bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Former Baltimore Newspaper Boy
Authors: Crease Stephanie Stein
Published: May 2023

The Alhambra incident hampered Webb’s chances at working more often at the Savoy, which staged another “battle of music” without his band. By this time, the Savoy was an important community center hosting sponsored dances and themed balls. Webb was generous to musicians and helped Johnny Hodges and Cootie Williams get steadier work with Duke Ellington. In 1929, Webb landed a fantastic opportunity when his band was hired for the nightclub scene of After Seben, a thirteen-minute “talking picture” starring James Barton, a white vaudeville comedian and dancer. In the summer of 1929, Webb subbed for Duke Ellington’s Orchestra at the Cotton Club. Webb and his band released their first 78-rpm records for Brunswick, “Jungle Mama,” a bluesy foxtrot, and “Dog Bottom,” an up-tempo stomp.
Spinnin’ the Webb
Authors: Crease Stephanie Stein
Published: May 2023

This chapter focuses on Webb as an innovative drummer, his custom-made drum sets, musicians and disability, and his bandleading skills. On the bandstand at the Savoy Ballroom, Webb sat in the middle of the band’s front line. Nothing about his drumming—its force, power, forward-pushing sense of swing—suggested that he had a disability, even though he had a spinal deformity. Black and white entertainment reporters often painted a narrative of Webb’s triumph against all odds, including poverty and disability, but as the first drummer-bandleader in jazz, he was decisive and confident about his band’s musical direction. His development as a drummer went along with refinements in the drum set, drum hardware, and accessory instruments. The Gretsch instrument company designed a custom kit for Webb, the quintessential artist-drummer, which included the premier Gretsch-Gladstone snare, designed by Billy Gladstone, Radio City’s percussionist, who also invented drums and percussion gear. This chapter discusses Webb’s drumming mastery, his friendships with other prominent Swing Era drummers like Gene Krupa and Jo Jones, and his influence on modern jazz drummers including Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, and Art Blakey.
Sing Me a Swing Song
Authors: Crease Stephanie Stein
Published: May 2023

Between 1933 and 1936, the Savoy Ballroom was ground zero for a cross-country cultural wave: swing music and swing dance. Dancers, celebrities, and lookers-on came to the Savoy for its up-to-the-minute music and to dance the Lindy Hop. Chick Webb and His Orchestra were early adapters of the swing beat, which was perfect for the Lindy style and became the Savoy’s soundtrack. At the Savoy, a man named Herbert “Whitey” White organized the top dancers, including France Manning and Norma Miller, into small groups to perform at parties for a few dollars, most of which he would pocket. Later on, some of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers teams appeared in theater shows, on international tours, and in movies. Webb’s NBC nationwide spots (on WJZ in New York) and the band’s broadcasts from the Savoy kept their music on the air throughout the spring and summer of 1935 and put more of the spotlight on their new vocalist Ella Fitzgerald. On March 31, 1935, Webb and his rhythm section played at the New York Metropolitan Opera’s annual fundraising gala, and Webb received the most press attention ever in Black and white newspapers across the country.
Chasin’ the Blues Away
Authors: Crease Stephanie Stein
Published: May 2023

When Ella Fitzgerald entered Webb’s world, he had plenty of airtime on nationwide radio and live Savoy broadcasts, and she was soon heard singing on the air. Decca producer Jack Kapp scheduled the band’s second recording date for June 12, 1935, at which Fitzgerald made her first recordings. In between trips that summer, Webb’s health was reported in the press for the first time. A month later Chick Webb and His Orchestra with Ella debuted at the Apollo Theater. A hit with Apollo audiences, they played there regularly over the next few years. Webb’s next Decca sessions were on October 12, 1935. Over the summer and fall of 1935, Fitzgerald went on her first tours with the band, which would become more frequent, including stops in Nashville and other southern cities. The band’s popularity grew along with swing music and dance, a trend throughout 1935 that swept across America the following year, crisscrossing audiences, racially and economically. That moment, when a form of music and dance born in Black communities became America’s music, deep ethical, legal, and professional issues were now visible as everyday examples of racism, appropriation, and cultural bias.
Jumping the Fence
Authors: Crease Stephanie Stein
Published: May 2023

In November 1935, Webb’s band’s appearance at the Savoy Ballroom in Chicago coincided with Benny Goodman’s at the Congress Hotel. Webb was written up in Tempo Magazine by young jazz journalist Helen Oakley, who produced Goodman’s concert series at the Urban Room at the Congress Hotel a few months later. The Goodman band’s popularity was soaring, thanks in large part to Goodman’s use of arrangements by top Black arrangers Edgar Sampson, Fletcher Henderson, and Benny Carter, and his powerful drummer Gene Krupa. In 1936, Webb had to replace Sampson, who was going freelance, and tenor saxophonist Elmer Williams, one of his long-time best soloists. He hired Teddy McRae, Louis Jordan, and Al Feldman (later known as Van Alexander). In fall 1936, Webb’s interactions with Goodman became more intertwined and conflicted when Goodman asked Ella Fitzgerald to sing with his band on a radio broadcast and his next recording session. Ella recorded “Goodnight My Love” with Goodman, and he attempted to buy out Fitzgerald’s contract with Webb. The conflict caused Ella Fitzgerald to disappear for a few days.
Battling It Out in Swingtime
Authors: Crease Stephanie Stein
Published: May 2023

