Employment outcomes and plant closure in a post-industrial city:an analysis of the labour market studies of MG Rover workers three years on

This paper examines how the loss of 6300 jobs from the closure of MG Rover (MGR) in the city of Birmingham (UK) in April 2005 affected the employment trajectories of ex-workers, in the context of wider structural change and efforts at urban renewal. The paper presents an analysis of a longitudinal survey of 300 ex-MGR workers, and examines to what extent the state of local labour markets and workers’ geographical mobility—as well as the effectiveness of the immediate policy response and longer-term local economic strategies—may have helped to balance the impacts of personal attributes associated with workers’ employability and their reabsorption into the labour markets. It is found that the relative buoyancy of the local economy, the success of longer-run efforts at diversification and a strong policy response and retraining initiative helped many disadvantaged workers to find new jobs in the medium term. However, the paper also highlights the unequal employment outcomes and trajectories that many lesser-skilled workers faced. It explores the policy issues arising from such closures and their aftermath, such as the need to co-ordinate responses, to retain institutional capacity, to offer high-quality training and education resources to workers and, where possible, to slow down such closure processes to enable skills to be retained and reused within the local economy.

Vivências de Esposas de Ex-combatentes Diagnosticados com Stress Pós-traumático: uma abordagem fenomenológica

A Guerra Colonial assombrou a sociedade Portuguesa, durante mais de 10 anos. Durante esse tempo, milhares de jovens soldados foram obrigados fazer parte dessa Luta. Grande parte deles desenvolvera a Perturbação de Stress Pós-Traumático, com a qual ainda hoje vivem. A presente Investigação pretendeu descrever e compreender as Vivências das Esposas de Ex-Combatentes diagnosticados com a Perturbação de Stress Pós-Traumático, utilizando uma abordagem Qualitativa de Orientação Fenomenológica. Através deste Método, pretendeu-se conhecer a globalidade do Fenómeno, de uma forma compreensiva. Foram entrevistadas quatro Esposas que vivem de perto com este problema, as quais revelaram informações importantes para a Investigação. Desta maneira, foram recolhidos dados acerca da Infância e Adolescência, Casamento, Doença do Marido e Perspectivas de Futuro, destas Mulheres. Entre outras conclusões, destacamos a emergência de significações existenciais para estas Mulheres e o facto de esta doença ter influência a nível social, pessoal, familiar e económico. Além disso, as inúmeras estratégias de coping relatadas, demonstraram ser uma mais-valia na forma como estas esposas lidam com a doença dos Maridos. Desta maneira compreendeu-se o fenómeno de uma forma holística, o que forneceu dados importantes para entender o que estas Mulheres vivenciam diariamente, tal como uma melhor compreensão do estado Psicológico destas Esposas e dos Maridos. / The Colonial War haunted the Portuguese society, for over 10 years. During that time, thousands of young soldiers were forced to be part of that fight. Most of them developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which they still live with. This research aims to describe and understand the Experiences of War Veterans’ Wives, whose husbands were diagnosed with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, using the qualitative method and phenomenological orientation. Through this method, we meant to understand the whole phenomenon in a comprehensive manner. We interviewed four Wives who live closely with this problem, which revealed important information for the investigation. Therefore, we collected data on Childhood and Adolescence, Marriage, Husband’s Disease and Future Prospects, of those Women’s. Among other findings, we highlight the emergence of existential meaning for these Women’s and the fact that this disease influences their lives on social, personal, familial and financial issues. Moreover, the many coping strategies reported, have proven an asset in the way this Wives deal with their husbands illness. Thus it was understood the phenomenon in a holistic way, which provided important information to understand what these Women’s live daily as a better understanding of the psychological state of Husbands and Wives.

Monsters Take to the Streets! Monstrous Street-Art as Pedagogy of Resistance to Post-Olympic Regeneration in Hackney Wick?

