Search

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]

Organized immaturity, the reduction of individual capacities for public use of reason constrained by sociotechnological systems, constitutes a significant pushback against the project of Enlightenment. Forms of immaturity have long been a concern for philosophers and social theorists, such as Kant, Arendt, Fromm, Marcuse, and Foucault. Recently, Zuboff's concept of "surveillance capitalism" describes how advancements in digital technologies lead to new, increasingly sophisticated forms of organized immaturity in democratic societies. We discuss how sociotechnological systems initially designed to meet human needs can inhibit the multidimensional development of individuals as mature citizens. To counteract these trends, we suggest two mechanisms: disorganizing immaturity as a way to safeguard individuals' and collectives' negative freedoms (freedoms from), and organizing maturity as a way to strengthen positive freedoms (freedoms to). Finally, we provide an outlook on the five further articles that constitute the Business Ethics Quarterly Special Issue "Sociotechnological Conditions of Organized Immaturity in the Twenty-First Century." [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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Some of the key oppositions tearing apart American public life in the early twenty-first century are related to issues explored in the mid-twentieth century political philosophy of Jacques Maritain. Supporters of liberal democracy, then and now, insist it is a political system that privatizes religion and all concepts of a common good. Supporters of an integralist alternative demand official state support for religion as the vision underlying political goals. And, of course, arrayed against both are authoritarian movements that threaten democracy altogether. In this context, Maritain's nuanced political philosophy is far from outdated. He thoughtfully defends liberal democracy's protection of human rights, while also demonstrating that democracy is strengthened by a Catholic vision of the ultimate human good. His political wisdom provides a way through our current impasses and points to a path that will support the survival of this fragile experiment in democracy and the even more fragile hope that democratic processes could be a means to create a more just world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twenty‐first century has been one of democratic backsliding. This has stimulated wide‐ranging scholarship on the causes of democratic erosion. Yet an overarching framework that identifies actors, behaviors, and decision processes has not been developed. I offer such a structure that includes elites (e.g., elected officials, the judiciary), societal actors (e.g., social movements, interest groups, media), and citizens. I discuss erosive threats stemming from each actor and the concomitant role of psychological mechanisms. The framework highlights the challenge of arriving at a holistic explanation of erosion within a given country during a finite period. It also accentuates why scholars should regularly consider the implications of their specific findings for democratic stability. I conclude by discussing various lessons and suggestions for how to study democratic backsliding. [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]

Highlighting the transformed landscape of political communities in the twenty-first century, I reexamine the discourse of civil religion (DCR). Widely recognized in religious studies and notably in American history, this concept reveals a subtle yet intricately functional framework of community consciousness within political entities. This article posits that the prevalent interpretation of civil religion, and its application across diverse contexts, falls short of effectively reflecting and utilizing the essence identified by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Robert Bellah—classical and modern architects of civil religion, respectively. Many discussions of DCR often disregard the role of the traditional sense of religion and religiousness. Instead, they fixate on superficial symbols and rituals associated with secular institutional bodies and communities. In this article, I contend that reintegrating the ordinary sense of religion into the discourse is crucial for envisioning and constructing a new community consciousness capable of adeptly responding to the burgeoning demands of our highly multicultural world. Following the conceptual roadmap of civil religion, which seeks transcendent, sacred, and unifying narratives, symbols, and rituals, I introduce a new model termed Interfaith, Cosmopolitan Civil Religion (ICCR). Within this model, ordinary religious agents, through interfaith engagement, assume positive roles in nurturing a broader sense of community and unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to investigate the reasons behind the origins of the ideal American society and its embodiment in the television series The West Wing. To this end, the factors that led to the success of the series will be explored, at the precise moment when the public’s viewing habits began to change, as they started demanding more complex and ambiguous dramatic characters. In this context, the article examines the way in which Aaron Sorkin, the creator of the series, approached the writing of the episodes, avoiding overly naive idealism without renouncing the aim of building bridges with the foundations of the American