bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Importance of Being Digital
Authors: Viola Lorella
Published: March 2023

In this chapter, I present the post-authentic framework, a theoretical framework for knowledge creation in the digital, and I introduce two concepts central to the framework, symbiosis and mutualism. In light of the considerations reasoned in Chap. 1, I discuss and question the relevance of notions of authenticity and completeness in relation to digital objects. I take the example of a digital cultural heritage object to highlight how ideas of authenticity and completeness have consequences not only for the production of digital heritage and with respect to heritage values and practices but, more widely, for our understanding of digital objects and knowledge production in a digital society. Finally, I rework such notions using the formation of the digital heritage collection ChroniclItaly 3.0 as an example of how the post-authentic framework can guide the fluid interactions between human and technological processes that are required in the contemporary context of digital knowledge creation.
The Opposite of Unsupervised
Authors: Viola Lorella
Published: March 2023

One widespread way to enhance access to digital material is through a method called ’content enrichment’. Enrichment consists of several techniques such as entity annotation (e.g., named entity recognition—NER), entity linking (e.g., entity disambiguation), text classification and linguistic annotation (e.g., parts-of-speech tagging—POS). In this chapter, I present the enrichment of ChroniclItaly 3.0 as an example of how the post-authentic framework can be used as the applied theory for the curation of digital material. ChroniclItaly 3.0 has been enriched for NER, geocoding and sentiment. Throughout the chapter, I show fundamental concepts and methods of the post-authentic framework by focussing specifically on the key parts of the enrichment process that draw attention to the fluid exchanges between computational and human agency. I argue that in the contemporary context of digital knowledge creation practices, the task of digital enrichment cannot be handled as a fully automatic operation. As computational models are based on biased and incomplete datasets, I make a case for a dynamic conceptualisation of the digital object as unfinished, situated and intentional, acknowledged as containing its past ecosystem alongside present and future curators’ and users’.
Evaluation of Quantification Algorithms
Authors: Esuli Andrea , Fabris Alessandro , Moreo Alejandro , Sebastiani Fabrizio
Published: March 2023

In this chapter we discuss the experimental evaluation of quantification systems. We look at evaluation measures for the various types of quantification systems (binary, single-label multiclass, multi-label multiclass, ordinal), but also at evaluation protocols for quantification, that essentially consist in ways to extract multiple testing samples for use in quantification evaluation from a single classification test set. The chapter ends with a discussion on how to perform model selection (i.e., hyperparameter optimization) in a quantification-specific way.
Collaborative Working
Authors: Perković Paloš Andrijana
Published: March 2023

Research collaborations offer numerous professional opportunities as well as challenges, especially for early career researchers. This is why it is important to know the rights and responsibilities of researchers in collaborations. The aim of this chapter is to help early career researchers apply principles of good research practices of European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity in collaborative working, including interdisciplinary and international collaborations. We will indicate potential problems that can arise in different stages of collaborations. We will also provide recommendations with regard to determining your roles and responsibilities in collaborations, procedures on handling research misconduct, and possible publication disputes.
Exercise and Nutrition Interventions in Head and Neck Cancer
Authors: Bossi Paolo , Stucchi Erika
Published: March 2023

Overall Survival (OS) and late quality of life of patients with locally advanced, HPV-negative Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer (HNSCC) are not satisfactory. Nutritional status at the beginning of both surgical and non-surgical treatment with curative intent has been linked to OS and quality of life. Weight loss, body-mass index, functional parameters, and biochemical examinations have been associated with the risk of treatment-related adverse events, mortality, quality of life and outcome. Moreover, there is a strong need for effective preventive approaches that could be implemented after completion of curative treatment to reduce recurrences, second tumors and improve quality of life. Aerobic exercise training, which is known to stimulate the immune system, and nutritional interventions represent easy, acceptable and reproducible methods to increase immune and nutritional competence, impacting thus on the aforementioned objectives. Participating in exercise training programs has been well accepted by patients with HNSCC, underlining the feasibility of such an intervention. There are also immunological arguments to promote an adequate physical activity in HNSCC patients. Baseline and after treatment immune competence of HNSCC should be weighted, as it may impact on cancer recurrence and OS. Patients with HNSCC have significantly lower absolute numbers of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8 + T cells than normal controls, and lymphocyte counts, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) are associated with prognosis. Aerobic exercise training prevents immune senescence, and therefore may prevent cancer development. The immune system activity is accompanied by an increased rate of metabolism, requiring energy sources, substrates for biosynthesis and regulatory molecules, which are ultimately derived from the diet. Hence, an adequate supply of a wide range of nutrients is essential to support the immune system to function optimally. Therefore, a regular nutritional counselling combined with personalized exercise training is a simple and very cheap way that could improve patient’s nutritional condition and immunological function, and ultimately impact on survival and quality of life. There is a strong need for well conducted clinical trials aimed at evaluating, in homogeneous groups of HNSCC patients, the impact of nutritional interventions (also comprising immunonutrition) and physical exercise. The evaluation of surrogate endpoints like circulating immune cells should also be explored to identify feasible and effective interventions. Integrating these interventions within immunotherapy approaches represents another area deserving further studies.
How to Standardize Molecular Profiling Programs for Routine Patient Care
Authors: Tinhofer Ingeborg , Keilholz Ulrich , Rieke Damian
Published: March 2023

