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The ambivalence of the “Macpherson moment”: re-examining the political struggles following the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence
No full textThis paper provides a systematic re-examination of the political struggles following the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in April 1993. While the Macpherson Report has received considerable academic attention, there is still a lack of engagement with the complex political struggles based on which Lawrence's horrific death has become a major cause célèbre with far-reaching yet contradictory political consequences. Drawing on hegemony-theoretical approaches and presenting original archival research, this paper brings together an in-depth analysis of various aspects of the public debates, protest dynamics, and institutional struggles in the years following the murder of Lawrence with a contextual analysis of the broader politics of (anti-)racism in the transitional period between Thatcherism and New Labour. More specifically, it analyses the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry as the “condensation of a relation of forces” (Poulantzas) characterised by an ambivalent nexus between activist breakthrough, institutional reform and political stagnation in the post-Thatcherite conjuncture
Late reception [play memory of a free festival]
Get PDFThis short text should be read in conjunction with, and as an introduction of sorts, to Nicholas Royle's own piece that opens this volume, 'The Early Reception of the Sun Machine', first delivered as a talk at the University of Glasgow in 2024. It discusses the circumstances of the talk, the ways in which the Sun Machine book has been read and misread and takes the form of a personal reflection on the whole question of circumstance and coincidence
Landscape-scale responses of freshwater biodiversity to connectivity and stressors
Get PDFAim:
There is compelling evidence that drivers and patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning vary across multiple spatial scales, from global to regional, landscape and patch. However, macroecological processes impacting freshwater biodiversity are poorly understood compared to marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Despite step changes in data availability, we have a fragmented view beyond the local scale of how hydrological and landscape connectivity interact with ecosystem stressors to shape freshwater biodiversity and functioning. While macroecological patterns can vary substantially among taxonomic groups, previous studies have focussed on individual habitat types, sites or taxonomic groups within landscapes, hindering direct comparisons. We present a cross-landscape, multi-species analysis of the interactive effects of landscape and hydrological connectivity and stressors on standing freshwater quality and the diversity of several major freshwater taxonomic groups.
Location:
Great Britain (United Kingdom).
Time Period:
2000–2016.
Major Taxa Studied:
Phytoplankton chlorophyll-a, macrophytes, molluscs, Coleoptera, Odonata, fish and birds.
Methods:
Using random forests and generalised additive modelling, we quantified the interactive effects of landscape and hydrological connectivity and stressors on water quality (phytoplankton chlorophyll-a) and the diversity of selected taxa in standing freshwaters.
Results:
We found evidence of connectivity changing from positive to negative relationships with biotic responses with increasing human-induced stress levels. Some species groups showed the inverse, reflecting complexities of modelling at large, cross-landscape scales. Almost all responses were affected by stress or connectivity, often interacting and with non-linear relationships.
Main Conclusions:
Patterns in stressor-connectivity interactions differed across taxa, but were important in shaping 6 of 8 biotic responses. This emphasises the need for taxon-specific analyses to resolve freshwater ecological responses to stressors, connectivity, and their interactions. Our results also highlight that connectivity effects must be integrated in landscape-scale, evidence-led decision-making, designed to reduce impacts of stressors on water quality and biodiversity
Risky outdoor play in the early years: how are parental and practitioner perceptions of danger and benefits associated with young children's outdoor play experiences?
Get PDFAgainst a backdrop of generational declines in outdoor play and recent work demonstrating geo-cultural differences in adult perceptions of risk in outdoor play, this paper explores the relationships between gatekeeper (parent/practitioner) perceptions of dangers and benefits in outdoor risky play scenarios and young children’s (aged 2–5 years old) experiences of outdoor play in Scotland, and whether these are moderated by being a parent or practitioner. A contextually relevant picture-based survey asked parents (n = 205) and practitioners (n = 151) to rate six different outdoor risky play scenarios based on their level of danger and benefits. The outcome variable was number of outdoor play scenarios children experienced. Ordinal logistic regression analyses were supported by the variables: respondent age, respondent experiences as a child, child age, perceptions of road traffic, and urbanicity of home/practitioner setting. Results suggested that an increasing number of perceived dangers was generally reflected in lower odds of the children having play experiences. This effect was consistent regardless of being a parent or practitioner. When perceived benefits were included in the model the effects of perceived danger became non-significant. Contributing Scottish evidence to the wider literature supports context specific intervention efforts promoting the benefits of outdoor (risky) play
Optical footprint of ghost and leaky hyperbolic polaritons
Get PDFManipulating hyperbolic polaritons at infrared frequencies has recently garnered interest as it promises to deliver new functionality for next-generation optical and photonic devices. This study investigates the impact of the crystal’s anisotropy orientation on the attenuated total reflection (ATR) spectra, more specifically, revealing the optical footprint of elliptical, ghost (GHP), and leaky (LHP) hyperbolic polaritons. Our findings reveal that the ATR spectra of GHPs exhibit a distinct hyperbolic behavior that is similar to that recently observed using s-SNOM techniques. Similarly, the ATR spectra of LHPs show its clear lenticular behavior; however, here we are able to discern the effects of large asymmetry due to cross polarization conversion when the crystal anisotropy is tilted away from the surface. Furthermore, we demonstrate that by controlling the anisotropy orientation of hyperbolic media it is possible to significantly alter the optical response of these polaritons. Thus, our results provide a foundation for the design of direction-dependent optical devices
Exploring a diagnostic test for missingness at random
