Talking about the 'rotten fruits' of Rio 2016:framing mega-event legacies

Legacy has become a watchword of hosting mega-events in recent years, used to justify massive spending and far-reaching urban transformations. However, academic studies of legacy outcomes suggest there is only limited evidence for the efficacy of using mega-events to deliver broader policy goals. The discourse of legacy promulgated by the International Olympic Committee promotes a fantastical vision of the possibilities created by mega-events while obfuscating critical analyses of legacy. This paper explores legacy talk among a wholly different group – activists who have protested against the Olympic Games, specifically in Rio de Janeiro – based on interviews conducted two years after the Games as part of a broader ethnographic study. The positive connotations of legacy, even among these Olympic critics, places a straitjacket on conversation, leading activists to discuss specific legacy projects, at the expense of highlighting the very real harms of mega-event development, such as evictions, gentrification and militarization. As such, there is a need to deepen understanding that legacy encompasses all that is left behind after mega-events, not only the positive impacts.</p

Transforming informal communities through discourse intervention:RioOnWatch, favelas and the 2016 Olympic Games

In August 2016, tens of thousands of journalists descended on Rio de Janeiro to cover the summer Olympic Games held in that city. While the majority covered the action on the track, many sought stories about the city itself, world famous for startling inequality at close quarters. Catalytic Communities, and a non-governmental organisation which has worked with favela residents for years aimed to capitalise on this attention through their RioOnWatch project, an online news site providing detailed coverage of events in favelas across the city, in both English and Portuguese. The NGO also worked with numerous journalists who visited Rio de Janeiro to help them understand and accurately report on the complexities of the Olympic city. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Rio, this chapter traces RioOnWatch’s attempts to transform the discourse around favelas during this moment in the global spotlight, seizing this political opportunity. In essence, RioOnWatch is involved, with other social movement actors, in a discursive contest over the power to define favelas. This is aimed at undermining the logic of harmful policies including pacification and forced evictions

An exact Tur\'an result for tripartite 3-graphs

Mantel's theorem says that among all triangle-free graphs of a given order the balanced complete bipartite graph is the unique graph of maximum size. We prove an analogue of this result for 3-graphs. Let $K_4^-=\{123,124,134\}$, $F_6=\{123,124,345,156\}$ and $\mathcal{F}=\{K_4^-,F_6\}$: for $n\neq 5$ the unique $\mathcal{F}$-free 3-graph of order $n$ and maximum size is the balanced complete tripartite 3-graph $S_3(n)$ (for $n=5$ it is $C_5^{(3)}=\{123,234,345,145,125\}$). This extends an old result of Bollob\'as that $S_3(n)$ is the unique 3-graph of maximum size with no copy of $K_4^-=\{123,124,134\}$ or $F_5=\{123,124,345\}$.Comment: 12 page

Human rights abuses at the Rio 2016 Olympics: activism and the media

This article examines activists' use of human rights as a discourse to contest the impacts of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games by drawing on a wider ethnographic project examining activism at Rio 2016. Focusing on two areas of contention, forced evictions and police brutality, the article considers the way activists framed their grievances and how mainstream international media outlets reported those grievances. While activists fighting against forced evictions explicitly used the language of rights in their activism, media accounts tended not to discuss these issues using this lexicon. Conversely, grassroots activists protesting around the issue of police brutality did not tend to frame their grievances in terms of rights, but these issues were discussed as human rights abuses in the media. This points to a dual role played by activists fighting forced evictions: while they are fighting to keep their own homes, they are also part of a wider discursive battle for the right to housing to be recognised and respected

To Intervene or not to Intervene:Young adults’ views on When and How to Intervene in Online Harassment

