Normative Practices Research Articles

Engine strip and build lab: a practical approach to learning gas turbine engines

Abstract The world is currently undergoing a technological transformation with numerous innovative concepts emerging. This shift is driven by remarkable advancements in artificial intelligence and the urgent need for decarbonisation. With this comes a growing demand for skilled engineers who can actively contribute at any stage within the life cycle of a product. This can be the generation of new concepts at low Technology Readiness Levels or contributing actively to their development and operational safety. This paper explores the integration of a 1-day practical activity to reinforce theoretical concepts learned within a classroom-based environment. Small groups of students were given the opportunity of engaging with a small helicopter engine (Rolls-Royce Gnome engine) through the disassembly and reassembly of the exhaust and power turbine section while following the manufacturer’s manual and ensuring industrial norms for safe practice. This hands-on activity included an introduction to tooling, a Gnome familiarisation activity, and an introduction to inspection techniques. Based on the feedback recorded, the students experienced a notable improvement in their basic understanding by effectively reinforcing knowledge acquired within the classroom through active engagement with an actual gas turbine engine.

The final plague outbreak in Scotland 1644-1649: Historical, archaeological, and genetic evidence.

This paper has several aims: to determine if Yersinia pestis was the causative agent in the last Scottish plague outbreak in the mid-17th century; map the geographic spread of the epidemic and isolate potential contributing factors to its spread and severity; and examine funerary behaviours in the context of a serious plague epidemic in early modern Scotland. Results confirm the presence of Y. pestis in individuals associated with a mid-17th century plague pit in Aberdeen. This is the first time this pathogen has been identified in an archaeological sample from Scotland. The geographic spread of the plague from 1644 through to 1649 is generally, with some key exceptions, restricted to the central lowlands of Scotland. The role of administrative responses to the epidemic in managing its spread and distribution is unclear. Finally, normative funerary practices tended to co-exist with mass burial scenarios. In conclusion, the distribution of the epidemic is arguably a function of population density/distribution, transportation networks, and the chaos associated with the concurrent civil war. Administrative responses to the epidemic likely had a variable, albeit limited, effect in the central lowlands. More peripheral cities, such as Aberdeen, while also employing sophisticated plague prevention measures, were perhaps initially spared simply due to their distance from the central plague belt. It is unclear if a general fear of the dead and contracting the Pest from plague victims can be used to characterise mid-17th century Scottish public opinion. Mass burial appears to have been a practical approach to the logistical problems mass mortality presented, while many instances of normative burial treatment can also be seen.

Savings Account: Changing the Amount of Interest Accrued on the Account Balance

The article is devoted to the analysis of the current legal norms governing the accrual of interest on the balance on the bank current accounts most in demand recently among individuals, namely the so-called “savings”/”savings” accounts of an individual, and the possibility of a bank changing the amount of accrued interest on the account balance, including by posting information on the establishment of a different amount of interest accrued by the bank on the account balance on the bank’s website on the Internet by analogy with the newly established tariffs and commissions. The necessity and possibility of obtaining the client’s consent by the bank to change the interest accrued on the account balance, as well as the form of such consent, the legal essence of the accrued interest, are analyzed. The analysis of the norms of legislation and practice made it possible to identify the problem that arises when working with the so-called “accumulative” account and come to the conclusion that it is necessary to improve the norms of current legislation.

Rethinking Regulation beyond the Normative Threshold: Mechanisms of Control and Access to the Central Market of Kinshasa

The article explores regulation practices governing access to the central market of Kinshasa. It argues that, contrary to conventional ideas, urban trading places do not escape state regulation, nor are they outside the realm of legitimacy. These places and the economic activities that take place in them are highly regulated. Yet, their regulations do not always conform to official standards. The dominant binary divide of formal/informal obscures different processes and scales of effective regulation. Hence, to better understand how these places and activities are regulated, it is necessary to go beyond the binary divide. Drawing on practical norms’ literature, the article shows the multiplicity of overlapping norms, their corresponding logics, and how different actors navigate regulation. Regulations can have diverse effects on people. Some deviations from official laws have reassuring effects, leading to forms of organisation that serve traders’ needs or provide them with space for resistance against exclusion. However, certain other deviations serve to extract more resources from vendors and can lead to the (re)production of social inequalities.

