the past decade, research on social inequalities has surged, highlighting the persistence and widening of inequality worldwide. This body of work has increasingly adopted an interdisciplinary approach and has extended its scope beyond the nation-state and to include various dimensions beyond income and wealth. This special issue examines social inequality through the lens of labor exploitation and labor migration, with a particular focus on contexts in the Global South. It addresses the paradox of why attempts aimed at increasing equality have often contributed to generating more durable inequalities. In this introduction, we propose an integrated theoretical framework for studying social inequality and labor exploitation. Alongside our focus on durable inequalities, we emphasize the importance of epistemic inequality as a fundamental driver of both historical and contemporary inequalities. We argue that the ability to define the terms and parameters of (in)equality—and, more broadly, to access and produce knowledge—is a critical resource in shaping inequality. Several papers in this special issue, which will be introduced here, reflect this argument.
Discussing the “Most Important Question of the 20th Century”: W. E. B. Du Bois and the ILO’s Efforts for a Regulation of “Native Labor” Politics, 1919–1926
Authors: Kutsche Fabiana , Lindner Ulrike
Published: January 2025

Upon its foundation in 1919, the International Labour Organization (ILO) sought to improve the working conditions of workers all over the world. Still, its work and methods were shaped by strong imperial interests that hindered the immediate emancipation of colonial workers. In this article, we study the ILO’s engagement with colonial “native labor questions” from 1919 to 1926. Following the historian Sandrine Kott, we understand international organizations as “spaces in which one can reveal the existence of networks of relationships and systems of circulation.” In this paper, we therefore analyze how activists used international organizations as a forum for advocacy of their interests. By looking at the personal entanglements between the civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois, the British Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society, and League of Nations and ILO staff, we seek to understand the different motives and strategies behind the negotiations for an improvement of colonial labor politics and the reasons for their ultimate failure. During the first years, some of the activist groups, particularly the British Anti-Slavery Society, could already count on their personal connections into the international sphere of the organization and exerted their influence through these networks. More marginalized actors, such as the Pan-African movement around Du Bois, argued for the need of direct representation on the expert committee based on factors of race and gender. When the ILO’s efforts culminated in the 1926 foundation of a Committee of Experts for Native Labor, however, most of the expert seats were filled by former colonial politicians, representing the interests of the imperial powers and not those of activists. Looking at these networking efforts during the early study of “Native Labor” in the ILO therefore allows us to understand the contested discourse on native labor in colonial contexts within the organization and the workings of the power structures in which the imperial networks took precedence.
The Human Trafficking Campaign in Cameroon: Key Actors, Common and Competing Interests
Authors: Ngeh Jonathan , Pelican Michaela
Published: January 2025

This article examines how the legal framework of human trafficking, as established by the UN Palermo Protocol and shaped by the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), gains traction in Cameroon. It focuses on the power dynamics among key actors leading the anti-trafficking campaign in Cameroon and how this affects their efforts to combat trafficking. The actors are broadly classified into two groups: external partners, including the UN, the US, and international organizations, and internal partners, such as the Cameroonian government and local civil society organizations. The study draws on the concept of traveling models and their “aura” as developed by Behrends, Park, and Rottenburg and is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Cameroon between 2016 and 2024. The findings reveal tension between the two core elements of the Palermo Protocol—humanitarian and security considerations—as actors involved in anti-trafficking efforts tend to prioritize one element over the other. This highlights the significance of power dynamics and strategic alliances, with Cameroonian stakeholders often seeking to adapt the framework to local contexts. The article also relates to the special issue’s overarching question of how attempts at increasing equality often contribute to generating durable inequality. It shows how measures aimed at preventing human trafficking, particularly of women, inadvertently lead to them resorting to even riskier migration routes.
The Boring of Hard Boards
Authors: van der Linden Marcel
Published: January 2025

If one social group has more of something
because another has less we speak of relational inequality. The fight against relational inequalities is a tough, centuries-long battle characterized by trial and error. Results can be achieved only through very persistent pressure—what Max Weber described as “a strong and slow boring of hard boards.” The essays in the present issue discuss both obstacles that perpetuate inequality and forms of resistance to them. Some contributions focus more on top-down activities, while others emphasize the perspective from below. Taken together, they reveal that the struggle for more just and egalitarian societies is tough, but gradually making progress.
A Public Model for Home Insurance
Authors: Birss Moira , Marcelin MacKenzie
Published: January 2025

