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Over the past decades, 'emergency politics' has become a quasi-permanent feature of the European Union (EU). According to some, this has reinforced the trend towards a greater role for the European Council (EUCO) in EU agenda-setting, to the detriment of the European Commission (Commission). In this article, this claim is critically assessed by analysing two major crises: the 2015-2016 migration crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. By systematically tracing the various agenda-setting roles played by EU actors in these crises, two claims are made. First, using a more fine-grained typology of agenda-setting roles, the relationship between EUCO and the Commission is shown to be more nuanced than is often suggested. Second, EUCO and the Commission cannot be considered monolithic players. Instead, actors within these institutions operate outside of formal channels to purse their own policy goals. This puts in doubt the usefulness of focussing on the EUCO-Commission relationship in a purely inter-institutional sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Euthynnus alletteratus, a crucial commercial resource for West African states in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean (ATNE), is of high research priority in the Atlantic Ocean, but its stock assessment is limited. This study aimed to explore the implications of integrating length, catch and abundance indices on the status of ATNE stock using the LIME model. We innovatively developed time series of abundance indices using tuna purse seine catches and efforts obtained from separate ICCAT datasets, alongside length-frequencies. The scenarios (S) S1 (length-only), S2 (length + catch + abundance), S3 (length + catch), and S4 (length + abundance) were considered. We observed that S1–S3 did not converge in LIME, except for S4. The stock's spawning potential ratio and mean length were below the target (SPR< 40%) and 95% maturity length (M95), respectively. By implication, the lack of convergence in S1–S3 portrayed data conflicts, which were mitigated by the abundance index in S4. A mean length above M95 is recommended when evaluating the stock using the length-only option in LIME. The stock was unsustainable, requiring management measures. Integrating the abundance index with length improved the performance of LIME for the stock, which estimate could be replicated for other species' assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Yüzüncü Yil Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi is the property of Van Yuzuncu Yil University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This opinion explores what constitutes a trademark parody in an artistic context and when it crosses the line of trademark infringement in dilution cases which occur beyond the traditional trademark protection from the likelihood of confusion. This is shown by analysing the latest two decisions regarding trademark parody handed down by the German Frankfurt am Main Regional Court in a case in which Hermès has suffered a setback in its attempt to prevent a fashion label from using its iconic Birkin handbag at the Berlin fashion show in 2023. While parody is considered a protected form of speech or artistic expression, no clear-cut legal rule separates a legitimate parody from an infringing use, in particular in cases of so-called mixed expressions where the reference to the protected trademark is not closely tied to commercial use but still happens outside of a purely artistic context. Compared to the statutory copyright's flexible fair use defence, there is simply too little case law available to draw on in trademark dilution law. The few rigid defences German courts have cobbled together in trademark cases illustrate that trademark could benefit from a clearer identification of use categories. The following analysis of these decisions aims at highlighting that urgent trademark reforms are necessary in the area of art-related fair use defences. Furthermore, the following analysis will illustrate how big corporations like Hermès can fail when attempting to use trademark rights to control the meaning not only of wealth and exclusivity but also of conspicuous consumption and the equally conspicuous display of wealth, status and power in male-dominated domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unmanned surface vehicle (USV) with a fish attraction lamp was developed to assist in the nighttime operations of a Japanese purse seine fishery. The USV weighs about 15 kg, is equipped with a 200 W underwater light-emitting diode (LED), and can be radio-controlled to move on the sea surface. The purse seiner shoots a net to surround the lighting boat to catch fish gathered by fish attraction lamps. The USV was deployed on the sea surface from the purse seiner during the net-hauling operation and replaced the lighting boat to continue fish attraction after shooting the net. The time required for each operation using the USV and conventional lighting boat operations was compared, and it was found that the time required for the lighting boat for fish attraction after shooting the net was reduced by about 10 min per haul when the USV was used. On the other hand, the time required by the purse seiner to shoot and haul the net and the catch amount did not change. The USV can contribute to time savings in operation and safety improvements in the purse seine fishery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the tuna purse seine fishery, seiners spend a considerable amount of time detecting objects such as seabirds, for which radar is a very efficient method. In this study, we present a radar image seabird identification method that can calculate the number of clusters, the area of seabird clusters, and the activity level of seabird clusters. We used a fishing vessel's radar to collect information on seabird groups within 29,632 km of the vessel and calculated a spatial clustering of the seabird-echoes. Generalized additive mixed models (GAMM) were used to investigate the relationship between drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs) and seabird dynamics in the Republic of Kiribati. The findings indicate that FAD variables affected seabird behavior. The random effects on cluster number, cluster area, and cluster ability were 3.27, 17.41, and −0.17, respectively. Then, we compared the radar image information that was calculated. The bird cluster around drifting FADs was found to be more concentrated and denser than in areas without FADs, with a lower level of activity observed. The longitude of 165°E had the highest number of bird clusters and the greatest area inhabited by birds, but these decreased to the east. However, model 3 showed that the minimum value of seabird cluster activity level occurred around 165°E and increased to the east. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Atlantic Ocean's little tunny is a priority for research by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Limited studies exist on Northeast Atlantic Ocean stock dynamics, and conventional catch and abundance assessments are lacking. This study assesses the impacts of tuna purse seiner fish aggregating device (FAD) and free-swimming school (FSC) fishing and proposes models for assessment using ICCAT data aggregated into different time blocks. Applying JABBA (Just Another Bayesian Biomass Assessment) and CMSY++, model diagnostics indicate that the 2011–2021 time series arrangement offers more reliable stock status estimates. Both models show overfished status (biomass/biomass max sustainable yield [B/BMSY] < 0.5) from overfishing (fishing mortality/fishing mortality max sustainable yield [F/FMSY] > 1.5) by the FAD and FSC techniques. FAD catches have leveled with the stock's average surplus production (ASP), while FSC catches are closer to ASP. JABBA projections suggest BMSY for the stock in 2023–2024, with FSC and FAD catch limits of 3000–4000 tonnes. By implication, the stock may collapse from tuna purse seiner's FAD and FSC fishing unless catch limits are implemented. JABBA is most effective for little tunny with shorter catch and catch per unit effort (CPUE) data, while CMSY++ indicates overfished stock status with and without abundance indices. Both applied models are suitable for little tunny stock status prediction, but considering the abundance indices used in this study, management advice should be applied cautiously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germination variability enables weedy species to colonise disturbed habitats and is expected to evolve in response to changing selection pressures. The paucity of information about germination variability in weeds prompted a detailed study of this topic with two agricultural and two non‐agricultural populations of Capsella bursa‐pastoris (Shepherd's purse). Variance in germination time was partitioned amongst and within populations, and amongst racemes and silicles within individual plant, and broad‐sense heritability (H2) was estimated. Agricultural populations exhibited a shorter and more uniform germination timing than non‐agricultural populations. However, differences amongst populations explained 7%–12% of the total variance, while differences amongst individuals and racemes accounted for approximately 40–54% and 10% of the total variance for germination time. For germination time, H2 = 0.4 when averaged across all time points, peaking at H2 = 0.7 at a time coinciding with the exponential phase of the germination curve. Maintaining predominantly intrapopulation variability in germination timing appears to be important for long‐term fitness in this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses a hoard of Late Bosporan staters found in the sixth-century fire layer in Phanagoria. A purse with 82 coins was hidden in the neck of a Pontic Opaiţ B–1b amphora. The hoard contains staters of Thothorses, Rhadamsades, and Rhescuporis VI, as well as a Panticapaean tetrachalkos of Asander's time. The conflagration layer is associated with the report of Procopius of Caesarea (Procop. Caes. De bell. VIII.5.28) on the destruction of Phanagoria and Kepoi. The date of the disaster in Phanagoria and the concealment of the hoard is determined by two main circumstances. The first one is the discovery of Justinian I's solidus of the 545–565 Group together with Late Bosporan staters in a nearby building which met its end in the same fire. The second circumstance is the date of Procopius' completing Book VIII of his 'History of the Wars', i.e. 554 AD. Therefore, Phanagoria and Kepoi were destroyed neither before 545, nor after 554 AD. Accordingly, the hoard's concealment dates between 545 and 554 AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil fuel combustion is a major source of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), which cause global warming. To prevent further increases in anthropogenic GHGs, the global community needs to take action in each segment of the economy, including the shipping sector. Among different measures for reducing shipping emissions, the most promising one is the replacement of conventional marine fuels with alternatives. According to the International Maritime Organisation's regulations, ships engaged in international shipping need to reduce their annual emissions by at least 50% by 2050. However, this does not apply to fishing vessels, which are highly dependent on fossil fuels and greatly contribute to air pollution. This paper investigates the environmental footprint of a fishing vessel (purse seiner) through the implementation of various alternative fuels. Within the research, Life-Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Life-Cycle Cost Assessments (LCCAs) are performed, resulting in life-cycle emissions and lifetime costs for each alternative, which are then compared to a diesel-powered ship (baseline scenario). The comparison, based on environmental and economic criteria, highlighted methanol as the most suitable alternative for the purse seiner, as its use onboard resulted in 22.4% lower GHGs and 23.3% lower costs in comparison to a diesel-powered ship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of South China Fisheries Science is the property of South China Fisheries Science Editorial Department and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Científica Arbitrada Multidisciplinaria PENTACIENCIAS is the property of Revista Científica Arbitrada Multidisciplinaria PENTACIENCIAS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

