Secretin family (Class B) G protein-coupled receptors - from molecular to clinical perspectives

Family B G protein-coupled receptors represent an important but under-researched group of receptors. This edition of the British Journal of Pharmacology considers the roles and pharmacology of a number of these receptors. Whilst common themes emerge, it is clear that more work is needed to understand the details of each receptor in order to properly exploit them therapeutically.

Teamwork for product innovation in Taiwanese family firms:an indigenous psychology perspective: An indigenous psychology

As the existing team literature mostly excludes context and culture, little is known about how these elements affect real-life team working (Engestrom, 2008; Salas & Wildman, 2009), and how teams work in non-Western settings, such as in Chinese firms (Phan, Zhou, & Abrahamson, 2010).This research addresses this issue by investigating how new product design (NPD) teams use team working to carry out product innovation in the context of Chinese family businesses (CFBs) via an indigenous psychology perspective. Unlike mainstream teamwork literature which mostly employs an etic design, an indigenous psychology perspective adopts an emic approach which places emphasis on understanding real-life phenomena in context through a cultural-insider perspective (Kim, 2000). Compatible with this theoretical position, a multiple qualitative case study approach was used as the research methodology. Three qualitative case studies were carried out in three longstanding family-run manufacturing firms in Taiwan, where family firms have been the pillars of high economic growth in the past five decades (W.-w. Chu, 2009). Two salient findings were established across the three case studies. First, the team processes identified across the three family firms are very similar with the exception of owners’ involvement and on-the-job training. All three family firms’ NPD teams are managed in a highly hierarchical manner, with considerable emphasis placed on hierarchical ranking, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, practicability, and interpersonal harmony. Second, new products developed by CFBNPD teams are mostly incremental innovation or copycat innovation, while radical or original products are rare. In many ways, CFBNPD teams may not be the ideal incubators for innovation. This is because several aspects of their unique context can cast constraints on how they work and innovate, and thus limit the ratio of radical innovation. A multi-level review into the facilitators and inhibitors of creativity or innovation in CFBNPD teams is provided. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings and the limitations of the study are also addressed.

Shopfloor attitudes towards advanced manufacturing technology:the changing focus of industrial conflict?

The implementation of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) in manufacturing organisations is increasing. In many cases the introduction of AMT has been associated with conflict between management and workers. This appears to be due to the potential for AMT to have a de-skilling effect upon job content and, in some instances, leading to job losses. In reality, fears concerning both these issues have reduced and consequently there has been a change away from conflict between management and workers to divisions amongst shopfloor operators. The paper explores some of the processes involved in this change within the context of an engineering case study. More specifically, it is shown that when AMT was introduced into a machining workshop, traditional conflict between management and operators was soon replaced by negative feelings between users and non-users of AMT. The implications of industrial relations suggest the need for more care and attention to the human side of work organisation when implementing new manufacturing technology.

Disabling a family? Emotional dilemmas experienced in becoming a parent of a child with learning disabilities

Becoming the parent of a child diagnosed with learning disabilities can have a dramatic impact. Chrissie Rogers, the author of this article, is both a lecturer in education studies at Keele University and the mother of a daughter who has learning disabilities. She argues here that the pressures on mothers to produce ‘perfect’ babies and to meet all their needs are immense. These pressures arise from both internalised norms and societal expectations and, in the face of these pressures, parents may feel shock, loss and disappointment. These feelings may lead, in turn, to denial, anxiety and conflict affecting both the parents and the professionals involved with the family. Drawing on a series of in-depth interviews and personal narratives, Chrissie Rogers makes a powerful case for the importance of support, whether that support is formal or informal. She suggests that, without the right levels of support and understanding, having a child with a diagnosis of learning disability can disable the whole family.

