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The global landscape and labour market are rapidly evolving in the twenty-first century, requiring individuals to adapt flexibly to new situations. Soft skills, such as problem-solving and communication skills, are becoming increasingly important for preparing students in higher education for future job opportunities. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of 4,358 research studies with the aim of guiding future research and practice. We sought to answer the following research question: What research themes involving soft skills are discussed in the literature, and what further research avenues can inform us about teaching soft skills? Given the interdisciplinary, cross-cutting nature of soft skills, we analysed research from various fields to uncover the relevance of and relationships among different soft skill topics and to identify which soft skill topics are particularly important in higher education settings. To help researchers develop a holistic approach to soft skills education, we provide a summary of existing soft skills research and identify directions for future research. In addition, we outline the evolution of keyword clusters to illuminate the future directions. This approach facilitates a deeper and more nuanced exploration of the relevant concepts. Our research supports practitioners and fosters a better understanding of the meaning of soft skills and how they can be taught in higher education, especially in digital environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maritime sector plays a crucial role in global trade and economics. The competitive and rapidly growing sector requires a highly trained workforce with specific skills, especially for the twenty-first-century revolutions. Since, industry 4.0 entails the modernisation of work, which is likely to impact individuals' required skills, especially for seafarers in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, discussions on future maritime operations competencies frequently emphasize technology as a prerequisite for seafarers' ability to adapt to change. The paper seeks to explore seafarers' required skills, especially for the twenty-first century, using the modified Delphi method and Best Worst Method (BWM), which is a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) technique. Ten skills have been identified from the derived outcomes, divided into two segments: hard skills and soft skills. Technical and theoretical knowledge has been identified as the most influential hard skill, and communication skill as the most critical soft skill. The study will benefit seafarers and organisations related to training and hiring seafarers for making their decisions on the training and hiring process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the development of British football clubs' supporters' clubs in Ireland. While it has been previously established that this interest was at times linked to domestic and European success, and the fielding of Irish players, this article examines how these supporters' clubs facilitated travel to and from matches and how British clubs in turn nurtured this interest. How Irish supporters experienced major stadium disasters at Ibrox in 1971, Heysel in 1985 and Hillsborough in 1989 is examined. How these tragedies were marked in Ireland will also be assessed. At times, crowd safety issues involving British clubs' supporters in Ireland were also noticeable, and how these were dealt with by Irish authorities will also be discussed. By the 1990s, a wider range of British supporters' clubs were available to those in Ireland, although interest in Liverpool, Manchester United and Glasgow Celtic still remained highest in the early twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coming attraction film trailer has successfully maintained its prominent role within film promotion for over a hundred years. This article explores the shifting historical status of the trailer within the film industry and how industry trade press reported on its development and widespread adoption. Across this period these publications worked to delineate the discursive borders within which trailer debate occurred: from attacks on the trailer's usefulness to related claims of accuracy and fidelity. Exploring the creation of this discourse challenges the idea that the increasingly negative tone around the film trailer in the twenty first century is a uniquely modern phenomenon. The article argues that these initial industry strategies need to be understood in relation to key cultural and industrial concerns around commerce and artistry, critical cultural gatekeeping, and broader interests in forecasting. By focusing on a largely overlooked element of the classical Hollywood system, we demonstrate how trailers existed in a disputed space within that system: a crucial promotional tool but also a creatively potent film text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea defence policy in England has proven contentious in the early twenty-first century, with government willing to defend the coast only where it is considered cost effective and not minded to compensate people for any resulting abandonment of homes. Additional focus is brought to this position by the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which reflect a growing emphasis on climate change effects and other environmental hazards, and the wellbeing of the current generation and those to come. This requires policy makers to seek to balance economic, social and environmental dimensions, and to tackle inequalities; with a central commitment of the goals to "leave no one behind". Subsequent to publication of the SDGs, England was promised a revolution in the government's approach to Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM). This paper seeks to understand the nature of this revolution with particular regard to extant issues around just governance. It finds that policy fails to deal with issues over the local acceptability of proposals for change and the bearing of risk, and instead lies principally in the elevation of the problematic concept of resilience and an accompanying ambivalence towards ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. International agreement that compensation should be paid to those countries suffering the worst effects of climate change, including sea level rise, suggests that adoption of a similar approach to vulnerable homeowners might be the more appropriate revolution and bring policy more into line with the aspirations of the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the analysis of two contemporary German films on the war in Afghanistan – Auslandseinsatz (Till Endemann, 2012) and Zwischen Welten (Feo Aladag, 2014) – through the philosophical lens of the 'just war theory', this article discusses how the classic genre of the 'boots on the ground' war film is used to reflect on the ethical justifiability of military