Bringing ‘securonomics’ down to earth

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Renewal via the URL in this record Published within the 'blog' section of the journa

What is securonomics? Look to Germany and Sweden for clues, not just the US

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from LabourList Limited via the link in this recor

Organising the self-employed: combining community unionism, coworking and cooperativism across contexts

This is the final version. Available on open access from F1000 Research Ltd. via the DOI in this record[version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]Data availability: The ERC project SHARE was granted in 2016 and the PI did not opt into Open Research Data, as at that time it was a pilot and data collection in comparative qualitative is extremely complex. The underlying data for this project therefore cannot be shared.The growing insecurity, flexibilisation and fragmentation of labour markets goes hand-in-hand with the decrease of social protection levels and collective representation for workers in non-standard employment relationships, such as the hybrid category of ‘solo self-employed workers’. In response, on the one hand, trade unions attempt to approach and organise this heterogenous category of workers. On the other, new freelancer organisations are emerging to improve worker rights and safety, and overcome their social and professional isolation. Reporting the findings of long-term, slow ethnography, we describe a failed collaboration between three new collective actors in the representation and organisation of self-employed workers. In the second half of the 2010s, two UK organisations, Coworking (all names pseudonyms), a coworking space operator working in a deprived ex-industrial area, and Union, a former industrial union, created Coworking.Union, a cooperative trade union offering services and advocacy for the self-employed. Coworking.Union collaborated with Cooperative, a freelancer cooperative based in Northern Europe, with a view to emulate aspects of its model in the UK. We present a detailed reconstruction of the interactions of the three actors over time, including their context, expectations, and visions, starting from the motivations that generated the first contacts, through to the development of operational agreements, up to the failure of these agreements as relations cooled. The case study, and the failed experiment it captures, constitutes an important opportunity to understand the dynamism, complexity, and contradiction manifest in organising the self-employed. While the strategic ingredients of significant organisational innovation were in evidence between the three actors, it generated instead a failure. The case study thus demonstrates the importance of an in-depth analysis of failed attempts at organising the self-employed and their meaning for broader struggles by old and new actors to alter the terrain of the hybrid areas of employment more generally.European Union Horizon 202

Open Science and Open Innovation in Socio-Political Context: Knowledge Production and Societal Impact in an Age of Populism

This conceptual paper traces the origins and progress of Open Science and proposes its generative coupling to Open Innovation in the contemporary socio-political context; where universities are re-imaging their civic missions in the face of anti-establishment populist politics. This setting is one of changing knowledge production regimes and institutional pressures that create contradictions identifiable through the prism of the series of scientific norms conceptualised by Robert K. Merton. This paper privileges a sociological perspective to proffer scientific knowledge production as a societally embedded process, which is well illustrated by scholarship in the Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Science in Society fields. In doing so, it identifies the co-evolution, co-existence and co-production of Open Science with Open Innovation; and notes how it shares the attributes of other recent diagnoses of changing knowledge production regimes; in particular Mode 2, post-normal science and the Quadruple Helix. It also argues that Open Science can be coupled with Open Innovation to catalyse positive societal change, but that the rise of a populist post-truth era opposed to objectivity, expertise and technocratic political solutions gives the demand for openness and participation a different complexion. Merton’s norms provide a useful lens to observe recent shifts in the delivery of science, knowledge and innovation in society towards more inclusive, ethical and sustainable outcomes; and expose the limited reflection on how the appropriation and exploitation of open scientific knowledge encounters industrial R&D and Open Innovation

Generalized Lamb Modes in Fluid-Saturated Porous Plate

Since analysis by Rayleigh [1] and Lamb [2], the vibration modes for an elastic homogeneous infinite solid thin plate are well understood. These so-called “Lamb modes” result from a pure compressional wave and pure shear wave. Similarly, excitation of “leaky Lamb modes” in elastic plates immersed in a fluid, caused by incident acoustic waves, has been extensively described theoretically [3–7] and experimentally [8,9]. Results are generally presented as dispersion curves which relate the phase velocity of the mode to the product of frequency and plate thickness

Explaining clinical behaviors using multiple theoretical models

PMID: 23075284 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3500222 Free PMC ArticlePeer reviewedPublisher PD

Creative aspiration and the betrayal of promise? The experience of new creative workers

The promise of ‘doing what you love’ continues to attract new aspirants to creative work, yet most creative industries are so characterised by low investment, shifting foci and ongoing technological innovation that all promises must be unreliable. Some would-be creative workers negotiate their own pathways from the outset, ‘following their dream’ as they attempt to convert personal enthusiasms and amateur activities into income-earning careers. Others look to the proliferation of available training and education options, including higher education courses, as possible pathways into creative work. This chapter reviews recent research from the USA, Australia and the UK on the effectiveness – or otherwise – of higher education as preparation for a creative career. The chapter discusses the obstacles that many creative workers, including graduates, encounter on their creative pathways, for instance, as a result of informal work practices and self-employment. The chapter also looks at sources of advantage and disadvantage, such as those associated with particular geographic locations or personal identities. The chapter concludes by introducing the subsequent chapters in the collection. These critically explore the experience of new creative workers in a wide range of national contexts including Australia, Belgium, China, Ireland, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Russia and the United Kingdom

Management of peripheral facial nerve palsy

Peripheral facial nerve palsy (FNP) may (secondary FNP) or may not have a detectable cause (Bell’s palsy). Three quarters of peripheral FNP are primary and one quarter secondary. The most prevalent causes of secondary FNP are systemic viral infections, trauma, surgery, diabetes, local infections, tumor, immunological disorders, or drugs. The diagnosis of FNP relies upon the presence of typical symptoms and signs, blood chemical investigations, cerebro-spinal-fluid-investigations, X-ray of the scull and mastoid, cerebral MRI, or nerve conduction studies. Bell’s palsy may be diagnosed after exclusion of all secondary causes, but causes of secondary FNP and Bell’s palsy may coexist. Treatment of secondary FNP is based on the therapy of the underlying disorder. Treatment of Bell’s palsy is controversial due to the lack of large, randomized, controlled, prospective studies. There are indications that steroids or antiviral agents are beneficial but also studies, which show no beneficial effect. Additional measures include eye protection, physiotherapy, acupuncture, botulinum toxin, or possibly surgery. Prognosis of Bell’s palsy is fair with complete recovery in about 80% of the cases, 15% experience some kind of permanent nerve damage and 5% remain with severe sequelae