Critical Edge Research Articles

What Do Small Claim Courts Have in Common Around the World?

This brief article aims to show some of the common features of Small Claim Courts around the world. The development of Small Claim Courts around the globe has been and interesting juridical phenomenum, which can be observed under several viewpoints as well as at a critical edge.

Studies of edge localized mode mitigation with new active in-vessel saddle coils in ASDEX Upgrade

The ASDEX Upgrade tokamak is currently being enhanced with a set of in-vessel saddle coils for non-axisymmetric perturbations aiming at mitigation or suppression of edge localized modes (ELMs). Results obtained during the first experimental campaign are reported. With n = 2 magnetic perturbations, it is observed that type-I ELMs can be replaced by benign small ELM activity with strongly reduced energy loss from the confined plasma and power load to the divertor. During these phases with ELM mitigation, no density reduction (density ‘pump-out’) is observed. ELM mitigation has, so far, been observed in plasmas with different shape and different heating mixes and, therefore, different momentum input. The ELM mitigation regime can be accessed with resonant and non-resonant perturbation field configurations. The main threshold requirement appears to be a critical minimum plasma edge density which depends on plasma current. So far it is not possible to distinguish whether this is an edge collisionality threshold or a critical fraction of the Greenwald density limit.

Study on the Relationships between Edge Distance and the Failure Process of Edge Chipping for Engineering Ceramics

Edge distance is the main factor inducing edge chipping. An edge chipping experiment is designed to study the relationships between edge distance and the edge chipping from the aspect of fracture process, the load-displacement curves and AE signals are documented. The results show that the fracture processes of edge chipping at different edge distances are similar and could be divided into four stages, AE signals could reflect the fracture process features of edge chipping. As edge distance increases, the displacements of indenter and critical loads would increase correspondingly, while the peak values of count and duration would decrease. The critical edge distance for Al2O3 is about 0.75mm; the displacements of indenter would keep invariable, while the peak values of count and duration would get to the minimum.

The Limitations of the Critical Edge: Reflections on Critical and Philosophical IR Scholarship Today

The crisis of 2009 has not proved to be a great impetus for new critical redirection of political and economic thinking in the West: both politico-economic structures in the West and the models of development and democratisation at the heart of Western foreign policy agendas remain much the same. This is despite the continued efforts of critical and philosophical IR theorists to push ‘critical thinking’ and ‘alternative agendas’ in world politics. Why the dismal ‘real-world’ failure of critical and philosophical IR research? This piece reflects on the trends towards depoliticisation, fragmentation and de-concretisation of critical and philosophical IR research and suggests some potential ways forward in reorienting critical and philosophical research in the field.

Niqabitch and Princess Hijab: Niqab Activism, Satire and Street Art

In this contribution I discuss two styles of presenting face-veils in the public that have a critical edge: the video clip NiqaBitch shakes Paris and princess Hijab’s street art. Whereas both visual forms play with ambiguity, they do so in different ways. The videoclip - bringing together a long face-veil and minishorts - produces virtual publics that contest each other along multiple lines of differentiation, including politics, satire, and aesthetic style. Princess Hijab refers to her work with the term ‘hijabising’, which she considers as an act of resistance against the ‘visual terrorism’ of the advertising industry.

Legal Pragmatism and Intellectual Property Law

The legal pragmatism movement that came to prominence in the 1990s adopted a skeptical attitude toward “foundationalism” – the idea that any one body of law can be adequately explained by some grand, foundational theory, or united by a single goal or value. The pragmatists’ embrace of anti-foundationalism, in turn, emphasizes the virtues of concepts such as value pluralism, practical reason, and what Cass Sunstein refers to as “incompletely theorized agreements” for reaching consensus on particulars when opinions differ at a higher level of abstraction. In this Essay, I argue that a legal pragmatist approach to intellectual property (IP) law has both strengths and weaknesses. Among its strengths are its recognition of the competing values that animate IP policy and doctrine; its understanding of the limits of both instrumental and natural rights theories in explaining and shaping the contours of IP rights; and its appreciation for the common law method of incrementally adapting doctrine to changing technological environments. At the same time, however, a legal pragmatism that naively embraces totality-of-the-circumstances tests may induce overcompliance on the part of IP users. An approach that overemphasizes the unquantifiable and the incommensurable may inhibit the use of economic analysis as a tool (albeit an imperfect one) for precisely stating one’s assumptions, predicting consequences, and testing results; and, more generally, may blunt the critical edge necessary to counter the ever-expanding scope of some IP rights. Policymakers, in short, should avoid the temptation to turn legal pragmatism’s anti-foundationalist stance itself into a foundational principle of IP policy.

