bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Arboreal camera trapping reveals diel-vertical migrations in arboreal wildlife of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest
Authors: Honda Arata , Bierne Chris , Pillco Huarcaya Ruthmery , Perez Mullisaca Flor , Quispe Quispe Caleb , Vega Quispe Rosio , Flatt Eleanor , Whitworth Andrew
Published: February 2025

Tropical forests harbor much of Earth’s biodiversity, with the ground to emergent canopy forming a dynamic three-dimensional habitat. Arboreal and semi-arboreal species navigate this vertically heterogeneous environment, responding to diel, lunar, and seasonal changes. While diel vertical migrations are well studied in aquatic systems, similar patterns in arboreal mammals and birds remain unclear. Temperature, light, predation risk, and resource availability varies from ground to canopy, across time, and influences unique 3D movements for diverse arboreal species. Yet their roles in structuring tropical forest assemblages, the interactions of vertical stratification and temporal niche partitioning, is poorly understood. We investigate diel vertical behaviors in 31 species of arboreal mammals and birds in the Madre de Dios region of Peru using ground and canopy camera trapping surveys. We assess diel-vertical overlaps among sympatric species and examine relationships between dietary traits and vertical preference and selectivity for mammals. Our results reveal many unique patterns of vertical shifts, with many Primates and couple Cracids descending from crepuscular canopy activity to lower strata at midday, while Tamandua tetradactyla descends from sunrise to sunset and Choloepus hoffmanni from before to after midnight. Lagothrix lagothricha and Pithecia spp. displayed peaks in upper canopy activity at midday, possibly due to ecological release from other primates. We find high diel-vertical overlap between sympatric species pairs, suggesting niche partitioning may involve finer-scale temporal adjustments rather than strict vertical segregation. We also find patterns of lunar cycle-related shifts in vertical activity for Tamandua tertradactyla, Choloepus hoffmanii and Aotus nigriceps. Diet-related patterns in mammals indicate carnivores favor lower heights, frugivores prefer higher strata, and invertivores are more vertically variable. These findings challenge static views of vertical stratification, emphasizing the need for a framework integrating temporal and spatial variability in the vertical environment and its many biotic agents. Better understanding these patterns is crucial for predicting arboreal species and community responses in their warming, fragmenting and increasingly peri-urban habitats.
Linguistic rights
Authors: Coulmas Florian
Published: February 2025

Reacting to an increasing number of languages that fell into disuse over recent decades, the United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the period between 2022 and 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. This chapter is focussed on the socio-economic developments leading to the decline and abandonment of Indigenous languages and the policy responses to them. It examines the world’s linguistic diversity as it is today, future projections about it, and the ideological transformations that have turned the fate of minority languages into a policy issue on international and national levels. Key issues discussed in this context are minority protection and linguistic rights and whether the bearers of such rights are individuals or groups.
Variae Recitationes
Authors: Vidas Moulie
Published: February 2025

Discussions of textual divergences, what we may call “versions” or “variants,” are common in the Talmud. This chapter argues that these discussions presented a new development in rabbinic scholarship. Much like Greek and Latin scholars compared different copies or editions of the same work, Amoraic scholars compared different recitations of the same teaching, introducing a discourse of “variant readings” with a particular inflection into the study of Torah. While these discussions have been read as evidence for the formation of the Mishnah, this chapter focuses on how they reflect the aims and ideas of Amoraic scholars. These scholars considered recited teachings as alternative attestations of still other recited teachings, but they avoided placing these divergent texts in a hierarchy with each other or even with a hypothesized original. The comparison of Amoraic, other Greco-Roman, and modern discussions of textual difference highlights how such discussions are shaped by different ideas and aims.
Introduction
Authors: Noggle Robert
Published: February 2025

This chapter introduces the topic and book. It begins by noting the importance of influence in human life. It observes that manipulation is normally distinguished from other forms of influence such as rational persuasion, bargaining, and coercion. It distinguishes ordinary manipulation, which is common in everyday life, from extra-ordinary forms of influence that are called ‘manipulation’ in the free will literature. It also distinguishes personal from situational manipulation. It notes that the term ‘manipulation’ has definite negative moral connotations when used in ordinary conversation. It poses three questions about manipulation: What is it? How does it work? Why is it (apparently) bad? It sets out and explains a version of the methodology of reflective equilibrium for investigating manipulation and answering these questions. It concludes with a plan of the book and some terminological preliminaries.
Mistakes and Manipulation
Authors: Noggle Robert
Published: February 2025

