Disruptive Elements Research Articles

Regional planning is dead: long live planning regional futures

ABSTRACT This paper starts from the premise that regional planning as it is known is now defunct and something that we need to get used to. Identifying those disruptive elements that have undermined traditional forms of institutionalized regional planning, it is argued that contemporary planning debates are too obsessed with the institutional planning frame and have become distracted from the changing content of the real-world picture. The aim in this paper is to reassert the purpose and values of planning by rediscovering the content, conceptualize multiple and fluid forms of planning frames, and reposition the planner as an orchestrator and enabler of planning regional futures.

‘I Looked and Beheld a Country’: Home Movies, Homesteads and the Family Archive

Home movies, like family photographs, are important parts of family life, acting as ways to frame the idea of the family and connect different, inter-generational memories together. Footage of key moments helps develop a family identity, as well as locate it within broader historical contexts. As a result, home movies provide an incredibly useful source with which to examine the intersections between narratives of the family, nation and belonging. Utilising a collection of personal home movies, this paper will explore how these themes are touched on within the context of British Colonial Southern Africa. These films explore how ideas of family identity are rooted within ideas of home and belonging, articulating a conceptualisation of colonial Southern Africa as a ‘home-scape’ for descendant of British settlers living there during the 1950s and 1960s. These home movies draw attention to the creation of the idea of home and family, while also producing disruptive elements to those narratives.

Background matching, disruptive coloration, and differential use of microhabitats in two neotropical grasshoppers with sexual dichromatism.

Cryptic coloration is an adaptative defensive mechanism against predators. Color patterns can become cryptic through background coloration‐matching and disruptive coloration. Disruptive coloration may evolve in visually heterogeneous microhabitats, whereas background matching could be favored in chromatically homogeneous microhabitats. In this work, we used digital photography to explore the potential use of disruptive coloration and background matching in males and females of two grasshopper species of the Sphenarium genus in different habitats. We found chromatic differences in the two grasshopper species that may be explained by local adaptation. We also found that the females and males of both species are dichromatic and seem to follow different color cryptic strategies, males are more disruptive than females, whereas females have a high background matching with less disruptive elements. The selective pressures of the predators in different microhabitats and the differences in mobility between sexes may explain the color pattern divergence between females and males. Nevertheless, more field experiments are needed in order to understand the relative importance of disruptive and background matching coloration in the evolution of sexual dichromatism in these grasshoppers.

La terminologie et l’Autre à travers la traduction spécialisée

Others, otherness, difference, divergence, diversity are notions that puzzle the human being in general and that are also disruptive elements for the linguists, especially the terminologists and the translators. In fact, these notions refer to social and ethnic dimensions of terminology which are closely intertwined with the process of specialized translation. In order to explore this concept of the Other in terminology, we should analyze several notions such as the referent, the perception, and the universal nature of the concept, that are related to ethnoterminology. In this research, we will provide a terminological definition of the Other and we will link it to ethnoterminology and to translation. Moreover, we will study the terminology of the Other and illustrate it with examples from different specialized fields. Finally, we will make findings about terminological loyalty of translators.

Machine learning with parallel neural networks for analyzing and forecasting electricity demand

Traditional methods applied in electricity demand forecasting have been challenged by the course of dimensionality arisen with a growing number of distributed or decentralized energy systems are employing. Without manually operated data preprocessing, classic models are not well-calibrated for their robustness when dealing with the disruptive elements (e.g., demand changes in holidays and extreme weather). Based on the application of big data driven analytics, we propose a novel machine learning method originating from the parallel neural networks for robust monitoring and forecasting power demand to enhance supervisory control and data acquisition for new industrial tendency such as Industry 4.0 and Energy IoT. Through our approach, we generalize the implementation of machine learning by using classic feed-forward neural networks, for parallelization in order to let the proposed method achieve superior performance when dealing with high dimensionality and disruptiveness. With the high-frequency data of consumption in Australia from January 2009 to December 2015, the overall empirical results confirm that our proposed method performs significantly better for dynamic monitoring and forecasting of power demand comparing with the classic methods.

