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This piece examines and critiques the massive literature on China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It details how research currently seems stuck on the road to nowhere. In addition, it identifies a number of the potholes that collective research endeavors are hitting such as that they are poorly synchronized. It also stresses that lines of analysis are proliferating rather than optimizing, with studies broadening in thematic coverage, rather than becoming deeper. It points out that BRI participants are regularly related to the role of a bit player in many analyses and research often is disconnected from other literatures. Among other things, this article recommends analysts focus on the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) or Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) in specific regions or countries. It also argues for a research core that focuses on the implementation issue (i.e., the issue of MSRI and SREB project implementation), project effects (i.e., the economic and political costs and benefits of projects), and the translation issue (i.e., the domestic and foreign policy effects of projects) and does work that goes beyond the usual suspects. On a related note, research need to identify, more precisely, participants and projects, undertake causal analysis, and take into account countervailing factors. Furthermore, studies need to make more extensive use of the Chinese foreign policy literature. Moreover, works examining subjects like soft power need to improve variable conceptualization and operationalization and deliver more nuanced analyses. Finally, studies, especially by area specialists, should take the area, not the China, perspective.

There is a heated debate about the social-sustainability implications of infrastructure. We engage this debate by delving into China’s Digital Silk Road (DSR), an important component of China’s infrastructure-centric Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Optimists and pessimists have offered strong views about the DSR’s social-sustainability implications. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of analytical tools and in-depth studies which can be used to judge their competing arguments. In this article, we address these problems in two ways. First, we advance an original scheme for operationalizing social sustainability. Second, we use our framework to systematically analyze the DSR’s social-sustainability effects in Ethiopia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and Hungary. Our research indicates that much of the positive and negative commentary about the DSR’s social-sustainability implications is problematic. None of our cases show significant year-to-year changes in political or quality-of-life social-sustainability benchmarks. Indeed, our analysis indicates that analysts must pay close attention to the political and economic context to understand the social-sustainability patterns associated with DSR infrastructure. Finally, it suggests that the social-sustainability implications of DSR infrastructure are dependent on its scale and nature. These findings have ramifications for broader debates about the socioeconomic impact of infrastructure.

This article critically reviews the literature on China and soft power. Among other themes, it tackles the conceptualization and operationalization of soft power, measurement of the effectiveness of Chinese soft power, and the analysis of variables that intervene between China's soft-power tools, realized images, and policy influence results.

Hydrogen incorporation in olivine involves many OH defects, which will control the hydrogen solubility at mantle conditions. Several of these OH defects are identified from the investigation of forsterite (the olivine Mg end-member). We study here the effect of Fe2+, Fe3+, Al3+, and Cr3+ on OH defects to improve our understanding of the hydrogen speciation in natural olivine. Low-temperature infrared spectra (-194 °C) are collected on synthetic and natural olivines. These spectra are then interpreted in the light of the theoretical determination of the structural, vibrational, and infrared spectroscopic properties of Fe-related OH defects, using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. The presence of Fe2+ changes the cationic environment around the fully protonated vacancies in forsterite, leading to a slight modification of their infrared signatures. In particular, the presence of Fe2+ in an octahedral site adjacent to a hydrogarnet-type defect is likely responsible for the additional bands observed at 3599 cm-1 and around 3520-3550 cm-1 in Fe-doped olivines. Results show that the OH bands between 3310 and 3380 cm-1 are associated with the presence of trivalent cations. Specifically, two bands at 3323 and 3358 cm-1, commonly observed in natural olivine, are associated with the substitution of Mg2+ by Cr3+ while two similar bands at 3328 and 3353 cm-1 are associated with the substitution of Mg2+ by Fe3+ The presence of these defects and the \"titanoclinohumite\" defect in natural olivine clearly underlines the prominent role of trace elements on the hydrogen incorporation in lithospheric olivine.

This scoping review aims to identify the necessary and practical considerations for the design, conduct and safety of decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) that test digital therapeutics (DTx) or software as a medical device (SaMD). The review follows the framework of Arksey & O’Malley. A search strategy with the keywords “Digital therapeutics” or “Software as Medical Device” AND “decentralized clinical trial” or synonyms was applied to Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and Web of Science databases with the latest search on the 25th of April 2025. We selected peer-reviewed articles reporting about fully or partly DCTs using apps or devices that were classified as DTx or SaMD. Studies using general health software or not focusing on the design or experiences of the DCT were excluded. Main study characteristics were extracted and the articles thematically coded with the qualitative software Atlas.ti. 335 results were assessed for title and abstract screening and 113 articles were identified for full-text screening, of those 41 fulfilled inclusion criteria. DTx used in the trials were mainly targeting depression. The clinical trial design differed significantly in the number of study arms (1–16), participants (11─5602) and blinding. E-recruitment (78%), e-eligibility screening (73%), e-informed consent (68%), inclusion of electronic-patient reported outcomes (e-PROs) (88%), passive data collection (59%) and use of reminders (59%) were key reoccurring features of the studies. Effective access and inclusion of participants, but low adherence and engagement is highlighted in most studies. In some cases, only 40% of participants installed the app and significant drop-out rates of about 50% are reported. A framework for DCTs evaluating DTx is provided. In summary, DCTs for DTx are unstandardized, heterogenous and characterized by low adherence. Further research on how to tackle the engagement problem, along with clearer guidance and regulatory frameworks, is required to standardize this trial type in the future.

