Asymmetric Distribution Of Power Research Articles

Simulating Fuel Assembly Bowing: A Neutron-Diffusion Method Based on Arbitrary Quadrilateral Node and Conformal Mapping Technique

Fuel assembly bowing, widely observed in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), often results in an asymmetrical power distribution. This paper proposes a neutron-diffusion method that integrates the arbitrary quadrilateral node with the conformal mapping technique to characterize the impact of fuel assembly bowing on power distribution. The proposed method involves a nonlinear iteration process to solve the neutron-diffusion equation. The global coarse-mesh finite difference equation is established on the arbitrary quadrilateral nodes, which are redivided in response to fuel assembly bowing. The local two-node nodal expansion method equation is established on the rectangular nodes, which are mapped from the original arbitrary quadrilateral nodes using the conformal mapping technique. The proposed method has improved our self-developed core code, named SPARK, for PWRs. To verify this novel method, two distinct types of fuel assembly bowing are modeled based on the mini core. The reference results for these models were obtained using the Monte Carlo code NECP-MCX. The numerical results suggest a robust agreement between the biases of keff and power distributions and their corresponding reference results.

The Red Sea Regional Security Complex: The Implications of the Red Sea Forum for Ethiopian National Security

The Red Sea Forum (RSF), since its foundation in December 2018, has attracted the attention of politicians and scholars near and far. The exclusion of Ethiopia from the forum disappointed the government, though the country is the most populous and anchor state in the Horn of Africa. Many of the objectives set by RSF are apparently unattainable without the direct or indirect participation of Ethiopia. The aim of this study, therefore, is to examine the implications of the Red Sea Forum for the national security of Ethiopia. The study employed a qualitative research method. In doing so, both primary and secondary sources were consulted. Beyond reviewing published and unpublished materials, key informant interviews were conducted with purposively selected experts from the Ethiopian Navy Force, the Maritime Institute of Ethiopia, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The study asserted that the Red Sea Region has a complex security terrain where security alignment and realignment with regional and non-regional powers are persistent mechanisms of survival. This is caused by asymmetrical power distribution and security dilemmas among regional states. Among others, neutralising the subversive activities of Egypt, serving as a platform for potential funding and access to energy resources, helping to mitigate the tragic deaths of Ethiopian immigrants crossing the sea, and serving as a source of naval technical know-how and maritime information are some of the potential benefits of being a member of the RSF. Port shutdowns, naval blockades, suffocation of alternative port access, and damage to underwater internet cables in the Red Sea are some of the perceived threats from RSF identified in the study. To enhance the potential benefits and mitigate the perceived threats from RSF, Ethiopia should adopt multilateral diplomacy and military deterrence as a counter strategies.

Academic middle leadership: An exploration of Arab women's professional identities in higher education

This study explored the professional identities of four Arab women holding academic middle leadership roles in higher education within the Arab States Region. Employing a narrative inquiry approach and guided by the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity, the research investigates how these women leaders perceived their career trajectories and navigated their role identities. The study sheds light on the multifaceted nature of their identity negotiations, influenced by a complex interplay of circumstances, social processes, critical incidents, key individuals, and opportunities. Notably, the study brings attention to the pervasive challenges faced by these women, not only externally but also from internalized biases ingrained within the system, perpetuated even by fellow women. The intricacies of these identity negotiations are further contextualized within micro-political processes and the inherent asymmetrical distribution of power in organizational hierarchies, marked by androcentric dominance, and lack of trust. Despite these challenges, the narratives suggest that women in these roles actively embrace collaborative and inclusive leadership styles, potentially enhancing their effectiveness in navigating the complexities of higher education leadership.

Tourism development: A capacity dynamic

<p>The internationally adopted definition of tourism prompts to develop a systemic dynamic approach of tourism development. The paper proposes to conceptualize tourism development as a system interlinking three agents: transport, domestic tourism activities and the visitor; generating three types of development tourism development dynamics. In a second step, it uses this framework to develop, with a minimalist set of hypotheses, a capacity-based model enabling to consider destination tourism development as a microfounded supply-driven systemic dynamic process. Through the lens of the model, exhaustion or asymmetric distribution of market power may halt destination tourism development. Using the model’s framework, the structuring forces of the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) are explained by the dual impact of capacity dynamics: accelerating by increasing arrivals, and at the same time decelerating by declining price elasticities.<strong></strong></p>