This chapter explores geographies of gentrification and resistance in relation to the monstrous through the lens of street-art in post-Olympic London. It takes as a geographic case study Hackney Wick, which has for a long time been a bastion of alternative and creative living due to cheap rents in large, ex-industrial warehouse spaces. The artistic sociality of the area is imbued within its landscape, as prolific street artists have adorned ex-industrial warehouses and canal-side walls with graffiti and murals. Since the announcement of the 2012 Olympic Games, the area has been a site of intense political and aesthetic contestation. The post-Olympic legacy means that the area has been earmarked for redevelopment, with current residents facing the possibility of joining thousands already displaced by the games. The anxiety of dispossession is reflected by monstrous characters and sinister disembodied teeth, eyes and fingers embedded within the landscape, painted by local artists. Using geographically sensitive mobile and visual methodology to document the landscape and artwork, the chapter analyses and interprets the monstrous themes using a range of theorists including Mikhail Bakhtin, Georges Bataille and Nick Land. I argue that monstrous street-art lays visible claim to public territory for aesthetic purposes at odds with the visions of redevelopers and the needs of capital. Whilst street-art and graffiti do not fit easily within frameworks of organized political resistance or collective social movements, they operate as a kind of epistemological transgression that triggers transformative affects in the viewer. This creates conditions for pedagogies of resistance to gentrification by expressing and mobilizing political affects such as anger and anxiety, raising awareness of geographical politics, and encouraging the viewer to question the status quo of the built environment.

The development of planar high-K/III-V p-channel MOSFETs for post-silicon CMOS

Conventional Si complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) scaling is fast approaching its limits. The extension of the logic device roadmap for future enhancements in transistor performance requires non-Si materials and new device architectures. III-V materials, due to their superior electron transport properties, are well poised to replace Si as the channel material beyond the 10nm technology node to mitigate the performance loss of Si transistors from further reductions in supply voltage to minimise power dissipation in logic circuits. However several key challenges, including a high quality dielectric/III-V gate stack, a low-resistance source/drain (S/D) technology, heterointegration onto a Si platform and a viable III-V p-metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (MOSFET), need to be addressed before III-Vs can be employed in CMOS. This Thesis specifically addressed the development and demonstration of planar III-V p-MOSFETs, to complement the n-MOSFET, thereby enabling an all III-V CMOS technology to be realised. This work explored the application of InGaAs and InGaSb material systems as the channel, in conjunction with Al2O3/metal gate stacks, for p-MOSFET development based on the buried-channel flatband device architecture. The body of work undertaken comprised material development, process module development and integration into a robust fabrication flow for the demonstration of p-channel devices. The parameter space in the design of the device layer structure, based around the III-V channel/barrier material options of In_x≥0.53Ga_1-xAs/In_0.52Al_0.48As and In_x≥0.1Ga_1-xSb/AlSb, was systematically examined to improve hole channel transport. A mobility of 433 cm²/Vs, the highest room temperature hole mobility of any InGaAs quantum-well channel reported to date, was obtained for the In_0.85Ga_0.15As (2.1% strain) structure. S/D ohmic contacts were developed based on thermally annealed Au/Zn/Au metallisation and validated using transmission line model test structures. The effects of metallisation thickness, diffusion barriers and de-oxidation conditions were examined. Contacts to InGaSb-channel structures were found to be sensitive to de-oxidation conditions. A fabrication process, based on a lithographically-aligned double ohmic patterning approach, was realised for deep submicron gate-to-source/drain gap (L_side) scaling to minimise the access resistance, thereby mitigating the effects of parasitic S/D series resistance on transistor performance. The developed process yielded gaps as small as 20nm. For high-k integration on GaSb, ex-situ ammonium sulphide ((NH₄)₂S) treatments, in the range 1%-22%, for 10min at 295K were systematically explored for improving the electrical properties of the Al₂O₃/GaSb interface. Electrical and physical characterisation indicated the 1% treatment to be most effective with interface trap densities in the range of 4 - 10×10¹²cm^-2eV^-1 in the lower half of the bandgap. An extended study, comprising additional immersion times at each sulphide concentration, was further undertaken to determine the surface roughness and the etching nature of the treatments on GaSb. A number of p-MOSFETs based on III-V-channels with the most promising hole transport and integration of the developed process modules were successfully demonstrated in this work. Although the non-inverted InGaAs-channel devices showed good current modulation and switch-off characteristics, several aspects of performance were non-ideal; depletion-mode operation, modest drive current (I_d,sat=1.14mA/mm), double peaked transconductance (g_m=1.06mS/mm), high subthreshold swing (SS=301mV/dec) and high on-resistance (R_on=845kΩ.μm). Despite demonstrating substantial improvement in the on-state metrics of I_d,sat (11×), g_m (5.5×) and R_on (5.6×), inverted devices did not switch-off. Scaling gate-to-source/drain gap (L_side) from 1μm down to 70nm improved I_d,sat (72.4mA/mm) by a factor of 3.6 and gm (25.8mS/mm) by a factor of 4.1 in inverted InGaAs-channel devices. Well-controlled current modulation and good saturation behaviour was observed for InGaSb-channel devices. In the on-state In_0.3Ga_0.7Sb-channel (I_d,sat=49.4mA/mm, g_m=12.3mS/mm, R_on=31.7kΩ.μm) and In_0.4Ga_0.6Sb-channel (I_d,sat=38mA/mm, g_m=11.9mS/mm, R_on=73.5kΩ.μm) devices outperformed the InGaAs-channel devices. However the devices could not be switched off. These findings indicate that III-V p-MOSFETs based on InGaSb as opposed to InGaAs channels are more suited as the p-channel option for post-Si CMOS.

