Not entitled to talk: (mis)recognition, inequality and social activism of young Muslims

This article considers the relationship between (mis)recognition, inequality and social activism through the lens of young Muslims’ response to their positioning as ‘suspect communities’. It draws on qualitative empirical research to suggest that the institutionalisation of misrecognition, including through the preventative (‘Prevent’) arm of UK counter-terrorism strategy, may mobilise young Muslims to resist ‘suspect’ status and make claims to the right to equal esteem. This forms part of the motivation towards social activism that mitigates the harm inflicted by misrecognition. However, the particular historical and cultural form of the institutionalisation of misrecognition, which renders ‘preventing Prevent’ a priority for young Muslims, may compound their status subordination. Drawing on critiques of the politics of recognition, and contextualising findings in debates on racism, anti-Muslim attitudes and societal securitisation, the article concludes that fighting misrecognition with recognition politics mis-places the role of power in subject formation and constrains young Muslims’ political agency

Enacting intersectional multilayered citizenship: Kurdish women’s politics

Focusing on the institutional aspects of the Kurdish women’s movement in Turkey since the 1990s the article shows how it established a consciousness within the Kurdish national movement that gender equality is a cornerstone of democracy and ethnic rights. We frame this through theories of enacting intersectional multilayered citizenship and identify three key interventions: autonomous women’s assemblies, women’s quotas in pro-Kurdish rights parties and the co-chair system where all elected positions within the pro-Kurdish parties are jointly occupied by a male and female. These have achieved a better representation of women in formal politics, rendered gender equality and sexual violence legitimate subjects of politics and contributed to establishing an aspiration for a more dialogic political ethos. While the women’s movement’s close affiliation with the Kurdish national movement has been highly effective, it also in part circumscribes gender roles to fit its agendas

Safeguarding, surveillance and control: school policy and practice responses to the Prevent Duty and the "War on Terror" in the UK

In this chapter we provide a critical analysis of counter-terrorism strategies (Prevent) in UK schools. We provide a critique of some key, and often controversial, aspects of the Prevent policy, from its introduction in schools, through to its implementation and outcomes. Research is limited, particularly in relation to students’ experiences of the strategy, but we review the existing evidence to provide some insights, as far as possible, into how Prevent has been received by teachers and students, its impact on the working practices of teachers, and the experiences of students and local communities subject to Prevent policy and practice. In so doing we raise questions about the implications of the Prevent strategy, in particular the heightened measures of security and surveillance, imposed upon teachers, students, and communities and point towards possibilities for future policy and practice

Barriers for highly qualified A8 immigrants in the UK labour market

The number of migrants arriving in the UK from the EU accession countries has been higher than projected. The evidence indicates that they have been over-represented in low-paid and low-skilled jobs. This is arguably transitory and there should be good prospects of upward mobility. Over-qualification among A8 migrants, measured using the Annual Population Survey data, is examined in this article. The findings show that A8 migrants have been subject to migration penalties at the high end of the UK labour market. There are persistent labour market disadvantages for A8 migrants in the UK and their over-qualification may be a long-term concern

Encountering authority and avoiding trouble: young migrant men’s narratives of negotiation in Europe

Drawing on data from seven European countries (Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom), this article seeks to identify how young migrant men engage with authority and avoid conflict against a backdrop of increasing hostility towards migrants in many European countries. As this article contends, even those with permanent residency status in the host country often find themselves having to justify their legitimacy to carry out daily tasks, resulting in many young male migrants living with feelings of perpetual insecurity. As such, a number of coping strategies are employed by young migrant men in order to assuage such feelings and mitigate potential risks. Focusing on the lived experiences of this group, as described in narrative interviews, our study found that many young migrant men are required to enter into negotiations with authority figures, where there is a considerable power differential. Acting as risk assessors, they find themselves forced to navigate complex and challenging social relations and support networks. We show how self-limiting behaviour intended to avoid or control interactions with authority and the negotiations conducted to minimize the risk of ‘trouble’ by young migrant men not only are problematic in the context of day-to-day activities but can very often have a detrimental impact on their lives