Strategies of Apparent Empathy and Polarization in Kemalistic Discourse

The paper analyzes the discursive strategies of apparent empathy and ideological polarization that were used to legitimize discrimination against covered female students in the Republic of Turkey. We approached this complex social problem from the point of view of critical discourse analysis, which represents an interdisciplinary research area centered on the interest in researching the manipulative use of language. The ban on wearing headscarves in universities in Turkey was the fruit of the Kemalist conception of modernism and hegemony established by the Kemalist elites. An important role in preserving that hegemony was also played by the media, whose primary goal was to legitimize social injustice and protect the social order based on an asymmetric distribution of power. They performed this role of the media through the manipulative use of language within clearly recognizable discursive strategies, which was shown by the analysis of the newspaper text that is the subject of this paper.

Conjuration and Conspiracy. The Controversy over the German Covid Policy as a Mediumistic Trial, or: The Medium is the Mess

Based on anthropological fieldwork among protesters against the Covid policy in Germany, this paper elaborates the symmetry of accusations made against each other by proponents and opponents of the state-imposed protection measures against the backdrop of an asymmetrical distribution of power. The social dynamics that emerged during the pandemic are often understood as the result of a knowledge controversy that most participants thus categorize as a media problem. A key finding of my research on protests against the German Covid policy is that, as in my research on the controversy over mediumism, the controversy is about the agency of human and nonhuman actors and carried out to a great extent based on the same values on both sides, which at the same time accuse each other of not conforming to these values. The protesters are part of a heterogeneous minority that in large parts embodies the values of the majority and, in a way, exceeds them, i.e., a minority that is hypercritical and has extreme expectations about the values of the majority society – in this case: of solidarity, science, transparency, rationality, and coherence. From its marginal position, the minority develops a canny eye for the unfulfilled promises of the majority: its contradictions and conscious or unconscious double standards are perceived as bigotry against the backdrop of the aspiration to absence of contradiction. Therefore, this minority suspects that the motivations and goals behind the measures taken are other than just the protection of health, while the majority in turn see the minority’s commitment to society and democracy as (self-)deception and also suspect hidden motives and actors behind it. This mutual suspicion leads to a hysterical state of doubt and distrust, which is rooted in the nature of mediality.

Managing asymmetrical supply chain relationships: psychological ownership and commitment in the agri-food sector

PurposeIn this paper, the authors integrate the psychological ownership theory with the concept of commitment to contribute to the discussion on agricultural supply chain management. The purpose of this study is to examine how farmers experience their commitment to the business relationship with the processor and how this is conveyed through the routes of psychological ownership.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data are based on 14 in-depth face-to-face Finnish farmer interviews. To understand the farmers’ routes to psychological ownership, the critical incidents technique was used.FindingsAccording to the three routes to psychological ownership – control, profound knowledge and self-investment – the authors argue that farmers mainly consider their routes to be more or less blocked because of the asymmetrical power and information distribution in the business relationship with the processor. Furthermore, based on farmers’ perceptions of psychological ownership, the authors provide a farmer typology that reflects in the farmers’ willingness to commit to the business relationship. The identified types are named as satisfied, captives and leavers.Originality/valueBy integrating the theory of psychological ownership with the concept of commitment, this study provides a more robust understanding of how farmers experience their commitment to the business relationship, thus, contributing to the literature on supply chain management in the agri-food business context. Implementation of these findings can help business partners to proactively improve their business relationships through the perceived level of commitment and to deal with critical incidents influencing the effectiveness of the whole chain.

The Gates Foundation, global health and domination: a republican critique of transnational philanthropy

Abstract The turn of the twenty-first century witnessed a revival of interest in the role of philanthropy in the international system, especially in the fields of global poverty and health. Yet, despite an emergent critical literature in development studies and international studies, philanthropy has barely featured in the debate on global distributive justice. This article uses the republican conception of domination as an analytical framework to precisely articulate concerns of justice raised by transnational philanthropy. Using the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its role in global health as a test case, it argues that transnational philanthropy is characterized by an asymmetric distribution of power, which is sufficient to produce dependence, and that is uncontrolled insofar as its use either rests on the will of powerful agents or on terms of social cooperation beyond contestation. This arbitrary character is particularly relevant to philanthropy because of its use of epistemic power to produce and legitimize knowledge. In short, transnational philanthropy is dominating. If individuals have the right to exercise control over the social institutions that profoundly affect their basic interests, then philanthropy has a problem of justice that cannot be dismissed.