Changing the Pattern: Reclaiming History, Constructing Herstory in Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace

This paper will examine how Grace Marks, the female protagonist/narrator of Alias Grace (1996), reclaims her history, which is comprised of many different, often contradictory stories of her life and the crime for which she is imprisoned. These stories reflect the dominant discourse of a conservative male-dominated society, in which Grace is an outsider, due to her gender, class, age, and immigrant status. The law, the medical profession, the church, and the media all see Grace as a disruptive element: a woman who committed or assisted in a murder, a lunatic and/or a member of the working class who dared disturb the social order. Grace is revealed not as a passive victim, an object to be acted upon, but as an agent capable of reclaiming history and constructing herstory, challenging and defying the expectations of dominant social structures. The paper will show that Alias Grace, as a novel giving voice to the marginalized and the silenced, stands as a compelling work that examines and provides insights into the position of women and its changes over the course of history, provoking a discourse that remains relevant today

Creative and disruptive elements in Norway´s climate policy mix: the small-state perspective

ABSTRACT Recent scholarship has argued that effective and credible national climate policy mixes should encompass measures that promote new low-carbon technologies alongside those instruments aimed at constraining and phasing out support for existing polluting industries. The creative and disruptive policy measures in Norway´s climate policy mix are analysed by focusing on both national and international climate mitigation efforts. Norway´s climate policy mix at home has been more ambitious in the transport sector with a growing electric vehicle market than in the energy sector where niche support and disruptive policies have remained weak. Abroad, Norway has been increasingly active in supporting new low-carbon technologies and disrupting the fossil-fuel industry, especially coal. This is explained by the consensus-seeking and oil and gas dominated small-state social-investment political economy in Norway, combined with a forward-looking foreign policy based on norm-setting and multilateralism.

Opening up disruptive ways of management in cancer pain: the concept of multimorphic pain.

Following a series of articles reviewing the basics of cancer pain management, in this article, we develop the guiding principle of our philosophy: the concept of multimorphic pain and how to integrate it as the innovative cornerstone of supportive care in cancer. Critical reflection based on literature analysis and clinical practice. This model aims to break with standard approaches, offering a more dynamic and exhaustive vision of cancer pain as a singular clinical entity, taking into account its multimorphic characteristics (cancer pain experience can and will change during cancer: aetiology, physiopathology, clinical presentation and consequences of pain) and the disruptive elements that can occur to influence its evolution (cancer evolution, concomitant treatments, pain from associated diseases, comorbidities and complications, or modifications in the environment). Our model establishes the main key stages for interdisciplinary management of cancer pain: Early, personalised management that is targeted and multimodal; Identification, including in advance, of potential disruptive elements throughout the care pathway, using an exhaustive approach to all the factors influencing pain, leading to patient and caregiver education; Optimal analgesic balance throughout the care pathway; Integration of this concept into a systemic early supportive care model from the cancer diagnosis. Given the difficulties still present in the management of pain in cancer, and whilst cancer is often considered as a chronic condition, the concept of multimorphic pain proposes a practical, optimised and innovative approach for clinicians and, ultimately, for patients experiencing pain.

Plan S: challenges and opportunities in Spain

Spain is one of the most active European countries in the open access (OA) movement. Although the gold route has scarcely been used, the green route has been intensively implemented through fulfilment of European and national mandates and the development of institutional policies. Plan S is becoming a disruptive element in the context of scientific communication, and Spain’s possible adherence to Plan S could imply technical challenges in journals and repositories, additional costs that are difficult to estimate, or refusal to accept the Plan on the part of researchers (based on the loss of freedom to choose the journal in which to publish). However, the implementation of Plan S in Spain would also lead to greater transparency in APC spending, a reduction in publishing in predatory journals, greater visibility and impact for journals that are only published OA, improvements in OA monitoring and a change in the evaluation model for researchers from one based on the impact factor to one based on DORA recommendations.

