Disruptive Elements Research Articles

‘The Rain Coming Down in Drenching curtains’: Reading for the Pluvial in the Climate Change Fiction of Chang-Rae Lee and Jane Rawson

ABSTRACT Theorisations of climate change literature rethink realism, the status of human/nonhuman relations and the agency of the landscape. This paper uses Sarah Nuttall’s concept of the pluvial mode to examine how these theoretical prescriptions function in contemporary novels to create conditions of refuge in spaces that have become largely uninhabitable for the majority of a population through climate change. In Jane Rawson’s A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists (2013) and Chang-Rae Lee’s On Such a Full Sea (2014) rainstorms instigate conditions hospitable to refuge and immerse the text in a drawn-out connection between that concept and watery images, beings and spaces. The novels locate refuge in the realm of affect or condition, and in so doing, create a disruptive element of possibility in otherwise apocalyptic narratives in which there seems to be no escape from precarity and uncertainty.

The French Reception of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Belated Consecration

The French Reception of <i>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</i>: A Belated Consecration

Introducing a Symmetry‐Breaking Coupler into a Dielectric Metasurface Enables Robust High‐Q Quasi‐BICs

Dielectric metasurfaces supporting quasibound states in the continuum (quasi‐BICs) exhibit very high‐quality factor resonances and electric field confinement. However, accessing the high‐Q end of the quasi‐BIC regime usually requires marginally distorting the metasurface design from a BIC condition, pushing the needed nanoscale fabrication precision to the limit. This work introduces a novel concept for generating high‐Q quasi‐BICs, which strongly relaxes this requirement by incorporating a relatively large perturbative element close to high‐symmetry points of an undistorted BIC metasurface, acting as a coupler to the radiation continuum. This approach is validated by adding a ≈100 nm diameter cylinder between two reflection‐symmetry points separated by a 300 nm gap in an elliptical disk metasurface unit cell, using gallium phosphide as the dielectric. It is found that high‐Q resonances emerge when the cylindrical coupler is placed at any position between such symmetry points. This metasurface's second harmonic generation capability in the optical range is further explored. Displacing the coupler as much as a full diameter from a BIC condition produces record‐breaking normalized conversion efficiencies &gt;102 W−1. The strategy of enclosing a disruptive element between multiple high‐symmetry points in a BIC metasurface can be applied to construct robust high‐Q quasi‐BICs in many geometrical designs.

HDL-like-Mediated Cell Cholesterol Trafficking in the Central Nervous System and Alzheimer's Disease Pathogenesis.

The main aim of this work is to review the mechanisms via which high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-mediated cholesterol trafficking through the central nervous system (CNS) occurs in the context of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the accumulation of extracellular amyloid beta (Aβ) and abnormally hyperphosphorylated intracellular tau filaments in neurons. Cholesterol metabolism has been extensively implicated in the pathogenesis of AD through biological, epidemiological, and genetic studies, with the APOE gene being the most reproducible genetic risk factor for the development of AD. This manuscript explores how HDL-mediated cholesterol is transported in the CNS, with a special emphasis on its relationship to Aβ peptide accumulation and apolipoprotein E (ApoE)-mediated cholesterol transport. Indeed, we reviewed all existing works exploring HDL-like-mediated cholesterol efflux and cholesterol uptake in the context of AD pathogenesis. Existing data seem to point in the direction of decreased cholesterol efflux and the impaired entry of cholesterol into neurons among patients with AD, which could be related to impaired Aβ clearance and tau protein accumulation. However, most of the reviewed studies have been performed in cells that are not physiologically relevant for CNS pathology, representing a major flaw in this field. The ApoE4 genotype seems to be a disruptive element in HDL-like-mediated cholesterol transport through the brain. Overall, further investigations are needed to clarify the role of cholesterol trafficking in AD pathogenesis.