In 1937–38, Webb’s band got commercially successful with Ella Fitzgerald singing popular songs. Helen Oakley wanted to shock Webb into featuring more jazz-oriented swing numbers, like he had previously. Benny Goodman’s popularity proved that the public loved it. Oakley arranged for Webb’s band to battle the Count Basie band, now settled in New York and a big hit with dancers and jazz fans. The Webb-Basie band battle took place at the Savoy Ballroom on January 16, 1938, after Benny Goodman’s debut concert at Carnegie Hall. Oakley’s staging of both the Webb-Goodman battle of 1937 and the Webb-Basie battle of 1938 helped elevate Webb’s and his band’s visibility. Webb’s band had a few hit records and a huge radio following; their popularity went beyond Harlem. They were booked at Levaggi’s, a whites-only Boston nightclub. In Boston, Webb became friends with fellow bandleader Artie Shaw, and Ella Fitzgerald came up with a swing version of “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” arranged by Van Alexander. Audiences adored it, and the band recorded it in May 1938. “A-Tisket, A Tasket” was on Hit Parade charts for months; this was the national breakthrough hit record Webb had worked so hard to achieve. On Sunday, May 29, 1938, Webb’s band participated in the Randall’s Island “Carnival of Swing,” the first outdoor day-long jazz festival.
Epilogue
Authors: Crease Stephanie Stein
Published: May 2023

After Webb’s death on June 16, 1939, Ella Fitzgerald and Webb’s band returned to New York. Gale canceled the rest of the band’s southern tour and hired Bill Beason as drummer. Gale named Ella as bandleader, and over the next two years there were many personnel changes. By spring 1942, the Chick Webb Orchestra had disbanded and Fitzgerald became a solo artist, featured with other small bands. The Savoy Ballroom was shut down for a few months after the Harlem riot of 1943. After World War II, Moe Gale was no longer involved, and Charles Buchanan ran the ballroom until it closed in 1958. The epilogue discusses the subsequent careers of several of Webb’s sidemen, including Louis Jordan, Mario Bauza, Edgar Sampson, John Trueheart, and Van Alexander. It also discusses what happened to Webb’s widow, Sally. In 1940, a benefit fundraiser was held for the Chick Webb Memorial Recreation Center in Baltimore, organized by Webb’s long-time physician, Ralph J. Young. Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Louis, and many celebrities spoke and entertained thousands who attended. The center finally opened in 1947 and is now being renovated.
Writing the Results Section
Authors: Robinson Marin S. , Stoller Fredricka L
Published: May 2023

This chapter examines the process of writing the Results section of the journal article. The Results section makes use of text and graphics (figures and tables) to highlight the essential findings of a study and to tell a story of scientific discovery. Months (possibly years) of accumulated knowledge and wisdom, and countless pages of data, are distilled into only a few pages; hence, only the essential threads of the story are described in the results. Traditionally Results sections stood alone in most journals, separated from Discussion sections. Today, however, most journals combine these sections. Combined Results and Discussion (R&D) sections are preferred because they are more concise. However, combined R&D sections are not all alike. If viewed on a continuum, three patterns emerge: blocked R&D, alternating R&D, and integrated R&D.
Writing the Discussion Section
Authors: Robinson Marin S. , Stoller Fredricka L
Published: May 2023

This chapter focuses on the Discussion section, the last part of the standard IMRD structure for a journal article. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Discussion section can stand alone or can be part of a combined Results & Discussion (R&D) section. In either case, it serves the same major purpose: to interpret the results of the study. Ideally, the Discussion section explains the story revealed by the data, postulates reasons for the observed behaviors, and furthers the fundamental understanding of the underlying science. However, authors must be careful not to overinterpret their data, misinterpret their results, overstate their assumptions, or stray too far from scientific evidence. The excerpts selected for this chapter illustrate that the language of the Discussion section is typified by restraint and understatement. By using hedging words, writers acknowledge the limitations of their knowledge, the tentativeness of their claims, and the recognition that their knowledge will be subjected to scientific scrutiny over time.
Writing the Abstract and Title
Authors: Robinson Marin S. , Stoller Fredricka L
Published: May 2023

