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What role should libraries play to ensure citizens develop the competencies they need to fulfill their vital civic roles in our democracy? Alarms raised over widening civic knowledge gaps have prompted a renewed commitment to building more civically literate, active citizens. Like their counterparts in schools and universities, librarians teach many of the skills and dispositions that citizens need to participate in civic life. Yet their information literacy frameworks equip twenty-first century learners primarily for success in college and career, not citizenship. With schools and colleges launching new initiatives to bolster civic participation, librarians must join forces with other civic literacy proponents to empower citizens to emerge as civic agents that cocreate their future together. While the nation's great experiment in democracy undergoes a momentous test, libraries must assert their role in fostering civic literacy as central to their mission as cornerstones of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government responses to COVID-19 are among the most globally impactful events of the 21st century. The extent to which responses-such as school closures-were associated with changes in COVID-19 outcomes remains unsettled. Multiverse analyses offer a systematic approach to testing a large range of models. We used daily data on 16 government responses in 181 countries in 2020-2021, and 4 outcomes-cases, infections, COVID-19 deaths, and all-cause excess deaths-to construct 99,736 analytic models. Among those, 42% suggest outcomes improved following more stringent responses ("helpful"). No subanalysis (e.g. limited to cases as outcome) demonstrated a preponderance of helpful or unhelpful associations. Among the 14 associations with P values < 1 x 10-30, 5 were helpful and 9 unhelpful. In summary, we find no patterns in the overall set of models that suggests a clear relationship between COVID-19 government responses and outcomes. Strong claims about government responses' impacts on COVID-19 may lack empirical support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Nearly three decades ago, Gramling and Freudenburg (1996) urged that greater attention be given to middle‐range efforts in environmental sociology. In this article, I will argue that since Gramling and Freudenburg offered their advice, there has been a critical mass of work in environmental sociology undertaken from the perspective of middle‐range theory, but this has been undervalued in our never‐ending odyssey in search for grand theory. To illustrate this, I review sociological enquiry into risk and risk communication. To make a case of my own for a middle‐range sociology appropriate to the second quartile of the 21st century, I advocate the development of a "sociology of environmental morality" (see Farrell, 2015; Hannigan forthcoming, 2024; Stock, 2020) to be pursued via a middle‐range perspective. I conclude by outlining two strategies for pursuing a middle‐range sociology of environmental morality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 21st century, transparent flexible sensors (TFSs) have been widely employed in abundant fields, such as smart glasses, intelligent watches, robots, electronic skin, especially biomedicine. Presently, various materials have been developed, such as metal‐based, carbon‐based, conductive polymer‐based, and ionic liquid‐based (IL‐based) materials. Compared with the first three materials, IL, as a novel material, with the tendency of green chemistry development, has a high application prospect in TFSs. Based on this, this paper mainly discusses recent advances in TFSs based on ILs, with special emphasis on the role of ILs and the factors influencing transparency as well as electricity. The current challenges and opportunities for each type of sensors based on IL are also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a range of Detection and Attribution Model Intercomparison Project (DAMIP) simulations from phase 6 of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), we study the response of dynamic sea level (DSL) to external anthropogenic climate forcing [greenhouse gases (GHGs), aerosols, and stratospheric ozone] with a focus on the differences over the twentieth and twenty-first century. In the second half of the twentieth century, the DSL nonuniformity in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) was relatively small due to a cancellation between the effects of increasing GHGs and aerosols. In contrast, the DSL signal in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) over this period was large because stratospheric ozone depletion reinforced the effects of increasing GHGs. In the twenty-first century, the DSL response has been intensified in the NH because the warming effects of diminishing aerosols have acted to reinforce the effects of increasing GHGs. Meanwhile, the distribution of SH DSL has also become uneven although stratospheric ozone recovery has partially offset the effects of rising GHGs. Using a global ocean circulation model, we decompose the changes in the twenty-first century DSL into distinct responses to surface forcings including sea surface temperature, salinity, and wind stress. Our results show that the dipole-like pattern of DSL in the North Pacific can be attributed largely to sea surface warming, while the dipole-like pattern in the North Atlantic is attributed to subpolar surface salinity freshening. The belted pattern of DSL changes in the Southern Ocean is induced by both surface warming and intensifying/poleward-shifting westerly winds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inherent biases in numerical simulation models of global climate models (GCMs) reduce the scope for accurately assessing future droughts under multimodel ensemble. The aim of this research is to increase the efficiency of multimodel ensembles. Consequently, this paper introduces a two-way hybrid weighting scheme for ensembling multiple GCMs. The proposed weighting scheme enhances the coherence of the multimodel ensemble of climate model simulations with real observed data and minimizes the impact of non-identical seasonal behavior in climate simulations within the multimodel ensemble. In the application, we consider precipitation data from 18 GCMs of CMIP6 from the Tibet Plateau region. