bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Explaining the evolution of Turkey’s diaspora engagement policy: a holistic approach
Authors: Arkilic Ayca
Published: October 2020

This article provides a comprehensive framework to explain why Turkey has adopted a pro-active diaspora agenda since the early 2000s. It shows that Turkey’s diaspora policy is the result of an amalgamation of domestic, transnational, and international factors: Domestically, the AKP’s rise to power resulted in drastic economic and political reforms and the promotion of a new identity based on neo-Ottomanism and Sunni-Muslim nationalism. These developments have transformed Turkey’s state-diaspora relations. The 2013 Gezi Park protests and the 2016 failed coup attempt also played a role. Transnationally, Turkish expatriates’ growing socioeconomic and political clout in their host countries, as evidenced by the mushrooming of political parties founded by Turks in Europe, has urged Turkey to reconsider the efficacy of its diaspora as a source of influence abroad as well as a noteworthy electorate in national elections. Various international events have also shaped Turkey’s new diaspora agenda, including Turkey’s increasing bargaining power vis-à-vis the EU since the early 2000s, particularly after the European refugee crisis, and the rise of Islamophobia in the post-9/11 era. I suggest that domestic factors have played the most significant role in shaping Turkey’s diaspora agenda. I examine the domestic dimension both as an independent factor and also in relation to transnational and international factors. The configuration of a new political elite has changed the ways in which Turkey interacts with its transnational diaspora and perceives its international position vis-à-vis European countries. The findings of the article draw on official statements and documents, semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with Turkish officials, the Euro-Turks Barometer Survey, and news sources.
Insights on the crack modeling and effectiveness of piezoelectric energy harvesters
Authors: Salazar R , Larkin K , Abdelkefi A
Published: October 2020

A damage model for investigating the performance of cracked piezoelectric vibrational energy harvesters (VEHs) is developed. The crack model adopted does not alter the piezoelectric properties of the lead zirconate titanate patch but modifies the structural stiffness at the crack location following the Griffith’s strain release formulation. Multiple VEH configurations are considered to determine how the performance of various sized piezoelectric patches are impacted by multiple edge cracks. It is demonstrated that thicker piezoelectric patches are more severely impacted by cracks than thinner patches. The number of cracks, proximity of the cracks to the base of the VEH, and crack depth are shown to affect VEH performance. It is shown that severe cracks have a pronounced influence on the stiffness of the energy harvesting system, thus causing a deviation in the resonance region and amplitudes of the damaged system. The increased flexibility of the cracked piezoelectric patches increases the tip deflection and decreases the resonant frequency which can shift the initial optimal resistance to some higher value thus, greatly affecting the efficiency of piezoelectric energy harvesters.
Calculation of Feynman loop integration and phase-space integration via auxiliary mass flow *
Authors: Liu Xiao , Ma Yan-Qing , Tao Wei , Zhang Peng
Published: October 2020

We extend the auxiliary-mass-flow (AMF) method originally developed for Feynman loop integration to calculate integrals which also involve phase-space integration. The flow of the auxiliary mass from the boundary () to the physical point () is obtained by numerically solving differential equations with respective to the auxiliary mass. For problems with two or more kinematical invariants, the AMF method can be combined with the traditional differential-equation method, providing systematic boundary conditions and a highly nontrivial self-consistency check. The method is described in detail using a pedagogical example ofat NNLO. We show that the AMF method can systematically and efficiently calculate integrals to high precision.
Impact of green water anomalies on global rainfed crop yields
Authors: Borgomeo Edoardo , Khan Hassaan F , Heino Matias , Zaveri Esha , Kummu Matti , Brown Casey , Jägerskog Anders
Published: October 2020

The importance of green water (moisture from rain stored in soils) for global food and water security is widely recognized, with process-based simulation models and field-level studies demonstrating its role in supporting rainfed agriculture. Despite this evidence, the relationship between green water anomalies and rainfed agriculture has not yet been investigated using statistical models that identify a causal relationship between the variables. Here, we address this gap and use disaggregated statistical regression (panel data analysis) at the 30 arc-min grid level to study the response of observed yields (1982–2010) of four main crops (maize, rice, soybean and wheat) to green water anomalies globally over rainfed areas. Dry green water anomalies (1 or 2 standard deviations below long-term average) decrease rainfed crop yields worldwide. This effect is more pronounced for wheat and maize, whose yields decline by 12%–18% and 7%–12% respectively. Globally, agricultural production benefits from wet green water anomalies. This effect is intensified in arid climates and weakened in humid climates where, for wheat, soybean and rice, periods of green water availability 2 standard deviations above long-term averages lead to declines in crop yield. This confirms existing evidence that excess soil moisture is detrimental to crop yield. These findings (1) advance our understanding of the impact of green water on rainfed food production and (2) provide empirical evidence supporting arguments for better management of local green water resources to reduce the impact of agricultural drought and waterlogging on rainfed crop production and capture the yield increasing effects of positive green water anomalies.
On extremal eigenvalues of the graph Laplacian
*
Authors: Serio Andrea
Published: October 2020

