Month: April 2024

Hyperconcentrated flows shape bedrock channels

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Abstract

Geomorphological evidence of incised bedrock channels is widespread in all mountain landscapes worldwide. However, the processes controlling incision and gorge formation in bedrock have not directly been observed in an actualistic way. Here, we show a LiDAR change detection deciphering the erosive power of a 60,000 m3 hyperconcentrated flow (transition between flood and debris flow) in a deeply incised rock gorge in June, 2020. The flow laterally eroded up to 1 m of massive limestone and widened a 4 m narrow section of the gorge by up to 15%. Sinuosity, convergence, and gradient of the channel were proven to not influence erosivity indicating the hyperconcentrated nature of erosion. Furthermore, other than in prior studies no abrasion of thin rock veneer dominates erosion but mechanically excited breakout of rock fragments. Magnitude-frequency relations of eroded volumes mimic subaerial rock wall retreat. We show how single hyperconcentrated flows can erode bedrock channels far more efficient than decades of turbulent flows and hypothesise that repeated hyperconcentrated flows in phases of enhanced precipitation or by elevated material supply could control erosion boosts in gorge formation, e.g. in the Lateglacial or during climatic fluctuations.

Smart flow: a provenance-supported smart contract workflow architecture

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Abstract

As blockchain technology continues to mature, its potential for use in workflow systems has garnered considerable attention. However, the adoption of blockchain-based workflow systems in practical contexts presents a range of challenges that need to be addressed. Among the challenges encountered in the context of workflow systems, one particularly significant hurdle relates to establishing trust among the various actors participating in the workflow. To address this concern, we introduce a workflow architecture that incorporates provenance support and decentralized identifiers. This strategic combination aids in identifying what actions by whom led to the creation of the data being passed on within the workflow. The addition of provenance support within our framework results in a notable enhancement of traceability, accountability, and transparency throughout the workflow processes, which ultimately improves the overall trustworthiness of the system. The key novelty of this study can be found at the provenance-enabled blockchain workflow architecture that remains unexplored until now. The proposed solution is supported by a realistic use-case scenario portraying a used-car business which has undergone testing and measurements benchmarked against comparable frameworks and solutions.

Toward the eco-friendly cosmetic cleansing assisted by the micro-bubbly jet

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Abstract

While numerous types of chemical cosmetic cleansers have been presented, those with sensitive skin may still experience some irritation while using them. Moreover, the environmental issue of chemical agents has been documented repeatedly. To address these, we suggest the potential application of a micro-sized bubble-laden water jet to cleanse the cosmetics without (or less) using chemical detergents. We devised a venturi-type nozzle with a mesh and air holes capable of generating massive fine bubbles. By testing with the foundation and lip tint (known to be highly adhesive) coated on the synthetic leather and artificial skin surfaces, we measured that the cleansing performance of the bubbly jet is much better (even without the chemical agent) than the single-phase liquid jet. As a mechanism for enhanced removal, it is understood that the greater kinetic energy of the jet due to the acceleration of the effective liquid–air mixture flow and the direct bubble-cosmetic collisions play essential roles. We believe that the present results will spur the development of environment-friendly cleaning methods.

Asian futures: the case of Sinofuturism

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Abstract

Science fiction has often been thought of as a Western genre, and in many ways that is (still) the case. This article suggests though that with new movements such as Asian Futurism, Sinofuturism, Afrofuturism, or Gulf Futurism, one can observe a new multilateralism in the description of the future. Especially with Sinofuturism, things become more complex. One of its forerunners, Cyberpunk, in the 1980s introduced a changing power differential between the East (Japan at the time) and the West, retiring older orientalist colonial dreams of dominating Asia. This was especially evident in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) or Alexander Besher’s Virtual Reality Trilogy (Rim (1994), Mir (1998), Chi (1999), demonstrating the superiority of Japanese design and, implicitly, its society. By the 2010s, Japanese leadership in technology had been replaced by China with its world leadership in day-to-day digital technologies. This article suggests that this changing power differential can be read via the rise of Sinofuturism and that it is an important socio-political phenomenon to study Asian-Western interactions for times to come.

