Search results for: trickster discourse

Authors: Marco Sewald

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Due to the current enforcement of exterritorial U.S. legislation, up to 9 million U.S. (dual) citizens residing abroad are subject to U.S. double and surcharge taxation and at risk of losing access to otherwise basic financial services and investment opportunities abroad. The United States is the only OECD country that taxes non-resident citizens, lawful permanent residents and other non-resident aliens on their worldwide income, based on local U.S. tax laws. To enforce these policies the U.S. has implemented ‘saving clauses’ in all tax treaties and implemented several compliance provisions, including the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Qualified Intermediaries Agreements (QI) and Intergovernmental Agreements (IGA) addressing Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) to implement these provisions in foreign jurisdictions. This policy creates systematic cases of double and surcharge taxation. The increased enforcement of compliance rules is creating additional report burdens for U.S. persons abroad and FFIs accepting such U.S. persons as customers. FFIs in Europe react with a growing denial of specific financial services to this population. The numbers of U.S. citizens renouncing has dramatically increased in the last years. A case study is chosen as an appropriate methodology and research method, as being an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used. This evaluative approach is testing whether the combination of policies works in practice, or whether they are in accordance with desirable moral, political, economical aims, or may serve other causes. The research critically evaluates the financial and non-financial consequences and develops sufficient strategies. It further discusses these strategies to avoid the undesired consequences of exterritorial U.S. legislation. Three possible strategies are resulting from the use cases: (1) Duck and cover, (2) Pay U.S. double/surcharge taxes, tax preparing fees and accept imposed product limitations and (3) Renounce U.S. citizenship and pay possible exit taxes, tax preparing fees and the requested $2,350 fee to renounce. While the first strategy is unlawful and therefore unsuitable, the second strategy is only suitable if the U.S. citizen residing abroad is planning to move to the U.S. in the future. The last strategy is the only reasonable and lawful way provided by the U.S. to limit the exposure to U.S. double and surcharge taxation and the limitations on financial products. The results are believed to add a perspective to the current academic discourse regarding U.S. citizenship based taxation, currently dominated by U.S. scholars, while providing sufficient strategies for the affected population at the same time.

Keywords: citizenship based taxation, FATCA, FBAR, qualified intermediaries agreements, renounce U.S. citizenship

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Authors: Katerina Antoniou

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When examining conflicts around the world, it is evident that the majority of intractable conflicts are steeped in identity. Identity seems to be not only a causal variable for conflict, but also a catalytic parameter for the process of reconciliation that follows ceasefire. This paper focuses on the process of identity securitization that occurs between rival groups of heterogeneous collective identities – ethnic, national or religious – as well as on the relationship between identity securitization and the ability of the groups involved to reconcile. Are securitized identities obstacles to the process of reconciliation, able to hinder any prospects of peace? If the level to which an identity is securitized is catalytic to a conflict’s discourse and settlement, then which factors act as indicators of identity de-securitization? The level of an in-group’s identity securitization can be estimated through a number of indicators, one of which is narrative. The stories, views and stances each in-group adopts in relation to its history of conflict and relation with their rival out-group can clarify whether that specific in-group feels victimized and threatened or safe and ready to reconcile. Accordingly, this study discusses identity securitization through narrative in relation to intractable conflicts. Are there conflicts around the world that, despite having been identified as intractable, stagnated or insoluble, show signs of identity de-securitization through narrative? This inquiry uses the case of the Cyprus conflict and its partitioned societies to present official narratives from the two communities and assess whether these narratives have transformed, indicating a less securitized in-group identity for the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Specifically, the study compares the official historical overviews presented by each community’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website and discusses the extent to which the two official narratives present a securitized collective identity. In addition, the study will observe whether official stances by the two communities – as adopted by community leaders – have transformed to depict less securitization over time. Additionally, the leaders’ reflection of popular opinion is evaluated through recent opinion polls from each community. Cyprus is currently experiencing renewed optimism for reunification, with the leaders of its two communities engaging in rigorous negotiations, and with rumors calling for a potential referendum for reunification to be taking place even as early as within 2016. Although leaders’ have shown a shift in their rhetoric and have moved away from narratives of victimization, this is not the case for the official narratives used by their respective ministries of foreign affairs. The study’s findings explore whether this narrative inconsistency proves that Cyprus is transitioning towards reunification, or whether the leaders are risking sending a securitized population to the polls to reject a potential reunification. More broadly, this study suggests that in the event that intractable conflicts might be moving towards viable peace, in-group narratives--official narratives in particular--can act as indicators of the extent to which rival entities have managed to reconcile.

Keywords: conflict, identity, narrative, reconciliation

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Authors: Catherine Sunter, Marius Nygaard, Lars Hamran, Børre Skodvin, Ute Groba

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Globally, the construction and operation of buildings contribute up to 30% of annual green house gas emissions. In addition, the building sector is responsible for approximately a third of global waste. In this context, the utilization of renewable resources in buildings, especially materials that store carbon, will play a significant role in the growing city. These are two reasons for introducing wood as a building material with a growing relevance. A third is the potential economic value in countries with a forest industry that is not currently used to capacity. In 2013, a four-year interdisciplinary research project titled “Wood Be Better” was created, with the principle goal to produce and publicise knowledge that would facilitate increased use of wood in buildings in urban areas. The research team consisted of architects, engineers, wood technologists and mycologists, both from research institutions and industrial organisations. Five structured work packages were included in the initial research proposal. Work package 2 was titled “Design-based research” and proposed using architecture master courses as laboratories for systematic architectural exploration. The aim was twofold: to provide students with an interdisciplinary team of experts from consultancies and producers, as well as teachers and researchers, that could offer the latest information on wood technologies; whilst at the same time having the studio course test the effects of the use of wood on the functional, technical and tectonic quality within different architectural projects on an urban scale, providing results that could be fed back into the research material. The aim of this article is to examine the successes and failures of this pedagogical approach in an architecture school, as well as the opportunities for greater integration between academic research projects, industry experts and studio courses in the future. This will be done through a set of qualitative interviews with researchers, teaching staff and students of the studio courses held each semester since spring 2013. These will investigate the value of the various experts of the course; the different themes of each course; the response to the urban scale, architectural form and construction detail; the effect of working with the goals of a research project; and the value of the studio projects to the research. In addition, six sample projects will be presented as case studies. These will show how the projects related to the research and could be collected and further analysed, innovative solutions that were developed during the course, different architectural expressions that were enabled by timber, and how projects were used as an interdisciplinary testing ground for integrated architectural and engineering solutions between the participating institutions. The conclusion will reflect on the original intentions of the studio courses, the opportunities and challenges faced by students, researchers and teachers, the educational implications, and on the transparent and inclusive discourse between the architectural researcher, the architecture student and the interdisciplinary experts.

Keywords: architecture, interdisciplinary, research, studio, students, wood

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Authors: Anurag Devkota

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Foreign employment serves to be the strongest pillar in engendering employment options for a large number of the young Nepali population. Nepali workers are forced to leave the comfort of their homes and are exposed to precarious conditions while on a journey to earn enough money to live better their lives. The exponential rise in foreign labour migration has produced a snowball effect on the economy of the nation. The dramatic variation in the economic development of the state has proved to establish the fact that migration is increasingly significant for livelihood, economic development, political stability, academic discourse and policy planning in Nepal. The foreign employment practice in Nepal largely incorporates the role of individual agents in the entire process of migration. With the fraudulent acts and false promises of these agents, the problems associated with every Nepali migrant worker starts at home. The workers encounter tremendous pre-departure malpractice and exploitation at home by different individual agents during different stages of processing. Although these epidemic and repetitive ill activities of intermediaries are dominant and deeply rooted, the agents have been allowed to walk free in the absence of proper laws to curb their wrongdoings and misconduct. It has been found that the existing regulatory mechanisms have not been utilised to their full efficacy and often fall short in addressing the actual concerns of the workers because of the complex legal and judicial procedures. Structural changes in the judicial setting will help bring perpetrators under the law and victims towards access to justice. Thus, a qualitative improvement of the overall situation of Nepali migrant workers calls for a proper 'regulatory' arrangement vis-à-vis these brokers. Hence, the author aims to carry out a doctrinal study using reports and scholarly articles as a major source of data collection. Various reports published by different non-governmental and governmental organizations working in the field of labour migration will be examined and the research will focus on the inductive and deductive data analysis. Hence, the real challenge of establishing a pro-migrant worker regime in recent times is to bring the agents under the jurisdiction of the court in Nepal. The Gulf Visit Study Report, 2017 prepared and launched by the International Relation and Labour Committee of Legislature-Parliament of Nepal finds that solving the problems at home solves 80 percent of the problems concerning migrant workers in Nepal. Against this backdrop, this research study is intended to determine the ways and measures to curb the role of agents in the foreign employment and labour migration process of Nepal. It will further dig deeper into the regulatory mechanisms of Nepal and map out essential determinant behind the impunity of agents.