This chapter explains how to write abstracts and titles for journal articles. Both the abstract and title provide succinct, informative (not descriptive) summaries of the research. To this end, they are usually written in the final stages of the writing process. The major purpose of the title is to inform readers about the specific content of the work, ideally identifying both what was studied and how it was studied. The major purpose of an abstract is to summarize, in one clear and concise paragraph, the purpose, experimental approach, principal results, and major conclusions of the work. When compared to the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections of a journal article, the title and abstract are quite short. Despite their brevity, the title and abstract are the most widely read sections of the journal article and thus are viewed by many as the most important sections of the journal article.
Writing the Conference Abstract and Title
Authors: Robinson Marin S. , Stoller Fredricka L
Published: May 2023

This chapter addresses the process of writing a conference abstract, which is written in response to a Call for Abstracts issued by conference organizers, typically 4–6 months before the conference takes place. Abstracts are usually submitted to a specific division of chemistry for review. If accepted, the authors are able to present their work (as an oral or poster presentation) at the conference. Like the journal article abstract, most conference abstracts have strict word limitations and formatting specifications. The reason for such specificity is that the abstract, if accepted, will be published (as is) in the conference’s program or conference proceedings. Adherence to common guidelines by all authors ensures that the proceedings appear uniform and professional.
Preparing a Poster
Authors: Robinson Marin S. , Stoller Fredricka L
Published: May 2023

This chapter describes the process of organizing and formatting a poster for a scientific conference and writing each of the poster sections. There is no one right audience to target in a poster; rather, the correct audience will vary with the conference. Most conferences send poster guidelines to presenters, and information about audience is often addressed in those guidelines. Instead of a Discussion section, the poster has a short section entitled Conclusions (or Conclusion). The last two sections, Acknowledgments and References, are not required but are included in most posters. Some conferences also recommend that posters include abstracts, so it is important to check conference guidelines before preparing the poster. At most conferences, there is a block of time (usually 2 hours) when authors are expected to present their poster. During this time, they have the opportunity to “walk” viewers through their poster and engage in dialogue with them. The chapter includes a model poster and a poster template that can be downloaded for use.
Overview of the Research Proposal
Authors: Robinson Marin S. , Stoller Fredricka L
Published: May 2023

This chapter provides an overview of the research proposal, a document written to request financial support for an ongoing or newly conceived research project. Like the journal article, the proposal is one of the most important and most utilized writing genres in chemistry. Chemists employed in a wide range of disciplines, including teaching, research and technology, the health professions, and industry, all face the challenge of writing proposals to support and sustain their scholarly activities. The chapter looks at excerpts from successful proposals submitted to two separate funding programs: (1) the 2019 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) and (2) the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. It then differentiates between Requests for Proposals (RFP) for NSF GRFP and NSF CAREER proposals. The chapter also considers the significance of intellectual merit and broader impacts.
Writing the Goals and Importance Section
Authors: Robinson Marin S. , Stoller Fredricka L
Published: May 2023

This chapter explores how to write the Goals and Importance section of the research proposal, in which the author is asked to provide an overview of their project and describe their research idea or research goal. The central purpose of this section is to give reviewers a first glimpse at what the author proposes to do. In so doing, authors also provide relevant background information in their research area and highlight the importance of their work. Students describe a research idea in NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) proposals; faculty describe a research goal in NSF CAREER proposals. The chapter recommends that authors mirror the term(s) used in their targeted RFP (Request for Proposals).
A Journey with the Oraons
Authors: Dasgupta Sangeeta
Published: May 2023

Chapter 3 focuses on the transformations in S.C. Roy’s writings on the Oraons between 1915 and 1938 in order to examine the different ways in which Roy represented a ‘tribe’ and the Oraons. An anthropologist, lawyer, writer, global intellectual, Indian and Bengali, Roy engaged with local communities and their leaders, colonial administrators, missionaries, Congress nationalists, and a Bengali vernacular public. As he dexterously navigated different worlds, writing both in English and in Bengali, Roy’s voice changed over time: an ‘academic anthropologist’ gradually came to adopt the stance of an ‘activist anthropologist’. Unpacking Roy’s descriptions, which he reworked in response to theoretical and political developments, will caution one against an uncritical adoption of his views as Roy continually refigured the idea of the tribe.
Pagan Tanas, Dangerous Aboriginals, Sensitive Prophets
Authors: Dasgupta Sangeeta
Published: May 2023

The second section of the book deals with the reordering of rural and social landscapes and the ways in which the Tana Bhagats, a marginalized section in the internally fractured community of the Oraons, responded in colonial and postcolonial times to the different interventions in their world. The introduction to Section II draws upon the author’s experiences in present-day Jharkhand and her interactions with the Tana Bhagats. It discusses the predicaments of a historian, who, while crafting narratives of Tana pasts from the colonial archive, seeks to understand how the Tana Bhagats relate to this history, drawing as they do on memories of events passed down generations, but which they carefully rework in the present context.
Stories, Pamphlets, Petitions
Authors: Dasgupta Sangeeta
Published: May 2023

