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With almost one-quarter of the 21st century behind us, it's a good opportunity to assess how far we personally, the financial industry, and professionals have progressed in coping with and responding to the present, and planning for the future. So far, it certainly has been both a joyride and a roller-coaster ride for most of us. A century ago, our forebears were dealing with world conflict, economic gyrations, cultural upheaval, lifestyle evolution, and technological disruption. Sound familiar? But they also looked forward to the opportunities that a new century offered along with all the challenges noted. Renowned gerontologist Matilda White Riley was uniquely qualified in 1990 to take on the challenge of assessing where the preceding century had been in regard to aging and where the approaching century not only might be but could be if it reached for its full potential if we focus on optimism, opportunities, and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Out-of-school youth sport in the United States is bigger, more varied, and more impactful than ever before. In dialogue with existing scholarship, this paper uses multisite, collaborative fieldwork to identify core elements of program variation and develop a composite typology of this organizational field. The typology is based on a distinction between "sport-focused" programs and programs oriented toward nonsport social and developmental goals. Our primary insight is that programs within these domains exhibit two different organizational logics, one hierarchical, the other categorical. We also argue that variabilities of funding, social context, and reliance on public facilities are additional factors that impact the operation and effectiveness of these program types including their ability to address the racialized challenges of access, equity, and inclusion. Theorizing these differential configurations and their underlying characteristics can help parents, policymakers, practitioners (including coaches), and sports researchers engage youth sports more effectively under increasingly competitive neoliberal conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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

First introduced as a funerary option in the early twenty-first century but initially limited to North America, the reach of alkaline hydrolysis (AH) is now growing year on year, with the number of US states, Canadian provinces and other countries around the world introducing legislation to permit its use regularly increasing. While AH has largely been framed as an environmental alternative to cremation, the reasons for its appeal stretch far beyond this ‘selling point’. Arguably more pertinent reasons for its appeal are grounded in the new ritual-symbolic opportunities that AH affords. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the United States of America in 2022, this paper discusses some of the reasons why AH has been chosen and explores how the innovative possibilities it offers may bolster its appeal as its availability becomes more widespread. Amongst other reasons explored in this paper, my research found that the choice of AH has been driven by four key motivations, grounded in the perception of AH as an environmental, gentle, water-based and natural choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More knowledge is needed on the performance and readiness of the European public financial architecture to best tackle the formidable socio-economic, geo-political and climate change-related challenges that Europe and the rest of the world face. We identify five core areas of concern and, specifically, how effectively the European public financial architecture: serves its member state shareholders; coordinates its lending; promotes green finance; fosters sustainable development; and facilitates development in Africa. We provide a number of solutions designed to build a stronger financial architecture for Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the recent history of the United Kingdom—Australia defence relationship in context of the Australia—United Kingdom—United States (AUKUS) submarine agreement. Drawing on defence and foreign-policy white papers as well as public polling, it analyses the framing and significance of the UK as a defence partner in the early 21st century, tracing changes against the unfolding War on Terror, the rise of China as a major power, the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum. The article shows that insecurities about the US alliance and the perceived threat from China corresponded with a turning back towards the UK as a source of safety, drawing on the imperial nostalgia evident in Brexiteers’ “Global Britain” campaign to normalise the dynamic. The article argues that imperial nostalgia works to neutralise Australian anxieties about overdependence on the US by conceptualising the former colonial parent as an equal ally within the AUKUS triad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twenty-first century, we have witnessed multiple coronavirus pandemics. Despite declining SARS-CoV-2 cases, continued research remains vital. We report the discovery of sydowiol B, a natural product, as a dual inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) and papain-like protease (PLpro). Sydowiol B interacts with the nano-channel at the Mpro dimer interface and the PLpro active site. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that sydowiol B inhibits Mpro by limiting active site expansion rather than inducing collapse. Furthermore, sydowiol B binding may amplify the fluctuation of two loops coordinating with the structural Zn2+ in PLpro, displacing Zn2+ from the zinc finger domain to the S2 helix. Sydowiol B and its analogue, violaceol I, exhibit broad-spectrum antiviral activity against homologous coronaviruses. Given the conservation of Mpro and PLpro, sydowiol B and violaceol I are promising leads for designing and developing anti-coronavirus therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic is among the most rapidly warming regions on Earth, and climate change has triggered widespread alterations to its cryosphere and ecosystems. Among these, high Arctic lakes are highly sensitive to rising temperatures due to the influence of ice cover on multiple limnological processes. Here, we studied the sediments of three lakes on northern Ellesmere Island (82.6°N), at the terrestrial limit of the Last Ice Area, to produce records of past environmental change. The colonization of the lakes by diatoms, as well as subsequent diversification and the appearance of planktonic forms, marked important ecological shifts due to warming temperatures and lengthening ice-free periods. A subsequent meta-analysis of 25 circumpolar diatom records revealed compositional shifts that paralleled those of temperature, including a notable acceleration since the turn of the twenty-first century that eclipses shifts previously observed since the mid-nineteenth century. Projections for sustained amplified warming imply that the accelerating changes we observed are likely to continue, as rising temperatures and lengthening ice-free seasons push Arctic lakes across further ecological thresholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While historical observations reveal increases in meteorological drought frequency across China during 1960–2021, future drought characteristics at the regional scale are uncertain. We evaluate historic and twenty-first-century-projected dryness changes using the NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Projections (NEX-GDDP) 0.25° resolution dataset for representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. The 20-model NEX-GDDP ensemble mean precipitation and derived potential evapotranspiration, which is calculated by utilizing the Thornthwaite approach, are consistent with gridded station data over China from 1961 to 2005. Results show that the projections of occurrence frequency of moderate drought based on the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) increase remarkably under the RCP4.5 scenario, and a significant increasing frequency is seen for severe drought under the RCP8.5 scenario, while few droughts of extreme dryness occur during the twenty-first century under both emission scenarios. More moderate drought projections are found over northwestern, northern, and southeastern regions under the RCP4.5 scenario, but all of China will face severe droughts for RCP8.5. The areas affected by moderate droughts begin to extend rapidly around 2030s at both national and regional scales for the RCP4.5 scenario, and the substantial increases in drying area extension for RCP8.5 appear around the 2050s. Particularly, the severe drought areas are found to grow much more sharply after the 2070s under the RCP8.5 scenario, implying that the occurrences of severe droughts over China are more sensitive to greenhouse gas emissions. Significance Statement: Both temperature and rainfall are closely associated with drought variability; therefore, this study examines the changes in frequency and intensity of projected droughts across China based on the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI). Severe droughts are projected to increase over most of the regions according to SPEI. The substantial increases in moderate and severe droughts are seen over all of China under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, respectively. At the temporal scale, most of the areas are projected to experience more severe droughts by the end of twenty-first century, while the areas of moderate droughts are projected to exhibit fluctuating variations during the twenty-first century. These results indicate more future droughts, which may increase the vulnerability of more areas of China from exposure to the consequences of global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To move beyond the hyper-individualism of popular neoliberal understandings of self-care, we must reconceptualize self-care as social-self care—care for fundamentally social selves. First, I examine how self-care has—and has not—been conceptualized around sociality by tracing historical lineages in modern medical discourse, Black Feminist thought, Ancient Greek and Foucauldian philosophy, the popular self-help tradition, and contemporary literatures of refusal. Next, I explore current popular neoliberal conceptualizations of "self," "care," and "self-care" that prioritize the individual and depoliticize wellbeing, trapping people in myopically individualistic worldviews. Finally, I argue that the social psychological concept of the "social self" (Cooley; Mead) as well as Mills' "sociological imagination" necessitate a reframing of self-care to social-self care. This reframing emphasizes sociality and relationality and has the potential to free people from neoliberal disconnection and promote resistance against systemic injustice—positioning social-self care as transformative and counter-hegemonic. Desires to protect financial interests, pass blame, and retain individual autonomy stand as barriers to this reframing. Still, reconceptualizing self-care around a fundamentally social self is imperative, holding the potential to shape daily lived experience and broader understandings of wellbeing in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the relationship between financial instability and wealth inequality in a twofold perspective. First, it is an attempt to explain why the two phenomena, despite being nowadays equally relevant as empirical concerns, do not attract equal attention from researchers and are usually studied separately or conceived as independent levers affecting cycles or growth. We suggest the adoption of implicit methodological paradigms, instead of 'historical momentum' as the likely reason. Secondly, we present a theoretical framework grounded on the work of Piero Ferri (Aggregate Demand, Inequality and Instability — New Directions in Modern Economics. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, 2016) with a medium-run dynamic demand-led model set for a monetary economy of production, where corporate debt is introduced into the financial account of firms. Minsky and Piketty come instrumentally to support the two perspectives: on one side they become our opposite representatives of heterodox and orthodox method; on the other side, as the model specification makes the work of Thomas Piketty (Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2014, and Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Technical Appendix. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2014) directly comparable with the financial instability hypothesis, our exercise sheds light on the dynamic role of retention rates and capital share during the cycle phases, qualifying the conditions under which financial instability may lead to inequality. Connecting the implications of the two argumentative lines, the call emerges for a significant rethinking in macroeconomics studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study scrutinizes the common wisdom concerning Turkey's crucial geopolitical significance and central physical location against the backdrop of four global transformations that are taking place in the twenty-first century. These tectonic shifts include China's rise and the ongoing Sino-US rivalry, trade routes and supply chains favoring the Asia-Pacific, technological changes brought by the fourth Industrial Revolution and finally, the decarbonization process. Based on an examination of these new dynamics, the article concludes that Turkey's geographical location and its traditional 'bridge' status between Asia and Europe no longer provides it the strategic leverage it had enjoyed in the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses high-resolution, convection-permitting, dynamically downscaled regional climate simulation output to assess how long-lived, convectively induced, extratropical windstorms known as derechos may change across the CONUS during the twenty-first century. Three 15-yr epochs including a historical period (1990–2005) and two separate late-twenty-first-century periods (2085–2100) employing intermediate (RCP4.5) and pessimistic (RCP8.5) greenhouse gas concentration scenarios are evaluated. A mesoscale convective system (MCS) identification and tracking tool catalogs derecho candidates across epochs using simulated radar reflectivity and maximum 10-m wind speed as a proxy for near-surface severe wind gusts. Results indicate that MCS-based windstorms, including derechos, are more frequent, widespread, and intense in both future climate scenarios examined for most regions of the central and eastern CONUS. Increases are suggested across all parts of the year, with significant changes in populations concentrated during the early spring and summer months, suggesting the potential for a longer, more extreme MCS windstorm season. This research provides insights for forecasters, emergency managers, and wind-vulnerable stakeholders on how these events may change across the twenty-first