This chapter details the various sorts of mistakes the induction of which the Mistake Account regards as manipulation. It begins with mistaken beliefs. A belief is mistaken when it is false. Emotions can be mistaken either by failing to fit the facts (as when Othello is jealous of Desdemona despite having no reason for jealousy) or by being too strong or too weak for the circumstances (as when someone is excessively fearful of a small, well-behaved dog). Mistakes of attention and weighting occur when the amount of attention paid to some fact, or the amount of weight placed on it in decision-making, is disproportionate to its actual importance. Other sorts of mistakes involve the application of heuristics or packages of procedural knowledge in situations where they are not appropriate. The mistakes involved in manipulative pressure are also discussed. These are instances of what philosophers call akrasia or weakness of will.
Hair Straighteners
Authors: Barylo William
Published: February 2025

Whiteness is a spectrum. It is a set of norms that ethnically minoritized people can either adopt by assimilation, de-diasporization, or westernization, or which they resist and with which they compromise. In the era of metacolonialism, just like with the symbolic tool for European beauty standards, diasporas have been served different metaphorical hair straighteners, tools of normative pressure with which colonial powers assert their domination. Political narratives, popular culture, social media, and celebrities have created a theology of liberation based on Eurocentric aspirational standards of beauty and socio-economic status. When being different is a risk, conformity becomes safety, at the risk of losing one’s identity or replicating harmful behaviours like colourism or racism.
Eastern Europe
Authors: Michal Pawlak Stanislaw
Published: February 2025

This chapter addresses broad aspects of the influence of Eastern Europe on the development and implementation of the law of the sea, focusing on Poland and Lithuania from the Baltic Sea region and Bulgaria and Romania on the Black Sea. Eastern Europe reflects the legal, economic, political, and military dimensions of cultural experiences between Western Europe and Russia. Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Romania experienced a complicated history of foreign domination and were heavily influenced by Western European legal culture derived from Roman law. They finally joined the mainstream of the development of the law of the sea and aligned with Western Europe. Historically, Eastern European states promoted freedom of navigation and access to the living resources on the high seas as a function of their geographically disadvantaged position and restricted access to the open ocean. In this respect, these states had a geographic alignment with Russia. They also advanced the principles of exploitation of the seabed minerals in the areas beyond national jurisdiction to ensure an equitable share of the riches of the international seabed area, a shift away from Western Europe and siding with the interests of developing states. Poland and Lithuania maintained historic efforts to get free access to the sea. For Poland, located between Germany and Russia, the access to the Baltic Sea was a vital necessity and a driving force of economic development and security.
Africa
Authors: Pasipanodya Tafadzwa
Published: February 2025

African culture reflects the concept of ubuntu or moral worth through community, the colonial experience, and quest for economic independence, among other influences. Ubuntu is a word in the Southern African languages of Zulu, Xhosa, and Ndebele that expresses the notion that an individual’s humanity is inextricably connected to the group to which they belong. The philosophy considers that the duty to relate humanely with others is a prerequisite to one’s own personhood, placing a connection with other people at the centre of human life. These values have informed Africa’s approach to international law, which from the outset was viewed by many Africans as a flawed legal order tantamount to legalized colonialism. At independence, African states chose to adapt rather than reject the international legal system in order to redress some of the most debilitating socio-economic effects of colonialism, help them regain control over their natural resources, and prevent future aggression and exploitation. These experiences underpin African states’ substantive contributions to the contemporary law of the sea. Whereas the traditional maritime powers focused on freedom of the seas, the sense of community in African states informed their support for the common heritage of mankind in deep seabed mining, the transfer of marine technology and capacity-building, and the influential 1973 Kenyan paper on the elements of an exclusive economic zone beyond the territorial sea.
North America
Authors: Kraska James
Published: February 2025

North American cultural influences on the law of the sea derive primarily from European approaches, principally Dutch, English, and German, tempered by the influence of Mediterranean cultures. American culture was affected by the isolated geography of the colonies and their role as a sideshow in European power struggles and wars. From this experience, a culture of rugged independence and self-sufficiency emerged. North America had a small population and virtually limitless natural resources. These resources contributed to strong, independent communities free from central control, immense economic opportunity, and a desire to purchase finished products from Europe. The expansion of trade and independence was fuelled by concepts of liberty and autonomy, optimism, and control of destiny. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as the United States emerged as a superpower. The United States maintained connections with Europe and Asia through continued reliance on the doctrine of freedom of the seas. At the same time, the rise of the administrative state and a mixed economy after the Great Depression and the industrial importance of offshore oil and fisheries directed American attention towards coastal state equities. By the 1970s, the United States added protection of the marine environment to its core oceans governance priorities, reflecting a post-modernist mindset and complicating the historic advocacy of freedom of the seas. These values have become the dominant focus of contemporary US oceans law and policy.
Conclusion: Historical Legacies and Future Prospects
Authors: Kraska James , Ryou-Ellison Hayoun
Published: February 2025

