Related Issues Research Articles

Segregation of Phosphorus and Silicon at the Grain Boundary in Bcc Iron via Machine-Learned Force Fields

The study of the effects of impurity on grain boundaries is a critical aspect of materials science, particularly when it comes to understanding and controlling the properties of materials for specific applications. One of the related key issues is the segregation preference of impurity atoms in the grain boundary region. In this paper, we employed the on-the-fly machine learning to generate force fields, which were subsequently used to calculate the segregation energies of phosphorus and silicon in bcc iron containing the ∑5(310)[001] grain boundary. The generated force fields were successfully benchmarked using ab initio data. Our further calculations considered impurity atoms at a number of possible interstitial and substitutional segregation sites. Our predictions of the preferred sites agree with the experimental observations. Planar concentration of impurity atoms affects the segregation energy and, moreover, can change the preferred segregation sites.

Damage and failure characteristics of single fractured cyan sandstone subjected to freeze–thaw cycles under uniaxial compression

In order to explore the freeze–thaw (FT) damage characteristics of fractured rock masses, FT cycle tests and uniaxial compression tests were conducted on intact and pre-cracked cyan sandstone samples, respectively. The degradation laws of physical and mechanical properties of samples under FT cycle conditions were analyzed, and the FT damage mechanism and failure mechanism were explored accordingly. The results indicate that as the number of FT cycles (N) increases, the saturation weight change rate and porosity of the sample continue to increase, while the P-wave velocity continues to decrease. The closure stress, initiation stress, damage stress, and peak stress decrease linearly with increasing FT cycles, and increase linearly with increasing crack inclination angle (β). Moreover, as FT cycles increase, the geological strength index GSI decreases linearly, while the damage factor (D) increases linearly. A Hoek Brown strength degradation model for fractured rocks subjected to FT damage under uniaxial compression was obtained, and its high reliability was verified using test results. The FT damage of cyan sandstone is mainly dominated by the frost heave force inside the rock, and the degree of FT damage of fractured samples is much higher than that of intact ones. The concentration of frost heave force at the crack tip leading to cracking is the key to exacerbating the FT damage in fractured rock masses. However, the crack initiation mechanism is still controlled by β. Whenβ = 90°, it exhibits tensile initiation mode, and whenβ = 45°, it mainly exhibits shear initiation mode. Moreover, the fracture of the single crack sample conforms to the compression-shear fracture criterion. Taking the sample with pre-crack inclination angle of 45° as an example, the variation of KI and KII, and the relationship between them are discussed accordingly. The results of this paper are beneficial to clarify the influence of FT cycles on the mechanical properties of cyan sandstone, and can provide reference for the study of related issues.

Metaphor and Health Communication: Use of Metaphor in HIV and AIDS Discourse

Language plays a fundamental role in combatting HIV and AIDS. In Kenya, English and Kiswahili are used as the languages of communication in HIV and AIDS related issues. The literacy rate in Kenya stands at 87.4% but research has indicated that only 17% of the population speak and use English effectively while, 65% speak and understand Kiswahili. The use of Kiswahili in health communication cannot be underscored given the fact that majority of the Kenyan population can understand and interpret Kiswahili messages received in a communication string. The fight on HIV and AIDS includes use of songs and poetry. A number of Kenyan artists have invented ways of fighting this scourge in their use of music and this entails use of metaphor in their songs. One such musician is Jackoniah Oyoo who employs metaphor in his song Merimela. Human beings use metaphor to make sense of reality. Metaphor is defined as understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another. In this scenario, a concrete or clearly organized source domain, being more clearly related to physical and bodily experience, is used to talk about a more abstract and less clearly structured target domain. Metaphorical conceptualization of concepts is so natural and at times unconscious to human beings that they do not even realize that they are using metaphor. This article seeks to examine the metaphorical conceptualization and interpretation of the metaphors used in the song Merimela. The ubiquity nature of metaphors makes it possible for a number of metaphors to be used in the song Merimela. This article reveals how metaphor reflects and structures Kenyans understanding of reality particularly the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Ecclesiological Insights into the Orthodox–Catholic Dialogue

The paper’s aim is to provide a synthetic and at the same time critical reading of the official theological dialogue, known as the “dialogue of truth”, between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. The paper will cover the period from the dialogue’s preparation, also known as the “dialogue of charity”, to the present day. It will analyse the ecclesiological aspects of this dialogue, focusing on sacraments, church ministries, primacy, synodality, and other related issues such as “Uniatism”. The essay will provide an overall evaluation of the dialogue, examining its reception and the need for concrete criteria of unity. Also, the paper will highlight the synodal and sacramental roots of episcopacy and their significance for the unity of the Church. The article will present insights from leading theologians, such as Joseph Ratzinger and John Zizioulas, to better understand the meaning and functions of primacy in the universal Church.

