bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Research on energy-saving operation optimization of urban rail trains based on genetic particle swarm hybrid algorithm
Authors: Zou Yao , Wang Ruifeng
Published: December 2022

In order to effectively reduce the energy consumption of urban rail trains during station-to-station operation, an energy-saving optimisation method for train operating curves is proposed by introducing a genetic algorithm (GA) into a particle swarm algorithm (PSO).Firstly, under the premise of considering the train characteristic parameters and the speed limit conditions of the line, the energy consumption model is established with the constraints such as speed limit, running time and running distance; secondly, the particle swarm algorithm is improved by using inertia weights and learning factor, and the cross-variance operator of genetic algorithm is introduced to verify that the improved algorithm improves convergence speed, global optimization ability and local search ability. The speed-distance operation curve that uses the least amount of energy between stations is then derived by solving the energy-saving operation energy consumption model of the train using the GAPSO algorithm. According to the simulation results, the approach can successfully cut operational energy consumption by 11.46% while still ensuring punctual arrival and exact stopping, which offers a workable solution for the best-case scenario design of energy-saving train operation curves.
Application Research of Inspection System Based on Intelligent Wearable Device in Communication Power Inspection
Authors: Cheng Keren , Li Yang , Yang Wenye , Liang Kai , Jiao Zhen , Song Xuechuan
Published: December 2022

In order to effectively reduce the difficulty in communication power inspection and further improve the inspection efficiency of inspectors, this paper designs an inspection system based on smart wearable devices. Firstly, based on the analysis of the inspection task requirements of the communication power inspection, the overall structure of the wearable device intelligent inspection system is constructed, and the application of the wearable device intelligent inspection system in power engineering is studied; secondly, according to the inspection situation of the inspection personnel in the traditional inspection method, the key technical composition of the multi-functional inspection intelligent observation wearable lens is designed, and the key texture feature extraction technology of the communication power supply is used to locate the specific image target in the inspection process, and detect the local area. The abnormal sound is discharged, abnormal sound training and identification are completed, and intelligent inspection of the communication power supply is realized. Finally, it is verified by test experiments that the inspection system based on smart wearable devices designed in this paper can realize information transmission, task configuration, and data access in communication power inspection, with high work efficiency.
Short-term Power Load Forecasting Based on Improved BP Neural Network from Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing Algorithm
Authors: Zhong Licheng , Wang Yulu
Published: December 2022

As one of the common methods of load forecasting, the traditional BP neural network algorithm has been favored by scholars for many years due to its strong learning ability and adaptive ability, and is often used by scholars to forecast power load. However, BP neural network also has its own shortcomings, that is, low algorithm efficiency, local minimization and other problems. In this paper, GA algorithm and SA algorithm are used to modify the weights of BP neural network, and a short-term load forecasting model, namely BP-GSA model, is established. The least mean square error prediction model is obtained through training. Then using BP-GSA model and traditional BP neural network model, using MATLAB software to predict the daily power load of a city from July 1 to July 10. The forecast results show that the load forecast curve obtained by BP-GSA model is closer to the actual load curve. That is to say, BP-GSA load forecasting error is less than the traditional BP neural network load forecasting error, which proves that BP-GSA model has better forecasting effect.
Evaluation Method of Distribution Network Carrying Capacity Based on Bayesian Network
Authors: Wang Ke , Yang Sumin , Zhang Xu , Cui Jimin , Zhang Dongsheng , Wei Yuren
Published: December 2022

The high-permeability distributed new energy is connected to the distribution network, which aggravates the fluctuation and uncertainty of the distribution network. In order to gradually improve the scientificity and accuracy of the distributed new energy-carrying capacity evaluation, it has become an essential means to solve the problem of wind and light abandonment by means of high-voltage DC channels to realize the power transmission from the new energy-rich areas and promote the interconnection and carrying of multiple areas. This paper proposes a calculation model of the maximum carrying capacity of multi-distributed power sources accessing the power network. The Bayesian network model limits the voltage offset, voltage fluctuation, short circuit current, and subsequent current related to electrical protection. Based on the dynamic sensitivity of the constraint index to distributed power capacity, a segment solution method is proposed to deal with various constraints. Through experimental analysis, it is proved that the speed of promoting the model in this paper is faster. It has an optimization effect for more constraints. This paper can reasonably evaluate the carrying capacity of the existing distribution network for distributed new energy, and provide support for further research on the carrying capacity improvement strategy of high-permeability and fluctuating new energy.
Algorithm Research on Minimum Inertia Demand of New Energy Sending Grid Generating Units Considering System Transient Stability
Authors: Li Jun , Ren Jing , Ren Chong , Zhang Xiaodong , Xu Haotian
Published: December 2022

