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.

Analytical examination of animal remains from Borneo:the painting of bone and shell

Examination of a selection of shell and bone from archaeological assemblages excavated at Niah Cave and Gua Sireh, both of which are located in Sarawak, Borneo, has revealed the deliberate application of coloured material to one or more surfaces. Small fragments of the surface colourant were analysed using a variety of techniques, including microscopy, energy dispersive microwave analysis and infra-red spectrophotometry. These procedures established that, although red in colour, the applied coating in each instance was not red iron oxide. It is suggested that, based on the chemical components present, this coating was a tree resin or a similar organic substance. The paper further reports the presence of enhanced chloride values in the colourant recovered from the ancient human cranial fragment tested. It is suggested that elevated concentrations of this trace element may indicate that the site, the human remains or ingredients within the colourant were once in close proximity to the sea. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Origin of extraordinarily high catalytic activity of Co3O4 and its morphological chemistry for CO oxidation at low temperature

Understanding and then designing efficient catalysts for CO oxidation at low temperature is one of the hottest topics in heterogeneous catalysis. Among the existing catalysts. Co3O4 is one of the most interesting systems: Morphology-controlled Co3O4 exhibits exceedingly high activity. In this study, by virtue of extensive density functional theory (OFT) calculations, the favored reaction mechanism in the system is identified. Through careful analyses on the energetics of elementary reactions on Co3O4(1 1 0)-A, Co3O4(1 1 0)-B, Co3O4(1 1 1) and Co3O4(1 0 0), which are the commonly exposed surfaces of Co3O4, we find the following regarding the relation between the activity and structure: (i) Co3+ is the active site rather than Co2+: and (ii) the three-coordinated surface oxygen bonded with three Co3+ may be slightly more reactive than the other two kinds of lattice oxygen, that is, the two-coordinated 0 bonded with one Co2+ and one Co3+ and the three-coordinated 0 bonded with one Co2+ and two Co3+. Following the results from Co3O4, we also extend the investigation to MnO2(1 1 0), Fe3O4(1 1 0), CuO(1 1 0) and CuO(1 1 1), which are the common metal oxide surfaces, aiming to understand the oxides in general. Three properties, such as the CO adsorption strength, the barrier of CO reacting with lattice 0 and the redox capacity, are identified to be the determining factors that can significantly affect the activity of oxides. Among these oxides, Co3O4 is found to be the most active one, stratifying all the three requirements. A new scheme to decompose barriers is introduced to understand the activity difference between lattice O-3c and O-2c on (1 1 0)-B surface. By utilizing the scheme, we demonstrate that the origin of activity variance lies in the geometric structures. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A density functional theory study of CO and atomic oxygen chemisorption on Pt(111)

Ab initio total energy calculations within a density functional theory framework have been performed for CO and atomic oxygen chemisorbed on the Pt(111) surface. Optimised geometries and chemisorption energies for CO and O on four high-symmetry sites, namely the top, bridge, fee hollow and hcp hollow sites, are presented, the coverage in all cases being 0.25 ML. The differences in CO adsorption energies between these sites are found to be small, suggesting that the potential energy surface for CO diffusion across Pt(111) is relatively flat. The 5 sigma and 2 pi molecular orbitals of CO are found to contribute to bonding with the metal. Some mixing of the 4 sigma and 1 pi molecular orbitals with metal states is also observed. For atomic oxygen, the most stable adsorption site is found to be the fee hollow site, followed in decreasing order of stability by the hcp hollow and bridge sites, with the top site being the least stable. The differences in chemisorption energies between sites for oxygen are larger than in the case of CO, suggesting a higher barrier to diffusion for atomic oxygen. The co-adsorption of CO and O has also been investigated. Calculated chemisorption energies for CO on an O/fcc-precovered surface show that of the available chemisorption sites, the top site at the oxygen atom's next-nearest neighbour surface metal atom is the most stable, with the other four sites calculated bring at least 0.29 eV less stable. The trend of CO site stability in the coadsorption system is explained in terms of a 'bonding competition' model. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Human rights and traditional values

A series of ‘traditional values’ resolutions, passed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2009, 2011, and 2012, were the result of a highly controversial initiative spearheaded by Russia. Do these ‘traditional values’ underpin human rights? If not, why are religious traditions or, indeed, any traditional values worth preserving at all? Why are they valuable from the point of view of adherents to that tradition? Should the larger society take into account the fact that a practice is based on tradition in deciding whether or not to override it in the name of human rights? Put more technically, in what does the normativity of tradition lie, for adherents and non-adherents of that tradition? These are the questions that this essay explores, in the context of the recent debates over the scope and meaning of human rights stimulated by the Human Rights Council Resolutions. Much of the support for the Resolutions comes from what can broadly be called the global South. In several books, particularly Human Rights, Southern Voices, and General Jurisprudence: Understanding Law from a Global Perspective William Twining has explored the question of how to reconcile human rights norms and belief systems embedded in the global South (including ‘traditional values’), and in doing so has drawn particular attention to intellectuals from that part of the world, in particular Francis Deng, Yash Ghai, Abdullahi An-Na’im, and Upendra Baxi. I suggest that those concerned to recognize the legitimate concerns that significant sections of the global South have about the human rights project, concerns reflected in the ‘traditional values’ Resolutions would do well to pay more attention to the ‘Southern voices’ on whom Twining rightly focuses attention.

