bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Energy efficiency improvement in hospital buildings, based on the example of a selected type of hospital facility in Poland
Authors: Suszanowicz D , Ratuszny P
Published: October 2019

Energy demand in hospitals is of highly diverse nature: heat energy, cool energy and electricity. A guarantee of energy supply is required to ensure continuity of medical procedures. Taking care of the lowest possible costs of hospital operations, special attention should be paid to energy efficiency of the installations used in the hospital buildings. The paper presents an analysis of energy demand for heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting in an example hospital in Poland. The selected object was considered a reference as it was built according to a repetitive construction plan, according to which several dozen other hospitals were built in Poland. On the basis of data from 2013-2017, a summary of heat, cold and electricity demand for the hospital in its current technical condition was prepared. Concepts of technical and economic modernization of systems using energy in the analysed facility were proposed, assuming different ranges of changes for individual installations in the hospital. After the analysis of various modernization options, a project was proposed combining the use of heat pumps, photovoltaic installations and generation of heat and cooling in trigeneration, all of which allowed to reduce the costs of operation of the hospital energy systems by about 31%.
Identification of the best location for an environmental friendly small hydropower plant
Authors: Moldoveanu A , Popescu D
Published: October 2019

The promotion of renewable energy sources exploitation represents an important goal of the European Union and in this respect the Water Framework Directive was issued. The document requires periodic hydropower assessment of the water courses, using software tools if possible. In this paper a methodology to identify best location for a small hydro power plant is proposed. The methodology is based on two software VADIPRO-ASTE and SMART MINI-IDRO and takes into consideration environmental restrictions. The optimization process uses available monthly average flows in a river section, calculated by taking into consideration the ecological flow and the water consumption for non-electricity production purposes. The ecological flow was calculated by a method elaborated by the National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management, to respect the legislation OUG 78/2017 that supports aquatic ecosystems functionality.
Proposed maintenance system of Gelora Sriwijaya Jakabaring Stadium (case study: lighting utilities)
Authors: Yazuar Muhammad Syazari , Sangadji Senot , Kristiawan Stefanus Adi
Published: October 2019

Maintenance of the stadium has been done for the 18th Asian Games 2018. However, the previous maintenances were not comprehensive and held in the run up to the big events only. It affects the performance of its components utilities. A new local company was established by the Government of South Sumatra Province, in order to make a good maintenance of the stadium. However, the planned maintenance has not been actualized by the company yet. Many obstacles encountered in stadium maintenance, including regulatory, complexity of utilities, and stakeholder’s influences. This paper aims to develop a maintenance system that is in accordance with existing conditions and applicable regulations. This study is devoted to electrical lighting systems because almost every week the stadium is also used for football matches. The methodology was divided into three parts, i.e.: rating for each parts of the utility, descriptive qualitative for regulatory identification, and stakeholders analysis, and they are developed to create a maintenance system. The result is a system that is proposed to find out the most important stakeholders in the maintenance of the highest priority of lighting utility based on official assessment.
Road construction project waste material recommendations
Authors: Waty Mega , Sulistio Hendrik
Published: October 2019

After risk identification and risk analysis done, so risk response is carried out. Risk response is handled by the service provider. Recommendation is the final result of risk management of road construction project waste material. The recommendation is the aggregate B and Ready Mix Concrete is necessary to pay attention to the waiting time and pay attention to the critical trajectory on material scheduling so that breakdowns and scheduling updates are made per week. Need to pay attention to rainfall and implementation methodology. Recommendations for lean concrete waste material are necessary to pay attention to the waiting time and pay attention to the critical trajectory on material scheduling so that breakdowns and scheduling updates are carried out per week. Need to pay attention to rainfall and implementation methodology. And the causes for minimizing waste material must be considered.
Comparison of the RSNI 1726:2018 and the SNI 1726:2012 design response spectra of 17 major cities in Indonesia
Authors: Sutjipto Suradjin , Sumeru Indrawati
Published: October 2019

Based on the 2017 Indonesian Seismic Map and the ASCE 7-16, the proposed Indonesian Seismic Design Code - RSNI 1726:2018, was developed to renew the current SNI 1726:2012 code. Taking a sampling of 17 major cities representing all regions in Indonesia, this paper presents the comparison of the RSNI 1726:2018 and the SNI 1726:2012 design response spectra. All cities located in high seismic areas have an anomaly characteristic, where the design response spectra of site class SE (soft soil) is less than that of site class SD (medium soil), or even less than that of site class SC (hard soil), contrary to what Structural and Geotechnical Engineers think so far, that the design response spectra of site class SE is always higher than that of site classes SD and SC.
Development Precast and Prestressed Concrete Rigid Pavement System in Indonesia
Authors: Nurjaman Hari Nugraha , Faizal Lutfi , Suaryana Nyoman , Dharmawan Yudhi , Wantoro Agus , Purnomo  , Suwito
Published: October 2019

