Recasting the home-work relationship: a case of mutual adjustment?

Advances in communication and information technologies, changing managerial strategies and changing cultural expectations about the location of (paid) work, have meant that paid work is increasingly conducted from home. Home then becomes the place where the discourse of industrial production meets with the discourse of household production. We analyse the relationship between these two traditionally separate discourses, which, through the disintegration of the time/space compression, increasingly come to bear on each other. We report on the experiences of home-workers and their families coping with the co-presence of the sometimes conflicting and sometimes competing demands and values embedded in such discourses. In doing so, we contribute to current understandings of the complexities inherent in emergent forms of organization, as the relationship between work and home is recast. Theoretically and methodologically, this empirical study is located within a discursive framework, and we emphasize the usefulness of such approaches to studying organizational realities

Youth transitions: mobility and the travel intentions of 12–20 year olds, Reading, UK

Whilst Western societies may have reached ‘peak car’, young people are arguably the most significant group whose levels of car ownership, use and driving licence acquisition have declined. Against this backdrop, the paper discusses qualitative research conducted in Reading, UK considering young people’s (aged 12-20) views about bus travel. Whilst current pricing structures (both in Reading and across the UK) often offer under 18s discounted travel, the paper explores young people’s intentions about future travel as young adults. Drawing upon theorisations around youth transitions, we discuss how young people expect their mobility patterns to change as young adults in complex, shifting, fluid ways, and to involve multi-modal travel. Young people construct complex choice-biographies through which they plan pathways to navigate these mobility transitions. Although a small-scale study, this paper also offers some insights into the challenges, complexities and limitations of researching mobility intention

Spatial Structure of Ion Beams in an Expanding Plasma

We report spatially resolved perpendicular and parallel, to the magnetic field, ion velocity distribution function (IVDF) measurements in an expanding argon helicon plasma. The parallel IVDFs, obtained through laser induced fluorescence (LIF), show an ion beam with v ≈ 8000 m/s flowing downstream and confined to the center of the discharge. The ion beam is measurable for tens of centimeters along the expansion axis before the LIF signal fades, likely a result of metastable quenching of the beam ions. The parallel ion beam velocity slows in agreement with expectations for the measured parallel electric field. The perpendicular IVDFs show an ion population with a radially outward flow that increases with distance from the plasma axis. Structures aligned to the expanding magnetic field appear in the DC electric field, the electron temperature, and the plasma density in the plasma plume. These measurements demonstrate that at least two-dimensional and perhaps fully three-dimensional models are needed to accurately describe the spontaneous acceleration of ion beams in expanding plasmas

Homological algebra for osp(1/2n)

We discuss several topics of homological algebra for the Lie superalgebra osp(1|2n). First we focus on Bott-Kostant cohomology, which yields classical results although the cohomology is not given by the kernel of the Kostant quabla operator. Based on this cohomology we can derive strong Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand resolutions for finite dimensional osp(1|2n)-modules. Then we state the Bott-Borel-Weil theorem which follows immediately from the Bott-Kostant cohomology by using the Peter-Weyl theorem for osp(1|2n). Finally we calculate the projective dimension of irreducible and Verma modules in the category O

Projectively equivariant quantizations over the superspace Rp∣q\R^{p|q}

We investigate the concept of projectively equivariant quantization in the framework of super projective geometry. When the projective superalgebra pgl(p+1|q) is simple, our result is similar to the classical one in the purely even case: we prove the existence and uniqueness of the quantization except in some critical situations. When the projective superalgebra is not simple (i.e. in the case of pgl(n|n)\not\cong sl(n|n)), we show the existence of a one-parameter family of equivariant quantizations. We also provide explicit formulas in terms of a generalized divergence operator acting on supersymmetric tensor fields.Comment: 19 page