Management of patients with advanced cancer includes individualized treatment recommendations guided by molecular profiles. Refined complex molecular and immunological diagnostics are developed in parallel to the rapidly growing number of targeted therapies for defined genetic alterations and novel immunotherapies. For adequate counseling, patients are presented to Molecular Tumor Boards within the framework of precision oncology programs established at virtually all large cancer centers worldwide. The annotation and clinical interpretation of molecular pathology results are carried out by a multiprofessional team of experts formulating individualized treatment recommendations, taking also into account clinical characteristics. The process of annotation and clinical interpretation of molecular events in tumors also considers predictive factors defined in randomized studies as well as clinical judgement. All steps described above are not standardized, resulting in relevant heterogeneity in treatment recommendations among MTBs in different institutions.

In this chapter, contemporary challenges will be discussed, including intratumoral heterogeneity, use of diverse molecular diagnostic systems with inherent differences in sensitivity and specificity of detecting genetic alterations; the yet insufficiently addressed need for harmonizing variant annotation and interpretation; and the currently rather intuitive inclusion of multiple further “soft” parameters; all of which may significantly contribute to the current heterogeneity of recommendations.
Sensitivity and Specificity of Extranodal Extension: Unlocking One of the Strongest Prognostic Factors in Head and Neck Cancer
Authors: Huang Shao Hui , Busca Ionut , Yu Eugene , Hahn Ezra , O’Sullivan Brian
Published: March 2023

Extranodal extension (ENE) represents a spectrum of tumor invasion beyond the nodal capsule. The earliest stages of ENE can only be detected under the microscope (pathologic-ENE, pENE). As ENE progresses, it can eventually become visible on imaging (radiologic-ENE, rENE). When ENE further advances to invade skin and/or underlining structures causing fixation and neurovascular impairment, it becomes clinically evident (clinical-ENE, cENE). pENE is the most objective and sensitive way of identifying ENE while subjectivity exists for rENE and cENE detection. Hence, pENE often serves as a gold standard for assessing the accuracy of rENE and cENE. The sensitivity and specificity of rENE for pENE depends on the level of certainty that a radiologist has adopted for declaration. If unequivocal radiologic signs are used for declaration, the specificity of rENE for pENE is very high. Unequivocal rENE carries prognostic significance beyond traditional cN classification for both viral-related and unrelated head and neck cancer, and can serve an important role for clinical care and risk stratification. For clinical care, such as triaging HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer to surgery vs radiotherapy, a relatively modest level of certainty (>50%) may be used for rENE declaration before treatment assignment to achieve high sensitivity and avoid potential triple-modality treatment. For staging, a high level of certainty (>90%) should be used for rENE declaration to preserve its prognostic importance and avoid dilution due to equivocal cases, or the inclusion of minimal ENE lacking importance due to mitigation by contemporary treatments. Standardization of definitions and radiology reporting templates should facilitate the adoption of rENE into clinical care and staging.
Progress in the Development of New Vaccines Against Tuberculosis
Authors: Whitlow Emma , Mustafa Abu Salim , Hanif Shumaila Nida Muhammad
Published: March 2023

Due to the shortcomings of currently available BCG vaccines, new strategies have been considered for the development of alternative vaccines against tuberculosis. Many candidate vaccines are in the pipeline with an aim to replace BCG or boost the effect of BCG for prophylaxis. In addition, therapeutic applications are also considered. In this chapter, the current advances and approaches are explored to develop pre- and postexposure vaccines for tuberculosis.
The Utility of a Controlled Human Infection Model for Developing Leishmaniasis Vaccines
Authors: Kaye Paul M. , Parkash Vivak , Layton Alison M. , Lacey Charles J. N.
Published: March 2023

Controlled human infection models (CHIMs) are increasingly recognised as having an important role in the early development of vaccines for important human diseases, including those prevalent in low and middle-income countries. The leishmaniases are a group of clinically disparate parasitic diseases caused by multiple species of Leishmania. Widely heralded as potentially vaccine-preventable, progress in vaccine development for different forms of leishmaniasis has over past decades been slow, hampered by lack of funds, good experimental models and the challenges of progression through the normal clinical trial pathway. However, with a new generation of leishmaniasis vaccine candidates now progressing in clinical development, the value of a robust CHIM able to accelerate early-phase evaluation of new vaccine candidates has become increasingly apparent. Here, we briefly review the historic context of human infection studies in leishmaniasis and outline issues pertinent to the development of a new CHIM of sand fly-transmitted Leishmania major infection. Given the diversity and wide geographic distribution of the leishmaniases, we conclude with a discussion of future needs and challenges in the development of CHIMs for these important neglected diseases.
Leprosy Vaccines: Developments for Prevention and Treatment
Authors: Wang Hua
Published: March 2023

