Gendering boundary work: exploring excluded spaces in supermarket job rotation

The article explores the establishment of gendering divides in organisations by bridging Hernes' (2004) typologies of physical, social and mental boundary work with notions on the practice of gender as negotiated in everyday organisational activities. In the investigated Swedish supermarket, the pre-store, a narrow, front-stage space in which only women worked, was excluded from the job rotation that otherwise dominated the organisation of work in the store. This study examines: (1) how and on what grounds the divides of the pre-store were established in the supermarket and (2) how spatial divides were incorporated into the practice of gender and work in the supermarket. The findings suggest that the divides that are visible through the exclusion of the pre-store from the job rotation involved not only the allocation of work and space but also multiple and complex physical, social and mental spatial negotiations undertaken by both employees and managers. Together, these factors neutralised the divides as an aspect of the activities. First, the notion that gender was irrelevant for organisational decisions makes gender a non-issue for the organisation of the pre-store activities. Second, the notion that women and men are essentially different provided a ground for explaining why, despite being an organisational non-issue, work and workers were in fact organised along gendered lines in the supermarket. The study contributes with qualitative insights regarding the micro-political practices that make gender into a neutralised non-issue in organisations and, in particular, the intertwinement of spatial practices and negotiations.     

最小噪声分离变换与Haar小波变换结合的壁画线状特征增强方法

在壁画的保护与修复中,线状特征具有重要的意义。然而由于自然环境等因素的影响,壁画经常出现褪色残缺等病害,导致其线状特征难以辨认。因此,利用高光谱成像与Haar小波变换结合,提出了一种壁画线状特征增强方法。首先,对高光谱影像进行最小噪声分离(MNF)变换,选取前10波段进行MNF逆变换进行重构,实现高光谱影像的降噪处理。其次,对重构后的影像选择真彩色波段变换为灰度图像,对灰度图像进行Haar小波分解。然后,对最小噪声分离变换后的影像,利用最大平均梯度法进行最优波段选择,将最优波段利用Haar小波进行变换,利用其分解后的低频信号与灰度图像分解后的低频信号相融合,高频信号使用MNF逆变换重构后的灰度图像。最后,对优化组合的低频和高频信号进行Haar小波逆变换得到结果图像,达到增强线状特征的目的。经过与原始灰度影像、主成分分析线状特征增强方法对比,验证了线状特征增强方法的有效性。研究结果可为壁画的保护修复提供更丰富、更直观的参考信息。     

Dr. Gottlieb Burckhardt the Pioneer of Psychosurgery

The first attempt at psychosurgeryintentional damage to the intact brain for the relief of mental illness–was undertaken in 1888 by the Swiss psychiatrist Gottlieb Burckhardt. Six chronic schizophrenic patients underwent localized cerebral cortical excisions. Most patients showed improvement and became easier to manage, although one died from the procedure and several had aphasia or seizures. Burckhardt, a learned neuropsychiatrist, presented his results in 1890 and in 1891 published his scientific rationale and detailed clinical outcome in a scholarly paper. Nevertheless his approach had shocked the medical community as reckless and irresponsible. Burckhardt was ridiculed, his academic endeavors ceased and his surgical endeavor largely ignored. Nevertheless he continued practice as a fine psychiatrist and mental hospital director. Burckhardts career and interesting ideas on higher cerebral functions are reviewed and placed in perspective regarding the development of “modern” psychosurgery almost one-half century later.     

Land Abandonment in Russia

Field observations in two regions of European Russia (Kostroma and Samara oblasts) in summer 2010, reinforced by satellite imagery, provide a basis for a team of U.S. and Russian geographers to investigate ongoing changes in agricultural land use since the early 1990s. The authors highlight the contrasting situations in Kostroma (northern European Russia), where agriculture is limited and in retreat beyond relatively small scale operations in suburbia, and Samara (southern European Russia), where agricultural activity appears to be sustainable, albeit on a somewhat less extensive spatial scale than in the past. The comparison suggests that the change from central planning to unregulated market has not been popular, and that crop farming in both regions has better prospects than animal husbandry. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O130, P320, Q150, R140. 1 table, 17 figures, 21 references.     

MOMENT RESISTING WELDED CONNECTIONS: AN EXTENSIVE REVIEW OF DESIGN PRACTICE AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IN USA,JAPAN AND EUROPE

Welded connections, widely used in seismic moment resisting frames (MRFs) in USA, Japan and Europe, have been extensively investigated during the 1990s in order to improve their performance under severe earthquakes. In order to correctly evaluate the results of experimental research on welded connections, the differences among the American, Japanese and European current practices in designing the frame structural systems and in detailing the beam-to-column connections should be firstly appraised. In this paper, the major aspects characterising the USA, Japan and Europe design practice in moment resisting welded connections are reported, the differences are underlined and the main issues recently addressed in experimental research are reviewed. Among the several parameters which affect the connection performance, attention is focused on the effect of the beam cross-section size. Thus conclusions are drawn in terms of plastic rotation capacity as dependant on the beam size.     

Simulation Of Shake Table Tests on Out-of-Plane Masonry Buildings. Part (II): Combined Finite-Discrete Elements

ABSTRACT

Out-of-plane response of unreinforced masonry elements is frequently the most critical aspect of the seismic performance of existing masonry buildings. The response of such elements is usually governed by equilibrium rather than strength. Hence, it is customary to resort to rigid-body models, accounting for possible rotations, and/or sliding. However, the results of such analyses depend on the initial choice of the mechanism. In this article, the shaking-table experiments on a brick-masonry specimen, and on a stone-masonry specimen have been modeled by resorting to a combined finite-discrete element strategy. Despite the coarse discretization of both discrete and finite elements, the three-dimensional models are able to capture the experimentally observed multi-degree-of-freedom mechanisms, without any a priori assumption on the mechanism. A sensitivity analysis is carried out, addressing eight different parameters. The identification of the mechanism is sufficiently robust, but the assessment of its activation and failure is best done by combining the finite-discrete element model with a simplified model of the recognised mechanism.     

三通三绝: 清朝使用“纳林道”研究

通过对北京和台北两地档案机构所藏满汉文档案的研读,可以发现从18世纪末到19世纪30年代,清朝曾分三个阶段将北疆伊犁军队通过中亚“纳林道”换防至南疆喀什噶尔,而非以往学者认为的“两阶段说”,清朝趁机巡查布鲁特边界,达到“寓巡边与换防之中”的双重效果。文章就清朝在三个阶段分别使用这条道路的缘起、换防过程与演变,及其放弃原因与最终影响等进行了详细讨论,并考证出今台北故宫博物院藏《进呈伊犁由那林河草地至喀什噶尔图说》实为道光七年九月十四日伊犁将军德英阿《复奏伊犁至喀什噶尔草地路径由》之所附“绘图贴说”。     

试论人类逆针向行为成因及其应用

人类在生产生活活动中,涉及到转向时大都按逆时针方向运动,其原因是地球自转方向所致。人类充分利用这一自然行为,可以产生极大的效用。