bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Factors influencing climate change adaptation strategies in North-Western Ghana: evidence of farmers in the Black Volta Basin in Upper West region
Authors: Mwinkom Francis X. K. , Damnyag Lawrence , Abugre Simon , Alhassan Suhiyini I. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe erratic rainfall patterns and decline in crop production are due to the threat of climate change. The responses of farm households to climate change play a very essential role in addressing the risk of climate change. This study investigated factors influencing adaptation strategies to climate change in the Black Volta Basin of Ghana. Survey questions were administered to 450 households sampled from eight districts using a multistage sampling technique. Out of the six adaptation strategies, four major identified adaptation strategies were subsequently used as the dependent variable in the multivariate (MV) probit and binary logit models. The results revealed that factors such as gender, age, household size, farmer-based-organizations membership, farm income, years of education, districts of location of respondents, farm size and climate change awareness—statistically and significantly—influenced households’ adaptation to the changing climate. However, the positive correlation matrix from the MV probit model showed complementarities among all the adaptation strategies adopted by household heads. Priority should be given to improving household heads’ adaptive capacity. Also, governmental and non-governmental organizations should invest in climate-resilient programmes. Finally, programmes aimed at sensitizing household heads on climate change adaptation strategies such as changing planting time, changing farming methods, and planting early maturing and drought-resistant varieties through pieces of trainings and workshops may be duly supported by the Government; particularly, for household heads in the Black Volta Basin.
Climate change/variability and hydrological modelling studies in Zimbabwe: a review of progress and knowledge gaps
Authors: Maviza Auther , Ahmed Fethi 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis paper reviews developments in climate science and hydrological modelling studies in Zimbabwe over the past 29 years in an effort to expose knowledge gaps within this research domain. We initially give a global and regional overview and then follow a systematic thematic approach in reviewing specifically online published, peer-reviewed journal articles on climate change/variability and hydrological modelling in Zimbabwe. The state and progress towards advanced integrated climate and hydrological modelling research are assessed, tracking benchmarks in the research methodologies (tools and techniques) used therein including geographic information systems and remote sensing. We present descriptive summaries of key findings, highlighting the main study themes (categories) and general conclusions arising from these studies while examining their implications for future climate and hydrological modelling research in Zimbabwe. Challenges associated with climate and hydrological modelling research in Zimbabwe are also briefly discussed and the main knowledge gaps in terms of research scope and methodologies employed in the reviewed studies also exposed. We conclude by presenting plausible potential areas of focus in updating and advancing scientific knowledge to better understand the climate-land use-hydrology nexus in Zimbabwe. While this paper is primarily relevant for researchers, the general findings are also important for policy-makers since it exposes potential areas for policy intervention or agenda setting in as far as climate and hydrology science research is concerned so as to effectively address pertinent questions in this domain in Zimbabwe.
Effect of fuels, aromatics and preparation methods on seal swell
