A need to belong?: The prevalence of experiences of belonging and exclusion in school among minority ethnic children living in the 'White hinterlands'

Based on a survey of 711 children in Northern Ireland, this paper explores a range of aspects of experiences of belonging and exclusion in relation to school among three main minority ethnic groups: Irish Traveller, Chinese/Asian and European Migrant children. The study examines variations between each group and how they compare to the White settled population. The findings indicate that all three groups experience lower levels of belonging and higher levels of exclusion compared to their White, settled Northern Irish peers. The experiences of Irish Traveller children were the most negative. The article adds to the dearth of data on minority ethnic children living in mainly white regions in the UK and Ireland. It argues for the need to move beyond achievement gaps in assessing minority ethnic children’s differential experiences in education and highlights the potential of belongingness as a concept for the further study of differential patterns of need and processes of inclusion.

GENDER AND CLASS MOBILITY - EVIDENCE FROM THE REPUBLIC-OF-IRELAND

Gender has frequently been identified as the most controversial issue confronting class analysis. In this paper we make use of data from the Republic of Ireland to assess the extent to which the incorporation of women in class mobility analysis alters our understanding of the central processes of social mobility. We find that for married women their husband's class is a more powerful predictor of household poverty and life-style than their own 'class' as indicated by current or previous occupation. With regard to employment mobility we find that the sole source of gender variation in mobility chances relates to differences in the objective opportunity structures faced by men and women. Applying a measured variable model to 'men only' and 'complete' mobility tables reveals only modest differences in the patterns of social fluidity. The inclusion of women in class mobility tables requires little in the way of substantial modification of our understanding of the pattern of class relationships underlying the observed pattern of mobility.

Employer occupation of regulatory space of the Employee Information and Consultation (I&C) Directive in liberal market economies

This article shows how both employers and the state have influenced macro-level processes and structures concerning the content and transposition of the European Union (EU) Employee Information and Consultation (I&C) Directive. It argues that the processes of regulation occupied by employers reinforce a voluntarism which marginalizes rather than shares decision-making power with workers. The contribution advances the conceptual lens of ‘regulatory space’ by building on Lukes’ multiple faces of power to better understand how employment regulation is determined across transnational, national and enterprise levels. The research proposes an integrated analytical framework on which ‘occupancy’ of regulatory space can be evaluated in comparative national contexts.

Evaluating the effectiveness of community-based dementia care networks:The Dementia Care Networks' Study

Purpose: The Dementia Care Networks' Study examined the effectiveness of four community-based, not-for-profit dementia networks. The study involved assessing the relationship between the types of administrative and service-delivery exchanges that occurred among the networked agencies and the network members' perception of the effectiveness of these exchanges. Design and Methods: With the use of a case-study method, the evolution, structure, and processes of each network were documented. Social network analysis using a standardized questionnaire completed by member agencies identified patterns of administrative and clinical exchanges among networked agencies. Results: Differences were found between the four networks in terms of their perceptions of service-delivery effectiveness; perceptions of administrative effectiveness did not factor significantly. Exchanges between groups of agencies (cliques) within each of the four networks were found to be more critical than those between individual agencies within each network. Implications: Integration-measured by the types of exchanges within as opposed to across networks-differentiated the four networks studied. This research contributes to our understanding of the use of multiple measures to evaluate the inner workings of service delivery and their impact on elder health and elder health care. Copyright 2005 by The Gerontological Society of America.

Purification, characterization and molecular cloning of chymotrypsin inhibitor peptides from the venom of Burmese Daboia russelii siamensis

One novel Kunitz BPTI-like peptide designated as BBPTI-1, with chymotrypsin inhibitory activity was identified from the venom of Burmese Daboia russelii siamensis. It was purified by three steps of chromatography including gel filtration, cation exchange and reversed phase. A partial N-terminal sequence of BBPTI-1, HDRPKFCYLPADPGECLAHMRSF was obtained by automated Edman degradation and a Ki value of 4.77. nM determined. Cloning of BBPTI-1 including the open reading frame and 3' untranslated region was achieved from cDNA libraries derived from lyophilized venom using a 3' RACE strategy. In addition a cDNA sequence, designated as BBPTI-5, was also obtained. Alignment of cDNA sequences showed that BBPTI-5 exhibited an identical sequence to BBPTI-1 cDNA except for an eight nucleotide deletion in the open reading frame. Gene variations that represented deletions in the BBPTI-5 cDNA resulted in a novel protease inhibitor analog. Amino acid sequence alignment revealed that deduced peptides derived from cloning of their respective precursor cDNAs from libraries showed high similarity and homology with other Kunitz BPTI proteinase inhibitors. BBPTI-1 and BBPTI-5 consist of 60 and 66 amino acid residues respectively, including six conserved cysteine residues. As these peptides have been reported to have influence on the processes of coagulation, fibrinolysis and inflammation, their potential application in biomedical contexts warrants further investigation. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Beyond ourselves: Passion and the dark side of identification in an ethical organization