Fuelling entrepreneurial success: unravelling the nexus of financial resources, self-efficacy, outcome expectations and entrepreneurial intentions in Saudi micro and small enterprises

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Abstract

This paper focuses on understanding how financial resources (FR) influence entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and extrinsic outcome expectations (EOE). It also examines the influence of intrinsic outcome expectations (IOE) on ESE. This study further investigates the impact of ESE on entrepreneurial intention (EI) and EOE. At the same time, it examines how EOE influences EI among micro and small entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. The study also analyses the ability of ESE and EOE to mediate in the different relationships of the study. The author collected a sample of 201 micro and small entrepreneurs operating in various locations in Saudi Arabia through a self-administered online questionnaire. The data analysis was executed using partial least squares-structural equation modelling. The study’s findings reported exciting results, indicating the presence of a positive and significant relationship between FR and ESE, as well as EOE. They also revealed the presence of a positive relationship between IOE and ESE. ESE also showed the ability to positively and significantly influence EI and EOE. Furthermore, the relationship between EOE and EI reported unexpected negative results. Concerning the mediation result, ESE proved to mediate the relationship between FR and EI, as well as that between IOE and EI. Finally, EOE was unable to mediate the relationship between FR and EI. This study provides specific recommendations and implications for policymakers to benefit from its outcomes.

Towards enhanced climate change adaptation: using traditional ecological knowledge to understand the environmental effects of urban growth in Abuja, Nigeria

Latest Results

Abstract

Urbanization is a major source of anthropogenic effects on climate change (CC) and has attracted substantial research interest. However, previous studies assessing the CC knowledge of urban dwellers have not utilized models that enable a quantitative, integrated assessment of knowledge levels. This research aims to bridge this gap by developing and operationalizing a CC knowledge level (CCKL) assessment model to study indigenous households’ knowledge levels in Abuja, Nigeria, with the aim of investigating the potential of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in enhancing our comprehension of the ecological consequences of urbanization. This is to explore how TEK contributes to the understanding of the impact of urbanization on local ecological conditions among the indigenous households in the area. Through the collection of data on 25 CC items from 514 households, the study computed CCKL values that enabled a quantitative evaluation of households' awareness levels regarding the effects of urbanization on their environment. The findings showed some notable variations exist across towns, attributed to housing, infrastructural, and dwelling disparities. Over 80% of the respondents aged 40–80 years suggest long-term residency, influencing ecological knowledge. Over 90% of household heads being male aligns with West African norms. Marriage rates are high, and smaller household sizes deviate from the typical African setting, possibly due to urbanization trends. The TEK assessment reveals households' reasonable understanding of climate change, especially regarding temperature, rainfall, surface water, and land conditions. Yet, knowledge gaps exist, particularly in complex areas like climate-induced biodiversity loss and groundwater changes. In addition to a lack of formal education, limited to primary and secondary levels for most, income levels indicate economic vulnerabilities. Households exhibit resilience to urbanization-induced ecological changes, employing adaptive strategies. However, perceptions of urbanization's impact on groundwater and biodiversity diverge from scientific knowledge, indicating understanding gaps. The CCKL assessment model, though integrated and quantifiable, faces challenges such as subjectivity and oversimplification. Validation efforts, including calibration, pilot testing, and expert reviews, enhance the model's reliability.

Exploring the connotation of “Local Community” in ICOMOS discourse: a textual analysis based on authoritative documents

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Abstract

As an authoritative institution in cultural heritage conservation, ICOMOS plays a crucial role in guiding local communities’ participation in heritage conservation. However, its scattered and vague descriptions of local communities pose significant obstacles to further research and practice of community participation in heritage conservation. Given the increasing importance of local communities in heritage conservation, it is essential to systematically explore the connotation of Local Community connotations within ICOMOS discourse. This research employs Natural Language Processing methods to analyze ICOMOS’s descriptions of Local Community. Utilizing computational techniques of word frequency calculation, LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) topic model keyword calculation, and hierarchical clustering calculation, the research uncovers relevant keywords and its thematic clusters of Local Community. These findings are further elucidated by aligning them with the principles outlined in authoritative documents of ICOMOS. The research indicates that ICOMOS’s descriptions of Local Community can be summarized into four main keywords families. These keywords families can be summarized as a comprehensive Local Community “three-level, four-family” keywords system. The “Tourism” keywords family exhibits a close association with Local Community, highlighting ICOMOS’s heightened emphasis on heritage tourism. The “Management-Development” keywords family occupies the second level, emphasizing fundamental principles for local communities’ participation in heritage practices. The “Traditional-Knowledge” and “Social-Economic” Keywords Families, situated in the third level, respectively describe the value attributes and conservation approaches of local communities. Each keywords family formed over different periods, exhibiting varying trends of development. By systematically integrating ICOMOS’s descriptions of Local Community and employing Natural Language Processing for in-depth exploration, This research aims to construct a cognitive understanding of local communities from a new perspective of quantitative text analysis, with the intention of providing theoretical references for subsequent research on local communities.

