Critical Survey Research Articles

Dynamic model identification of the medieval bell tower of Casertavacchia (Italy)

The structural safeguard of tangible cultural heritage, monuments in particular, needs a multi-disciplinary approach involving historical–critical analysis, survey, in-situ and laboratory testing to provide a comprehensive knowledge on the object under investigation and build a structural model representative of the current state of the monument. In this paper, this approach is applied to the case study of the bell tower of San Michele Arcangelo cathedral in Casertavecchia (Italy). The historical–critical analysis was fundamental to understand the evolution of the tower over the centuries. Material tests were complemented by ambient vibration testing (AVT) which allowed for a complete characterisation of frequencies and mode shapes for the bell towers. A further model identification procedure was carried out to exploit the amount of information gathered within the documental and experimental activities and set up a reasonably accurate numerical model. The activities described in this paper highlight (a) the importance of correctly representing all substructures present in the monument, possibly hidden and built in different historical periods; (b) the possibility offered by model identification procedures to separate identifiable from less significant parameters, as well as selecting the best model in terms of representation complexity; (c) the effect of soil-structure and structure-structure interaction on the modal behaviour of the monument. In particular, the identification analyses without considering the inner concrete frame are consistently characterised by higher values of ωf and ωMAC compared to the analogous analyses in which all substructures were included. The best fit with the dynamic data is obtained by introducing deformable structure-soil connection while the effect of lateral constraints is hardly captured by the utilised setup.

Cultural heritage re-search: Reimagining the collective memory of Copándaro de Galeana, Michoacán

The author reconnects with the ongoing struggles of her parents’ hometown, Copándaro de Galeana, located in Michoacán, Mexico, in this ethnographic critical research. Employing critical survey methods and analyzing the community’s identity reclamation through two festivals, El Carnaval and El Festival de las Almas y las Flores, the author collaborates with family members and friends to create a collective memory of Copándaro de Galeana’s intangible cultural heritage, underscoring the community’s self-expressed Resistant Knowledges. As a critical cultural heritage study, this article addresses the dichotomy of exploitation vs empowerment present in archival aspects of cultural heritage preservation methods. It also examines how the author’s position as a Chicana/Mestiza, attempting to reconnect with her indigenous roots and the duality of Indigenismo, aids or counters the empowerment of Copándaro de Galeana. Situated within the broader theme of “Resistant Knowledges: Unmasking Coloniality through the re-search of local to global communities,” the study addresses specific subtopics, emphasizing autonomous movements, identity and representation, and community resilience. Recognizing the important role that oral history has played in recording Copándaro de Galeana’s memory, the author similarly includes community members’ recollections and personal experiences to form a decolonized re-search article.

Authentication with privacy-preserving scheme for 5G-enabled vehicular networks

The 5G-enabled vehicular network is an innovative technology that has promise for intelligent transportation systems. It enables the transmitting of messages about traffic that deliver the most recent information on congestion, road conditions, and driving surroundings. The communication channel used by vehicle networks is inherently open, which unfortunately exposes the system to privacy and security concerns. To solve the problems of deploying a safe vehicular network, some academics have put forth plans. However, a number of current methods have significant computational or communication overhead costs. To solve this problem, an efficient and secure authentication with a privacypreserving (ES-APP) scheme established elliptic curve encryption is introduced. With the proposed ES-APP, the data signed and verified for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure modes in the 5G-based vehicular network are more effective. The ES-APP scheme’s goal is to meet the criteria for the security and privacy of the 5G-enabled automotive network. Ultimately, this work discusses the critical survey of the existing studies and the expected outcome for the ESAPP scheme and further works in the 5G-enabled vehicular network.