century so that they may mitigate, adapt to, and become resilient against severe convective storm perils. Significance Statement: Long-lived, thunderstorm-induced, damaging wind events known as derechos may increase across most portions of the central and eastern United States in the future, with projections indicating a near doubling or tripling of annual cases in the Midwest, eastern Great Plains, and Mississippi and Ohio Valley regions by the end of the twenty-first century. Modeling projections suggest that future derechos could generally be longer-lived, more expansive, and capable of producing more severe wind gusts and damage, which will ultimately increase risk to life, infrastructure, and wind-sensitive industries affected by these extreme thunderstorm events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observational evidence has shown that precipitation extremes are expected to increase over Southeast Asia (SEA) under climate change. The physical mechanism of the future changes in precipitation extremes has remained largely unclear, which is a great challenge to project the future hydrologic cycle. In this study, the changes in precipitation extremes over SEA by the end of the 21st century (2071–2100) were estimated based on simulations from CMIP6 (Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) models. Results showed that the spatiotemporal intensity of precipitation extremes is expected to increase significantly over SEA, as compared to the historical period of 1985–2014. The frequency and intensity of precipitation extremes in Kalimantan is projected to increase markedly in 2071–2100. Moreover, the wet and dry periods will be intensified in SEA, which is consistent with the "wet-get-wetter, dry-get-drier" mechanism. We further investigated the thermodynamic and dynamic contributions to the enhanced precipitation extremes using a physical scaling diagnostic method, and results showed thermodynamic factors accounting for approximately 77% (75%) of the total scaling change under the SSP2-4.5 (SSP5-8.5) scenario, but dynamic components constituting around 18% (15%). Alterations in thermodynamic scaling prevail as the primary contributor to amplified precipitation extremes. Furthermore, it was verified that the change in saturation specific humidity of thermodynamic scaling is intensified, and the model simulation consistency of thermodynamic scaling is better than that of dynamic scaling, revealing the effects of atmospheric thermodynamics and dynamics in the change of precipitation extremes over SEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis of the wrist presents complex surgical challenges. A wide variety of surgical options are available when conservative management fails to provide adequate pain relief. Despite advancements in management, such as modifications of partial wrist arthrodesis techniques and increasing use of total wrist replacements, in most scenarios there is no single preferred option. The surgeon's role is crucial in assessing the patient and creating a bespoke treatment strategy that will provide an optimal outcome. This article presents an approach to management of the degenerate wrist based on current evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an increasing remit and recognition of the role of the board Chair, resources that effective Chairs of the 21st century deploy remain inadequately explored in the existing literature. This article addresses this gap through the innovative use of 57 face-to-face, elite interviews with board members and provides new insights into the best practices of Chairs of the largest listed companies in the United Kingdom. The findings of the study indicate that effective leadership of boards requires an enlightened approach, with seven Mantras of effective board leading being commonly employed. These Mantras are—support for the CEO, lead with values, exercise influence (not power), compose diverse boards, communicate inclusively, resolve conflicts intuitively and reflect and course correct. The article makes a three-fold contribution: to resource-based theory and enlightened leadership theory, to the literature on board Chair effectiveness and praxis of leading in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twenty-first century, maritime routes are crucial for geographical and financial reasons in riverine countries. Compared to the available technology abroad, Bangladesh has insufficient monitoring of water vessels to tackle any possible disaster, such as vessel collisions for inland water transportation. One of the frequent outcomes of this architecture is regular capsizing, which sometimes leads to loss of lives. These accidents bear physical and economic costs, which are detrimental for a third-world country like Bangladesh. Considering this important issue, we attempted to develop an effective system to make river travel safe. In this study, our focus was on Bangladesh's inland waterway transportation, particularly at night. We proposed a system with the help of laser technology that tracks both the host ship and its surrounding vessels and provides real-time tracking positions. Cameras are used to monitor the vessel's movement. The diameter of the laser sphere is the primary source of data to work on for our proposed model, which is annotated using image processing. The control room will monitor data in the real-time setup, and data will be updated automatically. This proposal was presented through modeling and simulation based on laser detection and identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, significant progress has been made in the development of nanomaterials, including carbon nanotubes, boron nanoclusters, boron nanowires, boron nanotubes and many more. These nanomaterial have revolutionized the twenty first century, finding applications in vital domains such as defense, security, electronics, optical engineering, and medicine. Among these nanomaterials, boron nanomaterials hold great importance in nanotechnology due to their exceptional electrical and mechanical properties. The face index of graph is a metric that plays a crucial role in graph theory, providing valuable insights into the structural properties of a graph. It sheds light on graph's connectivity and planarity, allowing researchers to analyze and understand its characteristics more effectively. In this article, we calculated the recently introduced face index for three significant classes of boron nanotubes: tri-hexagonal nanotube, tri-angular boron nanotube and boron-α nanotubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of 21st-century educational e-assessment methods by secondary teachers holds immense potential for transforming teaching and learning practices. Prior to the pandemic and new curriculum, traditional assessment methods faced challenges, such as the need to maintain social and physical distancing and conduct in-person tests and examinations. Consequently, the popularity and utilization of electronic assessments surged. As the world transitions post-COVID-19, there is ongoing debate regarding the merits of returning to traditional assessment approaches versus integrating online assessment methods. Thus, this descriptive study aims to describe the opportunities and challenges associated with the utilization of e-assessment in the context of a public secondary high school. With a focus on practicality, authenticity, consistency, and transparency, the study examines the perspectives of 30 secondary teachers actively engaged in utilizing digital assessment tools. Through a