This volume explored the historical arc and contemporary manifestation of cultural influences on the law of the sea and oceans governance. The chapters have analysed major cultural touchpoints of world civilizations and how they have shaped and continue to impact the law. The Global North–South dialogue is one of the most important reflections of these cultural approaches. Individual contributions have offered assessments of the benefits of the major cultural approaches and how they would further shape global oceans law and policy should the regional cultural preferences be widely adopted. The chapters find that regardless of cultural values or other elements such as geography, level of economic development, or type of political system, states have contending visions as well as commonalities in how the law of the sea is developed. Yet distinct cultural norms emerged from Christianity, Roman law, the concept of the freedom of the seas on the one hand and ubuntu and harmonious hierarchy and Asian social order on the other. Which cultural values in the law of the sea should be adopted, and why and how would they benefit sovereign states as well as all humankind?
Nutrition supplementation combined with exercise versus exercise alone in treating knee osteoarthritis: a double-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled trial
Authors: Liu Wei , Yu Yingxiang , Zhang Zhida , Li Zhongxia , Wu Yanpu , Xie Lan , Xu Ziyi , Chang Cuiqing
Published: February 2025

Objective

To investigate the effectiveness of formula nutrition supplementation (mainly containing glucosamine sulphate, chondroitin sulphate and rhizoma drynariae) plus supervised exercise versus exercise alone for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods

This was a double-blinded, single-centre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. The study recruited 65 participants (40–75 years) with knee OA. Participants were randomly allocated to nutrition supplementation plus exercise (N + E) group or placebo plus exercise (P + E) group. The intervention lasted for 6 months. The primary outcome was the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score. Secondary outcomes included physical function and performance scores, lower extremity strength and serum biomarkers.

Results

Among the 65 randomised patients, 56 (86%) completed the trial. At 3 months, more participants in the N + E group than in the P + E group achieved minimum clinically important difference (MCID) in WOMAC total score (19/30 [63.3%] vs 8/26 [30.8%]; P < .01). At 6 months, more participants in the N + E group than in the P + E group achieved MCID in WOMAC stiffness score (19/30 [63.3%] vs 10/26 [38.5%]; P < .05). Meanwhile, at 6 months the decreased percentages of WOMAC stiffness score in the N + E group was greater than in the P + E group (P < .05). The flexor peak torque at 120°/s and 180°/s in the N + E group were significantly higher than those in the P + E group at 3 months (P < .05). Moreover, compared with baseline, improvements in the WOMAC overall and pain score, visual analogue scale pain and 30-second chair stand test were observed in both groups at 6 months. However, these indicators in the N + E group were improved as early as 3 months (P < .05).

Conclusions

The improvement effects of nutrition supplementation plus exercise were superior to those of exercise alone, and the improvement occurred earlier. Nutrition supplementation plus exercise would be a more efficient strategy for knee OA.
Parasympathetic modulation is correlated with baroreflex sensitivity and orthostatic pressor response in childhood
Authors: El Khadiri Chaima , Bokov Plamen , Dudoignon Benjamin , Benzouid Chérine , Koehl Bérengère , Hogan Julien , Delclaux Christophe
Published: February 2025

Background

The objective of our case-control study was to evaluate the determinants of childhood cardio-vagal baroreflex failure and exaggerated orthostatic pressor response, which are risk factors for subsequent hypertension.

Methods

Four groups of children were matched for sex and age: 12 with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (autonomic nervous system dysfunction), 12 with chronic kidney disease (frequently abnormal blood pressure [BP]), 12 with sickle cell disease (frequently abnormal orthostatic BP), and 24 control children (preterm birth with normal BP). The children underwent tonometry evaluation (aortic systolic BP) and continuous BP and ECG measurements in supine and standing positions, allowing ambulatory BP monitoring and the computation of heart rate variability indices, baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), and orthostatic systolic BP response.

Results

Supine and standing BRS correlated significantly with aortic systolic BP (ρ= -0.34, ρ= -0.52, respectively), daytime systolic BP (ρ= -0.33, ρ= -0.54, respectively), LF power in similar body positions (supine: ρ= 0.68, standing: ρ= 0.65), and HF power (ρ= 0.78, ρ= 0.76, respectively). Orthostatic BP response correlated significantly with standing BRS (ρ= -0.38) and standing HFnu (ρ= -0.46). In multivariate analyses, only supine and standing HF power remained independently associated with the respective BRS, while standing HFnu and standing BRS were independently associated with the orthostatic pressor response.

