Situation, context, and causality—On a core debate of violence research

The sociology of violence has undergone a tremendous change over the past 10 years, increasingly arguing that situational factors are key to violence emergence, rather than context factors. Yet, many key questions regarding this novel situational approach remain unanswered: How can situation and context be conceptually specified? Can context be integrated into a situational explanatory model? And what causal understanding underlies situational approaches? To answer these questions, the paper relies on my empirical studies of officer deadly use of force and of collective violence in protests, as well as other scholars’ empirical work. The article first proposes a specified definition of situation and context. Using these concepts, it then proposes a causal specification of the situational approach through necessary, sufficient, and INUS conditions, as well as context factors as risk factors to violence. Third, in an outlook, it argues that this causal relationship between situation, context, and violence can be theoretically framed through an elaborated symbolic interactionism that integrates context into a situational approach. It also discusses the relevance of the debate for violence avoidance and for other research fields

Once more with Feeling: Rezension zu "The Emotions of Protest" von James Jasper

James M. Jasper: The Emotions of Protest. Chicago, IL / London: University of Chicago Press 2018. 978022656178

The rise of vacant urban property in America is both a fiscal challenge and a design and planning opportunity

Recent years have placed scenes of urban decay in once successful cities such as Detroit into the popular consciousness. But how can municipalities manage their vacant urban properties in ways that are beneficial to people and the environment, in a fiscally challenging time? Joan Iverson Nassauer writes that urban planners must realize that vacant neighborhoods have not returned to nature and that without the right management, they can undermine human health, economic development, and local ecosystems. She argues that design and planning for highly vacant neighborhoods means that we need to recognize new types of urban landscapes and the associated socio-ecological systems that can be shaped and reshaped to provide environmental and cultural benefits

A discrete element method for polyhedral particles

The following paper presents a new approach for the Discrete Element Method (DEM) with polyhedral particles. The geometry of convex polyhedra is represented by a set of half spaces. An algorithm for contact detection for these particles is developed. Furthermore a model for the interaction forces of polyhedra in contact is suggested. The model includes elastic and damping forces in normal direction, as well as Coulomb friction in tangential direction. The feasibility of DEM with sharp edged particles is demonstrated by some engineering applications

Zwei Jahre Obama : Halbzeitanalysen und Betrachtungen

I april 1999 satte Sveriges regering upp 15 miljömål (utökades till 16 under 2005) vilka strävar efter att lösa Sveriges stora miljöproblem till nästa generation. Det första miljömålet är ”begränsad klimatpåverkan” och ett av dess delmål är att utsläppen av växthusgaser under perioden 2008-2012 skall vara minst 4 procent lägre än utsläppen var år 1990. Ett sätt att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser är att byta ut de fossila fordonsbränslena mot förnyelsebara. Inom EU är målsättningen att andelen förnyelsebart bränsle skall vara 5,75 procent av allt fordonsdrivmedel år 2010 och 20 procent år 2020. Etanolinblandningen uppgår till ca hälften av de förnyelsebara bränslena pga. att all 95-oktanig bensin i Stockholms län innehåller 5 procent etanol. Det bränsle som ökade mest i Stockholm under perioden 2001- 2006 är dock biogasen. Detta är bra då biogasen klassas som det miljövänligt bästa fordonsbränslet. Detta examensarbete utförs för Stockholm Vatten AB som i dagsläget producerar biogas från det slam som blir restprodukten vid rening av avloppsvatten. Syftet för examensarbete är att undersöka hur stor metanpotentialen är i detta slam samt att granska den nyinköpta laborationsutrustning, ”BCS-CH4-biogas” med vilken försöken görs. Slammet som beskickas till rötkammarna vid Henriksdals reningsverk består av primärslam, förtjockat överskottslam samt fettslam. En sammansättning av detta slam, med värden från år 2006, exklusive fettslammet gav en biogas- respektive metangasproduktion på 0,50 Nm3 biogas/kg VSin respektive 0,30 Nm3 CH4/VSin efter 35 dagar. Ett jämförande försök vid JTI med samma sammansättning av slam, taget vid samma tidpunkt, gav en biogas- respektive metangasproduktion på ca 0,65 Nm3 biogas/kg VSin respektive ca 0,33 Nm3 CH4/kg VSin efter 31 dagar. En jämförelse mellan dessa två metoder och utrustningar gav följande fördelar och nackdelar för BCS-utrustningen: Fördelar - Enkel att handskas med, när man väl lärt sig - Sköter sig själv, tar inte mycket tid - Mycket data att laborera med - Relativt robust - Lätt att starta upp och avsluta - God repeterbarhet inom ett försök Nackdelar - Kan köra väldigt få flaskor åt gången, max åtta per BACVis, jämfört med JTI där man kan köra så många man hinner analysera. - Kan inte köra försöken lika länge som Hansen då flödesmätaren inte klarar mindre flöden än 1 ml per timme, varför de slutgiltiga värdena antagligen är lite mindre än de skulle kunna vara. Efterrötning av rötslammet från primärslambehandlingen på Bromma reningsverk gav en ökning på 8,6 % på biogasproduktionen från primärslammet räknat på medelvärden från år 2006In April 1999 the Swedish government established 15 environmental goals (increased to 16 during 2005) that strive to solve Sweden’s largest environmental issues until the next generation. The first of these goals are “limited climate change” and one of its sub goals is that the greenhouse gas emissions should decrease by 4 percent, compared to the emissions of 1990, during the period 2008-2012. One way of decreasing the emissions of greenhouse gas is to shift from fossil fuels to renewable. Within the European Union the goal is that the portion of renewable fuels should amount to 5, 75 percent of all fuels for vehicles before 2010 and 20 percent by the year 2020. In the district of Stockholm all of the 95-octane petrol is mixed with 5 percent ethanol, and this sums up to half of all the renewable fuels used in Stockholm. However biogas is the fuel that increased the most in Stockholm during the period 2001-2006. This is good because the biogas is classified as the most environmental vehicle fuel. This master thesis is written for Stockholm Vatten AB who amongst other things clean the sewage water and from the sludge they produce biogas. The purpose of this master thesis is to examine the methane potential of different sewage sludge’s and to develop a method to do this with new laboratory equipment, “BCS-CH4-biogas”, designed for this function. The sewage sludge in the Henriksdal waste-water treatment plant is composed of primary, secondary (biosludge) and external fat sludge. A composition of this sludge given as a mean value from 2006, excluding the fat sludge, gave a biogas and methane production of 0,50 Nm3 biogas/kg VSin and 0,30 Nm3 CH4/kg VSin after 35 days. As a comparison the same sludge was digested at JTI and they got a biogas and methan potential of 0,65 Nm3 biogas/kg VSin and 0,33 Nm3 CH4/kg VSin after 31 days. An assessment of these to methods and equipments gave “BCS-CH4-biogas” the following advantages and disadvantages: Advantages: - Easy to handle ones you know how it works - Takes care of it self, doesn’t take a lot of time - A lot of data - Relatively robust - Easy to start and shut down - Repeatable results Disadvantages: - One can run very few flasks at a time, maximum eight per BACvis, compared to JTI where you can run as many flasks as you have time to check on. - It is not possible to run the experiment all the way till there is no organic matter left at all since the flow counter doesn’t work when the flow count is lower than 1 mL per hour. Post digestion of digested primary sludge from Bromma waste-water treatment plant showed an increase of 8,6 % of the biogas production, counted from the mean value of year 2006.www.ima.kth.s

