Discourse, denial and dehumanisation: former detainees’ experiences of narrating state violence in Northern Ireland

Using a synthesis of documentary analysis and interviews involving former detainees, this article explores the sociology of denial in relation to narratives of state violence which emerged from the conflict in and around Northern Ireland. It argues that three interrelated levels of denial described by Cohen (2001) - literal, interpretive and implicatory - can be observed within the ‘official discourse’ surrounding the conflict, and that these denials are experienced by former detainees in diverse and different ways. The article contributes to the literature on state violence within the discipline of criminology through its exploration of the lived consequences of state denial narratives alongside former detainees who have made their private experiences of victimhood part of a contested public history

Book Review

Review of: STUART M. SPEISER, LAWYERS AND THE AMERICAN DREAM. (Evans 1993) [430 pp.] Endnotes with full citations, index, and lexicon (lay definitions of legal terms). LC 93-35272; ISBN 0-87131-724-9. [$16.95 paper. 216 E. 49th Street, New York NY 10017.

Interim evaluation of Flying Start

The Flying Start programme was launched by the Welsh Assembly Government in 2006/07 as a pilot with the aim ‘to make a decisive difference to the life chances of children aged under 4 in the areas which it runs’. This 2010 report presents the findings of the interim evaluation with regards to: the effectiveness of the programme in establishing the conditions necessary for later improvements in life chances, and whether it did so in ways that offered good value for money

Evaluation of Cymorth: final report

This is and evaluation report of Cymorth, which was introduced in 2003/04 by the Welsh Assembly Government to provide a network of targeted support for children and young people (up to 25 years of age) within a framework of universal provision

Stormwater runoff - modeling impacts of urbanization and climate change

Development pressure throughout the coastal areas of the United States continues to build, particularly in the southeast (Allen and Lu 2003, Crossett et al. 2004). It is well known that development alters watershed hydrology: as land becomes covered with surfaces impervious to rain, water is redirected from groundwater recharge and evapotranspiration to stormwater runoff, and as the area of impervious cover increases, so does the volume and rate of runoff (Schueler 1994, Corbett et al. 1997). Pollutants accumulate on impervious surfaces, and the increased runoff with urbanization is a leading cause of nonpoint source pollution (USEPA 2002). Sediment, chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants are carried into receiving water bodies, resulting in degraded water quality (Holland et al. 2004, Sanger et al. 2008). (PDF contains 5 pages

Predictive Biomarkers of Cellular Radiosensitivity for Clinical Radiotherapy Treatment

Radiotherapy is prescribed to more than 50% of cancer patients during their treatment schedule. Due to intrinsic factors, individual variation in response exists, which will result in side effects or toxicity in a number of patients. Therefore, development of an assay or biomarker for the prediction and assessment of radiosensitivity among cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy would be beneficial. Such an assay would limit toxicities and facilitate dose-escalation for those patients who require it. Assays for predicting intrinsic cellular radiosensitivity remains as the established G2 chromosomal radiosensitivity and most promising, γH2AX foci assay. They can be applied to blood samples from donors and are sensitive enough to detect individual radiosensitivity. Therefore, both assays were applied to normal control cohorts compared to ‘radiosensitive’ cells to assess their efficacy as potential predictive assays for the clinic. Different low doses and energies of Linac radiation was applied to cells to assess their impact on patient intrinsic radiosensitivity and the most radiosensitive dose was confirmed at 0.5Gy (6MV photon beam) Linac radiation in cells. In addition to this, intrinsic radiosensitivity which could be measured at initial diagnosis and treatment planning stages for patients was investigated. The assays were applied to patients sampled at various time-points throughout a course of their radiotherapy treatment. The time-points included pre-treatment, post hormone treatment, last day of radiotherapy and the 2 and 8 month follow ups. Both assays were capable of depicting a dose response and differences between treatment visits. The DNA damage based assays indicated that cell cycle regulation through the DNA damage response (DDR) activated by radiation was central to the underlying mechanistic response. Therefore, the molecular mechanisms of radiosensitivity were studied with an emphasis of genes related to the cell cycle and DDR. Furthermore, genetic targets that emerged from this work could potentially be biomarkers of radiosensitivity that could also be incorporated into the clinic. Following from the emergence of cell cycle and DDR genes, potential biomarkers for predicting radiosensitivity was analysed in a collaboration with Public Health England. This was done using the most sensitive genes which were found from bio dosimetry microarray studies carried out by the group (P21, PCNA, SESN1 and FDXR). Again this work was done on blood from healthy controls, prostate cancer patients and radiosensitive cells from Ataxia Telangiectasia donors. The genes in combination were able to depict a clear difference in the cohorts analysed in which expression was collectively highest in the healthy controls, less expression was observed in the Prostate cancer cohort and the least expression was observed in the radiosensitive cells from Ataxia Telangiectasia donors. Finally, investigation of the miRNA composition of exosomes in healthy cells and cells from Ataxia telangiectasia donors was done to identify novel biomarkers for radiosensitivity prediction, in a collaboration with Trinity College Dublin. A subgroup of the let-7 family of miRNA’s was among the top 88 expressed miRNA’s in this chapter. Additionally, most miRNA’s were not as highly expressed in radiosensitive cells compared to normal healthy cells. This work forms the basis for future work on prostate cancer patient samples

