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‘Welcome to Dounreay’: ideological narratives of hospitality at the Dounreay visitor centre, c.1960 - 2007
Get PDFDounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment (NPDE) was built in the far northeast of Scotland due to the possible ‘misbehaviour’ of the technology and the dangerous nature of the materials involved. From 1960 to the eve of decommissioning in 2007, despite numerous health and safety issues across the Dounreay nuclear facility, a visitor centre operated there. Initially, its purpose was to satisfy public curiosity and provide information about the atomic work being undertaken. From the 1970s, however, the objective of the Dounreay visitor centre shifted, to focus on overcoming public objections to nuclear power. Archive material made available by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was analysed according to themes addressed in the literature review. Findings reveal an ideological narrative curated by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and presented to the public via exhibitions, brochures, hands-on displays, and outreach activities. At the visitor centre, Dounreay and its associated technologies were simplified, ‘banalized,’ via a narrative that sought to frame an inhospitable destination (Dounreay) as a safe, welcoming, and hospitable place to visit
Improving the energy harvesting performance of clamped flexible plates using vortex shedding behind bluff bodies: A computational study
Get PDFThis study assesses flow-induced vibrations of clamped flexible plates with the objective of improving their energy harvesting performance. Towards this, a rectangular bluff body is placed between the two clamped flexible plates to harness the vortices generated behind the bluff body. The strain energy of the plate is used as a measure of energy harvesting performance. Computational studies are performed for different parameters of interest, such as dimensions and material properties of the plate and dimensions and locations of the bluff body. The effects of these stated parameters on flow-induced vibration response and vortical structures are investigated, and the optimal values for the location and geometry of the bluff body, as well as the aspect ratio and Young’s modulus of the plate for energy harvesting performance, are determined. The results show that vortex shedding from the bluff body strongly influences the dynamic behaviour and energy output of the flexible structures inside the wake region of the bluff body at different locations. Additionally, the aspect ratio and its effect on vorticity and energy harvesting are discussed in detail, along with the average displacement and average lift force experienced by the plates. The outcomes of this work offer significant insights into optimizing the design of clamped flexible plates for optimal energy generation by cleverly exploiting the vortex shedding behind fixed bluff bodies
The EU Commission touches upon the meaning of undertaking while exercising its power to obtain information (RAI/UNITEL)
No full textCase Comment on the EU Commission's decision in the 1978 competition law case RAI/UNITEL
Locomotion System-Independent, Portable Software Platform for Autonomous Rovers Navigation
No full textAutonomous navigation is a crucial feature of a rover driving on another planet like Mars due to communication latency at interplanetary distances. It significantly improves the daily traverse and can help rover drivers and engineers free the rover from hazards. Unknown areas can be explored with various locomotion techniques: wheeled rovers are the most common, but legged or crawling robots could represent a valid alternative. However, this might involve a lengthy and laborious design process of the onboard navigation software architecture, as it must be tailored to the chosen locomotion system. This paper presents a modular and adaptive method independent of the robot size and locomotion system, simplifying free field exploration and avoiding hazards along the traverse
Design, Analysis, and Measurement of Antennas
No full textThis Special Issue reprint aspires to illuminate recent strides and innovative methodologies in the design, analysis, and measurement of antennas across a spectrum of emerging wireless communication systems. The primary goal is to explore and spotlight cutting-edge advancements while pinpointing fresh avenues for the evolution of research and techniques in this dynamic field. Readers will delve into the forefront of antenna technology, gaining insights that not only showcase recent developments but also guide the way forward, promising exciting prospects for further research and exploration in the realm of wireless communication systems
Islamic Classical Literature (A.D. 950 – 1450) on Institutionalisation of Ethics for Regulating Markets and Society
Get PDFThe third expansion of the Islamic Caliphate (AD950–1450) produced the need for formalising an ethical framework to create an institutionalised approach to market regulations. During these times significant contribution to the literature was made regarding the modelling of the ethical premise of the duty to subscribe good and prohibit wrongs. It ranged from the formation of vigilante-styled civil duties to the institutionalisation of ethics in the form of the institution of hisbah, which is broadly understood as a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation (quango) designed to establish the ethical mandate within the medieval Muslim world. Our investigation maps the development of thoughts on embedding ethical rules in markets and within society between AD950–1450. This study explores and conceptualises the models for market regulations proposed by Al-Mawardi (d.AD1058), Al-Ghazali (d.AD1111), Ibn Taymiyya (d.AD1328), and Ibn Khaldun (d.AD1406). We formulate and compare the ethical models of these scholars in the context of their political–social positionings. The rationale for choosing these four scholars is the wide articulation and recognition of their logical ideas throughout Islamic history. This research examines the historic–ethical patterns within the corpus of Islamic thoughts that provide a discourse deixis for constructing regulatory models as conceptualised by these scholars for the institutionalised governance of markets and society in general
Innovative pathways to a circular economy in Saudi Arabia and its spillover effects on the Arab Region
Get PDFThis paper examines the transition towards a Circular Economy (CE) in Saudi Arabia and its potential spillover effects on the Arab region. The concept of a Circular Economy is based on stimulating production that reduces waste and pollution, keeping revenues and consumption expenditures within a closed circle. The paper will follow the numerous pathways of innovation that Saudi Arabia is taking to develop sustainability in the light of technological advancements, policy innovations, and new business models. SWOT analysis of the identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in implementing CE practices in the Kingdom; the advanced waste management, recycling initiatives, water conservation efforts, and closing with the importance of research and development. The paper highlights how Saudi Vision 2030 underlines those initiatives directed toward economic diversification, environmental sustainability, and reducing the Kingdom's reliance on oil revenues. This paper also attempts to identify how the CE efforts of Saudi Arabia are likely to impact regional collaboration and policy harmonisation, promoting economic and environmental benefits related to the Arab region. The findings underscore that the strategic investments and policy commitments will render the Kingdom a sustainable and resilient economy. The paper also discusses how public-private partnerships and international collaborations may drive the CE agenda. In a nutshell, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is best positioned to lead the Arab region in the practice of CE, thereby contributing to regional economic integration, promoting environmental sustainability in the Arab region, and tying the region to global sustainability efforts
Google search trends and stock markets: Sentiment, attention or uncertainty?
