The performativity of sustainability: making a conduit a marketing device

This paper examines how a conduit, as a ‘working infrastructure’ with material and social qualities, shapes and connects the business and practices of sustainable waste management. Conduits have had a prominent but passive role in explanations of food leftovers within households. We show that a conduit, as an assemblage of investments and practices among interested actors, requires and allows for the further economisation and calculation of waste management. Conduits shape business-to-business exchanges and relationships, deriving demand across domains of exchange and managing risks to the continuation of industrial processes. They resist singular stewardship, instead allowing multiple actors to recognise their interdependence and contest the development of facilities and services. Marketing communications form an important dimension of the conduit, albeit distributed across different parts of the conduit, in aligning actors’ practices of sorting and ‘moving things along’ at and between locations

Understanding Interaction Through the Lens of Materiality and the Processual Nature of Artifacts

The elements and processes to understand organisational business-to-business interactions have been extensively explored. The context and forms these interactions takeunderpinmajor threads of research in the Markets-as-Networks tradition of understanding business networks. Standard operating procedures (SOPs), job specs, contracts andbriefs as physical objects play material roles within these business-to-business interactions, guiding and managing how these relationships play out. This paper primarily builds on the rich Markets-as-Networks tradition by refocusing attention on the role artifacts play in the interaction process. In addition there appears to be non-material artifacts, without physical forms, that also aid in guiding and managing interactions. This paper incorporates the construct of materiality into considering non-material artifacts,broadening the scope of our analysis and allowing us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the role various artifacts play in business-to-business interactions. Two cases considering inter-organisational routines through the lens of an artifactual unit of analysis are outlined.These two cases raise issues of focus in relation to the context of interaction core to the Markets-as-Networks tradition. As a consequence this paper takes a closer look at: the processual characteristics within long term, close and complex relationships; the roles that artifacts play in these interactions represented by organisational and inter-organisational routines; how the artifactual characteristics in themselves either aid, alter or hinder the context of interaction.By drawing distinctions,relating to the materiality of artifacts, we illustrate how mangers’ understanding of the role artifacts, and unseen artifacts can play in impacting on guiding and managing business-to-business relationships. The conclusion of this paper discusses the managerial relevance of the processual characteristics of artifacts and their form of materiality. By comparing and contrasting two inter-organisational cases through the lens of materiality and the processual characteristics embodied in artifacts managers can gain a better understanding how various artifacts can guide and manage processes of interaction

Single-cell transcriptomics : a high-resolution avenue for plant functional genomics

Plant function is the result of the concerted action of single cells in different tissues. Advances in RNA-seq technologies and tissue processing allow us now to capture transcriptional changes at single-cell resolution. The incredible potential of single-cell RNA-seq lies in the novel ability to study and exploit regulatory processes in complex tissues based on the behaviour of single cells. Importantly, the independence from reporter lines allows the analysis of any given tissue in any plant. While there are challenges associated with the handling and analysis of complex datasets, the opportunities are unique to generate knowledge of tissue functions in unprecedented detail and to facilitate the application of such information by mapping cellular functions and interactions in a plant cell atlas. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Uncovering motivators and stumbling blocks: Exploring the clinical research experiences of speech-language pathologists

Purpose : Healthcare providers increasingly expect that allied health staff will not only translate research evidence into their clinical practice, but also generate research. Little is known about how well prepared clinicians are to meet these expectations. Research suggests that allied health professionals, including speech-language pathologists, have moderate levels of interest in research, but only little-to-moderate experience participating in research activities. The present study aimed to explore the experiences and attitudes of speech-language pathologists in regards to undertaking research in their clinical settings

Layering in peralkaline magmas, Ilímaussaq Complex, S Greenland

EJH acknowledges funding from a NERC PhD studentship and the work was completed at the University of St Andrews, UK.The peralkaline to agpaitic Ilímaussaq Complex, S. Greenland, displays spectacular macrorhythmic (> 5 m) layering via the kakortokite (agpaitic nepheline syenite), which outcrops as the lowest exposed rocks in the complex. This study applies crystal size distribution (CSD) analyses and eudialyte-group mineral chemical compositions to study the marker horizon, Unit 0, and the contact to the underlying Unit − 1. Unit 0 is the best-developed unit in the kakortokites and as such is ideal for gaining insight into processes of crystal formation and growth within the layered kakortokite. The findings are consistent with a model whereby the bulk of the black and red layers developed through in situ crystallisation at the crystal mush–magma interface, whereas the white layer developed through a range of processes operating throughout the magma chamber, including density segregation (gravitational settling and flotation). Primary textures were modified through late-stage textural coarsening via grain overgrowth. An open-system model is proposed, where varying concentrations of halogens, in combination with undercooling, controlled crystal nucleation and growth to form Unit 0. Our observations suggest that the model is applicable more widely to the layering throughout the kakortokite series and potentially other layered peralkaline/agpaitic rocks around the world.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Aphasia and reperfusion therapies in hyper-acute settings: a scoping review

Reperfusion therapies are medical treatments that restore blood flow either by surgical removal of a blood clot or with medications that dissolve clots. The introduction of reperfusion therapies has the potential to change the presentation of aphasia following acute ischaemic stroke (AIS). This scoping study will explore the relationship between aphasia and reperfusion therapies from a speech-language pathology perspective.A systematic literature search was performed on studies published up until October 2016. Relevant studies that reported on aphasia and reperfusion therapy were assessed for quality and the relationship between the two.Overall, 27 studies were identified, these studies were heterogeneous in nature. Despite speech-language pathologists filling a central role in management of aphasia, only seven of these studies mentioned involvement of speech-language pathologists, with minimal information about the precise nature of the involvement of speech-language pathology services.Based on this scoping review, reperfusion therapy appears to be impacting on the presentation of aphasia. A prospective study into reperfusion therapy and aphasia is required to inform speech-language pathologists on this patient population