3,690 research outputs found

    Alʔilbīrī’s Book of the rational conclusions. Introduction, Critical Edition of the Arabic Text and Materials for the History of the Ḫawāṣṣic Genre in Early Andalus

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    [eng] The Book of the rational conclusions, written perhaps somewhen in the 10th c. by a physician from Ilbīrah (Andalus), is a multi-section medical pandect. The author brings together, from a diversity of sources, materials dealing with matters related to drug-handling, natural philosophy, therapeutics, medical applications of the specific properties of things, a regimen, and a dispensatory. This dissertation includes three different parts. First the transmission of the text, its contents, and its possible context are discussed. Then a critical edition of the Arabic text is offered. Last, but certainly not least, the subject of the specific properties is approached from several points of view. The analysis of Section III of the original book leads to an exploration of the early Andalusī assimilation of this epistemic tradition and to the establishment of a well-defined textual family in which our text must be inscribed. On the other hand, the concept itself of ‘specific property’ is often misconstrued and it is usually made synonymous to magic and superstition. Upon closer inspection, however, the alleged irrationality of the knowledge of these properties appears to be largely the result of anachronistic interpretation. As a complement of this particular research and as an illustration of the genre, a sample from an ongoing integral commentary on this section of the book is presented.[cat] El Llibre de les conclusions racionals d’un desconegut metge d’Ilbīrah (l’Àndalus) va ser compilat probablement durant la segona meitat del s. X. Es tracta d’un rudimentari però notablement complet kunnaix (un gènere epistèmic que és definit sovint com a ‘enciclopèdia mèdica’) en què l’autor aplega materials manllevats (sovint de manera literal i no-explícita) de diversos gèneres. El llibre obre amb una secció sobre apoteconomia (una mena de manual d’apotecaris) però se centra després en les diferents branques de la medicina. A continuació d’uns prolegòmens filosòfics l’autor copia, amb mínima adaptació lingüística, un tractat sencer de terapèutica, després un altre sobre les aplicacions mèdiques de les propietats específiques de les coses, una sèrie de fragments relacionats amb la dietètica (un règim en termes tradicionals) i, finalment, una col·lecció de receptes mèdiques. Cadascuna d’aquestes seccions mostren evidents lligams d’intertextualitat que apunten cap a una intensa activitat sintetitzadora de diverses tradicions aliades a la medicina a l’Àndalus califal. El text és, de fet, un magnífic objecte sobre el qual aplicar la metodologia de la crítica textual i de fonts. L’edició crítica del text incorpora la dimensió cronològica dins l’aparat, que esdevé així un element contextualitzador. Quant l’estudi de les fonts, si tot al llarg de la primera part d’aquesta tesi és només secundari, aquesta disciplina pren un protagonisme gairebé absolut en la tercera part, especialment en el capítol dedicat a l’anàlisi individual de cada passatge recollit en la secció sobre les propietats específiques de les coses

    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    How social media brand community development impacts consumer engagement and value formation; perspectives from the cosmetics industry

