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British business-government relationships: a case-study of the Burmah Oil Company, 1974-1975
No full textThe file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.This paper presents a case study of the bailout of the Burmah Oil Company Limited by the British government in 1975, focusing on risk, business-government relations and informality. Analysing negotiations between key governmental and corporate actors at a time of significant economic and political uncertainty, we highlight that while government and business had not developed a structured framework to apply to the economy’s most serious weaknesses, these actors frequently improvised around a theme, in this case, that of risk. We highlight an informal interventionist model within which government was predisposed informally to support businesses in times of crisis. We also highlight that the government dictated the terms of the bailout and imposed risk assessment and monitoring undertaken by private sector accountants. This will illustrate in a novel manner how risk management was deployed in the bailout process, the implications of which had beneficial consequences for the company’s continued existence
Tracking dynamic community evolution based on social relevance and strong events
No full textThe file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Although incremental methods are widely used in community detection, their error accumulation problem remains unresolved. Additionally, current methods typically identify events only after community detection has been completed for all time snapshots, lacking consideration of the impact of events on community structure during evolution. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework called Tracking dynamic community evolution based on Social Relevance and Strong Events(TranSiEnt). For the first time, TranSiEnt integrates evolution event identification with dynamic community updating, classifying evolution events into ordinary events and Strong Events based on the influence of the relevant communities. During dynamic community updating, TranSiEnt employs a path diffusion strategy to determine core nodes for community detection, establishing the initial community structure. Using an incremental approach, the framework expands the influence range of incremental nodes in communities experiencing Strong Events. It again conducts precise community detection on all affected nodes to reduce error accumulation, ultimately optimizing community partitioning. TranSiEnt was subjected to objective accuracy experiments on real and synthetic datasets, using modularity, NMI, and EMA as performance evaluation metrics. T-tests were used to verify the significance of the performance improvement of the TranSiEnt algorithm. The experimental results show that TranSiEnt performs better in dynamic community detection and evolution event tracking, significantly improving over existing methods
Toxicological Assessment of Porous Silica Nanoparticles: Investigating their Cytotoxicity, Genotoxicity, Immunogenicity and Molecular Mechanisms
No full textPorous silica nanoparticles (PSNs) offer high surface area, tuneable pore size, and tailorable surface chemistry, making them promising nanocarriers. However, their biocompatibility remains a concern due to potential toxicity. This study evaluated the physicochemical properties, cellular uptake, immunogenicity, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and their molecular mechanisms of functionalised PSNs: PSN-amine, PSN- carboxyl, PSN-polyethylenimine (PEI), PSN-silanol and PSN-thiol in THP-1 monocyte, TK6 lymphoblastoid and HepG2 hepatocyte cells. Characterisation confirmed successful functionalisation, with hydrodynamic diameters ranging from 97.46 nm to 108.65 nm in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and transmission electron microscopy sizes from 86.34 nm to 103.28 nm. Zeta potential
measurements revealed that PSN-amine and PSN-PEI carried positive charges (+5.20mV and +28.09 mV in PBS, respectively), while PSN- carboxyl, PSN-silanol and PSN-thiol were negatively charged (-20.14mV, -16.37mV and - 17.05mV in PBS, respectively). Cellular uptake studies showed that positively charged PSNs were internalised more efficiently, with PSN-PEI localising in the nuclei and mitochondria of THP- 1 and TK6 cells, while HepG2 showed significant uptake of PSN-amine. Protein corona analysis demonstrated differential adsorption of plasma proteins on various PSNs. PSN-PEI and PSN-silanol formed dense coronas, while PSN-carboxyl exhibited the weakest adsorption. Immunogenicity studies showed that all PSNs induced complement activation, indicating potential immune interactions. Cytotoxicity assays identified PSN-amine and PSN-PEI as the most toxic, with THP-1 cells showing the highest sensitivity to PSN- PEI, (49.71% cell viability at 100μg/mL (p≤0.001)), while HepG2 cells showed higher viability with PSN-
amine (61.02% at 100μg/mL (p≤0.001)). TK6 exhibited minimal cytotoxicity with all PSNs tested. The cytokinesis block micronucleus assay confirmed genotoxicity, with PSN-amine significantly increasing the % of micronucleated cells/binucleated cells (%MN/BN) in HepG2 cells (2.38% at 100 μg/mL) and THP-1 cells (3.25% at 100 μg/mL), while PSN-PEI induced the most genotoxicity in THP-1 and TK6 cells (3.72% and 2.14% at 100μg/mL, respectively). ROS assays revealed oxidative stress as a key toxicity mechanism, with PSN-amine and PSN-PEI generating significantly higher ROS levels compared to other PSNs (p≤0.001). Gene expression analysis showed time-dependent variations in tumour suppressor protein (p53) and NF-κB signalling across cell lines, with PSN-amine and PSN-PEI strongly activating inflammatory pathways, demonstrated by the increase in expression of phosphorylated NF-κB. These findings highlight the complex interplay between physicochemical properties, cellular interactions, and toxicity mechanisms of PSNs.