The Italian regionalism in the context of the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan

This article aims to analyse the impact of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) on Italian regionalism. After summarising the characteristic features of the Italian multi-level government model, the text analyses three significant issues of the NRRP: drafting, governance, and implementation. For each of these issues, an attempt will be made to define the role played by the regions and local authorities and their relationship with the central government, to identify elements of continuity and disruption concerning the trends present in the system of territorial autonomies prior to the adoption of the Plan. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the NRRP has given the system a shift towards centralism. If the reforms and investments envisaged in the Plan are successful, however, this could herald the opening of a new season for territorial autonomies in Italy.

A text data mining approach to the study of emotions triggered by new advertising formats during the COVID-19 pandemic

Under the influence of the health emergency triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, many brands changed their communication strategy and included more or less explicit references to the principles of solidarity and fraternity in their TV commercials to boost the confidence and hope of Italian families during the lockdown. The traditional attitudes of the advertising format, which focused on product characteristics, were relegated to the background in order to reinforce the “brand image” through words, signs, hashtags and music that spread empathetic messages to all those who needed to regain hope and trust in a time of extreme emotional fragility. The objective of this paper is to identify the emotions and brand awareness during the lockdown using text mining techniques by measuring customer sentiment expressed on the Twitter social network. Our proposal starts from an unstructured corpus of 20,982 tweets processed with text data mining techniques to identify patterns and trends in people’s posts related to specific hashtags and TV ads produced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The innovations in the brand’s advertising among consumers seem to have triggered some sense of appreciation and gratitude, as well as a strong sense of belonging that was not present before, as the TV ads were perceived as a disruptive element in consumers’ tweets. Although this effect is clearly documented, in this paper we demonstrate its transitory nature, in the sense that the frequency of occurrence of terms associated with an emotional dimension peaks during the weeks of lockdown, and then gradually decreases.

Identification of Intelligence Requirements of Military Surveillance for a WSN Framework and Design of a Situation Aware Selective Resource Use Algorithm

Protecting or safeguarding the place we live in is a basic activity of life. This is also observable in animals. Identifying a suitable place to build a nest or create a cozy home is a primary requirement of carefree living. Once such a place is identified and selected, a lot of effort and planning goes into making it comfortable. From then onwards begins the constant task of safeguarding the place of domicile. Protecting a place involves keeping a constant lookout for disruptive elements, invasion or attacks. The term corresponding to this activity is surveillance. Surveillance when extended to a city, a state, a nation and then to continents will perform the same functionality of enabling protection against attacks but at a larger scale. Unlike in case of a bird, animal or a family unit, such surveillance requires dedicated infrastructure. Usually such a large-scale surveillance infrastructure is designed, implemented and maintained by a dedicated military. Increase in organized crime and acts of terrorism have made military surveillance evermore important and an indispensable requirement of safety. In addition to attacks by men or manmade agents, natural calamities and disasters also require surveillance on an equally large scale. Surveillance which was historically centralized in deployment and investigative in essence needs to change. Existing surveillance and sensor infrastructure can be further used to gather intelligence. Aim of this work is to identify intelligence requirements of military surveillance for a WSN framework. We have designed and implemented an algorithm to compute the area under attack, communicated nearest neighbor nodes to carry out surveillance under attack. The proposed algorithm achieves situation aware selective use of sensor infrastructure.

Dueling with Dual-Process Models: Cognition, Creativity, and Context

Sociologists increasingly draw on dual-process models of cognition to account for the ways context, cognition, and action interrelate. Drawing from 40 interviews with improvisers and observations from improvisational theater, I find that dual-process model scholarship is limited in three respects: It does not consider how cognition operates in situations where order and disruption are concurrent, it fails to realize there is interindividual variation in cognitive processing, and it underestimates the creativity emerging through automatic processes. Interactions in improv contain elements of both order and disruption, and they place demands on automatic and deliberate cognition simultaneously. Improvisers respond to these competing demands through either automatic or deliberate thinking dispositions, which are engendered through explicit instruction, practical experience, and artistic commitments. These dispositions, in turn, shape creative decision-making, predicting interindividual differences in how improvisers respond to contingencies on stage. I conclude by discussing the implications for culture, cognition, and action.

"I feel reassured, but there is no guarantee." How do women with a future childbearing desire respond to active surveillance of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2? A qualitative study.

