Search results for: socially constructed

Authors: Hsiao-Yung Wang

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This essay aims to examine how the discursive formation of the 'transing-nationalism' (which is extended and slightly modified from 'homonationalism') had been constructed in the Taiwanese news media before the legalization of 'sex reassignment surgery (SRS)' in 1988. Samples for rhetorical analysis were selected from two mainstream newspapers, including China Times, and United Daily. The time frame for sample selection is from August 1953 (when the first transgender case was reported) to 1988, while the SRS was legalized in Taiwan. To enhance understanding of media representation as contextualized-based, the author refers to the representative of spatial rhetoric Mikhail Bakhtin for his late study on 'emergence' and 'visualization of time' in Bildungsroman; thereby categorizing the media discourse of transgender into two critical period: (1) transgender as 'misrecognized' and 'included' into the rhetoric of modern medical space; (2) transgender as 'institutionalized' into discourse of protection and salvation by the reified sympathy of nation-state. These two periods and relevant spatial rhetoric were of no immediate concern on the vital interest of transgender individuals; therefore constructed the imagery of transgender for the service of nationalism rather than gender consciousness or human right rhetoric. Based on the research findings, this essay concludes that 'queer multiplicity' should be regarded as not only the guideline for the amendment of the gendered policies and laws but the rhetorical resources for the mobilization of transgender movement in Taiwan from now on.

Keywords: Bakhtin, legalization, rhetoric, sex reassignment surgery, transgender, transing-nationalism

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Authors: Lingling Shui, Shuting Xie

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As alternatives to electronic devices, optically active structures from responsive nanomaterials offer great opportunity buildup smart functional sensors. Hereby, we report on droplet microfluidics enabled construction and application of photonic microcapsules (PMCs) for colorimetric temperature microsensors, enabling miniaturization for injectable local micro-area sensing and integration for large-area sensing. Monodispersed PMCs are produced by in-situ photopolymerization of hydrogel shells of cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC)-in-water-in-oil double emulsion droplets prepared using microfluidic devices, with controllable physical structures and chemical compositions. Constructed PMCs exhibit thermal responsive structural color according to the selective Bragg reflection of CLC’s periodical helical structures within the microdroplet’s spherical confinement. Constructed PMCs with tunable size and composition have been successfully applied for monitoring the living cell extracellular temperature via co-incubation with cell suspension, and for detecting human body temperature via a flexible device from assembled PMCs. These PMCs could be flexibly applied in either micro-environment or large-area surface, enabling wide applications for precision temperature monitoring biological activities (e.g. cells or organs), optoelectronic devices working conditions (e.g. temperature indicators under extreme conditions), and etc.

Keywords: droplet, microfluidics, assembly, soft materials, microsensor

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Authors: Zohreh Derikvand

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One new 2D metal-organic coordination polymer of Ni(II) namely [Ni2(ndc)2(DMSO)4(H2O)]n, where ndc = naphthalene-1,4-dicarboxylic acid and DMSO= dimethyl sulfoxide has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, spectral (IR, UV-Vis), thermal (TG/DTG) analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 possesses a 2D layer structure constructed from dinuclear nickel(II) building blocks in which two crystallographically independent Ni2+ ions are bridged by ndc2– ligands and water molecule. The ndc2– ligands adopt μ3 bridging modes, linking the metal centers into a two-dimensional coordination framework. The two independent NiII cations are surrounded by dimethyl sulfoxide and naphthalene-1,4-dicarboxylate molecules in distorted octahedron geometry. In the crystal structures of 1 there are non-classical hydrogen bonding arrangements and C-H–π stacking interactions. Electrochemical behavior of [Ni2(ndc)2(DMSO)4(H2O)]n, (Ni-NDA) on the surface of carbon nanotube (CNTs) glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was described. The surface structure and composition of the sensor were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Oxidation of fructose on the surface of modified electrode was investigated with cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and the results showed that the Ni-NDA/CNTs film displays excellent electrochemical catalytic activities towards fructose oxidation.

Keywords: naphthalene-1, 4-dicarboxylic acid, crystal structure, coordination polymer, electrocatalysis, impedance spectroscopy

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Authors: Jianshu Yang, Delphine Sordes, Marek Kolmer, Christian Joachim

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Nanoelectronics, for example the calculating circuits integrating at molecule scale logic gates, atomic scale circuits, has been constructed and investigated recently. A major challenge is their functional properties characterization because of the connecting problem from atomic scale to micrometer scale. New experimental instruments and new processes have been proposed therefore. To satisfy a precisely measurement at atomic scale and then connecting micrometer scale electrical integration controller, the technique improvement is kept on going. Our new machine, a low temperature high vacuum four scanning tunneling microscope, as a customer required instrument constructed by Omicron GmbH, is expected to be scaling down to atomic scale characterization. Here, we will present our first testified results about the performance of this new instrument. The sample we selected is Au(111) surface. The measurements have been taken at 4.2 K. The atomic resolution surface structure was observed with each of four scanners with noise level better than 3 pm. With a tip-sample distance calibration by I-z spectra, the sample conductance has been derived from its atomic locally I-V spectra. Furthermore, the surface conductance measurement has been performed using two methods, (1) by landing two STM tips on the surface with sample floating; and (2) by sample floating and one of the landed tips turned to be grounding. In addition, single atom manipulation has been achieved with a modified tip design, which is comparable to a conventional LT-STM.

