bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lanthanum based metal organic frameworks as a new binding agent material for diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT) technique in bioavailability of phosphate removal
Authors: Santikasari C , Saefumillah A , Zulys A
Published: October 2020

High concentration of bioavailable phosphorus in aquatic system has been resulting in the eutrophication phenomenon that can trigger algae bloom. The measurement of bioavailable phosphorus in water body is needed. The diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT) is a well-developed in-situ analytical tool for separation and determination if bioavailable phosphorus or dissolver reactive phosphate (DRP). Using lanthanum based metal organic frameworks (La-MOF) with high surface area and tuneable pore might attribute the capacity of DRP adsorption in binding film. The surface area analysis of La-MOF powder was 84.957 m2 g−1. La-MOF then dispersed in gel solution to perform a binding film La-MOF then used in DGT tool for DRP uptake. The swelling activity of diffusive film was 2.24 and 1.93 for binding film La-MOF. The elution efficiency of DRP from binding film La-MOF was 95 % using HNO3 0.05 mol.L−1 as an eluent. The diffusion coefficient of DRP from La-MOF DGT was 2.216 × 10−6 cm2.s−1. Optimum DRP uptake capacity was up to 37.83 μg P with optimum time of deployment of 24 h. This research shows that the DRP uptake on DGT La-MOF was depended on the time deployment and DRP solution concentration.
Synthesis and characterization of lanthanide metal-organic framework with perylene 3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylate ligand
Authors: Christina L C , Gunlazuardi J , Zulys A
Published: October 2020

Metal-organic framework (MOF) as a semiconductor material has unique properties and potency to be utilized as a photocatalyst. The superiority of MOF compared to other semiconductor materials is due to the more possibility of adjusting its structure and properties by varying the metal type and organic ligand as the linker to create various framework building blocks, for a number of different applications. In this study, MOFs composed of lanthanide metals (samarium and dysprosium) and PTC ligand (perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylate), were synthesized and their structural and photochemical properties were characterized. MOFs synthesis were carried out using solvothermal method at 170 ºC, with the variation of metal to ligand mole ratio of 1:1, 2:1 and 1:2 for each metal. FT-IR characterization indicates that in all samples of MOF, PTC ligands coordinate with metals in bidentate ligand mode, which is supported by the existence of peak at around 1770 cm−1 that resembles stretching vibration peak of conjugated C=O anhydride. XRD characterization reveals a quite good crystalline phase in at least two samples, which are Sm-PTC MOF (1:1) and Dy-PTC MOF (1:1), although their crystal types are not known yet. Characterization with UV-Vis DRS shows band gap energy for all samples of MOF ranges from 2.175 eV to 2.328 eV. The obtained band gap energy values indicate that these MOFs will have an excellent respond toward the visible or solar light and, therefore, can be considered as materials suitable for photocatalysis.
Synthesis of hierarchical Fe2O3/ZSM-5 from natural minerals as catalyst in partial oxidation of bio-methane
Authors: Rafli M , Faisal M , Nurani D A , Saragi I R , Krisnandi Y K
Published: October 2020

Partial oxidation reaction of bio-methane as a source of methane using ZSM-5 heterogeneous catalyst modified with iron oxide has been carried out. In this study, the ZSM-5 catalyst was synthesized using the double template method using kaolin and natural zeolite as silicate and aluminate sources. The as-synthesized ZSM-5 nat and the Fe2O3/ZSM-5 nat catalysts were analyzed using XRD, XRF and BET. The characterization reveals that the synthesis of ZSM-5 was successful and the amount of iron(III) loaded was 2.98 %. The application test of Fe2O3/ZSM-5 nat as a catalyst was carried out in stainless steel batch reactor with a certain CH4:N2 feed ratio at 150 °C for 120 min. The reaction products were then analyzed with GC-FID to measure the % yield of methanol product. It is found that Fe2O3/ZSM-5 nat catalyst could give 54.93 % yield of methanol. Although the use of bio-methane as feed with lower CH4 : N2 ratio, this catalyst was also active and produced 12.26 % yield of methanol.
Catalytic depolymerization of lignin from wood waste biomass over natural sourced ZSM-5 catalysts
Authors: Pratama A P , Krisnandi Y K , Abdullah I
Published: October 2020