At first glance, perhaps nothing seems more mundane and apolitical than a purse. But purses have always been much more than a fashion accessory. This article analyses how southern Black women – both the legendary and the lesser known – in the 'classical' phase of the Civil Rights Movement used purses to appear as respectable ladies' when their dress and comportment were under close surveillance. Yet they simultaneously used their purses as private, female‐controlled spaces that aided them in achieving a wide variety of social, economic and political objectives. In fact, many southern Black women used their purses to hide critical items needed to prepare themselves and protect their bodies as they voted, sat‐in, rode on public transportation and integrated schools. Using oral histories, memoirs, newspaper and magazine stories and photographs, this article argues that Black southern female activists used purses primarily as 'toolkits'. In the process, it reveals that Black southern women's participation in the armed self‐defence movement is far more significant than scholars have appreciated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript explores the potential of macro-X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF) for the non-invasive analysis of heritage textiles. XRF, especially with the portable instruments, is a well-known technique for the non-destructive examination of various cultural heritage objects. It allows analysis of elemental composition based on single-point measurements. However, large, or complex textiles require numerous analysis points to identify the materials used and correctly interpret the spectra. MA-XRF takes this type of research to the next level, as it is possible to visualise the element distribution over an entire mapped area. In this paper, we discuss the application of this technique to the study of complex and multi-layered textile objects from exceptional Belgian heritage collections, including two mitres attributed to Bishop Jacques de Vitry, dating between twelfth and thirteenth century, and two of the seven extremely fine medieval reliquary purses from Namur. These are very fragile, richly decorated textile objects whose current state of preservation is a major impediment to sampling. MA-XRF mapping was applied for the identification of the elements of different materials in a non-invasive manner, including metal threads, ink, dyes, and various materials used in illuminations. In addition to material identification, stratigraphic information was obtained from the visualisation of element distributions, and hidden structural details were discovered. MA-XRF was also tested on some areas with more relief, such as the embroidery and braid made with metal threads, and the undulated multi-layered structure of the parchment mitre. Even though the analyses here could not be carried out in optimal conditions, these locations could also be analysed, albeit at a lower resolution. Finally, the technique proved very effective as a tool for screening, allowing samples to be taken at a more informative and representative location and minimising sampling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critiques discourses about women consumers of luxury goods in Africa. It does so through the example of the designer handbag, which presented as a key theme in interviews with people employed in luxury sectors in major African cities. The luxury handbag symbolizes an overarching idea of women's success, though women are narrated as taking different routes to achieve it. Employing the spatial metaphor of the "crooked room," this article shows how luxury handbag-talk reproduces taken-for-granted ideas about what successful feminine consumers look like. The "crooked codes" of the luxury handbag refer to skewed expectations, routes, and rationales for the wealth-oriented consumption practices of African women. Luxury handbags thus symbolize the ways in which neoliberal ideology limits African women's quest for economic inclusion. This article argues that this consumption distorts African women's feminist goals while claiming liberation. HIGHLIGHTS The luxury handbag is viewed as a symbol of African women's economic success. This understanding obscures the realities of access to economic equality for most women living in African contexts. Luxury consumption privileges wealth and does not offer alternatives for women's economic empowerment. As evidence of women's achievement, the luxury handbag reveals the limits of neoliberal views for women's empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the impact of corruption on wealth distribution between the public purse and private individuals conditioned on the institutional quality of a country. We used panel data on 83 countries from 2000 to 2017. Our results indicate that corruption helps private individuals to accumulate more wealth at the expense of the public purse in countries with low‐quality institutions. However, corruption increases the wealth in the public purse in countries with high‐quality institutions. Our results, therefore, imply that the institutional quality of a country significantly shapes how corruption affects the wealth of private individuals and the public purse. The results are pronounced in developing countries and robust to alternative measurements and endogeneity test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to present a stylistic analysis of selected brands of handbags' advertising