‘Respect’ and ‘justice’ for whom? Culturally irresponsive ethical practices with refugee communities

This article explores how two common social work ethical principles, respect for persons and justice, are understood by refugee young people aged 18–30 years old in Kenya. Through 31 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with refugee young people who had previously participated in academic and/or organization-based qualitative research, this article explores how this group conceptualizes research ethics. The analysis suggests that refugee young people in Kenya did not necessarily feel that researchers were respectful. As such, the article claims that researchers must reconsider how Eurocentric social work and research ethics codes are understood globally

Numerical analysis of deep ground movements induced by circular shaft construction

: The prediction of the excavation-induced displacements by shaft construction in urban areas is an important design issue. A series of experiments were conducted by Le et al. (2019) using a geotechnical centrifuge to evaluate the distribution with depth of soil movements induced during a shaft construction. Those results have been confirmed and expanded in this work by means of numerical analyses. Following this validation, numerical modelling has been used to analyse the influence of OCR and of the shaft geometry, namely its depth H and diameter D!"#$%. In the abovementioned experimental study (Le et al., 2019) the presence of existing underground structures in the proximity of the shaft had been neglected. Therefore, in this study the effect of an existing shallow tunnel in the vicinity of the shaft excavation was taken into account and numerically analysed. The results show that the induced displacement field is affected by the tunnel, depending on its distance from the shaft. Nevertheless, when the distance between the shaft and the existing tunnel is larger than the tunnel axis depth, the tunnel presence may be neglected in the prediction of shaft-indued displacements. Based on the numerical results, further centrifuge tests will be carried out to model the interaction between the shaft excavation and the tunnel

Computing Volume Bounds of Inclusions by EIT Measurements

The size estimates approach for Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) allows for estimating the size (area or volume) of an unknown inclusion in an electrical conductor by means of one pair of boundary measurements of voltage and current. In this paper we show by numerical simulations how to obtain such bounds for practical application of the method. The computations are carried out both in a 2D and a 3D setting.Comment: 20 pages with figure

Diel turbidity cycles in a headwater stream: evidence of nocturnal bioturbation?

Purpose: A small number of recent studies have linked daily cycles in stream turbidity to nocturnal bioturbation by aquatic fauna, principally crayfish, and demonstrated this process can significantly impact upon water quality under baseflow conditions. Adding to this limited body of research, we use high-resolution water quality monitoring data to investigate evidence of diel turbidity cycles in a lowland, headwater stream with a known signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) population and explore a range of potential causal mechanisms. Materials and methods: Automatic bankside monitoring stations measured turbidity and other water quality parameters at 30-min resolution at three locations on the River Blackwater, Norfolk, UK during 2013. Specifically, we focused on two 20-day periods of baseflow conditions during January and April 2013 which displayed turbidity trends typical of winter and spring seasons, respectively. The turbidity time-series, which were smoothed with 6.5 hour Savitzky-Golay filters to highlight diel trends, were correlated against temperature, stage, dissolved oxygen and pH to assess the importance of abiotic influences on turbidity. Turbidity was also calibrated against suspended particulate matter (SPM) over a wide range of values via linear regression. Results and discussion: Pronounced diel turbidity cycles were found at two of the three sites under baseflow conditions during April. Spring night-time turbidity values consistently peaked between 21:00 and 04:00 with values increasing by ~10 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) compared with the lowest recorded daytime values which occurred between 10:00 and 14:00. This translated into statistically significant increases in median midnight SPM concentration of up to 76% compared with midday, with night-time (18:00 – 05:30) SPM loads also up to 30% higher than that recorded during the daytime (06:00 – 17:30). Relating turbidity to other water quality parameters exhibiting diel cycles revealed there to be neither any correlation that might indicate a causal link, nor any obvious mechanistic connections to explain the temporal turbidity trends. Diel turbidity cycles were less prominent at all sites during the winter. Conclusions: Considering the seasonality and timing of elevated turbidity, visual observations of crayfish activity, and an absence of mechanistic connections with other water quality parameters, the results presented here are consistent with the hypothesis that nocturnal bioturbation is responsible for generating diel turbidity cycles under baseflow conditions in headwater streams. However, further research in a variety of fluvial environments is required to better assess the spatial extent, importance and causal mechanisms of this phenomenon

