Romanian Men\u27s Masculinities in Online Personal Advertisements

The present paper analyses Romanian men\u27s masculinities via a quantitative and qualitative analysis of 380 online personal advertisements posted by men. The case of Romania is particularly interesting for understanding gender relations, since the country has recently experienced the impact of (post-) communisim, democratization, and resurging traditionalism. Romanian men\u27s advertisements often express traditional gender relations: men-seeking-women are interested in attractive, less educated partners, while men-seeking-men emphasize discretion. Some men resist such patriarchal standards: men-seeking-women who are highly educated prefer educated women, and some men-seeking-men give out recognizable photos of themselves. Limitations and further research directions are discussed

Changing Homophobia: A Global Perspective.

The present thesis aims to understand the global decrease of homophobia over the last few decades. In Chapter 1, I summarise previous research on homophobia, especially in the context of Romania and the UK. The next two chapters focus on psychological interventions to reduce homophobia. A systematic review and set of meta-analyses in Chapter 2 found that education and contact with LGB people were effective interventions. The same review found that most research was conducted with American college students, and that some high-quality research performed by postgraduates was left unpublished. In Chapter 3, a systematic qualitative review found that these interventions were often described by participants as ‘eye-opening’, but were sometimes criticised as ‘out of context’. In the following chapter (Chapter 4), I looked at the change in homophobia on a societal level. Reanalysing data from a large scale international survey, I found that the same model could explain homophobia in the US, the UK and Romania, but the decrease of homophobia over a 20-year period remained unexplained. In the next two chapters, I turned from the causes to the consequences of the decrease in homophobia, asking whether the acceptance of LGB people may have negative implications for ethnic prejudice. In Chapter 5, I performed discourse analysis on media reports of a gay pride parade in Romania, finding that LGB people were excluded from constructions of Romanian national identity. In Chapter 6, I proposed a questionnaire and an experimental task to study sexualised nationalism, a set of ideologies that either include or exclude LGB people from national identities. I found that more acceptance of LGB people in Romania and the UK was not linked to exclusion of ethnic minorities. In the conclusion (Chapter 7), I propose that reducing homophobia can be achieved within a plurality of theoretical and practical frameworks

How do students learn critical thinking? Challenging the osmosis model

In teaching Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology (CHIP), it is often assumed that students learn critical thinking by being exposed to it, as if absorbing it through osmosis. Moreover, assessment guidelines tend to consider this ability only for higher marks. The authors of this paper believe, however, that critical thinking should be trained as a central skill: in this contribution, they share their experiences in teaching critical thinking directly. Specifically, they lecture on critical thinking and argumentative writing in a secondyear module that also includes research methods training. Several journal articles are discussed in class, and the exam itself consists of critiquing two research reports. In this course, quantitative and qualitative research are discussed by two different lecturers. However, co-teaching is not framed as a debate: the lecturers aim to avoid both providing a stale compromise and presenting the two approaches as irreconcilable. The authors’ experience with this module supported their initial worries about the osmosis model. Most students were capable of pertinent critical observations on research, arguably because they absorbed this skill from their previous courses. However, integrating isolated comments into a coherent critique was challenging to many, and it took much effort and guidance from the lecturers

Multi layered shotcrete design for tunnel construction

Shotcrete linings have been applied successfully for a large number of tunnel constructions within the last couple of decades all around the world. While up to the 1980’s the structural design of the shotcrete linings mainly was based on experience gathered throughout the construction and some simplified analyses in the following years the application of the Finite Element Method lead to much more sophisticated design and more accurate estimation of deformations and stress state in the shotcrete lining. This was amongst others achieved by considering the time and construction sequence - dependent development of the deformations as well as by applying simplified time dependent material laws for shotcrete. The design verification as such is commonly done by using the methods as stated in Eurocode 2 for ULS and SLS. The design becomes even more complex for cases in which during a first construction stage one shotcrete layer is applied and stressed and only later additional, stress free layers are applied in order to carry additional loads caused by further construction stages. With such situations tunnel designers have to deal frequently in cases when cross sections between two main tunnels need to be installed or a second, parallel tunnel is driven while the first tunnel is already in place. Within this paper the special case of such multi – layer shotcrete linings is discussed and proposals for the calculation of the stress state in the lining and the design verification are made

Negotiating Theory When Doing Practice: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research on Interventions to Reduce Homophobia

We performed a systematic review of qualitative research on interventions to reduce homophobia. Specifically, we conducted a thematic analysis of participant feedback given in 30 qualitative and mixed-methods studies. Participants often described interventions as “eye-opening.” However, they also criticized many interventions for their mismatch with the social, historical, or institutional context in which they were conducted. Some participants rejected the interventions altogether, describing them as offensive or disgusting. We drew three conclusions. First, participants not only were actively making sense of the interventions but also were often aware of philosophical and political tensions (especially liberal vs. queer approaches). Second, participants sometimes used the perceived inadequacy of the intervention for the local context as an argument to resist change. Finally, tensions in participant feedback (eye-opening vs. disgusting) can be read as evidence that reducing homophobia is “dirty work”: such work is both vital for society and despised by many

Artificial Precision Timing Array: bridging the decihertz gravitational-wave sensitivity gap with clock satellites

