Community Perceptions of Forced Marriage

NoThis is an analytical report for the Community Liaison Unit (CLU), 'Community Perceptions of Forced Marriage'. This report provides the context, explores the problems and the perceptions of the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities of forced marriages. Therefore, this report represents a comprehensive and rigorous synthesis of existing research evidence combined with primary data collected specifically for the report

The JPL telerobotic Manipulator Control and Mechanization (MCM) subsystem

The Manipulator Control and Mechanization (MCM) subsystem of the telerobot system provides the real-time control of the robot manipulators in autonomous and teleoperated modes and real time input/output for a variety of sensors and actuators. Substantial hardware and software are included in this subsystem which interfaces in the hierarchy of the telerobot system with the other subsystems. The other subsystems are: run time control, task planning and reasoning, sensing and perception, and operator control subsystem. The architecture of the MCM subsystem, its capabilities, and details of various hardware and software elements are described. Important improvements in the MCM subsystem over the first version are: dual arm coordinated trajectory generation and control, addition of integrated teleoperation, shared control capability, replacement of the ultimate controllers with motor controllers, and substantial increase in real time processing capability

Do Islamist Parties Help or Hinder Women? Party Institutionalization, Piety and Responsiveness to Female Citizens

Does electing Islamist parties help or hurt women? Due to Ennahda winning a plurality in the 2011 elections and women from all parties winning 31% of seats, Tunisia offers an opportunity to test the impact of legislator gender and Islamist orientation on women\u27s representation. Using original 2012 surveys of 40 Tunisian parliamentarians (MPs) and 1200 citizens, we find that electing female and Islamists MPs improves women\u27s symbolic and service responsiveness by increasing the likelihood that female citizens are aware of and contact MPs. Electing Islamist female MPs has a positive impact on women\u27s symbolic and service responsiveness, but decreases the likelihood that men will interact with legislators. We argue that Islamist deputies are more responsive to women due to an Islamic mandate effect—that is, Islamist parties\u27 efforts to institutionalize their constituency relations, provide services to the marginalized through direct contact with citizens, and respect norms of piety by using female parliamentarians to reach women in sex-segregated spaces. While Islamist parties positively impact some dimensions of women\u27s representation, they also reinforce traditional gender relations. Our results extend the literature on Islam, gender, and governance by demonstrating that quotas and party institutionalization improve women\u27s representation in clientelistic contexts

A Note on the Generalized Friedmann Equations for a Thick Brane

Within our thick brane approach previously used to obtain the cosmological evolution equations on a thick brane embedded in a five-dimensional Schwarzschild Anti-de Sitter spacetime it is explicitly shown that the consistency of these equations with the energy conservation equation requires that, in general, the thickness of the brane evolves in time. This varying brane thickness entails the possibility that both Newton's gravitational constant $G$ and the effective cosmological constant $\Lambda_4$ are time dependent.Comment: 6 pages,To appear in GR

Economic equity among ethnic in retail sector: case study in Seremban City Center, Negeri Sembilan

Retail sector is one of important components in urban economic activity for urban livability. Currently, the retail sector contributes 60% of Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Since retail sector provide more than half of the country’s GDP, an in-depth study to understand the framework of this sector should be emphasized. This paper will discuss the participation of Bumiputera in the retail sector with a focus on the Seremban City Center (SCC) as the designated study area. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the New Economic Policy (NEP) is successful in bringing about even economic equity by ensuring 30% Bumiputera participation in retail sectors. Preliminary results obtained through primary and secondary data indicates that Bumiputera involvement is only 7% (Malays), while 93% of it is participated by non Bumiputera (Indian 13% and Chinese 80%). Bumiputera only involved in specific business such as restaurant, beauty care, travel and insurance agency, tuition center, boutique and also private clinics. In addition, data trend for the past three decades showed a mere 6% increased in Bumiputera participation in retail sector in SCC. This paper discusses the important of the retail activities for urban dwelling. The preliminary result shows that participation of the Bumiputera in retail sector are still questionable and urban planner should play more roles for the Bumiputera livability and sustainability

Upaya Meningkatkan Hasil Belajar Fisika Melalui Pemberian Tugas Terstruktur Disertai Umpan Balik Pada Model Pembelajaran Langsung Peserta Didik Kelas VIIA SMP Negeri 1 Bontonompo Kabupaten Gowa

Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian tindakan kelas yang bertujuan untuk mengetahui upaya pemberian tugas terstruktur disertai umpan Balik untuk meningkatkan hasil belajar peserta didik kelas VIIA SMP Negeri 1 Bontonompo. Subyek dari penelitian ini adalah 28 orang. Tindakan penelitian dilaksanakan dalam 2 siklus. Tindakan siklus I meliputi plan (perencanaan), action (tindakan), observation (observasi), dan reflection (refleksi). Tindakan siklus II merupakan tindak lanjut dan modifikasi dari siklus I. Kriteria keberhasilan adalah penguasaan konsep mencapai KKM yang ditetapkan yakni 70 secara individual dan 72% secara klasikal. Data hasil penelitian diperoleh dengan memberikan tes hasil belajar diakhir masing-masing siklus. Hasil penelitian dideskripsikan berdasarkan perolehan data penguasaan konsep berupa nilai hasil belajar setiap siklus. Nilai rata-rata penguasaan konsep meningkat dari 61,25 pada siklus I menjadi 75,71 pada siklus II dengan kata lain belum tuntas KKM pada siklus I menjadi tuntas KKM pada siklus II. Kesimpulan penelitian adalah upaya pemberian tugas terstruktur disertai umpan Balik pada model pembelajaran langsung dapat meningkatkan hasil belajar dalam pembelajaran fisika peserta didik kelas VIIA SMP Negeri Negeri 1 Bontonompo. Kata kunci : Penelitian tindakan kelas, tugas terstruktur, umpan Balik, hasil belajarThis research is classroom action research to know application of giving task assignment structurally with feedback on direct learning to improve learning results of students class VIIA SMP Negeri 1 Bontonompo. The subject of this research is 28 students. Action research conducted in two cycles. Action to cycle I are plan, action, observation, and reflection. Action to cycle II is a follow-up and modification of cycle I. Success criteria is the concept of achieving mastery KKM set is 70 individually and 72% classically. The results was obtained by giving final test in the end of every cycle. The results are described based on obtaining data by concept of achieving mastery that is result value study in every cycle. The average value of the concept of mastery increased from 6,25 in cycle I to 75,71 in cycle II with other words, the cycle I is not complete KKM to complete in cycle II. Research's conclusions are application of giving task assignment structurally with feedback on direct learning can enhance learning results in physics studying of students class VIIA SMP Negeri 1 Bontonomp

Experimental Investigation on Shear Resistance Behaviour of RC Precracked and Non-Precracked T-Beams using Discrete CFRP Strips

The exploitation of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites as external reinforcement is an evergreen technique for improving the structural performance of the existing Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures. This paper presents a experimental investigation on shear strengthening capacity and modes of failure of precracked and non-precracked RC beams bonded externally with bi-directional Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) fabric strips. Twelve RC T- beams were fabricated with different internal longitudinal and shear reinforcements. These beams were subjected to two types of loading; namely three point and four point bending systems. The beams were classified into three categories namely control, precracked-repaired, and initially strengthened (i.e. non-precracked) beams. Prior to the application of CFRP shear reinforcement, the precracked-repaired beams were partially loaded to develop shear cracks along the shear spans, whereas the initially strengthened beams were strengthened with CFRP reinforcement without the application of any preloading. The overall increase in shear enhancement of the precracked-repaired and initially strengthened beams ranged between 13% and 61% greater over their control beams. It was found that the application of CFRP strips in the precracked-repaired beams attained better performance as compared to the initially strengthened beams

Feedback regulation of the heat shock response in E. coli

Survival of organisms in extreme conditions has necessitated the evolution of stress response networks that detect and respond to environmental changes. Among the extreme conditions that cells must face is the exposure to higher than normal temperatures. In this paper, we propose a detailed biochemical model that captures the dynamical nature of the heat-shock response in Escherichia coli. Using this model, we show that both feedback and feedforward control are utilized to achieve robustness, performance, and efficiency of the response to the heat stress. We discuss the evolutionary advantages that feedback confers to the system, as compared to other strategies that could have been implemented to get the same performance