The cytotoxic and genotoxic effects were linked to cellular uptake and surface charge, while the immunogenicity was likely influenced by protein corona formation.
Future studies should focus on optimising surface functionalisation to enhance biocompatibility and reduce toxicity for safer biomedical applications
The effects of HCOV-OC43 on TIE2:TIE1 ratio and ANG1 induced TIE2 signalling in endothelial cells
No full textPortrait Photography from China’s Xinjiang: Capturing Geopolitics and Ethnic Identities on the Frontier
Full text linkopen access articleThis article examines a collection of portrait photographs from Xinjiang and plumbs the ways they navigate the geopolitical and cultural currents, as well as inter-ethnic relations in this controversy-prone region of China. These photographs are positioned at the intersection of international discourse on China’s human rights record, domestic politics of securitization and photography genres to consider how photography links to everyday geopolitical knowledge. Ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang, especially the Uyghurs, loom large within the global consciousness and have ignited scathing contempt towards China. This article analyzes images that depoliticize and normalize Xinjiang and its ethnic minorities, shifting away from imageries and discourses of re-education camps and surveillance cameras and ensconcing them within the quotidian and enchanted memories. To see this shift, the article focuses on a series of portraits titled Hometown by the Chinese photographer Ma Hailun, who has been described as among ‘China’s dynamic new generation of influential photographers’. The author contends that these images encapsulate the fraught politics of representation in portraying the region for a global audience, and yet, they ultimately align with the state’s geopolitical discourses and reinforce desired visions of ethnic minorities. They also demonstrate photography’s calculated maneuvering through Xinjiang’s geopolitics and ethnic relations
Advancing Sustainable Housing in Latin America: A Critical Review of Energy Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Policy
Full text linkopen access articleWhile interest in indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in Latin American housing has been growing over the past decade, the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted its critical importance due to increased residential occupancy time, exposure to indoor pollutants, and their implications for health. Recognising the climatic, cultural, infrastructural, and socio-economic diversity of the region, this study presents a bibliometric review of research and policy advances with the aim of examining progress towards effective pathways for sustainable housing, focusing on the integrated vision of energy efficiency, IEQ, and regulations as the key thematic axes. This review, conducted using the Scopus database, synthesises findings, methodological practices, and policy developments from 2013 to 2023. Based on the qualitative thematic analysis of studies included in the narrative synthesis, the results reveal that energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality frameworks in the region are still insufficient and fragmented, hindering improvements in residential energy efficiency and thermal comfort, particularly in low-income housing. This study underscores the urgent need for updated public policies with the explicit incorporation of IEQ and health indicators, stronger enforcement of energy efficiency and building regulations, and the improved dissemination of IEQ benefits to promote sustainable governance. Further research on evaluating the long-term impacts of implemented policies and interventions in public health is also essential to address ongoing social, political, and environmental challenges in the region
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Film and Media
Full text linkThis book expounds how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) became so ubiquitous. The relationships between trauma, memory, and media, including the cultural, psychological, and social dimensions of PTSD are analysed. This work provides an examination of PTSD across diverse cultural contexts, shedding light on its profound impact on human experience and societal structures. This work addresses the role of social media internationally, the pornography industry, and conspiracy theories, in perpetuating trauma and shaping societal attitudes. From feature films, including Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, and Jacob’s Ladder, to hit television shows such as the BBC’s Bodyguard, visual cultures have been instrumental in popularizing an understanding of PTSD. Often these are traditional “triumph over adversity” narratives. In others what is relevant is the wider postwar political landscape. Controversial wars have led to mental health problems for returning soldiers, depicted as part of a metaphoric wound for a nation. At its heart, America is concerned with the survival of the fittest, a Social Darwinist creed fused with manifest destiny and turbo capitalism. Any weaknesses, such as mental problems including PTSD, contradicted and challenged the essence of the pioneering American spirit. A book on PTSD at this moment is necessary, as the subject has become popularized and politicized, just as “madness” became a term to define an era. Through advocating for interdisciplinary approaches to foster healthier perspectives and support, here we come to a deeper understanding of how digital cultures have impacted the politics of time and memory