A clinical approach to the management of cancer-related pain in emergency situations.

Most cancer patients experience many pain episodes depending on disruptive elements, leading them to the emergency room. The objective of the article is to describe common pitfalls that need to be avoided, as well as opportunities to be seized for repositioning patients back on their care pathway. Critical reflection based on literature analysis and clinical practice. Most forms of cancer are now chronic, evolving diseases, and patients are treated with high-technology targeted therapies with iatrogenic effects. Moreover, the multimorphic nature of cancer-related pain requires dynamic, interdisciplinary assessments addressing its etiology, its pathophysiology, its dimensions (sensory-discriminatory, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral), and the patient's perception of it, in order to propose the most adapted therapies. However, for most patients, cancer pain remains underestimated, poorly assessed, and under-treated. In this context, the key steps in emergency cancer pain management are as follows: • Quick relief of uncontrolled cancer pain: after eliminating potential medical or surgical emergencies revealed by pain, a brief questioning will make the use of carefully titrated morphine in most situations possible. • Assessment and re-assessment of the pain and the patient, screening specific elements, to better understand the situation and its consequences. • Identification of disruptive elements leading to uncontrolled pain, with an interdisciplinary confrontation to find a mid to long-term approach, involving the appropriate pharmaceutical and/or non-pharmaceutical strategies, possibly including interventions. Pain emergencies should be part of the cancer care pathway and, through supportive care, provide an opportunity to help cancer patients both maintain their physical, psychological, and social balance and anticipate further painful episodes.

Linear Block Coding and Discrete Wavelet Transform Based Audio Signal Transmission over AWGN and Rician Fading Channels

Mobile communication has become an important part of our daily lives for voice communication, data sharing and access over the Internet. Mobile communication is an open network, so maintaining the privacy and reliability of data has always been anxiety. The reliability of the data against channel noise can be achieved by various error correction codes. The purpose of the channel coding process is to reduce the effect of some disruptive elements that the data is influenced in the transmission phase as much as possible. This procedure ensures that the data is delivered to the receiver with minimum error. In this study, a communication system was established in MATLAB environment for the transmission of five second audio signal. In this communication system, BER and MSE performances of four phase shift keying methods are obtained first. In the second phase of the study, the AWGN and Rician fading channels were individually coded with four different LBC types. Performance evaluation of these coding types was done with BER and MSE criteria. In the last part of the study, it was investigated which wavelet family is suitable for which level, in order to ensure audio transmission over AWGN and Rician fading channels with the least possible error. Four wavelet transform families at different levels were applied to the audio signal for LBC (7, 4), LBC (15, 8), LBC (17, 8) and LBC (23, 12) encoded channels, and the Mean Squared Error (MSE) performances were compared.

Anchors in Rough Seas: Understanding Category Spanning as a Source of Market Coordination

AbstractPrior research has deemed products that span market categories a source of cognitive and institutional disruption. Portraying spanning products as purely disruptive elements, however, does not consider their large presence in markets and, consequently, the fact that producers and consumers continue to coordinate their activities on established categories despite pervasive spanning. Our paper addresses this gap by focusing on commercial success as an important condition under which spanning products, rather than being a source of disruption, sustain market coordination. From the producer side, an increasing number of commercially successful products spanning a focal category stimulates mimicry. From the consumer side, this mimicry, net of the overall level of spanning observed in the category, improves consensus. We test these arguments by focusing on the styles that map electronic music as the established categories of a market. Empirical analyses lend support to our hypotheses.

