Manchester Metropolitan University

About: Manchester Metropolitan University is a education organization based out in Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 5435 authors who have published 16202 publications receiving 442561 citations. The organization is also known as: Manchester Polytechnic & MMU.

Towards Socially Just Pedagogies: Deleuzoguattarian Critical Disability Studies.

Abstract: Socially just pedagogies call for sensitivity to politics and culture. In this paper I will uncover some key challenges in relation to working pedagogically with disabled people through the exploration of a critical disability studies perspective. First, I will unpack some of the assumptions that underpin educational understandings of ‘disability’ and ‘impairment’, suggesting that we need to engage more willingly with politicized and socially constructed ideas in relation to these phenomena. Second, I will raise questions about the current aims of pedagogy in relation to the market and the autonomous learner. In light of the market—and the subject it produces—I will argue that ‘disability and ‘impairment’ demand critical researchers to think more creatively about setting the conditions for experimenting with socially just pedagogies. Third, with this experimentation in mind, I will draw upon the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to think of socially just pedagogies in terms of rhizomes (n – 1); pr...

Small firms and information and communication technologies (ICTs): toward a typology of ICTs usage

Abstract: Despite government support for a number of initiatives to encourage more small firms to adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs) implementation of ICTs has been a slow and very diverse development. This article examines the relationship between small firms and ICTs and highlights a number of typical, but often negated, characteristics that show how small firms use the technology.

Local, Global or Globalized?: Child Development and International Child Rights Legislation

Abstract: This article elaborates a conceptual framework for examining international child rights legislation and the concept of childhood that underlies it. The distinctions between local, global and global...

Sex differences in contractile properties and fatigue resistance of human skeletal muscle.

Abstract: To explore the cause of higher skeletal muscle fatigue resistance in women than men, we used electrically evoked contractions (1 s on, 1 s off, 30 Hz, 2 min), which circumvent motivational bias and allow examination of contractile properties. We compared 29 men [26.5 (7.0) years old; mean (s.d.)] with 35 women [25.4 (7.6) years old]. Strength of the quadriceps muscle was higher in men than women (P < 0.001). The lower maximal rate of relaxation in women (P = 0.002) indicates that their muscles were slower than those of men. The torque declined less in women than in men [37.7 (10.7) versus 29.9 (10.0)%; P = 0.002], and was not related to muscle strength or size, as determined with magnetic resonance imaging. The sex difference in fatigability was also seen when the circulation to the leg was occluded [torque declined 76.9 (10.8) versus 59.5 (16.9)% in men versus women, respectively; P = 0.008]. The maximal rate of relaxation correlated with the fatigability of the muscle under all conditions (correlations ranging from 0.34 to 0.51, P < 0.02). We conclude that the sex-related difference in skeletal muscle fatigue resistance is not explicable by differences in motivation, muscle size, oxidative capacity and/or blood flow between sexes, but might be related to differences in fibre type composition.