Contradictory Situation Research Articles

Politicizing African urban food systems: The contradiction of food governance in Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco

The governance of urban food supply in Morocco is subject to deep contradictions. It involves actors with diversified interests that are guided by sometimes divergent rationale. One of the main contradictions sets “modernization” against conservatism. The former aims to create new “westernized” wholesale markets, “upgrade” food products for export, traceability and safety, reduce the informal food trade and support large retailers. The latter aims to prevent sociopolitical destabilization, such as the risk of increasing prices, changes in the supply of food to keep up with demand and social unrest involving merchants and informal vendors.Our analysis of this contradictory situation is divided into two parts. First, we review the evolution of Morocco's food policy since independence. Then we present the main actors involved in the governance of urban food systems. We show that urban food governance is still dominated by the Ministry of the Interior, but that the decentralization process is likely to encourage modernization. In the second part, we highlight the tension between the “conservative” central actors and the “modernizing” local actors, by analysing the current controversy over the reform of the wholesale markets, a crucial issue for African urban food systems, in Casablanca and Rabat.

Analysis of Energy-Related Carbon Emissions in Inner Mongolia, China

Inner Mongolia has shown both rapid economic growth and a large renewable energy base, this has come about by the introduction of the “Western Development” strategy and renewable energy policy of the Chinese Government. However, this has led to a contradictory situation where both high carbon emission and reduction exist together. The average economic growth of Inner Mongolia reached 15.76% between 2006 and 2016, which caused huge CO2 emissions. However, promotion of the renewable energy policy (since 2005) resulted in an energy self-sufficiency rate that reached 270.80% by 2016. In this study of the Inner Mongolia carbon emission situation, the logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) model was used to analyze the factors affecting carbon emission fluctuations from 2005 to 2016. The decoupling elasticity index was then used to measure the decoupling effect of the economic growth and carbon emissions. The results of this research show that: firstly, CO2 emissions increased rapidly from 651.03 million tons in 2006 to 1723.24 million tons in 2013. Despite a slight decline in CO2 emissions, a level above 1600 million tons was maintained between 2014 and 2016. Secondly, the industry sector was the main source of CO2 emissions in Inner Mongolia, and coal-based fuel played a determining role. Thirdly, in this study, two important contributions were made, including the discovery of two new drivers: labor and emission intensity factors. Further, findings about the effect of the six industrial sectors, economic structure, energy density, and emission intensity factors were also decomposed. It was found that during research period, the population factor, labor factor, and labor productivity factor all had a positive influence on CO2 emissions, whereas the economic structure factor and emission intensity factor had different impacts on the CO2 emissions depending on the particular industrial sector. Furthermore, the energy intensity of six industrial sectors contributed to the decrease in aggregate CO2 emissions. Finally, in this study, it was also found that economic growth and CO2 growth in Inner Mongolia presented a weak decoupling state. Policy recommendations based on these results have been presented.

Gender Digital Divide – Examining the Reality

In this age of digital revolution, one of the most significant inequalities that prevail across all social and economic groups is the gender divide. The limitation, obstacle and challenges faced by the women across the globe prevent them to access and use the information technology. There is an underrepresentation of women in the decision-making structures in the digital information society, where they are considered as technophobic, wherein the plans and policies were gendersensitive. The constraining elements in relation to women’s usage of technology lie in the socio-economic and cultural barriers laid down by society. Gender bias-ness exists in the attitude of using information technology. The cultural norms forbid women’s interaction with the outside society which restricts them from the usage of ICT. In addition, the disparity in the education and income sectors, social class and geographic locations cast a shadow in the usage of the ICT. But a contradictory situation exists in the present postmodern society, where women are gaining education and income opportunity, where ICT as a digital tool has enabled them to overcome this long-lasting inequality, contribute in the community building and decision-making process. It has provided them with the freedom of interaction and shares their opinions and gathers information across the information society. But the United Nation World Summit on the Information Society (2003-2005, 2017) highlighted that gender digital divide still persist in the society. Like so, the question remains whether the gender digital divide is hype or reality? So, this paper will try to examine the gender divide existing in this digital information society.