Roadway pavements are important parts of transportation system and thus should be adequately strong and durable. Unfortunately, many pavements constructed in Indonesia fail to reach their design service life. Among major factors contributed to early damages to the pavements in Indonesia are unfulfilled specified pavement construction specifications, traffic overload and poor support condition. As an attempt to produce better pavement system and as part of an accelerated infrastructure program in Indonesia, new precast pavement system using unbonded posttensioned technology that has characteristic of self-centering has recently been developed. This self-centering concrete pavement is expected to reduce the impact of overload and be able to overcome imperfect subbase, subgrade and poor soil condition. The theoretical and experimental development programs of the new concrete rigid pavement system will be described in this paper. The developed pavement system is then implemented to see the effectiveness construction procedures and later on tested using Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) method to evaluate its structural performance.
Review study of irregularity track monitoring based on inertial measure unit and power spectral density analysis
Authors: Istiar  , Widyastuti H
Published: October 2019

The maintenance of railway in Indonesia is determined by the track quality index (TQI). Analysed of TQI is based on track geometric inspection data. Currently, track geometric inspection uses a Track Geometric Vehicle (TGV) or Track Recorded Vehicle (TRV). The TRV’s provide accurate geometry measurements. But, it was expensive to run, may disrupt regular train services during their operation, need for occupation of track limit the number of measurement operations undertaken annually and optical sensors are sensitive to the dirt, found in the railway environment. TRV’s data was analysed by statistical function of the standard deviation to determine of TQI. TQI has some disadvantages, for example, it cannot represented the wavelength contents of the geometry defect, which is related to the particular issue in train-track interaction. Therefore, it is necessary to propose effective, efficient and reliable track quality assessment method. This paper will review some irregularity track monitoring methods that were probably used to track monitoring in Indonesia.
Estimation of Vehicle Stops Based on Modified Canadian Capacity Guide Formula Under Non-Lane Based Road Traffic Condition
Authors: Farabi A A
Published: October 2019

Vehicle stops estimation is one of the important parameters to assess the performance of a signalized road intersection. Canadian Capacity Guide provides a formula that can estimate number of vehicles that stops at least once due to the traffic signal. This study reviews the applicability of this formula for non-lane based traffic. The formula is segmented into two periods to check the estimation of stops during red period and green period. It is found that the formula underestimates the number of stops during red period. Also, the formula estimated number of stops is significantly higher during the green period. As traffic operation and vehicle maneuver of non-lane based traffic are much different from lane based disciplined traffic, the formula cannot predict vehicle stops accurately. Therefore, the estimation of vehicle stops by Canadian Capacity Guide formula is found to deviate considerably from field observed number of stops of vehicles. Thus, a modified regression formula is provided that can estimate the number of stops of vehicles for non-lane based traffic operation. The modified formula fits fairly good with the local traffic condition.
Model of queuing in the railway level crossing (case study: Imam Bonjol railway level crossing in Blitar)
Authors: Widyastuti H , Utami A , Dzulfiqar Z M
Published: October 2019

A high number of accidents in railway level crossing causes loss of life and material. Furthermore, the losses are also experienced by users of traffic on the highway such as disturbance in the form of delay which can lead to increase the length of travel time where the vehicle will stop, and give impact to the emergency queue vehicle at railway level crossing. Considering those problems, there has been build two models which are: the first model is the queuing of traffic length and with considering the length and speed of the train, and the second model is the queuing of traffic with considering the gate closing time. The methodology applied was an observation on field and survey data and then calculation from Road Capacity Guidelines of Indonesia (PKJI 2014) and queue length calculation using the queuing analysis method. Data have been collected and analysed by making the model relationship using linear regression method. The result showed that there is a positive relationship between the train lengths with the duration of gate closing time. However, the train speed has a negative relationship. Moreover, the length of the train has a positive relationship with the length of the vehicle queue.
Integrated multimodal disaster mitigation management for urban areas: a preliminary study for 2-d flood modeling
Authors: Prastica R M S , Wicaksono D
Published: October 2019