Understanding policy influence in hybrid regimes: Insights from a qualitative study of policy advice in Ukraine and Moldova

AbstractThe growing complexity of policy challenges has necessitated the reconsideration of the classic state‐centered deliberative models and their replacement with more inclusive concepts like that of the policy advisory system. Still, although the asymmetrical power distribution across different advisors has been recognized, the question of why some actors are able to exercise greater influence than others has received relatively little systematic attention. This paper addresses this question while focusing its attention on Ukraine and Moldova in a departure from the literature's empirical preoccupation with Western liberal democracies. Through a qualitative analysis of 45 semi‐structured interviews, the paper empirically tests the theoretical conceptualization, which explains policy influence as a result of the interaction of content, context, demand and supply factors. The findings illustrate the usefulness of the framework as a theoretical tool beyond Western democratic systems. However, they also indicate the need for conceptual refinements accounting for the significant role played by internationalization, personalization, informality, politicization and political polarization in advisory dynamics in hybrid regimes like those in Ukraine and Moldova in order for advisory scholarship to overcome its Western bias.

Resisting Commodification: Subverting the Power of the Global Tech Companies

Abstract In our digitised world, information and communication technologies (ict s) are used everywhere. In schools all over the world the well-known, easy-to-use, and highly affordable Google Education is used, but is this a safe and sustainable solution? A number of services online are free in terms of users not having to pay any money for their usage, but many companies, of which Google is one, instead make their money from the exploitation of what is labelled non-personal user data, Big Data, which is harvested from the users of their free services. This type of data mining or data harvesting can be used for other purposes as well, such as for intelligence reasons, where a foreign power may capitalise on user data from another country, but it may also be to control a country’s own population. Asymmetrical power distribution is inevitable and, drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s theories of power and subversion, my aim is to increase the awareness of the non-monetary costs involved in the choice of ict s and highlight ways to shift the inherent hierarchic power. A text analysis, based on policy documents and articles focusing on online privacy, data harvesting and user commodification, studies how legislators, journalists, as well as governmental and other organisations negotiate and sometimes subvert the hierarchic power of the global tech companies in order to protect privacy, integrity and democracy as well as the profit margin of companies. The paper highlights the need for legislation and education, an enhanced ict literacy, in the field.

Hierarchical Power Allocation Control for Star-Connected Hybrid Energy Storage System Using Cascaded Multilevel Converters

Hybrid energy storage system (HESS) using cascaded multilevel converters (CMC) has received increasing attention due to its merits on smoothing power fluctuations for renewable energy systems (RESs). However, CMC-based HESS still faces tough challenges due to asymmetrical ac power distribution. In this paper, hierarchical power allocation control strategy is utilized in CMC-based star-connected HESS to coordinate power between batteries and supercapacitors (SCs). Using the proposed power allocation mechanism, energy management strategy (EMS) with two operation modes can be achieved, which includes SC voltage regulation mode and power compensation mode. In SC voltage regulation mode, SC voltages are regulated to achieve long-term stable operation. Power compensation mode aims to allocate the active power fluctuation and employs SCs to mitigate it. Meanwhile, the principle of the hierarchical power allocation strategy is analyzed to facilitate the accurate control and flexible switching of different operation modes. A series of simulation and experiment tests are executed to demonstrate the performance of the proposed control strategy.

Establishing a trusting nurse-immigrant mother relationship in the neonatal unit

Background:In the neonatal intensive care unit, immigrant parents may experience even greater anxiety than other parents, particularly if they and the nurses do not share a common language.Aim:To explore the complex issues of trust and the nurse–mother relationship in neonatal intensive care units when they do not share a common language.Design and methods:This study has a qualitative design. Individual semi-structured in-depth interviews and two focus group interviews were conducted with eight immigrant mothers and eight neonatal intensive care unit nurses, respectively. Data analysis was based on Braun and Clarke’s thematic analytic method.Ethical considerations:Approval was obtained from the hospital’s Scientific Committee and the Data Protection Officer. Interviewees were informed in their native language about confidentiality and they signed an informed consent form.Results:Trust was a focus for mothers and nurses alike. The mothers held that they were satisfied that their infants received the very best care. They seemed to find the nurses’ care and compassion unexpected and said they felt empowered by learning how to care for their infant. The nurses discussed the mother’s vulnerability, dependency on their actions, attitudes and behaviour.Discussion:Lack of a common language created a challenge. Both parties depended on non-verbal communication and eye contact. The nurses found that being compassionate, competent and knowledgeable were important trust-building factors. The mothers were relieved to find that they were welcome, could feel safe and their infants were well cared for.Conclusion:The parents of an infant admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit have no choice but to trust the treatment and care their infant receives. Maternal vulnerability challenges the nurse’s awareness of the asymmetric distribution of power and ability to establish a trusting relationship with the mother. This is particularly important when mother and nurse do not share a verbal language. The nurses worked purposefully to gain trust.

