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This article examines how the distinction between complicated and complex education systems contributes to our understanding of global governance and how "soft power" concerned with gender is used in international development organisations' responses to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, the global goal for education. Four global governance approaches which shape these organisations are distinguished: partnership building, gender mainstreaming, gender activism and contestation by global feminist movements. These strands of soft power have implications for how meanings of gender, education, power and accountability are interpreted. The work of three organisations – the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the Gender at the Centre Initiative (GCI) and the Malala Fund – are reviewed to exemplify these global governance approaches. The analysis draws on a close reading of the organisations' published documents to build a history of how the gender concerns of SDG 4 came to be interpreted, negotiated, contested or ignored. The activities of the three organisations show considerable interplay between concepts of complicated and complex education systems. The discussion raises questions regarding what kind of work soft power in gender and education does in a context of huge and growing global inequalities and insecurities. In addition, the question is posed why there is still no institutional base to articulate a global feminist politics which confronts and seeks to dismantle unjust structures of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the findings of a research study on the videos posted by the New DPRK YouTube channel during a specific time period. The objective is to determine whether the channel represents a form of public diplomacy or international propaganda in the field of diplomacy. The study is based on the theoretical frameworks of public diplomacy and soft power by Joseph Nye Jr. and other authors. The videos analysed were categorised into twelve groups based on their objectives, target audience and composition. These categories provide a comprehensive understanding of the videos posted by New DPRK. In conclusion, the study suggests that although the YouTube channel exhibits some characteristics of a public diplomacy strategy, it does not align with the theoretical framework adopted in the study of public diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent and increasingly antagonistic relationship between the world's two great powers, the United States and China, has caused collateral damage to many secondary countries as their interests might rely on amicable relationships with both the US and China. Employing soft power as the theoretical framework, this study is one of the first empirical investigations of how the divergent US and Chinese anti-virus approaches (i.e., mitigation strategies vs. zero COVID policy) may influence people's policy preferences in secondary countries. A two-wave cross-national panel survey (n = 3,216) was conducted in four Asian societies: South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The results disclose an uneven game regarding the soft power competition between the US and China: Asian publics with greater confidence in the US anti-virus approach perceive domestic anti-virus measures as restrictive, and express less support for international trade; whereas, Asian publics trusting China's anti-virus approach express no specific preferences for domestic anti-virus measures, but more support for international trade and immigration. These findings illustrate differential responses from Asian publics to the US's and China's soft power practices in different policy arenas. This study contributes to the emerging literature linking COVID-19 to soft power, public diplomacy, and international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor shortages and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technology have accelerated the application of AI chatbot agents in fundraising agencies. This study examines the applicability of the legitimization of the paltry favors (LPF) technique and chatbot image representation in raising the persuasive power of fundraising chatbots. In this study, 609 participants were recruited via a crowdsourcing website to participate in an online survey. Participants were assigned to one of six chatbot conditions (text only vs. robot image vs. human image × standard message vs. LPF message). The results revealed that the LPF message increases the willingness to donate and that self-image concern, requestor need, and guilt significantly mediate the direct effect. The results also suggest the moderating role of perceived anthropomorphism in the association between LPF messages and the willingness to donate via requester needs. The results provide theoretical implications for compliance-gaining studies and practical implications for fundraising organizations and chatbot developers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanoelectrical energy conversion is a potential solution for the power supply of miniaturized wearable and implantable systems; yet it remains challenging due to limited current output when exploiting low-frequency motions with soft devices. We report a design of a hydrogel generator with mechanoionic current generation amplified by orders of magnitudes with engineered structural and chemical asymmetry. Under compressive loading, relief structures in the hydrogel intensify net ion fluxes induced by deformation gradient, which synergize with asymmetric ion adsorption characteristics of the electrodes and distinct diffusivity of cations and anions in the hydrogel matrix. This engineered mechanoionic process can yield 4 mA (5.5 A m−2) of peak current under cyclic compression of 80 kPa applied at 0.1 Hz, with the transferred charge reaching up to 916 mC m−2 per cycle. The high current output of this miniaturized hydrogel generator is beneficial for the powering of wearable devices, as exemplified by a controlled drug-releasing system for wound healing. The demonstrated mechanisms for amplifying mechanoionic effect will enable further designs for a variety of self-powered biomedical systems. Mechanoelectric energy conversion is a potential solution for the power supply of soft devices, but the low current output for low frequency motions limits its applicability. Here, the authors report a hydrogel generator with mechanoionic current generation amplified by orders of magnitudes and its application as controlled drug-releasing system for wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the dynamics of heating the matrix of anode nodes membrane with a transmission-type target under the action of a field emission current generated in the electronic system of a maskless X-ray nanolithograph. The promising membrane materials that provide the most efficient heat removal from the matrix have been determined, among which diamond-like films have shown the best thermal stability. At the calculated power of soft X-ray radiation PX= 2.5 nW, scattered by a pixel with a size of 20 nm and an X-ray resist irradiation dose D = 100 J/m2, the exposure time was 25 µs. It is shown that during the exposure of a 150 mm plate, a diamond-like anode membrane with a size of 300 × 300 elements heats up from 20 to 62°C, which is 15–25 times lower than the heating temperature of alternative anode materials (Cu, Fe, Ni, Si, Al). The technological route for the fabrication of the matrix of anode nodes is described, taking into account the proposed methods for optimizing its design, aimed at reducing the thermal effects of heating during X-ray nanolithography processes. The results obtained can be applied in the development of a thermostable system of microfocus X-ray tubes as part of a maskless X-ray nanolithograph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facial