Opting Out Of The 48-Hour Week – Employer Necessity Or Individual Choice? An Empirical Study Of The Operation Of Article 18(1)(B) Of The Working Time Directive In The UK

The EU Working Time Directive has so far had little impact on an ingrained culture of long-hours working in the UK. Case studies suggest that the use of individual opt-outs from the 48-hour limit on weekly working time is a principal reason for this. However, removal of the individual opt-out (currently under consideration at EU level) is unlikely to make much difference to UK practice in the absence of a wider review of working time policy. In particular, the UK’s individualised system of workplace bargaining is currently ill-placed to adapt to a continental European model of working time regulation.working time, labour standards, collective bargaining, European Union

Reflexive law, corporate social responsibility and the evolution of labour standards: the case of working time

Through an empirical study of working time in the United Kingdom, we explore the scope for initiatives based on corporate social responsibility (CSR) to engender voluntary action by employers to raise labour standards. Our evidence suggests that a CSR-based approach faces considerable problems of implementation in this area, in large part because the legal mechanisms which might underpin CSR ('reflexive law') have not yet been effectively developed.corporate social responsibility, labour standards

The Architectonics of Information: Ancient Topical Thought and Postmodern Information

This paper examines the usefulness of thought patterns from ancient rhetoric as they have been appropriated historically and as potentially applicable concepts for the present and future in today\u27s interlinked electronic environment. An earlier version of this paper, first delivered as part of a panel at the Rhetoric Society of America meeting at Tucson in May 1 996, was delivered and published as The Architectonics of Information: Ancient Topical Thought and Postmodern Cognition in Proceedings of the Mid-America Symposium on E merging Computer Technologies, October 1 996. (The published papers are available in Information Problems at http://www.ou.edu/cas/english/agora/). I would like to thank Jana Moring and Dianne Juby for their collaboration on the panel

East Cliff Landslide, Bournemouth

On 24 April 2016, the BGS Landslide Response Team received reports of a landslide on a 35 m high section of the East Cliff in Bournemouth, Dorset. It was reported that the landslide had damaged an Edwardian funicular railway as well as a toilet block and an array of fences and benches from the top of the cliff

How Systems Thinking Enhances Systems Leadership

Systems leadership is only part of what is needed to deal with cross-cutting issues. Leaders need to be allowed to step back from the system they are in, think about what they are trying to achieve in relation to the bigger picture, and collaborate with a broad range of stakeholders. Doing this effectively requires systems thinking, which enhances systems leadership. This paper outlines some of the most useful systems thinking approaches

The Functional Expression of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Glutamate-Type Receptors by Megakaryocytes and Platelets

This study investigated the role of NMDARs in the differentiation of MEG-01 cells and in the activation of human platelets. This investigation demonstrated that the NR1, NR2D and NR3 subunit proteins are expressed in human platelets, with the NR1 subunit also expressed in MEG-01 cells. The NR2A subunit protein was not detectable in either MEG-01 cells or human platelets. PMA-induced differentiation of MEG-01 cells did not appear to stimulate changes in expression of any of the subunit proteins tested. Using assays to measure the changes in [Ca2+]i and ATP secretion, it was determined that donors could be separated into those who responded to the agonists applied and those who did not; responses also decreased over time in both assays. Human platelets from responding donors demonstrate an increase in [Ca2+]i in response to extracellular glutamate, and that increases in ATP secretion are detected at a 10-fold lower concentration. The same is also true with extracellular glycine. Increases in [Ca2+]i were elicited on the addition of extracellular NMDA; extracellular D-serine had no effect. NMDAR inhibitors, MK-801 and D-AP5, inhibited ATP secretion evoked by either glutamate alone or in combination with glycine. D-serine inhibited responses elicited by extracellular glycine. NMDARs play a role in MK differentiation, with the adhesion of MEG-01 cells cultured on a fibrinogen-surface and differentiated with PMA reduced by both inhibitors. PMA-treated MEG-01 cells increased both in size and irregularity, with the addition of NMDAR-specific inhibitors having no effect. S-nitrosylation also inhibits activation of NMDAR, and a new molecule has been developed which can detect S-nitrosylated proteins through a single step process in live cells. Overall, this study has shown that both human platelets and MEG-01 cells express NMDAR subunits, which have been demonstrated to form functional receptors in human platelets.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Natriuretic peptide receptor-3 underpins the disparate regulation of endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation by C-type natriuretic peptide

CM Panayiotou was the recipient of a Wellcome Trust Prize PhD studentship. RS Khambata was the recipient of a Medical Research Council PhD studentshi