Keywords: foreign employment, labour migration, human rights, migrant workers

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Authors: Aparna Datey

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This paper explores the theoretical frameworks underpinning professional learning, professional development, and academic identity. The focus is on sessional teachers (also called tutors or adjuncts) in architectural design studios, who may be practitioners, masters or doctoral students and academics hired ‘as needed’. Drawing from Schön’s work on reflective practice, learning and developmental theories of Vygotsky (social constructionism and zones of proximal development), informal and workplace learning, this research proposes that sessional teachers not only develop their teaching skills but also shape their identities through their 'everyday' work. Continuing academic staff develop their teaching through a combination of active teaching, self-reflection on teaching, as well as learning to teach from others via formalised programs and informally in the workplace. They are provided professional development and recognised for their teaching efforts through promotion, student citations, and awards for teaching excellence. The teaching experiences of sessional staff, by comparison, may be discontinuous and they generally have fewer opportunities and incentives for teaching development. In the absence of access to formalised programs, sessional teachers develop their teaching informally in workplace settings that may be supportive or unhelpful. Their learning as teachers is embedded in everyday practice applying problem-solving skills in ambiguous and uncertain settings. Depending on their level of expertise, they understand how to teach a subject such that students are stimulated to learn. Adult learning theories posit that adults have different motivations for learning and fall into a matrix of readiness, that an adult’s ability to make sense of their learning is shaped by their values, expectations, beliefs, feelings, attitudes, and judgements, and they are self-directed. The level of expertise of sessional teachers depends on their individual attributes and motivations, as well as on their work environment, the good practices they acquire and enhance through their practice, career training and development, the clarity of their role in the delivery of teaching, and other factors. The architectural design studio is ideal for study due to the historical persistence of the vocational learning or apprenticeship model (learning under the guidance of experts) and a pedagogical format using two key approaches: project-based problem solving and collaborative learning. Hence, investigating the theoretical frameworks underlying academic roles and informal professional learning in the workplace would deepen understanding of their professional development and how they shape their academic identities. This qualitative research is ongoing at a major university in Australia, but the growing trend towards hiring sessional staff to teach core courses in many disciplines is a global one. This research will contribute to including transient sessional teachers in the discourse on institutional quality, effectiveness, and student learning.

Keywords: academic identity, architectural design learning, pedagogy, teaching and learning, sessional teachers

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Authors: Soumi Banerjee

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In this research paper we will go deep into understanding Benedict Anderson’s definition of the nation as an imagined community and we will analyze why and how national identities were created through long and complex processes, and how there can exist strong emotional bonds between people within an imagined community, given the fact that these people have never known each other personally, but will still feel some form of imagined unity. Such identity construction on the part of an individual or within societies are always in some sense in a state of flux as imagined communities are ever changing, which provides us with the ontological foundation for reaching on this paper. This sort of identity crisis among individuals living in the Western world, who are in search for psychological comfort and security, illustrates a possible need for spatially dislocated, ontologically insecure and vulnerable individuals to have a secure identity. To create such an identity there has to be something to build upon, which could be achieved through what may be termed as ‘homesteading’. This could in short, and in my interpretation of Kinnvall and Nesbitt’s concept, be described as a search for security that involves a search for ‘home’, where home acts as a secure place, which one can build an identity around. The next half of the paper will then look into how populism and identity have played an increasingly important role in the political elections in the so-called western democracies of the world, using the U.S. as an example. Notions of ‘us and them’, the people and the elites will be looked into and analyzed through a social constructivist theoretical lens. Here we will analyze how such narratives about identity and the nation state affects people, their personality development and identity in different ways by studying the U.S. President Donald Trump’s speeches and analyze if and how he used different identity creating narratives for gaining political and popular support. The reason to choose narrative analysis as a method in this research paper is to use the narratives as a device to understand how the perceived notions of 'us and them' can initiate huge identity crisis with a community or a nation-state. This is a relevant subject as results and developments such as rising populist rightwing movements are being felt in a number of European states, with the so-called Brexit vote in the U.K. and the election of Donald Trump as president are two of the prime examples. This paper will then attempt to argue that these mechanisms are strengthened and gaining significance in situations when humans in an economic, social or ontologically vulnerable position, imagined or otherwise, in a general and broad meaning perceive themselves to be under pressure, and a sense of insecurity is rising. These insecurities and sense of being under threat have been on the rise in many of the Western states that are otherwise usually perceived to be some of the safest, democratically stable and prosperous states in the world, which makes it of interest to study what has changed, and help provide some part of the explanation as to how creating a ‘them’ in the discourse of national identity can cause massive security crisis.

Keywords: identity crisis, migration, ontological security(in), nation-states

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Authors: Jane-Francis A. Abongdia, Thandiswa Mpiti

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There is an international concern to develop children’s literacy skills. In many parts of the world, the need to become fluent in a second language is essential for gaining meaningful access to education, the labour market and broader social functioning. In spite of these efforts, the problem still continues. The level of English language proficiency is far from satisfactory and these goals are unattainable by others. The issue is more complex in South Africa as learners are immersed in a second language (L2) curriculum. South Africa is a prime example of a country facing the dilemma of how to effectively equip a majority of its population with English as a second language or first additional language (FAL). Given the multilingual nature of South Africa with eleven official languages, and the position and power of English, the study investigates teachers’ and learners’ experiences on isiXhosa and Afrikaans background learners’ writing in English First Additional Language (EFAL). Moreover, possible causes of writing difficulties and teacher’s practices for writing are explored. The theoretical and conceptual framework for the study is provided by studies on constructivist theories and sociocultural theories. In exploring these issues, a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis were adopted. This data is analysed by critical discourse analysis (CDA). The study identified a weak correlation between teachers’ beliefs and their actual teaching practices. Although the teachers believe that writing is as important as listening, speaking, reading, grammar and vocabulary, and that it needs regular practice, the data reveal that they fail to put their beliefs into practice. Moreover, the data revealed that learners were disturbed by their home language because when they do not know a word they would write either the isiXhosa or the Afrikaans equivalent. Code-switching seems to have instilled a sense of “dependence on translations” where some learners would not even try to answer English questions but would wait for the teacher to translate the questions into isiXhosa or Afrikaans before they could attempt to give answers. The findings of the study show a marked improvement in the writing performance of learners who used the process approach in writing. These findings demonstrate the need for assisting teachers to shift away from focusing only on learners’ performance (testing and grading) towards a stronger emphasis on the process of writing. The study concludes that the process approach to writing could enable teachers to focus on the various parts of the writing process which can give more freedom to learners to experiment their language proficiency. It would require that teachers develop a deeper understanding of the process/genre approaches to teaching writing advocated by CAPS. All in all, the study shows that both learners and teachers face numerous challenges relating to writing. This means that more work still needs to be done in this area. The present study argues that teachers teaching EFAL learners should approach writing as a critical and core aspect of learners’ education. Learners should be exposed to intensive writing activities throughout their school years.

Keywords: constructivism, English second language, language of learning and teaching, writing

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Authors: Aikaterini Tavoulari, Mike Richardson

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Objective: This abstract presents a multisensory participatory design project, inspired by a deafblind PhD student's ambition to climb Mount Everest. The project aims to explore accessible routes for filmmaking and video content creation, catering to the needs of individuals with hearing and sight loss. By engaging participants from the Southwest area of England, recruited through multiple networks, the project seeks to gather qualitative data and insights to inform the development of inclusive media practices. Design: It will be a community-based participatory research design. The workshop will feature various stations that stimulate different senses, such as scent, touch, sight, hearing as well as movement. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with these multisensory experiences, providing valuable feedback on their effectiveness and potential for enhancing accessibility in filmmaking and video content. Methods: Brief semi-structured interviews will be conducted to collect qualitative data, allowing participants to share their perspectives, challenges, and suggestions for improvement. The participatory design approach emphasizes the importance of involving the target audience in the creative process. By actively engaging individuals with hearing and sight loss, the project aims to ensure that their needs and preferences are central to the development of accessible filmmaking techniques and video content. This collaborative effort seeks to bridge the gap between content creators and diverse audiences, fostering a more inclusive media landscape. Results: The findings from this study will contribute to the growing body of research on accessible filmmaking and video content creation. Via inductive thematic analysis of the qualitative data collected through interviews and observations, the researchers aim to identify key themes, challenges, and opportunities for creating engaging and inclusive media experiences for deafblind audiences. The insights will inform the development of best practices and guidelines for accessible filmmaking, empowering content creators to produce more inclusive and immersive video content. Conclusion: The abstract targets the hybrid International Conference for Disability and Diversity in Canada (January 2025), as this platform provides an excellent opportunity to share the outcomes of the project with a global audience of researchers, practitioners, and advocates working towards inclusivity and accessibility in various disability domains. By presenting this research at the conference in person, the authors aim to contribute to the ongoing discourse on disability and diversity, highlighting the importance of multisensory experiences and participatory design in creating accessible media content for the deafblind community and the community with sensory impairments more broadly.