force in the context of Germany's strategic culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The article argues that these two films are paradigmatic examples of a new and specifically German subgenre of the war film I suggest calling the 'humanitarian military film' that has its roots in the particular historical constellation that led to the development of the country's current military culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses how Belgian identity is articulated in contemporary Belgian cinema. Since the introduction of sound, Belgian cinema has been characterised by a divide between Flemish and Belgian francophone cinema. However, the twenty-first century has seen an increase in co-productions between the two communities. By analysing how these intranational co-productions relate to Belgium and Belgian identity, this article explores the textual implications of this industry trend. Drawing upon the concept of 'Belgitude', it teases out two ways in which Belgian identity is re-imagined. Some films explicitly thematise community issues by conveying a message of solidarity between Flanders and the French-speaking community of Belgium, while others show characters that embody Belgium's cultural complexity, using multilingualism and the city of Brussels as implicit markers of Belgian identity. At odds with the country's political climate of increasing tensions between the linguistic communities, the revival of 'Belgitude' in contemporary Belgian cinema can be considered as a reaction against Flemish nationalist discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the turn of the century, pioneers of poststructuralist analysis in the US called for a radical and, as they argued, urgently needed upgrade of historians' theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of history. Marxist epistemologies of the British and American schools of social history that had come to dominate the postwar decades were reprimanded for their entrenchment in flatfooted materialist determinism and naive disregard of what one scholar called 'constitutive powers of culture' in people's lives. By the beginning of the new century, even those who wrote to counter these critics could not help but agree that Marxism had become a 'name for everything that now seemed to have been superseded'. In the counter-plot I am proposing, far from being superseded, historical theory and methodology that were developed by Marxist scholars in the second half of the twentieth century play a defining even if unacknowledged role in the making of contemporary fields of social and cultural history in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study opens new avenues for research at the intersection of translation and periodical studies and establishes connections between the two fields. It examines the translations that appeared in the weekly periodical Paris-Noticias (1921–1922) and sheds light on a network of French and Portuguese writers, editors and translators. In contrast to previous assumptions that confined their production to a local dimension, this study shows that male and female writers from Portugal were able to disseminate their work across geographical and cultural borders. To do so, they had to establish collaborations with influential figures such as Paulo Osório who was the editor of Paris-Noticias and a writer in his own right. Osório began building his literary network during the first decades of the twentieth century when he started to collaborate with the translators Philéas Lebesgue and Manoel Gahisto. By examining their contribution to the periodical Paris-Noticias, this study aims to recover translations that have previously been neglected and improve our understanding of Portuguese participation in the French literary scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twenty-first century has seen near constant crises and conflicts across the Middle East, many of which have had a devastating impact on the region's rich cultural heritage. Confronted by this reality, UNESCO – the world's foremost body designed to promote the protection of heritage – has struggled to meaningfully address site destruction and has been hamstrung by its own institutional inertia. The vacuum created by UNESCO's failures has given rise to a hybrid heritage landscape of multilateral agencies, INGOs, state bodies and local organisations which seek to emulate, improve on or radically re-imagine the work that UNESCO was designed to lead. In turn, this has created burgeoning business opportunities and a thriving consultancy culture for INGOs, often with little public oversight, accountability or effective monitoring. This paper critically examines the rise of these heritage INGOs and their efforts in the Middle East, bringing into question their efficacy and legitimacy by drawing on results from original surveys conducted in both Mosul and Aleppo. The results indicate that these heritage INGOs largely fail to adequately engage locals in their programmes to protect and restore heritage and that respondents would prefer to see domestic control over the future of their past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the laudable efforts of the medical and scientific community, the suicide contagion of the early twenty first century shows little sign of abating, especially amongst veterans. This article suggests that a supplemental resource for addressing the contemporary problem of suicide might be found in the history of political thought. Namely, we suggest turning to Plato who construes suicide as an action perpetrated by an identifiable and culpable individual who, in committing suicide, harms the polis itself. For Plato, this political harm must be understood in terms of pollution (miasma) and purification (katharmos). We suggest that Plato's arguments against suicide might be helpfully adapted into our preventative repertoire today, and that these arguments might be particularly poignant and helpful for military service members, both active duty and veteran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian City Statute, from 2001, has institutionalized urban planning instruments at the federal level, comprising an amalgamation of design, law, planning, and economics. This regulation has established just principles, whose interpretation and application in spatial planning land use parameters are the municipalities' responsibility. The paper introduces interpretations of the Statute and practices in three Brazilian cities of different scales: a national economic capital, a state capital, and a regional metropolis. Considering that urban planning today is determined more by economic logic than by urban principles, we ask: what's urban planning in the Brazilian 21st Century? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019 more than half of the nation's population under age 16 identified as a racial or ethnic minority. As of 2014, Latinx in California surpassed whites as the state's largest ethnic group and today, more than 200 different languages are spoken. This makes California home to one of the most diverse student populations in the world. However, current research indicates that educators are not prepared to meet the educational needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students or lead the instructional demands of these students. In response, the Higher Learning University launched the Multilingual Multicultural Education (MME) master's degree program in rural California. This ethnographic study examines the challenges related to establishing and maintaining a successful program through the lens of five instructors who were instrumental in the inception and development of the program. The major themes identified in this study include the transformational context occurring during the program's establishment (i.e. shifts in demographics, policy, and attitudes), challenges (i.e. prevailing anti-immigrant attitudes), pedagogical impact (i.e. students' increased understanding of themselves in an unequal society, advancement of research and professional skills), and postgraduate impact (i.e. development and transformations related to linguistic and cultural competency for social justice). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analog computing is often considered to be an outdated technology only to be found and cared for in museums but not as the basis of modern cutting edge computing. Nothing could be further from reality. Together with quantum computers, analog computers complement today's stored program digital computers, acting as co-processors for certain types of computationally intensive tasks. They are highly energy efficient and exhibit a degree of parallelism that by far surpasses classic digital computers. In contrast to quantum computers, analog computers do not require exotic technologies, no intricate cooling systems, no elaborate shielding systems, etc. In addition to this there already exists a plethora of proven programs for analog computers to solve a wide variety of problems. This paper describes the necessity of analog computing for the twenty-first century, gives a short introduction to the structure and programming of analog computers, before discussing future application areas. Analog computing will drastically alter the way we think about computing in the years to come as it will become an integral part of every high performance computer. It will be an indispensable technology for future AI systems, it will revolutionize many medical applications, it might even replace or at least complement, certain types of quantum computers, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text discusses two recent books that examine the rise of stabilization in UN peacekeeping and international interventions. The first book, "Stabilization and Human Security in UN Peace Operations" by Alexander Gilder, explores how UN peacekeeping can provide a holistic approach to ending armed conflicts and building peace. Gilder argues that while some peacekeeping practices align with a human security approach, the focus on stabilization and increased militarization often undermines this approach. The second book, "Stabilization as the New Normal in International Interventions: Low Expectations?" edited by Roberto Belloni and Francesco N. Moro, provides a broader analysis of stabilization across various actors and locations. The book highlights the negative implications of stabilization, such as its security-focused nature and retreat from human rights and democracy. Overall, both books offer critical appraisals of stabilization interventions and raise important questions about its effectiveness and future use. [Extracted from the article]

This study explores the literacy self-efficacy of 235 Canadian and American pre-service teachers during a 2021-2022 elementary literacy methods course amid COVID-19 disruptions. Utilizing the Teachers' Self-Efficacy Beliefs for Literacy Instruction in the 21st Century (TBLI21c) scale, administered at Time 1 and Time 2, the findings reveal high confidence in eight subscales. While participants displayed increased self-efficacy in diversity and 21st-century competences, early literacy and language skills saw lower confidence. US pre-service teachers exhibited higher self-efficacy initially, evening out by Time 2. These results underscore the need for assessing pre-service teachers' literacy self-efficacy, particularly concerning contemporary literacies and diversity, with implications for program evaluation and course design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, the past two decades have been crucial for the growing popularity of Electronic Dance Music (EDM). This is largely due to the burgeoning presence and significance of EDM festivals as a performative site of a contemporary Indian youth culture. A salient feature capturing the zeitgeist of twenty-first century, urban, modern Indian youth is EDM's gradual permeation into the cultural fabric of India through crucial collaborations with cultural industries like Bollywood. It is a truism that the legacy of Goa Trance remains a dominant point of reference in the global imagination of the Indian EDM scene. This article, however, argues that the contemporary mode of Indian Electronic Dance Music Culture (EDMC) has largely developed independently of this legacy. The main proponent of contemporary EDMC in urban India has been the multiple greenfield EDM festivals held annually all over the country. This article draws on fieldwork data collected between 2016-2018 at Indian EDM festival sites. Using this empirical data, the article examines the 'performance' of Indian EDMC and considers whether it is viable to speak in terms of an Indian way of raving, as a variation of other 'local' ways of performing EDMC that may exist elsewhere in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital exhibition space called Header/Footer Gallery hosted by the nonprofit organization New Media Caucus web presence has presented numerous exhibitions highlighting innovative work by artists across new media art. Established in 2020, Header/Footer has invited curators to curate exhibitions that explored the themes of technological malfunction, the legacies of cyberfeminism in the twenty first century, and Afrofuturism. Since then, taking up the role as the official curator for Header/Footer Gallery, the New Media Caucus' curator has created different exhibitions concentrating on inclusivity and the exposure of emerging artists through creative curatorial design strategies. For this paper, we take Header/Footer Gallery as a case study to analyze the development of virtual exhibition spaces, their histories, benefits, challenges and their futures. Taking Header/Footer Gallery as an example of a virtual space, we analyze its challenges including the promotion and dissemination of exhibitions and their digital engagement, despite the increase in accessibility of virtual galleries, as well