Keywords: low temperature ultra-high vacuum four scanning tunneling microscope, nanoelectronics, point contact, single atom manipulation, tunneling resistance

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Authors: Maheshwari Payal, Shapurkar Mayaan

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The present research aimed at studying the awareness and attitudes of teachers towards inclusive education. The sample consisted of 60 teachers, teaching in the primary section (1st – 4th) of regular schools affiliated to the SSC board in Mumbai. The sample was selected by Multi-stage cluster sampling technique. A semi-structured self-constructed interview schedule and a self-constructed attitude scale were used to study the awareness of teachers about disability and Inclusive education, and their attitudes towards inclusive education respectively. Themes were extracted from the interview data and quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS package. Results revealed that teachers had some amount of awareness but an inadequate amount of information on disabilities and inclusive education. Disability to most (37) teachers meant “an inability to do something”. The difference between disability and handicap was stated by most as former being cognitive while handicap being physical in nature. With regard to Inclusive education, a large number (46) stated that they were unaware of the term and did not know what it meant. The majority (52) of them perceived maximum challenges for themselves in an inclusive set up, and emphasized on the role of teacher training courses in the area of providing knowledge (49) and training in teaching methodology (53). Although, 83.3% of teachers held a moderately positive attitude towards inclusive education, a large percentage (61.6%) of participants felt that being in inclusive set up would be very challenging for both children with special needs and without special needs. Though, most (49) of the teachers stated that children with special needs should be educated in a regular classroom, but they further clarified that only those should be in a regular classroom who have physical impairments of mild or moderate degree.

Keywords: attitude, awareness, inclusive education, teachers

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Authors: Suxiang Yu

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As an early childhood teacher in a socially and economically highly disadvantaged suburb in regional QLD, the author endeavors to find out effective positive approaches to behavior management for a classroom that is overwhelmed with challenging behaviors. After evaluating the first-hand data collected from the action research, the author summarizes a few innovative, positive behavior management strategies. The research also implies that behavior management opportunities are actually great social and emotional teachable moments, and by tapping into those teachable moments effectively, the teacher and children will have a closer relationship.

Keywords: action research, behavior management, classroom strategies, social and emotional teaching

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Authors: Anthony Iyenjamu, Josiah Adeyemo

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Due to the increasing water scarcity in South Africa, the prime focus of irrigation in South Africa shifts to creating feasible water sources and the efficient use of these sources. These irrigation systems in South Africa are implemented because of low and erratic rainfall and high evaporative demand. Irrigation contributes significantly to crop production in South Africa, as the mean annual precipitation for the country is usually less than 500mm. This is considered to be the minimum required for rain fed cropping. Even though the rainfall is low, a lot of the water in various areas in South Africa is lost due to runoff into storm water systems that run to the rivers and eventually into the sea. This study reviews the irrigation systems in South Africa which can be vastly improved by creating irrigation dams. A method of which may seem costly at first but rewarding with time. The study investigates the process of creating dam capacity capable of sustaining a suitable area size of land to be irrigated and thus diverting all runoff into these dams. This type of infrastructure method vastly improves various sectors in our irrigation systems. Extensive research is carried out in the surrounding area in which the dam should be constructed. Rainfall patterns and rainfall data is used for calculations of which period the dam will be at its optimum using rainfall. The size of the area irrigated was used to calculate the size of the irrigation dam to be constructed. The location of the dam must be situated as close to the river as possible to minimize the excessive use of pipelines to the dam. This study also investigated all existing resources to alleviate the cost. It was found that irrigation dams could solve the erratic distribution of rainfall in South Africa for irrigation purposes.

Keywords: irrigation, rainfed, rain harvesting, reservoir

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Authors: Emre Kishalı, Neslihan TürkmenoğLu Bayraktar

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Historical buildings may face various impacts throughout their life cycle. There have been environmental, structural, public works actions on old monuments influencing sustainability and maintenance issues. As a result, ancient monuments can have been undergone various changes in the context of restoration and repair. Currently, these buildings face integrated conditions including city planning macro solutions, old intervention methods, modifications in building envelope and artefacts in terms of conservation. Moreover, documentation of phases is an essential for assessing the historical building, yet it can result in highly complicated and interwoven issues. Herein, two monuments constructed in the 16th century are selected as case studies in Kocaeli, Turkey which are located in different micro climatic conditions and/or exposed to different interventions and which are important for the city as cultural property. Pertev Paşa Mosque (also known as Yenicuma Mosque) -constructed by Architect Sinan-; Gebze Çoban Mustafa Paşa Mosque -constructed in 1523 and known as the work of Architect Sinan but various names asserted as the architect of building according to resources. Active water infiltration and damages, recent material interventions, hidden niches, and foundation techniques of the mosque are investigated via Infrared Thermography under the project of 114K284, “Non-Destructive Test Applications, in the Context of Planned Conservation, through Historical Mosques of Kocaeli: Coban Mustafa Pasa Mosque, Fevziye Mosque and Pertev Pasa Mosque” funded by TUBITAK. It is aimed to reveal active deteriorations on building elements generated by unwanted effects of structural and climatic conditions, historical interventions, and modifications by monitoring the variation of surface temperature and humidity by IRT visualization method which is an important non- destructive process for investigation of monuments in the conservation field in the context of planned conservation. It is also concluded that in-situ monitoring process via IRT through different climatic conditions give substantial information on the behaviour of the envelope to the physical environmental conditions by observation of thermal performance, degradations. However, it is obvious that monitoring of historical buildings cannot be pursued by implementing a single non-destructive technique to have complete data of the structure.