Chapter 7, as the concluding chapter, takes the story of the Tana Bhagats to the present. It analyses the speeches of Tana gurus at ritual gatherings, along with the pamphlets and petitions that Tana Bhagats have submitted to state officials and distributed during demonstrations in Ranchi. The Tanas, as a political community, this chapter argues, draw upon the memories of their past, but carefully reorder these in conjunction with events relevant today. Through selective references to their past, they legitimize their demands and claim reparation from the state. There are thus differences between the history of the Tana Bhagats that a historian would construct from the official archives, and the Tanas’ renditions of their past. While it is critical to consider Tana perceptions of the self and their history, it is also necessary to unpack these narratives and recognize the politics of representation.
Patents and Utility Models
Authors: Harrison Robert
Published: May 2023

This chapter elaborates on the utility model patent protection, which the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) refers to as a type of exclusive right granted on an invention which is different from patents. According to WIPO, utility model protection is generally considered suitable for protecting inventions, small improvements, and adaptations of existing products or that have a short commercial life. Thus, utility patents are designed to be less expensive than regular patents to prepare, obtain, and maintain. The chapter looks into utility models across the globe, including Germany and the EU. It explains that most countries merely register utility models without examining their validity, but third parties can still request a search or examination. Moreover, the lower level of inventiveness in some countries, like Italy, was exploited to enforce rights to inventions.
Patents and Regulatory Data Exclusivity for Medicinal Products
Authors: Curley Duncan , van den Horst Marleen H. J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter tackles the patents and regulatory data exclusivity for medicinal products. It examines the laws prevailing in the European Union (EU) which relate to data exclusivity and patent protection for medicinal products for human use. The European system for the granting of supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) for medicinal products provides a link between the regulatory and patent frameworks. The chapter then clarifies the difference and overlap between data exclusivity and patent protection. It highlights the importance of maintaining exclusivity in the market through patent protection, which primarily depends on research and innovation. Meanwhile, extensive clinical trials present a medicinal product’s quality, safety, and efficacy to the relevant regulatory authorities to obtain marketing authorization.
When Copyright and Trademark Rights Overlap
Authors: Isaac Belinda , Mende Craig S.
Published: May 2023

This chapter discusses the overlap between copyrights and trademark rights, particularly the notion surrounding text and images. It references Aroma Inc instructing Blaggit Inc to help develop a new brand of luxury perfume. The overlap between copyright and trademark rights includes the benefit from protection and diversity of extraneous influences and policy levers that might be relied on by courts and government agencies. Moreover, the scope of copyright and trademark rights expanded in correlation to the ongoing developments in technology and commerce. The chapter elaborates on the laws of the UK and US regarding trademark rights and copyright that changed over the years. It also mentions that policy consideration continues to play a significant role when determining issues relating to the registration and enforcement of trademark rights.
Overlapping Forms of Protection for Databases
Authors: Band Jonathan , Butler Brandon
Published: May 2023

This chapter explicates the overlapping forms of IP protection for databases in the US. It explores the copyright protection for the selection and arrangement of the facts contained in a database. The overlap of copyright and sui generis protection for databases can be viewed simply as an extension of the historical clash between two conflicting models of copyright protection for compilations. Moreover, copyright only protects the original selection and arrangement of facts in a database after the US Supreme Court’s case of Feist Publications, Inc v Rural Telephone Service Co, Inc. The chapter then elaborates on the models of intellectual property, citing how different elements of a database receive different intellectual property protection. It also mentions how Database Directive’s sui generis provisions prohibit the extraction of a substantial part of a database so extraction of even a small amount of data could result in litigation.
Overlapping Rights in Designs, Trademarks, and Trade Dress
Authors: Nemes Alan S. , Scott Michael , Carboni Anna , Gibbs Joanne
Published: May 2023

This chapter addresses the overlapping rights and interrelationships between designs, trademarks, and trade dresses. It mentions how the rights are simultaneously overlapping and complementary to each other. The establishment of exclusive rights in the design of its products depends on a combination of trademark, trade dress, and design (or design patent) protection. The chapter elaborates on the distinction between rights in the United States and European Union. It advises applying for either design patents in the US or registering designs in the EU to protect new product shapes and design features before or soon after the launch of the business or product line.
Trademarks, Common Law, and the Rights of Publicity
Authors: Welkowitz David
Published: May 2023

This chapter explicates the interrelation between trademarks, common law, and rights of publicity. It discusses how several courts recognize a common law right of privacy, giving individuals the right to prevent the commercial exploitation of their name or likeness. Moreover, the application of the First Amendment to rights of publicity resulted in a multifaceted problem that lacked uniformity. The chapter clarifies that the rights of publicity coincide with state law, so the enactment of the law varies across the United States. On the other hand, trademarks primarily protect the associational value of a word, symbol, or device as it relates to products or services. Unlike the common law for the rights of publicity, the main advantage of using trademark law to protect public interests is the availability of a uniform statute throughout the United States.
Power Allocation in the EU
Authors: Verellen Thomas
Published: May 2023

