Brunel University London

About: Brunel University London is a education organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Large Hadron Collider & Population. The organization has 10918 authors who have published 29515 publications receiving 893330 citations. The organization is also known as: Brunel & University of Brunel.

Endocrine disrupting effects of herbicides and pentachlorophenol: in vitro and in vivo evidence.

Abstract: The potential for agricultural chemicals to cause endocrine disruption (ED) in humans and wildlife is an increasing concern; however, the effects of commonly used pesticides at environmentally relevant concentrations are largely unknown. Therefore, 12 environmentally relevant pesticides (11 herbicides and pentachlorophenol (PCP)) were tested for their endocrine disrupting potential in two in vitro assays. A recombinant yeast screen was used to detect receptor mediated (anti-) estrogenic and (anti-) androgenic activity (concentration range: 0.01-1000 microM), and cultured Xenopus oocytes were used to measure effects on the ovulatory response and ovarian steroidogenesis (concentration range: 0.00625-62.5 microM). Eleven pesticides were active in at least one assay (isoproturon, diuron, linuron, 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy acetic acid (MCPA), mecoprop, atrazine, simazine, PCP, trifluralin, chlorpropham, bentazone), and one had no effect (2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4,-D)). The most common effects were antiestrogenic/ antiandrogenic activity in the yeast screen, and inhibition of ovulation in vitro, accompanied by decreased testosterone production. Estrogenic activity was never observed. In addition, the most potent compound identified in vitro (PCP) was tested for ED activity in vivo. A short-term exposure (6 days) of adult female Xenopus to low concentrations (0.1 or 1 microg/L; 0.375 or 3.75 nM) resulted in minor alterations in plasma hormone levels and toxic effects on the ovary. Changes in in vitro human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) stimulated hormone production in ovarian follicles from exposed individuals was also observed. In conclusion, novel effects of herbicides and PCP at environmentally relevant concentrations were found, and the effects of these compounds on humans and/or wildlife warrant further investigation.

Higher Education Communities and Academic Identity

Abstract: The slippery use to which the word ‘community’ is applied in higher education studies and pronouncements makes it desirable that it should be better defined and related to more bounded assumptions about individual academic identity and relationships within academe. There is discussion of the academic communities of the invisible colleges and their modes of internal governance by elites and the communitarian implications of the changing pattern of institutional management. The relationship of academics and their institutions to the wider world of society and the economy is considered. It is concluded that external connections are not best pursued through assumptions of shared community but of acceptance of differentiation and exchange.

Geography of Methodological Issues in Research with Children

Abstract: Over the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in the methodologies used in research with children. Geographers have contributed to the growing body of research that highlights that ch...

Power, rationality, and the art of living through socio-technical change

Abstract: Most information systems research takes for granted the assumption that IS practice and associated organizational change can be effectively understood as a process of technical reasoning and acting governed by a mix of concerns about software construction, administrative control, and economic gain. Its mission has been to empower managers, IS engineers, and information and communication technology users with knowledge and techniques for effective decision making. However, empirical research frequently encounters human activity that is at odds with the assumed pattern of rational behavior. Recent work tries to explain behavior in IS and organizational change in terms of social processes rather than as a consideration of rational techniques of professional practice. In this paper we address this ambivalence of the IS field with regard to technical/rational knowledge and practice. We draw from the theoretical work of Michel Foucault on power/knowledge and the aesthetics of existence to argue that the rational techniques of IS practice and the power dynamics of an organization and its social context are closely intertwined, requiring each other to be sustained. Furthermore, we develop a context-specific notion of rationality in IS innovation, through which interested parties judge the value of an innovation for their lives and consequently support or subvert its course. We demonstrate these ideas with a case study of a social security organization in Greece.