Keywords: IRT, non-destructive test, planned conservation, mosque

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Authors: Mukesh K. Dwivedi, Rajeshwar N. Srivastava, Amit K. Bhagat, Saloni Raj

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Introduction: Management of Pressure Ulcer (PU) is an ongoing clinical challenge particularly in traumatic paraplegia patients in developing countries where socio economic conditions often dictate treatment modalities. When negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) was introduced, there were a series of devices (V.A.C., KCI, San Antonio, TX) manufactured. These devices for NPWT are costly and hard to afford by patients in developing countries like India. Considering this limitation, this study was planned to design an RCT to compare NPWT by an indigenized locally constructed NPD and conventional gauze dressing for the treatment of PU. Material and Methods: This RCT (CTRI/2014/09/0050) was conducted in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at King George’s Medical University (KGMU), India. Thirty-four (34) subjects of traumatic paraplegia having PU of stage 3 or 4, were enrolled and randomized in two treatment groups (NPWT Group & Conventional dressing group). The outcome measures of this study were surface area and depth of PU, exudates, microorganisms and matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8) during 0 to 9 weeks follow-ups. Levels of MMP-8 were analyzed in the tissues of PU at week 0, 3, 6 and week 9 by Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA). Results: Significantly reduced length of PU in NPWT group was observed at week 6 (p=0.04) which further reduced at week 9 (p=0.001) as compared to conventionally treated group. Similarly significant reduction of width and depth of PU was observed in NPWT at week 9 (p<0.05). The exudate became significantly (p=0.001) lower in NPWT group as compared with conventionally treated group from 6th to 9th week. Clearance and conversion of slough into red granulation tissue was significantly higher in NPWT group (p=0.001). At week 9, the wound culture was negative in all the subjects of NPWT group, while it was positive in 10 (41⋅6%) subjects of conventional group. Significantly lower level of MMP-8 was observed in subjects of NPWT group at week 6 (0.006**), and continually more reduction was observed at week 9 (<0.0001**) as compared to the conventional group. Conclusion: NPWT by locally constructed NPD is better wound care procedure for management of PU. Our device gave similar results as commercially available devices. Reduction of level of MMP-8 and increased rate of healing was achieved by negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) as compared to conventional dressing.

Keywords: NPWT, NPD, MMP8, ELISA

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Authors: Bhawna Devi, Girishwar Misra, Rajni Sahni

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Menarche and menstruation is a nearly universal experience in adolescent girls’ lives, yet based on several observations it has been found that it is rarely explicitly talked about, and remains poorly understood. By menarche, girls are likely to have been influenced not only by cultural stereotypes about menstruation, but also by information acquired through significant others. Their own expectations about menstruation are likely to influence their reports of menarcheal experience. The aim of this study is to examine how girls construct meaning around menarche and menstruation in social interactions and specific contexts along with conceptualized experiences which is ‘owned’ by individual girls. Twenty adolescent girls from New Delhi (India), between the ages of 12 to 19 years (mean age = 15.1) participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to capture the nuances of menarche and menstrual experiences of these twenty adolescent girls. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. From the detailed analysis of transcribed data main themes that emerged were- Menarche: A Trammeled Sky to Fly, Menarche as Flashbulb Memory, Hidden Secret: Shame and Fear, Hallmark of Womanhood, Menarche as Illness. Therefore, the finding unfolds that menarche and menstruation were largely constructed as embarrassing, shameful and something to be hidden, specifically within the school context and in general when they are outside of their home. Menstruation was also constructed as illness that programmed ‘feeling of weaknesses’ into them. The production and perpetuation of gender-related difference narratives was also evident. Implications for individuals, as well as for the subjugation of girls and women, are discussed, and it is argued that current negative representations of, and practices in relation to, menarche and menstruation need to be challenged.

Keywords: embarrassment, gender-related difference, hidden secret, illness, menarche and menstruation

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Authors: N. Abbas, S. Lagomarsino, S. Cattari

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Examining existing experimental results for shallow rigid foundations subjected to vertical centric load (N), accompanied or not with a bending moment (M), two main non-linear mechanisms governing the cyclic ‎response of the soil-foundation system can be distinguished: foundation uplift and soil yielding. A soil-foundation failure limit, is defined as a domain of resistance in the two dimensional (2D) load space (N, M) inside of which lie all the admissible combinations of loads; these latter correspond to a pure elastic, non-linear elastic or plastic behavior of the soil-foundation system, while the points lying on the failure limit correspond to a combination of loads leading to a failure of the soil-foundation system. In this study, the proposed resistance domain is constructed analytically based on mechanics. Original elastic limit, uplift initiation ‎limit and iso-uplift limits are constructed inside this domain. These limits give a prediction ‎of the mechanisms activated for each combination of loads applied to the ‎foundation. A comparison of the proposed failure limit with experimental tests existing in the literature shows interesting results. Also, the developed uplift initiation limit and iso-uplift curves are confronted with others already proposed in the literature and widely used due to the absence of other alternatives, and remarkable differences are noted, showing evident errors in the past proposals and relevant accuracy for those given in the present work.

Keywords: foundation uplift, iso-uplift curves, resistance domain, soil yield

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Authors: Vaidehi Raipat

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A city is an expression of coexistence between its users and built environment. The way in which its spaces are animated signify the quality of this coexistence. Urban sustainability is the ability of a city to respond efficiently towards its people, culture, environment, visual image, history, visions and identity. The quality of built environment determines the quality of our lifestyles, but poor ability of the built environment to adapt and sustain itself through the changes leads to degradation of cities. Ranchi was created in November 2000, as the capital of the newly formed state Jharkhand, located on eastern side of India. Before this Ranchi was known as summer capital of Bihar and was a little larger than a town in terms of development. But since then it has been vigorously expanding in size, infrastructure as well as population. This sudden expansion has created a stress on existing built environment. The large forest covers, agricultural land, diverse culture and pleasant climatic conditions have degraded and decreased to a large extent. Narrow roads and old buildings are unable to bear the load of the changing requirements, fast improving technology and growing population. The built environment has hence been rendered unsustainable and unadaptable through fastidious changes of present era. Some of the common hazards that can be easily spotted in the built environment are half-finished built forms, pedestrians and vehicles moving on the same part of the road. Unpaved areas on street edges. Over-sized, bright and randomly placed hoardings. Negligible trees or green spaces. The old buildings have been poorly maintained and the new ones are being constructed over them. Roads are too narrow to cater to the increasing traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular. The streets have a large variety of activities taking place on them, but haphazardly. Trees are being cut down for road widening and new constructions. There is no space for greenery in the commercial as well as old residential areas. The old infrastructure is deteriorating because of poor maintenance and the economic limitations. Pseudo understanding of functionality as well as aesthetics drive the new infrastructure. It is hence necessary to evaluate the extent of sustainability of existing built environment of the city and create or regenerate the existing built environment into a more sustainable and adaptable one. For this purpose, research titled “Sustainability of the Built Environment of Ranchi District” has been carried out. In this research the condition of the built environment of Ranchi are explored so as to figure out the problems and shortcomings existing in the city and provide for design strategies that can make the existing built-environment sustainable. The built environment of Ranchi that include its outdoor spaces like streets, parks, other open areas, its built forms as well as its users, has been analyzed in terms of various urban design parameters. Based on which strategies have been suggested to make the city environmentally, socially, culturally and economically sustainable.

