Seeking Asylum. Women's Experiences of Home Office Decision Making, Destitution and Mental Health Issue

This report was composed by a network of asylum seeker-led NGOs in the West Midlands, in collaboration with Refugee Rights Europe and TRP Solicitors. The report was originally written as a contribution to the United Nations CEDAW Committee, during its reporting and monitoring process of the United Kingdom’s fulfillment of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The aim of our CEDAW shadow report was to ensure the representation of the voices of women who may not be visible to the bureaucrats who write the official CEDAW State party report. In February 2019, we released a longer, and lightly edited, version of the same report, to ensure an even wider reach of asylum-seeking women’s voices – which are far too seldom heard or considered

The synthesis of CuxS from Cu layers by low pressure plasma processing

A new method of converting Cu layers to CuxS on glass at low pressure using an electron cyclotron resonance plasma and SF6 gas is presented. The process operates at low temperatures and short time scales. Trends in film crystallinity and morphology are identified in relation to process time and temperature. These show that sulphurisation is most likely complete within 10 min and that the sulphur content of the films reduces as the conversion temperature is increased from 473 to 623 K. Optical measurements show that the films have a direct bandgap of ∼2.5 eV which is consistent with published values for CuxS films grown by other techniques. Analysis by SEM has revealed that the films possess a complicated structure of platelets covering a denser underlying film. This may account for the differences in observations made by XRF and Raman spectroscopy, which both indicated a mixture of CuS and Cu2S, and X-ray diffraction which predominantly showed CuS

Fabrication and characterisation of Si micropillar PV structures

Arrays of vertical silicon micropillar radial junction solar cells have been fabricated by diffusion of direct application spin on dopant and from the vapour phase through proximity rapid thermal diffusion. The micropillars were fabricated by optical lithography and deep reactive ion etching. The micropillar arrays show superior antireflective properties over the measured spectrum and good correlation to finite difference time domain modelling of identical geometry arrays. Junctions formed by a conventional spin on doping process of phosphorus containing dopant solution produced Suns-Voc values in the region of 0.3 V. This value is likely due to difficulties encountered in achieving an even distribution of dopant over the entire surface of the arrays. An alternative method utilising spin on dopant but employing an intermediate vapour phase diffusion step produced promising results with Suns-Voc values reaching 0.5 V following a post-diffusion drive-in step

Gender and the criminalisation of asylum : exploring the experiences of refugee and asylum seeking women

This thesis explores the racist and sexist redefinition, regulation, and dehumanisation of refugee and asylum seeking women (RASW) in the UK. A feminist approach is taken to investigate how RASW are constructed as ‘crimmigrants’ and subjected to crime control measures through a ‘crimmigration regime’ that restricts their access to their human rights. The project aims to centre the lived experiences of RASW at the intersections of race, gender, and nationality, and also consider the ways in which they respond to their experiences. Qualitative methods were utilised to collect data through one-to-one conversations with 25 RASW over a 12-month period, with consideration for epistemic oppression and developing reciprocity in feminist research. These participants, as well as eight community allies, became involved with the project through the Meena Centre in Birmingham, and particularly the Baobab Women’s Project. The study finds that RASW are criminalised beyond that which convicted criminals experience, dehumanised to extremes, and punished severely for supposed immigration crimes. This redefinition is enacted within the modern hostile environment RASW through ‘immcarcerality,’ which forces them to exist in carceral spaces and restricts their ability to access their human rights. These range from large scale spaces like immigration detention centres, to everyday ‘immcarceral’ spaces like asylum accommodation and Home Office reporting centres. The thesis concludes with a discussion about the agency enacted by RASW in responding to and challenging this dehumanising criminalisation

Experiences of South Asian patients in early inflammatory arthritis clinic: a qualitative interview study

Objective: The aim was to explore how UK South Asian patients living with RA interact with health care professionals and experience receiving health information in an early inflammatory arthritis clinic. Methods: A semi-structured interview schedule, designed in conjunction with a patient partner, was used for face-to-face interviews. South Asian participants with RA were recruited from Central Manchester University Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust. Data were recorded and transcribed by an independent company. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: Fifteen participants were interviewed. Three predominant themes emerged around participants’ experiences and interaction with health care professionals in early inflammatory arthritis clinic. First, ‘the personal experiences of RA and cultural link to early inflammatory arthritis clinic’, where participants described the impact of RA as individuals and their altered roles within their cultural setting. Second, ‘experiences of interacting and receiving information in the early inflammatory arthritis clinic’, where participants described their limited engagement with health care professionals and the quality of information discussed in the clinic. Third, ‘views on future content for early inflammatory arthritis clinics’, where participants highlighted new innovative ideas to build on current practice. Conclusion: We believe this to be the first study to generate insight into the experiences of South Asian patients of interacting with health care professionals while attending an early inflammatory arthritis clinic. Policy directives aimed at improving access to services and delivery of information for ethnic minority groups in early inflammatory arthritis clinics should include consideration of the different roles of cultures. Professionals should be cognizant of the factors that drive health inequalities and focus on improving service delivery

Fabrication and characterisation of Si micropillar PV structures

Arrays of vertical silicon micropillar radial junction solar cells have been fabricated by diffusion of direct application spin on dopant and from the vapour phase through proximity rapid thermal diffusion. The micropillars were fabricated by optical lithography and deep reactive ion etching. The micropillar arrays show superior antireflective properties over the measured spectrum and good correlation to finite difference time domain modelling of identical geometry arrays. Junctions formed by a conventional spin on doping process of phosphorus containing dopant solution produced Suns-Voc values in the region of 0·3 V. This value is likely due to difficulties encountered in achieving an even distribution of dopant over the entire surface of the arrays. An alternative method utilising spin on dopant but employing an intermediate vapour phase diffusion step produced promising results with Suns-Voc values reaching 0·5 V following a post-diffusion drive-in ste

Hut-Like Pillar Si Solar Cells

This paper introduces an exciting new hut-like texturing pattern that shows lower reflectance than pyramids and nanowires in the shorter and longer wavelengths respectively

A description of odd mass W-isotopes in the Interacting 2 Boson-Fermion Model

The negative and positive parity low-spin states of the even-odd Tungsten isotopes, 183,185,187W are studied in the frame work of the Interacting Boson-Fermion Approximation (IBFA) model. The fermion that is coupled to the system of bosons is taken to be in the negative parity 2f_7|2, 2f_5\2, 3p_3\2, 3p_1\2 and in the positive parity 1i_13\2 single-particle orbits. The calculated energies of low-spin energy levels of the odd isotopes are found to agree well with the experimental data. Also B(E2) values and spectroscopic factors for single-neutron transfer are calculated and found to be in good agreement with experimental data