bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Review of prognostic factors for kidney transplant survival
Authors: Zulkhash Nargiz , Shanazarov Nasrulla , Kissikova Saule , Kamelova Guldauren , Ospanova Gulzhaina
Published: June 2023

Transplantation is the most effective treatment for end-stage chronic kidney disease, as this procedure prolongs and improves the patient’s quality of life. One of the key problems is the risk of graft rejection. The purpose of this research was to identify and analyse prognostic factors that will prevent rejection. In particular, the prognostic factors grouped by methods of synthesis, generalisation and statistical processing with calculation and graphical representation of hazard ratio and correlation coefficient were grouped, namely: age of donor and recipient, time of cold kidney ischaemia, duration of preoperative dialysis, body mass index, presence of concomitant diseases (diabetes mellitus, hypertension), primary causes causing transplantation. Several molecular genetic and biochemical prognostic markers (transcription factors, immunocompetent cell signalling and receptors, cytostatin C, creatinine, citrate, lactate, etc.) are annotated. It has been demonstrated that creatinine reduction rate determines the risk of rejection, displaying the dynamics of cystatin C and creatinine changes in the postoperative period. Young recipients who underwent prolonged preoperative dialysis were identified as having the highest risk of rejection. Diabetes and hypertension bear a non-critical but commensurately equal risk of rejection. The survival rate of the graft is better when transplanted from a living donor than from a deceased donor. A correlation between cold ischaemia time, body mass index and the probability of graft failure has been proven, namely, the greater the donor and recipient body mass index and the longer the cold ischaemia time, the lower the chance of successful long-term organ acclimation. The data obtained can be used as prognostic factors for graft accommodation at different intervals after surgery.
Evaluating the Outcomes and Trainee Performance of a Canadian Medical Imaging Clinician Investigator Program
Authors: Tsang Brian , Aakef Mohammed , Nourmohammad Armin , McKinney Jennifer R. , Modares Mana , Levine Mark , Alman Benjamin , Moody Alan R. , Doria Andrea S.
Published: June 2023

Purpose: To measure the research productivity of trainees from the University of Toronto’s Medical Imaging Clinician Investigator Program (MI-CIP) and comparing it with the research productivity of trainees from MI-non-CIP and General Surgery (GSx) Clinician Investigator Program. Methods: We identified residents who completed an MI-CIP, MI-non-CIP and GSx-CIP from 2006-2016. In each group of trainees, we assessed 3 research productivity outcomes with non-parametric tests before residency and at 7 years post-CIP completion/post-graduation. Research productivity outcomes include the number of total publications, the number of first-author publications, and the publication’s average journal impact factor (IF). Results: We identified 11 MI-CIP trainees (male/female: 9 [82%]/2 [18%]), 74 MI-non-CIP trainees (46 [62%]/28 [38%]) and 41 GSx-CIP trainees (23 [56%]/18 [44%]). MI-CIP trainees had statistically significant higher research productivity than MI-non-CIP in all measured outcomes. The median (interquartile range, IQR) number of total publications of MI-CIP vs MI-non-CIP trainees was 5.0 (8.0) vs 1.0 (2.0) before residency and 6.0 (10.0) vs .0 (2.0) at 7 years post-CIP completion/post-graduation. The median (IQR) first-author publications of MI-CIP vs MI-non-CIP trainees was 2.0 (3.0) vs .0 (1.0) before residency and 2.0 (4.0) vs (.0) (1.0) at 7 years post-CIP completion/post-graduation. The median (IQR) average journal IF of MI-CIP vs MI-non-CIP trainees was 3.2 (2.0) vs .3 (2.4) before residency and 3.9 (3.2) vs .0 (2.6) at 7 years post-CIP completion/post-graduation. Between MI-CIP and GSx-CIP trainees, there were no significant differences in research productivity in all measured outcomes. Conclusion: MI-CIP trainees actively conducted research after graduation. These trainees demonstrated early research engagement before residency. The similar research productivity of MI-CIP vs GSx-CIP trainees shows initial success of MI-CIP trainees.
Colonial Capitalist Heterochronicity: Socio-Ecological Rhythms of the Sugar Plantation and the Formal Subsumption of Historical and Cultural Difference
Authors: Kolia Zahir
Published: June 2023