Immigration and Languages in Catalonia: From Policies to Results

ABSTRACT Transnational immigration is quite a new phenomenon in Catalonia and the rest of Spain. Its sudden increase from 2000 on helps explain why immigration policies have unfolded during the last 20 years, a long-enough period to start evaluating its impact. This article reviews the framework for policies for linguistic integration of the foreign-born population in Catalonia, and explores their results through the lens of census data on these new speakers’ language abilities and practices. It shows that, in Spain, the asymmetrical distribution of competences and power between the state and sub-state levels “prevents the minority nations from developing comprehensive public policy on immigration.” Together with the unbalanced legal and economic status of Castilian and Catalan, and the demographic minorization of Catalan-speakers, this poses a challenge to the full linguistic integration of immigrants and to the sustainability of Catalan in the long run.

Anything goes? Exploring the limits of employment law in UK hospitality and catering

AbstractThrough a case study of the UK hospitality and catering sector, this article explores the limits of employment law as a means of protecting workers from ill or unfair treatment. Finding microbreaches of the law to be common practice in the sector—akin to industry norms or ‘custom and practice’—it considers the routinisation of these microbreaches as an instance of conflict between formal legal rules and social norms. The conflict is problematic because it means that workers are less likely to perceive breach of their legal rights as an injustice worthy of challenge. The industry norms observed have been formed under the influence of an asymmetrical distribution of information and power, including organisational control over the labour process. If employment law is to be made effective, a realignment of legal rules with social norms is needed and, at the same time, the correction of this asymmetry.

Аcиметрія влади в міжнародних відносинах

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the asymmetry of power in a complex system of international relations, which is characterized by a particularly high degree of global stratification, integration and asymmetric interdependence. Uneven distribution of power, increasing the number of asymmetric threats at the beginning of the XXI century, limited degree of study of the research topic in the domestic literature highlights the need to understand the asymmetry of power in international relations. In determining the power of the state in world politics, the determining factor is the material and power factor, which is clearly manifested at the present stage of development. Asymmetry of power – uneven distribution of power between participants in international relations leads to the dominance of several states that have higher indices of power than others. Dominance is manifested in various areas – from military to economic and cultural. Inequality of power creates an asymmetry of interaction. The strategy of the state’s behavior in the international arena depends on the level of power. The ratio of total power capabilities between actors can change, which leads to an increase in the power of some actors and the decline of power of others. The asymmetric distribution of power leads to the formation of rights and rules governing the interaction between states, in which states compete for the preservation of the geopolitical status quo and their global influence. Despite the growing role of soft power components, the power continues to play a leading role in the international arena and to influence the format of relations in various areas of cooperation. In general, asymmetry can lead to stability and not cause tension in relations, which contradicts the current theory of international relations on asymmetric relations between states.

Schoolboards' expectations of the superintendent – a Swedish national survey

ABSTRACT In Sweden, the local schoolboard has the ultimate responsibility for school quality and student knowledge development, and is held responsible if the expected outcomes are not met. Assisting the board is the superintendent who is the Chief Executive Officer. The aim of the study is to investigate the board’s relation to and expectations of the superintendent, and this article is a result of a national investigation in which all schoolboard chairs were surveyed. Two main questions were addressed: 1) what expectations does the local schoolboard have of the superintendent, both in general and in relation to student achievements and 2) which tasks are the superintendents expected to prioritise in carrying out their work? Data have been collected through a web-based survey using both structured and open-ended questions. The results show that the schoolboards’ strongest expectations placed on superintendents are to execute the leadership mission followed by managing the organisation within allocated budget frames. Responsibilities for academic outcomes have a lower ranking. Superintendents have many opportunities to influence the schoolboards’ decisions and thereby affect which goals they should prioritise in the local school organisation. The superintendent is an invisible ruler who in the chain of governance occupies the best position to influence both the schoolboard’s acting policy and the schools’ acting practice. By being aware of the existing asymmetric distribution of power, the schoolboard has the opportunity to exercise control over its official whose legal responsibility is to assist its members in their decision makings.