Beyond the Frame: Use of Augmented Screenings as a Visual Methodology in Critical Event Studies

Disrupt is an ongoing project exploring methodologies appropriate to critical perspectives in event studies, suitable for researching activism, protest, and events of dissent. This article considers the use of augmented film screenings, which combine cinematic presentation with nonfilm/live elements and panel-led discussions, as one of the approaches trialed as part of the project. Rooted in techniques based in photo and video elicitation, while incorporating aspects of the use of film to educate, stimulate, and provoke radical debate, employed by Latin American activists since the 1960s, the augmented screening approach explored in this article formulates an innovative approach in evental visual research methodology. Going further than photo and video elicitation, it combined film with live disruptive elements in the attendee experience to legitimize participant engagement with narratives that challenge the dominant hegemonic discourses in which we act and interact. In conclusion we consider some of the limitations and opportunities of evental research methods that use film as a key element within a framework anchored in a visual elicitation approach.

ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE: HEALTH AND POLICY - AN UP TO DATE MINIREVIEW

Noise is considered as an unpleasant sound . Since ancient times noise was perceived like a disruptive element. In the last three centuries, particularly in industrialized countries, the noise became a major public health issue, especially for the hearing system. The harmful effects of noise are felt not only by the hearing system, but also by other systems (cardiovascular, central nervous system by affecting sleep and cognition) and it was recently pinpointed that the immune system and the fetus are affected. Studies conducted in several large cities from Romania, starting with the year 2000 show that a significant percent of population living in urban areas is exposed to over 55 dB noise during the day and above 50dB at night, the situation being identical with the one existing in other EU countries. There are more than two decades since the EU has been working on developing a harmonized noise policy. Until 2020, the EU policy s main objective is to ensure that noise pollution in the Union will significantly decrease, moving closer to WHO-recommended levels .

Lactancia y cuerpo materno como transmisores de conocimiento y virtud: difusión de literatura médica en la Gazeta de México y el Diario de México

The exchange, transfer and circulation of ideas are commonly associated with the Enlightenment period. In the Hispanic context, the translation of medical texts was fundamental to fostering a scientific approach to illnesses and health. In New Spain, excerpts and summaries of these texts were published in the Gazeta de México and the Diario de México, and the contributions of their editors and collaborators show the desire to escape superstition and join the progressive forefront. Childrearing and breastfeeding received ample attention in these periodicals, which used medical texts as sources to promote the practice of breastfeeding. This article argues that the moral aspects of breastfeeding overshadowed its physical advantages, and this notion was disseminated in periodicals and literary pieces in colonial Mexico. Women who did not nurse their own children as well as wet nurses were considered disruptive elements and became the target of the pro-breastfeeding movement that crossed the Atlantic via literature and periodicals.

Roles of local foundations in German community-based initiatives: Devolving criticism of philanthropy to the local?

This article explores perceptions of local philanthropic foundations situated in community-based initiative (CBI) policies that aim to achieve educational goals through the establishment of collaborative connections between schools and multiple local actors. Although roles of philanthropy in public education are controversial, scholars have yet to rigorously consider the specific local context of CBIs. We aim to help fill this research gap by investigating the main collective orientations that underlie actions of local foundations in German CBIs. Based on semi-structured interviews with chairpersons in a south German municipality, we examine patterns of experience and attitude through application of the documentary method. The reconstructed collective orientations allow for the identification of four primary roles of philanthropy in CBIs. Notably, the addition of an advocacy role relocates a phenomenon that was previously identified as a disruptive element at a (supra-)national level. These roles suggest potential for philanthropy to engage in local education policy-making. As such, they pose pressing questions that need to be addressed by public authorities and regulators.

Joint Development of Seabed Resources in Areas of Overlapping Maritime Claims: An Analysis of Precedents in State Practice