Keywords: adaptable, built-environment, sustainability, urban

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Authors: Mursal Ibrahim Zada

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Since 2001, the new Government of Afghanistan has put the improvement of transportation in rural area as one of the key issues for the development of the country. Since then, about 17,000 km of rural roads were planned to be constructed in the entire country. This thesis will assess the impact of rural road improvement on the development of rural communities and housing facilities. Specifically, this study aims to show that the improved road has leads to an improvement in the community, which in turn has a positive effect on the lives of rural people. To obtain this goal, a questionnaire survey was conducted in March 2015 to the residents of four different districts of Kabul province, Afghanistan, where the road projects were constructed in recent years. The collected data was analyzed using on a regression analysis considering different factors such as land price, waiting time at the station, travel time to the city, number of employed family members and so on. Three models are developed to demonstrate the relationship between different factors before and after the improvement of rural transportation. The results showed a significant change positively in the value of land price and housing facilities, travel time to the city, waiting time at the station, number of employed family members, fare per trip to the city, and number of trips to the city per month after the pavement of the road. The results indicated that the improvement of transportation has a significant impact on the improvement of the community in different parts, especially on the price of land and housing facility and travel time to the city.

Keywords: accessibility, Afghanistan, housing facility, rural area, land price

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Authors: Deniss Rozkov, Hendrik Idema

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This paper researches the gender-based differences among US-American institutional investors regarding their preferences for sustainable development goals (SDGs) when investing. After employing a structured questionnaire as well as applying a choice-based conjoint analysis, it is found that female investors place significantly more emphasis on SDGs, especially in the social and ecological domain, exhibiting significantly stronger “other-regarding” characteristics compared to their male counterparts. Further, the results of the survey show that females show significantly higher risk aversion than males by selecting moderately conservative and moderate risk approaches.

Keywords: sustainable development goals, investing, socially responsible investor, gender, conjoint analysis

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Authors: Fadi Chammas, Saad Alkhaldi, Tariq Alghamdi, Stefano Alexandirs

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The operating conditions and corrosive nature of the process fluid in the Haradh and Hawiyah areas are subjecting facility piping to undesirable corrosion phenomena. Therefore, production headers inside remote headers have been internally cladded with high alloy material to mitigate the corrosion damage mechanism. Corrosion mitigation in the jump-over lines, constructed between the existing flowlines and the newly constructed facilities to provide operational flexibility, is proposed. This corrosion mitigation system includes the application of fusion bond epoxy (FBE) coating on the internal surface of the pipe and depositing corrosion-resistant alloy (CRA) weld layers at pipe and fittings ends to protect the carbon steel material. In addition, high alloy CRA weld material is used to deposit the girth weld between the 90-degree elbows and mating internally coated segments. A rigorous testing and qualification protocol was established prior to actual adoption at the Haradh and Hawiyah Field Gas Compression Program, currently being executed by Saudi Aramco. The proposed mitigation system, aimed at applying the cladding at the ends of the internally FBE coated pipes/elbows, will resolve field joint coating challenges, eliminate the use of approximately (1700) breakout flanges, and prevent the potential hydrocarbon leaks.

Keywords: pipelines, corrosion, cost-saving, project completion

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Authors: Prapaipan Phingchim

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The number of women approaching menopausal age in Thailand is increasing, making menopause an important health topic. In order to understand Thai women's different ways of interpreting menopausal experiences and the way they construct meaning relating to menopause, it is necessary to include the context in which meaning is constructed as well as the background of cultural attitudes to menopause existing in the Thai society. The aim of this study was to describe different discourses on menopause in Thailand that present themselves to menopausal women through the use of language and to analyze linguistic strategies used to represent such identity. This study adopts discourse theory and a close pragmatic analysis to examine the discursive construction of menopause for Thai women. Two hundreds and fifteen pieces of text under the heading or subject of `menopause' or `becoming a middle-aged woman', published from 2010 to 2019, were included. All material was addressed to Thai women, and consisted of booklets and informational material, articles from newspapers and magazines and popular science books. Five different discourses on menopause were identified: the biomedical discourse; the health-promotion discourse; the consumer discourse; the alternative discourse; and the feminist/ critical discourse. The biomedical discourse on menopause was found to be dominant, but was expanded or challenged by other discourses by offering different scopes of action and/or resting on different fundamental values. The discourses constructed and positioned individual women differently; thus, the women's position varied noticeably from one discourse to another. There are seven major linguistic strategies used to construct those identities. That is, lexical selection, presupposition manipulation, presupposition denial, the use of implication, the use of passive construction, using the cause and effect sentence structure, and rhetoric questions.

