Hostile Environment Research Articles

OCR still intent on combating national origin discrimination

The Office for Civil Rights has become relentless in addressing discrimination based on national origin/shared ancestry — most often involving Jewish, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian individuals as of late. Campus Legal Advisor, a sister publication to Campus Security Report, has previously written about OCR's heightened activity in this area, with numerous investigations, fact sheets, and “Dear Colleague Letters” calling on colleges and universities to eliminate hostile environments related to harassment based on national origin/shared ancestry and to fulfill their legal obligations under Title VI. (See bit.ly/465FTac and bit.ly/48gwhdu.)

Resistance of plant diversity to road disturbance: Evidence from the Tibetan Plateau

The expansion of road networks in recent decades has drawn considerable attention due to its impact on biodiversity in high-altitude ecosystems. Here, we conducted a comprehensive field survey to investigate the effects of road disturbance on plant diversity in alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. Our results indicate that road disturbance caused no significant changes in species richness, Shannon–Wiener’s diversity, or Simpson’s diversity, and the alteration in species composition was limited. These findings demonstrate the robust resistance of alpine grassland plant diversity to road disturbance. Plant diversity exhibited more resistance to road disturbance in regions with more hostile environments, such as plateau sub-frigid regions and alpine steppes. Our study suggests that road construction in the Tibetan Plateau poses limited risk to plant biodiversity.

Dynamically stabilized recurrent neural network optimized with intensified sand cat swarm optimization for intrusion detection in wireless sensor network

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are susceptible to various security threats owing to its deployment in hostile environments. Intrusion detection system (IDS) contributes a critical role on securing WSNs by identifying malevolent activities and ensuring data integrity. Traditional IDS techniques often struggle with the dynamic and resource-constrained nature of WSNs. In this paper, Dynamically Stabilized Recurrent Neural Network Optimized with Intensified Sand Cat Swarm Optimization for Wireless Sensor Network Intrusion identification (DSRNN-ISCOA-ID-WSN) is proposed. Initially, the input data is amassed from WSN-DS dataset. After that, the pre-processing segment receives the data. In pre-processing stage, redundant and biased records are removed from input data with the help of Adaptive multi-scale improved differential filter (AMSIDF). Then the optimal are selected by utilizing Wolf-Bird Optimization Algorithm (WBOA). DSRNN is used to classify the data as Normal, Grey hole, Black hole, Time division multiple access (TDMA), and Flooding attacks. Then Intensified Sand Cat Swarm Optimization (ISCOA) is employed to optimize the weight parameters of DSRNN for accuracte classification. The proposed DSRNN-ISCOA-ID-WSN technique is implemented Python. The performance of the proposed DSRNN-ISCOA-ID-WSN approach attains 29.24 %, 33.45 %, and 28.73 % high accuracy; 30.53 %, 27.64 %, and 26.25 % higher precision when compared with existing method such as Machine Learning-Powered Stochastic Gradient Descent Intrusions Detection System for WSN Attacks (SGDA-ID-WSN), An updated dataset to identify threats in WSN (CNN-ID-WSN) and Denial-of-Service attack detection in WSN: a Low-Complexity Machine Learning Model (DTA-ID-WSN) respectively.

Toxic work climates: An integrative review and development of a new construct and theoretical framework.

Research and the media demonstrate the profound impact hostile work environments have on organizations and their members. Often, the term "toxic work climate" is used to describe patterns of aggressive behaviors that harm individuals and manifest in the broader workplace. However, despite these common references, scholars still know relatively little about what a toxic work climate actually entails, the processes by which they emerge, and their influence on organizational outcomes. The research domain is complex. Within the organizational literature alone, toxic work climates have been described as those that harbor abusive bosses, aggressive employees, and those that show signs of bullying or incivility. Our aim in this integrative conceptual review is to add precision and focus to this multidisciplinary and fragmented literature. Grounding our efforts in multilevel theories, we first introduce an overarching definition of the toxic work climate construct and review research on existing hostile climate types that can appropriately be consolidated under this new heading. We then develop a new theoretical model that outlines the dominant causes and mechanisms by which toxic work climates form, and the main pathways by which they influence employees, teams, and organizations. Finally, we provide a unified path forward for advancing theory, research, and practice, including advice on how toxic climates might be combated in years to come. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Biologics in rotator cuff repair.