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, we compared the proposed ensemble data with simple model averaged (SMA) ensemble using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r), root mean squared error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). Furthermore, we assessed the future characteristics of various drought categories using the steady-state probabilities of a Markov Chain. Small values of errors metircs and high correlation indicate that the proposed hybrid weighting scheme exhibits better performance than the SMA. Under the proposed index, the long term probabilities of various drought classe show variations across different time scales of drought. These results provide perspectives on how the the long term probabilities of various drought categories evolve over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the future of language learning in a technology-driven world. It emphasizes the importance of human teachers in guiding learners' understanding of technology and highlights the challenges and opportunities of online language teaching. The article argues against the complete replacement of face-to-face teaching with digital resources and suggests task-based language teaching as an effective methodology. It also emphasizes the importance of fostering a sense of community in online language courses. The article promotes the integration of technology and second language pragmatics in language learning to enhance linguistic proficiency, cultural understanding, and empathy. It also highlights the value of virtual exchanges in promoting cross-cultural practice and breaking down stereotypes. Overall, technology has the potential to revolutionize language learning and prepare students for success in a globalized world. [Extracted from the article]

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a shift to remote instruction in educational institutions worldwide, relying heavily on technology like Zoom. While these platforms allowed for interaction and integration of web content, they weakened students' sense of belonging. As schools return to face-to-face instruction, questions arise about effectively incorporating technology. There is a perception that digital tutorials and AI programs have made personal language instruction obsolete, leading to a decline in language enrollments. Language educators must articulate the value of language study, understand technology's limitations, and guide critical engagement with it. The text discusses the use of online translation tools and generative AI systems in language learning, highlighting their limitations and potential harm. It explores theoretical frameworks for second language acquisition and emphasizes the importance of understanding how technology mediates language use and learning. The text also discusses the role of human teachers in the digital age, incorporating technology into teaching practice while considering learning goals and available resources. It concludes by emphasizing the significance of human teachers in guiding students' language development and engaging them in language research. [Extracted from the article]

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 advent of critical bibliography has seen critical theory put to work to reappraise the field's foundations, methods, and practices in response, in part, to categories of oppression. Recent advances in feminist, Black, trans, and Indigenous bibliographies are changing our conceptions of what bibliography is and should be. In this article we make the case for queer approaches to bibliography. Drawing on the intertwined relationship between sexuality and textuality, and between queer theory and literature, we survey the vernacular bibliographical practices of "ordinary" queer readers. We then consider the scope for a critical queer bibliography which intersects with other critical bibliographies, discuss the depth, range, and potential of the field in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and outline the prospects for a rapidly emerging subdiscipline. [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]

"After Darwin: Literature, Theory, and Criticism in the Twenty-First Century" is a collection of essays that explore the ongoing relevance of Darwin's work in the present day. The essays cover a range of topics, including Darwin's influence on animal ethics, the relationship between Darwinian thought and issues of race and gender, and the ethical implications of Darwin's ideas. The collection highlights the complexity and variety of Darwin's work and its potential to address contemporary challenges. While the essays could benefit from more dialogue and overlap, the collection provides valuable insights and sets the stage for future discussions in Darwin studies. In "Thoreau's Axe: Distraction and Discipline in American Culture," Caleb Smith examines the challenges of attention and distraction in nineteenth-century America. The book explores how weak attention was seen as a problem and required reeducation and moral reform. Smith analyzes excerpts from various writers, including Thoreau, Poe, Whitman, Melville, and Dickinson, to understand their perspectives on attention and distraction. The book offers valuable insights into the period's spirit of self-care and regulation and provides usable resources to understand our own distracted age. It will appeal to literary historians, cultural critics, and those interested in the cognitive challenges of the nineteenth century. [Extracted from the article]

