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Effect of Silane-Treated Pineapple Leaf Fibre and Hemp Fibre on Green Natural Rubber Composites: Interface and Mechanics.
No full textThis study developed a natural rubber (NR) composite reinforced with surface-modified pineapple leaf fibres (PALFs) and hemp fibres (HFs) using a layer-by-layer (sandwich-like) fabrication method. The objectives were to increase the utilisation of the natural fibres as reinforcing agents and to investigate the impact of silane fibre surface modification on the properties of the sandwich composites. Fibre surface characterisation was performed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to confirm the presence of functional groups from silane and cellulose. The wettability and adhesion properties of the modified fibres were also evaluated. The mechanical properties were investigated via single-fibre tensile tests. Composites with 50 phr silane-treated PALF showed the best compromise in terms of interface adhesion (48.3 mJ/m2) and tensile strength (6 MPa). This result was also supported by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which revealed the absence of voids between the fibres and the NR matrix. Furthermore, dynamic mechanical analysis showed that the PALF composite treated with silane at 50 phr exhibited the best viscoelastic behaviour. NR composites with 50 phr silane-treated PALF have mechanical properties suitable for potential applications in engineering products
When safety for you means danger for me: the racial politics of carceral public safety discourse.
No full textSafety is a human right and universal need, and yet we as researchers and practitioners often take for granted the conditions that help people feel safe. In this conceptual review, we focus on factors that contribute to people's sense of safety in service of understanding how, when, and where people feel safe. Moreover, we consider how race, power, and privilege shape people's sense of safety and danger. In doing so, we highlight how public safety is not an objective or static reality but rather a political project that reflects dominant ideologies and serves state interests. We begin this conceptual review with a discussion of how public safety is a social construct whose meaning varies across time, space, and place. Next, we discuss three dominant ideologies that are embedded within collective public safety discourse: permanent bad guy syndrome, the victimization-fear paradox, and the politics of ideal victimhood. Together, these ideologies help to shape carceral public safety frameworks, which is the dominant paradigm in our culture. We then illuminate some of the underlying assumptions within carceral public safety frameworks and their implications for responses to public safety concerns, including elevating the safety concerns of dominant groups while criminalizing undesirable bodies, undermining stigmatized communities' ability to access public safety and justice, legitimizing suspicion and surveillance, incentivizing carceral responses while diverting resources from safety promotion programs, and altering public spaces. In doing so, we highlight how carceral public safety frameworks reflect and reinforce existing injustices while also contributing to the stigmatization, marginalization, and manufactured precarity of social groups deemed undesirable and therefore unworthy of protection. We conclude with a discussion of alternative models of public safety which are rooted in life-affirming frameworks, which focus on improving people's material conditions as a means of lessening and preventing the likelihood and impact of interpersonal violence
Identifying priority wetland sites in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway for migratory bird conservation.
No full textThe East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) is widely recognised to be the most threatened of the eight flyways in the world, with wetlands rapidly lost due to land cover change, unsustainable use, and the wider impacts of climate change. The recently established EAAF Regional Flyway Initiative (RFI) aims to bring a set of priority wetlands in the EAAF under improved protection, management, and restoration in 10 Asian countries, while mobilising resources for sustainable agriculture, aquaculture, ecotourism, and other livelihoods for local communities. A major step in the development of this initiative is the identification of priority wetland sites through the application of international criteria, based on modern waterbird count data collated from wetland sites across Asia. Through existing analyses and expert consultations, we short-listed a minimum of 270 internationally important wetlands as candidate localities for further assessment. Count data of EAAF waterbird species was then assessed against international criteria aligned with the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention), the EAAF Partnership's Flyway Site Network and Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for each site to iteratively identify a subset of priority sites, drawing on newly available species population thresholds. Each site was scored and ranked using a metric (Prioritisation Criterion 1) calculated from the proportions of every occurring EAAF species against published population thresholds. We identified a total of 147 wetland sites of high conservation priority across the 10 countries, both freshwater and coastal. At least 34 threatened species, including significant proportions of their global populations are represented in this set of 147 sites. To ensure that conservation opportunities are maximised for species and ecosystem services, there is a need to ensure that selected sites and landscapes are reconciled with the conservation and development priorities of each country, ecological connectivity and to evaluate priority sites for their ecosystem services
