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The pressure towards digital education is felt everywhere including in places with extreme digital divides. Resource-constrained educational environments are particularly threatened by datification manifest in the dominant business models of surveillance capitalism as there is less room in such contexts to refuse the 'free' offerings from big tech companies; it is these very contexts which are most vulnerable. Yet educators within such environments are not mere pawns of circumstance. While the realities of their structural constraints may be invisible or obfuscated, educators are driven by their own 'concerns', which in this case pertain to the needs of diverse students in very challenging circumstances as well as to their personal aversion to being monitored. This paper reports on findings from focus groups in a mixture of institutionsin South African education. Archer's theoretical framework provides a lens to show how, despite very little choice, educators critically reflect on their circumstances expressing discomfort and unease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In sustainability science, the research is expected to go beyond disciplinary thinking and incorporate different concepts, methods, and data to explore nature–society interactions at different levels and scales. In realizing these expectations, reflexivity is often noted as an influential factor in inter- and transdisciplinary research processes in sustainability science, wherein researchers reflect on their assumptions, judgments, roles, and positions in the research processes, rethink their ways of knowing and doing, and open up new possibilities for actions. Despite the growing literature on the notion of reflexivity in sustainability science and how it emerges during the research processes, the debates and discussions are often based on lessons learned from sustainability research projects, drawing on individuals' experiences and motivations. This paper aims to grapple with the notion of reflexivity from a structural point of view, which is less discussed in sustainability research, by drawing on critical realist literature. The paper first presents how reflexivity is understood and analyzed in inter- and transdisciplinary research processes by reviewing the recent studies of reflexivity in sustainability science research. Second, it highlights the knowledge gaps and the need to engage with an alternative view on reflexivity offered by Margaret Archer, one of the leading critical realist scholars. Third, it takes Archer's framework on reflexivity into sustainability research to explain the causal mechanisms impeding the emergence of meta-reflexivity in the process of knowledge integration and production in contemporary marketized and managerialized universities. Finally, the paper argues that in establishing practices (modus vivendi) that could address the structural barriers (not observable challenges), we need collective agency. To this end, it discusses different collective initiatives and courses of action that could lead to the emergence of collective agency, capable of tackling the cultural and material barriers to reflexivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the development of a critical realist approach to discourse analysis by combining aspects of 'critical discourse analysis' (CDA) and 'the morphogenetic/morphostatic approach' (M/M). Unlike poststructuralist discourse theory, CDA insists on the maintenance of two distinctions: (i) between discourse and other aspects of social reality; (ii) between structure and agency. However, CDA lacks clarity on these distinctions. M/M, on the other hand, offers a coherent modelling of these distinctions that can underpin the application of CDA. The paper begins by introducing CDA, M/M and the existing literature on critical realist discourse analysis. It then establishes the M/M model of social change within CDA's existing social theory by focusing on 'analytical dualism' and 'social practice'. Finally, the paper locates the concept of discourse within M/M's model of social change by theorizing discourse as one of four objective structures of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares Margaret Archer's morphogenetic critical realism and Michel Foucault's implicit discursive realism. It argues that there is a surprisingly high degree of correspondence between the two social ontologies. Specifically, both ontologies suggest that there are three largely autonomous domains in operation: cultural, structural, and agentive. Yet, while each of these domains have a level of independence, yet they are also partially constituted by the content and form of the others. This paper discusses the potential to integrate the two approaches in such a way as to overcome their respective short-comings, namely the underdevelopment of culture in Archer's ontology, and the underdevelopment of social agency in Foucault's ontology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archery was a very important aspect in Turkish history. Examined from a broad perspective archery influenced almost every field from literature to art and from sport to politics. The main axis of the paper is archery and activities in arrow fields. Albeit being an important sport especially in the Ottoman classical period, range archery in terms of composition it was a significant subject influential in different social areas such as crafts and literature. The paper in-depth examines the officers serving in range shooting, distance unit, range opening rules, shooting areas, shooting times, participation conditions, categories, competition rules and range competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes a scene from the Kamenniy 7 panel of the Kanozero petroglyph complex (North-West Russia). It could be called a "Bow Elk Hunt" scene. Previously, it was not distinguished as a scene. The article presents arguments in favor of the compositional connection of this scene with the neighboring large composition "Bear Hunt". The typological similarity of the analyzed scene with another elk hunting scene from this cluster was also revealed. The figure of an elk hunt with a bow is compared with similar scenes from Alta (Norway) and Zalavruga (Karelia, Russia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constitutes an extended response to Athanasia Chalari's paper The