Flooding in urban areas is a common phenomenon in megacities due to the high population and settlement growth. Lack of knowledge from urban societies triggers them to intervene in the capacity of the river for housing. This impact affects various disasters, both quality and quantity of water. Kali Belik experiences flooding every year, although several solutions have been installed to mitigate, for example, Embung. Integrated multimodal disaster mitigation management is proposed to solve the problems and answer the research gaps. The preliminary research only focuses on flood analysis. The analysis uses 2-D modeling with HEC-RAS. The study concludes that the main factor of flooding in the research area is decreasing river capacity due to social behavior. Further research would be conducted to obtain a comprehensive understanding and solution by involving the government, academics, and society.
Identification of flood risk zones in the region of Yogyakarta
Authors: Nursetiawan  , Faizah R
Published: October 2019

There are three rivers that cross the center of the Yogyakarta region and through Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta City and Bantul District, namely Code River, Gajah Wong River and Winongo River. The contribution of these three rivers to flood events in Yogyakarta is considered significantly high because the river passes through urban areas, settlements, agricultural land, and densely populated areas. In this study a hazard level map and the level of vulnerability of floods are created in those three watersheds. Map making starts with a study of hazards and vulnerabilities using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, weighting, scoring, and continued with a map depiction using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Map of research results in the form of hazard level maps and flood vulnerability levels for Code watershed, Gajah Wong and Winongo. From the map, it can be concluded that most watershed areas of the Code are included in the level of moderate danger and low level of vulnerability. The entire Gajah Wong watershed is included in a moderate level of danger and most of them are at a high level of vulnerability, while most of the Winongo watershed has a high level of danger and vulnerability.
Nopp140-mediated concentration of telomerase in Cajal bodies regulates telomere length
Authors: Bizarro Jonathan , Bhardwaj Amit , Smith Susan , Meier U. Thomas
Published: October 2019

Two major components of nuclear Cajal bodies (CBs) are small CB-specific scaRNPs and their targets, spliceosomal snRNPs. The intrinsically disordered phosphoprotein Nopp140 is required to recruit and retain all scaRNPs including telomerase in CBs. Knockdown of Nopp140 releases all scaRNPs, but not snRNPs, causing gradual telomere lengthening.
Afro-Latina/os
Authors: Decena Carlos Ulises
Published: October 2019

The term Afro Latina/os references people in Latin America and in the Latino United States who claim African ancestry. Although the use of the prefix Afrocan be traced back to the work of intellectuals in Cuba, Mexico, and Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century, usages were connected with anti-racist and African Diaspora struggles, organizing, and advocacy in the second half of the 20th century. More recently, the appellation Afro Latina/o has become mobilized in US Latina/o communities as a critique of the processes through which racial diversity and black populations in these communities have been rendered invisible. Because it conjures various meanings and foci, several authors engaged in the study of afrolatinidades suggest that hemispheric, transnational, and comparative approaches are necessary to appreciate the nuances of use, categorization, and experience as Afro Latina/os navigate complex histories and politics of race, ethnicity, and belonging in the United States and the Americas. The author argues that the term appellation does not resolve the complexities of racial subordination, racism, and self-making among Latin Americans and US Latina/os. He further suggests that sites of unintelligibility, confusion, and perplexity are valuable in thinking of “Afro-Latina/o” as a term that points to a cluster of urgent intellectual and political problems stemming from the irreducibility of individual experience to any term or concept. The increase in claims of Afro-Latina/o as a marker of identity must be calibrated by a consideration of how institutional sites and think tanks collaborate in the making and sedimentation of existing and emerging grids of legibility. At the same time, claiming Afro-Latina/o needs to be understood as a project related to yet distinct from one’s racial identification and relationship with blackness, and the experience of US Latina/os and other ethnic/racial minorities suggests that the work continues to be not only to understand how individuals and groups categorize themselves and others, but also to better grasp what it is that terms such as Afro-Latino/a do.
The Glass Ceiling in Organizations
Authors: Kulik Carol T. , Rae Belinda
Published: October 2019