Reinterpreting edge energies calculated from crystal growth experiments

The surface energies of terraces, edges and kink sites are crucial parameters in the predictive application of crystal growth and nucleation theories. Due to the dimensions, O ( 1 ) nm, of edges and kink sites, the traditional contact angle measurements which have been used extensively to the determine surface energies of bulk phases are infeasible; instead these energies have been determined through correlations with the critical lengths/radii of edges formed by spirals or two-dimensional (2D) nuclei or their growth rates. The correlation between critical length and edge energy has been made on the basis of the Gibbs–Thomson law; the applicability of which for the spiral growth of crystals with low kink densities has recently been questioned by Chernov et al. [Fluctuations and Gibbs–Thomson law—the simple physics, J. Optoelectron. Adv. Mater. 9 (5) (2007) 1191–1197]. Furthermore, edge energies calculated on this basis have been found to result in unreasonable free energies of formation for critical 2D nuclei ( ≳ 500 k b T when classical nucleation theory was applied) at supersaturations where they have been directly observed. In light of these observations, a reinterpretation of the edge energies listed by Land and De Yoreo [The evolution of growth modes and activity of growth sources on canavalin investigated by in situ atomic force microscopy, J. Cryst. Growth 208 (1–4) (2000) 623–637] was conducted. The edge energies determined from this reinterpretation result in reasonable ( ∼ 60 k b T ) energies of formation for critical 2D nuclei at supersaturations where growth by 2D nucleation was observed.

Lifelong guidance, citizen rights and the state: reclaiming the social contract

ABSTRACT This paper argues that the current articulation of the lifelong career guidance paradigm stands in danger of uncritically reflecting core agendas underpinning neo-liberalism as well as New Public Management principles. It highlights the distinctions that ought to be drawn between seeing the user of career guidance services as a 'customer', 'client' or 'user' on the one hand, and as a 'citizen' on the other, and claims that the political philosophy informing these terms reveals fundamental tensions that need to be addressed in the formulation of public policy in relation to guidance. The paper concludes by re-calling the notion of a 'social contract' between the state and the citizen, which is particularly appropriate in a historical conjuncture marked by insecurity, and which would infuse lifelong guidance with the critical edge that it urgently requires.

19.7% Efficient All-Screen-Printed Back-Contact Back-Junction Silicon Solar Cell With Aluminum-Alloyed Emitter

A back-contact back-junction solar cell on n-type silicon with an aluminum-alloyed emitter is introduced, where both structuring and metallization are realized by screen-printing. The process sequence for realizing the cell with a pitch of 2 mm is displayed and described. The cell parameters are shown for three different emitter coverages on the rear side (45%, 58%, and 72%). An analysis of the saturation current density J <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ο</sub> of the different areas was carried out on lifetime samples, and the calculated V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">oc</sub> is compared to the measured one. The potentially critical edge of the Al finger is analyzed in a scanning electron microscopy cross section. No damaging of the aluminum paste to the passivation layer and a homogenous p+-layer over the whole finger width is observed. A conversion efficiency of 19.7% is presented for a cell with an aperture area of 16.65 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> that was exclusively processed in Fraunhofer ISE PV-TEC, which is an industrial-like fabrication environment.

Global Supply-Chain Strategy And Global Competitiveness

The purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of global supply chain in a broader context that encompasses not only the producing company, but suppliers and customers.The theme of this study is to identify global sourcing and selling options, to enhance customer service and value added, to optimize inventory performance, to reduce total delivered costs and lead times, to achieve lower break-even costs, and to improve operational flexibility, customization and partner relations. In this context, an integrated management information system will be viewed as the key instrument that captures all relevant data and makes it available to the appropriate decision-maker and that provides an optimizer and decision-support function supporting various phases of the decision-making process, requiring the identification of cost cutting and value adding strategies. The properly integrated management information systems will help companies to gain the critical global competitive edge to survive in today's markets. We suggest various strategies in sourcing, manufacturing/operation, and marketing that can provide a competitive global supply chain strategy for a firm to increase value. We provide case studies where these strategies have been successful as well as case studies where they have failed.

A Multipartite Version of the Turán Problem &amp;ndash; Density Conditions and Eigenvalues

In this paper we propose a multipartite version of the classical Turán problem of determining the minimum number of edges needed for an arbitrary graph to contain a given subgraph. As it turns out, here the non-trivial problem is the determination of the minimal edge density between two classes that implies the existence of a given subgraph. We determine the critical edge density for trees and cycles as forbidden subgraphs, and give the extremal structure. Surprisingly, this critical edge density is strongly connected to the maximal eigenvalue of the graph. Furthermore, we give a sharp upper and lower bound in general, in terms of the maximum degree of the forbidden graph.

