Celebrating the Great Union through Smart Digital Solutions: Lessons from Alba Iulia, Romania

After World War I, Transylvania became part of Romania in 1918 through what is called the Great Union. After 100 years, Alba Iulia authorities celebrated the Unification Centennial in a symbolic way by testing and implementing 100 smart digital projects. The research question is asked, Is Alba Iulia a true smart city? Methodologically, we centralized the urban regeneration and sustainable development projects, plotting them on a map using geographic information system ArcGIS 16.2 software. The results were interpreted using the arch over time method and emphasized the sustainable development tendencies of the Union City a century later. Its policies and projects make Alba Iulia a model for emergent development despite some unsolved gaps such as social inclusion of marginal communities or real urban smart functionality. Conclusively, the current poor implementation of smart applications certifies Alba Iulia’s digital city status, not as one of smart city.

Doppler Circulation as a Fairly Range-Insensitive Far-Field Tornado Detection and Precursor Parameter

Formulas are obtained for observed circulation around and contraction rate of a Doppler radar grid cell within a surface of constant launch angle. The cell values near unresolved axisymmetric vortices vary greatly with beam-to-flow angle. To obtain reliable standard measures of vortex strength we bilinearly interpolate data to points on circles of specified radii concentric with circulation centers and compute the Doppler circulations around and the areal contraction rates of these circles from the field of mean Doppler velocities. These parameters are proposed for detection of strong tornadoes and mesocyclonic winds. The circulation and mean convergence around the Union City, Oklahoma, tornado of 24 May 1973 are computed. After doubling to compensate for the unobserved wind component, the circulation (1.1 × 105 m2 s−1) agrees with a previous photogrammetric measurement. The mature tornado was embedded in a region, 6 km in diameter, of nearly uniform strong convergence (~5.5 × 10−3 s−1) without a simultaneous mesocyclone. A model of a convergent vortex inputted to a Doppler radar emulator reproduces these results. Moving the model vortex shows that for a WSR-88D with superresolution, the circulation is relatively insensitive to range and azimuth. WSR-88D data of the 31 May 2013 El Reno storm are also analyzed. The tornado formed in a two-celled mesocyclone with strong inflow 5 km away. In the next 8 min the circulation near the axis doubled and the areal contraction rate at 5 km increased by 50%. This signified a large probability of strong tornadoes embedded in powerful storm-scale winds.

Latina Muslim Producers of Online and Literary Countermedia

Since 9/11, US English and Spanish language media have reported on the rise in Latino/a conversion to Islam. Western(ized) media images I examined for this essay about Latinas converting to Islam raise suspicions overpossible forced conversions, brainwashing, or abuse. What is evident and salient in these media portrayals, whether deliberately or unintentionally created, are the binaries (Western vs. non-Western, Christian vs. Muslim, and Arab vs. Latino) that limit understandings of how these women are self-empowered and make choices for themselves in their everyday lives as Latina Muslim converts. In effect, Western imperial ideologies and discourses in these media portrayals reinforce and normalize rigid state identitarian notions of Christian/Catholic Latinas living in Union City, New Jersey, a traditionally Catholic/Christian-majority and urban Cuban-majority/Latino immigrant enclave since the 1940s-1950s. Now more alarming is this post-9/11 moment when “the Latino American Dawah Organization (LADO) estimated that Latina women outnumbered their male counterparts and reached 60 per cent,” as part of a changing religious and ethnic demographic that includes Muslim Arab and South Asian populations amidst Latino/a populations. In my research, it soon became evident that a variety of media sources perceived Union City as a prime site of Latino/a Muslim conversion post-9/11. This essay offers a specific look at the way newsmedia has portrayed Latina Muslims in Union City and how the cultural productions of these women challenge simplistic and Islamophobic views of Latinas who have converted to Islam post-9/11. To download full review, click on PDF.

Latina Muslim Producers of Online and Literary Countermedia

Since 9/11, US English and Spanish language media have reported on the rise in Latino/a conversion to Islam. Western(ized) media images I examined for this essay about Latinas converting to Islam raise suspicions overpossible forced conversions, brainwashing, or abuse. What is evident and salient in these media portrayals, whether deliberately or unintentionally created, are the binaries (Western vs. non-Western, Christian vs. Muslim, and Arab vs. Latino) that limit understandings of how these women are self-empowered and make choices for themselves in their everyday lives as Latina Muslim converts. In effect, Western imperial ideologies and discourses in these media portrayals reinforce and normalize rigid state identitarian notions of Christian/Catholic Latinas living in Union City, New Jersey, a traditionally Catholic/Christian-majority and urban Cuban-majority/Latino immigrant enclave since the 1940s-1950s. Now more alarming is this post-9/11 moment when “the Latino American Dawah Organization (LADO) estimated that Latina women outnumbered their male counterparts and reached 60 per cent,” as part of a changing religious and ethnic demographic that includes Muslim Arab and South Asian populations amidst Latino/a populations. In my research, it soon became evident that a variety of media sources perceived Union City as a prime site of Latino/a Muslim conversion post-9/11. This essay offers a specific look at the way newsmedia has portrayed Latina Muslims in Union City and how the cultural productions of these women challenge simplistic and Islamophobic views of Latinas who have converted to Islam post-9/11. To download full review, click on PDF.