The Complexities of Regulating Traders’ Activity: The Case of Small Traders in Ouagadougou's Rood Woko Market (Burkina Faso)

This paper analyses the complexity of regulating the activities of small traders at the Grand Marché in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Markets in Africa are places where small-scale trading takes place par excellence, and the traders who work there are generally considered to be self-employed. The plurality of regulations governing commercial activity observed there seems to be particularly conducive to such an analysis. We examine these complexities within the theoretical framework of “social regulation” as well as that of “normative pluralism,” which encompasses both official and practical norms. We show that the work of traders is regulated both by norms issued by the Régie Autonome de Gestion des Équipements Marchands (Independent Management Board for Commercial Facilities) – an official structure – and by traders’ own practical norms, which have both collective and individual aspects to them. The complexities of the relationship between these official and practical norms lie in the fact that sometimes they are not always articulated and may both co-exist and contradict each other.

Women in the Operating Room: The Role of Mentorship in Challenging the Gendered Norms of Surgical Practices.

Historically, surgery has been considered an inherently "masculine" profession. This persistent stereotype has led to gender inequality in currently practicing surgeons, despite gender parity of newly admitted medical students in North America. Since women began practising medicine in the 19th century, these norms began to be challenged in tandem with the suffragette movement. In the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, pioneering female physicians and surgeons worked together to establish spaces where women would be welcomed and mentored the next generation of female surgeons. In this essay, I highlight prominent women physicians and surgeons that have contributed to the presence of women in the operating room through mentorship.

Decolonial Critical Bioethics and Access to Treatment for Hemophilia in the Americas

Over the past two decades, the integration of sociology with the analytical and normative practices of bioethics has become firmly established. This integration has given rise to two similar yet distinct conceptions of bioethics: empirical bioethics, which utilizes social sciences to enhance ethical scrutiny, and critical bioethics, which not only employs research methods but also draws from established social theories. Critical bioethics aims to overcome the decontextualized analyses inherent in the concept of applied ethics, which relies solely on moral philosophy. This epistemic deepening enables a comprehensible evaluation of the impacts of biotechnologies’ production and distribution within their social and global contexts, ultimately leading to more robust normative frameworks. This article presents the conceptual framework of a model of critical bioethics that we term “decolonial”, developed through the synthesis of the Frankfurt School and decolonial studies. To illustrate the relevance of its analytical parameters, we will examine to clotting factor concentrates in countries across the Americas.

Give Credit Where It’s Due: The Ethical Imperatives of Authorship Attribution in Collaborative Research

This article proposes practical steps for those new to collaborative research or those seeking to improve the nature of collaborative research partnerships. Questioning academia’s exaltation of publications and authorship as coveted assets, the authors critically analyze the often complex, contentious, and ambiguous environment of collaborative research and negotiating authorship. With respect to academic publishing and ethics of authorship, this article grapples with two critical questions: (1) What factors create ethical dilemmas in authorship in academia? (2) How can academics and researchers better navigate the complexities of collaborative research to sustain ethical authorship practices? A seven-phase process model is proposed to guide the collaborative research process to mitigate ambiguities that reside in the black box. The seven phases encompass problem settings and pre-negotiations, direction setting: action planning, social capital, re-negotiations, equity and inclusivity, implementation- the submission-revision cycle, and reflexivity. This theoretical analysis aims to offer a useful resource to promote enhanced collaborative practices, and the authors take an explicit advocacy and visionary perspective to promote transparency, accountability, and reciprocal trust, to shatter overarching issues such as oppressive, deceitful, and exploitative norms in academic authorship practices.

“Dignifying the Ordinary”: Why, What, and How of Social Practice Theory in Christian Philosophy

Abstract It seems remarkable that several philosophers in the Reformed tradition have recently interacted with social practice theory without interacting with each other. This gave rise to the question as to whether they interact differently or similarly with social practice theory and to what extent Reformed philosophy might benefit from such an interaction. In this article, therefore, we aim to clear the way by addressing three strands in Reformed philosophy, namely, Nicholas Wolterstorff, the normative practice approach, and James K. A. Smith. We explore why they use social practice theory, what they do with it, and how they make it their own. Finally, we highlight what unites them and what divides them, and conclude with suggestions as to how they might benefit from each other’s work in social practice theory.

