Journal articles on the topic 'Maia Sandu'

In the autumn of 2024, presidential elections were held in Moldova. There were two rounds of voting. The incumbent president Maia Sandu and former Prosecutor General Alexandr Stoianoglo, supported by the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, came in the second round of elections. Sandu advocated the European integration of Moldova and the curtailment of relations with Russia and the CIS countries. In contrast, Stoianoglo was against the unilateral orientation towards the EU. He advocated strengthening Moldova’s ties with Russia and maintaining a balance in relations with the West and the East. The election was won by Sandu, who in the second round of voting was 10% ahead of her opponent. And Sandu won the election largely thanks to the votes of the Moldovan diaspora in countries of the European Union and in the United States. The elections have shown that the Moldovan society remains divided into Moldovenists and supporters of the Western path of development. Simultaneously with the first round of elections, the European Union membership referendum was held in Moldova, in which pro-Euro voters won by a small margin. Thus, Chisinau’s pro-Western course remains unchanged.

The presidential elections held in November 2020 in Moldova resulted in the victory of a pro-European candidate Maia Sandu. In Moldova the problem of determining the foreign policy course does not lose its relevance –confrontation between pro-Russian and pro-Western forces does not stop in the country. The main goal of the right-wing forces that came to power is to change the geopolitical vector of Moldova in favor of the EU and the United States. In the near future the Moldovan society is expected to change, and first of all in the field of integration.

The article explores the semantic-pragmatic approach to President Maia Sandu’s discourse within the context of Moldova’s aspiration to join the European Union. President Sandu, addressing the Parliament, strategically utilizes linguistic phenomena to convey a compelling vision for Moldova’s future integration into the EU by 2030. The discourse critically evaluates past political choices, dismissing options like the Commonwealth of Independent States and Customs Union as unsuccessful paths. The President uses negative forms and expressions to distance Moldova from previous political deceit and corruption, emphasizing the need for a new direction. The semantic elements in the discourse reveal a clear commitment to European integration, citing support from EU member states as a crucial factor. Pragmatic strategies, such as modality and rhetorical questions, have been used to emphasize the urgency and necessity of the chosen path. The discourse encourages political unity, urging support for EU accession over narrow interests. The analysis examines how semantics and pragmatics are strategically blended to construct a persuasive narrative that advocates for a European future for Moldova, fostering unity and dissociating from a troubled past. This study provides insights into the linguistic means used in President Maia Sandu’s discourse, illustrating the effectiveness of a semantic-pragmatic approach in building a positive perspective on Moldova’s accession to the European Union

This study is devoted to the analysis of the current state of Russian-Moldavian relations. The key events of recent years that influenced bilateral relations are examined: the coming to power in Moldova of a pro-Western establishment led by Maia Sandu, the adoption of a law on changing the state language, the gas crisis and the dispute over the debt for Russian gas supplies. It is noted that the new Moldovan leadership is pursuing an openly anti-Russian course aimed at rapprochement with the EU and Romania. This leads to cutting back on economic and humanitarian cooperation between countries. Tensions in the energy sector are rising. The author comes to the conclusion that Kishinev’s actions cause serious damage to bilateral relations. Restoring a constructive dialogue requires adequate steps on the part of the Moldovan leadership, which they are not yet ready for.

Abstract Hybrid threats undermine societies and foster unrest. Russia’s brutal and unjustified war against Ukraine has changed Moldova’s geopolitical situation. As President Maia Sandu states “using the full range of hybrid threats - including false bomb threats, cyber-attacks, disinformation, calls for social unrest and open corruption – Russia has sought to destabilize the government, erode our democracy and jeopardize Moldova’s contribution to the security of Europe as a whole”. Through consultants, money transfers, and fostering corruption, Russia is interfering in Moldova’s political landscape. However, the international community is highly concerned and supports the Republic of Moldova through a wide range of measures and instruments. The goal of this article is to highlight the main hybrid actions, their impact on Moldovan society, and the state authority’s response in responding to these hybrid threats. Consequently, this article emphasizes the difficulty of ensuring political sustainability amid an intense hybrid warfare.

Moldova is a textbook-plus case of a captured state, a condition synonymous with a number of post-Soviet countries. Moldova’s state capture resulted from its post-1991 partial reform path which enabled the emergence of oligarchs able to seize core state functions and distort business environments to the detriment of the public good. Moldova is significant because of the extremity of its state capture with a single oligarchic network shaping the rules of the game in political, economic, social and to a degree foreign policy terms. This situation created a vicious circle, which hindered Moldova’s development, reinforced poverty and the hollowing out of the state through mass migration. 2021 offers a vantage point to consider whether Moldova can shed its capture via the anti-corruption reform programme set out by president Maia Sandu or whether prospects for change are more likely to be impeded by persistent vested interests keen to keep the status quo. Future remedies for Moldova hinge on there being palpable socio-economic improvements to people’s lives, twinned with successful prosecutions of those responsible for large-scale acts of corruption and embezzlement. Aside from this, reforms need to hone in on improving the business environment, the weaving in of women’s empowerment and providing solutions to stem outwards migration.

The 2020 presidential and 2021 parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova saw a clear victory of the populist Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) of the newly elected president Maia Sandu over the pro-Russian coalition led by former presidents Igor Dodon and Vladimir Voronin. These results testify the citizens’ will to change a country with an ever-widening gap between politicians and populace. Since 2015, the political debate is centred on corruption, but the cases described draw the picture of a political landscape where practices go beyond the traditional understanding of the term. In fact, their analysis demonstrates the existence of a system of Soviet political culture which relies on informal practices of the elite, arguing that some of these practices have clear Soviet roots while others are an adaptation of the Soviet mentality to the new liberal democratic setting. The paper also highlights differences between the populist parties born either as a reaction to the system or as an adaptation of the elite response to perceived expectations of the electorate. This research took place between 2020 and 2021 utilising participant observation and semi-structured interviews with Moldovan political experts. The paper concludes that future research on Moldovan politics should incorporate analysis of this informal dimension to state politics which is core to public debate on corruption and the integrity of state institutions in Moldova.

The article is dedicated to the prospects for the development of Russian-Moldovan relations after the victory of Maia Sandu in the presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova. The work examines the historical background and the current state of political and economic cooperation between Russia and Moldova. It is outlined that Russia retains its importance for Moldova in the fields of energy security and food exports; at the same time, a significant economic imbalance in relations is emphasized. The authors point to the instability of bilateral interaction due to three circumstances: external factors (primarily, the influence of the European Union), the stance of the newly elected president of the republic, and the balance of political forces in the national parliament of Moldova. According to the authors, the assumption of power by a pro-European politician does not imply Moldova’s unilateral refusal to cooperate with Russia. Despite the obvious intention to accelerate the country’s integration into the European Union, the new leadership is not yet ready to abandon the dialogue with Moscow. In the political, economic, and military profiles of Moldova, Russia remains one of the most important partners. Since the internal political transformations in the republic carry the potential to diminish Russian influence over Moldova, the authors highlight possible steps on the Russian side that are capable of strengthening the existing foundation of positive interaction between countries, based on a study of the current configuration of bilateral relations. It is particularly underlined that against the background of the existing parameters of the modern system of international relations, even in the event of the most pessimistic scenario, the damage to Russian interests (apart from reputational losses) can be assessed as relatively insignificant

The article is dedicated to the prospects for the development of Russian-Moldovan relations after the victory of Maia Sandu in the presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova. The work examines the historical background and the current state of political and economic cooperation between Russia and Moldova. It is outlined that Russia retains its importance for Moldova in the felds of energy security and food exports; at the same time, a signifcant economic imbalance in relations is emphasized. The authors point to the instability of bilateral interaction due to three circumstances: external factors (primarily, the influence of the European Union), the stance of the newly elected president of the republic, and the balance of political forces in the national parliament of Moldova. According to the authors, the assumption of power by a pro-European politician does not imply Moldova’s unilateral refusal to cooperate with Russia. Despite the obvious intention to accelerate the country’s integration into the European Union, the new leadership is not yet ready to abandon the dialogue with Moscow. In the political, economic, and military profles of Moldova, Russia remains one of the most important partners. Since the internal political transformations in the republic carry the potential to diminish Russian influence over Moldova, the authors highlight possible steps on the Russian side that are capable of strengthening the existing foundation of positive interaction between countries, based on a study of the current confguration of bilateral relations. It is particularly underlined that against the background of the existing parameters of the modern system of international relations, even in the event of the most pessimistic scenario, the damage to Russian interests (apart from reputational losses) can be assessed as relatively insignifcant.

The migration process is associated with great health risks. The factors of health vulnerability of migrants are: the complexity of the migration route; poor living and working conditions; limited access to health care; linguistic and cultural barriers when interacting with healthcare providers, etc. The COVID 19 pandemic has created new health vulnerabilities for migrants. The combination of political, legal, economic and socio-cultural factors creates vulnerabilities for migrants and increases the likelihood of: being infected with COVID 19; lack of access to adequate care; the occurrence of serious symptoms; poor psychosocial impact; lack of income and livelihood. The content of this study is based on: analysis of bibliographic sources on the health of migrants in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; secondary analysis of the results of studies of Moldovan migrants abroad; analysis of statistical information on the state of incidence of COVID-19 on the territory of the Republic of Moldova; analysis of publications on the topic of Moldovan migrants in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in the media; analysis of comments in online groups of the Moldovan diaspora abroad. The legal status of Moldovan migrants in the country of destination, their field of activity, the type of employment contract concluded, as well as the policy of protecting the countries of destination of migrants have become factors of vulnerability of Moldovan migrants abroad in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic. When returning home, Moldovan migrants faced a number of problems and became an object sharp criticism, and stigmatization from their own compatriots. The inability of the country’s leadership to cope with the problems that arose caused a sharp reaction in the ranks of Moldovan citizens abroad and contributed to an unprecedented turnout of the Moldovan diaspora in the presidential elections in November 2020. The victory of the pro-Western candidate Maia Sandu became possible thanks to the support of the diaspora, which made up 1⁄4 of the entire electorate elected president. The study showed that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, international migrants have become a social problem for both receiving countries and donor countries. A timely policy of comprehensive measures to support the health of migrants and their social protection can be a decisive factor in effectively containing the spread of COVID-19 and reducing the emergency and social tensions in both receiving countries and countries that are donor migrants.

