Playing on the boundaries: a childhood across cultural and geographical lines

This is not a conventional paper. It is a personal narrative. It is subjective not only to its author but to the child-self of the author. It is not a detached academic look at a personal history. In fact it could be described more as ‘archaeological’ than historical; an examination of what appears to be a random collection of fragments of a personal history, found in memory and artefacts of a childhood. The telling of the story is an attempt to understand the development and trajectory of an individual identity across geographical, cultural, and religious boundaries. It is not the whole story, but it gives the writer and the reader a few selected pieces of the full picture

A sociologist teaches history: some epistemological and pedagogical reflections

This article discusses the concept of ‘historical sociology’ in relation to the teaching of a module on an undergraduate degree in Education Studies at a university in the United Kingdom. The module examines the history of education policy in England from 1870 until the present day. Drawing upon comparisons with Social Foundations of Education programs in the United States, I examine some key epistemological and pedagogical issues raised by the inter-disciplinary approach to teaching and learning followed within the module in which we combine historical and sociological perspectives as a means to understand the evolution of the English education system. In particular, using Bernstein’s concept of the pedagogic device as an analytical framework, I consider the epistemological congruence of sociology and history as the contributory disciplines of the undergraduate module. From a discussion of the concept of historical sociology, I conclude that although sociology and history are distinct subjects, they share a large amount of analytical ground which thus facilitates the inter-disciplinary approach pursued within the module. Following that, I examine some pedagogical issues that have arisen in my experience of teaching upon the module and I discuss how I have addressed these. I conclude the article by making comparisons to relevant examples from pedagogical practices in Social Foundations of Education programs in the United States

Memories of childhood in post-war Grimsby

This paper details the vivid memories of the author’s childhood in the fishing port of Grimsby, shortly after the Second World War. It was a time of shortages, overcrowding, improvisation and cannibalisation of anything that could be re-used. In time it became a period of reconstruction but not without its upheavals and difficulties. It begins in the ‘old town’ of workers’ small terrace houses, typically in a poor state of repair. Then it moves to the ‘new’ council estates. Similarly, the narrative also begins with a ‘Victorian’ technology of steam, coal and horses with very few petrol-engined vehicles and moves to the very beginnings of early consumer society. The principal analytic content of the paper concerns the status of what is clearly a ‘personal history’ – if that is not too great a contradiction – or as the author suggests: my story. The obvious ‘critical’ response – that it could have been otherwise – is contrasted against the suggestion that this story is a non-negotiable foundation of the author’s identity and that this ‘critical’ response is not appropriate. Some of the interdisciplinary options thrown up by this problem are considered

The Importance of Context in Managerial Work: The Case of Senior Hotel Managers in Greece

Qualitative research on the interplay between context and hospitality managerial work has not been previously addressed in the literature. Based on the works of Johns (2006) and Dierdorff et al. (2009), this research suggests that luxury senior hotel managers (GMs and department managers) are to a certain degree recipients of contextual/cultural influences, depending on the ownership status of the hotel. It is also argued that managerial work is shaped and exercised by a set of moderating factors, which are unique for each individual. Overall, the aim of this research is to increase the level of awareness and trigger further research in this topic area. © 2014 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Importance of extracellular divalent cations to polarisation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes induced by plasma