Missionary Writings During the Canton Exile (1666–1671): Controversies on the Inculturation of the Catholic Church

Abstract In the aftermath of the Calendar Case, 25 missionaries arrived in Canton in March 1666. Over the course of their five-year exile, they generated numerous reports and letters which, until now, have not been subject to systematic study. This paper delves into their writings concerning the establishment of three practical norms for the China mission: permitting Chinese Catholics to observe traditional rites honoring their ancestors and Confucius, allowing them to continue fasting under certain conditions, and instructing them to wear a Chinese hat during the liturgy. Though these norms were ratified by majority vote, they were immediately met with opposition. Although the controversy on the Chinese rites is well-documented, it is pertinent to examine these three controversies together, as they pertain to the issue of inculturation within the Catholic Church.

RESPONSIBILITY OF MEMBERS OF SELF-REGULATING ORGANIZATIONS: PECULIARITIES AND PROBLEMS OF REGULATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

In the scientific literature, the understanding of the legal nature of the responsibility of members of self-regulating organizations causes conceptual discrepancies. This liability is considered as a separate type of legal liability based on civil law principles. In the laws regulating issues of self-regulation with mandatory participation, the concept of disciplinary misconduct is used, which leads to the use of the name of this responsibility as «disciplinary». Nevertheless, the special grounds for the liability of members of a self-regulating organization, the subject composition and the nature of legal relations make it possible not to identify the responsibility in question with disciplinary liability in labor and administrative law. The Law on Self-Regulation and legislative acts concerning mandatory self-regulation contain the basics of regulating liability issues, but these norms need to eliminate contradictions. In addition, it is necessary to provide for the definition of the concept of responsibility of members of self-regulating organizations and its elements (misconduct, penalties). The study of internal documents of self-regulating organizations in terms of the responsibility of their members revealed the inconsistency of the content of the documents with certain requirements of the Law on Self-Regulation. Based on the results of this work, the specifics of the responsibility of members of self-regulating organizations are noted, the features and shortcomings of the regulatory regulation of this institution in the Republic of Kazakhstan are identified, facts of violations of legal norms in law enforcement practice are revealed, and differences in the approaches of organizations to choosing the procedure for bringing to responsibility and determining liability measures are established. Solutions are proposed for the identified shortcomings. The conclusions obtained in the course of this study can be used in scientific research and legislative work.

Enactivist Distributed Cognition, and the Role of Distributed Social Practices in Social Change

I support much of Maiese and Hanna’s (M&H) account of the ways social institutions “mindshape” people’s cognition (values, meanings, affective framings, and habits of bodily comportment), and of the ways neoliberal individualism can be resisted and progressive social change can be enacted. But the overall approach can be augmented, I argue, if M&H would embrace an enactivist account of socially distributed and collective cognition, and action, in which cognitive systems include but are not limited to individuals. Complementing M&H’s focus on top-down “repressive” forms of power, with also “ideological” forms of power that are distributed throughout social communities and their discursive practices, symbolic resources, and shared meanings would enable M&H to see not just top-down mindshaping by institutions, but also peer-to-peer mindshaping between members of distributed normative social practices. This analysis also entails that diverse institutions are often composed of many differing communities and practices, such that institutions are not wholly destructive and deforming nor wholly constructive and enabling. It also augments their largely top-down account of social change with the kinds of social change enacted through peer-to-peer interactions between members of different communities, whose iterated interactions over time embody competition (differing distributions of repressive and ideological power) between different normative communities with different practices, especially through heterodox communities of resistance, offering liberatory and “enabling” social practices as alternatives to dominant orthodox “deforming” social practices.

