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These twelve chapters show how war functions as a subject, theme, impetus--willing and not--and backdrop in travel writing. Literature about travel and war in tandem enables readers to rethink both categories. The forms of travel writing about war addressed in this collection, including cookbooks and military magazines along with nonfiction narrative and memoir, reveal how heterogenous travel writing can be. To study travel in connection with war expands readers' understanding of the multiple motivations instigating travellers' journeys. War is about more than fighting on a battlefield; its reach is extensive, encompassing the spheres surrounding its battlefields and fronts. The many actors involved in any conflict attests to the ways war is absorbed into their worlds, permeates their thoughts and spurs their actions. Readers interested in travel literature from the beginning of the nineteenth century through the present day will find this volume to be of especial interest.

Free trade agreements (FTAs) have mushroomed in the Asia-Pacific region over the past fifteen years. The Philippines is trying to forge several of these agreements in order to stay competitive. This paper examines the emergence of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement. This paper will discuss the advantages for the country by joining both the AFTA and the Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement. It will also discuss several free trade agreements that are in effect in the region as well as efforts by the country to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). For the country to be a member of the TPP certain institutional reforms are needed to be put in place. The studies examined in this paper show that these FTAs in general have a positive effect on the Philippine economy.

The propaganda efforts of the authoritarian Aliyev regime in Baku and the general Western ignorance of the history of the South Caucasus have contributed to the lack of meaningful response to the genocidal aggression that Azerbaijan has inflicted on the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh, known to many as Nagorno-Karabakh. The humanitarian crisis created by the Azeri blockade of the Lachin Corridor is only the most recent step in a process of cleansing the region of its Armenian population, a process that began in the early years of the twentieth century. The Ottoman Turkish genocide of Armenians in 1915–1923 is not a distinct event of the past but a process whose ideology is central to the Azeri-Turkish genocidal violence perpetrated against Armenians in the present. An integral component of the processes of genocide is cultural heritage destruction as noted by Raphael Lemkin. The erasure of most signs of the indigenous Armenian presence on its historic homeland was particularly pronounced in the decades following the Armenian Genocide and continues today. Cultural erasure went hand in hand with Turkish state genocide denial and the rewriting and mythologizing of its national narrative. Azerbaijan has been following a similar playbook since the collapse of the Soviet Union. These genocidal processes of denial, heritage destruction, and the rewriting of history are what I describe as “genocide by other means.”

More than half a billion people worldwide are affected by diabetes, which is a prevalent non-communicable disease that can lead to critical health conditions, including vision loss. Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) is a primary cause of vision impairment and can eventually lead to blindness in diabetic patients. Early detection of DME and proper health management are crucial to controlling the disease. Retinal image-based AI-enabled diabetes diagnosis has gained significant attention as a non-invasive, fast, and reasonably accurate method for diagnosing DME. To make this technology accessible to underserved communities or areas lacking proper clinical facilities, a mobile application-based solution could have a significant impact. In this article, we describe how we transformed our previously published AI-enabled model into an Android-based mobile application, which is part of a two-phase research study. In the first phase, we developed a deep learning-based model that predicts DME grading using retinal images. In the second phase, we built a mobile application DMEgrader to make our model accessible via a mobile device. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first article to demonstrate necessary steps and code snippets to support developers in transforming deep learning models into Android based mobile applications for DME grading prediction. © 2023 IEEE.