There are three positions about the impact of outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from China on the policies of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries: the “Wealth is Power” camp, which associates political power with Chinese economic lures; the “Conditionalist” camp, which contends the international and domestic economic and political context determines the specific political effect of Chinese outward FDI (OFDI); and the “Politics is Power” camp, which believes no dramatic political changes have resulted from the economic stimuli of Chinese OFDI (COFDI) and associated economic lures. Case studies herein on Brazil and China, Argentina and China, Ecuador and China, and the Caribbean and China support the Conditionalist camp, albeit to differing degrees and for different reasons. Case studies herein on COFDI in Argentina and in Colombia also deepen our knowledge about the drivers of COFDI. They challenge those asserting that COFDI in LAC is driven purely by political motives. This piece also reviews and critiques the state of the literature on COFDI in LAC and suggests a pathway for moving to the next level. It specifically recommends researchers work to cumulate knowledge by asking similar kinds of questions across cases, exploit theory, and work on variable conceptualization and operationalization.

Digital therapeutics (DTx) in the form of mobile health (mHealth) self-management programs have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing disease activity across various diseases, including fibromyalgia and arthritis. However, the content of online self-management programs varies widely, making them difficult to compare. This study aims to employ generative artificial intelligence (AI)-based knowledge graphs and network analysis to categorize and structure mHealth content at the example of a fibromyalgia self-management program. A multimodal mHealth online self-management program targeting fibromyalgia and post-viral fibromyalgia-like syndromes was developed. In addition to general content, the program was customized to address specific features and digital personas identified through hierarchical agglomerative clustering applied to a cohort of 202 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes undergoing multimodal assessment. Text files consisting of 22,150 words divided into 24 modules were used as the input data. Two generative AI web applications, ChatGPT-4 (OpenAI) and Infranodus (Nodus Labs), were used to create knowledge graphs and perform text network analysis, including 3D visualization. A sentiment analysis of 129 patient feedback entries was performed. The ChatGPT-generated knowledge graph model provided a simple visual overview with five primary edges: \"Mental health challenges\", \"Stress and its impact\", \"Immune system function\", \"Long COVID and fibromyalgia\" and \"Pain management and therapeutic approaches\". The 3D visualization provided a more complex knowledge graph, with the term \"pain\" appearing as the central edge, closely connecting with \"sleep\", \"body\", and \"stress\". Topical cluster analysis identified categories such as \"chronic pain management\", \"sleep hygiene\", \"immune system function\", \"cognitive therapy\", \"healthy eating\", \"emotional development\", \"fibromyalgia causes\", and \"deep relaxation\". Gap analysis highlighted missing links, such as between \"negative behavior\" and \"systemic inflammation\". Retro-engineering of the self-management program showed significant conceptual similarities between the knowledge graph and the original text analysis. Sentiment analysis of free text patient comments revealed that most relevant topics were addressed by the online program, with the exception of social contacts. Generative AI tools for text network analysis can effectively structure and illustrate DTx content. Knowledge graphs are valuable for increasing the transparency of self-management programs, developing new conceptual frameworks, and incorporating feedback loops.

This book develops a unified theory of economic statecraft to clarify when and how sanctions and incentives can be used effectively to secure meaningful policy concessions. High-profile applications of economic statecraft have yielded varying degrees of success. The mixed record of economic incentives and economic sanctions in many cases raises important questions. Under what conditions can states modify the behaviour of other states by offering them tangible economic rewards or by threatening to disrupt existing economic relations? To what extent does the success of economic statecraft depend on the magnitude of economic penalties and rewards? In order to answer these questions, this book develops two analytic models: one weighs the threats economic statecraft poses to the Target's Strategic Interests (TSI); while the other (stateness) assesses the degree to which the target state is insulated from domestic political pressures that senders attempt to generate or exploit. Through a series of carefully crafted case studies, including African apartheid and Japanese incentives to obtain the return of the Northern Territories, the authors demonstrate how their model can yield important policy insights in regards to contemporary economic sanctions and incentives cases, such as Iran and North Korea. This book will be of much interest to students of statecraft, sanctions, diplomacy, foreign policy, and international security in general.