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WINTER set in almost with Autumn this year, and the results have been felt in libraries. Added to the season has been the monetary position of the world and the election in our own country in particular. It was to be expected that the election would slow up the use of libraries, but such reports as reach us are to the opposite effect. There have been definite increases in work done. This is important in face of the budgetting difficulties of libraries that are prophesied. The enforced leisure of unemployment has fallen on many men of the distinctly employable and therefore of the reading class, and these are finding encouragement and at least a temporary escape from their plight in books and in reading rooms. They may even find some new occupational interest there; and all good librarians will exploit the opportunities which this time of stress affords to the utmost. It is most important to keep level‐headed over difficulties, which we hope may be temporary for libraries, and not to acquiesce in panic retrench‐ments while ceding what is necessary to the general welfare. We cannot cede much; we have never had a superfluity.

This chapter reviews the literature to contextualize the intervention in the post–cold war era characterized by the momentum of globalization dominated by informal actors beside the legal authority of the state. It indicates how these actors deviate the primary purpose of the humanitarian intervention and create an ungovernable environment of the state particularly when interventions are operated in countries endowed with natural resources. The case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) serves as a model to ascertain such phenomenon in which actors such as states involved in intervention come in collusion with shadow elites, lobbyists and multinational companies to establish clandestine networks of illegal exploitation and smuggling of natural resources. The chapter winds up by suggesting the redefinition of policies of interventions to keep humanitarian intervention in its primary mission while holding actors involved in illegal and smuggling of natural resources accountable.

This paper aims to explore the protective and risk factors involved in student loneliness after the lockdown measures taken limiting social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic in France.

Using a cross-sectional survey methodology, the authors collected data on a sample of 546 students pursuing management education in a French business school in several campuses. Loneliness was measured by the three-item UCLA loneliness scale. Logistic regression analysis examined the factors influencing student loneliness.

The prevalence of loneliness was 23.4%. Risk factors for loneliness were social isolation especially in terms of intensity and isolation from friends (OR: 5.40), having a regular paid activity (OR: 1.62) and not getting academic help from other students (OR: 2.11) or taking meals alone during the lockdowns (OR: 1.94). Being a male student (OR: 0.47), practicing a sport (OR: 0.64) and studying at a specific campus (OR: 0.43) were protective factors.

Understanding protective and risk factors affecting student loneliness helps higher education decision-makers to take the necessary actions to enhance student well-being which have an effect on learning processes.

Loneliness is a major public health concern among students. Knowledge of the determinants for loneliness are limited and this article attempts to augment this by exploring several protective and risk indicators of loneliness among French students.

When comparing novel centralized and distributed communications and video streaming services, the authors identified a need for a theoretic framework to position a multitude of ICT services and technologies according to their value proposition. Literature does not integrate existing value analysis concepts into a holistic theoretical framework. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by proposing a value analysis framework for ICT services capable of describing the value exchanges between different actors and their role constellations based on technological componentizations.

The paper evaluates a representative selection of communications and video streaming services and an extensive literature study on existing value analysis research was conducted to develop the framework and to verify it.

The paper demonstrates the applicability of the value analysis framework in communications and video streaming case studies, which are technically very different from each other but, at the abstraction level the framework provides, display very similar characteristics in value flows and role constellations.

The value analysis framework could be extended and verified with other case studies and complemented with quantitative modeling and system dynamics.

The authors combine existing literature into a proposal of a holistic value analysis framework and apply it to novel centralized and distributed communications and video streaming services. Both academics and practitioners can use the framework to evaluate the value proposition of ICT services and technologies.

The 1896 presidential election between William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley has new salience in the wake of the 2016 presidential contest. We provide the first systematic analysis of presidential voting in 1896, combining county-level returns with economic, financial, and demographic data. We show that Bryan did well where interest rates were high, railroad penetration was low, and crop prices had declined. We show that further declines in crop prices or increases in interest rates would have been enough to tip the Electoral College in Bryan’s favor. But to change the outcome, the additional changes would have had to be large.

Market forces and other external pressures have significantly transformed higher education over the past four decades. Research on the influence of cross-sector permeation on doctoral education has primarily focused on preparing and socializing students for academic careers that involve entrepreneurial activity. Conversely, PhD student agency involving cross-sector engagement and the pursuit of individual values and goals in ways that span the boundaries of academia have been overlooked. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively explore how a sample of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students in Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering (STEM) programs recognized, made sense of and navigated cross-sector permeation relevant to their individual passions and commitments to climate change alleviation.

The authors conducted an embedded case study that qualitatively explored how 16 STEM PhD students recognized, made sense of and navigated cross-sector permeation relevant to their individual values and goals and commitments to climate change alleviation. Data were collected through individual interviews that probed the participants’ engagement and agency in cross-sector permeation.

The authors identified three themes that frame the role of PhD students as boundary spanning agents. The themes involve students placing their values and goals over specific positions and career paths, aligning their values and goals with cross-sector conditions and creating opportunities through cross-sector engagement.

Recommendations are provided for fostering and enhancing the agency PhD students have over the pursuit of their individual values and goals and their engagement in boundary spanning activities and strategies.

Cross-sector permeation is framed relevant to PhD student agency and boundary spanning. The findings introduce the role of PhD students as boundary spanning agents who intentionally pursue their individual values and goals in ways that extend beyond traditional academic career pathways.

For many, the sole source for news content is social media, where passionate opinions are posted at an alarming speed. These opinions can cross the line from differing opinions shared in a public forum onto uncivil dialogue and even hate speech. Such online discourse threatens democratic values and creates a hostile environment. The purpose of this paper is to examine such incivility using the case of four congresswomen known as “The Squad”.

The authors conducted a content analysis examining 20,563 replies to tweets sent by the four congresswomen. The social media data analysis and library, Brandwatch, was used to aggregate tweets posted by the four representatives, as well as all the replies posted to these tweets. The replies were coded to understand the types of incivility against each of the four congresswomen, whether the topics of a tweet can predict the types of incivility received in response, and the impact of Trump's tweet against the congresswomen.

The study findings show that the majority of replies contained uncivil language. The most common types of incivility are related to name-calling, stereotypes, threats to individual rights and vulgarity. Tweets about immigration and the Muslim ban, as well as tweets with negative tones received more replies. Following Donald Trump's Twitter attack on the representatives, replies to the congresswomen's tweets almost doubled. Mainly two types of incivility were observed to have increased significantly – the use of stereotypes and threats to individual rights.

The study examines incivility on Twitter against four black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) congresswomen as an exploratory case to observe and understand the growing phenomenon of uncivil language which feeds a polarized society and threatens democratic values. “The Squad” is more than an isosteric case study. It captures key changes in American politics. In the context of democratic discourse, the attack by the former president on these congresswomen and the response on social media address key issues of gender, religion and race in the United States.