Gendered self-views across 62 countries: a test of competing models

Social role theory posits that binary gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in less egalitarian countries, reflecting these countries’ more pronounced sex-based power divisions. Conversely, evolutionary and self-construal theorists suggest that gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in more egalitarian countries, reflecting the greater autonomy support and flexible self-construction processes present in these countries. Using data from 62 countries (N = 28,640), we examine binary gender gaps in agentic and communal self-views as a function of country-level objective gender equality (the Global Gender Gap Index) and subjective distributions of social power (the Power Distance Index). Findings show that in more egalitarian countries, gender gaps in agency are smaller and gender gaps in communality are larger. These patterns are driven primarily by cross-country differences in men’s self-views and by the Power Distance Index (PDI) more robustly than the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI). We consider possible causes and implications of these findings

Investigation into soil displacement near a jacked-in pile in sand

When a pile is driven into soil, the soil is pushed away which results in significant changes in both stress state and strain state. Using Finite Element Code to simulate the pile installation process has been not yet completely successful partly due to the limited knowledge of the governing behavior of the soil around a displacement pile. An investigation into the soil behavior during a static installation of a jacked-in pile in dry sand is conducted in this research. The mechanism of pile installation is studied under a plane strain condition. A measurement method based on (1) digital photography and (2) digital image correlation was applied to observe the soil deformation around the pile during installation. Series of simple tests were performed and proved that the method offers sufficient accuracy concurrent with large number of measurement points within the observation area. A series of four pile installation tests, with stress controlled on the top boundary, is conducted. The influence of initial void ratio and an additional surcharge on soil deformation was examined. The resulting displacement field was used to deduce the strain field around the pile and strain paths during pile installation process. The rigid/nearly-rigid cone of soil is found under the pile tip. Zone of high high volumetric strain and high shear strain locates below the cone and radially extends with respect to the cone. That a zone of high volumetric strain and considerable shear strain occurs along the pile shaft during continued penetration suggests an existence of the shear band. The inwards relaxation of soil elements near the pile shaft is confirmed by the tail at the end of the displacement trajectories and the peak of rotation paths in loose condition. The steady state deformation is also observed in loose assembly only.Geo-EngineeringGeotechnologyCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Report of the ARES-POP funded project "The change of Hanoi’s peri-urban villages under the impacts of metropolization" (NUCE, ULB & ULiege)

Projets POP-2018info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

The advanced photocatalytic degradation of atrazine by direct Z-scheme Cu doped ZnO/g-C3N4

Herein, Cu was incorporated into ZnO lattice to reduce its band gap as well as to extend its visible radiation response. The obtained Cu-ZnO was continuously integrated with g-C3N4 to create Cu-ZnO/g-C3N4 Z-direct scheme photocatalyst for advanced atrazine removal. Radical scavenging experiments have been also conducted to clearly figure out photocatalytic mechanism for degradation of atrazine by the synthesized photocatalyst. The synthesized Cu-ZnO only utilized the generated h+ for atrazine degradation (direct and indirect via formation hydroxyl radicals (•OH)) and the g-C3N4 only utilized the generated e− for atrazine degradation (indirect via reaction with O2 to form superoxide anion, which needed to continuously react with H2O to form •OH). Therefore, the photocatalytic atrazine degradation by synthesized Cu-ZnO material was greater than that by synthesized g-C3N4 material. Cu-ZnO/g-C3N4 utilized both generated e− and h+ for degradation of atrazine. Thus, the photocatalytic atrazine degradation by the synthesized Cu-ZnO/g-C3N4 was greater than those of single g-C3N4 or Cu-ZnO materials. Finally, the conducted recycling experiments indicated great stability of synthesized Cu-ZnO/g-C3N4 during long-term atrazine degradation process opening new era for application of the material in practical systems.Scopu

Assessing evidence for avian-to-human transmission of influenza A/H9N2 virus in rural farming communities in northern Vietnam

Rural farming communities in northern Vietnam do not routinely practice vaccination for influenza A viruses (IAV) for either humans or poultry, which enables us to study transmission intensity via seroepidemiology. Using samples from a longitudinal cohort of farming households, we determined the number of symptomatic and asymptomatic human infections for seasonal IAV and avian A/H9 over 2 years. As expected, we detected virologically confirmed acute cases of seasonal IAV in humans, as well as large numbers of subclinical seroconversions to A/H1pdm [55/265 (21 %)], A/H3 [95/265 (36 %)] and A/H9 [24/265 (9 %)]. Five of the A/H9 human seroconverters likely represented true infections rather than heterosubtypic immunity, because the individuals seroconverted solely to A/H9. Among co-located poultry, we found significantly higher seroprevalance for A/H5 compared to A/H9 in both chickens and ducks [for northern study sites overall, 337/1105 (30.5 %) seropositive for A/H5 and 123/1105 (11.1 %) seropositive for A/H9]