Rotator cuff tears are common in middle-aged and elderly patients. Despite advances in the surgical repair of rotator cuff tears, the rates of recurrent tear remain high. This may be due to the complexity of the tendons of the rotator cuff, which contributes to an inherently hostile healing environment. During the past 20 years, there has been an increased interest in the use of biologics to complement the healing environment in the shoulder, in order to improve rotator cuff healing and reduce the rate of recurrent tears. The aim of this review is to provide a summary of the current evidence for the use of forms of biological augmentation when repairing rotator cuff tears.

Robotic Technology Enables Automated Nondestructive Weld Inspection in Subsea Zone

_ This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 215588, “Automated Nondestructive Weld Inspection in Splash/Subsea Zone,” by Karsten Husby, Magnus Bjerkeng, and Jens T. Thieleman, SINTEF, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. _ Jacket structures all over the world are now reaching the limit of their estimated service life, but new discoveries and improved production methods require lifetime extension of the assets. The complete paper presents an automated underwater robot and a nondestructive testing (NDT) eddy-current probe for alternating-current field-measurement analysis of jacket main welds. This robot makes integrity testing, which often is required for lifetime extensions, possible. Introduction Jacket lifetime calculations are based on long service intervals. Some welded braces in the splash zone often are considered unserviceable because of the hostile environment. Thus, divers or remotely operated vehicles cannot be used under normal weather conditions and wave heights. Structural integrity is ensured with long service intervals, often long enough for the lifetime of the jacket. However, multiple jacket platforms are approaching their certified lifespan limit. The question, then, is whether they should be decommissioned, reused, or have their lifespan extended. New discoveries and improved production methods make extended operation desirable for certain fields. For other platforms, repurposing for offshore wind, aquaculture, or geothermal energy may be a cost-effective alternative. Regardless, before any action can be taken, the integrity of the jackets must be tested. There is, therefore, a growing need for subsea condition monitoring of aging offshore jacket steel platforms. To speed up operations and to handle complicated health, safety, and environment (HSE) issues in the splash zone, robots can be used. A robot for NDT inspection in the hostile splash zone is pictured in Fig. 1. The robot clamps itself to the circular braces and is equipped with 3D vision camera, kinematics algorithms, and an NDT probe. Integrity Testing Under Rough Conditions Testing for integrity of critical infrastructure often is performed by different NDT methods. In this study, eddy-current testing was chosen as the preferred method because it is fast and can penetrate layers of marine growth on the surface. The normal procedure is to use lightweight hand-held equipment. The splash zone, however, is often inaccessible under modern HSE standards. In this project, an automated NDT robot helped conduct efficient NDT testing for longer periods in challenging conditions. This robot offloads the NDT operator and makes testing more efficient.

Labour as a component of carceral circuitry: The case of asylum seekers

Building upon insights from carceral geography, this article conceptualises the ‘carceral’ as permeating beyond the prison walls to other areas of life through law and policymaking that confines and incarcerates without necessarily ‘imprisoning’. 1 Utilising the case study of asylum applicants in the UK, this article traces the role of ‘work’ as a component of carceral circuitry which enmeshes asylum seekers’ lives. Outside of immigration detention, this includes work exclusions which hinder mobility, life choices and economic independence, as well as fuelling engagement in both ‘voluntary’ unpaid work arrangements, and/or unregulated ‘criminal’ labour practices which arise as a result of exclusionary laws intent on creating a hostile environment. Inside of immigration detention analysis extends to the practice of ‘paid activities’ in which immigration detainees undertake millions of hours of work at a rate of £1.00 per hour, ostensibly ‘for their own benefit’. Labour law and its explicit exclusions, as well as the social welfare framework, thereby intersect with immigration control and the criminal law to construct, shape and reproduce this carceral sphere which seeks to control and govern asylum seekers’ lives as well as entrenching their vulnerability as an easily exploitable workforce from which value can be extracted.

