bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Artificial intelligence in gastroenterology: where are we and where are we going?
Authors: Lovat Laurence B
Published: April 2024

Background:

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly advancing in gastroenterology, most notably in the area of endoscopy, but also more widely throughout the speciality. This article reviews what AI is, how it works and some of the key advances it is bringing. AI can already improve patient triage so that resources can be better targeted at sick patients. In endoscopy, AI can improve the detection of polyps during colonoscopy and the accuracy of diagnosis, while in Barrett's oesophagus, it can improve the detection of pre-cancerous dysplasia so that all endoscopists can emulate the performance of world-class experts. Systems are being developed to automate the assessment of bowel preparation quality and report writing. The power of novel generative AI such as ChatGPT could drive major improvements in communication between busy clinicians and patients. Healthcare professionals need to ensure they understand how to manage the ‘black-box’ that is AI.
Can more be done to optimise the effect of mesalazine for IBD patients with mild to moderate ulcerative colitis?
Authors: Jazrawi Riadh
Published: April 2024

Background

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is characterised by chronic mucosal inflammation primarily in the colon. Guidelines recommend mesalazine as first-line therapy for induction of maintenance in mild-to-moderate Ulcerative colitis. Patients' preferences, response to treatment, site and extent of inflammation and cost are important considerations when selecting mesalazine therapy.

Aims/Methods

This article reviews mesalazine's role in ulcerative colitis and explores the factors to consider when optimising mesalazine-based therapy.

Findings

Up to two-thirds of patients fail to respond to induction therapy within 8 weeks, thereby prompting a switch of formulations or escalation to oral corticosteroids. While there are no major variations in efficacy, different mesalazine formulations are not interchangeable because of differences in mode of drug delivery, site of drug release and excipients. Switching mesalazine products before escalating therapy may, therefore, spare patients from wider side effects and higher costs.

Conclusions

Optimising mesalazine-based therapy requires individualised treatment plans based on patient preferences, site and extent of inflammation, response to treatment and potential side effects. An algorithm exists to guide the selection of alternative mesalazine formulations when required.
Elementary Teachers’ Development in Using Technological Tools to Engage Students in Online Learning
Authors: Daher Wajeeh , Anabousy Ahlam , Alfahel Essa
Published: April 2024

Technological tools are means by which online teaching could encourage the engagement of students, especially elementary students. The present research studies how elementary teachers develop their use of technological tools in their asynchronous and synchronous online teaching, specifically when this online teaching occurs during emergency education. The research was conducted in the academic year 2019/2020. We interviewed two elementary teachers, where one of them taught asynchronous lessons more than synchronous, while the second taught synchronous lessons more than asynchronous. We analyzed the data using two frameworks: one for interaction type and one for engagement type. The research results indicated that different interaction types influenced teachers’ decisions to use technological tools. In addition, what concerned the teachers’ use of tools at the beginning was the cognitive engagement, but they advanced towards focusing on behavioral and the affective engagement.
On the Mediating Role of M-Learning Between Social Capital and Knowledge Sharing: Students' Perspectives During COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Karasneh Abed Al-Fatah
Published: April 2024

The onset of the Coronavirus disease COVID-19 crisis has forced pedagogical institutes to adopt online teaching/learning as an urgent strategy to cope with the pandemic. Utilizing the theories of social capital, knowledge sharing, and mobile learning constructs, this research aims to investigate the association among these constructs in one of the higher education institutes in the context of developing countries. Additionally, to improve our understanding of the mediation effect of mobile learning on this relationship, the author used the structural equation modeling technique to analyze the data from questionnaires administered to undergraduate students attending classes during the pandemic. Results revealed that the relationship between social capital factors and knowledge sharing is significantly positive. Results also showed that there is a partial mediation to back up the correlation of social capital factors and knowledge sharing.
The "Mind dissolved" and "half-wild with loss": Negative Wisdom in Dickinson and Ammons
Authors: Kang Yanbin
Published: April 2024

Abstract: This essay explores how shared metaphors in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and A. R. Ammons, including fields, chaos, shades, and the melting of ice, evoke principles that can be associated with a "negative" wisdom characteristic of Daoism and Chan Buddhism. Additionally, the essay examines the bee/butterfly-flower trope used by both poets as an emblem of joyous oblivion, as well as their advocacy of non-action for self-cultivation and an indifference towards service. By situating these poets' figurative language within a literary lineage, the essay points toward a shared ground between Asian and American traditions.
Looking Into the "Torrid Eye:" Negotiating the Limits of Selfhood in Emily Dickinson's Maelstrom Poems
Authors: Sharpless Susannah
Published: April 2024

