Rethinking Risk and Ageing: Extending Working Lives

This article has been accepted for publication and will appear in a revised form, subsequent to peer review and/or editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in Social Policy and Society published by Cambridge University Press. Copyright Cambridge University Press.This paper critically examines the development of recent policy and theoretical issues concerning the ‘extension of working lives’ for older people in the United Kingdom. It grounds its analysis in ideas from the ‘risk society’ thesis (Beck, 1992) to explore how the matrix of population ageing, job and pension changes impinge on shifting emphasis on increasing the retirement age coupled with individualizing pensions from State provision to a focus on self-responsibility via private provision. This neo-liberal re-positioning of extending work and pension policy has implications for the management of risk for older people in the UK. The paper explores the impact of population ageing on Government ideas associated with social policy relating to extending working lives. It concludes with an assessment on the lessons policy makers and social policy analysts can learn from such shifts and impact on the social construction of age

Gender, Masculinity, Contemporary History and the Psychiatric Secure Estate: Back to the Future?

In contemporary history, the use of gendered treatments for women with mental health issues in the psychiatric secure estate is an issue of major concern in Great Britain. This paper examines women and gender in the psychiatric secure estate from a structural analysis drawing influence from Connell‟s (1987) theoretical and conceptual work on hegemonic masculinity. Bio-psychological approaches have almost dominated academic discussion in relation to women‟s incarceration and there is an reflexive need to develop other sociological frameworks on hegemonic masculinity because dominant bio-psychological models have failed to identify underlying configurations which combine to oppress women whilst simultaneously reproducing consequences of masculinity and power within institutional structures

The global south: The case of populational aging in Africa and Asia

This paper explores the implications of social and economic changes in the Global South of the World. In particular, we examine case studies of Japan and China and the impact of populational aging on their economic policies and social practices. Key examples of uneven distributions of, or access to, opportunities have the potential to give rise to further social or economic tensions. Whilst the scholarly base is expanding, more is to be done to ascertain the characterization of inequalities. Indeed, if these substantive issues are to be addressed comprehensively, the key then is to move beyond a Western academic paradigm, and to purposefully involve critical scholarship from intellectuals from the Global South. Doing so will add a vitality of experience in discussing how economic growth is, or may not be coupled with, inequality

Object-based selection is contingent on attentional control settings

The visual system allocates attention in object-based and location-based modes. However, the question of when attention selects objects and when it selects locations remains poorly understood. In this article, we present variations on two classic paradigms from the object-based attention literature, in which object-based effects are observed only when the object feature matches the task goal of the observer. In Experiment 1, covert orienting was influenced by task-irrelevant rectangles, but only when the target color matched the rectangle color. In Experiment 2, the region of attentional focus was adjusted to the size of task-irrelevant objects, but only when the target color matched the object color. In Experiment 3, we ruled out the possibility that contingent object-based selection is caused by color-based intratrial priming. These demonstrations of contingent object-based attention suggest that object-based selection is neither mandatory nor default, and that object-based effects are contingent on simple, top-down attentional control settings

Out of sight, out of mind: Matching bias underlies confirmatory visual search

Confirmation bias has recently been reported in visual search, where observers who were given a perceptual rule to test (e.g. “Is the p on a red circle?”) search stimuli that could confirm the rule stimuli preferentially (Rajsic, Wilson, & Pratt, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 41(5), 1353–1364, 2015). In this study, we compared the ability of concrete and abstract visual templates to guide attention using the visual confirmation bias. Experiment 1 showed that confirmatory search tendencies do not result from simple low-level priming, as they occurred when color templates were verbally communicated. Experiment 2 showed that confirmation bias did not occur when targets needed to be reported as possessing or not possessing the absence of a feature (i.e., reporting whether a target was on a nonred circle). Experiment 3 showed that confirmatory search also did not occur when search prompts referred to a set of visually heterogenous features (i.e., reporting whether a target on a colorful circle, regardless of the color). Together, these results show that the confirmation bias likely results from a matching heuristic, such that visual codes involved in representing the search goal prioritize stimuli possessing these features

High fidelity simulations of ion trajectories in miniature ion traps using the boundary-element method

In this paper we present numerical modeling results for endcap and linear ion traps, used for experiments at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK and Innsbruck University respectively. The secular frequencies for Strontium-88 and Calcium-40 ions were calculated from ion trajectories, simulated using boundary-element and finite-difference numerical methods. The results were compared against experimental measurements. Both numerical methods showed high accuracy with boundary-element method being more accurate. Such simulations can be useful tools for designing new traps and trap arrays. They can also be used for obtaining precise trapping parameters for desired ion control when no analytical approach is possible as well as for investigating the ion heating rates due to thermal electronic noise.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, changes made to the text according to the editor's and referee's comment

Avian Populations in Human-Dominated Landscapes: An Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Dynamics at the Urban-Rural Interface.

