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2023 research outputs found
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Utopian Nightmares: Speculative Design and Feminist Futuring with Design Students
No full textFuturing is an exercise in thinking about, picturing possible outcomes in, and planning for the future. In design, futuring is a deeply fraught process shaped by who is in the room, the tools used, and the belief systems that are reinforced. The feminist cultural studies scholar Sarah Kember asserts that futurism is problematic in its adherence to technology-driven visions that play out a limited dualism of utopias and dystopias (1). Utopian thinking, especially, has been criticized as well-intentioned but naive attempts to solve complex social problems with simplistic technological solutions (2). Feminist utopian thinking, however, reconstructs the idea of a radically better future without attempting to define it, viewing utopianism as an activity rather than a completed image. It holds “multiple possible futures-in-process" (3). It is emergent and contingent rather than comprehensive (4).
This paper shares the account of a project called Utopian Nightmares, facilitated with undergraduate and graduate students in the Design + Feminism course at the University of Arkansas in spring 2024. Students experimented with the application of feminist utopias to generate speculative design concepts in response to a need or a situation in their imagined future. The future they envision could be plausible, possible, preferable, or none of the above. With the understanding that one person\u27s utopia might be someone else\u27s nightmare, students engaged with Donna Haraway’s definition of irony: “the tension of holding incompatible things together because both or all are necessary or true; Irony is about humor and serious play" (5). The 18 unique projects were presented as posters that explored varying issues such as the political system, AI, local food systems, habitation of other planets, and the singularity. Their proposals represent multiple possible futures-in-process that enact critical making as a means to reconsider the role of design in addressing our collective liberation
Surveying Medieval Perceptions of Nature Using a Combination of Historical and Scientific Sources
No full textIn a modern world facing unprecedented anthropogenic environmental disaster, the academic interdisciplinarity is more relevant than ever. Environmental history is an area of study that requires the collaboration of historians and scientists alike. However, research is typically done from a one–sided perspective with little effort to understand the other. As many experts agree, geography heavily influences history.1 Environmental historians must use scientific proxy data regarding past ecological conditions in addition to a variety of historical sources, including religious texts, art, mythology, architecture, economics, and pieces of literature, to reconstruct past perception of nature. By doing so, the historian can gain a deeper insight into the scientific phenomena going on at the same time as historical events and movements to find potential connections. This can be seen in many different areas of environmental history research. This study analyzes various sources of medieval European animals, plants, water, and land use to gain an understanding of the diverse attitudes that people living during this time period held towards their environment. This ensures that environmental historians do not fall into the habit of resorting to approaches that make false generalizations, as leading figures in the field, such as Joyce E. Salisbury and Richard C. Hoffman, have criticized
Comparative Analysis of Multi-Channel Feature Extraction Using a Modified K-means and PCA for PARS-to-H&E Image Translation
No full textHistological staining, particularly H\&E staining, is essential in pathology for visualizing tissue structures, but traditional methods are time-consuming. Photon Absorption Remote Sensing (PARS), a high-resolution microscopy technique, offers a promising alternative by capturing H\&E-like contrasts directly, enabling virtual staining without the need for chemical reagents. However, differentiating biological structures remains challenging for current models. We propose that channel-specific feature extraction could enhance colorization accuracy. This study investigates the effectiveness of modified K-means algorithm and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for feature extraction in virtual staining. Results reveal that features produced by the K-means approach more effectively isolate tissue-specific structures, leading to improved labeling compared to PCA and conventional PARS channels. This advantage is demonstrated both quantitatively, through higher Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) scores, and visually, with enhanced colorization outcomes
MKNO: Multi-Kernel Neural Operator
No full textNeural operators learn resolution independent map-
pings between functional spaces, and are a pop-
ular way to generate solutions for an entire class
of partial differential equations (PDE) as opposed
to just one instance, leading to significant compu-
tational gains. However, these methods rely on a
continuous-discrete equivalence between the func-
tional form and the samples, which may be vio-
lated if the samples are not captured faithfully. We
propose the multi-kernel neural operator (MKNO)