ABSTRACT: Working on the foreign policy advisory group for the Bernie Sanders primary campaign in 2019 and 2020 changed the way that I process and think about politics. I saw up close the challenges that candidates face in channeling popular frustrations and demonstrating that they have the ability to address them. they have to bring together multiple majorities: in primaries, the general election, and Congress. They have to create the public that they need, though of course they do not do so under conditions of their own choosing.
The Battle Over Los Angeles’s Mansion Tax
Authors: Dreier Peter
Published: January 2025

ABSTRACT: Carlos Casillas, a fifty-year-old renter in Los Angeles, lives in a 150-squarefoot studio apartment in Highland Park, a longtime Latino neighborhood that has been gentrifying. the rent is $1,450 a month. “I had no choice,” he said. “I needed a place to live. So I told myself I gotta work three jobs.” Casillas drives for Uber and Postmates, does construction work, and is a first responder at a mental health center, dispatched by the L.A. Police Department to de-escalate potentially violent situations, most involving homeless persons.
Tenants on the March An Interview With Cea Weaver
Authors: Elrod Andrew , Weaver Cea
Published: January 2025

ABSTRACT: In many parts of the country, rising rents have hit a political limit, as politicians, unions, and community organizations increasingly recognize the centrality of housing to the cost-of-living crisis. New York State’s 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, San Francisco’s 2022 collective bargaining ordinance for tenants, and Los Angeles’s 2022 “mansion tax” represent new forces in local politics—and alternative bases for the struggle over power within our society. These initiatives use the state to reshape the business models and ownership patterns pushing workers and their families further away from their jobs, into smaller, more expensive living situations.
A Man’s Economy
Authors: Kahn Suzanne
Published: January 2025

ABSTRACT: Election night in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I live, was unseasonably warm, so I “slept” with my windows open. As a result, I came to understand what was happening to the country when I started to hear a fraternity set off fireworks every time another state was called for Donald Trump. During the slow march to 5:30 a.m., when Trump clinched his victory, my lefty bubble was periodically punctured by the sound of shots in the air. A lot of ink has been spilled about Trump’s ability to win over men, especially young men; like fireworks, his brand of misogyny is impossible to ignore. Fewer post-election takes have focused on why Kamala Harris’s message failed to turn out enough women to compensate for this gender gap (which, at 10 percent, was in fact relatively steady across the last three presidential elections). Here is one hypothesis: the economic record and message Harris carried forward as Joe Biden’s vice president was itself deeply gendered.
Europe Can’t “Trump-Proof” Itself
Authors: Kundnani Hans
Published: January 2025

ABSTRACT: During the past year, as the reality gradually dawned on them that Donald Trump might be reelected as U.S. president, European foreign policy analysts coalesced around the conventional wisdom that Europe must unite and “Trump-proof” itself. This new consensus, which essentially repeats arguments for European “strategic autonomy” that took place after Trump was elected the first time, represents an extraordinary collective failure. Europe’s foreign policy experts have proved unable to think clearly about what has changed in Europe in the last eight years or about the relationship between their own security concerns and those of Ukraine.
Noblesse Without Oblige
Authors: Ogle Vanessa
Published: January 2025

ABSTRACT: Over the past eight years, a series of major document leaks has shone a spotlight on tax havens and their users. the Panama Papers, made up of 11.5 million documents from the offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca, broke in 2016. Next came the Paradise Papers in 2017, a trove of even more material, mostly from the Bermuda-based law firm Appleby and two other offshore corporate services providers. The Pandora Papers, published in October 2021, constituted the largest and most comprehensive such leak yet. Several earlier, smaller leaks—including the Swiss Leaks in 2015 (from the Swiss subsidiary of the British multinational bank HSBC) and Lux Leaks in 2014 (detailing tax arrangements for multinationals devised by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Luxembourg government)—had garnered less publicity but likewise revealed the shameless activities of lawyers, accountants, bankers, and their clients.
Supply and the Housing Crisis A Debate
Authors: Resnikoff Ned , Callaci Brian , Vaheesan Sandeep
Published: January 2025

ABSTRACT: After decades of relative stagnation, American housing policy is now several years into a period of radical change and experimentation. In California, where I am policy director for the state-level organization California YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard), city planners will often gripe (with, I have to admit, some justification) that state housing law is changing too quickly for them to keep up. Several other states—including Washington, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, and Rhode Island—have enacted their own ambitious housing reforms, with more following each year. Cities like Minneapolis, Sacramento, Austin, and Spokane have redrawn their zoning maps and removed non-zoning barriers to housing production such as minimum parking requirements; meanwhile, New York City is moving ahead with its prohousing “City of Yes” plan, though its ultimate fate remains uncertain.
Hybridity as a Response to Dualism: Thomas Warton and the Gothic Dilemma
Authors: Sprott Steven William
Published: January 2025

