Northern Ireland: Religion, Religiosity and Politics in a Changing Society

The Handbook of Global Contemporary Christianity: Themes and Developments in Culture, Politics, and Society maps the transformations, as well as the continuities, of the largest of the major religions - engaging with the critical global issues which relate to the faith in a fast changing world. International experts in the area offer contributions focusing on global movements; regional trends and developments; Christianity, the state, politics and polity; and Christianity and social diversity. Collectively the contributors provide a comprehensive treatment of health of the religion as Christianity enters its third millennium in existence and details the challenges and dilemmas facing its various expressions, both old and new. The volume is a companion to the Handbook of Contemporary Global Christianity: Movements, Institutions, and Allegiance.

Linnaeus was right all along: Ulva and Enteromorpha are not distinct genera.

Ulva, one of the first Linnaean genera, was later circumscribed to consist of green seaweeds with distromatic blades, and Enteromorpha Link was established for tubular forms. Although several lines of evidence suggest that these generic constructs are artificial, Ulva and Enteromorpha have been maintained as separate genera. Our aims were to determine phylogenetic relationships among taxa currently attributed to Ulva, Enteromorpha, Umbraulva Bae et I.K. Lee and the monotypic genus Chloropelta C.E. Tanner, and to make any nomenclatural changes justified by our findings. Analyses of nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer DNA (ITS nrDNA) (29 ingroup taxa including the type species of Ulva and Enteromorpha), the chloroplast-encoded rbcL gene (for a subset of taxa) and a combined data set were carried out. All trees had a strongly supported clade consisting of all Ulva, Enteromorpha and Chloropelta species, but Ulva and Enteromorpha were not monophyletic. The recent removal of Umbraulva olivascens (P.J.L. Dangeard) Bae et I.K. Lee from Ulva is supported, although the relationship of the segregate genus Umbraulva to Ulvaria requires further investigation. These results, combined with earlier molecular and culture data, provide strong evidence that Ulva, Enteromorpha and Chloropelta are not distinct evolutionary entities and should not be recognized as separate genera. A comparison of traits for surveyed species revealed few synapomorphies. Because Ulva is the oldest name, Enteromorpha and Chloropelta are here reduced to synonymy with Ulva, and new combinations are made where necessary.

Microbial analysis of soil and groundwater from a gasworks site and comparison to a sequenced biological reactive barrier remediation process (SEREBAR)

Aims: To investigate the distribution of a polymicrobial community of biodegradative bacteria in (i) soil and groundwater at a former manufactured gas plant (FMGP) site and (ii) in a novel SEquential REactive BARrier (SEREBAR) bioremediation process designed to bioremediate the contaminated groundwater. Methods and Results: Culture-dependent and culture-independent analyses using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of 16S ribosomal RNA gene and naphthalene dioxygenase (NDO) genes of free-living (planktonic groundwater) and attached (soil biofilm) samples from across the site and from the SEREBAR process was applied. Naphthalene arising from groundwater was effectively degraded early in the process and the microbiological analysis indicated a dominant role for Pseudomonas and Comamonas in its degradation. The microbial communities appeared highly complex and diverse across both the sites and in the SEREBAR process. An increased population of naphthalene degraders was associated with naphthalene removal. Conclusion: The distribution of micro-organisms in general and naphthalene degraders across the site was highly heterogeneous. Comparisons made between areas contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and those not contaminated, revealed differences in the microbial community profile. The likelihood of noncultured bacteria being dominant in mediating naphthalene removal was evident. Significance and Impact of the Study: This work further emphasizes the importance of both traditional and molecular-based tools in determining the microbial ecology of contaminated sites and highlights the role of noncultured bacteria in the process.

‘Doing it with men’: feminist research practice and patriarchal inheritance practices in Welsh family farming

Internationally, the gender relations of the family farming ‘way of life’ have beenshown to be stubbornly persistent in their adherence to patriarchal inheritancepractices. This article demonstrates how such ‘agri-cultural’ practices are situated bothwithin the subjective sphere of farming individuals’ and within global agri-economics,bringing new challenges to patrilineal farm survival. It is suggested here that the recenttendency for post-structuralist theorisation in rural studies has underestimated theexistence and impact of patrilineal patterns in family farming. Such patterns mean thatwomen are shown to largely occupy relational gender identities as the ‘helper’, whilstmen are strongly identified as the ‘farmer’. Drawing on repeated life-history interviewsconducted with farming men and women from Powys, Mid Wales, the aim of thisarticle is to generate debate as to the extent to which men can be brought into feministresearch practice in order to reveal patriarchy to a greater degree. The article begins bysituating the near-exclusion of men from feminist research practice within theoreticaldevelopments in feminist geography. This discussion also assists in deriving issues ofresearch methods, positionality and interpretive power which focus the integration ofempirical material in the methodological reflections provided in section three. In sectiontwo, the rationale for the epistemological stance taken in the research is provided. Thearticle provides an example of the successful integration of men into a feminist researchframe, suggests avenues for theoretical development and identifies future researchdirections which can be informed by ‘doing it with men’.

Keywords: epistemology; family farming; feminist res

Postcolonialism and islands: introduction

n/a

Postcolonial Culture on Dependent Islands

This article first considers the significance of historical experience in academic studies, including postcolonial studies, concluding with Jane M. Jacobs that “the structures of power that gave rise to empire live on in a more disorganised fashion.” They live on in an organized way, too, in that many islands remain in a colonial relationship, being simultaneously colonial and postcolonial, although having tended “to slip the net of postcolonial theorising.” The article attempts to help fill this gap, especially through consideration of Brian Rourke’s ideas on cultural imposition applied to dependent islands and through investigation of why some islands have not progressed to independence. Case study detail is presented, especially for Bermuda and the Falkland Islands.

Developing a model of innovation implementation for UK SMEs: A path analysis and explanatory case analysis

Continuous large-scale changes in technology and the globalization of markets have resulted in the need for many SMEs to use innovation as a means of seeking competitive advantage where innovation includes both technological and organizational perspectives (Tapscott, 2009). However, there is a paucity of systematic and empirical research relating to the implementation of innovation management in the context of SMEs. The aim of this article is to redress this imbalance via an empirical study created to develop and test a model of innovation implementation in SMEs. This study uses Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to test the plausibility of an innovation model, developed from earlier studies, as the basis of a questionnaire survey of 395 SMEs in the UK. The resultant model and construct relationship results are further probed using an explanatory multiple case analysis to explore ‘how’ and ‘why’ type questions within the model and construct relationships. The findings show that the
effects of leadership, people and culture on innovation implementation are mediated by business improvement activities relating to Total Quality Management/Continuous Improvement (TQM/CI) and product and process developments. It is concluded that SMEs have an opportunity to leverage existing quality and process improvement activities to move beyond continuous
improvement outcomes towards effective innovation implementation. The article concludes by suggesting areas suitable for further research.