Dignity, Rights and the Comparative Method

This chapter considers the role of dignity in the development of constitutional rights, and relates this to the use of the comparative method, which has long been associated with the development of constitutional rights.

Childhood, Rights and Justice in Northern Ireland

Building on primary research and previous publications (Haydon, 2012; Haydon, 2014; Haydon and Scraton, 2008; McAlister, Scraton and Haydon, 2009; Scraton and Haydon, 2002), this chapter will provide a critical analysis of children’s rights and youth justice in Northern Ireland. More broadly, it will consider recent research concerning the criminalisation of children and young people in the United Kingdom and profound concerns regarding the policing and regulation of children raised in successive concluding observations about the UK Government’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 1995, 2002, 2008). From this generic context, the chapter will map the ‘particular circumstances’ of Northern Ireland - a discrete legal jurisdiction to which powers for justice and policing were devolved only in 2010. Emerging from four decades of conflict and progressing through an uneasy ‘peace’, rights-based institutions and enabling legislation have, in principle, promoted and protected human rights. Yet children and young people living in communities marginalised by poverty and the legacy of conflict continue to experience inconsistent formal regulation by the police and the criminal justice system, while enduring often brutal informal regulation by paramilitaries. The chapter will explore evident tensions between the dynamics of criminalisation and promotion/ protection of children’s rights in a society transitioning from conflict. Further, it will analyse the challenges to securing children’s rights principles and provisions within a hostile political and ideological context, arguing for a critical rights-based agenda that promotes social justice through rights compliance together with policies and practices that address the structural inequalities faced by children and young people.

BOOK: Property Rights and Human Rights in a Global Context

Property as a human rights concern is manifested through its incorporation in international instruments and as a subject of the law through property-related cases considered by international human rights organs. Yet, for the most part, the relationship between property and human rights has been discussed in rather superficial terms, lacking a clear substantive connection or common language. That said, the currents of globalisation have witnessed a new era of interrelation between these two areas of the law, including the emergence of international intellectual property law and the recognition of indigenous claims, which, in fundamental ways, speak to an engagement with human rights law.

This collection starts the conversation between human rights lawyers and property lawyers and explores analytical approaches to the increasing relationship between property and human rights in a global context. The chapters engage with key theoretical and policy debates and range across three main themes: the re-evaluation of the public/private divide in the law; the tensions between the market and social justice in development and the balance between the rights of individuals and those of communities. The chapters adopt a global, comparative perspective and engage in case studies from countries including India, Philippines, Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom and includes various regions of Africa and Europe.

The challenge of MNCs and development: oil extraction, CSR, Nigeria and corruption

Globalisation has led to a shift in world order with the rise of the corporate non-state actor. This rise has led to an assumption that Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) must assume responsibilities beyond profit maximisation for shareholders. With the rise of the MNC as a corporate non-state actor there have been discussions around the role of business with regard to human rights.

This article looks at the case of oil extraction in Nigeria. Focussing on the historical dependency of Nigeria and the evolution of the state into a resource-dependent country, it looks at the limitations of existing human rights obligations as they relate to business. This article proposes that corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies of MNCs can act as a preliminary stage in the quest for wider human rights protections. It is in motivating MNCs to design and implement effective CSR policies in dependent states like Nigeria, that the challenge lies.

Bouyid v Belgium: The “minimum level of severity” and Human Dignity's Role in Article 3 ECHR

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights recently delivered an important judgment on Article 3 ECHR in the case of Bouyid v Belgium. In Bouyid, the Grand Chamber was called upon to consider whether slaps inflicted on a minor and an adult in police custody were in breach of Article 3 ECHR, which provides that ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’. Overruling the Chamber judgment in the case, the Grand Chamber ruled by 14 votes to 3 that there had been a substantive violation of Article 3 in that the applicants had been subjected to degrading treatment by members of the Belgian police; it found that there had been a breach of the investigative duty under Article 3 also. In this comment, I focus on the fundamental basis of disagreement between the majority of the Grand Chamber and those who found themselves in dissent, on the question of whether there had been a substantive breach of Article 3. The crux of the disagreement lay in the understanding and application of the test of ‘minimum level of severity’, which the ECtHR has established as decisive of whether a particular form of ill-treatment crosses the Article 3 threshold, seen also in light of Article 3’s absolute character, which makes it non-displaceable – that is, immune to trade-offs of the type applicable in relation to qualified rights such as privacy and freedom of expression. I consider the way the majority of the Grand Chamber unpacked and applied the concept of dignity – or ‘human dignity’ – towards finding a substantive breach of Article 3, and briefly distil some of the principles underpinning the understanding of human dignity emerging in the Court’s analysis.