past. The study analyses the most important plots of the first four seasons and their links to the society that emerged in the New World. Despite the problems inherent in such an undertaking, the conclusions show how Sorkin’s dramatic skills managed to dramatize idealism in order to bring the series closer to 21st century audiences, avoiding the cynicism that was starting to take hold in society at that moment, yet at the same time adapting the conflicts of the plot to the level of complexity required by the audience. Moreover, the prestige of the series has outlived the years in which it was produced, as it is still viewed today, at a time when the innocent point of view has decisively disappeared. Among the findings of the study, one interesting fact is that the fictional president, Josiah Bartlet, was given the name of a senator who actually signed the Declaration of Independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epiphytic species are ecologically important and a significant component of biodiversity. To ensure their efficient conservation, we need to understand their ecology and host plant associations. It is also important to investigate how the predicted temperature change will affect their future distribution. Here, we use data collected in Nepal to investigate how epiphytic orchids are associated with host species, their distribution patterns, and how they may be threatened by the predicted increase in temperature towards the end of the 21st century. We used the phi coefficient (Φ) of association to calculate the associations of epiphytic orchid species with plants and rarefaction to describe the diversity of orchids associated with a particular host species. We used interpolation to estimate the distribution of epiphytic orchids and their host species along altitudinal gradients. The phi (Φ) coefficient of association revealed that 30 species of host plants showed more association with different orchid species than expected. The number of epiphytic orchids increased with the number of host individuals. We predict that an increase in temperature by ~3 °C, which is a more moderate value of temperature increase by the end of the 21st century, will affect at least 52 narrow-ranged species of orchids and 58 narrow-ranged species of host plants. Therefore, we should make efforts to prevent many plant species from becoming extinct, as an increase in temperature is likely to affect their existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As healthcare systems around the world face challenges such as escalating costs, limited access, and growing demand for personalized care, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a key force for transformation. This review is motivated by the urgent need to harness AI's potential to mitigate these issues and aims to critically assess AI's integration in different healthcare domains. We explore how AI empowers clinical decision-making, optimizes hospital operation and management, refines medical image analysis, and revolutionizes patient care and monitoring through AI-powered wearables. Through several case studies, we review how AI has transformed specific healthcare domains and discuss the remaining challenges and possible solutions. Additionally, we will discuss methodologies for assessing AI healthcare solutions, ethical challenges of AI deployment, and the importance of data privacy and bias mitigation for responsible technology use. By presenting a critical assessment of AI's transformative potential, this review equips researchers with a deeper understanding of AI's current and future impact on healthcare. It encourages an interdisciplinary dialogue between researchers, clinicians, and technologists to navigate the complexities of AI implementation, fostering the development of AI-driven solutions that prioritize ethical standards, equity, and a patient-centered approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), the source of many major Asian rivers, is sensitive to climate change, affecting billions of people's livelihoods across Asia. Here, we developed high-resolution projections of precipitation and daily maximum/minimum temperatures at 0.1° spatial resolution over the QTP. The projections are based on the output from seven global climate models (GCMs) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) for historical (1979–2013) and projected (2015–2100) climates across four scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5). An updated nonstationary cumulative distribution function matching method (called CNCDFm) was used to remove model systemic bias. We verify the necessity of taking into account altitude in downscaling processes and the validity of nonstationary bias correction. Compared to the historical period, the climate in the QTP in the 21st century is warmer (1.2–5.1 °C, for maximum surface temperature) and wetter (3.9–26.8%) according to the corrected GCM projection. For precipitation, the Indus River (IDR), Tarim River (TMR), Inner of Qiangtang Basin (IQTB), Yarlung Zangbo (YLZBR), and Qaidam Basin (QDB) showed growth well above the global average across high radiative forcing scenarios, which could have a profound impact on the regional hydrological cycle. However, there is great uncertainty in precipitation prediction, which is demonstrated by a very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and a large difference between Bayesian model averaging (BMA) and multi-model averages (MMAs). This bias-corrected dataset is available for climate change impact