Authors: Anuar A. , Undavalli V.K. , Khandelwal B. , Blakey S. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractNew alternative jet fuels have provided many advantages in the aviation industry, especially in terms of economics and environment. However, fuel–seal compatibility is one of the major issues that restricts alternative fuel advancement into the market. Thus, to help understand and solve the problem, this study examines the swelling effect of prepared and non-prepared O-rings in different fuels and aromatic species. Stress relaxation experiments were carried out to evaluate seal compatibility under compression, which mimics engine operation conditions. Seals were compressed and immersed in a variety of fuels and their blends for about 90h while maintaining a constant temperature 30°C and constant compression force of 25% seal thickness. The two types of elastomers investigated were fluorosilicone and nitrile O-rings, which are predominantly used in the aviation industry. Meanwhile, three different fuels and aromatic species were utilised as the variables in the experiments. The fuels used were Jet-A1, SPK and SHJFCS, while the aromatic species added were propyl benzene, tetralin and p-xylene. The swelling effects were determined from the P/Po value. Results indicate that Jet-A1 has the highest swelling effect, followed by SHJFCS and SPK. It was observed that the higher the percentage of aromatics in fuel, the higher the rate of swelling. Furthermore, prepared seals had a lower swelling rate than did non-prepared seals. Meanwhile, the intensity of the swelling effect in the Jet-A1-SHJFCS blends was in the order of 60/40, 85/15 and 50/50 blend. The work done in this study will aid in the selection of suitable aromatic species in future fuels. The novelty of this research lies in the determination of the appropriate amount of aromatic content as well as the selection of type of aromatic and its mixture fuel. Moreover, the various proportions of fuel blends with aromatic are investigated. The primary aim of this study is to understand the behaviour of prepared and non-prepared seals, and their compatibility with alternative fuels.
The Moral Philosophy of Maria Montessori
Authors: FRIERSON PATRICK 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis paper lays out the moral theory of philosopher and educator Maria Montessori (1870–1952). Based on a moral epistemology wherein moral concepts are grounded in a well-cultivated moral sense, Montessori develops a threefold account of moral life. She starts with an account of character as an ideal of individual self-perfection through concentrated attention on effortful work. She shows how respect for others grows from and supplements individual character, and she further develops a notion of social solidarity that goes beyond cooperation toward shared agency. Partly because she attends to children's ethical lives, Montessori highlights how character, respect, and solidarity all appear first as prereflective, embodied orientations of agency. Full moral virtue takes up prereflective orientations reflectively and extends them through moral concepts. Overall, Montessori's ethic improves on features similar to some in Nietzschean, Kantian, Hegelian, or Aristotelian ethical theories while situating these within a developmental and perfectionist ethics.
OPTIMAL REINSURANCE FROM THE VIEWPOINTS OF BOTH AN INSURER AND A REINSURER UNDER THE CVAR RISK MEASURE AND VAJDA CONDITION
Authors: Chen Yanhong 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we study the optimal reinsurance contracts that minimize the convex combination of the Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) of the insurer’s loss and the reinsurer’s loss over the class of ceded loss functions such that the retained loss function is increasing and the ceded loss function satisfies Vajda condition. Among a general class of reinsurance premium principles that satisfy the properties of risk loading and convex order preserving, the optimal solutions are obtained. Our results show that the optimal ceded loss functions are in the form of five interconnected segments for general reinsurance premium principles, and they can be further simplified to four interconnected segments if more properties are added to reinsurance premium principles. Finally, we derive optimal parameters for the expected value premium principle and give a numerical study to analyze the impact of the weighting factor on the optimal reinsurance.
Losers together? Grand coalitions in the EU member states
Authors: Morini Marco , Loveless Matthew 
Published: April 2021

