Toilet talk: (Trans)Gendered negotiation of public spaces

Public toilet provision in the UK fails to meet the needs of cis women while trans communities are absent from current building regulations. This research explores how individuals negotiate differing positions on toilet provision and accessibility. The data was formed of online posts on Dezeen, a forum for building design professionals, and Mumsnet, a parenting forum, in response to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government ‘Technical review on increasing accessibility and provision of toilets for men and women’. Discursive Psychology was used to explore how accessibility to toilets is constructed. There is also an opportunity to explore how a discursive approach can be applied interdisciplinary with town planning and the built environment. Gender identities are situated and constructed within public toilets. Talk about refuge in public bathrooms involved the negotiation of who belonged in differing gender categories and who warranted a need for refuge. Where men are explicitly acknowledged as an issue, cis and trans women are collectively identified as requiring a safe space. Cis women are presented as a threat to trans women and other cis women who are misgendered. Discourse about toilet provision draws upon both heteronormative ideology to challenge access to trans people and others who challenge normative gender roles. Talk about toilets involves warranting ‘place-identity’ as gender identity is situated and access limited to those who are constructed as belonging

Thermal barrier coating experience in the gas turbine engine

Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBC), provide thermal insulation and oxidation resistance in an environment consisting of hot combustion gases. TBC's consist of a two layer system. The outer ceramic layer provides good thermal insulation due to the low thermal conductivity of the ceramic coatings used, while the inner metallic bond coat layer provides needed oxidation resistance to the underlying superalloy. Pratt & Whitney has over a decade of experience with several generations of TBC systems on turbine airfoils. This paper will focus on the latest TBC field experience along with a proposed durability model

Sensory profile, shelf life, and dynamics of bioactive compounds during cold storage of 17 edible flowers

In this study, 17 edible flowers (Allium ursinum L., Borago officinalis L., Calendula officinalis L., Centaurea cyanus L., Cichorium intybus L., Dianthus carthusianorum L., Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Leucanthemum vulgare (Vaill.) Lam., Paeonia officinalis L., Primula veris L., Robinia pseudoacacia L., Rosa canina L., Rosa pendulina L., Salvia pratensis L., Sambucus nigra L., Taraxacum officinale Weber, and Tropaeolum majus L.) were investigated to assess their sensory profile at harvest and their shelf life and bioactive compounds dynamics during cold storage. The emerging market of edible flowers lacks this information; thus, the characteristics and requirements of different flower species were provided. In detail, a quantitative descriptive analysis was performed by trained panelists at flower harvest, evaluating 10 sensory descriptors (intensity of sweet, sour, bitter, salt, smell, specific flower aroma, and herbaceous aroma; spiciness, chewiness, and astringency). Flower visual quality, biologically active compounds content (total polyphenols and anthocyanins), and antioxidant activity (FRAP, DPPH, and ABTS assays) were evaluated both at harvest and during storage at 4 °C for 14 days to assess their shelf life. Generally, species had a wide range of peculiar sensory and phytochemical characteristics at harvest, as well as shelf life and bioactive compounds dynamics during postharvest. A strong aroma was indicated for A. ursinum, D. carthusianorum, L. angustifolia, and L. vulgare, while B. officinalis and C. officinalis had very low values for all aroma and taste descriptors, resulting in poor sensory profiles. At harvest, P. officinalis, R. canina, and R. pendulina exhibited the highest values of polyphenols (884–1271 mg of gallic acid equivalents per 100 g) and antioxidant activity (204–274 mmol Fe2+/kg for FRAP, 132–232 and 43–58 µmol of Trolox equivalent per g for DPPH and ABTS). The species with the longest shelf life in terms of acceptable visual quality was R. pendulina (14 days), followed by R. canina (10 days). All the other species lasted seven days, except for C. intybus and T. officinale that did not reach day 3. During cold storage, the content of bioactive compounds differed, as total phenolics followed a different trend according to the species and anthocyanins remained almost unaltered for 14 days. Considering antioxidant activity, ABTS values were the least variable, varying in only four species (A. ursinum, D. carthusianorum, L. angustifolia, and P. officinalis), while both DPPH and FRAP values varied in eight species. Taken together, the knowledge of sensory profiles, phytochemical characteristics and shelf life can provide information to select suitable species for the emerging edible flower market

Exact Tagged Particle Correlations in the Random Average Process

We study analytically the correlations between the positions of tagged particles in the random average process, an interacting particle system in one dimension. We show that in the steady state the mean squared auto-fluctuation of a tracer particle grows subdiffusively as $sigma^2(t) ~ t^{1/2}$ for large time t in the absence of external bias, but grows diffusively $sigma^2(t) ~ t$ in the presence of a nonzero bias. The prefactors of the subdiffusive and diffusive growths as well as the universal scaling function describing the crossover between them are computed exactly. We also compute $sigma_r^2(t)$, the mean squared fluctuation in the position difference of two tagged particles separated by a fixed tag shift r in the steady state and show that the external bias has a dramatic effect in the time dependence of $sigma_r^2(t)$. For fixed r, $sigma_r^2(t)$ increases monotonically with t in absence of bias but has a non-monotonic dependence on t in presence of bias. Similarities and differences with the simple exclusion process are also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, revte

Non-equilibrium phase transitions in one-dimensional kinetic Ising models

A family of nonequilibrium kinetic Ising models, introduced earlier, evolving under the competing effect of spin flips at {\it zero temperature} and nearest neighbour random spin exchanges is further investigated here. By increasing the range of spin exchanges and/or their strength the nature of the phase transition 'Ising-to-active' becomes of (dynamic) mean-field type and a first order tricitical point is located at the Glauber ($\delta=0$) limit. Corrections to mean-field theory are evaluated up to sixth order in a cluster approximation and found to give good results concerning the phase boundary and the critical exponent $\beta$ of the order parameter which is obtained as $\beta\simeq1.0$.Comment: 15 pages, revtex file, figures available at request from [email protected] in postscript format, submitted to J.Phys.