Causal Impact of Resistance, which suggests that one may derive from internal conversations a causal explanation of resistance. In the context of our engagements with critical realism and digital research into social movements, we review Chalari's main argument, before applying it to a concrete case: the student protests in London, 2010. Whilst our account is sympathetic to Chalari's focus on interiority, we critique the individualism that is implicit in her argument, arguing that it emerges because of an underlying neglect of the relational aspects of resistance. Instead, we offer a relational realist analysis that treats resistance as process within an ontologically stratified account of reality that is mindful of the contingency of political acts. Taking this route, we establish resistance as an emergent relation, generative of distinctive 'relational goods' in the context of collective action, which we locate at different levels of reality, as we move from an analysis of individual to collective reflexivity. In doing so we offer a sympathetic critique of Chalari, building on the thought provoking arguments contained within it, whilst also making a contribution to the theorisation of social movements and the 'relational turn' within realist social theory ( Archer, 2010, 2012). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionDistributed simulations of complex systems to date have focused on scalability and correctness rather than interactive visualization. Interactive visual simulations have particular advantages for exploring emergent behaviors of complex systems. Interpretation of simulations of complex systems such as cancer cell tumors is a challenge and can be greatly assisted by using “built-in” real-time user interaction and subsequent visualization.MethodsWe explore this approach using a multi-scale model which couples a cell physics model with a cell signaling model. This paper presents a novel communication protocol for real-time user interaction and visualization with a large-scale distributed simulation with minimal impact on performance. Specifically, we explore how optimistic synchronization can be used to enable real-time user interaction and visualization in a densely packed parallel agent-based simulation, whilst maintaining scalability and determinism. We also describe the software framework created and the distribution strategy for the models utilized. The key features of the High-Performance Computing (HPC) simulation that were evaluated are scalability, deterministic verification, speed of real-time user interactions, and deadlock avoidance.ResultsWe use two commodity HPC systems, ARCHER (118,080 CPU cores) and ARCHER2 (750,080 CPU cores), where we simulate up to 256 million agents (one million cells) using up to 21,953 computational cores and record a response time overhead of ≃350 ms from the issued user events.DiscussionThe approach is viable and can be used to underpin transformative technologies offering immersive simulations such as Digital Twins. The framework explained in this paper is not limited to the models used and can be adapted to systems biology models that use similar standards (physics models using agent-based interactions, and signaling pathways using SBML) and other interactive distributed simulations.

In this paper, the public dimension of universities in Chile is examined. Interviews were held with academics at both public and private well-established universities and new private universities. The analysis shows a consensus regarding the production of certain public goods such as knowledge, wider access and the promotion of a public sphere. It also reveals a dissensus such that academics at well-established universities tend to maintain a statist view of the public university in which the state plays a key role while academics at new private universities characteristically adopt an individualist view in which the university is detached from the state and more focused on securing social mobility. Drawing on an Archerian framework, it is suggested that these perceptions have been shaped by global, national and especially institutional factors. Critical questions arise concerning the possibility of spaces for new perceptions of the public dimension of universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contextualized nature of learning with technology is widely acknowledged in research, but there remains a lack of sound social theorization to conceptualize and understand this contextualization. Giddens' structuration theory has been proposed as an appropriate tool for analysing and understanding human interactions with technologies. Drawing on Archer's critique of structuration theory, this paper critically analyses some of its recent uses in relation to e-learning and discusses their explanatory limitations. As an alternative, the paper proposes the use of Archer's morphogenetic approach and illustrates how it overcomes some of the major analytical weaknesses of structuration theory by enabling engagement with the powers of both structure and human agency without conflating them in a process of ‘mutual constitution’. It suggests that Archer's approach provides central analytical and explanatory significance to the multiple specific social contexts within which any e-learning course exists and the specific social interactions that take place amongst those engaged in it. Although based in e-learning for illustrative purposes, the conclusions drawn from comparison between structuration and morphogenetic approaches have application in the enhanced understanding and theorization of learning situations more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a critique of Margaret Archer's theory of reflexivity, this paper explores the theoretical contribution of a Bourdieusian sociology of the subject for understanding social change. Archer's theory of reflexivity holds that conscious 'internal conversations' are the motor of society, central both to human subjectivity and to the 'reflexive imperative' of late modernity. This is established through critiques of Bourdieu, who is held to erase creativity and meaningful personal investments from subjectivity, and late modernity is depicted as a time when a 'situational logic of opportunity' renders embodied dispositions and the reproduction of symbolic advantages obsolete. Maintaining Archer's focus on'ultimate concerns' in a context of social