Upper and lower estimates of eigenvalues of the Laplacian on a metric graph have been established in 2017 by Berkolaiko, Kennedy, Kurasov, and Mugnolo. Both these estimates can be achieved at the same time only by highly degenerate eigenvalues which we call maximally degenerate. By comparison with the maximal eigenvalue multiplicity proved by Kac and Pivovarchik in 2011, we characterize the graphs exhibiting maximally degenerate eigenvalues which are the figure-of-eight graph, the 3-watermelon graph, and the lasso trees—namely, trees decorated with lasso graphs.
Influence of TiO2’s (101) crystal facet exposure on the photoelectroactivity of TiO2 nanooctahedra/BiVO4 nanocomposite
Authors: Naumi F , Ivandini T A , Mulyana J Y , Pratomo U , Khalil M
Published: October 2020

This work studies a research regarding the effect of exposing (101) crystal facet of anatase TiO2 to photoelectroactivity of photoanode composed of TiO2 nanooctahedra/BiVO4 nanocomposite film. Here, the photoanode was fabricated by depositing the nanocomposite on the surface of FTO via doctor blade technique. In this study, anatase TiO2 nanooctahedra were synthesized via solvothermal method in the presence of hydrazine hydrate as a directing agent. Furthermore, the as-prepared TiO2 nanooctahedra was characterized using X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Brunauer-Emmelt-Tellers (BET) and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS). Based on the result, the diffraction peaks revealed characteristic for the pure anatase phase with exposure (101) crystal facet. Additionally, photoelectrochemical response of the photoanode was also evaluated using a three-electrode system and exhibited a significantly high current density value of 0.26 mA/cm2.
Modification of gold nanoparticles through allyl mercaptan bridge at boron-doped diamond electrode for an arsen (V) sensor
Authors: Magdalena O , Fauzillah N A , Riyanto H G , Ivandini T A
Published: October 2020

A simple, cheap and fast analytical procedure for arsen (V) detection was developed by applying the BDD (boron-doped diamond) modified by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs-BDD). The gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with an average particle size of 10 nm was synthesized through reduction reaction of gold ions by NaBH4 in the presence of allyl mercaptan. These nanoparticles could be successfully deposited on the surface of boron-doped diamond (BDD) by an immersion process under the exposure of UV light ( λ = 254 nm) for 6 h. An Au/C ratio of around 1:56 was observed at the prepared AuNPs-BDD. Preliminary study for arsen (V) detection by using anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) technique using this electrode in a solution of 0.1 M HCl containing of NaBH4 showed a good linearity (R2 = 0.99) of the current flow in the concentration range of 0–100 µM with a limit detection of 0.105 µM.
Characteristics of composite magnesium with micro SiC particle for automotive applications with stir casting method
Authors: Susilo N R , Syahrial A Z
Published: October 2020

Composite is a promoted material consists of two or more materials to enhance the properties mechanically. In this study, composites were created by mixing a matrix; magnesium and the reinforcement; SiC microstructure with the addition of a volume fraction of: 2 %vf, 4 %vf, 6 %vf and 8 %vf. This magnesium composite fabrication process is stirred casting. The results of this study show that the addition of SiC micro particles will enhance the properties of the composite–mechanical wise-, namely, wear resistance and hardness. The addition of SiC micro-reinforcing particles that produced the best magnesium composite was by adding 8 %vf volume fraction which produced a hardness value of 83 HB and a wear rate of 0.002015706 mm3/m. Increased mechanical properties in magnesium composites is caused by the reducing grain size and Orowan strengthening mechanism.
Structural and vibrational analysis of LaFe1-xMnxO3(x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20) perovskite materials
Authors: Abdillah M N , Triyono D , Anugrah A W , Rafsanjani R A
Published: October 2020

Lanthanum orthoferrite (LaFeO3) and lanthanum manganite (LaMnO3) are the important family of perovskite compound which intensively studied and explored due to its applications as functional materials, such as a fuel cell electrode, photocatalytic and gas sensor. The performance of functional materials is strongly depended on their structural properties. Here, we investigated the structure and vibrational of LaFe1-xMnxO3 (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20) perovskite materials prepared by sol-gel method. The structural and optical properties of the materials were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. The analysis of the XRD pattern confirmed the single-phase orthorhombic structure (space group: Pnma) following by the decreasing of lattice parameters, crystallite size, and Fe/Mn − O bond distance with the increasing of Mn-content. The presence of the Fe/Mn −O −Fe/Mn bending and Fe/Mn −O stretching modes has been confirmed by FTIR and Raman investigation. The optical band gap energy was measured by UV-Vis DRS spectroscopy, which obtained in the range of 1.99–2.14 eV. The band gap energy decreases with the increase of Mn-content.
Synthesis of biodegradable plastic from corn starch and corn husk filler with addition of glycerol as plasticizer and variation of chitosan composition
Authors: Azsarinka R , Saleh D , Djonaedi E
Published: October 2020