Conclusions

Defective parasympathetic modulation’s detrimental effect on baroreflex sensitivity and the orthostatic pressor response in childhood is evident, regardless of the underlying pathology.
Educational Insights of AI-Assisted Chest Radiograph Interpretation in Lung Cancer Detection—pictorial review
Authors: England Andrew , Tugwell-Allsup Jenna R , Owen Bethan W
Published: February 2025

Chest radiographs (CXRs) are one of the most complicated, yet most frequently performed imaging examinations worldwide, and are susceptible to reporting discrepancies especially in the detection of lung cancer (LC). The use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a decision supporting tool for CXRs has been shown to aid earlier LC detection and reduce reporting discrepancies. Nevertheless, the use of AI within radiology is still in its infancy in terms of clinical implementation. There is a need for more pragmatic evidence to enhance key stakeholders’ perceptions and understating of AI within clinical practice. Most AI studies focus on comparing sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy against a re-review of pre-selected images by radiologists, often paired with complex technical data and statistical analyses. Improved understanding and awareness of AI capabilities whilst learning from AI discrepancies could help optimise human–AI interactions and acceptance within clinical practice whilst informing future research. The aim of this educational review is to provide a visual portrayal of real-world examples of missed LC cases from within a retrospective AI study, explore image quality impact on AI performance, whilst highlighting cases of AI discrepancies.
Rethinking welfare-to-work programmes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons from CalWORKs in the United States
Authors: Chang Yu-Ling , Keh MinJee , Salazar Kimberly
Published: February 2025

Social policy scholars have raised concerns about the effectiveness and responsiveness of welfare-to-work (WTW) programmes in addressing poverty and economic hardship in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This article investigates how California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by analysing how its rules and practices have evolved, the values or principles underpinning these changes, and the overall programme performance over time. Using a modified mixed-method research design with secondary data, we analyse up-to-date administrative data and documentations to study programme changes. Our findings highlight a contrasting programme dynamic: limited accessibility for potential clients but enhanced flexibility for current participants. Our findings also reveal a loosened welfare-work nexus in CalWORKs, demonstrated by a shift from a rigid work-first, compliance-oriented model to a more adaptive and responsive model to address diverse family needs. We argue that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated the challenges of the neoliberal, work-first-oriented WTW programmes, presenting a pivotal opportunity to reimagine and reform WTW programmes to enhance the well-being of low-income families in the post-pandemic era.
Yes-associated protein (YAP) plays oncogenic roles in human sporadic colorectal adenomas
Authors: Fan Lei , Guo Xinyi , Washington Mary K , Shi Jiajun , Ness Reid M , Liu Qi , Wen Wanqing , Huang Shuya , Liu Xiao , Cai Qiuyin , Zheng Wei , Coffey Robert J , Shrubsole Martha J , Su Timothy
Published: February 2025

The role of Hippo-YAP in human colorectal cancer (CRC) presents contradictory results. We examined the function of YAP in the early stages of CRC by quantitatively measuring the expression of phospho-YAPS127 (p-YAP) and five APC-related proteins in 145 sporadic adenomas from the Tennessee Colorectal Polyp Study, conducting APC sequencing for 114 adenomas, and analyzing YAP-correlated cancer pathways using gene expression data from 326 adenomas obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus. The p-YAP expression was significantly correlated with YAP expression (r=0.53, P<0.0001) and nuclear β-catenin (r=0.26, P=0.0018) in adenoma tissues. Both p-YAP and nuclear β-catenin were associated with APC mutations (P=0.05). A strong association was observed between p-YAP overexpression and advanced adenoma odds (OR=12.62, 95% CI=4.57-34.86, P trend<0.001), which persisted after adjusting for covariates and biomarkers (OR=12.31, 95% CI=3.78-40.10, P trend<0.0001). P-YAP exhibited a sensitivity of 77.4% and specificity of 78.2% in defining advanced vs. non-advanced adenomas. Additionally, synergistic interaction was noted between p-YAP positivity and nuclear β-catenin on advanced adenomas (OR=16.82, 95% CI=4.41-64.08, P<0.0001). YAP-correlated genes were significantly enriched in autophagy, unfolded protein response, and sirtuin pathways showing predominantly pro-tumorigenic alterations. Collectively, YAP plays an oncogenic role in interacting with Wnt as well as other cancer pathways within human sporadic adenomas. P-YAP could be a potential biomarker for human high-risk sporadic adenomas.
Socioeconomic status and its association with outcome in patients with Cushing’s disease
Authors: Bengtsson Daniel , Järås Jacob , Burman Pia , Wahlberg Jeanette , Ragnarsson Oskar
Published: February 2025

Objective

Cushing’s disease (CD) is associated with severely impaired quality of life and shortened life expectancy. Little is known about the socioeconomic consequences of CD and their impact on long-term outcome.

Methods

This was a nationwide study including 371 patients with CD (76% women), diagnosed between 1991 and 2018, and four matched controls per patient from the background population. Clinical data were retrieved from the national Swedish pituitary register and socioeconomic data were collected from national Swedish registers from up to 20 years before and up to 20 years after diagnosis.

Results

The proportion of patients receiving disability pensions was increased, starting 6 years before diagnosis, and increased further thereafter, mainly due to mental and musculoskeletal disorders, to reach around 20-25% during long-term follow-up. Low educational level in patients with CD was associated with lower rates of employment and increased mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 2.5, 95% CI 1.1-5.4).

