Eastwards / westwards: which direction for gender studies in the 21st century?

Eastwards / Westwards: Which Direction for Gender Studies in the XXIst Century? is a collection of essays which focus on themes and methods that characterize current research into gender in Asian countries in general. In this collection, ideas derived from Gender Studies elsewhere in the world have been subjected to scrutiny for their utility in helping to describe and understand regional phenomena. But the concepts of Local and Global – with their discoursive productions – have not functioned as a binary opposition: localism and globalism are mutually constitutive and researchers have interrogated those spaces of interaction between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’, bearing in mind their own embeddedness in social and cultural structures and their own historical memory. Contributors to this collection provided a critical transnational perspective on some of the complex effects of the dynamics of cultural globalization, by exploring the relation between gender and development, language, historiography, education and culture. We have also given attention to the ideological and rhetorical processes through which gender identity is constructed, by comparing textual grids and patterns of expectation. Likewise, we have discussed the role of ethnography, anthropology, historiography, sociology, fiction, popular culture and colonial and post-colonial sources in (re)inventing old/new male/female identities, their conversion into concepts and circulation through time and space. This multicultural and trans-disciplinary selection of essays is totally written in English, fully edited and revised, therefore, it has a good potential for an immediate international circulation. This project may trace new paths and issues for discussion on what concerns the life, practices and narratives by and about women in Asia, as well as elsewhere in the present day global experience. Academic readership: Researchers, scholars, educators, graduate and post-graduate students, doctoral students and general non-fiction readers, with a special interest in Gender Studies, Asia, Colonial and Post-Colonial Literature, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, History, Historiography, Politics, Race, Feminism, Language, Linguistics, Power, Political and Feminist Agendas, Popular Culture, Education, Women’s Writing, Religion, Multiculturalism, Globalisation, Migration. Chapter summary: 1. “Social Gender Stereotypes and their Implication in Hindi”, Anjali Pande, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. This essay looks at the subtle ways in which gender identities are constructed and reinforced in India through social norms of language use. Language itself becomes a medium for perpetuating gender stereotypes, forcing its speakers to confirm to socially defined gender roles. Using examples from a classroom discussion about a film, this essay will highlight the underlying rigid male-female stereotypes in Indian society with their more obvious expressions in language. For the urban woman in India globalisation meant increased economic equality and exposure to changed lifestyles. On an individual level it also meant redefining gender relations and changing the hierarchy in man-­woman relationships. With the economic independence there is a heightened sense of liberation in all spheres of social life, a confidence to fuzz the rigid boundaries of gender roles. With the new films and media celebrating this liberated woman, who is ready to assert her sexual needs, who is ready to explode those long held notions of morality, one would expect that the changes are not just superficial. But as it soon became obvious in the course of a classroom discussion about relationships and stereotypes related to age, the surface changes can not become part of the common vocabulary, for the obvious reason that there is still a vast gap between the screen image of this new woman and the ground reality. Social considerations define the limits of this assertiveness of women, whereas men are happy to be liberal within the larger frame of social sanctions. The educated urban woman in India speaks in favour of change and the educated urban male supports her, but one just needs to scratch the surface to see the time tested formulae of gender roles firmly in place. The way the urban woman happily balances this emerging promise of independence with her gendered social identity, makes it necessary to rethink some aspects of looking at gender in a gradually changing, traditional society like India. 2. “The Linguistic Dimension of Gender Equality”, Alissa Tolstokorova, Kiev Centre for Gender Information and Education, Ukraine. The subject-matter of this essay is gender justice in language which, as I argue, may be achieved through the development of a gender-related approach to linguistic human rights. The last decades of the 20th century, globally marked by a “gender shift” in attitudes to language policy, gave impetus to the social movement for promoting linguistic gender equality. It was initiated in Western Europe and nowadays is moving eastwards, as ideas of gender democracy progress into developing countries. But, while in western societies gender discrimination through language, or linguistic sexism, was an issue of concern for over three decades, in developing countries efforts to promote gender justice in language are only in their infancy. My argument is that to promote gender justice in language internationally it is necessary to acknowledge the rights of women and men to equal representation of their gender in language and speech and, therefore, raise a question of linguistic rights of the sexes. My understanding is that the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights in 1996 provided this opportunity to address the problem of gender justice in language as a human rights issue, specifically as a gender dimension of linguistic human rights. 