Abstract: This article offers new ways of interpreting Dickinson's maelstrom poems. I turn to recent critical interest in the word "Domingo" to argue that Dickinson's maelstroms reveal the gendered questions underlying revolutionary new concepts of personhood. Identifying various historical, political, and geographical referents for Dickinson's maelstroms, I argue these poems depict white femininity as an idealized, isolated, and often therefore horrifying condition. By demonstrating how Dickinson uses the maelstrom to think together the oceanic sublime and Gothic tropes of enslavement, I locate in these poems a repeated fantasy about the possibility of escape—however painful—from these gendered and racialized circumstances.
Socio-Economic-Driven Disparities in Chronic Illness and Disability Among the South African Children: Exploring Variations Within the Urban and Rural Areas
Authors: Dlamini Msawenkosi , Mbonigaba Josue
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: Existing literature on health inequalities often overlooks the nuanced dynamics, particularly among vulnerable children with chronic diseases and disabilities and fails to consider regional disparities within countries like South Africa. This paper asserts the necessity for a more granular analysis in South Africa, recognizing the varied health outcomes for children across different economic segments and geographical settings. Specifically, the health trajectories for children differ markedly between rural formal areas, regions under traditional authorities, formal urban areas, and informal urban settlements. Addressing the generalizations common in prior research, this study takes a precise, regionally focused approach to socio-economic-driven disparities in chronic illness or disability. It distinguishes between rural formal areas, traditional authority areas, formal urban areas, and informal urban areas, unveiling the intricate layers of health disparities. Using data from the National Income Dynamics Study, concentration indices, and the Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition method, the paper analyzed health inequality trends from 2008 to 2017. The results uncover significant inequalities, with alarming trends, particularly among children with chronic illnesses and disabilities in traditional authority regions and informal urban environments. The paper's evidence shows that rural formal areas have experienced a decline in health disparities as opposed to the deepening divide in traditional authority-led regions. The urban analysis reveals a split: while formal urban settings often favour the wealthier, informal urban areas indicate a shift towards lower socioeconomic brackets. The decomposition analysis highlights the evolving socioeconomic elements influencing each region over time. These insights emphasize the urgent necessity for geographically tailored policy interventions. By understanding the distinct socioeconomic landscapes across various regions, we can formulate policies that resonate with each area's specific realities and challenges. Such targeted strategies are essential in reducing health inequalities and enhancing the life quality of children with chronic health conditions and disabilities, playing a critical role in South Africa's journey toward comprehensive health equity.
Hysteresis in Youth Unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Focus on Gender, Income, and Region
Authors: Nnyanzi John Bosco , Kilimani Nicholas , Oryema John Bosco
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: Despite innumerable government policies to reduce youth unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa, the problem persists. This study examines the extent to which the hysteresis effect exists in the youth unemployment rate in Sub-Saharan African countries during the period 1991 to 2021, disaggregated according to territorial delineation, income, and gender. First, we employ the univariate and panel unit root tests including the Augmented-Dickey-Fuller, Phillips-Perron, the Dickey-Fuller-Generalized Least Square by Elliott, Rothenberg, and Stock (1996), the ADFmax by Leybourne (1995), and the Kwiatkowski, et al. (1992) test, to enable comparison with previous studies. The Pesaran's (2007), test is then applied to account for cross-sectional dependence. Finally, the Zivot–Andrews single structural break by Zivot and Andrews (1992), Clemente–Montane–Reyes two structural breaks unit root tests by Clemente, Montañés, and Reyes (1998), as well as the Karavias-Tzavalis panel unit root test with structural breaks by Karavias and Tzavalis (2014) are employed. The univariate unit root tests generally support the hysteresis hypothesis (within a band of 60% to 97%) for almost all countries, and sub-regions in SSA. However, accounting for structural breaks, the hysteresis effect in total youth unemployment is only visible in 19 countries (40%), with evidence of gender disparities pointing to the hysteresis effect in females only in 16 countries (34%), and, in males only in 10 countries (21.3%). The lower-middle-income countries reject the natural rate hypothesis in total and both male and female youth unemployment rates. While only male youths suffer from the hysteresis in low-income countries, the total youth in upper-middle-income countries shares this effect. Accounting for cross-section dependence alters the finding of the hysteresis effect only in males in Southern Africa and upper-middle-income countries. A one-size-fits-all policy may not work. Instead, we recommend an integral approach aimed at the creation of employment opportunities for youth and females, including but not limited to diversification of economic activities in rural areas to reduce urbanization, skills training, political and economic stability, cultural transformation to remove unnecessary gender-related employment discrimination, as well as improved economic integration policies. For countries found to exhibit the natural rate hypothesis, it may not be necessary to engage in costly policies to return the youth unemployment rate to equilibrium since the shock is only temporary.
Multidimensional Poverty Among Women in the Ibadan South West Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria
Authors: Oketunde Fadekemi B. , Samuel Folake O.
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: Poverty remains a serious problem in Nigeria; women are among those mostly affected and are often deprived in many ways. This paper uses the multidimensional approach to examine poverty levels among women in Ibadan South West Local Government Area, Oyo State. Primary data was obtained from a sample of 393 women across the population density areas on socio-economic characteristics and poverty indicators (health, education and standard of living). The Alkire-Foster multidimensional approach was used to estimate the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) for the sampled women. The weights assigned to these poverty dimensions were generated using the multiple correspondence analysis. The MPI for each woman were categorized as abject poor (deprived in at least two dimensions), moderate poor (deprived in one dimension) and non-poor (not deprived in any dimension). The mean age of the women was 30.8±6.7 years. One-third of the respondents were mostly artisans (30.0%) and traders (26.5%), and 52.2% had completed secondary education. About 23.0% of women were deprived in education, 61.0% in health and 70.4% in standard of living. Based on location, the study indicated that the women in the medium and high density areas are mostly deprived in the different dimensions of poverty. When the poverty cut off K= 1, poverty incidence is 94% and 51.7% of the women were multidimensional poor as against 28% poverty incidence and 19.6% poor women when k=3 using the Alkire-Foster Multidimensional methodology. This implies that when women are deprived in at least one dimension; 51.7% are multidimensional poor. More than half of the respondents (51.0%) were categorized as moderately poor, 26.0% were abject poor while 23.2% were non-poor. This study revealed high poverty levels among women in Ibadan South West Local Government Area. Deprivation in standard of living and health in the three areas could be improved upon through the concerted effort of the government with appropriate ministries by initiating more productive and empowerment programs to improve their purchasing power and disseminating educative information that will improve their nutritional status through health talks to reduce the level of multidimensional poverty in urban locations respectively.