The “glass ceiling” metaphor represents the frustration experienced by women in the 1980s and 1990s who entered the workforce in large numbers following equal opportunity legislation that gave them greater access to education and employment. After initial success in attaining lower management positions, the women found their career progress slowing as they reached higher levels of their organizations. A formal definition of the glass ceiling specifies that a female disadvantage in promotion should accelerate at the highest levels of the organization, and researchers adopting this formal definition have found mixed evidence for glass ceilings across organizations and across countries. Researchers who have expanded the glass ceiling definition to encompass racial minorities have similarly found mixed results. However, these mixed results do not detract from the metaphor’s value in highlighting the stereotype-based practices that embed discrimination deep within organizational structures and understanding why women continue to be underrepresented in senior organizational roles around the world. In particular, researchers investigating the glass ceiling have identified a variety of obstacles (including glass cliffs, glass walls, and glass doors) that create a more complete understanding of the barriers that women experience in their careers. As organizations offer shorter job ladders and less job security, the career patterns of both women and men are exhibiting more downward, lateral, and static movement. In this career context, the glass ceiling may no longer be the ideal metaphor to represent the obstacles that women are most likely to encounter.
The Antecedents and Outcomes of Heteronormativity in Organizations
Authors: Holmes Oscar
Published: October 2019

Despite the term being coined in the early 1990s, heteronormativity is a longstanding and enduring hierarchical social system that identifies heterosexuality as the standard sexuality and normalizes gender-specific behaviors and roles for men, women, and transgender and non-binary individuals. As a system, it defines and enforces beliefs and practices about what is ‘normal’ in everyday life. Although there are many factors that shape heteronormative beliefs and attitudes, religion, the government, education, and workplaces are the principal macro-level factors that normalize and institutionalize heteronormative beliefs and attitudes. These institutions contribute an outsize influence on the perpetuation of heteronormativity in society because these institutions create and inculcate the norms and standards of what are and are not acceptable values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in our society. As such, in order to create effective interventions to eliminate the negative outcomes of heteronormativity, particular attention should be paid to each of these institutions. Parents, relatives, and other adults contribute to the normalization and institutionalization of heteronormativity at the individual- or micro-level. Although some people benefit from the system of heteronormativity (mainly heterosexual cisgender conforming men), much of the research on heteronormativity focuses on the negative outcomes. Heteronormativity is responsible for a host of pernicious outcomes such as lower self-esteem, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and greater rates of suicide ideation, verbal and physical abuse, and workplace mistreatment and discrimination. Future research should investigate identify effective micro- and macro-level interventions that could mitigate or eliminate the negative effects of heteronormativity.
Effects of Climate Change and Fisheries on the Marine Ecosystem of the Baltic Sea
Authors: Möllmann Christian
Published: October 2019

Climate change and fisheries have significantly changed the Baltic Sea ecosystem, with the demise of Eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua callarias) being the signature development. Cod in the Central Baltic Sea collapsed in the late 1980s as a result of low reproductive success and overfishing. Low recruitment and hence small year-classes were not able to compensate for fishing pressures far above sustainable levels. Recruitment failure can be mainly related to the absence of North Sea water inflows to the Central Baltic deep basins. These major Baltic inflows (MBIs) occurred regularly until the 1980s, when their frequency decreased to a decadal pattern, a development attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns. MBIs are needed for ventilation of otherwise stagnating Baltic deep waters, and their absence caused reduced oxygen and salinity levels in cod-spawning habitats, limiting egg and larval survival. Climate change, on the other hand, has promoted a warmer environment richer in zooplanktonic food for larval Baltic sprat (Sprattus sprattus). Resulting large year-classes and low predation by the collapsed cod stock caused an outburst of the sprat stock that cascaded down to the zoo- and phytoplankton trophic levels. Furthermore, a large sprat population controlled cod recruitment and hence hindered a recovery of the stock by predation on cod eggs, limiting cod larval food supply.

The change in ecosystem structure and function caused by the collapse of the cod stock was a major part and driver of an ecosystem regime shift in the Central Baltic Sea during the period 1988 to 1993. This reorganization of ecosystem structure involved all trophic levels from piscivorous and planktivorous fish to zoo- and phytoplankton. The observed large-scale ecosystem changes displayed the characteristics of a discontinuous regime shift, initiated by climate-induced changes in the abiotic environment and stabilized by feedback loops in the food web. Discontinuous changes such as regime shifts are characteristically difficult to reverse, and the Baltic ecosystem recently rather shows signs of increasing ecological novelty for which the failed recovery of the cod stock despite a reduction in fishing pressure is a clear symptom. Unusually widespread deficient oxygen conditions in major cod-spawning areas have altered the overall productivity of the population by negatively affecting growth and recruitment. Eutrophication as a consequence of intensive agriculture is the main driver for anoxia in the Baltic Sea amplified by the effects on continuing climate change and stabilized by self-enforcing feedbacks. Developing ecological novelty in the Baltic Sea hence requires true cross-sectoral ecosystem-based management approaches that truly integrate eutrophication combatment, species conservation, and living resources management.
Historical Understandings of Weather and Society, From the Everyday to the Extreme
Authors: Hall Alexander
Published: October 2019

Throughout history human societies have been shaped and sculpted by the weather conditions that they faced. More than just the physical parameters imposed by the weather itself, how individuals, communities, and whole societies have imagined and understood the weather has influenced many facets of human activity, from agriculture to literary culture. Whether through direct lived experiences, oral traditions and stories, or empirical scientific data these different ways of understanding meteorological conditions have served a multitude of functions in society, from the pragmatic to the moral.