Hyperautomation as a vital optimization tool in organizations: cognitive approach with the use of Euler circles

Purpose Hyperautomation is a technological concept whose popularity has been growing continuously since the German manufacturing industry “initiated” the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), whereas, on the basis of theory, hyperautomation is a term still new and little recognized. This applies equally to scientific studies (articles, conference reports) and empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative). Therefore, this article attempts to fill definition gap that exists in the literature on management and quality sciences on the term hyperautomation.Design/methodology/approach The authors use literature review approach to identify the gaps in the existing literature on hyperautomation. They present a nominal definition of hyperautomation, discuss related issues and provide a comparative perspective between hyperautomation and automation.Findings The article’s findings include a precise definition of hyperautomation and the problems it raises. The authors point out that the term “hyperautomation” is still relatively new and underutilized in the management and quality sciences literature. It also compares hyperautomation to automation from several angles and emphasizes how it affects businesses, industries and other economic sectors.Practical implications Authors emphasize that in order to deploy hyperautomation successfully, enterprises must take a distributed and integrated approach.Originality/value This article addresses a gap in the management and quality sciences literature about the definition of hyperautomation. Authors give a thorough explanation of hyperautomation, along with relevant problems, useful implications and a comparison between hyperautomation versus automation.

Learning Sciences from the Past: Recovery, Study, and Cataloging of a Historical Natural History School Museum

School–museum partnerships have gained considerable attention in the academic literature in recent decades. However, their role in enhancing science education is still an under-researched topic. This work reports on the outcomes of the recovery, study, cataloging, and valorization of the 18th century geo-mineralogical collection belonging to the Collegio Nazareno, now housed at the Istituto San Giuseppe Calasanzio in Rome. The project, which was participated in by the students enrolled in the fourth- and fifth-grade high school classes, revealed rare specimens such as the mineralogical collection donated by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1741–1740) in 1785. Furthermore, the laboratory activities organized from the stored samples highlighted educational approaches that helped students to cope with the complexities of authentic scientific work and cultural related issues. This work thus offers significant insights into the importance of natural history school museums as useful (and oft-forgotten) learning tools in science education.

On Averroes’ response to al-Ghazali’s critique of Falsafa interpretation of bodily resurrection

This article serves as an introduction to the translation of the section on bodily resurrection, from the book «The Incoherence of the Incoherence» (Tahāfut at-Tahāfut) of the peripatetic philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes, 1126–1198), written in response to the work of the theologian-asharite al-Ghazali (1058–1111) «The Incoherence of the Philosophers» (Tahāfut al-Falāsifa). The paper reveals the presentist-intellectualist intention of Falsafa eschatology; it also gives a compendium of the polemics of two thinkers around two related issues that are the rational proofs for the immateriality of the soul and its incorruptibility. Moreover, the research provides a brief summary of the section of the Ghazalian book regarding resurrection. The authors also disclose the connection between the book of Ibn Rushd and his earlier theological and polemical treatises «On the correlation between philosophy and religion» and «On the methods of proof for the principles of creed».The article is intended to serve as an introduction to the translation of the section on bodily resurrection, which concludes the book of the peripatetic philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes, 1126–1198) «The Inconsistency of Inconsistency», compiled in refutation of the critical treatise «The Inconsistency of the Teachings of the Philosophers» by the mutaqallimah-ash'arite al-Ghazali (1058–1111).

Google Trends, bank popularity and depositors' fears in Indonesia

PurposeThis paper investigated whether a bank’s popularity and depositors' fear of Google search volume could affect bank deposits and credit.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used two different quarterly data from Google Trends and banking data from 2012 Q1 to 2020 Q1. Based on available data, Google Trends data start from 2012. The authors exclude data after 2020 Q1 because the Covid-19 pandemic arguably increased the volume of Internet users due to shifting behavior to online activities. They merged and cleaned the data by winsorizing at 5 and 95 percentiles to avoid any outlier problems, reaching 74 banks in the sample. They used panel data estimation of quarterly data following Levy-Yeyati et al. (2010) and Trinugroho et al. (2020).FindingsThe results show that a higher search volume of a bank’s name leads to higher deposits. A higher search volume of depositor fear reduces deposits and credit. The authors also found that banks with high risk and a high search volume of their name have a significantly lower volume of deposits.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, not many papers in banking and finance have used Google Trends data to gauge related issues regarding depositors' behavior. The authors have filled a gap in the literature by investigating whether the popularity of Google search and depositors' fear could impact deposits and credit. This study also attempted to establish whether Google Trends data could be a reliable source of information to predict depositors' behavior by using a Zscore to measure bank risk.