3. “The Rebirth of an Old Language: Issues of Gender Equality in Kazakhstan”, Maria Helena Guimarães, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal. The existing language situation in Kazakhstan, while peaceful, is not without some tension. We propose to analyze here some questions we consider relevant in the frame of cultural globalization and gender equality, such as: free from Russian imperialism, could Kazakhstan become an easy prey of Turkey’s “imperialist dream”? Could these traditionally Muslim people be soon facing the end of religious tolerance and gender equality, becoming this new old language an easy instrument for the infiltration in the country of fundamentalism (it has already crossed the boarders of Uzbekistan), leading to a gradual deterioration of its rich multicultural relations? The present structure of the language is still very fragile: there are three main dialects and many academics defend the re-introduction of the Latin alphabet, thus enlarging the possibility of cultural “contamination” by making the transmission of fundamentalist ideas still easier through neighbour countries like Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan (their languages belong to the same sub-group of Common Turkic), where the Latin alphabet is already in use, and where the ground for such ideas shown itself very fruitful. 4. “Construction of Womanhood in the Bengali Language of Bangladesh”, Raasheed Mahmood; University of New South Wales, Sydney. The present essay attempts to explore the role of gender-based language differences and of certain markers that reveal the status accorded to women in Bangladesh. Discrimination against women, in its various forms, is endemic in communities and countries around the world, cutting across class, race, age, and religious and national boundaries. One cannot understand the problems of gender discrimination solely by referring to the relationship of power or authority between men and women. Rather one needs to consider the problem by relating it to the specific social formation in which the image of masculinity and femininity is constructed and reconstructed. Following such line of reasoning this essay will examine the nature of gender bias in the Bengali language of Bangladesh, holding the conviction that as a product of social reality language reflects the socio-cultural behaviour of the community who speaks it. This essay will also attempt to shed some light on the processes through which gender based language differences produce actual consequences for women, who become exposed to low self-esteem, depression and systematic exclusion from public discourse. 5. “Marriage in China as an expression of a changing society”, Elisabetta Rosado David, University of Porto, Portugal, and Università Ca’Foscari, Venezia, Italy. In 29 April 2001, the new Marriage Law was promulgated in China. The first law on marriage was proclaimed in 1950 with the objective of freeing women from the feudal matrimonial system. With the second law, in 1981, values and conditions that had been distorted by the Cultural Revolution were recovered. Twenty years later, a new reform was started, intending to update marriage in the view of the social and cultural changes that occurred with Deng Xiaoping’s “open policy”. But the legal reform is only the starting point for this case-study. The rituals that are followed in the wedding ceremony are often hard to understand and very difficult to standardize, especially because China is a vast country, densely populated and characterized by several ethnic minorities. Two key words emerge from this issue: syncretism and continuity. On this basis, we can understand tradition in a better way, and analyse whether or not marriage, as every social manifestation, has evolved in harmony with Chinese culture. 6. “The Other Woman in the Portuguese Colonial Empire: The Case of Portuguese India”, Maria de Deus Manso, University of Évora, Portugal. This essay researches the social, cultural and symbolic history of local women in the Portuguese Indian colonial enclaves. The normative Portuguese overseas history has not paid any attention to the “indigenous” female populations in colonial Portuguese territories, albeit the large social importance of these social segments largely used in matrimonial and even catholic missionary strategies. The first attempt to open fresh windows in the history of this new field was the publication of Charles Boxer’s referential study about Women in lberian Overseas Expansion, edited in Portugal only after the Revolution of 1975. After this research we can only quote some other fragmentary efforts. In fact, research about the social, cultural, religious, political and symbolic situation of women in the Portuguese colonial territories, from the XVI to the XX century, is still a minor historiographic field. In this essay we discuss this problem and we study colonial representations of women in the Portuguese Indian enclaves, mainly in the territory of Goa, using case studies methodologies. 7. “Heading East this Time: Critical Readings on Gender in Southeast Asia”, Clara Sarmento, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal. This essay intends to discuss some critical readings of fictional and theoretical texts on gender condition in Southeast Asian countries. Nowadays, many texts about women in Southeast Asia apply concepts of power in unusual areas. Traditional forms of gender hegemony have been replaced by other powerful, if somewhat more covert, forms. We will discuss some universal values concerning conventional female roles as well as the strategies used to recognize women in political fields traditionally characterized by male dominance. Female empowerment will mean different things at different times in history, as a result of culture, local geography and individual circumstances. Empowerment needs to be perceived as an individual attitude, but it also has to be facilitated at the macro­level by society and the State. Gender is very much at the heart of all these dynamics, strongly related to specificities of historical, cultural, ethnic and class situatedness, requiring an interdisciplinary transnational approach.