While developments made in the scientific understanding of the atmosphere over the last 300 years have been demonstrably beneficial to most communities, their rapid onset and spread across different societies often came at the expense of older ways of knowing. Therefore, the late 20th century turn to emphasizing the importance of and interrogating and incorporating of traditional ecological knowledge within meteorological frameworks and discourses was essential. This scholarly research, underway across a number of disciplines across the humanities and beyond, not only aides the top-down integration and reach of mitigation and adaptation plans in response to the threat posed by anthropogenic climate change; it also enables the bottom-up flow of forgotten or overlooked knowledge, which helps to refine and improve our scientific understanding of global environmental systems.
El Niño and Society
Authors: Adamson George
Published: October 2019

The El Niño Southern Oscillation is considered to be the most significant form of “natural” climate variability, although its definition and the scientific understanding of the phenomenon are continually evolving. Since its first recorded usage in 1891, the meaning of “El Niño” has morphed from a regular local current affecting coastal Peru, to an occasional Pacific-wide phenomenon that modifies weather patterns throughout the world, and finally to a diversity of weather patterns that share similarities in Pacific heating and changes in trade-wind intensity, but exhibit considerable variation in other ways. Since the 1960s El Niño has been associated with the Southern Oscillation, originally defined as a statistical relationship in pressure patterns across the Pacific by the British-Indian scientist Gilbert Walker. The first unified model for the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was developed by Jacob Bjerknes in 1969 and it has been updated several times since, but no simple model yet explains apparent diversity in El Niño events. ENSO forecasting is considered a success, but each event still displays surprising characteristics.
Principal–Agent Analysis and the European Union
Authors: Delreux Tom , Adriaensen Johan
Published: October 2019

Principal–agent analyses have been frequently applied by scholars of the European Union (EU). The model helps to explain the reasons, modalities, and consequences of the delegation of authority from one (set of) actor(s)—the principal—to another (set of) actor(s)—the agent. Instances of delegation are omnipresent in the EU: not only is the EU founded upon the delegation of rule-making powers from the member states to the supranational level (European integration), but delegation is also frequently occurring from one actor or institution to another within the political system of the EU (EU decision-making).

Assuming that institutions are forums for strategic behavior by rational actors, the principal–agent model has advanced our understanding of European integration and EU politics by zooming in on contractual, dyadic relationships that are characterized by an act of delegation and the controls established to minimize the risks related to delegation. Principal–agent analyses can be used to address two types of questions: first, on why and how the principal delegates authority to the agent (i.e., the “politics of delegation”), and second, on the ensuing game between the principal and the agent when the latter executes the delegated task on behalf of the former (i.e., the “politics of discretion,” or “post-delegation politics”).

Principal–agent analyses in the field of EU politics have been conducted using a diverse set of methods and research designs, with large-N quantitative studies on how principals control their agent, over in-depth case studies of the formers’ motives for delegation, to more recent attempts to capture post-delegation politics and the agent’s discretion in a systematic and quantitative way. Under the condition that the principal–agent model is applied carefully and for questions on the politics of delegation and the politics of discretion, it remains a useful tool to understand contemporary EU politics.
The Americas in the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Authors: Biegon Rubrick
Published: October 2019

Following the end of the Cold War, the hegemony of the United States in Latin America was intimately related to the globalization of the hemispheric political economy. Free-trade agreements (FTAs) were crucial to this process, helping to extend and entrench the neoliberal model. As a result of the region’s political turn to the left during the 2000s, however, the Washington Consensus became increasingly untenable. As U.S. trade policy subsequently moved in the direction of a “post-Washington Consensus,” the “Pink Tide” fostered the creation of Latin American-led approaches to integration independent of the United States. In this context, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was designed to catalyse a new wave of (neo)liberalization among its 12 participating countries, including the United States, Canada, Chile, Peru, and Mexico.