Abstract: This paper traces the development of a hybrid aesthetic in Thomas Warton’s architectural poetry. The duality of the Gothic and the Classical was widespread in the eighteenth century, limiting Gothic architecture to particular experiences or faculties, such as the imaginative or the sublime. In order to rationalize his aesthetic experience, Warton increasingly regulates his own “Gothic enthusiasm” according to contemporary associations. Defining this Gothic enthusiasm in relation to poetic enthusiasm, I examine how it unfolds in “The Pleasures of Melancholy” (1747; revised 1755), then show how later poems regulate it through a system of dualities that reflects Edmund Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757). In turn, however, the increasing rigidity of this system leads Warton to propose hybridity as a way to reconcile his dualities. This development sheds light on hybridity as a response to dualism and illustrates the aesthetic development that cultural understandings can imply—in this case, understandings of the Gothic and the Classical alongside a tendency towards rigid categorization.
Mannerism and the Expressive Body in Eighteenth-Century French Ballet: Diderot and Noverre
Authors: Sabee Olivia
Published: January 2025

Abstract: Studies of ballet reforms in eighteenth-century France often focus primarily on the newly introduced component of pantomime into ballet. By focusing on dance rather than pantomime, I complicate the relationship between narrative form and medium in Jean-Georges Noverre’s pantomime ballets and Denis Diderot’s single extant pantomime ballet scenario. Analyzing both writers’ approaches to narrative register, I examine these in context with their and Rousseau’s views on the belle danse , or danse noble , as a medium. Ultimately, I argue that these thinkers’ divergent views reveal the complicated layers at play in theorizing ballet when the era’s emphasis on the representation of nature is considered alongside the acknowledgment of the danse noble being a medium possessing inherent connotations of register.
On a Geohistorical Poetics
Authors: Collings David
Published: January 2025

Abstract: A review of Tobias Menely's Climate and the Making of Worlds: Toward a Geohistorical Poetics (Chicago, 2021), which introduces an innovative, more capacious framework for reading literature within the interwoven histories of climate and culture
Plotting Men’s Entry into Obstetrics and Gynecology
Authors: Nelson Dana D.
Published: January 2025

Abstract: A Review of Marcia D. Nichols’s Fixing Women: The Birth of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Britain and America (University of California, 2021).
Romantic Poetry and Particulate Democracy
Authors: Kantor Jamison
Published: January 2025

Abstract: A review of Carmen Faye Mathes’s Poetic Form and Romantic Provocation (Stanford, 2022).
“Why Doest Thou Thus?”: Providence and Discourses of Difference in Two Nineteenth-Century Missionary Lives
Authors: Elliott Kelly Cross
Published: January 2025

Abstract: Nineteenth-century missionaries interpreted the events of their lives through the lens of providence. The frequent suffering that challenged missionaries in global mission fields, including the threat of illness and death, the loss of family, and failure, were likewise understood through providential narration, but for some missionaries, confidence in a divine plan waned in the face of great pain. This article comparatively examines the lives of two relatively unknown missionaries: English Baptist Felix Carey, who worked in India and Burma, and Elizabeth Thomson, a black American woman who emigrated to Liberia as a missionary teacher. Both experienced lives of extraordinary hardship, but they—and the evangelical publications that described their struggles for worldwide readership—responded to their suffering in very distinctive ways. The different expectations Carey and Thomson navigated around their gender and race offer key insights into nineteenth-century narratives of evangelical providence and colonialism. This study suggests that missionaries’ ability or willingness to uphold evangelical discourses of difference played a major role in how they were perceived and portrayed in missionary publications.
The Japanese Eye on Latin America Through The Japan Times , 1926–1941
Authors: Iacobelli Pedro , Enei Ignacio
Published: January 2025

Abstract: This paper examines the The Japan Times ’ uses of Latin America during the early Shōwa period up to the attack on Pearl Harbor (1926–1941); The Japan Times was tightly linked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimushō) and thus it was an important player in shaping public perception and manipulating Western public discourses in favor of the Japanese empire’s international ambitions. Against the general wisdom that migration-related images were the most common conceptualization of Latin America in the Japanese Press, we argue that the image of Latin America as expressed by The Japan Times reflects a strong political meaning as well, viewing the region in Imperial terms: either as a location for colonial expansion or as a continent dominated by the U.S.-led Monroe Doctrine and the Pan-American movement. In other words, Latin America became a polysemous term, aptly used by the press and the officials in Tokyo to convey various social and political meanings that could serve their own ideological stance. The paper presents a mix-method research, including the results a scoping review of all published information pertaining to Latin America between December 1926 and December 1941 in the web-based engine of The Japan Times Archives.
Quantifying imaging imperfections resulting from nonideal fill factor and similar pixel-scale responsivity nonuniformities
Authors: Skauli Torbjorn
Published: January 2025