The Role of the Igbo Apprenticeship System in Entrepreneurship Development in Nigeria

The growth of entrepreneurship is vital for Nigeria's economic development, with Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) playing a key role. This study examines the impact of the Igbo Apprenticeship System on entrepreneurship development and youth employment in Nigeria. Through semi-structured interviews with 50 Igbo business owners at Dugbe market in Ibadan, Oyo State, a significant market in South-Western Nigeria, the research highlights the system's role in establishing small businesses and imparting entrepreneurial skills to apprentices. The study confirms that the apprenticeship system is well-established within the community, with all respondents familiar with it. It highlights the system's critical role in entrepreneurship development in Nigeria, noting that 98% of respondents have participated in the system, and over 60% have sustained their businesses for more than ten years. The system also positively impacts youth employment by providing young people with the skills necessary to start and run their own businesses. However, it shows limited success in empowering females, and challenges such as financial settlement issues and a hostile work environment persist. The study recommends restructuring the system to shift from an individualistic focus to one that promotes teamwork, collaboration, and mutual support, with a particular emphasis on enhancing inclusivity for women.

Self configuring mobile agent-based intrusion detection using hybrid optimized with Deep LSTM

Sensor nodes can be deployed in harsh or hostile environments in many applications, making these nodes more prone to failure. The illegal movement monitoring within the sensor networks is a most challenging problem. The mobile malicious nodes are preferred by the attacker to maximize his impact. For a dynamic environment, a promising technology of sensor networks is expected to Intrusion detection. Multi-mobile agents utilize many approaches, after verification that collects data from sensor nodes. However, these approaches are inefficient to verify all the sensor nodes (SNs) of the network, due to its high delay, energy consumption, and mobility. The proposed Dunnock Ibis optimization LSTM model (DIO opt LSTM) solves this problem. Here, the sensor nodes are grouped into clusters; hence, mobile agent performs verification only the cluster heads instead of verifying all the SNs. The proposed DIO optimization combines the unique behavior of Egret Swam and Ibis optimization algorithm which efficiently tunes the LSTM classifier, resulting in the model providing better convergence. The simulation results show the proposed system shows a better result than the existing system by utilizing the database IDS 2018 Intrusion CSVs, the analysis is done based on performance metrics such as End-end-delay (ED), normalized energy (NE), and throughput. At 200 nodes and 1500 rounds, the DIO opt LSTM method has efficiently performed 146 numbers of alive nodes, 0.46 ms of delay, 0.15 J of normalized energy, and 0.89 bps of throughput.

Chinese Laws and Regulations on Sexual Harassment in a Hostile Work Environment: Employers' Liability in Comparison with U.S. Regulation

Chinese Laws and Regulations on Sexual Harassment in a Hostile Work Environment: Employers' Liability in Comparison with U.S. Regulation

Windrush Members’ Encounters with the ‘Hostile Environment’ and a Deficit of Citizenship: Centring an Agentive Citizenship Experience

This article is part of a broader, collaborative Oral History project working with members of the Windrush community to explore their experience of the ‘Hostile Environment’ and their own reckoning with a historical injustice, beginning pre-2012. This article focuses on the experience of three Windrush members and their encounters with the ‘Hostile Environment’ regime from 2012 onwards, particularly the actualisation of their exclusion from British citizenship as a denial of access to ‘everyday’ citizenship. Citizenship is interpreted from a grassroots level, through the individual’s lens on how their life was uprooted in terms of their livelihood, security, wellbeing and social connection through encounters with the ‘Hostile Environment’ regime. During the data gathering process, a shared understanding of the activist nature of this research was established, creating a space within which participants were asked to reflect on and critique the state’s bordering of British citizenship and the participants’ identification as illegal within this. This article defends an agentive interpretation of citizenship as an experience that is holistically felt and made meaningful, consciously negotiated within state-imposed structures of law, enforcement and entitlement access, and then wielded as a subjectivity whereby individuals claim a more dignified existence. For members of the Windrush Generation who were left de facto stateless due to a lack of sufficient legal identification in the eyes of the state, their deficit of citizenship experience from the margins of British citizenship leaves them well positioned to critique and challenge the entrenched form of citizenship expressed through the ‘Hostile Environment’ regime.This article is part of a broader, collaborative Oral History project working with members of the Windrush community to explore their experience of the ‘Hostile Environment’ and their own reckoning with a historical injustice, beginning pre-2012.

Manipulation of host phagocytosis by fungal pathogens and therapeutic opportunities.