Several issues regarding the systematics and taxonomy of the Neotropical deer tribe Odocoileini, an assemblage of 18 recognized living species currently allocated into 7 genera, remain unclear. The few available phylogenetic analyses indicate that some genera are not monophyletic and that species richness in the group is underestimated. One genus that presents both problems are the stocky and short-legged dwarf deer, Pudu. As currently understood, it includes 2 species, the Northern pudu, Pudu mephistophiles from Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia; and the Southern pudu, P. puda , from southern Chile and nearby Argentina. Here, by means of qualitative and quantitative morphologic analysis and the assessment of genetic variation, we showed that 2 distinct species are encompassed by the current concept of P. mephistophiles. The typical form distributes north of the Huancabamba Depression from northernmost Peru to the north (Ecuador and Colombia), while the other distributes south of the Huancabamba Depression and is a Peruvian endemic. As no name is available for the last one, we describe and name it here. This is the first living cervid species described in the 21st century and the first from the New World in over 60 years. Additionally, as the Southern Pudu (the type species of Pudu) is not sister to the 2 northern pudu species, we revalidate the genus Pudella to allocate the latter 2 species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the third decade of the 21st century, digitization and artificial intelligence, global events, challenges from authoritarian states, and difficulties of particular democracies to function properly confront democracy with a new series of challenges and opportunities that will force it to reinvent itself. The last decades have produced an accelerating flow of ideas for new forms of democracy. We survey a long period in the quest for such new forms and point to next inventions for such forms. We suggest to experiment with new ways for democracy to extend the choice of democratic processes that can be implemented in real-life situations, with the beneficial side-effect that democracy might remain the only sustainable structure for self-governing societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book review discusses an anthology titled "Historic preservation theory: an anthology—readings from the 18th to the 21st Century," edited by Jorge Otero-Pailos. The anthology contains 96 texts spanning four centuries and covers various geographies, disciplines, and epochs. It aims to provide students with a wider international and historical perspective on historic preservation theory. The book is organized chronologically, starting from the European Enlightenment, which has raised questions about the inclusivity and diversity of the discipline. The review acknowledges the need for redressing historiographical inequity and calls for a reconstitution of the field of historic preservation to address the challenges of the 21st century, such as climate change and sustainability. [Extracted from the article]

Previous studies have suggested that global ocean circulation would be significantly changed under global warming, while the change of North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) and its mechanisms are still unclear. Here, we investigate the location and intensity changes of NECC under global warming based on CESM1 high‐resolution long‐term simulations from the perspective of the Inter‐Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), considering the close connection between NECC and ITCZ and well‐established changes of ITCZ. It is found that the annual‐mean NECC shifts equatorward of 0.39° and weakens by 21.71% in the RCP8.5 scenario at the end of 21st century. The NECC change is seasonally dependent, with maximum shift and weakening during spring, consistent with the changes of ITCZ. Both the location and intensity changes of ITCZ are important in the NECC changes, especially for spring. The weakening and equatorward shift of ITCZ contributes almost equally to the strongest decrease of spring NECC (47.63%). Plain Language Summary: Global ocean circulation is suggested to exhibit significant changes under global warming, but whether and why the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) would change is still unclear. It is well known that the NECC and Inter‐Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) are closely coupled through air‐sea interaction. Under global warming, previous studies found that the ITCZ would move closer to the equator with maximum shift in spring and the annual‐mean NECC would be weakened in response to the enhanced equatorial warming. Hence, it is important to investigate whether the NECC would change following the ITCZ change. Here, based on long‐term simulations from a high‐resolution climate model, it is found that the NECC will indeed move closer to the equator under global warming following the equatorward shift of ITCZ. The NECC also gets weakened under global warming following the weakened ITCZ convergence, although the ITCZ precipitation gets stronger due to more moisture under warming. In spring, the largest equatorward shift of ITCZ has a comparable contribution to the largest decrease of NECC. Key Points: The North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) would be southward shift and weakened under global warmingThe future changes of NECC are seasonally dependent, with maximum southward shift and weakening in springThe NECC changes are closely related to the location and intensity changes of Inter‐Tropical Convergence Zone, especially in spring [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review explores the significant advancements in paediatric surgery in Africa during the twenty-first century, with a particular focus on capacity-building, education, infrastructural development, and research. Historically, paediatric surgery has been an overlooked sector, especially in low-and-middle-income countries in Africa. However, recent years have seen considerable progress. Collaborative efforts such as the Global Initiative for Children's Surgery, and the formation of the Pan African Paediatric Surgery Association, the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa and the West African College of Surgeons have facilitated knowledge sharing, collaboration, and advocacy for enhancing surgical standards. Local training programmes, including Master of Medicine programmes and fellowships, have been instrumental in building a skilled workforce. These initiatives have been complemented by infrastructural developments through non-governmental organisations like Kids Operating Room, which have expanded access to paediatric surgical care. Technological advancements, particularly in telemedicine, have further enhanced accessibility. Task-sharing strategies, where non-specialist physicians are trained in paediatric surgical skills, have also been utilised to address the shortage of specialised surgeons. Research in paediatric surgery has experienced an upswing, with local health professionals taking the lead. Research has been crucial for understanding the epidemiology of paediatric surgical conditions, and developing prevention strategies, and is increasingly leading to the inclusion of paediatric surgery in national health plans. Despite the progress, challenges remain, including the need for sustainable funding, continued investment in infrastructure, and training and retention of healthcare professionals. The review emphasises the importance of ongoing efforts in community engagement, innovative technologies, and health systems strengthening for the sustainable development of paediatric surgical services in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Community Earth System Model, version 2 (CESM2), has a very high climate sensitivity driven by strong positive cloud feedbacks. To evaluate the simulated clouds in the present climate and characterize their response with climate warming, a clustering approach is applied to three independent satellite cloud products and a set of coupled climate simulations. Using k-means clustering with a Wasserstein distance cost function, a set of typical cloud configurations is derived for the satellite cloud products. Using satellite simulator output, the model clouds are classified into the observed cloud regimes in both current and future climates. The model qualitatively reproduces the observed cloud configurations in the historical simulation using the same time period as the satellite observations, but it struggles to capture the observed heterogeneity of clouds which leads to an overestimation of the frequency of a few preferred cloud regimes. This problem is especially apparent for boundary layer clouds. Those low-level cloud regimes also account for much of the climate response in the late twenty-first century in four shared socioeconomic pathway simulations. The model reduces the frequency of occurrence of these low-cloud regimes, especially in tropical regions under large-scale subsidence, in favor of regimes that have weaker cloud radiative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a severe non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Life expectancy has improved with rituximab, but cause-specific mortality data is lacking. Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to study 27,449 individuals aged 20–74 years diagnosed with primary DLBCL who received chemotherapy between 2000 and 2019, we calculated standardized mortality rate (SMR) and excess absolute risk (EAR) and examined the connection between age, sex, time after diagnosis, and cause of death. Based on 12,205 deaths, 68.7% were due to lymphoma, 20.1% non-cancer causes, and 11.2% other cancers. Non-cancer mortality rates (SMR 1.2; EAR, 21.5) increased with DLBCL compared to the general population. The leading non-cancer death causes were cardiovascular (EAR, 22.6; SMR, 1.6) and infectious (EAR, 9.0; SMR, 2.9) diseases with DLBCL. Risks for non-cancer death and solid neoplasms are highest within the first diagnosis year, then decrease. Among socioeconomic factors, being white, being married, and having a higher income were favorable factors for reducing non-cancer mortality. To improve survival, close surveillance, assessment of risk factors, and early intervention are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tails of the probability distribution host extremes. The distributions are typically classified into heavy or light-tailed distributions subjected to their tail behavior, out of which the former signifies frequent happenings of extreme events. The present study demonstrates the analysis where the outputs from 13 climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) are used to evaluate changes in the tail behavior of precipitation extremes that will preside over India for the twenty-first century. A straightforward empirical index known as the "obesity index" (OB) is utilized to measure the tail heaviness for each of the 4801 daily precipitation records over India for historical (1970–2019) and future (2020–2100) time periods. The same approach was used to characterize daily precipitation tails in the Indian meteorological subdivisions and across different climate types during various periods. The results highlight that heavy-tailed distributions are well-suited for daily precipitation extremes in India, with OB values above 0.75 observed in nearly all grids for both present and