Over 200,000 new leprosy cases are reported globally every year. A vaccine for leprosy can eliminate the debilitating, biblical, and stigmatised disease in the twenty-first century. Since the 1940s, many clinical studies have consistently shown that the BCG vaccine offers some level of protection but ranging between 18% and 90%. Throughout this time, different versions of BCG and new developments have resulted in new leprosy vaccine candidates and prevention strategies. Examples are the vaccine and drug combinatory therapy that has shown promise in decreasing transmission and the subunit vaccine candidate, LepVax, which has been shown to reduce bacterial count and delay nerve function impairment in animal models and safe in healthy adults in early studies. The WHO officially recommended the BCG vaccine as a leprosy vaccine in 2018, a century later after it was first used as a tuberculosis vaccine in 1921. However, a better leprosy vaccine and prevention strategy is still needed because we do not exactly know how Mycobacterium leprae spreads and causes neurological damage in leprosy patients. The history and latest developments in leprosy vaccines are explored in this chapter.
Introduction
Authors: Stephenson Janet
Published: March 2023

Humanity is facing a sustainability crisis, and culture is complicit. The crisis has emerged because of the enactment of ideologies of over-consumption, capitalism and colonialism. Culture can also constrain transformational change because of the tenacity of deeply embedded patterns of beliefs, practices and material expectations. At the same time, culture can be a powerful force in sustainability transitions. For all these reasons, culture deserves to be better understood. Yet it is an elusive concept, used simplistically among lay people, and claimed and used in divergent ways in different disciplines and schools of thought.Culture and Sustainabilityinvestigates culture through a sustainability lens and sustainability through a cultural lens. It clarifies the various ways in which culture is understood, and introduces an accessible framework for the analysis of culture and its relationship with sustainability outcomes.
Cultural Stability
Authors: Stephenson Janet
Published: March 2023

Culture’s tendency to resist change, or to change only incrementally, is often described as one of its defining features. This resilience can be beneficial if cultural ensembles have positive sustainability outcomes, but problematic where they do not. This chapter draws from research that has used the cultures framework to examine cultural stasis and the mechanisms by which cultural ensembles endure. It starts with examples of culture’s role in sustainability-related outcomes. Consistent cultural patterns relating to particular outcomes (e.g. household energy efficiency, mobility choices) can be identified across populations. The chapter then describes the various processes by which cultural arrangements resist change. These include dynamic alignments within cultural ensembles, cultural actors’ lack of agency and external influences on cultural arrangements. The examples show how the framework offers a universal, scale-free model for the analysis of culture in the context of sustainability.
Using the Cultures Framework for Research
Authors: Stephenson Janet
Published: March 2023

This chapter is designed to guide academics and students who wish to undertake research using the cultures framework. It offers a structured approach to cultural research that can be used by researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. The variables and dynamics depicted by the framework are able to be discovered, described and analysed using a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The framework can also be used as a meta-theoretical framing. It invites interdisciplinary endeavours and multi-method research approaches, and operates well as an integrating framework. Further research on culture and sustainability is needed to build up a better understanding of, amongst other things, universal cultural processes, transforming unsustainable meta-cultures, and the multiple roles that culture can play in sustainability transitions. The chapter concludes with suggesting further potential contributions to sustainability research  from each of the nine perspectives of culture described in Chapter 2.
Conclusion
Authors: Stephenson Janet
Published: March 2023

The only way out of the world’s unsustainable trajectory is through widespread cultural transformation. It will be hard, but is achievable, and much can be learnt from cultures that have already traversed this journey. There will necessarily be myriad cultural responses that are unique to people and context, and close attention must be paid to powerful unsustainable cultures which force the less powerful to continue harmful patterns of consumption and production. Cultural analysis can help. It can provide insights that are not possible through other approaches, reveal triggers for change and give impetus to efforts for a sustainable future. Applications of the cultures framework to sustainability questions have produced intrinsic findings about specific cultural ensembles and their outcomes in addition to generic insights into cultural dynamics, but there is much more work to do. There is huge promise in getting to know ourselves as cultural creatures, and understanding the sustainability transition as a cultural transition.
Borders, Citizenship, ‘Imagined Community’ and ‘Exclusive State’ and Migration in Southeast Asia
Authors: Petcharamesree Sriprapha
Published: March 2023

