Satanic Mills or Silicon Islands? The Politics of High-Tech Production in the Philippines

[Excerpt] So how do we make sense of high-tech production as it emerges in developing countries like the Philippines? What explains the changes and wide variation in how work is organized? What can these changes tell us about the transformation of work in a globalizing economy? And finally, what consequences do these changes have for workers, the vast majority of whom are women? This book engages these key research questions by taking them up at a strategically crucial and empirically grounded flashpoint: a local site of global production and the local labor market in which it is embedded

Exobiology and life science

The following types of experiments for a proposed Space Station Microgravity Particle Research Facility are described: (1) biogenic elements in the interstellar medium; (2) organic material in the solar nebula; (3) volatiles in comets and icy planetesimals; (4) pre-biotic atmospheric chemistry; (5) analysis of cosmic dust particles; and (6) microbial exposure. The required capabilities and desired hardware for the facility are detailed

Gullies on Mars: Origin by snow and ice melting and potential for life based on possible analogs from Devon Island, High Arctic

Gullies on Devon Island, High Arctic, which form by melting of transient surface ice and snow covers and offer morphologic and contextual analogs for gullies reported on Mars are reported to display enhancements in biological activity in contrast to surrounding polar desert terrain

With comfort and dignity and support: An evaluation of the Hospice at Home service delivered by Milford Care Centre

Copyright @ 2011 University of LimerickMilford Care Centre is the lead organisation that provides a comprehensive range of services for the elderly and palliative care patients in the Mid West Region. In tandem with the growing requirement for specialist palliative care in the community, it expanded its existing and limited community-based services in 2006 to include a specialist ‘Hospice at Home’ service for patients who require palliative care in their own homes. With inputs from a multi-disciplinary clinical team, the Hospice at Home Service delivered by Milford Care Centre represents the first service of its kind within the Republic of Ireland. The Hospice at Home Service is supported by funding from the HSE and donations from the public, as well as a significant donation from The Atlantic Philanthropies. A condition of the funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies was that the Service would be evaluated, thus providing Milford Care Centre with research information regarding various of aspects of the service, including the viewpoints of carers and patients. In 2009, Milford Care Centre commissioned the University of Limerick to undertake an independent evaluation of the Hospice at Home Service, with the aim of examining whether it offered a viable and effective model for delivering a range of palliative care services to patients and their families in the community. The evaluation was conducted between February 2009 and June 2011. It should be noted that an evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the Service was also commissioned and will be undertaken by another group

Subsurface microbial habitats on Mars

We developed scenarios for shallow and deep subsurface cryptic niches for microbial life on Mars. Such habitats could have considerably prolonged the persistence of life on Mars as surface conditions became increasingly inhospitable. The scenarios rely on geothermal hot spots existing below the near or deep subsurface of Mars. Recent advances in the comparatively new field of deep subsurface microbiology have revealed previously unsuspected rich aerobic and anaerobic microbal communities far below the surface of the Earth. Such habitats, protected from the grim surface conditions on Mars, could receive warmth from below and maintain water in its liquid state. In addition, geothermally or volcanically reduced gases percolating from below through a microbiologically active zone could provide the reducing power needed for a closed or semi-closed microbial ecosystem to thrive

Conceptual designs for in situ analysis of Mars soil

A goal of this research is to develop conceptual designs for instrumentation to perform in situ measurements of the Martian soil in order to determine the existence and nature of any reactive chemicals. Our approach involves assessment and critical review of the Viking biology results which indicated the presence of a soil oxidant, an investigation of the possible application of standard soil science techniques to the analysis of Martian soil, and a preliminary consideration of non-standard methods that may be necessary for use in the highly oxidizing Martian soil. Based on our preliminary analysis, we have developed strawman concepts for standard soil analysis on Mars, including pH, suitable for use on a Mars rover mission. In addition, we have devised a method for the determination of the possible strong oxidants on Mars