A Comparison of the Identity Construction of Foreign Ministers of PRC Regarding the Issues of Territorial Sovereignty and State Relations

The implicature under diplomatic discourse has been an interesting topic for both the media and the public. Foreign minister’s response to the media ought to stand for the position of the government and the foreign minister’s Question Time is made accessible on the Internet, thus the public may get to know what kind of people their leaders are and how they deal with other countries. However, chances are that spokesmen may react variously when they are confronted with some aggressive questions or some questions that make them feel offended. Additionally, different spokesmen may use different tactics in order to set forth China’s position and its attitudes towards territorial sovereignty and state relations. This paper aims to investigate the identity construction of two spokesmen through their responses to the media all over the world and to reveal the implicatures behind these responses. Foreign minister’s Question Time will be used as data.

The Global Situation of Karst Desertification Research Based on Forest Ecology

Karst desertification (KD) is a major ecological and environmental problem threatening human survival and development in karst areas. In order to explore the research situation and development trend of KD based on forest ecology, this paper provides a systematic literature review based on the CNKI and WoS databases, which involves search, appraisal, synthesis, and analysis. We performed a statistical and visual analysis of 2955 studies acquired between 1 January 1995 and 30 June 2023, including the time distribution of the studies, hot research trends, pivotal research clusters, literature co-citations, main publishing trends, and keyword bursts. The results show the following. (1) The literature shows a fluctuating growth trend, and the research trends are divided into accumulation, development, and expansion stages. (2) The pivotal research clusters comprised three major aspects: study area and method, driving and genetic mechanisms, and control technology and models. (3) KD research forms a China-centered research network, dominated by institutions and scholars in southwestern China. (4) Future research needs to solve a series of related scientific issues and technological needs for forest ecosystem function optimization, ecological product supply capacity enhancement, ecological product value realization, ecological industry formation, and rural revitalization in KD control. The purpose of this paper is to reveal research trends relating to KD and highlight the future direction of KD research and control.

Advancements and Applications of Blockchain Technology: A Comprehensive Analysis

The digital code of blockchain technology has revolutionized every aspect of business, commerce and industry. This new system eliminates the need to store and manage codes by providing timely and immutable data. Unlike the traditional systems, these blocks are not specific to a particular organization but are monitored by a network of nodes or computers. Strong encryption protection and connect all blocks together. Blockchain’s immutability and security have revolutionized fundamental concepts such as trust, ownership, identity, and financial transactions[6]. This technology enables secure, fast, transparent and pseudonymous transactions. A source of in- formation about blockchain, this article provides an in-depth study of blockchain’s history, principles and popularity. Additionally, various consensus algorithms used in the blockchain technology are also carefully examined. Originally conceived as a system for cryptocurrencies, blockchain has evolved into a transformative force across industries. The article discusses the concepts, methods and applications of blockchain technology. Blockchain’s decentralized structure, driven by decentralized ledgers and encrypted confirmation, ensures reliability, and security and transparency of information transactions. This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge about blockchain and is useful for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who want to better understand the technology’s impact and future directions. Additionally, this article will examine various applications and real-life examples of blockchain technology and addresses related issues and problems [2-8]. The presentation of non-current events expands the range of the potential applications. This study provides a better understanding of all aspects of blockchain by providing an overview of the products.

Socio-Economic Changes in Uzbekistan during the Years of Independence

This article discusses the economic issues of foreign relations on the example of Surkhandarya, the southern region of Uzbekistan, and the expansion of development ties with the impact of New Uzbekistan on the Surkhandarya oasis. During the years of independence, Surkhandarya has a special place in the economic relations of the country. The region has an abundance of raw materials and borders with Afghanistan.