After a lot of conventional power-generating units at the local end-to-end power grid have been replaced, the new energy-generating units do not participate in the active response of the system through the grid connection of the converter, which reduces transient stability due to the reduction of the inertia of the local grid. Firstly, based on the principle of transient energy, the mechanism of the moment of inertia of the local power grid is established by affecting the fault removal angle, and then the acceleration energy during the fault and the deceleration energy after the fault is removed is revealed. Based on the equal area rule, the relationship between the inertia and the transient stability limit, and the static stability limit before and after the fault is deduced, and the minimum engineering moment of inertia required to ensure the transient stability of the system at a certain output power level at the transmitting-end grid is given. The algorithm and simulation example analysis verify the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method.
Simulation Research on Tightening Force and Temperature Distribution of Tension Clamps in Distribution Network
Authors: Xu Ang , Shi Xiaoxiao , Zhou Yufeng , Guo Kai , Shi Haibin , Shi Yong
Published: December 2022

In order to study the effect of tightening torque on the temperature change of overhead line tension clamps and conductors, a structural model of NLL-4 tension clamps was established using COMSOL Multiphysics. Under the power frequency of 400-650A, the electromagnetic-thermal coupling finite element simulation analysis of the tension clamp was carried out by adjusting the tightening torque, and the three-dimensional temperature field distribution of the tension clamp and the wire was obtained. The results show that when 600A power frequency alternating current is applied, the tightening torque decreases continuously, and the overall temperature of the tension clamp and wire increases with the decrease of the torque. When the tightening torque is constant, different power frequency AC currents of 400-650A are applied, and the overall temperature of the tension clamp increases with the increase of the current; at the same time, no matter how the current and tightening torque change, the temperature of the extrusion part of the wire is always higher than the temperature of the unextruded part.
Application of Fuzzy PID in Walking along the Wall Strategy of Mobile Robot
Authors: Lin Zifei , Sun Xuan , Cao Jinshun , Dong Quancheng
Published: December 2022

Aiming at the walk-along-the-wall strategy of the mobile machine, a guidance method based on two analogue laser ranging sensors and a fuzzy PID control algorithm is proposed in this paper, which solves the shortcoming that traditional PID control algorithm does not apply to the nonlinear movement of mobile machine. The fuzzy controller and fuzzy rules were first designed, and the control effect was simulated in MATLAB to verify the superiority of fuzzy PID control in the walking along the wall strategy, making the movement smoother and more stable.
Nonlinear analog of the complexity-stability transition in random dynamical systems: a replica calculation
Authors: Arnoulx de Pirey Thibaut , van Wijland Frédéric
Published: December 2022

We consider large-dimensional dynamical systems involving a linear force and a random force comprising both potential and non-conservative contributions. Such systems are known to exhibit a topological trivialization phase transition as the strength of the random force is increased. This is reflected in the number of stationary points of the dynamical systems that transitions from one to an exponential in the number of degrees of freedom. We analyze this transition by means of a replica calculation.
The Psychology of Abusive Supervision
Authors: Graham Katrina A. , Yoo Gahyun , Kristal Emma K.
Published: December 2022

Abusive supervision, defined as employees’ perceptions of leaders’ sustained hostile behaviors, has a wide range of negative outcomes for individuals and their workplaces. In understanding the psychology of abusive supervision, both employee perceptions and leader behaviors are relevant to employee reports of abuse, and various factors can lead to abusive supervision. Supervisors may enact hostile behaviors for a variety of reasons, including their past experiences, personality traits, employee characteristics and behaviors, and a failure of supervisors to self-regulate their behavior due to stressors in their environment. As a consequence of abusive supervision, employees often experience a number of negative effects, including adverse mental health outcomes. Additionally, due to the negative psychological effects of abusive supervision, employees are more likely to engage in destructive behaviors both at work and at home. However, these chains of events are not inevitable: There are various interventions that organizations and individuals can undertake to prevent the harmful outcomes of abusive supervision.
Death Penalty and Capital Punishment in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Reichel Philip L.
Published: December 2022

More than 70% of the world’s countries are considered to have abolished the death penalty. The nearly 30% of countries retaining the death penalty and carrying out executions are found primarily in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia-Pacific, and some states in the United States. Where the death penalty continues to be authorized, legislators must determine the crimes for which the penalty may be applied and the method by which the execution will occur. International law stipulates that a death sentence should be imposed for only the most serious crimes, but the term “serious” is not defined. As a result, the death penalty is not only applied for the crime of murder (generally considered an example of “most serious”), but also for other crimes against the person (e.g., rape, kidnapping), crimes against the state (e.g., treason, espionage, terrorism), offenses against the community (e.g., drug-trafficking), offenses against property (e.g., robbery, arson, and burglary), and crimes against religion (e.g., blasphemy or apostasy, and offenses against sexual morality). After conviction, the method of executing those convicted may be by hanging (currently the most widely authorized and frequently used method), shooting, beheading, stoning, lethal injection, or electrocution.