research in the QTP at the subregion scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic and potentially life-threatening condition, wherein timely diagnosis assumes paramount significance for the prompt initiation of therapeutic interventions, thereby ameliorating pulmonary function, addressing nutritional deficits, averting complications, mitigating morbidity, and ultimately enhancing the quality of life and extending longevity. This review aims to amalgamate existing knowledge to provide a comprehensive appraisal of contemporary diagnostic modalities pertinent to CF in the 21st century. Deliberations encompass discrete delineations of each diagnostic modality and the elucidation of potential diagnostic quandaries encountered in select instances, as well as the delineation of genotype–phenotype correlations germane to genetic counseling endeavors. The synthesis underscores that, notwithstanding the availability and strides in diagnostic methodologies, including genetic assays, the sweat test (ST) retains its position as the preeminent diagnostic standard for CF, serving as a robust surrogate for CFTR functionality. Prospective clinical investigations in the realm of CF should be orchestrated with the objective of discerning novel diagnostic modalities endowed with heightened specificity and sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the book "The Consumer Welfare Hypothesis in Law and Economics: Towards a Synthesis for the 21st Century" by Fabrizio Esposito, the author argues for replacing the classical total welfare approach with the consumer welfare hypothesis in Law and Economics. This proposal is likely to face opposition from different strands of legal scholarship. Esposito aligns with Calabresi's Law and Economics school of thought, which prioritizes consumer welfare over total welfare. The book explores the economic pedigree of consumer welfare and examines how EU legal structures, such as antitrust and consumer law, align with the goal of maximizing consumer welfare. The author suggests that efficiency and equity are not necessarily in conflict and that economic analysis can provide valuable insights into European antitrust and consumer laws. While the book may face criticism for oversimplification and potential tautology, it offers a third way between Posnerian Law and Economics and Law and Political Economy, making it a significant contribution to legal scholarship. [Extracted from the article]

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]

To adapt to Earth's rapidly changing climate, detailed modelling of thermal stress is needed. Dangerous stress levels are becoming more frequent, longer, and more severe. While traditional measurements of thermal stress have focused on air temperature and humidity, modern measures including radiation and wind speed are becoming widespread. However, projecting such indices has presented a challenging problem, due to the need for appropriate bias correction of multiple variables that vary on hourly timescales. In this paper, we aim to provide a detailed understanding of changing thermal stress patterns incorporating modern measurements, bias correction techniques, and hourly projections to assess the impact of climate change on thermal stress at human scales. To achieve these aims, we conduct a case study of projected thermal stress in central Hobart, Australia for 2040–2059, compared to the historical period 1990–2005. We present the first hourly metre-scale projections of thermal stress driven by multivariate bias-corrected data. We bias correct four variables from six dynamically downscaled General Circulation Models. These outputs drive the Solar and LongWave Environmental Irradiance Geometry model at metre scale, calculating mean radiant temperature and the Universal Thermal Climate Index. We demonstrate that multivariate bias correction can correct means on multiple time scales while accurately preserving mean seasonal trends. Changes in mean air temperature and UTCI by hour of the day and month of the year reveal diurnal and annual patterns in both temporal trends and model agreement. We present plots of future median stress values in the context of historical percentiles, revealing trends and patterns not evident in mean data. Our modelling illustrates a future Hobart that experiences higher and more consistent numbers of hours of heat stress arriving earlier in the year and extending further throughout the day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hot droughts, droughts attributed to below-average precipitation and exceptional warmth, are increasingly common in the twenty-first century, yet little is known about their effect on coniferous tree growth because of their historical rarity. In much of the American West, including California, radial tree growth is principally driven by precipitation, and narrow ring widths are typically associated with either drier or drought conditions. However, for species growing at high elevations (e.g., Larix lyalli, Pinus albicaulis), growth can be closely aligned with above-average temperatures with maximum growth coinciding with meteorological drought, suggesting that the growth effects of drought span from adverse to beneficial depending on location. Here, we compare radial growth responses of three high-elevation old-growth pines (Pinus jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, and P. contorta) growing in the San Jacinto Mountains, California, during a twenty-first-century hot drought (2000–2020) largely caused by exceptional