Lignin isolated from wood waste biomass, contains 61.07 % of lignin, was converted to vanillin using ZSM-5 catalysts. Prior to use, wood waste biomass was delignified to enrich its lignin contents followed by added 10 % H2SO4 to isolate the lignin such as solid black material. Three types of ZSM-5 catalysts i.e. hierarchical ZSM-5, NiO/hierarchical ZSM-5 and CuO/hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites were used as catalysts in this study. Hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite was prepared through TPAOH template synthesis methods followed by PDDAM as secondary template. Silicate and aluminate source based on a natural source to form hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite. Hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite is modified with NiO and CuO by using impregnation method with Ni nitrate and Cu nitrate solution followed by calcination at 550 °C. The characterization of catalysts employed FTIR, XRD, andSEM-EDX. The reaction was carried out in 200 mL-batch reactor at 100 °C, 150 °C, 200 °C, 250 °C and 300 °C in the presence of ethanol and water (v/v) for 30 min. CuO/hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite gave the highest % yield of vanillin as product (4.68 %) followed by NiO/hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite (3.82 %) for the variation of temperature, compared to other ZSM-5 catalysts.
Calculation of anisotropic reflectance of SrNbO3.4 within Density Functional Theory
Authors: Parusa G , Syahroni A , Majidi M A
Published: October 2020

A recent experimental study on SrNbO3.4 material has revealed a very pronounced anisotropy of its complex dielectric function. This material shows a metallic characteristic along
a
crystal direction but behaves as an insulator along
b
and
c
crystal directions. To investigate this interesting phenomenon, we perform first-principles calculations within density functional theory, to theoretically produce the complex dielectric functions along those crystal directions, and predict the anisotropy of the corresponding reflectance. This result ensures its anisotropic optical property and can explain the unique feature of this material under exposure of electromagnetic radiation.
Mercury effects on the early seedling of Paraserianthes falcataria (L.) Nielsen grew in hydroponic culture
Authors: Yuniarti R , Yuniati R
Published: October 2020

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of various level of mercury on the early seedling growth of sengon, Paraserianthes falcataria (L.) Nielsen using hydroponic culture. The study was carried out in twenty replications under greenhouse condition. The mercury used in this study were provided as chloride salts. Eight concentrations (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 µM) were used in this study. For each treatment, the pH was adjusted to 4.5. Fourteen-day-old seedlings were exposed to HgCl2. Shoot and roots system of control and mercury-stress plants were harvested after 7 days of treatment. Seedling response to mercury stress was observed in the plant parts on the 3rd day after the treatment, and become severe on the 7th day. Results showed that 30 and 40 µM, the concentrations had minimum inhibitory effects on the seedling growth, respectively. The results also revealed both shoot and root dry weight of the treated seedling were sharply reduced as the mercury concentration increased to 60 µM. In a concentration of 70–100 µM the biomass dry weight was not much different. Research results show this plant can be considered as a strong candidate for a phytoremediation agent.
Characterization and Performance of PAni-TiO2 Photovoltaic Cells Treated by RF Plasma
Authors: El-Hossary F. M. , Ghitas Ahmed , Abd El-Rahman A. M. , Ebnalwaled A. A. , Abdelhamid Shahat M.
Published: October 2020

Severe research attempts are still in progress to improve the performance of polyaniline (PAni) based photoactive layers as one of the cheapest materials used for manufacturing organic solar cells. Herein, polymer solar cells were fabricated with ITO/(PAni-TiO2)/Au system. The photoactive layers (PAni-TiO2) were treated with a hydrogen-plasma discharge for low processing time of 0, 3 and 5 min to enhance the synthesized solar cells efficiency. The morphology, micro structure and optical properties of the prepared samples and plasma treated nanocomposite layers were investigated and discussed. The performance of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) cell samples have been systematically investigated before and after plasma treatment. The absorption and optical band gap energy is increased after the treated PAni-TiO2 photoactive layers. It is found that, the efficiency was enhanced to 0.7% after 5 min of hydrogen plasma process compared to 0.36% for the pristine cell. The efficiency increase is ascribed to a structural change that accompanied by a rapid increase in surface roughness, which leaded to a decrease in the reflected photons and in turn an increase in the produced charge carriers.
Pulsed versus continuous-wave Laser deoxygenation of graphene oxide suspensions
Authors: El-Brolossy T. A. , Abdallah T. , Talaat H.
Published: October 2020

We report on a comparative study of laser deoxygenation of graphene oxide (GO) suspensions in pure water (pH∼7) using pulsed (nanosecond with wavelength 532 nm and fluence ∼ 0.15 J/cm2) and continuous-wave (CW) (of wavelength 448 nm and power density ∼ 0.25 MW/cm2) lasers at room temperature. Such comparison was not performed previously for GO suspensions. Concentrated GO colloidal suspensions were prepared by a modified Hummer’s method. The presence of oxide groups in GO was proved using X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The laser deoxygenation processes were verified by means of UV-visible, FTIR and micro-Raman spectroscopies. The impact of changing the laser irradiation time for both lasers has been investigated using the characteristic Raman bands (D and G) of GO as markers to assess the degree of reduction as well as the structural defects of the resulting laser RGO.
Effect of local additive (BM2010) on high performance concrete under sulphate attack
Authors: Megahid Ahmed A. , Fargal Omar A. , Elrazek Mostafa Abd , Eltawab Ashraf Abd
Published: October 2020

