Mentoring, teaching and professional transformation

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The socio-economic variations in the provision, quality and perception of play areas in Glasgow

In order to examine the possible health implications of outdoor play areas, this PhD used a multi-methods approach to examine socio-economic variations in the provision, quality and perceptions of publicly available outdoor play areas in Glasgow, with the underpinning philosophy that play areas may be used as a locale for children to engage in physically active play. The locations of play areas were mapped using GIS software and spatial variations were examined by deprivation. A sample (n=100) of play areas in the highest, middle and lowest quintiles of deprivation were visited and an objective quality audit was undertaken assessing their safety and aesthetics. Pupils in P6 (mean age=9.9 years) were recruited from a school in a highly deprived area and a school in an area of low social deprivation. Sixty two “Draw-and-write” activities and four focus groups were conducted with children to investigate preferences for play and benefits and barriers for visiting play areas. Interviews were also conducted with seven play area maintenance men and two mothers to investigate their views on local play provision. Whilst there was greater provision of play areas in deprived areas of Glasgow, some aspects of their quality were poorer. Children and adults spoke about safety from injury and strangers, and a lack of suitable facilities as barriers to using play areas. Vandalism, misuse and youth disorder were also strong themes in all qualitative research. The barriers for play for children from a deprived area were of a more serious nature compared to children from a less deprived area and those aspects of safety and incivilities which were objectively measured as worse in deprived areas, were also ones that acted as barriers for parents and children. Thus, it is those children who may be in greatest need for free access to safe and healthy play spaces that face more (and often more serious) barriers to play. Although play areas might provide children with opportunity to be physically active, access to facilities alone may not always mean they are used. Further research evaluating refurbishments to play areas may help to determine whether improvements made to play areas would impact upon their use and physical activity levels of users

Cascade Dynamics of Multiplex Propagation

Random links between otherwise distant nodes can greatly facilitate the propagation of disease or information, provided contagion can be transmitted by a single active node. However we show that when the propagation requires simultaneous exposure to multiple sources of activation, called multiplex propagation, the effect of random links is just the opposite: it makes the propagation more difficult to achieve. We calculate analytical and numerically critical points for a threshold model in several classes of complex networks, including an empirical social network.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, for similar work visit http://hsd.soc.cornell.edu and http://www.imedea.uib.es/physdep

Hybrid receiver study

The results are presented of a 4 month study to design a hybrid analog/digital receiver for outer planet mission probe communication links. The scope of this study includes functional design of the receiver; comparisons between analog and digital processing; hardware tradeoffs for key components including frequency generators, A/D converters, and digital processors; development and simulation of the processing algorithms for acquisition, tracking, and demodulation; and detailed design of the receiver in order to determine its size, weight, power, reliability, and radiation hardness. In addition, an evaluation was made of the receiver's capabilities to perform accurate measurement of signal strength and frequency for radio science missions

Imminence in Refugee and Human Rights Law: A Misplaced Notion for International Protection

This article is the first scholarly output of a major research project examining the notion of imminence in the law on international protection. It is the first piece of scholarship to identify an emerging trend, namely the introduction of imminence—whether invoked implicitly or explicitly—as a potential barrier to refugee status or complementary protection. The article analyses the jurisprudence of relevant international bodies and courts and critiques the validity of this notion as a tool for assessing States’ protection obligations

A well-founded fear of being persecuted ... but when?

It is well established that the ‘well-founded fear’ test in refugee law requires a prospective assessment of potential future harm. Yet, the requisite timeframe involved in this test is rarely examined. Analysis of jurisprudence across a wide range of jurisdictions reveals that Australian courts have been unusually cognisant of the question of timing of harm. Indeed, they have been particularly insistent that a flexible and longer-range assessment is appropriate, encapsulated by the ‘reasonably foreseeable future’ test. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the principles set out by Australian courts, and identifies particularly challenging contexts in which timing has played an important role. It also assesses the extent to which decision-makers at the tribunal level adhere to the flexible approach formulated by the judiciary. It is hoped that our analysis of Australian jurisprudence may prove helpful in other jurisdictions in which the issue of timing of harm is equally pertinent but far less developed