Keywords: discourse analysis, discursive construction, menopause, Thai women

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Authors: Naava Dihi, Jon Anson

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Love, so it appears, is not socially blind. We show that partner selection is socially constrained, and the freedom to choose is limited by at least two major factors or capitals: on the one hand, material resources and education, locating the partners on a scale of personal achievement and economic independence. On the other, the partners' ascriptive belonging to particular ethnic, or origin, groups, differentiated by the groups' social prestige, as well as by their culture, history and even physical characteristics. However, the relative importance of achievement and ascriptive factors, as well as the overlap between them, varies from society to society, depending on the society's structure and the factors shaping it. Israeli social structure has been shaped by the waves of new immigrants who arrived over the years. The timing of their arrival, their patterns of physical settlement and their occupational inclusion or exclusion have together created a mosaic of social groups whose principal common feature has been the country of origin from which they arrived. The analysis of marriage patterns helps illuminate the social meanings of the groups and their borders. To the extent that ethnic group membership has meaning for individuals and influences their life choices, the ascriptive factor will gain in importance relative to the achievement factor in their choice of marriage partner. In this research, we examine Jewish Israeli marriage patterns by looking at the marriage choices of 5,041 women aged 15 to 49 who were single at the census in 1983, and who were married at the time of the 1995 census, 12 years later. The database for this study was a file linking respondents from the 1983 and the 1995 censuses. In both cases, 5 percent of household were randomly chosen, so that our sample includes about 4 percent of women in Israel in 1983. We present three basic analyses: (1) Who was still single in 1983, using personal and household data from the 1983 census (binomial model), (2) Who married between 1983 and a1995, using personal and household data from the 1983 census (binomial model), (3) What were the personal characteristics of the womens’ partners in 1995, using data from the 1995 census (loglinear model). We show (i) that material and cultural capital both operate to delay marriage and to increase the probability of remaining single; and (ii) while there is a clear association between ethnic group membership and education, endogamy and homogamy both operate as separate forces which constraint (but do not determine) the choice of marriage partner, and thus both serve to reproduce the current pattern of relationships, as well as identifying patterns of proximity and distance between the different groups.

Keywords: Israel, nuptiality, ascription, achievement

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Authors: Kalu Ram Meena, Aditi Kar Gangopadhyay, Satrajit Mandal

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Two normal populations with different means and same variance are considered, where the variances are known. The population with the smaller sample mean is selected. Various estimators are constructed for the mean of the selected normal population. Finally, they are compared with respect to the bias and MSE risks by the method of Monte-Carlo simulation and their performances are analysed with the help of graphs.

Keywords: estimation after selection, Brewster-Zidek technique, estimators, selected populations

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Authors: Shashi Bhushan, Sucharita Sen

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In India, forest and people are inextricably linked since millions of people live adjacent to or within protected areas and harvest forest products. Indian forest has their own legacy to sustain by its own climatic nature with several social, economic and cultural activities. People surrounding forest areas are not only dependent on this resource for their livelihoods but also for the other source, like religious ceremonies, social customs and herbal medicines, which are determined by the forest like agricultural land, groundwater level, and soil fertility. The assumption that fuelwood and fodder extraction, which is the part of local livelihood leads to deforestation, has so far been the dominant mainstream views in deforestation discourses. Given the occupational division across social groups in Kaimur reserve forest, the differential nature of dependence of forest resources is important to understand. This paper attempts to assess the nature of dependence and impact of forest degradation on rural households across various social groups. Also, an additional element that is added to the enquiry is the way degradation of forests leading to scarcity of forest-based resources impacts the patterns of dependence across various social groups. Change in forest area calculated through land use land cover analysis using remote sensing technique and examination of different economic activities carried out by the households that are forest-based was collected by primary survey in Kaimur reserve forest of state of Bihar in India. The general finding indicates that the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste communities, the most socially and economically deprived sections of the rural society are involved in a significant way in collection of fuelwood, fodder, and fruits, both for self-consumption and sale in the market while other groups of society uses fuelwood, fruit, and fodder for self-use only. Depending on the local forest resources for fuelwood consumption was the primary need for all social groups due to easy accessibility and lack of alternative energy source. In last four decades, degradation of forest made a direct impact on rural community mediated through the socio-economic structure, resulting in a shift from forest-based occupations to cultivation and manual labour in agricultural and non-agricultural activities. Thus there is a need to review the policies with respect to the ‘community forest management’ since this study clearly throws up the fact that engagement with and dependence on forest resources is socially differentiated. Thus tying the degree of dependence and forest management becomes extremely important from the view of ‘sustainable’ forest resource management. The statization of forest resources also has to keep in view the intrinsic way in which the forest-dependent population interacts with the forest.

Keywords: forest degradation, livelihood, social groups, tribal community

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Authors: Lin Dong, Fei Shi

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Based on the railway network and the principles of space syntax, the study attempts to reconstruct the spatial relationship of the passenger network connections from space and time perspective. According to the travel time data of main stations in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration obtained by the Internet, the topological drawing of railway network under different time sections is constructed. With the comprehensive index composed of connection and integration, the accessibility and network operation efficiency of the railway network in different time periods is calculated, while the fairness of the network is analyzed by the fairness indicators constructed with the integration and location entropy from the perspective of horizontal and vertical fairness respectively. From the analysis of the efficiency and fairness of the railway passenger transport network, the study finds: (1) There is a strong regularity in regional system accessibility change; (2) The problems of efficiency and fairness are different in different time periods; (3) The improvement of efficiency will lead to the decline of horizontal fairness to a certain extent, while from the perspective of vertical fairness, the supply-demand situation has changed smoothly with time; (4) The network connection efficiency of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions is higher than that of the western regions such as Anqing and Chizhou; (5) The marginalization of Nantong, Yancheng, Yangzhou, Taizhou is obvious. The study explores the application of spatial syntactic theory in regional traffic analysis, in order to provide a reference for the development of urban agglomeration transportation network.