Many of reinforced concrete structures especially underground and undersea are subjected to aggressive environmental conditions throughout their exploitation. These conditions are represented by the aggressive sodium sulphate attack from surrounding soil or underground water. When based materials of cement are exposed to sodium sulphate attack produce gypsum and ettringite by its chemical reactions. Formation of gypsum plays a very important role within the damage of materials. According to that the actual compressive strength of concrete elements decreases accompanied with large deformations of concrete. Consequently, a higher reduction of the construction durability occurs, so using of effective and economic admixture for concrete elements protection against sulphate attack or the other environmental conditions is needed.

The main purpose of this research is to study through an experiment the effect of the local admixture (BM2010) which contained in its composition wastes from petroleum industries, silica fume, Wastes of coke factory and its mechanism effect on the compressive strength of concrete specimens subjected to external sulphate attack.

The experimental results showed that Compressive strength of concrete specimens modified with the organic admixtures (BM2010) at age of 128 days hardened in salt solution with concentration (9%NaCl + 12% Na2SO4) increased by about 15% compared to the control specimen with (Addicrete dm2) for sulphate resistance cement (S.R.C) & 3.6% compared to the control specimen (without admixture) for ordinary Portland cement (O.P.C). The absorption of concrete specimens modified with the organic admixture (BM2010) at age of 128 days hardened in salt solution with concentration (9%NaCl + 12% Na2SO4) is less than concrete specimens modified with (Addicrete dm2) by about 29%percent in case of (S.R.C) but in case of (O.P.C) it is more by about 16% percent. The experimental results showed that, the optimum composition of all components of the suggested admixture (BM 2010) was successfully and experimentally achieved.
Gröbner bases and the Cohen-Macaulay property of Li’s double determinantal varieties
Authors: Fieldsteel Nathan , Klein Patricia
Published: October 2020

We consider double determinantal varieties, a special case of Nakajima quiver varieties. Li conjectured that double determinantal varieties are normal, irreducible, Cohen-Macaulay varieties whose defining ideals have a Gröbner basis given by their natural generators. We use liaison theory to prove this conjecture in a manner that generalizes results for mixed ladder determinantal varieties. We also give a formula for the dimension of a double determinantal variety.
Rhetoric
Authors: Ford Thomas H. , Hughes Joe
Published: October 2020

Rhetoric was—or is, and the uncertainty here is to the point—an unstable but hegemonic assemblage of categories, practices, doctrines, and institutions that endured from classical antiquity through to modernity. Rhetoric underwent radical transformations over this period of nearly three thousand years, entering into complex relationships with its discursive and educational others, including literature, philosophy, theology, and science. Rhetoric has variously been the pragmatic art of verbal action; the teachable (and so saleable) skill of persuasive speaking; an elite training in literary forms and genres inherited from ancient Rome and Greece; a set of protocols governing textual production and reception; the antiquarian collection of ornate and artificial modes of phraseology; a transcendent spirit of linguistic articulation and creation; and a branch of instruction in professional communication. This article presents five scenes—sometimes more tightly focused, sometimes more diffuse—drawn from the long history of rhetoric: a moment of rhetoric’s inception, in Syracuse in 466 bce; of its Christianization, in Milan, 387; of linguistic productivity, in Cambridge, 1511; of rhetorical transcendence, in Basel in 1872; and of social composition, in Minneapolis, 1968. In each of these moments, rhetoric’s conceptual, discursive, and institutional relations with literature were transfigured. They were scenes in which rhetoric was retied, so to speak, into a series of new knots with literature and philosophy. Other scenes and other itineraries would no doubt generate different stories—other knottings of rhetoric and its others.
The Birmingham School of Cultural Studies
Authors: Johnson Andrews Sean
Published: October 2020