Where the death penalty is retained, arguments favoring its use are likely to focus on issues of deterrence, retribution, and religious doctrine. Where it has been abolished, the arguments have highlighted concerns of questionable fairness in its application, the possibility of executing an innocent person, public opinion, and how capital punishment violates human rights. This last point that the death penalty violates human rights is the predominate view under international law and provides the primary theme explaining the world trend toward abolition.
Police Mental Health and Wellness
Authors: Ricciardelli Rosemary , Johnston Matthew S.
Published: December 2022

When compared to the general population, police officers are at a substantially increased risk for operational stress injuries due to their inherent exposure in the line of duty to a number of potentially psychologically traumatic events. Well-established in the police literature remains that these experiences of intense stress and the accompanying psychological strain may lead to a variety of mental health challenges for police, including symptoms of compromised mental health (i.e., burnout, low resilient coping) and mental health disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, or general anxiety disorder. Though progress has been made in several jurisdictions around the world to improve the availability of mental health resources, treatment options, and other support for police, challenges and organizational barriers (i.e., staff shortages, workload issues, work–life balance, poor perceptions of leadership, stigma, constant changes in legislation) persist in some services across regions, which have been found to decrease enthusiasm toward treatment-seeking, and in turn, amplify challenges tied to police officers’ mental health and well-being. When services are present, police can experience barriers to service utilization, such as concerns regarding confidentiality, stigma, departmental distrust, or negative perceptions of treatment (i.e., they will be viewed by colleagues as weak, no longer fit for the job, or taking advantage of the system). For police to disclose their mental health status and needs, they must be first comfortable doing so in a supportive, professionalized, and de-stigmatized workplace where there is increasing police awareness of and education about mental health, as well as preventative resources that promote wellness, healthy lifestyle choices, and coping skills. Additional research is needed that examines the changing and current mental health of police officers as well as the context and content informing the high prevalence of mental health disorders.
Simulations in Teacher Education
Authors: Schutt Stefan , Miles-Keogh Rebecca , Linegar Dale
Published: December 2022

For decades, simulations have helped educators build students’ skills and workplace readiness in professions such as health care and medicine. Historically, teacher education has been slower in its take-up of simulations, but the value of practice for pre-service teachers (PSTs) has become more widely recognized as digital technologies have become ubiquitous. Simulations, however, are not only digital. Although their long history incorporates technology-based platforms such as virtual worlds, “serious games” and online scenarios, they also include resource-intensive face-to-face activities such as role plays involving teachers, student peers or paid actors. In teacher education a range of pedagogies support the use of simulations by recognizing the complexities of classroom practice and emphasize targeting specific aspects for skill development and supporting opportunities for deconstruction, reflection and feedback. An overview of these developments provides social practice theories as a theoretical framework for exploring the potential of simulations to help PSTs practice targeted skills in risk-free environments, followed by a potted history of simulations in education, identifying limitations, and concluding with thoughts about future directions. Examples of contemporary simulations are used throughout to illustrate specific points.
Indigenous Religions in the Asian Uplands: Perspectives on Landscape in Northeast India
Authors: Scheid Claire S.
Published: December 2022

Indigenous religions in the Asian uplands comprise a broad spectrum that includes a variety of unique site-specific practices, rituals, and beliefs. Just as the Asian uplands are a vast territory home to multiple cultures, they are also home to multiple indigenous religions. It is important not to conceptualize indigenous religions as homogeneous or static; rather, they are specific, organic systems particular to a given community that may vary even from household to household in design, praxis, and content.

Similarly, it is tempting to presume that all indigenous religions in the Asian uplands must integrate the hilly or mountainous terrain around them into their cosmologies, ontologies, or eschatologies; this is also a fallacy. While some indigenous religions do worship or deify the topography that surrounds them—such as the Lepcha and Lhopo (Bhutia) of Sikkim, India, whose veneration of Mount Khangchendzonga is central to their understandings of the cosmos—others—such as the Adi of Arunachal Pradesh, India, and the Khasi of Meghalaya, India—consider certain upland sites in nature as sacred but do not incorporate them into the framework of their religious conceptualizations or practices in a primary way.