Cellulose, contained in corn husk, is one of natural polymer that can be used as filler for bioplastics. Corn starch flour (maize) as matrix and corn husk powder in different grain size as filler is then synthesized with chitosan and glycerol. The resulting bioplastics is a thin film with muddy-brown color. Alternating the corn husk powder grain size from 150 mesh to 200 mesh modifies the physical characteristics, especially mechanical properties. The most optimal bioplastics were obtained with 200 mesh grain size of corn husk powder and 0.04 % chitosan composition with tensile strength of 286.31 N/cm2, elongation of 10.19 %, Young modulus of 28.11 N/cm2 and tear resistance of 705.61 mN. There are changes in molecular structure of some functional groups as compared to the elements. Bioplastics were degraded 30–35 % for 21 days in soil, started moldy after 10 days in open air and endured for one hour in temperature 100 °C.
Synthesis and characterization of metal organic framework using succinic acid ligand with cobalt and iron metals as methylene blue dye adsorbent
Authors: Nurani D A , Butar B C B , Krisnandi Y K
Published: October 2020

Metal-organic Framework (MOF) as a porous material has a potency for an organic dye adsorbent due to its tunable pore size. It can be a good candidate for selective separation of organic dye waste because of its organic functionality, high thermal and stability. In this study, MOF based on cobalt (Co) and iron (Fe) cations with succinic acid ligand was utilized for Methylene Blue (MB) removal from aqueous solution. Co-MOF and Fe-MOF were synthesized using solvothermal method at 120 °C for 20 h and characterized by using infrared spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction technique, thermogravimetric analyses, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm, and scanning electron microscope. The adsorption of MB from aqueous solution by Co-MOF and Fe-MOF were carried out and their adsorption properties were investigated in various parameters such as pH solution, contact time, MOF loading. Moreover, their adsorption isotherm and reusable capacity were explored. As the results, the optimal adsorption was achieved at pH 9 for both MOFs, 5 mg of MOFs loading in 5 mL MB and 180 min for Co-MOF and 150 min for Fe-MOF. Both MOFs could be reused as a good adsorbent with the ratio of ethanol and H2O (70:30) as an eluent. This adsorption activity followed the Langmuir isotherm with the maximum adsorption capacity (Qm) of 3.9494 mg/g and 4.6685 mg/g for Co-MOF and Fe-MOF respectively.
Study of bioaccumulation and heavy metal depuration of cadmium in green mussel (Perna viridis)
Authors: Budiawan  , Bakri R , Aziz S A , Suseno H
Published: October 2020

Green mussel (Perna viridis) is a favorite seafood, which has good protein content and economical price. The shellfish habitat is in a polluted area in the Jakarta Bay caused by industrial waste. Presently, the consumption of green mussels is very problematic because the habitat of green mussels has experienced pollution. Bioaccumulation of heavy metal study was conducted to determine the process of heavy metal accumulation in a biota by using a certain dosage. The heavy metal cadmium was used to be exposed to a biota as much as half LC50 is 0.1 ppm. The depuration process was performed to reduce the levels of cadmium metal in green mussel. A seven-day drainage depuration method was used by immersing acetic acid and citric acid with variations of concentration 0.75 %, 1.5 %, and 2.25 % in 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 min variations. Levels of cadmium in green mussel were measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Concentration of cadmium decreased to 3.05 mg.Kg−1, 1.7 mg.Kg−1 and 0.65 mg.Kg−1 after depuration process that used immersing by water, acetic acid and citric acid, respectively.
Microwave-assisted synthesis of 7-hydroxy-4-methyl coumarin and its bioactivity against acne-causing bacteria
Authors: Winata A W , Rahayu D U C , Handayani S , Dianhar H
Published: October 2020

Acne is a problem that often occurs in adolescents, especially at puberty phase. One of the acne-causing factors is proliferation of Propionibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria. Acne is usually treated with antibiotics, but the resistance of antibiotics is also found. Therefore, research on new antibacterial compounds continues to be developed. One of the compounds reported to have antibacterial activity is coumarin derivatives. In this research, 7-hydroxy-4-methyl coumarin had been successfully synthesized from resorcinol and ethyl acetoacetate with the presence of p-toluene sulfonic acid (PTSA) as catalyst and solvent free reaction using 800W microwave-assisted method. This compound obtained in 48.36 % in yield with the reaction condition as follow: resorcinol/ethyl acetoacetate molar ratio of 1:1, 10 mol% PTSA, and 150s reaction time. Synthesized compound was further elucidated using FTIR, UV-Vis, and 1H-NMR spectral data. Unfortunately, study on the ability to inhibit the growth of P. acnes and S. epidermidis showed that the compound was inactive towards both acne-causing bacteria. Therefore, it can be concluded that 7-hydroxy-4-methyl coumarin did not have potential antibacterial activity against acne-causing bacteria.
Utilization of monosodium glutamate (MSG) for the synthesis of 1,8-dioxoacridine and polyhydro-quinoline derivates with SiO2-AA-glutamate catalyst and antioxidant ability test
Authors: Cahyana A H , Andika T , Liandi A R
Published: October 2020