meticulously designed questionnaire based on the Alternative Digital Assessment Theory and prACT framework, the study gathers insights into the perceived opportunities and challenges faced by teachers in integrating e-assessment into their pedagogical practices. The findings reveal a generally positive outlook among teachers towards the opportunities presented by e-assessment, particularly in terms of transparency and consistency. Teachers strongly agree that digital assessment methods enhance transparency by promoting open communication and collaboration between students and educators, while also ensuring consistency in feedback provision and grading practices. However, challenges related to practicability emerge as significant concerns, with limited technological infrastructure and training posing obstacles to the seamless implementation of e-assessment. Additionally, the study identifies age-related variations in teachers' perspectives on the challenges posed by e-assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better promote the development of Clanis bilineata tsingtauica larva industry, the present study initiated an comprehensive analysis of the research and development status of C.bilineata tsingtauica larva industry based on big data.Based on China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the Web of Science core collection, the official website of China National Intellectual Property Administration, national public service platform for standards information, local service platform for standards information, Tianyancha, and TikTok etc., the present study used metrological research methods and Graphpad Prism visual analysis software to carry out systematic statistical analysis from Chinese and SCI literature, patents, standards, enterprises and TikTok accounts. The study established a comprehensive C.bilineata tsingtauica larva industry database covering 173 Chinese and 36 SCI articles, 194 patents (including 101 authorized), 3 standards, 365 enterprises (310 enterprises involved in the rearing, 202 enterprises involved in the sales and 75 enterprises involved in the processing) and 131 TikTok accounted with more than 1 000 fans. The number of literature related to the larva of C.bilineata tsingtauica showed a consistent upward trend over years, particularly experiencing explosive growth since the 21st century. Similarly, the number of patents associated with C.bilineata tsingtauica larva was steadily increasing, with a significant proportion of invention patents.These patents were primarily focused on the prevention and control of C.bilineata tsingtauica larva as well as its rearing.Researchers had continuously exploring the edible value of C.bilineata tsingtauica larva, and the research direction gradually shifted from prevention and control to rearing around 2010.Currently, there were three local standards related to C.bilineata tsingtauica larva, all of which were centered on rearing or a combination of planting and rearing. The C.bilineata tsingtauica larva industry was predominantly concentrated in East China, with a expansion trend around Jiangsu province.Furthermore, there were notable collaborations among industry, education and research in this sector.The emergence of new media platforms like Tiktok also played a role in facilitating the development of this industry. The C. bilineata tsingtauica larva industry formed an industrial chain of rearing, processing and sales, along with corresponding scientific research technologies. The results of the present study played a promoting and guiding role for the development of the C.bilineata tsingtauica larva industry and other related industries, aiming at improving the future dietary structure of humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The induction of new aircraft carriers by several navies and the upgradation of large amphibious ships to carry drones and other aircrafts have defied critics of the carrier, who for long have predicted its departure, in the face of emerging formidable counter-measures that could make the carrier redundant. However, the carrier continues to evolve incorporating new technologies that make it far more potent and versatile than ever before. This paper looks at how and why the world navies are planning to acquire aircraft carriers and aviation capable multipurpose ships, and what makes them relevant in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT With the intensification of climate change, there is an increasing need to assess its potential impacts on hydrology and water resource systems. The reference evapotranspiration (ETo) plays a crucial role as an indicator for calculating the hydrological cycle and understanding these effects. The main objective of this study was to analyse the projected changes in simulated ETo over Egypt until the end of the 21st century. This analysis was conducted using the global climate models (GCMs) of the latest phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) framework, which incorporates the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs)—SSP1‐2.6, SSP2‐4.5, SSP3‐7.0 and SSP5‐8.5. The Penman–Monteith equation was applied to calculate ETo utilising data from four CMIP6 GCMs for the historical (1970–2014) and two future periods, the near future (2020–2059) and far future (2060–2100). The results revealed an overall increase in ETo for all scenarios and periods. The highest increase in annual ETo was observed under SSP5‐8.5, reaching 14.2% during the far future, while the lowest projected increase was 4.36% for SSP1‐2.6 in the near future. In addition, the projected ETo demonstrated the greatest increase during winter, while the lowest increase was in summer. Geographically, the increases will be more in the southwest and the least in the southeast for all scenarios and future periods. These findings emphasise the potential consequences that Egypt, a global water stress hotspot, could face if ETo rises due to escalating temperatures. It underscores the importance of addressing these challenges to ensure the sustainability of water resources in the face of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black carbon (BC) not only warms the atmosphere but also accelerates glacier melt over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), threatening the Asia Water Tower. In order to understand future BC change in the TP, we analyzed the distribution of BC over the TP and its surroundings from 1985 to 2014, as well as under the SSP585 and SSP245 scenarios from 2015 to 2100, utilizing bias-corrected CMIP6 data to drive the regional climate model. BC concentration showed a continuous decrease under both SSP585 and SSP245 scenarios, yet the contribution of BC from South Asia to the TP's BC steadily increased over time, reaching approximately 87% by the end of the 21st century. The maximum increased contribution was observed in the southeastern part of the TP, gradually decreasing towards the northwest. As the slower rate of BC reduction in South Asia compared to other regions, and the significant decrease in average wind speed over the TP in the future, the contribution of BC from South Asia to the TP has increased despite BC emission reductions. The threat of BC from South Asia on the security of the Asian water tower and the surrounding climate environment persists in the 21st Century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tree plantations are considered as a solution to reduce the impacts of climate change and can enhance biodiversity. Consequently, many tree planting schemes around the world