Determinants of Economic Growth: A Granger Causality Analysis
Authors: Joshi Prathibha , Beck Kris Aaron
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: Countries devote a lot of time and effort to develop economically, but they nevertheless struggle to attain that growth consistently. Research into economic growth should have provided some guidance as to which actions these countries should adopt, but multiple studies using different methods and datasets generally have led to an array of outcomes that contradict one another. However, Granger causality analysis can provide better insight into the relationship between some key variables and economic growth to give these countries more direction. Granger causality results establish a stronger connection between variables, even though they do not depict true causation. We therefore use a Vector Auto Regression method with Generalized Method of Moments estimation and then Granger-causality to discover how commonly used variables in the literature individually impact economic growth and in what way for a selection of OECD and non-OECD countries. We choose government expenditure, foreign direct investment (FDI), education (as a proxy for human capital), population growth, urbanization, and trade openness as our variables of interest. We also utilize updated datasets from the World Development Indicators (WDI) ranging from the years 2000-2016, based on the availability of the data. We find that FDI and population growth do Granger-cause economic development for OECD countries but that government expenditures, education, urbanization, and trade openness do not show such Granger causality. However economic growth Granger-causes government expenditures, FDI, and education for these OECD countries. For the non-OECD countries, we find that FDI, population growth, and trade openness Granger-cause growth but Granger causality does not occur from government expenditure, education, and urbanization to economic development. Yet similar to the OECD countries, economic growth does Granger-cause FDI and trade openness for the non-OECD countries as well. The overall results indicate that all countries should encourage the expansion of foreign direct investment to grow their economy, which then in turn can lead to additional investment as well as more resources available for the country as a whole. We also suggest further studies should focus on the economic development of individual countries rather than regions, particularly in terms of how technology can drive growth and impact these other variables.
Does Capital Structure Affect Profitability of Listed Ghanaian Firms?
Authors: Kotey Richard Angelous
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: Capital structure is one of the crucial decisions managers must make that can affect a firm's short-term and long-term value maximization prospects. Though extant studies have shown capital structure significantly affects profits, researchers have struggled to find an optimal mix of capital structure ideal for value maximization due to the influence of macro and micro factors. There is therefore the need for this to be properly studied contextually. Building on the Pecking Order Theory, this study examines the capital structure effects on profitability from a short-term, long-term, and total debt financing perspective on listed Ghanaian firms between 2003 and 2013. An unbalanced panel data of 23 listed manufacturing and service firms that are listed on the Ghanaian Stock Exchange are subjected to robust maximum likelihood heteroskedastic linear estimation models. Three main regressions that are run explain the short-term debt, long-term debt and total debt effect on firm profitability. The results show that short-term debt exhibits a positive effect on return on equity (ROE), whilst the relationship reverses for long-term debt, indicating that short-term financing was beneficial to firms rather than long-term financing. Also, total debt exhibited a negative and non-significant effect on return on equity. The author also found that firm liquidity exhibited a more pronounced positive effect on profitability for firms with short-term debt than long-term debt. Financial risk negatively affected the returns of only firms with short-term debt. Market share had a pronounced positive effect on ROE across firms whilst firm age exhibited a less pronounced positive effect on firm profits. Firm size and growth had increasing profit effects but was not significant in the dataset. Financial risk also negatively affected profits, but this was only significant in firms with short-term debt structures. This study finds that managers need to adopt more short-term debt financing rather than long-term financing as the former leads to more profits. There is a need for policymakers to develop long-term debt financing structures to compete in the Ghanaian debt market. It is also recommended that managers exercise due care when supplementing equity capital with debt.
Mediating Role of Pluriactivity in the Relationship Between Rural Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and Income Doubling in Nigeria's Bauchi State
Authors: Sanusi Sadiq Mohammed , Paul Singh Invinder , Makarfi Ahmad Muhammad , Mahmood Bala Umar
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: The majority of rural households in emerging nations are currently diversifying their sources of income. Rural income diversification focuses primarily on improving the use of the currently available production resources and boosting household income, as opposed to investment portfolios in finance that diversify to reduce risks. Despite substantial discussion of the causes or impacts of rural income pluriactivity, there are no well-established standards for the use of indicators to record actual rural income diversification in the existing literature of the study area. Therefore, in lieu of the foregoing, attempt was made to assess the mediating role of pluriactivity in the relationship between rural entrepreneurship ecosystem and income doubling in Nigeria's Bauchi state using cross-sectional data elicited by a well-structured questionnaire coupled with interview schedule from 322 households selected via a multi-stage random sampling technique. With the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics, the study objectives were achieved. The inferential statistics encompass diversification index viz. Entropy index, Herfindahl-Hirschman index, Berry's index, and, Ginevičius index; decision regression model; and, confirmatory factor analysis. Empirically, the findings established that pluriactivity was high among most of the households and it was majorly driven by educational level. Besides, pluriactivity is established to enhance incomes of low-to-medium income levels households while it imposes a progressive declining effect on the income of households with high income level. Nevertheless, operational holding was the kick-starting impetus that derived pluriactivity of the rural economy. Furthermore, economic factor, a push effect that motivates rural entrepreneurship, has strong influence that will enhance pluriactivity capacity to double rural households' income in the long-run. Therefore, for a flourishing rural entrepreneurship that will drive sustainable growth and development of rural economy in the study area, the study suggests that households should see pluriactivity as a business entity independent of a household against the old norms that view both as just a single entity. As a rider, onus lies on policymakers to harp more on out of class education as a measure to enhance the risk bearing ability of the rural populace, thus mitigation to the posed challenges of weather-induced vagaries threatening livelihood in the study area.