To date, the issue of Moldova’s accession to the EU remains unexplored. From year to year, from one president to another, Moldovans go in the direction of Europe, then Russia. At the same time, life in the country takes its turn, and eventually the people begin to understand that the path to prosperity is in the direction of Europe. That is why, on the example of Moldova, there is an opportunity to show how the country is fighting for a better life in the EU. The aim of the article is to analyze the solution of foreign and domestic (territorial) problems of the Republic of Moldova in the context of cooperation with the European Union. The main task of this article is to study the current state of cooperation between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union; in determining the level of EU interest in the new partner. The article examines the current state of the European integration course of the Republic of Moldova (from the time of independence in 1991 to the end of 2021) and its path to the European Union. The dynamics of Moldova’s foreign relations with the EU is traced. The key problems that prevent members from joining the ranks are described. The article separately analyzes the political and legal process within the country and the factors that affect its current pro-European orientation. The positions of two political parties within the country (pro-European and pro-Russian) are taken into account. Moldova’s achievements on the path to the EU are highlighted. Another issue remains: the joint international coercion to curb the imperial ambitions of the Russian Federation, which will help stabilize and accelerate social development in Moldova, will push the current leadership of Transnistria to return to the political, legal and economic space of the country. Thus, it was concluded that in political terms the Republic of Moldova has set a course for European integration. After the victory of the pro-European camp led by Maia Sandu, Moldovans set course for Europe for the first time in recent years. The President assured the leaders of the European Commission that despite all the problems, she will be able to keep the country on the path to the EU. The main obstacle remains the Transnistrian conflict between the Republic of Moldova and the pro-Russian self-proclaimed Transnistrian Moldovan Republic.

Review of: Agus Sunyoto, Dhaeng Sekara: Telik sandi tanah pelik Majapahit. Yogyakarta: DIVA Press, 2010, 488 pp. ISBN 9786029782820. Price: IDR 55.000. Bagus Dilla, Bumi Sriwijaya. Yogyakarta: DIVA Press, 2010, 483 pp. ISBN 9786029782738. Price: IDR 58.000. Daryanto, Raden Fatah: Bara di atas Demak Bintara. Jakarta: Tiga Kelana, 2009, vi + 472 pp. ISBN 9786028535304. Enang Rokajat Asura, Prabu Siliwangi: Bara di balik terkoyaknya Raja Digdaya. Depok: Edelweiss, 2009, ix + 457 pp. ISBN 9789791962438. Enang Rokajat Asura, Wangsit Siliwangi: Harimau di tengah bara. Depok: Edelweiss, 2009, 444 pp. ISBN 9786028672009. Gamal Komandoko, Panembahan Senopati: Geger ramalan Sunan Giri. Yogyakarta: DIVA Press, 2009, 400 pp. ISBN 9789799637086. Langit Kresna Hariadi, Gajah Mada. Solo: Tiga Serangkai, 2004, x + 582 pp. ISBN 9796685582. Langit Kresna Hariadi, Gajah Mada: Bergelut dalam kemelut takhta dan angkara. Solo: Tiga Serangkai, 2006, xii + 508 pp. ISBN 9793301902. Langit Kresna Hariadi, Gajah Mada: Hamukti palapa. Solo: Tiga Serangkai, 2006, x + 694 pp. ISBN 9793303166. Langit Kresna Hariadi, Gajah Mada: Perang Bubat. Solo: Tiga Serangkai, 2006, xii + 448 pp. ISBN 9793304499. Langit Kresna Hariadi, Gajah Mada: Madakaripura Hamukti moksa. Solo: Tiga Serangkai, 2007, x + 582 pp. ISBN 9793307129. Nassirun Purwokartun, Penangsang: Tembang rindu dendam. Jakarta: Tiga Kelana, 2010, xvi + 704 pp. ISBN 786028535847. SW. Warsito and Harmadi, Airlangga. Yogyakarta: Flash Books, 2010, 389 pp. ISBN 9786029556735.

In this paper, the female, male, and pupa of S. itaunense D’Andretta & González B. are redescribed based on material collected from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The affinities of S. itaunense with other South American simuliid species are discussed and its distribution, biology, and medical importance in Brazil are presented. The adults of S. itaunense are externally most similar to those of S. guianense Wise (species complex), S. orbitale Lutz, and S. perplexum Shelley, Maia-Herzog, Luna Dias & Couch, but they can be easily identified by the structure of the male and female genitalia. The pupa is readily distinguished by the number of filaments, which vary from 45 to 56. Simulium itaunense has only been recorded from Brazil, where the immature stages can be found in small rivers with clear water and sandy river beds. They have also been found on Podostemaceae and on rocks in fast-flowing streams. The females bite horned [sic] cattle in Rio Grande do Sul.

The growth and yield of plants are mainly a function of the quantity of fertilizer and water. In coastal sandy soil, nutrient losses and dry soils are seriously problems. The objective of the research was to study effect of zeolite and hucalci concentrations as NPK coating materials on NPK qualities i.e. water adsorption and release of N, P and K. The research used a coastal sandy soil as media. It was conducted in a laboratory of Soil Science Department, Gadjah Mada University from July to August 2009. Experimental design used was a factorial in a completely randomized design. The first factor was hucalci concentration, consisted of 10% (H1), 20% (H2), and 30% (H3). The second factor was zeolite concentration, consisted of 25% (Z1), 50% (Z2), 75% (Z3), and 100% (Z4). NPK fertilizer (without coating) used as a control. The results showed that hucalci and zeolite had a capability to increase water adsorption and to retard the release of N, P, K. The coated NPK with hucalci 30% and zeolite 100% had the highest quality in water absorption, water retention and release of nutrients.Keywords: Coastal sandy soil, humic-calcium, NPK fertilizer, zeolite

Abstract Di Maida, G., Tomasello, A., Luzzu, F., Scannavino, A., Pirrotta, M., Orestano, C., and Calvo, S. 2011. Discriminating between Posidonia oceanica meadows and sand substratum using multibeam sonar. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 12–19. High-resolution, multibeam sonar (MBS) (455 kHz) was used to identify two typologies of seabed 8 m deep: Posidonia oceanica meadow and sandy substratum. The results showed that the heterogeneity of the architecture of the P. oceanica canopy and the relatively simple morphology of a sandy substratum can be detected easily by statistical indices such as standard deviation or range-of-beam depth. Based on these indices, an automated classification was performed for seabed mapping. The overall classification accuracy was as high as 99 and 98% in October and January, respectively. The probability that P. oceanica in situ was omitted on the map was <7%, whereas the probability that an area classified as P. oceanica on the map did not correspond to the seagrass in situ was consistently negligible. Based on these results, high-resolution MBS can be considered to be an accurate tool for mapping P. oceanica and sand substrata, and its discriminating power seems to be independent of season (autumn or winter).

Electrical Resistivity method involving Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) was carried out within the Maga school, Ayeka, southwestern Nigeria. This was carried out with aim of evaluating the protective capacity of the layers overlying the aquifers in preventing pollution from getting to the groundwater resources within the area. A total of twelve Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) were acquired using the Schlumberger configuration. The half-current electrode spacing (AB/2) of the Schlumberger configuration was varied from 1 to 225 m. The sounding curves derived from the VES data were quantitatively interpreted using partial curve matching and further refined using computer assisted program. From the interpreted geoelectric result, four lithological layers were delineated; the topsoil, the sandy clay, the lateritic sand and the clayey sand/sand. The topsoil resistivity ranges from 89 to 162 Ωm and its thickness varies from 0.9 to 2.0 m, the sandy clay resistivity varies from 215 to 512 Ωm and its thickness ranges from 3.1 to 7.6 m, the lateritic sand resistivity varies from 1025 to 2611 Ωm and thickness ranges from 13.3 to 23.9 m and the clayey sand/sand resistivity ranges from 183 to 522 Ωm with a depth range from 19.7 to 30.4 m. The protective capacity map revealed that all the parts of the study area fall within a weak protective capacity zone. This is informed by the low longitudinal conductance which suggests a weak protective capacity rating. As a result of this, the study area is therefore vulnerable to pollution if it is exposed to contaminant sources which could come from septic tanks, underground petroleum storage tanks, industrial waste and landfills.

The research was about seed bank of weed on cropping pattern various and soil depth in coastal sandy land conducted to know density, compostion and diversity of weed on three lands weed different of soil depth and cropping patent. The research with the sampling of soil object in Bugel Beach, Panjatan District, Kulonprogo Regency, Special Province of Yogyakarta. The Palace to grow of seed bank in green house on Agriculture Departement, Faculty of Agriculture, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) Factorial with two factors and three replications. The first factor was kinds of cropping pattern consisted of “bero”, cropping pattern in rotation and cropping pattern of intercropping. The second factors was soils depth consisted of 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm, 10-15 cm and 15-30 cm. The result showed that high density level be obtained on intercropping lands on 5-10 cm soils depth. The composition from seed bank be obtained broadleaf weeds was dominated in all of lands, the dominate of broadleaf were Oldenladia corymbosa, herbaceous of Eragrostis tenela, Digitaria sanguinalis and Cyperis compresus, C. rotundus. The diversity from seed bank on three of lands from four of soils depth was the weed isn’t homogene. Key word: seed bank, cropping pattern, soil depth, snady land

Roshitafandi DA, Sartika HW, Dewi AK, Nashrurrokhman M, Ratman N, Trijoko. 2018. Short Communication: Seawater Mollusca (bivalve) diversity at Dullah Laut Beach, Tual City, Southeast Moluccas, Indonesia. Ocean Life 2: 21-26. Indonesia is a country that has high-level of biodiversity supported by diverse types of beaches. Dullah Laut Village is located on one of the small islands in Southeast Moluccas. Dullah Laut Beach is a natural white sandy beach with algae, seagrass, and rocky substrate. Bivalve is part of the Mollusca found mostly on the Dullah Laut Beach. The purpose of this research is to know the diversity of Bivalve class in the intertidal zone of Dullah Laut Beach, Southeast Molucca related with the environmental parameters. This research was conducted in July and August 2017. The environmental parameters recorded at the time of the study were 27oC for temperature, 0,01 mg/L for nitrite, and 0,5 mg/L for ammonia. The method used in this study is purposive sampling method. After data collection was completed, the next steps were documentation, preservation, and identification conducted in the Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Based on this research, we found 4 genera of the class Bivalve in Dullah Laut Beach namely Atactodea, Macrocallista, Mactra, and Hippopus.