Against the backdrop of Chapter 2, which looked at the allocation of foreign relations powers in the US, Canada, and Belgium, Chapter 3 explores how these powers are allocated in the EU. The picture that emerges from the analysis is one of a particularly open federal union wherein both levels of governance—the EU and the Member States—can conclude international agreements and engage in external representation. This openness has important implications. As the EU and its Member States operate in the same fields, EU law must put in place mechanisms to either avoid or resolve conflicts between the different governments and institutions involved in this complex foreign relations space. These mechanisms are explored in Chapter 5.
Conflict Resolution in the EU
Authors: Verellen Thomas
Published: May 2023

What mechanisms do the EU Treaties provide to resolve conflicts between the EU institutions and the Member States in the conduct of their respective foreign relations? And how do those mechanisms compare to the ones in Canada, Belgium, and the US discussed in the previous chapter? Chapter 5 explains how the EU Treaties provide for two formal, judicial conflict resolution mechanisms: the ERTA pre-emption doctrine and the duty of sincere cooperation. In addition, secondary EU legislation endows the European Commission with a number of sector-specific political conflict resolution mechanisms. Compared to the other federal unions explored in this book, the conflict resolution mechanisms in the EU Treaties are primarily judicial and formal in nature. The Court of Justice plays a central role in resolving conflicts between the EU institutions and the Member States. The judicial and formal nature of conflict resolution mechanisms in the EU distinguishes the EU from both Belgium and Canada, which both rely on political mechanisms—in the former they are more formal; in the latter informal. And it highlights a commonality with the US. There, too, conflicts are resolved through the application of constitutional principles enforced by the (federal) courts.
The Scenery of the Event
Authors: Wood Michael
Published: May 2023

In an essay on Flaubert, Proust wrote that ‘only a metaphor can give a sort of eternity to style’. The claim isn’t true, if only because nothing can provide such luxuries, but, like many of Proust’s claims, it is perhaps more interesting in its implications than in what it literally proposes. This chapter explores what we might call Proust’s theory of the second scene, the strange need for everything to happen in some sense twice. Where there are two distinct but relatable instances of a mood or happening, as in the case of an involuntary memory but in many other cases too, there is a chance of what Proust calls ‘true life’. Without this repetition or variant, all events are inert.
Profound Albertine
Authors: Wood Michael
Published: May 2023

This chapter explores the meanings of the word angoisse (anguish, anxiety) in A la recherche du temps perdu. It is never welcome, always present. There is no life (and especially no love) without it. The chief emblem of angoisse is the narrator’s friend Albertine, who causes in him, because he cannot fully know her or control her, something like a permanent anxiety attack. Proust’s theory of love, like much of his thinking, is based on a blatant contradiction, both parts of which are true. Love can die, the person who meant the world to us can come to mean nothing. Love cannot die, it always has enough life in it to resurrect old, enduring pains and distresses.
Proust’s Law School
Authors: Wood Michael
Published: May 2023

There is very little real crime in Proust’s work, but fantasies of crime are everywhere. This chapter looks at an early story, a newspaper article, and a sequence in A la recherche du temps perdu as illustrations of Proust’s haunted (and haunting) theory of justice. His recurring suggestion is that misnaming or misplacing a crime may be the only way of arriving at an equitable judgment. In this context, he says there is no such thing as a judicial error. He leaves open the possibility, though, that there may be only judicial errors. Who judges the judges in such cases?
Water Security and Green Growth
Authors: Brears Robert C.
Published: May 2023

The concept of water security has transitioned over time from being used to express a general vision to it being used to explicitly state the goals we wish to achieve with better management, such as protecting water quality, ensuring equitable access, and protecting environmental flows for instance. Furthermore, multilateral agencies and national governments are calling for the development of the green economy. Water security and green growth are inextricably linked as water touches every aspect of society and the environment. As such, innovative thinking and effective solutions are required to enhance synergies between water security and green growth. This chapter will first provide an overview of the concept of water security before discussing it in the context of green growth. Finally, the chapter will review the various climatic and non-climatic challenges to achieving water security and green growth.
Green Bonds, Environmental Impact Bonds, and Green Loans Financing Water Security and Green Growth
Authors: Brears Robert C.
Published: May 2023

Corporate and governmental organizations use bonds to borrow money from the market. Various debt instruments are available to implement and mainstream water security and green growth projects at various scales and in different contexts, including green bonds, environmental impact bonds (EIB), and green loans. This chapter will first review the differences between green bonds and regular bonds. The chapter will then discuss how EIBs are a form of debt characterized by a pay for success component that determines the amount that investors are repaid based on environmental performance. Finally, the chapter will discuss how green loans support various green projects, including those focusing on achieving water security and green growth.
Debt-for-Nature Swaps Financing Water Security and Green Growth
Authors: Brears Robert C.
Published: May 2023