The Black and Third World Marxist tradition have demonstrated that colonialism is inseparable from historical accounts of global capitalism. This paper contributes to that project through an account of heterochronic capitalist time by indexing both its uneven incorporation of socio-ecological temporalities and its disciplining of enslaved people. To illustrate this, I examine how Western industrial temporal relations are generative of, and imposed through, its conflictual relations with Indigenous Taíno and enslaved West African socio-ecological forms of time within the Caribbean sugar complex. In addition, I emphasize that despite colonial capitalism seeking to merge African and Indigenous socio-ecological temporal knowledge into abstract labour, it is never a totalizing process. In effect, while colonial capitalism wields various techniques to incorporate Indigenous and African life worlds, there are always phenomenological remainders of cultural temporal difference that do not reproduce the logic of capital. Highlighting two contrasting postcolonial readings of Marx’s notion of subsumption, I argue that we can index the existence of a multiplicity of non-linear and cyclical forms of eternal time that comingle and link past, present and futurity. Inscribing their own emergent dialectics, however, I caution that preserved forms of temporal difference can potentially be taken up in service to reactionary political projects.
A Scoping Review of Neighborhoods and Cognitive Health Disparities Among US Midlife and Older Adults
Authors: Sullivan Allison , Armendariz Marina , Thierry Amy D.
Published: June 2023

Objectives: The neighborhood environment may be an important determinant of racial/ethnic disparities in cognitive function. To understand how neighborhoods are linked to cognition across racial/ethnic groups, this scoping review organizes research investigating relationships between multiple neighborhood domains and cognitive function in diverse samples of US midlife and older adults. Methods: PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, and CAHL were used to extract quantitative disparities-focused studies ( n = 17) that included US adults ages 50+, racial/ethnic minoritized populations, cognitive dependent variable(s), and neighborhood-level independent variable(s) published from January 2010 to October 2021. Results: Studies demonstrate variation within and between racial/ethnic groups in how neighborhood factors are associated with cognition. Economically and socially advantaged neighborhoods were associated with better cognition. Findings were mixed for built and neighborhood composition measures. Discussion: More research with greater racial/ethnic representation is needed to disentangle which aspects of the neighborhood are most salient for specific cognitive function domains across diverse populations.
Agency in multi-level governance systems: The implementation puzzle and the role of ‘intelligent’ local implementers
Authors: Castelnovo Walter , Sorrentino Maddalena
Published: June 2023

The qualitative paper explores an alternative lens, that is, informed by a complexity perspective, through which to frame the adaptive role of local implementers in multi-level governance systems. It argues that three key tenets of complexity thinking – emergence, self-organisation and co-evolution – can help better explain that role. The re-conceptualisation of local actors – from agents to stewards – and of central government – from controller to enabler – are identified as the conditions that allow intelligent actors to leverage local varieties to deliver context-specific solutions. The paper ends with actionable measures that can enhance the self-steering capacity of policy systems.
Tool life and wear mechanisms of CVD coated and uncoated SiAlON ceramic milling inserts when machining aged Inconel 718
Authors: Osmond Luke , Cook Ian , Curtis David , Slatter Tom
Published: June 2023

In this study, an investigation has been conducted to fully characterise for the first time the tribological benefits of adding two different types of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) coatings to silicon aluminium oxynitride milling inserts with a chemical composition of (Si3N4 + Al2O3 + Y2O3), known by the trade abbreviation ‘SiAlON’, typically used to cut difficult to machine materials such as Inconel 718. The experimental tests compared the tool life, material removed and wear resistance of the two different CVD coated inserts against that of uncoated SiAlON ceramic milling inserts. Coating A was a multilayer CVD coating and had a composition of (TiN + TiCN + Al2O3), Coating B was a bilayer CVD coating and had a composition of (Al2O3 + TiN). It was determined that at 900 m/min the uncoated SiAlON ceramic milling inserts exhibited the least amount of wear and variation in cutting force when milling precipitation hardened Inconel 718 samples. Coating A demonstrated significantly lower adhesion to the SiAlON substrate but had higher tool life and material removal rates, Coating B demonstrated excellent adhesion to the SiAlON substrate. The interfacial bonding of Coating B allowed for much higher adhesion to the substrate, but it suffered from much lower tool life and higher rates of rake and flank face wear. The flank wear measurements concluded a cutting speed of 900 m/min to be the optimum cutting speed for machining Inconel 718 with uncoated SiAlON ceramic milling inserts.
Development and evaluation of physical properties of PLA matrix composites reinforced with SCB/CF fiber
Authors: Mathur Nitin Mukesh , Yashpal  , Pratap Bhanu
Published: June 2023

Researchers are increasingly focusing on natural, biodegradable materials because of environmental concerns. Although natural fibers give less strength than synthetic fibers, but they still contain some specific properties. In this paper, we studied the fire and water resistance, density, and swelling behavior of sugarcane bagasse fiber and chicken feather fiber composites using polylactic acid (E-3051D) as a matrix for different weighing fractions of fiber viz. 03%, 06%, 09%, (03 + 05)%, (06 + 05)%, (09 + 05)% and for 3 mm thickness. The 300 mm × 300 mm panels were made using the compression molding. According to ASTM standards, an investigation was carried out on several physical characteristics, including density, moisture content, water absorption, linear swelling, and a flammability test. It was observed that 3% sugarcane bagasse and 5% chicken feather fiber are better for various applications, as further increments will affect the mechanical properties. It is a combination of natural fibers and biodegradable matrix material, which makes it ecofriendly with various applications such as in automobile interiors, packaging materials, wall panels, window and door frames, and roof sheets, but limited use in bathroom and kitchen areas.
Same same but different? The Mediterranean growth regime and public sector wage-setting before and after the sovereign debt crisis
Authors: Di Carlo Donato , Molina Oscar
Published: June 2023

