Teenage mothers' experiences of stigma and formal support services

This research has two focal points: experiences of stigma and experiences of formal support services among teenage mothers. Twenty teenage mothers were interviewed in depth, ten from a one-to-one support service, and ten from a group based support service. Contributions to knowledge consisted of the following. First, regarding experiences of stigma, this research integrated concepts from the social psychology literature and established the effects of stigma which are experienced by teenage mothers, offering reasons for the same. Additionally, further coping mechanisms in response to being stigmatized were discovered and grouped into two new headings: active and passive coping mechanisms. It is acknowledged that for a minority of participants, stigma does have negative effects, however, the majority experiences no such serious negative effects. Secondly, regarding experiences of support services, this research was able to directly compare one-to-one with group based support for teenage mothers. Knowledge was unearthed as to influential factors in the selection of a mode of support and the functions of each of the modes of support, which were categorised under headings for ease of comparison. It was established that there is indeed a link between these two research foci in that both the one-to-one and group based support services fulfil a stigma management function, in which teenage mothers discuss the phenomenon, share experiences and offer advice to others. However, it was also established that this function is of minor importance compared to the other functions fulfilled by the support services.

Education and racism:a study of the teachers' and the pupils' relations in the schooling of black boys

This thesis examines the teachers' and the pupils' relations in the schooling of black boys. The study using the methodology of participant observation focusses on one school (Kilby) in an area of black population in an English city. The thesis’s intentions are two fold: firstly, in order to examine these relations, two major aspects of their interaction are addressed, that of the absence of teachers from conventional 'race-relations' research, and, the identification and examination of the anti-school pupils' sub-cultures. Two substantive questions are asked: what is the response of the teachers to the schooling of black pupils? and, what is the meaning of the pupils' resistance to schooling? Secondly, in attempting to answer these questions and offer a critique of the dominant 'race-relations' culturalist explanation of black youth's response to schooling, a theoretical framework has been developed which takes account of both the 'economic' and the 'sociological' perspectives. Methodology allowed and pointed to the importance of examining the teachers' ideologies and practices as well as those of the black boys. It is argued that a class analysis of the racially structured British society is more adequate than the conventional ethnic approach in explaining the black boys' location within Kilby School. Hence, it is posited that the major problem in the schooling of black youth is not that of their culture but of racism, which pervasively structures the social reality at Kilby school. Racism is mediated both through the existing institutional framework that discriminates against working-class youth and through the operation of race specific mechanisms, such as the process of racist stereotyping. It is thus further argued that the Kilby school teachers are of central causal significance to the - problems that the boys encounter. Furthermore, it is in response to these racist ideologies and practices that both West Indian and Asian pupils develop specific forms of collective resistance, which are seen to be linked to the wider black community, as legitimate strategies of survival.

Servitization within manufacturing:exploring the provision of advanced services and their impact on vertical integration

Purpose – The debate about services-led competitive strategies continues to grow, with much interest emerging around the differing practices between production and servitized operations. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this discussion by investigating the vertical integration practice (in particular the micro-vertical integration, otherwise known as the supply chain position) of manufacturers who are successful in their adoption of servitization. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve this the authors have investigated a cross-section of four companies which are successfully delivering advanced services coupled to their products. Findings – Manufacturers who have embraced the servitization trend tend to retain capabilities in design and production, and do so because this benefits their speed, effectiveness and costs of supporting assets on advanced services contracts. Research limitations/implications – These are preliminary findings from a longer term research programme. Practical implications – Through this research note the authors seek to simultaneously contribute to the debate in the research community and offer guidance to practitioners exploring the consequences of servitization. Originality/value – Successful servitization demands that manufacturers adopt new and alternative practices and technologies to those traditionally associated with production operations. A prevailing challenge is to understand these differences and their underpinning rationale. Therefore, in this research note, the authors report on the practices of four case companies, explore the rationale underpinning these, and propose an hypothesis for the impact on vertical integration of successful servitization.

