The emergence of intersectional disadvantage

Intersectionality theory explores the peculiar disadvantages that arise as the result of occupying multiple disadvantaged demographic categories. Addressing intersectionality theory through quantitative methods has proven difficult. Concerns have been raised about the sample size one would need in order to responsibly tease out evidence for the claims of intersectionality theorists. What is more, theorists have expressed concern about our ability to formulate novel intersectional hypotheses in a non-ad-hoc manner. We argue that simulation methods can help address these, and other, methodological problems, because they can generate novel hypotheses about causal dependencies in a relatively cheap way, and can thus guide future empirical work. We illustrate this point using models which show that intersectional oppression can arise under conditions where social groups are disadvantaged in the emergence of bargaining norms. As we show, intersectional disadvantage can arise even when actors from all social categories are completely identical in terms of preferences and abilities. And when actors behave in ways that reflect stronger intersectional identities, the potential for disadvantage increases. As we note, this exploration illustrates the usefulness of idealized models to real world inquiry

Culture as an objective for, and a means of achieving, a Wellbeing Economy

The world faces multiple intersecting crises, several of which are existential. The current dominant economic design is at their root cause, leading to increased advocacy for alternative economic approaches, including Wellbeing Economy. However, the role of culture, both as an objective and as a means of achieving a Wellbeing Economy, is largely absent. In this article, we review how culture has been misunderstood as being dependent on the attainment of basic needs rather than an ever-present, vital, but undervalued attribute of all societies. We discuss how neoliberal economics has individualised and commodified culture, valuing it only as an engine of economic growth and tradeable capital, all of which has led to a substantial diminution and fraying of the social fabric which any positive social transformation will rely upon. Finally, we demonstrate why culture is an essential precondition for the creation of momentum for change through the conversations, shared understandings, new narratives, and communal spaces of all forms which cultural flourishing creates. We conclude by arguing that advocates for a Wellbeing Economy, and similar economic models, such as Doughnut Economics and Foundational Economies, should prioritise and embed support for cultural development as a non-commodified social asset if we are to adequately respond to current crises and navigate to a flourishing and habitable future for ourselves and our descendants

Are we all on the same page? A qualitative study of the facilitation challenges associated with the implementation of deliberative priority-setting

Collaborative governance has given rise to decision-making methodologies promoting democracy, inclusivity and transparency. This is exemplified by deliberative priority-setting (DPS) that blends cost-effectiveness analysis with stakeholder deliberation. Little is known however, about the facilitation challenges when ‘technical’ and ‘social’ elements are combined in a methodology. This paper investigates the facilitation challenges of implementing a DPS project within the English National Health Service (NHS). Our study examines the relationship between facilitation and the effectiveness of DPS processes, highlighting the importance of knowledge management as facilitators seek to translate technical information, to enhance the deliberative experience and promote legitimate decisions

Sampling Bias Overestimates Climate Change Impacts on Forest Growth in the Southwestern United States

Climate−tree growth relationships recorded in annual growth rings have recently been the basis for projecting climate change impacts on forests. However, most trees and sample sites represented in the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) were chosen to maximize climate signal and are characterized by marginal growing conditions not representative of the larger forest ecosystem. We evaluate the magnitude of this potential bias using a spatially unbiased tree-ring network collected by the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. We show that U.S. Southwest ITRDB samples overestimate regional forest climate sensitivity by 41–59%, because ITRDB trees were sampled at warmer and drier locations, both at the macro- and micro-site scale, and are systematically older compared to the FIA collection. Although there are uncertainties associated with our statistical approach, projection based on representative FIA samples suggests 29% less of a climate change-induced growth decrease compared to projection based on climate-sensitive ITRDB samples

Rapid real-time PCR detection of Listeria monocytogenes in enriched food samples based on the ssrA gene, a novel diagnostic target

