Past Quarter Century Research Articles

Poverty in Russia: A Bird's-Eye View of Trends and Dynamics in the Past Quarter of Century

Hardly any recent study exists that broadly reviews poverty trends over time for Russia. Analyzing the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Surveys between 1994 and 2019, we offer an updated review of poverty trends and dynamics for the country over the past quarter of century. We find that poverty has been steadily decreasing, with most of the poor having a transient rather than a chronic nature. The bottom 20 percent of the income distribution averages an annual growth rate of 5 percent, which compares favorably with that of 3.3 percent for the whole population. Income growth, particularly the shares that are attributed to labor incomes and public transfers, have important roles in reducing poverty. Our findings are relevant to poverty and social protection policies.

Addressing cross-national generalizability in educational impact evaluation

Evaluation of educational programs has accelerated dramatically in the past quarter century. With this expansion has come clear methodological improvement involving randomized control studies and other approaches for establishing causation that considerably strengthen their internal validity. Such studies are, however, conducted within individual countries with the institutional structure of the schools and the national labor markets, and they are seldom replicated either within or across countries. A natural question is whether the results of an individual high-quality educational evaluation in one country can be reasonably applied in other countries. This paper focuses on existing research into differences across countries that, while generally impossible to incorporate into program evaluations, potentially have direct effects on key elements of policy and on the outcomes that can be expected. In particular, available cross-national studies on a variety of topics suggest using caution when generalizing evaluation results across countries, because student results are likely to vary systematically with a number of fundamental country-level institutional characteristics that are not explicitly considered in within-country evaluation analyses. Unfortunately, there is currently too little replication of basic research studies to provide explicit guidance on when and where cross-national generalizations are possible.

Naturalness assessment performed using forestry maps to validate forest management sustainability

One-quarter of forest areas worldwide are managed for forestry purposes. Depending upon the type of practice and intensity of management, forestry may alter forests to various degrees and raise sustainability issues. To mitigate the alteration of natural forests by forestry and to promote sustainability, ecosystem management has been implemented widely over the past quarter century. A need remains for the development of comprehensive and operational assessment approaches to validate its effectiveness. Naturalness assessment could be used to validate effectiveness of ecosystem management since this concept relates to the degree to which a natural state has been altered. We developed an approach that integrates stand- and landscape- scale traits of naturalness into a single comprehensive assessment that can be performed using only forestry maps. To illustrate our approach, we assessed naturalness in four managed forest landscapes (2184 km2), representing a management gradient of increasing intensity from passive restoration to plantation forestry. We defined four naturalness classes, i.e., natural, semi-natural, altered and artificial. Assessment was performed in two steps. At step one, we attributed a class to each managed stand by comparing its current composition with natural stand compositions of its potential natural vegetation. At the landscape scale, certain developmental stages or forest types could be in excess in managed forest landscapes compared with natural forest landscapes. At step two, we transferred numbers of stages or types in excess from the natural class to more altered classes. We demonstrated that naturalness decreased as management intensity increased. Passive restoration and extensive management generated a landscape where semi-natural forests predominated in mixtures with a lower abundance of natural forests. Intensive management generated a largely semi-natural forest landscape. Plantation forestry generated a landscape where semi-natural and altered forests predominated. In conclusion, it should now be possible to validate the effectiveness of different practices and intensity of ecosystem management in promoting sustainability, by performing our assessment approach periodically following every update of forestry maps. Our approach could also allow for more comprehensive assessment of forest management strategies developed to mitigate global change by putting into better perspective their potential effects upon forest alteration of various forestry practices that have been implemented to sequester carbon.

