Reporting and the politics of difference : (non) disclosure on ethnic minorities

This article is based on two related research questions. First, what is the level of disclosure on ethnic minorities in the two sectors of the U.K. economy that historically have employed the most ethnic minorities: the banking and retail sectors? And secondly, what influences the (non)disclosure? It specifically investigates the level of disclosures from 1935 to 1998 and situates them within the changing social, political and economic context of this period. It is contended that the changing pattern of disclosure during this period can be understood with reference to changes in the political strategies for managing the threat of racism adopted by successive governments. The article provides some tentative theoretical reflections on the nature of the racism problematic and the way in which power may be seen to operate through (non)disclosure in this particular instance.

Diabetes and ethnic minorities

The global prevalence of diabetes for all age groups is estimated to be 2.8%. Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 90% of diabetes worldwide. Diabetes incidence, prevalence, and disease progression varies by ethnic group. This review highlights unique aspects of the risk of developing diabetes, its overwhelming vascular complications, and their management mainly using data among South Asians and African-Caribbeans in the UK but also using non-UK data. It is concluded that although the origin of the ethnic differences in incidence need further clarification, many factors should be amenable to prevention and treatment in all ethnic groups worldwide.

Women, minorities, and proportional representation in Parliament : a proposal for voting reform

The right to vote permits the voices of the electorate to be heard in democracies. However, voting is often insufficient for minorities to obtain representation by their preferred candidates. For traditional political ‘minorities’ including women, self-representation is essential to political equality and social equity. Despite holding roughly 50% of the electoral vote in Australia for 100 years, women comprise only 22% of the Commonwealth Members and 29% of Senators. This paper proposes a new vote counting system, STV with Borda elimination or STV-B. STV-B retains proportional representation but much greater voter control over selection of candidates. STV-B would provide women with a mechanism that yields proportional representation for women without undermining party representation.

Egg colour matching in an African cuckoo, as revealed by ultraviolet-visible reflectance spectrophotometry

Despite major differences between human and avian colour vision, previous studies of cuckoo egg mimicry have used human colour vision (or standards based thereon) to assess colour matching. Using ultraviolet-visible reflectance spectrophotometry (300-700 nm), we measured museum collections of eggs of the red-chested cuckoo and its hosts. The first three principal components explained more than 99% of the variance in spectra, and measures of cuckoo-host egg similarity derived from these transformations were compared with measures of cuckoo-host egg similarity estimated by human observers unaware of the hypotheses we were testing. Monte Carlo methods were used to simulate laying of cuckoo eggs at random in nests. Results showed that host and cuckoo eggs were very highly matched for an ultraviolet versus greenness component, which was not detected by humans. Furthermore, whereas cuckoo and host were dissimilar in achromatic brightness, humans did not detect this difference. Our study thus reveals aspects of cuckoo-host egg colour matching which have hitherto not been described. These results suggest subtleties and complexities in the evolution of host-cuckoo egg mimicry that were not previously suspected. Our results also have the potential to explain the longstanding paradox that some host species accept cuckoo eggs that are non-mimetic to the human eye.

Indigenous peoples are not multicultural minorities : cultural diversity, heritage and indigenous human rights in Australia

This theoretically innovative anthology investigates the problematic linkages between conserving cultural heritage, maintaining cultural diversity, defining and establishing cultural citizenship, and enforcing human rights.

It is the first publication to address the notions of cultural diversity, cultural heritage and human rights in one volume. Heritage provides the basis of humanity’s rich cultural diversity. While there is a considerable literature dealing separately with cultural diversity, cultural heritage and human rights, this book is distinctive and has contemporary relevance in focusing on the intersection between the three concepts. Cultural Diversity, Heritage and Human Rights establishes a fresh approach that will interest students and practitioners alike and on which future work in the heritage field might proceed.

Catching gender-Identity production in flight : making the commonplace visible

The purpose of this article is to develop and illustrate an approach for making the commonplace visible in a natural, as opposed to manipulated, social setting. The key research task was to find a way of capturing the ongoing production or enactment of the self that provides some insight into the way in which it is produced in a routine, matter of fact way. The article takes a number of steps to develop a research approach to the task. First, gender-identity was selected as a more specific aspect of self-production. Second, the concept of “flashpoints” was used to refer to a particular moment in the routine which achieves some significance or salience as a result of the participants seizing upon some otherwise unremarkable action or statement and twisting it to their purpose. In this study, the purpose was gender-identity creation. Primary school children in the classroom and their teachers were the participants of the study. Through the use of flashpoints, the article demonstrates how gender-identity production of these children can be caught in flight. The article concludes that this approach can be added to the researcher’s toolkit.

Visible transparent, UV-blocking polymer nanocomposite films containing nano-sized organic-LDH (Layered Double Hydroxide) hybrid

A nano-sized Mg2Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) was used for encapsulating an organic UV absorber, 2-hydroxy-4- methoxybenzeophenone-5-sulfonic acid (HMBS), to produce HMBS@LDH hybrid nano-platelets. Upon dispersing this organic-inorganic hybrid LDH into ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) for film casting, a thin polymer
nanocomposite film that is UV opaque but highly transparent to visible light (higher than 90%) was formed. Thermogravimetry (TG) analysis confirmed that the intercalation of HMBS into LDH considerably increased the thermal stability of HMBS. Such an improvement was attributed to the strong guest-host interaction between the HMBS anions and the LDH layers. Also, the nanocomposite films were flexible and had good mechanical properties.