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English First Aid Organisations and the Provisional IRA Mainland Bombing Campaign of 1974
Introduction: Engaging Youth in Activist Research and Pedagogical Praxis: Transnational, Intersectional and Everyday
Factors affecting Removal of Bacterial Pathogens from Healthcare Surfaces during Dynamic Wiping
Wiping of surfaces contaminated with pathogenic bacteria is a key strategy for combatting transmission of healthcare associated infections. It is essential to understand the extent to which removal of bacteria is modulated by fibre properties, biocidal liquid impregnation and applied hand pressure. The influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on the removal efficiencies of pathogenic bacteria was studied. Nonwoven wipes made of either hydrophobic (polypropylene) or hygroscopic (lyocell) fibres were manufactured and dynamic removal efficiency of bacteria studied. The single most important parameter affecting bacterial removal efficiency was impregnation with biocidal liquid (p <0.05). For inherently hygroscopic 100% regenerated cellulose (lyocell) wipes impregnated with biocidal liquid, removal of E. coli, S. aureus and E. faecalis improved by increasing the fabric surface density and wiping pressure to their maximal values - 150 g.m-2 and 13.80 kN.m-2 respectively. For inherently hydrophobic 100% polypropylene nonwoven wipes, the same conditions maximised the removal efficiency of S. aureus, but for E. coli and E. faecalis a reduction in the wiping pressure to 4.68 kN.m-2 was required. Best practice involves the use of higher surface density wipes (150 g m-2) containing regenerated cellulose fibres loaded with liquid biocide, and applied with the greatest possible wiping pressure
Preparation of a Polymeric Foam: An Activity Designed to Increase Teachers’ Awareness of the Utility of Condensation Polymerisation
The new Scottish ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ places a greater emphasis on the societal implications of Chemistry concepts, including polymer chemistry. This has led to many Scottish secondary school teachers having little experience and background knowledge with which to satisfactorily explore the topic of polymers as they deliver the curriculum. Here we detail our development of a practical demonstration of polymer 15 foams and its inclusion in a continuous professional development module for Scottish secondary school teachers. This demonstration has now been incorporated into
chemistry classrooms across Scotland as a means of exemplifying the topic of polymers
Wrestling in Britain: Sporting Entertainments, Celebrity and Audiences
At the intersection of sport, entertainment and performance, wrestling occupies a unique position in British popular culture. This is the first book to offer a detailed historical and cultural analysis of British professional wrestling, exploring the shifting popularity of the sport as well as its wider social significance.
Arguing that the history of professional wrestling can help us understand key themes in sport, culture and performance that span the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it addresses topics such as: attitudes towards violence, representations of masculinity, the media and celebrity culture, consumerism and globalisation. By drawing on a variety of intellectual traditions and disciplines, the book explores the role of power in the construction of popular cultural forms, the ways in which history structures the present, and the manner in which audiences construct identity and meaning through sport.
Wrestling in Britain: Sporting Entertainments, Celebrity and Audiences is fascinating reading for all students and researchers with an interest in media and cultural studies, histories and sociologies of sport, or performance studies
Can peer learning support doctoral education? Evidence from an ethnography of a research team
This paper focuses on peer learning as a process to develop PhD students’ disciplinary and scholarly skills. PhD students’ experience is not usually framed in terms of peer learning, because peer learning is more often studied and applied at the undergraduate level. This contribution builds on an ethnography of a research team to show the potential of peer learning over the course of the doctorate. A socio-constructivist conceptualisation of learning, inspired by activity theory, guides the analysis. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it proposes an original definition of learning that highlights process and practice, and shows how to work with it. Second, it demonstrates how peer learning unfolds in the interplay between structured and emergent types of interactions. Third, it provides scholars with insights into the conditions facilitating peer learning and stimulates debate around the initiatives that institutions can put in place to support PhD students
Trustee Board Diversity, Governance Mechanisms, Capital Structure and Performance in UK Charities
Purpose:
This paper aims to investigate the association among trustee board diversity (TBD), corporate governance (CG), capital structure (CS) and financial performance (FP) by using a sample of UK charities. Specifically, the authors investigate the effect of TBD on CS and ascertain whether CG quality moderates the TBD–CS nexus. Additionally, the authors examine the impact of CS on FP and ascertain whether the CS–FP nexus is moderated by TBD and CG quality.
Design/methodology/approach:
The authors use a number of multivariate regression techniques, including ordinary least squares, fixed-effects, lagged-effects and two-stage least squares, to rigorously analyse the data and test the hypotheses.
Findings:
First, the authors find that trustee board gender diversity has a negative effect on CS, but this relationship holds only up to the point of having three women trustees. The authors find similar, but relatively weak, results for the presence of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) trustees. Second, the authors find that the TBD–CS nexus depends on the quality of CG, with the relationship being stronger in charities with higher frequency of meetings, independent CG committee and larger trustee and audit firm size. Third, the authors find that CS structure has a positive effect on FP, but this is moderated by TBD and CG quality. The evidence is robust to different econometric models that adjust for alternative measures and endogeneities. The authors interpret the findings within explanations of a theoretical perspective that captures insights from different CG and CS theories.
Originality/value:
Existing studies that explore TBD, CG, CS and FP in charities are rare. This study distinctively attempts to address this empirical lacuna within the extant literature by providing four new insights with specific focus on UK charities. First, the authors provide new evidence on the relationship between TBD and CS. Second, the authors offer new evidence on the moderating effect of CG on the TBD-CS nexus. Third, the authors provide new evidence on the effect of CS on FP. Finally, the authors offer new evidence on the moderating effect of TBD and CG on the CS–FP nexus
Tuscan stone carvers bring virtual art into the physical world.
Susan Carron Clarke, researcher in sculptural carving and stone carving communities at the University of Huddersfield, discovers a digital carving course in the marble mountains of Tuscany in Italy
Social movements, structural violence and conflict transformation in Northern Ireland: The role of Loyalist paramilitaries
This article analyses how social movements and collective actors can affect political and social transformation in a structurally violent society using the case study of Northern Ireland. We focus, in particular, on the crucial role played by collective actors within the loyalist community (those who wish to maintain Northern Ireland’s place in the UK), in bringing about social and political transformation in a society blighted by direct, cultural, and structural violence both during the conflict and subsequent peace process. Drawing on data obtained through in-depth interviews with loyalist activists (including former paramilitaries), the article demonstrates the role and impact of loyalists and loyalism in Northern Ireland’s transition. We identify five conflict transformation challenges addressed by loyalist actors in a structurally violent society: de-mythologizing the conflict; stopping direct violence; resisting pressure to maintain the use of violence; development of robust activist identity; and the measurement of progress through reference to the parallel conflict transformation journey of their former republican enemies. The Northern Ireland case demonstrates the necessity for holistic conflict transformation strategies which attempt not only to stop direct attacks, but also the cultural and structural violence which underpin and legitimize them. In so doing, the article contributes to a broader understanding of how and why paramilitary campaigns are brought to an end