In Denmark, women with a future childbearing desire diagnosed with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 (CIN2) are recommended active surveillance instead of excisional treatment. However, we have limited and contradictory knowledge about how active surveillance of CIN2 may affect women emotionally. The aim of this study was to explore thoughts and emotional responses in women undergoing active surveillance of CIN2 and to explore how active surveillance may affect women's future childbearing desire. This qualitative study was conducted in the gynecological outpatient clinic, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gødstrup Hospital, Denmark. Women of childbearing age undergoing active surveillance with colposcopy, biopsy and smear every 6 months due to CIN2 were eligible for enrollment. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis was performed using a phenomenological approach. A total of 20 women were included. All women experienced nervousness and anxiety when they were diagnosed with CIN2 initially. Their main concern was whether they had cancer. Most women carried on with their everyday lives with only minor occasional worries about CIN2, often prompted just before check-up. However, some women were particularly nervous and found the period between check-ups frustrating and challenging. Women did not want to postpone their plans for pregnancy because of CIN2, but experienced the worries and check-ups associated with active surveillance as disruptive elements in their family planning. Women preparing for fertility treatment had their startup unnecessarily delayed due to active surveillance of CIN2, as clinical guidelines were inconsistent across subspecialties. Various factors influenced women's emotional well-being: life circumstances, information needs, and mental and physical discomfort during colposcopic examination. Women felt that worries and check-ups due to active surveillance of CIN2 were disrupting elements in their family planning, although they did not affect their every-day life. Some women, however, were particularly anxious, demonstrating the importance of including women's experiences and preferences in clinical counseling. The fact that fertility treatment was delayed due inconsistent guidelines across subspecialties, suggests a need for a revision of current guidelines.

Developing the Dead: Spirit Photography, Mormonism, and Noise

Developing the Dead: Spirit Photography, Mormonism, and Noise

Crafting political gestures of locality: The transposition of artisanal traditions in the artwork of Catarina Branco

This article seeks to shed light on the transposition of traditional crafts related to the popular religion of the Azores into the secular context of art in the works of Catarina Branco, taking two of the artist’s exhibitions – Fez-se Luz, 2012, and Alminhas, 2013 – as case studies. The research first shows how this transposition leads to the cross-fertilization of the religious and artistic domains, imbuing art with greater spirituality and introducing reflections concerning contemporary issues, such as emigration and the position of women into the context of religion. Second, I discuss how the contingent nature of craft in art is used as a disruptive element that liberates the imagination, thought and feelings, dismantling hierarchies between the manual and the intellectual, the masculine and the feminine, as well as those between religion, art and craft, through embodied gesture. Religion is here understood in its wider sense as a form of mediation of the transcendent (). I argue that these works can be seen as a political gesture, which highlights the past of women who lived in anonymity, simultaneously preserving and renewing traditional crafts that are dying out while also deconstructing the false dichotomy between the manual and the intellectual or spiritual. The act of papercutting gives physical form to the experiences of Azorean women, while at the same time addressing questions relevant to the human condition, including migration and the eternal search for transcendence. Through its inevitable polysemy, this act reveals meanings that have been hidden by habit, allowing the viewer to rediscover them.

“Growing as a Stronger Clinician in Adverse Conditions”—A Snapshot of Clinical Training during COVID-19

Transformative learning theory has been recommended as a pedagogy of uncertainty for accommodating new beliefs that enable humans to thrive amid the challenges and complexity of our world. As higher education institutions embrace new roles and responsibilities, few studies have focused on how the disruptions caused by COVID-19 may facilitate formative learning experiences. This study explored how registrars responded to the challenges facing clinical training during the first wave of COVID-19, and how the impact of these disruptions prompted personal and professional development. Registrars completed an online qualitative SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of their training experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were thematically analysed. Four hundred and five responses were received from 54 registrars. Themes related to challenges included mental distress, resource constraints, and compromised and inadequate training. Themes related to strengths and opportunities included new learning experiences, resilience, coping strategies, and enhanced graduate competencies related to leadership, collaboration, communication, and health advocacy. The disruptive and disorienting elements of COVID-19, although situated in chaos, aggravating the constraints of training in under-resourced settings, also provided unexpected learning opportunities. These findings highlight the transformative potential of disrupted learning contexts and the need for responsive curricular to enhance graduate competencies, adaptability, and resilience.