emojis have increasingly permeated electronic word of mouth (eWOM), but the persuasive consequences of this phenomenon remain unclear. Drawing on emotions as social information (EASI) theory, this research reveals that facial emojis influence persuasion (e.g., product choice) by affecting emotional arousal and perceived ambiguity. While the effect through emotional arousal is generally positive, the effect through ambiguity depends on the emojis' function in eWOM: facial emojis that replace a verbal expression increase ambiguity and therefore reduce persuasion, whereas those that reiterate a verbal expression decrease ambiguity and therefore enhance persuasion. Both the emotional-arousal and ambiguity pathways determine the net persuasive effect. This research also explores two situations (high verbal context richness and eWOM from strong ties) where replacing facial emojis can increase persuasion. Finally, the authors show that facial emojis' persuasive power is generalizable to online brand communications, influencing key management outcomes such as click-through rates for digital ads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Berliner Journal für Soziologie is the property of Springer Nature 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.)

Some studies have already expressed the importance of cultural traits as key determinants of international trade in cultural goods. However, since a film is a cultural good and an important tool to promote cultural influence by soft power, we investigate whether the lack of democracy and different religions can be viewed as barriers to international trade. Religions, similar to autocracies, do not have good eyes for some types of behaviors that film consumption can instigate. Thus, focusing on conditional correlations between bilateral trade of films, religion, and democracy level, we employ a gravity framework using data between 2002 and 2015. As far as we are aware, this study signifies the pioneering effort to comprehensively examine these potential barriers collectively. Results indicate that democracy levels and different religions are potential barriers to film international trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the British press coverage of international sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia. The study provides an analytic perspective by employing the model of the country concept and the covered by the British press of the international sports events in Saudi Arabia. This study fills the gap in the literature on the British press coverage of sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia in light of the country concept model. For this research, the study employed content analysis to collect data from the two British newspapers, The Sun and the Daily Mail coverage. The paper has several contributions to knowledge. Firstly, it brings an understanding of the role of the country concept model in explaining the reputation and image of a country. Using Fullerton's model, the paper has found that by employing a soft power package that includes hosting international sports events, Saudi Arabia's country image has changed. Secondly, the research found that the most coverage of events in Saudi Arabia was still negative. However, this negative coverage has decreased over the past few years, while neutral and positive coverage has increased. Finally, the research has contributed to the literature by finding out that the coverage of Saudi Arabia was characterised by a large number of negative articles, as opposed to more neutral or positive reporting. This finding confirms the country concept model, which states that some elements, like foreign and social media, cannot be controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccine diplomacy is a subset of global health diplomacy and refers to the use and delivery of vaccines to achieve a country's global health goals and foreign policy objectives. Countries have used vaccine diplomacy to increase their soft power during the COVID-19 pandemic. China, an emerging world power, was no exception in this trend. By December 2022, China had dispatched 1.65 billion vaccines worldwide; approximately one-third of the Chinese vaccines were sent to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. China attempted to increase its soft power via vaccine diplomacy to appeal to its neighbours with which it has long-standing territorial disputes in the South China Sea (SCS). Focusing on two key claimants in the SCS, our study has the following research question: How effective was Chinese COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy in the Philippines and Vietnam from a soft power perspective? Through a qualitative multiple case study research design, we determined the effectiveness of Chinese vaccine diplomacy in the Philippines and Vietnam by using four indicators of soft power: public opinion, foreign policy, attractiveness, and business and trade. Data collection consisted of a literature search of academic literature and newspaper articles that were published between 26 May and 13 June 2022. A thematic analysis was conducted to analyse the data. Analysing the effectiveness of Chinese vaccine diplomacy based on the four indicators of soft power, our results show that only the indicators of attractiveness in Vietnam and business and trade in the Philippines have somewhat improved. In contrast, the indicators of public opinion and foreign policy showed neutral or negative results for China. This study concludes that Chinese vaccine diplomacy in the Philippines and Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic was unsuccessful from a soft power perspective. One reason is that China undermined its soft power approach by simultaneously using hard power tactics in Southeast Asia. Using vaccine diplomacy to increase soft power is not always desirable from a global health perspective. Instead, countries should focus on equitable vaccine access and address asymmetrical power relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camouflaged object detection (COD) is a challenging task which aims to detect objects similar to the surrounding environment. In this paper, we propose a transformer-induced progressive refinement network (TPRNet) to solve challenging COD tasks. Specifically, our network includes a Transformer-induced Progressive Refinement Module (TPRM) and a Semantic-Spatial Interaction Enhancement Module (SIEM). In TPRM, high-level features with rich semantic information are integrated through transformers as prior guidance, and then, it is sent to the refinement concurrency unit (RCU), and the accurately positioned feature area is obtained through a progressive refinement strategy. In SIEM, we perform feature interaction to localized-accurate semantic features and low-level features to obtain rich fine-grained clues and increase the symbolic power of boundary features. Extensive experiments on four widely used benchmark datasets (i.e., CAMO, CHAMELEON, COD10K, and NC4K) demonstrate that our TPRNet is an effective COD model and outperforms state-of-the-art models. The code is available https://github.com/zhangqiao970914/TPRNet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twenty-first century has brought in its wake a flurry of competing foreign investment players on the African investment sphere. This situation may be called the globalization of foreign investment (Bodomo 2017). Foreign investment features as a salient issue for intellectual discussions of topics such as agency, soft power, and symmetry. In this paper, we outline the important role that China and the European Union (EU), the biggest investment polities in Africa, have played in the globalization of investment in Africa and argue that China has, indeed, created a paradigm shift with respect to its investment engagement with the African continent. This paradigm shift may be calibrated in