Adjustable flow restrictor

Flow-rate restrictor with sharp-edged threads generates turbulence in the fluid flow, providing greater pressure reduction than is possible with a smooth-walled device. It is less susceptible to clogging

Computing the Margin of Victory in Preferential Parliamentary Elections

We show how to use automated computation of election margins to assess the number of votes that would need to change in order to alter a parliamentary outcome for single-member preferential electorates. In the context of increasing automation of Australian electoral processes, and accusations of deliberate interference in elections in Europe and the USA, this work forms the basis of a rigorous statistical audit of the parliamentary election outcome. Our example is the New South Wales Legislative Council election of 2015, but the same process could be used for any similar parliament for which data was available, such as the Australian House of Representatives given the proposed automatic scanning of ballots

The effect direction plot: visual display of non-standardised effects across multiple outcome domains

Visual display of reported impacts is a valuable aid to both reviewers and readers of systematic reviews. Forest plots are routinely prepared to report standardised effect sizes, but where standardised effect sizes are not available for all included studies a forest plot may misrepresent the available evidence. Tabulated data summaries to accompany the narrative synthesis can be lengthy and inaccessible. Moreover, the link between the data and the synthesis conclusions may be opaque. This paper details the preparation of visual summaries of effect direction for multiple outcomes across 29 quantitative studies of the health impacts of housing improvement. A one page summary of reported health outcomes was prepared to accompany a 10 000-word narrative synthesis. The one page summary included details of study design, internal validity, sample size, time of follow-up, as well as changes in intermediate outcomes, for example, housing condition. This approach to visually summarising complex data can aid the reviewer in cross-study analysis and improve accessibility and transparency of the narrative synthesis where standardised effect sizes are not available

Memories of agency, participation and resistance towards a diachronic dimension in communication for social change

En este artículo el autor reflexiona sobre el modo en que el trabajo de la memoria (memory work) puede incorporarse como una nueva dimensión en la investigación y en la práctica de la comunicación para el desarrollo y el cambio social. A menudo se pasa por alto que la memoria constituye un recurso oculto en la comunicación para el cambio social. Aquí se propone una dimensión diacrónica, con tres vertientes, para la investigación y práctica de la comunicación para el desarrollo y el cambio social. Se reconoce que la memoria pública es, al tiempo, una estrategia retórica (Phillips 2014) y una estrategia política (Olesen 2014) así como la necesidad de estar atentos a los desafíos de la traducción del pasado en un presente significativo por completo (Mbembe 2001). Estas tres vertientes constituyen escalones, tanto en la planificación de estrategias de comunicación para el cambio social como en la comprensión de su dinámica y potencial. Esta dimensión diacrónica puede resultar una vía útil para profundizar nuestra comprensión de lo que realmente ha sucedido con la “erupción” de los movimientos sociales en los últimos años.In this article the author elaborates on an argument on how memory work can add a new dimension to both the research and practice of communication for development and social change. What is often overlooked is how memory constitutes a hidden resource in communicating for social change. A threepronged diachronic dimension is proposed to both research in and practice of communication for development and social change. Recognizing public memory as both a rhetorical strategy (Phillips 2014) and political strategy (Olesen 2014) and being attentive to the challenges of translating the past into a meaningful present altogether (Mbembe 2001) constitute stepping stones, both in planning communication for social change strategies and in understanding their dynamics and potential. This diachronic dimension can furthermore prove a useful pathway to deepen our understanding of what really happened with the ‘eruption’ of social movements in recent years

Is There Time Enough? Temporal Resources and Service Performance in the Danish Home Care Sector

Reflecting on the temporal conditions of home care work, care workers are fairly critical, stressing that time frames are inflexible and time is limited and occasionally insufficient, altogether constituting a time pressure in work performance. Besides from the immediate consequences of time scarcity in the daily work performance, care workers relate the issue of time to a more fundamental discussion of what the performance of care does and should entail. The purpose of the article is to examine care workers’ perceptions of the temporal conditions of care work, investigating how time pressure constitutes a challenge to care workers’ own sense and valuation of their work. The article is informed by two theoretical perspectives: standardization of care services and performance of care work in private homes. Empirically, the article examines how care workers perceive the relations between the temporal framing and the possibilities to perform care work. Methodologically, the article is based on qualitative data, collected through focus group interviews and participant observation, and analyzed within the perspective of reflexive interpretation, using grounded theory method and hermeneutic approaches of analysis. A central focus of analysis is the concept of “additional care services.” The use of the concept reflects different understandings of care. Relying on the logic of standardization, managers articulate additional services as definite items, which could (and should) be left out of the performance of care work. Care workers do, however, not accept this notion. Relying on their experience of work, they perceive additional services as an ambiguous concept, which recognizes the multiple character of care work. Conclusions are that time scarcity constitutes a pressure on work performance as a whole, reducing care workers’ flexibility, challenging their authority, but still keeping them in a position of responsibility. Ultimately, the battle on time reflects the ambivalences in care work—ambivalences that are becoming increasingly difficult for care workers to handle in work performance

Why Active State Measures Have Dominated Regional Policies in Norway by Governments of all Colours: A Historical Review and Comparison with Sweden

This article compares regional policies in Norway to regional policies in Sweden. The article suggests that geographical and geopolitical factors are the main factors that have influenced regional policies. The article points out that the government in Sweden, immediately following WW2, also assumed the role of the active state. However, in contrast to Norway, its policies were disadvantageous to northern Sweden. Later, Swedish governments also implemented policies aimed at strengthening the economic and social conditions in the north. The article demonstrates that even bourgeois governments, who are traditionally ‘less-state-more-market’ oriented than social democratic governments, have used active state measures in their regional policies in Norway. The article points out that geographical and geopolitical factors represent interests that are shared by Norway’s centre and periphery and argues that these factors work as political guidelines that fundamentally influence the continuous use of active state policies by bourgeois governments. It concludes that this influence is stronger than bourgeois governments’ ideological foundations, Keynesian economics and the bureaucracy. Northern Sweden, in comparison, lacks the geographical and geopolitical factors of northern Norway, which explains why fewer active state measures have been used by governments in Sweden than in Norway