Derivatives of 1,8-dioxoacridine and polyhydro-quinoline compounds are active compounds that have several beneficial bioactivities. The purpose of this research is to synthesize 1,8-dioxoacridine and polyhydro-quinoline derivatives supported by SiO2-AA-Glu as the catalyst and test their antioxidant activity. The reaction was conducted at the optimum condition with ethanol solvent at boiling point temperature (78 °C) for 60 min with a catalyst concentration of 3 % mol with a yield of 88.16 %. Analysis of formation products was confirmed using FTIR, UV-Vis Spectrophotometer, and GC-MS. The results of the analysis produced three 1,8-dioxoacridine and polyhydro-quinoline derivatives, namely 3,3,6,6-tetramethyl-9-phenyl-3,4,6,7,9,10-hexahydro-2H,5H-acridine-1,8-dione (compound 1), 9-(4-hydroxy-phenyl)-3,3,6,6-tetramethyl-3,4,6,7,9,10-hexahydro-2H,5H-acridine-1,8-dione (compound 2), and 7,7-dimethyl-5-oxo-4-phenyl-1,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydro-quinoline-3-carboxylic acid ethyl ester (compound 3). Compound 2 shows the best activity as an antioxidant compared to the other two compounds with an IC50 value of 83.72 ppm.
Helical Structures for Medical Applications
Authors: Eldeeb M , Mattar H , Hatem H , Elmahdy D , Shanan N , Elwi M , Klingner A , Ramzy A
Published: October 2020

The latest advances in the field of microrobotics assisted medical experts in the treatment of some of human diseases especially intravascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. In this research, a phantom for the atherosclerotic plaque material is fabricated using Gelatine and Nano Hydroxyapatite in a catheter tube to mimic the condition in the human body in vitro. For plaque penetration a helical microrobot is designed to achieve the optimum plaque clearing efficiency. The robot is a remotely controlled micro helical magnetic based metallic robot which is inserted in the catheter to penetrate the phantom by rotational motion along its axis. The motion of the robot during mechanical grinding of the plaque phantom is simulated using MATLAB where the distance of the robot’s journey inside the plaque phantom is plotted against the time consumed by the robot.
Blue, Red, and Green Emission from Chromium and Copper Metal Doped Lithium Borate Glass
Authors: Kashif I. , Ratep A.
Published: October 2020

The influence of copper metal on the structural and optical properties (absorption and emission) of the lithium borate glass samples containing chromium considered. The analysis of FTIR spectra measured, indicated the copper and chromium ions act as network former and modifier depend on the concentration of everyone in the sample content. The ratio between the BO4 groups to the total boron groups (BO4+BO3) decreases with the copper content increases up to 2 mol % and then increase. The optical properties that the Dq/B decreases with the increase the copper and higher than 2.3 which indicates the glass samples containing Cr3+ions in the high-field sites and produce conventional laser action. The emission spectra show the intensity emission bands at 440 nm, 540 nm, and 730 nm for relative strong blue, green and red bands respectively.
Optical and Thermophysical Characterization of Fe3O4nanoparticle
Authors: Horia F , Easawi Khaled , Khalil Reda , Abdallah Said , El-Mansy Mabrouk , Negm Sohair
Published: October 2020

The size dependence of optical and, thermophysical properties of Fe3O4nanoparticle (NPs) has been investigated. Three samples of Fe3O4NPs with different sizes were prepared by the Co-precipitation method and labeled a, b and c. The UV- vis spectra shifted toward the lower energy with increasing the particles size. The energy bandgaps of the synthesized Fe3O4NPs are 1.84 ev,1,73 ev, and 1,47 ev for a, b and c respectively. The sizes of the nanoparticles were estimated using the effective mass approximation (EMA) model, and are 10.7 nm, 20.56 nm, and 30.43 nm. These values are comparable to those found by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The Photoacoustic (PA) technique was used to research Fe3O4NPs for thermal diffusivity (α), thermal effusivity (e), and thermal conductivity (k). The determined values of α, e, and k increase as the size of nanoparticles rises and decreases from the bulk by about 33%.
Strong exciton-photon coupling in large area MoSe2 and WSe2 heterostructures fabricated from two-dimensional materials grown by chemical vapor deposition
Authors: Gillard Daniel J , Genco Armando , Ahn Seongjoon , Lyons Thomas P , Yeol Ma Kyung , Jang A-Rang , Severs Millard Toby , Trichet Aurélien A P , Jayaprakash Rahul , Georgiou Kyriacos , Lidzey David G , Smith Jason M , Suk Shin Hyeon , Tartakovskii Alexander I
Published: October 2020

