A Roundtable Conversation: Feminist Collaborative Ethos in International Law

This roundtable discussion focuses on the collective commitment and the praxis of a feminist collaborative ethos in international law to imagine and centre alternative futures in the field. This discussion took place as part of the virtual workshop ‘International Law Dis/Oriented: Queer Legacies, and Queer Futures Workshop’ from which this special issue emerged. In this transcript of the roundtable, Shaimaa Abdelkarim, Farnush Ghadery, and Rohini Sen discuss with Lena Holzer how turning to feminist collectivity – focused on care, collaboration, and solidarity – can help to disrupt and push against gendered, racialised, and colonial power structures embedded in academic spaces. They examine their intertwined positionalities along with various pedagogical and methodological approaches to determine the functions of critical feminist and queer thoughts in international law. Inculcating a praxis of feminist collaborative ethos in the scholarship and teaching of international law, they hope to present a challenge to the artificial individualisation of the profession and its increasing neoliberalisation

Cultural issues as an approach to forming and managing the future neighbourhoods, case study : the central region of Saudi Arabia

The purpose of this study was to formulate a guideline for developing and managing the future neighbourhoods in the Central Region of Saudi Arabia based on the cultural norms of its residents. The initial cause for this study is the conflict between the imported new planning system and the restricted culture and behaviour of the people involved. In order to achieve the main objective of this thesis, a series of studies was undertaken. The theoretical background relating to the main issues of this study are reviewed and the notion of these issues defined according to the Saudi Arabian's belief and way of life which is essential to understanding. The thesis discussed, analysed, and evaluated three types of neighbourhoods planning systems which occurred in the study area. These were the traditional, the contemporary, and the new trends planning system. These studies where primarily formulated in light of the literature review and the analysis made from the information obtained via questionnaires, interviews, observation, and public and community consultations (carried out by the researcher in the summer 1988 and summer 1989). From the analysis, the thesis concludes that the future planning of the neighbourhoods should be formulated according to a man-surrounding relationship and his needs. In order to clarify this, the thesis defined a set of recommendations for forming and managing the future neighbourhoods. These include considering the socio-cultural and the individual requirements of the residents, making the plan open-ended, and establishing a local community authority to control the implementation and the growth of the neighbourhoods. Finally, the thesis briefly explains how to implement some of the recommended guidelines which need to be clarified through using a specific case study. It recommends also some further studies in order to reinforce and generalise the findings of the thesis.The purpose of this study was to formulate a guideline for developing and managing the future neighbourhoods in the Central Region of Saudi Arabia based on the cultural norms of its residents. The initial cause for this study is the conflict between the imported new planning system and the restricted culture and behaviour of the people involved. In order to achieve the main objective of this thesis, a series of studies was undertaken. The theoretical background relating to the main issues of this study are reviewed and the notion of these issues defined according to the Saudi Arabian's belief and way of life which is essential to understanding. The thesis discussed, analysed, and evaluated three types of neighbourhoods planning systems which occurred in the study area. These were the traditional, the contemporary, and the new trends planning system. These studies where primarily formulated in light of the literature review and the analysis made from the information obtained via questionnaires, interviews, observation, and public and community consultations (carried out by the researcher in the summer 1988 and summer 1989). From the analysis, the thesis concludes that the future planning of the neighbourhoods should be formulated according to a man-surrounding relationship and his needs. In order to clarify this, the thesis defined a set of recommendations for forming and managing the future neighbourhoods. These include considering the socio-cultural and the individual requirements of the residents, making the plan open-ended, and establishing a local community authority to control the implementation and the growth of the neighbourhoods. Finally, the thesis briefly explains how to implement some of the recommended guidelines which need to be clarified through using a specific case study. It recommends also some further studies in order to reinforce and generalise the findings of the thesis

Effect of dried and extrudate of bitter gourd fruit on epithelial microflora in raw chicken legs meat

Plants have been used recently to eliminate bacterial growth in food products. This study was undertaken to test the in vitro sanitizing effect of crude extract from bitter gourd (BG) fruit on the growth of native microorganisms in raw chicken leg meat. Hot air dried BG and extrudate extracts at 1% concentration and exposure times of (5, 10 and 15 min) were used to treat the samples using dilution method. Results showed that BG extrudate had a slightly stronger bactericidal activity against the microflora than the B.G. hot air drying treatment, especially, on E. coli at all exposure time. Overall, there is no significant difference between the treatments; Total Plate Count (TPC), Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus. The best reduction time of microflora by hot air dried extract was at (15 min) except for B. cereus was at (5 min) and for extrudate extract was at (5 min) except for E. coli was at (10 min). In conclusion, bitter gourd extract could be used as an important natural sanitizer for rinsing raw food matrials such chicken meat