Experimental study of temperatures during drilling of ex-vivo bovine bones

The thermal bone necrosis induced during a drilling process is a frequent and potential phenomenon, which contributes to post-operative problems. The frictional heat generated from the contact between the drill bit and the hole wall is unavoidable. However, understanding advanced techniques for acquiring reliable thermal data on bone drilling is important to ensure the quality of the drilled hole. The purpose of this study is to present two different experimental methods to analyse the drilling conditions that generate the lower temperatures, avoiding the occurrence of thermal bone necrosis. Ex-vivo bovine bones were used to simulate the drilling process considering the effect of drill bit diameter, drill speed and feed-rate. Different experiments were performed to assess the repeatability of the tests. The results identified the drill bit diameter as the most critical parameter for inducing higher temperatures in bone drilling.

Experimental study of temperatures during drilling of ex-vivo bovine bones

he thermal bone necrosis induced during a drilling process is a frequent and potential phenomenon, which contributes to post-operative problems. The frictional heat generated from the contact between the drill bit and the hole wall is unavoidable. However, understanding advanced techniques for acquiring reliable thermal data on bone drilling is important to ensure the quality of the drilled hole.

Le redoublement au post-primaire général public dans la région du Centre-Ouest du Burkina Faso : analyse des principales caractéristiques liées aux représentations sociales et aux modèles d’intervention éducative véhiculés par les personnels enseignants et les directions des écoles

La recension des écrits scientifiques à laquelle nous avons procédé a souligné clairement de très hautes fréquences de redoublement chez les jeunes d’âge scolaire relevant des enseignements primaire et post-primaire, dans les ex-colonies françaises d’Afrique occidentale et centrale (Burkina-Faso, Sénégal, Gabon). Au Burkina Faso, le taux moyen de redoublement observé au post-primaire a été d’environ 30 % au cours du quinquennat 2007/2008 à 2012/2013. La région du Centre-Ouest est celle qui en a enregistré le taux le plus élevé (33,1 %) sur les treize régions administratives du pays au cours de la période mentionnée, ce qui a justifié son choix dans le cadre de cette étude. L’objectif général visait à déterminer, dans le microsystème qu’est l’école au post-primaire général public, les caractéristiques des représentations sociales (RS) et des modèles d’intervention éducative (MIE) valorisés chez des enseignants et des directions d’écoles qui sont en relation avec le redoublement d’élèves habitant la région ciblée. L’étude menée est quantitative et de type descriptif. Dans le cadre de celle-ci nous avons fait usage d’une démarche d’enquête par questionnaire auprès d’un échantillon de convenance, stratifié et pondéré constitué de 199 enseignantes et enseignants, incluant un membre du personnel de direction pour chacune des institutions de provenance des sujets (N = 14 directions). Le résultat majeur est spécifique aux enseignants titulaires du CAPES (diplôme pédagogique le plus élevé) qui travaillent dans les communes urbaines où les écoles présentent un seuil élevé de redoublement (21 % et plus). Il suggère des caractéristiques qui correspondent à des profils de valorisation élevés de la représentation positive du redoublement d’une part, et de celle de l’externalité des causes du phénomène, d’autre part. Les principales caractéristiques des MIE privilégiés par ces derniers rapportent, quant à elles, une valorisation moyenne ou faible du MIE 3 (hétérostructuration coactive) et concomitamment une valorisation élevée du MIE 4 (interstructuration cognitive). Cependant, les données recueillies auprès des directions d’écoles dont la taille sous-échantillonnale demeure restreinte n’ont permis qu’une interprétation limitée hors de laquelle notre discours s’avérerait hautement spéculatif. Les enseignants et les directions d’école pourront bénéficier de l’intégration des données issues de l’étude au plan de la formation continue. Ils pourront par conséquent questionner leurs pratiques pédagogiques et leurs attitudes au regard des causes et des effets réels du redoublement sur la réussite et la persévérance scolaire des jeunes au post-primaire. Cela dans un contexte, où la scolarisation de base obligatoire de 10 ans constitue un objectif visé à l’horizon 2025 par le gouvernement du Burkina Faso dans le cadre de la réforme éducative engagée depuis 2007.