Benedict Anderson (1991) suggested ‘a Nation-state is an imagined political community. It is imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign’. Because of this imagination that a nation (-state) is ‘inherently exclusive’. Southeast Asian States seem to imagine their communities as exclusive, with certain categories of people being excluded, especially those who are considered different and those who cross (inter)national borders. This chapter intends to establish some frameworks for the book by unpacking the notion of borders, not only from territorial and geographical perspectives, but also the borders created within cultural, social and economic spheres. Through the concept of citizenship, the paper argues conceptually and empirically that borders created through ‘imagined community’ can easily discriminate against populations who are not considered as members of a political community or not ‘one of us’. Because of this concept, some are excluded from the benefits of membership, while migration has serious implications on citizenship policy, exclusion (from citizenship) exacerbates (forced) migration in the region.
Labour Migration and Exclusive State Amidst the Global Pandemic of COVID-19
Authors: Sta. Maria Amparita D.
Published: March 2023

The vulnerability of migrant workers has long been documented. Despite protection measures imposed by countries of origin, most of them end up among the least protected in their host countries. This is especially true for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. Their vulnerability has become more pronounced because of the outbreak of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). As the COVID-19 outbreak ballooned into a pandemic, host states have been forced to implement urgent and aggressive actions to combat its spread and severity, primarily to protect its citizens. Hence, as quarantine measures, border closures, lockdowns, and restrictions on movement have been imposed by sovereign nations such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, migrant workers who have remained in these host states find themselves at the receiving end of the host states’ shifting responses on how to deal with migrant workers amidst the pandemic. Realising that the spread of COVID-19 continues among the population regardless of an individual’s citizenship or nationality, these sovereign states have grappled with the reality that they cannot protect their citizens without equally protecting migrant workers within their borders.

For many, this is a substantial shift, as these migrant workers have traditionally been given less economic and social security by host states, despite their vital economic contributions. This paper examines the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as far as their treatment and protection of migrant workers are concerned; how their policies have been effectively reshaped by the spread of the deadly virus, the underlying and facilitating factors which resulted in recalibrated measures and policy shifts with migrant workers, and how the pandemic has challenged traditional health responses and strategies, which have generally been framed around the protection primarily, if not exclusively, of a state’s own citizens.
Außeralltäglichkeit produzieren: Die Atemarbeit als Erlebnisformat
Authors: Antony Alexander
Published: March 2023

In diesem Kapitel wid die Atemarbeit als soziomaterielles Arrangement analysiert, das sich als wesentlich für die Hervorbringung eines atemarbeitsspezifischen Erlebnisformates erweist, in dem gezielt die Produktion leiblicher Erfahrungen vorangetrieben wird (5.1). Wie ich in der Folge verdeutliche, beruht das Erlebnisformat der Atemarbeit auf zwei zentralen praktischen Logiken, die im Vollzug ineinandergreifen: der Herstellung einer erfahrbaren Alltagstranszendenz, die sich durch eine räumlich-zeitliche und symbolische Distanzierung von alltäglichen Verrichtungen und Verpflichtungen auszeichnet (5.2), und der Erzeugung eines erlebbaren Hier und Jetzt, das auf der Etablierung eines spezifischen Wahrnehmungsraums und der Herstellung einer bestimmten Form von Leiblichkeit beruht (5.3).
Atem-Erfahrungen machen: Erfahrungsordnung und Kompetenzproduktion
Authors: Antony Alexander
Published: March 2023

Im diskursanalytischen Teil der Arbeit habe ich gezeigt, dass das Atmen im Rahmen der Atemarbeit von den Anbieter*innen als eine zu erlernende Kulturtechnik begriffen wird. Als wesentlich erwies sich dabei das Argument, dass das alltägliche Atmen einer diskursiven Rekonfiguration unterzogen und derart das Wissensobjekt „Atem“ als solches erst hervorgebracht wird. Das vorliegende Kapitel nimmt das Thema der Rekonfiguration nun auf der Ebene des praktischen Vollzugs wieder auf. Im ersten Teil des Kapitels (7.1) frage ich danach, wie ein unbestimmtes, oft auch unbemerkt bleibendes alltägliches Atmen zum Atmen der Atemarbeit gemacht wird. Vor diesem Hintergrund gilt es zu analysieren, auf der Grundlage welcher praktischen Strategien eine atemarbeitsspezifische Erfahrungsordnung etabliert wird, die wesentlich auf verschiedenen Formen der Erzeugung einer bewussten Wahrnehmung beruht. Dabei wird zugleich ersichtlich, dass sich die Kultivierung des Atmens in der Atemarbeit nicht nur im Rahmen praktischer Anforderungen, sondern auch in einem normativen Raum bewegt. Das zweite Erkenntnisinteresse des vorliegenden Kapitels (7.2) besteht folglich darin, zu zeigen, wie in der Atemarbeit leibliche (In-)Kompetenz, im Sinne eines als normativ angemessen erachteten Tuns, produziert wird.
Schlussbetrachtung: Perspektiven einer Soziologie leiblicher Praxis
Authors: Antony Alexander
Published: March 2023

