Human trafficking heroes and villains: Representing the problem in anti-trafficking awareness campaigns

Since the declaration by the United Nations that awareness raising should be a key part of efforts to combat human trafficking, government and non-government organisations have produced numerous public awareness campaigns designed to capture the public’s attention and sympathy. These campaigns represent the ‘problem’ of trafficking in specific ways, creating heroes and villains by placing the blame for trafficking on some, while obscuring the responsibility of others. This paper adopts Carol Bacchi’s ‘What is the problem represented to be?’ framework for examining the politicisation of problem representation in 18 anti-trafficking awareness campaigns. It is argued that these campaigns construct a narrow understanding of the problem through the depiction of ‘ideal offenders’. In particular, a strong focus on the demand for commercial sex as causative of human trafficking serves to obscure the problematic role of consumerism in a wide range of industries, and perpetuates an understanding of trafficking that fails to draw a necessary distinction between the demand for labour, and the demand for ‘exploitable’ labour. This problem representation also obscures the role governments in destination countries may play in causing trafficking through imposing restrictive migration regimes that render migrants vulnerable to traffickers.

The problem of simplification: Think-tanks, recipes, equity and ‘Turning around low-performing schools’

Non-government actors such as think-tanks are playing an important role in Australian policy work. As governments increasingly outsource policy work previously done by education departments and academics to these new policy actors, more think-tanks have emerged that represent a wide range of political views and ideological positions. This paper looks at the emergence of the Grattan Institute as one significant player in Australian education policy with a particular emphasis on Grattan’s report ‘Turning around low-performing schools’. Grattan exemplifies many of the facets of Barber’s ‘deliverology’, as they produce reports designed to be easily digested, simply actioned and provide reassurance that there is an answer, often through focusing on ‘what works’ recipes. ‘Turning around low-performing schools’ is a perfect example of this deliverology. However, a close analysis of the Report suggests that it contains four major problems which seriously impact its usefulness for schools and policymakers: it ignores data that may be more important in explaining the turn-around of schools, the Report is overly reliant on NAPLAN data, there are reasons to be suspicious about the evidence assembled, and finally the Report falls into a classic trap of logic—the post hoc fallacy.

Pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection in the least killifish, Heterandria formosa

It has been only recently realized that sexual selection does not end at copulation but that post-copulatory processes are often important in determining the fitness of individuals. In this thesis, I experimentally studied both pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection in the least killifish, Heterandria formosa. I found that this species suffers from severe inbreeding depression in male reproductive behaviour, offspring viability and offspring maturation times. Neither sex showed pre-copulatory inbreeding avoidance but when females mated with their brothers, less sperm were retrieved from their reproductive system compared to the situation when females mated with unrelated males. Whether the difference in sperm numbers is due to female or male effect could not be resolved. Based on theory, females should be more eager to avoid inbreeding than males in this species, because females invest more in their offspring than males do. Inbreeding seems to be an important part of this species biology and the severe inbreeding depression has most likely selected for the evolution of the post-copulatory inbreeding avoidance mechanism that I found. In addition, I studied the effects of polyandry on female reproductive success. When females mated with more than one male, they were more likely to get pregnant. However, I also found a cost of polyandry. The offspring of females mated to four males took longer to reach sexual maturity compared to the offspring of monandrous females. This cost may be explained by parent-offspring conflict over maternal resource allocation. In another experiment, in which within-brood relatedness was manipulated, offspring sizes decreased over time when within-brood relatedness was low. This result is partly in accordance with the kinship theory of genomic imprinting. When relatedness decreases, offspring are expected to be less co-operative and demand fewer resources from their mother, which leads to impaired development. In the last chapter of my thesis, I show that H. formosa males do not prefer large females as in other Poeciliidae species. I suggest that males view smaller females as more profitable mates because those are more likely virgin. In conclusion, I found both pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection to be important factors in determining reproductive success in H. formosa.