Williams for and Against. Politics as a Constitutively Normative Practice

Williams for and Against. Politics as a Constitutively Normative Practice

Морально-етичні норми в юриспруденції

It was found that the moral and ethical norms in jurisprudence were reflected in the relevant Codes, Instructions, Rules of Conduct, etc., which are aimed at ensuring the principle of peoplecenteredness and contribute to the formation and development of a morally mature specialist with high value orientations in the field of professional duties and interpersonal communication Compliance with moral and ethical standards in jurisprudence is a guarantee of maintaining stable professional relationships in the legal team and contributes to maintaining a positive image of the legal profession. It was emphasized that professional activity implemented in the “person-to-person” format requires not only proper expertise, but also perfect standards of moral and ethical interaction to prevent violation of human rights and freedoms and personal values. Jurisprudence is one of the areas where the official-business interaction between representatives of this profession and citizens is tangential to a person’s private life and personal boundaries. That is why it is important to regulate the ethical aspect of such interaction for full cooperation and the most positive resolution of problematic issues. It is noted that ethical codes define a system of value orientations of representatives of a certain professional direction, in particular, persons who perform specific job duties and are empowered to cooperate with their colleagues or subordinates, as well as all physical and legal entities with whom they cooperate. Attention is focused on the fact that the proper level of moral and ethical culture of a lawyer contributes to the prevention and avoidance of his professional deformation, because a high level of professionalism, unfortunately, is not an obstacle to the development of professional deformation. A developed moral and ethical culture and the desire for personal development do not allow signs of antivalue behavior of a person to manifest. When forming and implementing moral and ethical norms in Ukrainian jurisprudence, the experience and practice of the world legal community is taken into account. Recognition and observance of international standards enables the active cooperation of relevant competent authorities with international organizations to ensure law and order and prevent violations of human rights.

Sleep as a social and cultural practice in Aotearoa: a scoping review

ABSTRACT Traditionally, sleep science is grounded in biology, physiology, and medicine. But socio-cultural considerations provide a crucial lens into sleep health. Exploring the sociology of sleep in Aotearoa New Zealand (AoNZ) could broaden our understandings and better represent sleep-related practices among our diverse communities. This scoping review represents the pre-existing literature concerning sleep as a social or cultural practice in AoNZ. The initial search (via Discover and Scopus) search yielded 2,442 results. Of these results, 113 manuscripts were characterised of interest, but only 20 were directly related and included in the review. This literature was presented in relation to Meadows’ (2005) modes of ‘sleep embodiment’ including sleep practice norms, the pragmatics of sleep and social roles, individual experiences and feelings related to sleep, and the visceral need for sleep. The findings highlight the progress of sleep literature in AoNZ. This covers diverse sleep practices, perspectives and experiences of sleep and sleeping, as well as the broader socio-cultural factors and unique AoNZ context that influence sleep. However, gaps in the field of local sleep research are also identified. Findings lay the foundation for further research in AoNZ to explore sleep-related discourses and practices that will ultimately broaden existing perspectives.

A knowledge creation framework for academia toward agroecological transformations of food systems

Industrialized agriculture, characterized by high inputs, large-scale monocultures, and confined livestock production, with a narrow focus on profit, is a major transgressor of societal and planetary boundaries. It fuels climate change, biodiversity loss, water and soil degradation, nutritional deficiencies, public health issues, cultural erosion, and socioeconomic inequalities. As early-career researchers in agricultural sciences, we are concerned about these systemic crises and recognize that participating in normative academic practices without reflection may reinforce the prevailing industrialized food system. Motivated by the dissonance between the potential impact of our work and our vision of a better future, in this paper we describe and challenge academic praxis in agricultural sciences to tackle the interconnected crises. We do this by developing a framework of two drivers of academic knowledge production, power and values, and two mechanisms, motives and relationality. We argue that in the current dominant food system, power is consolidated and hierarchical, driven by the values of growthism and reductionism, motivated by efficiency and productivism, and characterized by extractive and anthropocentric relationality. Furthermore, we highlight evidence of the negative outcomes associated with this system, including the challenges we face and may potentially contribute to as participants. We then envision transformed food systems through examples of counter-hegemonic knowledge production systems, grounded in agroecological principles, in which power is distributed and horizontal, the primary values are solidarity and holism, motives enhance sufficiency and sovereignty, and relationality is reciprocal and based on care. By examining the current system and offering examples of alternatives, we aim to help distinguish between research that upholds the statu-quo and research that fosters change. We aim to inspire ourselves and others to reconnect with our agency and contribute towards transformed knowledge systems where food systems, underpinned by the values of agroecology, are more capable of sustaining life on this planet in an equitable and just manner.

