Showing papers by "University of Westminster published in 2003"
Book•
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the notion of unfamiliar words and catalysts in the context of cosmocracy, and Ethics across borders across borders, and further reading.
Abstract: Preface 1. Unfamiliar words 2. Catalysts 3. Cosmocracy 4. Paradise on Earth? 5. Ethics across borders 6. Further reading.
809 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of selected high-performance practices and working hours on work-life balance were analyzed with data from national surveys of British employees in 1992 and 2000, showing that certain 'high-performance' practices have become more strongly related to negative job-to-home spillover during this period.
Abstract: The effects of selected high-performance practices and working hours on work-life balance are analysed with data from national surveys of British employees in 1992 and 2000. Alongside long hours, which are a constant source of negative job-to-home spillover, certain 'high-performance' practices have become more strongly related to negative spillover during this period. Surprisingly, dual-earner couples are not especially liable to spillover - if anything, less so than single-earner couples. Additionally, the presence of young children has become less important over time. Overall, the results suggest a conflict between high-performance practices and work-life balance policies.
505 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated international students' perception about the UK education and the UK performance in the world markets for international education and found that the UK achieved only a marginal growth with declining market penetration.
Abstract: The study functions as marketing intelligence inputs for the UK Government, the British Council as well as academic marketing planners for constructing their marketing opportunities‐threats audits, it investigates international students’ perception about the UK education and it researches UK performance in the world markets for international education. UK education has been known to be the best in the world. For many years, the UK universities have enjoyed a high reputation and have benefited in accelerating its market penetration worldwide. Unfortunately, this superiority has begun to decline. Other countries are strongly emerging with their quality education. The study shows that UK competitors achieved a remarkable growth of their international students’ enrolment while the UK achieves only a marginal growth with declining market penetration abroad. The findings confirmed the central importance of pricing, product and promotional variables in designing and marketing UK education abroad.
430 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on carbohydrates as compounds initiating a defence response in cell cultures and describe suggested mechanisms of elicitation in plants and microbial cell cultures, using a chronological survey of examples of elicitors and elicitation.
Abstract: Plants show physiological and morphological responses to a range of physical and chemical factors known as 'elicitors'. These responses have been considered as defence reactions 'elicited' by the plants' biochemical factory to ensure their survival, persistence and competitiveness. Recently examples have been cited of elicitation in some fungal and bacterial cultures. Through a chronological survey, this Review considers examples of elicitors and elicitation and describes suggested mechanisms of elicitation in plants and microbial cell cultures. The majority of research in this field has been carried out on the plant systems using complex (undefined) biotic elicitors. Carbohydrates are the main class of compounds used as defined elicitors. This Review focuses on carbohydrates as compounds initiating a defence response in cell cultures. Physiological changes brought about on the plant and microbial cultures include expression of novel metabolites and overproduction of already known products. Recent reports confirming elicitation in microbial cultures are of potential importance, as the relative ease of fermentation and scale-up could open an opportunity for the introduction of useful novel metabolites as well as enhancement of commercially useful bioproducts. In this context, a sound knowledge of the elicitor molecules' structure-function relationships and mechanisms of elicitation is essential.
276 citations
TL;DR: Evidence is discussed that indicates fishing mortality and continental climate change appear to have had lesser impacts and predictions for the future are made and multidisciplinary and integrated monitoring and research are recommended for managing eel stocks and fisheries.
262 citations
TL;DR: This article conducted a focus group study of how UK consumers discuss choosing safe food and found that people were concerned in an abstract way with the safety of food and how it was monitored, but 'risk' and'safety' were rarely the primary discursive framework used for justifying food choices.
Abstract: A number of 'food scares' over the past decade in Europe have generated considerable debate about public understandings of food risk, and the extent to which such understandings impact on decision making. This paper reports on a focus group study of how UK consumers discuss choosing safe food. Strategies for making food choices were, in general, characterised by confidence rather than anxiety. Although concerned in an abstract way with the safety of food and how it was monitored, 'risk' and 'safety' were rarely the primary discursive framework used for justifying food choices. Other discourses, such as health, naturalness, economy and convenience, competed with, overlapped with or were legitimated by that of 'risk'. However, everyday decision making was presented as a routine endeavour, aided by a number of 'short cuts' or rules of thumb for establishing food choices as routine and unremarkable. These short cuts divided safe from risky categories of food, but also divided preferred from despised foodstuff...