Chronicling Five Decades: A Review of UK Feminist Cartoons and Comics: A Critical Survey

This article is a review of UK Feminist Cartoons and Comics: A Critical Survey (2020) by Nicola Streeten. The book contributes to the literature on women cartoonists and feminist comics in Britain from 1970 to 2019. Streeten undertakes a study of cartoons, pamphlets, posters, postcards, long-form comics, and magazines by individual artists and collectives. In doing so, she studies both the product and its means of production. It seeks to decipher a feminist humour in the language of comics. The work has an underlying current of cultural materialism and hopes to contribute to the tradition of Robbins, Atkinson, and Chute. Through its methodological interventions, it plays an essential role in archiving feminism, comics, and humour.

Correction to: Capitalism, Austerity, and Fascism: A critical survey

Correction to: Capitalism, Austerity, and Fascism: A critical survey

Efficiency vs. Meaningful Work: A Critical Survey of Historical and Contemporary Debates

Efficiency vs. Meaningful Work: A Critical Survey of Historical and Contemporary Debates

Strategic Review of Organic–Inorganic Perovskite Photodetectors

Metal halide perovskites have aroused worldwide efforts for developing optoelectronic devices due to their unique optical properties and low‐cost simple fabrication process. In recent years, various perovskites‐based miniaturized optical devices have been actively investigated due to their record‐breaking efficiency in different fields, including environmental monitoring, remote sensing, biomedical imaging, and optical communications. In this review, a succinct and critical survey of recently discovered organic–inorganic perovskite photodetectors providing insights into their structural properties and key performance parameters is staged. First, key features of perovskites‐based photodetectors emphasizing their optoelectronic and electrical properties are introduced. Then, the polarization‐sensitive detection of metal halide perovskites using polarization‐selective optical structures is discussed. The bandgap engineering for tailoring the properties of perovskite photodetectors by changing the chemical composition and material structures is also highlighted in this report. Finally, a perspective on future opportunities and current challenges for designing perovskite‐based optoelectronic devices is presented.

Does bank capital boost the productivity of the banking industry in EMCCA? A critical survey

Does bank capital boost the productivity of the banking industry in EMCCA? A critical survey

Solar-powered photocatalysis in water purification: applications and commercialization challenges

Although heterogeneous photocatalysis has been recognized as a promising technology for decontaminating and disinfecting municipal and industrial wastewater over the last few decades, it has not yet successfully transitioned from laboratory-scale research to real-world applications. This limited progress is attributed to inherent physicochemical properties of most photocatalytic materials available, which exhibit reduced photoefficiency under visible light irradiation, along with multiple engineering considerations. This comprehensive review delves into the intricate dynamics of photocatalytic reactions kinetics, exploring several types of photocatalytic reactors and elucidating the significance of materials employed in photocatalytic wastewater treatment. This critical survey systematically examines the effectiveness of different materials such as titania, zinc oxide and graphitic carbon nitride which are commercially applied for different reactor systems. Understanding the role of these materials for photocatalytic reactions is essential to address the challenges associated with wastewater treatment. Furthermore, the discussion extends beyond the technical aspects to encompass the broader landscape of challenges hindering the commercialization and widespread adoption of photocatalytic technologies. By critically evaluating these challenges, the minireview aims to provide valuable insights for researchers, engineers, and policymakers seeking to advance and implement photocatalytic wastewater treatment on a broader scale. This synthesis of knowledge consolidates the current state of the field and outlines future prospects for overcoming barriers and optimizing the potential of photocatalytic processes in environmental remediation.

Does Trade Reform Promote Economic Growth? A Review of Recent Evidence

Abstract Do trade reforms that significantly reduce import barriers lead to faster economic growth? In the twenty-five years since Rodríguez and Rodrik's (2000) critical survey of empirical work on this question, new research has tried to overcome the various methodological problems that have plagued previous attempts to provide a convincing answer. I examine three strands of recent work on this issue: cross-country regressions focusing on within-country growth, synthetic control methods on specific reform episodes, and empirical country studies looking at the channels through which lower trade barriers may increase productivity. A consistent finding is that trade reforms have had a positive impact on economic growth, on average, although the effect is heterogeneous across countries. Overall, these research findings should temper some of the previous agnosticism about the empirical link between trade reform and economic performance.