In der Schlussbetrachtung wird gezeigt, welche allgemeinen analytischen Perspektiven aus der empirischen Analyse der Atemarbeit für eine Soziologie leiblicher Praxis gewonnen werden können. In einem ersten Schritt werden die sozialtheoretischen Grundaussagen des Buches rekapituliert. Danach werden die folgenden Themen behandelt: die Verbindung von Diskurs- und Praxisanalyse, die Frage nach der Sozio-Logik spezifischer Erlebnisformate, die sozialtheoretischen Implikationen einer Soziologie, die nicht beim Kommunikativen und Symbolischen Halt macht und schließlich ‚praktizierte Leiblichkeiten‘ als basale Medien ‚subjektiven‘ Erfahrens.
Women’s Status in the Process of Socio-Political Development in Iran
Authors: Mousanejad Maliheh
Published: March 2023

This chapter examines the status of women’s participation in the socio-political development of Iranian society during the rule of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The data were obtained and collected from statistical sources, including the Ministries, Governmental Organizations, and the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran. The chapter reports that the presence and participation of women at the micro- and middle level of decision-making and management have increased. However, the participation of women in high organizational levels has faced social, political, and cultural barriers. So the policy in the field of the woman requires more and more efficient employment of women’s participation in macro-level management.
Reasons for Divorce in Kuwait: An Application of the Likelihood of Divorce Inventory (LDI)
Authors: Alnaser Fahad , Al-Fadhli Hussain M.
Published: March 2023

This chapter employs the Likelihood of Divorce Inventory (LDI) to investigate married university students’ assessment of reasons for divorce in Kuwait. The sample comprises 443 participants; about 37.5% are men and 62.5% are women. Exploratory factor analysis reveals that three LDI items—negative relationship and lack of respect, differences in behavior and personality, and psychological and physical illness—explain 63.5% of the variance. Participants generally hold positive attitudes toward the reasons for divorce, with infidelity, spousal abuse, and drug/alcohol abuse being among the most prominently reported. However, there are statistically significant gender differences regarding attitudes toward specific reasons for divorce, with women being more sensitive to inventory situations and supporting divorce at greater rates than men.
From ‘Brain Drain’ to ‘Capital Gain’: Indian Skilled Migration to the UAE
Authors: Bortolazzi Omar , Khan Noor
Published: March 2023

This study analyzes the magnitude of emigration of India’s high-skill population in the United Arab Emirates through the exploration of the determinants of emigrant mobility using both an empirical and qualitative approach. It also examines the historical patterns of migration to the GCC region with a focus on the socioeconomic impact of skilled immigration of Indian expatriates in the UAE economy. Furthermore, the chapter attempts to assess the role played by remittances, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and knowledge and technology transfers as key economic resources towards the development of the national economy and the potential reversal of the impact of ‘brain drain’. This requires an evaluation of the role played by key stakeholders in the facilitation of migration, providing an alternate outlook on the perceived ‘drain’ and inequality that surrounds the dialog on South-to-North migration. Lastly, the research contributes to the limited literature on transnational entrepreneurs and return and reverse migration, as the most understudied aspect of international migration, to illustrate how the migrant identity is constantly fluid and evolving and ultimately beneficial to both the host and home economy.
Social Media in the GCC Countries—Facilitator or Curse for Generation “Z”?
Authors: Pripoae-Şerbănescu Ciprian , Maţoi Ecaterina
Published: March 2023

The aim of this paper is to explore the directions of the social change in some of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries, by analyzing how traditional interactions between generations and pattern evolution are modeled by influences exercised through the use of internet, and in particular of social media. We will delve on the impact of internet technology and social media on (Arab) self, but also on human connectivity. Social media has a tremendous impact on how people share ideas and visions, but also on how they define and represent themselves and the social environment. Detached from traditional institutions, more members of Arab societies may be seduced by the illusion of an ever evolving and confident identity, a deception/dream generously offered by the social media. As such, the role of ruling political elites might be highly challenging, not only in ensuring the stability of their societies, but also in stimulating a solid societal identity in an increasingly unpredictable and complex international environment.
The 2017 Gulf Crisis and Changes in Qatar’s Economic Landscape
Authors: Umar Sharique , Ghurab Salem
Published: March 2023

This chapter analyzes the major transformations that Qatar’s economy went through during the 2017 Gulf crisis. This chapter argues that the Gulf crisis has proved to be a “blessing in disguise.” Qatar confronted unprecedented economic challenges immediately after the blockade, which forced it to take three broad policy initiatives: domestic production, trade diversification and crisis management strategy. This broad policy shift spawns immediate benefits for the country in managing the crisis effectively as well as in making the country resilient to international shocks, whether it is the COVID-19 pandemic or Ukraine war.
Greening the Desert: Sustainability Challenges and Environmental Initiatives in the GCC States
Authors: Alam Meredian , Azalie Izni Azrein Noor
Published: March 2023

Oil, gas, and other minerals contribute significantly to the growth of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, however their development always affects the environment. The GCC countries are therefore taking measures to ensure economic growth, job availability, social equality, and natural resource management by incorporating environmental considerations into economic policy and aspiring for green growth at the national and regional levels. With this in mind, this chapter explores various sustainability initiatives for environmental conservation in the GCC. This chapter focuses primarily on the national efforts of each of the GCC states to prevent and control hazards and to reduce the effects of environmental challenges (such as air pollution, climate change, oil spills, and declining quality of coastal and marine environments).
Identity and Globalisation: Tribal Identity in the Age of Social Media
Authors: Al-Etaibi Abdulla
Published: March 2023