Image sensors can exhibit variations in the responsivity to light across the area of individual pixels. If the responsivity is uniform apart from a region with zero sensitivity, the situation is well described by the conventional concept of a fill factor, which gives the fraction of sensitive area in the pixel. In many practical cases, such responsivity variations are gradual, due to effects such as photon scattering or photoelectron diffusion between neighboring pixels. Such gradual variations can also arise when characterizing the spatial responsivity of a complete camera, where optical blur will smear out pixel-scale variations. This paper generalizes the concept of a fill factor to cover such gradual sensitiviy variations within a pixel, for an image sensor as well as for a complete camera. The resulting effective fill factor (EFF) is derived from the pixel sampling point spread function and sampling interval. It has a simple relation to an upper bound on the error in reflectance estimated from a reflected-light image. The EFF also has a simple relation to the average error in the total signal from a point source. It is noted that the spatial variation causing these image artifacts is specifically the variation of signal loss across the pixel.
Reimagining foundations: Storied-ethnography as a pathway to decolonized design education
Authors: Ofosu-Asare Yaw
Published: January 2025

This article presents an extensive exploration of design education in Africa, with a focus on Ghana, employing storied-ethnography to critically contrast it with conventional western methodologies. It draws upon the narratives of prominent Ghanaian design educators – Sela, Isaac and Patrique – whose experiences and insights emphasize the need to integrate cultural, historical and social realities into the design curriculum. This study uncovers a significant divergence from western educational paradigms, which often prioritize technical proficiency and a universal design approach, potentially neglecting the rich cultural specificities integral to the African context. The research highlights the necessity for a design education system in Africa, particularly in Ghana, that balances technical skill with a deep-rooted connection to local culture and social nuances. It advocates for a model that honours and preserves African cultural heritage while preparing students to make impactful contributions in both local and global design spheres. The findings shed light on the complex nature of design education in Africa, calling for a decolonized, inclusive and culturally sensitive educational model, with profound implications for policy-makers and educators across the continent. Relevance to design practice: This research offers practical insights and strategies for integrating Indigenous knowledge and contemporary methodologies, shaping a more culturally nuanced and globally relevant design practice.
Editorial
Authors: Kim Jae Lee , Brezavšček Pia
Published: January 2025

By addressing our own situatedness in the semi-periphery with Yugofuturism, a future imaginary with which Maska had been concerned with lately, the problem expanded to other peripheries and to the concept of periphery itself. This became ever more relevant when talking to people from the field that come from geographical or other kinds of margins. A series of lucky coincidences, which became more and more curated from both sides, led to a collaboration with the dance scholar and dramaturge Jae Lee Kim from South Korea, who became the co-editor of this and the following issue of Maska. With her contribution, we’ve managed to expand the notion of Easterness and Southerness far beyond the European borders and put it into a global perspective.
What has become of practice?
Authors: Gioti Nefeli
Published: January 2025

In this text, I attempt to trace the possible transformations of the concept of artistic practice due to an exhausted use and appropriation by institutions and how this might be connected with the dominant social and economic structure which – let’s call it by its name – is neoliberal capitalism. The text emerged from a need to think further on the question of ‘what dance practice can and could become in our wider environment at this moment in time?’ included in the editorial letter of Choreographic Turn #7: Deborah Encounters, a 5-day event organised and produced by Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia which took place in Ljubljana in April 2023. This edition was focused on the notion of dance practice and was curated by Dragana Alfirević in collaboration with Jana Jevtović, Dejan Srhoj and Jasmina Založnik. ‘Deborah Hay and four of her collaborators from different periods of her and their work’ were invited ‘to expose the notions, forms of work and outcomes associated with dance practice.’ I participated, as part of the 5th round of the project Critical Practice Made in YU.
Stream – The pandemic and the various ‘withs’ that run parallel to our daily lives
Authors: Neiji Pijin
Published: January 2025

