Social exclusion, transport decision-making and the role of Local Government: what happens when the 'socially excluded' request changes to bus services?

This thesis is concerned with the involvement of the 'socially excluded' in transport decision-making. Based upon case study research conducted consecutively in three locai authorities between 1999 and 2000, it addresses the issue of what happened when the 'socially excluded' requested changes in bus provision. In doing this, it addresses four key objectives. These were, to explain how bus provision is relevant to social exclusion; to investigate the extent to which current decision-making processes promote the involvement of the socially excluded in decision-making; to conduct case study research in three locai authorities in order to examine examples of where the socially excluded requested changes to bus provision; and to identify the key factors that infìuenced whether, and to what extent, these requested changes were met. Case study research was conducted in the three authorities, using a grounded theory approach. In each case study authority, examples were identified of where those who were 'socially excluded' had asked for changes to bus provision. Investigation was undertaken through in-depth interviews and documentary analysis into the nature of these requests, their outcomes, and the processes that led to these outcomes. Overall, it was found that the needs of the socially excluded were not adequately met, and various contributing factors were identified. The findings that emerged contribute toward the social exclusion debate in four main areas. Firstly, through illustrating the tensions between deregulated bus provision and social exclusion. Secondly, through showing the ambiguous nature of the roles of officers. Thirdly. by highlighting the diffìculties surrounding the role of councillors as advocate; and fourthly, by revealing the dynamics of the decision-making process around bus provision and social exclusion and the way in which these work against the interests of the socially excluded through a consumerist discourse stemming from a deregulated bus system

Is executive impairment associated with schizophrenic syndromes? A meta-analysis

Original article can be found at: http://journals.cambridge.org/ Copyright Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291708003887A key neuropsychological proposal in schizophrenia is that negative and disorganization symptoms are associated with different patterns of impairment on executive tasks. Reporting correlations between positive, negative or disorganization symptoms and any type of executive test were meta-analysed. The influence of moderating factors was also examined, including age, treatment and stage of illness and whether symptoms were relapsing or persistent. The magnitudes of the correlations were compared with those for general intellectual impairment. Pooled correlations between executive impairment and both negative symptoms and disorganization were significant in the small-to-moderate range. That for positive symptoms (‘reality distortion’), however, was close to zero. The pattern of correlations among different executive tests differed significantly for negative symptoms and disorganization. Patients with stable clinical pictures showed significantly higher correlations with executive impairment than those with relapsing and remitting illnesses. Both negative symptoms and disorganization also correlated significantly with general intellectual function as indexed by current IQ. Meta-analysis supports the view that negative symptoms and disorganization are associated with partially dissociable patterns of executive impairment. However, co-existent general intellectual impairment has been an important confounding factor in the studies to date.Peer reviewe

Pulled apart, pushed together: diversity and unity within the Congress of South African Trade Unions

This is a study of horizontal and vertical solidarity within a national labour movement, based on a nationwide survey of members of affiliated unions of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. On the one hand, the survey reveals relatively high levels of vertical and horizontal solidarity, despite the persistence of some cleavages on gender and racial lines. On the other hand, the maintenance and deepening of existing horizontal and vertical linkages in a rapidly changing socio-economic context, represents one of many challenges facing organized labour in an industrializing economy. COSATU’s strength is contingent not only on an effective organizational capacity, and a supportive network linking key actors and interest groupings, but also on the ability to meet the concerns of existing constituencies and those assigned to highly marginalized categories of labour

Vanishing value chains, industrial districts and HRM in the Brazilian automotive industry

Industrial districts in the Brazilian automotive industry have facilitated just-in-time production, functional flexibility, and compatibility of HR practices since the 1980s. However, this model has been threatened by global over-capacity and the rise of low cost suppliers in South Korea and China. This paper develops literature on proximity dynamics though exploring the influence of global supply chains on HRM in industrial districts. The more specific research questions are: How viable are industrial districts in the context of global crises? And how is this viability bound up with the awareness of HR practices down the supply chain? The findings indicate that the industrial districts model is under threat. In the context of global supply chains, automotive majors have shifted costs onto their suppliers, disrupting established relationships, and moreover, they often lack knowledge of the employment practices of distant suppliers. Yet, in times of political and economic uncertainty, worker rights might be best served by geographical and cognitive proximity

A Tale from the field: reflexivity during management research in an African based development organisation

This article is a product of the reflexive experience of data collection and analysis ina development organisation in Uganda. Several studies provide helpful debatesabout managing people in Africa. However, existent literature seldom coverspertinent issues related to collecting and analysing ethnographic data reflexivelyin African-based organisations. And yet, critical self-scrutiny and reflexivity toaccount for the researcher’s identity in the research processes is vital for thequality of thefindings. The key research questions for this paper are: how doesthe identity of an African researcher who was trained in‘Western’managementtheories, worked in an organisation in Africa, and then educated within a‘Western’setting affect the character of data generated? And does such asresearcher fully become‘one of them’, or effectively remain an independentresearcher? This paper discusses the process and results of the reflexive processthrough which answers to these questions were explored