Regional evolution and waves of growth:a knowledge-based perspective

The evolution of a regional economy and its competitiveness capacity may involve multiple independent trajectories, through which different sets of resources and capabilities evolve together. However, there is a dearth of evidence concerning how these trends are occurring across the globe. This paper seeks to present evidence in relation to the recent development of the globe’s most productive regions from the viewpoint of their growth trajectories, and the particular form of growth they are experiencing. The aim is to uncover the underlying structure of the changes in knowledge-based resources, capabilities and outputs across regions, and offer an analysis of these regions according to an uncovered set of key trends. The analysis identifies three key trends by which the economic evolution and growth patterns of these regions are differentiated—namely the Fifth Wave Growth, the Third & Fourth Wave Growth, and Government-led Third Wave Growth. Overall, spectacular knowledge-based growth of leading Chinese regions is evident, highlighting a continued shift of knowledge-based resources to Asia. In addition, a superstructure is observed at the global scale, consisting of two separate continuums that explicitly distinguish Chinese regions from the rest in terms of regional growth trajectories.

Leadership in high-value services for manufacturers:advanced services and their impact on vertical integration

The debate about services-led competitive strategies continues to grow with much interest emerging around the differing practices between production and servitised operations. This paper contributes to this discussion byinvestigating the vertical integration practice (in particular the micro-vertical integration otherwise known as the supply chain position)of manufacturers who are successful in their adoption of servitization.Although these are preliminary findings from a longer-term research programme, through this technical note we seek to simultaneously contribute to the debate in the research community and offer guidance to practitioners exploring the consequences of servitization. Keyword: Servitization, Product-Service Systems, Through-life Services.

Regional evolution and waves of growth:a knowledge-based perspective

The evolution of a regional economy and its competitiveness capacity may involve multiple independent trajectories through which different sets of resources and capabilities evolve together. However, there is a dearth of evidence concerning how these trends are occurring across the globe. Based on the underlying tenets of the streams of research relating to regional competitiveness, knowledge cities/regions, and knowledge-based urban development, this paper seeks to present an empirical approach to establishing such evidence in relation to the recent development of the globe’s most productive regions from the viewpoint of their growth trajectories and the particular form of growth they are experiencing. The aim is to uncover the underlying structure of the changes in knowledge-based resources, capabilities and outputs across regions, and offer an analysis of these regions according to an uncovered set of key trends. The analysis identifies three key trends by which the economic evolution and growth patterns of these regions are differentiated – namely the Fifth Wave Growth, the Third & Fourth Wave Growth, and Government-led Third Wave Growth. Overall, spectacular knowledge-based growth of leading Chinese regions is evident, highlighting a continued shift of knowledge-based resources to Asia. In addition, a superstructure is observed at the global scale, consisting of two separate continuums that explicitly distinguish Chinese regions from the rest in terms of regional growth trajectories. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Oxidiative lipidomics coming of age:advances in analysis of oxidized phospholipids in physiology and pathology

Significance: Oxidized phospholipids are now well-recognized as markers of biological oxidative stress and bioactive molecules with both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects. While analytical methods continue to be developed for studies of generic lipid oxidation, mass spectrometry (MS) has underpinned the advances in knowledge of specific oxidized phospholipids by allowing their identification and characterization, and is responsible for the expansion of oxidative lipidomics. Recent Advances: Studies of oxidized phospholipids in biological samples, both from animal models and clinical samples, have been facilitated by the recent improvements in MS, especially targeted routines that depend on the fragmentation pattern of the parent molecular ion and improved resolution and mass accuracy. MS can be used to identify selectively individual compounds or groups of compounds with common features, which greatly improves the sensitivity and specificity of detection. Application of these methods have enabled important advances in understanding the mechanisms of inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, steatohepatitis, leprosy and cystic fibrosis, and offer potential for developing biomarkers of molecular aspects of the diseases. Critical Issues and Future Directions: The future in this field will depend on development of improved MS technologies, such as ion mobility, novel enrichment methods and databases and software for data analysis, owing to the very large amount of data generated in these experiments. Imaging of oxidized phospholipids in tissue MS is an additional exciting direction emerging that can be expected to advance understanding of physiology and disease.