Contextualizing Kurdish gender studies decolonial feminist knowledge production and the genesis of the Kurdish Gender Studies Network

Established in 2020, the Kurdish Gender Studies Network (KGSN) is an online epistemic community that brings together activists and scholars dedicated to advancing knowledge in Kurdish gender and sexuality studies. This paper aims to introduce the network to a larger public while situating the formation of the KGSN in relation to the growth of Kurdish gender studies (KGS), and the increasing influence of women and queer scholars in Kurdish studies (KS) since 2010. It highlights that both KGSN and KS have been greatly influenced by the conditions shaped by the colonial legacy surrounding Kurdistan and the Kurdish issue while discussing the ways in which Kurdish women’s and gender studies were often marginalized in KS. As Kurdish women scholars and members of the network’s steering committee, we position the trajectory of the network and the evolution of KGS within the broader framework of knowledge production in colonial contexts and address the ongoing struggle to decolonize feminist knowledge production, which, historically, has been dominated by Western-centric epistemologies and methodologies

Low processing temperatures explored in Sb2S3 solar cells by close-spaced sublimation and analysis of bulk and interface related defects

This study was funded by the Estonian Research Council project PRG627 “Antimony chalcogenide thin films for next-generation semi-transparent solar cells applicable in electricity producing windows”, the Estonian Research Council project PSG689 “Bismuth Chalcogenide Thin-Film Disruptive Green Solar Technology for Next Generation Photovoltaics”, the Estonian Centre of Excellence project TK141 (TAR16016EK) “Advanced materials and high-technology devices for energy recuperation systems”, and the European Union's Horizon 2020 ERA Chair project 5GSOLAR (grant agreement No. 952509). The article is based upon work from COST Action Research and International Networking project "Emerging Inorganic Chalcogenides for Photovoltaics (RENEW-PV)," CA21148, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology); Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD 01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2.Antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) is a promising photovoltaic absorber, which has so far been fabricated mainly by chemical deposition methods. Despite its aptness for congruent sublimation, less research efforts have been made on low-temperature Sb2S3 processing by physical methods. In this regard, recent studies show large variation in the processing temperature of Sb2S3 films, which overall brings into question the need for higher substrate temperatures (>350 °C). Furthermore, in-depth analysis of defect structure of Sb2S3 employing temperature-dependent admittance spectroscopy (TAS) and photoluminescence (PL) remains largely unexplored. In this work, we systematically study the effect of close-spaced sublimation (CSS) substrate temperature on Sb2S3 absorber growth, employing a wide temperature range of 240–400 °C. Temperatures above 320 °C caused cracking phenomena in the Sb2S3 absorber film, proving the unviability of higher processing temperatures. CSS processing temperature of 300 °C was found optimal, producing crack-free Sb2S3 films with increased presence of (hk1) planes, and achieving the best CdS/Sb2S3 device with photoconversion efficiency of 3.8%. TAS study revealed two deep defects with activation energies of 0.32 eV and 0.37 eV. Low-temperature PL measurement revealed a band-to-band emission at 1.72 eV and a broad band peaked at 1.40 eV, which was assigned to a donor-acceptor pair recombination. Temperature-dependent I-V analysis showed that recombination at CdS–Sb2S3 interface remains a large limitation for the device efficiency. --//-- R. Krautmann, N. Spalatu, R. Josepson, R. Nedzinskas, R. Kondrotas, R. Gržibovskis, A. Vembris, M. Krunks, I. Oja Acik, Low processing temperatures explored in Sb2S3 solar cells by close-spaced sublimation and analysis of bulk and interface related defects, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Volume 251, 2023, 112139, ISSN 0927-0248, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2022.112139. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927024822005566) Published under the CC BY licence.Estonian Research Council project PRG627; Estonian Research Council project PSG689; Estonian Centre of Excellence project TK141 (TAR16016EK); European Union's Horizon 2020 ERA Chair project 5GSOLAR (grant agreement No. 952509; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD 01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2