The Birmingham School of Cultural Studies refers to the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), which was housed at Birmingham University from 1964 to 2002. The shorthand “Birmingham School” refers to a site, a moment, a movement, and a method. Emerging alongside other intellectual and activist currents in the British New Left, it posed a radical democratic alternative to traditional higher education and the available methods and methodologies of communication and media studies. Centre researchers expanded the possible objects worthy of critical academic research—arguing it was imperative that we look at the products of the mass media or so-called popular arts—as well as the means through which those objects and their potential effects were understood. Central to the methodological approach espoused by CCCS scholars is the need to look at the way the meanings and values of cultural texts are articulated to and through a “cultural circuit”: A text emerges from a context, and its meanings are contingent on the frameworks of ideology and experience of both that context and audiences that read it. Under the leadership of Stuart Hall, and then Richard Johnson, the CCCS developed pathbreaking research into cultural politics more generally, looking at the way identities and subjectivity were developed, reinforced, and lived, and intersecting with emergent theories from and research in postcolonialism, poststructuralism, nationalism, feminism, gender and sexuality studies, science and technology studies, studies of race and ethnicity, and a variety of other subfields in the humanities and social sciences. Despite the closure of the Centre, these tendencies and emphases remain important, especially to the many academic monographs, journals, and conferences in cultural studies each year.
HIV Law and Policy in the United States: A Tipping Point
Authors: Skinner-Thompson Scott
Published: October 2020

The fight to effectively treat and stop the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has made meaningful progress both in the United States and globally. But within the United States that progress has been uneven across various demographic groups and geographic areas, and has plateaued. While scientific advances have led to the development of medicine capable of both treating and preventing HIV, law and policy dictate who will have ready access to these medicines and other prevention techniques, and who will not. Law and policy also play a crucial role in determining whether HIV will be stigmatized, discouraging people from being tested and treated, or will be identified for what it is—a preventable and treatable disease. To make further progress against HIV, the United States must address healthcare disparities, end the criminalization of HIV, and devote additional resources toward combatting HIV stigma and discrimination.
Mobilizing the Invisible: Power and Marginality in the Black LGBTQ Community
Authors: Perry Ravi K. , Camp Aaron D.
Published: October 2020

Symbolic and structural inequities that seek to maintain White supremacy have sought to render Black LGBTQ Americans invisible in the body politic of powerful institutions that govern society. In the face of centuries-long oppression at the hands of the state, Black LGBTQ Americans have effectively mobilized to establish visibility on the national policymaking agenda. Members of this community have demonstrated a fierce resilience while confronting a violent anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ mainstream agenda narrative in media and politics. This sociopolitical marginalization—from members of their shared demographic, or not, is often framed in partisan or ideological terms in public discourse and in the halls of American political institutions. Secondary marginalization theory and opinion polling frame how personal identity and social experience shape the Black LGBTQ political movement’s expression of what participation in politics in the United States ought to earn them in return. Double-consciousness theory contextualizes the development of Black LGBTQ sociopolitical marginalization in the United States and the community’s responsive mobilization over time—revealing the impact of coalition building and self-identification toward establishing political visibility necessary to improve the lived conditions of the multiply oppressed.
Turkey: The Rise and Fall of the Influence of the Military in Politics
Authors: Kutay Acar
Published: October 2020

The continued influence of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) on politics characterized the political history of the Turkish Republic, until such influence was first bridled and then ultimately broken by the Justice and Development Party governments during the 2000s. When the new regime was established in 1923, the military identified itself with its founding ideology, namely Kemalism, which was built on the ideas of modernism, secularism, and nationalism. Because the TAF assumed the roles of guardian of the regime and vanguard of modernization, any threat to the foundational values and norms of the republican regime was considered by the military as a threat to the constitutional order and national security. As a self-authorized guardian of the regime and its values, the TAF characterized itself as a non-partisan institution. The military appealed to such identity to justify the superiority of the moral and epistemological foundations of their understanding of politics compared with that of the elected politicians. The military invoked such superiority not only to intervene in politics and take power (1960, 1971, 1980, 1997, and 2007). They also used such identity to monitor and control political processes by means of the National Security Council (established after the 1960 military intervention) and by more informal means such as mobilizing the public against the elected government’s policy choices. In the context of the Cold War, domestic turmoil and lasting political polarization helped legitimate the military’s control over security issues until the 1980s. After the end of the Cold War, two threats to national security drew the TAF into politics: the rising power of Islamic movements and the separatist terrorism of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which posed threats to the constitutional order.