The urban greenness score: A satellite-based metric for multi-decadal characterization of urban land dynamics

Canada’s urban areas have experienced extensive growth over the past quarter century; however, there has been no consistent, spatially explicit approach for quantifying the loss and gain of greenness in cities nationally. Herein, we developed a novel urban greenness score metric using greenness fractions from a multi-decadal time series (1984–2016) of spectrally unmixed annual Landsat satellite image composites to characterize final year (2016) greenness and its overall change for 18 major Canadian urban areas, summarized by census dissemination area (DA). The applied validation procedure confirmed correlation coefficients (ρ) ranging from 0.67 – 0.85 between reference and estimated greenness fractions, indicating that spectral unmixing is an appropriate method for extracting urban greenness from a time series of medium spatial resolution satellite imagery. Most DAs across Canada sustained a moderate (∼20 % – 40 %) or low (≲ 20 %) level of greenness between 1984 and 2016, but overall there was a decreasing trend in greenness. Eastern urban areas maintained the most greenness over time, while urban areas in the Prairies had the greatest increase in greenness. Densely populated urban areas experienced the greatest loss in greenness (16 % of DAs); whereas, urban areas with a moderately-low density experienced the greatest increase (14 % of DAs). In agreement with previous studies, we found that greenness was negatively associated with urban infilling, with lower greenness levels typically found in urban cores, and greenness loss most often found in the urban periphery in conjunction with urban expansion. Methods presented in this analysis take advantage of the open and longstanding Landsat archive, as well as multiple spatial scales, including sub-pixel unmixing techniques, pixel level greenness faction data summarized for management units, and analysis conducted nationally. The developed urban greenness score provides a comprehensive framework to understand current urban greenness and relate it to its recent past, which supports long-term strategic planning, and can be transferred to other regions across spatial and temporal scales.

Is China at the tipping point? Reconsidering environment-economy nexus

Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) has become the predominant approach between environmentalists and sociologists to modeling environment-economy nexus during the past quarter century, also with regard to China, the largest industrial pollutant emitter in the world, where unprecedented change offers a unique approach to the aggregate emissions. In the case of China the question is whether a tipping point can be reached without de-industrialization and at a lower income phase than in developed economies. It is also the worldwide intrinsic concern of environment-economy nexus in the prospective industrialization process of developing countries. However, China relative researches involve some existing challenges, such as cross-regional time series, various socioeconomic drivers, and turning thresholds. Taking the new normal China economy formulation into consideration, a rethink and reexamination of the environment-economy relationship was performed, using the longest possible environmental and economic data from 30 provincial economies for the period of 1985–2017. Different from the existing mostly time-series based China EKC literature, not only the LLC, IPS, Fisher unit root tests, Pedroni and Kao panel cointegration tests and the panel OLS are used, but, the problem of cross-sectional dependence is handled in panel unit root tests across various cross-economies, and the error-correction based cointegration test is employed, allowing for various forms of heterogeneity, robust against the cross-sectional dependence, and the DOLS estimators are applied to resolve the standard OLS for serial correlation and for endogeneity of regressors, especially in only small possible China samples. In particular, the finding contrasts with the overly optimistic research of certain scholars, who state that China could be on a clearly different path from the routes of some developed economies in the world, realizing the environmental turnaround at low levels of economy and industrialization. China economy is not just having a certain environmental “dividend effect”, but mainly faces a more significant environmental “pressure effect”. Environmental input and its efficiency is still insufficient to perform the intended pollution reduction effects. Fundamentally, the environmental investment as a proportion of GDP should reach the past levels of some developed economies in the similar pollution-economy phase.

Cultural Marxism: far-right conspiracy theory in Australia’s culture wars

ABSTRACT As a conspiracy promoted by the far-right, Cultural Marxism has gained ground over the past quarter century. In its dominant iteration, the US-originating conspiracy holds that a small group of Marxist critical theorists have conspired to destroy Western civilisation by taking over key cultural institutions. Yet what does such a conspiracy look like in a transnational context – and how are such conspiracy theories adapted for local use? In this article, we trace Cultural Marxism’s use and function in Australia’s recent culture wars, asking when, where and in what contexts the conspiracy is invoked in the Australian political and media landscape. Our analysis examines the ways in which Cultural Marxism has moved from the ‘fringe’ to the ‘mainstream’, revealing the porous nature of divisions on the contemporary Australian right as well as differences between ‘old’ and ‘new’ right. We pay particular attention to the localised use of the conspiracy in the ‘Safe Schools’ controversy of 2016–2017, whereby Cultural Marxist tropes were imbued with local concerns about sexuality and gender issues. The article provides an important illustration and analysis of the ways in which transnational conspiracy theories and tropes of the far-right can be translated, adapted and used in different national contexts.