The age of globalisation and digital technology gives people the means to stay connected more than ever. As elsewhere, social media is rapidly spreading in the Gulf region where it constitutes a virtual public forum for people to express opinions on current issues. Social media has been used for political purposes by both governments and individuals since the Arab Spring. The use of social media to disseminate political information and mobilise groups extended to the 2017 Gulf Crisis. This paper will focus on the use and effects of social media on tribes during the crisis and how technology has provided a virtual space for mobilising tribal kinship networks.
Chinese Investments in the Special Economic Zones in the Gulf Region: New Structural Economics Perspective
Authors: Zhou Luyang
Published: March 2023

The Gulf countries have shifted to a new development paradigm, pursuing economic diversification by constructing special economic zones (SEZs). By investing overseas, China has been involved in the development of SEZs in the Gulf region, especially since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In this chapter, through the analytical framework of New Structural Economics (NSE), I examine three projects of Chinese investments in the SEZs in the Gulf region — China-Oman Industrial Park in Duqm, the petrochemical and chemical fibre integrated project in Saudi Arabia’s Jazan City for Primary and Downstream Industries, and China-UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Zone. By analysing how the projects grow and how they affect the development of the investment recipient countries, I argue that the “hard” and “soft” infrastructure provided by the recipient countries and the comparative advantages of the recipient countries have motivated the projects to grow. The three projects demonstrate the potential to contribute to the development of infrastructure in the SEZs where the projects are located and have assisted the investment recipient countries in striving for economic diversification and sustainable development.
Political Power and Material Identity: Saudi Women in Real and Virtual Societies
Authors: Al Derham Reem Ali
Published: March 2023

Real “material” societies differ from one society to another; and therefore, the impact of the globalized virtual society on them varies according to whether they are conservative, and subject to political authority, or open and liberal. This chapter attempts to link the economic factor in Saudi society and its positive impact on the economic and social rights granted to Saudi women in the Saudi Vision 2030, as well as on the Saudi leadership’s decisions related to Saudi women. The analysis focuses on the reduction of restrictions on their material identity, the “Black Abaya”. It then examines how these decisions were reflected in changing the colour and shape of the Saudi Abaya in material society first, before changing appearances in virtual society, and not the other way around.
Technologies, Care and Repatriations: 1926–1966
Authors: McCulloch Jock , Miller Pavla
Published: March 2023

Until 1950, there was no effective chemotherapy for tuberculosis. Treatment consisted of an enhanced diet, isolation, and skilled nursing—methods which were expensive and not greatly effective. The centrepiece of the mines’ management of tuberculosis was repatriation of sick miners, without notification of local authorities, isolation of those with infective disease, or education of those around them on how to avoid infection. This approach enhanced the mines’ profitability but confounded every principle of public health. In the 1950s, the development of mass miniature radiography and the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis radically changed the available technologies of care. In discussing international standards of compensation for occupational lung disease, ILO held that the worker’s history of dust exposure, a clinical examination and radiographic findings had to be considered. The Chamber of Mines used mass miniature radiography for a different purpose: those with dusted lungs were identified at entry medicals and then repatriated without compensation. Where chemotherapy was provided to sick miners, the treatment rarely lasted more than a month; as a result, most patients developed drug resistant tuberculosis. Today, South Africa and its labour-sending regions have one of the world’s highest rates of multi-drug-resistant TB.
Mapping and Resolving a Health Crisis: 1902–1929
Authors: McCulloch Jock , Miller Pavla
Published: March 2023

The history of gold mining in South Africa was marked by several profound crises. This chapter traces the emergence and resolution of the first one. Following official recognition of the disproportionate mortality of miners from North of latitude 22 South, in 1913 the South African government banned further recruitment of ‘Tropical’ labour. Several commissions of enquiry, a series of pioneering Mines and Miners’ Phthisis Acts, the creation of a state supported research community, the commissioning of vaccine for pneumonia and the establishment of a system of compulsory medical examinations helped resolve the crisis politically. Living and working conditions on the mines improved, and deaths from pneumonia were reduced. However, the risk of silicosis and TB infection remained, and repatriations of sick and dying men continued. The first health crisis became a model for how the mining houses would respond to occupational disease. The industry captured the science, framed the legislation and externalised the principal costs of occupational disease onto labour-sending communities.
The Rapidly Changing Teaching and Research Landscape: The Future of SoTL and the Teaching-Research Nexus
Authors: Waller Karena L. , Prosser Michael
Published: March 2023

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) as a scholarly field of study has been rapidly developing since Ernest Boyer published Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate in 1990. In that Boyer drew the distinction between four scholarships—Discovery, Integration, Application, and Teaching & Learning (Boyer in Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1990). In this chapter, we aim to introduce readers to SoTL by:

briefly reviewing these four scholarships;

illustrating how SoTL may be differentiated from the other forms of scholarship, and its relationship with the teaching-research nexus;

commenting on the sorts of inquiry problems, questions and issues common to SoTL; and finally,

commenting on the range of methodologies adopted in such inquiries.