Turkey’s EU membership bid is one of the most important aspects that bridled the influence of the TAF on politics. Whereas the democratic oversight of the military and security sector constituted a significant dimension of the EU reforms, events that took place around the nomination of the Justice and Development Party’s candidate, Abdullah Gül, for the presidency created a rupture in the role and influence of the military on politics. Two juristic cases against members of the TAF in 2008 and 2010 made a massive impact on the power of the military, before the ultimate supremacy of the political sphere was established after the coup attempt organized by the Gülenist officers who infiltrated the TAF during the 2000s.
Interests, Institutions, and Defense Spending
Authors: Conrad Justin , Souva Mark
Published: October 2020

Why do some governments spend more on their military than others? Leaders make spending decisions based in part on their desire to stay in office, and they may lose office through internal or external processes. Research traditionally focused on external threats as the main determinant of military spending, but internal dynamics are the primary cause of leadership turnover. Coups are the most common reason for autocrats losing power and elections are the most common way democratic leaders, or their parties, lose power. The two processes are often linked. For example, external threat, even absent an attack, can lead to a change in domestic political power. As such, domestic interests, channeled through domestic institutions, are central to understanding military spending. Political science research often emphasizes domestic public opinion and the narrow interests of specific groups as explanations for military spending patterns. Such research finds that changes in public opinion lead to changes in defense spending and that more left-oriented interests favor lower defense spending. Research comparing spending across countries instead focuses on institutions and external threats. Much of this research focuses on the defense burden, which is the ratio of defense spending to gross domestic product. Among the few consistent findings is the fact that democracies maintain a lower defense burden than non-democracies. Higher levels of external threat are also associated with higher defense burdens and smaller countries tend to free-ride in alliances. Additional research examines variations in military spending among autocracies. As with democracies, specific institutions appear to be more important than regime type. Institutions such as legislatures that incentivize leaders to provide public goods are associated with less military spending.
Conscription, Citizenship, and Democracy
Authors: Ingesson Tony
Published: October 2020

Military service and political participation have links going back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Republic. While bearing arms was for most of history a privilege reserved for stakeholders in the state, universal conscription later turned this notion on its head in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Instead of selecting stakeholders to serve as soldiers, the soldiers themselves became stakeholders as the right to vote was extended to include them in the democratic polity in several states. This quid pro quo arrangement paved the way for the extension of the franchise to large portions of the male population who had previously been excluded from voting by property qualifications. In some cases, it also resulted in limited franchise extensions for female voters.

For minorities, conscription can be a curse or a blessing, depending on their ability to leverage it as a bargaining tool for citizenship or increased status. Some, such as the Druze in Israel, have been relatively successful, while the same strategy was less fruitful for African American veterans of World War I.

While conscription has been criticized by economists, who tend to regard it as a form of taxation, for being unfair and inefficient as a recruitment tool for the armed forces, it has also been seen as a political instrument for promoting democracy, social cohesion, and as a safeguard against military coups. Many of these suggested benefits have failed to hold up to empirical scrutiny, but conscription remains a viable alternative for small states in urgent need of military manpower in times of heightened tensions, where some states have in the latter half of the 2010s reintroduced the draft after having suspended it.

The growing tensions and deteriorating security situation in some parts of the world, such as the Baltic Sea region, have once more put conscription on the agenda. Consequently, an understanding of conscription’s role in relation to citizenship and democracy is as relevant as ever.
Valkyrie: The Anti-Nazi Underground in the Wehrmacht, 1938–1945
Authors: Orbach Danny
Published: October 2020

Most Germans supported Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship between 1933 and 1945. Yet, a small group of officers and politicians who did not support Hitler formed a clandestine anti-Nazi underground. Retrospectively known as the German Resistance Movement, it began its activity in 1938 with a desperate attempt to prevent war in Europe and culminated in the coup d’état and failed assassination attempt on Hitler of July 20, 1944.

The resistance was led by General Ludwig Beck, former chief of the general staff, who resigned in 1938 because of significant disagreements with Hitler’s foreign policy. Beck supervised the work of three successive military directors, Colonel Hans Oster, Colonel Henning von Tresckow, and Colonel Claus Schenck von Stauffenberg. All three attempted to overthrow the Nazi regime, with different strategies shaped by the structure of their conspiratorial networks and the pressure of wartime conditions. Oster, a senior officer in the military intelligence service, tried to exploit his connections in the general staff to stage a coup in the name of the entire army. Tresckow led a vanguard underground of loosely connected cliques, designed to assassinate Hitler and then exploit the ensuing chaos to take power. Stauffenberg led a “wheel conspiracy,” a highly centralized underground, thinly spread over large parts of the Nazi empire. Under his leadership, the movement staged the famous coup of July 20, 1944.