Human genetic variation in the Baltic Sea region: Features of population history and natural selection

In this thesis, the genetic variation of human populations from the Baltic Sea region was studied in order to elucidate population history as well as evolutionary adaptation in this region. The study provided novel understanding of how the complex population level processes of migration, genetic drift, and natural selection have shaped genetic variation in North European populations. Results from genome-wide, mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal analyses suggested that the genetic background of the populations of the Baltic Sea region lies predominantly in Continental Europe, which is consistent with earlier studies and archaeological evidence. The late settlement of Fennoscandia after the Ice Age and the subsequent small population size have led to pronounced genetic drift, especially in Finland and Karelia but also in Sweden, evident especially in genome-wide and Y-chromosomal analyses. Consequently, these populations show striking genetic differentiation, as opposed to much more homogeneous pattern of variation in Central European populations. Additionally, the eastern side of the Baltic Sea was observed to have experienced eastern influence in the genome-wide data as well as in mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal variation – consistent with linguistic connections. However, Slavic influence in the Baltic Sea populations appears minor on genetic level. While the genetic diversity of the Finnish population overall was low, genome-wide and Y-chromosomal results showed pronounced regional differences. The genetic distance between Western and Eastern Finland was larger than for many geographically distant population pairs, and provinces also showed genetic differences. This is probably mainly due to the late settlement of Eastern Finland and local isolation, although differences in ancestral migration waves may contribute to this, too. In contrast, mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal analyses of the contemporary Swedish population revealed a much less pronounced population structure and a fusion of the traces of ancient admixture, genetic drift, and recent immigration. Genome-wide datasets also provide a resource for studying the adaptive evolution of human populations. This study revealed tens of loci with strong signs of recent positive selection in Northern Europe. These results provide interesting targets for future research on evolutionary adaptation, and may be important for understanding the background of disease-causing variants in human populations.

The problem with teamwork: A discursive investigation

- Background Teamwork sits comfortably within the vocabularies of most physical education teachers. It is used to both describe and prescribe student behaviour in a variety of physical and sport-related activities. Yet while supporters of sport and PE have readily employed the term, remarkably few pedagogues have taken the time to consider what teamwork refers to, let alone what it means to teach it. - Focus of study In this paper, we examine practitioners' constructions of teamwork. - Participants and setting Data were generated with seven physical education teachers (four male and three female) at a state-funded secondary school near Brisbane, Australia. The teachers ranged in experience from three months to more than 30 years. - Research design The investigation was a case study of one physical education department at a secondary school. - Data collection Three interviews were conducted with each of the teachers. The first was biographical in nature and covered themes such as education and sporting experiences. During the second interviews, teachers produced examples and statements on the topic of teamwork as it occurs within their lessons. The material from the second set of interviews was explored in the final set where the teachers were invited to elaborate on and explain comments from their previous interviews. - Analysis Data were considered from a discursive-constructionist perspective and attention was given to linguistic and grammatical features of the teachers' commentary as well as the cultural relevance of the utterances. The notion of ‘interpretive repertoires’ – essentially cultural explanations bounded by particular socio-linguistic features – provided the central unit of analysis. - Findings The teachers in the project made use of an array of discursive resources to make sense of teamwork. These constructions often bore little resemblance to one another or to existing theories of teamwork. In some cases, the teachers offered vague descriptions or drew on alternative concepts to make sense of teamwork. - Conclusions Without a certain level of agreement in their everyday usage, teachers' constructions of teamwork fail to be convincing or useful. We maintain that a more substantive conceptualisation of teamwork is needed in the field of sport pedagogy and offer suggestions on how this might be accomplished.

Experimental investigation of die wear in small-batch hammer-forging under unlubricated conditions

Wear of dies is a serious problem in the forging industry. The materials used for the dies are generally expensive steel alloys and the dies require costly heat treatment and surface finishing operations. Degeneration of the die profile implies rejection of forged components and necessitates resinking or replacement of the die. Measures which reduce wear of the die can therefore aid in the reduction of production costs. The work reported here is the first phase of a study of the causes of die wear in forging production where the batch size is small and the machine employed is a light hammer. This is a problem characteristic of the medium and small scale area of the forging industry where the cost of dies is a significant proportion of the total capital investment. For the same energy input and under unlubricated conditions, die wear has been found to be sensitive to forging temperature; in cold forging the yield strength of the die material is the prime factor governing the degeneration of the die profile, whilst in hot forging the wear resistance of the die material is the main factor which determines the rate of die wear. At an intermediate temperature, such as that characteristic of warm forging, the die wear is found to be less than that in both cold and hot forging. This preliminary study therefore points to the fact that the forging temperature must be taken into account in the selection of die material. Further, the forging industry must take serious note of the warm forging process, as it not only provides good surface finish, as claimed by many authors, but also has an inherent tendency to minimize die wear.

Scattering theory and the discrete linear optimal control problem

This paper deals with the interpretation of the discrete-time optimal control problem as a scattering process in a discrete medium. We treat the discrete optimal linear regulator, constrained end-point and servo and tracking problems, providing a unified approach to these problems. This approach results in an easy derivation of the desired results as well as several new ones.