The dark side of the internet:protecting yourself and your family from online criminals

In less than a decade, personal computers have become part of our daily lives. Many of us come into contact with computers every day, whether at work, school or home. As useful as the new technologies are, they also have a darker side. By making computers part of our daily lives, we run the risk of allowing thieves, swindlers, and all kinds of deviants directly into our homes. Armed with a personal computer, a modem and just a little knowledge, a thief can easily access confidential information, such as details of bank accounts and credit cards. This book helps people avoid harm at the hands of Internet criminals. It offers a tour of the more dangerous parts of the Internet, as the author explains who the predators are, their motivations, how they operate and how to protect against them. In less than a decade, personal computers have become part of our daily lives. Many of us come into contact with computers every day, whether at work, school or home. As useful as the new technologies are, they also have a darker side. By making computers part of our daily lives, we run the risk of allowing thieves, swindlers, and all kinds of deviants directly into our homes. Armed with a personal computer, a modem and just a little knowledge, a thief can easily access confidential information, such as details of bank accounts and credit cards. This book is intended to help people avoid harm at the hands of Internet criminals. It offers a tour of the more dangerous parts of the Internet, as the author explains who the predators are, their motivations, how they operate and how to protect against them. Behind the doors of our own homes, we assume we are safe from predators, con artists, and other criminals wishing us harm. But the proliferation of personal computers and the growth of the Internet have invited these unsavory types right into our family rooms. With a little psychological knowledge a con man can start to manipulate us in different ways. A terrorist can recruit new members and raise money over the Internet. Identity thieves can gather personal information and exploit it for criminal purposes. Spammers can wreak havoc on businesses and individuals. Here, an expert helps readers recognize the signs of a would-be criminal in their midst. Focusing on the perpetrators, the author provides information about how they operate, why they do it, what they hope to do, and how to protect yourself from becoming a victim.

Researching with, not on:using photography in researching street children in Accra, Ghana

What is discussed in this chapter is work-in-progress, an opportunity for reflection upon elements of an on-going research project examining the lives of street children in Accra, Ghana. Street children have received much research in recent years but our project is, we believe, distinctive in two respects. The first of these is that access to reliable data on the growing presence of children on the streets of African cities is often problematic. Available research is often diffuse and hard to access, it is more often than not driven by the short-term requirements of specific programmes and interventions and as a consequence can be lacking in depth, rigour and innovation. Without the means to provide a sufficiently self-conscious and critical engagement with accepted understandings of the lives of street children, consideration of the experience of street children in Africa continues to rely heavily on the more capacious and better disseminated research from the Americas (e.g., Mickelson, 2000). At the very least, Africa's specific experience of large population displacements, diversity of family forms, rapid urbanisation, vigorous structural adjustment and internal conflict raise important questions about the appropriateness of such ready generalisations. Judith Ennew (2003, p. 4) is clear that caution is needed in an uncritical endorsement of the “globalisation of the street child based on Latin American work”. She is equally mindful, however, that as far as Africa is concerned the absence of reliable evidence continues to hinder debate.

»The German likes quarrelling.« Conflict and belonging in German diasporic communities around 1900

Discourses of inclusion and exclusion were an integral part of German nation building after 1871. The paper shows that they were not confined to the metropole but were, in fact, reciprocated abroad. Selected instances of conflict within German migrant communities around the world are taken as a springboard to analyze public contestations of (trans-)national belonging. The sources abound with gossip, aggressive bickering, and official complaints to authorities. Contentious issues cover the areas of politics, religion, class, and language. The case studies engage critically with a number of wider issues. First, they question contemporaneous interpretations of an Imperial diaspora as a unified and Heimat-oriented block. Second, on a theoretical level the article argues that internal ruptures are constitutive elements of diaspora construction and should be considered in concomitant theorizations. Third, the case studies highlight the close connection between diaspora and nation building. Fourth, the discourses studied did not only take place within communities, but also between them, as well as with the metropole, all in multi-directional ways. Questions of belonging were discussed around the world with strikingly similar arguments and terminology. Globalization was at work at the discourse level.