While the evidence clearly shows that the conspirators acted out of principled opposition to Nazi policies, their precise motives are still controversial. Were they moved by disgust at National Socialist war crimes, or more by the patriotic goal of saving Germany from a doomed war? In fact, the worldview of most conspirators saw the universal and the national as closely intertwined. This particular style of patriotic morality and moralistic patriotism is a key to understanding their motives, as well as to the debate on their complicity in National Socialist war crimes.
Armies in Politics: The Domestic Determinants of Military Coup Behavior
Authors: Arbatli Ekim
Published: October 2020

Military coups happen for various political, economic, and historical reasons. A vast literature investigates the external factors that affect coup vulnerability, including interstate wars, security threats, regional spillovers, and foreign economic linkages. An even more impressive number of studies, going back almost seven decades, focuses on the domestic causes of military coups. These causes of coups can be classified under two broad headings: background causes and triggering causes. Background causes are those structural determinants that generally increase coup vulnerability in a given country and create motives for coup attempts. The most prevalent background causes concern the regime type and characteristics, historical legacies and cultural diversity, and economic conditions. The triggering causes are temporally and spatially more specific conditions that determine the opportunities for coup plotters. Various types of political instability and violence, such as popular protests and civil wars, can become important triggers. Additionally, the characteristics of the military organization and the effectiveness of coup-proofing strategies fall under this category.

An extensive review of the cross-national civil-military relations literature reveals that very few of the proposed determinants survive empirical scrutiny. Three findings stand out as consistently robust predictors of coup activity. First and most notably, there is broad consensus that the “coup trap” is an empirical reality: coups breed coups. This finding is bolstered by the fact that military regimes are especially vulnerable to coup attempts. Second, income and wealth have a strong negative correlation with coup probability. All else equal, poor countries are more coup prone than their richer and more developed counterparts. Last but not the least, political instability and violence increase coup likelihood, although scholars differ on which exact type of instability or popular unrest is the most significant. Many other oft-cited factors such as colonial legacy, culture, ethnic fractionalization, resource wealth, and economic crisis are not consistently robust in global samples. This observation highlights the need for more metastudies to separate the relevant variables from idiosyncratic effects.
High-Stakes Testing, Standardization, and Inequality in the United States
Authors: Au Wayne
Published: October 2020

High-stakes standardized tests standardize which knowledge is assessed, and because consequences are tied to their results, they have the impact of standardizing classroom content, teaching, and learning. The result is that students whose cultural identities do not fit the standardized norms created by test-based must either adapt or are left out of the curriculum and the classroom. This happens in a few key ways. First, as schools face increased pressure to raise test scores, curriculum content that embraces the diversity of student history, culture, and experience gets pushed out. In turn, this standardization of content limits the diversity of teacher and student identities expressed in classroom pedagogical experiences. Finally, given the disparate racial achievement on high-stakes tests, students of color face more intense pressure to perform, while at the same time their educational experiences become increasingly restricted and less rich than those of affluent, whiter students. Additionally, even though educational research has consistently shown that high-stakes testing correlates most strongly with the socioeconomic backgrounds of students and their communities, policymakers and many educators presume that these tests are offer objective measurements of individual merit. This mistaken belief ulitmately serves to hide and justify existing inequalities in the United States under the notion of individual achievement. The overall result being that high-stakes, standardized tests reproduce educational inequalities associated with race and class in the United States.
Posthuman Curriculum Studies: The Twilight of Humanism
Authors: Weaver John A.
Published: October 2020

Although humanism still prevails in much of Western thought, it is being challenged in numerous intellectual fields, political realms, economic policies, and cultural activities. Posthumanism is beginning to emerge within the area of curriculum studies. Posthumanism questions the binary mode of thought that human exceptionalism rationalizes. Posthumanism introduces new approaches to thinking about humans within the world that are emerging: these include postcolonial thought, new materialism, the non-human turn, critical animal studies, affect theory, disability studies, and to some extent environmental studies. The term “posthumanism” doesn’t cover just the intellectual movements listed above. To use “posthumanism” as a catch-all term would ignore the nuances of each of these new developments, and it would erase the limitations of posthumanism itself. Posthumanism intersects with other movements, but to fairly cover these other recent intellectual developments, they should be treated on their own terms and not within the confines of just posthumanism.
Preparation of German Special Educators for the 21st Century
Authors: Werning Rolf , Hummel Myriam
Published: October 2020

The implementation of inclusive education in school systems creates new working conditions for all professionals. As a consequence, roles and responsibilities need to be redefined between general education teachers and special educators, and teacher education must be reformed to prepare professionals for the working environment they face in the 21st century. Three theoretical approaches guide the current discourse on teacher education. The competence theory approach focuses on the identification and acquisition of specific competencies. The structural theory approach stresses the importance of dealing with uncertainties and antinomies in the teaching profession. The professional biographical approach highlights the ongoing process of individual professionalization and includes biographical research. Taking the changing working environment into account, a three-pillar model is suggested for teacher education of future primary and secondary teachers, primary and secondary teachers with a focus on special education, and special educators as external support for schools.
Youth-Based Gender, Sexuality, and Race Equity Work in Secondary Schools
Authors: Paceley Megan S.
Published: October 2020