terms of the volume of engagement; in terms of the speed and efficiency with which investment projects are completed, and, in terms of the very discourse of trade and investment. The argument is advanced further by discussing some of the main features of Chinese investment that distinguish it from that of other global players on the African continent, such as Europe. We further extend arguments from our previous work (Bodomo 2017; Bodomo and Che 2020) to say that if Africa does not sharpen its agency, the end result may be that China and the EU may gain at the expense of Africa but that should Africa play a more proactive and controlling role such as enforcing its investment laws, the mid-twenty-first century may yet see a trilateral win–win-win outcome for Africa, China, and the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades, China has rapidly increased its influence throughout the South Asian region, using both its hard and soft power tactics. China has succeeded in eclipsing India's influence and emerged as an important player in the region. China is making inroads in South Asia by making huge investments and constructing roads, highways, railways, sea ports, bridges, power grids, dams, and public buildings. China is pursuing a foreign policy that aims to advance its strategic and economic interests while trying to imbalance India's predominant position and contain India within the boundaries of South Asia. This is to prevent the rise of a peer competitor that can challenge or hinder the rise of China as a sole Asian power. This paper argues that the geostrategic situation of South Asian countries is such that they pose threats to India's security by aligning with the extra-regional powers. Hence, China's expanding strategic and security ties with South Asian countries have wider implications for India's security due to the complex and sensitive nature of its relationship with China. The theoretical approach of Power Transition Theory has been utilized to analyze the Sino-India power rivalry and China's growing threat to India's security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: This review introduces soft electronics for health monitoring assisted by machine learning, and discusses soft materials, physiological signals, and machine learning algorithms in sequence and their relationships. The principles of classic machine learning algorithms and neural network algorithms are summarized and explained by representative examples combining with soft electronics. The potential challenges of soft electronics assisted by machine learning especially in health monitoring field are outlined, and future research directions are outlooked. Due to the development of the novel materials, the past two decades have witnessed the rapid advances of soft electronics. The soft electronics have huge potential in the physical sign monitoring and health care. One of the important advantages of soft electronics is forming good interface with skin, which can increase the user scale and improve the signal quality. Therefore, it is easy to build the specific dataset, which is important to improve the performance of machine learning algorithm. At the same time, with the assistance of machine learning algorithm, the soft electronics have become more and more intelligent to realize real-time analysis and diagnosis. The soft electronics and machining learning algorithms complement each other very well. It is indubitable that the soft electronics will bring us to a healthier and more intelligent world in the near future. Therefore, in this review, we will give a careful introduction about the new soft material, physiological signal detected by soft devices, and the soft devices assisted by machine learning algorithm. Some soft materials will be discussed such as two-dimensional material, carbon nanotube, nanowire, nanomesh, and hydrogel. Then, soft sensors will be discussed according to the physiological signal types (pulse, respiration, human motion, intraocular pressure, phonation, etc.). After that, the soft electronics assisted by various algorithms will be reviewed, including some classical algorithms and powerful neural network algorithms. Especially, the soft device assisted by neural network will be introduced carefully. Finally, the outlook, challenge, and conclusion of soft system powered by machine learning algorithm will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fermatean fuzzy sets (FFSs) exhibit exceptional performance to handle the uncertain information in decision-making process owing to their tendency to perform excellently beyond the boundaries of Pythagorean fuzzy sets. The symmetry and periodicity about the origin are maintained by the sine trigonometry function and thus fulfill the ambitions of decision makers toward the selection of best options for decision making. This article exploits the tremendous characteristics of sine function under the prevalent model of FFS to establish some useful sine trigonometric operational laws. Furthermore, some novel aggregation operators including sine-trigonometric Fermatean fuzzy averaging and geometric operators based on sine trigonometric operational laws are proposed along with their noticeable properties. Another noticeable contribution of this article is the designing of a compact algorithm, embedding the decision-making caliber of the proposed operators, to aptly address the multi-attribute decision-making problems. Thereafter, two multi-criteria decision-making problems for the evaluation of internet finance soft power and selection of a perfect sportswear brand are presented to demonstrate the practical application of the proposed algorithm. A comparative study with Fermatean fuzzy TOPSIS method and existing aggregation operators is conducted to highlight the dominance, novelty and authenticity of the proposed operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transgender (s) are among the most discriminated and marginalized population majorly in South Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Being unable to fit in the binary division of gender they are treated harshly as subordinates. In Pakistan, due to lack of acceptance, transgender are forced to leave their homes which compels them to join Hijra communities. In these communities they live under the supervision of a Guru. They face violence of almost every kind whereas the present study focuses symbolic violence and its impact on the social adjustment of transgender. For the purpose of study only those transgender were selected who were beggars and have no other formal means of earning. The concept of symbolic violence used in the study is based on Bourdieu concept of symbolic violence. The results showed that transgender do have considerable social adjustment within their Hijra communities, whereas, in the mainstream society, although, they lack social adjustment due to which they face social, economic and political inequalities, however, they perceive it as natural. This indicated that outside their communities, transgender face symbolic violence in the form of inequalities, subordination and non-inclusive environment that hinders them to become a part of the mainstream society. It is concluded from the present study that transgender being subordinate, have perceived inequalities and subordination as natural and they cannot avoid it. As Bourdieu (Language and symbolic power, 1991) asserted that with the passage of time the subordinate starts perceiving the symbolic violence as natural and unavoidable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy storage is a way of storing energy to reduce imbalances between demand and energy production. The ability to store electricity and use it later is one of the keys to reaching large quantities of renewable energy on the grid. There are several methods to store energy such as mechanical, electrical, chemical, electrochemical, and thermal