Keywords: vision impairment, hearing impairment, deafblindness, accessibility, filmmaking

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Authors: Almira Sharafeeva

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In the Soviet Union of the 1930s, motherhood was seen as a natural need of women. The masculine Bolshevik state did not see the emancipated woman as free from her maternal burden. In order to support the idea of "joyful motherhood," a medical discourse on the anesthesia of childbirth emerges. In March 1935 at the IX Congress of obstetricians and gynecologists the People's Commissar of Public Health of the RSFSR G.N. Kaminsky raised the issue of anesthesia of childbirth. It was also from that year that medical, literary and artistic editions with enviable frequency began to publish articles, studies devoted to the issue, the goal - to anesthetize all childbirths in the USSR - was proclaimed. These publications were often filled with anti-German and anti-capitalist propaganda, through which the advantages of socialism over Capitalism and Nazism were demonstrated. At congresses, in journals, and at institute meetings, doctors' discussions around obstetric anesthesia were accompanied by discussions of shortening the duration of the childbirth process, the prevention and prevention of disease, the admission of nurses to the procedure, and the proper behavior of women during the childbirth process. With the help of articles from medical periodicals of the 1930s., brochures, as well as documents from the funds of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (TsGANTD SPb) and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the NKZ USSR (GARF) in this paper we will show, how the advantages of the Soviet system and the socialist way of life were constructed through the problem of childbirth pain relief, and we will also show how childbirth pain relief in the USSR was related to the foreign policy situation and how projects of labor pain relief were related to the anti-abortion policy of the state. This study also attempts to answer the question of why anesthesia of childbirth in the USSR did not become widespread and how, through this medical procedure, the Soviet authorities tried to take control of a female function (childbirth) that was not available to men. Considering this subject from the perspective of gender studies and the social history of medicine, it is productive to use the term "biopolitics. Michel Foucault and Antonio Negri, wrote that biopolitics takes under its wing the control and management of hygiene, nutrition, fertility, sexuality, contraception. The central issue of biopolitics is population reproduction. It includes strategies for intervening in collective existence in the name of life and health, ways of subjectivation by which individuals are forced to work on themselves. The Soviet state, through intervention in the reproductive lives of its citizens, sought to realize its goals of population growth, which was necessary to demonstrate the benefits of living in the Soviet Union and to train a pool of builders of socialism. The woman's body was seen as the object over which the socialist experiment of reproductive policy was being conducted.

Keywords: labor anesthesia, biopolitics of stalinism, childbirth pain relief, reproductive policy

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Authors: Mahul Bhattacharyya, Niladri Sekhar Dash

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The present research paper is an experimental attempt to investigate the nature of variation in the register in three major text domains, namely, social, cultural, and political texts collected from the corpus of Bangla printed mass media texts. This present study uses a corpus of a moderate amount of Bangla mass media text that contains nearly one million words collected from different media sources like newspapers, magazines, advertisements, periodicals, etc. The analysis of corpus data reveals that each text has certain lexical properties that not only control their identity but also mark their uniqueness across the domains. At first, the subject domains of the texts are classified into two parameters namely, ‘Genre' and 'Text Type'. Next, some empirical investigations are made to understand how the domains vary from each other in terms of lexical properties like both function and content words. Here the method of comparative-cum-contrastive matching of lexical load across domains is invoked through word frequency count to track how domain-specific words and terms may be marked as decisive indicators in the act of specifying the textual contexts and subject domains. The study shows that the common lexical stock that percolates across all text domains are quite dicey in nature as their lexicological identity does not have any bearing in the act of specifying subject domains. Therefore, it becomes necessary for language users to anchor upon certain domain-specific lexical items to recognize a text that belongs to a specific text domain. The eventual findings of this study confirm that texts belonging to different subject domains in Bangla news text corpus clearly differ on the parameters of lexical load, lexical choice, lexical clustering, lexical collocation. In fact, based on these parameters, along with some statistical calculations, it is possible to classify mass media texts into different types to mark their relation with regard to the domains they should actually belong. The advantage of this analysis lies in the proper identification of the linguistic factors which will give language users a better insight into the method they employ in text comprehension, as well as construct a systemic frame for designing text identification strategy for language learners. The availability of huge amount of Bangla media text data is useful for achieving accurate conclusions with a certain amount of reliability and authenticity. This kind of corpus-based analysis is quite relevant for a resource-poor language like Bangla, as no attempt has ever been made to understand how the structure and texture of Bangla mass media texts vary due to certain linguistic and extra-linguistic constraints that are actively operational to specific text domains. Since mass media language is assumed to be the most 'recent representation' of the actual use of the language, this study is expected to show how the Bangla news texts reflect the thoughts of the society and how they leave a strong impact on the thought process of the speech community.

Keywords: Bangla, corpus, discourse, domains, lexical choice, mass media, register, variation

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Authors: Aaron Derner

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Unlike the histories of France, the UK, or even Spain, the Russian colonial past often dissolves before the seemingly more salient Cold War figurations or Soviet dissolution. The obvious explanation behind Caucasian states’ roles—that of Russian-propped governments obeying the whims of their patron—is but the latest instance of such oversight. Where the results of colonial social and cultural interactions are indelibly stamped across France, Algeria, and every other former (and current) French holding, so to are the Muscovite and Russian colonial ambitions embedded within the modern politics and cultures of both Russia and the Caucasus. Russian colonial artefacts are enhanced and perhaps granted an additional social explanatory edge over those of the ‘typical’ colonizers, by the cyclical adoration for and noisy rejection of European cultural markers over the centuries, along with the somewhat unusual composition of the Cossacks: Russia’s main agents of colonialization within the Caucasian frontier. The story of Russia and Chechnya, of all the Caucasus, is of the manufacture of social and individual identity through “modes of subjectification” inherent within the region’s colonial history and driven by the triangular interactions between three main groups: the Cossacks, the Caucasian Mountain Tribes, and the Russian Metropol. Together, interactions between these social groups worked to shape and transform the lifestyles and institutional pathologies that constitute the Russian and Chechen states and the politics between them. At the core of this (Western) state-building is the simultaneous and seemingly contradictory desire to be more Western and emulate Western cultural and political practices while also desperately grasping for a uniquely Russian identity. This sits somewhat ironically against the backdrop that Russia hosted a frontier-based settler society and had established that distinctly European feature of settler colonialism early in its history—arguably establishing a claim to being the most “colonial” of the colonial powers. There is no doubt that these forces worked to shape contemporary Russian political and social identity—apparent in the mythic popularity of the Cossack in Russian literature, politics, and academic discourse. What needs to be expanded from the current narrative, however, is that beyond the Cossack identity’s attractiveness on the grounds of its tones of freedom and resistance to unjust authority, the identity is rooted in the imperial ambitions and colonial experiences of the Russian state, and is, therefore, a direct marker of domination and subjectification. Adding an unusual dimension to this not-uncommon cultural progression, the Russian state needed to colonize both the Caucases and the Russian Cossacks, appropriating them in much the same way they appropriated the Circassian mountain tribes. The focus of this paper is not to tell yet another story of how one culture entered an area to overpower another but how a ‘powerful,’ ‘modern,’ ‘Western(ish)’ culture was profoundly and continually changed through its contact with a group of tribal ‘savages’ and ‘braves.’

Keywords: Russia, chechnya, subjectification, caucasus, cossacks, Ukraine

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Authors: Vinod Balakrishnan, Chrisalice Ela Joseph

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The Burmese Exodus of 1942, which left more than 4 lakh as refugees and thousands dead, is one of the worst forced migrations in recorded history. Adding to the woes of the refugees is the lack of credible documentation of their lived experiences, trauma, and stories and their erasure from recorded history. Media reports, national records, and mainstream narratives that have registered the exodus provide sanitized versions which have reduced the refugees to a nameless, faceless mass of travelers and obliterated their lived experiences, trauma, and sufferings. This attitudinal problem compels the need to stem the insensitivity that accompanies institutional memory by making a case for a more humanistically evolved policy that puts in place protocols for the way the humanities would voice the concern for the refugee. A definite step in this direction and a far more relevant project in our times is the need to build a comprehensive refugee archive that can be a repository of the refugee experiences and perspectives. The paper draws on Hannah Arendt’s position on the Jewish refugee crisis, Agamben’s work on statelessness and citizenship, Foucault’s notion of governmentality and biopolitics, Edward Said’s concepts on Exile, Fanon’s work on the dispossessed, Derrida’s work on ‘the foreigner and hospitality’ in order to conceptualize the refugee condition which will form the theoretical framework for the paper. It also refers to the existing scholarship in the field of refugee studies such as Roger Zetter’s work on the ‘refugee label’, Philip Marfleet’s work on ‘refugees and history’, Lisa Malkki’s research on the anthropological discourse of the refugee and refugee studies. The paper is also informed by the work that has been done by the international organizations to address the refugee crisis. The emphasis is on building a strong argument for the establishment of the refugee archive that finds but a passing and a none too convincing reference in refugee studies in order to enable a multi-dimensional understanding of the refugee crisis. Some of the old questions cannot be dismissed as outdated as the continuing travails of the refugees in different parts of the world only remind us that they are still, largely, unanswered. The questions are -What is the nature of a Refugee Archive? How is it different from the existing historical and political archives? What are the implications of the refugee archive? What is its contribution to refugee studies? The paper draws on Diana Taylor’s concept of the archive and the repertoire to theorize the refugee archive as a repository that has the documentary function of the ‘archive’ and the ‘agency’ function of the repertoire. It then reads Ayya’s Accounts- a memoir by Anand Pandian -in the light of Hannah Arendt’s concepts of the ‘refugee as vanguard’ and ‘story telling as political action’- to illustrate how the memoir contributes to the refugee archive that provides the refugee a place and agency in history. The paper argues for a refugee archive that has implications for the formulation of inclusive refugee policies.

Keywords: Ayya’s Accounts, Burmese Exodus, policy protocol, refugee archive

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Authors: Bruce Wrightsman

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Construction and design are inexorably linked. Traditional building methodologies, including those using wood, comprise a series of material layers differentiated and separated from each other. This results in the separation of two agencies of building envelope (skin) separate from the structure. However, from a material performance position reliant on additional materials, this is not an efficient strategy for the building. The merits of traditional platform framing are well known. However, its enormous effectiveness within wood-framed construction has seldom led to serious questioning and challenges in defining what it means to build. There are several downsides of using this method, which is less widely discussed. The first and perhaps biggest downside is waste. Second, its reliance on wood assemblies forming walls, floors and roofs conventionally nailed together through simple plate surfaces is structurally inefficient. It requires additional material through plates, blocking, nailers, etc., for stability that only adds to the material waste. In contrast, when we look back at the history of wood construction in airplane and boat manufacturing industries, we will see a significant transformation in the relationship of structure with skin. The history of boat construction transformed from indigenous wood practices of birch bark canoes to copper sheathing over wood to improve performance in the late 18th century and the evolution of merged assemblies that drives the industry today. In 1911, Swiss engineer Emile Ruchonnet designed the first wood monocoque structure for an airplane called the Cigare. The wing and tail assemblies consisted of thin, lightweight, and often fabric skin stretched tightly over a wood frame. This stressed skin has evolved into semi-monocoque construction, in which the skin merges with structural fins that take additional forces. It provides even greater strength with less material. The monocoque, which translates to ‘mono or single shell,’ is a structural system that supports loads and transfers them through an external enclosure system. They have largely existed outside the domain of architecture. However, this uniting of divergent systems has been demonstrated to be lighter, utilizing less material than traditional wood building practices. This paper will examine the role monocoque systems have played in the history of wood construction through lineage of boat and airplane building industries and its design potential for wood building systems in architecture through a case-study examination of a unique wood construction approach. The innovative approach uses a wood monocoque system comprised of interlocking small wood members to create thin shell assemblies for the walls, roof and floor, increasing structural efficiency and wasting less than 2% of the wood. The goal of the analysis is to expand the work of practice and the academy in order to foster deeper, more honest discourse regarding the limitations and impact of traditional wood framing.

Keywords: wood building systems, material histories, monocoque systems, construction waste

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Authors: Kaushiki Sanyal, Rajesh Chakrabarti

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In India, on average, about 60 Bills are passed every year in both Houses of Parliament – Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (calculated from information on websites of both Houses). These are debated in both Lok Sabha (House of Commons) and Rajya Sabha (Council of States) before they are passed. However, lawmakers rarely use empirical evidence to make a case for a law. Most of the time, they support a law on the basis of anecdote, intuition, and common sense. While these do play a role in law-making, without the necessary empirical evidence, laws often fail to achieve their desired results. The quality of legislative debates is an indicator of the efficacy of the legislative process through which a Bill is enacted. However, the study of legislative debates has not received much attention either in India or worldwide due to the difficulty of objectively measuring the quality of a debate. Broadly, three approaches have emerged in the study of legislative debates. The rational-choice or formal approach shows that speeches vary based on different institutional arrangements, intra-party politics, and the political culture of a country. The discourse approach focuses on the underlying rules and conventions and how they impact the content of the debates. The deliberative approach posits that legislative speech can be reasoned, respectful, and informed. This paper aims to (a) develop a framework to judge the quality of debates by using the deliberative approach; (b) examine the legislative debates of three Bills passed in different periods as a demonstration of the framework, and (c) examine the broader structural issues that disincentive MPs from scrutinizing Bills. The framework would include qualitative and quantitative indicators to judge a debate. The idea is that the framework would provide useful insights into the legislators’ knowledge of the subject, the depth of their scrutiny of Bills, and their inclination toward evidence-based research. The three Bills that the paper plans to examine are as follows: 1. The Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985: This act was passed to curb drug trafficking and abuse. However, it mostly failed to fulfill its purpose. Consequently, it was amended thrice but without much impact on the ground. 2. The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2013: This act amended the Indian Penal Code to add a section on human trafficking. The purpose was to curb trafficking and penalise traffickers, pimps, and middlemen. However, the crime rate remains high while the conviction rate is low. 3. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021: This act bans commercial surrogacy allowing only relatives to act as surrogates as long as there is no monetary payment. Experts fear that instead of preventing commercial surrogacy, it would drive the activity underground. The consequences would be borne by the surrogate, who would not be protected by law. The purpose of the paper is to objectively analyse the quality of parliamentary debates, get insights into how MPs understand the evidence and deliberate on steps to incentivise them to use empirical evidence.

Keywords: legislature, debates, empirical, India

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Authors: Ana Alvarenga De Castro

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Food sovereignty has been brought by the international peasants’ movement, La Via Campesina, as a precondition to food security, speaking about the right of each nation to keep its own supply of foods respecting cultural, sustainable practices and productive diversity. The political conceptualization nowadays goes beyond saying that this term is about achieving the rights of farmers to control the food systems according to local specificities, and about equality in the access to natural resources and quality food. The current feminization of agroecosystems and of food insecurity identified by researchers and recognized by international agencies like the UN and FAO has enhanced the feminist discourse into the food sovereignty movement, considering the historical inequalities that place women farmers in subaltern positions inside the families and rural communities. The current tendency in many rural areas of more women taking responsibility for food production and still facing the lack of access to natural resources meets particular aspects in Latin America due to the global economic logic which places the Global South in the position of raw material supplier for the industrialized North, combined with regional characteristics. In this context, Latin American countries play the role of commodities exporters in the international labor division, including among exported items grains, soybean paste, and ores, to the expense of local food chains which provide domestic quality food supply under more sustainable practices. The connections between gender inequalities and global territorial inequalities related to the access and control of food and natural resources are pointed out by feminist political ecology - FPE - authors, and are linked in this article to the potentialities and limitations of women farmers to reproduce diversified agroecosystems in the tropical environments. The work brings the importance of local practices held by women farmers which are crucial to maintaining sustainable agricultural systems and their results on seeds, soil, biodiversity and water conservation. This work presents an analysis of documents, releases, videos and other publicized experiences launched by some peasants’ organizations in Latin America which evidence the different technical and political answers that meet food sovereignty from peasants’ groups that are attributed to women farmers. They are associated with articles presenting the empirical analysis of women farmers' practices in Latin America. The combination drove to discuss the benefits of peasants' conceptions about food systems and their connections with local realities and the gender issues linked to the food sovereignty conceptualization. Conclusion meets that reality on the field cannot reach food sovereignty's ideal homogeneously and that agricultural sustainable practices are dependent on rights' achievement and social inequalities' eradication.

