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Local Authorities in England are rarely able to find a school place for newly arrived unaccompanied sanctuary seekers when the young person arrives in their locality aged 15–16. Criticisms regarding this exclusionary practice are plentiful; that said, it has been argued the dominance of debate regarding access to mainstream education for pupils aged 15–16 obfuscates critical analysis of the educational needs of this group. Focussed on a bespoke Local Authority educational offer for fewer than twenty newly arrived unaccompanied sanctuary seekers aged 15–16, this paper analyses the essence of this offer in relation to social inclusion. Analysed in relation to the category, structure and level/function of the young people's social inclusion, this paper draws on interview and focus group data to shine a light on the efficacious elements of the offer which point to ways forward for mainstream schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we introduce Critical Praxeological Analysis (CPA). CPA respecifies critical studies and researrch by operationalising insights from gestalt psychology and, in particular, the praxeological and linguistic gestalts identified by Harold Garfinkel and Ludwig Wittgenstein. CPA offers a framework for analysing the in-situ production, maintenance, challenging, repair and overcoming of norms and structures. Using naturally occuring data, as well as fictional and imagined examples, CPA examines the meanings that situations have for the participants who constitute them. The paper provides brief praxeological analyses, which draw upon themes from Frantz Fanon’s work to illustrate CPA in practice. We conclude by inviting others to apply CPA to themes drawn from the critical studies literature, in the hope that such analyses will deepen our understanding of how norms and structures are produced, maintained, challenged, repaired and overcome in interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe emergence of Covid-19 and its diverse impacts on human life ushered in the need to rethink some of the old ideas that humans have lived by. The desire to preserve human life amid threatening circumstances, without giving up on the values of life, requires the reordering of critical sectors of social existence. Against this backdrop, the paper aims to achieve three principal objectives. First, with the Covid-19 pandemic in mind, it reinterprets the individualist-communitarian debate. Second, it argues that the human instinct for self-preservation, reinforced by the Covid-19 pandemic, forcefully compels the concept of a person torn between the individual’s efforts to survive and a community committed to an environment enabling survival. Third, the paper extrapolates the concept of ‘person’ developed in objective two to reflect on students’ resilience in the context of the ‘new normal’ that has characterized academic success during Covid-19. While employing philosophical methods of conceptual and critical analyses to achieve these objectives, the paper concludes that academic success among students in the Covid-19 era has demanded the effort of willing students, combined with a supportive responsible community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Megaprojects are vehicles of change and spatial products of policies from near and far. In this paper, we demonstrate how insights from the policy mobility literature can contribute to a critical analysis of the legitimization of megaprojects. Through a study of the planning of a new ‘world-class' hospital in Stockholm, we show that ideas, experiences and practices from abroad played a decisive role in legitimizing this megaproject. Policies mobilized from elsewhere were strategically used to construct, modify and (re)present a legitimizing narrative centred on the aspiration of excellence and international competitiveness. This narrative emphasized the need to transform both the spatial structure and the organization of the studied welfare institution based on political and value-based rationalities. Initial international references and ideas were adopted in an unstructured and selective manner, but proved enduring throughout the extensive planning process and were eventually consolidated into a coherent concept, effectively excluding alternative development paths. The vague notion of ‘world-class' functioned as a ‘magic concept’ that strengthened this narrative, rendering the project difficult to criticize. In conclusion, the paper emphasizes the importance of considering the temporal dimension of planning processes alongside the relational geographies of policy-mobility in megaproject analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citations are valuable capital in the academy as the number of citations is the most frequently used indicator in evaluating the quality of papers, journals, researchers, and universities. Thus, the characteristics of highly cited articles (HCA) have become a common research topic but the approach has been mainly descriptive with no profound critical reflection of what kind of research is cited, where the research is from, where the research is published, and what do these things mean for edtech research. This paper contributes to this need by providing a descriptive and critical analysis of 200 highly cited articles from 10 edtech journals. To summarize the key findings, a 'typical' edtech HCA is a Western-based review article or quantitative research paper reporting positive findings from higher education, published in a high-impact factor general edtech journal by a major publisher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is increasing attention for LGBTQIA+ concerns within human rights, the legal instruments and academic discussions regarding children's rights remain largely silent on issues involving sexuality and gender. Due to pervasive protectionist narratives and heteronormative assumptions governing modern childhood, children's rights implicitly limit the expression of (queer) children and lack the tools and guidance to navigate complex queer disputes. In this context, this paper explores the world's leading document on children's rights – the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) – from a queer theoretical perspective, uncovering how children's rights are interwoven with social constructs surrounding gender and sexuality. In doing so, this paper first explores the relevance of queering the UNCRC and sets out a queer theoretical framework within the human rights context. Through this lens, finally, the paper discusses three overarching areas of queer critique within the UNCRC: 1) the construction of childhood, 2) child sexuality and gender and 3) the normalising impacts of restrictions on child agency on queer children. It concludes that the UNCRC has great potential to catalyse the implementation of LGBTQIA-focused protections, but more work is needed to clarify and strengthen the legal position of the queer child within its ambit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scholarly investigation provides a critical analysis of the developmental trajectory of the central linear axis in the context of South Korean new towns. The study traces the genealogy of this urban planning model, examining its conceptual origins in the 1960s, maturation through the Mok-dong New Town project in the 1980s, and subsequent iterations in first- and second-generation new towns. Employing a diachronic methodology, the research elucidates the changing dimensions, compositions, and functionalities across these