Uses of the workplace industrial relations surveys by British labour economists

The huge growth of nationally representative survey datasets based upon individuals and households has not been matched in most industrialised countries by a similar development of establishment or enterprise-based surveys. In Britain the imbalance has been partially redressed by the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey series, started in 1980. A few other countries have initiated similar developments. The British series is now a core resource for institutional labour economists and has generated a substantial literature. This paper discusses some of the specifically economic data gathered in the surveys and some of their uses

Uses of the Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys by British Labour Economists

The huge growth of nationally representative survey datasets based upon individuals and households has not been matched in most industrialised countries by a similar development of establishment or enterprise-based surveys. In Britain the imbalance has been partially redressed by the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey series, started in 1980. A few other countries have initiated similar developments. The British series is now a core resource for institutional labour economists and has generated a substantial literature. This paper discusses some of the specifically economic data gathered in the surveys and some of their uses.

Rivalries and Racisms: 'Closed' and 'Open' Islamophobic Dispositions Amongst Football Supporters

Racism in football has been the topic of much academic discussion. However, the issue of Islamophobic racism has received very little attention. This article looks at Middlesbrough FC and Newcastle United FC fan discussions around the \'Mido affair\' in August 2007 to consider the issue and uses this evidence to discuss the effectiveness of the football Faith Summit\'s policy suggestions to combat Islamophobia in football. The unfolding argument is that Middlesbrough FC and Newcastle United FC both use \'open\' and \'closed\' Islamophobic positions opportunistically to express their feelings of rivalry toward each other and the emergent policy suggestions are that the football authorities should seek to work with football fans, rather than potentially punish them, in order to reduce anti-Muslim sentiment in spectator football.Football Fandom; Islamophobia; Rivalry; Racism; E-Zine; Frame Analysis

Time use and rurality – Canada 2005

This paper provides a preliminary assessment of rurality as a factor affecting where and how people use their time, in a North American context. Rurality is a complex concept, but two key aspects are the degree of urban influence, and economic dependence on resource industries (farming and fishing particularly). Using dichotomous variables from the 2005 Canadian time use survey, we find that rural residence and resource employment both strongly influence time use and travel behaviour. Responding to fewer and more distant opportunities, people with rural residence participate less than urbanites in paid work, education, and shopping, and thus on average spend less time in these activities. Differences in time use between resource and nonresource workers are generally less marked than those related to urban versus rural workers. However, resource workers spend significantly less time in care-giving and sports, and more time in shopping and education. Participation in many activities is lower for resource workers, but those who participate spend significantly more time in paid work, domestic work, shopping, and education. Rural residents were found to spend considerably less time in travel than urban dwellers. On average, they take fewer trips per day, of shorter average duration, and spend less time in travel. Resource workers take significantly fewer trips than non-resource workers, spend less total time in travel, and have trips of lower average duration.Rurality, time use, resource industries, travel, Canada

Photometric study of HD 155555 C in the β\beta Pictoris Association

We are carrying out a series of photometric monitoring to measure the rotation periods of members in the young $\beta$ Pictoris Association, as part of the RACE-OC project (Rotation and ACtivity Evolution in Open Clusters). In this paper, we present the results for HD 155555C which is believed to be physically associated to the spectroscopic binary V824 Ara (HD155555) and thus constituting a triple system. We collected B, V, and R-band photometric data timeseries and discovered from periodogram analysis the rotation period P = 4.43d. Combined with stellar radius and projected rotational velocity, we find this star almost equator-on with an inclination $i$ $\simeq$ 90$^{\circ}$. The rotational properties of HD155555C fit well into the period distribution of other $\beta$ Pic members, giving further support to the suggested membership to the association and to its physical association to V824 Ara. A comparison with Pre-Main-Sequence isochrones from various models allows us to estimate an age of 20$\pm$15 Myr for this triple system.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Palaeoecological and possible evolutionary effects of early Namurian (Serpukhovian, Carboniferous) glacioeustatic cyclicity

Early Namurian (Serpukhovian, Carboniferous), sedimentary cycles in the Throckley and Rowlands Gill boreholes, near Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, consist of fossiliferous limestones overlain by (usually unfossiliferous) black mudstone, followed by sandstones and often by thin coal seams. Sedimentological and regional geological evidence suggests that the largest are high-amplitude cycles, probably of glacioeustatic origin. 13C (bulk organic matter) delineates marine and non-marine conditions because of the large difference between terrestrial and marine 13C, and indicates that full marine salinity was only intermittent and resulted from glacioeustatic marine transgression superimposed on a background of inundation by freshwater from large rivers, which killed off the marine biota. Palynology suggests that plant groups, including ferns and putative pteridosperms, were affected by changing sea level, and that there is a theoretical possibility of connection between cyclicity and the first appearance of walchiacean conifer-like monosaccate pollen such as Potonieisporites. Long-term terrestrial and marine increasing 13C (organic) may reflect the onset of major glaciation in Gondwana, as there is evidence to suggest that the two are coeval, but no specific mechanism can be suggested to link the trends

'A matter of commonsense': the Coventry poliomyelitis epidemic 1957 and the British public.

In 1956, the British Ministry of Health instituted a vaccination programme against poliomyelitis, but run into myriad supply and administrative issues. When Coventry experienced an epidemic in 1957, it came to symbolise these problems. Throughout, it was claimed that the government lacked 'common sense'. This article explores how and why 'common sense' was used as a rhetorical weapon in the debates over policy at the local and national level. While those claiming 'common sense' were often at odds with medical and administrative authorities, the arguments were often informed by deeply held beliefs about vaccination and disease