Are Muslims the New Catholics? Europe’s Headscarf Laws in Comparative Historical Perspective

In this paper a biologically-inspired model for partly occluded patterns is proposed. The model is based on the hypothesis that in human visual system occluding patterns play a key role in recognition as well as in reconstructing internal representation for a pattern’s occluding parts. The proposed model is realized with a bidirectional hierarchical neural network. In this network top-down cues, generated by direct connections from the lower to higher levels of hierarchy, interact with the bottom-up information, generated from the un-occluded parts, to recognize occluded patterns. Moreover, positional cues of the occluded as well as occluding patterns, that are computed separately but in the same network, modulate the top-down and bottom-up processing to reconstruct the occluded patterns. Simulation results support the presented hypothesis as well as effectiveness of the model in providing a solution to recognition of occluded patterns. The behavior of the model is in accordance to the known human behavior on the occluded patterns

Towards A Short to Medium Term Mitigation Strategy to Address the External Air and Sea Connectivity Challenges posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic for Northern Ireland

The overall aim of the research is the preparation of a short to medium term Access Mitigation Strategy to respond to the challenges posed for the business, travel, leisure and tourism sectors by the physical and psychological impacts on travel access to/from Northern Ireland during/post the COVID-19 Pandemic. The research programme reflects the need to understand the implications of the COVID-19 crisis on accessibility to/from Northern Ireland given the region’s heavy reliance on air and sea access for trade, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and tourism. This includes the fall-out from COVID-19 (and additional factors including Flybe, Brexit) on the capacity of air and sea routes, how demand has and will be impacted in the future because of changing behaviours and what actions need to be taken to minimise these effects and keep Northern Ireland open for business. The project objectives are as follows: To establish the current position and near to medium term prospects for air and sea connectivity to Northern Ireland (including Irish Sea ports and airports); review the contribution of air and sea links to the performance of the Northern Ireland Economy and Wider Society; assess the factors shaping this position and their impact on demand for external travel before, during and post the Coronavirus Pandemic; develop a range of future scenarios around passenger transport by air and sea to inform the development of a range of mitigation policy interventions to maximise the accessibility of the region; table recommendations for a mitigation policy to maximise accessibility of the region; and assess the potential for funding and financing a Short to Medium Term Access Mitigation Strategy for the region. The research findings and its recommendations are informed by robust empirical evidence bases and include proven public policy interventions to maximise the region’s access and openness to business and tourism related travel going forward

Facilitation of trialogic spaces: reflections from Irish and Scottish online lesson studies

Digital innovations in teacher education have continued to evolve since the Coronavirus pandemic. As such, there has been recognition of the need to further examine the affordances and constraints of digitally mediated learning environments (Brown-Wilsher, 2021; White & Zimmerman, 2021). In response, this paper draws on the concept of trialogue (Hakkarainen, 2009), i.e. technology mediated dialogue, where digital tools are drawn on to make deliberate building and creation of knowledge accessible. Trialogue involves iterative communication and exchange of ideas in order to develop shared objects (Paavola & Hakkarainen, 2014), which can consist of artefacts, for example, lesson plans; and practices, such as pedagogical techniques. The paper focuses on two different Online Lesson Study projects facilitated by the authors, which took place in Scotland and Ireland. Insights gleaned from each project illustrating trialogue in action are shared, in order to illuminate the potential of trialogic space for enabling teachers’ collaborative learning

New aesthetic, new anxieties

The New Aesthetic was a design concept and netculture phenomenon launched into the world by London designer James Bridle in 2011. It continues to attract the attention of media art, and throw up associations to a variety of situated practices, including speculative design, net criticism, hacking, free and open source software development, locative media, sustainable hardware and so on. In this book we consider the New Aesthetic: as an opportunity to rethink the relations between these contexts in the emergent episteme of computationality. There is a desperate need to confront the political pressures of neoliberalism manifested in these infrastructures. Indeed, these are risky, dangerous and problematic times; a period when critique should thrive. But here we need to forge new alliances, invent and discover problems of the common that nevertheless do not eliminate the fundamental differences in this ecology of practices. In this book, perhaps provocatively, we believe a great deal could be learned from the development of the New Aesthetic not only as a mood, but as a topic and fix for collective feeling, that temporarily mobilizes networks. Is it possible to sustain and capture these atmospheres of debate and discussion beyond knee-jerk reactions and opportunistic self-promotion? These are crucial questions that the New Aesthetic invites us to consider, if only to keep a critical network culture in place