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    Social media and social media brand communities (SMBCs) are powerful tools for long-term consumer-brand relationship building. As a result, SMBCs are becoming significant marketing channels. Despite the wide use and adoption of SMBCs, further research is called for, as both practitioners and academics lack an understanding of the processes taking place within SMBCs. This study aims to contribute to knowledge of: (1) consumer engagement, (2) value formation in SMBCs, and (3) establishing the relationship between consumer engagement and value formation within the SMBC environment. This thesis adopts netnography, a method commonly employed to explore online communities in the social media environment. Three cosmetics brands were selected for this study. The selection was driven by geographical location, posting frequency and user activity. Data were retrospectively collected from Facebook SMBCs between 1st December 2019 and 31st January 2020. The data analysis employed thematic analysis techniques and was further guided by netnographic procedural steps, encompassing 25 distinct data operations. In total, 87 conversation threads were examined, which included 6,401 consumer comments. The findings present a typology of brand posts consisting of five overarching themes: presentation of offerings, belongingness building, engagement building, value-led, and educational. The research also identified a consumer comment typology consisting of four overarching themes brand-centred communication, cognitive-centred communication, conversation-centred communication, and personal experience-centred communication. Additionally, the thesis explores value formation processes within SMBCs, and the value types formed through consumer-to-consumer value formation interaction, brand-to-consumer value formation interaction, consumer-to-brand value formation interaction, as well as individual value formation processes, i.e., customer independent value formation and brand independent value facilitation. Through the findings, thesis broadens knowledge of the implication of SMBC development on consumer engagement. Additionally, this study extends the scope of value formation beyond service marketing, providing valuable insights into how value is created and perceived in the context of SMBCs. This research is also of significance for practice as it offers guidance and insight into how different brand posts can facilitate SMBC development, and, in turn, consumer engagement and value formation. The research provides a link between SMBC development and consumer engagement, highlighting the importance of SMBCs in the successful facilitation of consumer engagement. In particular, it provides evidence that the development of an SMBC has a significant impact on consumer engagement. The typology of brand posts that this study generates highlights the link between the types of posts published by the brand and SMBC development. In addition, the typology of consumer posts also suggests that there is a link between the types of comments published by consumers and the degree of SMBC development. As a result, the findings indicate significant growth in the variety of topics discussed within more developed SMBCs alongside a shift within the topics discussed. The study also investigates value formation within SMBCs, thereby enhancing the understanding of how SMBCs can facilitate value formation. By doing so, this research successfully extends the value formation lens predominantly applied in service marketing. In particular, the findings highlight the role of different actors in enabling the formation of different value types. Furthermore, the research emphasises the value of SMBCs as knowledge repositories as important virtual spaces for both brands and consumers. The findings facilitate understanding of the importance of SMBCs in value formation processes, contributing to advancing knowledge of the role of SMBCs in the development of consumer engagement and value formation. The thesis presents a contextualised conceptual framework of value formation within SMBCs, that captures different interactions taking place in the SMBC environment but also draws attention to the different value types generated through interaction between different actors. Finally, the thesis offers a conceptual framework of SMBCs, consumer engagement and value formation, which captures the correlation between the three researched concepts

    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Characterisation of Blast Loading from Ideal and Non-Ideal Explosives

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    Explosive detonation in its simplest form can be characterised by an instantaneous release of energy at an infinitely small point in space as a solid explosive material. This is a result of chemical decomposition of an explosive which reforms as high pressure and temperature gases which expand radially. This supersonic expansion of detonation products compresses the surrounding medium resulting in a shock wave discontinuity which propagates away from an explosive epicentre at high speeds. This has the potential of significant damage to anything the shock wave interacts with. Shock wave quantification work conducted in 1940`s through to the 1980`s was done so to understand the effects of large scale explosive detonation which was an immediate threat due to the discovery of the nuclear bomb. Highly skilled experimental and theoretical scientists were assigned the task of capturing the effects of large scale detonations through innovative solutions and development of pressure gauges. The in-depth fundamental understanding of physics, combustion and fluid dynamics the researchers utilised resulted in the well-favoured semi-empirical blast predictions for simplistic free-field spherical/hemispherical blasts.\\ A broad amount of literature has been published on free-air characterisation of spherical/hemispherical explosives, with the detonation process and subsequent shock wave formation mechanics being well understood. However, there is yet to be a definitive and robust understanding of how deterministic a shock waves spatial and temporal parameters are for simplistic scenarios. This goes as far as some studies suggesting that semi-empirical tools are not as effective as previously assumed. Often the use of numerical simulations provide reasonable insights to blast loading conditions imparted on structures and scenarios with higher complexities. However, when the validation data used is assumed to exhibit erroneousness, the schemes are no longer characteristically high in fidelity. The lack of quantified variability and confidence in the data which is published, are significant issues for engineers when designing infrastructure that is both robust enough to withstand extreme loading, and not overly conservative that there are cost and material waste implications. This issue is investigated thoroughly within this thesis, highlighting the sensitivity of blast parameters across the scaled distance ranges, and determining their predictability with both numerical simulation and semi-empirical tools. The vast majority of free-field characterisation has been conducted using military grade explosive which exhibit ideal detonation behaviours; meaning the detonation reaction is effectively instantaneous. Ideal explosives, by the theoretical definition, can be categorised by a simplistic instantaneous energy release. In far-field regimes, any explosive with ideal-like compositions and behaviours should be scalable with mass. This assumption is not valid for homemade explosives (HME), such as ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate + Fuel Oil), whose compositions are usually homogenous, resulting in a finite reaction zone length. These can be long enough to cause failures in detonations and exhibit a variety of different energy releases depending on the mass of the charge resulting in HME's having different TNT equivalence values depending on their scale. Early works of ANFO characterisation was done so in the desire to replace TNT, to assess its capability of producing similar yields for a fraction of the manufacturing costs. This meant the hemispherical detonations of ANFO which have led to its overall classification, were done using charges of over 100kg and therefore non-ideal reaction zone effects become negligible in comparison to the overall charge size. Yields presented in this region were consistently measured at around 80\% of a similar TNT detonation and has therefore been incorrectly assumed a rule for ANFO across all mass ranges within published literature.\\ There is a distinct lack of characterisation of non-ideal explosives throughout the mass scales, posing a significant implication for designing structures to withstand the threat of HMEs. With the knowledge that energy is released at a much slower rate when detonating these compositions, the assumption that large scale trials accurately capturing the behaviour of a small charge masses, when scaled down, is not verified. Most HMEs will be hand held devices or, at the very least, backpack size, meaning the threat currently is not predictive with confidence through validated data conducted under well-controlled conditions. Small scale ANFO trials have demonstrated this to be the case within this thesis, with theoretical mechanisms proposed which offering a prediction method of the behaviour of non-ideal detonation across all mass scales. Findings in this PhD thesis will offer a conclusion on whether shock waves in free-field scenarios are deterministic for both ideal and no-ideal explosives, with a particular emphasis on the far-field range. The results presented are developments in the accurate quantification of shock wave loading conditions a structure is subjected to through explosive detonation and should be used by engineers to establish robust, probabilistic but accurate designs