Effect of the Social Safety Net on Child Labor and School Retention in Bangladesh: Empirical Evidence from Hies 2016
Authors: Emran Sheikh Jafar , Schmitz Andrew
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: In Bangladesh Social Safety Net (SSN) interventions are intended to achieve specific goals, e.g., reduction in poverty, decrease in early school dropout, and nutrition supplementation. This study investigates the effectiveness of SSN participation on less explored goals of child labor reduction and school retention in Bangladesh. Empirical evidence is provided to evaluate the success of existing programs to combat child labor and early school dropout. This study utilizes the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), 2016 of Bangladesh. We employ the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) framework to show the causal relationship between SSN participation and its impact on the use of child labor and school retention. Given the nature and availability of data, the matching method provides us an estimate of the impact of SSN based on a quasi-experimental setting. We estimate counterfactuals based on observed characteristics of the household that affect both SSN participation and our outcome variables. Our results suggest that households that receive SSN tend to employ less child labor domestic or paid compared to their counterparts. Our Propensity Score Matching (PSM) results show that SSN participation reduces child labor prevalence in Bangladesh by 2.4% to 2.9%. This is an indication that families essentially substitute SSN income with child labor earnings. Thus, SSN programs in Bangladesh are effective in reducing child labor though the magnitude is not overwhelming. On the contrary, our results show that children from SSN-participating families have a higher incidence of early school dropout. This may be due to inefficiency or poorly designed programs that effectively keep the children in school. We estimate early school dropout is higher by 3.6% to 6.6% for households that receive SSN compared to the control group. Our findings are important for policymakers to redesign the programs that retain children in school. We suggest targeted interventions that will help to keep these children in school, which is conducive to human capital accrual and increasing lifetime earnings. Additionally, our insights will assist policymakers in rethinking SSN coverage, efficient selection of beneficiaries, and initiation of the correct intervention.
Customer Concentration and Labor Investment Efficiency: Evidence from China
Authors: Liu Tingting , Zhang Long , Zhang Junrui , Li Shiyou
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: The labor force constitutes a paramount factor of production in the realm of business operations. In the past, China's abundant labor force significantly boosted productivity for firms. However, as the demographic dividend gradually wanes, concerns have arisen regarding a scarcity of labor force, exacerbating worries about rising labor costs. Therefore, focusing on enhancing firms' labor investment efficiency becomes pivotal. Using a sample of A-stock listed firms in China from 2013 to 2020, we examine the impact of customer concentration on the labor investment efficiency of supplier firms. Prior literature provides mixed results regarding the effect of concentrated customers. They can act as a governance mechanism for reducing agency problems, thus, increasing investment efficiency. Conversely, agency problems are aggravated in suppliers with concentrated customers, consequently, reducing investment efficiency. Our results suggest that customer concentration reduces labor investment efficiency, and this effect is more pronounced when customers possess high bargaining power. Additionally, the mechanism analysis reveal that customer concentration leads to less accurate information disclosure, higher operating risk, and an incentive to "empire building", reducing labor investment efficiency. The cross-sectional analysis reveals that customer concentration results in both over- and under-investment in labor, thereby reducing investment efficiency. In addition, we employ augmented models to rule out the possibility of a U-shaped relationship between customer concentration and labor investment efficiency. Furthermore, we adopt the instrumental variables approach as well as a two-stage regression model to address potential endogeneity concerns and mitigate the omitted variable concern. Our results hold after the robustness tests and endogeneity tests. The findings of this paper imply that firms should strategically diversify their customer bases, thereby reducing their reliance on a few large customers. Simultaneously, governments should actively encourage firms to broaden their customer base. It can help enhance labor investment efficiency by spreading the risks associated with customer concentration. Moreover, it is crucial to acknowledge that substantial customer bargaining power can negatively impact supplier firms. Thus, policymakers should promote antitrust regulations and fair trade practices to mitigate the high bargaining power of large customers.
Permanent VS Transitory Shocks to Electricity Consumption: Panel Evidence from 19 African Countries
Authors: Husein Jamal , Kara S. Murat
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: Considering Africa's increasing electricity demands and the pivotal role of electricity in socio-economic development, this study addresses a research gap in understanding the stochastic properties of per capita electricity consumption in African contexts. Through examining the integration properties of per capita electricity consumption across 19 African countries, the research determines whether 'shocks' yield transitory or permanent effects, aiding policy formulation and future demand forecasting. Annual electric power consumption data (1971 – 2014) (kWh per capita) from the WDI across 19 African countries are used. Our methodology starts with formally testing for cross-sectional dependence (CSD) using various tests to avoid potential size distortions. Subsequently, we employ the novel panel stationarity test of Nazlioglu and Karul (2017), a Fourier KPSS panel stationarity test. The robustness of the analysis is enriched by incorporating the Hadri and Kurozumi (2011) panel stationarity test and Nazlioglu et al. (2021) new panel stationary tests. The CSD test results reveal mutual dependency in electricity consumption among the sampled African countries, underscoring the need for a panel testing methodology that accommodates CSD. The results of the panel stationarity tests that allow CSD and structural breaks—specifically, the Nazlioglu and Karul (2017) test, which models structural breaks as a gradual process—reject the null hypothesis of trend stationarity for both single frequencies, i.e., k =1, and 2. Similarly, all new, complementary panel stationarity tests from Nazlioglu et al. (2021) reject the null hypothesis of stationarity for both frequencies. Collectively, the outcomes from various panel stationarity tests present strong evidence of nonstationary per capita electricity consumption within the sampled African countries. Additionally, the Nazlioglu and Karul panel stationarity test enables an analysis of the individual Fourier KPSS test for cross-sectional units in the panel. Of the 19 countries, only Togo does not reject the null hypothesis of stationarity for both frequencies. These individual country results align with the panel outcomes, providing compelling evidence for the nonstationarity of the per capita electricity consumption series across the investigated African nations. Accordingly, shocks to electricity consumption will have permanent effects, indicating that per capita electricity consumption will not return to its pre-shock equilibrium path. In this case, demand or consumption stabilizing policies will have long-run effects.
Covid–19: Foreign Remittances and Migrants' Well-Being in Bangladesh
Authors: Uddin Md Bakhtiar , Shrestha Krishna K. , Zwi Anthony B
Published: April 2024