as the challenges of archiving virtual exhibitions. We also examine the creative freedom in creating a virtual gallery from the ground up and in establishing and promoting inclusive practices that emphasize diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The image of Korea among Hispanic speakers has seen enormous changes during the 20th and 21st centuries. This article looks at the first photographically illustrated reports from Korea published during the first decade of the 20th century in the magazine Hojas Selectas, Revista para todos (Madrid–Barcelona) in 1902 and 1910. It was a publication that also was disseminated throughout Latin America. In particular, we compare photographs of Korea taken by Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, an Austrian traveler, with a set of anonymous images included in an essay by the Colombian diplomat Bartolomé Sanín Cano. These illustrated reports came right at the time of changes that the Joseon dynasty underwent in an effort to avoid Japanese colonization, along with a growing interest in getting to know the "other." Hence the different perspectives adopted by an Austrian author and a Colombian one, and their possible impact on Spanish-speaking audiences, are explored here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twenty first century, biotechnology offers great opportunities and solutions to climate change mitigation, energy and food security and resource efficiency. The use of metabolic engineering to modify microorganisms for producing industrially significant chemicals is developing and becoming a trend. As a famous, generally recognized as a safe (GRAS) model microorganism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is widely used due to its excellent operational convenience and high fermentation efficiency. This review summarizes recent advancements in the field of using metabolic engineering strategies to construct engineered S. cerevisiae over the past ten years. Five different types of compounds are classified by their metabolites, and the modified metabolic pathways and strategies are summarized and discussed independently. This review may provide guidance for future metabolic engineering efforts toward such compounds and analogues. Additionally, the limitations of S. cerevisiae as a cell factory and its future trends are comprehensively discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the rise of the far-right in Brazil and its connection to anticommunist sentiments. It discusses how President Jair Bolsonaro utilized anticommunist rhetoric to gain power and explores the historical roots of anticommunism in Brazil, including its ties to Christianity, nationalism, and liberalism. The article also analyzes the parallels between historical anticommunism and the current anti-PT sentiment, including the use of rhetoric, accusations of dictatorship intentions, and associations with leftist groups in Latin America. It emphasizes the role of conservative Christianity, nationalism, and liberalism in fueling the rejection of the Left, as well as the influence of social media in spreading right-wing ideas. Despite Bolsonaro's recent electoral loss, the far-right is expected to remain a significant political force in Brazil. [Extracted from the article]

This paper explores the configuration of families between humans and companion animals, focusing on the shifting domestic dynamics and the rise of pet families in urban milieus. These configurations represent characteristic ways of living in the context of youth middleclass sectors in the 21st century. At a methodology level, we conducted a survey, 27 in-depth interviews, and a review of 3,000 profiles on social networks and dating apps of youth users from Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Over the past decades, family subjectivation devices have undergone a global transformation. While these changes coexist with classical arrangements, especially in large cities, there is an increasing prevalence of affective bonds, forms of cohabitation, economic agreements, vital commitments, and even decisions regarding having or not having children that overflow the historical meanings of the family. Therefore, the construction of analyses such as "ways of living together" seeks to decenter the family configuration as the sole matrix of analysis by linking these practices with broader transformations that can be contemplated within the realm of "the common." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Right theories have had a major impact on British politics since the emergence of Thatcherism and the end of the so-called 'years of consensus' in the mid-1970s. In radically rejecting the conventions of postwar politics in terms of the management of both economic and social policies, the ideas of the New Right initially came to significantly shape the policies of the Thatcher government (1979–90), and indeed have continued to wield influence over other administrations in subsequent years. However, to what degree this influence has been retained as we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century is a matter of conjecture, specifically in the wake of Conservative Party 'modernization', as well as the advent of major crises such as the 2007/8 economic crash and the Covid-19 pandemic. Within this context, this article seeks to assess and analyse the ongoing legacy of the New Right and its impact on British Conservatism over this sustained historical period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dans cet article, l'autrice étudie les interventions d'Agnès Varda à la télévision française et la manière dont cette dernière a forgé une image genrée de la cinéaste. Dans ses reportages, journaux télévisés et émissions spécialisées, le petit écran a systématiquement associé la réalisatrice à la figure de la femme, de la mère, de l'épouse et de la grand-mère. Quand bien même Varda y est quantitativement bien représentée – notamment à partir de la sélection de son deuxième long-métrage Cléo de 5 à 7 au Festival de Cannes en 1962 – le petit écran a aussi contribué à une forme d'invisibilisation. Dans cet article, l'autrice se concentre sur les débuts de la télévision – concomitants de ceux de la cinéaste – et la manière dont elle a minoré son rôle au sein de la Nouvelle Vague. Si celle-ci est une formule créée par les médias, l'élaboration de son histoire a impacté le parcours de ses membres encore en activité. À travers le cas d'Agnès Varda, l'article illustre la difficulté des réalisatrices du vingtième et vingt-et-unième siècle à affirmer leur œuvre et pose la question de l'impact des médias dans la carrière d'une artiste. This article examines the appearances of Agnès Varda on French television and the way in which the latter forged a gendered image of the filmmaker. On the news or in specialised programmes, television has systematically associated the director with the figure of the woman, the mother, the wife and the grandmother. Even though