Personal Network Composition and Cognitive Reflection Predict Susceptibility to Different Types of Misinformation
No full textDespite a rapid increase in research on the underpinnings of misinformation susceptibility, scholars still disagree about the relative impacts of social context and individual cognitive factors. We argue that cognitive reflection and identity-based network homogeneity may have unique influences on different types of misinformation. Specifically, identity-based network homogeneity predicts bias that is related to any type of identity-based information (i.e., political rumors), and cognitive reflection is more tailored toward truth discernment (i.e., fake news headlines). We conducted our study using an online sample (N = 214) split evenly between Democrats and Republicans and collected data on personal network composition, cognitive reflection, as well as susceptibility, sentiments, and sharing behavior in relation to political rumors and misinformation, respectively. Results demonstrate that where network homogeneity predicts belief and sharing in both political rumors and fake news headlines, cognitive reflection only predicts belief and sharing of fake news headlines. Social vs. cognitive factors for predicting different types of misinformation are discussed
Eternality and Fluidity of Dharma in the Dharmaśāstra Tradition: A Case Study of Women’s Personhood from Manusmṛti to Manubhāṣya
No full textThis dissertation aims to re-evaluate the prevailing perception of dharma as presented in the
Dharmaśāstra as a static and immutable socio-religious law. It contends that the Dharmaśāstra
tradition may be more accurately understood as a dynamic intellectual system that has a
demonstrable capacity for adaptation over time. This study investigates the concept of women's
dharma (strīdharma) in the Mānavadharmaśāstra/Manusmṛti (MDh) and its commentary, the
Manubhāṣya (MnBh) by Medhātithi, as a case study to examine whether change is introduced
into the Dharmaśāstra and, if so, how such change is assimilated.
The main approach involves a detailed analysis of the MnBh, categorising interpretations into
different layers and pinpointing those that lack precedent within the established tradition. These
unique interpretations are then contextualised by comparing them with historical evidence from
Medhātithi’s likely time period and region. The theory of personhood is also employed to
accurately conceptualise dharma as a social category-based code of conduct, enabling its
connection to the historical role and status of socio-legal groups, such as women.
The findings indicate that Dharmaśāstra texts, especially commentaries, employed various
mechanisms to bridge the gap between the 'eternality' of the so-called divine code of conduct
(dharma) and the demands of changing socio-economic and real-world conditions by adapting
it into a more pragmatic system of law where feasible. The study of women's personhood in
the MnBh reveals that Medhātithi employs established mechanisms to incorporate
contemporary understandings of women's social and legal positions into the existing
framework of strīdharma. This process was not an abrupt break but a subtle intellectual effort
to account for conduct that occurred in real historical contexts, utilising the idiom of the
tradition itself.
Ultimately, this dissertation aims to show that the history of the Dharmaśāstra may be
characterised by intellectual dynamism and interpretive ingenuity. By exploring the tradition's
capacity for internal reform through a context-sensitive approach informed by historical
evidence, this study aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of non-Western
historical legal systems, potentially fostering a more inclusive and pluralistic perspective on
global legal history
Automated Image-to-BIM Using Neural Radiance Fields and Vision-Language Semantic Modeling
No full textThis study introduces a novel, automated image-to-BIM (Building Information Modeling) workflow designed to generate semantically rich and geometrically useful BIM models directly from RGB images. Conventional scan-to-BIM often relies on specialized, costly, and time-intensive equipment, specifically if LiDAR is used to generate point clouds (PCs). Typical workflows are followed by a separate post-processing step for semantic segmentation recently performed by deep learning models on the generated PCs. Instead, the proposed method integrates vision language object detection (YOLOv8x-World v2) and vision based segmentation (SAM 2.1) with Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) 3D reconstruction to generate segmented, color-labeled PCs directly from images. The key novelty lies in bypassing post-processing on PCs by embedding semantic information at the pixel level in images, preserving it through reconstruction, and encoding it into the resulting color labeled PC, which allows building elements to be directly identified and geometrically extracted based on color labels. Extracted geometry is serialized into a JSON format and imported into Revit to automate BIM creation for walls, windows, and doors. Experimental validation on BIM models generated from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based exterior datasets and standard camera-based interior datasets demonstrated high accuracy in detecting windows and doors. Spatial evaluations yielded up to 0.994 precision and 0.992 Intersection over Union (IoU). NeRF and Gaussian Splatting models, Nerfacto, Instant-NGP, and Splatfacto, were assessed. Nerfacto produced the most structured PCs suitable for geometry extraction and Splatfacto achieved the highest image reconstruction quality. The proposed method removes dependency on terrestrial surveying tools and separate segmentation processes on PCs. It provides a low-cost and scalable solution for generating BIM models in aging or undocumented buildings and supports practical applications such as renovation, digital twin, and facility management