Underwater: Resilience, racialized housing, and the national flood insurance program in Canarsie, Brooklyn

Resilience is a pervasive discourse for adapting to environmental risks, and one which the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) uses frequently, yet limited attention has been paid to the operationalization of resilience through environmental governance. This study uses the case of the NFIP's impacts on Canarsie, Brooklyn to ground resilience in the policy mechanisms and programs through which different visions of a resilient coast are enacted, the histories of uneven racial development in which these programs operate, and the impacts these programs have on coastal residents. Proposed expansions of New York City's flood risk maps combined with cuts to NFIP subsidies mean thousands of Canarsie residents who have never previously been required to purchase flood insurance will soon face mandatory premiums of $3000–$6000 per year. The 85% black neighborhood of Canarsie was targeted by more subprime loans in the 2000s than any other neighborhood in New York City, robbing many residents of housing wealth they might have otherwise used to shoulder flood insurance costs. Drawing on ethnographic research, I show that Canarsie residents have subsidized their plundered housing wealth with social reproduction strategies such as renting out their basements, setting up a contradictory situation in which Canarsians' financial resilience relies on spaces the NFIP deems a threat to physical and environmental resilience. The Canarsie case study ultimately demonstrates that the NFIP, by governing through the mechanism of household finances, stands to reproduce and accelerate existing racial inequalities in the housing market.

Evaluation of the business environment quality through the perception of business as part of the ongoing reform of the state supervisory oversight reform

Purpose: the current research aims to study the influence of the subjective perception of control and supervisory activities by regional business on the business environment quality as part of the ongoing state control and supervisory activities reform. The article has solved the following tasks: key factors determining the quality of the business environment and the perception by entrepreneurs of the state economic policy have determined; entrepreneurs' perception of the state activity in reforming state control (supervision) in the Tver region has assessed; main problems arising during the implementation of state control (supervision) measures have identified ); ways have proposed t for their elimination.Methods: study based on systematization and analysis of the results of sociological polls to assess the impact of state and municipal control (supervision) on business, which conducted in Tver region for three years (from 2016 to 2018) and covered more than three hundred heads of small, medium and large enterprises of all municipalities of the region. Content analysis of the regulatory framework and economic and statistical evaluation of the results of sociological surveys carried out; tabular and graphical data visualization methods applied.Results: despite the implementation of the reform and the reduction in the number of inspections in Tver region, an analysis of the results of a survey of entrepreneurs indicates a contradictory situation in the administrative conditions of the business environment. There is no reduction in the administrative burden on business in the subjective perception of entrepreneurs. At the same time, the firm orientation of inspectors for the collection of fines and the fiscal orientation of inspections remains.Conclusions and Relevance: conceptual approach to the implementation of the ongoing reform of state control and supervision activities involves the identification and elimination of administrative barriers with the active participation of the business community. Entrepreneurs do not feel the reduction of administrative burden on business according to their subjective perception. The perception of control and supervisory measures by business representatives determines the quality of the business environment, which has a significant impact on the motivation and performance of business entities. There is no change in the fundamental model for the implementation of state control and supervisory activities according to the business community.