This paper analyzes the role of public sector wage-setting (PSWS) in Mediterranean countries before and after the Eurozone crisis. Extant literature suggests public sector wage inflation to be the norm in these countries due to the lack of institutional preconditions for wage restraint and the role of PSWS in shoring up the publicly financed domestic demand-led growth regime. Yet, the cases of France, Italy, Portugal and Spain do not to neatly fit these predictions, showing instead notable cross-country and intra-country diachronic variation. We provide an alternative account by treating PSWS as fiscal policy under EMU. Variation in PSWS outcomes before the Eurozone crisis is best explained in terms of the institutions governing PSWS. In France and Portugal, PSWS is highly centralized at the national level, and a strong Finance Ministry plays a central role in the oversight of PSWS to ensure budgetary discipline. To the contrary, Italy and Spain underwent processes of disorganized decentralization of PSWS through the 1990s and 2000s, leading to fragmented – and often clientelist – practices resulting in disorderly inflationary wage increases across the country. After the sovereign debt crisis, all countries relied on restrictive PSWS to support internal devaluation and fiscal adjustment, though with different intensity related to the country-specific problem load and external constraints.
Non-Humean Holism, Un-Humean Holism
Authors: Lo Y.S.
Published: June 2023

In this article I argue that textual evidence from David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature does not support J. Baird Callicott's professedly Humean yet holistic environmental ethic, which understands the community (e.g., the biotic community) as a ‘metaorganismic’ entity ‘over and above’ its individual members. Based on Hume's reductionist account of the mind and his assimilation of the metaphysical nature of the mind to that of the community, I also argue that a Humean account of the community should be likewise reductionist. My conclusion is that Callicott's anti-reductionist holism is at least foreign to, and at worst incompatible with, Hume's philosophy.
In Search of Value Literacy: Suggestions for the Elicitation of Environmental Values
Authors: Satterfield Theresa
Published: June 2023

This paper recognises the many contributions to work on environmental values while arguing that some reconsideration of elicitation practices is warranted. It argues that speaking and thinking about certain environmental values, particularly ethical expressions, are ill-matched with the affectively neutral, direct question-answer formats standard to willingness-to-pay and survey methods. Several indirect, narrated, and affectively resonant elicitation tasks were used to provide study participants with new opportunities to express their values. Coded results demonstrate that morally resonant, image-based, and narrative-style elicitation tasks help respondents articulate a broader range of noncost and nonutilitarian environmental values. However, it was found that elicitations of this kind are most useful when presented in a affectively subtle and noncontroversial form. Several suggestions for synthesising these methods with more structured forms (e.g., surveys, constructed preferences, etc.) are offered.
The Pragmatic Power and Promise of Theoretical Environmental Ethics: Forging a New Discourse
Authors: Callicott J. Baird
Published: June 2023

Pragmatist environmental philosophers have (erroneously) assumed that environmental ethics has made little impact on environmental policy because environmental ethics has been absorbed with arcane theoretical controversies, mostly centred on the question of intrinsic value in nature. Positions on this question generate the allegedly divisive categories of anthropocentrism/non-anthropocentrism, shallow/deep ecology, and individualism/holism. The locus classicus for the objectivist concept of intrinsic value is traceable to Kant, and modifications of the Kantian form of ethical theory terminate in biocentrism. A subjectivist approach to the affirmation of intrinsic value in nature has also been explored. Because of the academic debate about intrinsic value in nature, the concept of intrinsic value in nature has begun to penetrate and reshape the discourse of environmental activists and environmental agency personnel. In environmental ethics, the concept of intrinsic value in nature functions similarly to way the concept of human rights functions in social ethics. Human rights has had enormous pragmatic efficacy in social ethics and policy. The prospective adoption of the Earth Charter by the General Assembly of the United Nations may have an impact on governmental environmental policy and performance similar to the impact on governmental social policy and behaviour of the adoption by the same body in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Belatedly, but at last, the most strident Pragmatist critics of the concept of intrinsic value in nature now acknowledge its pragmatic power and promise.
Specifying Speciesism
Authors: Fjellstrom Roger
Published: June 2023