Conclusions

CD is associated with low socioeconomic status that is already noticeable 6 years before diagnosis and remains high during follow-up. Low socioeconomic status, in particular low educational level, is associated with adverse outcome. The findings indicate a need for pro-active rehabilitation plans as part of standard management.
Bayesian Full Waveform Inversion of Surface Waves with Annealed Stein Variational Gradient Descent
Authors: Berti Sean , Ravasi Matteo , Aleardi Mattia , Stucchi Eusebio
Published: February 2025

Elastic full-waveform inversion has recently been utilized to estimate the physical properties of the upper tens of meters of the subsurface, leveraging its capability to exploit the complete information contained in recorded seismograms. However, due to the non-linear and ill-posed nature of the problem, standard approaches typically require an optimal starting model to avoid producing non-physical solutions. Additionally, conventional optimization methods lack a robust uncertainty quantification, which is essential for subsequent informed decision-making.

Bayesian inference offers a framework for estimating the posterior probability density function through the application of Bayes’ theorem. Methods based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo processes use multiple sample chains to quantify and characterize the uncertainty of the solution.

However, despite their ability to theoretically handle any form of distribution, these methods are computationally expensive, limiting their usage in large-scale problems with computationally expensive forward modelings, as in the case of full-waveform inversion. Variational Inference provides an alternative approach to estimating the posterior distribution through a parametric or non-parametric proposal distribution. Among this class of methods, Stein Variational Gradient Descent stands out for its ability to iteratively refine a set of samples, usually referred to as particles, to approximate the target distribution through an optimization process. However, mode and variance-collapse issues affect this approach when applied to high-dimensional inverse problems.

To address these challenges, in this work we propose to utilize an annealed variant of the Stein Variational Gradient Descent algorithm and apply this method to solve the elastic full-waveform inversion of surface waves. We validate our proposed approach with a synthetic test, where the velocity model is characterized by significant lateral and vertical velocity variations. Then, we invert a field dataset from the InterPACIFIC project, proving that our method is robust against cycle-skipping issues and can provide reasonable uncertainty estimations with a limited computational cost.
Genomic origin of Citrus reticulata “Unshiu”
Authors: Liu Shengjun , Wang Luoyun , Zhang Xiang , Sun Lifang , Ke Fuzhi , Huang Yue , Song Lizhi , Ye Haiping , Xu Jianguo , Xu Yuantao , Wang Xia , Deng Xiuxin , Liu Gaoping , Xu Qiang
Published: February 2025

Satsuma mandarin (Citrus reticulata “Unshiu”) is a global cultivar with superior fruit characteristics and ranking among the top citrus cultivars in terms of production. It is also a key contributor to citrus breeding. However, the lack of high-quality genome makes the origin of Satsuma mandarin has long been a matter of debate. Here, we assembled a gap-free, high-quality genome of Satsuma mandarin. Meanwhile, we collected and sequenced 15 indigenous citrus varieties in Zhejiang Province, 12 Satsuma mandarins, 21 citrus hybrids related to Satsuma mandarin, 10 modern citrus varieties and 7 other mandarins. Through high-resolution genome analysis we inferred that Satsuma originated from a cross between C. reticulata “Ruju” × C. reticulata “Bendiguang” and proposed that Satsuma mandarin most probably originated in East area in Zhejiang Province of China, where the two parents-like cultivars are still found in a sympatric region to date. These results provide new insights into the origin model of Satsuma mandarin. The spread of mandarin is also discussed which probably associated with the culture exchange and trade activities between Japan and China from Tang Dynasty and afterwards.
Equalization current compensation control strategy for lithium-ion battery
Authors: Mao Yuexuan , Zhu Qingxiao , Fang Xuekao , Paul Williams
Published: February 2025

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in renewable energy storage applications, and battery equalization technology plays an important role in the safe operation of lithium-ion batteries. In this paper, on the basis of the current equalization strategy, when using the battery voltage to judge the end of equalization, the equalization current compensation is added to ensure that the battery is in the same state, and its voltage difference can better reflect the difference of state of charge, to achieve better equalization performance. The proposed strategy is verified by four sets of experiments to have a good application prospect.
Defining the tick-borne disease occupational risk among 4 high-risk vocations in South Carolina
Authors: Gual-Gonzalez Lídia , Abiodun Titilayomi , Nolan Melissa S
Published: February 2025

Tick-borne diseases account for 75% of all vector-borne disease cases in the United States of America. The increase in incidence has been linked with increased exposure among outdoor workers, thus becoming occupational hazards. This brief study aimed to identify the potential occupational exposures among 4 vocational groups in South Carolina (SC) using a knowledge, attitudes, and practices questionnaire survey. A total of 176 individuals responded to the survey, across SC State Parks, SC Department of Natural Resources, SC Forestry Commission, and SC animal shelter and veterinary office employees. Veterinary-related employees had the lowest exposure risk, while forestry employees were the group with highest risk. The findings yielded discrepancies in perceived risk and preventive measures adopted; identifying a potential opportunity to develop an education and training program tailored to outdoor worker populations to maintain low tick bite exposures.
Model determination for high-dimensional longitudinal data with missing observations: an application to microfinance data
Authors: Rüter Lotta , Schienle Melanie
Published: February 2025

