Barriers to women in the UK construction industry

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the main barriers that lead to the under-representation of women in the UK construction industry. The study, funded by ConstructionSkills, seeks to explore the issues that women face and investigate the potential positive impact that continuous professional development (CPD) may have upon improving the retention and career progression of women. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses an open-ended grounded theory (GT) approach, including 231 semi-structured questionnaires and nine focus groups with women from a range of professional occupations. All the findings were analysed using keyword analysis to identify the top two barriers that women face, alongside a series of cross-cutting key themes and issues. Findings – The findings reveal that male-dominated organisational cultures and inflexible working practices are the main barriers to women in the UK construction industry, irrespective of job role or profession. This paper concludes by arguing for a sea-change in the expansion of CPD opportunities for women in managerial, confidence and communication based skills, with accompanying networking and support systems to facilitate the retention and advancement of women in the industry sector. Research limitations/implications – Due to the research approach, the data are not generalisable. Therefore, researchers are advised to research and test the findings with a larger group. Researchers are also recommended to investigate the impact of expanded CPD opportunities for both men and women. Originality/value – The paper puts forward a business case for the advancement of specific CPD training for women, to facilitate the expansion of equality and diversity in the workforce in the UK construction industry

Fingermark submission decision-making within a UK fingerprint laboratory: Do experts get the marks that they need?

Within UK policing it is routinely the responsibility of fingerprint laboratory practitioners to chemically develop areas of latent fingerprint ridge detail on evidential items and to determine which areas of ridge detail are of sufficient quality to be submitted to fingerprint experts for search or comparison against persons of interest. This study assessed the effectiveness of the fingermark submission process within the Evidence Recovery Unit Fingerprint Laboratory of the Metropolitan Police Service. Laboratory practitioners were presented with known source fingermark images previously deemed identifiable or insufficient by fingerprint experts, and were asked to state which of the marks they would forward to the Fingerprint Bureau. The results indicated that practitioners forwarded a higher percentage of insufficient fingermarks than is acceptable according to current laboratory guidelines, and discarded a number of marks that were of sufficient quality for analysis. Practitioners forwarded more insufficient fingermarks when considering fingermarks thought to be related to a murder and discarded more sufficient fingermarks when considering those thought to be related to a crime of 'theft from vehicle'. The results highlight the need for fingerprint laboratories to work alongside fingerprint experts to ensure that a consistent approach to decision-making is, as far as possible, achieved, and that appropriate thresholds are adopted so as to prevent the loss of valuable evidence and improve the efficiency of the fingerprint filtering process

A Novel Computer-Controlled Maskless Fabrication Process for Pneumatic Soft Actuators

Template-based and additive manufacturing techniques have demonstrated some fabrication routes for creating pneumatic soft actuators. However, as the complexity and capability of the actuators continue to develop, the limitations of these approaches are becoming evident. These include difficulties for design variations, process speed and resolution, material compatibility and scalability, which hinder and restrict both the possible capabilities of the technology and its transition from research to industry. This body of work presents a computer-controlled, maskless manufacturing process with a different approach to allow for high-speed, low-cost and flexible creation of pneumatic soft actuation networks comprising multi-material construction. This was investigated through a bespoke fabrication platform that provides computer-controlled localised plasma treatment to selectively modify the chemical behaviour on the surface of silicone and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bodies. The altered surface chemistry facilitated selective bond formation between the treated parts of the surface and, consequently, greater design variation and control over the pneumatic chambers that were formed. Selective treatment patterns allowed nonlinear pneumatic chamber designs to be created, and the strength of bonded silicone structures was shown to facilitate large deformations in the actuators. Furthermore, the different interactions between the plasma and silicone were leveraged to achieve feature sizes of <1 mm and treatment speeds of 20 mm2 per second of exposure. Two multi-material pneumatic soft actuators were then fabricated to demonstrate the potential of the platform as an automated manufacturing route for soft actuators

EXCITATION CONDITIONS IN THE MULTI-COMPONENT SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY SMM J00266+1708

We present multiline CO observations of the complex submillimeter galaxy SMMJ00266+1708. Using the Zpectrometer on the Green Bank Telescope, we provide the first precise spectroscopic measurement of its redshift (z = 2.742). Based on followup CO(1–0), CO(3–2), and CO(5–4) mapping, SMMJ00266+1708 appears to have two distinct components separated by ∼ 500 kms−1 that are nearly coincident along our line of sight. The two components show hints of different kinematics, with the blue-shifted component dispersion-dominated and the red-shifted component showing a clear velocity gradient. CO line ratios differ slightly between the two components, indicating that the physical conditions in their molecular gas may not be alike. We tentatively infer that SMMJ00266+1708 is an on going merger with a mass ratio of (7.8±4.0)/ sin2(i), with its overall size and surface brightness closely resembling that of other merging systems. We perform large velocity gradient modeling of the CO emission from both components and find that each component’s properties are consistent with a single phase of molecular gas (i.e., a single temperatures and density); additional multi-phase modelling of the red-shifted component, although motivated by a CO(1–0) size larger than the CO(3–2) size, is inconclusive. SMMJ00266+1708 provides evidence of early stage mergers within the submillimeter galaxy population. Continuum observations of J00266 at the ∼ 1′′ resolution of our observations could not have distinguished between the two components due to their separation (0.′′73 ± 0.′′06), illustrating that the additional velocity information provided by spectral line studies is important for addressing the prevalence of unresolved galaxy pairs in low-resolution submillimeter surveys

Excitation Conditions in the Multi-component Submillimeter Galaxy SMM J00266+1708