phases, with a particular emphasis on how the model has been localized to suit socio-temporal and site-specific conditions. This adaptation process has yielded variations such as the 'service axis' and the 'community corridor,' each contributing to the heterogeneous landscape of South Korean urban planning. Within this evolutionary trajectory of urban design concepts, this paper highlights the pivotal roles of institutional environment, planners, and other stakeholders such as land developers and local municipalities. As the first scholarly work to formally define and contextualize the 'community corridor' concept, this study makes a significant contribution to academic discourse. It provides valuable insights into the mechanisms through which imported urban planning methodologies undergo transformation and localization in different cultural and temporal contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamophobia has historically been used to refer to racism, prejudice, and securitization, indicating that these are structural, cognitive, or cultural aspects of the issue. The term now refers to an Islamophobic social structure in the West, where people tend to act in a way that is hostile against Islam and everything that it represents, according to the current study. The prefix neo has thus been introduced by the researchers to this phrase to account for the psychological aspect of Islamophobia, which shows itself in behaviors and discourses. In order to comprehend the nature of Islamophobia in the UK and the USA, this research aims to investigate Islamophobic discourses in the media of these two Western cultures. Using the DHA analytical methodology, it examines 446 top stories from The Washington Post (The Post editorial board has supported Democratic candidates for federal, state, and municipal offices in the great majority of U.S. elections. Decisions on endorsements and the editorial board of the newspaper are made independently of journalistic activities. It wasn't until 1976 that the Post consistently endorsed candidates for president. The Post has never backed a Republican for president in the general election since it endorsed Jimmy Carter in 1976. Instead, it has consistently supported Democrats in presidential contests. Despite this, the Post declined to either Republican nominee Vice President George H. W. Bush or Democratic candidate Governor Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential contest. Obama in 2008 and 2012, Clinton in 2016, and Biden in 2020 were all backed by the Post editorial board (The Washington Post, 2020).) and The Independent (The Independent is typically characterized as liberal, liberal-left, and center to center. The paper's founders believed that readers from The Times and The Daily Telegraph would be its primary audience when it was first founded in 1986 and aimed for its political stance to match the middle of the British political spectrum. It is more of a rival to The Guardian because of perceptions that it leans left on the political spectrum. On economic matters, The Independent, however, leans liberal and pro-market. The Independent described itself as a proudly liberal publication on Sunday (Luce, 2019).) between November 2016 and December 2017. This study finds that although Neo-Islamophobia is more prevalent in the US, where it is considered as a challenge to the socio-political order, classic Islamophobia is more prevalent in the UK, where Islam is seen as a threat to Europe's symbolic identity. It suggests a cycle of neo-Islamophobia that starts with problematizing Islam and moves on to ultimately securitizing Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn this paper, we examine traditional psychosocial approaches to the study of student agency in science education, emphasizing the importance of incorporating sociocultural and critical perspectives. We present both contemporary studies of student agency in educational psychology and the work of scholars who study students’ student agency with attention to the cultural, economic, political, and historical forces shaping agentic behaviors in schools. We overview conceptualizations of and evidence for fostering agency among historically marginalized students in science across three major theoretical frames (i.e., psychosocial, sociocultural, and critical). We end by calling for the expansion of psychosocial conceptions of student agency to underscore the role of complex classroom dynamics and to account for the historical exclusion of nondominant communities in science. Specifically, four principles for broadening the scholarship of student agency toward socially just goals are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the debate about the integration of refugees in European nation-states, several scholars have recently noted a so-called 'agency paradox' (Klaver et al., 2018), which draws a contrast between, on the one hand, the initiative and inventiveness of refugees during their flight and, on the other hand, an allegedly lethargic attitude upon arrival in a new country. In this paper, we will unpack this paradox in a critical analysis of civic integration in the Netherlands. We shall write 'against integration' (cf. Rytter, 2019) by recovering the muted voices of a group of Eritrean refugees whose future depends on the obligation to complete civic integration exams. Using Dialogical Self Theory (DST), we will demonstrate that a seemingly passive attitude among migrants must not be interpreted as a lack of agency. Instead, we will show that their agency is silenced and subordinated by the integration process, but that they are simultaneously involved in a hidden dialogue with the new society in order to negotiate a future in which their multiple identifications as both Eritrean and Dutch are recognized. By facilitating the recovery and recognition of the muted voices of Eritrean refugees, Dialogical Self Theory contributes to their empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All produced spaces are curious since they could, by definition, be different. Atriums—double height or greater vertical voids typically to be found in skyscrapers' lobbies—are an interesting illustration of this general contention. An internal feature of super-tall architecture the world over, the atrium flourishes in parts of cities where land value is high and given that atria could be occupied with directly rentable space this is an ostensibly puzzling affinity. Drawing primarily on the ideas of Henri Lefebvre and Walter Benjamin, this paper suggests that the presence of atria in major commercial—and increasingly public—buildings grows from oblique attempts to generate surplus value. Paradoxically, it is the voided space of the atrium that explains this strategy. My argument is that voids of open space can actually increase the value of objects, bodies, and practices that are assembled in and around them; paradoxically 'emptiness' itself can be monetised in a context of rentier capitalism. Defamiliarising the atrium, which is a distinctive and singular architectural feature of this moment, suggests a wider research agenda for those interested in critical analysis of the contradictory spaces that are produced when capital builds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pen portrait is an analytical technique for analysing, condensing, and depicting qualitative data from participants that can also incorporate themes or patterns. A review of the use of pen portraits indicates that researchers have employed them in different ways across a variety of disciplines. The scarcity of methodological detail in these articles makes it difficult to engage with pen portraits as a trustworthy form of qualitative analysis. This paper outlines the authors' approach called Single Pen Portrait Analysis (SPPA). SPPA was used by both authors, to overcome the issue of fragmented people or experience during their initial analysis. This paper describes ways that researchers could identify SPPA as a useful approach for answering their research question, and then details a step-by-step guide. This guide is provided alongside two worked examples from the authors' doctoral research projects. A tentative critical analysis of SPPA is also offered.