Many developing countries have large international debts, and debt servicing absorbs a significant proportion of total budget expenditure. The large scale of the debt contributes significantly to environmental degradation and the deterioration of the natural resource base. Furthermore, post-COVID-19 economic recovery costs could deplete the financial resources needed to address environmental degradation. As such, there are growing calls for the scaling-up of debt-for-nature (DFN) swaps to ensure the economic recovery benefits the environment and its ecosystems, including implementing water security and green growth initiatives. This chapter will first discuss the concept of DFN swaps before discussing how they can be operationalized and administered. The chapter will then provide an overview of best practices for DFN swaps. Finally, the chapter will provide case studies of DFN swaps implemented to achieve water security and green growth.
Protection by military force in UN peace operations
Authors: Kjeksrud Stian
Published: May 2023

This chapter explores the evolving role of military forces as protectors of civilian populations under threat of physical violence in armed conflict, highlights knowledge gaps, demonstrates how this book bridges some of these gaps, defines and unpacks United Nations (UN) military protection operations, explains the importance of understanding perpetrators of violence to tailor effective military protection operations, and argues for why we should care about what UN troops do to protect civilians. While protection of civilians is a key task during military operations, most militaries still link protection to International Humanitarian Law (IHL), imploring them to avoid unlawful and unnecessary harm to civilians during operations. While IHL still provides the most important rules for the conduct of military operations to avoid harm to civilians, the UN has expanded its understanding of protection significantly over the past two decades. Today, the UN asks Blue Helmets to deter, coerce, and even destroy armed groups that deliberately kill, maim, rape, and displace civilians as part of their warfare. This is a new task for all militaries, demanding new insights on when to do what, including on when the use of force to protect can lead to increased harm to civilians. This introductory chapter indicates how the book provides new insights and to what effect on the study and practice of UN peace operations and beyond.
Analyzing empirical patterns of UN military protection operations
Authors: Kjeksrud Stian
Published: May 2023

This chapter analyzes potential causal steppingstones to explain successful protection outcomes across time and UN missions with the help of basic statistical analysis of categorical data derived from UNPOCO, before employing cross-tabulations, Chi-square tests, and multivariate linear probability analysis. The aim is to search for statistically significant relationships between causal condition candidates and variations in outcome, that may point in the direction of more consistent explanations of “what works” when force is employed to protect civilians from violence. While statistical analysis may seem far removed from the complexities of protection crises in real life, systematic investigations of the best available data is the only viable way forward to start building generalizable explanations to inform what to do in different situations, from a military perspective.
Overwhelmed by the White Army
Authors: Kjeksrud Stian
Published: May 2023

This chapter explores an apparent failure to protect civilians from violence, the 2011–2012 UNMISS operations in Jonglei to reduce the threat to the Murle communities from the Lou Nuer White Army. This case is the most violent captured in the UNPOCO dataset, with up to 900 civilians killed within a few weeks. Although few civilians were protected from physical violence once the White Army’s attacks commenced, the UN mission probably saved thousands of lived through civilian early warning mechanisms before violence materialized. However, the case also underlines the need to better understand the perpetrators of violence, as the tit-for-tat dynamics led to violent counterattacks against Nuer communities by small Murle militias, significantly increasing the overall death-toll.
Domesticating the Land
Authors: Cunliffe Barry
Published: May 2023

A sharp sudden change of climate around 6200 BC triggered a series of changes. For many, in North Africa and the Levant life became harder, forcing them to develop new food-producing strategies. It was soon after this that domesticated animals and cultivated crops, developed in the Near East, spread to the North African coastal zone and to the Nile Valley, eventually reaching Ethiopia. Cultivated wheat and barley could only grow in selected environments but cattle sheep and goats were more tolerant and spread much further into Africa. Near Eastern farming spread by two routes, one by land to the Nile Delta and thence along the coast and down the Nile, the other by sea, via the Mediterranean, to Morocco. A little later, in the wide band of the Sahel, communities began to cultivate native crops such as pearl millet, African rice and sorgum. The re-establishment of humid conditions – the Holocene Humid Period – allowed communities to settle again in the Sahara, relying now on a pastoral way of life but by 3000 BC desertification was underway once more driving the population out. At about this time a rise in population in the constricted, but extremely fertile, Nile Valley led to the development of more complex societies of which the most advanced was Pharaonic Egypt.
The Impact of Empire
Authors: Cunliffe Barry
Published: May 2023