How are organizational discourses enacted by people at work? In this article, instead of treating subjects as somewhat distinct from such discourses, I argue that the two are inescapably intertwined. The concept of 'ek-stasis' helps us to understand this. Ekstasis invokes an idea of the 'self ' that, through processes of identification, is always located outside of itself, embedded in a wider sociality. I explore this dynamic through an in-depth study of the powerful discourse of 'ethical living', and its enactment in one contemporary development sector organization, EWH. This ek-static enactment was somewhat ambivalent: involving mutual recognition between colleagues, but also processes of exclusion and policing. I highlight how attention to feeling and passion was important in understanding the relation between workplace discourse and identification processes, in this setting. This study shows that a view of workplace selves as ek-static is useful for understanding the enactment of discourse at work, and that this enactment can be both passionate and ambivalent. © The Author(s) 2010.

Toxicity of mildly modified low-density lipoproteins to cultured retinal capillary endothelial cells and pericytes

To investigate the role of modified low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy, we studied the cytotoxicity of normal and mildly modified human LDL to bovine retinal capillary endothelial cells and pericytes in vitro. Pooled LDL was incubated (in phosphate-buffered saline-EDTA, 3 days, 37 degrees C) under 1) nitrogen with additional chelating agents and 2) air, to prepare normal and minimally oxidized LDL, respectively. Similar conditions, but with the addition of 50 mM D-glucose, were used to prepare glycated and glycoxidized LDL. None of the LDL preparations was recognized by the macrophage scavenger receptor, confirming limited modification. Retinal capillary endothelial cells and pericytes were grown to confluence and then exposed for 2 or 3 days to serum-free medium (1% albumin) supplemented with normal or modified LDL (100 mg/l) or to serum-free medium alone. Cytotoxicity was assessed by cell counting (live and total cells) and by cell protein determination. Compared with normal LDL, modified LDL were cytotoxic to both cell types at both time points, causing highly significant decreases in live and total cell counts (P <0.001) (analysis of variance). Reductions in cell protein also were significant for pericytes at day 3 (P = 0.016) and of borderline significance for endothelial cells at day 2 (P = 0.05) and day 3 (P = 0.063). Cytotoxicity increased as follows: normal <glycated <or = minimally oxidized <glycoxidized LDL. We conclude that, in diabetes, mild modification of LDL resulting from separate or combined processes of glycation and oxidation may contribute to chronic retinal capillary injury and thus to the development of diabetic retinopathy.

MIXED-MODEL PRODUCTION SYSTEM DESIGN FOR AIRCRAFT ASSEMBLY

With the advancement of flexible fixture and flexible tooling, mixed production has become possible for aircraft assembly as the manufacturing processes of different aircraft/sub-assembly models are similar. However, it is a great challenge to model the problem and provide a practical solution due to the low volume and complex constraints of aircraft assemblies. To tackle this problem, this work proposes a methodology for designing the mixed production system, and a new scheduling approach is proposed by combined backward and forward scheduling methods. These methods are validated through a real-life industrial case study. Simulation results show that the number of workstations and the cycle time for making a fuselage can be reduced by 50% and 39% respectively with the newly designed mixed-model system.

On the Border of Indeterminacy: The Separation Wall in East Jerusalem

Drawing on a perspective which takes into account the convergences of sovereign and biopolitical ruling apparatuses, the aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive view of the Separation Wall constructed by Israel in East Jerusalem, and, through it, of Israeli control of Palestinian East Jerusalem. Neither a comprehensive border, nor a mere barrier, the Separation Wall which is being constructed in Jerusalem operates to reinstates sovereign power in arrays of governmentality for the purpose of drawing on the ability of sovereignty to appropriate legitimacy for the territorialisation of governmentality. This article claims that these territorialised arrays of governmentality give rise to processes of racialisation, by maintaining a grip on the communities of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and sustaining them in an intermediate position, standing in the way of their full integration into the Israeli population while severing their existing connections with the Palestinians in the West Bank. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The legacy of Hillsborough:Liberating truth, challenging power

In April 1989, ninety-six men, women and children, supporters of Liverpool Football Club, died in a severe crush at an FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield. Hundreds were injured and thousands traumatised. Within hours, the causes and circumstances of the disaster were contested. While a judicial inquiry found serious institutional failures in the policing and management of the capacity crowd, no criminal prosecutions resulted, and the inquests returned ‘accidental death’ verdicts. Immediately, the authorities claimed that drunken, violent fans had caused the fatal crush. Denied legitimacy, survivors’ accounts revealed a different story criticising the parlous state of the stadium, inadequate stewarding, negligent policing, failures in the emergency response and flawed processes of inquiry and investigation. Reflecting on two decades of research and contemporaneous interviews with bereaved families and survivors, this article contrasts the official discourse with those alternative accounts – the ‘view from below’. It demonstrates the influence of powerful institutional interests on the inquiries and investigations. It maps the breakthrough to full documentary disclosure following the appointment of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, its research and key findings published in September 2012. The campaigns by families and survivors were vindicated and the fans, including those who died, were exonerated. The process is discussed as an alternative method for liberating truth, securing acknowledgement and pursuing justice.

