137 research outputs found
Identity work and the `unemployed' worker: age, disability and the lived experience of the older unemployed
This article seeks to explore how older individuals negotiate and manage their self-identity in relation to work while situated without paid employment. After reviewing the current positions of the older unemployed in the UK, noting the substantial overlap between age and disability, we turn our attention to conceptualizing the lived experiences of individuals through exploring `identity work' as a means of understanding a non-working work identity. Based upon focus group interviews, our empirical analysis focuses on key dimensions of participants' identity practice and how they sought to manage the following social processes: imposed identities; crafting working identities; and contesting unfavourable working identities.The conclusion contextualizes the findings against a backdrop of increasing individualistic discourses underpinning approaches to employability, closes with the policy implications arising from this study, and makes suggestions for future research agendas. </jats:p
The domestic and gendered context for retirement
Against a global backdrop of population and workforce ageing, successive UK governments have encouraged people to work longer and delay retirement. Debates focus mainly on factors affecting individualsâ decisions on when and how to retire. We argue that a fuller understanding of retirement can be achieved by recognizing the ways in which individualsâ expectations and behaviours reflect a complicated, dynamic set of interactions between domestic environments and gender roles, often established over a long time period, and more temporally proximate factors. Using a qualitative data set, we explore how the timing, nature and meaning of retirement and retirement planning are played out in specific domestic contexts. We conclude that future research and policies surrounding retirement need to: focus on the household, not the individual; consider retirement as an often messy and disrupted process and not a discrete event; and understand that retirement may mean very different things for women and for men
Impact of age norms and stereotypes on managers' hiring decisions of retirees
Purpose -Our study investigates the role of managers in the re-employment of early retirees and asks what the effect is of managersâ age norms and stereotypes on managersâ employment decisions.
Design/methodology/approach- A combination of a factorial study and a survey was conducted. First, information on the age norms and stereotypes was collected. Secondly, profiles of hypothetical retired job applicants were presented to the employers, who were asked to make a specific hiring decision. The information collected during both studies was combined in the analysis and multilevel models were estimated.
Findings -The results indicate that higher age norms result in a higher propensity to hire an early retiree. Stereotypes, by contrast, do not influence managersâ decisions. Early retireesâ chances for re-employment are also related to their own circumstances (physical appearance and relevant experience) and organisational forces, as they are hired when organisations face labour force shortages.
Research limitation / implications â with the use of vignettes study we deal with hypothetical hiring situation.
Originality value- Although the effect of age norms and age stereotypes has been often suggested, not much empirical evidence was presented to support this notion. Our study estimates the effect of age norms and stereotypes on hiring decision.
key words: bridge employment; early retirees; age norms; age stereotypes; multilevel models.
An exploration of older worker flexible working arrangements in smaller firms
This article explores flexible working arrangements (FWAs) for older workers in smaller UK firms. We address three questions: how far older workers need and value FWAs, the type of FWAs they need, and whether smaller firms can offer these FWAs. We draw on 46 semi-structured interviews from six smaller case study firms to present a qualitative exploration of both owner-manager and (under-researched) worker perspectives. We evidence the offer and importance of temporal and work-role FWAs, together with the use of i-deals and ad hoc FWAs in meeting the needs of this diverse group. We make three contributions: first, theoretically, in arguing for an extended definition of FWAs and understanding formality of offer; second, to practice, in highlighting FWA mechanisms appropriate to older workers third, to policy, in questioning the effectiveness of both the business case approach to older worker FWAs in smaller firms and policyâs positioning of older workers as a homogeneous group.Carol Atkinson, and Peter Sandifor
Fission-fusion dynamics over large distances in raven non-breeders
The influence of fission-fusion dynamics, i.e., temporal variation in group size and composition, on social complexity has been studied in large-brained mammals that rely on social bonds. Little is known about birds, even though some species like ravens have recently received attention for their socio-cognitive skills and use of social bonds. While raven breeders defend territories year-round, non-breeders roam through large areas and form groups at food sources or night roosts. We here examined the fission-fusion patterns of non-breeding ravens over years, investigating whether birds meet repeatedly either at the same or at different locations. We combined four large datasets: presence-absence observations from two study sites (Austria, Italy) and GPS-tracking of ravens across two study areas (Austria, France). As expected, we found a highly dynamic system in which individuals with long phases of temporary settlement had a high probability of meeting others. Although GPS-tagged ravens spread out over thousands of square kilometres, we found repeated associations between almost half of the possible combinations at different locations. Such a system makes repeated interactions between individuals at different sites possible and likely. High fission-fusion dynamics may thus not hinder but shape the social complexity of ravens and, possibly, other long-term bonded birds