The text was written for the performance Stream performed by Pijin Neji in March 2023. This performance, which mainly consists of text readings, looks back on the events that occurred in Neji’s daily life and the social situation during the pandemic period from 2020 to 2022. At the time, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike dubbed social life during the pandemic ‘with corona’. This naming normalizes the state of emergency, makes us accustomed to new rules such as wearing masks, sanitizing hands and staying at home, and puts the pandemic at the centre of society’s concerns. It had the extremely political and subtle effect of relegating other various concerns to the periphery. While I acknowledge the political cleverness of the naming, in the same way I dare to refer to the current state of 2024 as ‘with corona’, and also express the great concern of ‘with war’. The performance and the text are grief works in which I attempt to mourn them with the trivial aspects of life ‘withs’.
A touch, an embrace holds the whole world, transient
Authors: Bombač Jaka
Published: January 2025

A more or less direct record of somatic manifestations from the project Asymmetry of the Embrace/Transmission (by Snježana Premuš and Zrinka Šimičić Mihanović).
A systematic literature review of cloud kitchen
Authors: Harini P , Rohini A , Selvanayaki S , Prahadeeswaran M , Selvi R P , Shokila C
Published: January 2025

The concept of cloud kitchens, or ghost kitchens, has emerged as a transformative trend in the food service industry, offering an economical and efficient model that eliminates the need for physical dining spaces and focuses solely on delivery and takeout. This approach provides several advantages, including reduced overhead costs, operational efficiency, scalability and expanded market reach through virtual platforms. However, market saturation, building brand visibility and maintaining food quality remain significant hurdles. Future trends may involve multi-brand operations within a single kitchen, advanced technology integration, eco-friendly practices and suburban and rural areas expansion. By addressing these challenges, ghost kitchens can capitalise on their innovative potential to reshape the food service landscape.
The total absolute curvature of closed curves with singularities
Authors: Honda Atsufumi , Tanaka Chisa , Yamauchi Yuta
Published: January 2025

In this paper, we give a generalization of Fenchel’s theorem for closed curves as frontals in Euclidean space ℝ
n
. We prove that, for a non-co-orientable closed frontal in ℝ
n
, its total absolute curvature is greater than or equal to π. It is equal to π if and only if the curve is a planar locally L-convex closed frontal whose rotation index is 1/2 or –1/2. Furthermore, if the equality holds and if every singular point is a cusp, then the number N of cusps is an odd integer greater than or equal to 3, and N = 3 holds if and only if the curve is simple.
New rigidity results for critical metrics of some quadratic curvature functionals
Authors: Bernardini Marco
Published: January 2025

We prove a new rigidity result for metrics defined on closed smooth n-manifolds that are critical for the quadratic functional 𝔉
t
, which depends on the Ricci curvature Ric and the scalar curvature R, and that satisfy a pinching condition of the form Sec > ε R, where ε is a function of t and n, while Sec denotes the sectional curvature. In particular, we show that Bach-flat metrics with constant scalar curvature satisfying Sec >

1
48

$\begin{array}{}
\displaystyle
\frac{1}{48}
\end{array}$

R are Einstein and, by a known result, are isometric to 𝕊4, ℝℙ4 or ℂℙ2.
On some relations between the perimeter, the area and the visual angle of a convex set
Authors: Bruna J. , Cufí J. , Reventós A.
Published: January 2025

We establish some relations between the perimeter, the area and the visual angle of a planar compact convex set. Our first result states that Crofton’s formula is the unique universal formula relating the visual angle, the length and the area. After that we give a characterization of convex sets of constant width by means of the behavior of their isotopic sets at infinity. Also for this class of convex sets we prove that the existence of an isotopic circle is enough to ensure that the considered set is a disc.
On the phylogenetic position of Rhinolophus sakejiensis (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae)
Authors: Benda Petr , Uvizl Marek
Published: January 2025

The Sakeji horseshoe bat Rhinolophus sakejiensis is an endemic to south-central Africa. Until recently, it remained known only from the type series of three specimens collected in Nchila Wildlife Reserve, north-western Zambia. The phylogenetic position of R. sakejiensis was evaluated based on morphologic traits and it was suggested that it represents a part of the ‘clivosus-complex’ within the Rhinolophus ferrumequinum clade of the genus. In this study, we provide an insight into the phylogenetic position of R. sakejiensis employing molecular data, using a newly discovered specimen that originates from the identical area as the type series. We assessed the genetic relationships of R. sakejiensis using the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. This analysis revealed this species to be phylogenetically distinct from morphologically similar congeners of the capensis, fumigatus, and ferrumequinum species groups. In fact, it does not belong to any recognised species group but rather represents a distinct evolutionary lineage – along with another African relic bat, Rhinolophus horaceki. The divergence time of R. sakejiensis from R. horaceki, its closest relative, was estimated to have occurred in the Middle Miocene, roughly at 15.3 Ma, a period of dynamic environmental changes that may have led to widely separated occurrences of various relic bat lineages.