Demos and Denomination::flags, fealty, and the political ontology of protests in Northern Ireland

This paper will examine some of the ways in which processes of denomination
have shaped Northern Irish politics before and after the ‘Belfast’, or ‘Good Friday
Agreement’ of 1998. We concentrate on the formation of the ‘Unionist’ or ‘Loyalist
community’, principally because the flag protests of 2012-2013 have brought the
issue of this community identity to the fore again. The flag is part of a whole
machinery of what we, in this paper, will call ‘denomination’ in Northern Irish
politics and elsewhere. The religious overtones of the term are neither accidental
nor incidental. Acts of denomination posit (assertively, authoritatively) a
collective identity, conceived and constituted ontologically, as an existent entity,
and stake a claim to a whole territory.

Topical Review: The current understanding on the diamond machining of silicon carbide

The Glenn Research Centre of NASA, USA (www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/SiC/, silicon carbide electronics) is in pursuit of realizing bulk manufacturing of silicon carbide (SiC), specifically by mechanical means. Single point diamond turning (SPDT) technology which employs diamond (the hardest naturally-occurring material realized to date) as a cutting tool to cut a workpiece is a highly productive manufacturing process. However, machining SiC using SPDT is a complex process and, while several experimental and analytical studies presented to date aid in the understanding of several critical processes of machining SiC, the current knowledge on the ductile behaviour of SiC is still sparse. This is due to a number of simultaneously occurring physical phenomena that may take place on multiple length and time scales. For example, nucleation of dislocation can take place at small inclusions that are of a few atoms in size and once nucleated, the interaction of these nucleations can manifest stresses on the micrometre length scales. The understanding of how stresses manifest during fracture in the brittle range, or dislocations/phase transformations in the ductile range, is crucial in understanding the brittle–ductile transition in SiC. Furthermore, there is a need to incorporate an appropriate simulation-based approach in the manufacturing research on SiC, owing primarily to the number of uncertainties in the experimental research that includes wear of the cutting tool, poor controllability of the nano-regime machining scale (effective thickness of cut), and coolant effects (interfacial phenomena between the tool, workpiece/chip and coolant), etc. In this review, these two problems are combined together to posit an improved understanding on the current theoretical knowledge on the SPDT of SiC obtained from molecular dynamics simulation.

Energetic beams of negative and neutral hydrogen from intense laser plasma interaction

We present observations of intense beams of energetic negative hydrogen ions and fast neutral hydrogen atoms in intense (5 × 10 W/cm) laser plasma interaction experiments, which were quantified in numerical calculations. Generation of negative ions and neutral atoms is ascribed to the processes of electron capture and loss by a laser accelerated positive ion in the collisions with a cloud of droplets. A comparison with a numerical model of charge exchange processes provides information on the cross section of the electron capture in the high energy domain.

An exploration of business model development in the commercialization of technology innovations

Research on business model development has focused on the relationships between elements of value conceptualization and organization having a linear sequence in which business models are first designed and then implemented. Another stream of research points to business model development with these elements interacting in a cyclical manner. There is a need to improve our understanding of the connective mechanisms and dynamics involved in business model development, particularly from the challenging perspective of commercializing innovations. The aim of this paper was to explore business model development during the commercialization of innovations through a case-based qualitative study. This study found from four case studies that specific elements of business model development, representative of the conceptualization of value and organizing for value creation, integrate in a dynamic and cyclical process in the commercialization of technology innovations. The study provides empirical evidence that adds new insights to literature on sequential and more interactive processes of business model development. It also contributes to literature on business model development and particularly how it relates to the commercialization of innovations.

Clothing and Colonialism: The Dungiven costume and the fashioning of early modern identities

The entanglement of identity and personal attire in colonial settings is explored through consideration of a tattered set of clothes from late sixteenth-early seventeenth-century Ireland incorporating elements of Irish, English, and Scots fashion. Reconsideration of the clothing, recovered from a bog, provides a rare opportunity to explore the physical manifestations of processes of hybridity and mimesis, as well as the pragmatic accommodations of impoverishment and displacement in colonial settings. In addition to considering the role of material culture in colonial identity formation and negotiation, examination of what has become known as the Dungiven costume also speaks to the ongoing legacy of early modern colonial encounters, as the cultural associations of the garments, and by extension their past wearer(s), continue to be subjected to the politically charged nature of identity politics in contemporary Northern Ireland.