Youth have a rich history of engaging in activism and organizing within schools to promote equity based on gender, sexuality, and race. Youth equity work in secondary schools includes myriad activities: developing student-led clubs, such as gay-straight alliances (GSAs, also known as gender and sexuality alliances); advocating for inclusive policies, practices, and curriculum; engaging in direct action, such as protests; and developing individual and shared critical consciousness. Situated in the United States, Canada, and other countries, GSAs are a common way that youth have organized to promote equity and justice for youth with marginalized sexualities and genders; they have, however, been critiqued for their lack of inclusion of racially or ethnically marginalized students or attention to intersecting forms of oppression. Opportunities exist within research, education, and practice to understand and address the heterogeneity and intersectionality of GSA groups and members, examine and understand other forms of school-based activism from an intersectional perspective, and recognize and examine school-based equity work within the broader cultural, social, and political contexts that involve families and communities. Youth, teachers, and social workers engaged in equity work in schools must attend to intersectionality and center the needs of the most marginalized within their work.
Queer and Trans Youth Organizing
Authors: Sinclair-Palm Julia
Published: October 2020

Youth organizing is a form of civic engagement and activism. It offers a way for young people to identify and address social inequalities impacting their local and global communities. Youth are provided opportunities to learn about power structures and pathways to create meaningful change to support their communities. In formal institutional approaches, youth organizing is understood as part of positive youth development and a strategy to train young people about civic society and democracy. Youth organizing is also seen as a way for young people to seek support, empowerment, and resources and to develop their leadership capacity. Central to the field of youth organizing are questions on the role of youth within youth organizing. Researchers examine the leadership structure within youth organizations, the acquisition of resources for the organization, the process for identifying issues that the organization will address, and how youth experience their involvement.

Youth organizing has been especially important for young marginalized people who may feel isolated and face harassment and discrimination. Researchers have extensively documented how youth organizing by people of color and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer and questioning (LGBTQ) young people in North America have played a large role in fights for social justice. However, it was not until the mid-20th century that queer and trans youth started organizing in groups connected by their shared experiences and identities related to their sexuality and gender. The development of Gay–Straight Alliances (GSAs) in schools and debates about sexuality education in schools provide examples for exploring LGTBQ youth organizing in the 21st century.
Self-Regulation in Early Childhood Policy and Practice in England
Authors: Robson Sue
Published: October 2020

Self-regulation is a complex, multifaceted concept that can be described as a higher mental process oriented toward children’s (and adults’) metacognitive, motivational, and behaviorally active participation in their own learning. It includes cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development. It is related to several other higher mental processes, notably executive function, and the two are sometimes confused and even conflated. They are, however, not interchangeable, and it is vital to clarify both what self-regulation is and what it is not. Failure to do so may lead to confusion at practice and policy levels, and ineffective or inappropriate practice, potentially disadvantageous to young children.

Self-regulation may be significant in all aspects of development, particularly in early childhood, and efforts to enhance children’s self-regulation may be among the most effective educational interventions. Interest is reflected in developments in the field of assessment, including by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and in government policy in, inter alia, England. Play, particularly pretense, problem-solving, and talk (both private speech and dialogue) are advocated as rich, naturalistic contexts for the development, support, and meaningful assessment of young children’s self-regulation. Some specific approaches to assessment are identified, notably observation and stimulated recall, in the form of reflective dialogues, including the use of video. Decontextualized assessment is suggested as a potentially less effective approach in capturing the full depth and range of young children’s self-regulatory competence.
University Governance and Management in Southeast Asia
Authors: Lee Molly N.N. , Wan Chang Da
Published: October 2020

In the past two decades, nearly all the countries in Southeast Asia have undertaken higher education reforms such as the massification, marketization, diversification, bureaucratization, and internationalization of higher education. All these reforms are aimed at widening access to higher education and diversifying its funding sources, as well as improving the quality, efficiency, and productivity of the higher education sector. Under such circumstances, much research has been done on how the governance and management of universities have changed over the years in these countries.