Basil is a plant that can be cultivated in Psamment (coastal sandy soil). Basil requires nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S), so the N-S balance is needed to obtain optimal results. Psamment contains low colloid, causing nutrients to be barely bound and easily lost. Zeolite and biochar can be a solution. This study aimed to determine the composition and frequency of fertilization, as well as the use of soil amendment for basil growth. This research consisted of two interrelated studies arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design. The research was conducted in Bugel, Panjatan, Kulon Progo, and the analysis was performed at the Soil Department Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Gadjah Mada. The first study consisted of two factors, namely Urea-ZA composition (0:0, 60:40, 70:30, 80:20, 90:10, and 100:0) and frequency of fertilization (every 1 and 2 weeks). The application of Urea-ZA (80:20) gave the best fresh-dry weight, N-S content, and N-S uptake of basil, and this result was used as the reference for the second study. The second study consisted of two factors, namely Urea-ZA fertilizer doses (50%, 75%, and 100%), and types and doses of soil amendment (without amendment, zeolite 7.5 t/ha, zeolite 15 t/ha; biochar 7.5 t/ha, and biochar 15 t/ha). It can be concluded that soil amendments application improved the chemical properties of psamment, fresh-dry weight, N-S content, and N-S uptake of basil. Furthermore, biochar and zeolite could increase the effectiveness of fertilization, so the dose of Urea-ZA fertilizer could be reduced until 50%.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui nilai-nilai Pancasila dan penanamannya oleh pengurus/pembina kepada anggota Pramuka Saka Bhayangkara Menganti Gresik.Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini ialah metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan deskriptif kualitatif. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwasannya pengurus Pramuka Saka Bhayangkara Menganti Gresik melakukan upaya penerapan nilai-nilai Pancasila kepada para anggota pramuka dengan kegiatan-kegiatan berikut : 1) Perkemahan sabtu minggu dengan nilai Pancasila yang ditanamkan antara lain jiwa berani, percaya diri, mengembangkan diri karena kesuksesan, sikap berhati-hati, berlatih berjuang keras, percaya kemampuan diri, saling menghormati antar anggota dalam kelompok, berani menerima tantangan, dan berlatih mengatasi tantangan;2) kegiatan Dasa Darma Pramuka dengan nilai yang ditanamkan meliputi taqwa kepada Tuhan Yang Maha Esa, cinta alam dan kasih sayang sesama manusia, patriot yang sopan dan ksatria, patuh dan suka bermusyawarah, rela menolong dan tabah, rajin, trampil dan gembira, hemat, cermat, dan bersahaja, disiplin, berani dan setia, bertanggung jawab dan dapat dipercaya dan suci; 3) kegiatan semapur terdapat aktivitas menggunakan sandi kode morse dengannilai yang ditanamkan pada kegiatan semapur meliputi sikap teliti, kekompakan tim, ketepatan pemecahan masalah, musyawarah tim, kecepatan mengambil keputusan, Kemampuan menjaga rahasia, rasa aman dan menghormati hak dan kewajiban; Dan 4)Kegiatan jelajah alam yaitu kegiatan halang merintang dengan nilai yang ditanamkan pada kegiatan tersebut adalah jiwa berani, percaya diri, mengembangkan diri karena kesuksesan, sikap berhati-hati, berlatih berjuang keras, percaya kemampuan diri, saling menghormati antar anggota dalam kelompok, berani menerima tantangan dan berlatih mengatasi tantangan.

Maha Appraisal Hits Gas for Eni in Indonesia Eni encountered natural-gas-bearing sands with its Maha 2 well in the West Ganal Block offshore Indonesia. Drilled to a depth of 2970 m in 1115 m water depth, the well encountered 43 m of gas-bearing net sands in levels of Pliocene Age, according to the operator. A production test, which was limited by surface facilities, recorded a gas deliverability of the reservoir flowing at 34 MMscf/D. The opera-tor collected data and samples during the test, to study in preparation of a field development plan for the Maha field. Two additional appraisal wells are planned for the discovery. Eni, along with partners Neptune West Ganal BV and P.T. Pertamina Hulu West Ganal, expect the field to be developed subsea and tied back to the nearby Jangkrik floating production unit (FPU), about 16 km to the northwest. Eni has been operating off Indonesia since 2001. Its current equity production in the region is around 80,000 BOE/D. Shell Sells Out of Philippines Gas Field Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell its stake in the Malampaya offshore gas field in the Philippines for $460 million. The major sold its 45% stake in Service Contract 38 (SC38), a deepwater license which includes the producing gas field, to a subsidiary of the Udenna Group, which already holds a 45% stake in the project. The divestment is part of the company’s strategy to narrow its oil and gas operations. The base consideration for the sale is $380 million, with additional payments of up to $80 million in 2022 and 2024 contingent on asset performance and commodity prices, according to Shell. The deal is due to complete by the end of 2021. The Malampaya gas field, discovered in 1991, currently supplies fuel to power plants that deliver about a fifth of the country’s electricity requirements, based on energy ministry data. Equinor Green Lights First Phase of Bacalhau Development Off Brazil Equinor, along with partners ExxonMobil, Petrogal Brasil, and Pré-Sal Petróleo SA, will move forward with a planned $8-billion Phase 1 development of the Bacalhau field in the Brazilian pre-salt Santos area. The Bacalhau field is situated across two licenses, BM-S-8 and Norte de Carcará. The target resource is a high-quality carbonate reservoir containing light oil. The development will consist of 19 subsea wells tied back to a floating production, storage, and offloading unit (FPSO) located at the field. The vessel will be one of the largest FPSOs in Brazil with a production capacity of 220,000 B/D of oil and 2 million bbl of storage capacity. The stabilized oil will be offloaded to shuttle tankers and the gas from Phase 1 will be re-injected in the reservoir. The FPSO contractor will operate the FPSO for the first year. Thereafter, Equinor plans to operate the facilities until the end of the license period. The development plan was approved by the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels (ANP) in March 2021. First oil from the field is slated for 2024. Wintershall Strikes Gas at Dvalin North An exploration well drilled by Wintershall on its Dvalin North prospect in the Norwegian Sea has encountered a significant gas reservoir. The discovery at Dvalin North is estimated to hold to hold 33–70 million BOE and is just 12 km north of the company’s operated Dvalin field and 65 km north of the operated Maria field. The well also encountered hydrocarbons in two shallower secondary targets, with a combined resource estimate of 38–87 million BOE, making the potential for the field in excess of 150 million BOE. The well, drilled by the Deepsea Aberdeen rig, encountered gas, condensate, and oil columns of 33 m and 114 m in the Cretaceous Lysing and Lange formations, respectively. In the primary target in the Garn Formation, the well found a gas column of 85 m. The license partners, including Petoro and Sval Energi, are evaluating development options for the discovery, which could include a tieback to the Dvalin field. Third Odfjell Rig Tapped by Equinor Odfjell has been awarded a three-well, $40-million drilling contract for its semisubmersible drilling unit Deepsea Stavanger by Equinor. The rig will join sister units Deepsea Atlantic and Deepsea Aberdeen under contract with the Norwegian operator. The rig is scheduled to start drilling the first of three planned exploration wells in the North Sea in February 2022. The wells are expected to take about 4 months to complete. The contract includes continuing options after the initial phase. South Africa Shale Tests Encounter Gas at Karoo Pockets of shale gas were encountered during test drilling in the semi-desert Karoo region of South Africa, according to the nation’s energy ministry. A total of 34 gas samples had been bottled and taken to laboratories after the government’s Council for Geosciences set out to drill a 3500-m stratigraphic hole in the Karoo to establish and test the occurrence of shale gas. “The first pocket of gas was intercepted at 1734 m with a further substantial amount intercepted at 2467 m spanning a depth of 55 m,” said Gwede Mantashe, South African energy minister, during his budget vote in parliament on 18 May. In 2017, geologists at the University of Johannesburg and three other institutions estimated the gas resource in the Karoo was probably 13 Tcf. Earlier, the US Energy and Information Administration estimated the Karoo Basin’s technically recoverable shale-gas resource at 390 Tcf, then making it the eighth largest in the world and second largest in Africa behind Algeria. Seadrill Venture Nets New Drilling Contract Seadrill’s Sonadrill Holding Ltd., the 50/50 joint venture with an affiliate of Sonangol, has secured a 12-well contract with one option for nine wells and 11 one-well options in Angola for drillship Sonangol Quenguela. The $131-million contract before options is inclusive of mobilization revenue and additional services with commencement expected in early 2022 and running through mid-2023. The contract is contingent on National Concessionaire approval. Sonangol Quenguela is the second of two Sonangol-owned drillships to be bareboat-chartered into Sonadrill. The drillship is a seventh-generation, DP3, dual activity, e-smart ultradeepwater drillship delivered in 2019, capable of drilling up to 40,000-ft wells. A further two Seadrill-owned units are expected to be bareboat-chartered into Sonadrill. Seadrill will manage and operate the four units on behalf of Sonadrill. Shell Makes US Gulf Discovery at Leopard An exploration well at the Shell-led Leopard prospect in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico encountered more than 600 ft net oil pay at multiple levels. Leopard is in Alaminos Canyon Block 691, approximately 20 miles east of the Whale discovery, 20 miles south of the recently appraised Blacktip discovery, and 33 miles from the Perdido spar host facility. Evaluation is ongoing to further define development options. According to Shell, Leopard is an opportunity to increase production in the Perdido Corridor, where its Great White, Silvertip, and Tobago fields are already producing. Meanwhile, the Whale discovery, also in the Perdido Corridor, is progressing toward a final investment decision in 2021. Shell operates Leopard with a 50% working interest. Partner Chevron holds the remaining 50% stake. Shell Could Leave Tunisia in 2022 Shell informed Tunisian authorities in May it will hand back upstream concessions and leave the country next year as it turns its focus to renewable energy, according to a Reuters report sourcing a senior official in the country’s energy ministry. The license in question is the Miskar concession in the southern city of Gabes. The operator has also requested the early hand-back of the Asdrubal permit, which expires in 2035. Recent reports suggest the operator may be looking for the Tunisian government to extend its permit on the field under more favorable terms ahead of its planned departure.