which can capture different frequency components
at varying levels of resolutions. MKNO accom-
plishes this by using the Fourier kernels to capture
lower frequency global information and graph ker-
nels to capture more local and high frequency fea-
ture information. MKNO is discretization invariant,
and learns a general solution operator that can be
applied to varying discretizations. To validate our
architecture we apply MKNO to a number of differ-
ent two dimensional PDEs
Economic Policy Uncertainty and Exchange Market Pressure: Panel Evidence: NA
No full textControlling for macroeconomic indicators and trade openness, this study examined the impact of economic policy uncertainty on exchange market pressure for a panel of 25 countries from 2003Q2 to 2021Q3. The pooled mean group estimator, which allows for variation in short-run estimates and error variances but constrains long-run parameters to be the same, was employed to conduct the analysis. The overall panel was further split into developed, developing, and emerging economies panels to check if there was variation in the effect of economic policy uncertainty. Further, we split the entire sample into pre and post-GFC period to account for potential nonlinearity caused by the structural break (i.e., global financial crisis). Results indicate significant positive effect of economic policy uncertainty on EMP1. Economic policy uncertainty has larger impact on developing and emerging economies EMP1 than their developed counterparts entire sample period and all countries panel all sample periods. For EMP2 economic policy uncertainty has significant effect only for developing and emerging economies entire sample period. Furthermore, the effect of uncertainty in economic policy on EMP1 is larger in pre-GFC period than post-GFC period for all countries and developed economies panel. For developing and emerging economies, post-GFC is larger than pre-GFC period. All the remaining variables have mixed effect on either of the exchange market pressure indexes.
Immigration Aversion Under Labor Bargaining
No full textThe recent salience of immigration as an issue among segments of the population in wealthy countries has often been understood as a product of tension between economic interests and cultural preferences. However, such explanations largely ignore differences in power between immigrant and native communities and the cohesion of local community institutions. This article develops a bargaining model that highlights how power asymmetries between workers and employers interact with community cohesion to result in immigration aversion. Community cohesion among both migrant and native workers is modeled through their fallback positions. We show that the salience of immigration depends on the bargaining power of native and migrant workers. Further, we demonstrate that if the bargaining power of both native and migrant workers are low enough, then immigration aversion can exist even if immigration does not reduce labor demand for native workers
The Coxswain’s Widow: Charity, Heroism, and the Working Class in the Life and Death of James Maynard
No full textIn the months following the drowning of James Maynard, the circumstances of his death were commemorated in prose. A poem, “The Lifeboat,” was written by an accountant from Exeter named Samuel Steer. Describing James’ heroism and the tragedy of his loss, both to his family and the community at large, Steer published his work as part of a general fundraising effort for Thirza Maynard, widow of the late coxswain, and her eleven children. It was this poem that first drew me to the story of James Maynard—though he was my third great–grandfather, I knew nothing of his life or death before encountering “The Lifeboat.”8 From its lines emerged a narrative of heroism, charity, working–class ideals, intertwined with the history of a changing seaside community at the heart of the Victorian era. To Steer and the people of Bude, Cornwall, and beyond, James was the personification of popular British values of the nineteenth century: his story marks the intersections of class, gender, personal image, and patriotism at the forefront of contemporary social discourse. In this essay, I will follow the life of James Maynard, the repercussions of his death, and the extent to which these relate to the experiences of his widow, Thirza, the Exeter accountant Samuel Steer, and a myriad of other players, local and otherwise. His voice is never heard directly—he left no record of his personal thoughts and feelings—but his story remains nonetheless, told through accounts of his actions and efforts to do him justice. Through the magnification of a single tragic tale amidst a sea of history, this essay and the story of the late coxswain present a view of life, death, and British values of the Victorian era. 
Les données sont en péril!
No full textThis GIS Trends column offers another angle on data preservation (see my "Here Today, Here Tomorrow…" piece from the Summer 2024 issue, linked in the references section below). While last time we discussed the loss of research outputs and the data hosted therein with the retirement of Esri\u27s "Classic Story Maps", today we discuss the loss of more "stable" data sources, namely government sources. As we\u27ve seen, even something as simple as the name of a place (see Treisman, 2025 on the Gulf of Mexico) can be changed, though even that can lead to a question of changed for who (see Thiessen, 2025 on Denali)