A note on Sommerfeld's diffraction problem

A direct transform technique is found to be most suitable for attacking two-dimensional diffraction problems. As a first example of the application of the technique, the well-known Sommerfeld problem is reconsidered and the solution of the problem of diffraction, by a half-plane, of a cylindrical pulse is made use of in deducing the solution of the problem of diffraction of a plane wave by a soft half-plane. Journal of Mathematical Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics.

System integration design in MEMS - A case study of micromachined load cell

One of the critical issues in large scale commercial exploitation of MEMS technology is its system integration. In MEMS, a system design approach requires integration of varied and disparate subsystems with one of a kind interface. The physical scales as well as the magnitude of signals of various subsystems vary widely. Known and proven integration techniques often lead to considerable loss in advantages the tiny MEMS sensors have to offer. Therefore, it becomes imperative to think of the entire system at the outset, at least in terms of the concept design. Such design entails various aspects of the system ranging from selection of material, transduction mechanism, structural configuration, interface electronics, and packaging. One way of handling this problem is the system-in-package approach that uses optimized technology for each function using the concurrent hybrid engineering approach. The main strength of this design approach is the fast time to prototype development. In the present work, we pursue this approach for a MEMS load cell to complete the process of system integration for high capacity load sensing. The system includes; a micromachined sensing gauge, interface electronics and a packaging module representing a system-in-package ready for end characterization. The various subsystems are presented in a modular stacked form using hybrid technologies. The micromachined sensing subsystem works on principles of piezo-resistive sensing and is fabricated using CMOS compatible processes. The structural configuration of the sensing layer is designed to reduce the offset, temperature drift, and residual stress effects of the piezo-resistive sensor. ANSYS simulations are carried out to study the effect of substrate coupling on sensor structure and its sensitivity. The load cell system has built-in electronics for signal conditioning, processing, and communication, taking into consideration the issues associated with resolution of minimum detectable signal. The packaged system represents a compact and low cost solution for high capacity load sensing in the category of compressive type load sensor.

The transfer problem and the intertemporal terms of trade

In this paper the effects of a transfer on the intertemporal terms of trade are examined in the context of a simple two-country, two-period model. When intertemporal trade occurs because the two economies have different rates of time preference, a transfer improves the terms of trade of the paying country. Alternatively, when trade occurs owing to international differences in the endowments of goods over the two periods, the effect of a transfer depends on (a) the relationship between the interest rate and the rates of time preference of the two countries and (b) the relationship between their elasticities of intertemporal consumption substitution.

Kin selection, social polymorphism, and reproductive allocation in ants

Social groups are common across animal species. The reasons for grouping are straightforward when all individuals gain directly from cooperating. However, the situation becomes more complex when helping entails costs to the personal reproduction of individuals. Kin selection theory has offered a fruitful framework to explain such cooperation by stating that individuals may spread their genes not only through their own reproduction, but also by helping related individuals reproduce. However, kin selection theory also implicitly predicts conflicts when groups consist of non-clonal individuals, i.e. relatedness is less than one. Then, individual interests are not perfectly aligned, and each individual is predicted to favour the propagation of their own genome over others. Social insects provide a solid study system to study the interplay between cooperation and conflict. Breeding systems in social insects range from solitary breeding to eusocial colonies displaying complete division of reproduction between the fertile queen and the sterile worker caste. Within colonies, additional variation is provided by the presence of several reproductive individuals. In many species, the queen mates multiply, which causes the colony to consist of half-sib instead of full-sib offspring. Furthermore, in many species colonies contain multiple breeding queens, which further dilutes relatedness between colony members. Evolutionary biology is thus faced with the challenge to answer why such variation in social structure exists, and what the consequences are on the individual and population level. The main part of this thesis takes on this challenge by investing the dynamics of socially polymorphic ant colonies. The first four chapters investigate the causes and consequences of different social structures, using a combination of field studies, genetic analyses and laboratory experiments. The thesis ends with a theoretical chapter focusing on different social interactions (altruism and spite), and the evolution of harming traits. The main results of the thesis show that social polymorphism has the potential to affect the behaviour and traits of both individuals and colonies. For example, we found that genetic polymorphism may increase the phenotypic variation between individuals in colonies, and that socially polymorphic colonies may show different life history patterns. We also show that colony cohesion may be enhanced even in multiple-queen colonies through patterns of unequal reproduction between queens. However, the thesis also demonstrates that spatial and temporal variation between both populations and environments may affect individual and colony traits, to the degree that results obtained in one place or at one time may not be applicable in other situations. This opens up potential further areas of research to explain these differences.