102 research outputs found
Carving out a space to belong: young Syrian men negotiating patriarchal dividend, (in)visibility and (mis)recognition in the Netherlands
Full text linkThis paper examines everyday life as a site of refugee politics by zooming in on lived experiences of Syrian male refugees in relation to exclusionary state and public discourses in the Netherlands. I use literature on place-making, encounter and boundary work to explore how privilege, visibility and recognition in public spaces are negotiated. The findings emphasize the messy realities of everyday life, differentiated experiences of oppression and privilege, and the way spatiality and intersectionality are articulated in these experiences. Syrian men experience increased visibility along the lines of gender, race and religion, but counter hostile discourses by claiming space and belonging in everyday places. Moreover, they strategically construct boundaries between themselves and other Syrian men to avoid misrecognition and not-belonging. The insights into intersectional variation are important to nuance the category of Syrian male refugees and raise questions about the unequal social relationships created and reinforced by integration frameworks.</p
“We’re not that much different from you!”:navigating positions of betweenness to explore solidarity, care and vulnerability in refugee and forced migration research
Full text linkThis paper argues that through reflexive examination of positions of betweenness in research relationships, insights are gathered that help to understand and address the often-contested research spaces in refugee and forced migration research. Following the completion of a research project with Syrian male refugees in the Netherlands, I investigate how multiple identities and shifting social positions impact research relationships, ethical considerations and knowledge production. Over time, the Syrian men and I occupy various positions due to the intersections of gender, generation, religion, ethnicity and migration status, shifting emphasis between similarities and differences. I show that a focus on positions of betweenness within these relationships may lead to sites of trust and solidarity, mutual acts of support and care, and insights into mutual vulnerability. As a result, the paper first highlights positions of betweenness as a strategy to develop ethical research practices by speaking to wider contexts of social and cultural inequalities and to momentarily transfer some of the power in the research process to participants. Second, the paper demonstrates that novel insights into the dynamic and messy nature of refugees’ everyday lives are gained as insights into betweenness allow both the ‘normal’ and the ‘vulnerable’ to surface.</p
Carving out a space to belong: young Syrian men negotiating patriarchal dividend, (in)visibility and (mis)recognition in the Netherlands
Full text link“We’re not that much different from you!”: navigating positions of betweenness to explore solidarity, care and vulnerability in refugee and forced migration research
Full text linkThis paper argues that through reflexive examination of positions of betweenness in research relationships, insights are gathered that help to understand and address the often-contested research spaces in refugee and forced migration research. Following the completion of a research project with Syrian male refugees in the Netherlands, I investigate how multiple identities and shifting social positions impact research relationships, ethical considerations and knowledge production. Over time, the Syrian men and I occupy various positions due to the intersections of gender, generation, religion, ethnicity and migration status, shifting emphasis between similarities and differences. I show that a focus on positions of betweenness within these relationships may lead to sites of trust and solidarity, mutual acts of support and care, and insights into mutual vulnerability. As a result, the paper first highlights positions of betweenness as a strategy to develop ethical research practices by speaking to wider contexts of social and cultural inequalities and to momentarily transfer some of the power in the research process to participants. Second, the paper demonstrates that novel insights into the dynamic and messy nature of refugees’ everyday lives are gained as insights into betweenness allow both the ‘normal’ and the ‘vulnerable’ to surface
Hegemonic masculinities after forced migration:Exploring relational performances of Syrian refugee men in The Netherlands
Full text linkMasculinities research has started to disentangle the gendered challenges men face after forced migration. This paper aims to contribute to this emerging work by exploring constructions of masculinities of young Syrian refugee men in the Netherlands. It builds on the accounts of twenty-two Syrian men between nineteen and thirty-five years old whose experiences were explored using in-depth interviews and walking interviews. Our respondents construct masculinities predominantly in relation to labour market access, paid work and perceived social status, however, meanings of masculinities are differentiated by age, social class, race, and religion. Hence, we illustrate how respondents use personal biographies and generational narratives to shape these masculinities in relation to a restrictive host society. We find that older, higher educated respondents shape masculinities in relation to status loss and unrealised aspirations emphasised by experiences of racialisation and marginalisation in the local labour market. We go on to argue that younger respondents, who did not obtain any higher education due to the civil war, seem more flexible in finding work. As a result, they are able to maintain more traditional breadwinner masculinities, masculinities they use to counter societal narratives in the Netherlands concerning Muslim men. Last, we demonstrate how these generational differences affect perceptions and performances of masculinities in relation to gender, generational relations and life course advancement. The paper emphasises masculinities of young refugee Syrian men in the Netherlands as geographical and temporal constructions, remaining highly nuanced, plural and contextual.</p