Spatial gamut mapping algorithms for cross‐display color reproduction

Abstract— Owing to the fast developments of computer networks and color imaging technologies, there is a tendency towards remote proofing in the printing or textile industries. More cases such as cross‐display color matching will occur in the future information society. The problems of color mismatching we usually find in cross‐display devices have been widely discussed today. In this paper, to achieve equivalent color matching between a sRGB monitor and an Adobe RGB monitor, the spatial gamut mapping algorithm (SGMA), which introduces sigmoidal tone mapping, multi‐mapping paths, and unsharp mask (USM) operation into a sRGB color‐management system, is proposed. According to the designs of USM locations, this proposed SGMA can be further developed into pre‐USM, post‐USM, and double‐USM types. Besides, two critical image characteristics, edge map and color histogram, are investigated to establish the relationship between image content and SGMA. The psychophysical experimental results show that double‐USM SGMA obtains better color matching than the other spatial types.

Changing concepts of equity in transforming UK higher education: implications for future pedagogies and practices in global higher education

This paper is about changing concepts of equity in UK higher education. In particular, it charts the moves from concepts about gender equality as about women’s education as a key issue in twentieth century higher education to questions of men’s education in the twenty-first century. These changing concepts of equity are linked to wider social and economic transformations, the expansion of higher education and the growth in the knowledge economy, or what has been called ‘academic capitalism’. Feminist theorists and activists, often called second wave feminists, developed concepts of gender equality in education, including higher education in the twentieth century, and these have been incorporated into higher education and policies with the expansions of higher education, especially around notions of widening participation. Notions of widening participation in policy and practice arenas focus on equity as about social class, socio-economic disadvantage, ethnicity and race, rather than specifically on gender questions. Equity is now twinned with diversity and where gender is now invoked it is largely about young and working class men’s disadvantage in relation to higher education. In this paper, I will also provide research evidence from the UK’s Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) which has been the UK’s biggest ever initiative in education research about equity and diversity as currently conceived in UK higher education. I will show how gender has been incorporated with diversity questions and has lost its critical and feminist edge. I conclude with addressing questions about the future of higher education policies and practices to address questions of equity and diversity, attempting to counter the systemic inequalities in current forms of UK higher education. There are opportunities for developing new, critical and feminist pedagogies. More inclusive or ‘connectionist’ approaches, rather than ‘teaching to the test’, would engage socially diverse men and women students in a range of higher education subjects and settings.

A Jewish Dialogue with Howard Thurman: Mysticism, Compassion, and Community

A Jewish Dialogue with Howard Thurman: Mysticism, Compassion, and Community Edward K. Kaplan Forged in the crucible of a rural, segregated African‐American community in Florida, and nourished by closeness to the Divine Presence, the spirituality of Howard Thurman (1899‐1981) is governed by a deep, abiding inwardness, a solitary relation with God, which nourishes responsiveness to other people. He was a mystic who translated “the experience of love” into realistic, dynamic connections with fellow human beings. His ethical gift did not necessarily lead to social action, however. By temperament Thurman was not a militant. Solitude remained his distinctive mark and the slow, introverted flow of his written and spoken meditations appeals to our essential loneliness, probing our tender spots, allowing us to face pain and disenchantment with a gentle courage.1 Dialogue was Thurman’s essential mode of communication, one to one conversation, which he might then translate into prayers, sermons, meditations, or other public utterances.2 I was privileged to know Howard Thurman—and Mrs. Sue Bailey Thurman, whose vivid independence completed her husband’s optimism with a sharp critical edge. To help convey my particularly Jewish response to his thought, I share one intimate conversation with him. In 1981, I visited Dr. Thurman at his home in San Francisco. By that time he was dying from a cancer which afflicted him for several years, and I expected him to be quite weak and unable to spare much time. The opposite occurred. Thurman sat with me for over three hours and systematically asked me to review my most compelling life tasks: my divorce, my relationship with my young son, my writing, my teaching, and my mother’s recent death. At that point, I expressed my mixed feelings about her, and especially my doubt about whether she truly loved me. Thurman stared at me silently and then said, “All mothers love their children.” In anguish I asked how he could know that. “Because she gave birth to you,” he replied. I responded skeptically, “That is just a pure biological fact.” Thurman, more frail than I had ever seen him, but so much stronger than I was during those intense hours, slowly gazed at me and answered, “There is no such thing as a pure biological fact.” And still looking straight at me, he threw out his long arms and burst into exuberant laughter. I looked at this man I knew for over twenty‐five years, since my high school days, felt his deep understanding of me, and I burst into tears. Thurman’s confidence in the Divine Presence within all human beings had convinced him of my mother’s ability to love. His confidence in me challenged my ability to accept her, and to love her, as she truly was. From inwardness to compassion Beyond such individual encounters, Thurman’s skill as rhythmic, poetic writer and speaker helped form around him an interreligious, interracial and international community, from Rankin Chapel at Howard University, to the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, to Marsh Chapel at Boston University. As for my growing Jewish identity, it was Howard Thurman’s gentle, meditative style that nurtured my attraction to spirituality as such. His gentle probing put me in touch with a hunger for God. His keynote phrase, “How good it is to center down!” places us where we are, a calm amidst personal turmoil. During my high school and college years (c. 1955‐1964), conversations with Dr. and Mrs. Thurman, and steeping myself in his writings and recordings, prepared me to understand the religious thinker and social activist, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972), Professor of Jewish Ethics and Mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, whom I met in 1966 while studying for a doctorate in French literature at Columbia University. Thurman’s universal witness had opened me to Heschel, who became my ancestral model. More on that later. So seductive, in fact, was Thurman’s “inward journey” (the title of his early, signature volume), that I was often tempted to remain alone, with or without God. The artist’s poetic prose and his soothing, earthy voice (available on recordings) meets us and accepts us...

