Union Voices: Tactics and Tensions in UK Organizing

[Excerpt] This book tells the story of what is, in our view, probably the most significant development in British trade unionism of recent years: the increasing focus on organizing activity. We do this by reflecting on the impact of the UK\u27s Trades Union Congress (TUC) Organising Academy (OA), the participants in the training program, and the organizing campaigns that union organizers have run. We explicitly want to give voice to these union activists who have worked so hard to recruit and organize new union members. Much has already been written in the United Kingdom (often by us) about these developments but what is often lost in short articles or surveys are the stories that organizers have to tell. In an effort to build a base of knowledge from which to start to analyze changes, we have so far tended to focus on publishing the studies that demonstrate general trends and developments. This book seeks to do something slightly different. We draw on those previously published papers where necessary, but here we want to engage with the politics and tensions behind those trends; both on a macro and a micro level. We want to tell the stories of what organizing is like on the front line, what organizers do, and how they do it. The workplace struggles of workers and their unions are at the heart of these stories. But we also want to draw attention to the wider reasons why union organizing is important. As we will argue, one of the things that happened as ideas about organizing migrated from other countries— notably the United States and Australia—to the United Kingdom is that the political conceptualization of why unions are organizing has been underexamined. We want to understand and examine organizing as a political process, and we want to look at the politics within the union but also the wider purpose of organizing, which often varies from context to context

Conclusion : gender and politics and the changing status of women today

This book concerns a new body of knowledge and an emerging set of questions that has accompanied national, cross national and international global political movements aimed at trying to understand and to improve the situation of women by eliminating gender inequities and injustices

Zebrafish models of cystic kidney disease related ciliopathies

PhD ThesisCystic kidney diseases are a fascinating cluster of discrete conditions and an important, common cause of established renal failure. Both isolated and syndromic inherited cystic kidney diseases are known to be linked by their pathogenesis involving ciliary dysfunction. Interestingly to date, all mutated genes which have been related to cystic kidney disease, encode proteins which are located on cilia, the basal body or centrosomes and are required for ciliary function. To date, over 50 causal genes have been identified and are capable of causing additional disease phenotypes, such as neurological disorders and blindness, often of variable severity. Understanding this clinical heterogeneity may considerably guide appropriate genetic counselling and screening of patients for relevant complications. Zebrafish are a well-recognised animal model, their advantages of: transparency; conserved genome; representative kidney and rapid external development; make them useful for studying organogenesis in the context of disease. Furthermore the ability to perform combined gene knockdown in zebrafish, to study the effect of oliogenicity, which was proposed to influence clinical phenotypes in cystic kidney disease related ciliopathies, was of interest. Using zebrafish models, this work studied the impact of four key genes, independently and in combination: ahi1, cc2d2a, nphp6 and mks3 on the development of cystic kidney disease and ciliopathy phenotypes, to resemble the human diseases nephronophthisis (NPHP), Joubert syndrome (JBTS) and Meckel Gruber syndrome, (MKS). A frequent finding in zebrafish morphants was a reduction in the number of cilia, which was usually associated with abnormal development of left-right body patterning and cystic kidney disease. Additionally, combined gene knockdown of: nphp6 and cc2d2a; ahi1 and cc2d2a; ahi1 and nphp6 was associated with a synergistic increase in disease phenotypes, suggesting an interaction between these genes. In conclusion, zebrafish are a powerful developmental model to study and ideally improve understanding of cystic kidney disease related ciliopathies.Mason Medical Research Group, Medical Research Council and Kidney Research UK

Just a Hunch: Reading, Writing, ... and Architecture

Victor Hugo’s character, Claude Frollo, expressed Hugo’s linguistic analogy for architecture in his novel of 1831, Notre-Dame de Paris. Frollo directs the eyes of his companions from the book resting on his desk to the shadow of the nearby Notre-Dame cathedral, stating: ‘This will kill that’. Hugo expressed the belief that prior to the printing press, the communication of mankind occurred through architecture. His concern was for the fate of architecture following the invention of a new form of communication; the printed text. This thesis questions the concern that print will ‘kill’ architecture through an exploration of architectural research and design led by text. A validity of print as an experimental tool for architectural design is established through a range of output; visual and physical expression, creative writing, and formal writing. These design modes reveal unique architecture from within Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris. The outcomes of this research draw attention to the imaginative possibilities that text provides for architecture. It finds that architecture exists within text and allows for interpretation and conversion, into both real and imagined space. It provides a framework through which this can occur within other text, not just Notre-Dame de Paris. The conclusion is reached that text is a design tool which offers significant opportunities to the experimentation and design of architecture