We propose an adaption of the multiple imputation random lasso procedure tailored to longitudinal data with unobserved fixed effects which provides robust variable selection in the presence of complex missingness, high-dimensionality, and multicollinearity. We apply it to identify social and financial success factors of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in a data-driven way from a comprehensive, balanced, and global panel with 136 characteristics for 213 MFIs over a 6-year period. We discover the importance of staff structure for MFI success and find that profitability is the most important determinant of financial success. Our results indicate that financial sustainability and breadth of outreach can be increased simultaneously while the relationship with depth of outreach is more mixed.
Properties of black hole-star binaries formed in N-body simulations of massive star clusters: implications for Gaia black holes
Authors: Fantoccoli Federico , Barber Jordan , Dosopoulou Fani , Chattopadhyay Debatri , Antonini Fabio
Published: February 2025

We investigate black hole-star binaries formed in N-body simulations of massive, dense star clusters. We simulate 32 clusters with varying initial masses ($10^{4}~\mathrm{{\rm M}_{\odot }}$ to $10^{6}~\mathrm{{\rm M}_{\odot }}$), densities ($1200~\mathrm{{\rm M}_{\odot }pc^{-3}}$ to $10^{5}~\mathrm{{\rm M}_{\odot }~pc^{-3}}$), and metallicities (Z = 0.01, 0.001, 0.0001). Our results reveal that star clusters produce a diverse range of BH-star binaries, with dynamical interactions leading to extreme systems characterised by large orbital separations and high black hole masses. Of the ejected BH-main sequence (BH-MS) binaries, 20  per cent form dynamically, while the rest originate from the primordial binary population initially present in the cluster. Ejected BH-MS binaries that are dynamically formed have more massive black holes, lower-mass stellar companions, and over half are in a hierarchical triple system. All unbound BH-giant star (BH-GS) binaries were ejected as BH-MS binaries and evolved into the BH-GS phase outside the cluster. Due to their lower-mass companions, most dynamically formed binaries do not evolve into BH-GS systems within a Hubble time. Consequently, only 2 of the 35 ejected BH-GS binaries are dynamically formed. We explore the formation pathways of Gaia-like systems, identifying two Gaia BH1-like binaries that formed through dynamical interactions, and two Gaia BH2-like systems with a primordial origin. We did not find any system resembling Gaia BH3, which may however be attributed to the limited sample size of our simulations.
E-cigarette use initiation by sexual identity change and stability among US adults
Authors: Lee Juhan , Harlow Alyssa F
Published: February 2025

Introduction

Incorporating sexual identity fluidity and stability into the understanding of tobacco use patterns by sexual minority populations is particularly important, but less is known about how changes and stability in sexual identity relate to e-cigarette initiation.

Methods

Using three waves of the United States (US) Population Assessment of Tobacco Health (PATH) Study (Waves 4-6 [2016-2021]), we examined the association of sexual identity change and stability with e-cigarette initiation among adults who never vaped at Wave 4 (N=11,554). Changes in sexual identity were defined based on identity at Waves 4-6: (1) Consistently heterosexual; (2) Consistently Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or something else (LGB+); (3) Heterosexual at Wave 4 and LGB+ at Wave 6; (4) All other identity changes. The outcome was ever e-cigarette use at Wave 6.

Results

Among adults who never vaped at Wave 4, N=1,022 (4.0%, weighted) initiated e-cigarettes by Wave 6. Overall, N=10,166 (93.1%) reported consistently heterosexual identities, N=513 (2.7%) consistently LGB+, N=316 (1.8%) reported heterosexual identity at Wave 4 and LGB+ identity at Wave 6, and N=298 (2.4%) reported all other identities. Among adults who never used e-cigarettes at Wave 4, those who reported heterosexual at Wave 4 and LGB+ identity at Wave 6 (vs. those who reported consistently heterosexual identity) were more likely to report e-cigarette initiation at Wave 6 (aOR=1.78, 95% CI=1.05, 3.01), after adjusting for covariates.

Conclusions

This study found an increased risk of e-cigarette use initiation and continued use among US adults who changed their self-reported sexual identity from heterosexual identity to LGB+ identity.