Gravitational-wave astronomy has developed enormously over the last decade with the first detections across different frequency bands, but has yet to access $0.1-10$ $\mathrm{Hz}$ gravitational waves. Gravitational waves in this band are emitted by some of the most enigmatic sources, including intermediate-mass binary black hole mergers, early inspiralling compact binaries, and possibly cosmic inflation. To tap this exciting band, we propose the construction of a detector based on pulsar timing principles, the Artificial Precision Timing Array (APTA). We envision APTA as a solar system array of artificial "pulsars"$-$precision-clock-carrying satellites that emit pulsing electromagnetic signals towards Earth or other centrum. In this fundamental study, we estimate the clock precision needed for APTA to successfully detect gravitational waves. Our results suggest that a clock relative uncertainty of $10^{-17}$, which is currently attainable, would be sufficient for APTA to surpass LISA's sensitivity in the decihertz band and observe $10^3-10^4$ $\mathrm{M}_\odot$ black hole mergers. Future atomic clock technology realistically expected in the next decade would enable the detection of an increasingly diverse set of astrophysical sources, including stellar-mass compact binaries that merge in the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA band, extreme-mass-ratio inspirals, and Type Ia supernovae. This work opens up a new area of research into designing and constructing artificial gravitational-wave detectors relying on the successful principles of pulsar timing.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Depletion and activation of microglia impact metabolic connectivity of the mouse brain

AimWe aimed to investigate the impact of microglial activity and microglial FDG uptake on metabolic connectivity, since microglial activation states determine FDG-PET alterations. Metabolic connectivity refers to a concept of interacting metabolic brain regions and receives growing interest in approaching complex cerebral metabolic networks in neurodegenerative diseases. However, underlying sources of metabolic connectivity remain to be elucidated.Materials and methodsWe analyzed metabolic networks measured by interregional correlation coefficients (ICCs) of FDG-PET scans in WT mice and in mice with mutations in progranulin (Grn) or triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (Trem2) knockouts ((-/-)) as well as in double mutant Grn(-/-)/Trem2(-/-) mice. We selected those rodent models as they represent opposite microglial signatures with disease associated microglia in Grn(-/-) mice and microglia locked in a homeostatic state in Trem2(-/-) mice;however, both resulting in lower glucose uptake of the brain. The direct influence of microglia on metabolic networks was further determined by microglia depletion using a CSF1R inhibitor in WT mice at two different ages. Within maps of global mean scaled regional FDG uptake, 24 pre-established volumes of interest were applied and assigned to either cortical or subcortical networks. ICCs of all region pairs were calculated and z-transformed prior to group comparisons. FDG uptake of neurons, microglia, and astrocytes was determined in Grn(-/-) and WT mice via assessment of single cell tracer uptake (scRadiotracing).ResultsMicroglia depletion by CSF1R inhibition resulted in a strong decrease of metabolic connectivity defined by decrease of mean cortical ICCs in WT mice at both ages studied (6-7 m;p = 0.0148, 9-10 m;p = 0.0191), when compared to vehicle-treated age-matched WT mice. Grn(-/-), Trem2(-/-) and Grn(-/-)/Trem2(-/-) mice all displayed reduced FDG-PET signals when compared to WT mice. However, when analyzing metabolic networks, a distinct increase of ICCs was observed in Grn(-/-) mice when compared to WT mice in cortical (p < 0.0001) and hippocampal (p < 0.0001) networks. In contrast, Trem2(-/-) mice did not show significant alterations in metabolic connectivity when compared to WT. Furthermore, the increased metabolic connectivity in Grn(-/-) mice was completely suppressed in Grn(-/-)/Trem2(-/-) mice. Grn(-/-) mice exhibited a severe loss of neuronal FDG uptake (- 61%, p < 0.0001) which shifted allocation of cellular brain FDG uptake to microglia (42% in Grn(-/-) vs. 22% in WT).ConclusionsPresence, absence, and activation of microglia have a strong impact on metabolic connectivity of the mouse brain. Enhanced metabolic connectivity is associated with increased microglial FDG allocation

Deciphering sources of PET signals in the tumor microenvironment of glioblastoma at cellular resolution

Various cellular sources hamper interpretation of positron emission tomography (PET) biomarkers in the tumor microenvironment (TME). We developed an approach of immunomagnetic cell sorting after in vivo radiotracer injection (scRadiotracing) with three-dimensional (3D) histology to dissect the cellular allocation of PET signals in the TME. In mice with implanted glioblastoma, translocator protein (TSPO) radiotracer uptake per tumor cell was higher compared to tumor-associated microglia/macrophages (TAMs), validated by protein levels. Translation of in vitro scRadiotracing to patients with glioma immediately after tumor resection confirmed higher single-cell TSPO tracer uptake of tumor cells compared to immune cells. Across species, cellular radiotracer uptake explained the heterogeneity of individual TSPO-PET signals. In consideration of cellular tracer uptake and cell type abundance, tumor cells were the main contributor to TSPO enrichment in glioblastoma;however, proteomics identified potential PET targets highly specific for TAMs. Combining cellular tracer uptake measures with 3D histology facilitates precise allocation of PET signals and serves to validate emerging novel TAM-specific radioligands