have been started to achieve these dual objectives. However, many of these tree plantations are being implemented without proper design or post‐plantation management, often overlooking potential long‐term effects on biodiversity. Therefore, it is essential to identify which aspects of tree plantations can negatively impact biodiversity. Such knowledge is vital to design new plantations and manage existing ones, such that they do not pose threats or additional costs to the conservation of natural ecosystems. To this end, we conducted an observational study in the Mediterranean heathland habitat of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. This treeless habitat, locally known as herriza, has been planted with pine trees until the onset of the 21st century. This historical tree plantation presents a unique natural experiment to assess the long‐term effect of tree cover, measured as canopy openness, on several community properties of plant, pollinators and their network of interactions. Our results reveal a strong positive relationship between canopy openness and floristic diversity and abundance. This means that, as we increase tree cover, plant diversity is reduced. We found this has consequences for pollinator diversity and plant–pollinator networks, the latter exhibiting declines in stability. Furthermore, we reveal the importance of woody blooming plants in comparison to non‐woody ones which, despite their greater importance for pollinators, they are the most impacted. These findings underscore the importance of tree cover for severely affecting multiple properties of plant–pollinator networks at different levels of organization. Overall, this knowledge indicates that high tree cover in plantations conducted 50 years ago is incompatible with maintaining and conserving plant–pollinator networks in natural treeless habitats, at least in the herriza. Actions that want to avoid negative long‐term effects of tree plantations on plant–pollinator communities should consider existing biodiversity before planting and refrain from achieving high tree cover values. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The editorial "Divergent futures – a geography of unequal concerns" discusses the disparities in perspectives on the future between the Global North and the Global South. While the Global North focuses on sustainability and innovation, the Global South grapples with climate vulnerability and survival. The article emphasizes the need for education, research, and policy to address these inequalities and work towards a more equitable world. It also highlights the importance of fostering global consciousness, empathy, and critical thinking in students to prepare them for future decision-making roles. [Extracted from the article]

Studies of what C. Peter Ripley called the ‘Black abolitionist mission to the British Isles’ have flourished in the twenty-first century. The depth of empirical detail available now provides an opportune moment to take stock and push the interpretive framework forwards. Rather than a singular mission, it is more accurate to speak of missions in the plural and this article proposes four distinct phases of Black activism between 1830 and 1865. The advantages of this approach are demonstrated in a detailed examination of the fourth and final phase. During the American Civil War (1861–65), Black activists faced new challenges and confronted different problems. The most successful, such as Jefferson Davis’s former coachman, William Andrew Jackson, adapted their approach to address the politics of the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractSchool leaders in the twenty-first century face complexities that frequently make leadership challenging. Many underperforming schools struggle because, among other things, school leaders and their followers lack the necessary skills to guide their institutions to success. Research demonstrates that school leaders today need skills such as self-reflection, collaboration, and eclectic leadership. Furthermore, the ability to deal with ambiguity and paradoxes in leadership are fast becoming pronounced in schools, although there is still inadequate research that examines these concepts. This conceptual study used theory adaptation to examine the propinquity of Janusian leadership and thinking to school leadership. In Roman mythology, Janus is a god with two heads facing in opposite directions. This symbolises the dualities that exist, such as the ability to explore the past and the future simultaneously. The findings show that the skills that school leaders need include complex thinking and the ability to understand the uncertainties in an organisation as they embrace their followers. The major findings demonstrate that school leaders who understand and embrace the ambiguities and paradoxes of leadership are likely to guide successful schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises to revolutionize nearly every aspect of human learning. However, users have observed that the efficacy of AI assistants hinges crucially on the quality of the prompts supplied to them. A slight alteration in wording can make the difference between an assistant misinterpreting an instruction and exceeding expectations. The skill of precisely communicating the essence of a problem to an AI assistant is as crucial as the assistant itself. This paper aims to introduce Prompt Engineering (PE) as an emerging skill essential for personal and professional learning and development in the 21st century. We define PE as the skill of articulating a problem, its context, and the constraints of the desired solution to an AI assistant, ensuring a swift and accurate response. We show that no existing related frameworks on 21st skills and others cover PE to the extent that allows for its valid assessment and targeted promotion in school and university education. Thus, we propose a conceptual framework for this skill set including (1) comprehension of the basic prompt structure, (2) prompt literacy, (3) the method of prompting, and (4) critical online reasoning. We also discuss the implications and challenges for the assessment framework of this skill set and highlight current PE-related recommendations for researchers and educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the course of the ‘long’ 1920s, following the First World War, there was increasing interest in Byzantine Constantinople, as well as prolific research activity characterized by a commendable collaboration between local authorities and foreign scholars such as Theodore Wiegand, Stanley Casson, David Talbot Rice, M.C. Vett, Nicholas Brunoff and Ernest Mamboury. These scholars, who laid the foundation stones for Byzantine archaeology in Istanbul, defined the key urban features of Byzantine Constantinople by bringing to light considerable data on the Mangana Quarter, the Hippodrome, the Baths of Zeuxippus, Forum Tauri, the Column of Constantine, Hebdomon and a number of Byzantine churches in Istanbul. Yet, in Byzantine Studies, the controversial political and historical conditions of war and military occupation in Istanbul, under which these scholars operated with the aim of uncovering the physical remains of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, remained largely unexplored. Against this backdrop, this paper focuses on Byzantine archaeology in Istanbul during the period between 1920 and 1930. Drawing on historical archives in Ottoman Turkish, French, English and Turkish, along with a comparative analysis of the Antiquities Law initially codified