Flexural Rigidity Evaluation of Seismic Performance of Hollow-Core Composite Bridge Columns

This paper investigates experimentally the seismic behavior of two hollow-core fiber-reinforced polymer-concrete-steel HC-FCS columns under cyclic loading as a cantilever. The typical precast HC-FCS member consists of a concrete wall sandwiched between an outer fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) tube and an inner steel tube. The FRP tube provides continuous confinement for the concrete wall along the height of the column. Five large-scale HC-FCS columns were investigated during this study to estimate the effective flexural (which is an important factor to define the buckling capacity and deflection of such columns) and the effective structural stiffness of the composite columns. These columns have the same geometric properties; the only difference was in the thickness of the inner circular steel tubes and the steel tube embedded length into the footing. A three-dimensional numerical model has been developed using LS_DYNA software for modeling this large scale HC-FCS columns. The nonlinear FE models were designed and validated against experimental results gathered from HC-FCS columns tested under cyclic lateral loading and used to evaluate the effective stiffness’s results. The estimated effective stiffness results that obtained from the experimental work were compared with the FE results. This study revealed that the effective flexural and the effective structural stiffness for the HC-FCS columns need more investigation to be addressed in the standard codes. Since the embedded hollow core steel tube socket connections cannot reach the fully fixed end condition to act as a cantilever member subjected to a lateral load with a fully fixed end condition. Moreover, the effective stiffness results were found to be highly sensitive to the steel tube embedded length and slightly to the unconfined concrete strength

Effect of s-triazine ring substitution on the synthesis of organic resorcinol-formaldehyde xerogels

Resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) gel synthesis has been well-studied along with alternative reagents. We present the synthesis of formaldehyde-based xerogels using chemically similar s-triazine precursors, with comparison to traditional analogues. The substitution ranges from tri-hydroxyl to tri-amine, with an intermediate species, allowing changing chemistry to be investigated. Each molecule (X) offers different acid/base properties, known to influence gel formation, as well as differences in crosslinking potential. Varying X/F ratios were selected to recreate the stoichiometry used in RF systems, where one represented higher F to match the increased reaction sites of the additives. X/C ratios were selected to probe different catalyst (C) ratios, while working within the range likely to produce viable gels. Results obtained show little impact for ammeline as an additive due to its similarity to resorcinol (activation sites and pKa); while melamine and cyanuric acid show differing behavior depending on the level of addition. Low concentrations show melamine to have the most impact due to increased activation and competition for formaldehyde; while at high concentrations, cyanuric acid is shown to have the greatest impact as it creates a more acidic environment, which diminishes textural character, possibly attributable to larger clusters and/or weaker cross-linking of the system

Lymph node retrieval in abdominoperineal surgical specimen is radiation time-dependent

BACKGROUND: A low yield of lymph nodes (LN) in abdominoperineal resection (APR) specimen has been associated with preoperative radiation therapy (XRT) in population-based studies, which may preclude adequate staging of anorectal carcinomas. We hypothesized that the number of LN retrieved in APR specimen was correlated with the dose and the timing of pelvic irradiation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of 102 patients who underwent APR in a single institution between 1980 and 2004. Pathological reports were reviewed and the number of lymph nodes retrieved in APR specimens was correlated with: 1) Preoperative radiation; 2) Dose of pelvic irradiation; and 3) Time interval between the end of XRT and surgery. RESULTS: There were 61 men and 41 women, with a median age of 66 (range 25–89) years. There were 12 patients operated for squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCA) and 90 for rectal cancer. 83% and 46% of patients with anal and rectal cancer respectively underwent radical/neoadjuvant radiotherapy. The mean ± SD number of LN in APR specimen was 9.2 ± 5.9. The mean number of LN in APR specimen was significantly lower in patients who underwent preoperative XRT (8 ± 5.5 vs. 10.5 ± 6.1, Mann-Whitney U test, p = 0.02). The mean number of LN was not significantly different after XRT in patients with SCCA than in patients with rectal cancer (6.2 ± 5.3 vs. 7.8 ± 5.3, p = 0.33). Finally, there was an inverse correlation between the yield of LN and the time elapsed between XRT and surgery (linear regression coefficient r = -0.32, p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that: 1) radiation therapy affects the yield of LN retrieval in APR specimen; 2) this impact is time-dependent. These findings have important implications with regard to anatomic-pathological staging of anal and rectal cancers and subsequent decision-making regarding adjuvant chemotherapy