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every sphere of life and livelihoods around the world. Many migrant workers from the Global South, such as Bangladesh, working in the Gulf countries were reported to be impacted by COVID-19, but the direct voices and views of migrant workers themselves and their households are largely unknown. This research adopts a mixed-method approach to assess the impact of the pandemic on foreign remittances to Bangladesh and the well-being of migrant households. The primary data collection involved fieldwork conducted in four migrant-dense villages, situated in Mymensingh and Meherpur districts of Bangladesh. A set of 221 household surveys was administered. In addition to the surveys, 52 semi-structured interviews were carried out, engaging with key individuals at community, district, and national levels such as heads of migrant households, returnee migrants, managers of migration financiers, owners of labor recruiting agencies, officials of the district manpower office etc. Results show that although a significant number of Bangladeshi migrant workers returned home since the COVID-19 pandemic and the outflow of Bangladeshi migrant workers shrank by 69 percent in 2020, remittance inflows at the national level witnessed a growth of 18.5 percent in 2020, which did not resonate with the negative prediction made by the World Bank. However, this research found a macro-micro mismatch, indicating a substantial decline in remittances at the household level. This might be due to the existence of a robust unofficial channel for remittance sending. Approximately 62% of migrant households in the case study sites experienced a 32% reduction in remittances during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. In response to the decline in remittance income, a majority of migrant households (77%) resorted to utilizing their accumulated savings. Additionally, approximately 20% of households sought financial support and borrowing from friends, relatives, and community members. At the community level, the local economy experienced a sharp downturn, leading to a ripple effect that affected everyone within the community. To address the unofficial remittance sending, the Government of Bangladesh should implement effective measures to curb unofficial remittance channels. Upskilling initiatives have the potential to alleviate the vulnerability of Bangladeshi migrant workers, fostering increased income stability. Policymakers should place greater emphasis on crafting savings instruments tailored to the specific needs of migrant households. It is also imperative to prioritize an income diversification policy at the community level to mitigate dependence on remittances.
The Annotated Ape in Thomas Love Peacock’s Melincourt, or, Sir Oran Haut-Ton
Authors: Chalmers Alan
Published: April 2024