About the Contributors

About the Contributors

US–China Rivalry in the twenty-first century: Déjà vu and Cold War II

In 2019, US–China relations that had been characterized by a pattern of ups and downs over the past quarter century took a clear and possibly irreversible turn for the worse. This change has provoked debate about whether China and the US have already become rivals, perhaps adversaries, in a new cold war. I examine five underlying influences shaping the newly intensifying rivalry. These influences reflect key features of the international context within which the US and China find themselves (systemic or structural constraints) and the fact that the two rivals happen to be the US and China (national or unit-level attributes). Chief among the international constraints are the structural conditions of anarchy and the distribution of power that defines the system’s polarity. The national attributes most relevant to understanding the evolution of US–China relations are the geography of the theater where the two countries’ vital interests intersect and two aspects of their militarily relevant technological capabilities. Examining these five influences draws attention to reasons for some important similarities but also differences between the current rivalry and the Soviet–American rivalry of the Cold War. It makes clear that a Cold War II, if that is what is emerging, will not simply replicate the rivalry of Cold War I. Unfortunately, this examination also directs attention to some troubling new concerns about the distinctiveness of the new rivalry and the challenges they may present in the coming decades.

Animal Welfare Centres: Are They Useful for the Improvement of Animal Welfare?

Simple SummaryAnimal welfare has only recently become the subject of scientific studies. Over the past 30 years, a body of scientists has emerged, initially in isolated groups in disparate universities but with some more recently aggregated into centres. Centres have developed a reputation for their research in specific fields, which may have allowed animal welfare knowledge to advance more rapidly than it would otherwise have done. We studied the scientific literature on animal welfare that has been published in journals, by both scientists in animal welfare centres and those outside of these centres. We found that the literature from centres was more likely to acknowledge industry funding, which seems to bring opportunities for the respective scientists to conduct more research in their field but may also make it difficult for those scientists to advocate animal welfare improvements if they conflict with industry objectives. We advocate strict standards for the operations of animal welfare centres that govern the ethics of their research into animal welfare.Animal welfare has emerged as a scientific discipline only in the past 30 years, but a significant body of scientists has developed worldwide in this time. Over the past quarter century, several aggregations of scientists, centres of animal welfare, have become established. This can bring the benefits of the recognition of expertise and an opportunity to support animal industries in improving welfare, but it also brings the risk of scientists being influenced by these industries and failing to identify animal welfare problems as such. We conducted a bibliometric search of the scientific literature with the purpose of comparing the characteristics of publications on animal welfare that were or were not from animal welfare centres in academic institutions. We found that the number of publications on animal welfare from centres of animal welfare increased, initially, in the early 2000s and again in the last decade. Significant funding was obtained from the livestock industries for these centres. In a second search, we identified that only about 8% of scientific publications on animal welfare came from animal welfare centres, and the rest were mainly supported by funding sources other than the animal industries. It is concluded that the emergence of significant animal welfare centres, often with significant funding from industry, allows clusters of scientists to develop that could advance animal welfare knowledge more effectively than disparate scientists in isolated institutions. However, industry funding risks these scientists being aligned with industry goals that may not include animal welfare improvement to the extent required by the public. Further research to identify any ethical conflicts for scientists in animal welfare centres would be warranted.

