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Conservation monitoring of three management treatments for public understanding of meadow management
In this paper the declining habitat of flower-rich grassland on neutral soil (MG5a) is used as an example to show how non-classical ecological experiments set in a real-life situations can provide answers to practical questions and thus contribute directly to achieving biodiversity targets. Such biodiverse grassland is vanishing at an alarming rate from the farming sector, but remains as small areas within many community sites. Here it is unlikely to be managed appropriately unless the effect of different management treatments can be demonstrated to the local community and to those responsible for management decisions.
This paper describes such a demonstration set up on a community site in Sussex. Three different treatments were imposed on the field in a way that was practical to apply and easily understood, but since this precluded replication of treatments the demonstration should be regarded as an example of pro-active conservation monitoring rather than a field trial. Discriminant analysis was used to show pre-treatment similarities between areas together with change of direction following treatments, supporting conclusions drawn from unreplicated analysis of variance models. Aftermath grazing led to a higher percentage cover of wildflowers in the sward and an annual application of organic fertiliser led to a lower percentage cover of wildflowers. Varying the timing of the hay cut made no significant differenc
The declining salience of race equality in higher education
Research continues to demonstrate that individuals from minority ethnic communities disproportionately experience adverse outcomes. To give two examples, BME academic staff continue to experience significant disadvantage in higher education and BME students continue to be less likely to be awarded good honours degrees. And yet universities are extraordinarily complacent. They see themselves as liberal and believe existing policies ensure fairness and in the process ignore adverse outcomes and do not see combating racial/ethnic inequalities as a priority. This points in my view to the sheer weight of whiteness (if not institutional racism) which will remain intact unless significant pressure is place on universities to change
The erasure of race and racism
With the advent in the UK of a new Labour government in 1997 and the publication of the Macpherson report in 1999, public debate over race and racism was reactivated after a long period when such concerns had remained dormant. In this article, I shall draw upon an ethnographic study of one university in the UK over a ten year period (Pilkington, 2011a). Here I shall focus on the early part of that period, predominantly 1999-2003 when arguably issues relating to race and racism were at their height. I examine how Midshire University responded in turn to the Commission for Racial Equalityâs (CREâs) leadership challenge; the governmentâs strategies for higher education relating to widening participation and equal opportunities; and the race relations legislation. The story is not a happy one, with the institution constantly subsuming race under a more general agenda and in the process failing to address the specificities of race. Midshire University is unlikely to be the only university to do this. For universities in the UK are typically characterised by the âsheer weight of whitenessâ which blinds senior managers and academics to racial inequalities in their midst
Proceedings of the Conference on Globalization and Its Discontents
This paper aims to put forward an original conceptual framework and a renewed perspective on monetary analysis applied to trans-national corporations based on some of the views of Bernard Schmitt developed over the last forty years. After reviewing the terminological principles of the theory of money emissions, we show that Bernard Schmittâs theoretical insights have enabled the successful integration of money and output at the conceptual level along the lines of a Keynesian monetary theory of production. We then examine the issue of the definition of the trans-national corporation and its exponential rise in the world economy with regard to the globalisation process. Finally, the inclusion of trans-national corporations in the theory of money emissions allows us to redefine transnational production as an additional conceptual level in monetary macroeconomics, with far-reaching implications as far as the monetisation of trans-national production and the subsequent reform of international payments are concerned.trans-national corporations, Bernard Schmitt, Monetary Theory of Production
The politics of equality and diversity in Higher Education
The aim of this paper is to provide an exploration of the perspectives relating to equality, diversity and anti-discrimination legislation from multi-actors at different levels of seniority and with varying involvement with equality issues and diversity management within a Higher Education institution. The role of management has been regarded as key in providing the leadership required and sending out the message that equality and diversity issues are significant in order to ensure that legislation is adhered to, not just by the letter, but also the spirit. âThis top-down commitment and support was regarded by line managers as extremely important for leading the cultural change which was felt necessary in order to achieve equality for all...â (Greene, A. et al (2005) p36) The same may be said of the role of management within Higher Education Institutions where â[t]he extent and importance of managers in higher education has increased considerably in recent years as UK higher education has expandedâŠand the commitment of senior managers to equality of opportunity is clearly of considerable significanceâŠâ (Deem, R et al (2005) p82) Management perspectives of the meaning of equality therefore have an impact on establishing the priorities for an institution thereby determining how equality and diversity issues are dealt with. In addition, a comparison between management perspectives of the meaning and scope of equality and other members of staff as well as students is significant as these perceptions may differ depending on the role and status of the individual. Previous research has found that â[t]here appeared to be a considerable gulf between the views of staffâŠand the perceptions of their senior managers.â (Deem, R et al (2005) p6) Differing perspectives of equality may affect the relationships between various actors within the institution and how the politics of equality and diversity are managed. Of particular interest are the views and perceptions of equality and diversity practitioners within Higher Education. Their position and role within the case study institution is unique as they are neither regarded as part of the academic departmental structure of the institution, nor part of the management structure and are therefore poised somewhere in between. Once again, their positioning within the institution, their role and status will be explored and the impact on the politics of diversity management considered. This research aims to further understanding of how perceptions of equality and diversity, and the role of equality and diversity practitioners, affect the management of equality and diversity within Higher Education and implications for the practice of equality will be considere
Beyond âpeer pressureâ: rethinking drug use and âyouth cultureâ
The study of drug use by young people in the West has been transformed over the last decade by the development of sociological approaches to drug use which take serious account of the cultural context in which young people encounter drugs. One consequence is that the notion of âpeer pressureâ, as the primary articulation of the engagement between youth culture and drug use, has been displaced by that of ânormalisationâ, which envisages ârecreationalâ drug use as one expression of consumer-based youth cultural lifestyles. In stark contrast, academic discussion of drug use in Russia remains primarily concerned with the prevalence and health consequences of (intravenous) drug use while explanations of rising rates of drug use focus on structural factors related to the expansion of drugs supply and, to a lesser extent, post-Soviet social and economic dislocation. In this article, original empirical research in Russia is used to develop an understanding of young people's drug use that synthesises structural and cultural explanations of it. It does this by situating young people's narratives of their drugs choices in the context of local drugs markets and broader socio-economic processes. However, it attempts to go beyond seeing structural location as simply a âconstraintâ on individual choice by adopting an understanding of âyouth cultureâ as a range of youth cultural practices and formations that simultaneously embody, reproduce and negotiate the structural locations of their subjects
Chemical Evolution of the Carina Dwarf Spheroidal
We explore a range of chemical evolution models for the Local Group dwarf
spheroidal (dSph) galaxy, Carina. A novel aspect of our work is the removal of
the star formation history (SFH) as a `free parameter' in the modeling, making
use, instead, of its colour-magnitude diagram (CMD)-constrained SFH. By varying
the relative roles of galactic winds, re-accretion, and ram-pressure stripping
within the modeling, we converge on a favoured scenario which emphasises the
respective roles of winds and re-accretion. While our model is successful in
recovering most elemental abundance patterns, comparable success is not found
for all the neutron capture elements. Neglecting the effects of stripping
results in predicted gas fractions approximately two orders of magnitude too
high, relative to that observed.Comment: Accepted for publication in PoS (Proceedings of Science): Nuclei in
the Cosmos XII (Cairns, Aug 2012); 6 pages; 4 figure
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