    Climate Change and Critical Agrarian Studies

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    Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to humanity today and plays out as a cruel engine of myriad forms of injustice, violence and destruction. The effects of climate change from human-made emissions of greenhouse gases are devastating and accelerating; yet are uncertain and uneven both in terms of geography and socio-economic impacts. Emerging from the dynamics of capitalism since the industrial revolution — as well as industrialisation under state-led socialism — the consequences of climate change are especially profound for the countryside and its inhabitants. The book interrogates the narratives and strategies that frame climate change and examines the institutionalised responses in agrarian settings, highlighting what exclusions and inclusions result. It explores how different people — in relation to class and other co-constituted axes of social difference such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and occupation — are affected by climate change, as well as the climate adaptation and mitigation responses being implemented in rural areas. The book in turn explores how climate change – and the responses to it - affect processes of social differentiation, trajectories of accumulation and in turn agrarian politics. Finally, the book examines what strategies are required to confront climate change, and the underlying political-economic dynamics that cause it, reflecting on what this means for agrarian struggles across the world. The 26 chapters in this volume explore how the relationship between capitalism and climate change plays out in the rural world and, in particular, the way agrarian struggles connect with the huge challenge of climate change. Through a huge variety of case studies alongside more conceptual chapters, the book makes the often-missing connection between climate change and critical agrarian studies. The book argues that making the connection between climate and agrarian justice is crucial

    Digital Innovations for a Circular Plastic Economy in Africa

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    Plastic pollution is one of the biggest challenges of the twenty-first century that requires innovative and varied solutions. Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, this book brings together interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder perspectives exploring challenges and opportunities for utilising digital innovations to manage and accelerate the transition to a circular plastic economy (CPE). This book is organised into three sections bringing together discussion of environmental conditions, operational dimensions and country case studies of digital transformation towards the circular plastic economy. It explores the environment for digitisation in the circular economy, bringing together perspectives from practitioners in academia, innovation, policy, civil society and government agencies. The book also highlights specific country case studies in relation to the development and implementation of different innovative ideas to drive the circular plastic economy across the three sub-Saharan African regions. Finally, the book interrogates the policy dimensions and practitioner perspectives towards a digitally enabled circular plastic economy. Written for a wide range of readers across academia, policy and practice, including researchers, students, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), digital entrepreneurs, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and multilateral agencies, policymakers and public officials, this book offers unique insights into complex, multilayered issues relating to the production and management of plastic waste and highlights how digital innovations can drive the transition to the circular plastic economy in Africa. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license