Experimental and numerical study of interaction between particle loaded fluid and a rough wall with micropillars

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Experimental and numerical studies of the behavior of a slurry in a shear flow over a rough surface with a defined micro-structure are presented. A new ring shear device was built which contains an optically transparent test chamber. Its bottom wall contains arrays of micro-cantilever force sensors simulating a defined surface roughness created by deep-etching of micro-pillars in a silicon wafer. The results of visual observation of the interaction of the suspension with the structured surface during severe deformation are shown. Observations comprise the liquid phase motion, i.e., the interaction between the liquid phase and solid particles, the movement of separate particles and their interactions with the micro-pillars. Abrupt changes in rotational motion and translational velocity of particles are observed that induce mutual collisions and successive formation and break-up of cluster structures of various types. In addition to the experiments the process was simulated with discrete element (DEM) simulations. Many characteristics found in the experiments are reproduced by the simulations. Furthermore the physical quantities of the process like contact forces or velocities can be quantified which helps us to develop more detailed models of the abrasive behavior of slurries

Bilder, die die Welt bedeuten: Zum theologischen Geltungsanspruch der lukanischen Geburtserzählung (Lk 2,1–20)

Auf die Frage, wer Jesus sei, antwortet die lukanische Kindheitserzählung in Form von erzählten Christus-Bildern. Der theologische Geltungsanspruch dieser Bilder liegt – jenseits von historischer Referenz und symbolischer Reduktion – in der Heilsbedeutsamkeit der dargestellten Person selbst. Der Aufsatz untersucht die anschauliche Wirkung der lukanischen Geburtserzählung (Lk 2,1–20) im Kontext der antikenBiographie und Geschichtsschreibung und befragt sie auf den ihr eigenen Wahrheitsgehalt

Landscape Care: Perceptions of Local People in Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Development

An understanding of how people perceive their local landscapes is necessary to the holistic landscape concepts of landscape ecology and sustainable development. Local landscape perceptions are not likely to be limited to judgments of short-term land economies; long-term and non-economic view, including aesthetic perception, may be more important in local knowledge. Local aesthetic perceptions are not likely to be limited to western conventions of the scenic. Rather aesthetic perceptions may reflect everyday concerns with agricultural productivity or ecological fitness. Analysis of local people's descriptions of 706 rural Minnesota landscapes suggests the degree to which a landscape looks cared for is closely related to its aesthetic quality. Care was perceived in sometimes contradictory landscape characteristics -- neatness, soil and water conservation, or apparent naturalness of the landscape. These characteristics were combined in a geographic information system based model to demonstrate the pervasive local appreciation for landscape aesthetic qualities, and to provide objective documentation of aesthetic quality for local planning. Care may be a global construct of aesthetic quality that is exhibited in different forms in different local locations. If so, identifying forms of care and introducing new forms of care may be a useful took for landscape ecology and sustainable development.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49348/1/Landscape_Land_Use_1988.pd

Monitoring the Success of Metropolitan Wetland Restorations: Cultural Sustainability and Ecological Function

In an interdisciplinary project to develop protocols for long-term cultural and ecological monitoring of wetland restorations in Minnesota, we compared restored and reference wetlands on several ecological and cultural measures including land-use context, cultural perceptions, and management practices. Cultural measures were drawn from our surveys of visitors, neighbors, planners, and managers of the wetlands. This paper discusses their perceptions of six metropolitan wetlands (four recent restorations and two reference sites), how cultural measures of their perceptions compared with selected site characteristics and biodiversity measures, and what results suggest for wetland design and management. Overall, sites that were perceived as more well-cared-for and as a good place to enjoy nature were perceived as more attractive. In addition, objective site characteristics, like cultural cues and natural landscape context, were related to perceived attractiveness. While plant species richness was not significantly related to perceived wetland attractiveness for our sites, bird species richness was related to attractiveness.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49338/1/wetlands.pd