abstract: This essay argues that in Peacock’s novel Melincourt the copious pseudo-scholarly footnotes are integral to the characterization of the simian character of Sir Oran. In mutually reflective ways the ape and the annotations about him offer up a hierarchical ordering of relations—taxonomic and textual—only to call such ordering into question. By transgressing such species and textual boundaries the novel undermines satirically the evolving taxonomic and scholarly assumptions of its time, and the presumptive authority they inscribe.
Ultra Veritatem Muliebris Vis: Women Classicists at and beyond Washington University in the Dawning of Post-Bellum America
Authors: Hallett Judith P.
Published: April 2024

Abstract: To contextualize the all-female American production of Plautus’ Rudens at Washington University in St. Louis in 1884 by the university’s Ladies’ Literary Society, my discussion considers the topic of Plautus’ comedy—freeborn Greeks threatened with enslavement—and the historical circumstances of its first staging in ca. 200 BCE; the historical circumstances surrounding the production, in a former slave state, less than two decades after the US Civil War; and, to illuminate the milieu in which the female students revised and performed Plautus’ text, the lives and professional contributions of five prominent American women classicists educated between 1865 and 1917.
Jesuit School Productions of Roman Comedy in the 19th-century U.S.
Authors: Polt Christopher B.
Published: April 2024

