‘Leading’ by example? Gendered language in Human Resource job adverts

While there has been an increase of women in the workplace, why do they remain underrepresented at the senior level, even in women-dominated occupations such as human resources (HR)? This article examines gendered wording in UK HR job adverts and the extent to which job adverts are a gendered practice contributing to women’s underrepresentation in senior roles - even within a women-dominated profession. We analysed 158 HR job adverts to identify the use of gendered language, traits and behaviours, equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI), and flexible working practices. Findings show that as the salary or title seniority increases, the proportion of masculine words in the job adverts increases, the prevalence of EDI statements, and flexible working practices decreases. We theorise how job adverts are a hidden gendered barrier to women’s progress in HR, contributing to the (re)production of patriarchy, the masculine discourse of leadership and a negative cycle sustaining hierarchical segregation where men dominate in senior roles. HR is not leading by example in reducing systemic inequality practices and is complicit in reinforcing gender stereotypes

The development of an IgG avidity Western blot with potential to differentiate patients with active Lyme borreliosis from those with past infection

We would like to thank all the users of the National Lyme Borreliosis Testing Laboratory for their help and support and Rachel Milner, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, UK for her invaluable technical expertise. We would also like to thank Martin Schriefer and Claudia Mollins at CDC for providing their serum samples. Part of this research was funded by the Chief Scientist Office for Scotland (CZG/2/561). Preliminary results from this study were presented at the 14th International Conference on Lyme borreliosis and other tick-borne diseases ICLB, September 27-30, 2015, Vienna, Austria.Peer reviewedPostprin

Model-driven requirements engineering: Synchronising models in an air traffic management case study

Different modelling techniques from different disciplines are needed to model complex socio-technical systems and their requirements. This paper describes the application of RESCUE, a process that integrates 4 modelling techniques to model and analyse stakeholder requirements for DMAN, a system for scheduling and managing the departure of aircraft from major European airports. It describes how human activity, use case and i* modelling were applied and integrated using synchronisation checks to model requirements on DMAN. Synchronisation checks applied at predefined stages in RESCUE revealed omissions and potential inconsistencies in the models and stakeholder requirements that, in turn, led to improvements to the models and resulting specification. The paper ends with implications for requirements model integration, and describes future work to extend and apply RESCUE

Population-based study of diagnostic assays for Borrelia infection: comparison of purified flagella antigen assay (Ideia™, Dako Cytomation) and recombinant antigen assay (Liaison®, DiaSorin)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Testing for <it>Borrelia</it>-specific IgM and IgG-antibodies are often performed on a variety of poorly defined symptoms, and isolated IgM results are a frequent finding, which results in diagnostic uncertainty and further testing. We wanted to test the hypothesis that Borrelia-specific assays using recombinant antigens perform differently from assays based on purified flagella antigen.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We compared the use of recombinant antigens (LIAISON^®DiaSorin, Saluggia, Italy) and purified flagella antigen (IDEIA™ Borrelia, DakoCytomation, Glostrup, Denmark) in the assay for <it>Borrelia</it>-specific IgM and IgG-antibodies. The assays were tested on an unselected population of serum samples submitted from general practice. A total of 357 consecutive samples for analysis of <it>Borrelia </it>IgM and IgG antibodies. Furthermore, we analysed 540 samples for <it>Borrelia</it>-specific IgM or IgG antibodies first by the IDEIA™ and, if they were positive, the samples were further analysed using the LIAISON^®assay. To verify the correctness of the patient's serological status, discrepant samples were analysed by line blots (EcoLine, Virotech).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the consecutive series of 357 samples, the IgM assays detected 308 negative and 3 positive samples with concordant results. Compared with the line blot, the IDEIA™ system produced 21 false-positive IgM results, whereas the LIAISON^®system produced only one false-positive IgM result. The IgG assays showed 1 positive and 328 negative concordant results. The LIAISON^®system produced 9 true IgG-positive samples that were not detected by the IDEIA™ system, but the former produced 4 positive IgG results that were negative by line blot.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Diagnostic assays based on flagella antigen seem to show more false-positive IgM and false-negative IgG results than assays based on recombinant antigens. The latter may reduce the number of presumably false-positive IgM results and identify more IgG-positive subjects, but this system also produces more false-positive IgG results.</p

Women entrepreneurs : jumping the corporate ship or gaining new wings.

Paper originally presented at the 30th International Conference of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 7-9 November 2007, Glasgow,UK. Awarded Best Paper ‘Women’s Enterprise and Family Enterprise Development’ track, ISBE Conference 2007 (£500). Advances field through empirical investigation of push-pull dichotomy in career transition literature for women leaving corporate employment for entrepreneurship. Argues women’s motivations for entrepreneurship remain unsatisfied until businesses evolved and they gained personal and professional development

Close Encounters: Intimate service interactions in lap dancing work as a nexus of ‘self-others-things’

Drawing on ethnographic research on lap dancing work, this paper focuses on how the subjectivities, interactions and settings that constitute the lap dancing industry come into being through three interrelated processes of encoding, embodying and embedding. In considering how these processes combine to ‘enact’ the industry, the paper draws on Merleau Ponty’s understanding of the world as a dynamic nexus of ‘self-others-things’. Focusing on how this nexus shapes lived experiences of intimate service interactions, the analysis considers how dancers continually negotiate customers’ expectations of the service encounter given the ways in which these are: (i) encoded in depictions of lap dancing work in marketing and advertising materials on club websites; (ii) embodied by lap dancers through their interactions with customers; and (iii) embedded within the materiality of lap dancing clubs. The paper shows how intimate service encounters can be understood as the outcome of a nexus of ‘self-others-things’ through which particular organizational subjectivities and settings are brought into being through these three interrelated processes