A post deposition annealing approach for organic residue control in TiO2 and its impact on Sb2Se3 TiO2 device performance

We report a systematic investigation on the influence of two step post deposition treatments PDTs on TiO2 buffer layers deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis USP for emerging Sb2Se3 photovoltaics. Air annealing is a typical method for recrystallizing chemically deposited TiO2 films. However, organic residues such as carbon species from a precursor solution based on titanium tetraisopropoxide and acetylacetone may still remain on the TiO2 surface, therefore requiring an additional annealing step. We demonstrate that vacuum annealing can be a suitable technological approach to decrease the concentration of carbon species in TiO2 films. Vacuum annealing was performed at temperatures at 160 450 C prior to the 450 C air annealing step. It was found that vacuum annealing at 160 C followed by subsequent air annealing led to better device performance. This was explained by achieving an optimal balance between the removal of carbon content during vacuum annealing and the active recrystallization of TiO2 during air annealing. The decrease of carbon concentration by employing the two step approach was supported by changes in the lattice parameters of TiO2 and proven by X ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS . The given study provides experimental evidence on how nanoscale carbon species in the TiO2 heterojunction partner layer of a Sb2Se3 solar cell can affect the device s performance. By this approach, we generate complementary insights on how the quality of the main interface has an impact and can take a key role despite the optimized Sb2Se3 grain structure and orientatio

Synthesis Control of Charge Separation at Anatase TiO2 Thin Films Studied by Transient Surface Photovoltage Spectroscopy

For the efficient photocatalytic oxidation of organic pollutants at surfaces of semiconductors, photogenerated holes shall be separated toward the surface and transferred to reactive surface sites, whereas the transfer of photogenerated electrons toward the surface shall be minimized. In this Research Article, the identification of suitable synthesis control of charge separation combined with an in depth understanding of charge kinetics and trapping passivation mechanisms at the related surfaces can provide tremendous opportunities for boosting the photocatalytic performance. In this work, a comprehensive transient surface photovoltage spectroscopy study of charge separation at anatase TiO2 thin films, synthesized by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis from titanium IV isopropoxide TTIP acetylacetone AcacH based precursor is reported. By varying the amount of AcacH in the precursor solution, an experimental approach of synthesis control of the charge transfer toward TiO2 surface is provided for the first time. An increased amount of AcacH in the precursor promotes transition from preferential fast electron to preferential fast hole transfer toward anatase surface, correlating with a strong increase of the photocatalytic decomposition rate of organic pollutants. Suitable mechanisms of AcacH induced passivation of electron traps at TiO2 surfaces are analyzed, providing a new degree of freedom for tailoring the properties of photocatalytic system

ZnO NiO heterostructures with enhanced photocatalytic activity obtained by ultrasonic spraying of a NiO shell onto ZnO nanorods

Degradation of organic pollutants such as methylene blue MB from water resources is currently of particular interest. Employment of a heterojunction device with optimized layer properties and proper interface engineering can enhance the photocatalytic performance by taking advantage of efficient charge separation. In this work, we develop an efficient photocatalytic system for the MB degradation based on ZnO nanorod ZnONR NiO core shell heterostructure with an optimized chemical and electronic structure for achieving record MB degradation efficiency of 70 . ZnONR were grown by hydrothermal technique, whereas homogeneous crystalline NiO thin films were prepared by a robust and easy for up scaling method of ultrasonic spray pyrolysis USP . The optimum preparation conditions of photocatalytically efficient ZnONR NiO heterostructures imply NiO film deposition from two USP cycles at 500 C followed by air annealing heterostructures at 600 C. The photocatalytic performance of ZnONR NiO core shell structure was investigated in comparison to counterpart layers and ZnO NiO bilayer system. Chemical composition and band alignment at the ZnONR NiO interface were investigated by X ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Kelvin probe and photoelectron yield spectroscopy. Current transport studies indicated the presence of built in electric field at the n ZnO p NiO heterointerface responsible for the enhanced photocatalytic activity and based on this the degradation mechanism of MB is discusse