warmth and a twentieth-century drought (1959–1966) principally driven by precipitation deficits. Mean radial growth during the hot drought was 12% above average while 18% below average during the mid-century drought illustrating that the consequences of environmental stress exhibit spatiotemporal variability. We conclude that the effects of hot droughts on tree growth in high-elevation forests may produce responses different than what is commonly associated with extended dry periods for much of western North America's forested lands at lower elevational ranges and likely applies to other mountainous regions (e.g., Mediterranean Europe) defined by summer-dry conditions. Thus, the climatological/biological interactions discovered in Southern California may offer clues to the unique nature of high-elevation forested ecosystems globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Asia has a dry climate, scarce water resources, extremely fragile ecosystems, and frequent extreme precipitation events. Using the data of 22 global climate models in the CMIP6 plan, the trend of the extreme precipitation index under four Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) was estimated by calculating eight extreme precipitation indices in Central Asia and optimizing the best multi-model set using the Taylor evaluation and comprehensive score. The results showed that in Central Asia, the CMIP6 mode and multi-mode collection can reasonably reproduce the regional differences of various severe precipitation indices. However, these results only performed well for consecutive dry days (CDD) and annual total precipitation (PRCPTOT), but poorly for the replication of extreme high- and low-value regions. We found that the simulation effect of the multi-mode ensemble results was better than that of a single mode, and that CMIP6 can roughly depict the evolving characteristics of extreme precipitation events. However, the CMIP6 data performed poorly in terms of spatial divergence ability characteristics. According to the estimated results, mountainous regions have experienced considerable changes, and a significant increase in the range of change was observed for severe precipitation (consecutive wet days (CWD), single day maximum precipitation (Rx1day), and PRCPTOT) in wet and dry regions during the twenty-first century. Simultaneously, the humidification trend accelerated after 2050, and four shared socioeconomic paths showed similar trends; however, the extreme precipitation rate was higher under the high forcing path. Consecutive dry days (CDD) in Central Asia decreased by 90% under SSP5-8.5 relative to SSP1-2.6, whereas CWD, Rx1day, and PRCPTOT increased by 20%, 150%, and 118%, respectively. [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]

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]

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]

The rise of extreme precipitation events has attracted wide attention throughout the world. However, the analysis of precipitation extremes is not sufficient in the short period of instrumental observation and it is complicated by their non‐stationary behaviours. As a period dominated by natural forcing, the last millennium is helpful for understanding long‐term changes in precipitation extremes. Therefore, this study aimed to (1) investigate changes in daily and subdaily precipitation extremes in China from the last millennium to the end of the twenty‐first century, (2) detect the non‐stationarity of precipitation extremes and (3) compare design storms by using stationary and non‐stationary distributions. The annual maximum 1‐day precipitation (RX1day) and annual maximum 3‐hour precipitation (RX3hour) are used to quantify variations of precipitation extremes. The results show that the trend of RX1day was insignificant for the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, 950–1250) and the Little Ice Age (LIA, 1500–1800). For the historical period (1850–2014), the trend of RX1day and RX3hour was insignificant in most subregions. In addition, the differences for RX1day between the historical period and the MCA/LIA were mostly in the range of −5% to 5%. For the future period (2015–2100), RX1day and RX3hour are projected to increase in almost all land grids compared with the historical period, and they show greater increases in western China than eastern China. The non‐stationarity of RX1day and RX3hour is mainly found under the high‐emission scenario. Moreover, stationary generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution underestimates 50‐year return levels for RX1day and RX3hour in most areas compared with non‐stationary GEV distribution under the high‐emission scenario. Overall, this study suggests that daily and subdaily extreme precipitation will intensify over China in the future. For design storms, non‐stationary methods need to be used for risk management and engineering design under the high‐emission scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Re-reading the risk literature, I sketch a novel nomenclature for 36 dyadic risk interactions that constitute the prototypes of what eventually become cascading effects. This analysis demonstrates where cascading risk effects originate and also hints at how they get their enormous power. Risk dyads derive from basic first-order interactions across six disruptive forces: sci-tech, governance, economics, social dynamics, ecological impact, and health adversity. I give brief examples of each and provide a short case description of six of the most