Angels with dirty faces? European identity, politics of representation and recognition of Romani interests

The contradiction between acknowledgement of cultural differences and their accommodation in public has been a constant theme in studies of diverse societies. This review essay discusses five volumes that grapple with questions of Romani inclusion and the problems Roma face across Europe. The volumes under review point to problems faced by Romani communities and analyse the various legal, political and social challenges that situation of the Roma poses to institutions of contemporary societies. The essay reviews the challenging nature of the status of Roma as we move away from the one-sided towards more reciprocal relationship engagement of state with society in general, and the multiply excluded groups, in particular. The essay finds that the role Roma play in these relationships is either over-, or under-estimated by the literature, largely as a result of limited opportunities to acknowledge and, in effect, accommodate Roma who are rarely understood as actors in their own right.

Explaining the multiparty systems of Western Europe prior to the adoption of proportional representation

The literature has difficulty explaining why the number of parties in majoritarian electoral systems often exceeds the two-party predictions associated with Duverger’s Law. To understand why this is the case, I examine several party systems in Western Europe before the adoption of proportional representation. Drawing from the social cleavage approach, I argue that the emergence of multiparty systems was because of the development of the class cleavage, which provided a base of voters sizeable enough to support third parties. However, in countries where the class cleavage became the largest cleavage, the class divide displaced other cleavages and the number of parties began to converge on two. The results show that the effect of the class cleavage was nonlinear, producing the greatest party system fragmentation in countries where class cleavages were present – but not dominant – and smaller in countries where class cleavages were either dominant or non-existent.

Preparation of Aqueous Core/Polymer Shell Microcapsules by Internal Phase Separation

Aqueous core/polymer shell microcapsules with mommuclear and polynuclear core morphologies have been formed by internal phase separation from water-in-oil emulsions. The water-in-oil emulsions were prepared with the shell polymer dissolved in the aqueous phase by adding a low boiling point cosolvent. Subsequent removal of this cosolvent (by evaporation) leads to phase separation of the polymer and, if the spreading conditions are correct, formation of a polymer shell encapsulating the aqueous core. Poly(tetrahydrofuran) (PTHF) shell/aqueous core microcapsules, with a single (mononuclear) core, have been prepared, but the low T-g (-84 degreesC) of PTHF makes characterization of the particles more difficult. Poly(methyl methacrylate) and poly(isobutyl methacrylate) have higher T-g values (105 and 55 degreesC, respectively) and can be dissolved in water at sufficiently high acetone concentrations, but evaporation of the acetone from the emulsion droplets in these cases mostly resulted in polynuclear capsules, that is, having cores with many very small water droplets contained within the polymer matrix. Microcapsules with fewer, larger aqueous droplets in the core could be produced by reducing the rate of evaporation of the acetone. A possible mechanism for the formation of these polynuclear cores is suggested. These microcapsules were prepared dispersed in an oil-continuous phase. They could, however, be successfully transferred to a water-continuous phase, using a simple centrifugation technique. In this way, microcapsules with aqueous cores, dispersed in an aqueous medium, could be made. It would appear that a real challenge with the water-core systems, compared to the previous oil-core systems, is to obtain the correct order of magnitude of the three interfacial tensions, between the polymer, the aqueous phase, and the continuous oil phase; these control the spreading conditions necessary to produce shells rather than "acorns".

Automatic extraction of Reduced order models from CFD simulations for building energy modeling

Thermal comfort is defined as “that condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment’ [1] [2]. Field studies have been completed in order to establish the governing conditions for thermal comfort [3]. These studies showed that the internal climate of a room was the strongest factor in establishing thermal comfort. Direct manipulation of the internal climate is necessary to retain an acceptable level of thermal comfort. In order for Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) strategies to be efficiently utilised it is necessary to have the ability to predict the effect that activating a heating/cooling source (radiators, windows and doors) will have on the room. The numerical modelling of the domain can be challenging due to necessity to capture temperature stratification and/or different heat sources (radiators, computers and human beings). Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) models are usually utilised for this function because they provide the level of details required. Although they provide the necessary level of accuracy these models tend to be highly computationally expensive especially when transient behaviour needs to be analysed. Consequently they cannot be integrated in BEMS. This paper presents and describes validation of a CFD-ROM method for real-time simulations of building thermal performance. The CFD-ROM method involves the automatic extraction and solution of reduced order models (ROMs) from validated CFD simulations. The test case used in this work is a room of the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) Building at the University College Cork (UCC). ROMs have shown that they are sufficiently accurate with a total error of less than 1% and successfully retain a satisfactory representation of the phenomena modelled. The number of zones in a ROM defines the size and complexity of that ROM. It has been observed that ROMs with a higher number of zones produce more accurate results. As each ROM has a time to solution of less than 20 seconds they can be integrated into the BEMS of a building which opens the potential to real time physics based building energy modelling.