Development of The Bias Against Creativity Scale

반창의성편향은 창의성에 긍정적으로 응답하지만 실제로 창의성에 대해 호의적이지 않음을 지적하는 심리적 요인이다. 창의성이 강조되는 시대에 살며, 변화를 수용하는 것에 익숙해져야 하는 상황에서 미래를 준비하는 학생들에게 반창의성편향을 개선해 가는 것은 의미가 있다. 본 연구는 반창의성편향을 측정할 수 있는 자기보고식 척도를 개발하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 반창의성편향 척도를 개발하기 위해 반창의성편향과 관련된 주제의 연구 및 문헌고찰과 전문가 논의를 통한 검사 문항 도출, 예비 문항 구성을 시행하였으며, 해당 문항들에 대한 예비검사 실시와 하위 요인 도출을 위해 탐색적 요인분석을 시행하였다. 이를 토대로 본검사 문항을 확정한 후, 확인적 요인 분석, 타당도 검증을 위한 검사 및 분석을 실시하였다. 개발된 척도는 4개 요인, 16개 문항으로 구성되어 있으며, 각각의 요인은, “모순적 상황 인식”, “불확 실성 회피”, “모험 회피”, “변화에 대한 스트레스”라고 명명하였다. 개발된 반창의성편향 척도의 타당성 검증을 위해 1차, 2차 확인적 요인분석을 실시하였다. 모형 적합도 평가에서 우수 하게 해석된 4요인 1차 모형과 1요인 위계적 2차 모형에 대한 요인부하량과 유의성, 개념신뢰 도를 확인하여 집중타당도를 검증하였다. 더불어, 평균분산추출 분석을 통해 판별타당도를 확보하였다. 향후 본 연구 결과를 바탕으로 우리 사회와 그 구성원 개개인이 가지는 반창의성편 향을 이해하고 개선해 나갈 수 있을 것으로 기대해 본다.The bias against creativity refers to people’s tendency to hostility towards creativity despite the fact that most people would say that they value creativity. To understand the underlying mechanisms of the bias against creativity in students. To develop the bias against creativity measure, we conducted literature review, came up with items through expert elicitation, constructed a preliminary questionnaire, and conducted a pretest on the questionnaire as well as exploratory factor analysis. After determining a final list of questions, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis and validity assessment. After conducting item analysis and exploratory factor analysis of results of preliminary survey, 16 questions with 4 factors were extracted and termed like recognition of contradictory situation, preference of familiarity, fear of failure and stress of change. To verify the validity of the developed measure, primary and secondary confirmatory factor analyses have been conducted. By looking at factor loading, statistical significance, and construct reliability of the four-factor primary model and the single-factor hierarchical secondary model that were evaluated positively on the model suitability analysis, convergent validity has been verified. Furthermore, discriminant validity has been achieved through AVE (average variance explained) analysis. The 4 factors have been shown to explain the bias against creativity well, confirming that it is multi-dimensional and hierarchical. The results from validity and reliability assessments and model suitability analysis using statistical analyses will be useful in understanding and utilizing the bias against creativity. The results furthermore shows that the measure developed in this study is generalizable.

Parameters of arterial stiffness in patients with Behçet's disease and their relationship with disease duration.

The results of investigations of arterial stiffness in Behçet's disease (BD) are contradictory and the reason for this contradictory situation is not clear. The lack of studies in homogenous groups according to the duration of the disease may be the cause of conflicting results. To compare arterial stiffness by assessing pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIx) measurements in healthy controls (HC) and patients diagnosed with BD with short and long disease duration. This cross-sectional study was conducted between August-November 2017 and 54 patients with BD and 34 HC were included. Patients with BD who were diagnosed within 12 months were included in the group with short disease duration (SDD) and the others in the group with long disease duration (LDD). Parameters of cardiovascular risk of all participants were recorded and PWV and AIx values were measured from the brachial artery. AIx was significantly higher in all patients with BD, patients with BD with SDD and patients with BD with LDD, than in HC (p = 0.005, p = 0.011, p = 0.004, respectively). Pulse wave velocity values were not different from HC in patients with BD. When patients with BD with SDD and LDD were compared with each other, PWV was significantly higher in patients with BD with LDD (p = 0.030). There was a moderate correlation between PWV and disease duration (Rho = 0.414, p = 0.002). Augmentation index is higher in patients with BD than HC regardless of disease duration.

СИСТЕМАТИЗАЦИЯ ПРИЧИН ВОЗНИКНОВЕНИЯ БЕЗРАБОТИЦЫ: ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ АСПЕКТ

The favorable labor market environment contributes to the economic and social development of the state. In this regard, the relations between employees and employers, which form the level of involvement of labor resources in social reproduction, are the most important macroeconomic issues. Therefore, there is an objective need to predict the development of the labor market and determine the directions and tools of its regulation. The analysis of statistical data on unemployment rates, as well as the rate of growth of real disposable income of citizens of the Russian Federation for 2008-2018, revealed a systematic decline in unemployment against the deteriorating living standards of the population. Thus, the official actual unemployment rate published by the state statistics bodies does not reflect the real situation on the domestic labor market. Therefore, the hypothesis of this study is that there is a system of informal employment institutions that have a serious impact on the actual unemployment rate. To interpret the current contradictory situation, the authors systematized scientific works in the field of labor market research, classified informal employment institutions caused by the wide self-employment of the population, discrimination of applicants on the basis of gender, age and work experience; migration of unskilled labor to Russia; lack of career guidance; optimization of labor resources in a number of industrial sectors and the public sector. In conclusion, the authors determined the impact of informal institutions on the main types of unemployment and formulated conclusions that allow predicting changes in the labor market in modern conditions of digitalization of the economic system. The informal institute “optimization of labor resources” is defined as the main direction of further research.