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piecemeal changes to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process have to date not fully delivered EIA's normative goals and met today's environmental challenges. By regarding the to date approaches to change-making as a problem requiring a solution, this paper applies critical analysis to reflect upon current change-making based on England's EIA system as a case study. The analysis identifies a lack of innovative ideas and sound evidence-based approaches to inform and support the change-making process. Consequently, we argue for an epistemology of change-making (changeology) so that the entire approach can be based on an empirically informed framework, to inform the journey (process) and destination (fit-for-purpose EIA) and make the EIA process fit-for-purpose and aligned to future expectations. Changeology should be viewed as more than informing one-time change-making but as a framework of well-studied practice for changing (or improving) EIA in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people arriving alone in the UK due to forced migration face significant hardships including, but not limited to, their history of experiences, current and future uncertainties, and cultural differences. This paper took a critical perspective of current dominant theories of refugee youth through in-depth exploration of lived experiences of coping. Following the authors' involvement in a community youth project and consultation, five young people took part in individual interviews. The participants were living in semi-independent accommodation in or near London, and were all male, while four identified as Muslim and one as Christian. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), a culturally relative understanding of coping was developed. These young people were found to be taking active roles in managing their lives in the context of extensive loss, and gaining independence through connection to others. Religious practices were important, with young people making sense of their experiences through worldviews shaped by religious beliefs. While religion was described predominantly in a positive and beneficial light, an area for further investigation is the experience of religious struggle, and how this may impact experiences and coping. Implications for support for young people both from services and in communities are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses illustrations from rural India and Bangladesh to develop a critical analysis of practices and experiences of poverty often overlooked in development policies. It challenges the principle measurement, calculative rationality and static representation in anti-poverty interventions that present poverty as a 'problem' to be resolved. It draws on poststructuralist ideas to express poverty differently and shift from problem-solving to problematisation. Drawing on the concept of 'rhizome' it highlights the connectivity, heterogeneity and multiplicity of poverty. Examples from interviews and photo diaries illustrate manifold poverty as a combination of heterogeneous activities, objects and affects that complicate development ethics and challenge the logic of reason in existing policies. The paper explores improvisation, experimentation, hope and repetition as mechanisms for critically evaluating aquaculture-led development and attending to overlooked objects, uncertain outcomes and untold stories of disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government reports and documents claim that building a high skill society is critical for national success in China. In this paper, eight policies in relation to the government's espoused priorities of upskilling are examined. Applying the principles of critical policy analysis, the paper aims to expose the ideological presuppositions made in these policies. The findings in this paper reveal that the Chinese government may have focused on upgrading the credentials, rather than the actual skills that these credentials signal, thus reinforced forms of consciousness that maintain the academic-focus, credential-driven hegemony. The new policies have vigorously invested in the 'model schools', yet further excluding non-model schools and the marginalised learners. This investment, emphasising the 'supply-side' of skills provision, has also led to a more fragmented connection between the training system and industry. The promotion of 'entrepreneurial talent training', with an intention of enhancing young people's employability and building a knowledge-based economy, may act as a technique for 'self-government' under the influence of a neoliberal ideology. The responsibility of skill acquisition may have shifted to individual students, who will encounter increased precarity on their routes into work. Drawing on Gramsci's concept of hegemonic power, the paper highlights China's national skills policies may further facilitate the reproduction of current forms of inequality in training as well as contribute to construct and manage the neoliberal subjects required by the Reform Era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education reform is increasingly portrayed as a quest to achieve a ‘world class’ education system through a process of identifying and adopting the practices of those systems whose pupils perform best in league tables of achievement. This is the rationale for the range of new policies proposed by the coalition government in the schools White Paper published in November 2010, which promotes whole-system reform in England. This article examines the White Paper and analyses the sources and nature of the evidence for reform and the congruence between the policy intentions and their associated policy actions. The analysis suggests that the evidence for the proposed reforms and policy actions is at best tenuous. Both the White Paper and its key sources of evidence are characterised by: a selective use of data: a propensity to mix and match the sources of comparison; and an overall tendency to employ comparisons with high-performing systems elsewhere as a façade to legitimate preferred policy options. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a critical analysis of the Russian National Atlas (2004–2008), the presentation of which is based on the tradition of the Soviet school of complex atlas production, and which is the first (and so far only) Soviet and post-Soviet Russian national atlas. Following the critical cartography approach, this paper deconstructs the atlas' structure and the range of presented maps to decode the construction of the national spatial identity and the imposed "cartographic silences". The paper shows how the presented maps and texts aligns with the overarching image of the Russian State as strong military state, and reveals the colonial narratives toward its Northern and Eastern peripheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an Accounting and Valuation (AV) method within the scope of Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) to analyze social impacts when implementing new energy resources. The method is based on a critical analysis from existing assessments regarding the IRP and its design is based on algorithms that convert qualitative information of social attributes into absolute values. These values feed the subsequent stages of the IRP to select the best energy resource (among available options) to be implemented. The method has been applied and tested as a pilot case in a rural region in Peru. This work provides extremely valuable information for decision-makers to assess, with real and quantitative data, investment decisions regarding energy planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restorative justice seeks to repair the harm caused by crime by bringing together victims, offenders, and affected parties in a facilitated dialogue. Restorative justice is often viewed negatively in relation to cases of sexual violence, due to fears of revictimization, retraumatization, and power imbalances. This paper provides a critical analysis of current literature on restorative justice as a response to sexual violence. It presents findings from a small study (n = 25) held after a one-day conference on sexual violence and restorative justice. Findings include support for restorative justice in cases of sexual offending being contingent on the process being victim/survivor-led and specialist training being provided for restorative practitioners who deal with such cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can the border be considered an epistemological starting point for the analysis of border theories and processes? Whether we look at Rumford's 'Seeing like a border', Mezzadra and Neilson's 'Border as Method', or at Mignolo's 'Border thinking', the answer seems to be a positive one. Similar in their way of employing a different gaze to look at and from the border, yet radically divergent in their methods and outcomes, each of these approaches has indeed provided a unique perspective on borders. However, I argue, a more critical analysis of such approaches reveals how they tend to (1) reproduce those epistemological distinctions that have cut across border studies in the past thirty years and (2) selectively consider some aspects in the analysis of borders, while omitting or overlooking others. All of them appear therefore necessary to grasp the multiplicity of processes, networks, and conflicts that produce and shape – while being simultaneously produced and shaped by – borders. Drawing from, yet critical towards these works, the article will take the border itself as a starting point of investigation, in order to (1) empirically analyse the processes, forces, and conflicts unfolding across borders and (2) analytically interrogate the various epistemological approaches with their advantages and shortcomings. The paper argues that borders should be better thought of as 'meeting points', i.e., places of encounter, interaction/clash, and reassessment/redefinition of different theories and processes. Conceiving borders as such, the paper concludes, can provide a more comprehensive framework for the analysis of borders, capable of looking at them not just as passive places moulded by different forces and encapsulated through conventional theoretical approaches, but as active, complex, and variegated processes capable of generating social outcomes and changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study of Indian media. Utilizing the Propaganda Model formulated by Herman and Chomsky in the book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media (1988), the paper aims to critically assess the news patterns and media performance of the mainstream Indian media. The contribution of the paper will be the application of the propaganda model in the context of Indian media. For this study, we have analyzed the media coverage of two events – India's ban on Chinese apps and the Pulwama attack. We focus on how Indian Media has helped the Government to establish the propaganda of nationalism during both events, which is explained by Herman and Chomsky in the five filters of news production. We investigate how the anti-China sentiment and the Pulwama attack have been used by the Government to divert attention from their failure of governance, and mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. The corporate media is playing its part in the machinations of the ruling BJP party. We conclude that the plurality of voices amongst journalists is in decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to inform a critical analysis of how the media portray family support in Ireland. Findings of a content analysis carried out on national and regional Irish newspapers between 2014 and 2017 are presented which describe communication about family support services provided by Tusla—Child and Family Agency. Results show that even though child protection was not used as a specific search term, news items on the Child and Family Agency and family support were usually focused on child protection and children in care. Results also show that family support activities are reported more positively in local papers compared to national papers. In the discussion, we argue that these findings are important as the media plays an important role in how the public understand, view, and engage with integrated child protection and welfare systems. We consider the implications of the research and advocate working with the media to inform their interpretation and understanding of family support. We suggest this is important as the manner in which the media communicate and frame family support as part of the overall child protection and welfare system is one of the main influences on public understandings and awareness of preventative family support and child welfare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the discursive formation of non-multimodal and multimodal text for promoting skin whitening products from 2006 to 2020. Text types include advertorial articles, product naming, graphic adverts, and commercial films. It is found that the fighting metaphor treating melanin or blackness as a target to expel, suppress, or eliminate is predominant in both written and visual texts. Throughout the analysis, the results suggest that the skin-whitening discourses intersect and promote the unequal power relations of the macro-structures of gender, class, and race. Following the findings, concerns about the application of fighting metaphor and rhetoric of skin whitening products in globalized society are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Éliane Radigue's 'musique sans fin' (endless music) of 1968–1970. The period marks her development of acoustic feedback techniques for free-duration performance, where two or more tape loops are set into asynchronous, continuous mechanical playback. Drawing on interview material with Radigue, critical analysis of her 'endless music' works and my own study of audio feedback to identify technical details of her studio practice, I argue the importance of this short, relatively under-researched, but formative period of her composition. In the creative, musical use of acoustic, or 'Larsen' feedback, musicians control sounds that resonate in the space between a microphone and a loudspeaker under certain acoustic conditions and there is a thin point of balance between pure feedback tones and distortion. A similar fine balancing point is the basis of Marcel Duchamp's concept of