Fundamental to the discussion will be the idea that SoTL is a research informed, evidence based, critical yet collegial reflection on teaching and learning practice with the aim of improving practice within the aligned disciplines and professions. Most often SoTL-based research projects are conducted by discipline-based staff inquiring into and reflecting on their own practice to improve their teaching and students’ learning.

Since Boyer’s publication, numerous scholarly societies, conferences, journals, and other forms of scholarly communication have evolved. A recent thematic review of the SoTL literature will be used as the basis for highlighting how the communication of SoTL inquiries, and their findings are being, and can be, fostered.
The Z7 model of three-component scalar dark matter
Authors: Bélanger Geneviève , Pukhov Alexander , Yaguna Carlos E. , Zapata Óscar
Published: March 2023

Abstract

We investigate, for the first time, a scenario where the dark matter consists of three complex scalar fields that are stabilized by a single Z7 symmetry. As an extension of the well-known scalar Higgs-portal, this Z7 model is also subject to important restrictions arising from the relic density constraint and from direct detection experiments. Our goal in this paper is to find and characterize the viable regions of this model, and to analyze its detection prospects in future experiments. First, the processes that affect the relic densities are identified (they include semiannihilations and conversions) and then incorporated into the Boltzmann equations for the dark matter abundances, which are numerically solved with micrOMEGAs. By means of random scans of the parameter space, the regions consistent with current data, including the recent direct detection limit from the LZ experiment, are selected. Our results reveal that the Z7 model is indeed viable over a wide range of dark matter masses and that both conversions and semiannihilations play an important role in determining the relic densities. Remarkably, we find that in many cases all three of the dark matter particles give rise to observable signals in future direct detection experiments, providing a suitable way to test this scenario.
Fingerprinting CP-violating New Physics with B → Kμ+μ−
Authors: Fleischer Robert , Malami Eleftheria , Rehult Anders , Vos K. Keri
Published: March 2023

Abstract

The B → Kℓ+ℓ− system is particularly interesting to explore physics beyond the Standard Model. Such effects could provide new sources of CP violation, thereby giving rise to Wilson coefficients which could not only be real, as assumed in most analyses, but also be complex. We propose a new strategy to extract the complex C9μ, C10μ from the data, utilising the complementarity of direct CP violation in B+ → K+μ+μ− and mixing-induced CP violation arising — in addition to direct CP violation — in $$ {B}_d^0\to {K}_S{\mu}^{+}{\mu}^{-} $$

B
d
0

→

K
S

μ
+

μ
−

, as well as the differential rate in appropriate q2 bins. The long-distance effects, which play a key role to generate the direct CP asymmetries, cannot be reliably calculated due to their non-perturbative nature. In order to describe them, we apply a model by the LHCb Collaboration employing experimental data. Assuming specific scenarios, we demonstrate the fingerprinting of CP-violating New Physics and the distinction between ambiguities in the model of the long-distance contributions. Finally, New Physics could couple differently to muons and electrons, as probed through the lepton flavour universality ratio RK. We discuss these effects in the presence of CP violation and present a new way to measure the direct CP asymmetries of the B → Ke+e− channels.
Non-linear stability of α′-corrected Friedmann equations
Authors: Bernardo Heliudson , Chojnacki Jan , Comeau Vincent
Published: March 2023

Abstract

We study the non-linear stability of fixed-point solutions to the α′-exact equations from O(d, d) invariant cosmology, with and without matter perturbations. Previous non-linear analysis in the literature is revisited, and its compatibility with known linear perturbation results is shown. Some formal aspects of cosmological perturbations in duality invariant cosmology are discussed, and we show the existence of time-reparameterization invariant variables for perturbations.
Charged dilatonic spacetimes in string theory
Authors: Porfyriadis Achilleas P. , Remmen Grant N.
Published: March 2023

Abstract

We construct and study general static, spherically symmetric, magnetically charged solutions in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton gravity in four dimensions. That is, taking Einstein gravity coupled to a U(1) gauge field and a massless dilaton — e.g., the action in the low-energy limit of string theory or Kaluza-Klein reduction — with arbitrary dilaton coupling, we build a three-parameter family of objects characterized by their mass, charge, and dilaton flux, generalizing the well known Garfinkle-Horowitz-Strominger black hole. We analyze the near-extremal and near-horizon behavior in detail, finding new warped geometries. In a particular limit, where the geometry reduces to the recently discovered customizable AdS2 × S2 of Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton gravity, we compute the static s-wave linearized solutions and characterize the anabasis relating the horizon perturbations to their nonlinear completions within our generalized family of spacetimes.
Taming the 11D pure spinor b-ghost
Authors: Guillen Max
Published: March 2023