in the Ottoman Empire and later adopted by the young Turkish Republic, the paper explores the work of the pioneers of Byzantine archaeology in Istanbul within the framework of the cultural dynamics that emerged in the first decades of the twentieth century, marked by the First World War and the Allied Occupation. In doing so, the paper contextualizes the role of these precursory archaeological missions for the newly founded Turkish Republic and its renewed narrative of nationhood, as well as its cultural and archaeological heritage inherited from the Ottoman Empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ICRP stated in 2007 that the primary aim of its recommendations is to contribute to an appropriate level of protection for people and the environment from the detrimental effects of radiation exposure without unduly limiting the desirable human actions which lead to such exposure. We face climate, humanitarian, biodiversity, health, pollution, and other crises. This rapidly changing context has potential implications for: the radiological protection system; views on what constitutes desirable human actions; and for how societies view the risks and benefits of technologies. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ideal framework for facilitating a balanced approach to socio-economic development, good health and wellbeing and environmental protection. The SDGs could be used to guide the development and application of the radiological protection system to ensure that it is fit for the 21st century. This paper considers the fundamental purposes of sustainable development and radiological protection and their underpinning values and principles. It considers how radiological protection contributes to sustainable development and how this might be enhanced; and whether the primary aim of radiological protection should be amended to make its contribution to sustainable development explicit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interdisciplinary article, the authors analyse the historical development of the Dutch state, the specificities of its governance, and its key features in the context of the 21st century. The theoretical analysis identifies the most important political, social, economic and cultural features, and their historical evolution. The situation of the current political-public governance is assessed. The paper analyses various scientific sources, statistical information and different historical phases in governance, which help to reveal not only the key strengths of the Dutch state, but also the challenges inherent to the Netherlands. The article expresses the opinion that an analysis of the good practice of the case of the Netherlands could be significant for the improvement of democratic and public governance processes in Lithuania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debris-covered Belvedere Glacier is an iconic place for investigating glacier dynamics and geomorphological processes typical of high mountain environments. Moreover, being located in an area highly suited to tourism, glacial and geomorphological hazards can evolve into risk scenarios. Particular attention has been paid during this research to the surge-type event that occurred at the beginning of the 21st century, and to the recent sliding of a lateral moraine nearby the chairlift station. Tree sampling was performed (19 trees on the lateral moraine; 10 undisturbed trees), and the results were compared with morphometric measurements on orthophotos of different years. Besides sampling trunks, the six available exposed roots (13 samples) from a tree located along the sliding niche were sampled to identify the exposure time. Morphometric measurements of the touristic trail dislocation indicate a sliding rate of 1.87 m/y - 1.98 m/y (2018-2023), while the regression rate of the sliding niche is 1.70 m/y (2021-2023). The age of trees along the trench is variable (14-49 years), as is the signal of compression wood, enhancing differentially the passage of the surge wave and the subsequent glacier downwasting. The beginning of root exposure occurred between 2017 and 2019, before the effective evidence of large fractures in the ground. Moreover, the roots show traumatic resin ducts in the period between 2020 and 2022, confirming the tree disturbance. In conclusion, the investigated events are recorded differentially in the sampled trees, especially in roots, anticipating the actual commencement of ground failure. A multidisciplinary approach, including remote sensing, field survey, and dendrogeomorphological analysis is essential to define the dynamics of complex systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestication process effects are manifold, affecting genotype and phenotype, and assumed to be universal in animals by part of the scientific community. While mammals and birds have been thoroughly investigated, from taming to intensive selective breeding, fish domestication remains comparatively unstudied. The most widely bred and traded ornamental fish species worldwide, the goldfish, underwent the effect of long-term artificial selection on differing skeletal and soft tissue modules through ornamental domestication. Here, we provide a global morphological analysis in this emblematic ornamental domesticated fish. We demonstrate that goldfish exhibit unique morphological innovations in whole-body, cranial, and sensory (Weberian ossicles and brain) anatomy compared to their evolutionary clade, highlighting a remarkable morphological disparity within a single species comparable to that of a macroevolutionary radiation. In goldfish, as in the case of dogs and pigeons in their respective evolutionary contexts, the most ornamented varieties are extremes in the occupied morphological space, emphasizing the power of artificial selection for nonadaptive traits. Using 21st century tools on a dataset comprising the 16 main goldfish breeds, 23 wild close relatives, and 39 cypriniform species, we show that Charles Darwin's expressed wonder at the goldfish is justified. There is a commonality of overall pattern in the morphological differentiation of domesticated forms selected for ornamental purposes, but the singularity of goldfish occupation and extension within (phylo)morphospaces, speaks against a universality in the domestication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Computational thinking' (CT) is highlighted in research literature, societal debates, and educational policies alike as being of prime significance in the 21st century. It is currently being introduced into K–12 (primary and secondary education) curricula around the world. However, there is no consensus on what exactly CT consists of, which skills it involves, and how it relates to programming. This article pinpoints four competing claims as to what constitutes the defining traits of CT. For each of the four claims, inherent philosophical presuppositions are identified concerning the nature of thinking, problem-solving, and human–computer relationships. It is argued that most of these philosophical presuppositions are very similar to ones that Hubert Dreyfus and Donald Schön addressed forty to fifty years ago. Therefore, claims about the power of CT raise old discussions in a new disguise. Dreyfus and Schön argued that the presuppositions were wrong. Do their arguments hold and thus defeat contemporary claims about CT? Alternatively, has the technological development since the time of their writings proven them wrong? This article argues that it is necessary to heed the arguments of