Two-dimensional semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides embedded in optical microcavities in the strong exciton-photon coupling regime may lead to promising applications in spin and valley addressable polaritonic logic gates and circuits. One significant obstacle for their realization is the inherent lack of scalability associated with the mechanical exfoliation commonly used for fabrication of two-dimensional materials and their heterostructures. Chemical vapor deposition offers an alternative scalable fabrication method for both monolayer semiconductors and other two-dimensional materials, such as hexagonal boron nitride. Observation of the strong light-matter coupling in chemical vapor grown transition metal dichalcogenides has been demonstrated so far in a handful of experiments with monolayer molybdenum disulfide and tungsten disulfide. Here we instead demonstrate the strong exciton-photon coupling in microcavities composed of large area transition metal dichalcogenide/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures made from chemical vapor deposition grown molybdenum diselenide and tungsten diselenide encapsulated on one or both sides in continuous few-layer boron nitride films also grown by chemical vapor deposition. These transition metal dichalcogenide/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures show high optical quality comparable with mechanically exfoliated samples, allowing operation in the strong coupling regime in a wide range of temperatures down to 4 Kelvin in tunable and monolithic microcavities, and demonstrating the possibility to successfully develop large area transition metal dichalcogenide based polariton devices.
Talking about public good for the second quantum revolution: analysing quantum technology narratives in the context of national strategies
Authors: Roberson Tara , Leach Joan , Raman Sujatha
Published: October 2020

The ‘second quantum revolution’ has been the subject of substantial speculation, investment by public and private sectors, and media hype. We investigate some of this hype in the form of three national strategies for quantum technology. In the course of analysing these strategies, we ask: how can we ensure new quantum technologies benefit the societies they are used in and are a part of ? To help clarify this question, we posit a public good test for quantum research requiring diversity in research agendas, social orders, and research-society networks.
Optimal FPE for non-linear 1d-SDE. I: Additive Gaussian colored noise
Authors: Bianucci Marco , Mannella Riccardo
Published: October 2020

Many complex phenomena occurring in physics, chemistry, biology, finance, etc can be reduced, by some projection process, to a 1-d stochastic Differential equation (SDE) for the variable of interest. Typically, this SDE is both non-linear and non-Markovian, so a Fokker Planck equation (FPE), for the probability density function (PDF), is generally not obtainable. However, a FPE is desirable because it is the main tool to obtain relevant analytical statistical information such as stationary PDF and First Passage Time. This problem has been addressed by many authors in the past, but due to an incorrect use of the interaction picture (the standard tool to obtain a reduced FPE) previous theoretical results were incorrect, as confirmed by direct numerical simulation of the SDE. The pitfall lies in the rapid diverging behavior of the backward evolution of the trajectories for strong dissipative flows. We will show, in general, how to address this problem and we will derive the correct best FPE from a cumulant-perturbation approach. The specific perturbation method followed gives general validity to the results obtained, beyond the simple case of exponentially correlated Gaussian driving used here as an example: it can be applied even to non Gaussian drivings with a generic time correlation.
Asymmetric chromosome segregation and cell division in DNA damage-induced bacterial filaments
Authors: Raghunathan Suchitha , Chimthanawala Afroze , Krishna Sandeep , Vecchiarelli Anthony G. , Badrinarayanan Anjana
Published: October 2020

The DNA damage response and cell division checkpoints have been well studied in several bacterial model systems, but how cells exit such a checkpoint to restart wild-type growth is unclear. This study highlights a central function for asymmetric division in mediating cellular recovery from DNA damage.
Life Writing
Authors: Howes Craig
Published: October 2020

Since 1990, “life writing” has become a frequently used covering term for the familiar genres of biography, autobiography, memoir, diaries, letters, and many other forms of life narrative. Initially adopted as a critical intervention informed by post-structuralist, postmodernist, postcolonial, and especially feminist theory of the 1970s and 1980s, the term also refers to the study of life representation beyond the traditional literary and historical focus on verbal texts, encompassing not only other media—film, graphic narratives, online technologies, performance—but also research in other disciplines—psychology, anthropology, ethnic and Indigenous studies, political science, sociology, education, medicine, and any other field that records, observes, or evaluates lives.

While many critics and theorists still place their work within the realms of autobiography or biography, and others find life writing as a discipline either too ideologically driven, or still too confining conceptually, there is no question that life representation, primarily through narrative, is an important consideration for scholars engaged in virtually any field dealing with the nature and actions of human beings, or anything that lives.
African Fiction and Philosophy
Authors: Jackson Jeanne-Marie
Published: October 2020