The TPP codified an updated and comprehensive set of rules on an array of trade and investment disciplines not covered in existing agreements. Strategically linking the Asia-Pacific to the Americas, but excluding China, the TPP responded to China’s growing economic presence in Asia and Latin America. Largely a creation of U.S. foreign economic policy, the United States withdrew from the TPP prior to its ratification and following the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. The remaining 11 countries signed a more limited version of the agreement, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which is open to future participation by the United States and other countries in Asia and Latin America. The uncertainties in the TPP process represented the further erosion of Washington’s “free trade” consensus, reflecting, among other things, a crisis of U.S. hegemony in the Americas.
The International Political Economy of Soy Agriculture in South America
Authors: Turzi Mariano
Published: October 2019

International agricultural production has been transformed by the consolidation of the agribusiness model. Multinational chemical and trading companies leveraged their scientific and technological superiority over the producers to advance sales of agrochemical and biotechnological products at the same time that they integrated with traders and processors. By advancing financial scale advantages, international corporate actors established powerful buying positions, determined infrastructural developments, and established a globalized pattern of agricultural economic activity. This has been reinforced by converging demand trends of growing global population, a dietary transition in the emerging world that includes more animal products, a diversifying energy matrix that increasingly includes biofuels and the use of agricultural products as a financial asset class. The international political economy (IPE) of the soybean agribusiness model was articulated with the specific national political economies of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. Differential institutional structures and different political economy coalitions and conditions processed these external conditions in different ways: coordination (Brazil), confrontation (Argentina), and colonization (Paraguay).
Urban Environmental Activism in Latin America
Authors: Lopes de Souza Marcelo
Published: October 2019

If environmental activism revolves around problems and challenges related to the socioecological context of a collectivity (that is, the material framework in which it exists, from the point of view of access to resources and infrastructure, conditions of public health ,and embeddedness in ecosystems and naturogenic processes and dynamics), urban environmental activism can be characterized as activism in which the agendas, actors, and conflicts involved are specifically related to the urban space and its peculiarities, considered from a broad socioecological perspective.

Considering the immense body of literature that has accumulated over the last 30 years on the environmental problems of Latin America, it is disappointing to see that only a comparatively small part of it refers specifically to urban environmental conflicts and activism. This is disturbing, because already in 2007, 78% of Latin America’s population lived in cities or other geographical entities classified as urban. Moreover, although in some core capitalist countries, too, there are many kinds of urban environmental problems, caused by omission, irresponsibility, or structural causes linked to class differences and asymmetries of power, Latin American problems and conflicts—above all those related to environmental injustice—are far more dramatic. Symptomatically, environmental struggles have been massive and have typically involved basic rights and the non-satisfaction of basic needs in the cities of the region.

At the end of the day, it is clear that there have always been two basic types of urban environmental activism in Latin America: on the one side, a kind of environmental activism (and ecological discourse) that masks contradictions and class struggle, as it adopts a strict “preservationist” perspective that reveals itself to be insensitive to human needs and rights; on the other side, however, there are radical social struggles that are at the same time environmental struggles, particularly those explicitly or implicitly related to environmental justice. This diversity demonstrates both the richness and the contradictions of a contested sociopolitical landscape, where terms like sustainability and environmental protection have been instrumentalized for different, sometimes mutually incompatible, purposes.
Inside Activism: Political Agency and Institutional Change
Authors: Olsson Jan , Hysing Erik
Published: October 2019

The theoretical concept of inside activism brings fresh light on institutional change by upgrading the importance of political agency within public organizations. Inside activism captures a specific empirical phenomenon, namely, public officials being committed to the agendas of civil society networks and organizations, and acting from inside public organizations to induce policy and institutional change. Inside activism upgrades political aspects of public organizations, recognizing the importance of authority, power, and combative action. Public organizations are institutionally shaped by continuous processes of consolidation and fragmentation. This means opportunities for inside activists to act politically, preferably in secret and subversive ways, and to further strengthen the fragmented nature of public organizations. Strategically, inside activists can work for institutional change by expanding their agency through the development of collective power and networking, using combative subversive strategy, working for cumulative effects and combinative solutions as well as to bend and break constraints on their actions (the 5C model). To induce change, they further exploit institutional ambiguities like “weak spots” of institutions and discrepancies between institutional rules and practices on the ground. The neglect of inside activism within institutional theory likely means that the possibility of institutional change has been underestimated and there is thus a need for a comprehensive research agenda on inside activism, political agency, and institutional change, which in this article is termed “new political institutionalism.”
Agenda Setting in Political Decision Making
Authors: Klüser Jonathan , Radojevic Marco
Published: October 2019