Keywords: spatial syntax, the Yangtze River Delta, railway passenger time, efficiency and fairness

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Authors: Bidzina Matsaberidze

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It is known that, in emergency situations, multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) models are characterized by insufficient objective data and a lack of time to respond to the task. Evidence theory is an effective tool for describing such incomplete information in decision-making models when the expert and his knowledge are involved in the estimations of the MAGDM parameters. We consider an emergency decision-making model, where expert assessments on humanitarian aid from distribution centers (HADC) are represented in q-rung ortho-pair fuzzy numbers, and the data structure is described within the data body theory. Based on focal probability construction and experts’ evaluations, an objective function-distribution centers’ selection ranking index is constructed. Our approach for solving the constructed bicriteria partitioning problem consists of two phases. In the first phase, based on the covering’s matrix, we generate a matrix, the columns of which allow us to find all possible partitionings of the HADCs with the service centers. Some constraints are also taken into consideration while generating the matrix. In the second phase, based on the matrix and using our exact algorithm, we find the partitionings -allocations of the HADCs to the centers- which correspond to the Pareto-optimal solutions. For an illustration of the obtained results, a numerical example is given for the facility location-selection problem.

Keywords: emergency MAGDM, q-rung orthopair fuzzy sets, evidence theory, HADC, facility location problem, multi-objective combinatorial optimization problem, Pareto-optimal solutions

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Authors: Álvaro Ramírez Vidal, Martín Muñoz Morales, Francisco Jesús Fernández Morales, Luis Rodríguez Romero, José Villaseñor Camacho, Javier Llanos López

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In recent times, environmental problems have led to the extensive use of biological systems to solve them. Among the different types of biological systems, the use of plants such as aquatic macrophytes in constructed wetlands and terrestrial plant species for treating polluted soils and sludge has gained importance. Though the use of constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment is a well-researched domain, the slowness of pollutant degradation and high biomass production pose some challenges. Plants used in CW participate in different mechanisms for the capture and degradation of pollutants that also can retain some pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) that are very persistent in the environment. Thus, these systems present advantages in line with the guidelines published for the transition towards friendly and ecological procedures as they are environmentally friendly systems, consume low energy, or capture atmospheric CO₂. However, the use of CW presents some drawbacks, as the slowness of pollutant degradation or the production of important amounts of plant biomass, which need to be harvested and managed periodically. Taking this opportunity in mind, it is important to highlight that this residual biomass (of lignocellulosic nature) could be used as the feedstock for the generation of carbonaceous materials using thermochemical transformations such as slow pyrolysis or hydrothermal carbonization to produce high-value biomass-derived carbons through sustainable processes as adsorbents, catalysts…, thereby improving the circular carbon economy. Thus, this work carried out the analysis of some PPCPs commonly found in urban wastewater, as salicylic acid or ibuprofen, to evaluate the remediation carried out for the Phragmites Australis. Then, after the harvesting, this biomass can be used to synthesize electrodes through hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and produce high-value biomass-derived carbons with electrocatalytic activity to remove heavy metals and persistent pollutants, promoting circular economy concepts. To do this, it was chosen biomass derived from the natural environment in high environmental risk as the Daimiel Wetlands National Park in the center of Spain, and the rest of the biomass developed in a CW specifically designed to remove pollutants. The research emphasizes the impact of the composition of the biomass waste and the synthetic parameters applied during HTC on the electrocatalytic activity. Additionally, this parameter can be related to the physicochemical properties, as porosity, surface functionalization, conductivity, and mass transfer of the electrodes lytic inks. Data revealed that carbon materials synthesized have good surface properties (good conductivities and high specific surface area) that enhance the electro-oxidants generated and promote the removal of PPCPs and the chemical oxygen demand of polluted waters.

Keywords: constructed wetlands, carbon materials, heavy metals, pharmaceutical and personal care products, hydrothermal carbonization

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Authors: Chih-Hsien Chen, Yi-Hung Ho, Chih-Wei Wang, Chih-Wei Chang, Yen-Nien Chen, Chih-Han Chang, Chun-Ting Li

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Laminotomy is a spinal decompression surgery compatible with a minimally invasive approach. However, the unilateral laminotomy for bilateral side decompression leads to more perioperative complications than the bilateral laminotomy. Although the unilateral laminotomy removes the least bone tissue among the spinal decompression surgeries, the difference of spinal stability between unilateral and bilateral laminotomy and laminectomy is rarely investigated. This study aims to compare the biomechanical effects of unilateral and bilateral laminotomy and laminectomy on the lumbar spine by finite element (FE) simulation. A three-dimensional FE model of the lumbar spine (L1–L5) was constructed with the vertebral body, discs, and ligaments, as well as the sacrum was constructed. Three different surgical methods, namely unilateral laminotomy, bilateral laminotomy and laminectomy, at L3–L4 and L4–L5 were considered. Partial pedicle and entire ligamentum flavum were removed to simulate bilateral decompression in laminotomy. The entire lamina and spinal processes from the lower L3 to upper L5 were detached in the laminectomy model. Then, four kinds of loadings, namely flexion, extension, lateral bending and rotation, were applied on the lumbar with various decompression conditions. The results indicated that the bilateral and unilateral laminotomy both increased the range of motion (ROM) compared with intact lumbar, while the laminectomy increased more ROM than both laminotomy did. The difference of ROM between the bilateral and unilateral laminotomy was very minor. Furthermore, bilateral laminotomy demonstrated similar poster element stress with unilateral laminotomy. Unilateral and bilateral laminotomy are equally suggested to bilateral decompression of lumbar spine with minimally invasive technique because limited effect was aroused due to more bone remove in the bilateral laminotomy on the lumbar stability. Furthermore, laminectomy is the last option for lumbar decompression.