Many philosophers consider favouritism toward humans in the context of moral choice to be a prejudice. Several terms are used for it – ‘speciesism’, ‘human chauvinism’, ‘human racism’, and ‘anthropocentrism’ – with somewhat varying and often blurred meanings, which brings confusion to the issue. This essay suggests that only one term, ‘speciesism’, be used, and it attempts a conceptual clarification. To this end it proposes a set of conditions of adequacy for a concept that would be acceptable to the parties of the controversy. Through an examination of various forms of alleged speciesism it eventually proposes a rather precise concept. On this definition some positions believed not to be speciesist perhaps should be so called, and some positions believed to be speciesist perhaps should not be so called. The latter would better be referred to as ‘humanistic ethics’ or ‘non-speciesist humanism’.
Ranchers, Scientists, and Grass-roots Development in the United States and Kenya
Authors: Thompson Charis M.
Published: June 2023

Two initiatives in community-based biodiversity conservation are examined. I describe key aspects of the formation in the mid 1990s of the Malpai Borderlands Group of the Southwest US, and the reorganisation of the Kenya Wildlife Service during 1994–6 and their legacies since then. I review how history, ownership, membership, and valuation were appealed to, created, maintained, and contested in defining what should be saved, by and for whom, and how in each. I also suggest the central role of science and relatively mundane technologies in co-ordinating these parameters. Success or ‘best practice’ as applied to the conjunction of biodiversity conservation and development depends upon this work in contesting and establishing history, ownership, membership and valuation.
Species Conservation and Minority Rights: The Case of Springtime Bird Hunting in Åland
Authors: Aaltola Elisa , Oksanen Markku
Published: June 2023

The article examines the case of springtime bird hunting in Åland from a moral point of view. In Åland springtime hunting has been a cultural practice for centuries but is now under investigation due to the EU Directive on the protection of birds. The main question of the article is whether restrictions on bird hunting have a sound basis. We approach this question by analysing three principles: The animal rights principle states that if hunting is not necessary for survival, it cannot be morally justified. Therefore hunting merely to engage in a cultural custom is morally suspect. In the light of the species conservation principle the hunting is questionable due to the fact that it seems to have a diminishing effect on the species populations. The formal principle of justice makes up a more difficult question since the special position of the minorities in regard to the use of natural resources is generally recognised so that they have the right to maintain their cultural practices. We claim, however, that even though cultural practices have substantial value and can be the object of special rights, they should be coherent with other principles. The springtime bird hunt in Åland does not accord with the relevant moral principles and for this reason we conclude that the basis for its continuation is weak.
Gaia Infiltrata: The Anthroposphere as a Complex Autoparasitic System
Authors: Henrich Károly
Published: June 2023

This paper compares the heuristic potential of three metaphorical paired concepts used in the relevant literature to characterise global relationships between the anthroposphere and the ecosphere. Methodologically, the guiding question is whether and to what extent metaphorical theses can support an arrival at hypotheses which accurately reflect reality and possess explanatory force. The predator-prey mo del implies that the populations of two species in such a relationship in principle exhibit coupled oscillations, giving prey populations the possibility of periodic regeneration. For some time, however, the most important indicators of human destruction of nature have been showing a relentless upward trend which appears to render the tumour-host metaphor more appropriate. Another fact which favours this analogy is that a tumour develops within its host and from its host's normal cells, in a similar way to the emergence of the anthroposphere from within the biosphere. But the parasite-host analogy also allows the formulation of fruitful hypotheses, since ecological parasitology is equally familiar with varieties of autoaggressive interaction and provides a means of focusing particularly on the adelphoparasitic hierarchy within the anthroposphere.
Values, Advocacy and Conservation Biology
Authors: Odenbaugh Jay
Published: June 2023

In this essay, I examine the controversy concerning the advocacy of ethical values in conservation biology. First, I argue, as others have, that conservation biology is a science laden with values both ethical and non-ethical. Second, after clarifying the notion of advocacy at work, I contend that conservation biologists should advocate the preservation of biological diversity. Third, I explore what ethical grounds should be used for advocating the preservation of ecological systems by conservation biologists. I argue that conservation biologists should defend their preservationist positions on instrumentalist grounds alone if the context of discussion and debate is a scientific one.
Environmental Organisations in New Forms of Political Participation: Ecological Modernisation and the Making of Voluntary Rules
Authors: Boström Magnus
Published: June 2023

Environmental organisations have been active since the early 1960s in putting environmental issues on the political agenda and in strengthening the environmental consciousness of the public. The struggle has been successful in the sense that there is now a strong demand for practical solutions among all kinds of actors. It is, however, difficult for states and political actors to manage environmental problems by traditional forms and instruments, due to the complex character of the problems. Therefore, environmental organisations take their own initiatives to participate in policy-making by developing new forms, within new arenas, with the help of new instruments (voluntary rules or standards). Special attention is paid to the possibilities of identifying and developing constructive roles in relation to other actors and institutions as well as the capacity to organise standardisation projects and to mobilise and make use of power resources such as symbolic capital and knowledge. In order to interpret characteristics and implications (possibilities and limitations) of standardisation strategies, I draw on the ecological modernisation perspective. Empirically, I refer to the role of Swedish environmental organisations in standardisation projects such as eco-labelling.
Ethical Obligations in a Tragedy of the Commons
Authors: Johnson Baylor L.
Published: June 2023