energy. Regarding their operation, storage, and cost, the choice of these energy storage techniques appears to be interesting. This issue becomes very serious when there involves uncertainty. To consider this kind of uncertain information, a picture fuzzy soft set is found to be a more appropriate parameterization tool to deal with imprecise data. Based on the advanced structure of picture fuzzy soft set, here in this article, firstly, we have developed the notions of basic operational laws for picture fuzzy soft numbers. Then based on these developed operational laws, we have established the notions of picture fuzzy soft power average PFS ft PA , weighted picture fuzzy soft power average WPFS ft PA and ordered weighted picture fuzzy soft power average OWPFS ft PA aggregation operators. Moreover, we have introduced the notions for picture fuzzy soft power geometric PFS ft PG , weighted picture fuzzy soft power geometric WPFS ft PG and ordered weighted picture fuzzy soft power geometric OWPFS ft PG aggregation operators. Furthermore, we have established the application of picture fuzzy soft power aggregation operators for the selection of thermal energy storage techniques. For this, we have developed a decision-making approach along with an explanatory example to show the effective use of the developed theory. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the introduced work shows the advancement of developed notions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This article explores issues relating to toilet provision in queer spaces. With a specific focus on the implementation of gender neutral toilets, it interrogates both practical and symbolic issues of inclusivity and accessibility. Methods: The findings presented in this paper are based on 12 semi-structured interviews that were conducted and analysed in 2020. The data was analysed thematically, utilising an inductive approach to analysis. Results: The results from this study highlight that spaces often considered 'inclusionary' operate within a number of 'exclusionary' frameworks. These unspoken and informal 'rules' and practices operate to exclude people considered 'undesirable' and function to uphold power structures that privilege cisgender, white gay men. Conclusions: This article extends our understanding of the ways in which people engage with, and access, both gender neutral and sex-segregated toilets. Through an analysis of complex issues relating to accessibility, inclusivity and the politicisation of queer spaces, this article argues that the implementation of gender neutral toilets holds strong practical and symbolic power within a heteronormative, cis-normative society. Policy Implications: The results from this study indicate that providing more gender neutral spaces improves accessibility for a range of people, but also has significant political power in challenging cis-normative, heteronormative standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since China has formally joined the WHO-backed global COVID-19 vaccine initiative known as COVAX, there is a presumed notion that China's vaccine diplomacy will make a significant contribution to the international public good and thus uplift Beijing's role as the rule-maker of international order. To scrutinize this, the paper asks if China succeeded in proliferating its weaponized vaccine policy to obtain maximum diplomatic gains and soft power projection to intensify its international image, geopolitical power, and domestic politico legitimacy. The authors argue that despite its vaccine diplomacy demonstrated the robust governance capacity and responsibility to be a great power. Yet, Beijing's geopolitical influence and international image are significantly overrated and not enough to play a more prominent role in the global power fulcrum/equilibrium. On the contrary, China enjoys a leading position on the domestic political front. Its successful portrayal of China's vaccine provision in the global market and remarkable configuration to leverage a deep-rooted nationalism has fundamentally provided China with a powerful rationale to divert its public's attention from Beijing's earlier inadequate handling of the outbreak. The evaluation of the paper reveals that China's vaccine diplomacy's influence in promoting international image and geopolitics is limited but has successfully stabilized its domestic political environment and enhanced its domestic legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present compact analytic results for the one-loop amplitude for the process 0 → q q ¯ ℓ ℓ ¯ ℓ ′ ℓ ¯ ′ g , relevant for both the production of a pair of Z and W-bosons in association with a jet. We focus on the gauge-invariant contribution mediated by a loop of quarks. We explicitly include all effects of the loop-quark mass m, appropriate for the production of a pair of Z-bosons. In the limit m → 0, our results are also applicable to the production of W-boson pairs, mediated by a loop of massless quarks. Implemented in a numerical code, the results are fast. The calculation uses novel advancements in spinor-helicity simplification techniques, for the first time applied beyond five-point massless kinematics. We make use of primary decompositions from algebraic-geometry, which now involve non-radical ideals, and p-adic numbers from number theory. We show how to infer whether numerator polynomials belong to symbolic powers of non-radical ideals through numerical evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When studying science contexts, scholars typically position charismatic authority as an adjunct or something that provides a meaning-laden boost to rational authority. In this paper, we re-theorize these relationships. We re-center charismatic authority as an interpretive resource that allows scientists and onlookers to recast a professional conflict in terms of a public drama. In this mode, both professionals and lay enthusiasts portray involvement in the scientific process as a story of suppression and persecution, in which only a few remarkable figures can withstand scrutiny and take on challengers with dignity. Description and elaboration of these figures and the folklore surrounding them sets in motion the interpretive processes by which some actors become charismatic leaders and others charismatic followers within science, ultimately providing alternative symbolic resources for an embattled research agenda to accrue legitimacy. To illustrate, we use the case of Arthur Jensen – a deceased intelligence researcher and the intellectual father to contemporary texts like The Bell Curve – and the circles of hero worship that admirers inside and outside academia have created to praise him. Using this perspective to study Jensen and his admirers demonstrates how the perennial race and intelligence debates gain a kind of symbolic power, unrelated to their scientific merit or racist appeal, which enables such debates to thrive and persist in the public sphere. More generally, our approach identifies contemporary processes by which scientific ideas can gain public authority even when their intellectual merit has been deemed dubious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature 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.)