A critical review towards artificial general intelligence: Challenges, ethical considerations, and the path forward

The pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) has captivated researchers and industry leaders alike, promising a future where machines possess human-like cognitive abilities. However, this ambitious endeavor is fraught with multifaceted challenges and ethical dilemmas that necessitate careful examination. This critical review surveys the landscape of AGI research, identifying key hurdles and ethical considerations while outlining potential pathways forward. Firstly, technical challenges loom large on the path to AGI. These encompass fundamental problems such as developing robust learning algorithms capable of generalizing across diverse domains, as well as engineering systems that can exhibit adaptive and autonomous behavior akin to human intelligence. Additionally, ensuring the safety and reliability of AGI systems presents a formidable obstacle, with concerns ranging from algorithmic bias to the potential for catastrophic outcomes in unanticipated scenarios. Ethical considerations permeate every facet of AGI development and deployment. Questions of accountability, transparency, and control surface as central concerns, as the implications of relinquishing decision-making authority to autonomous systems raise profound ethical dilemmas. Moreover, the socio-economic ramifications of widespread AGI adoption, including job displacement and inequality, demand careful scrutiny and proactive mitigation strategies. Navigating these challenges requires a concerted effort from interdisciplinary stakeholders. Collaboration between computer scientists, ethicists, policymakers, and the public is essential to establish robust frameworks for the responsible development and deployment of AGI. Moreover, fostering an inclusive dialogue that prioritizes ethical principles and societal values is paramount in shaping a future where AGI augments human capabilities while safeguarding against potential risks. While the pursuit of AGI holds immense promise, its realization demands a holistic approach that addresses technical challenges alongside ethical considerations. By charting a path forward that prioritizes safety, transparency, and ethical governance, we can harness the transformative potential of AGI while ensuring its alignment with human values and interests.

Bridging the gap between crop breeding and GeoAI: Soybean yield prediction from multispectral UAV images with transfer learning

Despite significant progress has been made towards crop yield prediction with remote sensing, there exist knowledge gaps on (1) the impacts of temporal resolution of imaging frequencies on yield prediction, (2) transferability of the models among different genotypes and test sites, and (3) translation of these research developments to crop breeding that benefit farmers. Existing research predominantly provides an on-site perspective, frequently missing the complexities of real-world applications. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the transferability and generalization capabilities of yield prediction models for crop breeding across test sites located in North and South Americas. Toward that goal, we tested different machine learning techniques including Random Forest Regressor (RF), Gradient Boosting Regression (GB), and Deep Neural Networks (DNN) for soybean yield prediction with experiments conducted in different climate and growth conditions. A novel transfer learning approach was proposed for genotype selection and categorizing soybean yield for screening high-yield varieties. Furthermore, we studied the effect of temporal resolution on yield prediction, focusing on the critical development stages and optimal aerial survey frequencies for precise yield prediction using large 31,404 sample data. Results demonstrated that the combined dataset of Argentina and United States representing different climate regimes provided the highest performance with an R2 of 0.76 using RF and GB algorithms. The classification approach was proven to be most useful for crop breeding as demonstrated by accurately identifying the high-yielding genotypes. Increasing temporal sampling of key phenological stages significantly improved yield prediction. Although transfer learning yielded promising outcomes across trials within Argentina the efficacy of transferring models from Argentina to the United States was limited, attributed to significant seasonal and climate variations. This study pioneered the use of transfer learning for model adaptability in real-world breeding scenarios, training and transferring models within the South and North Americas, providing actionable insights and strategies for the breeding community, aiming to facilitate improved decision-making for agricultural productivity.