Sobre la naturaleza de las cualidades expresadas por el Predicativo con verbos estativos en latín

This article examines the type of qualities that can be expressed by the Praedicativum in cases in which this secondary predicate is subject-oriented. More specifically, I will discuss the apparently contradictory situation that occurs in contexts with stative verbs and verbs with a semantic notion of permanence and the non-permanent quality attributed to the Praedicativa in a general way. Through a corpus study, I show (i) how the position held so far by researchers should be clarified, and (ii) the explanations that can be made for the results that deviate from the usual trend. Among other factors, the particular nature of the semantics of the predicates under study plays a decisive role in the analysed question.

Impurity Effects in Nodal Extendeds- and Nodelessd-Wave Superconductors: Gap Symmetry of BiS2-Based Layered Superconductors

In BiS$_2$-based layered superconductors,the existence of gap nodes on Fermi-surface curves has been suggested from angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements, whereas the conventional $s$-wave gap has been proposed from measurements of superfluid density and thermal conductivity. To reconcile these two distinct experimental results of the gap node, we investigate nonmagnetic impurity effects in the superconductor with a disconnected pocketlike Fermi-surface structure. Then, we claim that the seemingly contradictory situation concerning the gap node is resolved by a concept of dirty nodal extended $s$-wave superconductivity. Provided that it is unnecessary to consider the nodes of the gap, at first glance, the conventional $s$-wave gap seems to be a unique solution, but in the pocketlike Fermi-surface topology, a nontrivial possibility of a nodeless $d$-wave superconductor is pointed out. To clarify the gap symmetry, we propose to perform experiments on nuclear magnetic relaxation rate $T_{1}^{-1}$ in BiS$_2$-based layered superconductors.

Urban Roma, segregation and place attachment in Szeged, Hungary

Recent research in segregated areas has shown that Romani people are marginalised in Central Eastern Europe and that desegregation has become an important part of the agenda in local development policy‐making. This paper aims to push forward this issue and to better understand how Roma living in segregated urban areas relate to the places and communities in which they live. The research therefore links the particular field of Romani Studies to wider developments in the social sciences, and especially to global debates on insecure/informal housing and (neo‐)ghettoisation, by ascertaining how Roma people's personal attachment to place functions as a basis for their everyday activities in the ghetto and surrounding area(s). The analysis is based on a participatory action research (PAR) process carried out in Szeged, Hungary, with local scholar–activists, Roma representatives and Roma families living in local segregated spaces. The findings suggest that the world of Roma in segregated neighbourhoods is characterised by a strong feeling of place attachment fundamentally shaped by social relations and the features of those neighbourhoods, but certain centripetal forces alienate inhabitants from these spaces. This is important because existing place attachment to segregated Roma communities as a living environment is a contradictory situation for the affected Roma, which is characterised by “dual bonds”: traditional relationships based on strong bonding capital and reciprocity still exist and represent significant material and emotional support for families and the places they inhabit, while at the same time communities are becoming more fragmented, with the most marginalised often being excluded from this “net of space protection.”