Paramountcy, family rights and contested adoption: does contact with birth relatives balance the scales?

This article combines practitioner insight and research evidence to chart how principles of partnership and paramountcy have led to birth family contact becoming the expected norm following contested adoption from care in Northern Ireland. The article highlights how practice has adapted to the delay in proposed reforms to adoption legislation resulting in the evolution of increasingly open adoption practices. Adoption represents an irrevocable transfer of parental responsibility from birth to adoptive parents and achieves permanence and legal security for children in care who cannot return to their birth family. Its enduring effect, however, makes public adoption a contentious field of child welfare practice, particularly when contested by birth parents. This article explores how post-adoption contact may be viewed as reconciling the uneasy interface between paramountcy principles and parental rights to respect for family life. The article highlights the complexity of adoptive kinship relationships following contested adoption from care, and how contact presents unique challenges that mitigate against meaningful and sustainable connections between the child and their birth relatives. In conclusion, a call is made for sensitive negotiation and support of contact arrangements, and the development of practice models that are informed by an understanding of the workings of adoptive kinship.

Average age of pending and disposed cases report for period 7/1/2012 thru 6/30/2013

This gives the average age of pending and disposes criminal cases broken down by county and circuit.

AGREED-UPON PROCEDURES REPORT ON CONTRACT FOR PURCHASE OF NURSING CARE SERVICES WITH STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

The Medicaid Audits Section of the South Carolina Office of the State Auditor performs audits and reviews of cost reports filed by institutional providers of Medicaid services. These cost reports are used by the Health and Human Services Finance Commission to establish amounts to be paid to these providers for services provided to qualified Medicaid recipients. This report deals with A. Sam Karesh Long Term Care Nursing Facility in North Augusta, S.C.

Openness and privacy in Ontario: an evaluation of the implementation of FIPPA : (The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1987, Chapter 25 and Ontario Regulation 532/87) /

Since the early 1970's, Canadians have expressed many concerns about the growth of government and its impact on their daily lives. The public has requested increased access to government documents and improved protection of the personal information which is held in government files and data banks. At the same time, both academics and practitioners in the field of public administration have become more interested in the values that public servants bring to their decisions and recommendations. Certain administrative values, such as accountability and integrity, have taken on greater relative importance. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the implementation of Ontario's access and privacy law. It centres on the question of whether or not the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1987, (FIPPA) has answered the demand for open access to government while at the same time protecting the personal privacy of individual citizens. It also assesses the extent to which this relatively new piece of legislation has made a difference to the people of Ontario. The thesis presents an overview of the issues of freedom of information and protection of privacy in Ontario. It begins with the evolution of the legislation and a description of the law itself. It focuses on the structures and processes which have been established to meet the procedural and administrative demands of the Act. These structures and processes are evaluated in two ways. First, the thesis evaluates how open the Ontario government has become and, second, it determines how Ill carefully the privacy rights of individuals are safeguarded. An analytical framework of administrative values is used to evaluate the overall performance of the government in these two areas. The conclusion is drawn that, overall, the Ontario government has effectively implemented the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, particularly by providing access to most government-held documents. The protection of individual privacy has proved to be not only more difficult to achieve, but more difficult to evaluate. However, the administrative culture of the Ontario bureaucracy is shown to be committed to ensuring that the access and privacy rights of citizens are respected.

Multinational drug corporations, intellectual property rights and the Canadian state : a historical and critical analysis

This study critically analyzes the historical role and influence of multinational drug cotpOrations and multinational corporations in general; the u.s. government and the Canadian state in negotiating the global recognition ofIntellectual Property Rights (IPR) under GATT/NAFTA. This process began in 1969 when the Liberal government, in response to high prices for brand-name drugs amended the Patent Act to introduce compulsory licensing by reducing monopoly protection from 20 to seven years. Although the financial position ofthe multinational drug industry was not affected, it campaigned vigorously to change the 1969 legislation. In 1987, the Patent Act was amended to extend protection to 10 years as a condition for free trade talks with the u.s. Nonetheless, the drug industry was not satisfied and accused Canada of providing a bad example to other nations. Therefore, it continued to campaign for global recognition ofIPR laws under GATT. Following the conclusion of the GATTI Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement (TRIPS) in 1991, the multinational drug industry and the American government, to the surprise of many, were still not satisfied and sought to implement harsher conditions under NAFTA. The Progressive Conservative government readily agreed without any objections or consideration for the social consequences. As a result, Bill C-91 was introduced. It abandoned compulsory licenses and was made retroactive from December 21, 1991. It is the contention of this thesis that the economic survival of multinational corporations on a global scale depends on the role and functions of the modem state. Similarly, the existence of the state depends on the ideological-political and socioeconomic assistance it gives to multinational corporations on a national and international scale. This dialectical relation of the state and multinational corporations is explored in our theoretical and historical analysis of their role in public policy.