Implications

This study found an increased risk of e-cigarette use initiation and continued use among US adults who changed their self-reported sexual identity from heterosexual identity to LGB+ identity. Findings may inform the development of tailored interventions and clinical practices, capitalizing on the coming out phase as a teaching moment to communicate the potentially harmful effects of e-cigarette use among sexual minority individuals.
How to Make a Prison Music Video If You’ve Never Been to Prison
Authors: Austin Michael L.
Published: February 2025

This chapter deals with the romanticization and fetishization of prison life and representations of the incarcerated in music videos from both a “mainstream” and a prisoner’s point of view. I discuss various representations of jail, prison, and the carceral state in music videos, especially the ways in which prison is represented as a fun playground, and as a place where sexual fantasies can be explored, where queer identities can be expressed more fully, and where gender roles can be flipped or subverted. This chapter also includes a discussion of music videos by those who have claimed “street cred” by making prison-themed music videos, despite not having spent much time in prison, and prison videos made by those who have spent time behind bars as a warning to those who may find themselves there in the future. I also investigate the ethical implications of including actual prisoners in music videos. Further, this chapter discusses “copaganda” and the ways in which the carceral state uses music videos to promote more positive views of the police at a time of increasing scrutiny and mistrust.
National parliament: formation of the standard and its variations
Authors: Alasuutari Pertti
Published: February 2025

This chapter connects the shaping of national parliaments to the creation of the organizational structure of world society, with nominally sovereign nation-states as its component parts. In the construction of this institutional architecture, the association between a state and a parliament becomes so strong that the claim of sovereignty and membership in the international community practically presupposes the existence of a national parliament. This chapter emphasizes the travel of ideas in the formation of legislatures, coupled with the way powerful colonial empires imposed an international order with nation-states as the self-evident component parts. The variation among world parliaments, brought about particularly by colonial world history, is also discussed.
Global consultancy of parliaments and parliamentarism
Authors: Alasuutari Pertti
Published: February 2025

The chapter discusses processes that have led to growing isomorphism among national legislatures. The establishing of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1889 contributed to spreading and standardizing the idea of parliament as a model to organize governance both in national and transnational contexts. The IPU itself also became a model emulated by others, so that a growing number of regional or task-specific interparliamentary associations and interparliamentary organs of IGOs were established worldwide. Especially from the mid-1960s onward, the IPU also began to address “imperfections” of national parliaments, paving the way to an explosion of organizations that give recommendations and publish manuals on parliamentary procedures or in other ways engage in “democracy promotion” that equates parliaments and democracy.
National parliament and the worldwide institutionalization of politics
Authors: Alasuutari Pertti
Published: February 2025

This chapter argues that the formation of remarkably isomorphic national legislatures in each UN member state has not only homogenized the ritualized forms by which laws are passed and regimes are legitimated in national states; as a specific cultural form, national parliament has also extended its influence outside the parliamentary buildings: it has formed a surrounding political field comprising professions, organizations, and forms of knowledge employed in debate and governance. The chapter shows how rituals and invariant practices figure in parliamentary practices. To illustrate the institutionalization of politics, it then discusses the formation of three groups of actors within and around national legislatures: political parties and ideologies; the parliamentary staff, experts, and stakeholders; and lobbyists, think tanks, and international organizations.
The Evidence for Innate Intersubjectivity
Authors: Bradley Benjamin S.
Published: February 2025

The observations and experiments on infant–adult interaction most often held to prove a capacity for intersubjectivity as manifest in early infancy have traditionally attracted three interpretations: as evidence for babies’ ability to read and respond to others’ mental states when in dyadic conversation (Trevarthen’s argument); as demonstrating that young infants’ interest in adults’ ‘mirroring’ behaviour has a narcissistic form (Winnicott’s argument); and as an illusion created by adults’ conversational expertise (some learning theories). This chapter re-examines the pros and cons of each interpretation, stressing the need for symmetry in producing genuine intersubjectivity and the degree to which it is compromised in recordings of infant–adult interaction. A more propitious setting for showing whether infants manifest intersubjectivity is, therefore, the observation of symmetrical all-infant groups. Experiments and observations of young babies in groups now prove that early intersubjectivity exists in a supradyadic ‘group’ form—not (just) a dyadic form, as Trevarthen first proposed.
The Psychology of Prenatal Research
Authors: Reissland Nadja
Published: February 2025

The chapter discusses the use of behavioural profiles to evidence neurocognitive development. It argues that this is an important tool to investigate non-invasively developmental trajectories. The problem identified by Trevarthen many years ago relates to the tools that are objective and well defined so that they can be used by researchers across the world and allow comparisons of findings from different laboratories. Hence the chapter then queries the future of prenatal behavioural observational research and if it will lie in testing objective measurement systems, which could be indicative of foetal ill health specifically and child development generally.
The Psychobiologist Who Taught Musicians How to Sing
Authors: Osborne Nigel
Published: February 2025

This chapter introduces the theory of communicative musicality in regard to Colwyn Trevarthen. It explains that the theory is vital for the human experience of music, and the support, insights, and methodologies it offers to music education, technology, and informatics. The psychobiological and intersubjective models in the emerging theory of communicative musicality became critical for the development of Music in Community interventions to support children in zones of conflict and post-conflict. The chapter then looks into several case studies primarily concerning communicative musicality and Covid-19. It explains that the experiences of listening to music online embrace a certain kind of intersubjectivity and indeed several aspects of communicative musicality.
Play, Tickling, and Companionship
Authors: Negayama Koichi , Nakano Shigeru
Published: February 2025