Keywords: food sovereignty, gender, diversified agricultural systems, access to natural resources

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Authors: Adu-Ampomah Yaw Junior

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Local procurement has become one of the latest trends in the discourse of sustainable tourism due to the economic benefits it generates for tourist destinations in developing countries. Local procurement helps in creating jobs which consequently helps in alleviating poverty. However, there have been limited studies on local procurement patterns in developing countries. Research on hotel procurement practices has mainly emphasized the challenges that hoteliers face when procuring locally, leaving questions regarding their motivations to engage in local procurement unanswered. The institutional theory provides a suitable framework to better understand these motivations as it underlines the importance of individual cognitive perceptions on issues in shaping organizational response strategies. More specifically, the extent to which an issue is perceived to belong to the organization’s responsibility. Also the organizational actors’ belief of losses or gains resultant from acting or not acting on an issue (degree of importance). Furthermore the organizational actors’ belief of the probability of resolving an issue (degree of feasibility). These factors influence how an organization will act on this issue. Hence, this paper adopts an institutional perspective to examine local procurement patterns of food by hoteliers in Ghana. Qualitative interviews with 20 procurement managers about their procurement practices and motivations, as well as interviews with different stakeholders for data triangulation purposes, indicated that most hotels sourced their food from middlemen who imported most of their products. However, direct importation was more prevalent foreign owned hotels as opposed to locally owned ones. Notwithstanding, the importation and the usage of foreign foods as opposed to local ones can be explained by the lack of pressure from NGOs and trade associations on hotels to act responsibly. Though guests’ menu preferences were perceived as important to hoteliers business operations, western tourists demand foreign food primarily with the foreign owned hotels make it less important to procure local produce. Lastly hoteliers, particularly those in foreign owned ones, perceive local procurement to be less feasible, raising concerns about quality and variety of local produce. The paper outlines strategies to improve the perception and degree of local Firstly, there is the need for stakeholder engagement in order to make hoteliers feel responsible for acting on the issue.Again it is crucial for Ghana government to promote and encourage hotels to buy local produce. Also, the government has to also make funds and storage facilities available for farmers to impact on the quality and quantity of local produce. Moreover, Sites need to be secured for farmers to engage in sustained farming.Furthermore, there is the need for collaborations between various stakeholders to organize training programs for farmers. Notwithstanding hotels need to market local produce to their guests. Finally, the Ghana hotels association has to encourage hotels to indulge in local procurement.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, feasible, important, local procurement

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Authors: Liu Jia’nan

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The default accounts hold the view that there exists a kind of scalar implicature which can be processed without context and own a psychological privilege over other scalar implicatures which depend on context. In contrast, the Relevance Theorist regards context as a must because all the scalar implicatures have to meet the need of relevance in discourse. However, in Katsos, the experimental results showed: Although quantitatively the adults rejected under-informative utterance with lexical scales (context-independent) and the ad hoc scales (context-dependent) at almost the same rate, adults still regarded the violation of utterance with lexical scales much more severe than with ad hoc scales. Neither default account nor Relevance Theory can fully explain this result. Thus, there are two questionable points to this result: (1) Is it possible that the strange discrepancy is due to other factors instead of the generation of scalar implicature? (2) Are the ad hoc scales truly formed under the possible influence from mental context? Do the participants generate scalar implicatures with ad hoc scales instead of just comparing semantic difference among target objects in the under- informative utterance? In my Experiment 1, the question (1) will be answered by repetition of Experiment 1 by Katsos. Test materials will be showed by PowerPoint in the form of pictures, and each procedure will be done under the guidance of a tester in a quiet room. Our Experiment 2 is intended to answer question (2). The test material of picture will be transformed into the literal words in DMDX and the target sentence will be showed word-by-word to participants in the soundproof room in our lab. Reading time of target parts, i.e. words containing scalar implicatures, will be recorded. We presume that in the group with lexical scale, standardized pragmatically mental context would help generate scalar implicature once the scalar word occurs, which will make the participants hope the upcoming words to be informative. Thus if the new input after scalar word is under-informative, more time will be cost for the extra semantic processing. However, in the group with ad hoc scale, scalar implicature may hardly be generated without the support from fixed mental context of scale. Thus, whether the new input is informative or not does not matter at all, and the reading time of target parts will be the same in informative and under-informative utterances. People’s mind may be a dynamic system, in which lots of factors would co-occur. If Katsos’ experimental result is reliable, will it shed light on the interplay of default accounts and context factors in scalar implicature processing? We might be able to assume, based on our experiments, that one single dominant processing paradigm may not be plausible. Furthermore, in the processing of scalar implicature, the semantic interpretation and the pragmatic interpretation may be made in a dynamic interplay in the mind. As to the lexical scale, the pragmatic reading may prevail over the semantic reading because of its greater exposure in daily language use, which may also lead the possible default or standardized paradigm override the role of context. However, those objects in ad hoc scale are not usually treated as scalar membership in mental context, and thus lexical-semantic association of the objects may prevent their pragmatic reading from generating scalar implicature. Only when the sufficient contextual factors are highlighted, can the pragmatic reading get privilege and generate scalar implicature.

Keywords: scalar implicature, ad hoc scale, dynamic interplay, default account, Mandarin Chinese processing

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Authors: Lina Psarra, Manogj Sundaresan, Purjeet Sutar

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In response to the global imperative for sustainable solutions, this article proposes the development of a comprehensive circularity index applicable to a wide range of products across various industries. The absence of a consensus on using a universal metric to assess circularity performance presents a significant challenge in prioritizing and effectively managing sustainable initiatives. This circularity index serves as a quantitative measure to evaluate the adherence of products, processes, and systems to the principles of a circular economy. Unlike traditional distinct metrics such as recycling rates or material efficiency, this index considers the entire lifecycle of a product in one single metric, also incorporating additional factors such as reusability, scarcity of materials, reparability, and recyclability. Through a systematic approach and by reviewing existing metrics and past methodologies, this work aims to address this gap by formulating a circularity index that can be applied to diverse product portfolio and assist in comparing the circularity of products on a scale of 0%-100%. Project objectives include developing a formula, designing and implementing a pilot tool based on the developed Product Circularity Index (PCI), evaluating the effectiveness of the formula and tool using real product data, and assessing the feasibility of integration into various sustainability initiatives. The research methodology involves an iterative process of comprehensive research, analysis, and refinement where key steps include defining circularity parameters, collecting relevant product data, applying the developed formula, and testing the tool in a pilot phase to gather insights and make necessary adjustments. Major findings of the study indicate that the PCI provides a robust framework for evaluating product circularity across various dimensions. The Excel-based pilot tool demonstrated high accuracy and reliability in measuring circularity, and the database proved instrumental in supporting comprehensive assessments. The PCI facilitated the identification of key areas for improvement, enabling more informed decision-making towards circularity and benchmarking across different products, essentially assisting towards better resource management. In conclusion, the development of the Product Circularity Index represents a significant advancement in global sustainability efforts. By providing a standardized metric, the PCI empowers companies and stakeholders to systematically assess product circularity, track progress, identify improvement areas, and make informed decisions about resource management. This project contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable development by offering a practical approach to enhance circularity within industrial systems, thus paving the way towards a more resilient and sustainable future.

Keywords: circular economy, circular metrics, circularity assessment, circularity tool, sustainable product design, product circularity index

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Authors: Elisavet Kechagia

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Due to the interplay of different genetic and environmental risk factors and its heterogeneous nature, the concept of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has shaped controversy and conflicts, which have been, in turn, reflected in the controversial arguments about its treatment. Taking into account recent well evidence-based researches suggesting that ADHD is a condition, in which biopsychosocial factors are all weaved together, the current paper explores the multiple risk-factors that are likely to influence ADHD, with a particular focus on adolescents with ADHD who might experience comorbid social, emotional and behavioural disorders (SEBD). In the first section of this paper, the primary objective was to investigate the conflicting ideas regarding the definition, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD at an international level as well as to critically examine and identify the limitations of the two most prevailing sets of diagnostic criteria that inform current diagnosis, the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) diagnostic scheme, DSM-V, and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) classification of diseases, ICD-10. Taking into consideration the findings of current longitudinal studies on ADHD association with high rates of comorbid conditions and social dysfunction, in the second section the author moves towards an investigation of the transitional points −physical, psychological and social ones− that students with ADHD might experience during early adolescence, as informed by neuroscience and developmental contextualism theory. The third section is an exploration of the different perspectives of ADHD as reflected in individuals’ with ADHD self-reports and the KENT project’s findings on school staff’s attitudes and practices. In the last section, given the high rates of SEBDs in adolescents with ADHD, it is examined how cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), coupled with other interventions, could be effective in ameliorating anti-social behaviours and/or other emotional and behavioral difficulties of students with ADHD. The findings of a range of randomised control studies indicate that CBT might have positive outcomes in adolescents with multiple behavioural problems, hence it is suggested to be considered both in schools and other community settings. Finally, taking into account the heterogeneous nature of ADHD, the different biopsychosocial and environmental risk factors that take place during adolescence and the discourse and practices concerning ADHD and SEBD, it is suggested how it might be possible to make sense of and meaningful improvements to the education of adolescents with ADHD within a multi-modal and multi-disciplinary whole-school approach that addresses the multiple problems that not only students with ADHD but also their peers might experience. Further research that would be based on more large-scale controls and would investigate the effectiveness of various interventions, as well as the profiles of those students who have benefited from particular approaches and those who have not, will generate further evidence concerning the psychoeducation of adolescents with ADHD allowing for generalised conclusions to be drawn.