Creativity and digital spaces in the intercultural society

In Permanent Transit: Discourses and Maps of the Intercultural Experience builds interdisciplinary approaches to the study of migrations, traffics, globalization, communication, regulations, arts, literature, and other intercultural processes, in the context of past and present times. The book offers a convergence of perspectives, combining conceptual and empirical work by sociologists, anthropologists, historians, linguists, educators, lawyers, media, specialists, and literary studies writers, in their shared attempt to understand the many routes of the intercultural experience. In Permanent Transit: Discourses and Maps of the Intercultural Experience builds interdisciplinary approaches to the study of migrations, traffics, globalization, communication, regulations, arts, literature, and other intercultural processes, in the context of past and present times. The book offers a convergence of perspectives, combining conceptual and empirical work by sociologists, anthropologists, historians, linguists, educators, lawyers, media, specialists, and literary studies writers, in their shared attempt to understand the many routes of the intercultural experience.

Hybrid fuzzy Monte Carlo and logic programming model for distribution network reconfiguration in the presence of outages

This paper presents a methodology for distribution networks reconfiguration in outage presence in order to choose the reconfiguration that presents the lower power losses. The methodology is based on statistical failure and repair data of the distribution power system components and uses fuzzy-probabilistic modelling for system component outage parameters. Fuzzy membership functions of system component outage parameters are obtained by statistical records. A hybrid method of fuzzy set and Monte Carlo simulation based on the fuzzy-probabilistic models allows catching both randomness and fuzziness of component outage parameters. Once obtained the system states by Monte Carlo simulation, a logical programming algorithm is applied to get all possible reconfigurations for every system state. In order to evaluate the line flows and bus voltages and to identify if there is any overloading, and/or voltage violation a distribution power flow has been applied to select the feasible reconfiguration with lower power losses. To illustrate the application of the proposed methodology to a practical case, the paper includes a case study that considers a real distribution network.

Square-wave adsorptive-stripping voltammetric detection in the quality control of fluoxetine

Electroanalytical methods based on square-wave adsorptive-stripping voltammetry (SWAdSV) and flow-injection analysis with square-wave adsorptive-stripping voltammetric detection (FIA-SWAdSV) were developed for the determination of fluoxetine (FXT). The methods were based on the reduction of FXT at a mercury drop electrode at -1.2 V versus Ag/AgCl, in a phosphate buffer of pH 12.0, and on the possibility of accumulating the compound at the electrode surface. The SWAdSV method was successfully applied in the quantification of FXT in pharmaceutical products, human serum samples, and in drug dissolution studies. Because the presence of dissolved oxygen did not interfere significantly with the analysis, it was possible to quantify FXT in several pharmaceutical products using FIA-SWAdSV. This method enables analysis of up to 120 samples per hour at reduced costs.

