Sexuality and south asian women: A taboo?

Despite the difficulties associated with speaking about sexuality as outlined in the statement above (which probably resonates with many), there have been developments within the South Asian diaspora and India which have attempted to normalize sexuality and to move beyond viewing the linked terms ‘Asian’ and ‘gay’ as problematic. The subjugation of sexual identities such as ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ has been met by resistance from a variety of organizations and individuals. Whilst this ‘road to freedom’ regarding the expression of sexuality has been bumpy and is an unfinished project, there is also a great deal to celebrate. This paper therefore traces what we mean by sexuality and the contradictory ways in which (hetero)sexuality is perceived and understood in South Asian communities. It then moves on to looking in more detail at lesbianism and the developments in recognition of alternative sexualities. It will be shown that living in the closet is preferable to ‘coming out’ for some women due to the violence of internalized oppression and reprisals within the community

British Legislation Against Caste Based Discrimination and the demand for the Sunset Clause

On 23 April 2013, British Parliament agreed an Amendment on caste to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill (ERR Bill). The Bill received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013 and Section 97 of the ERR Act (that provides that Government `shall’ use Section 9(5)a to make caste an aspect of race) came into force on 25 June 2013. The Amendment will be made to the Equality Act 2010 by ‘adding caste as ‘an aspect of’ the protected characteristic of race’ (Waughray 2014). Importantly, although the Government’s timetable states that the legislation will be enforced not before October 2015, the considerable delay in implementation is consequential of the opposition from both Sikh and Hindu organisations. To some degree, there was unanimity amongst most British Sikhs that legislation against caste discrimination was unnecessary under British law. The Sikh Council UK (SCUK) declared that ‘caste allegiances were on their way out in the UK’ and demanded a Sunset Clause which essentially renders the caste legislation as temporary for a period of ten years since the credence of the SCUK is that caste will have absolutely no significance for subsequent generations of British Sikhs. This paper provides an analysis of attitudes, primarily from the British Sikh and Punjabi Dalit communities towards caste discrimination legislation in British Law and in particular attitudes towards the proposal of the Sunset Claus

Navigating Supply Chain Multiverses: The colliding worlds of ESG and Product Compliance Reporting, implications for reporting across global supply chains

Companies that place products onto the marketplace, whether they are internally manufactured or sourced from a supply chain face ever increasing requirements to provision data, wherever the products are sourced and transported from, manufactured, and distributed at applicable local, regional, and global levels. The Product Compliance world considers product safety and regulatory compliance activities. The Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance (ESG) world considers a much broader range of sustainability and social development related activities, performed at a corporate level. ESG reporting was originally developed within the financial sector by investors to aggregate a given organization reporting against ESG related topics. The European Union (EU) has been implementing additional EU ESG reporting requirements, in the form of several directives and regulations flowing down from the EU Green Deal (EC, 2019), which aligns all it’s actions against the EU 2030 Climate Target Plan (EC, 2021a), this includes EU Capital Markets Action Plan (EC, 2020a), which includes direct intervention in the financial sector, requiring EU financial sector to adhere to the new EU ESG reporting requirements when providing financial services to industry. As a result, companies within the EU will need to adhere to these new EU ESG reporting requirements, which include reporting at economic activity and product level, to obtain investment from the EU financial sector, hence a significant additional burden of reporting will be placed against global supply chains in a significantly different manner to traditional ESG reporting, resulting in the collection of data and reporting linked to economic activities and at the product level, fusing the worlds of Product Compliance and ESG reporting. Existing systems and standards will need to be updated to reflect the granularity and accuracy of data to be reported. This paper contributes to existing literature by identifying a research gap in understanding the emerging ESG reporting requirements globally, and their resulting implications in terms of supply chain data collection and ESG reporting requirements. The outcomes of this paper support the development of organisational action plans to implement systems and solutions to enable adherence to the new requirements

No Freedom in a Ship of Fools: A Democratic Justification for the Common Core State Standards and Federal Involvement in K-12 Education

One of the most important functions of the government is the provision of a free public education. While Brown v. Board of Education removed one obvious barrier to equal education opportunities—that of racially segregated education—it left in place another: the obstacle faced by poor school districts that wish to provide an education to their students on equal terms with the education offered by wealthier school districts. The disparities in the quality of education between districts and states are becoming more and more obvious as a growing obstacle to equity. The new Common Core State Standards, which are a single set of uniform educational standards for kindergarten through twelfth grade in English, language arts, and mathematics that states may voluntarily adopt, involves many of these factors; and the hope it is that it will affect the future of education for the better—increasing equity, opportunity, and mobility for students throughout the country. This paper looks back at the history of governmental authority and public school financing in K-12 education, and then analyzes the role of the new Common Core State Standards Initiative in education equity going forward

South Asian women and the construction of political identity

The thesis examines the complex characteristics of agency and identity construction, focusing on South Asian women. Firstly, it attempts to demonstrate the centrality of networks of history and discourses in the construction of the female postcolonial subject. Secondly, it uses qualitative research to challenge the assumed low levels of organization amongst South Asian women, demonstrating that forms of political agency exist. Historical contextualization of South Asian women's experiences enables us to understand their position, with all the complexities involved, along the axes of caste, class and religion, in contemporary society. It is particularly significant with reference to race, culture and multicultural understandings, facilitating a departure from a stereotypical understanding of passivity and complacency. The research is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews carried out with South Asian women within the Greater London area. Understanding South Asian women's experiences and the interpretations of 'belonging' goes some way toward unravelling the complexities of subjectivity and identity. Ideas around race and gender and the ability to act individually and collectively are analyzed in the women's narratives, allowing exploration of social positioning and agency. The interviews investigate the processes of negotiation that take place in the construction of identities and new subjectivities; how experience can influence a woman's consciousness of her position in the world. In fact a number of contradictory positions may be taken up as well as adopting a unified identity, for example along the lines of culture or religion. This research shows how South Asian women understand themselves and examines identity construction, and it is precisely the fluidity of it which is complex, it goes beyond the idea of fixed and essential political identities. Evident are the ways in which women draw on history, and the constant negotiating between essentialized and collective identities, and subjectiveexperiences as post-colonial subjects