future scenarios. Notably, in the case of the shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) 585 climate scenario, which is the worst climate scenario, approximately 42.82% of grids exhibit the highest range of OB from 0.85 to 0.9 relative to other SSP scenarios. The findings also show that the largest to smallest heavy tails are associated with major climate types E (polar), B (arid), A (tropical), and C (temperate). Large heavy-tailed extremes are observed in ET, BSh, BWh, and Aw for climate subtypes, while relatively lighter-tailed extremes were observed in Am and Cwb. Furthermore, the variation in the OB is found to be non-linear with the elevation. In climatic zones Aw, BSh, Cwa, and ET, a U-shaped pattern is observed, while in climate zone Cwb, it shows a concave increase. Conversely, curves are convex decreasing for As, BWh, Csa, and convex increasing for zone Am. The conclusions from this study can help policymakers in designing adaptation plans in response to the anticipated effects of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought events have become increasingly frequent and intensive due to the combined influence of climate change and anthropogenic activities. However, it remains unclear how meteorological drought characteristics (duration, severity, and intensity) respond to the changing environment and what are the dominant factors determining the drought evolution in different climate regions. Here, we divide mainland China into four sub-climatic regions, namely the Humid region (HR), Transition region (TR), Arid region (AR), and Tibetan Plateau (TP), based on the aridity index and geomorphology. Then systematically investigate the spatiotemporal patterns of drought characteristics in different climate regions over China (during 2000–2019) based on the SPEI and run theory. And the contribution of precipitation (Pre) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) to drought characteristics are quantitatively analyzed using a detrended numerical experiment method. We find that (1) a pattern of "dry gets drier, wet gets wetter" was found in China. (2) Meteorological drought characteristics exhibit apparent regional heterogeneity: droughts in AR are of long duration and high severity, while droughts in HR and TR show a pattern of high frequency. (3) An increase in the annual Pre (PET) resulted in increases (decreases) in average SPEI in China of 45.18% (31.62%). Therefore, Pre is the dominant factor determining the increase of SPEI over China. For the four sub-climatic regions, Pre is the dominant factor in the increase of SPEI in TR and HR, with the contribution of 41.64% and 60.16%. PET is the dominant factor in the decrease of SPEI in AR, with the contribution of 50.11%. The contributions of Pre (45.09%) and PET (44.09%) in TP are roughly equivalent. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers in shaping climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. By understanding the leading meteorological factors influencing drought, policymakers can implement effective measures to minimize the influence of disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Point cloud data has a key role for Architectural heritage conservation and study. • Recent technological advances enable unprecedented formal anomaly analysis. • The research proposes a systematic column formal anomaly analysis. • The investigation tests reliability of simple procedures (mainly open-source). • It is defined a simple workflow for column formal anomaly parametrization. The research is framed in the significant development of massive data capture techniques in the 21st century, with point clouds becoming essential in various fields. In the context of architectural heritage, this topographical information is particularly useful in identifying and analysing formal anomalies, among many other applications. The study focuses on systematizing the analysis of columns, vital structural elements with diverse formal definitions, especially in historical buildings. The research proposes a simple workflow based mainly on open-source software for the systematic formal study columns. The investigation explores two types of formal anomalies, namely buckling and bulging, testing different methodological approaches. The results offer insights into the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed methods, enabling detailed parameterization of the analysed anomalies. That information is crucial from the point of view of diagnosis and conservation. [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]

An assessment of the projected changes in precipitation extremes for the 21st century is presented here for Greece and its individual administrative regions. The analysis relies on an ensemble of high-resolution Regional Climate Model (RCM) simulations following various Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5). The simulated changes in future annual total precipitation (PRTOT) under the examined scenarios are generally negative but statistically non-robust, except towards the end of the century (2071–2100) over high-altitude mountainous regions in Western Greece, Peloponnese, and Crete under RCP8.5. The pattern of change in the number of very heavy precipitation days (R20) is linked to the respective pattern of the PRTOT change with a statistically robust decrease of up to −5 days per year only over parts of the high-altitude mountainous regions in Western Greece, Peloponnese, and Crete for 2071–2100 under RCP8.5. Contrasting the future tendency for decrease in total precipitation and R20, the changes in the intensity of precipitation extremes show a tendency for intensification. However, these change patterns are non-robust for all periods and scenarios. Statistical significance is indicated for the highest 1-day precipitation amount in a year (Rx1day) for the administrative regions of Thessaly, Central Greece, Ionian Islands, and North Aegean under RCP8.5 in 2071–2100. The changes in the contribution of the wettest day per year to the annual total precipitation (RxTratio) are mainly positive but non-robust for most of Greece and all scenarios in the period 2021–2050, becoming more positive and robust in 2071–2100 for RCP8.5. This work highlights the necessity of taking into consideration high-resolution multi-model RCM estimates in future precipitation extremes with various scenarios, for assessing their potential impact on flood episodes and the strategic planning of structure resilience at national and regional level under the anticipated human-induced future climate change. [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]