Conceptualization of the Penology System under Islamic Criminal Law

Islam propounds a culture where everybody follows the rules. Islam aims to preserve peace and tranquillity within the society and thus takes all required legal action to ensure the community against disruptive elements. The notion of retribution in Islam is not the primary law of Islam. They are only imposed as a requirement or series and a vindication of the primary structure of Islamic society. Criminal activity within the revered Islamic order of society is not condoned. Islam aims to change the world by changing its human adherents. Shariah law is focused on the individual rights of persons, but those rights only exist within a framework that stresses the rights of other people. Islam is not against the relative culpability of offenders and how circumstances regulate illegal conduct. Islam is the only religion where its laws and regulations are enforced according to a particular set of laws and regulations. Islam uses a system of proportional punishment. Islamic punishments are entirely justified because Islam takes complete steps to deter crime and inculcates offenders' moral conduct. The Islamic Criminal law has accepted several crimes by offering deterrence, reformative, retaliate and other kinds of punishments to uphold harmony in the community and rehabilitate the offenders. This paper focuses on the Islamic penology and the concept of crime and their punishment and explores its social, historical, and current value

A Sonogram of the Dark Side of the Dao: The Possibility of Antinatalism in Daoism

In the present work I study Daoist philosophy in conjunction with the radical new philosophy of antinatalism, spearheaded by South African philosopher David Benatar. Although I am not claiming equivalence between the two, a meaningful communication emerges between the classical Chinese sources used here and the modern doctrine of antinatalism. I argue that both visions partake in a radical critique of consciousness according to which this faculty of the human mind is far from what it is often held to be. In fact, it is perceived as a destructive and disruptive element of, and in, existence. Moreover, both offer a praxis of return that seeks to undo this disruption. In the case of Daoism, consciousness pushes humans ever farther away from the Dao. It is imperative to return from this exile, and to return to the Dao. This can, radically, only be achieved by the return from ‘ordinary’ conscious existence. This is the prerogative of sagehood. It will be shown that the trajectory of sagehood shares important parameters with the antinatalist quest to significantly (and perhaps conclusively) challenge human hubris in the cosmos at large, and to reinstate cosmic humility.

Socio-cultural and artistic disruption in the Spanish university: the ArtEduca experience

ABSTRACT This text presents a novel experience in a university in the University of Granada (Andalusia, Spain) aimed at facilitating learning from the potential of the arts and applied theatre through the creation of a space open to the university and non-university community. The description and analysis of this experience as a case study shows us that the arts in Higher Education are presented as a disruptive element that can challenge the rules and logics of time, space, relationship, and learning established in universities. In dialogue with Foucault’s or Santos’ ideas, in this text we propose this experience as one in which art subverts the logics of neoliberal production of knowledge, presenting pedagogical actions and solutions that are more committed to social justice and to the value of the arts as a way of knowing our closest reality.

Game-based learning: Teaching principles of economics and investment finance through Monopoly

This paper investigates the application of a modified version of the board game of Monopoly to explore the content learned and optimization of a game-based learning process. The authors made used of a qualitative cross-sectional research design through content analysis of learning documents for 77 participants and analyzed basic behavioral trends over a 10-year period. The results show the breadth of learning through the game of Monopoly that was modified by incorporating disruptive elements. Themes include learning about the investment environment, financial management, alliances and relationships, investment strategies, investment tactics, human behavior in investment finance in addition to personal insights gained. Basic trend analysis revealed consistent overconfidence in investment strategies as well as cheating behavior. The paper demonstrates the importance of debriefing activities in the game processes, and it also offers instructional designers a framework that can be used for design considerations of game-based learning interventions.