change, this paper argues that her theory of reflexivity is established through a narrow misreading and rejection of Bourdieu's work, which ultimately creates problems for her own approach. Archer's rejection of any pre-reflexive dimensions to subjectivity and social action leaves her unable to sociologically explain the genesis of 'ultimate concerns',and creates an empirically dubious narrative of the consequences of social change.Through a focus on Archer's concept of 'fractured reflexivity', the paper explores the theoretical necessity of habitus and illusio for understanding the social changes that Archer is grappling with.In late modernity, reflexivity is valorized just as the conditions for its successful operation are increasingly foreclosed, creating 'fractured reflexivity' emblematic of the complex contemporary interaction between habitus, illusio, and accelerating social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One approach to achieving correct finite element assembly is to ensure that the local orientation of facets relative to each cell in the mesh is consistent with the global orientation of that facet. Rognes et al. have shown how to achieve this for any mesh composed of simplex elements, and deal.II contains a serial algorithm for constructing a consistent orientation of any quadrilateral mesh of an orientable manifold. The core contribution of this paper is the extension of this algorithm for distributed memory parallel computers, which facilitates its seamless application as part of a parallel simulation system. Furthermore, our analysis establishes a link between the well-known Union-Find algorithm and the construction of a consistent orientation of a quadrilateral mesh. As a result, existing work on the parallelization of the Union-Find algorithm can be easily adapted to construct further parallel algorithms for mesh orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue that trust is an important aspect of social reality, one that realist social theory has paid little attention to but which clearly resonates with a realist social ontology. Furthermore, the emergence of an interest in trust in specific subject fields such as organization theory indicates the growing significance of issues of trust as market liberalism has developed. As such, the emergence of an interest in trust provides support for Archer's characterisation of late modernity in The Reflexive Imperative (2012) as a period of heterogeneity and greater incongruity. Commenting on this provides an opportunity to discuss the issue of habit in relation to trust and also the importance of the analysis of integration as a means to explain problems of trust. The commentary draws on examples from finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Remote Memory Access (RMA), also known as single‐sided communications, provides a way for reading and writing directly into the memory of other processes without having to issue explicit message passing style communication calls. Previous studies have concluded that MPI RMA can provide increased communication performance over traditional MPI Point to Point (P2P), but these are based on synthetic benchmarks rather than real‐world codes. In this work, we replace the existing non‐blocking P2P communication calls in the Met Office NERC Cloud model, a mature code for modeling the atmosphere, with MPI RMA. We describe our approach in detail and discuss the options taken for correctness and performance. Experiments are performed on ARCHER, a Cray XC30, and Cirrus, an SGI ICE machine. We demonstrate on ARCHER that, by using RMA, we can obtain between a 5% and 10% reduction in communication time at each timestep on up to 32768 cores, which over the entirety of a run (with many timesteps) results in a significant improvement in performance compared to P2P on the Cray. However, RMA is not a silver bullet, and there are challenges when integrating RMA calls into existing codes: important optimizations are necessary to achieve good performance and library support is not universally mature, as is the case on Cirrus. In this paper, we discuss, in the context of a real‐world code, the lessons learned converting P2P to RMA, explore performance and scaling challenges, and contrast alternative RMA synchronization approaches in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Testing and tuning of the archery bow and arrow system is an important component for successful shooting. The aim of the research is to develop an analytical method of the virtual testing and tuning of the archery bow and arrow system and optimizing of the height of the plunger and arrow rest. Materials and Methods. Modern recurve bows in the frames of International Archery Federation standards are studied. Modeling is used to derive a method of preparation of the bow for sport archery competition. A model of the archery bow as a kinematical chain with solid members united with rotated kinematical pairs is investigated. Results. The bow and arrow system was studied in the braced and drawn situations, and methods of virtual testing and optimizing of the height of the plunger and arrow rest above the hand is developed. The bow and arrow with a zero angle of attack can not be symmetrical in the main plane because an arrow and a hand that holds a bow could not situated together at the same place. Conclusion. The results of modeling are presented in a simple form (as tables and figures) which are suitable for coachers and shooters who are unready to use the mathematical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the fasteners used to attach a quiver to a battle belt based on developed Middle Age materials from the Kuznetsk Basin. Quiver loops, pads, braces and hooks are subjected to typological classification, comparative analysis, dating and ethnocultural characterization. Five groups and thirteen types of products are distinguished, dated at different intervals within the 11th–14th centuries. The bulk of the finds belong to the archeological and ethnographic complex of burials conducted using an ingumation ritual with a carcass or skin of a horse, and the Shandin archaeological culture identified with the Kypchak culture. It is concluded that the use of quiver fasteners in the territory of the Kuznetsk Basin during the developed Middle Ages reflects the general dynamics of the development of similar products in steppe and forest-steppe Eurasia.