We present multiline CO observations of the complex submillimeter galaxy SMM J00266+1708. Using the Zpectrometer on the Green Bank Telescope, we provide the first precise spectroscopic measurement of its redshift (z=2.742). Based on followup CO(1-0), CO(3-2), and CO(5-4) mapping, SMM J00266+1708 appears to have two distinct components separated by ~500 km/s that are nearly coincident along our line of sight. The two components show hints of different kinematics, with the blue-shifted component dispersion-dominated and the red-shifted component showing a clear velocity gradient. CO line ratios differ slightly between the two components, indicating that the physical conditions in their molecular gas may not be alike. We tentatively infer that SMM J00266+1708 is an ongoing merger with a mass ratio of (7.8+/-4.0)/sin^2(i), with its overall size and surface brightness closely resembling that of other merging systems. We perform large velocity gradient modeling of the CO emission from both components and find that each component's properties are consistent with a single phase of molecular gas (i.e., a single temperatures and density); additional multi-phase modeling of the red-shifted component, although motivated by a CO(1-0) size larger than the CO(3-2) size, is inconclusive. SMM J00266+1708 provides evidence of early stage mergers within the submillimeter galaxy population. Continuum observations of J00266 at the ~1" resolution of our observations could not have distinguished between the two components due to their separation (0.73" +/- 0.06"), illustrating that the additional velocity information provided by spectral line studies is important for addressing the prevalence of unresolved galaxy pairs in low-resolution submillimeter surveys

Effect of varying the concentrations of carbohydrate and milk protein in rehydration solutions ingested after exercise in the heat

The present study investigated the relationship between the milk protein content of a rehydration solution and fluid balance after exercise-induced dehydration. On three occasions, eight healthy males were dehydrated to an identical degree of body mass loss (BML, approximately 1.8 %) by intermittent cycling in the heat, rehydrating with 150 % of their BML over 1 h with either a 60 g/l carbohydrate solution (C), a 40 g/l carbohydrate, 20 g/l milk protein solution (CP20) or a 20 g/l carbohydrate, 40 g/l milk protein solution (CP40). Urine samples were collected pre-exercise, post-exercise, post-rehydration and for a further 4 h. Subjects produced less urine after ingesting the CP20 or CP40 drink compared with the C drink (P<0.01), and at the end of the study, more of the CP20 (59 (SD 12) %) and CP40 (64 (SD 6) %) drinks had been retained compared with the C drink (46 (SD 9) %) (P,0.01). At the end of the study, whole-body net fluid balance was more negative for trial C (2470 (SD 154) ml) compared with both trials CP20 (2181 (SD 280) ml) and CP40 (2107 (SD 126) ml) (P<0.01). At 2 and 3 h after drink ingestion, urine osmolality was greater for trials CP20 and CP40 compared with trial C (P<0.05). The present study further demonstrates that after exercise-induced dehydration, a carbohydrate–milk protein solution is better retained than a carbohydrate solution. The results also suggest that high concentrations of milk protein are not more beneficial in terms of fluid retention than low concentrations of milk protein following exercise-induced dehydration

Long-Term Results of Conservative Surgery and Radiotherapy for Ductal Carcinoma In Situ Using Lung Density Correction: The University of Michigan Experience

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72520/1/j.1524-4741.2007.00447.x.pd

Genomes from bacteria associated with the canine oral cavity: A test case for automated genome-based taxonomic assignment

© 2019 Coil et al. Taxonomy for bacterial isolates is commonly assigned via sequence analysis. However, the most common sequence-based approaches (e.g. 16S rRNA gene-based phylogeny or whole genome comparisons) are still labor intensive and subjective to varying degrees. Here we present a set of 33 bacterial genomes, isolated from the canine oral cavity. Taxonomy of these isolates was first assigned by PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene, Sanger sequencing, and taxonomy assignment using BLAST. After genome sequencing, taxonomy was revisited through a manual process using a combination of average nucleotide identity (ANI), concatenated marker gene phylogenies, and 16S rRNA gene phylogenies. This taxonomy was then compared to the automated taxonomic assignment given by the recently proposed Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB). We found the results of all three methods to be similar (25 out of the 33 had matching genera), but the GTDB approach required fewer subjective decisions, and required far less labor. The primary differences in the non-identical taxonomic assignments involved cases where GTDB has proposed taxonomic revisions

Low dose gamma irradiation does not affect the quality or total ascorbic acid concentration of “sweetheart” passionfruit (passiflora edulis)

Passionfruit (Passiflora edulis, Sims, cultivar “Sweetheart”) were subject to gamma irradiation at levels suitable for phytosanitary purposes (0, 150, 400 and 1000 Gy) then stored at 8 °C and assessed for fruit quality and total ascorbic acid concentration after one and fourteen days. Irradiation at any dose (≤1000 Gy) did not affect passionfruit quality (overall fruit quality, colour, firmness, fruit shrivel, stem condition, weight loss, total soluble solids level (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) level, TSS/TA ratio, juice pH and rot development), nor the total ascorbic acid concentration. The length of time in storage affected some fruit quality parameters and total ascorbic acid concentration, with longer storage periods resulting in lower quality fruit and lower total ascorbic acid concentration, irrespective of irradiation. There was no interaction between irradiation treatment and storage time, indicating that irradiation did not influence the effect of storage on passionfruit quality. The results showed that the application of 150, 400 and 1000 Gy gamma irradiation to “Sweetheart” purple passionfruit did not produce any deleterious effects on fruit quality or total ascorbic acid concentration during cold storage, thus supporting the use of low dose irradiation as a phytosanitary treatment against quarantine pests in purple passionfruit. © 2015 MDPI.Open access retrieved from: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/4/3/37