Parents make their children laugh by creating playful interactions with them not as caregivers but as playmates. By observing this type of companionship, we know that infants also try to make their parents laugh. However, traditional studies on parent–child relations, especially attachment studies, have focused on a ‘vertical’ relationship that seeks to secure protection, and the playful parent–infant ‘horizontal’ relationship has been ignored. This chapter sheds light on the playful aspects of parent–infant interactions and their functions by focusing on infant humour and tickling play. Tickling is a special tactile communication which produces ticklishness in the recipient. Tickling play occurs after the middle of the first year. Ticklishness cannot be produced by self-stimulation, and therefore is connected to self–other differentiation. Touch is a significant source of intersubjectivity, and joyful ticklishness is obtained by an intimate person’s tickling. Mother–infant tickling is a proto-triadic interaction, with the infant’s specific body part as a target of joint attention.
The Music of Intersubjective Interaction
Authors: Gallagher Shaun
Published: February 2025

This chapter starts by briefly mapping out some debates about empathy, including the distinction between basic and higher-order empathy, and various approaches, including simulation, phenomenology, and hermeneutics, that address the distinction. I then suggest that Colwyn Trevarthen’s work on intersubjective interaction, which he characterizes as involving sympathy (an older term than empathy), provides an alternative view of basic empathy, and some important insights that can inform these debates. I conclude by highlighting a question about the role that narrative plays in Trevarthen’s account. I suggest that there is a continuity between basic and higher-order empathy based not on narrative, but on the continuing role of primary intersubjectivity—the music of intersubjective relations—that extends throughout the life span.
The Functional Architecture of Mother–Infant Communication, and the Mirror Neurone System
Authors: Murray Lynne , Ferrari Pier Francesco
Published: February 2025

Since Colwyn’s original description of primary intersubjectivity, research has accumulated demonstrating that early mother–infant exchanges have a highly organized structure that we term a ‘functional architecture’. Thus, mothers use specific responses, such as ‘mirroring’ and ‘positive marking’, in highly selective ways to different infant social and non-social behaviours, with these maternal responses in turn having marked effects on infant social and non-social development. At the neurological level, the organization of the motor system highlights the importance of the body in supporting early forms of social cognition. Research on mirror neurones in human and non-human primate infants shows that this mechanism is fundamental in determining the infant’s capacity to process social information and in supporting early communicative exchanges. The quality of early mother–infant exchanges has a significant impact on the development of the mirror neurone system, thus indicating a close relationship between primary intersubjectivity and neurological mechanisms of action–perception.
Companionship versus Care
Authors: Zeedyk Suzanne
Published: February 2025

The twenty-first century is generating new contexts within which the importance of human companionship can be illuminated. One context is the rise of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Movement, which has gathered international enthusiasm over two decades. This chapter argues that the study of ACEs lacks a robust developmental account and that the current turn toward attachment theory, with its emphasis on care and buffering, will ultimately be insufficient. Instead, the chapter suggests that the emphasis needs to be placed on companionship, locating the origins of childhood trauma within intersubjective processes. Untangling this theoretical tension matters both for the public, whose understanding of childhood trauma has sharpened, and for infancy researchers, whose discoveries of embodied emotionality hold greater societal import than they may themselves realize. It is hoped that, in the process, the name of Colwyn Trevarthen, one of most influential scientists leading those discoveries, might gain the public esteem his legacy deserves.
Change the Child or Change the System?
Authors: Dunlop Aline-Wendy
Published: February 2025

The term ‘transitions’ has different meanings in different disciplines. There is a growing field of research into early childhood transitions which variously focuses on child development, continuity, discontinuity, play, curriculum, teaching and learning, wellbeing, attainment, relationships, and friendships (Dunlop, 2018). Insights from disciplines beyond education suggest transitions are much more than adapting to external events, but rather may refer to or include internal transformations. Through insights gained in my studies of transitions and in honour of the continuing debates Colwyn and I have about ways of defining transitions, this chapter uses my adaptation of the mature version of Bronfenbrenner’s ecology of human development (Bronfenbrenner and Evans, 2000; Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 1998; Tudge et al., 2016) to unravel the ways in which agency, companionship, and collaboration influence shifts in children’s identities, wellbeing, and engagement with learning during educational transitions. A focus is made on each of person, process, and context as they change over time. The chapter elaborates Bronfenbrenner’s case that transitions are both developmental in nature and developmentally instigating. The chapter concludes by recognizing that systems are usually different either side of any transition and, whenever this is the case, they ought to be capable of meeting every child as a person who shows different individual attributes along their developmental journey. Embracing individual difference means systems must change and recognize each child’s capacity for change.