A very well-covered graph is a well-covered graph without isolated vertices such that the height of its edge ideal is half of the number of vertices. In this survey article, we gather together most of the old and new results on the edge and cover ideals of these graphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a connection between Commutative Algebra and Integer Programming and contains two parts. The first one is devoted to the asymptotic behavior of integer programs with a fixed cost linear functional and the constraint sets consisting of a finite system of linear equations or inequalities with integer coefficients depending linearly on n. An integer N ∗ is determined such that the optima of these integer programs are a quasi-linear function of n for all n ≥ N ∗ . Using results in the first part, one can bound in the second part the indices of stability of the Castelnuovo–Mumford regularities of integral closures of powers of a monomial ideal and that of symbolic powers of a square-free monomial ideal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the first elite business schools were founded in Europe and the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s, they have enjoyed an intimate relationship with economics. Despite some notable analyses of economics' importance for the successful institutionalization of business schools, an understanding of the relation between economics and elite business schools requires further development. As such, this paper focuses on 'economics as symbolic capital' for the consecration of business schools as elite settings, with particular emphasis on the symbolic aspects of economics' cultural and social capital. Consecration can be seen as critical to the institutionalization of elite business schools; in contrast to the primary focus of previous studies on the material significance of economics in business schools, my chief concern is the discipline's symbolic power and importance for business schools' status as elite institutions in many countries today. Data from a study on Sweden's elite business school, The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), were based on both historical and contemporary sources, including archival material, biographies, statistics, participant observations, and interviews with faculty and students. The SSE is one of the world's oldest elite business schools where economics has played a critical role ever since its establishment; the SSE's economics faculty has a unique relation to the ultimate source of capital for contemporary global economics, namely, The Nobel Prize in Economics, which exerts a significant influence on the discipline's general standing and status today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1999, Herzog and Hibi introduced componentwise linear ideals. A homogeneous ideal I is componentwise linear if for all nonnegative integers d, the ideal generated by the homogeneous elements of degree d in I has a linear resolution. For square-free monomial ideals, componentwise linearity is related via Alexander duality to the property of being sequentially Cohen–Macaulay for the corresponding simplicial complexes. In general, the property of being componentwise linear is not preserved by taking powers. In 2011, Herzog, Hibi, and Ohsugi conjectured that if I is the cover ideal of a chordal graph, then I s is componentwise linear for all s ≥ 1 . We survey some of the basic properties of componentwise linear ideals and then specialize to the progress on the Herzog–Hibi–Ohsugi conjecture during the last decade. We also survey the related problem of determining when the symbolic powers of a cover ideal are componentwise linear [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of Australia's main policy interventions in the South Pacific since the end of the Cold War was sanctions on Fiji in response to the latter's December 2006 coup. Dubbed 'Smart' sanctions, this policy was not only designed to pressure Fiji to return to democracy, but also to sustain Australia's longstanding regional leadership aspirations, aspirations which went hand in hand with its 'strategic denial' of unwelcome geopolitical challengers (Hawksley Global Change, Peace & Security, 21(1) 115-130, 2009). There has been little analysis of the unintended consequences of sanctions, namely, whether 'Smart' sanctions ironically contributed to greater strategic competition in the South Pacific, weakened regional security and prompted expressions of Pacific regionalism that excluded Australia. In the years after the coup, Canberra achieved its primary aim of being, and being seen to be, the dominant power in the South Pacific. However, during this time, Fiji "Looked North" and Pacific Island Countries (PICs) developed greater confidence in the 'New Pacific Diplomacy', thus providing the opportunity for China and other powers to expand their influence in the region (Fry and Tarte, 2015). To the backdrop of growing concern about Chinese influence, the failure of 'Smart' sanctions against Fiji shows the constraints of sanctions as a foreign policy tool. The fact that sanctions are no longer a palatable policy option has not been adequately canvassed in the literature. In this context, in order to counter Chinese influence, Australia requires greater soft power resources and a sustained effort to listen to the concerns of PICs in order to achieve Australia's interests (Newton, 2020b). In the 'New Pacific Diplomacy', threatening sanctions is likely to be counterproductive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil stands out at the global level for having implemented several policies intending to promote agroecology as a productive paradigm for small-holder farmers. However, the impacts of this process of institutionalization of agroecology still lack research and debates that evaluate the effectiveness of these policies. In this paper, we assess and discuss the impacts of a policy specifically focused on education in agroecology, the support to the establishment of Centers for the Study of Agroecology and Organic Production (NEAs) in more than 150 higher education institutions throughout Brazil. NEAs bring together teachers, researchers, and students who engage in teaching, research, and extension activities in partnerships with peasant farmers, their organizations, and rural extension workers. The hypothesis that guides our analysis is that this support to establish NEAs allowed redistribution of symbolic power in the universities where they were established, supporting agroecology to gain greater legitimacy inside and outside the university field. Based on an in-depth study of four NEAs, performed through participant observation and documentary analysis, the NEAs are evaluated from the perspective of social fields in dispute, first in a university sphere, but also from the perspective of training people in integrative and transdisciplinary thinking that will contest the industrial-corporate food regime. Our findings suggest that the State support to university groups dedicated to the promotion of agroecology has allowed the construction of what we have named agroecological spaces, which symbolically dispute the dominant paradigms in educational institutions, supporting the constitution of material and immaterial agroecological territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From when it was reaccepted into the international community in the early 1990s, South Africa has made significant contributions towards the construction of new international regimes governing states' interaction globally. South Africa's global and regional governance advocacy for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty (ANWFZ), the Forum of Nuclear Regulatory Bodies in Africa (FNRBA), as well as other related nuclear disarmament conventions, remain notable. This article makes two claims: First, it accounts for the evolution of South Africa's soft power by arguing that achievements such as the unprecedented and voluntary dismantling of its nuclear warheads inspired the Republic's new international image as a global norm entrepreneur. More importantly, the study submits that South Africa's nuclear diplomacy has evolved through two overlapping stages of norm promotion towards the establishment of regional/global multilateral frameworks and institutions on nuclear disarmament and niche construction in the global nuclear industry. The wider significance of South Africa's participation in nuclear geopolitics is the attraction the country gains from international respect, recognition, acceptance, and