posts through Short & Leech's (2013) Checklist of stylistic features in their book Style in Fiction. As a study concerned with the style of a text, the suitable research design is a qualitative design where the analyzed text is described in terms of the characteristics of stylistics found in the selected Instagram captions. A textual analysis approach to the qualitative research method adopted by this research. Letters, texts, and documents are included in the text. Text is observed as letters, texts, documents, etc. containing statistical data considered a resource for social science researchers. The researchers used the data selected through the advertising language that each company offered through the captions that contained at least one stylistic feature. A total of 25 captions from five accounts (@louisvuitton, @Prada, @katespadeny, @gucci, and @chanel) are analyzed. The data were collected from advertising posts of handbags in Instagram captions which were published. It is estimated that readers, especially academicians, are more relaxed when it comes to non-literary items in language use. This study, predictably, cultivates a reference for other academics who wish to observe linguistic style. As a result, students can carry out more stylistic research using a more complex dialogue that highlights a variety of topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Marine Fisheries: Jurnal Teknologi & Manajemen Perikanan Laut is the property of IPB University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Fishery inspector logbooks were used to estimate fishing gear interaction rates for humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and killer (Orcinus orca) whales in Norwegian purse seine fisheries for herring from 2011 to 2020. Estimated rates were applied to fisheries data to estimate fleet‐wide totals. Estimates showed that in a 10‐year period, a total of 78 humpback whales, 95% CI [41, 145] and 100 killer whales, 95% CI [63, 176] were entrapped in purse seines. Most whales were disentangled alive, with an estimated mortality of 5%, CV 0.69, 95% CI [0.0, 11.8] and 6%, CV 0.48, 95% CI [0.3, 11.9], respectively. The average yearly mortality over the study period was thus approximately 0.60 killer whales and 0.39 humpback whales corresponding to 0.008% and 0.007% of the respective abundance estimates for these whale species in Norwegian waters. Given the Potential Biological Removal sustainability limits of 98 humpbacks and 161 killer whales per year, it may be concluded that, by itself, the average yearly mortality incurred by these whale populations by Norwegian fisheries does not constitute a significant risk to either of these species, but bycatch in Norwegian purse seine fisheries may not be the only source of anthropogenic mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewed interest in legislative 'power over the purse' has seen a growing demand in modern democracies for parliaments to strengthen their authority over national budgets. However, weaknesses in legislative and institutional reforms intended to bring about more assertive parliaments with powers to amend budgets raise issues on how parliament's role in influencing the budget differs from what formally conferred powers anticipate. Specifically, to what extent can formal parliamentary institutions be expected to advance the aspiration of greater legislative influence on the budget? This article critically considers the institutional arrangements of the South African parliament that inhibit effective execution of its role in budget decision-making. In particular, it explores three determinants: extent of formal powers, institutional capacity, and incentives facing individual MPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the fake luxury handbag from their images is crucial to prevent counterfeit. Current state-of-the-art methods focus on developing professional detection devices and some shallower convolution neural network (CNN) models. Such developments employ some professional appraisers with certain prior knowledge or simple CNN models trained by limited datasets to identify the fake luxury handbag, and little attention has been given to external attention optimization mechanism. In addition, existing methods ignore the class imbalance between real and fake handbag datasets, and their prediction capacity is limited. This paper proposes an innovative hybrid framework for fake luxury handbag identification. The proposed method combines external attention generative adversarial networks (EAGANs) with deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) with four improvements: (1) EAGAN employs transformer to encode and decode information in both generator and discriminator for more local feature representation; (2) a new attention module based on external attention mechanism is introduced into generator and discriminator of EAGAN for guiding the network to focus on global feature representation; (3) a simple CNN auxiliary classifier is appended to the EAGAN to automatically and efficiently learn the influence of different features, and then, it combines external attention mechanism module to jointly learn the representable features; (4) a three-stage weighted loss is proposed to train the EAGAN model, and then, EAGAN model is combined with DCNN for real–fake identification of luxury handbags. By integrating the above improvements in series, the models' performances are gradually enhanced. Experimental results show that our framework yields superior results to existing state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A literary criticism of the book "Traitor's Purse," written by Margery Allingham, is examined in the article. The discussion focuses on three main topics: the detective's amnesia, the series' genre transition, and the book's dual feminist and gender-critical perspective. The article also explores the different interpretations of the detective's mental instability and the significance of the conspiracy.