Incidents of online harassment are increasing and can have significant consequences for victims. Witnesses (‘digital bystanders’) can be crucial in identifying and challenging harassment. This study considered when and how young adults intervene online, with the aim of understanding the applicability of existing theoretical models (i.e., Bystander Intervention Model; Response Decision-Making Framework). Thematic analysis of eight focus groups (UK community sample, N=67, 18-25 years) resulted in five themes: Noticing and Interpreting the Harassment, Perceived Responsibility for Helping, Consequences of Intervening, Perceived Ability to Make a Difference, and Deciding How to Help. The online context amplified offline preferences, such as greater preference for anonymity and perceived costs of intervention (e.g., social costs). Intervention strategies varied in visibility and effort, preferring ‘indirect’ micro-interventions focused on supporting victims. A new, merged model specific to digital bystanders is proposed, with implications for the design and messaging on Social Networking Sites (SNS) discussed

Developing Outreach Materials for the London Project Center

This project worked with the London Project Center Directors to survey former project sponsors, leadership, and students in order to develop a prototype Web site and print materials that: (1) promote the Project Center to potential sponsoring organizations in London, (2) serve as a resource for students considering attending the Project Center, and (3) form a living record of Project Center activities in London to help the Center Directors make decisions and further develop the Project Center

Space Storable, Thrust-Vectorable Rocket Motor Nozzle and Related Methods

A thrust-vectoring rocket motor nozzle includes a forward assembly having a forward shell with a flange configured for connection to a motor and a throat portion opposite the flange. A ball joint sleeve may be disposed proximate the throat portion, and an exit cone assembly may include a ball joint socket configured to mate with the ball joint sleeve to allow movement of the exit cone assembly about one or more axes relative to the forward assembly. A thermal barrier may be disposed in a gap between the forward assembly and the exit cone assembly. The forward assembly may include a throat insulator mechanically locked within the forward shell. Related methods include forming thrust-vectorable rocket motor nozzles. Rocket motors may include such nozzles

Phenomenological glass model for vibratory granular compaction

A model for weakly excited granular media is derived by combining the free volume argument of Nowak et al. [Phys. Rev. E 57, 1971 (1998)] and the phenomenological model for supercooled liquids of Adam and Gibbs [J. Chem. Phys. 43, 139 (1965)]. This is made possible by relating the granular excitation parameter \Gamma, defined as the peak acceleration of the driving pulse scaled by gravity, to a temperature-like parameter \eta(\Gamma). The resulting master equation is formally identical to that of Bouchaud's trap model for glasses [J. Phys. I 2, 1705 (1992)]. Analytic and simulation results are shown to compare favourably with a range of known experimental behaviour. This includes the logarithmic densification and power spectrum of fluctuations under constant \eta, the annealing curve when \eta is varied cyclically in time, and memory effects observed for a discontinuous shift in \eta. Finally, we discuss the physical interpretation of the model parameters and suggest further experiments for this class of systems.Comment: 2 references added; some figure labels tweaked. To appear in PR

Marine artificial light at night:An empirical and technical guide

The increasing illumination of our world by artificial light at night (ALAN) has created a new field of global change research with impacts now being demonstrated across taxa, biological ranks and spatial scales. Following advances in terrestrial ecology, marine ALAN has become a rapidly growing research area attracting scientists from across all biomes. Technological limitations, complexities of researching many coastal and marine ecosystems and the interdisciplinary nature of ALAN research present numerous challenges. Drawing on expertise from optical oceanographers, modellers, community ecologists, experimental and molecular biologists, we share practical advice and solutions that have proven useful for marine ALAN research. Discussing lessons learnt early on can help in the effective and efficient development of a field. The guide follows a sensory ecology approach to marine light pollution and consolidates physics, ecology and biology. First, we introduce marine lightscapes highlighting how these differ from terrestrial ones and provide an overview of biological adaptations to them. Second, we discuss study design and technology to best quantify ALAN exposure of and impacts on marine and coastal organisms including molecular tools and approaches to scale-up marine ALAN research. We conclude that the growing field of marine ALAN research presents opportunities not only for improving our understanding of this globally widespread stressor, but also for advancing fundamental marine photobiology, chronobiology and night-time ecology. Interdisciplinary research will be essential to gain insights into natural marine lightscapes shaping the ecology and evolution coastal and marine ecosystems