Varda is quantitatively well represented there – starting notably from the selection of her second feature film Cléo de 5 à 7 at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962 – the small screen has also, to some extent, contributed to rendering her invisible. In this article, the author focuses on the beginnings of television – concomitant with those of the filmmaker – and the way in which it minimised her role within the New Wave. If the New Wave is a label created by the media, the way in which its history has been constructed has impacted the paths of its members who are still active. Through the case of Agnès Varda, the article illustrates the difficulty experienced by female directors of the twentieth and twenty-first century in affirming their work and raises the question of the media's impact on the career of an artist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to Javier Moreno Zacarés’ paper, I argue for a more empirically engaged and policy-relevant political economy of housing. This is necessary given the global transformation of housing from a home into an asset. Understanding housing’s place in the contemporary financialized economy requires scholars to adopt a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to studying housing. Such a perspective starts by recognizing the neoclassical economic theories that limit much of housing studies while recalling the rich tradition of housing in political economy. Between these two poles, I encourage operationalizing a framework that (i) treats single-family and multifamily housing as two different residential markets and (ii) focuses on each market’s logics, dynamics, and points of intersection. Integrating grounded empirics into political economic perspectives is essential for housing research and policy agendas in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates institutional forces that maintain the focus on canonical authors in Middle English studies, despite the ubiquity of anonymity in the Middle English corpus, and despite the extensive critique of the canon that the field has witnessed. It provides a snapshot of the current Middle English canon, surveys publication patterns in sample academic journals in the twenty-first century, examines the ways authorship serves (and anonymity does not) as a critical tool, and shows what anonymous texts might offer to the ongoing assessment of the literariness of Middle English texts. Analysis of the scholarship of two Middle English scholars over the first two decades of the current century demonstrates the challenges and opportunities in developing methods that discern the literariness of anonymous, non-canonical texts. Work in New Formalism and object studies offers possibilities for recognising the literariness of anonymous texts not traditionally considered in terms of their aesthetic or formal features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The Rebirth of Area Studies: Challenges for History, Politics, and International Relations in the 21st Century" edited by Zoran Milutinović argues against the notion that area studies is a dying discipline. The book highlights the transformations and strengths of area studies, challenging the assumptions made against it. It brings together experts from various subjects, including history, politics, literacy, and migration, to provide a comprehensive understanding of area studies' epistemology, methodology, critiques, and responses. The book encourages self-reflection among area studies researchers and emphasizes the importance of place-specific knowledge in a globalized world. [Extracted from the article]

While previous scholarship highlights the importance of cross-class alliances between intellectuals and workers in past social-democratic and labor movements, the growth of right-wing populism may signal the breakdown of this political alignment today. We investigate the extent to which intellectuals and workers remain politically aligned through a case study of political developments in the state of Wisconsin, which pioneered social-democratic reforms in the US in the early twentieth century and then turned toward right-wing populism in the twenty-first century. We draw on Alvin Gouldner and Pierre Bourdieu to theorize intellectual-worker alliances. We then present historical evidence that an intellectual-worker alliance played an important role in the earlier period. Logistic regression analysis with survey data shows continued political antagonism between the state's wealthiest and most highly educated citizens in the later period, as well as an enduring political alignment of highly educated and working-class Wisconsinites. Our results demonstrate that right-wing populism prevailed in Wisconsin despite an intellectual-worker alliance, not because the alliance broke down. We conclude with a discussion of what these findings imply about contemporary right-wing populism beyond Wisconsin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academia and practicing Librarians have worked together with the innovation of the 21st century which has made librarianship much more interesting. This study employed the descriptive non-experimental survey design. A total of 379 librarians participated in the study via online Google form were used for data collection. Data analysis was done the aid of relative importance index (RII). Findings showed that the highest rated infographic tools are Google Charts RII = 0.6 ranked 1st, Adobe Spark with RII = 0.5 ranked 2nd and ranked 3rd was Information Infographics RII = 0.5. Besides, top barrier to use of infographic among Librarians was the general perception that it is time consuming" with RII of 0.70. followed by requiring flexible budget" RII = 0.70 and poor internet network" RII = 0.70. The study concluded that contrary to the researcher's a-priori expectation, the outcome of this study revealed a high level of awareness and use of infographic tools among librarians in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As trauma-processing modalities such as CPT and EMDR have been refined and perfected in the twenty first century, little attention has been given to psychoanalysis as a viable treatment option for victims of trauma—perhaps due to the time constraints of social workers and therapists that are being implemented in different treatment settings outside of private practice. While there are many trainings available for CPT and EMDR (both of which are very effective in treating trauma, and are easily reimbursable from insurance companies), psychoanalytic approaches in trauma treatment are not often discussed in graduate programs and different clinical trainings for therapists, and have unfortunately become a secondary consideration in trauma treatment. The present case study offers a cautionary example of how overlooking psychodynamic perspectives can lead to incomplete trauma treatment outcomes, and is a call for therapists to creatively increase their utilization of psychoanalytic