A study on the adsorption characteristic of Iron onto Poly[eugenol-co-(divinyl benzene)] (EDVB) from aqueous solution has been conducted. EDVB was produced and characterized by using FTIR spectroscopy. The adsorption was studied by a batch method by considering the factors affecting the adsorption such as initial metal ion concentration, adsorption selectivity, and mechanism of adsorption using a sequential desorption method. The adsorption of Iron onto EDVB followed a pseudo-2 order kinetics model with the rate constant of 0,144 L2 mmol-1 min-1. The adsorption isotherm was studied with Tempkin, Langmuir and Freundlich models. The adsorption capacity (Qmax) obtained by Langmuir isotherms was 250mg.L-1 while the equilibrium value was 0.8 Lmg-1. A competitive adsorption study showed that EDVB is adsorbed selectively towards Iron rather than Chromium, Coppers and Cadmium ions. The interaction type of Iron onto EDVB was determined by a sequential desorption.Keywords: Polyeugenol; divinyl benzene (DVB); adsorption; Iron; FeReferencesAbasi, C. Y.; Abia, A.A.; Igwe, J.C. Adsorption of Iron (III), Lead (II) and Cadmium (II) Ions by Unmodified Raphia Palm (Raphia hookeri) Fruit Endocarp. Environ. Res. 2011, 5 (3), 104-113, ISSN: 1994-5396, Medwell Journals. DOI: 10.3923/erj.2011.104.113Baes, F. C.; Mesmer, R. E. The Hydrolisis of Cations; John Wiley: New York, 1976Bakatula, E.N.; Cukrowska, E.M.; Weiersbye, L.; Mihali-Cozmuta, L.;Tutu, H. Removal of toxic elements from aqueous solution using bentonite modified with L-histidine. Water Sci. Technol.2014, 70 (12),2022-2030, DOI: 10.2166/wst.2014.450Bhattacharyya, K.G.; Gupta, S.S. Adsorption of Fe(III) from Water by Natural and Acid Activated Clays: Studies on equilibrium isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamics of interactions. Adsorption. 2006, 12 (3), 185-204,DOI : 10.1007/s10450-006-0145-0Carmona, M..; Lucas, A.D.; Valverde, J.L.; Velasco, B.; Rodriguez, J.F. Combined adsorption and ion exchange equilibrium of phenol on Amberlite IRA-420.Chem. Eng. J.2006, 117, 155-160, Doi : 10.1016/j.cej.2005.12.013Debnath, S.; Ghosh, U.C. Kinetics, isotherm and thermodynamics for Cr(III) and Cr(VI) adsorption from aqueous solutions by crystalline hydrous titanium oxide. J. Chem. Thermodin. 2008, 40: 67-77, DOI: 10.1016/j.jct.2007.05.014Djunaidi, M.C.; Jumina; Siswanta, D.; Ulbricht, M. Selective Transport of Fe(III) Using Polyeugenol as Functional Polymer with Ionic Imprinted Polymer Membrane Method. Asian J. Chem. 2015, 27 (12): 4553-4562, DOI : 10.14233/ajchem.2015.19228Febriasari, A.; Siswanta, D.; Kiswandono, A.A.; Aprilita, N.H. Evaluation of Phenol Transport Using Polymer Inclusion Membrane (PIM) with Polyeugenol as a Carrier. Jurnal Rekayasa Kimia dan Lingkungan. 2016, Vol. 11, No. 2, 99-106, DOI: 10.23955/rkl.v11i2.5112Foldesova, M.; Dillinger, P.; Luckac, P. Sorption and Desorption of Fe(III) on Natural and chemically modified zeolite. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 1999, Vol. 242, No. 1 (1999), 227-230, DOI: 10.1007/BF02345926Gupta, V.K.;Sharma, S. Removal of cadmium and zinc from aqueous solutions using mud.Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36: 3612-3617, DOI: 10.1021/es020010vHandayani, D.S. Sintesis kopoli(eugenol-DVB) sulfonat dari Eugenol Komponen Utama Minyak Cengkeh Szygium aromaticum (Synthesis of copoly(eugenol-DVB) sulfonic from main components of eugenol clove oil Szygium aromaticum). Biopharmacy Journal of Pharmacological and Biological Sciences. 2004, 2 (2): 53-57 ISSN: 1693-2242. url : https://eprints.uns.ac.id/id/eprint/856Harimu, L.; Matsjeh, S.; Siswanta, D.; Santosa, S.J. Synthesis of Polyeugenyl Oxyacetic Acid as Carrier to Separate Heavy Metal Ion Fe(III), Cr(III), Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), and Pb(II) that Using Solvent Extraction Mehod. Indo. J. Chem. 2009, 9 (2): 261-266.Ho, Y.S.; McKay, G. Pseudo-second Order Model for Sorption Processes. Process. Biochem. 1999, 34, 451-465, DOI: 10.1016/S0032-9592(98)00112-5Ho, Y.S.; McKay, G.; Wase, D.A.J.;Forster, C.F. Study of Sorption Divalent Metal Ions on to Peat. Adsorpt. Sci. Technol. 2000, 18: 639-650. DOI : 10.1260/0263617001493693Indah, S.; Helard, D.;Sasmita, A. Utilization of maize husk (Zea mays L.) as low-cost adsorbent in removal of iron from aqueous solution. Water Sci. Technol. 2016, 73 (12), 2929-2935, DOI: 10.2166/wst.2016.154Kiswandono, A.A.; Siswanta, D.; Aprilita, N.H.; Santosa, S.J. Transport of Phenol through inclusion polymer membrane (PIM) using copoly(Eugenol-DVB) as membrane carries. Indo .J. Chem. 2012, 12 (2): 105-112. Doi : 10.22146/ijc.667Kousalya, N.; Gandhi, M.R.; Sundaram, C.S.; Meenakshi, S. Synthesis of nano-hydroxyapatite chitin/chitosan hybrid bio-composites for the removal of Fe(III).Carbohyd. Polym. 2010, 82: 594-599, DOI:10.1016/j.carbpol.2010.05.013Kumar, K.V.; Porkodi, K.;Rocha, F. Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetics – A theoretical study, Catalysis Communications. 2008, 9: 82-84, DOI:10.1016/j.catcom.2007.05.019Masel, R.I. Principles Adsorption and Reaction on Solid Surface; John Wiley & Sons: Canada, 1996Moore, J. W.; Pearson, R.G. Kinetics and Mechanism Third Edition; John Wiley & Sons: Canada, 1981.Ngah, W.S.W.; Ghani, S.A.; Kamari, A. Adsorption Behaviour of Fe(II) and Fe(III) Ions in Aqueous Solution on Chitosan and Cross-linked Chitosan Beads. Bioresource. Technol. 2005, 96: 443-450. DOI:10.1016/j.biortech.2004.05.022Rahim, E.A.; Sanda, F.; Masuda, T. Synthesis and Properties of Novel Eugenol-Based Polymers. Polymer Bulletin. 2004, Vol. 5, 93-100, DOI: 10.1007/s00289-004-0272-2Samarghandi, M.R.; Hadi. M.; Moayedi, M.; Askari, F.B. 2009. Two Parameter Isotherms of Methyl Orange Sorption by Pinecone Derived Activated Carbon. Iran. J. Environ. Health Sci. Eng., 6 (4): 285-294.Setyowati, L. 1998. Pengaruh Penambahan Divinil Benzena (DVB) pada Kopolimerisasi Kationik Poli[eugenol-co-(divinil benzena)] dan Sifat Pertukaran Kation Kopoligaramnya (The Effect of divinylbenzene (DVB) Addition to Eugenol-DVB Cationic Copolymerization and Its Use As Cation-Exchanger), Thesis, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.Shi, T.; Jia, S.; Chen, Y.; Wen, Y.; Du, C.; Guo, H.; Wang, Z. Adsorption of Pb(II), Cr(III), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Ni(II) onto a vanadium mine tailing from aqueous solution. J. Hazard. Mater. 2009, 169: 838-846, DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2009.04.020Sun, S.;Wang, A. Adsorption Kinetics of Cu(II) Ions Using N,O-Carboxymethyl-Chitosan. J. Hazard. Mater. 2006, B131: 103-111, DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2005.09.012Sun, S.; Wang, L.;Wang, A. Adsorption Properties of Crosslinked Carboxymethyl-chitosan Resin With Pb(II) as Template Ions. J. Hazard. Mater. 2006, B136: 930-937, DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2006.01.033Uzun, I.; Guzel, F. Adsorption of Some Heavy Metal Ions from Aqueous Solution by Activated Carbon and Comparison of Percent Adsorption Result of Activated Carbon with those of Some Other Adsorbents. Turk. J. Chem. 2000, 24: 291-297.Zou, X.; Pan, J.; Ou, H.; Wang, X.;Guan, W.; Li, C.; Yan, Y.; Duan, Y. Adsorptive removal of Cr(III) and Fe(III) from aqueous solution by chitosan/attapulgite composites: Equilibrium, thermodynamics and kinetics. Chem. Eng. J. 2011, 167: 112-121, DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2010.12.009

Abstract Di Maida, G., Tomasello, A., Luzzu, F., Scannavino, A., Pirrotta, M., Orestano, C., and Calvo, S. 2011. Discriminating between Posidonia oceanica meadows and sand substratum using multibeam sonar. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 12–19. High-resolution, multibeam sonar (MBS) (455 kHz) was used to identify two typologies of seabed 8 m deep: Posidonia oceanica meadow and sandy substratum. The results showed that the heterogeneity of the architecture of the P. oceanica canopy and the relatively simple morphology of a sandy substratum can be detected easily by statistical indices such as standard deviation or range-of-beam depth. Based on these indices, an automated classification was performed for seabed mapping. The overall classification accuracy was as high as 99 and 98% in October and January, respectively. The probability that P. oceanica in situ was omitted on the map was <7%, whereas the probability that an area classified as P. oceanica on the map did not correspond to the seagrass in situ was consistently negligible. Based on these results, high-resolution MBS can be considered to be an accurate tool for mapping P. oceanica and sand substrata, and its discriminating power seems to be independent of season (autumn or winter).

