Sustaining linguistic diversity within the global cultural economy: issues of language rights and linguistic possibilities

This paper draws on ethnographic case-study research conducted amongst a group of first and second generation immigrant children in six inner-city schools in London. It focuses on language attitudes and language choice in relation to cultural maintenance, on the one hand, and career aspirations on the other. It seeks to provide insight into some of the experiences and dilemmatic choices encountered and negotiations engaged in by transmigratory groups, how they define cultural capital, and the processes through which new meanings are shaped as part of the process of defining a space within the host society. Underlying this discussion is the assumption that alternative cultural spaces in which multiple identities and possibilities can be articulated already exist in the rich texture of everyday life amongst transmigratory groups. The argument that whilst the acquisition of 'world languages' is a key variable in accumulating cultural capital, the maintenance of linguistic diversity retains potent symbolic power in sustaining cohesive identities is a recurring theme.

Atopostipes suicloacale gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from an underground swine manure storage pit

Phenotypic and molecular genetic studies were performed on an unknown facultative anaerobic, catalase-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium isolated from a pig manure storage pit. The unknown bacterium was nutritionally fastidious with growth enhanced by the addition of rumen fluid and was phenotypically initially identified as an Eubacterium species. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies, however, revealed that the unknown bacterium was phylogenetically distant from Eubacterium limosum (the type species of the genus Eubacterium) and related organisms. Phylogenetically, the unknown species displayed a close association with an uncultured organism from human subgingival plaque and formed an unknown sub-line within a cluster of organisms which includes Alloioccoccus otitis, Alkalibacterium olivoapovliticus, Allofustis seminis, Dolosigranulum pigrum, and related organisms, within the low mol% G + C Gram-positive bacteria. Sequence divergence values of > 8% with all known taxonomically recognised taxa, however, clearly indicates the novel bacterium represents a hitherto unknown genus. Based on both phenotypic and phylogenetic considerations, it is proposed that the unknown bacterium from pig manure be classified in a new genus and species, as Atopostipes suicloacale gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain of Atopostipes suicloacale is PPC79(T) = NRRL 23919(T) = DSM 15692(T). Crown Copyright (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exporting construction professional services in a global service economy

Globalisation has prompted increasing numbers of construction profes-sional services (CPS) firms to internationalise and export their services. The driver has been twofold; firstly to increase turnover/profits and sec-ondly, to minimise the risk of a reliance on working in a single domestic market which has a fluctuating demand. Secondly, where firms have out-grown their domestic market, and in order to expand, they must export overseas. There has been little research into the way CPS firms operate overseas, yet construction represents approximately 10% of global GDP; this means that understanding CPS firms is important. This paper investigates how CPS firms internationalise and the drivers that impact their decisions and operations overseas. A survey was undertaken and interviews conducted that showed CPS firms are project driven, in-vesting heavily in the process of seeking work/bidding for projects, and are very focused on delivering projects with minimum risk. Increasing foreign ownership, changing procurement approaches and more consolidation of CPS firms in the global marketplace present a changing business land-scape. The research develops a framework of tangible and intangible factors, such as competencies, business organisation culture, leadership and reputation in order to better understand how CPS firms export their ser-vices. Whilst all CPS firms share the same framework of factors, the re-sulting synergies are different not only for each firm but also for each pro-ject. The knowledge-intensive and project-based nature of CPS firms presents a challenge in understanding the way they operate in the global service economy.

The small open-economy New Keynesian Phillips Curve: empirical evidence and implied inflation dynamics

In this paper we apply GMM estimation to assess the relevance of domestic versus external determinants of CPI inflation dynamics in a sample of OECD countries typically classified as open economies. The analysis is based on a variant of the small open-economy New Keynesian Phillips Curve derived in Galí and Monacelli (Rev Econ Stud 72:707–734, 2005), where the novel feature is that expectations about fluctuations in the terms of trade enter explicitly. For most countries in our sample the expected relative change in the terms of trade emerges as the more relevant inflation driver than the contemporaneous domestic output gap.

Real-time expert system for fault location on high voltage underground distribution cables

To ensure minimum loss of system security and revenue it is essential that faults on underground cable systems be located and repaired rapidly. Currently in the UK, the impulse current method is used to prelocate faults, prior to using acoustic methods to pinpoint the fault location. The impulse current method is heavily dependent on the engineer's knowledge and experience in recognising/interpreting the transient waveforms produced by the fault. The development of a prototype real-time expert system aid for the prelocation of cable faults is described. Results from the prototype demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of the expert system as an aid for the diagnosis and location of faults on underground cable systems.

Is housing good for the economy?

Not surprisingly housing researchers and practitioners frequently call for more resources to be devoted to housing. But governments in recent years have devoted fewer resources to housing rather than more. One of the reasons is that housing expenditures have to be seen in terms of the overall resource constraints on the economy and in many instances this requires a macro‐economic perspective. This paper reviews the macro‐economic arguments for and against housing expenditures, particularly through the use of a quantitative policy simulation model.