AbstractOver the last two decades, the formation of grand coalitions has grown in the European Union (EU), even in countries with no previous political experience with them. Alongside a significant rise in both new and radical parties, grand coalitions signal the increasing fragmentation of contemporary European politics. We, therefore, investigate the electoral performance of both mainstream and new parties entering and leaving grand coalitions. We find that mainstream parties do not appear to enter grand coalitions after negative election results. They are, however, punished in the following elections, albeit not as heavily as previous findings have shown. This post-grand coalition electoral penalty is true for both major and minor grand coalition members. These findings contribute to the literature on party competition and provide insights into the choices mainstream parties' have been making in response to recent and rapid changes in the electoral landscape of the EU.
Job resources and employees' intention to stay: the mediating role of meaningful work and work engagement
Authors: Sánchez-Cardona Israel , Vera María , Marrero-Centeno Jesús 
Published: April 2021

AbstractBased on the Job Demands Resources Model (JD-R), this study investigates the mediating role of meaningful work and work engagement in the association between job resources and employees' intention to stay. A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey of 217 employees from different organizations in Puerto Rico. We examined a serial mediation analysis through structural equation modeling. The results indicate that job resources are positively related to meaningful work, while meaningful work is positively associated with work engagement. Further, job resources are indirectly associated with the intention to stay through meaningful work and work engagement. This study contributes to understanding the role of meaningful work and engagement in the JD-R model's motivational-driven process and how these mechanisms promote positive work outcomes in terms of the retention of human capital. Designing jobs and strategies at the workplace to develop meaning and engagement seems crucial to retain employees.
A Preliminary Study of Students With Disabilities in ‘Flexi’ Education Settings
Authors: Thomas Jeff , Rayner Christopher 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Flexible learning programs (FLPs) provide a place for students who have disengaged and disconnected from mainstream schools. Despite the legislative framework in Australia supporting the participation of students with disability in their local mainstream schools wherever possible, very little research focusing on whether students with disability are being excluded from, or dropping out of, mainstream schools into these FLPs has been conducted. In this paper, we report on the findings of an online cross-sectional survey of FLP leaders about their student populations, with a focus on the 10 most prevalent disabilities among Australian children. Data from the 22 participants who completed all items of the survey were analysed. The participants’ (n = 22) schools represented a total enrolment of 2,383 students in FLPs across Australia: Tasmania (n = 3), Victoria (n = 5), New South Wales (n = 5), Queensland (n = 4), Western Australia (n = 3), and South Australia (n = 2). We found that while there was an apparent overrepresentation of students with certain types of disabilities in FLPs, others were not overrepresented at all. The findings of this preliminary study are discussed, with an exploration of issues relating to why students with some disabilities may be more likely to disengage, or be excluded, from mainstream schooling while others are not, as well as recommendations for future research.
ON ASYMPTOTIC BASES WHICH HAVE DISTINCT SUBSET SUMS
Authors: KISS SÁNDOR Z. , NGUYEN VINH HUNG 
Published: April 2021

AbstractLet k and l be positive integers satisfying
$k \ge 2, l \ge 1$
. A set

$\mathcal {A}$
of positive integers is an asymptotic basis of order k if every large enough positive integer can be represented as the sum of k terms from

$\mathcal {A}$
. About 35 years ago, P. Erdős asked: does there exist an asymptotic basis of order k where all the subset sums with at most l terms are pairwise distinct with the exception of a finite number of cases as long as

$l \le k - 1$
? We use probabilistic tools to prove the existence of an asymptotic basis of order

$2k+1$
for which all the sums of at most k elements are pairwise distinct except for ‘small’ numbers.
Every zircon deserves a date: selection bias in detrital geochronology
Authors: Dröllner Maximilian , Barham Milo , Kirkland Christopher L. , Ware Bryant 
Published: April 2021

AbstractDetrital zircon geochronology can help address stratigraphic- to lithospheric-scale geological questions. The approach is reliant on statistically robust, representative age distributions that fingerprint source areas. However, there is a range of biases that may influence any detrital age signature. Despite being a fundamental and controllable source of bias, handpicking of zircon grains has received surprisingly little attention. Here, we show statistically significant differences in age distributions between bulk-mounted and handpicked fractions from an unconsolidated heavy mineral sand deposit. Although there is no significant size difference between bulk-mounted and handpicked grains, there are significant differences in their aspect ratio, circularity and colour, which indicate inadvertent preferential visual selection of euhedral and coloured zircon grains. Grain colour comparisons between dated and bulk zircon fractions help quantify bias. Bulk-mounting is the preferred method to avoid human-induced selection bias in detrital zircon geochronology.
Systemic Risk and Collateral Adequacy: Evidence from the Futures Market
Authors: Raykov Radoslav 
Published: April 2021

AbstractConventional collateral requirements for derivatives are conservative, but not explicitly designed to buffer systemic risk. I explore collateral adequacy against systemic risk in the Canadian futures market during the 2008 crisis. I find that conventional collateral levels adequately absorb systemic risk, even allowing for an implausibly high level of stress, and that systemic risk spillovers do not exceed the effect of an approximately 1% downward stock price move. I also document that the largest systemic risk contributors are buffered relatively less than the rest, and that there is a large cross-country difference in the behavior of U.S. and Canadian institutions.
Social Capital, Trusting, and Trustworthiness: Evidence from Peer-to-Peer Lending
Authors: Hasan Iftekhar , He Qing , Lu Haitian 
Published: April 2021