Dreyfus, Schön, and—later—Bent Flyvbjerg to ensure that CT curricula are built in accord with the value-rational nature of human practice, rather than on misconceived rationalizations of problem-solving, computer use, and computational aspects in the world. However, the pervasive integration of information technology in today's world raises new issues concerning human–machine collaborations that sidetrack the arguments of Dreyfus and Schön. A revised view of CT is required which focusses on articulating how humans can design for, partake in, and critically appraise human–machine collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With 1600 titles Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. is the most academically published pope in Church history. His stature as a theologian is only comparable to that of Leo the Great or Gregory the Great. In an age that has lost an appreciation for the human being as a person, the peritus Ratzinger introduced at the Second Vatican Council the notion that divine revelation is ultimately identical with the Godman Jesus Christ. In his view, Jesus Christ, as a divine person with both divine and human natures, redeems the postmodern human being from solipsistic self-preoccupation and existentialist despair. Such is the result of a positivistic and rationalistic approach to the figure of Jesus Christ. At the beginning of the 21st century, Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated an epochal, personalist, and Christocentric shift by penning the Jesus of Nazareth trilogy, taking serious Kant's critiques and writing thus the first "post-critical" Christology presented to postmodernity. Nowhere else does Ratzinger write so extensively on "the man from Nazareth". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most noteworthy consumer cultures among young Koreans today is the growing interest in and consumption of religious "goods". Interestingly, the consumption of religious goods has been observed to foster interest in religion itself among the younger generation. This phenomenon is undoubtedly significant when viewed in the context of the social climate in Korea, where there is a notable decline in religious interest with age. It can be argued that religious goods possess a deeper significance than that of mere objects of consumption. The objective of this study is to examine the phenomenon of religious goods consumption and to discuss the religiosity that it reflects in the context of the 21st century. Initially, this study examines the significance of religious goods and defines the act of consuming religious goods as a religious ritual. The mediated nature of religious goods is explored in greater depth to ascertain how they are influencing the religiousness of contemporary individuals. By connecting theories of the sociology of religion with the materiality of religions, this study reveals that the consumption of religious goods is a religious activity that extends beyond mere consumption. It also discusses the potential for the kinds of cultural and religious phenomena it could cause to develop in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the scholarly discourse on the divinity of the emperor in postwar Japan to better understand Japanese conservative nationalism, which has been regaining momentum since the 1990s. Viewing the idea of the divinity of the emperor as ideologically fundamental to Japanese conservative nationalism, this paper looks at how conservative scholars from the 1970s developed a culturalist argument for the divinity of the emperor, first to negate the "humanity declaration", i.e., the New Year's greeting by the Showa emperor on 1 January 1946 renouncing his divinity, and then to reconfigure conservative ideology into a popular discourse on Japanese identity (i.e., the Nihonjin-ron), thereby making it more easily accepted by postwar society. Key to this culturalist argument is an essentialized dichotomy between Japanese culture and Western culture, more specifically a binary between Shinto kami and the Christian God—that the Japanese concept of kami is qualitatively different from that of the Christian God, so the emperor is not God but is kami; therefore, the emperor's divinity is not really denied and he remains the spiritual pillar of the Japanese nation even under the postwar constitutional regime. Refashioning itself as part of the increasingly popular but depoliticized Nihonjin-ron discourse, the culturalist argument on the divinity of the emperor helped make the imperial house a popular topic of the discourse on Japanese identities, even while it completely circumvented the very issues of war responsibility and historical memory which gave rise to the "humanity declaration" in 1946 in the first place. In its depoliticized, popularly appealing form, the culturalist argument played a role in legitimating the regressive conservative nationalism that seeks to revive the pre-1945 divine emperor-centered political regime. Exploring the scholarly discourse on the divinity of the emperor, then, helps shed light on how and why conservative nationalism could persist and gain momentum in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Sartre pointed out, philosophical questions are questions that each generation must ask themselves because only this promotes the feeling of being alive, which is especially true for existential questions closely related to time–space, the moment, and our society. Sartre placed his philosophy of existentialism in wartime and the social conditions of the time at the beginning of the 20th century. We can equate these conditions with today's conditions; we are once again facing threats of war, and once again, we are facing chaotic conditions that increasingly lead to absurdity but are also entirely different. Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the clarity and disambiguation of the 20th century no longer exist, as the relationships between beings and the world have drastically changed. We can observe that (1) the world is not one; there are two worlds, the physical and the cyber world and (2) being is not one; there are two beings (entities), human and AI-based forms of artificial life (ALF), between which there is a permanent tension. We advocate the thesis that in the society of the future, man must still play a master role; he must still be the being who will guide this society. Also, as Sartre claimed, each era must create its philosophy and consider real time–space. Responses to changes in this time–space also relate to existentialism in the 21st century. In this context, it is necessary to redefine the view of the future and the guidelines for the development of future society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many professionals consider computational thinking an essential skill in the twenty-first century. Furthermore, some studies demonstrate that computer-based networking skills and digital environments can improve computational thinking. A challenging question to be addressed is whether informal learning in a digital context is related to computational thinking and whether it could mediate the role in networking skills and computational thinking. This study addresses the potential relationship between higher education students' computer-based networking skills and their computational thinking by means of the mediation of digital informal learning. The study sample comprised 351 students at Shiraz University in Iran. The results, found through structural equation modeling, indicated that networking skills positively and significantly