Keywords: minimally invasive technique, lumbar decompression, laminotomy, laminectomy, finite element method

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Authors: Dachuan Shi, M. Hecht, Y. Ye

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With the trend of digitalization in railway freight transport, a large number of freight wagons in Germany have been equipped with telematics devices, commonly placed on the wagon body. A telematics device contains a GPS module for tracking and a 3-axis accelerometer for shock detection. Besides these basic functions, it is desired to use the integrated accelerometer for condition monitoring without any additional sensors. Wheel flats as a common type of failure on wheel tread cause large impacts on wagons and infrastructure as well as impulsive noise. A large wheel flat may even cause safety issues such as derailments. In this sense, this paper proposes a machine learning approach for wheel flat detection by using car body accelerations. Due to suspension systems, impulsive signals caused by wheel flats are damped significantly and thus could be buried in signal noise and disturbances. Therefore, it is very challenging to detect wheel flats using car body accelerations. The proposed algorithm considers the envelope spectrum of car body accelerations to eliminate the effect of noise and disturbances. Subsequently, a 1-D convolutional neural network (CNN), which is well known as a deep learning method, is constructed to automatically extract features in the envelope-frequency domain and conduct classification. The constructed CNN is trained and tested on field test data, which are measured on the underframe of a tank wagon with a wheel flat of 20 mm length in the operational condition. The test results demonstrate the good performance of the proposed algorithm for real-time fault detection.

Keywords: fault detection, wheel flat, convolutional neural network, machine learning

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Authors: Ahsan R. Khokhar, Fizza Hassan

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Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) has been recognized as a potential cause of concrete degradation in the world since the 1940s. In Pakistan, mega hydropower structures like dams, weirs constructed from aggregates extracted from a local riverbed exhibited different levels of alkali-silica reactivity over an extended service period. The concrete expansion potential due to such aggregates has been categorized as slow-reactive. Apart from hydropower structures, ASR existence has been identified in the concrete structural elements of a Textile Mill building which used aggregates extracted from the nearby riverbed. The original structure of the Textile Mill was erected in the 80s with the addition of a textile ‘sizing and wrapping’ hall constructed in the 90s. In the years to follow, intensive spalling was observed in the structural members of the subject hall; enough to threat to the overall stability of the building. Limitations such as incomplete building data posed hurdles during the detailed structural investigation. The paper lists observations made while assessing the extent of damage and its effect on the building hall structure. Core testing and Petrographic tests were carried out as per the ASTM standards for strength degradation analysis followed by the identifying its root cause. Results confirmed significant structural strength reduction because of ASR which necessitated the formulation of an immediate re-strengthening solution. The paper also discusses the possible tracks of rehabilitative measures which are being adapted to stabilize the structure and seize further concrete expansion.

Keywords: Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR), concrete strength degradation, damage assessment, damage evaluation

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Authors: Sunha Ahn

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Intimate relationships have constructed our embodied experiences and emotional memories, which can become grounded as practical knowledge to some extent and play a critical role in social medicine, particularly, in our well-being and mental health. In South Africa, such relational factors are significant for young women and girls in their emotional development period of time, especially, working as the existence of social and relational pressures over feminine sexual health and choices. This, in turn, brings about the absence/lack of communication in intimate relationships, especially with their parents, which leads to a vicious cycle in sexual health behaviour choices. Drawing upon sociological and socio-anthropological understandings of HIV-related issues, this study provides narrative threads of evidence about South African teenage mothers from early-dating debuted to HIV infection. Their stories consist of a visualised figure in chronicle order, illustrating embodied journeys of sexual health choices surrounding uncommunicative relationships and socially-suppressive environments. Methodologically, this qualitative study explored data from mixed online methods: 1) a case study analysing online comments (N = 12,763) on the South African Springster's website, run by the UK-based NGO, namely, Girl Effect; and 2) In-depth online interviews (N = 21) were conducted with young SA women and girls (16-28 ages) recruited in Cape Town, Pretoria, and Johannesburg, SA. Participants consist of both those living with HIV and without. Ethical approval was gained via the College of Social Sciences Ethical Committee at the University of Glasgow, and informed consent was obtained verbally and in writing from participants in due course. Data were thematically applied to an iteratively developed codebook and analysed. There are three kinds of typical pressures as relational factors for them, including peer pressure, partners or boyfriends, and parents’ reactions. Under the patriarchal and religious-devoted social atmospheres, these relationships work as a source of scaredness among young women and girls who could not talk about their sexual health concerns and rights. Such an inability to communicate with intimate relationships, eventually, emerges as a perpetuated or taken-for-granted social environment in South Africa, insistently leading to an increase in unwanted pregnancies or new HIV infections in young South African women and girls. In this sense, this study reveals the pressing need for open communication between generations with accurate information about HIV/AIDS. This also implies that the sociological feminist praxes in South Africa would help eliminate HIV-related stigma as well as construct open space to reduce gender-based violence and sexually-transmitted infection. Ultimately, this will be a road for supporting sexually healthy decisions and well-being across South African generations.

Keywords: HIV, young women, South Africa, intimate relationships, communication, social medicine

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Authors: David Kramsky, Barbora Vegrichtova

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The prison facility is generally considered as an environment having a corrective purpose. Besides the social sense of remedy, prison is also an environment that potentially determines and affects socially dangerous behavior. The authors, based on long-term empirical research, present the significant indicators that are directly related to the transformation of personality attitudes, motivations and behavior associating with a process of radicalization. One of the most significant symptoms of radicalization is a particular social moral decision making. Individuals in the radicalism process primarily prefer utilitarian manners of decision-making more than personal aspects like empathy for others. The authors will present the method of social moral profiling of the subject in radicalization process as an effective prevention system reducing security risks in society.