AbstractHow does social capital affect trust? Evidence from a Chinese peer-to-peer lending platform shows that regional social capital affects the trustee’s trustworthiness and the trustor’s trust propensity. Ceteris paribus, borrowers from regions with higher social capital receive larger bids from individual lenders and have higher funding success, larger loan sizes, and lower default rates, especially for low-quality borrowers. Lenders from regions with higher social capital take higher risks and have higher default rates, especially for inexperienced lenders. Cross-regional transactions are most (least) likely to be realized between parties from regions with high (low) social capital.
Trophic niches and diet shifts of juvenile mullet species coexisting in marine and estuarine habitats
Authors: Vollrath Sabrina Radunz , Possamai Bianca , Schneck Fabiana , Hoeinghaus David Joseph , Albertoni Edélti Faria , Garcia Alexandre Miranda 
Published: April 2021

AbstractFood partitioning among coexisting species is often considered advantageous to minimize niche overlap and avoid inter-specific competition. Congeneric fish species such as the mullets Mugil curema and Mugil liza, which co-occur across marine and estuarine habitats, are good models to evaluate resource use and niche overlap or partitioning. We used stomach contents (SCA) and stable isotope analysis (SIA) to assess potential trophic shifts and changes in niche overlap associated with the mullets transitioning from marine to estuarine habitats. SIA included different fractions of organic matter in suspension and in the sediment to estimate the contribution of micro, nano and pico-organisms to the mullets’ diets. We hypothesized higher resource partitioning in the less resource-diverse system (marine surf-zone) than in the more diverse one (estuary). SCA showed diet differences between M. curema and M. liza according to the habitat. They showed distinct diets in the marine area (P < 0.001), but similar diets in the estuary (P = 0.226). A lower niche breadth was observed for both species in the marine area (M. curema = 0.03, M. liza = 0.06) compared with the estuary (M. curema = 0.14, M. liza = 0.16). Isotopic niches of both species were higher in the estuary (64.7%) compared with the marine area (0.7%). These findings corroborated our hypothesis of higher food partitioning in the marine surf-zone. We also demonstrated using SIA the shift from planktonic to benthic feeding following the recruitment of the mullets from the surf-zone into the estuary.
The Trans-Asian Pathways of ‘Oriental Products’: Navigating the prohibition of narcotics between Turkey, China, and Japan, 1918–1938
Authors: MACARTHUR-SEAL DANIEL-JOSEPH 
Published: April 2021