Abstract

We provide an alternative compact expression for the 11D pure spinor b-ghost by introducing a new set of negative ghost number operators made out of non-minimal pure spinor variables. Using the algebraic properties satisfied by these operators, it will be straightforwardly shown that $$ \left\{Q,b\right\}=\frac{P^2}{2} $$

Q
b

=

P
2

2

, as well as {b, b} = QΩ. As an application of this novel formulation, the ghost number two vertex operator will easily be obtained in a completely covariant manner from a standard descent relation, the ghost number three vertex operator will be shown to satisfy the generalized Siegel gauge condition, and the 11D supergravity two-particle superfield will be constructed in a quite simple way.
Type IIB parabolic (p, q)-strings from M2-branes with fluxes
Authors: García del Moral M. P. , las Heras C. , Restuccia A.
Published: March 2023

Abstract

We extend the work of Schwarz [1] to show that bound states of type IIB supersymmetric (p, q)-strings on a circle are associated with M2-branes irreducibly wrapped on T2, or equivalently with nontrivial worldvolume fluxes. Beyond this extension we consider the Hamiltonian of an M2-brane with C± fluxes formulated on a symplectic torus bundle with monodromy. In particular, we analyze the relevant case when the monodromy is parabolic. We show that the Hamiltonian is defined in terms of the coinvariant module. We also find that the mass operator is invariant under transformations between inequivalent coinvariants. These coinvariants classify the inequivalent classes of twisted torus bundles with nontrivial monodromy for a given flux. We obtain their associated (p, q)-strings via double dimensional reduction, which are invariant under a parabolic subgroup of SL(2, ℚ). This is the origin of the gauge symmetry of the associated gauged supergravity. These bound states could also be related to the parabolic Scherk-Schwarz reductions of type IIB string theory.
Integrable crosscaps in classical sigma models
Authors: Gombor Tamas
Published: March 2023

Abstract

We study the integrable boundaries and crosscaps of classical sigma models. We show that there exists a classical analog of the integrability condition and KT-relation of the boundary and crosscap states of quantum spin chains. We also classify the integrable crosscaps for various sigma models including examples which are relevant in the AdS/CFT correspondence at strong coupling.
Testing non-standard neutrino interactions in (anti)-electron neutrino disappearance experiments
Authors: Chaves M. E. , de Holanda P. C. , Peres O. L. G.
Published: March 2023

Abstract

We search for scalar and tensor non-standard interactions using (anti)-electron neutrino disappearance in oscillation data. We found a slight preference for non-zero CP violation, coming from both tensor and scalar interactions. The preference for CP violation is led by Daya Bay low-energy data with a significance that reaches ~ 1.7σ in the global analysis (and ~ 2.1σ when considering only medium baseline reactors data) compared to the standard neutrino oscillation scenario. In some cases, our results indicate that the atmospheric mass squared difference falls outside the range allowed by accelerator long baseline experiments. This suggests the need for further investigation in future work.
Dimensional Reduction of Cobordism and K-theory
Authors: Blumenhagen Ralph , Cribiori Niccolò , Kneißl Christian , Makridou Andriana
Published: March 2023

Abstract

It has been proposed that cobordism and K-theory groups, which can be mathematically related in certain cases, are physically associated to generalised higher-form symmetries. As a consequence, they should be broken or gauged in any consistent theory of quantum gravity, in accordance with swampland conjectures. We provide further support to this idea by showing that cobordism and K-theory groups of a general manifold X reproduce the pattern of symmetries expected from the dimensional reduction of the theory on X, as well as their breaking and gauging. To this end, we employ the Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence to compute such groups for common choices of X in string compactifications.
Four-loop large-nf contributions to the non-singlet structure functions F2 and FL
Authors: Basdew-Sharma A. , Pelloni A. , Herzog F. , Vogt A.
Published: March 2023

Abstract

We have calculated the $$ {n}_f^2 $$

n
f
2

and $$ {n}_f^3 $$

n
f
3

contributions to the flavour non-singlet structure functions F2 and FL in inclusive deep-inelastic scattering at the fourth order in the strong coupling αs. The coefficient functions have been obtained by computing a very large number of Mellin-N moments using the method of differential equations, and then determining the analytic forms in N and Bjorken-x from these. Our new $$ {n}_f^2 $$

n
f
2

terms are numerically much larger than the $$ {n}_f^3 $$

n
f
3

leading large-nf parts which were already known; they agree with predictions of the threshold and high-energy resummations. Furthermore our calculation confirms the earlier determination of the four-loop $$ {n}_f^2 $$

n
f
2

part of the corresponding anomalous dimension. Via the no-π2 theorem for Euclidean physical quantities, we predict the $$ {\zeta}_4{n}_f^3 $$

ζ
4

n
f
3

part of the fifth-order anomalous dimension for the evolution of non-singlet quark distributions.