Abstract: In this article I examine productions of Roman comedy in Latin at the end of the 19th century by several Jesuit schools in the United States. I show that they used these plays to demonstrate the high quality of Catholic education, to gain public support and private patronage, and to defend themselves within the hostile landscape of largely-Protestant U.S. education in this period. I also argue that these Jesuit schools saw Roman comedy as a way to link themselves not only to ancient culture, but also to traditions that once formed the core of the Society of Jesus’s educational model.
Slavery and Gender in the Performance of Rudens : from 1884 to 2021
Authors: Anderson Marleigh , Schott Henry
Published: April 2024

Abstract: Staging Roman comedy for a modern audience requires making decisions about how to portray uncomfortable power dynamics. In this article we discuss the casting and acting choices, and their implications for slavery and gender, in a Zoom performance of Plautus’ Rudens by the Classics Department at Washington University in St. Louis, based on the 1884 English translation by the Ladies’ Literary Society of Washington University. The 2021 performance’s individualized, fluid approach to portraying gender, alongside its engagement with modern discourse on power and status, highlights the importance of sociocultural context and performance context for understanding key features of the play.
Electoral Rewards and Punishments for Trade Compensation
Authors: Kim Minju , Gulotty Robert
Published: April 2024

abstract: When globalization harms a community, voters are expected to demand compensation programs. Why, then, would incumbents fail to provide additional compensation following an economic shock? The authors argue that in addition to offering material assistance, government compensation also informs voters about the costs of globalization, generating consternation in the electorate. As a result, providing compensation can hurt incumbents' electoral prospects. This article studies this consternation effect in the United States during the China shock period (1990–2007). The authors use an administrative instrument for access to the US Trade Adjustment Assistance (taa) program, the longest-standing compensation system for workers displaced by international trade. The analysis shows that compensation electorally backfires when distributed to low-shocked regions in which the informational value of compensation is high. The consternation effect can explain why governments often underinvest in compensation programs.
Taxes in the Time of Revolution: An Experimental Test of the Rentier State during Algeria's Hirak
Authors: Kubinec Robert , Milner Helen V.
Published: April 2024

abstract: This article examines the rentier thesis that a government's control over oil resources should help it to resist pressures for democratization. The authors' online survey experiment, implemented during a nationwide mobilization for regime change in Algeria known as the Hirak, used interactive experimental treatments to provide information about the Algerian government's subsidies for fuel resources and low value-added taxes. Based on a sample of 9,721 Algerians, the authors find that when Algerians learn about their country's relatively high level of fuel subsidies and low level of taxes, their assessments of the government's performance improve. However, the treatment has null effects for outcomes involving demands for representation, such as intentions to join protest movements. An analysis of treatment heterogeneity in terms of wealth shows that the wealthy became much more supportive of the regime in response to the treatment while in some cases the poor became much less so. This treatment heterogeneity appears to be related to divergent views among the wealthy and the poor concerning the goals of the protest movement, with the wealthy favoring institutional reforms while the poor prioritized redistributive justice.
Perspective-Taking and Security Dilemma Thinking: Experimental Evidence from China and the United States
Authors: Kertzer Joshua D. , Brutger Ryan , Quek Kai
Published: April 2024

abstract: One of the central challenges in China-US relations is the risk of a security dilemma between China and the United States, as each side carries out actions for what it perceives to be defensively motivated reasons, failing to realize how they are perceived by the other side. Yet how susceptible to the psychological biases that undergird the security dilemma are the Chinese and American publics? Can these biases' deleterious effects be mitigated? The authors explore the microfoundations of the security dilemma, fielding parallel dyadic cross-national survey experiments in China and the United States. We find microlevel evidence consistent with the logic of the security dilemma in publics in both countries. We also find that international relations (ir) scholars have overstated the palliative effects of perspective-taking, which can backfire in the face of perceived threats to actors' identities and goals. The authors' findings have important implications for the study of public opinion in China-US relations and perspective-taking in ir.
Resisting the Epistemic Straight Gaze in the Anti-gender Era: Italian LGBTIQ+ Studies and Scholars, 2013–2023
Authors: Prearo Massimo
Published: April 2024

Abstract: This article discusses the challenges faced by scholars involved in gender and LGBTIQ+ studies and research, within a context of increased attacks by anti-gender coalitions of social movements and parties. It highlights the precarious and vulnerable position of gender and LGBTIQ+ scholars in an academic environment set by neoliberal agendas and anti-gender rhetoric. The contribution reflects on the role of academic institutions in reinforcing dominant power structures and the resistance efforts by LGBTIQ+ scholars against this backdrop. The study underscores the importance of understanding these dynamics for the future of LGBTIQ+ studies and the broader context of academic freedom and knowledge production in Italy and beyond.
From the Courts, to the Streets, to the University: Fighting to Save Gender Studies in Pakistan, 2018–2023
Authors: Aslam Rabbia
Published: April 2024

Abstract: This article traces the recent growing contestation leveled against the discipline of gender studies in Pakistan. In 2020 a petition was filed in Lahore High Court against the teaching of gender studies in higher education institutions across Pakistan that should be seen as part of the national backlash initiated against feminist struggles/movements in Pakistan. Documenting the narratives of five founding heads of WGS departments through in-depth interviews, I have analyzed how WGS has not only historically but also in contemporary times encountered challenges at various levels. In addition to those interviews (primary data), I also relied on secondary sources to unearth those contestations against WGS. It is reflected in this research that WGS has journeyed through different phases, encountering antagonism and resistance, and eventually received acceptance as a field of study in a society like Pakistan, which is highly patriarchal. Though it has gained acceptance over the period, the struggle experienced by the practitioners and scholars of WGS has remained constant. They are labeled as anti-culturalists and anti-religious and stereotyped as "Westerners" toeing the Western philosophy being part of WGS. These allegations are augmented by the arguments around the scope and marketability of WGS reflecting the systemic realities of the neoliberal economic order, where education is valued on its market and commercial basis. Though the Aurat March of 2018, as theorized by feminist scholars, started the fourth wave of women's rights activism in Pakistan, it faced a huge backlash from the state and society alike. Since WGS vehemently supports women and gender rights activism and movements in general, in Pakistan the backlash was also directed against WGS. It is argued and theorized that the growing contestation and backlash to the Aurat March and WGS in Pakistan should be seen in a global context in recent years where anti-gender discourses (coupled with transphobia) are widely shared and disseminated. This article, therefore, situates these challenges faced by WGS within these local and global realities.
(Re)purposing, not "Rightsizing": Responding to Recent Attacks on Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies in the U.S. Academy
Authors: Rohrer Judy
Published: April 2024