prominent dyads. Very few of these dyads have an existing shorthand. The exception is NaTech, which denotes natural disasters being amplified by, or amplifying industrial risk, or now more broadly, sci-tech-derived risk. By generalizing the NaTech-style nomenclature across domains, I aim to provide the basic building blocks for a precise understanding of contemporary risk mechanics. This step is often skipped by avid complexity scholars intent on first describing system-wide features. Yet, dyadic analysis is an important prerequisite for systemic understanding of complex cascading effects that depend on triadic or tetradic risk relationships. In reality, even if systemic, and existential risks, as they emerge in the twenty-first century, depend on a myriad of cascading effects, they cannot be fully understood simply by looking at the whole system and attempting to analytically ignore its constituent parts claiming to gain a better overview. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In "Five by Five: Redefining Education for the 21st Century," the author explores the necessary transformations in education to meet the demands of the evolving world. Reflecting on the outdated 20th-century model, he emphasizes the need for adaptability, creativity, and technological proficiency in the current era. The essay covers five key aspects. The author discusses the essential traits to cultivate in the minds of youth, such as critical thinking, imagination, curiosity, discipline, and ethics. The essay envisions a future education system marked by continuous learning, modular offerings, and a blend of formal, non-formal, and informal learning formats. Ultimately, the author advocates for a holistic approach that prepares students for the challenges and opportunities presented by our rapidly changing society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concept of inclusivity in teaching and learning modern British history in UK higher education. It explores how the idea of inclusivity has shaped research, teaching, and learning in the field, with a focus on new approaches to storytelling, pedagogical debates, and considerations of who learns this history. The article also highlights the challenges faced by historians in the current political climate, including attacks on critical approaches to studying Britain's history and concerns about access to education for socio-economic elites. The Open University is presented as an institution that plays a major role in widening access to studying modern British history, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The article discusses the OU's distance learning model and the use of technology to create inclusive learning environments. It also acknowledges the limitations and barriers faced by certain groups of students, such as those in prison. The OU's curriculum design is described as an opportunity to teach a genuinely 'British' history that reflects the diverse identities and cultures of its students across the UK. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of inclusive teaching and learning in building a more inclusive future for the field of modern British history. [Extracted from the article]

Gastric cancer, a malignant tumor with high morbidity and mortality in China, has characteristics such as high heterogeneity and poor prognosis. With the advent of the 21st century, significant progress has been made in gastric cancer diagnosis and treatment due to the rapid development of genomics, laparoscopic minimally invasive techniques, targeted therapy and immunotherapy. This article summarized the important research progress in the field of gastric cancer prevention and treatment since the 21st century, and looked forward to the future. We hope to make greater progress and breakthroughs in early screening, diagnosis and precise treatment of gastric cancer, further improve the overall survival rate of patients, and transform gastric cancer into a controllable "chronic disease". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many African states including South Africa practice cultural activities including Male Circumcision (MC) to instil principles in young boys. MC is regarded as the transition from boy to manhood. However, this practice has been associated with many forbidden activities such as risky sexual behaviours, and drug abuse as compared to the previous years. This forbidden activity has many debates about the relevance of MC in current generation. This study sought to explore the relevance of male circumcision in Xhosa tribe in the 21st century. The qualitative research approach, through unstructured interviews, was employed in the paper and the participants were approached purposely. The collected data was analysed using a thematic approach. The findings revealed that MC is relevant for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases such as STIs or HIV and the enhancement of sexual pleasure, however, the study also found that the tradition is relevant for preserving the Xhosa cultural customs, instilling good principles and ensuring human dignity. It further states that MC is irrelevant in the 21st century as it no longer serves its initial purpose and there are now more safer health practices for circumcision. The study thus recommended that the tradition must be preserved but subjected to health regulations. The MC needs to ensure that it suits the environment, is done by experienced people and it must not be compulsory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the regime