La importancia del proceso de desarme desmovilización y reinserción (DDR) para las mujeres soldado de sierra leona durante el post-conflicto

El presente estudio de caso tiene como objetivo analizar los procesos de Desarme, Desmovilización y Reintegración para las mujeres excombatientes en Sierra leona, desarrollados por los mecanismos internacionales, tales como la ONU y su misión en este país UNAMSIL, teniendo en cuenta que la Reintegración es el momento más importante para lograr el mantenimiento de la paz que se firmo en el Acuerdo de Lomé. Este trabajo muestra la importancia de una intervención apropiada de acuerdo a las necesidades de cada Estado y teniendo en cuenta las características del conflicto y sus minorías participativas.

Ex combatientes y proceso de reintegración: representaciones sociales de un grupo estudiantes del área de la salud

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo describir las representaciones sociales de un grupo de estudiantes del área de la salud frente a los excombatientes de grupos armados al margen de la ley en Colombia y frente a los procesos de reintegración. El estudio es cualitativo, desde un enfoque procesual de la teoría de las representaciones sociales, participaron estudiantes del área de la salud de una universidad privada de la ciudad de Bogotá. Los datos fueron recogidos mediante un ejercicio de asociación libre para conocer el componente semántico de las representaciones y una entrevista semiestructurada de forma individual con el fin de identificar las dimensiones de información, actitud y campo representacional. Se encontró la prevalencia de prejuicios hacia los excombatientes y la influencia de los medios de comunicación en el nivel y calidad de la información sobre estos objetos de representación, y se identificó una ambigüedad frente al proceso de reintegración; lo que de alguna forma sugiere las dificultades para la inclusión de este grupo a la sociedad, la presencia de una discriminación negativa y las bajas expectativas frente a procesos de cambio en el marco del proceso de paz.

The Coming of Post-reflexive Society: Commodification and Language in Digital Capitalism

Language is a unique aspect of human communication because it can be used to discuss itself in its own terms. For this reason, human societies potentially have superior capacities of co-ordination, reflexive self-correction, and innovation than other animal, physical or cybernetic systems. However, this analysis also reveals that language is interconnected with the economically and technologically mediated social sphere and hence is vulnerable to abstraction, objectification, reification, and therefore ideology – all of which are antithetical to its reflexive function, whilst paradoxically being a fundamental part of it. In particular, in capitalism, language is increasingly commodified within the social domains created and affected by ubiquitous communication technologies. The advent of the so-called ‘knowledge economy’ implicates exchangeable forms of thought (language) as the fundamental commodities of this emerging system. The historical point at which a ‘knowledge economy’ emerges, then, is the critical point at which thought itself becomes a commodified ‘thing’, and language becomes its “objective” means of exchange. However, the processes by which such commodification and objectification occurs obscures the unique social relations within which these language commodities are produced. The latest economic phase of capitalism – the knowledge economy – and the obfuscating trajectory which accompanies it, we argue, is destroying the reflexive capacity of language particularly through the process of commodification. This can be seen in that the language practices that have emerged in conjunction with digital technologies are increasingly non-reflexive and therefore less capable of self-critical, conscious change.