Though the two fields have rarely been put in conversation, African philosophy and African fiction share a set of foundational concerns. These include the relation of the individual to the community; the significance of culture to unseating exclusively Western universalisms; and the tension between “lived” and a priori claims to truth against a background of political and epistemological decolonization. In addition to this substantive thematic core, both fields have also been shaped by an acute and even anguished degree of self-definitional questioning. What is “African” about African philosophy, or about the African novel? And inversely, what is fundamental to philosophy or the novel as such? Orality has served in both fields as a means of gauging the relative knowledge value afforded experience, on the one hand, and ideas’ formal contestation, on the other. While strong advocates of orality as a distinguishing feature of African intellectual production have extolled its collective dimensions, critics have been wary of its potential for cultural reductiveness and essentialism. Textuality, some argue, is an epistemological orientation that exceeds the literal practice of writing, and need not be viewed as a historical development at odds with African knowledge traditions. A number of influential African philosophers have homed in on the related problem of individualism in an effort to differentiate philosophical from social-scientific claims. This makes African philosophy an ideal interlocutor for African novel studies, which has sought in its own right to reconcile the form’s historical premium on the individual with African social contexts. While countless African novels from the mid-20th century to the early 21st century represent the challenge of negotiating between collective and individual as well as oral and textual elements, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s masterwork Kintu is an exemplary study in how the subgenre of the “philosophical novel” can narrativize the interaction of different African knowledge paradigms. In its staging of an oral, embodied system of knowledge alongside a textualized, meta-epistemological one, it invites the reader’s mutual evaluation of each vis-à-vis the other.
Genealogy
Authors: Erlenbusch-Anderson Verena , Nigh Amy
Published: October 2020

In the everyday sense of the term, genealogy describes the study of ancestry and the tracing of a pedigree. As such, genealogy serves to follow the element in question to a singular origin which constitutes its source and guarantees its value. As a philosophical notion, however, genealogy is opposed to such tracing of a pedigree and instead describes the interrupted descent of a custom, practice, or idea, locates its multiple beginnings, and excavates the conditions under which it emerged. In this technical sense of the term, genealogy is a form of historico-philosophical analysis that mobilizes empirical material to uncover historically specific conditions under which the object under examination was able to emerge. Genealogy thus reverses customary explanations of objects of cultural history, according to which these objects are either necessary end points of historical development or results caused by some anthropological principle. Instead, genealogy reconstructs the history of their objectification—that is, of their contingent formation as an object of concern and intervention. Phenomena that are typically assumed to be the causes of certain practices, institutions, laws, norms, and so on are here revealed as effects of the very things they were thought to cause. The problems with which genealogy is concerned are historical formations that rely on and simultaneously make possible forms of knowledge, norms of behavior, and modes of being a subject. While the invention of genealogy in its technico-philosophical sense is usually attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault, a genealogy of genealogy itself reveals its numerous beginnings in a wide range of discourses and practices that constitute its conditions of possibility.
Bayesian Analyses of Political Decision Making
Authors: Wasif Kumail , Gill Jeff
Published: October 2020

Bayes’ theorem is a relatively simple equation but one of the most important mathematical principles discovered. It is a formalization of a basic cognitive process: updating expectations as new information is obtained. It was derived from the laws of conditional probability by Reverend Thomas Bayes and published posthumously in 1763. In the 21st century, it is used in academic fields ranging from computer science to social science.

The theorem’s most prominent use is in statistical inference. In this regard, there are three essential tenets of Bayesian thought that distinguish it from standard approaches. First, any quantity that is not known as an absolute fact is treated probabilistically, meaning that a numerical probability or a probability distribution is assigned. Second, research questions and designs are based on prior knowledge and expressed as prior distributions. Finally, these prior distributions are updated by conditioning on new data through the use of Bayes’ theorem to create a posterior distribution that is a compromise between prior and data knowledge.

This approach has a number of advantages, especially in social science. First, it gives researchers the probability of observing the parameter given the data, which is the inverse of the results from frequentist inference and more appropriate for social scientific data and parameters. Second, Bayesian approaches excel at estimating parameters for complex data structures and functional forms, and provide more information about these parameters compared to standard approaches. This is possible due to stochastic simulation techniques called Markov Chain Monte Carlo. Third, Bayesian approaches allow for the explicit incorporation of previous estimates through the use of the prior distribution. This provides a formal mechanism for incorporating previous estimates and a means of comparing potential results.

Bayes’ theorem is also used in machine learning, which is a subset of computer science that focuses on algorithms that learn from data to make predictions. One such algorithm is the Naive Bayes Classifier, which uses Bayes’ theorem to classify objects such as documents based on prior relationships. Bayesian networks can be seen as a complicated version of the Naive Classifier that maps, estimates, and predicts relationships in a network. It is useful for more complicated prediction problems. Lastly, the theorem has even been used by qualitative social scientists as a formal mechanism for stating and evaluating beliefs and updating knowledge.
What’s a “Norm” After Queer Movements?
Authors: Idier Antoine
Published: October 2020

The question of “norm” is central to queer theory. As this reading of Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (1990), regarded as one of the pioneering texts in queer theory, shows, queer theory has consistently discussed the actual power of the norm, how it works, and how it is appropriate for minority movements to position themselves in relation to norms to abolish them. As many writings and discussions on this subject suggest, the reflection on the norm is based on an internal feminist discussion of identity. Just as there is no naturalness of sex, there is also no natural, preexisting identity. Denaturalizing identity by asserting that identities do not preexist when they are invoked calls for strategic use of identity while at the same time conducting a critique of how identities are produced.