established by the Convention on Biological Diversity as a foundation, the purpose of this article is twofold. First, it examines how the international biodiversity regime integrates the private property paradigm into its toolbox for conservation and sustainability and then critically evaluates the shortcomings of the intellectual property mechanism. Second, it argues that the increasing ubiquity of open access emerging technologies should lead the international community to carefully assess the benefits for conservation research of reverting to a framework that places biodiversity within the global commons. The impasse between global commons advocates and the intellectual property status quo obscures the underlying problematic of the “commodity fiction” of biodiversity and increasing use of digital sequence information likely exacerbates power asymmetries. One remedy explored here is an alternative to these two approaches that dislodges rather than discards the concept of private property. Drawing inspiration from Polanyi and building on May (2010), the article shows how a hybrid approach bridging a public and private conception of genetic resources and traditional knowledge could more effectively and equitably distribute benefits to countries and communities providing resources of value to industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considered the epidemic of the 21st century by the WHO, obesity is a global problem that is on the rise and will continue to increase in the coming years. Spain and Andalusia, in particular, are no exception to this pathology, which has tripled since the 1970s, representing a public health challenge. The aim of this study is to analyse the socioeconomic determinants of this pathology, with special emphasis on answering the question of what has a greater influence on overweight, education level, or income. For this purpose, we have used the European Survey of Health in Spain (ESHS-2020), a microdata base, with a total of 22,072 valid individual observations (of which 2,820 belong to the Andalusian population). Results we obtain in our estimations of qualitative response models reveal that, although both income and educational attainment could be effective in the fight against overweight, the social gradient of this health problem is greater with respect to educational attainment. Additionally, there are many other variables and other factors related to the individual's overweight (mental health, subjective state of health, oral health, among others) which are much less explored and which must be considered in health policies to combat this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on how twenty-first century Mapuche writers Daniela Catrileo and Soraya Maicoño upend notions of "silence" as corresponding to emptiness or absence through their experiments with poetic form. I begin by examining patterns and forms of silence and silencing in Mapuche poetry, mainly in dialogue with the poet Liliana Ancalao, as well as Mapudungun's polyphonous conception of a "language" or "poetics" of the land that destabilizes colonial modes of listening, voicing, and sense-making. I then analyze the poetics of the line break, as well as the notion of poetic "white space," as contesting narratives that attempt to silence and make invisible Mapuche communities through settler colonial frameworks. I finally evaluate the relationship between form, the caesura or the line break, and silencing or absence in two recent works: Pewma Ull: El sueño del sonido by Soraya Maicoño and Dani Zelko, and Río herido by Daniela Catrileo. Through a notion I term "underwriting," I posit that these poets politicize form and blankness in order to not only make resonant Mapuche voices that have been previously construed as silent and absent by the settler state, but to propose alternative and active conceptualizations of "silence" as poetic modes of theorizing notions of mourning, restitution, and justice under settler colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Teaching preaching effectively in the twenty-first century requires instructors to engage a multiplicity of pedagogical approaches. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of homiletical literature that surveys diverse pedagogical paradigms and practices directly related to preaching. This article takes a step toward filling this void. Specifically, the author argues that embracing varied preaching pedagogical paradigms and practices is essential to foster a more holistic, contextually sensitive, and liberative approach to the formation of preachers. The first part of the article examines three major contemporary homiletical pedagogical approaches that attend to the formation of preachers in interrelated yet distinct ways: teacher-centered, learner-centered, and learning-centered preaching pedagogy. In the second section, building on place-based educational theory, a new paradigm is explored that the author calls place-centered preaching pedagogy. To explicate this paradigm, the article briefly considers four homileticians who, in different ways, reflect aspects of this pedagogy in their teaching: HyeRan Kim-Cragg, Frank A. Thomas, Richard W. Voelz, and Leah D. Schade. The third section offers an assessment of place-centered preaching pedagogy by examining its strengths, weaknesses, and areas for future research. The article ends with a conclusion that revisits the primary aims of the essay and calls for further exploration of the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]