Background: Information on lentigo maligna (LM) and lentigo maligna melanoma (LMM) in the 21st century is scarce. We aimed to elucidate the incidence of LM and LMM using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 17 Registries. Methods: The data of patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2019 were extracted from the SEER database. The percentage of LM/LMM cases among all melanoma patients, age‐standardized incidence rates, estimated annual percentage changes, and the cumulative incidence of LMM after LM were calculated. Results: The SEER data yielded 95,175 patients with LM/LMM between 2000 and 2019. Cases of LM/LMM accounted for 15.7% of all melanomas. The age‐standardized incidence per 100,000 person‐years for LM increased from 4.16 to 5.61 and for LMM from 1.33 to 2.35 between 2000 and 2019. The annual increase in incidence of LM was 2.42%, and that of LMM was 3.32%. The cumulative incidence of LMM after a primary LM after 10‐year follow‐up was 0.94%. Conclusions: This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the epidemiological status of LM/LMM in the United States in the 21st century using the population‐based SEER data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article interrogates United Nations (UN) calls that 'making peace with nature' should become the crucial mission of the 21st century. It ponders the kind of diplomacy envisioned for such a reconciliation ecology to be credible. Drawing on one of the most promising and less known programmes of the UN system – namely, Harmony with Nature (HwN), which pioneers Earth-based jurisprudence and rights of nature – it conceptualises this diplomatic shift and assesses the conditions under which ecological diplomacy can be productively operationalised in the 21st century vis-à-vis a mere rhetorical appropriation and co-optation by intergovernmental agendas. Building on Indigenous thought and animist epistemologies, programmes such as HwN espouse a new relationship with Planet Earth and make it possible to explore 'nature' as diplomatic interlocutor. We argue that existing paradigms of peacebuilding fail to sufficiently capture the diplomatic aspects and complex local dynamics of the human–nature relationship and suggest a reconceptualisation based on an ecological diplomacy that is both expansive and transformative and views this relationship as one of troubled coexistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asks how legislative elites—lawmakers serving on statehouse committees with jurisdiction over transportation and energy—set transportation policy and funding agendas and what factors matter for compelling lawmaker policy action or explaining inaction. The role of legislatures in federalist systems has broader implications for the setting of transportation policy agendas, but in this study, we focus on U.S. state legislatures. We report on five focus group discussions conducted with 23 legislative representatives from 19 different states to reveal untapped insights into committee members' perceptions and the factors that drive their attention to certain issues in contemporary U.S. transportation policy. We find that these state-level political elites almost universally see funding as the most important issue and recognize the sector's broad fiscal reliance on motor fuel taxes as structurally unsound, given growing vehicle fuel efficiency and electric vehicle adoption. We find further that, with respect to their own policymaking activities, state lawmakers understand transportation policy and energy transition as distinct issues and appear unable to meet these known challenges by crossing committees to redesign policy. We also see implications of these results more broadly for subnational and provincial governments that, regardless of country setting, must often work across multiple layers of government to set policy agendas in the context of an evolving energy and transportation landscape and that warrant greater attention from policy scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why and how do African states become peacekeepers? Through a single-case study, this article accounts for a transformation in peace and security: how Ethiopia became the world's prime source of blue helmets in the early twenty-first century, having largely shunned peacekeeping in preceding decades. We propose that peacekeeping came to serve as an unexpectedly useful technology to pursue state-building agendas. Historically, regional proxy wars undermined state-building efforts in Ethiopia and mismanagement of ethno-linguistic diversity rendered it vulnerable to externally supported rebellions. In the 2000s, an evolving approach to peacekeeping dovetailed with the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's (EPRDF) vision for recalibrating political order domestically and in the Horn of Africa. EPRDF became convinced that changing Ethiopia required changing its surrounding region. Regional intervention as peacekeeping was supported by global powers and helped bind neighbouring states to Ethiopia in new ways. This entailed