Do stable neural networks exist for classification problems? – A new view on stability in AI
No full textAbstract In deep learning (DL), the instability phenomenon is widespread and well documented, and the most commonly used measure of stability is the Lipschitz constant. While a small Lipchitz constant is traditionally viewed as guarantying stability, it does not capture the instability phenomenon in DL for classification well. The reason is that a classification function – which is the target function to be approximated – is necessarily discontinuous, thus having an ‘infinite’ Lipchitz constant. As a result, the classical approach will deem every classification function unstable, yet basic classification functions a la ‘is there a cat in the image?’ will typically be locally very ‘flat’ – and thus locally stable – except at the decision boundary. The lack of an appropriate measure of stability hinders a rigorous theory for stability in DL, and consequently, there are no proper approximation theoretic results that can guarantee the existence of stable networks for classification functions. In this paper, we introduce a novel stability measure , for any classification function , appropriate to study the stability of classification functions and their approximations. We further prove two approximation theorems: First, for any and any classification function on a compact set , there is a neural network (NN) , such that only on a set of measure ; moreover, (as accurate and stable as up to ). Second, for any classification function and , there exists a NN such that on the set of points that are at least away from the decision boundary
Anecdotes and guidance notes: surviving and thriving as a woman in science
No full textWomen have overtaken men in academic engagement and achievement at virtually all levels of secondary and tertiary education. However, despite numerous initiatives over several decades, women currently comprise only a fraction (13%–28%, depending on the discipline) of those following engineering, physics and materials-science careers, particularly at the senior level. Consequently, role models for early-career women scientists are sorely lacking. Aware of these and other obstacles for women in science and having engaged with many who have faced such challenges, a group of early- to senior-career women (including four of the current authors) were keen to improve the situation ‘on the ground’ for their peers. Accordingly, meetings were organised in the UK in 2023 (Femincam, focusing on electronic materials) and in 2025 (Women in Science Promoting Energy Research, focusing on energy materials). In total, there were around 200 participants, mainly PhD and postdoctoral researchers, of whom 5%–10% were male. We both heard about the exciting science of early-career women via talks and poster presentations and learned of the personal experiences that accompanied their creative and scientific endeavours. We hoped to find out whether career experiences could be improved and, if so, how this might be done. A wide variety of challenges were articulated, and potential solutions were discussed at both meetings. The challenges reflected existing published data, but new perspectives also emerged. In this paper, we present guidance notes, based on recommendations of and conversations with the participants at the meeting. We hope that all who are concerned with keeping women researchers in science careers find these reflections helpful and are moved to act upon them
WEAVE imaging spectroscopy of NGC 6720: an iron bar in the Ring
No full textABSTRACT We present spatially resolved spectroscopic observations of the planetary nebula NGC 6720, the Ring Nebula, taken during the science verification phase of WEAVE, a new instrument mounted on the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma. We use the instrument’s Large Integral Field Unit (LIFU) to obtain spectra of the Ring Nebula, covering its entire optically bright inner regions as well as parts of its much fainter outer molecular halo. We report the discovery of emission from [Fe v] and [Fe vi] confined to a narrow ‘bar’ extending across the central regions of the nebula. No lines of other elements share this morphology or, at the spectral resolving power used (), the same radial velocity. The extent to which iron in this bar is depleted is presently unclear; comparison with JWST-detected dust continuum emission suggests that some dust grain destruction may be occurring in the region, but there is currently no observational evidence for the 50 km s shock waves or K X-ray emitting gas needed to enable this. Where the bar is located along the line of sight through the nebula, and how it was created, are new puzzles to be solved for this iconic planetary nebula
Christians and Manichaeans on the Silk Road
Full text linkAbstract This study chronicles the major discovery of textual evidence about the eastward diffusion of two major world religions, Christianity and Manichaeism, along the Silk Road, and their eventual arrival in Tang China. It begins with the well-known discovery of the Xi’an Monument (once called the Nestorian Monument) in the seventeenth century and the controversy it stirred up in European scholarship because it was a relic of the (Christian) Church of the East. The study then focuses on discoveries of both Christian and Manichaean material made at the eastern end of the Silk Road, especially at Kaochang (medieval Qočo) and Dunhuang, which authenticated the Monument and inaugurated the study of the history of these two religions in pre-Modern China. The final part of the study chronicles the survival of these two Near-Eastern religions in China and asks whether our knowledge of Christianity in China under the Mongols contributes to the ongoing debate on the historicity of Marco Polo’s visit to China proper