concepts within the limitations of non-private practice settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Latin American City Model has been a reference in regional segregation studies since the early twenty-first century. Despite over 20 years of continuous use, its approach has not accounted for the characteristics and processes relating to segregation in peripheral areas of Mexican cities. Consequently, we lack a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon. This review is relevant in intermediary cities because segregation is manifest in varied forms in peripheral territories over which these cities are expanding. This article analyzes the model's omissions, using empirical data from two peripheral municipalities of Morelia, Mexico. The methodology is based on a case study and guided by two key concepts: segregation and territory. The results showed the peripheral territories' characteristics, which were used to adapt the model to the experience of Mexican intermediary cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first years of the twentieth century, the British government came to recognize the value of espionage for the defense of the empire. This was a logical outgrowth of increasing anxieties about the intentions of the German Kaiser and the experience of the Anglo-Boer War, in which a numerically superior British army found itself in a protracted battle with local forces skilled in the art of guerrilla warfare. Espionage fiction by writers such as Rudyard Kipling, E. Phillips Oppenheim, Erskine Childers, William Le Queux, and John Buchan used the example of the Anglo-Boer War to draw attention to the deficiencies in imperial intelligence, the potential threats to the empire, and the role of civilian patriots in thwarting internal and external threats. Espionage fiction educated British readers to perceive a need for systematic intelligence gathering, which ran counter to the democratic nature to which the British aspired. The popularity of non-professional patriotic spies as protagonists of mass market fiction allowed for the development of a broad popular constituency in favor of greater government commitment to intelligence gathering. And while this popular enthusiasm was beneficial to the Tory Party, it was not driven solely by conservative politicians, but rather by populist pressure stemming from mass culture inspired by literary reflections on the Anglo-Boer War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concepts of ‘cyberspace’, ‘cybersecurity’ and ‘cyberthreats’ and an analysis of policy documents are employed to explore the character and evolution of cybersecurity policies in Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, chosen as examples of ‘accelerated’, ‘transitional’ and ‘lagging’ Latin American development. Mexico focused on the stability of the Internet as a space that contributes to faster economic growth. Columbia’s ‘risk management’ path seeks a balance between plausible threat evaluation and the estimated cost of eliminating them and concentrates on the active prevention of cyberattacks, emphasising the importance of developing concrete mechanisms for international regulation in the field of cybersecurity. The approach to cybersecurity of the Dominican Republic is based on the idea of ensuring a rapid transition to an innovative development model with the widespread introduction of information and communication technology (ICT), while addressing domestic cybercrime to which ordinary citizens and businesses are constantly exposed to. Comparing these experiences, it is clear that these approaches are characterised by two trends: randomness and non-imitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is the most rapidly growing continent, and its growth (demographic, economic, cultural etc.) will inevitably influence the World System (and the further, the stronger). The growth of African societies will bring at the same time both challenges and opportunities. The authors discuss both of them in detail. They consider Africa as the main intrigue of demographic transformations in the twenty-first century. But they also think that this continent can constitute a very important intrigue in other respects (economic, political, ethnical etc.). No doubt, in the future, African countries will produce many surprises both positive and negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issue of nuclear weapons testing in the 21st century, despite the existence of an international treaty banning such tests. Russia recently withdrew its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and although officials claim they will not resume testing, satellite imagery suggests otherwise. The United States, Russia, and China have all shown increased construction activities at their nuclear testing sites. Other nuclear-armed countries, such as North Korea, India, and Pakistan, are closely watching these developments. The article provides a comprehensive set of articles from policy experts and scientists that explore the challenges and tensions surrounding nuclear weapons testing. [Extracted from the article]

Following the early twenty-first Century's "age of apologies," news organizations have been among the institutions apologizing for their historical role in promoting racist rhetoric by directly addressing their inherent racialized biases. Guided by literature on organizational and racial apologia bolstered by the theory of "institutional myth", this study analyzes 13 apologies published by 12 media organizations to understand how they are performing and communicating reparative actions towards communities of color. Despite their long role in promoting harmful stereotypes and in some cases a complete erasure of narrative from communities of color, news organizations presented "surface-level" apologies that paved the initial path to reconciliation. However, these organizations vigorously defend and uphold the institutional myth of established journalism norms and practices that have been instrumental in their failures, which have led to these apologies. We argue that the reparative work of journalism needs to start by creating an inclusive journalistic paradigm that centers on the ideologies and voices of all groups within our society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy have evolved deeply over the past half century. This paper shows some the changes I have witnessed in them, and the challenges we face in this change of era, at the edge of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Some the challenges are examined: knowing how to transmit in our daily practice the essential relationality of the human being; the relational essence of the process of change through psychotherapy; and a review of our contribution to our institutions being genuinely relational, that is, that we take more care of the space that the Other can inhabit than of preserving our own. We need hope: the hope to change and (again) be people, in