the 'infra-thin' which refers to an almost imperceptible gap between two fluid states or experiences during the creation of a work of art. I have chosen to employ elements of Duchamp's 'infra-thin' to guide my analysis of Radigue's feedback techniques which are similarly based on an atomic, transformational fluctuation between different sonic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During a loss-of-coolant accident in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), steam of varying quality is released from the primary circuit into the equipment compartments of the containment, followed by the release of a hydrogen-steam mixture during the core degradation phase. In the case of long-lasting accidents, findings of detailed code analyses indicate an enrichment of hydrogen in lower peripheral containment compartments in the reference PWR plant under investigation. During the late accident phase with ex-vessel molten core–concrete interaction, even in the case of an operating passive autocatalytic recombiner system, this poses a threat for local hydrogen combustion later on. Such hydrogen phenomena are not expected and have not been widely studied up to now. Therefore, corresponding experiments have been performed at the THAI test facility operated by Becker Technologies. One of these tests had been precalculated with the COntainment COde SYStem (COCOSYS) as part of the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) code system AC2 and has been used to validate the code. The 60-m3 THAI test vessel has been divided into an inner compartment that has been connected to the surrounding vessel, simulating the upper and peripheral containment part, by very small flow openings at the bottom representing the clearance between door frames and door leaves and one opening at the top representing typical openings by burst disks. The paper discusses both the experimental findings of a test series on the potential enrichment of hydrogen in lower containment compartments and the COCOSYS calculations demonstrating the applicability of the code under complex flow conditions including stratification phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flow boiling in multi micro-channel evaporators is a promising approach to cooling high heat flux in many devices. Understanding of the fundamentals of flow boiling in multi microchannel evaporators is urgently needed. This paper presents a critical review on the research of flow boiling phenomena in microchannels. First, classifications of macro- and micro-channels are briefed. Then, studies on flow boiling in multi microchannels with plain surface are analyzed. Next, studies of flow boiling in multi microchannels with various enhanced technologies are analyzed. Finally, heat transfer mechanisms and development of prediction methods are discussed. According to the critical review and analysis of the current research on the fundamental issues and challenges of flow boiling in micro-channels, future research needs have been identified and recommended. In general, systematic, and accurate experimental data of flow boiling in micro-channels are needed by using advanced measurement technologies. In particular, optimal design of microchannel evaporators with plain surface and enhanced structures is lacking and should be investigated. The physical mechanisms of flow boiling should be further investigated based on the corresponding flow patterns. Furthermore, mechanistic prediction methods should be developed. Furthermore, systematic experimental, analytical and modeling studies on transient flow boiling phenomena in micro-channels should be conducted to understand the physical mechanisms and develop the theoretical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies highlight online education's effectiveness; however, few examine theoretical frameworks for guiding pedagogy in online MSW programs. Patriarchal systems create policy and program inequities in higher education, hindering student achievement. Confronting these inequities is essential in designing successful online MSW programs. This conceptual paper asserts that utilizing a critical feminist perspective promotes nontraditional and minoritized students' unique needs. Educators can prioritize student success by examining systems of oppression and the intersectionality of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, and disabilities in online environments. Utilizing critical feminist perspectives enhances student experiences by operationalizing inclusivity and and should be measured as student success and engagement in an online graduate course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2014, several European Union (EU) member states have adopted their own versions of "Feminist Foreign Policy" (FFP). Increasingly, feminist bureaucrats, politicians, activists and scholars are calling for the EU to do the same. This article scrutinises claims to the feminist actorsness of the EU by introducing the analytical concept of Feminist Power Europe (FPE). In employing FPE the article examines whether the EU can adopt a FFP that upholds transformative potential of feminism. Undertaking critical content analysis of key documents, we identify three overarching feminist frames that emerge in the EU's external policies: (1) Liberal; (2) Intersectional; (3) Postcolonial. We demonstrate that the EU's propensity for a transformative feminist foreign policy is limited by the setup of global politics and the main drivers of European integration, which continue to be situated in a traditionally masculine environment and are defined by prevailing hierarchies. In undertaking this work, we highlight the constraints of advocating for the EU to adopt a FFP. This paper concludes by cautioning against the uncritical deployment of "feminism" in foreign policy articulation within an FPE configuration that excludes reflexivity about the EU's external relations vision and indeed, its practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to growing pushback to decades of privatization and disinvestment in high-poverty communities of color, elected officials and business leaders in the United States have turned to 'community-engaged strategies' to advance education reform. This qualitative case study of a California school district, the Oakland Unified School District, from 1989 to 2019 uses a Gramscian analysis of hegemony to illuminate the shift from coercive practices of financial audits to building consent through the district's formal engagement strategies as tools to manage public dissent around divisive decisions. Findings reveal that a manufacturedscrisis facilitated the 2003 state takeover of OUSD to further advancesausterity measures and audit processes that served as racialized formssof fiscal surveillance. When local resistance to these measures intensified, district actors shifted tactics to 'engage' community members through a portfolio strategy to manage school choice options and other public-private partnerships. Oakland public schools are a prime case of how democratic mechanisms serve as the vehicle to manufacture public consent for district redesign by way of marketization. This paper contributes new insights into local and global debates on educational privatization by critically examining the role of parastatal audit agencies in shaping community support for public-privateeducation governance along with tracing the shifting tactics of elite policy actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, critical analysis of performance comparison of various optimization techniques for a MRPID (Multi Resolution Proportional Integral Derivative) thermal system controller is presented. This controller controls the uncertainty or mismatch between real and reference temperature. Wavelet coefficients of error between the two temperatures and their corresponding gains are added to produce a control signal for the thermal system. The main purpose of the proposed method is to optimize the tuning parameters of a wavelet-based MRPID controller to regulate the switching pulse of the thermal system. Modeling and simulations are carried out using MATLAB/Simulink@2015. Figures-of-merit such as disturbance rejection, system stability and transient response are also compared using various techniques like Particle swarm optimization (PSO)-MRPID, Genetic Algorithm (GA)-MRPID (existing techniques), Firefly-MRPID controllers and Elephant herding optimization (EHO) based Recurrent neural network (RNN)-MRPID algorithm. Firefly-MRPID and EHO with RNN-based MRPID are proposed for determining unique (best) operating conditions of the thermal system in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the socio-economic and geopolitical outcomes associated with infrastructure development across multiple scales. Starting from the premise that planetary socio-technical transformations in this vein have distinctly national drivers, we focus on the urban agency of Chinese-led investment. The paper explores how different forms of infrastructural development generated by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) affects transformations in the political and material fabric of cities and their host regions. We approach BRI-related infrastructural practice through three interconnected optics – discourse, instruments, and politics – so as to interrogate the articulation of projects linked to the BRI within the material site of the urban. Based on theorisations of infrastructure from an urban perspective and a critical review of literature on the BRI itself, we develop three illustrative case studies at different spatial scales and within different geographic contexts – in Pakistan, Central Europe and the UK. To examine the cases as well as their embeddedness in broader debates on the topic, we use a systematic review methodology relying on a wide variety of sources. We offer comparative and relational perspectives on the manner in which these relatively diverse cases demonstrate China's role as a global urban actor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to pursue sustainable mobility face widespread challenges. One key way of approaching these challenges is through policy transfer and policy learning; indeed, the practice of learning from elsewhere is encouraged at various levels of government. This paper contends that a better understanding of what facilitates learning through policy transfer might support further change, yet such examinations remain underdeveloped in the field of transport. This paper synthesises key concepts and factors that drive this learning process, by reviewing 65 papers on transport policy published between 2011 and 2020. Our findings testify to the growing prevalence of policy transfer research and emerging critical perspectives on the transfer and translation of global ideas. We uncover critical factors of the learning process, including settings where learning takes place, inter-actor relations, and organisational and institutional patterns. While most papers reviewed here aimed to examine learning, few employ theories to measure the concept. Consequently, one of our main conclusions is that relatively little is known about how and to what extent learning, triggered by experiences from other contexts, is actually transformed into action. Suggestions include more systematically focusing on organisational and institutional dimensions and concerted trans-disciplinary efforts to close the gap between research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agroforestry (AF) and mixed farming (MF) are two multifunctional land use systems that harbor an untapped potential for future climate mitigation, however, they remain outside of the norm. This review collected and analyzed the policy landscape for AF and MF in 19 European countries. The results show that while the policy landscape in Europe has been growing for AF, with support found within the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy and Green Deal, as well as European state polices, direct MF support is largely missing. No country assessed supports AF in its entirety (traditional, establishment, yearly maintenance) although, there are countries like Portugal, which show robust policies for at least one of these aspects. This paper also assessed the degree to which policies found can be considered agroecological, or contributing to an agroecological transition. Our analysis indicates that while agroecological elements do exist in some of the policies, it is currently primarily on plot, field, and farm level, involving input substitution or the change of one practice for another. We conclude that policies are currently not designed in a cohesive manner, and at times work against one another. We therefore recommend that all future policies center themselves on the High-Level Panel of Expert's 13 Principles of Agroecology, as well as on transformative and inclusive policy design frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores participants' perspectives of how they experienced a co-design workshop focused on developing a storyline unit where students can explore foundational concepts of AI. We structured a co-design space: (1) to create opportunities for intergenerational collaboration among educators and young learners; (2) to develop critical perspectives and understanding of AI during co-design. An interview analysis examined what participants valued, relationships they described, and their reflection on this experience in comparison to other similar experiences. The analysis showed that co-design afforded a safe space for participants to contribute to the design process building on their diverse expertise. Implications for intergenerational co-design within settings with asymmetric and distributed expertise will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Latino male community college students' perceptions of their course-related interactions with faculty at a Hispanic Serving Institution in California. Using a Critical Race Theory in Education framework, we qualitatively examine the ways in which race and racism shape students' descriptions of these interactions and the extent to which students attribute negative interactions to racial discrimination and/or oppression. Longitudinal, semi-structured interview data (N = 24) presented underscore the need for structurally diverse faculty in community colleges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the development and facilitation of a new initial teacher education (ITE) programme underpinned by critical perspectives. It looks at the past and existing influences that have shaped the ways schooling is understood and operationalised in Aotearoa New Zealand. Through an 11-month ethnographic case study approach, the paper discusses an investigation of how a cohort of teacher educators attempt to highlight and deconstruct inequities underlying contemporary educational practices to student teachers. The purpose is to prepare emergent teachers who will be socially conscious of the purposes of education and to reconceptualise teaching with the learning outcomes of classroom students at the centre of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This