The governance of universities focuses on the role of the state in providing, regulating, supervising, and steering the development of higher education in the country. The relationship between universities and the state revolves around the issues of autonomy and accountability. An emerging regional trend in the reforms of university governance is an increase in institutional autonomy in return for more public accountability. Several countries have shifted from a state-control model to a state-supervising model and from public provision of higher education to the privatization of higher education, the corporatization of public universities, and the establishment of autonomous universities. To ensure public accountability, most universities are subjected to both internal and external quality assurance.

With the massification of higher education, universities usually enroll large numbers of students and become more complex organizations. In the context of governmental budget cuts, many universities are under great pressure to do more with less, to find ways to be less wasteful, and to develop better management in order to replace the missing resources. Various universities have adopted new public management techniques and a result-based management approach to improve efficiency and effectiveness. A central feature of new managerialism is “performativity” in the management of academic labor and the pressure for “academic capitalism.”
Purposes of Arts Education
Authors: Heaton Rebecca , Hickman Richard
Published: October 2020

A range of arguments is used to justify the inclusion of the arts in schools’ curricula from different parts of the world, moreover, "the arts" can mean different things to different audiences. It is therefore useful to contextualize why and how arts education contributes to such things as social utility, personal growth, and aesthetic awareness. Arts education in many countries is being marginalized, and the cognitive value of arts education is being sidelined. By reinstating the arts in education as cognitively driven, culturally relevant, and progressive, an arts offering can be formed that aligns with, and advances, contemporary perspectives and practices in education.
Indigenous Education in Canada
Authors: Archibald – Q’um Q’um Xiiem Jo-ann
Published: October 2020

Canadian Indigenous education includes education for Indigenous learners at all levels and ages and learning about Indigenous peoples’ history, cultures/knowledges, and languages for all learners in educational systems. In Canada, the journey of Indigenous people toward self-determination for Indigenous education continues to be a key challenge for government, policy makers, and Indigenous organizations. Self-determination approaches are not new. They originated in traditional forms of education that were created by and for Indigenous peoples. These authentic Indigenous approaches were disrupted by colonial educational policies enacted by state (federal government) and church that separated Indigenous children from their families and communities through boarding and Indian residential schools for over 100 years. Generations of Indigenous people were negatively impacted by these colonial educational policies and legislation, which contributed to lower educational levels among Indigenous peoples compared to non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.

In response, Indigenous peoples have resisted assimilationist attempts by organizing politically, engaging in national research and commissions, and developing educational organizations to regain and revitalize self-determining approaches to Indigenous education. Indigenous peoples have played significant decision-making roles through the following national policies, research, and commissions that created opportunities for educational change: the 1972 Indian Control of Indian Education Policy; the 1991–1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples; and the 2008–2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. A prevalent discourse in Canadian education specifically and Canadian society generally is about reconciliation. For Indigenous peoples, reconciliation cannot happen until educational systems ensure that Indigenous peoples have a central role in making policy and programmatic decisions, and that Indigenous knowledge systems are placed respectfully and responsibly in education at all levels. Another common discourse is about Indigenizing the Academy or Indigenizing education, which also cannot occur without Indigenous people’s direct involvement in key decision-making approaches. The Indigenous educational landscape in Canada is showing signs of slow but steady growth through Indigenous self-determination and Indigenous knowledge approaches to teaching, learning, and research.
The History of Mali: Connectivity and State Formation since the 18th Century
Authors: Thiam Madina , Mann Gregory
Published: October 2020

The Republic of Mali comprises a very diverse population spread over a vast territory composed of a large part of the southern Sahara, the Sahel, and the savannah. One of the world’s great rivers, the Niger, runs through much of the national territory, reaching its northern apex near Timbuktu. For over a millennium, this territory has allowed empires and kingdoms to flourish alongside decentralized societies. These include the empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhay, as well as any number of smaller states, trading diasporas, and nomadic and semi-nomadic communities. The territory of Mali has long been a hub in African commercial and intellectual circuits, notably those linking the societies of the Maghreb (or North Africa) to those bordering the Atlantic. In the 19th century, as elsewhere in Muslim Africa, new and explicitly Islamic states emerged in western and central Mali. They did not endure more than a few decades, as the territory was colonized by France in the late 19th century. The Republic of Mali claimed its independence in 1960 and rapidly developed greater autonomy from French neo-colonialism than did most of its neighbors. Mali has maintained an out-sized diplomatic and cultural role on the African continent and beyond under a socialist government from 1960 to 1968, military government through 1991, and a vibrant democracy in the decades since. However, since 2011, the country has been increasingly beset by violent conflicts between nonstate actors, the national government, and foreign forces including the French. Thus, in historical perspective, Mali’s geographic position and its environment have proven conducive to the production of expansive, diverse, and mutually dependent communities that have produced radically distinct and often fragile states.