Europeanizing Universities: Expanding and Consolidating Networks of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree Programme (2004–2017)

The Europeanization of higher education has gained considerable scope and momentum over the past quarter century. Whereas the coordinative Bologna process, with soft governance mechanisms, has facilitated standardization across countries, European Commission funding programs target universities more directly. The Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree Programme, as an incentive-based program, epitomizes the dynamics of such European funding management. Notably, it has established expanding university networks across Europe and unique new tertiary degrees that facilitate international student mobility. Applying social network analysis to 561 participating universities through several program cycles, we longitudinally examine three key patterns in the program’s development: the expansion of the program, the consolidation of pan-European networks, and the participation of and coordination by central universities in these Europeanization processes. Program participation increased considerably across cycles, even as established networks were consolidated, largely through re-accreditation of established programs. Moreover, we identify those universities that assume a central position in the inter-organizational structure of this international program. These universities actively facilitate the evolving Europeanization of higher education by strengthening inter-university networks via a signature EU program.

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for adults with acute myeloid leukemia conducted in Japan during the past quarter century.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) represents the most common indication for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). This study aimed to address the implementation status of allogeneic HCT for adults with AML in Japan and to provide a comprehensive overview of post-transplant outcomes. For this purpose, we analyzed data of 15,186 patients undergoing allogeneic HCT between 1992 and 2016 who were consecutively reported to the Japanese nationwide transplantation registry. The constant increase in the annual number of transplantations was clearly attributable to the growth of unrelated transplantation, and umbilical cord blood transplantation currently accounts for one-third of all allogeneic HCTs. The proportion of older patients has increased steadily since 2000, approximately, in parallel with the introduction of reduced-intensity conditioning. The probability of overall survival (OS) was estimated at 41% (95% confidence interval (CI), 40-42%) for the entire cohort, 56% (95% CI, 55-57%) for patients transplanted in complete remission (CR), and 22% (95% CI, 21-23%) for those transplanted in non-CR. Multivariate analysis identified age, sex, performance status, disease status, cytogenetic risk, donor type, graft source, sex mismatch between the donor and the recipient, and year of transplantation as factors significantly associated with OS. These findings represent the real-world data in Japan, showing the changes in transplantation practice and a detailed estimation of post-transplant outcomes.

Genotype‐phenotype associations in breast pathology: Achievements of the past quarter century

The first genotype-phenotype relationship in breast pathology developed in 1994 with the discovery of the CDH1 gene. This finding eventually provided biological insight into the characteristic morphology of invasive lobular carcinoma. Subsequent investigative efforts have uncovered additional molecular alterations largely responsible for the histology of several breast neoplasms including secretory carcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma, tall cell carcinoma with reversed polarity, fibroepithelial lesions, and most recently, adenomyoepithelioma. Evaluation of the genomic landscape of other special types of breast cancer with distinctive growth patterns, such as invasive mucinous carcinoma, have yet to uncover recurring cytogenetic and/or molecular alterations. Despite the lack of a hallmark alteration in mucinous carcinoma, it is important to note the relative decrease in PIK3CA mutations compared with invasive carcinoma of no special type. In this review, we describe the clinical and pathologic features of breast tumors with recognized genotype-phenotype correlations and summarize the molecular alterations of mucinous carcinoma.

Donald A. B. Lindberg: Inspiring Leader and Visionary in Biomedicine, Healthcare, and Informatics.

