‘Hotel Middle East’: social shocks and adaptation in Jordan’s domestic water sector

While socio-ecological systems are susceptible to social shocks, a theoretical and empirical understanding of social-shock adaptation remains absent from the literature. This article investigates the Syrian refugee crisis in water-scarce Jordan, where historical waves of migration have shaped water governance. Findings suggest that water sector adaptation to social shocks fits within broader adaptation theory, and that frequent refugee crises in Jordan have perpetuated reactive water governance, shaping the sector’s resiliencies, vulnerabilities, and adaptation processes. Through examining adaptation processes in the acute water and refugee contexts of Jordan, we suggest that through planning and preparedness, socio-ecological systems could build resilience to social shocks.     

Archival Practices and the Making of “Memories”

Following Derrida (1995), our article explores the relationship between archival practices and archival documents on the assumption that “archivization produces as much as it records the event” (Derrida 1995, 17). On this approach, archival practices are understood as non-innocent practices that, in the act of “preservation,” help make specific “memories” at the expense of others (Barad 2007; Derrida 1995; Foucault 1972). We take up this issue in relation to the curation of social science quantitative research data and argue that the ontological identity of data is constituted through historically- and culturally-specific data curation practices including data cleaning, data anonymization, and metadata preparation.     

Material interface effects on the topology optimizationof multi-phase structures using a level set method

A level set method is used as a framework to study the effects of including material interface properties in the optimization of multi-phase elastic and thermoelastic structures. In contrast to previous approaches, the material properties do not have a discontinuous change across the interface that is often represented by a sharp geometric boundary between material regions. Instead, finite material interfaces with monotonic and non-monotonic property variations over a physically motivated interface zone are investigated. Numerical results are provided for several 2D problems including compliance and displacement minimization of structures composed of two and three materials. The results highlight the design performance changes attributed to the presence of the continuously graded material interface properties.     

Flexible Hybrid Electronics: Direct Interfacing of Soft and Hard Electronics for Wearable Health Monitoring

The interfacing of soft and hard electronics is a key challenge for flexible hybrid electronics. Currently, a multisubstrate approach is employed, where soft and hard devices are fabricated or assembled on separate substrates, and bonded or interfaced using connectors; this hinders the flexibility of the device and is prone to interconnect issues. Here, a single substrate interfacing approach is reported, where soft devices, i.e., sensors, are directly printed on Kapton polyimide substrates that are widely used for fabricating flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs). Utilizing a process flow compatible with the FPCB assembly process, a wearable sensor patch is fabricated composed of inkjet‐printed gold electrocardiography (ECG) electrodes and a stencil‐printed nickel oxide thermistor. The ECG electrodes provide 1 mVp–p ECG signal at 4.7 cm electrode spacing and the thermistor is highly sensitive at normal body temperatures, and demonstrates temperature coefficient, α ≈ –5.84% K^–1 and material constant, β ≈ 4330 K. This sensor platform can be extended to a more sophisticated multisensor platform where sensors fabricated using solution processable functional inks can be interfaced to hard electronics for health and performance monitoring, as well as internet of things applications.     

Forcing biological sciences into architectural design: On conceptual confusions in the field of biomimetic architecture

Certain confusion may be observed in the field of biomimetic architecture, as it emerges at the crossroad of two disciplinary domains: architectural design and biological sciences. If biomimetics is defined as a science, once it is applied to architecture, biomimetic architecture should logically be defined as a science too. This assertion collides with the nature of architectural design, which may rather be defined as a technology: its aim is to transform the world, not to explain it. On the one hand, there is no obvious relationship between architecture and life sciences. On the other hand, the biomimetic approach tends to redefine the concept of science itself by seeking to avoid the excesses of scientism. Moreover, existing applications of biomimetic design show that it is difficult to observe a genuine biomimetic architecture; most cases are closer to engineering component or urban planning and sometimes they involve little or no life sciences. The aim of this paper is to describe this conceptual confusion through two movements called “forcings”, occurring between design and science. These forcings are conceptualised as shifts between constructed scientific objects and given empirical objects. Models, used in biology as in architecture, allow these shifts by virtue of their double function. They are both tools for knowledge and for design, thus they may be conceptually forced into what they are not supposed to be, particularly in the field of biomimetic architecture where design process and scientific knowledge are said to meet.     