The Colubrariidae, Eosiphonidae, Melongenidae, Pisaniidae, Prodotiidae and Tudiclidae (Gastropoda, Buccinoidea) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea

We describe 46 species in six families of Buccinoidea from the Miocene of the Central Paratethys Sea (4 Colubrariidae, 5 Eosiphonidae, 1 Melongenidae, 14 Pisaniidae, 4 Prodotiidae, 18 Tudiclidae). For the first time species of the family Prodotiidae are documented from the European Neogene. Tethyspollia nov. gen. (Prodotiidae) and Gailleagrassor nov. gen. (Eosiphonidae) are introduced as new genera. Metula kovacsi nov. sp., Metula aliceae nov. sp. (Colubrariidae), Gailleagrassor paratethyca nov. sp., Calagrassor viciani nov. sp. (Eosiphonidae), Prodotia? wesselyi nov. sp. (Prodotiidae), Aplus hofae nov. sp., Janiopsis vindobonensis nov. sp. (Pisaniidae), Euthria brunettii nov. sp., Euthria walaszczyki nov. sp., Euthria dellabellai nov. sp., Euthria frausseni nov. sp., Euthria obelixi nov. sp., Euthria odiosa nov. sp. and Euthria zachosi nov. sp. (Tudiclidae) are introduced as new species. In addition, Aplus anatolicus nov. sp. and Euthria yesimae nov. sp. are described as new species from the Serravallian (Middle Miocene) of the Karaman Basin (Turkey). We provide a critical survey of Paratethyan species erroneously placed in Tudiclidae. The fauna is highly endemic. The diversity reached a maximum during the Langhian Miocene Climate Optimum and declined distinctly with the onset of the Serravallian.

Introduction: the aesthetic agency of minor literature

This introductory essay traces a genealogy of the notion of the minor in critical theories of the past four decades to then articulate the notion’s aesthetic dimension. Foregrounding that dimension, we argue, offers a powerful analytical tool for fostering a dialogue between world literature and postcolonial studies. Through a critical survey of the important work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Abdul R. JanMohamed and David Lloyd, Pascale Casanova, Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih, as well as David Damrosch and Bergur Rønne Moberg, we contend that these theoretical formulations of the minor have rarely lived up to their methodological promise to articulate creativity, change, and solidarity in ways that are in the final instance not determined by vertical opposition to the major or by an overly restrictive account of aesthetic agency. Going back to the work of Kafka that is so central to Casanova’s and to Deleuze and Guattari’s account of the minor, we retrieve the figure of Odradek and propose to read it as instantiating a self-reflexive aesthetic intervention that configures its own relation to political constraints. This insistence on aesthetic agency, we submit, challenges and complements both Deleuze and Guattari’s groundbreaking philosophical and political account of the minor and world literature’s focus on circulation and postcolonial studies’ emphasis on sociohistorical contexts. The introductory essay concludes by presenting the six essays that make up the special issue, and emphasizes the ways in which these essays’ attention to the formal and imaginative devices of the minor pluralize the notion by articulating not only minor literatures and languages, but also literary figures (children, women, sisters, queer men), genres (short story cycles, flash fiction, buried laments), and literary practices (indirect translation, diasporic publication, rewriting, adaptation) in ways that capitalize on the aesthetic agency of the minor.

Mediation, Military, and Money: The Promises and Pitfalls of Outside Interventions to End Armed Conflicts

Wars impose tremendous costs on societies and the question of how to end them is of foremost importance. Several hundred books and scientific articles have been written on peace agreements and third-party interventions. In this article I provide a critical literature survey on what policies foreign countries have at their disposal if they wish to foster peace abroad. Ranging from pure (nonmilitarized) mediation, over a range of military options to economic policies, the promises and pitfalls of these types of interventions are critically assessed in the light of cutting-edge theoretical and empirical literature. A series of take-home messages emerge: (i) establishing a causal effect of mediation has proven difficult; (ii) military peacekeeping operations can play a key role, to the extent that security guarantees, the sharing of political and military power, and trust-building measures are well coordinated; and (iii) money matters—fostering human capital and economic opportunities contributes to fertile ground for lasting peace. (JEL C78, D74, D82, F13, F51, F52)

Another look at addition theorems for vector spherical wavefunctions

Addition theorems for vector spherical wavefunctions are widely used, but they are complicated. A critical survey of methods for their derivation is offered. Then, one derivation is given in detail, combining elementary techniques with known results for scalar addition theorems.