Get PDFKeyword-based measures purporting to reflect investor sentiment, attention or uncertainty have increasingly been used to model stock market behaviour. We investigate and shed light on the narrative reflected by Google search trends (GST) by constructing a neutral and general stock market-related GST index. To do so, we apply elastic net regression to select investor relevant search terms using a sample of 77 international stock markets. The index peaks around significant events that impacted global financial markets, moves closely with established measures of market uncertainty and it is predominantly correlated with uncertainty measures in differences, implying that GST reflect an uncertainty narrative. Returns and volatility for developed, emerging and frontier markets widely reflect changing Google search volumes and relationships conform to a priori expectations associated with uncertainty. Our index performs well relative to existing keyword-based uncertainty measures in its ability to approximate and predict systematic stock market drivers and factor dispersion underlying return volatility both in-sample and out-of-sample. Our study contributes to the understanding of the information reflected by GST, their relationship with stock markets and points towards generalisability, thus facilitating the development of further applications using internet search data
Exploring aspects of mentoring for black and minoritised healthcare professionals in the UK: a nominal group technique study
Get PDFObjective: Mentoring plays a crucial role in career development, particularly for black and minoritised ethnic (BME) professionals. However, existing literature lacks clarity on the impact of mentoring and how best to deliver for career success. This study aimed to ascertain perceptions and build consensus on what is important in mentoring for BME healthcare professionals. Design: Nominal group technique: The participants in the group followed a structured stepwise process of introduction, silent idea generation, each participant presenting ideas in turn, open discussion and priority voting based on common themes generated during the discussion. This was followed by the creation of a model covering the important aspects of mentoring for BME healthcare professionals. Setting: UK. Participants: A nominal group technique workshop with 12 participants briefed on this technique. Results: There was strong agreement about the most highly rated attributes. Participants emphasised the significance of psychosocial mentoring, highlighting trust, intimacy and clear communication of expectations between mentor and mentee. Discussions on race and racism in mentoring were considered essential. Mentoring circles were proposed as complementary to one-to-one mentoring, offering peer support. Participants stressed the importance of allies in the mentoring process, highlighting the need for authenticity, humility and courage in challenging established norms. Conclusion: This study helped create a mentoring model tailored to the needs of BME health and care professionals. This model highlights the importance of sponsorship, allyship, surface characteristics and peer support in fostering career progression for BME mentees. Key elements include mentor honesty, humility and awareness of bias and race issues, alongside skills for effective mentoring relationships. This model provides a mechanism for supporting and mentoring BME workers in healthcare for career advancement
A time series context self-supervised learning for soft measurement of the f-CaO content
No full textThe content of free calcium oxide (f-CaO) in cement clinker is an important index for cement quality. In the production of cement clinker, the number of unlabeled samples is excessive and there is an interplay between the variables in time. A time series context self-supervised learning (TS-CSSL) is proposed. This method constructs pretextual tasks based on the temporal relationships between different variables from a large amount of unlabeled time series data. Considering the process of cement production and the residence time of materials in each piece of equipment, the method designs the segmentation of periods for different variables in the context-based self-supervised pretextual task. On this basis, a soft sensor for f-CaO content was implemented. After the experimental validation, the evaluation metrics root means square errors ( of the TS-CSSL model decreased by 2.41% and improved by 10.93% compared to the random initialization model. Compared to the model with 8 sets of temporal relationships, the TS-CSSL model showed a decrease in of 5.33% and an increase in of 21.9%. The experimental results demonstrate that the feature representation learned by the model can be used in a CNN framework and the effectiveness of the proposed self-supervised assistance task
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