Finding a suitable solution to an optimization problem designed in science is a major challenge. Therefore, these must be addressed utilizing proper approaches. Based on a random search space, optimization algorithms can find acceptable solutions to problems. Archery Algorithm (AA) is a new stochastic approach for addressing optimization problems that is discussed in this study. The fundamental idea of developing the suggested AA is to imitate the archer's shooting behavior toward the target panel. The proposed algorithm updates the location of each member of the population in each dimension of the search space by a member randomly marked by the archer. The AA is mathematically described, and its capacity to solve optimization problems is evaluated on twenty-three distinct types of objective functions. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm's performance is compared vs. eight approaches, including teaching-learning based optimization, marine predators algorithm, genetic algorithm, grey wolf optimization, particle swarm optimization, whale optimization algorithm, gravitational search algorithm, and tunicate swarm algorithm. According to the simulation findings, the AA has a good capacity to tackle optimization issues in both unimodal and multimodal scenarios, and it can give adequate quasi-optimal solutions to these problems. The analysis and comparison of competing algorithms' performance with the proposed algorithm demonstrates the superiority and competitiveness of the AA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Most studies have examined the effect of stretching and strengthening exercises on the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint). However, due to the importance of the relationship between core stability and pectoral girdle, especially in archery athletes, this study aimed to investigate the effect of six weeks of core stability exercises on the internal rotator muscle strength of the glenohumeral joint and its motor function in male archers. Methods: For this purpose, 30 athletes were randomly divided into 2 groups of 15: with core stability exercises (experimental group) and without core stability exercises (control group). The motor function was measured using the upper quarter Y-balance test (UQYBT), and the muscle strength of the lumbar muscles was measured using a handheld dynamometer (HHD). Then, the experimental group underwent a selected exercise program for 6 weeks. Both groups were tested again (post-test). SPSS software version 21 was used to analyze the collected data; also, independent and dependent samples t-tests were used to compare the data. The significance level in the test was determined at 95%. Results: Changes in posttest results on internal rotator muscle strength (P=0.001) and motor function (P=0.022) showed a significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: Therefore, due to the effect of core stability exercises on the above variables, it is recommended that archery athletes, in addition to specific exercises, do such exercises to improve the function of the glenohumeral joint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A methodology for protecting confidential data sets on third-party HPC systems is reported. This is based on the NIST AES algorithm and supports the common ECB, CTR and CBC modes. The methodology is built on a flexible programming model that delegates management of the encryption key to the application code. The methodology also includes a fine-grain control over which arrays on the files are encrypted. All the stages in an encrypted workflow are investigated using an established CFD code. Benchmarks are reported using the UK national supercomputer service (ARCHER) running the CFD code on up to 18,432 cores. Performance benchmarks demonstrate the importance of the way the encryption metadata is treated. Naïve treatments are shown to have a large impact on performance. However, through a more judicious treatment, the time to run the solver with encrypted input and output data is shown to be almost identical to that with plain data. A novel parallel treatment of the block chaining in AES-CBC mode allows users to benefit from the avalanche properties of this mode relative to the CTR mode, with no penalty in run-time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) called mindfulness-based peak performance (MBPP) on athletic performance and cognitive functions in archers, as well as the role of psychological status and the dose-response relationship of MBPP in archery performance. Twenty-three archers completed a simulated archery competition and the Stroop task prior to and after MBPP training, which consisted of eight sessions over four weeks, while the mindfulness and rumination levels of the archers were assessed at three time points, namely, before, at the mid-point of, and after the MBPP program. The results revealed that the MBPP program significantly improved the shooting performance (p = 0.002, d = 0.27), multiple cognitive functions (ps < 0.001, d = 0.51∼0.71), and mindfulness levels of the archers on the post-test, compared to the pre-test (p = 0.032, ηp2 = 0.15 for general; p = 0.004, ηp2 = 0.22 for athletic). Additionally, negative ruminations level was decreased from the pre-test to the middle-test and post-test (ps < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.43). These findings provide preliminary evidence to support the view that MBPP could serve as a promising form of training for fine motor sport performance, cognitive functions, and specific psychological status, such that it warrants further study.