Abstract: Protected areas are key to biodiversity conservation and essential to ecosystem services. However, anthropogenic pressures, such as human population growth, and environmental factors, such as temperature and precipitation changes, have caused intense modifications in these areas, especially in the Atlantic Forest, a biodiversity hotspot. This study aimed to describe changes in land use and land cover (LULC) over 38 years in a protected area of the Atlantic Forest and assess the effects of anthropogenic and environmental factors on LULC cover dynamics. We explored mapping data from the MapBiomas, for the period between 1985 and 2022, and correlated these data to variables of human population density, temperature and precipitation by using generalized linear models. We observed that forest formations and restingas increased their coverage by 2.99% and 20.68%, respectively. In contrast, wetlands, rocky outcrops, farming, sandy areas, urban areas and water bodies decreased in coverage by around 28.11%. The increase in human population density outside the protected area is the main driver of changes in LULC in PESET. Predictions from the models showed that sandy areas are likely to disappear within ten years. Our study shows that even protected areas remain vulnerable to human actions and subject to significant changes in the future.

Abstract. Saensouk S, Boonma T, Thomudtha A, Thomudtha P, Saensouk P. 2021. Short Communication: Curcuma wanenlueanga (Zingiberaceae), a new species of subgenus Curcuma from Thailand. Biodiversitas 22: 2988-2994. Curcuma wanenlueanga Saensouk, Thomudtha & Boonma, a new species of Curcuma subgenus Curcuma (Zingiberaceae) from Thailand was described with detailed illustrations, and photographs. The dominant morphological description is terminal inflorescence, leaf adaxially green with reddish-purple along the midrib, leaf-sheath with reddish-brown tinge. Moreover, the color and smell rhizome of C. wanenlueanga has yellow with a darker core internally. It is distributed in Mae Hong Son Province, Northern Thailand, and cultivated throughout the country, i.e. Nakhon Nayok, Maha Sarakham, Chiang Mai, Tak, Chantaburi, Suratthani, and Kanchanaburi Provinces. It is used as Thai traditional medicinal. It grows in in sandy loam soil and well-drained in the mixed-deciduous forest, at elevation 700-900 m asl. It is accompanied by a revised key to 26 species of Curcuma subgenus Curcuma from Thailand.

Vertical electrical soundings and magnetic data were used to map the groundwater aquifer system in the Lisana area along the Guder River, northeast of Hosanna town, near the western margin of the Central Main Ethiopian Rift. The surveys were used to map a potential aquifer zone and investigate the groundwater potential for the current and future development of the resource in the Lisana area. The VES data were used to map the depth of a potential aquifer zone and its distribution over the area. The magnetic survey was used to delineate contacts between lithologic units and geological structures. Two-dimensional magnetic forward modeling and one-dimensional electrical modeling were used to identify fractures and lithological units containing potential groundwater. The magnetic and electrical resistivity modeling indicated that a potential aquifer occurs at a depth range from 115m to 142m. The potential aquifer occurs within weathered and fractured ignimbrite and a pumice layer containing sandy soil. This latter lithological unit is the main water-bearing horizon.

Kedulan Site is the buried and ruined 9th century Mataram Hindu Kingdom temple, located in Tirtomartani Village, Kalasan District, Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta Special Province. This temple was incidentally discovered by sand diggers on 24 November 1993 under several meter thick of fluvio-volcanic deposit of the modern Merapi. Several technical studies were needed to carefully excavate the temple, including geology and geophysical approaches. One of the geophysical method have been applied was ground penetration radar (georadar). This method uses radar technology to obtain a continuous profile of the shallow sub-surface and thus allows scientists to image soil substratums based on differing dielectric constants. Georadar investigation by Department of Geological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, was conducted on 4 December 2007. The main purpose was to identify the location of the outer stone fence as an estimation to define the temple site area to be excavated. About one line was chosen to cross the site in north-south direction in a distance of 328 m. Two runs were completed on the same line but different courses, i.e. forward and backward, where one was checked with another. The result indicates the presence of the outer stone fence was possibly buried in a depth of 7 m. It was located about 40 m distance outside the inner stone fence. Assuming the fences were quadrangle relative to the main temple, hence it is estimated that the site area to be excavated is about 13.830 m² and total 96.808 m³ gravels and sands to be removed.