More fundamentally, the discussion of norms is linked to a reflection on “priority.” By asserting that there is no being or ontology that precedes socialization and the application of social norms, Butler denies any relevance to the project of reconnecting with practices and identities that have not been shaped by these norms and are thus considered free, escaping power.

Postulating that there is no state prior to law, norm, and power calls for strategies of resistance and subversion. There is a need to place oneself within the normative devices and structures produced by power to subvert them. The notion of “performativity” condenses this conclusion by describing the possibility of producing acts that, within the normative system, displace normative meanings. Resistance and subversion lie in the parodic game, in the displacement of gender norms within the structure that produces them.

The assertion that “there is no political position purified of power, and perhaps that impurity is what produces agency as the potential interruption and reversal of regulatory regimes” leads to a radical redefinition of politics. All subversive politics thus remain dependent on prevailing norms and structures, within which it acts to contest them. Subversion can only ever be local and never total, as much temporally as geographically. It can only intervene in a place, at a given moment, with reference to a given normative apparatus. Insofar as it remains necessary always to draw on a norm in order to challenge and resignify it, it will never be possible to contest all social norms definitively; it will only be possible to weaken certain ones from time to time. It then remains to identify, at some point, the power with which one wishes to fight, and the most effective strategies to weaken it.
Historical Views of Homosexuality: European Renaissance and Enlightenment
Authors: Ferguson Gary
Published: October 2020

Spanning the Renaissance and the Enlightenment—the 15th/16th to the 18th centuries—the early modern period in Europe sees a fundamental evolution in relation to the conception and expression of same-sex desire. The gradual emergence of a marginalized homosexual identity, both individual and collective, accompanies a profound transformation in the understanding of the sexed body: the consolidation of two separate and “opposite” sexes, which sustain physiologically grounded sexual and gender roles. This new paradigm contrasts with an earlier one in which masculinity and femininity might be seen as representing points on a spectrum, and same-sex desire, perceived as potentially concerning all men and women, was not assimilable to a permanent characteristic excluding desire for and relations with members of the other sex. These developments, however, happened gradually and unevenly. The period is therefore characterized by differing models of homosexual desire and practices—majoritizing and minoritizing—that coexist in multiple and shifting configurations. The challenge for historians is to describe these in their full complexity, taking account of geographic variations and of both differences and continuities over time—between the beginning of the period and its end, between different points within it, and between early modernity and the present or the more recent past. The tension between similarity, identity, and the endurance of categories, on the one hand, and alterity, incommensurability, and rupture, on the other hand, defies dichotomous thinking that would see them as opposites, and favor one to the exclusion of the other. In making such comparative studies, we would no doubt do well to think not in singular but in plural terms, that is, of homosexualities in history.
Machinery-of-Government Building Blocks: Ministries, Departments, and Agencies
Authors: Wettenhall Roger
Published: October 2020

“Machinery of government” is a term widely used to describe the administrative arrangements established in most modern states to enable them to discharge the multitude of functions for which governments hold responsibility. The “machine” is subject to ongoing change needing to be accommodated within it, but it rests on a group of major building blocks subject to that change but nevertheless recognizable in the long term as ministers and ministries, portfolios, departments, and agencies (the latter now often referred to as arm’s-length bodies).

Ministries and departments have evolved as the principal organizational types in the British-based Westminster system of government, whose evolution is part of the process of constitutional development, and agencies of various kinds have developed to supplement ministries and departments in their work.
Street-Level Bureaucrats: Discretion and Compliance in Policy Implementation
Authors: Evans Tony
Published: October 2020

In 1980 Michael Lipsky published “Street-level Bureaucracy,” arguing that public policy is often vague and imprecise, and relies on frontline workers to make sense of it on the ground in delivering public services. At the same time, the book is critical of frontline workers for not complying with policy in their use of discretion. Lipsky’s approach has influenced a great deal of subsequent analysis of public service provision, but continues to contain an unresolved tension at its core. If policy is vague, how can discretion be judged non-compliant against it? The street-level bureaucracy approach has tended to seek to resolve this tension by assuming that all public services are fundamentally the same and that all public service workers should use discretion in a particular way. While street-level bureaucracies—front line public services—are similar in that they are subject to policies, operate under conditions of inadequate resources, and afford frontline workers discretion in their work, there are also significant differences between types of public services in the ways they work with policy and the nature and extent of discretion of staff delivering the service. Different services do different things; the nature of the policy they work with varies, and the logic of provision and priorities vary between services. Policy, for instance, may refer to a precise set of instructions, or to setting out particular concerns or broad-brush commitments. Some services, such as benefits provision, are specified in detailed policy which not only sets out what they can do but also how decisions should be made. Others services, such as policing, are subject to a range of policies and concerns often expressed as conflicting demands that have to be balanced and managed in the particular circumstances of their application. And others, mainly human services, are primarily thought of in terms what the professionals within provide, and assumes a logic of service provision to be located in those providing the service. Policy is sometimes more explicit and discretion narrower; it is sometimes looser and relies more on discretion. It may, in some circumstances, be sufficient to refer to policy to understand what services are supposed to do; in other circumstances, policy alone provides a poor picture of what’s expected.