Symbiosexual Attraction: An Integrated Mixed-Methods Study

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Abstract

A recent review of cultural and academic discourse presented evidence that some people experience attraction to two (or more) people in a preexisting relationship. This phenomenon, symbiosexuality, is understudied in the field of sexuality. Lack of recognition and validation for this attraction, including in the polyamorous community, may be negatively impacting those who experience symbiosexual attraction. I conducted an integrated mixed-methods analysis of secondary data from the 2023 The Pleasure Study to learn more about symbiosexual attraction. Findings from this study support the hypothesis that people experience symbiosexual attraction, which they describe as an attraction to the energy, multidimensionality, and power shared between people in relationships. Further, findings from this study indicate that a diverse group of people experience symbiosexual attraction and, while unanticipated, symbiosexual attraction can be a strong, frequent, and/or pervasive experience. These findings push the boundaries of the concepts of desire and sexual orientation in sexuality studies and challenge the ongoing invisibility and invalidation of and stigma and discrimination against such attractions, within both the polyamorous community and our broader mononormative culture.

Multiplicities and Contingency: Rethinking ‘Popular Buddhism’, Religious Practices and Ontologies in Thailand

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Abstract

This paper reconsiders explanations of ‘popular’ Buddhism in Thailand initiated in mid-twentieth century anthropological definitions of vernacular articulations of religiosity in village settings. Buddhist localism, in its various manifestations, is seen to contrast with a doctrinal or literate ‘great’ monastic tradition. In this persisting ethnographic argument, an actor may draw randomly on various syncretic elements of their religiosity according to circumstances (an historical complexity which is sourced in a mix of Sinhalese-sourced Buddhism, animism including magic, and folk Brahmanism). It is therefore not wholly or consistently one, but substantively divided into several strands. This long-standing position is problematic as the paper shows. There are multiple coextensive Buddhism/s (plural) within the Greater Theravada tradition, which emerge from an identification of the actors themselves with the one, not the many, as one-unitary-Buddhists. I theorise using a general framework of Meillassoux’s discussion on contingency and, by way of contrast, taking Deleuzian ideas on multiplicity. It is grounded on an understanding of popular or organic lived religion sourced in the early counter-enlightenment or radical enlightenment thinking of Giambattista Vico. Here, it is argued that in Thailand villagers would identify cosmologically as the one, not as the many (in a sense as in the assemblages or varieties of religious practices detached from the totality of the cosmological unitary one). Understanding the creative processes behind cosmological multiplicities is a starting point, with the notion that within specific cultural forms we are faced with a multiplicity of definitions and things to observe, as in an understanding of the varieties of lived Buddhism. The essay is based on an ethnographic assessment from over three decades of field research among ethnic Thai Buddhists at various modalities and settings, and in framing these vernacular religious practices and their ontologies. My gratitude to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. The essay does not deal directly with specific ethnographic case studies; instead, it is intended as retheorising representations of ‘Popular Buddhism’ in Thailand as based on early scholarship since the 1960s (where Buddhism is constituted as three or more distinctive but intertwined religious strands).

A Holistic Approach to Macro-Ethics of Technology: A Contribution to Mitcham’s Big Idea

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Abstract

Carl Mitcham has recently pointed out that the current approach to the ethics of technology has failed to solve large-scale socio-ethical challenges in the technological world, such as climate change. He then suggests that, in the face of an iceberg of issues regarding technological development, philosophers should recognize the intellectual heritage of the classical philosophers of technology to better deal with the escalating crises that threaten humankind. While Mitcham’s proposal is inspiring, there are several lacunae in his work. In this paper, we contribute to Mitcham’s idea by developing it and filling the important gaps. Our efforts have led to a new style of holistic thinking about the ethics of technology, according to which it is necessary to focus on the system of technologies as a whole (while not ignoring individual technologies, of course) to understand and address issues related to technology development.