The Supreme Court As Risk Manager: An Analysis of Skinner

Examining a recent case in which the U.S. Supreme Court approved the collection of blood and urine samples from railroad employees, the authors conclude that, in attempting to improve railroad safety, both majority and minority opinions reflected undue emphasis on technical issues and inadequate attention to the intangible social values underlying traditional Constitutional rights to privacy

Top polarisation studies in H−tH^-t and WtWt production

The polarisation of top quarks produced in high energy processes can be a very sensitive probe of physics beyond the Standard Model. The kinematical distributions of the decay products of the top quark can provide clean information on the polarisation of the produced top and thus can probe new physics effects in the top quark sector. We study some of the recently proposed polarisation observables involving the decay products of the top quark in the context of $H^-t$ and $Wt$ production. We show that the effect of the top polarisation on the decay lepton azimuthal angle distribution, studied recently for these processes at leading order in QCD, is robust with respect to the inclusion of next-to-leading order and parton shower corrections. We also consider the leptonic polar angle, as well as recently proposed energy-related distributions of the top decay products. We construct asymmetry parameters from these observables, which can be used to distinguish the new physics signal from the $Wt$ background and discriminate between different values of $\tan\beta$ and $m_{H^-}$ in a general type II two-Higgs doublet model. Finally, we show that similar observables may be useful in separating a Standard Model $Wt$ signal from the much larger QCD induced top pair production background.Comment: 33 pages, 35 figures, references adde

Group Process, Communication, and Relating as a Core Phenomenon in an Older Adult Support and Learning Group on Aging and Health

Supporting older adult clients to improve self-management of health is a focus of care for community-based nurses working with this population. The available literature on small group work indicates participation in a variety of group types has been shown to be beneficial for older adults. However, there is little research specifically on group work with adults over the age of 75 when individuals are at greater risk for actively facing illness and multiple personal losses and may need enhanced social supports to assist achievement of the psychosocial tasks of old age. This research examined a support and learning group on aging and health involving seven community-dwelling older adults over the age of 75 using grounded theory research method. One male and six female subjects aged 76-84 years old participated in the study. To identify themes occurring in group and communication process, transcripts of the meetings, pre and post interviews with individual participants, and other data sources were analyzed using open, axial and selective coding. On the Group Process level, themes of group action/interaction were categorized by time phases of Before, Beginning, Middle, End, and Beyond the time the group met. On the Communication Process level, themes were abstracted under categories of Initiating, Responding, Relating, and Integrating. Group and Communication processes were then nested and conceptualized as a fractal occurring both over the course of the eight weeks and in every group meeting. “Relating” was identified as a core phenomenon of the group and communication process, contributing to positive self-assessment regardless of whether the participant affirmed a similar or contrasting position in comparison with other participants. Findings support the achievement of group type objectives for support and learning groups and delineate more clearly group participants’ experience leading to the outcomes of reinforcement of a positive self-assessment and the development of knowledge and skills related to aging and health. Findings may assist the design and implementation of similar groups and may direct further research on specific aspects of individual and group process in small group work with community-dwelling older adults