Оксюморон по форме и содержанию: дискурсивные механизмы пассивной агрессии

Предлагаемая статья обращается к проблеме лингвистической трактовки пассивно-агрессивного стиля общения – дискурсивной практики, широко и глубоко проникшей во многие сферы межличностного общения. В качестве изучаемого дискурсивного контекста бытования пассивной агрессии выбирается семейный дискурс в силу априори заложенной в нем маркированной властной иерархии коммуникантов и конфронтации между поколениями, а также его ориентации на формирование сообществ практики – неформальных групп коммуникантов, совместно вырабатывающих уникальные нормы дискурсивного поведения в виде обоюдных ожиданий относительно приемлемости того или иного поведения в данной группе. Анализ исследованного корпуса показывает, что пассивная агрессия реализуется за счет реконтекстуализации, как правило, маркировано вежливых форм в ситуацию нарастающего антагонизма между собеседниками. При этом прагматические установки говорящего обнаруживают противоречие: реализуемые стратегии ликосбережения, нацеленные на учет интересов лица собеседника, вступают в конфликт с установкой на подрыв межличностной гармонии. Независимо от позиции на вертикали власти, пассивный агрессор выступает в роли манипулятора, нацеленного на дестабилизацию гармонии межличностных отношений. Являясь исключительно контекстно мотивированной формой дискурсивного поведения, пассивно-агрессивный стиль общения не обнаруживает однозначных текстовых и метатекстовых маркеров, что с необходимостью предполагает учет паравербальных характеристик речи.

Stewardship of personal data on social networking sites

The extant Information Management literature highlights the asymmetric distribution of power between users and online platforms, while the issues related to the stewardship of personal data on such platforms remain problematic and largely unresolved. To address that lacuna, we propose a conceptual design that can help to overcome many of the challenges related to storage, analysis, and integrity associated with the stewardship of personal data on online platforms. We adopt a systemic perspective and propose a shift from the current user-platform relationship to one in which users control the level of access to their data, organisations are relieved from the burden of maintaining personal data, and the data are not decoupled from information about their provenance and context of origin. We apply our conceptual design to the context of social networking sites, where we specifically address issues related to privacy, and identity and pave the path to a broader set of possible applications. We discuss the significance and timeliness of our proposed conceptual design for the stewardship of personal data, and the importance of our findings for future research, as well as for the design of online platforms.

The South China Sea Dispute: A Reflection of Southeast Asia’s Economic and Strategic Dilemmas (2009-2018)

The asymmetric distribution of power in the Asian maritime region is favoring China, increasing theapprehension of its neighbors that, faced with their evident vulnerability, fear about Beijing’s intentions. In this context, the balance of power maintains the status quo and limits China’s behavior against other coastal countries. Given the disparity of military and economic power between Southeast Asia and China, this balance can only be achieved with the intervention of an extra-regional power, the United States. The renewed American participation as a guarantor of regional security has created new bonds of strategic dependence for Southeast Asia, which in turn have economies that mainly rely on China. The South China Sea conflict is then posing two dilemmas for the region: China’s increasing economic leverage and Washington’s reactive and challenging Indo-Pacific policy, which might make a stalemate in the maritime conflict possible.

De l’hospitalité décoloniale: l’aporie disruptive chez Derrida

Quelles sont les implications politiques d’une hospitalité dans le contexte de domination coloniale ? Quels sont les problèmes qui se placent dans la détermination de l’identité de l’autre comme politique institutionnelle ? Dans ce travail, il s’agit de s’appuyer sur la dimension aporétique intrinsèque à la notion de l’hospitalité derridienne pour interroger la perspective coloniale de l’accueil. La pensée de l’hospitalité chez Derrida est alors avant tout un questionnement du concept même de l’accueil placé toujours du côté de « la raison du plus fort ». L’auteur remet en question même l’accueil le plus généreux, en soulignant l’ambiguïté qui s’établit entre hospitalité et pouvoir. Cette aporie établit une offre de l’accueil qui se retrouve inéluctablement reliée au point de vue du dominant, du colonisateur, de celui qui, dans la dissymétrie du pouvoir, dans l’autorité du « je t’accueille chez moi », s’impose sur l’autre.