Hegemony and Colonialization in the Water Management Sector: Issues and Lessons for IWRM

Water resources management and the broad concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) attract varied perspectives about their effectiveness and equity as they address diverse needs across sectors and contextual situations. Managers in the water sector generally support their current governance models, while anti-poverty advocates seek more equity in the distribution of resources. Another group of stakeholders claims a lack of inclusivity in decision-making, leading to inequitable outcomes due to hegemony and colonialization of the water management domain by sector experts, officials, and other actors. IWRM focuses on reforms in water governance to achieve greater participation and sharing of power by all sectors of society in decision-making. It can facilitate the involvement of all groups of stakeholders, including those who may in some cases need to engage in social action to address water issues. This paper reviews the claims about the validity of IWRM and analyzes them according to management scenarios where water is a connector among sector issues. The scenarios show that participation in utility and local government decisions is the main pathway for urban water, wastewater, and stormwater management, while the same pathway is more difficult to organize in dispersed situations for domestic supply and irrigation in rural areas, some cases of aquifer management, and management of sprawling flood risk zones. The body of knowledge about participation in water resources management is robust, but organizational and financial capacities among existing entities pose barriers. Water resources management and IWRM do involve hegemony, and the field of practice has been colonialized, but the existential issues and complexity of the decisions and systems involved challenge society to manage successfully while assuring equity and participation through governance reform. The debates over hegemony and colonialization in water management provide an opportunity to continue improving the norms of practice and water resources education.

Can Trauma-Informed Yoga Center Intersectional Feminist Praxis? The Case of a UK Community Yoga Organization.

This article discusses the tensions around trauma-informed narratives and mind-body practices, which may obscure social inequalities. We present the evaluation of community yoga programs and explore how trauma-informed yoga can be part of the healing process of women subject to interlocking systems of oppression. The study showed how the sociocultural location of participants shaped their engagement with normative yoga discourses and practices. Yoga was perceived as a practice that improved the sense of healing and well-being, and created relational spaces during COVID-19. The article also discusses the value of embodied self-inquiry as an intersectional feminist tool for researchers and practitioners.

A cyberterrorist behind the keyboard

Abstract Given the diverse backgrounds of people living in modern societies as well as the international nature of cyber-terrorist threats, profiling the type of person behind cyber-mediated crimes has become a norm in terrorist profiling practice. This study contributes to timely efficient terrorist profiling and threat assessment by showcasing an automated content analysis of cyber-mediated terrorist texts, using natural language processing technology and AI-assisted analysis. To characterise the terrorist type of texts and provide clues to threats, the study employs a ‘psycholinguistic profiling’ approach to authorship analysis (Grant 2008). That is, it seeks to describe the likelihood of an author’s engagement in violent extremist activity, identify motives for violence, and provide clues vis-a-vis would-be and actual violent behaviours. The study takes twenty texts produced by international terrorists involved in jihadism and far-right violent extremism as a case study. The findings reveal the investigative value of automated psycholinguistic profiling for security and intelligence practitioners, with the semantic patterns yielding helpful information for an understanding of the criminal nature of terrorist language. Also revealed is the attentional pattern of extremists and their discourse together with clues-based conclusions about text type, as well as ‘warning’ behaviours and motives for aggression which vary according to the authors’ ideological differences.

‘Marriage is like Gambling’: Interpreting and Narrating Stories of Hakka Chinese Indonesians’ Marriage Migration

ABSTRACT This article examines the stories of marriages between ethnic Hakka Chinese women from Singkawang, Indonesia and men in Taiwan. Initially, Indonesians described marriage as an opportunity to achieve a better life, whereas Taiwanese saw a ‘foreign spouse’ as the means to fulfil caring duties and carry on family lines. Marriage from Singkawang to Taiwan was a normative practice shaped by cultural, sociopolitical, and economic conditions, which peaked in number in the early 21st century. Yet these marriages rapidly declined in number after 2010, as Indonesia’s economy improved, and as attitudes changed when returning women told stories of failed marriages and abusive spouses and in-laws in Taiwan. Analysis of stories collected from more than 100 participants in Singkawang shows how participants interpreted ‘good’ and ‘bad’ marriages via an adaptive and malleable folk theory of fate and luck. Hence, parents can narrate themselves as passive, ill-fated participants not responsible when their daughters’ marriages turn bad. Or a woman can say that it is her fate to ‘try’ marriage and narrate herself as having agency when making decisions that test her luck. Therefore, this study deepens and enriches our understanding of the complexities and enduring impacts of marriage migration as experienced across time in Asia.