LEISN: A long explicit–implicit spatio-temporal network for traffic flow forecasting

Recent studies have shown that it is necessary to further improve the prediction accuracy of complex and dynamic traffic flow from two angles: temporal dependence and spatial dependence. Although many spatio-temporal networks are extracting features from both temporal and spatial dependencies, there are still two problems that need to be addressed. Firstly, existing methods often focus on modeling local spatial dependence relationship between adjacent nodes, but neglect non-local spatial dependence relationship between distant nodes. Secondly, while recent work has explored various methods such as convolutional and recurrent neural networks for modeling temporal dependence, they may not fully capture the long-term temporal dependence in traffic data. Therefore, addressing the challenges of long-term dependency, explicit spatial dependency, and implicit spatial dependency, this paper proposes a Long-term Explicit–Implicit Spatio-Temporal Network (LEISN) for traffic flow prediction. A Long-term Dependency Module has been designed to store hidden states generated from multiple previous time steps, facilitating the transmission of long-term features. Based on this, two graph convolution-based spatial feature extraction branches are designed to extract explicit spatial features based on the adjacency matrix generated by spatial topology and implicit spatial features based on the implicit adjacency matrix generated by trend similarity, respectively. Then all spatio-temporal features are fused to produce the next state. Additionally, a new encoder framework, LENSI-ED, was proposed based on LEISN. Comparative experiments are conducted on four datasets, and the results showed that our model has advantages over existing methods. The proposed model addresses the issues of local and non-local spatial dependence relationships and long-term temporal dependence in traffic flow forecasting.

Abandoned vs. regenerated places: Evidence of five social impacts that improve urban planning

One of the under-researched issues in relation to urban restoration of abandonments is the impact they have on society and the well-being of the population. In this research we analyzed five socio-environmental impacts associated with urban regeneration plans. A total of 1265 individuals participated in this study; 621 resided near an unregenerate derelict site and the other 644 were around a site that was formerly abandoned and urbanistically restored. Structural equation models based on invariance analysis and latent mean analysis were used to control for response bias in the social perception of five impacts: place identity, place dependence, run-down perception, unsafe perception, and environmental stress. Counter intuitive results were obtained in relation to the sense of place: the abandoned site had higher levels of place identity and place dependence than the urbanistically regenerated place. The probability that abandoned places had higher levels of sense of place than regenerated places was close to 98 %. Nevertheless, we obtained statistical evidence that urban regeneration promoted reductions in residents' stress levels and improved run-down perception. We discuss the implications of sense of place for regeneration plans and offer new urban planning strategies according to the analyzed impacts.

Examination of secondary school students’ conceptual understanding, perceptions, and misconceptions about genetics concepts

Genetics concepts is taught at secondary school to equip students with relevant knowledge to engage with related socio-scientific issues in order to make a reasonable decision. However, earlier research shown that students exhibited poor comprehension of this concept. Despite several interventions, this problem persists. This study was designed to examine senior school students’ conceptual understanding, perceptions and misconceptions about genetics concepts as well as the causes of the misconceptions identified. The mixed methods design was adopted, while 789 students participated. Five instruments were used, while data collected were descriptively and content-analyzed. The results revealed that 21.4% of the students understood genetics concepts, 27.6% did not, while 51.0% had misconceptions. Students had negative perception of genetics concepts (<i>x</i> =2.47) and genetics contents indicator was the major causes of students’ misconceptions (<i>x</i> =2.92) against the 2.50 threshold. The teaching and learning of genetics concepts should be supported with relevant instructional materials and detailed textbooks.

City Governance, Participatory Democracy, and Cultural Heritage in Barcelona, 1986–2022

ABSTRACT Citizen participation in Barcelona has undergone a gradual process of institutionalisation that has accelerated over the last ten years. Today, participatory governance in areas such as urban planning and the management of social spaces is a hallmark of the city. However, citizen participation is only now beginning to occur in cultural heritage and comes with certain limitations. Through three diachronic case studies, this article explores the architecture of participation in Barcelona and its contribution to cultural heritage management. It analyses the role of cultural heritage as an actor in participatory processes and explores the degree of citizen participation in cultural heritage management. Our findings reveal that there is no participation in heritage itself, but there is participation in issues in relation to cultural heritage. This leads us to reflect on the lack of a true participatory turn in cultural heritage management.