A real-time PCR assay was designed to detect a 162-bp fragment of the ssrA gene in Listeria monocytogenes. The specificity of the assay for L. monocytogenes was confirmed against a panel of 6 Listeria species and 26 other bacterial species. A detection limit of 1-10 genome equivalents was determined for the assay. Application of the assay in natural and artificially contaminated culture enriched foods, including soft cheese, meat, milk, vegetables and fish, enabled detection of 1-5 CFU L. monocytogenes per 25g/ml of food sample in 30h. The performance of the assay was compared with the Roche Diagnostics 'LightCycler foodproof Listeria monocytogenes Detection Kit'. Both methods detected L. monocytogenes in all artificially contaminated retail samples (n=27) and L. monocytogenes was not detected by either system in 27 natural retail food samples. The method developed in this study has the potential to enable the specific detection of L. monocytogenes in a variety of food types in a time-frame considerably faster than current standard methods. The potential of the ssrA gene as a nucleic acid diagnostic (NAD) target has been demonstrated in L. monocytogenes. We are currently developing NAD tests based on the ssrA gene for a range of common foodborne and clinically relevant bacterial pathogens

Pleasure and meaningful discourse: an overview of research issues

The concept of pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural phenomenon in studies of media audiences since the 1980s. In these studies different forms of pleasure have been identified as explaining audience activity and commitment. In the diverse studies pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural concept that needs to be contextualized carefully. Genre and genre variations, class, gender, (sub-)cultural identity and generation all seem to be instrumental in determining the kind and variety of pleasures experienced in the act of viewing. This body of research has undoubtedly contributed to a better understanding of the complexity of audience activities, but it is exactly the diversity of the concept that is puzzling and poses a challenge to its further use. If pleasure is maintained as a key concept in audience analysis that holds much explanatory power, it needs a stronger theoretical foundation. The article maps the ways in which the concept of pleasure has been used by cultural theorists, who have paved the way for its application in reception analysis, and it goes on to explore the ways in which the concept has been used in empirical studies. Central to our discussion is the division between the ‘public knowledge’ and the ‘popular culture’ projects in reception analysis which, we argue, have major implications for the way in which pleasure has come to be understood as divorced from politics, power and ideology. Finally, we suggest ways of bridging the gap between these two projects in an effort to link pleasure to the concepts of hegemony and ideology

Defect Formation and Critical Dynamics in the Early Universe

We study the nonequilibrium dynamics leading to the formation of topological defects in a symmetry-breaking phase transition of a quantum scalar field with \lambda\Phi^4 self-interaction in a spatially flat, radiation-dominated Friedmann-Robertson-Walker Universe. The quantum field is initially in a finite-temperature symmetry-restored state and the phase transition develops as the Universe expands and cools. We present a first-principles, microscopic approach in which the nonperturbative, nonequilibrium dynamics of the quantum field is derived from the two-loop, two-particle-irreducible closed-time-path effective action. We numerically solve the dynamical equations for the two-point function and we identify signatures of topological defects in the infrared portion of the momentum-space power spectrum. We find that the density of topological defects formed after the phase transition scales as a power law with the expansion rate of the Universe. We calculate the equilibrium critical exponents of the correlation length and relaxation time for this model and show that the power law exponent of the defect density, for both overdamped and underdamped evolution, is in good agreement with the "freeze-out" scenario of Zurek. We introduce an analytic dynamical model, valid near the critical point, that exhibits the same power law scaling of the defect density with the quench rate. By incorporating the realistic quench of the expanding Universe, our approach illuminates the dynamical mechanisms important for topological defect formation. The observed power law scaling of the defect density with the quench rate, observered here in a quantum field theory context, provides evidence for the "freeze-out" scenario in three spatial dimensions.Comment: 31 pages, RevTex, 8 figures in EPS forma

The Thermal Renormalization Group for Fermions, Universality, and the Chiral Phase-Transition

We formulate the thermal renormalization group, an implementation of the Wilsonian RG in the real-time (CTP) formulation of finite temperature field theory, for fermionic fields. Using a model with scalar and fermionic degrees of freedom which should describe the two-flavor chiral phase-transition, we discuss the mechanism behind fermion decoupling and universality at second order transitions. It turns out that an effective mass-like term in the fermion propagator which is due to thermal fluctuations and does not break chiral symmetry is necessary for fermion decoupling to work. This situation is in contrast to the high-temperature limit, where the dominance of scalar over fermionic degrees of freedom is due to the different behavior of the distribution functions. The mass-like contribution is the leading thermal effect in the fermionic sector and is missed if a derivative expansion of the fermionic propagator is performed. We also discuss results on the phase-transition of the model considered where we find good agreement with results from other methods.Comment: References added, minor typos correcte