Understanding the relationship between true and measured resist feature critical dimension and line edge roughness using a detailed scanning electron microscopy simulator

Top-down critical dimension scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is still the workhorse metrology tool used for nanoscale structure analysis, such as measurement of photoresist features, during integrated circuit manufacturing. However, the degree to which top-down SEM imaging can accurately be used to quantitatively determine the size, shape, and roughness characteristics of three-dimensional structures such as photoresist features has not been carefully characterized. A rigorous Monte Carlo simulation of scanning electron microscopy has been developed to probe the relationship between the roughness of a three-dimensional feature and the line edge roughness (LER) as measured by SEM. The model uses the differential Mott cross section to compute elastic scattering, while inelastic scattering and secondary electron generation are handled using dielectric function theory. The model can calculate the electron scattering for any arbitrary three-dimensional geometry. Experimental SEM measurements of photoresist nanostructures show good agreement with the simulation output. The critical dimension of the resist determined from SEM best matches the true resist feature width when the line edge is defined using a high image threshold because the roughness on the outer edge of the resist tends to cause an increase in SEM signal that is nonproportional to the amount of material on the outer edge of the feature. LER determined from SEM was found to be significantly smaller than the true resist feature sidewall roughness. The measured LER is typically greater than 50% smaller than the actual sidewall roughness.

Impact of CO2/N2/Ar Addition on the Internal Structure and Stability of Nonpremixed CH4/Air Flames at Lifting

The authors focused on how adding CO2 to the air influences the transition from an attached flame to a lifted flame issued from a coaxial nonpremixed methane-air jet. To discriminate between effects due to a diluent (dilution, thermal, or chemical impacts), chemically and thermally inert N2 and chemically inert Ar were also investigated. Flame lifting always occurs, essentially controlled by the critical flow-rate ratio, (Qdiluent/Qair)lifting. CO2 has the strongest ability to break flame stability, followed by N2, then by Ar. A unique attachment height and OH thickness characterize lifting for all the diluents; lifting is attained once the same critical flame edge propagation speed is reached. (Qdiluent/Qair)/(Qdiluent/Qair)lifting is the affine parameter of similarity laws describing Ha and EpOH evolutions with dilution. Aerodynamics competes with dilution to impose lifting and boundary effects cannot be ignored in a fine analysis. The flame behaves differently according to whether lifting results from aerodynamics or dilution.