legitimacy, both regionally and globally. A major conclusion reached is that the moral authority and middle power status that Pretoria enjoy internationally are partly attributed to its unique commitment to the global nuclear denuclearization regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of 650 Turkish white collars, this study examines the joint effects of leader power bases, and leader's and subordinate's gender on perceived leader effectiveness. The study investigates the conditions under which a male or a female leader is perceived to be (in)effective given the use of two different bases of power. According to empirical findings, male leaders are evaluated more favorably even when they display gender-deviant leadership behavior by exercising soft power, and male subordinates' disfavor of female leaders who violate role expectations is still a continuing phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We calculate the generalized soft functions at O ( α s 2 ) at next-to-leading power accuracy for the Drell-Yan process at threshold. The operator definitions of these objects contain explicit insertions of soft gauge and matter fields, giving rise to a dependence on additional convolution variables with respect to the leading power result. These soft functions constitute the last missing ingredient for the validation of the bare factorization theorem to NNLO accuracy. We carry out the calculations by reducing the soft squared amplitudes into a set of canonical master integrals and we employ the method of differential equations to evaluate them. We retain the exact d-dimensional dependence of the convolution variables at the integration boundaries in order to regulate the fixed-order convolution integrals. After combining the soft functions with the relevant collinear functions, we perform checks of the results at the cross-section level against the literature and expansion-by-regions calculations, at NNLO and partly at N3LO, finding agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basis of China's relations with African countries dates back to the 1950s. Especially in 1955, the Bandung Conference, in which China and African countries came together, provided an excellent opportunity for these countries to establish bilateral relations. While China did not have diplomatic relations with Africa in the pre-Cold War period and had limited relations with the continent in the context of the developments in the international system during the Cold War period, a critical revival was observed in China's relations with Africa in the 1990s. The 2000s were the years when this vitality reflected on economic indicators. Apart from these emphases, China's policies in the framework of soft power strategy have a significant impact on the positive progress of China's relations with African countries. China's interest in Africa has been directly influenced by changes in China and the international system for nearly seventy years covering the specified period. Both its economic potential and the need to provide the resources, China has developed commercial and economic cooperation and partnerships with other states. This situation inevitably leads China to relate to different geographies. With its political and military power, which has developed in parallel with its increasing economic power, China has become one of the major players in the international system. In this study, it is revealed how China's foreign policy towards Africa adapts to the changes and transformations witnessed in the country and international system. It is emphasized that China tries to develop different strategies from traditional actors who are active in the continent since the colonial period. In this direction, the main question of the study is whether Africa is a competition area for China or a clear trade area. The apparent hypothesis is a developing Chinese presence in Africa and its discovery. For this reason, China's existence in Africa was tried to be tested in the historical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affected by the mountainous location and ecological vulnerability, the incidence of poverty in contiguous destitute mountainous areas is higher than that in other regions of China. Regional self-development capacity is an internal driving force for poverty reduction in contiguous destitute mountainous areas. This study selects 17 indicators from the four dimensions: industrial capacity, market capacity, spatial capacity and soft power to measure the overall self-development capacity of 658 counties in 14 different mountain areas in China. The results show that self-development capacity is at a low level and the development of the different regions is unbalanced. The self-development capacity is low in the southwest and high in the east and "low in the middle, high around" in each study region. It has achieved a certain degree of improvement in 2011, 2013 and 2015. From the perspective of the four dimensions, industrial capacity is the constraint on the promotion of self-development capacity. Based on this, we should develop green industries in line with local realities and achieve industrial poverty eradication, but the expansion of space capacity should take into account the resources and environmental carrying capacity in these areas and should not be blindly expanded. Local leaders should be made to improve the local education level and public service level, improve social infrastructure, develop reserve strength for the future, and enhance future development potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power soft robots—defined as novel robots driven by powerful soft actuators, achieving both powerfulness and softness—are potentially suitable for complex collaborative tasks, and an approach to actuating a power soft robot is the McKibben artificial muscle. This study aims to show the potential of hydraulic artificial muscles to be implemented in a power soft robot with high safety, including higher stability against sudden load separation or impact disturbance, and appropriate dynamic compliance. The stability of a manipulator arm driven by hydraulic muscle actuators is experimentally proven to be higher than that of pneumatic muscle actuators when the stored elastic energy is instantaneously released. Therefore, the hydraulic muscle actuator is a better candidate for actuating a power soft robot. By taking advantage of the incompressible liquid medium and the compliant structure of a hydraulic muscle, a second-order impedance control strategy with a braking method is proposed to improve dynamic compliance without sacrificing the safety features of hydraulic muscles. The results show that the manipulator can be easily shifted by a several-kilogram-level external force and react safely against sudden load change with low angular velocity by the proposed impedance control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic involvement in Latin America has increased dramatically in the twenty-first century, often due to China's demand for natural resources. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his government have actively courted Latin America to pave the way for economic interactions. Chinese leaders have been working to foster China's "soft power" abroad. Nonetheless, we know relatively little about how Latin Americans perceive China and how Latin Americans' experiences with Chinese firms over the past two decades have shaped their views. Have Chinese efforts at cultivating "soft power" worked? Or have the actions of Chinese mining firms damaged China's reputation? Using the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) coupled with data on Chinese investments in Peru, I examine Peruvians' views of China and whether Peruvians think China should be a model for their country. I find that while Peruvians generally trust the Chinese government, only a small proportion prefers China as a model for Peru. The relationship between Chinese investment and public opinion is mixed. However, Peruvians who strongly value democracy are less likely to prefer China as a model for their country. The data also suggest that China still has an opportunity to shape public opinion in Peru, despite conflicts with Peruvian communities over mining projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In chapter five, Dean takes on a major scandal in the UK charity sector, i.e. the Kids Company, to illustrate the loss of symbolic capital largely due to misuse of financial resources. The book draws on the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and theories of fields and capital. Dean, J. (2020), The Good Glow-Charity and the Symbolic Power of Doing Good. [Extracted from the article]