The Ambidextrous Employee: Exploiting and Exploring People's Potential

In this introduction to the special issue we propose the main problems and issues that are addressed, namely, how the ambidextrous ideal in contemporary working life plays out at the individual level. Today, employees need to have the intellectual, social, and physical capacity, will, strength and ability to produce, execute, refine, and choose. But they also need to have the intellectual, social and physical capacity, will, strength and ability to experiment, search, and play. They need both be able to discipline themselves and “go crazy.” They need both focus and fantasy. They need to adhere to organizational norms and values, as well as challenge them. We discuss the challenges and problems that face the ambidextrous person, and why he or she cannot remain but an ideal character. At the end of this introduction, we outline the contributions of all authors who seek to explore in various ways how the ambidextrous employee comes into play in contemporary society and its human and organizational consequences

Headed Reinforcing Bars: CCT Node Tests, Design Provisions, and Evaluation of a Granular Micromechanics Model for Use in Finite Element Analysis of Bond

The anchorage behavior of headed bars at the end of beams within compression- compression-tension (CCT) nodes subjected to monotonic loading is assessed. The test parameters for the 10 specimens tested include the embedment length, number and spacing of the anchored bars, and the presence or absence of a head at the anchored end of the bar. The nominal compressive strength of the concrete was 5000 psi. The test results, along with that of members other than beam- column joints available in the literature, are compared with strengths based on a descriptive equation developed for headed bars anchored in beam-column joints. The test results for specimens with bars without heads are compared with anchorage strengths predicted for straight bars. More broadly, test results for headed bars anchored in beam-column joints are compared with design provisions for the development length of headed bars in ACI 318-14 and ACI 318-19 and those 1 proposed by Shao et al. (2016) and Darwin and Dolan (2021) , along with the anchorage provisions in Chapter 17 of ACI 318-19. These comparisons are based on tests of 178 beam-column joint specimens containing headed bars with bearing areas between 3.8 to 9.4 times the area of the bar. In comparisons with the anchorage provisions in Chapter 17 of ACI 318-19, three modes of failure were checked–breakout, side-face blowout, and strength of the anchor reinforcement. Forty of the specimens (18 without confining reinforcement and 22 with confining reinforcement), had a ratio of effective depth of the beam to embedment length of 1.5 or more. In addition to the design provisions for development and anchorage, test results for these specimens are compared with strengths based on the strut-and-tie method in ACI 318-19. Finally, a granular micromechanics model and associated model for reinforcing steel-concrete interaction are evaluated for their general applicability for use in finite element modeling of anchorage of headed and straight reinforcing bars to concrete. A key point in the evaluation is to determine the importance of representing the local interaction between deformed bars and the surrounding concrete, which is not represented in this case, to obtain a fully objective model. Finite element results are compared with those from tests of headed bars embedded in slabs and straight bars embedded in concrete blocks. The strength of the CCT node specimens was limited by anchorage failure, either side-face blowout for headed bars or pullout for straight bars. Anchorage type (headed bars and straight bars) had a minimal effect on initial load-deflection behavior, but did affect strength. The descriptive equation developed for the anchorage strength of headed bars in beam-column joints is very conservative (test-to-calculate ratios ranging from 1.37 to 2.68 with an average of 2.05 for the current study test-to-calculated ratios ranging from 1.67 to 2.21 with an average of 1.89 for a study by Thompson 2006a) for headed bars in CCT nodes that have a compressive force placed perpendicular to the bar, as is the descriptive equation developed by ACI Committee 408 (ACI 408R-03) for straight bars (test-to-calculated ratios ranging from 1.72 to 2.76 with an average of 2.25). The provisions in ACI 318-14 for the development length of headed bars do not accurately estimate the anchorage strength of headed bars with high steel strength or concrete compressive strength. The equation, however, is generally conservative. The development length design provisions proposed by Shao et al. (2016) can be safely used for the design of the development length of headed bars for steel strengths at least up to 120 ksi and concrete compressive strengths at least up to 16,000 psi, while those in ACI 318-19 for headed bars do not fully capture the effects of confining reinforcement, bar spacing, and concrete compressive strength for compressive strengths above 6000 psi. The provisions proposed by Darwin and Dolan (2021) accurately reflect the anchorage strength of headed bars and provide a similar level of accuracy as that provided by those proposed by Shao et al. (2016). The strut-and-tie method in ACI 318-19 should be used to design joints with ratios of effective depth to embedment length of 1.5 or greater. The anchorage provisions in ACI 318-19 are very conservative when compared to any of the other methods evaluated in this study and, if used, would lead to nearly unbuildable designs. The granular micromechanics model and associated model from reinforcing steel-concrete interaction provide a good representation of the anchorage strength in cases where behavior of these specimens is dominated by the compressive and tensile properties of concrete, which are well represented by the granular micromechanics model. The combined model, however, does not provide a good representation of the behavior from members with strength that depends on splitting of concrete caused by to slip of the bar. Lack of representation of the local interaction between deformed bars and the surrounding concrete prevents the model from being generally applicable for use in representing reinforced concrete members, especially in cases where strength is governed by bond between straight reinforcing steel and concrete.Electric Power Research InstituteConcrete Reinforcing Steel Institute Education and Research FoundationBarSplice Products, IncorporatedHeaded Reinforcement CorporationLENTON® products from Pentair