The 2020 national seismic hazard model for the United Kingdom

We present updated seismic hazard maps for the United Kingdom (UK) intended for use with the National Annex for the revised edition of Eurocode 8. The last national maps for the UK were produced by Musson and Sargeant (Eurocode 8 seismic hazard zoning maps for the UK. British Geological Survey Report CR/07/125, United Kingdom, 2007). The updated model uses an up-to-date earthquake catalogue for the British Isles, for which the completeness periods have been reassessed, and a modified source model. The hazard model also incorporates some advances in ground motion modelling since 2007, including host-to-target adjustments for the ground motion models selected in the logic tree. For the first time, the new maps are provided for not only peak ground acceleration (PGA) but also spectral acceleration at 0.2 s (SA0.2s) and 1.0 s for 5% damping on rock (time-averaged shear wave velocity for the top 30 m Vs30 ≥ 800 m/s) and four return periods, including 475 and 2475 years. The hazard in most of the UK is generally low and increases slightly in North Wales, the England–Wales border region, and western Scotland. A similar spatial variation is observed for PGA and SA0.2s but the effects are more pronounced for SA0.2s. Hazard curves, uniform hazard spectra, and disaggregation analysis are calculated for selected sites. The new hazard maps are compared with the previous 2007 national maps and the 2013 European hazard maps (Woessner et al. in Bull Earthq Eng 13:3553–3596, 2015). There is a slight increase in PGA from the 2007 maps to this work; whereas the hazard in the updated maps is lower than indicated by the European maps

National seismic hazard maps for the UK: 2020 update

This report is the published product of a study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) to update the national seismic hazard maps for the UK. This is to take account of advances in seismic hazard methodology since the last seismic hazard maps were developed by Musson and Sargeant (2007) and present the results in a format that will be compatible with the future Eurocode 8 revisions

Sex Reversal in C57BL/6J XY Mice Caused by Increased Expression of Ovarian Genes and Insufficient Activation of the Testis Determining Pathway

Sex reversal can occur in XY humans with only a single functional WT1 or SF1 allele or a duplication of the chromosome region containing WNT4. In contrast, XY mice with only a single functional Wt1, Sf1, or Wnt4 allele, or mice that over-express Wnt4 from a transgene, reportedly are not sex-reversed. Because genetic background plays a critical role in testis differentiation, particularly in C57BL/6J (B6) mice, we tested the hypothesis that Wt1, Sf1, and Wnt4 are dosage sensitive in B6 XY mice. We found that reduced Wt1 or Sf1 dosage in B6 XYB6 mice impaired testis differentiation, but no ovarian tissue developed. If, however, a YAKR chromosome replaced the YB6 chromosome, these otherwise genetically identical B6 XY mice developed ovarian tissue. In contrast, reduced Wnt4 dosage increased the amount of testicular tissue present in Sf1+/− B6 XYAKR, Wt1+/− B6 XYAKR, B6 XYPOS, and B6 XYAKR fetuses. We propose that Wt1B6 and Sf1B6 are hypomorphic alleles of testis-determining pathway genes and that Wnt4B6 is a hypermorphic allele of an ovary-determining pathway gene. The latter hypothesis is supported by the finding that expression of Wnt4 and four other genes in the ovary-determining pathway are elevated in normal B6 XX E12.5 ovaries. We propose that B6 mice are sensitive to XY sex reversal, at least in part, because they carry Wt1B6 and/or Sf1B6 alleles that compromise testis differentiation and a Wnt4B6 allele that promotes ovary differentiation and thereby antagonizes testis differentiation. Addition of a “weak” Sry allele, such as the one on the YPOS chromosome, to the sensitized B6 background results in inappropriate development of ovarian tissue. We conclude that Wt1, Sf1, and Wnt4 are dosage-sensitive in mice, this dosage-sensitivity is genetic background-dependant, and the mouse strains described here are good models for the investigation of human dosage-sensitive XY sex reversal

Modelling of earthquake hazard and secondary effects for loss assessment in Marmara (Turkey)

This study proposes the methodology for an innovative Earthquake Risk Assessment (ERA) framework to calculate seismic hazard maps in regions where limited seismo-tectonic information exists. The tool calculates the seismic hazard using a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) based on a MonteCarlo approach, which generates synthetic earthquake catalogues by randomizing key hazard parameters in a controlled manner. All the available data was transferred to GIS format and the results are evaluated to obtain a hazard maps that consider site amplification, liquefaction susceptibility and landslide hazard. The effectiveness of the PSHA methodology is demonstrated by carrying out the hazard analysis of Marmara region (Turkey), for which benchmark maps already exist. The results show that the hazard maps for Marmara region compare well with previous PSHA studies and with the National Building Code map. The proposed method is particularly suitable for generating hazard maps in developing countries, where data is not available or easily accessible