the crafting of deep political ties in Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan that mitigated historical fears of Ethiopian hegemony and shielded EPRDF state-building from outside destabilization. Moreover, as Ethiopia's increasingly prominent role in United Nations and African Union missions improved the external environment for the EPRDF developmental state, it also expanded Ethiopian National Defence Force's role in the political economy, buttressing the party-state's hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world needs people who understand the crucial importance of global governance. Training students to participate in a Model United Nations (MUN) simulation provides them with the critical thinking, negotiation, and diplomacy skills that prepare them to work in international relations positions and address negotiation and diplomacy challenges. This article provides a fresh look at why MUN is important by analyzing MUN training guides used to teach students how to participate in MUN simulations. It finds that the training guides offer excellent insight into the functions and structure of the United Nations, but little in the form of learning how to negotiate or engage in diplomacy. Specifically missing are discussions of leadership, negotiation from interest, not position (also known as principled negotiation), and how to train students to be inclusive and respond to discrimination or bias during negotiations. The article includes a description of active learning and learner-centered teaching techniques and provides insight into how a specific MUN team implemented professionalism training in the 2010s. The article is written in collaboration between an MUN advisor and students who trained as MUN delegates, integrating the voices and perspectives of those who train and those who are trained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In large-scale naval battles during World War II, sailors sometimes sustained serious lower limb injuries when explosion blast of sea mines was transmitted from underneath through the metal deck of the ships. Some of these sailors were thrown in the air due to the blast and sustained axial trauma of the spine when they landed on the hard deck, which was thus called a deck slap by Captain Joseph Barr in 1946, among others. Nowadays, this peculiar mechanism has shifted to the civilian setting. Tourists unaware of the danger may sustain spine compression fractures when they sit at the bow of speed boats while underway on a calm sea. When the craft unexpectedly crosses the wake of another ship, tourists are thrown a few feet in the air before suffering a hard landing on their buttocks. This historical vignette is presented as a preventive message to help to reduce this poorly known yet avoidable "summer wave of vertebral fractures." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper is a critique of Western modernity and the problems and promises of postmodernism in (re)liberating disaster studies. It criticizes metanarratives and grand theories of Western discourses to advance postmodern discourses in disaster studies. Design/methodology/approach: This paper outlines a conceptual domain through which approaches of postmodernism can be employed to (re)liberate disaster studies. Findings: Metanarratives and grand theories frame the scope and focus of disaster studies. But the increasing number and the aggravated impacts of disasters and environmental challenges in the late 20th and early 21st centuries are proofs that our current "frames" do not capture the complexities of disasters. Postmodernism, in its diversity and various meanings, offers critical and complementary perspectives and approaches to capture the previously neglected dimensions of disasters. Research limitations/implications: Postmodernism offers ways forward to (re)liberate disaster studies through ontological pluralism, epistemological diversity and hybridity of knowledge. Originality/value: The agenda of postmodernism in disaster studies is proposed in terms of the focus of inquiry, ontological and epistemological positionalities, research paradigm, methodologies and societal goals. [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]

Introduction: Striae distensae are a permanent skin defect that can affect 50%–90% of the population. The appearance of the changes resembles spindle‐shaped skin bands. The skin in this area is wrinkled, thin and looks like a scar. Most often, the changes are found on the skin of the abdomen, buttocks, breasts, thighs, and back. The appearance of striae means that the skin in this area has no hair follicles, sebaceous, and sweat glands. This skin is flabby, not very elastic and, what is very characteristic, the pigmentation of the skin affected by striae is much lower than in healthy skin. Cosmetology in the 21st century is developing very dynamically, new technologies are being developed, new cosmetological devices are being created and combined with treatments that have been known for a long time. Today's science offers hope for people who have struggled with reducing striae for many years and nowadays, nothing is impossible. Aims: The objective of this article is to provide information about cosmetological treatment used to reduce striae. Methods: In this article, we reviewed the published literature, article published in peer‐reviewed journals. Results: Today's cosmetology offers a wide range of numerous treatments, but the best results are achieved through a synergy of two or more treatments. But we should not forget that we should respond to each customer individually. Conclusion: The striae are not a problem that should be ignored. The beauty therapist is able to reduce them and help the client to improve the appearance of their skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High‐resolution models have brought