Some challenges in researching racism in education: A review essay

No abstract.

The Right to Work in the ECHR

The European Convention on Human Rights does not explicitly protect the right to work; nevertheless the ECHR case law protects aspects of this right. The paper summarises the content of the right to work and then demonstrates how the case law protects aspects of it. Article 8 can be used to protect the right to seek employment, while Articles 6 and 8 can be used to combat unfair dismissal. Other ECHR Articles prohibit discrimination. The paper concludes with some suggestions as to how to develop this trend in the case law. First, Article 8 should be recognised as protecting the negative aspects of the right to work. Second, the relationship between Article 8 and Article 14 needs clarification. Third, there is scope to develop positive obligations in relation to the right to work.

Perceptions of Gender Group Variability in Majority and Minority Contexts Two Field Studies with Nurses and Police Officers

Two field studies demonstrated that majority and minority size moderate perceived group variability. In Study 1 we found an outgroup homogeneity (OH) effect for female nurses in the majority, but an ingroup homogeneity (IH) effect for a token minority of male nurses. In Study 2 we found similar effects in a different setting - an OH effect for policemen in the majority and an IH effect for policewomen in the minority. Although measures of visibility, status, and, especially, familiarity tended to show the same pattern as perceived variability, there was no evidence that they mediated perceived dispersion. Results are discussed in terms of group size, rather than gender, being moderators of perceived variability, and with reference to Kanter's (1977a, 1977b) theory of group proportions.

Lake Kumphawapi – an archive of Holocene palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic changes in northeast Thailand

The long-term climatic and environmental history of Southeast Asia, and of Thailand in particular, is still fragmentary. Here we present a new 14C-dated, multi-proxy sediment record (TOC, C/N, CNS isotopes, Si, Zr, K, Ti, Rb, Ca elemental data, biogenic silica) for Lake Kumphawapi, the second largest natural lake in northeast Thailand. The data set provides a reconstruction of changes in lake status, groundwater fluctuations, and catchment run-off during the Holocene. A comparison of multiple sediment sequences and their proxies suggests that the summer monsoon was stronger between c. 9800 and 7000 cal yr BP. Lake status and water level changes around 7000 cal yr BP signify a shift to lower effective moisture. By c. 6500 cal yr BP parts of the lake had been transformed into a peatland, while areas of shallow water still occupied the deeper part of the basin until c. 5400–5200 cal yr BP. The driest interval in Kumphawapi's history occurred between c. 5200 and 3200 cal yr BP, when peat extended over large parts of the basin. After 3200 cal yr BP, the deepest part of the lake again turned into a wetland, which existed until c. 1600 cal yr BP. The observed lake-level rise after 1600 cal yr BP could have been caused by higher moisture availability, although increased human influence in the catchment cannot be ruled out. The present study highlights the use of multiple sediment sequences and proxies to study large lakes, such as Lake Kumphawapi in order to correctly assess the time transgressive response to past changes in hydroclimate conditions. Our new data set from northeast Thailand adds important palaeoclimatic information for a region in Southeast Asia and allows discussing Holocene monsoon variability and ITCZ movement in greater detail.

Holocene environmental changes in northeast Thailand as reconstructed from a tropical wetland

Geochemical variables (TOC, C/N, TS, delta C-13) and diatom assemblages were analyzed in a lake sediment sequence from Nong (Lake) Han Kumphawapi in northeast Thailand to reconstruct regional climatic and environmental history during the Holocene. By around c. 10,000-9400 cal yr BP, a large shallow freshwater lake had formed in the Kumphawapi basin. Oxygenated bottom waters and a well-mixed water column were characteristic of this early lake stage, which was probably initiated by higher effective moisture and a stronger summer monsoon. Decreased run-off after c. 6700 cal yr BP favored increased aquatic productivity in the shallow lake. Multiple proxies indicate a marked lowering of the lake level around 5900 cal yr BP, the development of an extensive wetland around 5400 cal yr BP, and the subsequent transition to a peatland. The shift from shallow lake to wetland and later to a peatland is interpreted as a response to lower effective moisture. A hiatus at the transition from wetland to peatland suggests very low accumulation rates, which may result from very dry climatic conditions. A rise in groundwater and lake level around 3200 cal yr BP allowed the re-establishment of a wetland in the Kumphawapi basin. However, the sediments deposited between c. 3200 and 1600 cal yr BP provide evidence for at least two hiatuses at c. 2700-2500 cal yr BP, and at c. 1900-1600 cal yr BP, which would suggest surface dryness and consequently periods of low effective moisture. Around 1600 cal yr BP a new shallow lake became re-established in the basin. Although the underlying causes for this new lake phase remain unclear, we hypothesize that higher effective moisture was the main driving force. This shallow lake phase continued up to the present but was interrupted by higher nutrient fluxes to the lake around 1000-600 cal yr BP. Whether this was caused by intensified human impact in the catchment or, whether this signals a lowering of the lake level due to reduced effective moisture, needs to be corroborated by further studies in the region. The multi-proxy study of Kumphawapi's sediment core CP3A clearly shows that Kumphawapi is a sensitive archive for recording past shifts in effective moisture, and as such in the intensity of the Asian summer monsoon. Many more continental paleorecords, however, will be needed to fully understand the spatial and temporal patterns of past changes in Asian monsoon intensity and its ecosystem impacts. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Employment patterns in contemporary retailing:gender and work in five supermarkets

This article examines trends in patterns of employment within contemporary retailing. It focuses upon five supermarkets in the Lancaster area. In each store the proportion of part-timers had increased during the 1980s. There were marked differences in the proportions of female full-time and part-time employees who were married. Management reported similar perceptions of the relative advantages and disadvantages of employing married women within their stores. These belief systems coexisted with radically divergent recruitment strategies by these managements. These variations were embedded witnin typical recruitment strategies in each of the firms examined. -from Authors