Facial reconstruction of a deformed skull from the Roman period of Juliopolis

The use of digital technologies in archaeological research has become considerably more widespread in recent years. While the earliest records of the use of electronic data in archaeology date from the 1950 and 1960s, the field has kept growing with the increasing interest in digital tools such as digital photography, three-dimensional imaging, GIS, virtual and artificial reality applications, CAD and facial reconstruction. Such digitization practices are used frequently for documenting, record keeping, and preserving and representing the data recovered from archaeological contexts, and are linked to other fields, such as cultural heritage studies and museology. Facial reconstruction is used to recreate the faces of individual from the past using their skeletal remains. It has been practiced for different reasons in the fields of forensics, anthropology, and archaeology. This study focuses on the facial reconstruction of a skull unearthed from Juliopolis. The reason for choosing this skull in this study is that it is the first and only known deformed skull dated to the Roman period in Anatolia. For the facial reconstruction application, authors created a 3D modelling of the skull by photogrammetry. Then, the missing parts of the skull are completed using the virtual donor library. The results are presented in different forms, as grayscale, in colour with eyes closed or open. Also, the type of deformation is demonstrated in the skull. This study adopts a digital process and is more strongly linked to data interpolation related to the external surface of the face. The prominent advantage of the methodology is being strongly supported by information obtained from computed tomography (CT) scans of living individuals, leaving a little room for the artistic issue in relation to the basic aspect resulting from the interpolation of data. The benefit of facial reconstruction is especially important since it is a way of preserving and presenting archaeological and anthropological data.

‘Athletes’ participation in the National Anti-Doping Organisations of Germany and Poland: democratic governance?’

ABSTRACT Athletes’ participation in sports governance gains momentum at multiple levels and challenges the long-prevailing power relations in organised sport. At the same time, the sport-specific discourse on good governance extends to the field of anti-doping, following low levels of testing effectiveness, untransparent decision-making and ethical misconduct in leading anti-doping authorities. Adopting a case-oriented comparative approach between the National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) of Germany (NADA) and Poland (POLADA), two consecutive data collection steps were applied in mixed-methods design to assess and compare the status quo, and to discuss the future development of athletes’ participation in anti-doping through the lens of democratic processes in good governance research. First, document analysis showed important similarities and differences between the organisations’ approaches to athletes’ participation. Overall, NADA implements a more democratic and transparent approach than POLADA. Second, expert interviews revealed three key issues in relation to democratic forms of athletes’ participation in the two NADOs: athletes’ and their representatives’ (limited) personal resources and engagement (individual); an adequate degree of codification and institutionalisation of athletes’ representation on NADOs’ internal bodies (organisational); and NADOs’ operational (in-)dependence (political/systemic). Researchers and practitioners are recommended to further examine how NADOs’ control functions over athletes and athletes’ participation in their decision-making can be adequately balanced as part of aspirations to foster democratic governance in these organisations.

Optimizing Income Tax Exemption: A Focus on the 'Subsistence Minimum' Threshold

This article delves into the establishment of a perspective on introducing non-taxable income for individuals, emphasizing the effective organization of tax relations. Employing a rigorous research methodology, the study aims to provide conclusive insights, scientific recommendations, and practical guidance. The goals encompass fostering a deeper understanding of non-taxable income implications, while the methods involve a comprehensive examination of tax reforms, benefits, and personal income taxation. The results offer valuable perspectives on optimizing taxation systems, particularly in relation to the subsistence minimum. The implications of this research extend to informing global tax policies, promoting efficiency, and ensuring equitable fiscal practices.
 Highlights:
 
 The article explores the introduction of non-taxable income, addressing key issues in tax relations.
 It provides conclusive insights, scientific proposals, and practical recommendations for optimizing taxation systems.
 The research emphasizes the importance of fostering equitable fiscal practices and informing global tax policies.
 
 Keywords: Tax Relations, Tax-Free Income of Individuals, Personal Income Tax, Property Tax, Fiscal Practices

Folklore, Heritage, and the Public Sphere: Introduction

Abstract Though they tend to occupy separate universes of discourse, public folklore and heritage studies share areas of common concern, including authority and ownership of cultural objects, power asymmetries, safeguarding and sustainability, and the implication of heritage in local economies, politics, and environmental justice. This special issue encompasses multiple domains of public folklore and heritage discourse, including museums, archives, and cultural property issues; culinary tourism; and relations between cultural practitioners, institutions, audiences, and stakeholders. The six essays are based on an online webinar organized by the Fellows of the American Folklore Society that explored a wide range of questions including how communities conceptualize relationships between past and present, remake traditions of the past in the present, integrate heritage and environmental sustainability, and negotiate power dynamics among stakeholders. Following the webinar, small groups assembled in salons to discuss these and related issues. Summaries of the salons follow the six essays. Together, these essays and salon summaries address not only the ways that heritage navigates the past in the present but the temporalities of heritage practice, which imagines the future while considering the ethical and dialogic dimensions of heritage practices and policies.