Research on policy agendas and agenda-setting has developed into an important subdiscipline of comparative politics, which seeks to understand how political actors allocate scarce attention. The theoretical origins of the field describe agenda-setting as a “conflict of conflicts,” that is the political struggle over the question of which issues receive attention. Modern scholars have expanded on these ideas and turned them into important theoretical models of the agenda-setting process. The most influential of these models are Kingdon’s multiple streams approach and Baumgartner and Jones’ punctuated equilibrium theory. The former analyses the emergence of issues in the separate streams of policies, politics, and problems, whose coupling is necessary for any issue in order to be considered for political decision-making. In contrast, the latter stresses the importance of negative and positive feedback mechanisms in order to explain long periods of incremental policy change and sudden radical changes, which characterize the policy process.

Inspired by the second approach is the Comparative Agendas Project, which is a comprehensive and comparative data collection effort about policy agendas using a unified taxonomy. These data enable scholars to research the entire political process from media inputs via government throughput to legislative output. Studying governmental agendas, it is paramount to stress that—against common wisdom—political ideology does not play a decisive role in the agenda-setting process. Rather, both leftist and rightist governments seek to portray themselves as potent problem-solvers and respond to problematic societal condition in order to prove their competence. Looking at the media as one potentially powerful political agenda-setter, it turns out that newspapers and television channels’ power to steer the political agenda hinges on a variety of conditions. Generally, media outlets are most successful in setting the agenda if they report on issues that otherwise would not have been brought to the public’s attention. But even then, the media’s role appears to be restricted to narrowing down the issue menu from which politicians can choose when setting their agenda.

The study of political agendas is by no means limited to these areas, as shown by the hundreds of articles that have been published in major political science journals over the past decades. While the agenda approach has not yet developed into a theory of politics, it has certainly become a major subdiscipline of comparative politics, which has helped make sense of the political world.
A Somatic Marker Perspective of Political Decision Making
Authors: Noël Xavier , Jaafari Nematolla , Bechara Antoine
Published: October 2019

Decisions on matters affecting a group by a member of that group (e.g., decisions on a political choice) engage a mix of cognitive and emotion-based resources. Political decision-making involves rationality, but also empathy, intuition, compassion, morality, and fairness. Importantly, coping with uncertainty, assuming risk, dealing with huge responsibilities and resisting disappointment and considerable pressure are also crucial. Some of those decision-making elements from a neurocognitive framework proposed under the somatic marker hypothesis (SMH) are developed here. Based on the observation of abnormal decision-making characterizing patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), the SMH affords discussions of mechanisms involved in antisocial decision-making in the political realm, such as engaging in immoral and corrupt behaviors. In addition, the SMH sheds light on pivotal attributes required for good leadership and governance, such as resistance to pressure, risk-taking, seduction, and dominance, discussed with respect to modern theories of psychopathic tendencies in the context of political decision-making.
Emphasis Framing and Political Decision Making
Authors: Nelson Thomas E.
Published: October 2019

Frames are distilled and coherent representations of complex social and political issues. A frame defines what an issue is about. Emphasis frames give special prominence to one aspect or feature of an issue. An example is the “reverse discrimination” frame for the issue of affirmative action, which emphasizes the potential costs of affirmative action to the superordinate group. Emphasis frames have attracted attention from several disciplines, including political science, sociology, psychology, journalism, and communication, with each contributing theoretical insight and empirical demonstration. Emphasis frames manifest themselves in communicated messages and in the minds of individuals. Emphasis frames often originate in political actors such as social movement organizations, interest groups, and leaders. These actors hope to effect political change by disseminating framed messages that represent the actors’ positions on the issue. News organizations transmit emphasis frames, in whole or in part, in the course of covering an issue. Organizational norms and procedures within the mass media can also shape the frames that ultimately appear to the audience.

Research has linked several political outcomes to emphasis frames, not the least of which is the influence that a communication frame has on the frame in the audience’s mind. Frames can influence the interpretations of the issue, judgments about what is most relevant to the issue, and even opinions about the issue. Framing has also been linked to changes in public policy. At the same time, there are a number of individual and contextual factors that can govern how strong a frame’s impact will be. Frames that harmonize with an individual audience member’s values or schemata might be especially effective, while individuals with strong prior opinions might be less affected by frames.