The roles of extracellular calcium and magnesium ions in the polarisation of human peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) induced by autologous fresh heparinised plasma were investigated by studying the effects of 5 mM chelators of divalent cations [ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), ethylenebis-(oxyethylene-nitrilo)-tetra-acetic acid (EGTA) or disodium hydrogen citrate]. In addition, the effects of a blocker of membrane calcium channels (verapamil) were studied. Polarisation of PMN suspended in plasma (84.1 ± 11.9%) was reduced by each chelating agent over 30 min (to 20.0 ± 15.6% by EDTA, to 42.5 ± 19.3% by EGTA and to 29.4 ± 22.9% by citrate). Polarisation of PMN suspended in plasma treated with EDTA or EGTA was restored by inclusion of equimolar additional Ca2+ ions, and in plasma treated with EDTA, EGTA or citrate, by equimolar additional Mg2+ ions. Additional Mg2+ had no effect on the spherical shape of PMN in Hanks' solution and additional cations had no effects on the polarisation of PMN induced by fMLP. Cells rendered spherical by each chelating agent in plasma for 30 min retained their ability to polarise on addition of fMLP to the plasma-chelator medium. Verapamil (10-4 M) markedly reduced polarisation in plasma (to 52 ± 11.3%) but the same drug (10-5 M) had no such effect. In contrast to the polarisation of cells in plasma, the polarisation response of PMN to N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP, 10-8 M) in bufferred Hanks' solution was not affected by any of the chelating agents or by verapamil, even in high concentration. These results indicate that extracellular divalent cations are necessary for the polarisation of PMN suspended in autologous plasma and that the mechanism of polarisation of PMN in plasma may be different to that of polarisation induced by fMLP.</p

Effects of plasma proteins on the adhesion, spreading, polarization in suspension, random motility and chemotaxis of neutrophil leukocytes on polycarbonate (Nuclepore) filtration membrane

The effects on adhesion, spreading, polarization in suspension, random motility and chemotaxis to N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) of neutrophil leukocytes on polycarbonate (Nuclepore) membrane in the Boyden chamber of purified serum albumin, gamma globulin and fibrinogen, as well as of the Hanks'-soluble components of Cohn fractions III (beta and gamma globulins) and IV (albumin, alpha globulins and transferrin) of plasma proteins were tested in comparison to the corresponding effects of dilute fresh heparinized plasma. Serum albumin, fibrinogen and fibronectin inhibited adhesion of neutrophils, so that the spreading, random motility and chemotaxis of these cells could not be assessed in the presence of these proteins alone. These plasma proteins induced little or no polarization of the cells in suspension. Of the remaining preparations, gamma globulin promoted adhesion and excessive spreading and caused corresponding reduction of random motility and chemotaxis to FMLP of these cells. This plasma protein, even in low concentration, induced marked polarization of neutrophils in suspension. Both Cohn fractions III and IV supported adhesion and permitted random motility and chemotaxis to FMLP approximating that which occurs in dilute plasma. These fractions induced moderate polarization of cells in suspension. Addition of serum albumin or fibronection to the preparations of gamma globulin, or Cohn fractions III or IV did not alter the adhesion, random motility or chemotaxis of the neutrophils in these preparations. These results suggest that alpha and beta globulins, as well as gamma globulins are factors in plasma affecting adhesiveness and polarization of neutrophils and which provide for optimal motility and chemotaxis of these cells on solid substrata. Furthermore, for all pure preparations of proteins tested, induction of polarization of neutrophils appeared to be linked to promotion of adhesiveness.</p

Proteoglycans synthesized by human polymorphonuclear leucocytes in vitro

Polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMN) were assessed in vitro for their ability to synthesize and secrete proteoglycans. The PMN were isolated from human peripheral blood and were found to contain 35S)-sulfate, significant quantities of 35S-labelled macromolecules were detected both within the culture medium and cells. Although the PMN preparations contained some platelets (approximately five platelets: one PMN), culture of platelets alone did not result in the detection of any 35S-labelled macromolecules in either the medium or platelets 35S/3H-labelled macromolecules from the PMN cultures were identified as proteoglycans on the basis of their degradation by papain, alkaline sodium borohydride, chondroitinase ACII, chondroitinase ABC and nitrous acid. The labelled proteoglycans isolated from the medium and cells eluted from Sepharose CL-4B with a K(av) of 0.63; this indicated a small size compared with many other proteoglycans. The glucosaminoglycans associated with the proteoglycans were identified as heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate and dermatan sulfate, with chondroitin sulfate being the principal component. The average molecular weight of the glycosaminoglycans was determined to be 16000. Therefore, the data from this study demonstrate the ability of human PMN to synthesize and secrete proteoglycans in vitro which appear to differ from those synthesized by mesenchymal cells with respect to molecular size and glycosaminoglycan composition.</p