Sustainable Development Goals—Climate Action Nexus:Quantification of Synergies and Trade-offs

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Since 2015, the intended climate actions of the Paris Agreement signatories have been reported as nationally determined contributions (NDC). These...     

Obtaining Reversible,High Contrast Electrochromism,Electrofluorochromism, and Photochromism in an Aqueous Hydrogel Device Using Chromogenic Thiazolothiazoles

There have been an increasing number of materials developed that show multifunctional chromogenic properties (such as electrochromism, electrofluorochromism, or photochromism), but to date, few materials have shown all three properties. Materials that are electrochemically and optically active are attractive for a diverse set of applications that include smart-windows, lighting, sensing, energy production, and conservation. This is especially attractive for building developers interested in adaptive or environmentally responsive façades. Achieving systems made from cost-effective, readily synthesized materials will make them easy to utilize in a variety of fields. Low-cost devices are developed using water-soluble, chromogenic thiazolo(5,4-d)thiazole (TTz) dyes that show high device performance in three areas: electrochromism, electrofluorochromism, and photochromism and are all contained within a highly fluorescent aqueous polyvinyl alcohol/borax hydrogel device. The dyes incorporate a rigid, heterocyclic TTz structure that enables the development of devices with excellent reversibility and stable cycling for 250 cycles. The TTz hydrogel-containing devices also exhibit photochromism under illumination, which can be electrochemically cycled back to the colorless state. In addition, coupling photochromism with electrochromism lowers the power necessary for a comparable electrochromic color change. Last, the hydrogel-containing devices also show electrofluorochromism, where fluorescence can be turned off by > 90%.     

Nanotechnology for Neuroscience: Promising Approaches for Diagnostics,Therapeutics and Brain Activity Mapping

Unlocking the secrets of the brain is a task fraught with complexity and challenge – not least due to the intricacy of the circuits involved. With advancements in the scale and precision of scientific technologies, we are increasingly equipped to explore how these components interact to produce a vast range of outputs that constitute function and disease. Here, an insight is offered into key areas in which the marriage of neuroscience and nanotechnology has revolutionized the industry. The evolution of ever more sophisticated nanomaterials culminates in network‐operant functionalized agents. In turn, these materials contribute to novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, including drug delivery, neuroprotection, neural regeneration, neuroimaging and neurosurgery. Further, the entrance of nanotechnology into future research arenas including optogenetics, molecular/ion sensing and monitoring, and piezoelectric effects is discussed. Finally, considerations in nanoneurotoxicity, the main barrier to clinical translation, are reviewed, and direction for future perspectives is provided.     

Guilt and effortful control: Two mechanisms that prevent disruptive developmental trajectories.

Children’s guilt associated with transgressions and their capacity for effortful control are both powerful forces that inhibit disruptive conduct. The authors examined how guilt and effortful control, repeatedly observed from toddlerhood to preschool age, jointly predicted children’s disruptive outcomes in 2 multimethod, multitrait longitudinal studies (Ns = 57 and 99). Disruptive outcomes were rated by mothers at 73 months (Study 1) and mothers, fathers, and teachers at 52 and 67 months (Study 2). In both studies, guilt moderated effects of effortful control: For highly guilt-prone children, variations in effortful control were unrelated to future disruptive outcomes, but for children who were less guilt prone, effortful control predicted such outcomes. Guilt may inhibit transgressions through an automatic response due to negative arousal triggered by memories of past wrongdoing, regardless of child capacity for deliberate inhibition. Effortful control that engages a deliberate restraint may offset risk for disruptive conduct conferred by low guilt. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)