Two Islamophobias? Racism and religion as distinct but mutually supportive dimensions of anti-Muslim prejudice

Debates about Islamophobia have been blighted by the question of whether the prejudice can be defined as a form of racism or as hostility to religion (or a combination of the two). This paper sheds light on this debate by presenting the findings of a new nationally representative survey, focused on the UK, that contrasts perceptions of Muslims not only with perceptions of other ethnic and religious minorities but also with perceptions of Islam as a religious tradition. We find that prejudice against Muslims is higher than for any other group examined other than Travellers. We also find contrasting demographic drivers of prejudice towards Muslims and towards Islam. Across most prejudice measures we analyse, intolerant views are generally significantly associated with being male, voting Conservative and being older, although not with Anglican identity. We find, however, that class effects vary depending on the question's focus. Anti-immigration sentiment – including support for a ‘Muslim ban’ – is significantly correlated with being working-class. However, prejudice towards Islam as a body of teachings (tested using a question measuring perceptions of religious literalism) is significantly correlated with being middle-class, as is negative sentiment towards Travellers. Using these findings, the paper makes an argument for supplementing recent scholarship on the associations between racism and Islamophobia with analyses focusing on misperceptions of belief

Chemistry and the environment

A report on three symposia in the ‘Energy, Water and Environmental Science’ programme at the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) 46th World Chemistry Congress (in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 9-14 July, 2017). The symposia presented the latest advances concerning the environmental impact of emerging technologies and the fate of pollutants in the environment

On repression, and avoiding red herrings

In this response to Otgaar et al. (in press) we point out that their concern with the notion of unconscious repression is a classic example of a red herring, as it has never been endorsed as an explanation of recovered memories. We also note that Otgaar et al. have misunderstood the purpose of our article (Brewin, Li, Ntarantana, Unsworth, & McNeilis, 2019). Its aim was to demonstrate that many of the claims made by psychologists about the public’s views on memory do not rest on sound methodology. Beliefs about repression featured as one example, but it was not our objective to establish what the public do think about repression. We welcome Otgaar et al.’s (in press) additional data but regret that they have repeated the basic error we highlighted, the reliance on a single questionnaire item to assess beliefs about highly complex topics. Nevertheless, their and our findings clearly indicate that understanding of the public’s views on repression remains extremely limited, and insufficient to meaningfully contribute to legal processes

Spectral distribution of solar radiation. I: direct radiation

Measurements of the spectral distribution of direct solar radiation, made in both wide and narrow wavebands, are reported. The measurements suggest that the wavelength dependence of aerosol attenuation in central England, in summer, can generally be described by a power law with wavelength exponent of about 1.7. Attenuation of visible radiation is reported in terms of an integral turbidity coefficient, τv, and is shown to depend to some extent on air mass origin, air masses from the continent being more turbid than maritime air masses. The mean value of τv a is 0.31 with a range of 0.05 to 0.6. The ratio of visible to total direct irradiance is found to be a linear function of τv, the constants of linearity being functions of zenith angle. From these relationships a semi‐empirical model is developed enabling spectral irradiance, visible irradiance and total solar irradiance to be estimated from arbitrary values of turbidity and zenith angle

Long-wave radiation at the ground

The apparent emissivity of the atmosphere ϵ, defined as the ratio of incoming long-wave radiation to black-body radiation at screen temperature Tₐ, was measured under clear skies in the English Midlands and in the Sudan. At a zenith angle Z the emissivity was given by ϵ(Z) = a + bIn(usec Z) where u is the reduced depth of precipitable water (cm). For a set of 46 scans in England, the mean values of a and b were 0·70±0·05 and 0·090 ± 0·002. Systematic deviations about these mean values could be ascribed to: (i) temperature gradients; (ii) aerosol. The Sudan measurements gave a = 0·67 ± 0·03 and b = 0·085 ± 0·002 consistent with the English results and observations already published. There is some evidence that minimum values of a have increased over the past 50 years. Integration over the hemisphere gives the flux density (Wm−2) of atmospheric radiation as 1·06 σTₐ⁴ − 119 (T in K), where σ is Stefan's constant, or 5·5 Tₐ + 213 (T in °C). Radiation records by Dines and Dines (1927) for overcast skies are analysed to show that the angular distribution is the same as for cloudless skies; that the mean temperature of cloud base at their site was UK below screen temperature; and that when the mean fraction of cloud cover is c, the apparent emissivity is ϵa(c) = (1 − 0·84c)ϵa(0) + 0·84c