Position paper on time and event-triggered communication services in the context of e-manufacturing

Modern factories are complex systems where advances in networking and information technologies are opening new ways towards higher efficiency. Such move is being driven by market rules with ever-increasing competition levels, in search for faster time-to-market, improved process yield, non-stop operations, flexible manufacturing and tighter supply-chain coupling. All these aims present a common requirement, i.e. a realtime flow of information, from the plant-floor up to the management, maintenance, suppliers and clients, to support accurate monitoring and control of the factory. This stresses the importance achieved by the communication infrastructure in modern manufacturing industry. This paper presents the authors view concerning the current trends in modern factory communication systems. It addresses the problems of seamlessly integrating different information flows with diverse requirements, mainly in terms of timeliness. In this aspect, the debate between event-triggered and time-triggered communication is revisited as well as the joint support for both types of traffic. Finally, a view of where factory communication systems are moving to is also presented, showing the impact of open and widely available technologies.

A New Approach in the Design of Air Stripping Columns for the Treatment of Groundwater Contaminated With Volatile Organic Compounds

Volatile organic compounds are a common source of groundwater contamination that can be easily removed by air stripping in columns with random packing and using a counter-current flow between the phases. This work proposes a new methodology for column design for any type of packing and contaminant which avoids the necessity of an arbitrary chosen diameter. It also avoids the employment of the usual graphical Eckert correlations for pressure drop. The hydraulic features are previously chosen as a project criterion. The design procedure was translated into a convenient algorithm in C++ language. A column was built in order to test the design, the theoretical steady-state and dynamic behaviour. The experiments were conducted using a solution of chloroform in distilled water. The results allowed for a correction in the theoretical global mass transfer coefficient previously estimated by the Onda correlations, which depend on several parameters that are not easy to control in experiments. For best describe the column behaviour in stationary and dynamic conditions, an original mathematical model was developed. It consists in a system of two partial non linear differential equations (distributed parameters). Nevertheless, when flows are steady, the system became linear, although there is not an evident solution in analytical terms. In steady state the resulting ODE can be solved by analytical methods, and in dynamic state the discretization of the PDE by finite differences allows for the overcoming of this difficulty. To estimate the contaminant concentrations in both phases in the column, a numerical algorithm was used. The high number of resulting algebraic equations and the impossibility of generating a recursive procedure did not allow the construction of a generalized programme. But an iterative procedure developed in an electronic worksheet allowed for the simulation. The solution is stable only for similar discretizations values. If different values for time/space discretization parameters are used, the solution easily becomes unstable. The system dynamic behaviour was simulated for the common liquid phase perturbations: step, impulse, rectangular pulse and sinusoidal. The final results do not configure strange or non-predictable behaviours.

Impact of Distributed Generation in the Transmission System Expansion Planning

In this work, the impact of distributed generation in the transmission expansion planning will be simulated through the performance of an optimization process for three different scenarios: the first without distributed generation, the second with distributed generation equivalent to 1% of the load, and the third with 5% of distributed generation. For modeling the expanding problem the load flow linearized method using genetic algorithms for optimization has been chosen. The test circuit used is a simplification of the south eastern Brazilian electricity system with 46 buses.

Determination of Microcystin-LR in waters in the subnanomolar range by sol–gel imprinted polymers on solid contact electrodes

The present work reports new sensors for the direct determination of Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) in environmental waters. Both selective membrane and solid contact were optimized to ensure suitable analytical features in potentiometric transduction. The sensing layer consisted of Imprinted Sol–Gel (ISG) materials capable of establishing surface interactions with MC-LR. Non-Imprinted Sol–Gel (NISG) membranes were used as negative control. The effects of an ionic lipophilic additive, time of sol–gel polymerization, time of extraction of MC-LR from the sensitive layer, and pH were also studied. The solid contact was made of carbon, aluminium, titanium, copper or nickel/chromium alloys (80 : 20 or 90 : 10). The best ISG sensor had a carbon solid contact and displayed average slopes of 211.3 mV per decade, with detection limits of 7.3 1010 M, corresponding to 0.75 mg L1 . It showed linear responses in the range of 7.7 1010 to 1.9 109 M of MC-LR (corresponding to 0.77–2.00 mg L1 ), thus including the limiting value for MC-LR in waters (1.0 mg L1 ). The potentiometric-selectivity coefficients were assessed by the matched potential method for ionic species regularly found in waters up to their limiting levels. Chloride (Cl) showed limited interference while aluminium (Al3+), ammonium (NH4 + ), magnesium (Mg2+), manganese (Mn2+), sodium (Na+ ), and sulfate (SO4 2) were unable to cause the required potential change. Spiked solutions were tested with the proposed sensor. The relative errors and standard deviation obtained confirmed the accuracy and precision of the method. It also offered the advantages of low cost, portability, easy operation and suitability for adaptation to flow methods.