An important host defence mechanism against pathogens is intracellular killing, which is achieved through phagocytosis, a cellular process for engulfing and neutralizing extracellular particles. Phagocytosis results in the formation of matured phagolysosomes, which are specialized compartments that provide a hostile environment and are considered the end point of the degradative pathway. However, all fungal pathogens studied to date have developed strategies to manipulate phagosomal function directly and also indirectly by redirecting phagosomes from the degradative pathway to a non-degradative pathway with the expulsion and even transfer of pathogens between cells. Here, using the major human fungal pathogens Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans and Histoplasma capsulatum as examples, we discuss the processes involved in host phagosome-fungal pathogen interactions, with a focus on fungal evasion strategies. We also discuss recent approaches to targeting intraphagosomal pathogens, including the redirection of phagosomes towards degradative pathways for fungal pathogen eradication.

Precarious Care across Migrant Generations in Tanzania

Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article is concerned with how undocumented refugees and migrants use invisibility strategies to navigate a hostile host environment in Western Tanzania. This article explores how the shifts in Tanzania’s refugee policy have affected different generations of refugees differently, and how older cohorts assist newer cohorts. This article argues that the challenges of migration are productive of ‘affective circuits’ and of generating new forms of kinship. It argues that it can be productive to bring together the different understandings of generations, as it was found that generations as cohorts can transform into generations as kin in situations of rupture and adversity.

Mesenchymal stem cells from adipose tissue prone to lose their stemness associated markers in obesity related stress conditions

Obesity is a health problem characterized by large expansion of adipose tissue. During this expansion, genotoxic stressors can be accumulated and negatively affect the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) of adipose tissue. Due to the oxidative stress generated by these genotoxic stressors, senescence phenotype might be observed in adipose tissue MSCs. Senescent MSCs lose their proliferations and differentiation properties and secrete senescence-associated molecules to their niche thus triggering senescence for the rest of the tissue. Accumulation of senescent cells in adipose tissue results in decreased tissue regeneration and functional impairment not only in the close vicinity but also in the other tissues. Here we hypothesized that declined tissue regeneration might be associated with loss of stemness markers in MSCs population. We analyzed the expression of several stemness-associated genes of in vitro cultured MSCs originated from adipose tissue of high-fat diet and normal diet mice models. Since the heterogenous MSCs population covers a small percentage of the pluripotent stem cells, which have roles in proliferation and tissue regeneration, we measured the percentage of these cells via TRA-1-60 pluripotent state antigen. Additionally, by conducting a shotgun proteomic approach using LC-MS/MS, whole cell proteome of the adipose tissue MSCs of high-fat diet and normal diet mice were analyzed and identified proteins were evaluated via gene ontology and PPI network analysis. MSCs of obese mice showed senescent phenotype and altered cell cycle distribution due to a hostile environment with oxidative stress in adipose tissue where they reside. Additionally, the number of pluripotent markers expressing cells declined in the MSC population of the high-fat diet mice. Gene expression analysis evidenced the loss of stemness with a decrease in the expression of stemness-associated genes. Of the proteomic comparison of the normal and the high-fat diet group, MSCs revealed that stemness-associated molecules were decreased while inflammation and senescence-associated phenotypes emerged in obese mice MSCs. Our results showed us that the MSCs of adipose tissue may lose their stemness properties due to obesity-associated stress conditions.

Distributed safety flight control for LAV swarm in a hostile environment under multi-constraints and sudden appearing risks

PurposeLoitering aerial vehicle (LAV) swarm safety flight control is an unmanned system control problem under multiple constraints, which are derived to prevent the LAVs from suffering risks inside and outside the swarms. The computational complexity of the safety flight control problem grows as the number of LAVs and of the constraints increases. Besides some important constraints, the swarms will encounter with sudden appearing risks in a hostile environment. The purpose of this study is to design a safety flight control algorithm for LAV swarm, which can timely respond to sudden appearing risks and reduce the computational burden.Design/methodology/approachTo address the problem, this paper proposes a distributed safety flight control algorithm that includes a trajectory planning stage using kinodynamic rapidly exploring random trees (KRRT*) and a tracking stage based on distributed model predictive control (DMPC).FindingsThe proposed algorithm reduces the computational burden of the safety flight control problem and can fast find optimal flight trajectories for the LAVs in a swarm even there are multi-constraints and sudden appearing risks.Originality/valueThe proposed algorithm did not handle the constraints synchronously, but first uses the KRRT* to handle some constraints, and then uses the DMPC to deal with the rest constraints. In addition, the proposed algorithm can effectively respond to sudden appearing risks by online re-plan the trajectories of LAVs within the swarm.