The Effect of Chemical Regulations on the Aerospace and Defence Industries

The motivation for this research stems from the author working within the Aerospace and Defence (AD) sector for nearly 19 years. It was during the development phase of IPC-1754 data exchange standard, the author, came to the firm belief, that whilst AD supply chain actors would begin to share data in a harmonised format via the IPC-1754 data exchange standard, there was a clear lack of understanding amongst several AD supply chain actors on how to collate, analyse, assess, and report internal data in a consistent manner. The main aim of this research is: To develop a conceptual framework enabling identification of articles (products) potentially at risk from chemical regulations supporting decision making processes for AD organisations

The regulation of mammalian lipogenesis via reversible phosphorylation by the camp-dependent and amp-activated protein kinases

Lipid biosynthesis in the mammal is stringently regulated according to nutritional status. The rate limiting step in fatty acid synthesis is believed to be that catalysed by acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). The activity of ACC is regulated both allosterically and by reversible phosphorylation. The work described in this thesis was conducted to ascertain which protein kinases are responsible for the in vivo phosphorylation and inactivation of ACC in the major lipogenic tissues i.e. lactating mammary gland and liver. Glucagon-mediated inhibition of ACC in hepatocytes, and phosphorylation and inactivation of purified ACC in vitro by purified cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAMP-PK) from bovine heart suggested cAMP-PK as a good candidate for the physiological ACC kinase. However, intensive study of the catalytic subunit of cAMP-PK from mammary gland showed that it is probably an isozymic form of cAMP-PK characterised by poor stability and different substrate specificity to its cardiac counterpart, in particular a low affinity for ACC. Furthermore it appears that there is present in lactating mammary gland a factor that specifically inactivates the free catalytic subunit of cAMP-PK which may also be a reason for its lack of effect on ACC in vivo. Under physiological conditions eg over time courses of starvation, the inactivation of ACC in lactating rat mammary gland or rat liver more closely correlated with activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMP-PK) than cAMP-PK, This provided further evidence that AMP-PK and not cAMP-PK is the physiological ACC kinase. This work also suggested that the primary control point in the lactating mammary gland is pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and its associated kinase, but in the liver ACC is the primary control point. AMP-PK itself is regulated by reversible phosphorylation, being phosphorylated and activated by a separate kinase kinase activity. A partial purification and characterisation of the AMP-PK kinase from mammary gland is described, together with its stimulation by fatty acyl-CoA. The final products of mammalian lipid biosynthesis are triglycerides and cholesteryl ester, these are assembled together to form very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) in the liver and are then secreted from the liver into the blood stream. The major structural protein of VLDL is apolipoprotein B-100 (apo B). Apo B is known to be a phosphoprotein in vivo. This work describes the in vitro phosphorylation of apo B by cAMP-PK and AMP-PK and identifies the sites of phosphorylation. It also reports the partial characterisation of a possibly novel apo B kinase

CNL as Educator: Justifying the Need for a Certified Diabetes Educator on the Medical Surgical/Telemetry Unit

Abstract This improvement project aims to justify the need for a certified diabetes educator (CDE) on the medical surgical/telemetry unit of a rural community hospital. A microsystem and gap analysis indicates lack of comprehensive, efficient and effective diabetes care education. The clinical nurse leader (CNL) conducted a learning needs assessment and pilot education project to integrate tasks of a CDE into the microsystem. Patients participated if they spoke English as their native language, met the criteria of a new diagnosis of diabetes, uncontrolled blood sugars, or hemoglobin A1C of 6.5% or higher. Thirty-minute education sessions were provided to twenty patients and/or families at the bedside, incorporating lifestyle modifications, diet control, potential disease complications, exercise, and medication management. Pre and posttests were completed based on self-management education to determine if teaching was effective. One hundred percent of patients increased their pre to post test scores after receiving structured inpatient diabetes care education. Results from this learning needs assessment and financial impact estimation suggest that engaging a CDE as part of the care team would advance diabetes self-management education and improve patient outcomes. A recommendation would be for the CNL to function in the role of CDE in this microsystem for a one-year pilot project. Based on the results, a business plan for a new full-time CDE is planned. Keywords: diabetes, certified diabetes educator, outcomes, team, self-managemen

The impact of Industry 4.0 on supply chains and sustainability.

Industry 4.0 ushers in a new dawn of digitization, utilizing smart devices, communicating across manufacturing process and supply chains, gathering data on mass in a virtual model of a business to investigate areas for improvement, developing new product and service offerings. Industry 4.0 brings a potential shift from mass over production, to production system based on real end consumer demand requirements. Sustainability relates to reducing the amount of scarce resources being used in products, enabling repair, reuse and recycling of materials from products. Industry 4.0 has the potential to influence sustainability and supply chains. This paper establishes key concepts and issues, as well as a current state adoption review. Conclusions were drawn enabling the implementation of (1) industry 4.0; (2) sustainability and; (3) enhanced buyer-supplier supply relationships.N/