48651 research outputs found
Sort by
Neurodiverse Lives
No full textNeurodiversity names the move from the problematisation of neurological difference as deficiency in a person to the affirmation of the inherent and inseparable existence of neurodivergent realities. This chapter teases out how a broad variety of neurodiverse experiences and performances can be understood through a cultural geographical lens and, vice versa, how neurodiverging spatialities inform and challenge cultural geographical understandings of subjectivity and body-world relations. It explores vital frictions, abrasive moments, and fiery joys that make up the everyday lives of folks with the extraordinary sensory, perceptive, and social experiences associated with autism, ADHD, Tourette's, OCD, and agoraphobia amongst others. Rather than approaching neurodiverse lives through the prism of normalcy, normativity, and difference, the chapter reflects on the reductions and limitations of neurotypicality. A neurodiverse cultural geography could embrace new spatial structuring intensities across human and nonhuman phenomena to better understand the formation of neurodivergent lifeworlds as emergent with multiple cultures and cultural ecologies
Pretraining Techniques for Steel Surface Roughness Prediction with Long Thin Spatial Industrial Data
Get PDF‘Of course we make money, but it has to be in a responsible way’: safer gambling practices reported by state-owned gambling operators
Get PDFBackground: Gambling can be regulated in different ways, with some jurisdictions having competitive markets of privately-owned operators, some jurisdictions having state-owned operators that have exclusive legal monopolies, and in other jurisdictions former state-owned monopolies now compete in markets against privately-owned operators. While privately-owned operators tend to emphasize gamblers’ individual responsibility while implementing suboptimal voluntary harm-prevention measures, less is known about the safer gambling practices of state-owned gambling operators, a topic which we aim to contribute to here. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants employed in safer gambling roles at state-owned gambling operators in 10 jurisdictions, with transcripts then subjected to thematic and discourse-based analyses. Results: Participants constructed distinctive identities for their organizations. State-owned operators were portrayed as being uniquely capable of balancing profit with consumer protection, of building consumer trust, and in pioneering in harm reduction. The safer gambling practices of privately owned operators were described as ‘performative’, whereas state-owned operators emphasized a more ‘authentic’ approach. This included making safer gambling tools accessible, proactively contacting customers experiencing harm, and implementing operator-driven limits based on risk profiles. When discussing competitive market dynamics, participants challenged dominant narratives about illegal gambling markets. Participants criticized excessive marketing practices by private operators and advocated for system-wide approaches to harm prevention rather than fragmented ones. Conclusions: The perspectives from state-owned gambling operators should be integrated into new harm-prevention approaches for today’s online and interconnected gambling world
Judge and Jury Perceptions of Open Source Evidence
No full textOpen source evidence has come to play a central role for our ways of knowing about human rights violations and atrocity crimes. Yet, little is known about how judges and juries assess and evaluate such evidence. This chapter presents unique empirical insights from qualitative interviews with international judges, and from a fictional jury trial designed to explore lay factfinders’ perceptions of open source evidence. It examines the perceived limits of open source evidence, source credibility and source bias, and factfinders’ perceptions of the role of expert testimony. The chapter reveals that factfinders are conscious of the limits of open source evidence and emphasize the need for corroboration in view of those limits. They consider the source of open source evidence, and their potential bias, as important in their assessment of the evidence. Expert testimony is also seen as crucial, although questions remain about who qualifies as an expert and what kinds of expertise are required in a rapidly-evolving field
Assessing microbially influenced corrosion of titanium as novel canister material for geological disposal facilities