Negotiating the female successor-leader role within family business succession in China

This article explores the approaches of identity construction used by Chinese daughters while negotiating the successor–leader role within family businesses. A qualitative interpretivist approach was adopted to understand daughter views on gender, family business leadership and succession, as well as the approaches adopted to negotiate the role of female successor/leader in the Chinese family business. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with both actual and potential female successors. Three approaches of identity construction emerged based on the degree of conformity to traditional gender roles and Confucian family values: first, to abide by conventional gender expectations and perceive themselves as a temporary leader; second, to act as the ‘second leader’ and remain involved in decision making and third, to challenge conventional gender roles and strive to be an independent leader. This article contributes to debates on women in family business and gendered identity construction of daughters in family business in the Chinese context

Woman’s entrepreneurship as a gendered niche:The implications for regional development policy

In this paper we argue that entrepreneurship is a socio-spatial embedded activity and that the social construction of gender, time, space, economy and culture is manifest in the masculinities that are ascribed a normative role in entrepreneurship development policies. Drawing on feminist approaches to articulate and perform resistance to the hegemonic ‘masculinist’ discourses on entrepreneurship, we argue that women’s entrepreneurship is contextually embedded in institutional and social structures that both limit and provide opportunities for its enactment. Regional economic development policy has focused, inter alia, on stimulating and supporting women’s entrepreneurship through the establishment of women-only entrepreneurial networks to provide support, role models and access to resources. Grounded in feminist geography and based on a detailed qualitative study of network managers and members of formally established women-only networks, we provide evidence of the disconnect between the emancipatory intent and the actual impact of these initiatives. While these networks aim to empower and encourage women into entrepreneurship, in practice they perpetuate women’s marginalisation and ghettoization in gendered niches

The recurrent evolution of extremely resistant xylem

International audienceAbstractKey messageHighly resistant xylem has evolved multiple times over the past 400 million years.ContextWater is transported under tension in xylem and consequently is vulnerable to invasion by air and the formation of embolism. A debate has raged over whether embolism formation is non-reversible occurring at low water potentials or a regular diurnal occurrence that is non-lethal because of a capacity to refill embolised conduits.AimsThis commentary is on a recent article, which utilised new non-invasive imaging techniques for assessing the formation of embolism in xylem, finding that the xylem of Laurus nobilis was highly resistant to the formation of embolism.MethodsThe recent results of this discovery are placed in the context knowledge from a diversity of species that has so far been identified with xylem similarly highly resistant to embolism formation.ResultsThe discovery that L. nobilis has xylem highly resistant to embolism formation adds to a body of literature suggesting that the resistance of xylem to embolism formation is a key adaptation utilised by many species native to seasonally dry environments. Highly resistant xylem has evolved numerous times across the angiosperm clade.ConclusionWith more studies utilising similar observational and direct methods of assessing embolism resistance, further insight into the ecological and evolutionary relevance of this trait is imminent

The preparation and characterisation of monomeric and linked metal carbonyl clusters containing the closo-Si2Co4 pseudo-octahedral core

PhSiH3 reacts with [Co₄(CO)₁₂] at 50 °C in hydrocarbon solvents to give [(µ₄-SiPh)₂Co₄(CO)₁₁], 2c, shown by an X-ray crystal structure determination to have a pseudo-octahedral Si₂Co₄ core. Substituted aryl-silanes behaved similarly. Mixtures of PhSiH₃, H₃SiC₆H₄SiH₃ and [Co₄(CO)₁₂] in a ca. 2 1 2 ratio gave the dimeric cluster [{Co₄(µ₄-SiPh)(CO)₁₁Si}₂C₆H₄], 3a, which has the two Si₂Co₄ cores linked by a C₆H₄ group to give a rigid molecule which an X-ray structure analysis shows to be over 23 Å long. Related dimers linked by –(CH₂)₈– groups were isolated from mixtures of PhSiH₃, α ,ω-(H₃Si)₂(CH₂)₈ and [Co₄(CO)₁₂]. Electrochemical studies show the two cluster units in 3a do not interact electronically