To illustrate the variety of indigenous religions found in the Asian uplands, and their independent relationships with, and conceptions of, nature and landscape—and to highlight the diversity extant even between those in close proximity to each other—examples can be found in four ethnic communities (the Adi, the Khasi, the Lepcha, and the Lhopo [Bhutia]), all classified as “scheduled tribes” under the Constitution of the Indian Republic and located in Northeast India. Through a survey of these four groups, it becomes apparent that “indigenous religions” vary greatly in upland (and other) areas—and practically, and ethically, cannot be effectively generalized. It is easiest to glean a working comprehension of the characteristics of indigenous religions in the Asian uplands through recognizing the distinctive qualities of a sampling of individual ethnic communities that reveal great differences despite their geographical similarity.

Indigenous religions do not exist in sterile isolation from other “mainstream” religions; boundaries between indigenous religions can be permeable, even if the religions themselves are very different; globalization is changing how indigenous religions are articulated, as they take on new structures for the sake of preservation; and while a mountain may be the center of an upland Northeast Indian religion, equally, it may not be.
Japanese Trade in Cotton Textiles from the Tokugawa Era to the Interwar Period
Authors: Abe Takeshi
Published: December 2022

In Japan from the 18th century onward, cotton cloth was actively produced as a proto-industry in the provinces south of the Kantō region, where cotton could be grown, and a hierarchical cloth-distribution system was formed nationwide, with wholesalers in Edo (later Tokyo) at the top. In the early 19th century, however, new wholesalers emerged in Edo and later Osaka. After the opening of the ports in 1859, they began to take on the sale of imported cotton cloth, and from the late 1870s, they began to import cotton yarn for weavers in the various cloth-producing areas. From the mid-1880s, modern cotton-spinning companies developed, especially in Osaka, and the yarn produced by these companies was sold to the traditional weaving industry through cotton-yarn importers in Osaka. The foreign raw cotton, which came to be required by the spinning companies, was mainly imported by three large trading companies, which also began to export cotton yarn and cloth. At the turn of the 20th century, large spinning companies developed greatly, vertically integrating not only weaving, which had begun in the late 1880s, but also finishing, and these firms increased their focus on products for export while the traditional weaving areas established small power-loom factories. Furthermore, the weavers in some areas expanded their exports after World War I and went beyond indigenous industry, becoming small and medium modern enterprises. The prolonged depression after 1920 was a period of hardship for trading companies in the cotton industry, but the cotton-yarn and cloth-trading companies in the Kansai region overcame this and worked together with spinning companies and weaving areas in the 1930s to develop new markets for cloth and to expand exports, helping the Japanese cotton industry to overcome the dominance of Lancashire.
Women in Rwanda
Authors: Watkins Sarah E. , Jessee Erin , Brunton Emma
Published: December 2022

While understudied compared to men, women in Rwanda have played critical roles in economic, social, religious, and political activities. From the earliest Stone Age settlements, women likely acted as spiritual mediums, laborers, caretakers, and links between kinship groups. These roles evolved with the rise of the Nyiginya kingdom and neighboring polities, as women became more visibly involved with agricultural, spiritual, and political leadership. Women’s access to power arguably declined, however, with Rwanda’s colonization by the Germans (1895–1916) and Belgians (1916–1895), and the accompanying spread of Christianity. With the nation’s independence in 1962, women continued to be marginalized. However, in the twenty-first century, women have claimed new roles in an increasingly globalized society, as entrepreneurs, teachers, health care professionals, and intellectuals.

Historically, women’s roles in Rwandan society have differed based on many factors, including region, proximity to central state authority, socioeconomic status, age, and in modern times, ethnicity. This final designation has earned the most scholarly attention, because of the 1994 genocide, in which Hutu Power extremists and their supporters murdered Tutsi civilians, as well as political moderates of different ethnicities. The extremists also specifically targeted Tutsi women with sexual violence. Since then, Rwanda has become the world leader in promoting gender equality in politics: its post-genocide constitution mandated women’s equal representation in government. Although women’s experiences in the genocide and its aftermath have gained the most attention, they merit deeper analysis throughout the nation’s rich history for their many significant contributions.
Housing, Neighborhoods, and Education
Authors: Cordes Sarah A. , Han Jeehee , Schwartz Amy
Published: December 2022