Researchers have proposed different psychological models of how emphasis frames influence audiences. Some have argued that framing overlaps considerably with other communication effects such as agenda-setting or priming. The key argument is that the frame activates specific beliefs, feelings, values, or other components of political judgment and opinion. Other models propose that framing affects the perceived importance, relevance, or applicability of activated considerations. Still other models stress the impact of frames on the attributions audiences make about who or what is responsible the origins of a social problem and its solution. A final category of models includes emotional response as a key mediator of frame effects.

Several significant challenges confront emphasis framing researchers. Scholars should seek to better integrate research at different levels of analysis of framing. They must also demonstrate framing’s relevance in the modern communication landscape, along with its distinctiveness from other familiar communication phenomena.
Intersectionality and the History of Psychology
Authors: Rutherford Alexandra , Davidson Tal
Published: October 2019

As a conceptual and analytic framework, intersectionality has informed, and can transform, how scholars approach psychology and its history. Intersectionality provides a framework for examining how multiple social categories combine in systems characterized by both oppression and privilege to affect the experiences of those occupying the intersections of these social categories. The concept has its origins in the writings of Black feminists and critical race theorists in the 1970s and 1980s. Since that time, many critical debates about the definition, uses, and even misuses of intersectionality have been put forward by scholars in many fields. In psychology, the uptake of intersectionality as a methodological and epistemological framework has been undertaken largely by feminist psychologists. In this context, intersectionality has been used as both a logic for designing research, and as a perspective from which to critique the perpetuation of intersectional oppression latent in mainstream psychological research. In addition, intersectionality has also been applied to writing histories of psychology that attend to the operation of multiple intersecting forms of oppression and privilege. For example, historians of psychology have taken up intersectionality as a way to approach the intersections of scientific racism, sexism, and heterocentrism in the history of psychology’s concepts and theories. Intersectionality also has the potential for generating a more sophisticated historical understanding of social activism by psychologists. Finally, given that extant histories of psychology focusing on the American context have rendered the contributions of women of color largely invisible, intersectional analysis can serve to re-instantiate and foreground their experiences and contributions.
Dark Personalities in the Workplace
Authors: Schyns Birgit , Braun Susanne , Wisse Barbara
Published: October 2019

Dark Triad personality traits in the workplace comprise the traits narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. The Dark Triad, and its relationships with individual and organizational variables, has received increasing attention in organizational behavior research. These three traits share a lack of concern for others but also have idiosyncratic attributes. Narcissism is characterized by a sense of entitlement and self-absorption. Machiavellianism comprises a focus on instrumentality and willingness to engage in manipulation. Psychopathy, possibly the darkest of the three traits, renders individuals callous, impulsive, and displaying antisocial behavior. While Dark Triad traits may be adaptive in some regards (e.g., narcissism facilitates leadership emergence), the majority of empirical findings point to the damage that individuals high in those traits can do to other organizational members and effective organizational functioning.
Moral Panics and Folk Devils
Authors: Ben-Yehuda Nachman
Published: October 2019

Moral panics refer to cultural and social situations where heightened and exaggerated attention is given to a moral issue, accompanied by inflated demands to activate and practice steps to control what is portrayed as the challenging and threatening danger to morality. The nature of the threatening challenge materializes characteristically with the emergence of increased anxiety and fear from the moral threat to the well-being and future of a culture, or part of it. Down-to-earth representatives of such threats are epitomized by folk devils. These folk devils can be drug users, those who supposedly practice witchcraft or Satanism, sex traffickers, drivers involved in hit and run car accidents, muggers, AIDS carriers, terrorists, immigrants, asylum seekers, and—obviously—criminals. The concept of moral panics left its convenient zone in sociology and criminology to become extremely popular. It has been applied to such diverse fields as global warming, child sexual abuse, trafficking in women, soccer hooliganism, 9/11, and more. Many panics are short-lived, but such panics can also linger for longer periods. Moral panics are comprised of five basic building blocks: disproportionality in portraying the moral threat and the requested responses, concern about an issue, consensus regarding the threat, and hostility towards the folk devils. Moral panics do not stand alone and need to be understood within larger cultural and social processes composed of negotiations, struggles, and conflicts focused on moral codes. Indeed, while folk devils are typically vilified, stigmatized, and deviantized, complex cultures also enable folk devils to fight back. Moral panics are thus significant and important occurrences in the social construction of moral boundaries. These panics represent reactions, counter-reactions, and moral challenges—presented by folk devils—to cultural cores, which form central symbolic structures of cultures and societies.