The destruction of Carthage by Rome in 146 BC marked the beginning of the Roman domination of North Africa. By 30 BC, when Rome acquire Egypt, the whole of North Africa was under direct Roman control apart from Mauritania which was ruled by a client king. The desert fringes of the newly acquired territories were explored and an expedition was sent to trace the source of the Nile but soon, having reached an accommodation with the Garamantes, Rome settled down to develop its African provinces heralding a long period of comparative peace. For the Berbers and Egyptians prepared to accept Rome there were many opportunities. It was during this time that Red Sea trade, already underway, began to flourish with merchants venturing into the Indian Ocean and exploring the commercial potential of the East African coast. The African kingdoms of Meroe, on the Nile, and Aksum in Ethiopia, gained in strength and prosperity from the intensification of trade. So too did the states in the Sahel where the urban centres began to expand. The Mediterranean demand for raw material, food and slaves drove the development of trade and sophisticated desert networks evolved to meet the increased demand.
An End and a Beginning
Authors: Cunliffe Barry
Published: May 2023

For North Africa, this was a period of regime change. Roman rule came to an end when a Germanic tribe, the Vandals invaded in 426. They lasted for little more than a century, ousted when North Africa was reclaimed by the Byzantines, successors of Rome. Their period of dominance was even shorter. In 641 the Arab armies conquered Egypt and by 730 had extended their rule across the whole of North Africa, introducing the new religion of Islam. This turbulent 300 years saw the Berber peoples of the region become increasingly more powerful, their tribal groups forming confederacies to fight for or against successive invaders. It was a time of identity building. In the Middle Nile the kingdom of Meroe collapsed, largely as the result of the Red Sea taking over from the Nile, the kingdoms that emerged distinguishing themselves from Muslim Egypt by adopting Christianity. In the western Sahel towns, like Jenne-jeno, grew still further in complexity with satellite settlements specializing in different modes of production, suggesting a heterarchial form social structure. This was the time when distinct polities were beginning to emerge from which were to develop the historic kingdoms of Takrur, Ghana and Kaw Kaw. While these political and social changes were underway to north, east and south of the Sahara, the Berbers who had spread into the desert, continued to maintain the networks that bound the disparate communities.
Kratos before Democracy
Authors: Stocking Charles H.
Published: May 2023

This chapter focuses specifically on the relationship between force and politics in the Iliad. It begins with the infamous “one king” speech of Odysseus (Iliad 2.203–6), delivered on the verge of the dissolution of the Achaean army after Achilles has abandoned the war. In Rogues, one of Jacques Derrida’s last major publications, Derrida uses the one king speech in order to argue for kratos as an ipsocentric force that contrasts specifically with the institution of democracy, which, for Derrida, is a political manifestation of his philosophy of différance. Building on and at the same time differing from Derrida, it is shown in this chapter how the principle of différance may be seen to be at work already in the role that kratos plays both in the Iliad and in the larger mythological tradition pertaining to Zeus. More specifically, the chapter shows how the speeches of Odysseus (Iliad 2.190–206), Agamemnon (Iliad 2.110–41; Iliad 9.17–28), Diomedes (9.32–49), and Zeus (Iliad 8.5–27; Iliad 15.158–67), as well as Hesiod’s Theogony, all point to the unique ways in which the signification of kratos itself remains in a constant state of play through language.
Carnivoran Ecology
Authors: Buskirk Steven W.
Published: May 2023

The Carnivora comprises the most morphologically, trophically, and ecologically diverse mammalian branch of the tree of life. This book describes how and where carnivorans arose and radiated. Their morphological adaptations to diverse niches and the physiological mechanisms permit them to specialize on many foods, in many habitats. The sensory modalities and brain function of carnivorans are distinctive and important for living by predation. Carnivorans perform important community functions, including transporting nutrients, scavenging carrion, and making carrion available to other scavengers. They affect plants directly by dispersing seeds and improving germination. Some carnivorans have important facilitative interactions with other community members. Competition among carnivorans is a key mechanism that structures communities, mediated by body size, body shape, and other factors. The effects of carnivorans on prey numbers have long been studied; today the effects of risk of predation on prey behaviors, physiology, and reproduction are recognized as having comparable or greater effects on prey numbers than predation itself. Cascades are triggered by carnivoran presence and predation, and include effects resulting from predation, risk of predation, nutrient transport, and other mechanisms. Population processes in carnivorans differ modestly from those in non-carnivoran mammals, except that carnivorans occur at lower densities, have larger home ranges, disperse farther, and die of different causes. Carnivorans affect humans via a host of mechanisms; humans tend to exaggerate both positive and negative effects. Humans have had largely negative effects on carnivoran distributions and abundances, but local recoveries and restorations are occurring as well.
Introduction to Carnivoran Ecology
Authors: Buskirk Steven W.
Published: May 2023