When people use a resource without a co-ordinated plan the result is often a tragedy of the commons in which the resource is depleted. Many environmental resources display the characteristics of a developing tragedy of the commons. Many believe that each person is ethically obligated to reduce use of the commons to the sustainable level. I argue that this is mistaken. In a tragedy of the commons there is no reasonable expectation that individual, voluntary action will succeed. Our obligation is not fruitlessly to reduce individual use, but to support a collective agreement to reduce everyone's use to the sustainable level.
Sustainability and the ‘Struggle for Existence’: The Critical Role of Metaphor in Society's Metabolism
Authors: Jackson Tim
Published: June 2023

This paper presents a historical examination of the influence of the Darwinian metaphor ‘the struggle for existence’ on a variety of scientific theories which inform our current understanding of the prospects for sustainable development. The first part of the paper traces the use of the metaphor of struggle through two distinct avenues of thought relevant to the search for sustainable development. One of these avenues leads to the biophysical critique of conventional development popularised by ‘ecological economists’ such as Georgescu-Roegen and Daly. This critique suggests that modern economic systems have gone astray by failing to respect the biological and physical limits to development and that they should be adapted to make them more like ecological systems. The other avenue leads to the modern insights of evolutionary psychology. These latter insights suggest that in certain key respects, the economic system (and actors within it) are already behaving more or less like an ecological system, driven as they are by evolutionary imperatives. Consequently, this second avenue appears to offer far bleaker prospects for achieving sustainable development than the first. However, the final part of the paper re-examines the historical roots of the metaphor itself, and suggests a number of ways in which a critical response to those historical roots might influence our understanding of the prospects for sustainable development.
What Does ‘Natural Capital’ Do? The Role of Metaphor in Economic Understanding of the Environment
Authors: Åkerman Maria
Published: June 2023

At the time of its introduction in the end of the 1980s, the concept of natural capital represented new, more ecologically aware thinking in economics. As a symbol of novel thinking, the metaphor of natural capital stimulated a debate between different disciplinary traditions on the definitions of the concept and research priorities and methods. The concept became a means to control the discourse of sustainable development. In this paper, I focus on the power/ knowledge implications of the use of the concept, and I follow the career of the concept of natural capital in ecological economic publications between the years 1988 and 2000. The main interests are(1) in the use of the concept to affect the rules according to which claims concerning sustainable development can be made and (2) in the constitution of objects of environmental knowledge.
Are We at War with Nature?
Authors: Turner Derek D.
Published: June 2023

A number of people, from William James to Dave Foreman and Vandana Shiva, have suggested that humans are at war with nature. Moreover, the analogy with warfare figures in at least one important argument for strategic monkeywrenching. In general, an analogy can be used for purposes of (1) justification; (2) persuasion; or (3) as a tool for generating novel hypotheses and recommendations. This paper argues that the analogy with warfare should not be used for justificatory or rhetorical purposes, but that it may nevertheless have a legitimate heuristic role to play in environmental philosophy.
Re-framing Flood Control in England and Wales
Authors: Scrase J. Ivan , Sheate William R.
Published: June 2023

Traditionally floods have been understood to be acts of God or nature, with localised impacts afflicting those who choose to live or to invest capital in lowland and coastal locations. This central idea of causation, located outside human agency, survives somewhat precariously today, but is reflected in the lack of any right to protection from flooding in England and Wales. However in 1930 new legislation institutionalised a social framing of the impact of floods as part of a wider national problem. This related the interests of lowland agriculture and land drainage to the national economic and military interest. Modernising and expanding agricultural production was a political priority from the 1930s to the 1980s. The cost of preventing flooding and draining land was transferred from the affected landowners to the nation as a whole. River and coastal engineering was central to the new policy, and by the early 1970s much of the riverine and coastal environment was radically altered by flood defence structures and associated land drainage. As a result of food over-production and conflicts with conservation interests in the early 1980s, the emphasis has shifted from drainage to flood defence, while risk reduction and environmentalist values have also been promoted. The institutional arrangements from 1930 largely survive, however, and a new coherent social framing has failed to emerge. It is argued that for a risk-oriented framing to succeed, new assumptions about causation and a new ethical outlook are now needed. Emphasis on flood ‘control’ rather than ‘defence’, and a shift in priorities from economic benefits towards human rights and intrinsic value in nature are proposed as key elements in such a re-framing.
Capital Substitutability and Weak Sustainability Revisited: The Conditions for Capital Substitution in the Presence of Risk
Authors: Figge Frank
Published: June 2023