AbstractPatterns of opium production and distribution shifted immensely over the course of the twentieth century, with output falling by three-quarters, almost nine-tenths of which now takes place in Afghanistan. Supporters of drug prohibition trumpet the success of this long-term decline and hail the withdrawal of the four largest opium producers—India, China, Iran, and the Ottoman empire—from the non-medical market, but this seemingly linear trend conceals numerous deviations of historic significance. Among the most notable and little known is Turkey's prolonged resistance to international restrictions on the narcotics trade and the efforts of state and non-state networks to substitute Turkish opium for the diminishing supply of once-dominant Indian exports to a still opium-hungry China in the first half of the twentieth century. This article uses neglected League of Nations and Turkish government sources alongside international newspapers and diplomatic reports to demonstrate the extent of connections forged by state and non-state actors between Turkey and East Asia, expanding on recent research on trans-Asian connections in commerce and political thought.
Angiostrongylus cantonensisin urban populations of terrestrial gastropods and rats in an impoverished region of Brazil
Authors: Souza Fábio N. , Aguiar Santos Maísa , Almeida Alves Daniele , Cecília Vieira de Melo Leyva , Jessé Gonçalves da Mota Dan , Cristina Pertile Arsinoê , Gava Ricardo , Luiz Silva Pinto Pedro , Eyre Max T. , Graco Zeppelini Caio , Reis Mitermayer G. , Ko Albert I. , Begon Mike , Bahiense Thiago C. , Costa Federico , Carvalho-Pereira Ticiana 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe nematodeAngiostrongylus cantonensisis the most common cause of neuroangiostrongyliasis (manifested as eosinophilic meningitis) in humans. Gastropod molluscs are used as intermediate hosts and rats of various species are definitive hosts of this parasite. In this study, we identified several environmental factors associated with the presence and abundance of terrestrial gastropods in an impoverished urban region in Brazil. We also found that body condition, age and presence of co-infection with other parasite species in urbanRattus norvegicus, as well as environmental factors were associated with the probability and intensity ofA. cantonensisinfection. The study area was also found to have a moderate prevalence of the nematode in rodents (33% of 168 individuals). Eight species of molluscs (577 individuals) were identified, four of which were positive forA. cantonensis.Our study indicates that the environmental conditions of poor urban areas (presence of running and standing water, sewage, humidity and accumulated rain and accumulation of construction materials) influenced both the distribution and abundance of terrestrial gastropods, as well as infected rats, contributing to the maintenance of theA. cantonensistransmission cycle in the area. Besides neuroangiostrongyliasis, the presence of these hosts may also contribute to susceptibility to other zoonoses.
A new subspecies of Trypanosoma cyclops found in the Australian terrestrial leech Chtonobdella bilineata
Authors: Ellis John , Barratt Joel , Kaufer Alexa , Pearn Lauren , Armstrong Brigette , Johnson Michael , Park Yasunori , Downey Lara , Cao Maisie , Neill Levina , Lee Rogan , Ellis Bethany , Tyler Kevin , Lun Zhao-Rong , Stark Damien 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Militant memocracy in International Relations: Mnemonical status anxiety and memory laws in Eastern Europe
Authors: Mälksoo Maria 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis article theorises the nexus between mnemonical status anxiety and militant memory laws. Extending the understanding of status-seeking in international relations to the realm of historical memory, I argue that the quest for mnemonical recognition is a status struggle in an international social hierarchy of remembering constitutive events of the past. A typology of mnemopolitical status-seeking is presented on the example of Russia (mnemonical positionalism), Poland (mnemonical revisionism), and Ukraine (mnemonical self-emancipation). Memory laws provide a common instance of securing and/or improving a state's mnemonical standing in the relevant memory order. Drawing on the conceptual analogy of militant democracy, the article develops the notionmilitant memocracy, or the governance of historical memory through a dense network of prescribing and proscribing memory laws and policies. Similar to its militant democracy counterpart, militant memocracy is in danger of self-inflicted harm to the object of defence in the very effort to defend it: its precautionary and punitive measures resound rather than fix the state's mnemonical anxiety problem.
Reappraising the Chinese School of International Relations: A postcolonial perspective
Authors: Hwang Yih-Jye 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis article aims to revisit the enterprise of the Chinese School (CS) of IR and discuss how it should be viewed and handled in the discipline, specifically from within the analytical framework of the power/resistance nexus put forward by Foucault, Bhabha, and Spivak. The argument of this article is twofold. Firstly, the CS attempts to reinvigorate traditional Chinese concepts (that is, humane authority, the Tianxia system, and relationality), which mimick Western mainstream IR. These concepts channel the CS into a realist notion of power, a liberal logic of cosmopolitanism, and a constructivist idea of relationality. Thus, the CS uses against the West concepts and themes that the West currently use against the non-Western world. Nevertheless, as the second part of the argument will demonstrate, the enterprise of the CS can still be justified because it can be regarded as a reverse discourse; mimicking yet altering the original meanings of the taken-for-granted concepts, ideas, and principles used by mainstream IR scholars. Moreover, with the judicious use of strategic essentialism, the CS can potentially be one local group in a wider effort to contest diffused and decentred forms of Western domination through linking various struggles to form a unified ‘counter-hegemonic bloc’ of post-Western IR in the discipline.