The Regulation of Women's Pay: From Individual Rights to Reflexive Law?

Legislation mandating equality of pay between women and men was among the earliest forms of sex discrimination legislation to be adopted in Britain. However, the model embodied in the Equal Pay Act 1970 is increasingly being questioned: the law is, at one and the same time, highly complex and difficult to apply, while apparently contributing little to the further narrowing of the pay gap. As a result there is a growing debate about whether a shift in regulatory strategy is needed, away from direct legal enforcement to a more flexible approach, based around the concept of 'reflexive law'. This paper provides an assessment of whether reflexive approaches are likely to work in the equal pay area.equal pay, sex discrimination, reflexive law

Clinical and laboratory studies of the bacterial pathogenesis and management of Pouchitis

20-50% of patients develop pouchitis following restorative proctocolectomy for ulcerative colitis (UC). Pre-pouch ileitis (PPI) also develops in some of these patients. Bacteria are implicated in the pathogenesis of pouchitis and antibiotics are the mainstay of treatment. Studies were performed to examine the role of bacteria in the pathogenesis of this disease and to develop new treatment. Further studies examined the prevalence and implications of PPI and the efficacy and complications associated with maintenance antibiotic therapy. 16s rRNA sequencing demonstrated an increase in Proteobacteria and a reduction in Bacteroidetes in the UC compared with the familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) cohort, but only limited differences between the UC non-pouchitis and pouchitis groups. We were unable to identify an individual species or phylotype specifically associated with pouchitis. Treatment with elemental diet produced a symptomatic improvement in 71% of chronic pouchitis patients but none entered clinical remission. Patients with PPI were identified, the prevalence, symptoms and short term outcomes of this group were studied. PPI was identified in 5.7% of patients with UC. All patients had associated pouchitis but not all were symptomatic. PPI was not associated with reclassification to Crohn’s disease. A subgroup of patients with symptomatic pre-pouch ileitis were treated with combination antibiotic therapy and 86% entered remission. Faecal samples from patients with antibiotic resistant pouchitis were grown on agar and sensitivity patterns identified. Following guided antibiotic therapy 80% of patients entered remission. Stool analysis also identified the presence of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) resistant coliforms in 35% of patients with chronic pouchitis. Not all were symptomatic. PPI was associated with an increased risk of ESBL. Patients treated with maintenance antibiotic therapy were identified. Pre-pouch ileitis was associated with an increased risk of relapse. Reported side effects were rare and treatment was associated with an improved quality of life

‘Think B4 U Click’: an Educational Online Safety Resource for the Irish CSPE Curriculum

Young people in Ireland, like their counterparts across Europe, are enthusiastic social networkers. EU Kids Online found that in 2010 82% of children in Ireland, aged 13-16, had a social networking (SNS) profile (O’Neill, Grehan, & Ólafsson, 2011). Social networking gives young people extraordinary opportunities to communicate with peers, share information and explore new friendships, in the relative security of an online community created through a social networking platform. Much concern has been expressed about young people\u27s apparent lack of concern about privacy issues (boyd & Marwick, 2011) and about the dangers they may be exposed to by failing to keep their SNS profiles restricted to friends or personal acquaintances. Education has been slow to address this issue in part due to the reluctance of schools to allow social networking on school networks and as well as more traditional resistance to intervene in youth cultures outside the normal curriculum

Discovery of two pulsars towards the Galactic Centre

We report the discovery of two highly dispersed pulsars in the direction of the Galactic Centre made during a survey at 3.1 GHz with the Parkes radio telescope. Both PSRs J1745-2912 and J1746-2856 have an angular separation from the Galactic Centre of less than 0.3 degrees and dispersion measures in excess of 1100 cm-3pc, placing them in the top 10 pulsars when ranked on this value. The frequency dependence of the scatter-broadening in PSR J1746-2856 is much shallower than expected from simple theory. We believe it likely that the pulsars are located between 150 and 500 pc from the Galactic Centre on the near side, and are part of an excess population of neutron stars associated with the Centre itself. A second survey made at 8.4 GHz did not detect any pulsars. This implies either that there are not many bright, long-period pulsars at the Galactic Centre or that the scattering is more severe at high frequencies than current models would suggest.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS Letter

‘Think B4 U Click’: an Educational Online Safety Resource for the Irish CSPE Curriculum

Young people in Ireland, like their counterparts across Europe, are enthusiastic social networkers. EU Kids Online found that in 2010 82% of children in Ireland, aged 13-16, had a social networking (SNS) profile (O’Neill, Grehan, & Ólafsson, 2011). Social networking gives young people extraordinary opportunities to communicate with peers, share information and explore new friendships, in the relative security of an online community created through a social networking platform. Much concern has been expressed about young people\u27s apparent lack of concern about privacy issues (boyd & Marwick, 2011) and about the dangers they may be exposed to by failing to keep their SNS profiles restricted to friends or personal acquaintances. Education has been slow to address this issue in part due to the reluctance of schools to allow social networking on school networks and as well as more traditional resistance to intervene in youth cultures outside the normal curriculum