UK temporary staffing: industry structure and evolutionary dynamics

During the 1990s the UK temporary staffing industry experienced almost unbroken year-on-year growth. Alongside this quantitative expansion the type of business performed by some UK temporary staffing agencies has begun to change, as some larger agencies have attempted to move out of the clerical and light industrial segments and into higher value-added markets. Other agencies have sought to add human resource services to their more-traditional recruitment and placement functions. All in all, the UK industry -- the second largest in the world after the United States -- has undergone widespread restructuring in the last decade. I argue that the recent growth in the UK industry constitutes a regularisation of flexible employment, as casual and fixed-term contracts are replaced by more formal arrangements involving a third party -- the temporary staffing agency. Drawing upon global and national data and forty semi-structured interviews with agency owners and managers in the United Kingdom, I analyse the multidimensional growth and restructuring of the UK temporary staffing industry. I argue that as the UK industry 'matures' we are witnessing a degree of deepening in relations between temporary staffing agencies and client firms. More broadly, I argue that the growth of the temporary staffing industry has conceptual implications for how economic geographers theorise 'the firm' and explore the globalisation of service activities.

Trans-urban Networks of Learning, Mega Events and Policy Tourism: The Case of Manchester's Commonwealth and Olympic Games Projects

This paper argues for a rethinking of our understanding of what and where go into the ‘urban’ in the New Urban Politics (NUP). It contends that these issues have always been more complex, complicated and, most importantly, contested than has sometimes appeared to be the case in the literature. Using the example of one trans-urban policy learning network—that around the city of Manchester’s bids for the Olympic and Commonwealth Games—the paper makes the case for taking seriously the politics around comparison and referencing in making possible the NUP. It argues that there is a need to study the circuits, networks and webs in and through which urban knowledge and learning are constituted and moved around, and that often underpin the territorial outcomes that have been the traditional focus of scholars working on the NUP

BSE: Risk, Uncertainty, and Policy Change

The authors discuss how, in our risk society, a range of potential risks and uncertainties are associated with new technologies and new diseases, such as BSE. These risks bring with them worries about human health, while the ability to assess and manage new health scares is an essential skill for government and related industries

A Weighted Individual Performance-Based Assessment for Middle School Orchestral Strings: Establishing Validity and Reliability

The study established the validity and reliability of a weighted individual performance-based assessment tool within the utility scope of middle school orchestral strings. The following research questions guided this study: 1. What specific string-playing behaviors and corresponding criteria validate a weighted individual performance-based assessment tool for middle school orchestral strings? 2. What are the psychometric properties of the weighted individual performance-based assessment tool in authentic situations? For Research Question 1, the expert panel and I were able to 100% mutually agree on 10 string-playing behaviors: tempo, rhythm, tone, pitch, intonation, technique, bowing, dynamics, phrasing, and posture that created the DISAT. Being interdependent, these string-playing behaviors are relevant because they encompass every necessary facet of orchestral string performance (Zdzinski & Barnes, 2002). According to Zdzinski and Barnes (2002), an orchestral string performance assessment must evaluate each facet of a participant’s playing ability to rate the overall musicianship. Bergee and Rossin (2019) stated in their research that it is important to have various aspects of a performance utilized in a musical assessment. The DISAT obtained reliability of 0.872 by having enough variance between raters in the authentic situation. Linacre (2015) stated that reliability greater than 0.8 is acceptable to v distinguish separation between raters. Combined with the expert panel\u27s 100% mutual agreement on content validity, this proved the DISAT to be a valid and reliable assessment tool for individual performance-based orchestral strings assessment (AERA, APA, & NCME, 2014). The DISAT can be utilized by districts and middle school orchestral string music teachers in North Carolina. Being a consistent, objective tool, the DISAT can standardize our approach to middle school orchestral string music education assessment (AERA, APA, & NCME, 2014). The data collected by the DISAT could easily track the musical progression of students while giving opportunities for constructive, purposeful feedback