account uses performance and critical analysis to investigate the entangled histories and multidirectional memories that entwine African colonialism and the Holocaust in Santa's Story by Aviva Pelham. The paper spotlights the intersections between the memory of the Holocaust and colonial Africa by focussing on the memory of women survivors and children of survivors on the African continent. Drawing on Marianne Hirsch's notion of 'postmemory' the paper interrogates the gendered intergenerational transmission of Holocaust and colonial memory through performance to address three interrelated concerns. First it responds to the limited scope of theatre and performance work produced and staged in Africa and elsewhere that engage with the memory and experience of Holocaust survivors on the African continent. Secondly this account responds to the dearth in critical commentary about the performance works created about women Holocaust survivors. Lastly, this dearth extends to creative works by Holocaust survivors' children born and raised on the African continent who explore what it means to 'perform' as their parents on the world stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on fieldwork among young among post-Soviet migrants in Helsinki (2014–2016) and Warsaw (2020), the article seeks an answer to the following question: what kind of work does racialisation of Eastern European migrant workers accomplish? The paper analyses young post-Soviet migrants' position within the structures of racial capitalism in Europe, thus, shifting the focus from race as located in the body towards racialised positionings within the hierarchies of labour. I argue that following the analytical terms of racial capitalism and racial triangulation is a helpful way for thinking about the ways subjects racialised as 'Eastern European' are brought into the service of the capitalist order as located at a distance from both Blackness and hegemonic whiteness. In this article, I analyse the production and management of racial difference within whiteness and Europe itself for the purposes of economic exploitation. By bringing attention to the 'peripheralised' locations of the EU, the article highlights the workings of racialisation in the locations that tend to escape race critical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adulteration of edible substances is a potent contemporary food safety issue. Perhaps the overt concern derives from the fact that adulterants pose serious ill effects on human health. Edible oils are one of the most adulterated food products. Perpetrators are adopting ways and means that effectively masks the presence of the adulterants from human organoleptic limits and traditional oil adulteration detection techniques. This review embodies a detailed account of chemical, biosensors, chromatography, spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, non-thermal plasma, dielectric spectroscopy research carried out in the area of falsification assessment of edible oils for the past three decades and a collection of patented oil adulteration detection techniques. The detection techniques reviewed have some advantages and certain limitations, chemical tests are simple; biosensors and nuclear magnetic resonance are rapid but have a low sensitivity; chromatography and spectroscopy are highly accurate with a deterring price tag; dielectric spectroscopy is rapid can be portable and has on-line compatibility; however, the results are susceptible to variation of electric current frequency and intrinsic factors (moisture, temperature, structural composition). This review paper can be useful for scientists or for knowledge seekers eager to be abreast with edible oil adulteration detection techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen the spread of a litigation culture in the UK education sector, with members of the public increasingly seeking recourse to the law to appeal, complain, or achieve compensation. The increasing tendency of people to resort to litigation suggests that recourse to the law is seen as a more immediate form of taking education services to account. While in theory an effective accountability tool, this development has unfortunately produced some less than desirable consequences in educational institutions, most notably the avoidance of risk. This paper argues that such consequences need to be understood as a reflection of the limits placed on legal regulation, once it encounters the already highly regulated world of educational institutions. To flesh out this argument, this paper examines these limits as a set of consequences relating to the following: increasing juridification; the intersection of law and mechanisms of accountability, judgement and professional discretion; and the relation between risk and trust. The argument draws on the 'law in context' literature, as well as recent debates over the pathologies of legal freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart cities are becoming a popular urban development strategy to address complex and multiple challenges confronting cities globally, including in Africa. Using the 3RC framework, this paper critically analyses smart cities using experiences from Nairobi (Kenya), Johannesburg (South Africa), Lagos (Nigeria), Kigali (Rwanda) and Casablanca (Morocco). Are smart cities a panacea to Africa's quest for sustainable urbanization? Our analyses demonstrate that, if carefully planned and implemented, smart city interventions have the potential to transform the ways African cities are planned, managed, and governed. At the same time, smart city interventions in Africa are being implemented in contexts characterized by socio-economic inequalities, chaotic transport systems and massive governance failures among other challenges. We demonstrate that if ineffectively deployed, smart urban technologies might deepen existing inequalities and amplify spatial exclusion through privatization and marketization of urban space. Therefore, the adoption of smart city ideas in Africa must be rooted in contextual realities and properly calibrated to create urban spaces that are sustainable and inclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postfeminist media culture celebrates female bodies as a source of identity and power and calls for women to engage in work on the physical and psychological self. This paper offers a critical analysis of marketing by Flat Tummy Co., a company that sells appetite suppressant products to women with the promise of achieving slim ideals. We collated 270 photos and 98 slogans from Flat Tummy Co.'s Instagram account. Our analysis identified three interpretive repertoires: be fit even though you're lazy; be thin even though you binge; be empowered even though you're weak. These repertoires set up an impossible dilemma between ideals and "reality". Flat Tummy Co. claim to resolve this dilemma by offering products that tell women there is no need for work on the body and self. We conceptualise this rhetoric as Erasure of Labour, where socially desirable goals are ostensibly achieved without associated work. Whilst Erasure of Labour solutions are presented as freeing and simple, we argue they are a potentially harmful illusion. Our critical analysis will equip consumers and feminist activists with a means to evaluate and resist these seductive marketing messages. We conclude by encouraging researchers to look for Erasure of Labour rhetoric in other domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a critical analysis of the procedures for defect propagation assessment