Summary Background: As Director of the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) for 30 years, Dr. Donald A. B. Lindberg was instrumental in bringing biomedical research and healthcare worldwide into the age of genomic and translational medicine through the informatics systems developed by the NLM. Lindberg opened free access and worldwide public dissemination of all the NLM's biomedical literature and databases, thus helping transform not only biomedical research like the Human Genome Project and its successors, but also the practices of medicine and healthcare internationally. Guiding, leading, and teaching-by-example at national, regional, and global levels of biomedical and healthcare informatics, Lindberg helped coalesce a dynamic discipline that provides a foundation for the human understanding which promotes the future health of our world. Objectives: To provide historical insight into the scientific, technological, and practical clinical accomplishments of Donald Lindberg, and to describe how this led to contributions in the worldwide interdisciplinary evolution of informatics, and its impact on the biosciences and practices of medicine, nursing, and other healthcare-related disciplines. Methods: Review and comment on the publications, scientific contributions, and leadership of Donald Lindberg in the evolution of biomedical and health informatics which anticipate the vision, scholarship, research in the field, and represent the deeply ethical humanism he exhibited throughout his life. These were essential in producing the informatics systems, such as the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), MEDLINE, PubMed, PubMed Central, and ClinicalTrials.gov , which, together with NLM training programs and conferences, made possible the interactions among researchers and practitioners leading to the past quarter-century of rapid and dramatic advances in biomedical scientific inquiry and clinical discoveries, openly shared across the globe. Conclusion: Dr. Lindberg was a uniquely talented physician and pioneering researcher in biomedical and health informatics. As the main leader in developing and funding innovative informatics research for more than 30 years as Director of the National Library of Medicine, he helped bring together the most creative interdisciplinary researchers to bridge the worlds of biomedical research, education, and clinical practice. Lindberg's emphasis on open-access to the biomedical literature through publicly shared computer-mediated methods of search and inquiry are seen as an example of ethical scientific openness.

Progress in Veterinary Behavior in North America: The Case of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists

Simple SummaryThe American College of Veterinary Behaviorists is a specialty group within the American Veterinary Medical Association. It was formed by eight veterinarians and has grown ten-fold in the following decades. The specialty ensures that those who are its diplomates have taken the training, seen hundreds of cases, published research on animal behavior, and successfully passed an examination so the public can be assured that their animal will get the best treatment for its behavior problem.The American College of Veterinary Behavior has grown in number and in expertise over the past quarter century. There are now 86 diplomates, at least three textbooks on treating behavior problems, and a text on veterinary psychopharmacology. Although veterinary behavior began in veterinary colleges, the majority of residents are now trained in non-conforming programs. Many more diplomates practice privately in specialty clinics or as separate businesses. Progress has been made in both diagnosis and treatment with polypharmacy, resulting in successful outcomes for many dogs and cats suffering from separation anxiety, fear, or aggression.

Inventory of managed honey bee population in Zhytomyr region (Ukraine)

Over the last decades, the number of honey bee colonies in the world has been declining. A honey bee is the most important pollinator in agriculture. According to estimates, such a situation can threaten the food security of humanity. The purpose was to investigate the specific aspects of the managed honey bee population in Zhytomyr region. The population dynamics, number, and density were determined. For this purpose the statistics of the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on the number of bee colonies by categories of producers in Ukraine and Zhytomyr region were used. It was established that in Zhytomyr region over the past quarter century, the population of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) has increased by 2 times up to 193.4 thousand colonies. During the same period, the number of bee colonies in Ukraine has increased by 1.4 times. At present, Zhytomyr region is a leader in the state in the development of the beekeeping industry. Eight percent of all honey bee colonies in the country are concentrated here. In the Zhytomyr region, the density of honey bee population is one of the highest in Ukraine. 82 colonies are concentrated here on one conditional pasture area (1256 hectares), with 7 colonies per 100 hectares of land. In Ukraine, these indicators are 52 and 4 respectively. The distribution of bee colonies in the region is uneven. The vast majority of colonies (58.5%) are concentrated in the Polissia. There are from 1 to 18 colonies per 100 hectares of land in each of the units in the region, on the conditional pasture area from 16 to 224. The results of these studies are relevant for the commodity apiaries for the rational use of honey flow and to make a well-considered decision on the prospect of increasing the number of bee colonies. Further work will be aimed at the investigation into the melliferous base and the calculation of the feed balance of the beekeeping industry in Zhytomyr region.