Northern Ireland Representation at Westminster: Constitutional Conundrums and Political Manoeuvres

This article focuses on the issue of Northern Ireland's representation at Westminster. It investigates the political context of the decision to increase Northern Ireland's representation in the house of commons at Westminster from 12 members to 17 in 1978-9. Exploring this episode in more detail, it is argued, provides a more informed overall understanding of the history of devolution in the UK and of the way issues concerning Northern Ireland often overlapped with questions of constitutional change in Scotland and Wales. The article also throws light on the matter of Northern Ireland MPs and their voting rights at Westminster during Northern Ireland's experience of devolution prior to 1972.

An analysis of implied volatility jump dynamics: Novel functional data representation in crude oil markets

The predominant fear in capital markets is that of a price spike. Commodity markets differ in that there is a fear of both upward and down jumps, this results in implied volatility curves displaying distinct shapes when compared to equity markets. The use of a novel functional data analysis (FDA) approach, provides a framework to produce and interpret functional objects that characterise the underlying dynamics of oil future options. We use the FDA framework to examine implied volatility, jump risk, and pricing dynamics within crude oil markets. Examining a WTI crude oil sample for the 2007–2013 period, which includes the global financial crisis and the Arab Spring, strong evidence is found of converse jump dynamics during periods of demand and supply side weakness. This is used as a basis for an FDA-derived Merton (1976) jump diffusion optimised delta hedging strategy, which exhibits superior portfolio management results over traditional methods.

Behind the Headlines: Media Representation of Children and Young People in Northern Ireland:Summary of Research Findings

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council this partnership project between the Childhood, Transition and Social Justice Initiative at Queen’s University and Include Youth focuses on the negative stereotyping of children and young people and the role and responsibilities of the media in the creation and transmission of negative images. Engaging with children, young people, organisations working with children and young people and media representatives, the project uses research evidence to explore negative media representation and its consequences for children’s rights, public reaction and policy initiatives in Northern Ireland. This report represents a summary of the findings of engagement with 141 children and young people. It outlines how they feel they are presented by the media and the impacts of this. It concludes by noting ways forward in challenging negative portrayals.

Automatic extraction of reduced-order models from CFD simulations for building energy modelling

Accurate modelling of the internal climate of buildings is essential if Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) are to efficiently maintain adequate thermal comfort. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models are usually utilised to predict internal climate. Nevertheless CFD models, although providing the necessary level of accuracy, are highly computationally expensive, and cannot practically be integrated in BEMS. This paper presents and describes validation of a CFD-ROM method for real-time simulations of building thermal performance. The CFD-ROM method involves the automatic extraction and solution of reduced order models (ROMs) from validated CFD simulations. ROMs are shown to be adequately accurate with a total error below 5% and to retain satisfactory representation of the phenomena modelled. Each ROM has a time to solution under 20seconds, which opens the potential of their integration with BEMS, giving real-time physics-based building energy modelling. A parameter study was conducted to investigate the applicability of the extracted ROM to initial boundary conditions different from those from which it was extracted. The results show that the ROMs retained satisfactory total errors when the initial conditions in the room were varied by ±5°C. This allows the production of a finite number of ROMs with the ability to rapidly model many possible scenarios.

Gender and Politics in Northern Ireland: the representation gap revisited

This article examines the nature of gender politics in Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. Taking gender justice as a normative democratic framework, the article argues that despite the promise of women's equal participation in public and political life written into the Agreement, parties have delivered varied responses to integrating women, women's interests and perspectives into politics and policy platforms. This contrasts with general patterns supporting women's increased participation in social and political life. The article discusses women's descriptive and substantive representation through electoral outcomes and party manifestos, using the demands of successive women's manifestos as a benchmark. It concludes that while parties have given less recognition and inclusion to women than one might have expected in a new political context, the push for democratic accountability will ensure that gender politics will continue to have a place on the political agenda for some time to come.