Keywords: adolescence, attention deficit hyperctivity disorder, cognitive behavioural theory, comorbid social emotional behavioural disorders, treatment

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Authors: Anastasios Zopiatis, Antonis L. Theocharous

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In the midst of a fierce war for talent, the hospitality industry is seeking new and innovative ways to enrich its image as an employer of choice and not a necessity. Historically, the industry’s professions are portrayed as ‘unattractive’ due to their repetitious nature, long and unsocial working schedules, below average remunerations, and the mental and physical demands of the job. Aligning with the industry, hospitality and tourism scholars embarked on a journey to investigate pertinent topics with the aim of enhancing our conceptual understanding of the elements that influence employees at the hospitality world of work. Topics such as job involvement, commitment, job and career satisfaction, and turnover intentions became the focal points in a multitude of relevant empirical and conceptual investigations. Nevertheless, gaps or inconsistencies in existing theories, as a result of both the volatile complexity of the relationships governing human behavior in the hospitality workplace, and the academic community’s unopposed acceptance of theoretical frameworks mainly propounded in the United States and United Kingdom years ago, necessitate our continuous vigilance. Thus, in an effort to enhance and enrich the discourse, we set out to investigate the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction traits and the individual’s career satisfaction, and subsequent intention to remain in the hospitality industry. Reflecting on existing literature, a quantitative survey was developed and administered, face-to-face, to 650 individuals working as full-time employees in 4- and 5- star hotel establishments in Cyprus, whereas a multivariate statistical analysis method, namely Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), was utilized to determine whether relationships existed between constructs as a means to either accept or reject the hypothesized theory. Findings, of interest to both industry stakeholders and academic scholars, suggest that the individual’s future intention to remain within the industry is primarily associated with extrinsic job traits. Our findings revealed that positive associations exist between extrinsic job traits, and both career satisfaction and future intention. In contrast, when investigating the relationship of intrinsic traits, a positive association was revealed only with career satisfaction. Apparently, the local industry’s environmental factors of seasonality, excessive turnover, overdependence on seasonal, and part-time migrant workers, prohibit industry stakeholders in effectively investing the time and resources in the development and professional growth of their employees. Consequently intrinsic job satisfaction factors such as advancement, growth, and achievement, take backstage to the more materialistic extrinsic factors. Findings from the subsequent mediation analysis support the notion that intrinsic traits can positively influence future intentions indirectly only through career satisfaction, whereas extrinsic traits can positively impact both career satisfaction and future intention both directly and indirectly.

Keywords: career satisfaction, Cyprus, hotel employees, structural equation modeling, SEM

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Authors: Soumya Awasthi

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The spread of radical ideology is possible not merely through public meetings, protests, and mosques but even in schools, seminaries, and madrasas. The rhetoric created around the relationship between religion and conflict has been the primary factor for instigating global conflicts – when religion is used to achieve broader objectives. There have been numerous cases of religion-driven conflict around the world be it the Jewish revolt between 66 AD and 628 AD or the 1119 AD the Crusades revolt or during the Cold War period or the rise of right-wing politics in India. Some of the major developments which reiterate the significance of religion in the contemporary times include: (1) The emergence of theocracy in Iran in 1979 (2) Resurgence of world-wide religious beliefs in post-Soviet space. (3) Emergence of transnational terrorism shaped by twisted depiction of Islam by the self proclaimed protectors of the religion. Therefore this paper is premised in the argument that religion has always found itself on the periphery of the discipline of International Relations (IR), and has received less attention than it deserves. The focus of the topic is on the discourses of ‘Deobandi’ and its impact both on the geopolitics of the region- particularly in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan- and also at the global level. Discourse is a mechanism in use since time immemorial and has been a key tool to mobilise masses against the ruling authority. With the help of field surveys, qualitative and analytical method of research in religion and international relations, it has been found that they are numerous madrassas that are running illegally and are unregistered. These seminaries are operating in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA). During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, relation between religion and geopolitics was highlighted when there was a sudden spread of radical ideas, finding support from countries like Saudi Arabia (who funded the campaign) and Pakistan (which organised the Saudi funds and set up training camps, both educational and military). During this period there was a huge influence of Wahabi theology on the madrasas which started with Deoband philosophy and later became a mix of Wahabi (influenced by Ahmad Ibn Hannabal and Ibn Taimmiya) and Deobandi philosophy, tending towards fundamentalism. Later the impact of regional geopolitics had influence on the global geopolitics when the incidents like attack on the US in 2001, bomb blasts in U.K, Indonesia, Turkey, and Israel in 2000s. In the midst of all this, there were several scholars who pointed towards Deobandi Philosophy as one of the drivers in the creation of armed Islamic groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan. Hence this paper will make an attempt to understand the trend as to how Deobandi religious discourses originating from India have changed over the decades, and who the agents of such changes are. It will throw light on Deoband from pre-independence till date to create a narrative around the religious discourses and Deobandi philosophy and its spill over impact on the map of global and regional security.

Keywords: Deobandi School of Thought, radicalization, regional and global geopolitics, religious discourses, Whabi movement

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Authors: dr. Bendes Ákos

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Digital skepticism, a critical stance towards digital technology and its pervasive influence on society, presents significant challenges when analyzed from a legal philosophical perspective. This abstract aims to explore the intersection of digital skepticism and legal philosophy, emphasizing the implications for justice, rights, and the rule of law in the digital age. Digital skepticism arises from concerns about privacy, security, and the ethical implications of digital technology. It questions the extent to which digital advancements enhance or undermine fundamental human values. Legal philosophy, which interrogates the foundations and purposes of law, provides a framework for examining these concerns critically. One key area where digital skepticism and legal philosophy intersect is in the realm of privacy. Digital technologies, particularly data collection and surveillance mechanisms, pose substantial threats to individual privacy. Legal philosophers must grapple with questions about the limits of state power and the protection of personal autonomy. They must consider how traditional legal principles, such as the right to privacy, can be adapted or reinterpreted in light of new technological realities. Security is another critical concern. Digital skepticism highlights vulnerabilities in cybersecurity and the potential for malicious activities, such as hacking and cybercrime, to disrupt legal systems and societal order. Legal philosophy must address how laws can evolve to protect against these new forms of threats while balancing security with civil liberties. Ethics plays a central role in this discourse. Digital technologies raise ethical dilemmas, such as the development and use of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms that may perpetuate biases or make decisions without human oversight. Legal philosophers must evaluate the moral responsibilities of those who design and implement these technologies and consider the implications for justice and fairness. Furthermore, digital skepticism prompts a reevaluation of the concept of the rule of law. In an increasingly digital world, maintaining transparency, accountability, and fairness becomes more complex. Legal philosophers must explore how legal frameworks can ensure that digital technologies serve the public good and do not entrench power imbalances or erode democratic principles. Finally, the intersection of digital skepticism and legal philosophy has practical implications for policy-making. Legal scholars and practitioners must work collaboratively to develop regulations and guidelines that address the challenges posed by digital technology. This includes crafting laws that protect individual rights, ensure security, and promote ethical standards in technology development and deployment. In conclusion, digital skepticism provides a crucial lens for examining the impact of digital technology on law and society. A legal philosophical approach offers valuable insights into how legal systems can adapt to protect fundamental values in the digital age. By addressing privacy, security, ethics, and the rule of law, legal philosophers can help shape a future where digital advancements enhance, rather than undermine, justice and human dignity.