    Cognitive Machine Individualism in a Symbiotic Cybersecurity Policy Framework for the Preservation of Internet of Things Integrity: A Quantitative Study

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    This quantitative study examined the complex nature of modern cyber threats to propose the establishment of cyber as an interdisciplinary field of public policy initiated through the creation of a symbiotic cybersecurity policy framework. For the public good (and maintaining ideological balance), there must be recognition that public policies are at a transition point where the digital public square is a tangible reality that is more than a collection of technological widgets. The academic contribution of this research project is the fusion of humanistic principles with Internet of Things (IoT) technologies that alters our perception of the machine from an instrument of human engineering into a thinking peer to elevate cyber from technical esoterism into an interdisciplinary field of public policy. The contribution to the US national cybersecurity policy body of knowledge is a unified policy framework (manifested in the symbiotic cybersecurity policy triad) that could transform cybersecurity policies from network-based to entity-based. A correlation archival data design was used with the frequency of malicious software attacks as the dependent variable and diversity of intrusion techniques as the independent variable for RQ1. For RQ2, the frequency of detection events was the dependent variable and diversity of intrusion techniques was the independent variable. Self-determination Theory is the theoretical framework as the cognitive machine can recognize, self-endorse, and maintain its own identity based on a sense of self-motivation that is progressively shaped by the machine’s ability to learn. The transformation of cyber policies from technical esoterism into an interdisciplinary field of public policy starts with the recognition that the cognitive machine is an independent consumer of, advisor into, and influenced by public policy theories, philosophical constructs, and societal initiatives

    DEPORTATION OF REFUGEES: THE POLITICS OF REFUGEE CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES

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    This dissertation offers an interdisciplinary analysis of the emergence of a deportation regime in the United States that increasingly targets refugees as subjects of removal. Its aim is to investigate how and why some refugees are deported from the United States to places of persecution or to places where they have no ties. Despite the fact that it is formally illegal to deport refugees, the Untied States government has maintained and strengthened this practice of governing noncitizens since the 1980s. By doing so, I illustrate that U.S. refugee deportation policies are a historical result of the hegemony of the executive branch over the interpretation of immigration policy, combined with a justice system that seldom challenges executive enforcement agencies like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). I evaluate the roles played by the culture of “crimmigration” and the American courts’ judicial compliance with the international refugee regime in refugee deportation. I utilize original data from archived government records of the federal courts, executive agencies like the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), and the Congressional committee hearing transcripts. I interpret this data using insights from legal studies and political science, with the aim of better understanding the treatment of noncitizens in the United States

    British Bangladeshi Muslim Women’s In-Law Relationships: A Narrative Analysis

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    Despite being a major feature of everyday life, research on in-law relationships has received relatively scant attention in comparison to other close relationships. In-law relationships have mostly been portrayed negatively in popular culture, influencing and reflecting the pervading negative attitudes held by wider society. This has provided a narrow and restrictive view of affinal relationships. In-law relationships are found across the globe, and literature suggests that culture and its underlying values play a major role in shaping the nature and dynamics of such relationships. However, the majority of research has been dominated by the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law dyad, with little attention to the wider context. Using a post-colonial feminist framework and narrative analysis, the current research documents the stories of 10 British Bangladeshi Muslim women and their subjective experiences of in-law relationships. The research highlights the subtle and nuanced way they navigate in-law relationships and exercise their agency. It also demonstrates how intersecting markers of difference impact experiences of agency and the shaping of their identity. The research highlights four major themes from the analysis: (1) “It’s a family marriage” (2) Rising tensions (3) Tug of war – the role of husband and (4) Developing a survivor’s identity. A description of these themes and related subthemes are discussed. The findings of the present study challenge Eurocentric models of feminism and demonstrate the diversity of women’s experiences and identities. They also reveal how gender intersects with other markers of identity that shape the participants’ social realities. They also point to the urgency of highlighting the role of the wider family in the perpetration of abuse against women. The research discusses further implications of findings for academics, clinicians, policy, and the wider community, and recommends suggestions for future research
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