Introdução: As instituições de ensino têm o compromisso com a formação profissional qualificada, bem como, o de atender as demandas dos usuários que as procuram, devendo estar preparadas para resolução dos seus problemas. Objetivo: Caracterizar o perfil de crianças atendidas na Clínica-escola do Curso de Odontologia da Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Patos/Paraíba. Material e Método: O estudo do tipo transversal descritivo e analítico foi aprovado pelo CEP/HU/UFCG sob parecer n° 2290441. Foram analisados 195 prontuários de pacientes de 2 a 12 anos atendidos no período de novembro de 2012 a maio de 2018. Variáveis demográficas, comportamentais, clínicas e terapêuticas foram coletadas e organizadas em um banco de dados para análise estatística descritiva, por meio do programa SPSS versão 21.0. Resultados: Observou-se um perfil de crianças em sua maioria do gênero feminino, com idade média 8,16 anos, estudantes de instituições públicas, morando com até 6 pessoas e procedentes de Patos/PB. Apresentam um comportamento positivo no ambiente odontológico, sendo consideradas calmas pelos pais. Quanto à procura pelo serviço, a busca por tratamento odontológico, foi relatada, com queixa de má-oclusão e dor de origem dentária, em sua maioria. O índice ceo-d e CPO-D variaram de 0 a 15, com prevalência de cárie de 84,1%. Observou-se ainda que os cuidados em saúde bucal e os hábitos alimentares das crianças eram inadequados. Conclusão: A identificação destas necessidades e a recuperação da saúde bucal, com ênfase na promoção e prevenção, são ações primordiais para o grupo em estudo, permitindo não só a melhoria, como também o controle das doenças bucaisDescritores: Saúde Bucal; Odontologia Comunitária; Odontopediatria.ReferênciasMaske TT, Van de Sande FH, Arthur RA, Huysmans MCDNJM, Cenci MS. In vitro biofilm models to study dental caries: a systematic review. Biofouling. 2017;33(8):661-75.Brasil, Ministério da Saúde. Projeto SB Brasil 2010: Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde Bucal 2010. Resultados principais. Brasília: Ministério da Saúde; 2011.Fejerskov O, Kidd E. Cárie dentária: a doença e seu tratamento clínico. São Paulo: Santos, 2011.Borges RC, Otoni TAC, Pires RCCP. Avaliação da qualidade do serviço odontológico prestado pela Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade de Itaúna, MG, Brasil: visão do usuário, 2014. RFO. Passo Fundo. 2015;20(3):308-12.Uchôa EM, Andrade LHR, Valente AGLR, Tannure PN. 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J Amer Dent Ass. 1964;68:7-13.Maia FBM, Sousa ET, Alves VF, Sampaio FC, Forte FDS. Perfil Socioeconômico dos usuários e Motivo de Procura de uma Clínica de Ensino. Rev Cubana Estomatol. 2016;53(2):17-23.Figueiredo PBA, Silva ARQ, Silva AI, Silva BQ. Perfil do atendimento odontopediátrico no setor de urgência e emergência da clínica odontológica do Centro Universitário do Pará – CESUPA. Arq Odontol. 2013;49(2):88-95.Paschoal MAB, Gurgel CV, Lourenço Neto N, Kobayashi TY, Silva SMB, Abdo RCC et al. Perfil de tratamento de urgência de crianças de 0 a 12 anos de idade, atendidas no Serviço de Urgência Odontológica da Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru da Universidade de São Paulo. Odontol Clín-Cient. 2010;9(3):243-47.Amorim NA, Silva TRC, Santos LM, Tenório MDH, Reis JIL. Urgência em Odontopediatria: Perfil de Atendimento da Clínica Integrada Infantil da FOUFAL. Pesqui Bras Odontopediatria Clín Integr. 2007;7(3):223-27.Naidu RS, Boodoo D, Percival T, Newton JT. 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 “The electronic media do away with cleanliness; they are by their nature ‘dirty’. That is part of their productive power…” (Enzensberger qtd. in Hartley 23) “Why do people have to be so ugly? Write about such ugly characters? It’s perverted. I know you all think that I’m being prissy but I don’t care. I was brought up in a certain way and this is … mean-spirited.” (Writing student, Storytelling). In 1986 David Lynch brought the suburbs into focus. Before Lynch they had remained slightly bland and indistinct, white picket fences and lush green lawns in the background of Doris Day comedies, Douglas Sirk films and television sitcoms. But in the opening shots of Blue Velvet (1986) Lynch announced that he was going to do something quite different. He skipped through the stock suburban footage of vibrant colours – the red roses, the blue skies, the happy, smiling faces of the children – preferring instead, to track through the grass. There, through a series of grotesque close-ups of seething, warring insects, Lynch revealed the anomalies and ambiguities beneath the bright and shiny surface of suburbia. Recalling his childhood of “elegant homes, tree-lined streets, the milkman… Middle America as it is supposed to be” (Rodley 10), Lynch explains: “I discovered that if one looks a little closer at this beautiful world, there are always red ants underneath… I saw life in extreme close-ups” (Rodley 11). In Blue Velvet Lynch offers us an extreme close-up of suburbia by focussing on the dirt. In her seminal work Purity and Danger anthropologist Mary Douglas studied the way some substances are classified as dirt because they are (following William James) “matter out of place” (Douglas 36), something that is considered inappropriate in a given context. “Dirt” is therefore an indication of what is taboo and disruptive, an idea Douglas goes on to link to notions of ambiguity and anomaly. Blue Velvet’s “matter out of place” begins with the warring insects beneath the lawn, continues with the discovery of an amputated ear and goes on to include fellatio at knife-point, sex acts with velvet, kidnapping, murder and torture, all juxtaposed against an adolescent romance, a Hardy Boys mystery and the blue skies and birdsong of the opening. On its release Blue Velvet was considered part of a wave of mid-eighties films that were re-evaluating suburbia, amongst them True Stories (1986), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), River’s Edge (1986) and the thematically similar Something’s Wild (1986). But Lynch’s ability to make the ordinary strange, through his juxtaposition of image and sound (Chion), meant that Blue Velvet went further than its contemporaries because in this film the suburban as a whole took on the “strange and threatening” characteristics of something without a stable identity (Douglas). Just as critics proclaimed Blue Velvet “leaves us altered, for good or ill – forever” (Total Film 96) so too does Lynch soil our very perception of the suburban, his “red ant” view of the world suggesting disorder where there was order, desperation where there was happiness, filth where there was cleanliness. In this way Blue Velvet inaugurates a genre of “corrupted idealism in the suburbs” (Total Film 97) that would include The Virgin Suicides (1999), Donnie Darko (2001), American Beauty (1999) and the works of Todd Solondz, together with television series like Lynch’s own Twin Peaks (1990-1991), Picket Fences (1992-1996), Dead like Me (2003-2004), Close to Home (2005-), Weeds (2005-) and Desperate Housewives (2004-). John Hartley applies Douglas’ notion of dirt to both ‘television’ and its ‘audience’, referring to them as ‘dirty’ categories. This is because “television texts do not supply the analyst with a warrant for considering them either as unitary or as structurally bounded into an inside and outside” (Hartley 22). Similarly what sense an audience might make of television “depends… on the discursive resources available” some of which the audience will “identify” with and some of which will “marginalize”, “deny” or be “more obvious, well-worn and time-honoured than others” (Hartley 23). Hartley draws on the work of Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Edmund Leach (discussing the ‘dirtiness’ of television and individuals respectively) to conclude that “power is located in dirt” (Hartley 23) because dirt creates “ambiguous boundaries” between the media and its readers. While film may be a more bounded, unitary medium (delineated at the very least by its running time) the “ambiguous boundaries” that dirt creates are something Lynch toys with in Blue Velvet. In a similar fashion to Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), the viewer is made complicit in the voyeuristic tendencies of his protagonist, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan). But Lynch goes a step further, turning the camera back on his voyeur in answer to a concern voiced by the nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), in that earlier film: “We’ve become a race of Peeping Toms. What people ought to do is look in for a change.” Lynch offers us Jeffrey as a potential source of identification but also makes us witness to Jeffrey’s own moral failings. In this way Jeffrey becomes as ambiguous as his sadomasochistic relationship with singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), simultaneously abuser and abused, truth-teller and deceiver. As his girlfriend Sandy (Laura Dern) states: “I don’t know if you’re a detective or a pervert.” Here, the ambiguity offered by dirt results in the examination – the making visible – of both the voyeur and the audience as (complicit) voyeurs. Both are called into question – “detective or pervert?” – continually blurring the boundaries between subject and object, viewer and participant. By movie’s end Jeffrey can return to Sandy and the alluring veneer of suburbia, but he has murdered, molested and (impliedly) been raped. Dirt sticks. Jeffrey is forever changed and so is our perception of the suburban. If Lynch’s Blue Velvet revealed the rich vein of dirt running through suburbia, then perhaps it is Todd Solondz who has mined it most extensively. While Lynch was to return to suburbia in his television series Twin Peaks his attention has frequently turned to other more extreme and experimental ideas. In contrast Solondz has focussed almost exclusively on the suburban in four of his projects: Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), Happiness (1998), Storytelling (2001) and Palindromes (2004). It is Happiness that provides the clearest sense of the “imagined community” of suburbia because its multiple storylines suggest multiple lives being conducted simultaneously. Like Blue Velvet it presents a veneer of suburban life which it then goes on to soil, particularly through the Maplewood family (whose story provides the climax for the film). In the first shot of the Maplewood’s home a cleaner is seen at the rear of the shot scrubbing the floor; dirt is presented as a threat to order and Trish Maplewood (Cynthia Stevenson) refers to “having it all”. By the film’s end the focus will have shifted to masturbation, homicide, dismemberment, various perverse sexual acts and the revelation that her husband is a paedophile. Uniting these disparate streams are the searches for happiness each of the nine central characters undertakes, with only character, the boy Billy Maplewood (Rufus Reed), achieving his happiness, through a successful ejaculation that provides the denouement of the film. Much like Blue Velvet, Happiness was decried as “sick” upon its release. But Happiness’s dirtiness goes further than its subject matter; it also resides in the “ambiguity of its boundaries with its media neighbours” (Hartley 25). Whereas Hartley finds that television is “characterized by a will to limit its own excess, to settle its significations into established, taken-for-granted, common senses, which viewers can be disciplined to identify and to identify with” (37) the dirty filmic text makes no effort to limit its excess (rather limitation is applied through censorship and ratings); Happiness is simultaneously scary, repellant and poignant. Allen (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) the obscene phone-caller, Kristina (Camryn Manheim) the lonely woman who dismembers her rapist and Bill Maplewood (Dylan Baker) the loving father and paedophile all elicit moments of horror, humour and sympathy. Indeed, Happiness successfully “scandalizes the overlaps” between categories without attempting to clarify their ambiguities (Hartley 38) by constantly deflecting and redirecting the audience’s identification with any one character by revealing more about that character (he is shallow, she kills, he is a serial rapist) or simply through the constant narrative shifts between characters. As Hartley notes: “the point about dirt, crudely, is that it encompasses notions of ambiguity, contradiction, power and social relations all in one” (39). In the context of the suburban these ideas of dirt are frequently equated with sex. Lynch had previously depicted sex as “the site of domestic trauma, fear, power and – on occasion – euphoria” (Rodley 125): Jeffrey experiences all four of these aspects in his encounters with Dorothy, something that leaves him profoundly shamed and shaken. Sex is similarly ancillary to dirt in Happiness where Allen, Kristina and Bill’s own predilections and pleasures lead them into ambiguous power and social relations that are alternatively thwarted, indulged and constrained. This lends “Happiness” itself to being read as an ironic title for the film, but while Billy is the only character to achieve the euphoria promised, many of the characters enjoy (brief) moments of happiness, be it Joy Jordan’s (Jane Adams) one night stand or Allen and Kristina’s date (and possibility of redemption). Similarly, even the paedophile father Bill confesses to his son that sex with young boys is “great”, some small measure of happiness even as he admits to being sick. “Happiness” itself is therefore also a dirty, subjective, embodied and ambiguous term; one man’s happiness is another’s shame, another’s pain, another’s crime. Solondz actually comments on the power of dirt in the “Nonfiction” segment of his next feature Storytelling. In many respects a parody of the suburban genre (through its obvious digs at American Beauty) “Nonfiction” chronicles the efforts of documentarian Toby Oxman (Paul Giamatti) to construct a film around disaffected teenager Scooby Livingstone (Mark Webber). The end product, “American Scooby”, reveals that Oxman cannot move beyond the surface. Unlike Lynch or Solondz, the dirtiness of his subject slips by unnoticed. Oxman’s documentary can only provoke laughter through its exploitation of Scooby as it ignores the subtleties occurring in the Livingstone family’s lives, most notably Scooby’s relationship with his friend Stanley and the rising resentment of Consuelo the maid (culminating in her gassing the family to death as they sleep, perhaps the ultimate statement on the ambiguity of happiness). This probable commercial success/social failure of “American Scooby” confirms the power of dirt implicit in Lynch and Solondz’s films. By soiling suburbia Lynch and Solondz have exnominated the middle-class, making visible the minutiae, the motives and the pleasures of a social grouping traditionally under-represented on film. Typically, Hartley says, we identify the “power of dirt” as being “of the negative kind – it infects and corrupts the rising generation” (25), arguments levelled at both of these films. But as Douglas argues, a culture’s taboos can tell us a great deal about its sense of its own identity. Blue Velvet and Happiness can therefore be understood in Douglas’s terms as part of a “dirt-affirming ritual” that accesses the power “residing in what is excluded from [the traditional] ordering of things” (165), thus exnominating the middle-class and revealing our complicity in the voyeurism of their characters. This then is the true power of dirt. It makes visible all the ambiguities and anomalies we try to exclude from our lives – and our suburbs. That this is currently the formula for one of the most popular series on television (Desperate Housewives), albeit in a slightly cleaner “network friendly” formula, suggests that Lynch and Solondz’s soiling of suburbia will have resonance for some time to come. References Atkinson, Michael. Blue Velvet. London: BFI, 1997. Chion, Michael. David Lynch. Trans. Robert Julian. London: BFI, 1995. Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge, 2002 [1966]. Drazin, Charles. blue velvet. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Enzensberger, Hans Magnus. “Constituents of a Theory of the Media.” In Denis McQuail, ed. Sociology of Mass Communication. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972. Hartley, John. “Television and the Power of Dirt.” Tele-ology: Studies in Television. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. Leach, Edmund. Culture and Communication. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1976. Lynch, David. Blue Velvet. 1986. Rodley, Chris, ed. Lynch on Lynch. London: Faber and Faber, 1997. Solondz, Todd. Happiness. 1998. ———. Happiness. London: Faber and Faber, 1998. ———. Storytelling. 2001. ———. Palindromes. 2004. ———. Welcome to the Dollhouse. 1995. Total Film: The Decades Collection: The Eighties. London: Future Publications, 2006. 
 
 
 
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Introduction: Google Autocomplete Algorithms Despite recent attention to the impact of social media platforms on political discourse and public opinion, most people locate their news on search engines (Robertson et al.). When a user conducts a search, millions of outputs, in the form of videos, images, articles, and Websites are sorted to present the most relevant search predictions. Google, the most dominant search engine in the world, expanded its search index in 2009 to include the autocomplete function, which provides suggestions for query inputs (Dörr and Stephan). Google’s autocomplete function also allows users to “search smarter” by reducing typing time by 25 percent (Baker and Potts 189). Google’s complex algorithm is impacted upon by factors like search history, location, and keyword searches (Karapapa and Borghi), and there are policies to ensure the autocomplete function does not contain harmful content. In 2017, Google implemented a feedback tool to allow human evaluators to assess the quality of search results; however, the algorithm still provides misleading results that frame far-right actors as neutral. In this article, we use reverse engineering to understand the nature of these algorithms in relation to the descriptive outcome, to illustrate how autocomplete subtitles label conspiracists in three countries. According to Google, these “subtitles are generated automatically”, further stating that the “systems might determine that someone could be called an actor, director, or writer. Only one of these can appear as the subtitle” and that Google “cannot accept or create custom subtitles” (Google). We focused our attention on well-known conspiracy theorists because of their influence and audience outreach. In this article we argue that these subtitles are problematic because they can mislead the public and amplify extremist views. Google’s autocomplete feature is misleading because it does not highlight what is publicly known about these actors. The labels are neutral or positive but never negative, reflecting primary jobs and/or the actor’s preferred descriptions. This is harmful to the public because Google’s search rankings can influence a user’s knowledge and information preferences through the search engine manipulation effect (Epstein and Robertson). Users’ preferences and understanding of information can be manipulated based upon their trust in Google search results, thus allowing these labels to be widely accepted instead of providing a full picture of the harm their ideologies and belief cause. Algorithms That Mainstream Conspiracies Search engines establish order and visibility to Web pages that operationalise and stabilise meaning to particular queries (Gillespie). Google’s subtitles and blackbox operate as a complex algorithm for its search index and offer a mediated visibility to aspects of social and political life (Gillespie). Algorithms are designed to perform computational tasks through an operational sequence that computer systems must follow (Broussard), but they are also “invisible infrastructures” that Internet users consciously or unconsciously follow (Gran et al. 1779). The way algorithms rank, classify, sort, predict, and process data is political because it presents the world through a predetermined lens (Bucher 3) decided by proprietary knowledge – a “secret sauce” (O’Neil 29) – that is not disclosed to the general public (Christin). Technology titans, like Google, Facebook, and Amazon (Webb), rigorously protect and defend intellectual property for these algorithms, which are worth billions of dollars (O’Neil). As a result, algorithms are commonly defined as opaque, secret “black boxes” that conceal the decisions that are already made “behind corporate walls and layers of code” (Pasquale 899). The opacity of algorithms is related to layers of intentional secrecy, technical illiteracy, the size of algorithmic systems, and the ability of machine learning algorithms to evolve and become unintelligible to humans, even to those trained in programming languages (Christin 898-899). The opaque nature of algorithms alongside the perceived neutrality of algorithmic systems is problematic. Search engines are increasingly normalised and this leads to a socialisation where suppositions are made that “these artifacts are credible and provide accurate information that is fundamentally depoliticized and neutral” (Noble 25). Google’s autocomplete and PageRank algorithms exist outside of the veil of neutrality. In 2015, Google’s photos app, which uses machine learning techniques to help users collect, search, and categorise images, labelled two black people as ‘gorillas’ (O’Neil). Safiya Noble illustrates how media and technology are rooted in systems of white supremacy, and how these long-standing social biases surface in algorithms, illustrating how racial and gendered inequities embed into algorithmic systems. Google actively fixes algorithmic biases with band-aid-like solutions, which means the errors remain inevitable constituents within the algorithms. Rising levels of automation correspond to a rising level of errors, which can lead to confusion and misdirection of the algorithms that people use to manage their lives (O’Neil). As a result, software, code, machine learning algorithms, and facial/voice recognition technologies are scrutinised for producing and reproducing prejudices (Gray) and promoting conspiracies – often described as algorithmic bias (Bucher). Algorithmic bias occurs because algorithms are trained by historical data already embedded with social biases (O’Neil), and if that is not problematic enough, algorithms like Google’s search engine also learn and replicate the behaviours of Internet users (Benjamin 93), including conspiracy theorists and their followers. Technological errors, algorithmic bias, and increasing automation are further complicated by the fact that Google’s Internet service uses “2 billion lines of code” – a magnitude that is difficult to keep track of, including for “the programmers who designed the algorithm” (Christin 899). Understanding this level of code is not critical to understanding algorithmic logics, but we must be aware of the inscriptions such algorithms afford (Krasmann). As algorithms become more ubiquitous it is urgent to “demand that systems that hold algorithms accountable become ubiquitous as well” (O’Neil 231). This is particularly important because algorithms play a critical role in “providing the conditions for participation in public life”; however, the majority of the public has a modest to nonexistent awareness of algorithms (Gran et al. 1791). Given the heavy reliance of Internet users on Google’s search engine, it is necessary for research to provide a glimpse into the black boxes that people use to extract information especially when it comes to searching for information about conspiracy theorists. Our study fills a major gap in research as it examines a sub-category of Google’s autocomplete algorithm that has not been empirically explored before. Unlike the standard autocomplete feature that is primarily programmed according to popular searches, we examine the subtitle feature that operates as a fixed label for popular conspiracists within Google’s algorithm. Our initial foray into our research revealed that this is not only an issue with conspiracists, but also occurs with terrorists, extremists, and mass murderers. Method Using a reverse engineering approach (Bucher) from September to October 2021, we explored how Google’s autocomplete feature assigns subtitles to widely known conspiracists. The conspiracists were not geographically limited, and we searched for those who reside in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and various countries in Europe. Reverse engineering stems from Ashby’s canonical text on cybernetics, in which he argues that black boxes are not a problem; the problem or challenge is related to the way one can discern their contents. As Google’s algorithms are not disclosed to the general public (Christin), we use this method as an extraction tool to understand the nature of how these algorithms (Eilam) apply subtitles. To systematically document the search results, we took screenshots for every conspiracist we searched in an attempt to archive the Google autocomplete algorithm. By relying on previous literature, reports, and the figures’ public statements, we identified and searched Google for 37 Western-based and influencial conspiracy theorists. We initially experimented with other problematic figures, including terrorists, extremists, and mass murderers to see whether Google applied a subtitle or not. Additionally, we examined whether subtitles were positive, neutral, or negative, and compared this valence to personality descriptions for each figure. Using the standard procedures of content analysis (Krippendorff), we focus on the manifest or explicit meaning of text to inform subtitle valence in terms of their positive, negative, or neutral connotations. These manifest features refer to the “elements that are physically present and countable” (Gray and Densten 420) or what is known as the dictionary definitions of items. Using a manual query, we searched Google for subtitles ascribed to conspiracy theorists, and found the results were consistent across different countries. Searches were conducted on Firefox and Chrome and tested on an Android phone. Regardless of language input or the country location established by a Virtual Private Network (VPN), the search terms remained stable, regardless of who conducted the search. The conspiracy theorists in our dataset cover a wide range of conspiracies, including historical figures like Nesta Webster and John Robison, who were foundational in Illuminati lore, as well as contemporary conspiracists such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alex Jones. Each individual’s name was searched on Google with a VPN set to three countries. Results and Discussion This study examines Google’s autocomplete feature associated with subtitles of conspiratorial actors. We first tested Google’s subtitling system with known terrorists, convicted mass shooters, and controversial cult leaders like David Koresh. Garry et al. (154) argue that “while conspiracy theories may not have mass radicalising effects, they are extremely effective at leading to increased polarization within societies”. We believe that the impact of neutral subtitling of conspiracists reflects the integral role conspiracies plays in contemporary politics and right-wing extremism. The sample includes contemporary and historical conspiracists to establish consistency in labelling. For historical figures, the labels are less consequential and simply reflect the reality that Google’s subtitles are primarily neutral. Of the 37 conspiracy theorists we searched (see Table 1 in the Appendix), seven (18.9%) do not have an associated subtitle, and the other 30 (81%) have distinctive subtitles, but none of them reflects the public knowledge of the individuals’ harmful role in disseminating conspiracy theories. In the list, 16 (43.2%) are noted for their contribution to the arts, 4 are labelled as activists, 7 are associated with their professional affiliation or original jobs, 2 to the journalism industry, one is linked to his sports career, another one as a researcher, and 7 have no subtitle. The problem here is that when white nationalists or conspiracy theorists are not acknowledged as such in their subtitles, search engine users could possibly encounter content that may sway their understanding of society, politics, and culture. For example, a conspiracist like Alex Jones is labeled as an “American Radio Host” (see Figure 1), despite losing two defamation lawsuits for declaring that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was a ‘false flag’ event. Jones’s actions on his InfoWars media platforms led to parents of shooting victims being stalked and threatened. Another conspiracy theorist, Gavin McInnes, the creator of the far-right, neo-fascist Proud Boys organisation, a known terrorist entity in Canada and hate group in the United States, is listed simply as a “Canadian writer” (see Figure 1). Fig. 1: Screenshots of Google’s subtitles for Alex Jones and Gavin McInnes. Although subtitles under an individual’s name are not audio, video, or image content, the algorithms that create these subtitles are an invisible infrastructure that could cause harm through their uninterrogated status and pervasive presence. This could then be a potential conduit to media which could cause harm and develop distrust in electoral and civic processes, or all institutions. Examples from our list include Brittany Pettibone, whose subtitle states that she is an “American writer” despite being one of the main propagators of the Pizzagate conspiracy which led to Edgar Maddison Welch (whose subtitle is “Screenwriter”) travelling