Justifying (non)discrimination against disabled workers in emerging economies : managerial choice, business vs moral case arguments and home vs host country effects

It is widely known that disabled people face discrimination in all walks of life, including employment. Unfortunately, legal protection often does not work as well as hoped, especially in emerging markets. This leads to the core objective of this study: to understand why firms might not discriminate against disabled people. Rather than simply identifying islands of non-discrimination or best practice, we seek to better understand what has made them so and how much this might be replicable, taking account of legal regulation, firm policy, and managerial choice. The qualitative findings reveal how non-discrimination is underpinned by an interplay between business and moral case influences and interaction between country of domicile and origin structural effects. Building on Transaction Cost Economics, theoretical insights are afforded on this dynamic process. Although it is often assumed that multinational enterprises infuse best practices from abroad, non-discrimination in most instances followed country of domicile managerial choice, which in turn, represented a mix of altruism and expediency. We posit that a lack of direction from the headquarters might be because disability rights were assigned a somewhat low priority at central organizational level

Reconfiguration and regulation of supply chains and HRM in times of economic crisis

This chapter reviews existing evidence on the reconfiguration and regulation of supply chains and employment relations during times of economic crisis. On the one hand, literature has highlighted pressures towards a degradation of standards as firms seek short-term cost advantages. This view is informed by various perspectives from organization studies to political economy but is united by the idea that structural changes in global capitalism drive how firms relate to their suppliers. On the other hand, it has been argued that counter-pressures range from consumer backlashes to the extension of formal and informal regulation across national boundaries. This undeniably heterogeneous literature has common themes suggesting that global forces may be mediated by existing embedded institutional arrangements at transnational, national and local level, and that there are still open-ended possibilities for social action. This chapter synthesizes and evaluates these two streams and identifies agendas for future research

Statistical evaporation of rotating clusters. IV. Alignment effects in the dissociation of nonspherical clusters

Unimolecular evaporation in rotating, non-spherical atomic clusters is investigated using Phase Space Theory in its orbiting transition state version. The distributions of the total kinetic energy release epsilon_tr and the rotational angular momentum J_r are calculated for oblate top and prolate top main products with an arbitrary degree of deformation. The orientation of the angular momentum of the product cluster with respect to the cluster symmetry axis has also been obtained. This statistical approach is tested in the case of the small 8-atom Lennard-Jones cluster, for which comparison with extensive molecular dynamics simulations is presented. The role of the cluster shape has been systematically studied for larger, model clusters in the harmonic approximation for the vibrational densities of states. We find that the type of deformation (prolate vs. oblate) plays little role on the distributions and averages of epsilon_tr and J_r except at low initial angular momentum. However, alignment effects between the product angular momentum and the symmetry axis are found to be significant, and maximum at some degree of oblateness. The effects of deformation on the rotational cooling and heating effects are also illustrated.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Air Pollution, housing and respiratory tract Infections in Children: NatIonal birth Cohort study (PICNIC) - study protocol

INTRODUCTION: Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are the most common reason for hospital admission among children <5 years in the UK. The relative contribution of ambient air pollution exposure and adverse housing conditions to RTI admissions in young children is unclear and has not been assessed in a UK context. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The aim of the PICNIC study (Air Pollution, housing and respiratory tract Infections in Children: NatIonal birth Cohort Study) is to quantify the extent to which in-utero, infant and childhood exposures to ambient air pollution and adverse housing conditions are associated with risk of RTI admissions in children <5 years old. We will use national administrative data birth cohorts, including data from all children born in England in 2005-2014 and in Scotland in 1997-2020, created via linkage between civil registration, maternity and hospital admission data sets. We will further enhance these cohorts via linkage to census data on housing conditions and socioeconomic position and small area-level data on ambient air pollution and building characteristics. We will use time-to-event analyses to examine the association between air pollution, housing characteristics and the risk of RTI admissions in children, calculate population attributable fractions for ambient air pollution and housing characteristics, and use causal mediation analyses to explore the mechanisms through which housing and air pollution influence the risk of infant RTI admission. ETHICS, EXPECTED IMPACT AND DISSEMINATION: To date, we have obtained approval from six ethics and information governance committees in England and two in Scotland. Our results will inform parents, national and local governments, the National Health Service and voluntary sector organisations of the relative contribution of adverse housing conditions and air pollution to RTI admissions in young children. We will publish our results in open-access journals and present our results to the public via parent groups and social media and on the PICNIC website. Code and metadata will be published on GitHub