Renewal Processes of Mittag-Leffler and Wright Type

2000 MSC: 26A33, 33E12, 33E20, 44A10, 44A35, 60G50, 60J05, 60K05.

Insulin therapy in people with type 2 diabetes:opportunities and challenges?

Given the continued interest in defining the optimal management of individuals with type 2 diabetes, the Editor of Diabetes Care convened a working party of diabetes specialists to examine this topic in the context of insulin therapy. This was prompted by recent new evidence on the use of insulin in such people. The group was aware of evidence that the benefits of insulin therapy are still usually offered late, and thus the aim of the discussion was how to define the optimal timing and basis for decisions regarding insulin and to apply these concepts in practice. It was noted that recent evidence had built upon that of the previous decades, together confirming the benefits and safety of insulin therapy, albeit with concerns about the potential for hypoglycemia and gain in body weight. Insulin offers a unique ability to control hyperglycemia, being used from the time of diagnosis in some circumstances, when metabolic control is disturbed by medical illness, procedures, or therapy, as well as in the longer term in ambulatory care. For those previously starting insulin, various other forms of therapy can be added later, which offer complementary effects appropriate to individual needs. Here we review current evidence and circumstances in which insulin can be used, consider individualized choices of alternatives and combination regimens, and offer some guidance on personalized targets and tactics for glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. © 2014 by the American Diabetes Association.

Mechanistic studies on the degradation of gasoline oxygenates by advanced oxidation technologies and the reaction of 4-methyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione with tetracyclopropylethylene

Gasoline oxygenates (MTBE, methyl tert-butyl ether; DIPE, di-isopropyl ether; ETBE, ethyl tert-butyl ether; TAME, tert-amyl ether) are added to gasoline to boost octane and enhance combustion. The combination of large scale use, high water solubility and only minor biodegradability has now resulted in a significant gasoline oxygenate contamination occurring in surface, ground, and drinking water systems. Combination of hydroxyl radical formation and the pyrolytic environment generated by ultrasonic irradiation (665 kHz) leads to the rapid degradation of MTBE and other gasoline oxygenates in aqueous media. ^ The presence of oxygen promotes the degradation processes by rapid reaction with carbon centered radicals indicating radical processes involving O 2 are significant pathways. A number of the oxidation products were identified. The formation of products (alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, peroxides, etc) could be rationalized by mechanisms which involve hydrogen abstraction by OH radical and/or pyrolysis to form carboncentered radicals which react with oxygen and follow standard oxidation chain processes. ^ The reactions of N-substituted R-triazolinediones (RTAD; R = CH 3 or phenyl) have attracted considerable interest because they exhibit a number of unusual mechanistic characteristics that are analogous to the reactions of singlet oxygen (1O2) and offer an easy way to provide C-N bond(s) formation. The reactions of triazolinedione with olefins have been widely studied and aziridinium imides are generally accepted to be the reactive intermediates. ^ We observed the rapid formation of an unusual intermediate upon mixing tetracyclopropylethylene with 4-methyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione in CDCl 3. Detailed characterization by NMR (proton, 13C, 2-D NMRs) indicates the intermediate is 5,5,6,6-tetracyclopropyl-3-methyl-5,6-dihydro-oxazolo[3,2- b][1,2,4]-triazolium-2-olate. Such products are extremely rare and have not been studied. Upon warming the intermediate is converted to 2 + 2 diazetidine (major) and ene product (minor). ^ To further explore the kinetics and dynamics of the reaction activation energies were obtained using Arrhenius plots. Activation energies for the formation of the intermediate from reactants, and 2+2 adduct from the intermediate were determined as 7.48 kcal moll and 19.8 kcal mol−1 with their pre-exponential values of 2.24 × 105 dm 3 mol−1 sec−1 and 2.75 × 108 sec−1, respectively, meaning net slow reactions because of low pre-exponential values caused by steric hindrance. ^