The capital approach is frequently used to model sustainability. A development is deemed to be sustainable when capital is not reduced. There are different definitions of sustainability, based on whether or not they allow that different forms of capital may be substituted for each other. A development that allows for the substitution of different forms of capital is called weakly sustainable. This article shows that in a risky world and a risk-averse society even under the assumptions of weak sustainability the circumstances under which different forms of capital may be substituted are limited. This is due to the risk-reducing effect of diversification. Using Modern Portfolio Theory this article shows under which conditions substitution of different forms of capital increases risk for future generations.
Does ‘Restoration’ Necessarily Imply the Domination of Nature?
Authors: Ladkin Donna
Published: June 2023

‘Restoration’ is a contested term holding important implications for public policy decisions in the areas of land development and use. A number of environmental philosophers including Eric Katz and Robert Elliott have argued against ‘restora-tion’, on the principle that human efforts can never restore natural landscapes to their pre-disrupted value, and that the assumption of our ability to do so implies ‘domination’. This paper argues that restoration attempts should not be dismissed ‘out of hand’, and can be conducted outside of a ‘dominator logic’ provided four criteria are enacted: 1) humans see their role as co-creators working alongside nature, 2) the aim of restoration is seen to be increase of land health and biodiversity 3) there is a commitment to learning from the land and 4) the land's own ‘projects’ (Plumwood) are taken into account.
Can Merleau-Ponty's Notion of ‘Flesh’ Inform or even Transform Environmental Thinking?
Authors: Brook Isis
Published: June 2023

Reference to Merleau-Ponty's ideas surfaces in environmental thinking from time to time. This paper examines whether, and in what way, his ideas could be helpful to that thinking. In order to arrive at a conclusion I examine in detail and attempt to clarify the notions of ‘Flesh’ and ‘Earth’ in order to see if they can carry the meanings that commentators sometimes attribute to them. With a clearer outline of what he was saying in place, I suggest that the new ontology that Merleau-Ponty introduces could help to transform environmental thinking, but that careful argumentation is required to show this.
Ecological Restoration, Environmentalism and the Dutch Politics of ‘New Nature’
Authors: Van Der Heijden Hein-Anton
Published: June 2023

‘New nature’ refers to the current practice in which ten thousands of hectares of superfluous agricultural lands are ‘given back to nature’, compensating for the loss of ‘old nature’ in other parts of the Netherlands. Around the issue of ‘new nature’ two discourses have emerged. In each discourse different environmental values are emphasised: about what nature is or could be; about the relationship between nature, agriculture and development; about ecological mitigation, and so on. Whereas the Dutch branch of WWF is the most active promoter of the sectorial nature development discourse, environmental groups like Friends of the Earth try to weigh these sectorial interests against the background of increasing environmental degradation.
The Silence of Nature
Authors: Vogel Steven
Published: June 2023

In claiming that ‘nature speaks’, authors such as Scott Friskics and David Abram implicitly agree that language use is linked to moral considerability, adding only that we need to extend our conception of language to see that non-humans too use it. I argue that the ethical significance of language use derives from its role in dialogue, in which speakers make truth-claims, question and potentially criticise the claims of others, and provide justifications for the claims they raise themselves. Non-human entities (as a contingent matter) seem not to engage in dialogue in this sense, and none of the examples Friskics and Abram offer suggest that they do. Thus the conception of language such authors employ is too weak to support the ethical conclusions they implicitly wish to defend.
‘Playing God’ and ‘Vexing Nature’: A Cultural Perspective
Authors: Kirkham Georgiana
Published: June 2023

In this paper I examine the twin concepts of ‘playing God’, and its secular equivalent - that which I term for the purpose of this discussion ‘vexing Nature’ - as they relate to arguments against (or for) certain human technological actions and behaviours. While noting the popular subscription to the notion that certain acts constitute instances of ‘playing God’ or interfering in the natural order, philosophers often deny that such phrases have any application to the central ethical issues in the areas where they are most commonly applied. I examine, in detail, the interpretations of these phrases put forward by bio-ethicists Ruth Chadwick and John Harris and argue that the concepts ‘playing God’ and ‘vexing nature’ are best understood as an expression of a moral intuition that is both significant and deserving of serious philosophical attention. My contention is that intuitions of this kind often express a concern for the virtue of, and doubt about the intentions of, the agent whose acts are described in these terms, and that these concepts are best understood as part of an historical and cultural continuum specific to the Western tradition. Understood as such, this indicates that debate continues over the purpose of art and technology, and the place of humanity within the natural environment, and that a kind of traditional teleological virtue ethics still exerts a significant influence on popular conceptions of the moral issues underlying this debate.
Representations of Tropical Forests and Tropical Forest-Dwellers in Travel Accounts of National Geographic
Authors: Nygren Anja
Published: June 2023