The Quest for Citations: Drivers of Article Impact
Full text linkWhy do some articles become building blocks for future scholars, while many others remain unnoticed? We aim to answer this question by contrasting, synthesizing and simultaneously testing three scientometric perspectives – universalism, social constructivism and presentation – on the influence of article and author characteristics on article citations. To do so, we study all articles published in a sample of five major journals in marketing from 1990 to 2002 that are central to the discipline. We count the number of citations each of these articles has received and regress this count on an extensive set of characteristics of the article (i.e. article quality, article domain, title length, the use of attention grabbers and expositional clarity), and the author (i.e. author visibility and author personal promotion). We find that the number of citations an article in the marketing discipline receives, depends upon “what one says†(quality and domain), on “who says it†(author visibility and personal promotion) and not so much on “how one says it†(title length, the use of attention grabbers, and expositional clarity). Our insights contribute to the marketing literature and are relevant to scientific stakeholders, such as the management of scientific journals and individual academic scholars, as they strive to maximize citations. They are also relevant to marketing practitioners. They inform practitioners on characteristics of the academic journals in marketing and their relevance to decisions they face. On the other hand, they also raise challenges towards making our journals accessible and relevant to marketing practitioners: (1) authors visible to academics are not necessarily visible to practitioners; (2) the readability of an article may hurt academic credibility and impact, while it may be instrumental in influencing practitioners; (3) it remains questionable whether articles that academics assess to be of high quality are also managerially relevant.Impact;Citation Analysis;Referencing;Scientometrics;Cite
Optimization of passivating contacts for high-efficiency p-type silicon solar cells
No full textThe goal of this master thesis was to optimize the tunnel oxide passivating contact (TOPCon) concept for p-type substrates and implementation in silicon (Si) solar cells. TOPCon and other passivating contacts are believed to be a crucial link for increasing solar cell efficiency and further reducing the costs of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The concept that comes closest to the theoretical Auger limit is the Si heterojunction cell with a record efficiency of 26.6%[1]. A problem with this type of cells is that the process temperature that is allowed is limited, increasing the processing temperature results in decreasing passivation and thus loss of efficiency. The TOPCon concept can withstand higher processing temperatures, which is beneficial when it comes to applying a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer of certain metallization schemes. For n-TOPCon good results have been obtained in the past leading to a record efficiency of 25.7%[2]. For p-TOPCon, the efficiency is significantly lower and the cause of this discrepancy is not fully understood yet. In this work, the boron doped TOPCon configuration was optimized by optimizing all of the individual components of this passivating contact concept. During this work the tunnel oxide, which can be grown using variousmethods, proved essential to obtain a good passivation. A comparison was made between four different growth methods for the tunnel oxide, from which it was concluded that the thermally grown tunnel oxide performed best in terms of passivation quality and thermal stability. The optimal p-TOPCon stack was found to consist of three layers: a thin intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layer, followed by a boron doped a-Si:H layer. The p-TOPCon stack is finalized by depositing a thin silicon carbide (SiC) capping layer, which was also boron doped. Besides passivation, the specific contact resistivity was also investigated. A metallization stack consisting of titanium, palladium, and silver proved to result in the lowest contact resistivity values. The lowest value which was measured was 10 mcm2, this is below the threshold value for which fill factor (FF) losses are to be expected. Implementing a thin tungsten oxide (WOx) layer underneath this metallization stack resulted in a stark increase in the specific contact resistivity values. Furthermore, the tunnel oxide influenced the contact resistivity values, where a lower oxidation time and temperature resulted in lower contact resistivity values. In order to better understand the correlation between contact resistivity and passivation, the contact resistivity values and corresponding recombination current values were fitted to two different models: the oxide tunneling model [3] and the pinholes model [4]. The measured resistivity values all laid in the saturated regime, whichmade it difficult to exclude one of the two models. The passivation quality of the p-TOPCon stack was improved by altering the tunnel oxide to a thermally grown oxide and optimizing the TOPCon stack. This resulted in an implied open-circuit voltage (iVoc) value of 710 mV and an implied fill factor (iFF) value of 84.5 %. A good contact was obtained with a titanium, palladium, silver metallization. This resulted in a specific contact resistivity value of 10mcm2