Children’s educational outcomes are determined not only by school inputs, such as teachers, curriculum, or classroom peers, but also by a broad range of resources and experiences outside the classroom. Housing and neighborhoods—where children live—are likely where students spend most of their time when not in school and can play a crucial role in children’s development. Housing may influence children’s K–12 educational outcomes through three key channels. First, unit quality (i.e., size, ventilation, etc.) may affect student performance through sleep, ability to concentrate, or health. Second, affordability and tenure may shape student outcomes by affecting disposable income or wealth accumulation, which could be used for complementary educational inputs or could influence outcomes by affecting parental stress and housing stability. Third, housing stability/mobility may itself result in better or worse academic outcomes depending on whether moves are made to access better opportunities or are disruptive. Neighborhoods may also play an important role in education by shaping the peers and adult role models to whom children are exposed, through levels of exposure to crime and violence, and access to opportunities, such as the quality of local schools. A growing body of research points to the importance of both housing and neighborhoods in shaping educational outcomes, suggesting investments in housing or neighborhoods may pay an educational dividend and such investments may be leveraged to improve children’s educational outcomes. Yet there is still work to be done to better understand the roles that housing and neighborhoods play in shaping educational outcomes. In particular, future research should focus on examining how the physical aspects of housing may shape children’s outcomes, disentangling the effects of residential mobility under different circumstances (i.e., forced moves due to job losses versus voluntary moves), and estimating the effects of specific neighborhood changes — or improvements — on academic outcomes.
Experimental and Intervention Studies of Couples and Family Planning in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review
Authors: Becker Stan , Sarnak Dana
Published: December 2022

The vast majority of births in the world occur within marriages or stable partnerships. Yet family planning programs have largely ignored the male partner. One justification for this nearly exclusive focus on women has been that almost all of the modern contraceptive methods are female-oriented. In contrast, studies of fertility preferences within couples that included a later follow-up have shown that men’s fertility preferences are important for predicting subsequent births. Interspousal communication can be key to resolving differences in desired family size and for promoting open contraceptive use.

Experimental studies with couples on family planning education and/or counseling show higher contraceptive prevalence or continuation in the couples groups than in the women-only groups, though the differences are not always significant statistically. Other intervention studies have varying designs and mixed results. The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize the research findings on interventions with couples on reproductive health from experimental and pre–post observational studies. An important conclusion is that couples education and counseling are critical components for involving male partners. There is a need for systematic research on couples using a standardized intervention and fixed follow-up times and including analyses of cost-effectiveness.
Natural Resource Governance in Africa
Authors: Grant J. Andrew , Mayanja Evelyn N. , Taodzera Shingirai , Tesfamichael Dawit
Published: December 2022

Although Africa is home to an abundant and wide variety of natural resources, both land-based and offshore, the governance of such resources has faced myriad challenges. Mineral and hydrocarbon (oil and gas) resources have often led to the vexing “resource curse” whereby weak institutions, corruption, asymmetrical power structures from local to global levels, and lack of economic diversification result in meager development outcomes and can generate episodes of violent conflict. This has resulted in numerous pledges to improve governance and management of natural resources at all stages of the supply chains, ranging from exploration to extraction to environmental remediation. In turn, global and regional governance initiatives have sought to put these pledges and their constitutive norms into practice in conjunction with varying levels of participation by governments, industry, civil society, and local communities.
Drones in Global Security
Authors: Boyle Michael J.
Published: December 2022

Unmanned aerial vehicles, otherwise known as drones, are one of the most important developments in global security in the 21st century. Drones, which can be operated remotely from ground pilots, are now in use by more than 100 countries and a growing number of non-state actors, such as terrorist groups. Some of this is driven by a booming export market in drones, with countries such as the United States, Israel, China, and Turkey becoming the world’s leading suppliers of the technology. Drones have begun to alter the course of conventional wars, as seen in Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine, and also have enabled new practices such as targeted killings of terrorist operatives either on their own territory or, in the case of the United States, on remote battlefields. Drones are also shifting how states attempt to deter and coerce each other and also enabling non-state actors such as terrorist groups to strike at opponents in new and surprising ways. As drones have begun to affect the security of individuals, non-state actors, and states, they have also yielded a number of legal and ethical controversies about when and where they should be used. In particular, the remote nature of the technology raises questions as to whether the distance of their pilots from the battlefields that they fight on is producing the “push-button warfare” mentality or otherwise lowering the barriers to the use of force. Future trends in the technological development of drone warfare, including swarming and the use of artificial intelligence–enabled drones, will only make coming to grips with the impact of drones on global security more important.
Mill’s Method of Agreement and Method of Difference as Methods of Analysis in International Relations
Authors: Ghalehdar Payam
Published: December 2022

John Stuart Mill’s Method of Agreement and Method of Difference have been well known both in international relations (IR) scholarship and methods discussions. Despite numerous methodological innovations since the publication of Mill’s A System of Logic in 1843, the persuasive logic and intuitive appeal of the Method of Agreement and the Method of Difference have allowed them to remain a staple in IR scholarship. The utility of Mill’s methods, however, has not gone unquestioned. Claims persist that the two methods are not suitable for social science research because their requirements are too demanding.

Sustained criticism of Mill’s methods requires a sober look at their promise and potential to facilitate causal inference. Cautionary notes necessitate awareness of the logic of Mill’s comparative methods, their underlying assumptions, and remedies for potential pitfalls and weaknesses. Three underlying assumptions are associated with Mill’s methods—determinism, the inclusion of all causally relevant causes, and the independence of cases. Three core criticisms have been leveled at Mill’s methods: the inability to deal with equifinality, the narrow focus on single causes, and the purported incompatibility with observational research. Causal inference in observational settings can be strengthened by dealing with interaction effects, by specifying causal connections as correlational or set-relational, by supplementing the use of Mill’s methods with within-case procedures like process tracing, and by using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) as a similar yet more complete comparative method.
Terrorism and Counterterrorism Datasets: An Overview
Authors: Polo Sara M. T. , Welsh Blair
Published: December 2022

There has been a dramatic increase in research on terrorism and counterterrorism since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Given its prominence, many scholars have assessed the advancement of the field in terms of publication output and research questions. However, there has also been a significant growth in data collection efforts. Datasets on terrorism and counterterrorism have been developed and revised across a number of levels: the event level, organizational level, and individual level. At the event level, datasets offer cross-national, regional, and subnational coverage of individual terrorist events and their characteristics, such as lethality, targets, tactics, and perpetrators. Organizational-level datasets unveil important characteristics of terrorist organizations—including ideology, capabilities, duration, social service provision, and networks—over time and space. Individual-level datasets contain information on global jihad, online activity, terrorist leaders, and terrorism in the United States. While more limited on coverage, data on counterterrorism focus on hard-power counterterrorism, targeted counterterrorism (e.g., drone strikes and leadership decapitation), and soft-power counterterrorism, which encompasses strategies aimed at raising the perceived benefits of abstaining from terrorism. Many datasets and integration techniques have also been developed to study the practice of terrorism in various contexts, such as civil war and ethnic conflict. Data integration expands and deepens our understanding of the causes, dynamics, and consequences of terrorism in various contexts and sheds light on the relationship between terrorism and other violent and nonviolent tactics. The growth of data collection efforts is beneficial for researchers in the field of terrorism and beyond as well as for policy makers and practitioners.
The Right to Development
Authors: Whelan Daniel J.
Published: December 2022

The right to development is an internationally recognized human right that entitles every human person and all peoples to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural, civil, and political development. It is a right held both by individual human persons and all peoples. The right was enshrined in the Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in December 1986. It has since been reiterated as indivisible with all other human rights in scores of UN resolutions and summit outcome documents, most notably the 2030 Agenda for Development, adopted by consensus in 2015. The right to development entails a variety of obligations on states (at the domestic and international levels), regional actors, non-state actors (e.g., transnational corporations), and international organizations. Since 2019, the UN Human Rights Council’s Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development has been discussing a draft Convention on the Right to Development to codify these obligations. Since it first came under discussion at the UN in the 1970s, the right to development has consistently generated debate and controversy among scholars and governments, which has frustrated the formation of a consensus around both conceptual issues (the nature and scope of such a right and how it is defined) and practical considerations (the extent of obligations, who holds them, and challenges of monitoring and implementation). There are those, especially (but not exclusively) in the Global South, who view the right to development as rightfully prioritizing the international duty to cooperate, which is a prerequisite for, first, the realization of economic, social, and cultural rights, and then of civil and political rights. This duty obligates developed countries to provide economic, technological, and other resources to developing states, free of conditionalities. In contrast, although generally agreeing that there are important “soft” obligations for development, skeptics, especially (but not exclusively) in the Global North, are wary of making such aid and assistance obligatory, and they are concerned that the right to development may be (or has been) used to justify curtailing especially civil and political rights in the name of “development.” They instead argue for a “human rights approach to development” that entails national-level commitments to good governance, transparency, accountability, and respect for all human rights in the development process.
The Fauresmith and Cultural Dynamics at the End of the Southern African Earlier Stone Age
Authors: Chazan Michael
Published: December 2022