Turbulent transfer of sulphur dioxide to a wheat crop

Fluxes of sulphur dioxide to wheat were measured over two growing seasons. The deposition velocity, vg, depended primarily on affinities of surfaces for SO2 and varied from less than 0.1 to about 1.5cms−1. Stomata were an important sink, and diurnal changes in stomatal resistance accounted for most of the variation in vg when leaves were green and dry. When leaves were wet with dew, vg was generally large, irrespective of the physiological state of vegetation. A resistance analogue of transfer to the canopy agrees well with published work and is used to estimate seasonal uptake of SO2 by the crop, showing that 30% of the sulphur content of the crop at harvest was probably supplied by absorption of SO2 through stomata

Discrete lines and ant algorithms

This is a report on work in progress. The focus is on the design of an algorithm used to construct discrete lines. It is intended that this is the first step in applying models of complex adaptive systems to more complex geometric constructs. We construct discrete lines using agents (virtual ants) The agents are given very few rules, and otherwise move freely. With this design we allow a particular line to emerge from the movement of the agents rather than model the line first and then display it

The diffuse solar irradiance of slopes under cloudless skies

The diffuse irradiance of slopes relative to the diffuse irradiance of a horizontal surface is calculated by integrating the mean radiance distributions of cloudless skies in Britain for a wide range of solar elevations, azimuths and slope angles. There is reasonable agreement with measurements reported from a number of stations; discrepancies are probably due to errors in measurements and to the influence of aerosol on the radiance distributions. A simple model of the diffuse irradiance of slopes, which takes account of circumsolar radiation, is proposed, and agrees well with integrated values of irradiance

Aerosol and solar radiation in Britain

The irradiance of the solar beam was measured on cloudless days at Sutton Bonington in the English Midlands and at sites in north-west Scotland. Total and diffuse fluxes were also measured on some days. An attenuation coefficient for aerosol Ta was defined by S(Ta) = S(o) exp ( - Tam) relating the measured flux at normal incidence S(Ta) to the flux calculated for a. dust-free atmosphere when the air mass number is m. Changes of Ta from day to day were related to changes of air mass origin; local sources of aerosol were relatively unimportant. In maritime air, Ta ranged from 0·05 to 0·15, and in continental air, from 0·l to 0•5. In a tropical maritime air mass, Ta decreased from 0·13 at sea level to 0·07 at 1,340 m. The fraction of (ultra-violet + visible) to total radiation was (0·54 - 0·28 -ra) and the ratio of diffuse to total radiation (m < 2) was (0·l + 0·7 Ta), The ratio of total scattering to absorption by aerosol decreased from 4 at m = 1 ·1 to 0·5 at m = 2. Mean monthly values of Ta at four Meteorological Office stations were calculated from records of solar radiation and hours of sunshine and corresponding values of total and diffuse flux were tabulated for ' isolated ', ' rural ' and ' urban ' sites

It’s About Time: Understanding Job Crafting Through the Lens of Individuals’ Temporal Characteristics

Job crafting refers to the myriad ways employees customize their jobs, such as by altering their tasks and social interaction at work. Numerous scholars over the past 20 years have remarked on the overall need to better understand the role of time in job crafting. However, the literature has not considered how employees think about time, or, relatedly, how they use and manage it—and why this might matter for job crafting. To address these unresolved issues, the current paper develops a conceptual model of individual-level, time-related characteristics that shape employees’ engagement in job crafting and the effects of job crafting efforts on their well-being. We first review the prevailing understanding of time in job crafting research: merely operating as a medium for change, in the background. We then introduce our new conceptualization of time as central to job crafting—as temporal characteristics of the job crafter—and develop a conceptual model in which time-related constructs play a key role in influencing job crafting and its effects. Our model proposes that employees’ career stage, as well as their polychronicity preference and temporal focus, predicts engagement in job crafting, whereas employees’ time management and time urgency act as key moderators that shape the implications of job crafting for employees’ well-being. By theorizing on time in job crafting, our model thus contributes to understanding relevant antecedents and outcomes of job crafting. We conclude our paper by offering an agenda for future research to further incorporate the role of time in job crafting