Street-level bureaucracy analysis is too broad-brush and cannot capture the range of ideas of compliance in public services. It tends to equate policy with instruction and judgement with organizational thinking, and to see non-compliance as endemic in the use of discretion. In doing this, it fails to appreciate the variety of relationships between policy and public services; the varied extent of discretion in different settings, and the range of concerns and ethical commitments in different public services. Compliance in policy implementation needs to be sensitive to different types of public services and the subsequent variety of commitments and concerns of street-level bureaucrats in those public services.
Real Property Tax in Local Public Finance
Authors: Hou Yilin
Published: October 2020

The real property tax (RPT) is a major, stable revenue source for local governments to provide basic public services. The quality, quantity and reliability of public services in a locality are key indicators of the living standards. The service responsibilities require local governments to maintain stable revenues. RPT is a tax on owning and holding land and structures on land, and RPT is a very old tax, dating back to ancient times when land and products thereof were the most important assets. RPT has been used by governments of all countries throughout history, although with huge variation in formats and ways of use. Despite numerous pitfalls in its design and administration, RPT has remained a pillar of local revenue, accounting for a high percentage of total local revenue. Thus, it is important to understand RPT and its roles in local public finance. RPT was mistakenly dubbed the worst tax, a misnomer that has caused misperception of the tax that should be corrected. RPT is one essential pillar of a modern tax system. The design and maintenance of an optimal RPT should follow six principles. The complexity of RPT is with key aspects in its administration, with the weakest link in property value assessment. Exemptions and limitations add to the complexity of RPT, causing unintended consequences. From a panoramic view, RPT has adapted to changes of the society and economy; it still holds prospects as an optimal tax and remains the cornerstone of accountable and sustainable local public finance.
Institutionalism and Public Administration
Authors: Olsson Jan
Published: October 2020

Institutions have always been of great concern to public administration, in both a practical and an analytical sense. The new institutionalism, developing in different versions from the early 1980s, has contributed new and varied insights on how institutional factors shape the life of public administrations. Instead of mainly focusing on formal rules and organizations, as in traditional (“old”) institutionalism, new institutionalism perceives of institutions in a broader sense, as patterned behavior also following from informal rules, norms, and habits. Different institutional perspectives continue to develop with some mutual borrowing of ideas, but they also specialize, which help us understand how public administrations are shaped by the historical legacies of institutions, institutional rules and norms that socialize organization members; institutions as incentive structures designed to increase trust and compliance; organizational adaption to major institutional trends, and institutions as cultures of communication. These perspectives are specific lenses that bring valuable, complementary insights, particularly when it comes to their varied conceptualizations of agency: strategic calculation, social adaption and imitation as well as social construction in communicative settings. However, it is argued that institutionalism has largely neglected political aspects in the interaction between institution and agency, which needs to be explored and elaborated on in future empirical research and theoretical development. The political character of public administrations is very complex and varies from individual preference falsification in order to adapt to institutions, to subversive actions for trying to undermine or to secure existing institutions when important values are at stake in public administrations.
Benin and Togo: Loyalist Stacking and Rival Security Forces
Authors: Morency-Laflamme Julien
Published: October 2020

Benin and Togo’s postcolonial histories have been shaped by the actions of military personnel. In both cases, governments were either placed into power or toppled by the military. This trend ended in Benin after 1991, when the military returned to the barracks. In Togo, as of 2020, Faure Gnassingbé’s government still relies on the armed forces to remain in power.

To understand this path divergence, it is necessary to look at the regimes that arose in 1967 in Togo and 1972 in Benin. After years of coup cycles and failed civilian or military governments, two leaders—Mathieu Kérékou in Benin and Étienne Gnassingbé Eyadéma in Togo—established stable military governments. In order to end coup cycles, both leaders put in place coup-proofing measures that profoundly influenced the composition of the armed forces of their respective countries. In Benin, the Kérékou government implemented a series of measures to heighten divisions among the armed forces and to preclude the coordination of rivals. In Togo, the Eyadéma government filled the army with those from the leader’s ethnic group and pushed out any rivals.

While both strategies were effective, as no successful coups were staged in either country after the early 1970s, they also influenced each government’s ability to rely on their armed forces to defend the standing regime. In Benin, the Kérékou government fell, as it could not rely on the armed forces to quell a civic resistance campaign, while in Togo, the Eyadéma government could count on military personnel to crush a similar campaign. Consequently, the 2020 Togolese government is still ruled by the Eyadéma clan and relies on ethnically stacked armed forces to maintain its power. In Benin, a new civilian government has started the process of reprofessionalizing the armed forces.