The Fauresmith refers to a poorly defined archeological entity that is transitional between the Earlier and Middle Stone Age in southern Africa and that has tentatively also been identified in East Africa. Recent research on sites in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa supports the validity of the Fauresmith while indicating that there is considerable variation in the lithic assemblages. There are significant cultural developments associated with the Fauresmith, including a shift from a stone tool technology focused on large bifacial tools toward flake tools produced using prepared core techniques, the use of stone-tipped spears, and the use of places and objects, including ochre, associated with particular sensory properties. The chronological position of the Fauresmith is the subject of ongoing research but currently appears to be situated between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago. No hominin fossils have yet been recovered from a Fauresmith context. The Fauresmith is best understood within the context global patterns in the hominin and archeological record in the period during which Homo erectus was replaced by an increased diversification of hominins, including modern humans. It is also important to recognize that the Fauresmith raises major questions about the nature of archeological entities and the epistemological validity of these conceptual tools.
The Internal African Slave Trade as History and Representation
Authors: Leitão de Almeida Marcos
Published: December 2022

The internal African slave trade is a key topic to understand the political, cultural, and economic history of Africa. As a colonial category, the concept emerged throughout the 19th century as European imperial powers, spearheaded by European antislavery movements, constructed a discourse of abolition associated with the expansion of commerce, Christianity, and civilization. In the process, European imperial agents increasingly challenged the political sovereignty of African states and laid the ground for the discourse of racial inferiority of Africans. At the same time, the term also refers, then as now, to the expansion of the internal slave trade within the continent after 1850. Slavers in different parts of the continent continued to move people across the landscape to provide human labor, this time not for slave ships along the Atlantic coast but for the development of economic undertakings within the continent itself, such as clove plantations on Africa´s east coast, palm oil in West Africa, and the onset of coffee and sugar plantations in Angola. As a colonial and historical category, the internal slave trade is crucial to understanding 19th-century Africa.

Moreover, with discoveries in archaeology and historical linguistics, the internal slave trade has been shown to have a much older history, connected with the making of polities in Northeast Africa such as Egypt and Meroë, the trade in slaves and gold in West Africa from the time of the Garamantes to the expansion of Mali, and the settlement of Bantu-speaking villages in Central Africa in the last millennium bce. In this way, the internal African slave trade was not one but many; internal slave trades were, rather, locally generated and emerged in different periods and places in response to distinct contexts and motivations. Therefore, the 19th-century internal African slave trade, with its spin-off stereotyped representation of a continent without history, needs to be supplemented by an understanding of the multiple slave trades in Africa’s early past, as evidenced by historical linguistics and archaeology.
Restitution and Archaeological Collections in Africa
Authors: Houénoudé Didier , Coralli Monica , N'Dah Didier
Published: December 2022

By outlining the features, we can affirm that the construction of identity in each country is generally based on—and accompanied by—the definition of what constitutes “heritage” in its territory. On the African continent, this process was not uniform at the time of the proclamation of independence, or at least it did not always follow the same dynamic. It is clear that the heritage issue is approached in different ways depending on the period. In fact, it has gone through several phases in which the emphasis is placed in turn on the magnificence of the power in place, the popular recognition of symbols that can testify to national unity. For the past two decades, the states, strengthened by their achievements since obtaining independence, and in parallel with the creation of new emblematic monuments, have adopted, with respect to their former colonizers, an obvious desire to recover looted property. These objects, taken out of the territory not only by the hands of the colonists but also by missionaries or art lovers in various circumstances, become political instruments capable of bringing public opinion together. Thus, the restitution of African heritage goods, exhibited in foreign museums, to their countries of origin, amounts to recovering—and (re)discovering in a concrete way—a part of community identity that was thought to be lost forever. This process, which, through the cultural component, is in fact redrawing the balance between the countries of the North and South. Benin is setting itself up as a model in the implementation of heritage strategies based on the return of goods and their conservation and valorization in situ. Other countries are following suit.
Plant Use
Authors: Mercuri Anna Maria
Published: December 2022

Plant use is a familiar word pair that emphasizes how the great wealth of properties and characters of different botanical species has allowed humans to develop different aspects of their culture. On one hand, plants communicate chemically with each other; on the other hand, their wealth of chemical communication tools has attracted humans, who are interested in colors and smells, taste and food, fuel, wellness, and health. The traces of plants buried in archeological sites—the subject of archeobotany—allow us to reconstruct the steps of the relationship between humans and plants. Surprisingly, the study of botanical remains from the past shows complex uses since the very early stages of human cultures, dating back even before the beginning of the Holocene. The relationship with the environment was structured in forms of increased control, at least from the invention of agriculture (as something that had never existed before) onward, undertaking complex forms of exploitation in accordance with the different cultures in the different regions of the world.