Purpose of the study: This study investigates the factors that impact attitude to purchase, with a product focus on counterfeit luxury handbags among Durban's emergent Black middle-class females. Design/methodology/approach: The investigation followed a quantitative approach whereby 350 individuals provided data through self-administered questionnaires. Data was interpreted through factor and regression analysis. Findings: The research findings confirmed that individual product and service (IPS) factors had an impact on the attitude to purchase. Furthermore, it was discovered that knowledge, perceived risk, ethical obligation, price, and service quality significantly influenced attitude formation and, consequently, attitude to purchase. Recommendations/value: From the demand perspective, i.e., via the IPS factors, the findings of the study assist anti-counterfeit bodies in tailoring their efforts to curb counterfeit purchases. Managerial implications: Policymakers and managers alike are required to be more aware of the impact of demand-related factors when formulating effective strategies to deal with the issue of counterfeit purchases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-budget placement in June in Bangladesh brings with itself an inundation of various scrutiny and assessment of the most crucial public policy document of the year. However, both ex-ante and ex-post oversight is an area where there has been a gaping hole for years. With analysis drawn from interviewing 52 stakeholders and review of relevant literature, the paper stocktakes the role of Bangladesh Parliament in the nation's budgetary process. The paper elaborates the theoretical basis for selecting global indexes used to evaluate the parliament's capacity of budget oversight. In fine, Jatiya Sangsad is a 'budget-approving' parliament dictated by the executive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand forecasting can have a significant impact on reducing and controlling companies' costs, as well as increasing their productivity and competitiveness. But to achieve this, accuracy in demand forecasting is very important. On this point, in the present study, an attempt has been made to analyze the time series related to the demand for a type of women's luxury handbag based on a framework and using machine learning methods. For this purpose, five machine learning models including Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), Multi-Layer Perceptron Neural Network (MLPNN), Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN), Discrete Wavelet Transform-Neural Networks (DWTNN), and Group Model of Data Handling (GMDH) were used. The comparison of the models was also based on the accuracy of the forecasting according to the values of forecasting errors. The RMSE, MAE error measures as well as the R, correlation coefficient were used to assess the forecasting accuracy of the models. The RBFNN model had the best performance among the studied models with the minimum error values and the highest correlation value between the observed values and the outputs of the model. But in general, by comparing the error values with the data range, it is concluded that the models performed reasonably well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attends to the abolition of the privy purses and princely privileges of ex-rulers achieved between May 1967 to December 1971 in a controversial constitutional episode, in a period of transition for Indian democracy. Moving beyond the usual figures under focus, namely Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Principal Secretary P.N. Haksar, it brings to fore a wider cast of characters and their concerns during this campaign. Second, it seeks to take the established binary between the old of the Indian National Congress and the new of Indira's Congress (Ruling) following the split in 1969, to stand for a wider generational passage of time at both international and internal levels. Third, probing this overlapping interaction, it presents it as one among final episodes of independent India emerging from its British world of 1947, whose relevance can be sketched beyond pressure politics inside a party and mass politics outside it. Finally, it presents this episode as a prism through which one can see the end of the 'first phase' of India's democracy and one of its inherited institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Signos is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)