Abstract: No one wants to be "rightsized," particularly not feminists, and especially not feminists in gender, women's, and sexuality studies programs and departments (GWSS). Yet that's one of the multiple threats we are now facing, and it is both internal and external. These attacks on GWSS and our cousins are not new, but both the university administrators and the politicos are taking advantage of the current pandemonium to ramp up their ferocity. As a GWSS director of one of the many programs under threat, what I offer is not a right-eous-resistance-to-right-sizing manifesto but a tentative gesture at possible GWSS (re)purposings. I put these rightsizing threats in context of pandemic-inspired calls for radical transformation rather than returns to normalcy. This is not a nostalgic plea for saving something familiar (perhaps a proper object called GWSS, perhaps ourselves as "what a feminist looks like"), nor the staging of a rescue mission into enemy territory (as if we weren't also complicit and always already on stolen land in the imperial university). Instead, I stretch toward an irreverent killjoy stance while exploring queer and trans joy and futurity, kin-making/revealing, and (re)purposing/redistribution as frameworks that open possibilities for other futures.
Rage-ography: Rigor, Anti-wokeness, and Technoviolence
Authors: Slaton Amy E. , Riley Donna
Published: April 2024

Abstract: Feminist studies scholars and those in related critical studies traditions have long encountered resistance arising from STEM disciplines and capitalist logics on our campuses and in the wider public discourse. The struggles to establish and preserve feminist studies and ethnic studies programs over the past five decades remind us that the present pandemonium has historical roots that can be traced, not only to identify patterns instructive for us in this moment, but also for a visceral resonance that buoys us in this time and place. We recognize our own outrage at injustice even as we feel the rage directed at feminist studies scholars from sites of elite power, sustained through false dualisms of left and right, minority and majority, woke and anti-woke, STEM and non-STEM. This piece explores the preservation of elite power through the examination of institutions and epistemics at the heart of contemporary wage capitalism: the world of engineering education and practice, and critical resistance within that world. We analyze (ostensibly nonidentitarian) projects such as technoscientific teaching, research, and production. We choose to analyze episodes from the "before times" that reveal a sustained pattern of misogyny, white supremacy, heterosexism, and ableism pervading society and the academy prior to current enactments of that kind. In so doing, we follow an emergent line of inquiry, tracing emotion as well as argument: these dynamics are now, and have long been, fraught with rage. It is the systematic, historically robust, and selective acceptance and denial of rage that we want to explore here as a foundational feature of the present pandemonium, common to feminist studies academic contexts and to engineering, as well as interactions between the two.
A Curved-Double Slit Producing Both
Arc-Interference Pattern Near Curved-Double Slit, and Point-Symmetry Interference Pattern Near Detector in Same Experiment
Authors: Peng Hui
Published: April 2024

The interference and the diffraction are two basic phenomena in physical optics. It has been shown that: in the experiment of a double slit, the patterns depend on the shape of the double slit, e.g., a non-parallel double slit produces the hybrid pattern, the interference pattern embedded in the diffraction pattern; a curved double slit produces Point-Symmetry-Interference-Patterns. In this paper, we show for the first time the pattern evolution of a curved double slit experiment: near the curved double slit, the pattern is Pre-Particle pattern (at L = 10 mm), then evolve sequentially to Particle pattern (at L = 60 mm), to Transition pattern-1 (at L = 130 mm), to Arc-interference-pattern (at L = 200 mm), to Transition pattern-2 (at L = 400 mm), and finally, to Point-Symmetry-interference-pattern (at L = 900 mm) which has the point symmetry.

We interpret Arc-interference-pattern (at L = 200 mm) in Section 3, and show the curvature dependence of Point-symmetry interference patterns. It is challenge to interpret Point-Symmetry-interference-pattern (at L = 900 mm), and to interpret pattern evolution.