Foundational forensic techniques for cellular and ad hoc multi-hop networks

The Internet has become an integral part of our nation’s critical socio-economic infrastructure. With its heightened use and growing complexity however, organizations are at greater risk of cyber crimes. To aid in the investigation of crimes committed on or via the Internet, a network forensics analysis tool pulls together needed digital evidence. It provides a platform for performing deep network analysis by capturing, recording and analyzing network events to find out the source of a security attack or other information security incidents. Existing network forensics work has been mostly focused on the Internet and fixed networks. But the exponential growth and use of wireless technologies, coupled with their unprecedented characteristics, necessitates the development of new network forensic analysis tools. This dissertation fostered the emergence of a new research field in cellular and ad-hoc network forensics. It was one of the first works to identify this problem and offer fundamental techniques and tools that laid the groundwork for future research. In particular, it introduced novel methods to record network incidents and report logged incidents. For recording incidents, location is considered essential to documenting network incidents. However, in network topology spaces, location cannot be measured due to absence of a ‘distance metric’. Therefore, a novel solution was proposed to label locations of nodes within network topology spaces, and then to authenticate the identity of nodes in ad hoc environments. For reporting logged incidents, a novel technique based on Distributed Hash Tables (DHT) was adopted. Although the direct use of DHTs for reporting logged incidents would result in an uncontrollably recursive traffic, a new mechanism was introduced that overcome this recursive process. These logging and reporting techniques aided forensics over cellular and ad-hoc networks, which in turn increased their ability to track and trace attacks to their source. These techniques were a starting point for further research and development that would result in equipping future ad hoc networks with forensic components to complement existing security mechanisms.

Chinese and British Hotels: Cultural Differences and Management

Rapid tourism development in China has led to an influx of hotels invested in and operated by multi-national hotel companies. The authors examine the impact of cultural differences on employee behavior in China and UK hotels and offer recommendations for expatriate hotel managers to effectively develop human resource management styles while operating properties in China.

Foundational Forensic Techniques for Cellular and Ad Hoc Multi-hop Networks

The Internet has become an integral part of our nation's critical socio-economic infrastructure. With its heightened use and growing complexity however, organizations are at greater risk of cyber crimes. To aid in the investigation of crimes committed on or via the Internet, a network forensics analysis tool pulls together needed digital evidence. It provides a platform for performing deep network analysis by capturing, recording and analyzing network events to find out the source of a security attack or other information security incidents. Existing network forensics work has been mostly focused on the Internet and fixed networks. But the exponential growth and use of wireless technologies, coupled with their unprecedented characteristics, necessitates the development of new network forensic analysis tools. This dissertation fostered the emergence of a new research field in cellular and ad-hoc network forensics. It was one of the first works to identify this problem and offer fundamental techniques and tools that laid the groundwork for future research. In particular, it introduced novel methods to record network incidents and report logged incidents. For recording incidents, location is considered essential to documenting network incidents. However, in network topology spaces, location cannot be measured due to absence of a 'distance metric'. Therefore, a novel solution was proposed to label locations of nodes within network topology spaces, and then to authenticate the identity of nodes in ad hoc environments. For reporting logged incidents, a novel technique based on Distributed Hash Tables (DHT) was adopted. Although the direct use of DHTs for reporting logged incidents would result in an uncontrollably recursive traffic, a new mechanism was introduced that overcome this recursive process. These logging and reporting techniques aided forensics over cellular and ad-hoc networks, which in turn increased their ability to track and trace attacks to their source. These techniques were a starting point for further research and development that would result in equipping future ad hoc networks with forensic components to complement existing security mechanisms.