To measure the ecological effects of urbanization this research focuses on bird-habitat relationships at the urban-rural interface by: investigating static and change relationships between local landscapes and local birds (Chapter 2); proposing and evaluating the use of bioacoustic recording equipment for avian point-sampling in an urbanized environment (Chapter 3); and, testing the relationships between forest birds and the landscape characteristics of forest and developed land covers (measured via development density) that are commonly intermixed in the study region (Chapter 4). I assessed the relationships between compositions and changes of landscapes and avian abundances in Southeast Michigan using three bird guilds to group species of interest including woodland, grassland, and urban birds. The predominant landscape changes were agricultural abandonment, urbanization, and afforestation. I found that grassland and urban birds experienced the most consistent declines and that both average species richness and total abundance of birds also consistently declined. These results highlight that some bird guilds (e.g., grassland birds) suffered significant declines associated with habitat loss, while other guilds (e.g., woodland birds) did not respond to marked habitat increases. Then, I tested the effectiveness of omni-directional bioacoustic recording equipment versus traditional in situ point counts, along an urban-rural gradient. I found that recording-based interpretations were subject to the same ambient noises, and similar resulting levels of distraction associated with those noises, as were field-based observations; and, although not in perfect agreement with field-based observations, recordings can serve as an effective point-count mechanism in urbanizing environments. Finally, to explore how habitats within developed landscapes can be beneficial to birds, I tested community and species-level effects of patch- and matrix-characteristics on bird richness and occurrence. I found that focal-patch area is the primary contributor to a site’s overall species richness, but that the addition of matrix tree-cover area influences the ability of the patches to support many forest-obligate species, especially Neotropical migrants. This relationship suggests that the amount of matrix tree cover surrounding woodlots, parks, and other preserved set-asides may play a critical role in supporting area-sensitive species in urbanizing environments.Ph.D.Natural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60677/1/jayt_1.pd

Optical/Near-Infrared Imaging of Infrared-Excess Palomar-Green QSOs

Ground-based high spatial-resolution (FWHM < 0.3-0.8") optical and near-infrared imaging (0.4-2.2um) is presented for a complete sample of optically selected Palomar-Green QSOs with far-infrared excesses at least as great as those of "warm" AGN-like ultraluminous infrared galaxies (L_ir/L_big-blue-bump > 0.46). In all cases, the host galaxies of the QSOs were detected and most have discernable two-dimensional structure. The QSO host galaxies and the QSO nuclei are similar in magnitude at H-band. H-band luminosities of the hosts range from 0.5-7.5 L* with a mean of 2.3 L*, and are consistent with those found in ULIGs. Both the QSO nuclei and the host galaxies have near-infrared excesses, which may be the result of dust associated with the nucleus and of recent dusty star formation in the host. These results suggest that some, but not all, optically-selected QSOs may have evolved from an infrared-active state triggered by the merger of two similarly-sized L* galaxies, in a manner similar to that of the ultraluminous infrared galaxies.Comment: Aastex format, 38 pages, 4 tables, 10 figures. Higher quality figures are available in JPG forma

Misappropriation of Shuar Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Trade Secrets: A Case Study on Biopiracy in the Amazon

Where the murkiness of biopiracy as a general matter leaves little room for legal theory to anchor, the relative clarity of specific instances of biopiracy may provide sufficient factual information from which to develop appropriate legal theories. In particular, the way biopiracy has been used to misappropriate the traditional knowledge (TK) of the Shuar Nation of Ecuador suggests that there may be legal theories for which the process of misappropriation may give rise to liability under international law as well as under developments in the domestic laws of the United States and Ecuador. The possible efficacy and legal coherence of any such theory are dependent upon an understanding of the background of the problem of biopiracy, the general and specific methods used by biopirates, and a clarification of the nature of the interests in question as misappropriated property. Part II of this Article provides an outline of the importance of biodiversity and TK for medical and pharmaceutical interests and develops a generic model of bioprospecting, which has been used as a cover for acts of biopiracy. The model is drawn from general experience as well as the specific facts in our possession. This section then details how the bioprospecting and biopiracy process actually works in practice, including an outline of the operations of biopiracy in the specific case of the Shuar. Part III raises the proposition-widely accepted as conventional wisdom-that indigenous societies have no legally recognizable concept of property and a fortiori cannot have a notion of TK as a property value. This section then addresses the ensuing question of whether TK has the requisite qualities to be considered protectable property at all, and proposes the central principle that indigenous people indeed have concepts of property well recognized in contemporary analytical jurisprudence. Moreover, this section suggests that these same insights are firmly established in legal anthropology as well as in conventional jurisprudence. Finally, the section deals specifically with TK as property, contained within the secretive Shaman tradition of the Amazon Rain Forest, recognizing that it is because the Shaman TK was held to be a secret in the first place that bioprospecters have used extraordinary means of deception to misappropriate such knowledge. Part IV explores the concept of TK in the context of the development of such ideas as the “new property,” which includes, in particular, intellectual property, providing an appraisal of the problems of protecting TK against the ideological assumptions and misconceptions of certain aspects of intellectual property law. This Article concludes by proposing that the concept of property under the Inter-American system may well include TK as property for the purpose of protecting such property under the Inter-American Convention