This paper addresses the Chinese policy community's interpretations of identities, which potentially shape the soft power policies of China. It couples soft power to identity through a discourse analysis of the language used by the Chinese state in relation to soft power. It builds on a number of earlier theorizations that associate soft power with identity as a discursive phenomenon. The results highlight the use of strategic disrespect in China's soft power discourse. In the context of global cultural competition, and in particular the South-South cooperation framework, it is argued that the practitioners of the Chinese discourse present China's 'Self' as a soft power and the Western 'Other' as a hard power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boosting China's soft power is an important goal of Chinese economic statecraft in Africa. However, African opinions of China – in particular those of ordinary people – are understudied, and existing evidence suggests African viewpoints on China are highly varied and polarized. On the one hand, China's growing economic linkages are welcomed by Africans as an important alternative to traditional partners, and a vital source of funding for development needs. On the other hand, Africans see China as a source of poor-quality products and an exploitative threat to local markets. How can scholars understand these polarized opinions on China? Using data from the Afrobarometer Round 6 survey (2016), this article aims to untangle African perceptions of Chinese economic engagement through unpacking the distinctive effects of China's three tools of economic statecraft: trade, foreign direct investment, and aid. Analyses of Chinese influence frequently package these three modes of engagement together, but in practice they have very different consequences for China's soft power. Negative perceptions of China among African citizens are primarily associated with trade-related issues. China's investment and aid, on the other hand, generally make a positive contribution to Chinese soft power in Africa. By highlighting the contrasting effects of different instruments of economic engagement, this analysis contributes insight into Sino-African relations and China's wider economic diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, an increasing number of scholars have devoted close attention to China's expanded soft power, and many of them have examined the establishment of Confucius Institutes around the world. However, despite the ample scholarship on the Confucius Institute, a large-N empirical assessment is missing. In this study, we make an original and important contribution to the literature by conducting a large-N empirical analysis to demonstrate how China employs the Confucius Institute to maximize soft power in the era of China's rise. Based on a new dataset that includes all world countries from 2004 to 2014, our large-N analysis shows that the Confucius Institute is designed to promote China's educational, economic, and political interests altogether. These interesting empirical findings constitute arguably the first systematic evidence to demonstrate how China designs the Confucius Institute to maximize soft power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's world, globalization and internationalization of education necessitate new initiatives to catch the new era. Turkey, as a country in between the east and the west, attempts to do so through its recent exchange program in higher education. Interestingly, Turkey's Mevlana exchange program as an ambitious project in higher education denotes an instance of policy transfer: taking the EU model (i.e., Erasmus) and slightly adjusting it to the national circumstances. This article unpacks Turkey's Mevlana program to demonstrate the process of policy transfer by focusing on different questions posed within the policy transfer literature. It argues that Mevlana is drawn from Erasmus, and it is created as a tool of soft power that is increasingly exercised by Turkey due to its changing focus within the Turkish foreign policy of 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the nexus between comics, collective historical memory and politics in the context of the contemporary relationship between Japan and South Korea by examining the graphic manhwa narratives dealing with the memories of comfort women that were exhibited during the Angoulême Comics Festival in France in early 2014. With a theme of 'memories of war and gendered violence', commemorating the centennial of the outbreak of the First World War, the event that accommodated a special exhibition for Korean manhwa attracted controversy because of its political nature, drawing heavy media attention and sparking public debate and diplomatic quarrels. Adding academic depth to this cultural and diplomatic clash by linking the concepts of soft power foreign policy and cultural citizenship, this paper investigates what made the cultural event politically tainted and how the politicisation debate between the two countries escalated throughout the event. Existing studies on soft power foreign policy often leave the core contents of the 'soft' part unexplained. This article, in contrast, explores the current limits of accommodating cultural expressions of historical memories through an in-depth analysis of the exhibited artworks and the two countries' nationalised soft power diplomacy. It argues that both governments' direct and indirect intervention in the cultural realm nurtured irreconcilable cultural representations in this particular theme and genre of cultural representation under the current research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major requirement for regional power status is the location and deployment of soft power attributes which may range from culture, political ideology, diplomacy, to sporting achievements, foreign policy articulation, tourism, media exports and language. While contemporary analysis of Nigeria’s regional and continental power profile is almost entirely focused on economic and military aspects, an objective account of the state’s power portfolio would be incomplete without a careful estimation of its soft power potential and influence. This article contributes to the study of Nigeria’s foreign policy by initiating the debate on the utility and prospect of its soft power characteristics. An assessment of the country’s soft power resources in the form of culture, political values and foreign policy reveals that Abuja can indeed use these co-optive platforms to mitigate the negative contradictions that dampen its regional power status in Africa. The paper concludes that, although there are enormous limitations, a careful articulation of Nigeria’s soft power assets has the potential to reinforce the country’s regional leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a textual analysis conducted on policy discourses on international students in the UK between 1999 and 2013. A number of rationales for and against increasing their numbers have been made, which have largely remained consistent over changing political administrations. One