Keywords: legal philosophy, privacy, security, ethics, digital skepticism

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Authors: Shailendra M. Pradhan, Upendra M. Pradhan

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Disasters are perennial features of human civilization. The recurring earthquakes, floods, cyclones, among others, that result in massive loss of lives and devastation, is a grim reminder of the fact that, despite all our success stories of development, and progress in science and technology, human society is perennially at risk to disasters. The apparent threat of climate change and global warming only severe our disaster risks. Darjeeling hills, situated along Eastern Himalayan region of India, and famous for its three Ts – tea, tourism and toy-train – is also equally notorious for its disasters. The recurring landslides and earthquakes, the cyclone Aila, and the Ambootia landslides, considered as the largest landslide in Asia, are strong evidence of the vulnerability of Darjeeling hills to natural disasters. Given its geographical location along the Hindu-Kush Himalayas, the region is marked by rugged topography, geo-physically unstable structure, high-seismicity, and fragile landscape, making it prone to disasters of different kinds and magnitudes. Most of the studies on disasters in Darjeeling hills are, however, scientific and geographical in orientation that focuses on the underlying geological and physical processes to the neglect of social and political conditions. This has created a tendency among the researchers and policy-makers to endorse and promote a particular type of discourse that does not consider the social and political aspects of disasters in Darjeeling hills. Disaster, this paper argues, is a complex phenomenon, and a result of diverse factors, both physical and human. The hazards caused by the physical and geological agents, and the vulnerabilities produced and rooted in political, economic, social and cultural structures of a society, together result in disasters. In this sense, disasters are as much a result of political and economic conditions as it is of physical environment. The human aspect of disasters, therefore, compels us to address intricating social and political challenges that ultimately determine our resilience and vulnerability to disasters. Set within the above milieu, the aims of the paper are twofold: a) to provide a political and sociological account of disasters in Darjeeling hills; and, b) to identify and address the root causes of its vulnerabilities to disasters. In situating disasters in Darjeeling Hills, the paper adopts the Pressure and Release Model (PAR) that provides a theoretical insight into the study of social and political aspects of disasters, and to examine myriads of other related issues therein. The PAR model conceptualises risk as a complex combination of vulnerabilities, on the one hand, and hazards, on the other. Disasters, within the PAR framework, occur when hazards interact with vulnerabilities. The root causes of vulnerability, in turn, could be traced to social and political structures such as legal definitions of rights, gender relations, and other ideological structures and processes. In this way, the PAR model helps the present study to identify and unpack the root causes of vulnerabilities and disasters in Darjeeling hills that have largely remained neglected in dominant discourses, thereby providing a more nuanced and sociologically sensitive understanding of disasters.

Keywords: Darjeeling, disasters, PAR, vulnerabilities

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Authors: Dan Luo

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With the climate change can exacerbate exposure of cultural heritage to climatic stressors, scholars pin their hope on digital technology can help the site avoid surprises. Virtual museum has been regarded as a highly effective technology that enables people to gain enjoyable visiting experience and immersive information about cultural heritage. The technology clearly reproduces the images of the tangible cultural heritage, and the aesthetic experience created by new media helps consumers escape from the realistic environment full of uncertainty. The new cultural anchor has appeared outside the cultural sites. This article synthesizes the international literature on the virtual museum by developing diagrams of Citespace focusing on the tangible cultural heritage and the alarmingly situation has emerged in the process of resolving climate change: (1) Digital collections are the different cultural assets for public. (2) The media ecology change people ways of thinking and meeting style of cultural heritage. (3) Cultural heritage may live forever in the digital world. This article provides a typical practice information to manage cultural heritage in a changing climate—the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in the far northwest of China, which is a worldwide cultural heritage site famous for its remarkable and sumptuous murals. This monument is a typical synthesis of art containing 735 Buddhist temples, which was listed by UNESCO as one of the World Cultural Heritage sites. The caves contain some extraordinary examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years - the architectural form, the sculptures in the caves, and the murals on the walls, all together constitute a wonderful aesthetic experience. Unfortunately, this magnificent treasure cave has been threatened by increasingly frequent dust storms and precipitation. The Dunhuang Academy has been using digital technology since the last century to preserve these immovable cultural heritages, especially the murals in the caves. And then, Dunhuang culture has become a new media culture after introduce the art to the world audience through exhibitions, VR, video, etc. The paper chooses qualitative research method that used Nvivo software to encode the collected material to answer this question. The author paid close attention to the survey in Dunhuang City, including participated in 10 exhibition and 20 salons that are Dunhuang-themed on network. What’s more, 308 visitors were interviewed who are fans of the art and have experienced Dunhuang culture online(6-75 years).These interviewees have been exposed to Dunhuang culture through different media, and they are acutely aware of the threat to this cultural heritage. The conclusion is that the unique halo of the cultural heritage was always emphasized, and digital media breeds twin brothers of cultural heritage. In addition, the digital media make it possible for cultural heritage to reintegrate into the daily life of the masses. Visitors gain the opportunity to imitate the mural figures through enlarged or emphasized images but also lose the perspective of understanding the whole cultural life. New media construct a new life aesthetics apart from the Authorized heritage discourse.

Keywords: cultural ecology, digital twins, life aesthetics, media

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Authors: Severino Machingambi

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Most academics entering Higher education as lecturers in South Africa do not have qualifications in Education or teaching. This creates serious problems since they are not sufficiently equipped with pedagogical approaches and theories that inform their facilitation of learning strategies. This, arguably, is one of the reasons why higher education institutions are experiencing high student failure rate. In order to mitigate this problem, it is critical that higher education institutions devise internal academic staff development programmes to capacitate academics with pedagogical skills and competencies so as to enhance the quality of student learning. This paper reported on how the Teaching and Learning Development Centre of a university used design-based research methodology to conceptualise and implement an academic staff development programme for new academics at a university of technology. This approach revolves around the designing, testing and refining of an educational intervention. Design-based research is an important methodology for understanding how, when, and why educational innovations work in practice. The need for a professional development course for academics arose due to the fact that most academics at the university did not have teaching qualifications and many of them were employed straight from industry with little understanding of pedagogical approaches. This paper examines three key aspects of the programme namely, the preliminary phase, the teaching experiment and the retrospective analysis. The preliminary phase is the stage in which the problem identification takes place. The problem that this research sought to address relates to the unsatisfactory academic performance of the majority of the students in the institution. It was therefore hypothesized that the problem could be dealt with by professionalising new academics through engagement in an academic staff development programme. The teaching experiment phase afforded researchers and participants in the programme the opportunity to test and refine the proposed intervention and the design principles upon which it was based. The teaching experiment phase revolved around the testing of the new academics professional development programme. This phase created a platform for researchers and academics in the programme to experiment with various activities and instructional strategies such as case studies, observations, discussions and portfolio building. The teaching experiment phase was followed by the retrospective analysis stage in which the research team looked back and tried to give a trustworthy account of the teaching/learning process that had taken place. A questionnaire and focus group discussions were used to collect data from participants that helped to evaluate the programme and its implementation. One of the findings of this study was that academics joining university really need an academic induction programme that inducts them into the discourse of teaching and learning. The study also revealed that existing academics can be placed on formal study programmes in which they acquire educational qualifications with a view to equip them with useful classroom discourses. The study, therefore, concludes that new and existing academics in universities should be supported through induction programmes and placement on formal studies in teaching and learning so that they are capacitated as facilitators of learning.

Keywords: academic staff, pedagogy, programme, staff development

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Authors: Victoria C. Valdebenito

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Located within the context of accelerating globalization in the 21^st-century knowledge society, this paper focuses on one selected university in Chile at which radical curriculum policy changes have been taking place, diverging from the traditional curriculum in Chile at the undergraduate level as a section of a larger investigation. Using a ‘policy trajectory’ framework, and guided by the interpretivist approach to research, interview transcripts and institutional documents were analyzed in relation to the meso (university administration) and the micro (academics) level. Inside the case study, participants from the university administration and academic levels were selected both via snow-ball technique and purposive selection, thus they had different levels of seniority, with some participating actively in the curriculum reform processes. Guided by an interpretivist approach to research, documents and interview transcripts were analyzed to reveal major themes emerging from the data. A further ‘bigger picture’ analysis guided by critical theory was then undertaken, involving interrogation of underlying ideologies and how political and economic interests influence the cultural production of policy. The case-study university was selected because it represents a traditional and old case of university setting in the country, undergoing curriculum changes based on international trends such as the competency model and the liberal arts. Also, it is representative of a particular socioeconomic sector of the country. Access to the university was gained through email contact. Qualitative research methods were used, namely interviews and analysis of institutional documents. In all, 18 people were interviewed. The number was defined by when the saturation criterion was met. Semi-structured interview schedules were based on the four research questions about influences, policy texts, policy enactment and longer-term outcomes. Triangulation of information was used for the analysis. While there was no intention to generalize the specific findings of the case study, the results of the research were used as a focus for engagement with broader themes, often evident in global higher education policy developments. The research results were organized around major themes in three of the four contexts of the ‘policy trajectory’. Regarding the context of influences and the context of policy text production, themes relate to hegemony exercised by first world countries’ universities in the higher education field, its associated neoliberal ideology, with accountability and the discourse of continuous improvement, the local responses to those pressures, and the value of interdisciplinarity. Finally, regarding the context of policy practices and effects (enactment), themes emerged around the impacts of the curriculum changes on university staff, students, and resistance amongst academics. The research concluded with a few recommendations that potentially provide ‘food for thought’ beyond the localized settings of this study, as well as possibilities for further research.