recommended by British standards and their application to rotating components. The way of applying these procedures was shown by an example of a steam turbine rotor with particular use of a characteristic strain model of high-temperature creep. Calculations of the flaws located at the rotor axis have shown that their growth in the design life is small. The performed analyses have also shown that crack development due to low-cycle fatigue is comparable to that due to creep and cannot be ignored under typical service condition. It was also shown that there is no risk of brittle fracture in the rotor under typical start-up conditions. The presented results prove the usefulness of the methods included in the British standards and guidelines for crack growth assessment in components subject to centrifugal load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute to the construction of multiliteracies pedagogy. We argue that the analysis of focalisation is an essential dimension in multiliteracies pedagogy aimed at promoting the development of critical analysis of multimodal narratives. Our point is sustained by a case study of focalisation in an animated narrative comprising a hybrid multimodal text offered for students learning about refugees in a public digital platform. We performed a critical analysis of the visual narrative supported by a grammar of focalisation in animated images and a framework for critical analysis of multimodal discourse. The analysis shows that viewers (and characters) are differently positioned throughout the text as uninvolved observers of the represented characters as 'others'; as emphatic witnesses of the others' suffering; and as committed social actors who see the refugees as 'one of us'. We interpret these findings as conveying different ideological meanings associated with assimilatory or liberating ideologies. We discuss the major implications of our findings concerning the role of focalisation in the enactment of critical analysis of multimodal texts, the interdependence of critical analysis vis-à-vis the other learning processes as well as the need for teachers' professional development as a pre-requisite to construct the pedagogy of multiliteracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include a goal focusing on terrestrial biodiversity conservation: SDG 15, dubbed Life on land. There has been little critical social-science analysis of how SDG 15, its targets and indicators understand conservation. This article contributes to closing this gap by analysing in detail SDG 15 and affiliated progress reports. Contravening the SDGs' stated objective of leaving no one behind, the paper shows that SDG 15 ignores vital connections between human and nonhuman nature, fails to centre people and champion justice systematically, while reaffirming unsuccessful previous indicators. The article argues that SDG 15, its targets and indicators thus perpetuate ideas of conservation which exacerbate inequalities and prevent 'transforming our world'. These structural shortcomings risk placing SDG 15 in the same intellectual vein as other contemporary large-scale conservation planning efforts in terms of lacking inclusion and recognition of human lives and livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines China's Belt and Road Initiative as an exercise in geocultural power. To date, Belt and Road has been analysed as a geopolitical and geo-economic initiative, with arguments constructed around the development of infrastructure, trade or finance agreements. This paper introduces the Silk Roads as one of the most compelling geocultural concepts of the modern era to show its strategic value as a platform for cooperation and multi-sector connectivity. A critical analysis of the Silk Roads provides new insights into Belt and Road, revealing how China is mobilising its geocultural potential as a civilisational state to build regional and continental connectivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of appropriate instrumental and/or sensory analyses is essential to gain insights into the flavor profile of cocoa products. This three-part review is compiled of an overview of the most commonly used instrumental techniques to study cocoa liquor and chocolate flavor, their perception by a trained panel and the potential relationship between them. Each part is the result of a thorough literature study, principally focusing on the assumptions, features and limitations of these techniques. Reviewing of the literature revealed that cocoa matrix effects and methodology restraints were not always considered when instrumentally analyzing cocoa flavor. With respect to sensory analyses, various studies lacked reporting of accomplished trainings and performance of panelists. Moreover, a discrepancy was noticed in the descriptive flavor lexicon employed. Finally, when linking instrumental and sensory data, linear modeling is regularly applied, which might not always be appropriate. This review paper addresses the challenges associated with flavor assessment, intending to incite researchers to critically study cocoa flavor and apply standardized protocols and procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeology lends a critical perspective to research on social inequality due to the field's unique access to deep history, emphasis on materiality, and explicit incorporation of multiple lines of evidence. This paper offers a concise overview of archaeological approaches aimed at students and scholars in other fields. We develop a categorization of disciplinary strategies, arguing that archaeologists address institutionalized inequality through examining inequalities in the accumulation of goods or resources (economic differentiation); access to resources or knowledge (social differentiation), and inequalities in action, the ability to make decisions for oneself or others (political differentiation). We illustrate these categories with reference to the distinctions between material, relational, and embodied wealth. We draw upon a broad range of geographic, chronological, and cultural case studies to illustrate the flexibility and utility of archaeological methods for answering questions about inequality in human societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early days of the United Nations, the main form of aid in the field of housing took the shape of technical assistance. Although the pool of specialists was almost coincident with those from colonial networks, the ambitions and limitations of international, non-governmental and neutral cooperation implied a reconceptualisation of the world division inherited from the colonial period and its replacement by a new paradigm of 'development'. This manifested itself right from the start in the redefinition of the modus operandi of the expert and in the production of a particular form of knowledge that challenged the previous expertise, influencing narratives on the built environment around the world. This paper examines the 1954 United Nations Housing Mission to the Gold Coast and its outcomes, along with the formative example of the previous 1950 mission to prepare the UN Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance. The case study provides an insight into the relationship between the idealization of international cooperation and that of the expert in the field of housing. At the same time, the emphasis on research and education, and the subsequent foundation of a new school, offers a starting point for a critical analysis of its counterpart, the 'inpert'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]