Determining the grounded ice dynamics of deep-time glaciations is limited by the scarcity of well-preserved subglacial erosional features and their irregular distribution. In particular, small-scale erosional features known as s-forms that are subglacially sculpted in bedrock by water and/or ice are rarely preserved from the pre-Cenozoic record. A detailed re-examination of two late Paleozoic (late Carboniferous–early Permian) glacially-polished, surfaces at the base of the Dwyka Gp. within paleofjords located in the Kaokoveld region of northwest Namibia reveals a range of erosional features including: complex, multi-directional striae that crosscut each other, crescentic markings, chattermark trails, sinuous furrows, linear furrows, transverse troughs, comma forms, sichelwannen, muschelbrüche, cavettos, a pothole, and rock drumlins. The first study location in the Sanitatis paleovalley is previously undescribed and consists of striae and fractures on a polished granite bedrock surface located on the paleovalley floor. Striae, crescentic markings, and chattermark trails indicate ice movement to the west/northwest (striae mean azimuth of 276°). The second location in the Hoarusib paleovalley was previously described and is located on a multi-level, resistant, quartzite bedrock ridge close to or on the valley wall. This location contains numerous s-forms, striae, and fractures, as well as onlapping glaciogenic sediments, including diamictite plastered within a pothole. Some of these features are superimposed on rock drumlins. These erosional features were likely formed by a combination of pressurized subglacial meltwater and glacial abrasion underneath a glacier as it flowed over and around a resistant bedrock outcrop. Orientations of striae and chattermark trails at the second location indicate a primary direction of ice movement toward the west/northwest (striae modal azimuth of 275°), a minor secondary movement to the southwest (255°), and abundant third-order striae indicating ice flow around bedrock obstacles. However, cross-cutting relations suggest the primary and secondary striae orientations are not related to two distinct glacial advances as previously thought. The complex relationships between striae, fractures, and s-forms suggest that a combination of pressure melting, abundant subglacial meltwater, debris-rich basal ice, and variable ice flow paths around resistant obstacles was required to form these features. We conclude that the study locations were overridden by relatively thick (>210 m) warm-based or polythermal glaciers that were confined to a network of fjords as ice receded and stagnated. The glaciers flowed west into present-day Brazil during the late Paleozoic and likely overtopped the paleovalley walls during times of ice maxima.

Density fluctuations near the QCD critical point can be probed via an intermittency analysis in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We report the first measurement of intermittency in Au+Au collisions at sNN = 7.7-200 GeV measured by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The scaled factorial moments of identified charged hadrons are analyzed at mid-rapidity and within the transverse momentum phase space. We observe a power-law behavior of scaled factorial moments in Au+Au collisions and a decrease in the extracted scaling exponent (ν) from peripheral to central collisions. The ν is consistent with a constant for different collisions energies in the mid-central (10-40%) collisions. Moreover, the ν in the 0-5% most central Au+Au collisions exhibits a non-monotonic energy dependence that reaches a minimum around sNN = 27 GeV. The physics implications on the QCD phase structure are discussed.

In this powerful debut, Rebecca Dimyan details her experience with endometriosis, a chronic disease which effects one in ten women worldwide. This painful condition takes an average of seven years to be diagnosed and has no proven cure. Most women will undergo multiple surgeries, take countless painkillers and other drugs, and will still endure regular pain and other complications. With honesty, vulnerability, and sometimes humor, Dimyan explores the ways the condition has impacted her experiences, her body, her pain, and her joy. She takes her audience on an emotional journey through her teenage years, early twenties, and into her thirties as she becomes a professional woman, wife, and mother. Dimyan blends research, anecdotes, and advice as she shares the relief she’s found through alternative treatments and holistic medicine. Chronic isn’t just a story about one woman’s illness—it is a memoir about all the pain, pleasure, heartbreak, friendship, love, and hope she experiences on her path to healing.

Schools of social work must prepare social workers to meet the demands of the rapidly emerging field of police social work. This article reports on the experiences of a social work program’s partnership with a police department. The authors identify an integrative practice model of police social work, specifying social work roles at the baccalaureate and graduate levels, as well as ethical issues. The model is based on the social work competencies and law enforcement best practices. The authors analyze the experiences of placing students directly into law enforcement settings and make recommendations to create successful experiences for students, social workers, and police. The importance of strategic partnerships, communication, trust, and support in building strong relationships is also highlighted.