Establishing presence through absence: Dom Moraes’s ambivalence towards India

As a poet, journalist, autobiographer, and travel writer, Dom Moraes was a prolific presence in the Anglophone literary world throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Though born in Bombay, Moraes had moved to England at a young age and his very first book of poetry, A Beginning, had earned him fame in the emergent post-Second World War British cultural scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s, winning him the Hawthornden Prize at the age of 19. He was equally popular when he came back to India during the 1980s, and regular volumes of his poetry and prose were published by the newly established Penguin Books India until his death in 2004. Surprisingly, in spite of being such a well-known and well-published author, Moraes’s work in general, and his poetry in particular, have strangely fallen out of critical focus. My article explores this contradictory situation of an apparently famous poet being persistently ignored by critics and anthologists. It attempts to show how this unusual situation can be traced back to a sense of bafflement that most critics and anthologists share when it comes to categorizing Moraes so as to initiate a discussion on him. It also attempts to depict how this sense of puzzlement in categorizing Moraes is connected to Moraes’s own ambivalent attitude towards India, his country of birth, which frequently vacillates between a strong sense of aversion and a feeling of deep empathy. In conclusion, the paper tries to probe how Moraes grapples with his complex sense of affiliation to and distance from India by representing his creative self and its cultural location in the form of a variety of absences — a process which makes him difficult to categorize and as a consequence challenging to discuss.

6-я Финляндская стрелковая дивизия в зеркале событий Великой российской революции 1917 года

The question of the state of the Russian army in 1917 is considered. The complex and contradictory situation on the front line of the theatre of military operations in the conditions of preparation and carrying out offensive operation in the summer of 1917 is described. The presented range of sources illustrates insufficiently studied pages of the history of the Great war. The analysis of the sources allows to understand how the transformation of the consciousness of the soldier’s mass and revolutionary moods in the army took place. The process of evolution of views on the war, expressed in letters from the front to the rear, as well as in the materials of the Bolshevik newspaper “Okopnaya pravda” is shown. Based on the analysis of archival documents of the 6 th Finnish infantry division, which for the first time became the object of research, an objective picture of military everyday life on one of the important front sections on the eve of the final events of the First World War and the Great Russian revolution of 1917 is presented. The author draws attention to the personal relations between the command staff and the lower ranks in 1917. It is shown that in the conditions of the Great Russian revolution the consciousness of not only soldiers, but also the officer corps, revolutionizing under the influence of real events, as well as the propaganda work of radical parties, is transformed.

Gut microbiome production of short-chain fatty acids and obesity in children.

Obesity has been a worldwide multifactorial epidemic malady for the last 2decades. Changes in gut microbiota composition and its metabolites - short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) - have been associated with obesity. Recent evidence suggests that SCFAs made by the gut microbiota may regulate directly or indirectly physiological and pathological processes in relation to obesity. We review the influence of gut microbiota in energy, glucose, and lipid homeostasis control via their metabolites. Gut microbial disturbances in obese children may have a role in their metabolism. At first glance, excessive short-chain fatty acids produced by a particular gut microbiota represent an additional energy source, and should cause an imbalance in energy regulation, contributing to obesity. However, simultaneously, SCFA participates in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from the pancreatic β-cells through interaction with the FFA2 and FFA3 receptors, and release of peptide hormones which control appetite. This apparent contradictory situation may indicate the involvement of additional particular bacteria or bacterial components or metabolites that may trigger regulatory cascades by interaction with some G-protein-coupled membrane receptors.

Corporate social irresponsibility: review and conceptual boundaries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to carry out a review of the academic literature about corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) highlighting aspects that help us to define socially irresponsible behaviour and its relationship with socially responsible behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThrough a Boolean search of studies related to terms of irresponsibility undertaken from 1956 to October 2016, the authors develop a review of the literature focussing on the main perspectives used for defining the term of CSIR.FindingsThe paper provides a framework of three main dimensions for understanding the differences in the literature that defines CSIR: who defines irresponsible behaviour, an impartial observer or a specific group of stakeholders, whether it is a firm strategy or a punctual action and which is the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and CSIR, continuity vs orthogonal relationship.Originality/valueThe paper provides and extensive and original review of a key construct, CSIR, and develops some insights about its antecedents and consequences. The authors try to provide light to the contradictory situation where a growing interest in CSR and the increase in voluntary commitments adopted by company leaders incorporating CSR into their strategies are, paradoxically, increasingly associated with CSIR.