Effects of Soil Compaction and Organic Carbon Content on Preferential Flow in Loamy Field Soils

Abstract: Preferential flow and transport through macropores affect plant water use efficiency and enhance leaching of agrochemicals and the transport of colloids, thereby increasing the risk for contamination of groundwater resources. The effects of soil compaction, expressed in terms of bulk density (BD), and organic carbon (OC) content on preferential flow and transport were investigated using 150 undisturbed soil cores sampled from 15 × 15–m grids on two field sites. Both fields had loamy textures, but one site had significantly higher OC content. Leaching experiments were conducted in each core by applying a constant irrigation rate of 10 mm h−1 with a pulse application of tritium tracer. Five percent tritium mass arrival times and apparent dispersivities were derived from each of the tracer breakthrough curves and correlated with texture, OC content, and BD to assess the spatial distribution of preferential flow and transport across the investigated fields. Soils from both fields showed strong positive correlations between BD and preferential flow. Interestingly, the relationships between BD and tracer transport characteristics were markedly different for the two fields, although the relationship between BD and macroporosity was nearly identical. The difference was likely caused by the higher contents of fines and OC at one of the fields leading to stronger aggregation, smaller matrix permeability, and a more pronounced pipe-like pore system with well-aligned macropores.

Contributions for best practices in social recruitment: pilot study in the Northern Region of Portugal

Recruitment is based on a conglomerate of techniques and procedures put in place to attract qualified. The recruitment process has suffered changes, becoming even more sophisticated, involving a whole organisation and a whole community. A new source of recruitment has emerged with the use of online social networks using facilitators in its development and usage, allowing the search for candidates to be fast, cheap and "global". In Portugal, the information available and studies conducted into this phenomenon are still irrelevant, with little reported on the importance of online social recruitment. The purpose of this article is to contribute to what is understood by the professional process of recruitment through online social media by recruitment companies in the Northern Region of Portugal, analysing the use of online media by recruitment professionals, facilitator support tools and the associated best practices.

Integration of the project team in the classic maintenance cycle

A manutenção é uma área extremamente importante, principalmente na indústria. Devidamente organizada, permitirá um fluxo produtivo devidamente planeado e executado, que permitirá a qualquer empresa manter o nível de facturação desejado e o prazo de entrega acordado com os clientes. De outra forma, poderá originar o caos. No entanto, os desafios de gestão da produção mais correntes, nomeadamente através do Lean Manufacturing, passam a exigir um pouco mais do que uma simples manutenção. Torna-se obrigatório fazer análises económicas que permitam averiguar quando cada equipamento passa a exigir custos de manutenção excessivos, os quais poderão obrigar a um recondicionamento mais acentuado do equipamento, o qual pode passar inclusivamente por uma melhoria da sua performance. Nestes casos, terá que existir uma “cumplicidade” entre a Direcção de Produção e a Manutenção, no sentido de averiguar o melhor momento para proceder a uma melhoria do equipamento, numa perspectiva de funcionamento global em linha de produção, adaptando-o à performance que será exigida ao conjunto. Neste domínio, o Projecto passa a prestar um serviço valiosíssimo à empresa, integrando-se no conjunto Produção + Manutenção, criando valor na intervenção, através do desenvolvimento de um trabalho que permite não só repor o estado natural da produção, mas sim promover uma melhoria sustentada da mesma. Este trabalho pretende reflectir e avaliar a relevância do Projecto neste tipo de operações, contribuindo de uma forma sistemática e sustentada para a melhoria contínua dos processos de fabrico. É apresentado um caso de estudo que pretende validar todo o desenvolvimento anteriormente realizado na matéria.