An Examination of Science NCE Scores of Students of Participating and Nonparticipating Teachers in East Tennessee State University Summer Science Institute.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of East Tennessee State University\u27s summer science institute training through the effect on mean Normal Curve Equivalent science test scores of students in a Northeast Tennessee school system whose teachers participated in the ETSU summer science institute training. Data analysis were compiled using students\u27 science NCE scores to determine if there were significant differences in scores for those students whose teachers participated in the summer science institutes and those who did not participate. Students\u27 NCE scores were compiled from the middle school setting over a 3-year academic period: 2004-2005, 2005-2006, and 2006-2007. Paired-samples t tests were used to analyze the effectiveness of teacher participation by comparing preparticipation and postparticipation students\u27 science NCE scores for years 3 years. Independent-samples t tests were used to compare students\u27 gender, socioeconomic status (free- and reduced-price meals), and NCE science scores (using 5th grade only) for 2 consecutive years of the study (2005-2006 through 2006-2007). Two analyses were used to determine teachers\u27 participation and the effect on students\u27 NCE science scores among two subgroups: gender and socioeconomic status. For research questions 4 and 5, a mean net gain and NCE raw scores average was performed. The findings from this study indicated significant differences in years 2004-2005 and 2006-2007 favoring students of teachers who participated in the summer science institutes However, the results from year 2005-2006 showed no significant differences in students\u27 science NCE scores of teachers who participated or did not participate in summer science institutes. In the consecutive year (2005-2006 through 2006-2007) using 5th grade only comparisons, data analyses showed significant differences in students\u27 science NCE scores when performing NCE raw scores comparisons for gender and socioeconomic status. The comparisons for gender showed male students\u27 science NCE scores were higher than were females\u27 science scores. The NCE raw scores comparisons for socioeconomic status showed those students on the meals program had higher science NCE scores than did those students not on the program. There was no significance in students\u27 science NCE scores when using mean net gain scores comparison for gender and socioeconomic status

Examining the Use of Psychological Autopsy Interviews in a Case of Suspected Youth Suicide

Suicide is the thirteenth leading manner of death worldwide and eleventh in the United States. Approximately one percent of the U.S. population dies by suicidal means. On average, more than 30,000 people will kill themselves each year. This qualitative research study sought to explore and describe the experiences of how one family suffered and survived the unexpected loss of their thirteen-year-old son suspected of dying by suicidal means and how psychological autopsies might help survivors in dealing with this loss. Secondarily, the results also examined death investigation practices in one county of Washington State that uses psychological autopsies and how their use might broaden our understanding of teen suicide and survivorship. Analysis revealed eight topical areas of death investigation pursuant to determining the manner of death in the question of a completed suicide. From this medical-legal forensic structure of death investigation, psychological autopsy information was used to explore and describe in rich detail the family\u27s experience of the loss of their son. The implications of this study accentuated the use of psychological autopsy information and its role in helping to facilitate the healing process for survivors of suicide

“We Just Need the Developer to Develop”: Entrepreneurialism, Financialization and Urban Redevelopment in Lexington, Kentucky

Since the 1980s US city governments have increased their use of more speculative means of financing economic redevelopment. This has involved experimenting with a variety of financial and taxation instruments as a way of growing their economies and redeveloping their built environments. This very general tendency, of course, masks how some cities have done well through the use of these instruments while others have not. The work to date has tended to pivot around a “winner-loser dichotomy”, which emphasises either the capacity of US cities to be able to experiment and speculate through the use of one financial instrument or another or their failings with these instruments, resulting in bankruptcy and fiscal crisis. This paper presents a case study of Lexington, Kentucky and using archival research and interviews we argue that speculative financial instruments are harder to choreograph for some cities than for others. We draw particular attention to US cities beyond those that tend to be over-represented in the metro-centric academic literature. This argument has conceptual significance. Building theory out of the experiences of US cities such as Lexington, Kentucky turns attention to the work required by city governments as they seek to finance the redevelopment of their downtowns. We make the case for a continued appreciation of the messy politics around the use of financial instruments, and its indeterminate, open and unpredictable nature in an era of fragile and uncertain entrepreneurial US urban policy-making