Physical, Chemical, and Mineralogical Controls on Retardation of Anatoxin-a Migration by Sorption to Natural Soils with Implications for Groundwater Protection

Increasing prevalence of cyanotoxins in surface water bodies worldwide threatens groundwater quality when contaminated water recharges an aquifer through natural or artificial means. The subsurface fate of anatoxin-a (ATX) is not well studied. Laboratory batch experiments were performed to expand the current knowledge of ATX sorption affinities to geologic media, with a focus on natural soil (Vertisol, Ultisol, Alfisol, and Inceptisol) and physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. For a range of aqueous ATX concentrations (0.3–14 μg/L), linear, Freundlich, and Langmuir isotherms fit observed data well (r2 = 0.92–1.00, RMSE = 0.4–6.3 μg/kg). Distribution coefficient (Kd) and retardation factor (Rf) values were computed for the linear isotherm, giving Kd of 22.3–77.1 L/kg and Rf of 62–256. Average percent removals were 85.0–92.2%. The strongest predictors of Kd were kaolinite and smectite group mineral abundances and for Rf were smectite group and silt and clay abundances. Results indicate that loamy, silty, or clayey soils—particularly Vertisols—tend to substantially slow migration of ATX through natural soil systems. Where implemented as a functionalized amendment in an engineered pollution control media, such soils may enhance natural ATX attenuation processes, thereby supporting the protection of in situ and extracted groundwater during irrigation, natural and managed aquifer recharge, or riverbank filtration

"Внутренняя картина болезни" и ее динамика у больных желчнокаменной болезнью

ЖЕЛЧНОКАМЕННАЯ БОЛЕЗНЬВНУТРЕННИЕ БОЛЕЗНИАСТЕНИЯКАЧЕСТВО ЖИЗНИПСИХОТЕРАПИ

Marriage, religion and human flourishing: how sustainable is the classic Durkheim thesis in contemporary Europe?

This paper draws on the three waves of the European Values Survey across five countries (Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Spain and Sweden) to investigate the relationship between indicators of positive psychology (conceptualised as feelings of happiness and satisfaction with life), religiosity (conceptualised as self-assigned religious affiliation and self-reported religious attendance) and marital status. The results demonstrate that religiosity is, in general, positively correlated with both indicators of positive psychology. Further, across all waves and all countries, the pattern emerges that those respondents who are married are likely to report higher levels of happiness and greater satisfaction in life. These data provide contemporary support for the classic Durkheim thesis linking the two institutions of marriage and religion with human flourishing

Regional specialization within the human striatum for diverse psychological functions

Decades of animal and human neuroimaging research have identified distinct, but overlapping, striatal zones, which are interconnected with separable corticostriatal circuits, and are crucial for the organization of functional systems. Despite continuous efforts to subdivide the human striatum based on anatomical and resting-state functional connectivity, characterizing the different psychological processes related to each zone remains a work in progress. Using an unbiased, data-driven approach, we analyzed large-scale coactivation data from 5,809 human imaging studies. We (i) identified five distinct striatal zones that exhibited discrete patterns of coactivation with cortical brain regions across distinct psychological processes and (ii) identified the different psychological processes associated with each zone. We found that the reported pattern of cortical activation reliably predicted which striatal zone was most strongly activated. Critically, activation in each functional zone could be associated with distinct psychological processes directly, rather than inferred indirectly from psychological functions attributed to associated cortices. Consistent with well-established findings, we found an association of the ventral striatum (VS) with reward processing. Confirming less well-established findings, the VS and adjacent anterior caudate were associated with evaluating the value of rewards and actions, respectively. Furthermore, our results confirmed a sometimes overlooked specialization of the posterior caudate nucleus for executive functions, often considered the exclusive domain of frontoparietal cortical circuits. Our findings provide a precise functional map of regional specialization within the human striatum, both in terms of the differential cortical regions and psychological functions associated with each striatal zone