As one of the most widely read genres of literature, travel writing plays a crucial role in forming popular images and understandings of foreign places and foreign peoples. This essay examines the dominant images of rainforests and rainforest peoples portrayed in accounts of travels in tropical America published in National Geographic. Special attention is paid to the issues of how particular representations are privileged in this magazine's travel accounts and how these representations relate to questions of authority and power. The analysis shows that the prevailing representations of the tropical forests and tropical forest-dwellers in the travel accounts of National Geographic rely on historically changing, but equally categorical distinctions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’.
The Project Tiger Crisis in India: Moving Away from the Policy and Economics of Selectivity
Authors: Damodaran A.
Published: June 2023

This paper discusses the economic and philosophical inadequacies that have characterised the Project Tiger scheme in India. Launched in the 1970s to protect the habitats of the Royal Bengal Tiger, Project Tiger has over time evolved into a management system that has abstracted the tiger from its habitat by highlighting its charismatic functions. However the abstraction has also caused the tiger to be valued for its narrow consumptive uses. By comparison the habitats that have nurtured the tiger have received less attention. The paper critiques partial equilibrium frameworks that have attempted to value a tiger in terms of demand and supply functions rather than as an integral element of an ecosystem. While considering the superiority of the Total Economic Value concept as a value-determining method, the paper also points to the limitation of the concept in not addressing the conflicts between use and non-use values of a tiger. In the light of these facts, the paper advances the theory of complementarity as a valuation approach that considers the tiger and its habitat as a joint resource that needs to be protected and conserved in the larger interests of biodiversity conservation in India.
An Imaginary Solution? The Green Defence of Deliberative Democracy1
Authors: Arias-Maldonado Manuel
Published: June 2023

As part of the recent rethinking of green politics, the construction of a green democracy has been subjected to increasing scrutiny. There is a growing consensus around deliberative democracy as the preferred model for the realisation of the green programme. As a result several arguments emerge when deliberative principles and procedures are to be justified from a green standpoint. This paper offers a critical assessment of the green case for deliberative democracy, showing that deliberation is being asked to deliver more than it is able to. However, it is suggested that the connection between sustainability, understood as a normative principle, and deliberative procedures may ultimately offer the best grounds for such a defence.
Book review: Pamela Singla, Women’s Participation in Panchayati Raj: Nature and Effectiveness
Authors: Ankit
Published: June 2023

Pamela Singla, Women’s Participation in Panchayati Raj: Nature and Effectiveness. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2007, x+285 pp., $9.16, ISBN: 8131601196 (Hardback).
Book review: K. Rajesh, Local Politics and Participatory Planning in Kerala: Democratic Decentralisation 1996–2016
Authors: Baby Anjaly
Published: June 2023

K. Rajesh, Local Politics and Participatory Planning in Kerala: Democratic Decentralisation 1996–2016. Primus Books, 2020, 167 pp., ₹950. ISBN: 9789390022267 (Hardback).
Book review: Amia Srinivasan, The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Devi Rama
Published: June 2023

Amia Srinivasan, The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century. London: Bloomsbury, 2021, ₹599, xvi + 276 pp.
The Relationship Between Internationalization and Environmental Sustainability in Non-Central Latin American Universities
Authors: Cassol-Silva Carla Camargo , Latorre Paulina , Brandenburg Uwe
Published: June 2023

In recent years, research identifying the intersection between internationalization of higher education and sustainability development has gained relevance, as well as the role and responsibility of universities in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although higher education institutions (HEIs) have addressed environmental sustainability through a range of measures, studies on the relationship between internationalization and environmental sustainability are scarce. Therefore, this study presents examples that seek to examine the relationship between internationalization and environmental sustainability in six non-central Latin American (LA) universities. Data were sourced from semi-structured interviews and a review of secondary data. The practices of these universities demonstrate that rich experiences can be offered to the wider world by institutions in non-central positions. The study shows that non-central LA HEIs have a strong connection with their local and/or regional environment and tend to focus primarily on global issues that support local development, rather than internationalization practices.
Assessing the impact of courage and proactive personality on Italian and Spanish psychology students in career transitions: A multigroup analysis
Authors: Platania Silvia , Morando Martina , Magnano Paola , Santisi Giuseppe
Published: June 2023