about capabilities in forecasting that could barely have been envisaged decades ago. The same advances in computer power and atmospheric science that enabled successful high‐resolution modelling have also led to useful forecasts further into the medium range and beyond. However, there remain problems forecasting at very short range, in particular concerning convection, for which new products and techniques are being trialled at the Met Office. We examine how these latest developments present the forecaster not only with exciting opportunities, but also fresh challenges, in particular, interpreting the plethora of output now available, whilst adhering to tight operational deadlines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In honor of its 50th anniversary, the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF) held its XXV World Conference in Paris. The conference provided a venue for reviewing earlier developments and reevaluating prospective directions in the futures field. Scientific-based futures studies has a long history, drawing from a variety of fields including sociology, policy sciences, philosophy of science, economic prognostics, and environmental sustainability. Futures studies became widely acknowledged as an academic discipline in the 1960s when it became evident in the global scientific community. The 1970s saw a focus on global challenges and discussions about preferred futures. The synthesis of futures studies emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, with critical and evolutionary approaches contributing to the advancement of theoretical foundations. The twenty-first century focuses on anticipation and futures literacy, the development of post-normal, metamodern, and integral approaches, and the attainment of foresight in common practice. Future research is expected to focus on various aspects, including artificial general intelligence (AGI), socio-technical transitions, singularity, sustainability, societal collapses, entrepreneurial innovation, energy futures, decolonization, negation and post-prefix notions, systemic foresight, applied foresight, and on-site foresight. Future research activities are expected to also include research objects, policy challenges, and problems that do not yet exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: More than 80 countries, including Australia, have made commitments to deliver climate-resilient and low carbon healthcare. Understanding how healthcare workers view their own and their organization's efforts to achieve sustainable and climate-resilient healthcare practice is vital to inform strategies to accelerate that transition. Methods: We conducted an online staff survey in a large state government hospital-and-health-service organisation in Queensland, Australia, to ascertain attitudes and practices towards environmentally sustainable, climate-resilient healthcare, and views about the organizational support necessary to achieve these goals in their workplace. Results: From 301 participants showed staff strongly support implementing sustainable and climate-resilient healthcare but require significantly more organizational support. Participants identified three categories of organizational support as necessary for the transition to environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient health services and systems: (1) practical support to make sustainability easier in the workplace (e.g. waste, energy, water, procurement, food, transport etc.); (2) training and education to equip them for 21st century planetary health challenges; and (3) embedding sustainability as 'business as usual' in healthcare culture and systems. Conclusions: The research provides new insight into health workforce views on how organizations should support them to realize climate and sustainability goals. This research has implications for those planning, managing, implementing, and educating for, the transition to environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient health services and systems in Queensland, Australia, and in similar health systems internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The size of the human population is projected to peak in the 21st century. But quantitative projections past 2100 are rare, and none quantify the possibility of a rebound from low fertility to replacement-level fertility. Moreover, the most recent long-term deterministic projections were published a decade ago; since then there has been further global fertility decline. Here we provide updated long-term cohort-component population projections and extend the set of scenarios in the literature to include scenarios in which future fertility (a) stays below replacement or (b) recovers and increases. We also characterize old-age dependency ratios. We show that any stable, long-run size of the world population would persistently depend on when an increase towards replacement fertility begins. Without such an increase, the 400-year span when more than 2 billion people were alive would be a brief spike in history. Indeed, four-fifths of all births—past, present, and future—would have already happened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the concept of mission in higher education and how it has evolved over time. It acknowledges the lack of consensus among stakeholders regarding the purpose of higher education, with students and parents focusing on future job prospects and faculty and administrators emphasizing intellectual growth. The article examines different dimensions of mission, such as audience, content, place, and intended impact, and provides examples of institutions with diverse missions. It emphasizes the importance of defining and articulating a clear mission for higher education institutions, as well as aligning stakeholders to achieve institutional goals. [Extracted from the article]