from North Carolina to Washington D.C. to violently threaten and confront those who worked at Comet Ping Pong Pizzeria. The same misleading label can be found via searching for James O’Keefe of Project Veritas, who is positively labelled as “American activist”. Veritas is known for releasing audio and video recordings that contain false information designed to discredit academic, political, and service organisations. In one instance, a 2020 video released by O’Keefe accused Democrat Ilhan Omar’s campaign of illegally collecting ballots. The same dissembling of distrust applies to Mike Lindell, whose Google subtitle is “CEO of My Pillow”, as well as Sidney Powell, who is listed as an “American lawyer”; both are propagators of conspiracy theories relating to the 2020 presidential election. The subtitles attributed to conspiracists on Google do not acknowledge the widescale public awareness of the negative role these individuals play in spreading conspiracy theories or causing harm to others. Some of the selected conspiracists are well known white nationalists, including Stefan Molyneux who has been banned from social media platforms like Twitter, Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube for the promotion of scientific racism and eugenics; however, he is neutrally listed on Google as a “Canadian podcaster”. In addition, Laura Loomer, who describes herself as a “proud Islamophobe,” is listed by Google as an “Author”. These subtitles can pose a threat by normalising individuals who spread conspiracy theories, sow dissension and distrust in institutions, and cause harm to minority groups and vulnerable individuals. Once clicking on the selected person, the results, although influenced by the algorithm, did not provide information that aligned with the associated subtitle. The search results are skewed to the actual conspiratorial nature of the individuals and associated news articles. In essence, the subtitles do not reflect the subsequent search results, and provide a counter-labelling to the reality of the resulting information provided to the user. Another significant example is Jerad Miller, who is listed as “American performer”, despite the fact that he is the Las Vegas shooter who posted anti-government and white nationalist 3 Percenters memes on his social media (SunStaff), even though the majority of search results connect him to the mass shooting he orchestrated in 2014. The subtitle “performer” is certainly not the common characteristic that should be associated with Jerad Miller. Table 1 in the Appendix shows that individuals who are not within the contemporary milieux of conspiracists, but have had a significant impact, such as Nesta Webster, Robert Welch Junior, and John Robison, were listed by their original profession or sometimes without a subtitle. David Icke, infamous for his lizard people conspiracies, has a subtitle reflecting his past football career. In all cases, Google’s subtitle was never consistent with the actor’s conspiratorial behaviour. Indeed, the neutral subtitles applied to conspiracists in our research may reflect some aspect of the individuals’ previous careers but are not an accurate reflection of the individuals’ publicly known role in propagating hate, which we argue is misleading to the public. For example, David Icke may be a former footballer, but the 4.7 million search results predominantly focus on his conspiracies, his public fora, and his status of being deplatformed by mainstream social media sites. The subtitles are not only neutral, but they are not based on the actual search results, and so are misleading in what the searcher will discover; most importantly, they do not provide a warning about the misinformation contained in the autocomplete subtitle. To conclude, algorithms automate the search engines that people use in the functions of everyday life, but are also entangled in technological errors, algorithmic bias, and have the capacity to mislead the public. Through a process of reverse engineering (Ashby; Bucher), we searched 37 conspiracy theorists to decode the Google autocomplete algorithms. We identified how the subtitles attributed to conspiracy theorists are neutral, positive, but never negative, which does not accurately reflect the widely known public conspiratorial discourse these individuals propagate on the Web. This is problematic because the algorithms that determine these subtitles are invisible infrastructures acting to misinform the public and to mainstream conspiracies within larger social, cultural, and political structures. This study highlights the urgent need for Google to review the subtitles attributed to conspiracy theorists, terrorists, and mass murderers, to better inform the public about the negative nature of these actors, rather than always labelling them in neutral or positive ways. Funding Acknowledgement This project has been made possible in part by the Canadian Department of Heritage – the Digital Citizen Contribution program – under grant no. R529384. The title of the project is “Understanding hate groups’ narratives and conspiracy theories in traditional and alternative social media”. References Ashby, W. Ross. An Introduction to Cybernetics. Chapman & Hall, 1961. Baker, Paul, and Amanda Potts. "‘Why Do White People Have Thin Lips?’ Google and the Perpetuation of Stereotypes via Auto-Complete Search Forms." Critical Discourse Studies 10.2 (2013): 187-204. Benjamin, Ruha. Race after Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Polity, 2019. Bucher, Taina. If... Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics. OUP, 2018. Broussard, Meredith. Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World. MIT P, 2018. Christin, Angèle. "The Ethnographer and the Algorithm: Beyond the Black Box." Theory and Society 49.5 (2020): 897-918. D'Ignazio, Catherine, and Lauren F. Klein. Data Feminism. MIT P, 2020. Dörr, Dieter, and Juliane Stephan. "The Google Autocomplete Function and the German General Right of Personality." Perspectives on Privacy. De Gruyter, 2014. 80-95. Eilam, Eldad. Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering. John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Epstein, Robert, and Ronald E. Robertson. "The Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) and Its Possible Impact on the Outcomes of Elections." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112.33 (2015): E4512-E4521. Garry, Amanda, et al. "QAnon Conspiracy Theory: Examining its Evolution and Mechanisms of Radicalization." Journal for Deradicalization 26 (2021): 152-216. Gillespie, Tarleton. "Algorithmically Recognizable: Santorum’s Google Problem, and Google’s Santorum Problem." Information, Communication & Society 20.1 (2017): 63-80. Google. “Update your Google knowledge panel.” 2022. 3 Jan. 2022 <https://support.google.com/knowledgepanel/answer/7534842?hl=en#zippy=%2Csubtitle>. Gran, Anne-Britt, Peter Booth, and Taina Bucher. "To Be or Not to Be Algorithm Aware: A Question of a New Digital Divide?" Information, Communication & Society 24.12 (2021): 1779-1796. Gray, Judy H., and Iain L. Densten. "Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis Using Latent and Manifest Variables." Quality and Quantity 32.4 (1998): 419-431. Gray, Kishonna L. Intersectional Tech: Black Users in Digital Gaming. LSU P, 2020. Karapapa, Stavroula, and Maurizio Borghi. "Search Engine Liability for Autocomplete Suggestions: Personality, Privacy and the Power of the Algorithm." International Journal of Law and Information Technology 23.3 (2015): 261-289. Krasmann, Susanne. "The Logic of the Surface: On the Epistemology of Algorithms in Times of Big Data." Information, Communication & Society 23.14 (2020): 2096-2109. Krippendorff, Klaus. Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. Sage, 2004. Noble, Safiya Umoja. Algorithms of Oppression. New York UP, 2018. O'Neil, Cathy. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Crown, 2016. Pasquale, Frank. The Black Box Society. Harvard UP, 2015. Robertson, Ronald E., David Lazer, and Christo Wilson. "Auditing the Personalization and Composition of Politically-Related Search Engine Results Pages." Proceedings of the 2018 World Wide Web Conference. 2018. Staff, Sun. “A Look inside the Lives of Shooters Jerad Miller, Amanda Miller.” Las Vegas Sun 9 June 2014. <https://lasvegassun.com/news/2014/jun/09/look/>. Webb, Amy. The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity. Hachette UK, 2019. Appendix Table 1: The subtitles of conspiracy theorists on Google autocomplete Conspiracy Theorist Google Autocomplete Subtitle Character Description Alex Jones American radio host InfoWars founder, American far-right radio show host and conspiracy theorist. The SPLC describes Alex Jones as "the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America." Barry Zwicker Canadian journalist Filmmaker who made a documentary that claimed fear was used to control the public after 9/11. Bart Sibrel American producer Writer, producer, and director of work to falsely claim the Apollo moon landings between 1969 and 1972 were staged by NASA. Ben Garrison American cartoonist Alt-right and QAnon political cartoonist Brittany Pettibone American writer Far-right, political vlogger on YouTube and propagator of #pizzagate. Cathy O’Brien American author Cathy O’Brien claims she was a victim of a government mind control project called Project Monarch. Dan Bongino American radio host Stakeholder in Parler, Radio Host, Ex-Spy, Conspiracist (Spygate, MAGA election fraud, etc.). David Icke Former footballer Reptilian humanoid conspiracist. David Wynn Miller (No subtitle) Conspiracist, far-right tax protester, and founder of the Sovereign Citizens Movement. Jack Posobiec American activist Alt-right, alt-lite political activist, conspiracy theorist, and Internet troll. Editor of Human Events Daily. James O’Keefe American activist Founder of Project Veritas, a far-right company that propagates disinformation and conspiracy theories. John Robison Foundational Illuminati conspiracist. Kevin Annett Canadian writer Former minister and writer, who wrote a book exposing the atrocities to Indigenous Communities, and now is a conspiracist and vlogger. Laura Loomer Author Far-right, anti-Muslim, conspiracy theorist, and Internet personality. Republican nominee in Florida's 21st congressional district in 2020. Marjorie Taylor Greene United States Representative Conspiracist, QAnon adherent, and U.S. representative for Georgia's 14th congressional district. Mark Dice American YouTuber Right-wing conservative pundit and conspiracy theorist. Mark Taylor (No subtitle) QAnon minister and self-proclaimed prophet of Donald Trump, the 45th U.S. President. Michael Chossudovsky Canadian economist Professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa, founder of the Centre for Research on Globalization, and conspiracist. Michael Cremo(Drutakarmā dāsa) American researcher Self-described Vedic creationist whose book, Forbidden Archeology, argues humans have lived on earth for millions of years. Mike Lindell CEO of My Pillow Business owner and conspiracist. Neil Patel English entrepreneur Founded The Daily Caller with Tucker Carlson. Nesta Helen Webster English author Foundational Illuminati conspiracist. Naomi Wolf American author Feminist turned conspiracist (ISIS, COVID-19, etc.). Owen Benjamin American comedian Former actor/comedian now conspiracist (Beartopia), who is banned from mainstream social media for using hate speech. Pamela Geller American activist Conspiracist, Anti-Islam, Blogger, Host. Paul Joseph Watson British YouTuber InfoWars co-host and host of the YouTube show PrisonPlanetLive. QAnon Shaman (Jake Angeli) American activist Conspiracy theorist who participated in the 2021 attack on Capitol Hil. Richard B. Spencer (No subtitle) American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and white supremacist. Rick Wiles (No subtitle) Minister, Founded conspiracy site, TruNews. Robert W. Welch Jr. American businessman Founded the John Birch Society. Ronald Watkins (No subtitle) Founder of 8kun. Serge Monast Journalist Creator of Project Blue Beam conspiracy. Sidney Powell (No subtitle) One of former President Trump’s Lawyers, and renowned conspiracist regarding the 2020 Presidential election. Stanton T. Friedman Nuclear physicist Original civilian researcher of the 1947 Roswell UFO incident. Stefan Molyneux Canadian podcaster Irish-born, Canadian far-right white nationalist, podcaster, blogger, and banned YouTuber, who promotes conspiracy theories, scientific racism, eugenics, and racist views Tim LaHaye American author Founded the Council for National Policy, leader in the Moral Majority movement, and co-author of the Left Behind book series. Viva Frei (No subtitle) YouTuber/ Canadian Influencer, on the Far-Right and Covid conspiracy proponent. William Guy Carr Canadian author Illuminati/III World War Conspiracist Google searches conducted as of 9 October 2021.