Keywords: indicators, moral decision, radicalism, social profile

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Authors: Eglė Žurauskaitė, Eglė Gudavičienė

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The goal of this paper is to reveal how polarization is constructed through the use of impoliteness strategies. In general, media helps to spread various ideas very fast, and it means that processes of polarization are best revealed in computer-mediated communication (CMC) contexts. For this reason, data for the research was collected from online texts about a current, very diverse topic in Lithuania - Lithuanian language policy and regulations, because this topic is causing a lot of tension in Lithuanian society. Computer-mediated communication allows users to edit their message before they send it. It means that addressees carefully select verbal expressions to convey their message. In other words, each impoliteness strategy and its verbal expression were created intentionally. Impoliteness strategies in this research are understood as various ways to reach a communicative goal: belittle the other. To reach the goal, the public opinions of various Lithuanian public figures (e. g., cultural people, politicians, officials) were collected from new portals in 2019–2023 and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. First, problematic aspects of the language policy, for which public figures complain, were identified. Then instances when public figures take a defensive position were analyzed: how they express this position and what it reveals about Lithuanian culture. Findings of this research demonstrate how concepts of impoliteness theory can be applied in analyzing the process of polarization in Lithuanian society on issues related to the State language policy. Also, to reveal how polarization is constructed, these tasks were set: a) determine which impoliteness strategies are used throughout the process of creating polarization, b) analyze how they were expressed verbally (e. g., as an advice, offer, etc.).

Keywords: impoliteness, Lithuanian language policy, polarization, impoliteness strategies

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Authors: Erin Micali, Katerina Tolstikova, Cheryl Maykel, Elizabeth Harwood

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Female ASD is seldomly studied separately from males. Further, females with ASD are disproportionately underrepresented in the research at a rate of 3:1 (male to female). As such, much of the current understanding about female rigid repetitive behaviors (RRBs) stems from research’s understanding of male RRBs. This can be detrimental to understanding female ASD because this understanding of female RRBs largely discounts female camouflaging and the possibility that females present their autistic symptoms differently. Current literature suggests that females with ASD engage in fewer RRBs than males with ASD and when females do engage in RRBs, they are likely to engage in more subtle, less overt obsessions and repetitive behaviors than males. Method: The current study utilized a mixed methods research design to identify the type and frequency of RRBs that females with ASD engaged in by using a cross-sectional design. The researcher recruited only females to be part of the present study with the criteria they be at least age six and not have co-occurring cognitive impairment. Results: The researcher collected previous testing data (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), Child or Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile-2, Autism/ Empathy Quotient, Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Checklist, Rigid Repetitive Behavior Checklist (evaluator created list), and demographic questionnaire) from 25 total participants. The participants ages ranged from six to 52. The participants were 96% Caucasion and 4% Latin American. Qualitative analysis found the current participant pool engaged in six RRB themes including repetitive behaviors, socially restrictive behaviors, repetitive speech, difficulty with transition, obsessive behaviors, and restricted interests. The current dataset engaged in socially restrictive behaviors and restrictive interests most frequently. Within the main themes 40 subthemes were isolated, defined, and analyzed. Further, preliminary quantitative analysis was run to determine if age impacted camouflaging behaviors and overall presentation of RRBs. Within this dataset this was not founded. Further qualitative data will be run to determine if this dataset engaged in more overt or subtle RRBs to confirm or rebuff previous research. The researcher intends to run SPSS analysis to determine if there was statistical difference between each RRB theme and overall presentation. Secondly, each participant will be analyzed for presentation of RRB, age, and previous diagnoses. Conclusion: The present study aimed to assist in diagnostic clarity. This was achieved by collecting data from a female only participant pool across the lifespan. Current data aided in clarity of the type of RRBs engage in. A limited sample size was a barrier in this study.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, camouflaging, rigid repetitive behaviors, gender disparity

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Authors: Sean Griffiths

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Introduction: This paper examines the expression of ‘objectivity’ in architecture in the context of the post-war rejection of this concept. It aims to re-examine the question in light of the assault on truth characterizing contemporary culture and of the unassailable truth of the climate emergency. The paper analyses the search for objective truth as it was prosecuted in the Modern Movement in the early 20th century, looking at the extent to which this quest was successful in contributing to the development of a radically new, politically-informed architecture and the extent to which its particular interpretation of objectivity, limited that development. The paper studies the influence of the Vienna Circle philosophers Rudolph Carnap and Otto Neurath on the pedagogy of the Bauhaus and the architecture of the Neue Sachlichkeit in Germany. Their logical positivism sought to determine objective truths through empirical analysis, expressed in an austere formal language as part of a ‘scientific world conception’ which would overcome metaphysics and unverifiable mystification. These ideas, and the concurrent prioritizing of measurement as the determinant of environmental quality, became key influences in the socially-driven architecture constructed in the 1920s and 30s by Bauhaus architects in numerous German Cities. Methodology: The paper reviews the history of the early Modern Movement and summarizes accounts of the relationship between the Vienna Circle and the Bauhaus. It looks at key differences in the approaches Neurath and Carnap took to the achievement of their shared philosophical and political aims. It analyses how the adoption of Carnap’s foundationalism influenced the architectural language of modern architecture and compares, through a close reading of the structure of Neurath’s ‘protocol sentences,’ the latter’s alternative approach, speculating on the possibility that its adoption offered a different direction of travel for Modern Architecture. Findings: The paper finds that the adoption of Carnap’s foundationalism, while helping Modern Architecture forge a new visual language, ultimately limited its development and is implicated in its failure to escape the very metaphysics against which it had set itself. It speculates that Neurath’s relational language-based approach to the issue of establishing objectivity has its architectural corollary in the process of revision and renovation that offers new ways an ‘objective’ language of architecture might be developed in a manner that is more responsive to our present-day crisis. Conclusion: The philosophical principles of the Vienna Circle and the architects of the Modern Movement had much in common. Both contributed to radical historical departures which sought to instantiate a world scientific conception in their respective fields, which would attempt to banish mystification and metaphysics and would align itself with socialism. However, in adopting Carnap’s foundationalism as the theoretical basis for the new architecture, Modern Architecture not only failed to escape metaphysics but arguably closed off new avenues of development to itself. The adoption of Neurath’s more open-ended and interactive approach to objectivity offers possibilities for new conceptions of the expression of objectivity in architecture that might be more tailored to the multiple crises we face today.

Keywords: Bauhaus, logical positivism, Neue Sachlichkeit, rationalism, Vienna Circle

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