Linking microstructure and processing defects to mechanical properties of selectively laser melted AlSi10Mg alloy
A vision for incorporating human mobility in the study of human-wildlife interactions
As human activities increasingly shape land- and seascapes, understanding human-wildlife interactions is imperative for preserving biodiversity. Habitats are impacted not only by static modifications, such as roads, buildings and other infrastructure, but also by the dynamic movement of people and their vehicles occurring over shorter time scales. While there is increasing realization that both components of human activity significantly affect wildlife, capturing more dynamic processes in ecological studies has proved challenging. Here, we propose a novel conceptual framework for developing a âDynamic Human Footprintâ that explicitly incorporates human mobility, providing a key link between anthropogenic stressors and ecological impacts across spatiotemporal scales. Specifically, the Dynamic Human Footprint integrates a range of metrics to fully acknowledge the time-varying nature of human activities and to enable scale-appropriate assessments of their impacts on wildlife behavior, demography, and distributions. We review existing terrestrial and marine human mobility data products and provide a roadmap for how these could be integrated and extended to enable more comprehensive analyses of human impacts on biodiversity in the Anthropocene
Analysis of acoustic emission during the melting of embedded indium particles in an aluminum matrix: a study of plastic strain accommodation during phase transformation
Acoustic emission is used here to study melting and solidification of
embedded indium particles in the size range of 0.2 to 3 um in diameter and to
show that dislocation generation occurs in the aluminum matrix to accommodate a
2.5% volume change. The volume averaged acoustic energy produced by indium
particle melting is similar to that reported for bainite formation upon
continuous cooling. A mechanism of prismatic loop generation is proposed to
accommodate the volume change and an upper limit to the geometrically necessary
increase in dislocation density is calculated as 4.1 x 10^9 cm^-2 for the
Al-17In alloy. Thermomechanical processing is also used to change the size and
distribution of the indium particles within the aluminum matrix. Dislocation
generation with accompanied acoustic emission occurs when the melting indium
particles are associated with grain boundaries or upon solidification where the
solid-liquid interfaces act as free surfaces to facilitate dislocation
generation. Acoustic emission is not observed for indium particles that require
super heating and exhibit elevated melting temperatures. The acoustic emission
work corroborates previously proposed relaxation mechanisms from prior internal
friction studies and that the superheat observed for melting of these
micron-sized particles is a result of matrix constraint.Comment: Presented at "Atomistic Effects in Migrating Interphase Interfaces -
Recent Progress and Future Study" TMS 201
COVID-19 lockdown allows researchers to quantify the effects of human activity on wildlife
Funding: Manuscript preparation was supported through: a Radcliffe Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University (to C.R.); the European Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie SkĆodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 798091 (to M.-C.L.); and Autonomous Province of Trento ordinary funds to Fondazione Edmund Mach (to F.C.).Reduced human mobility during the pandemic will reveal critical aspects of our impact on animals, providing important guidance on how best to share space on this crowded planet.PostprintPeer reviewe
Dislocation Loop Formation and Growth under In Situ Laser and/or Electron Irradiation
Vacancies and interstitial atoms are primary lattice (point) defects that cause observable microstructural changes, such as the formation of dislocation loops and voids in crystalline solids. These defects' diffusion properties determine the phase stability and environmental resistibility of macroscopic materials under ambient conditions. Although in situ methods have been proposed for measuring the diffusion energy of point defects, direct measurement has been limited. In this study, we propose an alternative in situ method to measure the activation energy for vacancy migration under laser irradiation using a pulsed laser beam from a laser-equipped high-voltage electron microscope (laser-HVEM). We made in situ observations that revealed the formation and growth of vacancy dislocation loops in an austenitic stainless steel during laser irradiation. These loops continued to grow when thermal annealing was performed after laser irradiation at the same temperature. We anticipate that laser-HVEM will provide a new method for investigating lattice defects
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