The known or suspected presence of offshore hydrocarbons not only has prompted coastal states to elaborate expansive claims of maritime jurisdiction but it has also been influential in the efforts of some states to preclude one another from carrying out economic activities, such as oil exploration and exploitation, in the areas of overlapping claims. In the absence of clear and defined boundaries, possible state responses can range from protracted negotiations to unilaterally undertaken activities, verbal protests and even the threat or use of force. However, one must not view offshore natural resources merely as a source of interstate friction but also as an opportunity to establish strategic alliances over economic and security matters. Joint development has proved to be a pragmatic reflection of this opportunity: it enables the peaceful and coordinated economic utilisation of disputed maritime areas while removing, even temporarily, the disruptive element of contested jurisdiction from the disputing states’ agendas. This paper examines the concept of joint development of offshore oil and gas resources. It discusses the key elements that distinguish joint development from other concepts such as cross-border unitization and outlines the reasons that make joint development practically appealing both in terms of promoting interstate cooperation over seabed activities but also in terms of stimulating energy investments in disputed maritime areas. Additionally, the paper discusses the legal foundations of joint development under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and examines whether states are under a legal obligation to enter into joint development agreements, pending the settlement of their maritime boundaries. Finally, the paper considers the different operative models in which joint development schemes can be structured and implemented having regard to successful or unsuccessful precedents in state practice.

Electronic Cigarettes: Impact on Lung Function and Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide Among Healthy Adults.

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are rapidly becoming an alternative form of nicotine consumption worldwide and a disruptive element in the global health diplomacy. This study aimed to investigate the impact of e-cigarettes on lung function and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) among young healthy male adults. Sixty apparently healthy male volunteers were recruited and divided into two groups. Group 1 (e-cigarette-exposed group) consisted of 30 males who were daily e-cigarette users (age 27.07 ± 6.00 [mean ± SD] years). Group 2 (control group) consisted of 30 males who were not e-cigarette users (age 25.90 ± 7.72 [mean ± SD] years). Both groups were neither current nor former traditional tobacco users. Age, ethnicity, height, weight, and socioeconomic status were considered using a matched design to investigate the impact of e-cigarette use on lung function and FeNO. The lung function test parameters that were found to be significantly decreased in e-cigarette users compared to their control group were forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), forced expiratory ratio (FEV1/FVC), forced expiratory flow—25% (FEF25%), forced expiratory flow—50% (FEF50%), forced expiratory flow—75% (FEF75%), forced expiratory flow—25%–75% (FEF25%–75%), and forced expiratory flow—75%–85% (FEF75%–85%). FeNO was also decreased in e-cigarette users, but it did not reach the level of significance. The use of e-cigarettes significantly impaired various lung function parameters and the pattern of impairment exhibited a peripheral obstructive airway involvement. These findings have a general message for the global health community on the potential harm of e-cigarettes on lung function.

Dynamic elements in regional development: an explorative genealogical analysis of the region of Southwest Finland

ABSTRACTThe paper suggests an explorative interpretative approach for conceptualizing regional change based on Foucault’s theory of genealogy. The theoretical outline is built on two key concepts of Foucault’s genealogy, (descent) and (emergence). The paper conceptualizes the heuristic notion of ‘adaptive element’ on the basis of descent, and the notion of ‘disruptive element’ on the basis of emergence. The paper demonstrates the use of these concepts in a brief case study of Southwest Finland from 1985 to 2001.

Contesting ‘the Ballarat cry’: interpreting the unstable narrative of trade and race in the 1903 federal election

Prime Minister Alfred Deakin’s 1903 election ‘Ballarat cry’ of ‘fiscal peace and preferential trade for a white Australia’ provided a peroration that he deployed in speeches throughout the campaign to rally popular support for his nation-building programme. A narrative of trade and race was designed to avoid an unstable or hostile future by reconstituting security within the British Empire and white identity, buttressed by immigration restriction and tariff barriers. The narrative sought to satisfy a teleology of progress stimulated by a sense of exceptionalism as a young nation experimented with public policy innovations. Key elements of trade and race in the Deakinite nation-building programme were deeply contested during the election campaign, reflecting unresolved conflicts over these issues at work across the post-Federation period and challenging an ‘Australian Settlement’ assumption of consensus. With its appeal to both innovation and the security of tradition and identity, Deakin’s narrative reflected an attempt to overcome the sense of loss and disconnection with the past, and anxiety over the future that characterised modern experience. The disruptive elements of the campaign reflected the conditions of modernity shaping post-Federation Australia, defining the unsettled policy-making task and the turbulent exercise of democracy.