Disabled Body‐Minds in Hostile Environments: Disrupting an Ableist Cartesian Sociotechnical Imagination with Enactive Embodied Cognition and Critical Disability Studies

Disabled Body‐Minds in Hostile Environments: Disrupting an Ableist Cartesian Sociotechnical Imagination with Enactive Embodied Cognition and Critical Disability Studies

Institutional Violence Perpetrated against Transgender Individuals in Health Services: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies.

This review aims to analyze the evidence related to violence perpetrated against transgender individuals in health services based on their narratives. This is a systematic literature review of qualitative studies. A search was carried out in the Scopus, Web of Science, Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE, and MEDLINE databases using the descriptors "transgender people", "violence", and "health services". The eligibility criteria included original qualitative articles addressing the research question, with fully available text, reporting violence specifically by health workers, involving trans individuals aged 18 and above, and published in Portuguese, English, or Spanish. In addition, studies were included that reported experiences of violence suffered by the trans population, through their narratives, in health services. A total of 3477 studies were found, of which 25 were included for analysis. The results highlighted situations such as refusal of service; resistance to the use of social names and pronouns; barriers to accessing health services; discrimination and stigma; insensitivity of health workers; lack of specialized care and professional preparedness; and a system focused on binarism. The analysis of the studies listed in this review highlights the multiple facets of institutional violence faced by the transgender population in health services. It is evident that the forms of violence often interlink and reinforce each other, creating a hostile environment for the transgender population in health services. Thus, there is an urgent need to create strategies that ensure access to dignified and respectful care for all individuals, regardless of their gender identity.

Manipulation of Macrophages: Emerging Mechanisms of Leishmaniasis.

As professional phagocytes, macrophages represent the first line of defence against invading microbial pathogens. Various cellular processes such as programmed cell death, autophagy and RNA interference (RNAi) of macrophages are involved directly in elimination or assist in elimination of invading pathogens. However, parasites, such as Leishmania, have evolved diverse strategies to interfere with macrophage cell functions, favouring their survival, growth and replication inside hostile and restrictive environments of macrophages. Therefore, identification and detailed characterization of macrophage-pathogen interactions is the key to understanding how pathogens subvert macrophage functions to support their infection and disease process. In recent years, great progress has been achieved in understanding how Leishmania affects with critical host macrophage functions. Based on latest progress and accumulating knowledge, this review exclusively focuses on macrophage-Leishmania interaction, providing an overview of macrophage cellular processes such as programmed cell death, autophagy and RNAi during Leishmania infection. Despite extensive progress, many questions remain and require further investigation.

Results from Cryo-PoF: Power over fiber for fundamental and applied physics at cryogenic temperature

The Power over Fiber (PoF) technology delivers electrical power by sending laser light through an optical fiber to a photovoltaic power converter, in order to power sensors or electrical devices. This solution offers several advantages: removal of noise induced by power lines, robustness in a hostile environment, spark free operation when electric fields are present and no interference with electromagnetic fields.This technology is at the basis of the Cryo-PoF project: an R&D funded by the Italian Institute for Nuclear Research (INFN) in Milano-Bicocca (Italy). This project is inspired by the needs of the DUNE Vertical Drift detector, where the VUV light of liquid argon must be collected at the cathode, i.e. on a surface whose voltage exceeds 300 kV. We developed a cryogenic system, which is solely based on optoelectronic devices and a single laser input line, to power both the Photon Detection devices and its electronic amplifier. The Milano-Bicocca setup employ a commercial GaAs laser source with 2 W maximum power and a photovoltaic power converter with efficiency of ∼ 30% at liquid nitrogen temperature. The results obtained in Milano Bicocca will be presented with emphasis on performance and potential application in the field of applied physics.

Current Therapeutic Strategies of Intervertebral Disc Regenerative Medicine.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is one of the most frequent causes of low back pain. No treatment is currently available to delay the progression of IDD. Conservative treatment or surgical interventions is only used to target the symptoms of IDD rather than treat the underlying cause. Currently, numerous potential therapeutic strategies are available, including molecular therapy, gene therapy, and cell therapy. However, the hostile environment of degenerated discs is a major problem that has hindered the clinical applicability of such approaches. In this regard, the design of drugs using alternative delivery systems (macro-, micro-, and nano-sized particles) may resolve this problem. These can protect and deliver biomolecules along with helping to improve the therapeutic effect of drugs via concentrating, protecting, and prolonging their presence in the degenerated disc. This review summarizes the research progress of diagnosis and the current options for treating IDD.