connection with others, regaining confidence and being able to be ourself (to be ourselves with others). That is the meaning of our activity, what it is to be a psychoanalyst/psychotherapist today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the 21st century, cities suffered from high traffic density and mobility problems due to rapid urbanisation and population growth. Bridges were built to encounter these challenges. As a result, the urban voids (urban spaces under bridges) have increased tremendously. In this study, a qualitative analysis was established to understand the negative impacts of urban voids focusing on under-bridges urban spaces. Furthermore, five criteria, as well as thirty-one sub-criteria were derived from the extensive literature and previous international experiences. Additionally, a quantitative analysis was conducted through experts' interviews. Criteria and sub-criteria were assessed using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) to determine whether each criterion/sub-criteria belongs to the cause or effect group. Results indicated that the most important criterion was urban identity, as well as the most important sub-criteria belong to each criterion, were social services, investment diversity, sustainable recourses management, ICT-infrastructure, and urban integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The toxicity of atractyloside/carboxyatractyloside is generally well recognized and commonly ascribed to the inhibition of mitochondrial ADP/ATP carriers, which are pivotal for oxidative phosphorylation. However, these glycosides may 'paralyze' additional target proteins. This review presents many facts about atractyloside/carboxyatractyloside and their plant producers, such as Xanthium spp. (Asteraceae), named cockleburs. Published studies and other information were obtained from databases, such as 'CABI - Invasive Species Compendium', 'PubMed', and 'The World Checklist of Vascular Plants', from 1957 to December 2022. The following major keywords were used: 'carboxyatractyloside', 'cockleburs', 'hepatotoxicity', 'mitochondria', 'nephrotoxicity', and 'Xanthium'. In the third decade of the twenty first century, public awareness of the severe toxicity of cockleburs is still limited. Such toxicity is often only perceived by specialists in Europe and other continents. Interestingly, cocklebur is among the most widely distributed invasive plants worldwide, and the recognition of new European stands of Xanthium spp. is provided here. The findings arising from field and laboratory research conducted by the author revealed that (i) some livestock populations may instinctively avoid eating cocklebur while grazing, (ii) carboxyatractyloside inhibits ADP/GDP metabolism, and (iii) the direct/indirect target proteins of carboxyatractyloside are ambiguous. Many aspects of the Xanthium genus still require substantial investigation/revision in the future, such as the unification of the Latin nomenclature of currently distinguished species, bur morphology status, true fruit (achene) description and biogeography of cockleburs, and a detailed description of the physiological roles of atractyloside/carboxyatractyloside and the toxicity of these glycosides, mainly toward mammals. Therefore, a more careful interpretation of atractyloside/carboxyatractyloside data, including laboratory tests using Xanthium-derived extracts and purified toxins, is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article explores Japanese interwar Pan-Asianism, namely Ōkawa Shūmei's, rhetoric in its relationship to a global narrative on renaissance and regeneration developing during the first decades of the twentieth century. First, it analyses the specific international framework in which Japanese Pan-Asianism developed. Then it contextualises the Pan-Asianist use of fukkō, a term that can be translated as "resurgence," "revival" or "regeneration," but that is also part of the standard translations for the European Renaissance (bungei fukkō, fukkō jidai , etc.). In order to do this, the article: a) highlights the fraught relationship of fukkō /renaissance to other transnational paradigm of change: revolution, reform, reconstruction; b) analyses the relationship in interwar Japan between fukkō and kaizō, another marker for change extremely common in that period's public discourse. In the second part, the article explores, through the case study of Pan-Asianist author Ōkawa Shūmei, how global sources, especially in English, are linked to the formation of the fukkō rhetoric and how, through them, we can establish a link to the semantic of renaissance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article views the ethno-cultural map of the Eurasian space through the lens of Buryatia by focusing on its transnational living Buddhist tradition. It discusses the evolution of this tradition and the underlying forces that shaped Buryat Buddhist mobility amidst political and socio-economic transformations and intricate power dynamics. Based on new evidence, the study uncovers the legacy of Buryats who advanced Buddhism beyond national frontiers, thereby creating a transnational community rooted in a shared cultural code, and reveals emerging trends and reconfigurations in the post-Soviet Buryat Buddhist renaissance. This heritage could reposition Buryatia in the transnational landscape and lead to a rethinking of collective identity, agency and global interdependence in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-first century is an era of cutting-edge technologies. From artificial intelligence to nanotechnology, modern life has gathered the pace to match up with the shrinking time and fast-moving world. Likewise, a Heterogeneous Network finds its own space in this century of inventions. Every individual, industry, and institute needs to be connected to the internet cloud. Mobile applications have changed the dynamics of every individual's life. From personal management to professional proficiency, mobile applications play an important role in almost every aspect. Numerous applications available these days demand continuous bandwidth connection. To remain always connected, there is a need for an effective handoff procedure. In this paper, we have proposed a convex optimization technique for optimizing the call drop probability, remaining energy and handoffs in heterogeneous networks. The proposed algorithm outperformed the already existing M-OPTG and M-WO algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes from a sociology of knowledge perspective to the ongoing sociological debate about statistics produced by international organisations taking the Global Estimates of Forced Labour published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as a case of international quantification. We ask: what stages of negotiation were involved in the transformation of a legal category into a statistical category of forced labour oriented towards political action? The analysis combines the