A critical survey of the security and privacy aspects of the Aadhaar framework

Aadhaar is an identification document issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to the residents of India. It contains a 12-digit unique identification number (known as the Aadhaar number) and personal details such as name, address, date of birth and biometric data. The biometric data captured for Aadhaar includes fingerprints, facial images and iris scans, which are unique to each individual. The Aadhaar data is used for entity authentication while accessing various government services, availing subsidies, opening bank accounts and conducting other identity-dependent transactions. Thus, the Aadhaar framework provides efficient authentication services in India's public delivery systems. Although UIDAI has implemented stringent security measures such as encryption, access controls and regular audits of the system, the use of Aadhaar has raised several concerns regarding privacy and data security aspects. In this regard, only a handful of studies discuss the security challenges related to Aadhaar. Furthermore, the Aadhaar framework itself is always evolving, thus making prior studies less informative. This paper describes in detail the security features of the Aadhaar card while emphasizing the security challenges involving demographic and biometric data. We have also outlined the preventive measures that can be enforced to secure these data. Finally, this study investigates possible linkage attacks that could occur when different databases are linked for Aadhaar-enabled public schemes. Hence, our work summarizes the security and privacy implications of the Aadhaar infrastructure from a holistic perspective. We believe that our work would be useful for security professionals and policy makers engaged in designing large-scale authentication frameworks.

Privacy preservation using optimized Federated Learning: A critical survey

FL is a futuristic research topic that enables cross-sectoral training in ML systems in various organizations with some privacy restrictions. This review article establishes the extensive review of FL with different privacy-preserving techniques and the obstacles involved in the existing privacy-preserving model. This review is initiated by providing the background of FL and provides an overview of the technical details of the component involved in FL. Then it provides a brief review of the around 75 articles related to privacy-preserving in the FL-enabled techniques. Compared to the other survey articles this presented review article provides a brief analysis of the different privacy terms utilized in FL. The categorization of the privacy preservation models in FL highlights the significance of the model and the obstacles that limit the application of the particular privacy preservation model in real-time application. Further, this review articles ensure the details about the year of publishing, performance metrics analyzed in different articles along with their achievements. The limitation experienced in each category of the privacy-preserving technique is elaborated briefly, which assists future researchers to explore more privacy-preserving models in FL.

Augmenting Effect of Inclusive and Ambidextrous Leadership on Public University Academic Staffs’ Innovative Performance: The Mediating Role of Innovative Work Behavior

This study aims to address a gap in research by examining the relationship between leadership styles, innovative work behavior, and innovative performance among academic staff at public universities. Specifically, the study seeks to identify the extent to which inclusive and ambidextrous leadership styles can facilitate innovative performance, examine whether innovative work behavior enhances innovative performance, and discover whether innovative work behavior mediates the relationship between inclusive and ambidextrous leadership styles and innovative performance among academic staff at public universities. A critical survey was conducted using a questionnaire among academic staff at two public universities located on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, generating 300 responses. The study used SPSS 27.0 and SEM with AMOS 24.0 to analyze the results. The findings of this study show that inclusive and ambidextrous leadership are positively associated with innovative work behavior. The study also found that innovative work behavior facilitates innovative performance. The study highlights the mediating effect of innovative work behavior on the relationship between leadership styles and academic staff’s innovative performance, offering important insights into how public universities can improve their academic staff’s innovative performance through effective leadership and work behavior strategies.

Analysis of Optimization Techniques of Throughput Capacity, Power and Energy for IoT Networks: A Critical Survey

Analysis of Optimization Techniques of Throughput Capacity, Power and Energy for IoT Networks: A Critical Survey