In more recent times, people and plants have also progressively developed a history of greater management and interdependence, including the development of agricultural landscapes, selection of domesticated species, and creation of gardens. The relationship with plants changes as society changes, leading to the loss of much knowledge in present times because of less connection and contact with nature. Knowledge and conservation of traditions dealing with plants are studied with ethnobotany, which explores plant use in the present day. Ecology for ecosystem services is the newest perspective on plant use, where perhaps trees return to play a key role in human existence without being cut down, and the green color of chlorophyll returns as a reassuring signal to the human species.
Techno-cultural Groups of the Middle Paleolithic of West Africa
Authors: Baldé Djidere
Published: December 2022

The West African Middle Paleolithic is characterized by industrial assemblages “on flakes” and “on picks,” which the regional literature has designated “Mousteroid,” “Aterian,” and “Sangoan” because they present morpho-technological characteristics that differ from those of Europe. Within these industrial complexes, Levallois reduction and discoid techniques were regularly developed, along with types of tools that imparted a particular cultural cachet to each assemblage. Despite the discovery of numerous and varied sites and industries, these West African Middle Paleolithic cultures remain very poorly understood, both in terms of their geographic distribution and their chronology.
Shifting Sedentism in West Africa
Authors: Canós-Donnay Sirio
Published: December 2022

Studies of past mobility in West Africa and beyond have traditionally seen sedentism and mobility as binary opposites, with sedentism as the stable option and mobility as an exception that needs to be explained. Additionally, archaeologists have tended to gravitate toward deeply stratified sites, while flat sites were often neglected, presumed to be ephemeral and of little interest. Since the beginning of the 21st century, however, archaeologists across West Africa have been increasingly documenting a phenomenon that deeply challenges those assumptions: that of populations that are sedentary but whose settlements regularly “shift” or move short distances but keep the name, institutions, and networks of the community intact. Known as “shifting sedentism,” this pattern opens new theoretical and methodological possibilities as it demonstrates that lack of stratification does not necessary entail ephemeral occupations, nor insecurity or lack of social complexity. In fact, over the past few decades, shifting sedentism patterns have been documented archaeologically, historically, and ethnographically in a wide range of societies, from stateless groups to hierarchical empires, from cattle-herders to agriculturalists, and in the most diverse sociopolitical, cultural, and economic settings. Thanks to all these studies, it is now clear that shifting sedentism has been present in societies across West Africa, from Senegal to Cameroon, for centuries, but its importance is only now beginning to be understood.
Anthropology of the Balkans
Authors: Kojanić Ognjen
Published: December 2022

Anthropological research in the Balkans has taken place under different labels—ethnography, ethnology, and folkloristics, to name a few. A throughline that connects the various scholarly histories in the region is the emergence of the discipline under the influence of German Romantic ideas about language and culture. Early anthropological research was entangled with the political goals of nation-building in the aftermath of projects of national liberation and oriented toward internal others, mainly peasants. After World War II, ideas from the Soviet practice of ethnography gained influence. Since the 1970s, national traditions of anthropological research have opened up to influences from the centers of anthropological knowledge production, primarily the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. From then on, a greater number of foreign anthropologists were coming to do fieldwork in the Balkans, more scholars from the Balkans began receiving their training outside the region, and those trained in their home countries started engaging in a more dynamic exchange with foreign anthropologists. This exchange resulted in a critical and reflexive examination of the definition and status of the Balkans as a concept.

Anthropological research conducted in the aftermath of the fall of socialism, in the 1990s and later, has four overarching topics. First, many researchers focused on postsocialist transformations aiming to understand the various domains in which profound cultural changes were taking place. Second, the war in the former Yugoslavia and the rise of nationalism elsewhere saw a growing interest in the topic of ethnonationalism. Third, the continual flows of outmigration from the region, the process of European integration, and more attention to the enduring legacies of empires crystallized in the research on transnational flows. Fourth, analyses of gender and kinship across the previous three topics became important in their own right.

Since the turn of the millennium, anthropologists have been more likely to take up topics that have global reverberations rather than those that are more limited to the Balkans. First, anthropologists have focused on novel political and economic subjectivities that have appeared in the region in response to overlapping crises. Second, the region has provided ample anthropological theorizations of the state against the backdrop of nostalgia for the lost socialist state and changing forms of action in the political domain. Finally, anthropologists have engaged with materiality more deeply by focusing on topics such as infrastructure, environment, and the body.