The instability resulting from major changes in recent decades has fostered a climate of uncertainty and risk that has had repercussions in terms of unemployment, social inequality, and precariousness. To cope with this phenomenon, especially in the context of career transitions, individuals have had to activate multiple psychological resources. In particular, these resources are required in the transition from academic life to the world of work and in the propensity and courage to make certain choices. In our study, we examined two main hypotheses: the mediating effect of courage and proactive personality in the relationship between career adaptability and university satisfaction in a sample of 657 (336 Italian and 321 Spanish) psychology students attending their final year of studies; through a multigroup analysis, the comparison of the two different subsamples, coming from different cultural contexts: Italian and Spanish. The results suggest important differences between these two groups.
Career indecision, depressive symptoms, self-efficacy and negative thoughts when transitioning from high school: A scoping review
Authors: Amaral Fay A. , Krägeloh Chris , Henning Marcus A. , Moir Fiona
Published: June 2023

Transitioning from high school is known to be challenging for students. Utilising the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis for scoping review guidelines, this scoping review examined the extent of existing research on the association of career indecision with depression, negative thoughts, and the role of self-efficacy and sense of control among school leavers. The extensive database search indicated only nine studies met the specified inclusion criteria. Results showed that more decided high school students tended to have more positive affect and higher levels of well-being. Conversely, levels of depression were found to be higher in less decided adolescents, with a direct relationship as well as the possible causal relationship indicated. The results indicate that integrated counselling in vocational and mental health support services is needed in schools through the leaving years and tertiary institutions as students commence study. Further research is needed to better understand the interrelatedness and specific relationships between these variables.
Remaining on course, online: Reflections and recommendations on more effective psychiatrist participation in online chat forums in the context of social media dynamics
Authors: Looi Jeffrey CL , Allison Stephen , Bastiampillai Tarun
Published: June 2023

Objective

To provide a synthesis of psychiatrist experience, online resources, and peer-reviewed literature to document benefits and challenges, and thus derive recommendations on participating in professional psychiatrist online chat forums.

Conclusions

Psychiatrists should carefully consider and curate their participation in online chat forums. Convivial discourse, including shared interests, knowledge, and skills are benefits. However, social media dynamics influence online roles and behaviour. There is a performative aspect to chat forums and social media, through depiction of a participant’s persona, which can be understood through social avatar theory. Even on well-moderated chat forums, there remain the risks of subtle forms of negative social media roles and behaviour (e.g. cyberbullying, online abuse, and trolling). Furthermore, there are potential risks to professional identity and reputation from posting material as well as others commenting upon psychiatrists’ posts. A single unprofessional post can have a devastating impact on reputation. There are also opportunity costs from the time, attentional and emotional costs of following a forum, which can also lead to harms from anxiety and depression due to excessive social media use. We provide practical recommendations on e-professionalism for more effective participation online.
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Interventions to Improve Children's Social Information-Processing Skills
Authors: Peng Jin , Li Jiyue , Li Danyi , Fang Yihua , Zhang Chi , Fraser Mark W. , Guo Shenyang
Published: June 2023

Purpose: We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention research studies focused on strengthening the social information-processing (SIP) skills of children. Methods: A systematic search and review process was employed to identify, screen, and summarize research on SIP-guided interventions. Results: The search recovered 183,184 citations published from 1997 to 2022. After screening, 42 articles were retained for a full-text review. Findings from the 15 studies using more rigorous designs [i.e., 8 individual-level randomized control trials (RCTs), 5 cluster-level RCTs, and 2 quasi-experimental studies with statistical controls for selectivity] suggest that SIP-focused interventions produced statistically significant treatment effects on cognitive skills, with mean effect sizes of 0.35 on encoding, 0.13 on hostile attribution bias, 0.13 on goal formulation, 0.16 on response decision, and—more behaviorally—0.37 on aggressive and disruptive comportment. Conclusions: SIP-focused interventions are effective. If widely implemented, they hold the potential to reduce aggressive behavior in childhood.
Creep damage parameter extraction from ex-service 12% Cr steel using digital image correlation computed strain data
Authors: van Rooyen Melody , Hermann Becker Thorsten
Published: June 2023

Several continuum damage mechanics (CDM) modelling approaches for predicting creep deformation of tempered ferritic steels have been developed in the literature, which have evolved from efforts to extend the operability of power plant components. Few of these models, however, focus on damage assessment of ex-service states of power plant steels through the extraction of damage parameters. Furthermore, few CDM approaches leverage the high density of creep curve data available through full-field strain measurement techniques such as digital image correlation (DIC). This work uses multiple creep curves obtained from DIC computed strain data at several stresses and temperatures from individual specimens of X20CrMoV12-1 (X20) piping steel. These curves serve as input data to a modified Oruganti continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model whereby microstructural-specific damage parameters can be extracted. Good agreement is noted between CDM-extracted parameters and microstructural, creep cavity density and hardness damage indicators. Damage parameters based on subgrain growth are particularly sensitive to the ex-service state of the X20 steel. The proposed CDM approach using DIC computed creep curves is shown to be a material efficient alternative to traditional damage assessment methods of ex-service material.