Keywords: curriculum, global-local dynamics, higher education, policy, sociology of education

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Authors: Nioofar Margarite Rouhani

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Using a case study methodology, this study explores the lived experiences of elite women footballers (soccer) team in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the challenges and enablers women in this country encountered in their journey to competing at an international level. Through a series of face-to-face interviews with members of the first all-Emirati (people with UAE passport) women’s football team, members of the team’s coaching staff and key policymakers, the study sought to explore the social and cultural conditions that enabled the emergence of this team. A key aim of the study was to analyze the cultural shifts that have seemingly facilitated changes to gender relations in the UAE and to highlight possibilities for future gender equality work. The study explores the significance of sport in UAE society and its role in disrupting traditional gender boundaries. To do this, the study identifies and analyses contemporary social (religion, class, and culture) conditions that facilitate, and/or restrict, women’s sports participation in the public sphere of sport. Drawing on a feminist poststructural framework the study sought to analyse the discursive enactment of (disruptive) gender identity positions, using lenses such as ‘discourse’ and ‘power’. With a particular focus on elite women’s sport, the study sought to build knowledge around the advance of female participation in what has long been considered as a masculine domain. Here, the study sought to explore the lived experience of social change through a series of face-to-face interviews with members of the first all-Emirati- women’s football team and key support personnel. To maintain representational integrity, the principles of narrative methodology were employed for their ability to privilege the voices of participants while integrating contextual forces that comprised the stories they told about their experiences and the key people who participated in them. This approach supported a key aim of the study, being to analyse the cultural shifts that have supported changes in gender performance in the UAE and to highlight possibilities for future gender disruption. While the results of the study convey a growing sense of opportunity for aspiring sportswomen in the UAE, they also reveal that the participant pathways were full of contestation and restriction. What we learn from the stories of the first Emirate women’s football team is that where the will is strong enough, there can be a way. While it is reasonable to assume that such pathways will become easier in the future, as the participation of women in such sporting arenas becomes less exceptional, there are factors that are likely to enable and disable such journeys. Prominent here is the presence of a ‘powerful’ guardian and mentor who can offer sustained support, and influence. In a society where males continue to have disproportionate access to social and domestic power, such support can be extremely influential. Guardians and mentors can play a crucial role in garnering the support of dominant male figures, or helping to find ways to work around it.

Keywords: gender equality, women, sport, Middle East

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Authors: Tiffany Chuang

Abstract:

The study of inequality in urban space has typically emphasized class and race as dimensions of stratification, but a small and growing body of work also pays attention to exclusionary processes based on moral grounds, as is the case with mainstream disapproval of sexually oriented businesses and red-light districts. However, many sexually-oriented businesses co-exist with similar non-sexually oriented businesses in the tourism and broader entertainment industries. Furthermore, regulators and tourism- and entertainment industries are acknowledged by regulators and ordinary citizens as important contributors to the economy, and in the case of aspiring global cities, to urban prestige. Under such circumstances, it is important to examine how policymakers, residents, and other stakeholders distinguish between sexually oriented and non-sexually oriented businesses, as well as how such efforts shape moral geographies in urban settings. To address this question, this paper introduces the concept of permeable industries to describe businesses that, by their very nature of providing adult entertainment along with a measure of privacy and discretion, facilitate easy interchange between their officially sanctioned purposes and illicit or stigmatised uses, most notably by the sex industry. The permeability and ambiguity surrounding the sexual- and non-sexual activities in such establishments is in fact, a source of tension that generates energetic boundary-drawing exercises that designate legitimate from illegitimate establishments. This paper draws on three years of ethnographic fieldwork, qualitative research, and archival research (1920—2020) on Joo Chiat, a neighborhood in the city-state of Singapore. It then analyzes how middle-class residents reacted to the sudden influx of sexually oriented businesses in the early 2000s, turning the once-quiet residential and commercial neighborhood into a semi-red-light district staffed by migrant Asian women. Ironically, the red-light district had been inadvertently precipitated by the state’s neoliberal policies in the 1990s to cultivate suburban neighborhoods as decentralized tourist attractions while loosening social regulations in pursuit of global city ambitions. Residents mobilized around the discourse of “sleaze”, using it to draw symbolic boundaries while advocating for regulatory boundaries between sexually oriented and non-sexually oriented businesses in the neighborhood. Since the concept of “sleaze” was informed by middle-class distaste for low-status sex work, the result of residents’ efforts was a state-endorsed moral geography that excluded sexually-oriented businesses while tolerating adult-oriented entertainment businesses that dovetailed with global city aspirations. This study contributes to the study of urban inequality by demonstrating the importance of boundary work in reproducing respectability politics, which in turn shapes the urban geographies of moral worth.

Keywords: moral geography, boundary work, respectability politics, entertainment businesses

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Authors: Ana Nemsadze

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Contemporary era and society are called postindustrial era and postindustrial society and/or informational era and informational society. Today science intends to define concept of information and comprehend informations role and function in contemporary society. Organization of social environment and governance of public processes on the base of information and tools of communication are main characteristics of informational era. This was defined by technological changes which were accomplished in culture in the second half of twentieth century. Today Georgia as an independent state needs to create an informational discourse of the country and therefore it is very important to study political and social cases which accomplished in the country after collapse of the Soviet Union because they start to define the present and the future of the country. The purpose of this study is to analyze political cases of the latest history of Georgia in terms of culture and information, concretely to elucidate which political cases transformed social life of post Soviet Georgia most of all who accomplished these political cases which visual and verbal messages was each political case spread with. The research is conducted on the base of interview. Participants of the interview are people of various specializations. Their professional activity is related to reflections on culture and theme of visual communication. They are philosophers sociologists a journalist media researcher a politologist a painter. The participants of the interview enumerated political cases and characterized them separately. Every expert thinks that declaration of independence of Georgia is the most important fact among all facts which were implemented in Georgia after collapse of the Soviet Union. The research revealed important social and political cases. Most of the cases are related to independence and territorial integrity of the state. Presidents of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia Eduard Shevardnadze Mikheil Saakashvili Catholocos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta Tbilisi and Metropolitan bishop of Bichvinta and Tskhum Abkhazia Ilia II, businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili assumed dominating roles in cases. Verbal narrative of the cases accomplished during Zviad Gamsakhurdia presidential term expresses national freedom and visual part of cases of the same period expresses ruin of social-political structure. Verbal narrative of the cases accomplished during Eduard Sevardnadze presidential term expresses Free State and stability and reestablishment of Georgias political function in international relations and visual part of cases of the same period describes the most important moment of his presidential term and Eduard Shevardnadzes face appears too. Verbal narrative of the cases accomplished during Mikheil Saakashvilis presidential term expresses social renewal and visual part of cases of the same period describes August war and Mikheil Saakashvilis face appears too. The results of the study also reveal other details of visual verbal narrative of political and social cases of post Soviet Georgia. This gives a chance to start further reflection.

Keywords: culture, narrative, post soviet, visual communication

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Authors: Mohammed Makki, Milad Showkatbakhsh, Aiman Tabony

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Computational applications of natural evolutionary processes as problem-solving tools have been well established since the mid-20th century. However, their application within architecture and design has only gained ground in recent years, with an increasing number of academics and professionals in the field electing to utilize evolutionary computation to address problems comprised from multiple conflicting objectives with no clear optimal solution. Recent advances in computer science and its consequent constructive influence on the architectural discourse has led to the emergence of multiple algorithmic processes capable of simulating the evolutionary process in nature within an efficient timescale. Many of the developed processes of generating a population of candidate solutions to a design problem through an evolutionary based stochastic search process are often driven through the application of both environmental and architectural parameters. These methods allow for conflicting objectives to be simultaneously, independently, and objectively optimized. This is an essential approach in design problems with a final product that must address the demand of a multitude of individuals with various requirements. However, one of the main challenges encountered through the application of an evolutionary process as a design tool is the ability for the simulation to maintain variation amongst design solutions in the population while simultaneously increasing in fitness. This is most commonly known as the ‘golden rule’ of balancing exploration and exploitation over time; the difficulty of achieving this balance in the simulation is due to the tendency of either variation or optimization being favored as the simulation progresses. In such cases, the generated population of candidate solutions has either optimized very early in the simulation, or has continued to maintain high levels of variation to which an optimal set could not be discerned; thus, providing the user with a solution set that has not evolved efficiently to the objectives outlined in the problem at hand. As such, the experiments presented in this paper seek to achieve the ‘golden rule’ by incorporating a mathematical fitness criterion for the development of an urban tissue comprised from the superblock as its primary architectural element. The mathematical value investigated in the experiments is the standard deviation factor. Traditionally, the standard deviation factor has been used as an analytical value rather than a generative one, conventionally used to measure the distribution of variation within a population by calculating the degree by which the majority of the population deviates from the mean. A higher standard deviation value delineates a higher number of the population is clustered around the mean and thus limited variation within the population, while a lower standard deviation value is due to greater variation within the population and a lack of convergence towards an optimal solution. The results presented will aim to clarify the extent to which the utilization of the standard deviation factor as a fitness criterion can be advantageous to generating fitter individuals in a more efficient timeframe when compared to conventional simulations that only incorporate architectural and environmental parameters.

Keywords: architecture, computation, evolution, standard deviation, urban

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