historical reconstruction of the political and organisational processes behind the production of the estimates with the study of the measurement framework of forced labour. The qualitative case study is based on semi-structured expert interviews and ILO documents. Our results highlight the processes by which a legal category was made practicable for statistical work and thereby point to the specific arrangements and connections between law, statistics, and policy within international organisations. As we argue, the estimates have provided consistency to a fragile social construct that originated in the imperial context of the interwar period, and that was turned into a 'visible' social and global phenomenon of the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shaun Cole's book, "Gay Men's Style: Fashion, Dress and Sexuality in the 21st Century," builds upon his previous work on the history of gay men's clothing. The book explores the evolution of queer style in the context of social and cultural shifts, drawing on extensive research including interviews and focus groups. It examines how sexual identity intersects with ethnicity and geography, highlighting the specificities of different locales and the discrimination faced by racialized men. The book also delves into the relationship between masculinity and gay identity, as well as the significance of the body and aging in relation to clothing choices. Overall, "Gay Men's Style" provides a comprehensive and accessible reference for researchers interested in the intersection of fashion, sexuality, and identity. [Extracted from the article]

There are three important phenomena in the lyrics of popular Polish songs about the Holocaust. Firstly, there is local resistance to the conflation of the town of Oświęcim with the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Secondly, the memory of the Jedwabne pogrom is used as a yardstick for contemporary societal evils and to comment upon the chasm between conservative and liberal segments in Polish society. Thirdly, the Catholic pro-life movement juxtaposes abortion and the Holocaust. These songs were released after the publication of Jan T. Gross's Neighbors (2000) but there is a disparity in how the genocidal past is treated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of recognition has much to offer the field of political communication as it struggles to comprehend communicative dysfunctions, political polarization and governing crises across the industrialized democracies. Drawing on the work of Axel Honneth, Charles Taylor, Nancy Fraser and Michele Lamont, as well as more recent contributions, we put recognition theory into conversation with some of our field's contemporary concerns. In particular, we show how the theory offers depth, nuance and synthesis to progress communication scholars are making in the study of how attention economics and social identity shape perceptions and communications in a hybrid political media system. In the process, we argue that we are experiencing a historically novel phase of recognition, in which the granting and denial of recognition are transformed at the individual level by the affordances of many-to-many social networking platforms, and at the group level by the use of recognition for attracting attention to commodified media properties. At the intersection of the modern attention economy, heightened articulation of identity-based messaging, and recognition processes is what we term a recognition crisis, in which claims of misrecognition by multiple, conflictual groups are unresolvable and undermine the solidarity that grounds social and political life. We conclude with a roadmap of new opportunities to understand existing research findings and pose new research questions. Moreover, we show that the field of political communication has a great deal to offer discussions of recognition occurring in related fields of the social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As teacher educators who need to support the next generation of practitioners with technology and practice in the post-COVID teaching landscape, we draw on PICRAT (Kimmons, Graham, and West 2020) to guide our instructional work. This paper primarily addresses the ways that PICRAT has moved beyond TPACK and SAMR, two foundational theories for integrating technology in the classroom, as a more robust avenue for technology integration in online and blended spaces. We believe twenty first Century Learning, which focuses on communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity (Elkordy and Keneman 2022), can be supported through the use of digital graphic organizers. PICRAT can help educators create digital graphic organizers that require students to be interactive and creative, where the effect on learning is amplified or transformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article follows the substantial shift in the position of Karl Marx from a somewhat evolutionist conception of development to one that aligns more with our understanding of combined and uneven development. Lenin's epistemological break from an orthodox or evolutionist view of development to a view of the global economy via the hinge of imperialism then ushers in a new view of capitalism as non-homogenous, where part of the world develops and another 'under-develops'. Does the later neo-Marxist conception of 'under-development' represent a continuation of Marx's concept of capitalist development, or does it represent something completely different? My argument is that we need a return to Marx despite the ambiguities in his own analysis to obtain a useful guide to development in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of international governmental organisations (IGOs) in global policymaking has received significant attention in the field of adult learning and education (ALE) in the twenty-first century, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was recognised as one of the most influential IGO due to its skill surveys – such as the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). However, while the majority of empirical studies in the field have focused on the analysis of PIAAC data, little attention has been given to the influence of the OECD skills strategies on the development and/or improvement of national ALE systems. This study addresses this gap in two OECD member states – Portugal and Slovenia – by applying the 'what's the problem represented to be?' approach to policy analysis and using the theoretical concept of myth in defining policy problems. Our findings indicate that although both countries' ALE systems differ, they share problem representations that reinforce several policy myths: ALE is a solution to tackle socioeconomic problems; unemployment is a problem of low-skilled adults; the learner-centred approach is a way to raise participation in ALE, and improved governance is a means to advance national ALE systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]