key rationale is that international students enhance the UK's global political influence through its soft power. Critical analysis indicates that a number of unsubstantiated assumptions are made, representing international higher education and students in an outdated power relation predicated on Cold War politics. Key assumptions are that international students change their political attitudes and identify with the host country as a result of positive experiences. Later they are supposed to return home and reach positions of influence, which they exert in favour of the UK. They are represented to feel the same whether on scholarship or self-funded; and behave in predictable, similar ways. These representations of students as social subjects have disciplinary implications, which should be a topic for critical debate and potentially resistance in pedagogical contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past few years, the Chinese government has enacted laws and issued regulations to attract foreign talent, facilitate the return of skilled Chinese nationals and better regulate the entry, residence and employment of foreigners. China is quickly becoming a 'new immigration country,' with all the political, economic, and social challenges that entails. This article examines the strategic and policy approaches of China's recent immigration reform within the context of Chinese soft power. It reviews China's new immigration laws, policies and practices, and analyzes how immigration reform fits into the new generation of Chinese leaders' agenda of deepening and broadening China's post-Mao reform. The article also explicates how key changes in China's new immigration laws and regulations demonstrate that China is entering the global competition for talent while at the same time that its authoritarian government is attempting to maintain domestic stability by improving immigration-related social management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the pro-democracy protests of Hong Kong in 2014 and how the protests became sites for Beijing's representations of Chinese national image(s). It argues that ' defensive soft power' can be used to understand the process through which Beijing made such representations and projections. 'Defensive soft power', extending on Nye's soft power is operationally defined as the reactionary activities taken in response to actions that harm or potentially harm a country's national image. Based on an analysis of the data drawn from three mainland news media, several perceptions of China emerge - China as a victim; China as 'reasonable' power; and China as benign and tolerant leader in the China-Hong Kong relation. This research highlights the 'Umbrella Revolution' as an instance where 'defensive soft power' was used to (1) fend off negative national images and (2) project positive national images. Mapping out the process of national image defence will enable readers to better understand a sovereign state's strategies to defend attacks on and promote positive perceptions of its national image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual culture deeply influences those whom pastoral care providers serve, and contemporary practices with images complicate images' contribution to personal or social suffering. I begin by describing the mobile, networked dynamics of contemporary visual practices, which include receiving but also creating, curating, and sharing images in emergent and shifting visual communities. I then utilize visual studies theorist Gary Shapiro's concept of visual regimes, outlining how images work as a kind of soft power that influences the social construction of meaning. I illustrate these practices through a selection of images surrounding the police shooting of Michael Brown by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, and the protests and online debates that arose from that tragic event. I suggest throughout this paper that images play a major part in the social construction of subjective worlds and thus contribute both to our suffering and to the meaning we make from our suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2004, the EU has created 11 EU centers and two center-modeled programs in East Asia as an integral part of its public diplomacy in order to 'promote the study, understanding, and support of the EU and its policies.' All of these centers were jointly established by the EU and local universities, and more than 50 % of their funding is offered by the EU institutions. Among these centers and programs, the EU Center in Taiwan (EUTW) distinguishes itself from the others in two ways. On one hand, similar to the EU Center in Singapore, it acts as a national center rather than a university center. On the other hand, it was jointly inaugurated by a consortium of seven universities rather than one or two universities across the island. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the EU public diplomacy in Asia with the help of soft power theory and an in-depth case study of the EUTW. I will firstly review the development of the EU Studies and EU-related communities in Taiwan before the EUTW was formally inaugurated in May 2009. In the second part, I will present an in-depth analysis of the structure and functioning of the EUTW in terms of EU public diplomacy on the island. In the third part, the work of EUTW in the promotion of study, understanding, and even support of the EU and its policies will be evaluated with help of an institutionalist framework. In the end, I will give a balance sheet of the EUTW in terms of EU public diplomacy before drawing into some conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This writing analyzes the use of symbols, art, and aesthetics in the first phase of Hong Kong's 'Occupy Central' movement. Protestors, demonstrators, and strikers appropriate symbols to put their political messages across, sometimes essentializing or reducing complicated and complex ideologies or reform initiatives to pictorial symbols and performative sessions to parsimoniously put their points across. Between the start of Hong Kong's 'Occupy Central' movement on 27 September 2014 and its temporary pause on 6 October 2014, many symbols and art forms were used to symbolize the protests including the yellow umbrella. This writing is based on the observations in Hong Kong (more than 4 years) as well as formal and informal discussions with individuals representing positions from all sides of the political divides (pro-government, pro-democracy, and pro-Beijing forces) within and outside Hong Kong. Textually, I collected media reports, downloaded digital images, and scanned and analyzed media commentaries for this writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine the views of Chinese scholars during the decade of Hu's leadership concerning China's diplomatic strategy with respect to the judgment of China's national power, the orientation of China's diplomatic goals, and the choice of China's foreign policy. Chinese scholars increasingly judged China as an emerging major power in a multi-polarizing world. The mainstream academic attitude was that China should augment its international role. The discourse on China's diplomatic goals experienced a skillful and tacit transition from the 'keep a low profile' principle to the 'harmonious world' proposal, featured by the shift in emphasis, the expansion of interpretation, and the substitution of concepts. The Chinese academia unanimously endorsed the governmental proposal of the road of peaceful development, while ambiguity can be observed in China's more assertive responses to challenges to its 'core interests', agenda setting attempts in multilateral cooperation, and various endeavors to gain 'soft power'. Underlying the transition of China's diplomatic strategy was the materialist way of thinking concerning international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]