related to students' digital informal learning and computational thinking. In addition, digital informal learning was considered a mediator between networking skills and computational thinking. In conclusion, educators and policymakers should consider the role of digital informal learning alongside networking skills to improve computational thinking skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how American Muslim comedy is situated and constructed at the intersections of Orientalist tropes, racial projects, secular ideologies, gender discourses, and umma paradigms. This article unpacks the different histories and genealogies of the genre, and encourages the reader to attend to its polysemy and polymorphism. Drawing upon Hall and Sayyid, this article argues that the notion of "Muslim comedy" is multifaceted, elastic and shifting. It introduces the reader to some of the many voices and trajectories since Preacher Moss' pioneering work at the turn of the 21st century. Furthermore, this article shows how the increasing academic interest in Muslim comedy fits in the current study of Islam in America and how it might further the study of religion and humor in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California's electric grid has established and allowed for a large swathe of land with varying topography, geology, and biota to become inhabited and maintained at a level of modernization that most Americans have become accustomed to in the 21st century. However, while the residents, commerce, and overall populations of both have increased and progressed, the energy infrastructure that supports them has not. Instead, in some instances, the transmission infrastructure has ignited fires in the state's wildlands – some with devastating effects – the point sources of power production have aged and not necessarily kept up with a shifting climate or demanded load, and new sources of power generation and energy storage have not penetrated the energy marketplace fast enough or to great effect. This paper delineates just a portion of some of California's trials in the coming years as it transitions to a decarbonized electric grid and light-duty fleet. Most calculations were carried out using data prior to December 31, 2019 and generically treats succeeding data (2020–2021) as unrepresentative of former years or unlikely to be accurate of the years succeeding the Corona Virus Outbreak of 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Essential oils have been used for centuries in various cultures for their aromatic and therapeutic properties. Although, there are important issues to consider in the field of essential oils such as paucity of industrial standards, regulatory matters, environmental concerns, sustainable supplies, the future of essential oils looks promising, with numerous factors contributing to the growth and development of industry. Technological advancements in extraction and production, expanding research, product innovations, and increased sustainability efforts will all play a role in shaping the essential oils market in the coming years. With potential applications in healthcare, agriculture, and personal care, essential oils have the potential to become an increasingly important part of modern life. As industry continues to evolve and adapt to the demands of the 21st century, it will be essential to prioritize research, innovation, and sustainability to ensure the long-term success and viability of essential oils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the center of decades-long water conflicts in northwest Costa Rica, a particular fact has had a contentious status: whether the aquifers supplying the area hold sufficient water for collective life. I refer to this as the sufficiency fact, which has been established, debunked, and reestablished multiple times. To understand this peculiar dynamic, I zoom into discussions among community and business representatives about the future of these aquifers. There, in the density of social life, I show how as place-specific formations, facts are "long" entities that remain tied to their interpretations and, crucially, to their potential consequences. As opposed to the ideal of short facts that characterizes modern science, long facts reveal the rich social life that facticity takes in the twenty-first century. Long facts are always contested, explicitly political, and unable to be separated from their potential consequences. In contrast to scholarship that diagnoses the loss of the value of truth within the contemporary moment, I suggest it is critical to understand the abundance of regimes of facticity that surround us and what they make possible leaving behind assumptions of deficit and lack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we provide an initial approach to the work of the publishing house of the Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno of Argentina at the beginning of the 21st century. The BNMM publishing house represents a unique case in the field of publishing and library studies as a state-owned commercial publishing house has been scarcely studied. In this paper, both quantitative and qualitative techniques are used to analyze various sources such as prologues and epilogues of books and collections, regulations, journalistic articles and official speeches. After framing the publishing seal in relation to its own history and institutional mission and the public policies that support it, based on the reading of these sources and a descriptive and synthetic analysis of the catalog and two collections we reconstruct in general terms the actions of the publishing house during the period 2004-2015. Among the results, we present data that reflects the editorial production of the institution and the goals pursued by the initiative, in dialogue with contemporary debates about the mission of the BNMM, public publishing, and the dissemination of national culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporating an international perspective in the experience and skill‐based focus of leadership learning is central to preparing for leadership in the 21st century; a time when the world is increasingly connected across culture, governance, economies, and educational systems. For leadership educators to be more effective, the authors advocate heeding the voices of international students and colleagues, examining the legacy of colonialism, and engaging as humble and curious learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather events are becoming more severe and frequent worldwide. This study employs the Mann–Kendall test and Thein-Sen estimator for analysing the mean temperature trend in India's four densely populated metropolitan cities of New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai under representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. The trend reveals rising temperatures across four Indian regions with the change being more dominant under RCP 8.5 scenario. By the end of the twenty-first century, RCP 4.5 and 8.5 anticipate a significant rise in mean temperature of 6.0°C and 9.0°C in the Western Himalayas, 5.0°C and 7.5°C in East India and 4.0°C and 7.0°C in the Thar Desert's south-eastern region. Spatio-temporal variation also indicated the influence of heat waves across different regions of India in the late twenty-first century. There should be relevant long-term and short-term policies to mitigate the effect of climate change and optimise the mortality rate caused by heat stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]