No full textIn response to the growing global inventory of nuclear waste and the urgent need for secure long-term disposal solutions, geological disposal facilities (GDFs), also known as deep geological repositories, are being pursued worldwide. Several national programmes, including those in the UK, Japan, and Canada, are evaluating corrosion-resistant alloys for waste canisters. Among these, novel materials such as titanium alloys have emerged as promising candidates due to their protective TiO₂ films. However, the threat of microbial corrosion under repository-relevant conditions remains highly unexplored. To address this, titanium discs (grade 2, ASTM B348) were incubated in bentonite slurries with synthetic pore-water at 30 °C and 60 °C under strictly anoxic, dark conditions, mimicking deep underground GDF environments. Electron donors (acetate, lactate) and an electron acceptor (sulphate) were added to stimulate microbial activity and assess long-term canister performance. All titanium samples retained an intact TiO₂ layer with no detectable pitting or localised damage. Microscopic (SEM) and spectroscopic (XPS) analyses showed slight thinning of titanium oxide films and microbial presence co-located with bentonite, but no evidence of corrosion products or metal loss. Micro-FTIR showed functional groups associated with microbial presence (proteins, lipids, and polysaccharides) in the bentonite, but not on titanium surfaces. The experimental design aimed to promote bacterial activity to simulate worst-case GDF biotic conditions.These findings demonstrate titanium’s exceptional stability against microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) in stimulated GDF-like environments. This study supports the structural viability of titanium canisters for nuclear waste disposal and underscores the importance of considering microbial factors in long-term corrosion assessments
Sustainable remanufacturing of mesoscopic carbon perovskite solar cells using green solvents
Get PDFWe present a green-solvent remanufacturing strategy for mesoscopic carbon-based perovskite solar cells (CPSCs) that enables complete recovery of the printed device stack. By immersing aged devices in γ-valerolactone (GVL), the perovskite absorber can be selectively removed without harming the underlying mesoporous carbon scaffold. Fresh perovskite is then reinfiltrated, restoring up to 89% of the device's first life power conversion efficiency (PCE). This sustainable method offers a promising route toward circularity in scalable perovskite photovoltaic technologies
Intrinsically microporous polymer (PIM-1) enhanced degradation of heptadecafluoro-1-nonanol at graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)
Get PDFThe photochemical transformation of polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) leads to structural unzipping to give rise to fluoride and further degradation products depending on (i) the type of photocatalyst as well as on (ii) microporous coatings or reaction environments. Here, a substantial increase in photocatalyst performance is observed by coating graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) with an intrinsically microporous polymer (PIM-1) to enhance interaction with heptadecafluoro-1-nonanol (as a PFAS model)
Generally covariant quantum mechanics
Get PDFWe obtain generally covariant operator-valued geodesic equations on a pseudo-Riemannian manifold M as part of the construction of quantum geodesics on the algebra D(M) of differential operators. Geodesic motion arises here as an associativity condition for a certain form of first-order differential calculus on this algebra in the presence of curvature. The corresponding Schrödinger picture has wave functions on spacetime and proper time evolution by the Klein–Gordon operator, with stationary modes being solutions of the Klein–Gordon equation. As an application, we describe gravatom solutions of the Klein–Gordon equations around a Schwarzschild black hole, i.e. gravitationally bound states which far from the event horizon resemble atomic states with the black hole in the role of the nucleus. The spatial eigenfunctions exhibit probability density banding as for higher orbital modes of an ordinary atom, but of a fractal nature approaching the horizon
FinTech, Financial Inclusion, and Environmental Outcomes: Evidence From the European Transition Towards Sustainability
Get PDFThis paper aims to investigate Europe's transition towards sustainability. We explore the role of FinTech, financial inclusion, green innovation, renewable energy, and natural resource rents on carbon dioxide emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, and the ecological footprint. This paper applies a panel dataset of 31 European countries from 2004 to 2021. The analysis is based on the Panel Corrected Standard Error estimation followed by the Driscoll–Kraay standard errors method and Feasible Generalized Least Squares method. The results demonstrate that FinTech, financial inclusion, and renewable energy considerably lessen emissions and ecological footprint. It ends with policy issues to promote sustainable development targets in Europe
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Swansea University Cronfa? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!