Using Near-Surface Photogrammetry Assessment of Surface Roughness (NSPAS) to assess the effectiveness of erosion control treatments applied to slope forming materials from a mine site in West Africa

Geo-spatial studies are increasingly using photogrammetry technology because the cost of the equipment is becoming cheaper, the techniques are accessible to non-experts and can generate better quality topographic data than traditional approaches. NSPAS (Near-Surface Photogrammetry Assessment of Surface Roughness) was developed to quantify the micro-topographic changes in ground surface roughness caused by simulated rainfall, to better understand the comparative erodibility of two non-soil and one soil slope forming materials from a mine in West Africa. This innovative approach creates DEMs (digital elevation models) using image pairs acquired by near-surface stereo photogrammetry (<300 m), to measure surface roughness within Leica Photogrammetry Suite 2011 (LPS) in ERDAS Imagine software and ESRI Arc-GIS. NSPAS can readily quantify aggregate breakdown processes across a 0.02 m2 surface by accurately detecting 0.84 mm to 2.49 mm changes in surface topography. The methodology is advantageous to micro-scale (2 mm) at the surface. With further development NSPASS has the capability to be used in many other types of geospatial investigations

The Impact of Different Screening Model Structures on Cervical Cancer Incidence and Mortality Predictions: The Maximum Clinical Incidence Reduction (MCLIR) Methodology

Background. To interpret cervical cancer screening model results, we need to understand the influence of model structure and assumptions on cancer incidence and mortality predictions. Cervical cancer cases and deaths following screening can be attributed to 1) (precancerous or cancerous) disease that occurred after screening, 2) disease that was present but not screen detected, or 3) disease that was screen detected but not successfully treated. We examined the relative contributions of each of these using 4 Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) models. Methods. The maximum clinical incidence reduction (MCLIR) method compares changes in the number of clinically detected cervical cancers and mortality among 4 scenarios: 1) no screening, 2) one-time perfect screening at age 45 that detects all existing disease and delivers perfect (i.e., 100% effective) treatment of all screen-detected disease, 3) one-time realistic-sensitivity cytological screening and perfect treatment of all screen-detected disease, and 4) one-time realistic-sensitivity cytological screening and realistic-effectiveness treatment of all screen-detected disease. Results. Predicted incidence reductions ranged from 55% to 74%, and mortality reduction ranged from 56% to 62% within 15 years of follow-up for scenario 4 across models. The proportion of deaths due to disease not detected by screening differed across the models (21%–35%), as did the failure of treatment (8%–16%) and disease occurring after screening (from 1%–6%). Conclusions. The MCLIR approach aids in the interpretation of variability across model results. We showed that the reasons why screening failed to prevent cancers and deaths differed between the models. This likely reflects uncertainty about unobservable model inputs and structures; the impact of this uncertainty on policy conclusions should be examined via comparing findings from different well-calibrated and validated model platforms

Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing molecules correlate with clinical status in cystic fibrosis

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces quorum sensing signal molecules that are potential biomarkers for infection. A prospective study of 60 cystic fibrosis patients with chronic P. aeruginosa, who required intravenous antibiotics for pulmonary exacerbations, was undertaken. Clinical measurements and biological samples were obtained at the start and end of the treatment period. Additional data were available for 29 of these patients when they were clinically stable. Cross-sectionally, quorum sensing signal molecules were detectable in the sputum, plasma and urine of 86%, 75% and 83% patients, respectively. They were positively correlated between the three biofluids. Positive correlations were observed for most quorum sensing signal molecules in sputum, plasma and urine, with quantitative measures of pulmonary P. aeruginosa load at the start of a pulmonary exacerbation. Plasma concentrations of 2-nonyl-4-hydroxy-quinoline (NHQ) were significantly higher at the start of a pulmonary exacerbation compared to clinical stability ( p<0.01). Following the administration of systemic antibiotics, plasma 2-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline ( p=0.02) and NHQ concentrations (p<0.01) decreased significantly. In conclusion, quorum sensing signal molecules are detectable in cystic fibrosis patients with pulmonary P. aeruginosa infection and are positively correlated with quantitative measures of P. aeruginosa. NHQ correlates with clinical status and has potential as a novel biomarker for P. aeruginosa infection