Long-Run Trends in the U.S. SES-Achievement Gap

Rising inequality in the United States has raised concerns about potentially widening gaps in educational achievement by socio-economic status (SES). Using assessments from LTT-NAEP, Main-NAEP, TIMSS, and PISA that are psychometrically linked over time, we trace trends in achievement for U.S. student cohorts born between 1954 and 2001. Achievement gaps between the top and bottom quartiles of the SES distribution have been large and remarkably constant for a near half century. These unwavering gaps have not been offset by improved achievement levels, which have risen at age 14 but have remained unchanged at age 17 for the past quarter century.

Preventing Accidents and Detecting Traffic Loads on Highways with V2v Communication in VANET

Road safety became as fundamental problems to the governmental manufacturing of vehicles over the past quarter century. The aggregation of word's vehicles have undergone with amazing improvement, enhancing the activity of density and causing a lot of glitches. In this article, we highlighted the problems of detecting the load of traffic on motorways and suggested a system for detecting and preventing incidents on motorways utlizing ad-hoc networks for vehicles. To do this, we implement a vehicle 2 vehicle connecting scenario using a Weighted Cluster Algorithm (WCA) and calculate the power based on various network parameters. The daily population increase in India is increasing, leading to a massive increase in road traffic. Improving new vehicle development has led organizations, specialists and foundations to concentrate their best to develop the safety of road, which is considered as a crucial thing today.(Panse, 2016).

СУЩЕСТВУЮЩИЕ ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ И ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ ЛАПАРОСКОПИЧЕСКОЙ ГЕРНИОРАФИИ

Over the past quarter century, the number of operations for an umbilical hernia among gracenotea increased from 5 to 14%. The article considers the author's method of a laparoscopic hernioraphy as an independent method of a hernioplasty and presents its possibilities as a way to improve the cosmetic effect in a minimally invasive surgical treatment of an umbilical hernia. The clinical example is described in which the proposed hernioraphy was used in a combination with a mesh implant in IPOM-plasty in the patient with the presence of a combined (umbilical and trocar) hernia. A laparoscopic hernioraphy is a relatively easily reproducible technique, economically attractive and quite effective in terms of "fast track" surgery and hospital-preserving technologies that allow to restore the ability to work of the operated patient in the shortest possible time.

Serbian Historiography after 1991

Few countries in Europe have witnessed as much turbulence during the past quarter century as the seven states which emerged from socialist Yugoslavia after it dissolved amidst a catastrophic series of wars of succession. Although actual armed conflict only took place in Serbia (then still including Kosovo in the rump state Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) in 1998 and 1999, Serbia directly participated in the wars of Yugoslav succession beginning in 1991 in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then finally in Kosovo. For nearly a decade from 1992 until 2001 Serbia's economy languished under the combination of a kleptocratic regime, expensive and protracted military engagements and international sanctions. The long Serbian transition entered a new phase in October 2000, when Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević was ousted by a very heterogeneous political coalition whose leaders shared only an intense antipathy for Milošević. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was transformed into the short-lived state union of Serbia and Montenegro, which disappeared when Montenegro declared its independence in 2006, followed by Kosovo in 2008.

Twenty-five years of adaptation finance through a climate justice lens

How much finance should be provided to support climate change adaptation and by whom? How should it be allocated, and on what basis? Over the years, various actors have expressed different normative expectations on climate finance. Which of these expectations are being met and which are not; why, and with what consequences? Have new norms and rules emerged, which remain contested? This article takes stock of the first 25+ years of adaptation finance under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and seeks to understand whether adaptation finance has become more justly governed and delivered over the past quarter century. We distinguish among three “eras” of adaptation finance: (1) the early years under the UNFCCC (1992–2008); (2) the Copenhagen shift (2009–2015); and (3) the post-Paris era (2016–2018). For each era, we systematically review the justice issues raised by evolving expectations and rules over the provision, distribution, and governance of adaptation finance. We conclude by outlining future perspectives for adaptation finance and their implications for climate justice.