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent article in this journal suggests that although learner agency is central to understanding young people's engagement with the curriculum, there is little exploration of such ideas in the field. In response, they argued for an Archerian approach to learner agency and a contextually, interpersonally, intra‐personally and temporally situated curriculum that suggests the centrality of young people's educational reflexivity and associated learner agency for mediating the structural aspects of their educational lives. We reflect on this thinking through the lens of a curriculum project the design of which was similarly inspired by the work of Margaret Archer. We do so through the eyes of Grace, one of the young participants in the project. We learn from Grace that learner agency and curriculum engagement is not, as Archer's framework suggests, a substantively self‐authored reflexive endeavour that can be made amenable to change through a bespoke curriculum project. Rather learner (agency) in young people might be more accurately theorised in pragmatist terms as something embedded in the drama of the fullness of their everyday lives of which the curriculum represents just a tiny part. The implications for the field of learner agency and curriculum studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Migration literature has traditionally distinguished between different motivations of migration, such as labour, family and newly also lifestyle migration, never fully exploring the background of these motivations. This article suggests that these different motivations may be explained by different modes of reflexivity as distinguished by Margaret Archer. Linking modes of reflexivity with migration motivations addresses two problems in current migration literature. First, it provides for practical application of reflexivity in explaining migration motivations, which has been missing so far. Second, the article advocates using psycho-social approach as opposed to more commonly adapted ethnical or class based explanations in understanding migration behavior, hence avoiding the potential trap of falling into the trap of methodological nationalism or classism. Through the interview with highly-skilled Estonian migrants it is shown that the reasons of migration among highly skilled are versatile and cannot be explained solely by their class background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concepts of radicalisation and de-radicalisation are primarily defined by the assumption they make that there is a causal relationship between ideas and action. However, the causal role of ideas in informing behaviour has been strongly contested and has thus far eluded and undermined radicalisation and de-radicalisation conceptually and practically. The following article provides a theoretical basis for identifying the causal relationship between ideas and action through Margaret Archer's critical realist ontology. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Northern Ireland, the article identifies processes of ideational causal reproduction and morphogenesis in the Provisional Irish Republican Army's thinking on armed struggle during its transition away from armed violence. It argues that the adoption of the Armalite and Ballot Box strategy in the 1980s introduced a contradiction in the movement's ideology and that the movement was pressured to address this contradiction through three corrective cycles throughout the peace-process, subsequently softening its position on armed struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a critique of the concept of reflexivity in social theory today and argues against the tendency to define agency exclusively in terms of reflexivity. Margaret Archer, in particular, is highlighted as a key proponent of this thesis. Archer argues that late modernity is characterized by reflexivity but, in our view, this position neglects the impact of more enduring aspects of agency, such as the routinization of social life and the role of the taken-for-granted. These concepts were pivotal to Bourdieu and Giddens' theorization of everyday life and action and to Foucault's understanding of technologies of the self.We offer Bourdieu's habitus as a more nuanced approach to theorizing agency, and provide an alternative account of reflexivity. Whilst accepting that reflexivity is a core aspect of agency, we argue that it operates to a backdrop of the routinization of social life and operates from within and not outside of habitus. We highlight the role of the breach in reflexivity, suggesting that it opens up a critical window for agents to initiate change. The article suggests caution in over-ascribing reflexivity to agency, instead arguing that achieving reflexivity and change is a difficult and fraught process, which has emotional and moral consequences. The effect of this is that people often prefer the status quo, rather than to risk change and uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process underlying desistance is still a strong subject of debate. This article seeks to introduce several core concepts of Archer’s morphogenic approach to study how people desist from crime. At first, it discusses the primary existing theories of desistance. Then, this article demonstrates the usefulness of this approach by presenting empirical evidence drawn from semistructured interviews collected with 29 men who desisted from crime in an eastern province of Canada. The study demonstrates how this alternative approach allows for the consolidation of existing knowledge on desistance. Then implication of these findings for both theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]