Modal Phase Study on Lift Enhancement of a Locally Flexible Membrane Airfoil Using Dynamic Mode Decomposition
Full text linkopen access articleThe dynamic mode decomposition serves as a useful tool for the coherent structure extraction of the complex flow fields with characteristic frequency identification, but the phase information of the flow modes is paid less attention to. In this study, phase information around the locally flexible membrane airfoil is quantitatively studied using dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) to unveil the physical mechanism of the lift improvement of the membrane airfoil. The flow over the airfoil at a low Reynolds number (Re = 5500) is computed parametrically across a range of angles of attack (AOA = 4°–14°) and membrane lengths (LM = 0.55c–0.70c) using a verified fluid–structure coupling framework. The lift enhancement is analyzed by the dynamic coherent patterns of the membrane airfoil flow fields, which are quantified by the DMD modal phase propagation. A downstream propagation pressure speed (DPP) on the upper surface is defined to quantify the propagation speed of the lagged maximal pressure in the flow separation zone. It is found that a faster DPP speed can induce more vortices. The correlation coefficient between the DPP speed and lift enhancement is above 0.85 at most cases, indicating the significant contribution of vortex evolution to aerodynamic performance. The DPP speed greatly impacts the retention time of dominant vortices on the upper surface, resulting in the lift enhancement
The Intellectual Structure in University Social Responsibility Research: A Bibliometric Analysis
No full textThe file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.University social responsibility (USR) is an emerging concept in business and social science research that pertains to the broader responsibilities of higher education organizations in contemporary societies. Although USR research has grown substantially, focusing on higher education institutions' roles in addressing global grand challenges, a comprehensive synthesis of the literature remains limited. Additionally, there is a lack of understanding regarding the diverse scholarly contributions to the field. To address these gaps, this study presents a systematic review of USR literature. Using bibliometric analysis of 288 articles published, we identify the core themes of USR research, including environmental sustainability, civic and community engagement, capacity building, equality and inclusion, social responsibility in teaching and learning, governance, and accountability. We also illustrate how research trends have evolved over time.
This study offers a holistic review of the USR domain and identifies five clusters that characterize the current literature: (1) Engagement, (2) Students’ Perceptions, (3) Disclosure, (4) Student Satisfaction and USR, and (5) The Role of USR in the University’s Reputation. The implications of these findings are examined
Drivers and Preferences of European Farmers for Agri-Environmental Public Goods Schemes: A Two-Stage Analysis
Full text linkopen access articleThe new Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) intends to give more freedom to countries to manage their budget while increasing funding for income support and provisioning of climate public goods from agriculture and farming. For the past 20 years this has been operationalised through incentivising farmers’ contract participation in agri-environmental schemes (AES). In this paper we examine through a two-stage approach, farmer preferences for contract characteristics in a multi-European country Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) and the determinants of land enrolment in contracts. Overall, we find that longer contracts and high administrative burden decrease the probability of enrolling in a contract over the base levels while shorter contract length and provisioning of advisory support are desirable. Amongst all available contract options, converting arable to grassland options was by far the one that participants asked the most compensation for, across countries. We also find that past experience with agri-environmental schemes and socio-demographics have a strong and statistically significant effect on the percentage of land enrolled, while contract characteristics do not influence enrolment. Finally, we present some evidence of position-ordering effects affecting preferences for contracts and their characteristics but not influencing contract enrolment. Understanding the true cost incurred by farmers to implement AES is crucial for policymakers as failure to do so can make farmers ask for much higher compensation, per hectare, potentially to cover costs of transitioning to different types of farming or to incorporate financial risk by significantly altering their farm practices
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