Everyday geographies of belonging: Syrian refugee experiences in the Northern Netherlands
Full text linkThe Dutch government currently underemphasises the interaction between refugees and place in the context of refugee spatial dispersal policy. This paper seeks a more detailed understanding of refugee integration by looking at opportunities for, and obstacles to, belonging within the ethnically homogeneous context of the Northern Netherlands. We draw on in-depth and walking interviews to provide a rich illustration of the daily routines and activities of ten Syrian male refugees in and around their residential neighbourhoods. Our findings highlight that a sense of belonging is grounded and embodied in space and place, and emphasise the role of everyday neighbourhood places as sites where refugee (non-)belonging emerges through social (non-)encounters and (non-)interaction with others. Daily life in transitory neighbourhood spaces provides opportunities for refugees to develop and maintain social relationships, asserting their presence and belonging in neighbourhood life. However, at the same time, refugees are demarcated as others because the different time geographies of refugees and existing residents form barriers to establishing nodes of encounter. Their otherness is further accentuated as potential places of encounter are often legally or economically inaccessible. Due to these experiences, or at least in part, refugees develop 'new places' built around shared memories, stories and food practices from their home country. Consequently, we argue for a more constructive understanding of migrant communities and suggest allowing multiple spaces of refugee belonging. Our study shows that achieving belonging is a multifaceted, nuanced and relational process, and one that is undervalued in the context of refugee dispersal in the Netherlands
The effect of IMC bus charging behavior on the trolleygrid
No full textWe are in the middle of a transition to zero-emission mobility. The European Union has set high targets for zero-emission bus sales. Many European local governments and public-transit operators are looking to replace their GHG-emitting diesel/gas bus fleets with clean alternatives. One such alternative is In Motion Charging (IMC) technology for trolleybuses. With this technology trolleybuses are able to charge an on-board traction battery whilst in motion and connected to the overhead wires. This makes it possible for these buses to extend their range outside the trolleygrid infrastructure. These IMC buses can replace diesel/gas buses. IMC is of particular interest for municipalities that currently have a functioning trolleybus fleet and infrastructure. Existing infrastructures are however not built with the increased power demand of IMC buses in mind. A good understanding of the power demand of IMC buses and the limits of a trolleygrid is necessary before implementing IMC buses. The explanatory research that is presented in this report aims to give insight in the design factors that influence the feasibility of adding in-motion charging buses to an existing trolleybus network. It does so by first explaining the difference in energy consumption between IMC buses and regular trolleybuses through simulations. Next, by performing a case study on the Arnhem trolleygrid the effect of IMC buses on the trolleygrid is discovered. The results of the energy consumption comparison indicate that there is promising potential for IMC implementation. It shows that there is a large margin in which IMC buses can make more efficient use of their regenerative energy compared to their regular trolleybus counterparts. It also shows that there are large degrees of freedom in IMC bus implementation leaving room for errors. The Arnhem case study uncovers where exactly these errors lie by looking at potential power demand, minimum voltage and maximum current limit breaches on the network. As long as these breaches can be mitigated through smart charging strategies there is a lot of promise for IMC bus implementation on existing trolleygrid infrastructures
Revealing capacitive and inductive effects in modern industrial c-Si photovoltaic cells through impedance spectroscopy
No full textTo achieve a high performance in sub-module power conditioning circuits, it is important that power converters are designed in accordance with the photovoltaic (PV) cell impedance at the input. Taking this one step further, exploiting the impedance of cell strings could even support novel power conditioning approaches in PV modules. In this work, we characterize the impedance of eight single-cell laminates based on different industrial c-Si PV cell architectures. This characterization is carried out by impedance spectroscopy in dark conditions at room temperature, and the capacitive and inductive effects are evaluated through equivalent model fitting. By comparing the results for the different laminates, it is revealed how the cell design affects its impedance. Our experiments show that the PN junction capacitance at maximum power point varies for the different cells between 0.30 and 45.6 μF/cm2. The two main factors contributing to a high PV cell capacitance at maximum power point are (i) a low wafer dopant concentration and (ii) a high maximum power point voltage. In high-efficiency c-Si PV cells that will be fabricated in the coming years, increasing capacitances are expected for operation near the maximum power point. Furthermore, the single-cell laminates exhibit inductances between 63 and 130 nH, and our results indicate that the inductance is mostly affected by the number of busbars and the geometry of the metal contacts.Photovoltaic Materials and Device
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