Козацькі шаблі в колекції Переяславського Державного історичного музею

Стаття продовжує серію авторських досліджень з проблем історичного зброєзнавства, що вводять до наукового обігу нові, досі не оприлюднені речові джерела – козацькі шаблі XVII – XVIII ст. з найбільших музейних колекцій України. В основі опису реалізована власна ідея передачі головних характерних ознак січної зброї за всіма її параметрами.The article continues a series of author’s researches in the field of historical arms studies, which bring into scientific use new, undisclosed material sources – sabers of the 17-19 centuries from the biggest museum collections of Ukraine. On a basis of the description the author developed his own idea of conveying the basic characteristic attributes of a cold steel for all its parameters

Blue space as caring space – water and the cultivation of care in social and environmental practice

This paper studies three sites or ‘landscapes of care’ in Leeds, Bristol and London where water and associated built and natural environments are used to co-construct and facilitate forms of social and environmental care. Our research narrates the ways in which blue spaces are cultivated for the production of particular forms of caring bodies and sensibilities. Interpreting care as both a doing (caring for) and emotion (caring about), we draw attention to the diverse practices and distributed nature of care in these environments. Our paper has three main insights. First, we draw attention to the role of water as both a material and site of care. Second, we identify a range of more-than-human benefits associated with blue spaces and how these emerge via collaborative, non-linear and reciprocal forms of care. Third, we argue that by understanding how care works in everyday social practice, new forms of ecological care and pro-environmental ways of living with the world can emerge

The grit in the oyster: using energy biographies to question socio-technical imaginaries of ‘smartness’

It has been argued that responsible research and innovation (RRI) requires critique of the ‘worlds’ implicated in the future imaginaries associated with new technologies. Qualitative social science research can aid deliberation on imaginaries by exploring the meanings of technologies within everyday practices, as demonstrated by Yolande Strengers’ work on imaginaries of ‘smartness’. In this paper, we show how a novel combination of narrative interviews and multimodal methods can help explore future imaginaries of smartness through the lens of biographical experiences of socio-technical changes in domestic energy use. In particular, this approach can open up a critical space around socio-technical imaginaries by exploring the investments that individuals have in different forms of engagement with the world. The paper works with a psychosocial conceptual framework that draws on theoretical resources from science and technology studies to explain how valued forms of subjectivity may be conceptualised as emerging out of the ‘friction’ of engagement with the world. Using this framework, we show how biographical narratives of engagement with technologies from the Energy Biographies project can extend into critical deliberation on future imaginaries. The paper demonstrates the value of ‘thick’ data relating to the affective dimensions of subjective experience for RRI

Analysis of Rail Head Stresses in the Heavy Haul Regime

Three-dimensional finite element analyses have been made of elastic contact stresses in a rail head. Two different contact situations were considered: firstly, that of wheel/rail contact on top of the rail, and secondly, gauge corner contact. The former was also treated using an analytical approach based on the theory of Hertz. Stress components resulting from these analyses have been referred to the local axes of a typical incipient flaw, and used to map out the susceptibility to fatigue cracking of various regions of the rail head

Second language fluency: speaking style or proficiency? Correcting measures of second language fluency for first language behavior

In second language (L2) research and testing, measures of oral fluency are used as diagnostics for proficiency. However, fluency is also determined by personality or speaking style, raising the question to what extent L2 fluency measures are valid indicators of L2 proficiency. In this study, we obtained a measure of L2 (Dutch) proficiency (vocabulary knowledge), L2 fluency measures, and fluency measures that were corrected for first language behavior from the same group of Turkish and English native speakers (N = 51). For most measures of fluency, except for silent pause duration, both the corrected and the uncorrected measures significantly predicted L2 proficiency. For syllable duration, the corrected measure was a stronger predictor of L2 proficiency than was the uncorrected measure. We conclude that for L2 research purposes, as well as for some types of L2 testing, it is useful to obtain corrected measures of syllable duration to measure L2-specific fluency

Understanding the moral economy of post-Soviet societies: an investigation into moral sentiments and material interests in Kyrgyzstan

The article offers three competing conceptual approaches to the moral economy in post-Soviet societies: the economic market, the socially embedded and the moral sentiments approaches. We aim to contribute to the debate on how post-Soviet economies are socially constituted, paying particular attention to their moral and ethical aspects, and arguing for a cross-disciplinary account of Kyrgyzstani market society that engages with political economy, post-communism and moral philosophy. We analyse how, as vulnerable and dependent human beings, we care for and have responsibilities for others, though it is a struggle to pursue these concerns and commitments and to have compassion in a harsh economic environment. We suggest that the moral sentiments approach reveals how moral emotions inform and motivate economic behaviour and affect human well-being. By analysing the transition in the public sector, social networks and real markets in Kyrgyzstan, this perspective explains how shame, frustration and anger dominate people's lives and how corruption emerges in the absence of both positive moral emotions and human capabilities

Exploring synergies with innovative green technologies for advanced renovation using a bioclimatic approach

This paper discusses a research approach to investigating the application of bioclimatic concepts, principles and strategies for large-scale buildings for the purposes of advanced renovation. In particular, it will identify various (green) technologies that can be employed to significantly improve the thermal and environmental performance of mixed-use developments. From this, arguments will be advanced for the development of new innovative technology combinations and systems known as solution sets. Some initial research findings are presented