Get PDFMissing data remain a challenge for researchers and decision-makers due to their impact on analytical accuracy and uncertainty estimation. Many studies on missing data are based on randomness, but randomness itself is problematic. This makes it difficult to identify missing data mechanisms and affects how effectively the missing data impacts can be minimized. The purpose of this paper is to examine a potentially simple test to diagnose whether the missing data are missing at random. Such a test is developed using an extended taxonomy of missing data mechanisms. A key aspect of the approach is the use of single mean imputation for handling missing data in the test development dataset. Changing this to random imputation from the same underlying distribution, however, has a negative impact on the diagnosis. This is aggravated by the possibility of high inter-variable correlation, confounding, and mixed missing data mechanisms. The verification step uses data from a high-quality real-world dataset and finds some evidence—in one case—that the data may be missing at random, but this is less persuasive in the second case. Confidence in these results, however, is limited by the potential influence of correlation, confounding, and mixed missingness. This paper concludes with a discussion of the test’s merits and finds that sufficient uncertainties remain to render it unreliable, even if the initial results appear promising
Scottish independence and British identity: an unusual late-medieval perspective
Get PDFJohn Mair is regarded as the first unionist thinker because of his advocacy of dynastic union between Scotland and England in his ‘History of Greater Britain’ (1521). In this article his ‘History’ is reread in a new context as part of a late-medieval Scottish identification of Britain as Scottish. The idea of England as Britain is more than a millennium old; identifying Britain as an extension of the Scottish kingdom, and of Scottish independence as compatible with British identity, is much less familiar. It is traced in this article in John of Fordun's work (written in the mid-1380s), Thomas Barry's poem on the Battle of Otterburn (1388), and in an unpublished compendium of king-list, chronicle and origin-legend material in a recently discovered booklet from the early sixteenth century. It is proposed that, rather than ‘banal unionism’, there was ‘banal Britishness’ based ultimately on sharing the same island. Not only does this suggest that there was even less of an inherent contradiction between Scottish independence and being British than is apparent within the spectrum of unionism delineated by Colin Kidd; it also raises the question of whether there are only Scottish, English and Welsh British identities, each with their own spectrum which have only occasionally intersected as a common Britishness
Accordion: a Malleable Pipeline Scheduling Approach for Adaptive SLO-Aware Inference Serving
Get PDFWith the rising demand for machine learning-based applications, efficient and cost-effective inference serving systems have become imperative. These systems are tasked with meeting customer requirements outlined by Service Level Objectives (SLOs), encompassing model accuracy, response time, and cost considerations. Despite the adoption of proactive scheduling techniques by modern inference serving systems, dynamic factors such as fluctuating query patterns still pose challenges such as delayed response time. To address these, we propose an adaptive solution leveraging SLO-aware scheduling techniques to optimize resource allocation. Our approach aims to minimize the need for additional resources per inference service. By introducing malleable inference pipelines, we enhance flexibility in resource allocation during peak loads by readjusting the resource assignment to processing pipelines to accommodate maximum possible queries dynamically. Our findings indicate that the proposed scheduler effectively utilizes system resources throughout execution while meeting most SLOs (4.2 × less SLO violations). We observe an average reduction of 1.6 × in the end-to-end latency of query processing, compared to baseline methods. We also demonstrate the impact of dynamically reducing the resources per inference query to accommodate more inference queries in the system. Our solution accommodates 1.4 × more queries on average compared to the baselines and achieves 1.6 × higher system throughput in terms of queries per second on average
Temporal patterns in management: integrating perspectives on rhythms of work and organizing
No full textTemporal patterns—recurring sequences of events, activities, and behaviors in organizations that shape how time is organized and experienced—are fundamental to understanding organizational dynamics. Yet, their conceptualization in management studies remains fragmented, with diverse terminology and theoretical approaches hindering the integration of research findings. This review synthesizes the literature by identifying four distinct perspectives on temporal patterns: dictating, entraining, enacting, and reconceiving. Each perspective offers unique insights into how temporal patterns influence organizational dynamics. We unpack implicit theoretical tensions around agency, axiology, innovation, and ontology through what we term “temporal reflection.” Consequently, we uncover three themes that bridge perspectives: temporal conflict, temporal competence, and temporal (un)bridging. These convergent themes offer opportunities for theoretical integration and future research. Our review provides a holistic framework for understanding temporal patterns in management studies while identifying promising directions for cross-disciplinary dialogue and investigation
Evaluation of an online systematic review escape room for early career clinicians and doctoral students
Get PDFBackground: Systematic reviews are increasingly appearing in doctoral theses and being supported by librarians. There is, however, evidence that students struggle to undertake systematic reviews.
Case Presentation: We sought to understand the perspectives of, and confidence utilising systematic review search methods following an online escape room teaching intervention as part of our in-person orientation session for Doctorate in Clinical Psychology trainees. Following the session, trainees were invited to participate in an online survey to which we received a 90% response rate (n=35). The escape room was enjoyed by most trainees with many using the words “fun” and “engaging” to describe the intervention, this despite more participants finding the escape room difficult. The average scores for confidence in utilising search syntax were positive, but there was a wide range of scores. Many of the comments that trainees made centred on time pressure to escape. We believe that allowing the trainees more time would increase their enjoyment of the game and aid their learning.
Conclusion: Our systematic review escape room demonstrates that key methodological concepts and search skills can be taught in an active, fun, and engaging way that helps introduce and scaffold learning for latter in-depth teaching
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