Crossing over

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Creolizing Political Institutions

This essay engages the contributions to the forum by Nathalie Etoke, Kevin Bruyneel, Michael Neocosmos, and Sonia Dayan-Herzbrun to consider what it means to creolize political identities, political memory, and political institutions

Determinants of diarrheal disease in Jakarta

In this report, the authors develop and estimate a model of household defensive behavior and illness. Using cross-section data from a household survey in Jakarta, they observe defensive behavior (washing hands after using the toilet) consistent with expectations: defensive effort intensifies with exposure to contamination, and with income and education. Variables associated with the cost of defensive behavior - such as interruptions in the water supply - reduce defensive behavior. The data suggest that wealthier households are no less vulnerable to illness. The water sources that supply the wealthy (the water company and private wells) are disrupted more often, interfering with their defensive behavior. There is also evidence, although weak, to support findings by van der Slice and Briscoe (1993): that pathogens within a household are less harmful to household members than are pathogens originating from other households. Given the opportunity and knowledge, individuals try to modify the effect of contamination on the incidence of diarrhea. But diarrhea's inccidence is also affected by decisions and problems outside the realm of the household, including the performance of the water company.Water Conservation,Water and Industry,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Sanitation and Sewerage,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water and Industry,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water Conservation,Health Economics&Finance

Basic Science and Risk Communication: A Dialogue-Based Study

The authors use ethnographic analysis of a focus group discussion between scientists and laypersons to study information exchange in risk communication

Towards more realistic Li-ion battery safety tests based on Li-plating as internal cell error

Herein the development of a novel test procedure for lithium ion cells to trigger cell internal defects under more realistic conditions (ambient temperature/voltage) than procedures that are currently used as triggers for propagation tests (e.g. nail penetration, massive heating/overcharge) is reported. Therefore, lithium plating, a common phenomenon of aging but also appearance of misbalanced/inhomogeneous cell construction, occurring within graphite-based lithium-ion battery cells, was chosen to be induced systematically and reproducibly by electrochemical cycling within different lithium-ion cell chemistries as well as pouch cell types (commercial and self-made). Using plating as a trigger method on different kind of test cells, showed that the behavior of cells differed, such that it is possible to classify the cells into categories based on the outcome of the test (e.g., swelling, venting, thermal runaway). Interestingly, not the lithium plating and dendrite growth through the separator itself but its consequences, such as degradation reactions with increase in inner resistance caused safety critical behavior of the cells. The test procedure can be applied on an electrically connected cell within a battery system and therefore has great potential to be used alternatively as a trigger method for the propagation test

ARE WE IN THE DIGITAL DARK TIMES? HOW THE PHILOSOPHY OF HANNAH ARENDT CAN ILLUMINATE SOME OF THE ETHICAL DILEMMAS POSED BY MODERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Philosophers are not generally credited with being clairvoyant, and yet because they recognise, record and reflect on trends in their society, their observations can often appear prescient. In the field of the ethics of technology, there is, perhaps, no philosopher whose perspective on these issues is worth examining in detail more than that of Hannah Arendt, who can offer real perspective on the challenges we are facing with technologies in the twenty-first century. Arendt, a thinker of Jewish-German origin, student of Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, encountered her life turning point when she was forced into becoming a refugee as the world was shaken by a force of unimaginable brutality that she was one of the first to name “totalitarianism” (Baerh, 2010). She was an independent thinker, separating herself from schools of thought or ideology. Investigating totalitarianism was her ruling passion, and as such her political thought often overshadows her major contribution to other branches of philosophy. Arendt is best known for her accounts of Adolf Eichmann and his trial, and the concept of “banality of evil”, though her perspective on politics was driven by a precise and original theory of action. While the latter is inextricably connected to her political perspective, it is also supported by a sharp ontological reflection of social structures and anthropological reflections

The Politics of Richard Wright

A pillar of African American literature, Richard Wright is one of the most celebrated and controversial authors in American history. His work championed intellectual freedom amid social and political chaos. Despite the popular and critical success of books such as Uncle Tom\u27s Children (1938), Black Boy (1945), and Native Son (1941), Wright faced staunch criticism and even censorship throughout his career for the graphic sexuality, intense violence, and communist themes in his work. Yet, many political theorists have ignored his radical ideas. In The Politics of Richard Wright, an interdisciplinary group of scholars embraces the controversies surrounding Wright as a public intellectual and author. Several contributors explore how the writer mixed fact and fiction to capture the empirical and emotional reality of living as a black person in a racist world. Others examine the role of gender in Wright\u27s canonical and lesser-known writing and the implications of black male vulnerability. They also discuss the topics of black subjectivity, internationalism and diaspora, and the legacy of and responses to slavery in America. Wright\u27s contributions to American political thought remain vital and relevant today. The Politics of Richard Wright is an indispensable resource for students of American literature, culture, and politics who strive to interpret this influential writer\u27s life and legacy.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_cr/1021/thumbnail.jp