Young people's transitions to adulthood in Pilton, a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Edinburgh

This thesis explores young people’s experiences of transition into adulthood in Pilton, a disadvantaged neighbourhood in North Edinburgh, and considers how their social networks influence their perspectives and actions. The stories are told of young people, aged 16–23, including the challenges they face, the richness and diversity of their experiences. Their transition experiences involve families, friends, leisure spaces and engagement with the labour market. The study is located within Elias’ theoretical framework and highlights that strong social networks often flourish more strongly in contexts like this than in more affluent neighbourhoods. The research questions are: 1. How do young people in Pilton experience and manage transitions to adulthood? 2. How do disadvantage, stigma and violence affect the daily lives and transition journeys of young people in Pilton? 3. How useful is the concept of social exclusion to describe young people’s experiences in Pilton? 4. How helpful is the concept of resilience to support young people in Pilton? Main data sources have been fieldwork, carried out between June 2012 and May 2013, mainly in Pilton Youth and Children’s Project (PYCP). Desk-based and on-line research, including reviewing historical and contemporary documentation was undertaken to understand the context and to interrogate issues that arose – for example, to understand how embedded poverty and stigma has been throughout the history of Pilton. The study includes consideration of the usefulness of the concepts of social inclusion/exclusion and resilience, both prolific in contemporary discussions about marginalised young people and what ‘to do’ about them. The case is made for reframing the two concepts, returning them to their original intentions, and placing more emphasis on reducing inequalities. The challenges caused to young people by disadvantage, stigma and violence are significant. It is emphasised that these are faced within an unequal society, not as ‘socially excluded’

Young people's transitions to adulthood in Pilton, a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Edinburgh

This thesis explores young people’s experiences of transition into adulthood in Pilton, a disadvantaged neighbourhood in North Edinburgh, and considers how their social networks influence their perspectives and actions. The stories are told of young people, aged 16–23, including the challenges they face, the richness and diversity of their experiences. Their transition experiences involve families, friends, leisure spaces and engagement with the labour market. The study is located within Elias’ theoretical framework and highlights that strong social networks often flourish more strongly in contexts like this than in more affluent neighbourhoods. The research questions are: 1. How do young people in Pilton experience and manage transitions to adulthood? 2. How do disadvantage, stigma and violence affect the daily lives and transition journeys of young people in Pilton? 3. How useful is the concept of social exclusion to describe young people’s experiences in Pilton? 4. How helpful is the concept of resilience to support young people in Pilton? Main data sources have been fieldwork, carried out between June 2012 and May 2013, mainly in Pilton Youth and Children’s Project (PYCP). Desk-based and on-line research, including reviewing historical and contemporary documentation was undertaken to understand the context and to interrogate issues that arose – for example, to understand how embedded poverty and stigma has been throughout the history of Pilton. The study includes consideration of the usefulness of the concepts of social inclusion/exclusion and resilience, both prolific in contemporary discussions about marginalised young people and what ‘to do’ about them. The case is made for reframing the two concepts, returning them to their original intentions, and placing more emphasis on reducing inequalities. The challenges caused to young people by disadvantage, stigma and violence are significant. It is emphasised that these are faced within an unequal society, not as ‘socially excluded’

Young people's transitions to adulthood in Pilton, a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Edinburgh

This thesis explores young people’s experiences of transition into adulthood in Pilton, a disadvantaged neighbourhood in North Edinburgh, and considers how their social networks influence their perspectives and actions. The stories are told of young people, aged 16–23, including the challenges they face, the richness and diversity of their experiences. Their transition experiences involve families, friends, leisure spaces and engagement with the labour market. The study is located within Elias’ theoretical framework and highlights that strong social networks often flourish more strongly in contexts like this than in more affluent neighbourhoods. The research questions are: 1. How do young people in Pilton experience and manage transitions to adulthood? 2. How do disadvantage, stigma and violence affect the daily lives and transition journeys of young people in Pilton? 3. How useful is the concept of social exclusion to describe young people’s experiences in Pilton? 4. How helpful is the concept of resilience to support young people in Pilton? Main data sources have been fieldwork, carried out between June 2012 and May 2013, mainly in Pilton Youth and Children’s Project (PYCP). Desk-based and on-line research, including reviewing historical and contemporary documentation was undertaken to understand the context and to interrogate issues that arose – for example, to understand how embedded poverty and stigma has been throughout the history of Pilton. The study includes consideration of the usefulness of the concepts of social inclusion/exclusion and resilience, both prolific in contemporary discussions about marginalised young people and what ‘to do’ about them. The case is made for reframing the two concepts, returning them to their original intentions, and placing more emphasis on reducing inequalities. The challenges caused to young people by disadvantage, stigma and violence are significant. It is emphasised that these are faced within an unequal society, not as ‘socially excluded’

Coordinated RhoA signaling at the leading edge and uropod is required for T cell transendothelial migration

A biosensor for the RhoA GTPase illustrates its activation patterns in both the front and rear of migrating lymphocytes

Impairment losses: the impact of the first-time adoption of the accounting standardization system In Portugal

In 2010, Portuguese unlisted companies started to apply a new accounting frame of reference called Accounting Standardisation System (Sistema de Normalização Contabilística – SNC) based on IAS/IFRS. This paper seeks to analyse the impact of SNC first-time adoption regarding the accounting treatment of impairment losses. Portugal has been recognized as a Code-law country, with weak legal enforcement mechanisms, and conservative accounting practices. However, since 2005 Portuguese companies have been changing their financial reporting practices to a common-law institutional logic. Therefore, the present research setting might provide interesting insights to confirm if the differences found are due to management interests, rather than cultural issues. Differences found are neither due to cultural issues nor management interests. To mitigate political costs associated with their public visibility, larger companies present more credible financial statements that reflect their overall true financial and economic condition. This study is a valuable contribution to both the users of financial information and domestic standard-setters entities to help them understand and improve the impact of accounting standards. Consistent with Khalil and Simon (2014), it also contributes to the debate on the optimal flexibility permitted by International Financial Reporting Standards to improve reporting quality and reduce earnings management.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead.

Lifestyle factors are responsible for a considerable portion of cancer incidence worldwide, but credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%. To explore the hypothesis that low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals in the environment may be combining to contribute to environmental carcinogenesis, we reviewed 11 hallmark phenotypes of cancer, multiple priority target sites for disruption in each area and prototypical chemical disruptors for all targets, this included dose-response characterizations, evidence of low-dose effects and cross-hallmark effects for all targets and chemicals. In total, 85 examples of chemicals were reviewed for actions on key pathways/mechanisms related to carcinogenesis. Only 15% (13/85) were found to have evidence of a dose-response threshold, whereas 59% (50/85) exerted low-dose effects. No dose-response information was found for the remaining 26% (22/85). Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies. Additional basic research on carcinogenesis and research focused on low-dose effects of chemical mixtures needs to be rigorously pursued before the merits of this hypothesis can be further advanced. However, the structure of the World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety 'Mode of Action' framework should be revisited as it has inherent weaknesses that are not fully aligned with our current understanding of cancer biology

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO