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Between a rock and a hard place: domestic abuse and being a migrant woman in England and Wales
Get PDFLegal responses to domestic abuse have been a political priority of the UK Government since at least 2010, eventually leading to the passing of the seminal legislation in this area for England & Wales, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. However, the exclusion of protection for migrant victim-survivors with precarious immigration statuses under the Act demonstrates a failure in understanding that the experience and risk of domestic abuse differ for these individuals from that of the mainstream, due to their intersectional identities as (predominantly) migrant women. Many migrant victim-survivors still find themselves trapped in abusive situations, as the law fails to safeguard their rights to reside legally should they choose to present themselves to authorities by reporting their abuse. A distinct a lack of acknowledgment as to inequalities faced by those at the intersection of migrant status and gender (Crenshaw, 1989; 1991) has led to increased insecurity for some of the most vulnerable. This paper shines a light on this discrimination under the law in England & Wales. It adopts an intersectionality framework to examine such inequality, analysing Appendix Violence Domestic Abuse and the Migrant Victim Domestic Abuse Concession in UK immigration law, as well as the Support for Migrant Victims Pilot and its relevant Evaluation Report against the international standards of the Istanbul Convention. It argues that the UK Government is failing to tackle the problem of migrant victim-survivors’ protection concerning domestic abuse, and in some situations, has made it worse
A Unified Solution Framework for Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problems with Multiple Resource Constraints
Get PDFThis paper examines flexible job shop scheduling problems with multiple resource constraints. A unified solution framework is presented for modelling various types of non-renewable, renewable and cumulative resources, such as limited capacity machine buffers, tools, utilities and work in progress buffers. We propose a Constraint Programming (CP) model and a CP-based Adaptive Large Neighbourhood Search (ALNS-CP) algorithm. The ALNS-CP uses long-term memory structures to store information about the assignment to machines of both individual operations and pairs of operations, as encountered in high-quality and diverse solutions during the search process. This information is used to create additional constraints for the CP solver, which guide the search towards promising regions of the solution space. Numerous experiments are conducted on well-known benchmark sets to assess the performance of ALNS-CP against the current state-of-the-art. Additional experiments are conducted on new instances of various sizes to study the impact of different resource types on the makespan. The computational results show that the proposed solution framework is highly competitive, while it was able to produce 39 new best solutions on well-known problem instances of the literature
Thermal Profile and Microstructure Analysis of Al-Si with the Magnesium Addition under Different Cooling Conditions
Get PDFThermal analysis is an effective approach for studying the characteristics of materials under different temperature situations. The study implemented cooling curve analysis (CCA), complemented by computational methods for precisely evaluating the temperature variation of the molten alloy by employing two thermocouples. An aluminium alloy with 1 wt.% Mg addition was melted in graphite crucible and subjected to various cooling conditions, which included normal, slow, fast, and fastest cooling rate conditions. Normal cooling condition (A) was achieved when the crucible was allowed to cool down to room temperature. Meanwhile, the slow cooling condition (B) was achieved when the crucible was allowed to cool within the Kaowool insulator chamber. In addition, the fast (C) and fastest (D) cooling conditions were attained when the forced airflow was directed at the crucible at minimum and maximum speed, respectively. The temperature data were collected via K-type thermocouples connected to a Ni 9129 data acquisition system and DasyLab software. Cooling curves, cooling curves with baselines, dendritic coherency points, and solid fractions were then recorded using OriginPro 2019b software. The liquidus, eutectic, and solidus temperatures were determined. The microstructure of the alloy sample was characterised by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The results show that the high cooling rates produced smaller and more globular grain structures. The highest cooling rate condition produced smaller and globular microstructure formation at 944 µm2 and a circularity of 0.61, respectively. Meanwhile, the slow cooling condition produced the largest grain size at 1668 µm2 and a circularity of 0.46. The results show that higher cooling rates result in a smaller and more spherical grain structure than other cooling conditions. This underlines the significant influence of the cooling rate on the development of the microstructure during the solidification process. This comprehensive thermal analysis study has shed light on the significant influence of Mg addition and different cooling conditions on the Al-Si alloy's thermal properties and microstructure formation. The results contribute to understanding alloy solidification and may have practical implications for materials engineering and manufacturing
The Effect of Sector Specialisation on Unlisted Real Estate Fund Performance Amid Economic Downturns
Get PDFThis study focuses on the relationship between fund performance, sector specialisation and the state of the economy in the unlisted European real estate fund sector. We construct a sector concentration index to measure the impact of sector specialisation on unlisted fund performance, measured by total returns, in Europe. Using the INREV database, our sample draws from 634 private real estate funds investing in European countries over the period 2000 to the end of 2021. After controlling for key factors influencing fund performance, we find a positive and statistically significant relationship, at the 10% level, between sector specialisation and fund performance. Specifically, fund managers who concentrate their resources on a smaller number of sectors tend to achieve stronger performance, and this result is not driven by any particular sector. An implication of this study is that the results could be conditional to the method selected to measure sector specialisation. A consistent finding across specifications is that a recession has a significant adverse impact on fund performance. The positive relationship between fund performance and total returns is weakened during recessions; however, this finding is not statistically significant. These tentative findings are particularly relevant for sector-specific funds, which lack the mandate to diversify into other sectors. To protect performance during recessions, such funds may need to consider alternative de-risking strategies, including increasing geographical diversification, optimising tenant mix, and deleveraging