Blind-Alleys on the Road to Communism: ‘Isms’ of the Automobile Sport in Socialist Yugoslavia, 1945–1992

This paper analyses the development of automobile sport in Yugoslavia, using it as a specific lens on the Yugoslav society and political system. Focusing on races on the track of the Belgrade Grand Prix of 1939, which new socialist authorities used for propaganda purposes until the late 1950s, the ‘national class’ competition as the first professional competition in the country, and the Soviet-style Sutjeska Rally, my analysis shows that automobile sport in socialist Yugoslavia featured a variety of characteristics of both ‘capitalist’ and ‘communist’ sport. This contradictory situation included parallel existence of many ‘isms’ – ‘amateurism’ and ‘professionalism’, ‘nationalism’, ‘unitarianism’, ‘propagandism’, ‘commercialism’, and many more. Being in a constant flux between these opposite pairs, automobile sport in Yugoslavia clearly reflected many of the contradictions of the Yugoslav state system.

Disney in Spain (1930–1935)

This article looks at the ways in which the global brand par excellence – Mickey Mouse – spread throughout Spain in the early 1930s. In tracing the creative and commercial interplay with the Mickey character we show how the Disney Company failed to obtain any significant intellectual property rights in its own name or obtain a sympathetic hearing by Spanish patent and trademark officials. Yet this was undoubtedly a period of significant global development of the Disney brand. With the attempt to explain such an apparent contradictory situation, this article highlights the importance of the management of particular struggles in the flux of desires, appropriation and investments that contributed to the emergence of the elusive ‘merchandising right’.

On the Need of a Comprehensive Risk Assessment of the Implementation for Major Infrastructure Projects in Kaliningrad (Vistula) Lagoon

Kaliningrad/Vistula lagoon is divided by state border into two approximately equal parts that belong to the Republic of Poland and the Russian Federation. In the context of cross-border nature of the gulf, the implementation of large-scale projects – projects for the construction of a deepwater port in the Russian part of the gulf or the navigable channel on the Polish part of the spit – acquire the level of international cross-border projects that require coordination and approval at the international level, as the effects (primarily geo-ecological) from the implementation of such projects affect both sides of the unified nature system of the bay. As part of this work, the authors analyze the complex and in many ways contradictory situation around the Polish project to build a navigable channel through the Polish part of the Baltic/Vistula spit. The main conclusion that the authors make – projects of this magnitude require the joint interstate approval, including the consent of all the inhabitants of the coastal areas of the Kaliningrad / Vistula bay.

Methods of modeling TCO residential real estate in the life cycles of buildings as a promising energy efficiency management tool

Building and developing an affordable housing market is a huge challenge for Russia’s national economy. Today, the housing construction industry finds itself in a situation torn by a conflict caused by the simultaneous needs to minimize the housing construction costs in order to make housing more affordable for Russians and to increase the energy efficiency of the housing projects, which is associated with additional costs for developers. To find solutions to this contradictory situation, one needs new theoretical and practical approaches and economic tools. The global economic trend of managing goods and services on the basis of the value of goods and services over the life cycle is also manifested in the construction industry in Russia. The problem of forming a new economic thinking in the housing sector predetermines the perception of the value of housing not only as the price of purchased real estate, but as the equivalent of the total cost of ownership of real estate throughout its life cycle. This approach allows to compensate the initial rise in the cost of construction resulting from the introduction of energy-efficient technologies by savings in the operational phase of the life cycle of the property. In this regard, management of the total cost of real estate ownership based on energy modeling is of high research and practical relevance.

The Design and Simulation of High Impedance Surface in Airborne Telemetry Antenna

Aiming to the problems that excessive reduction of airborne telemetry antenna’s size will cause a sharp deterioration of the antenna’s bandwidth and gain, this paper proposed that using a high-impedance surface in the airborne telemetry antenna. As the size and bandwidth of the high-impedance surface is far from being able to meet the application requirements, this paper designed a new high-impedance surface which can be applied to the telemetry transmitter antenna, and reduced the profile size of the telemetry antenna and increased the gain of the antenna at the same time. In addition, based on the equivalent circuit model, we have resolved the contradictory situation of small size and wide band gap in the high-impedance surface design. The results show that the low profile, high gain and wide bandwidth of the telemetry antenna can be achieved by using the new high-impedance surface. The antenna structure and design ideas presented in this paper can significantly improve the performance of airborne telemetry antenna.