This study examines how product market competition differentially affects existing versus new analysts. I find that new analysts' coverage increase is significantly higher than the existing analysts' coverage increase when a portfolio firm faces high competition, suggesting existing analysts’ tendency to avoid competition among analysts for their career success. I also find that new analysts' one-year earnings forecasts accuracy decrease is significantly larger than the one of the existing analysts when the portfolio firm faces high competition. These findings indicate that existing analysts consider the situation firm faces, product market competition, and they are more competent than new analysts.

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women faculty and administrators are breaking barriers, maintaining excellence, becoming award-winning scholars, and flourishing as experts in their fields. Still, they must survive while they thrive, grappling with insecurity, writer’s block, and imposter syndrome. Further examination prompts the realization that imposter syndrome may be a scapegoat for structural racism. Moreover, COVID-19 has created substantial health and financial tolls, fueled mental and emotional fatigue, and disrupted workplace productivity. These barriers caused by COVID-19 and structural racism inspire the courage to reassure, uplift, mentor, invite, and make collaborative spaces for BIPOC women to express feelings of vulnerability, unease, and, ultimately, hope. When seats are missing at the table, one can bring their own table and seats. In a field of often unforgiving critics, the authors provided underrepresented scholars the opportunity to promote authenticity and illuminate their voices. This chapter shares the authors’ reflections on being able to share the diverse and resilient perspectives of BIPOC women in academia.

U.S. society has been gripped with dueling pandemics of racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, highly publicized instances of police brutality against Black persons, and ensuing unrest to challenges these atrocities. In higher education, the rapid pivot response to COVID-19 with remote and virtual learning has also highlighted multiple levels of mental health trauma and disparities. There has also been vicarious trauma for Black women in academia who may have seen their family, friends, or loved ones reflected during increased media coverage of police brutality. This implores the need for effective strategies to mitigate these issues. This chapter discusses evidence-based strategies for Black women who navigate academia and teach during times of COVID-19 and social unrest. This chapter also proposes strategies for university leaders to consider alleviating cultural and racial gaps in the classroom or workplace and foster diversity and inclusion in academia.

When I first took the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) quiz, I was overcome with the enormity of Black trauma contained in those ten questions. The quiz reflected my own story, as well as those of Black students, women, and families—traumas that were magnified by the impact of three pandemics: COVID-19, economic inequities, and systemic racism. The definition of trauma as “emotional responses to disastrous life events” like COVID-19 can have both short- and long-term health consequences throughout one’s lifespan. The impact of COVID-19 as Black trauma in my family will reverberate long after society heals from the last three years and moves toward living with COVID-19 symbiotically. It is imperative to recognize ACEs and their perpetual trauma to implement successful trauma-informed practices to counteract and undo the damaging effects of COVID-19 on our collective lives.

In addition to fueling health disparities, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequities among faculty of color. COVID-19 has also taken a dramatic toll on college students’ mental health, with evident racial disparities. Gender inequality in research productivity has also been revealed, with women submitting fewer papers compared to men. This pandemic has created an opportunity, of sorts, to promote academic and career success among women and students of color in academia. Research has shown that mentorship and research opportunities improve chances for success among students of color in higher education. Faculty members can also progress personally and professionally from such collaborations. Still, students of color are not equally given opportunities to collaborate with faculty on research. This chapter shares perspectives and strategies from Black women faculty and graduate students regarding faculty-student research to promote academic and career success among faculty and students of color in academia.

COVID-19 brought me challenges and opportunities. I lost important people in this pandemic but also accomplished a lot. COVID-19 gave me a chance to soul search, grow, and develop. I blossomed into the woman I have always wanted to be but could not find. During it all, I was awarded my undergraduate degree, got accepted to a graduate program, received a new job, and bought my first car. With every blessing came a challenge, including health problems. Still, I persevered. Opportunities continue to present themselves and I seize them. Professional successes included publishing an article, presenting at a state public health conference, being featured in my university’s annual newsletter, and nailing my dream job! I got to “See Me!”, a woman of color coming from another country, accomplishing so much in a short span of time. This chapter details a true testimony and how giving up is not an option.