Geographical Literacy, Attitudes, and Experiences of Freshman Students: A Qualitative Study at Florida International University

The purpose of the study was to explore the geography literacy, attitudes and experiences of Florida International University (FIU) freshman students scoring at the low and high ends of a geography literacy survey. The Geography Literacy and ABC Models formed the conceptual framework. Participants were freshman students enrolled in the Finite Math course at FIU. Since it is assumed that students who perform poorly on geography assessments do not have an interest in the subject, testing and interviewing students allowed the researcher to explore the assumption. In Phase I, participants completed the Geography Literacy Survey (GLS) with items taken from the 2010 NAEP Geography Subject Area Assessment. The low 35% and high 20% performers were invited for Phase II, which consisted of semi-structured interviews. A total of 187 students participated in Phase I and 12 in Phase II. The primary research question asked was what are the geography attitudes and experiences of freshman students scoring at the low and high ends of a geographical literacy survey? The students had positive attitudes regardless of how they performed on the GLS. The study included a quantitative sub-question regarding the performance of the students on the GLS. The students’ performance on the GLS was equivalent to the performance of 12th grade students from the NAEP Assessment. There were three qualitative sub-questions from which the following themes were identified: the students’ definition of geography is limited, students recall more out of school experiences with geography, and students find geography valuable. In addition, there were five emergent themes: there is a concern regarding a lack of geographical knowledge, rote memorization of geographical content is overemphasized, geographical concepts are related to other subjects, taking the high school level AP Human Geography course is powerful, and there is a need for real-world applications of geographical knowledge. The researcher offered as suggestions for practice to reposition geography in our schools to avoid misunderstandings, highlight its interconnectedness to other fields, connect the material to real world events/daily decision-making, make research projects meaningful, partner with local geographers, and offer a mandatory geography courses at all educational levels.

Experimental analysis of novel telecom source materials and devices

Incumbent telecommunication lasers emitting at 1.5 µm are fabricated on InP substrates and consist of multiple strained quantum well layers of the ternary alloy InGaAs, with barriers of InGaAsP or InGaAlAs. These lasers have been seen to exhibit very strong temperature dependence of the threshold current. This strong temperature dependence leads to a situation where external cooling equipment is required to stabilise the optical output power of these lasers. This results in a significant increase in the energy bill associated with telecommunications, as well as a large increase in equipment budgets. If the exponential growth trend of end user bandwidth demand associated with the internet continues, these inefficient lasers could see the telecommunications industry become the dominant consumer of world energy. For this reason there is strong interest in developing new, much more efficient telecommunication lasers. One avenue being investigated is the development of quantum dot lasers on InP. The confinement experienced in these low dimensional structures leads to a strong perturbation of the density of states at the band edge, and has been predicted to result in reduced temperature dependence of the threshold current in these devices. The growth of these structures is difficult due to the large lattice mismatch between InP and InAs; however, recently quantum dots elongated in one dimension, known as quantum dashes, have been demonstrated. Chapter 4 of this thesis provides an experimental analysis of one of these quantum dash lasers emitting at 1.5 µm along with a numerical investigation of threshold dynamics present in this device. Another avenue being explored to increase the efficiency of telecommunications lasers is bandstructure engineering of GaAs-based materials to emit at 1.5 µm. The cause of the strong temperature sensitivity in InP-based quantum well structures has been shown to be CHSH Auger recombination. Calculations have shown and experiments have verified that the addition of bismuth to GaAs strongly reduces the bandgap and increases the spin orbit splitting energy of the alloy GaAs1−xBix. This leads to a bandstructure condition at x = 10 % where not only is 1.5 µm emission achieved on GaAs-based material, but also the bandstructure of the material can naturally suppress the costly CHSH Auger recombination which plagues InP-based quantum-well-based material. It has been predicted that telecommunications lasers based on this material system should operate in the absence of external cooling equipment and offer electrical and optical benefits over the incumbent lasers. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 provide a first analysis of several aspects of this material system relevant to the development of high bismuth content telecommunication lasers.