Ensemble evaluation of hydrological model hypotheses

It is demonstrated for the first time how model parameter, structural and data uncertainties can be accounted for explicitly and simultaneously within the Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) methodology. As an example application, 72 variants of a single soil moisture accounting store are tested as simplified hypotheses of runoff generation at six experimental grassland field-scale lysimeters through model rejection and a novel diagnostic scheme. The fields, designed as replicates, exhibit different hydrological behaviors which yield different model performances. For fields with low initial discharge levels at the beginning of events, the conceptual stores considered reach their limit of applicability. Conversely, one of the fields yielding more discharge than the others, but having larger data gaps, allows for greater flexibility in the choice of model structures. As a model learning exercise, the study points to a “leaking” of the fields not evident from previous field experiments. It is discussed how understanding observational uncertainties and incorporating these into model diagnostics can help appreciate the scale of model structural error

Numerical investigation of fibre optic sensing for sinkhole detection

This paper forms part of the SINEW(sinkhole early warning) project and continues the work conducted by Möller and co-workers in 2022, where 1g experiments demonstrated the feasibility of using distributed fibre-optic sensing (DFOS) for sinkhole early warning. Their experimental campaign highlighted an order of magnitude difference in the strain between the soil and the cable that remains unexplained and weakens confidence in the technology and/or the experimental method. This paper uses three-dimensional finite element analyses to examine further this discrepancy and the soil–cable interface. The results support the experimental findings and demonstrate that the DFOS signature strain profile is induced by the horizontal movement of the ground, and enhanced when sufficient coupling at the soil–cable interface is achieved. This result holds when modelling is scaled to realistic confining pressure, and its significance is twofold. First, this needs to be accounted for in the DFOS laying technique. Second, particles of cohesionless soils undergo relatively high horizontal displacement away from the centre of the sinkhole, and this means that DFOS cables are able to detect subsidence away from the centre of the sinkhole. The paper illustrates this result and the signature strain profile expected in this case.CSIC and Innovate UK.https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/toc/jgeot/currentam2024Civil EngineeringSDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructur

Distributed fibre optic sensing for sinkhole early warning : experimental study

This paper presents experimental work aimed at proving the feasibility of using distributed fibre optic sensing (DFOS) as an early warning system for sinkhole detection. The 1g experiments were conducted using a plane-strain trapdoor and scaled to provide insight into the formation of a sinkhole in sand, in which DFOS cables were laid at selected depths. The DFOS data are compared with the geomechanics of the soil displacement, recorded using particle image velocimetry (PIV). It was demonstrated that the DFOS exhibits a signature strain profile at the location of the sinkhole, allowing a sinkhole to be located using the DFOS data. Differences in the PIV and DFOS data are, however, apparent – notably the strain magnitudes. Nonetheless, it is possible to estimate the size and location of the sinkhole at depth using the DFOS data. Using a preliminary study of the development of the zone of subsidence, for a range of relative densities, it is then possible to predict the extent of the damage zone at the ground surface. Such results show the potential for the incorporation of DFOS in the construction of critical infrastructure to enable early detection of sinkhole formation and thus provide an opportunity for remedial action to prevent catastrophic failures.CSIC and Innovate UK.https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/toc/jgeot/currenthj2023Civil Engineerin

Round robin testing initiative for fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement

An international Round Robin Testing (RRT) programme on FRP reinforcement was conducted within the framework of the Marie Curie Research Training Network, ENCORE, and with the support of Task Group 9.3 of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib). Eleven laboratories and six manufacturers and suppliers participated in this exercise. As part of this extensive experimental endeavour, one or more of the following tests were performed by the participating laboratories: 1) tensile tests on FRP bars and strips; 2) tensile tests on FRP laminates; 3) double bond shear tests on FRP laminates (Externally Bonded Reinforcement, EBR) and FRP bars/strip (Near Surface Mounted reinforcement, NSM). This paper will discusses the results of the RRT initiative, among which the experimental results of bond tests on concrete specimens strengthened with EBR and NSM FRP