Emotion, empathy and exit: reflections on doing ethnographic qualitative research on sensitive topics

Within ethnography, observation and participation are interwoven as sociological research practice that involves watching, listening and asking questions about people’s daily lives and experiences, and the meaning they attach to these. For ethnographic researchers a close and regular engagement with participants raises both practical and ethical challenges related to intrusion, relationship boundaries and issues of ‘attachment’ on leaving the field. Research that has the added dimension of profound sensitivity may also present the researcher with the challenge of managing the impacts on them of emotional stress caused by watching people’s discomfort and suffering. This article discusses the author’s methodological reflections on an ongoing ethnographic study of a cancer drop-in centre, focusing on the ways in which emotion and empathy shape researcher-respondent rapport. An underpinning theme of the discussion is the potential for emotion deluge and fatigue on the part of the researcher and the consequent need to establish self-care strategies

Group facilitation skills for participatory decision-making: report of a follow-up outcome evaluation

This working paper reports on an evaluation designed to assess the usefulness of the skills gained during the training course, if the skills learned have been applied and, if so, how the new facilitation tools and techniques have changed meeting processes. The evaluation also identified obstacles to the use of new skills faced by participants, additional follow-on activities that have been conducted by participants, and other related skills that are needed to complement what was learned in the ILAC facilitation course

Exploiting the Design Freedom of RM

This paper details how Rapid Manufacturing (RM) can overcome the restrictions imposed by the inherent process limitations of conventional manufacturing techniques and become the enabling technology in fabricating optimal products. A new design methodology capable of exploiting RM’s increased design freedom is therefore needed. Inspired by natural world structures of trees and bones, a multi-objective, genetic algorithm based topology optimisation approach is presented. This combines multiple unit cell structures and varying volume fractions to create a heterogeneous part structure which exhibits a uniform stress distribution.Mechanical Engineerin

Calculation of energy deposition distributions for simple geometries

When high-energy charged particles pass through a thin detector, the ionization energy loss in that detector is subject to fluctuations or straggling which must be considered in interpreting the data. Under many conditions, which depend upon the charge and energy of the incident particle and the detector geometry, the ionization energy lost by the particle is significantly different from the energy deposited in the detector. This problem divides naturally into a calculation of the energy loss that results in excitation and low-energy secondary electrons which do not travel far from their production points, and a calculation of energy loss that results in high-energy secondary electrons which can escape from the detector. The first calculation is performed using a modification of the Vavilov energy loss distribution. A cutoff energy is introduced above which all electrons are ignored and energy transferred to low energy particles is assumed to be equivalent to the energy deposited by them. For the second calculation, the trajectory of the primary particle is considered as a source of secondary high-energy electrons. The electrons from this source are transported using Monte Carlo techniques and multiple scattering theory, and the energy deposited by them in the detector is calculated. The results of the two calculations are then combined to predict the energy deposition distribution. The results of these calculations are used to predict the charge resolution of parallel-plate pulse ionization chambers that are being designed to measure the charge spectrum of heavy nuclei in the galactic cosmic-ray flux

Charged particle radiation environment for the Spacelab and other missions in low earth orbit, revision A

The physical charged particle dose to be encountered in low earth orbit Spacelab missions is estimated for orbits of inclinations from e8.5 to 90 deg and altitudes from 200 to 800 km. The dose encountered is strongly altitude dependent, with a weaker dependence on inclination. Doses range from 0.007 rads/day at 28.5 deg and 200 km to 1.57 rads/day at 28.5 deg and 800 km behind a 5.0 g/sq cm shield. Geomagnetically trapped protons were the primary source of damage over most of the range of altitudes and inclinations, with galactic cosmic rays making a significant contribution at the lowest altitudes

Women in civil engineering: continuity and change.

This thesis explores the career experiences of women civil engineers in the UK and examines how women negotiate their place in a highly male-dominated profession. T he thesis considers why women are under-represented in this profession, are rarely appointed to senior management positions and how changes in the business pattern of UK engineering consulting companies has created barriers or opportunities for women. Uncovering the detail of women's career expectations and experience was more suited to a qualitative approach to data collection. .A series of semi-structured interviews was carried out with thirty-one women engineers working in different sectors of the profession. The women were in a variety of personal circumstances, including single and married women, some with young children and others with no dependent caring responsibilities. The ages of the women ranged from twenty three to fifty six years with the majority having attained chartered status. The interviews focused on factors that affect career progression and these were discussed within the three themes of subcultures of the profession, work/life balance and possible agents for change. Quantitative membership data from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and other construction professions has been analysed to provide the context for the research. Feminist concerns about the relationship between women's role in the private sphere of the home and the public sphere of paid work have led to a theoretical framework that draws mainly on the work of Walby and Cockburn. This has been enhanced by Greed's gendered critique of the wider construction sector. The findings show that women feel isolated within the profession and t his isolation seems more pronounced for the few women who reach the top and also generally in the setting of the construction site. Despite attempts by some contracting firms to reform the culture of construction sites, this sense of isolation is heightened by problems of harassment in that setting. .Thus, for many women the prospect of working on site is still very daunting. .Equal opportunities policies have a low profile in the industry and this research shows that women working as professionals in construction do not see' equality' measures of this type as likely agents for change. The image of the profession as predominantly a 'male preserve’ continues. and the ICE is regarded as a 'very male club' which admits women only reluctantly. Although women report feeling marginalised within the profession many receive personal support from individual male and female colleagues and this factor can be critical to their career progress. Moving into management is seen as necessary for career success but some women are ambivalent about the negative impacts this may have on work/life balance. The culture of long hours is dominant and this marginalises women with caring commitments and reinforces male hierarchy within the profession

Characters of the W3 algebra

Traces of powers of the zero mode in the W3 Algebra have recently been found to be of interest, for example in relation to Black Hole thermodynamics, and arise as the terms in an expansion of the full characters of the algebra. We calculate the first few such powers in two cases. Firstly, we find the traces in the 3-state Potts model by using null vectors to derive modular differential equations for the traces. Secondly, we calculate the exact results for Verma module representations. We compare our two methods with each other and the result of brute-force diagonalisation for low levels and find complete agreement.Comment: v2: Numerous small changes, version to appear in JHEP, 22 pages. v3: Typos corrected, matches published version, 22 page