Achieving sustainability in food manufacturing operations and their supply chains: Key insights from a systematic literature review

Managing sustainability in the food supply chain is critical given the very large environmental and social footprint that the food industry has globally. Food industry players have also become increasingly involved in these issues due to stakeholder pressures, and this highlights the importance in understanding what sustainability practices and best practices are being utilised. This review identifies the current state of knowledge of how food manufacturing companies implement sustainability in their operations and across their supply chains. A thematic analysis was conducted on 130 papers that were published over a 21-year time frame from 1999 to 2020 to identify eight key sustainability themes in the literature. These themes included – life cycle assessments, drivers, barriers and incentives to sustainability, waste and recycling management, food chain logistics, sustainability practices in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), supplier management, partnerships and relationships and “other” sustainable supply chain management practices. Through examining the extant literature, it is clear that there remains substantial scope for research on the role of SMEs and food logistics, as there is scant research on both areas despite their critical role within sustainable supply chain management. It is also clear that large multinational companies have a critical role in supporting supply chain practices through not only driving practices but also in providing critical resources and collaboration for partners across the supply chain. Circular economy is emerging as a key research area that is experiencing increasing focus in recent years, although it is argued that future research should focus on digitisation efforts such as through Internet of Things and blockchain that has been highlighted as a major disruptive and supportive element in increasing sustainability across supply chains.

Hydro-geochemistry and health risks assessment of some groundwaters suitability for drinking within the urban region of Unguja Island, Zanzibar

Majority of the Island inhabitants depends on groundwaters for drinking therefore the hydrogeochemistry and health risks assessment with respect to WHO standards is absolutely essential for protection policy formulation. The groundwater samples for analyses were collected from selected four wells within each (Chukwani-Mbweni, DarajaMbovu - Amani and Mwanakwerekwe) suburb during the moderate rainy season of January2020.The selection was based on their strategic positions taking into consideration relevant geographical and environmental factors commensurable with this study. Various contaminants and physiochemical parameters were determined using Atomic Absorption spectroscopy, GC/MS, Temp/pH/TDS/EC meter and DR/3900 spectrophotometer. Chemical Oxygen Demand values were also determined. Microbial contamination was determined using the MPN technique. The results shows that these groundwaters are slightly alkaline, microbially contaminated, have high C.O.D. values ranging from 188.5 to 305.7 mg/L indicating the existence of some organic based endocrine disruptive elements, and disparities in water quality parameters with respect to the recommended WHO standards thus ascertaining possible public health risks. The research recommends the need for continuous monitoring, assessment and treatment of these raw groundwaters for drinking at the point of collection rather relying on the old conventional boiling method or drinkingas it is.

Design thinking in responding to disruptive innovation: A case study

How can the design thinking approach assist firms in developing response strategies to momentum-gaining disruptive innovations, along the lines of effectively exploiting established technologies and corresponding products/services? Such exploitative response strategies, implying successfully strengthening and leveraging the disrupted firm's existing technology without embracing the disruptive elements, have been, to a large extent, overlooked in the disruptive innovations literature. Using an inductive analysis of a critical case (a major cork stopper producer), the current study aims at developing a systematic understanding of exploitative strategic options and the role of design thinking in enabling them. The findings shed light on the effectiveness of the design thinking mindset to respond to disruptive innovations. In addition, we present evidence that a design thinking method can be successfully applied to process innovation. Finally, we demonstrate that to achieve a radical innovation based on design thinking principles, the establishment of design discourse is required.

THE FANTASTIC IMAGINARY FROM THE AURA, BY CARLOS FUENTES

O artigo aborda as imagens de variados gêneros que foram influentes na criação da novela Aura, do escritor mexicano Carlos Fuentes, assim como as imagens inspiradas por este texto literário e materializadas no cinema, na animação e na ilustração de livros. Este conjunto de imagens constitui um complexo imaginário estabelecido em torno da obra literária, diretamente articulado com o gênero fantástico. Neste itinerário investigativo destaca-se a problemática das relações entre texto e imagem, em que a imagem surge como elemento ameaçador ou disruptivo da ordem representada pela escrita. Para embasar a discussão são levantados alguns conceitos acerca do fantástico, como os de Ítalo Calvino, Rosalba Campra e Mery Erdal Jordan, entre outros, incluindo ainda declarações e textos de Fuentes sobre a sua própria obra.