An exploration of the importance of piloting and access as action research

In this article we illustrate how the piloting process has influenced two widely different studies within the educational sciences. These studies differ in design but have as a common denominator that they used piloting methods in their preparatory process. They are also similar in the intention of the main researchers of conducting research with a critical edge. In the first case study described, our solidarity lies with the disadvantaged school children of South Africa. In the second case study, our solidarity lies with a group of teachers who through an action research project wanted to question a school policy that they do not feel benefits all school children in the Norwegian lower secondary school. The two cases are presented separately and explore the change in conceptual and methodological emphasis in the research procedure. We emphasize how important the piloting and access processes are in order to learn from them and reduce mistakes in the main research design. We argue that both piloting and gaining access can be seen as a form of action research, in that the intention is to learn and to change future action; that is, the purpose is to find out how to conduct a project more effectively. A reflective piloting phase is likely to increase the validity of the research results and can in itself be viewed as action research. Through the piloting phase, learning that may prove invaluable for the later research process is likely to take place. As piloting can be of great value for research results, it should also be given much greater attention in the research literature in general. While the best case scenarios are overrepresented in the research literature, the learning from and of flaws and imperfections that are discovered in the piloting stages of research is equally important for the research community as well as for the actual participants in the researching process. Yet this is under utilized and often left under‐reported.

Photoresist modifications by plasma vacuum ultraviolet radiation: The role of polymer structure and plasma chemistry

While vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photon irradiation has been shown to significantly contribute to material modifications of polymers during plasma exposures, the impact of radiation-induced material alterations on roughness development during plasma processing has remained unclear. The authors have studied the interaction of the radiation of Ar and C4F8/Ar plasma discharges with 193 and 248 nm advanced photoresists (PRs). Optical filters were used to vary the radiation exposure wavelength range in the ultraviolet (UV) and VUV emission spectra. This enables clarification of the respective roles of plasma photon radiation wavelength and PR polymer structure on the chemical and structural changes produced in the materials. Chemical changes in polymer composition at the film surface and in the material bulk were determined by vacuum transfer x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Morphological changes, film thickness reduction, and changes in surface and pattern morphology were characterized by ellipsometry, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The exposure of methacrylate based 193 nm PR to photon radiation in the UV/VUV spectral range (λ=112–143 nm) leads to detachment and removal of oxygen containing polymer pendant groups to a depth of about 200 nm. This causes changes in the polymer structure by chain scission, significant film thickness reduction, and reduced pattern critical dimensions and line edge roughness. Chain-scission reactions and residual detached polymer pendant groups are expected to effectively soften layers of 193 nm PR. In contrast to 193 nm PR, styrene based 248 nm PR was found to be significantly more stable under plasma-produced irradiation due to the low oxygen content, low ester linkage concentration, and absence of lactone. Small thickness reduction, reduced oxygen loss, and cross-linking were observed in the surface region of 248 nm PR. Radiation-induced material modifications of both PR materials decreased with increasing photon wavelength in Ar discharges. Increasing modification of 193 nm PR was observed for increasing photon flux at higher wavelengths (λ=143–300 nm) by the emission characteristic of fluorocarbon containing plasmas. In C4F8/Ar plasma, the authors observed strongly increased loss of oxygen at the film surface and in the COC and CO lactone bonds in the material bulk along with film thickness reduction compared to pure Ar discharges. These modifications are directly relevant to plasma processes used for pattern transfer, which often contain fluorocarbon species.

Beyond the Panopticon: Mass Imprisonment and the Humanities

In the 1970s and the 1980s, the role of the prison in modern society was seared into the imagination of the humanities by Michel Foucault’s treatment of the prison in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison; his genealogy of the modern “soul.” At a time when the social sciences had little to say about the nature of imprisonment as a specific historical practice (rather than a problem of social organization), the humanities helped define the prison as a contemporary problem. During this era, ironically, a new model of imprisonment was arising, one based on the mass imprisonment of whole demographic categories of the population rather than the disciplinary investment of the deviant individual. The scale of imprisonment has arisen by more than five fold. Unfortunately the humanities and cultural studies have been slow to reckon with the nature of mass imprisonment. While a new wave of social science scholarship, partially inspired by the earlier work of the humanities, is engaging the topic, the absence of the humanities, especially their critical and normative edge, is significant.

Social development and the status quo: professionalisation and Third Way co‐optation

Gray M. Social development and the status quo: professionalisation and Third Way co‐optationInt J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 463–470 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare.Social development is a massive undertaking that has spawned a multitude of organisational forms. It nevertheless remains an ambiguous term and ill‐defined area of work, though some social development practitioners have succeeded in making small‐scale local differences in particular situations. While largely a tool of the status quo, some believe that social development has transformative potential and provides valuable space to confront inequalities and deprivation. In this article, I argue that in contemporary neoliberal environments social development is being co‐opted by Third Way politics and professionalisation processes. As it professionalises through the creation of professional structures and educational systems, it is becoming increasingly like social work, despite arguments that it is as an alternative approach to poverty and social exclusion. In the process, it is losing its transformative, critical edge, and morphing into a neoliberal, social investment approach that absolves government of its responsibility for the welfare of citizens.