The career difficulties of university students in the UK: a qualitative study of the perceptions of UK HE career practitioners
Get PDFExisting research has identified the key career difficulties faced by those making career decisions, but little is known about career practitioners’ perceptions of the career difficulties of university students in the UK. We conducted 22 in depth interviews with Higher Education career practitioners and analysed their data with a Template Analysis – a version of thematic analysis. Three themes were developed incorporating emotions (anxiety and low confidence), cognitions (unrealistic or limited understanding of themselves, of the labour market, of the processes of career choice and of practitioner career support) and behaviours (engaging late with career thinking, a disproportionate focus on CVs and a reluctance to take ownership of career planning). Findings showed that these emotional, cognitive and behavioural career difficulties were interrelated. The findings are discussed with reference to existing theory and theoretical and practical recommendations are made
Pricing dynamics and herding behaviour of NFTs
Get PDFThis paper analyzes the sales of 875,389 art nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain to identify the key determinants influencing NFT pricing and market dynamics. We find that market liquidity and trade volume are strong predictors of NFT prices. Contrarily, social media activity negatively correlates with prices. Introducing an artist ranking system, our study reveals a “superstar effect”, with a few artists dominating sales, and herding behaviour within the NFT market
Are Institutional Investors the Culprit of Rising Global House Prices?
Get PDFTaking advantage of the standard regulation of real estate investment trusts (REITs) around the world, we study the implications for housing markets of the entry of institutional investors in 57 cities in 15 countries for the period 2001-2022. We employ an IV approach based on the exogenous demand for REITs by pension funds triggered by changes to the retired population. We show that residential equity REIT capital flows push up multifamily house prices, and are associated with declining rents, potentially affecting households’ homeownership vs renting decisions. Estimating a CS-ECM model, we find that REITs exert long-run effects on housing markets
The Chat-Chamber Effect: Trusting the AI Hallucination
Get PDFThis study investigates the potential for ChatGPT to trigger a media effect that sits at the intersection of echo-chamber communication and filter bubbles. We devised a two-phase, two-stage experimental design with ChatGPT 3.5 (treatment group) and Google search engine (control group) by asking participants to find out how many LGBTQIA+ individuals served as elected representatives in India (first phase) and Ireland (second phase). The similar trajectories of legal reforms observed in these countries, and their small number of LGBTQIA+ elected representatives, allowed us to identify the fault lines in ChatGPT’s creation of knowledge and information around LGBTQ issues. We followed the experimental study with semi-structured interviews to identify whether the chatbot reinforced previously held beliefs and whether users cross-checked the information provided by ChatGPT. Our results show that LLMs may provide incorrect but proattitudinal information that remains unchecked and unverified by the users, an effect we refer to as Chat-Chamber. We conclude with a discussion of our findings and recommendations for future research in the area
Strategic litigation and EU law on cross-border data tranfers: on the place of EU law in the work of Schrems and NOYB
Get PDFThis article examines the place of EU law in the actions of Schrems and his ‘linked’ NGO, None of your Business, ‘NOYB,’ in the context of its predominantly transatlantic nature. Existing literature pays insufficient attention to the narrow focus on Schrems on EU-US data transfers and the ways in which his use of EU law is mostly outside of EU court rooms and also outside of EU lobbying channels. The article thus focuses upon the place of EU law in the work of Schrems- often take outside of Court rooms and official lobbying channels when challenging EU data transfers- and beyond. The paper draws attention to the links between lobbying and litigation as to EU data transfers and beyond mirrored in the work of NOYB- where little caselaw exists per se- and where broader aims and means are at stake necessitating a broader reach. Civil society similar to Big Tech use a variety of methods to engage with EU law, but not limited to a courtroom per se, amply demonstrated in the work of Schrems and NOYB. The article also highlights how much scholarship focuses upon the work of Schrems and NOYB as examples of the ‘transnational’ enforcement of EU law. It argues that existing literature easily overlooks the exclusively transatlantic focus of Schrems and the relatively modest number of cases taken by him, less again by NOYB before the CJEU, concentrated elsewhere. The focus upon the ‘locus’ adds to research highlighting the procedural limitations of the EU law system. It supports a broader framing of strategic litigation in understanding data transfers and the broader ‘Brussels effects’ of the work of Schrem
Tabloids
No full textThis entry offers an account of tabloid newspapers and the process through which it came to refer to a form and style of journalism. From the early development of tabloids to the rotary press and paper formats, the entry discusses the metonymic process whereby the term tabloids was extended to refer to a form of journalism dominated by infotainment and soft-news content along with the increased reliance on headlines and visuals. The entry also provides an overview of ongoing transformations to tabloid and celebrity journalism in the context of digital and social media, particularly with respect to the process of sharing and commenting on emotionally charged, aesthetically puzzling, or gossip-rich content that tracks well on social platforms
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