The Carnivora is a uniquely diverse branch of the tree of life, occupying niches and displaying adaptations that are broader than for any other mammalian order. Humans and our ancestors have always shown a keen interest in this group—they preyed on us, facilitated our access to carrion, competed with us for food, and were domesticated by us. This book distinguishes between “Carnivora” and “carnivory;” the latter term describes eating animals, a trophic niche occupied by many vertebrate and invertebrate lineages, and even some plants. An explosion of scientific knowledge over thirty years has made this book possible and necessary. It is intended as a text or reference for academic or non-academic readers and assumes some familiarity with biological concepts and vocabulary. Its strongest focus is on macroevolution, physiology, community ecology, and conservation, but does not delve deeply into intraspecific behavioral ecology. I draw almost entirely from the peer-reviewed scientific literature, but acknowledge biases toward wealthy, developed regions, which generate most of that literature. Some themes and explanatory concepts recur through the book; these include body size, trophic level, and body temperature; the reader can make many connections via these concepts.
Physiological ecology
Authors: Buskirk Steven W.
Published: May 2023

Physiological ecology deals with how processes at cellular and molecular levels relate to ecological challenges. Carnivorans occupy the widest range of habitat and trophic niches of any mammalian order, variously specializing on vertebrate flesh, insects, fruits, and plant leaves. Carnivorous carnivorans eat less frequently than herbivores, retain food in their guts for briefer periods, and lack the genes that code for proteins that regulate appetite in response to gut contents. Carnivorans, even those with high-cellulose diets, lack special gut structures to hold microbial fermenters. As a result, they only absorb cell contents and pass cell walls undigested, making them inefficient users of plant foods. Chitin, an important structural carbohydrate in arthropods, is digestible only to some carnivorans, especially those that eat some invertebrates. Felids and some mustelids require amino acids beyond the standard essential ones needed by most eutherians. Carnivorans show evidence of balancing nutrient intake, even if given access to vertebrate carcasses. They generally metabolize at higher rates than other eutherians, although their resting body temperatures are the same or lower. Some species show strong adaptation to energetic challenges, including storing body fat and undergoing shallow seasonal torpor. Carnivorans show reproductive patterns uncommon across the Eutheria, including delayed implantation and induced ovulation.
How carnivorans affect humans
Authors: Buskirk Steven W.
Published: May 2023

Carnivorans affect humans in diverse ways, positively and negatively. They attack and kill small numbers of humans worldwide, not including attacks by domestic dogs, that lead to strong societal responses. They kill various domestic animals, mostly notably livestock under loose husbandry. In addition to environmental factors, these attacks occur in response to economic and social conditions. Carnivorans also kill wild animals valued by humans: ungulates valued as game, marine fisheries, and species of conservation concern. Wild carnivorans are the basis of various regional tourism industries, but also can limit recreational activities, for reasons of public safety or to protect a carnivoran at issue. Humans have used carnivorans for food, fur, and medicine throughout our history, but these uses have declined in recent decades; the global wild fur industry is small and declining. We value the ecological services provided by carnivorans; these include removing human waste and reducing ungulate–vehicle collisions. Carnivorans play complex roles in the ecology of diseases that affect humans, completing the life cycles of some disease organisms, while interrupting others. The increased proximity of carnivorans to humans in urban and peri-urban setting increases the likelihood of transmission of some zoonotic diseases. They also play important roles as reservoirs or transmitters of diseases important to species of conservation concern. In some cases, the positive effects of carnivorans on ecosystem health have been exaggerated beyond what evidence supports. Carnivorans affect the spiritual and emotional well-being of humans in diverse and powerful ways.
How humans affect carnivorans
Authors: Buskirk Steven W.
Published: May 2023

Globally, humans are the most potent community interactors with carnivorans, contributing to large expansions and contractions of geographic ranges, but few extinctions of nominal species to date. Carnivorans are exceedingly rare on Earth, much more so than before humans colonized. Direct and intentional carnivoran mortality by humans—hunting, trapping, and poisoning—has caused near-extinction of some taxa but nearly undetectable effects on others. Physical exclusion (fencing) has seen limited use over large areas and has been costly/controversial where employed. Humans affect a wide range of carnivoran behaviors, the most studied of which include nocturnality, road tolerance, proximity to development, and interactions with other carnivoran species. Humans affect the prevalence and virulence of various carnivoran diseases—domestic dogs and cats play important roles as reservoirs and transmission agents. Human transport of carnivorans across any distance facilitates disease spread. Humans have introduced, reintroduced, or restored carnivorans to areas up to the size of continents, with highly mixed results. Wealthy, populous countries are surprisingly prone to restore some carnivoran taxa, partly because of urban populations sympathetic to environmental goals. Reintroduced carnivoran populations can exert disappointingly small ecological effects. Humans subsidize the diets and habitats of many carnivorans, even some not regarded as commensal. Carnivorans have been subjects of genetic and genomic inquiry because of past population bottlenecks; approaches for addressing population genetic problems range from population augmentation to genetic engineering. Global climate change poses daunting challenges for many carnivoran taxa, particularly those that associate closely with sea ice or snow cover.