209 citations
TL;DR: The study revealed that Parkinson's patients with hallucinations appear to have intact visual imagery processes and spatial perception, however, there were impairments in object perception and recognition memory, and poor recollection of the encoding episode in comparison to both non-hallucinating Parkinson's Patients and healthy controls.
178 citations
TL;DR: A survey of tourism consumers from the Destinations Travel Show in the UK in 2000 showed that consumers are already making decisions based on environmental, social and economic quality for day-to-day products and are keen to transfer these habits to the purchase of tourism products.
Abstract: This article presents the results of a survey of tourism consumers from the Destinations Travel Show in the UK in 2000. Four hundred and eleven tourism consumers were interviewed over four days at the show on the type of information that they used in the selection of their holiday destination. This article posits that the power of the consumer can be a major force for progress towards greater sustainability by the tourism industry, acting as a rationale for change, which is often missing from more traditional planning, management or regulatory techniques. The research shows consumers are already making decisions based on environmental, social and economic quality for day-to-day products and are keen to transfer these habits to the purchase of tourism products. Recommendations are made, highlighting the need for the tourism industry to capitalise on this demand for a wider range of product information and so promote moves towards greater levels of sustainability in the industry.
174 citations
TL;DR: The essential oil extracted from palmarosa has proven anti-microbial properties against cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and led to changes in the composition of the yeast cell membrane, with more saturated and less unsaturated fatty acids in the membrane after exposure of S. Cerevisiae cells to the oil.
170 citations
TL;DR: Given representativeness issues with "internet norms", it is recommended that if online tests are used for clinical purposes, this should currently be done in a manner that does not rely on normative data.
Abstract: Use of internet-mediated questionnaire assessment is growing in behavioural telehealth provision. Literature on web-based psychological testing indicates that - while tests used online should be validated for online use - such measures can be reliable and valid. However, use of normative data (especially data from paper-and-pencil samples) presents problems. Studies have shown score distributions may differ across testing media, even when comparisons are made between equivalent samples. Data from 3 different projects illustrate such (substantive) differences, and the errors that would result from using established norms to interpret internet-mediated assessments. Given representativeness issues with "internet norms", it is recommended that if online tests are used for clinical purposes, this should currently be done in a manner that does not rely on normative data.
167 citations
TL;DR: The Michael reaction between glutathione and kava lactones, resulting in opening of the lactone ring, reduces the side effects of the kava kava extracts and recommends made for safe usage of kava-kava products.
TL;DR: In this article, an evaluation of student views and reactions to a changed approach to teaching and learning that was enabled by the extensive use of information and communication technology (ICT) was carried out over two academic years.
Abstract: This article reports on an evaluation of student views and reactions to a changed approach to teaching and learning that was enabled by the extensive use of information and communication technology (ICT). Evaluation was carried out over two academic years and involved the use of questionnaires, one-to-one interviews with students and student-led discussions. In general, students were appreciative of the approach, welcoming classroom sessions that focused on real problem-solving rather than one-to-many discourse. The students perceived the module to be harder than other modules although overall student performance was actually better when compared with previous years. It was clear, however, that during the semester most students used the electronic materials provided only when they needed them to support coursework assignments. As a consequence one major aim of the approach, to increase the degree of student-led learning in class, was not achieved consistently.
TL;DR: Health professionals should be aware of the potential for psychological distress in patients exhibiting poor physical functioning and those with apparent deficits in social or family support in this under-studied group of patients.
Abstract: Objective: The incidence of prostate cancer has risen sharply in the last decade, yet knowledge about the psychological health of men with this disease is still limited. A study was therefore undertaken to identify (1) the prevalence of psychological distress in these males, and (2) factors predicting psychological distress.
Design: Retrospective cross-sectional survey design by means of a self-administered questionnaire.
Method: A sample of 94 men with various stages of prostate cancer completed the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Prostate Instrument (FACT-P), the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) and items measuring satisfaction with medical care.
Results: We detected a prevalence rate of 38% of participants reporting psychological distress corresponding to a HADS cut-off score at or above 15. A standard multivariate regression analysis revealed social/family well-being, physical well-being and functional well-being as significant inverse predictors of psychological distress.
Conclusions: Health professionals should be aware of the potential for psychological distress in patients exhibiting poor physical functioning and those with apparent deficits in social or family support in this under-studied group of patients. Strategies for psychosocial intervention are implied.
TL;DR: It is shown that night time exposure to LFN may affect the cortisol response upon wake up and that lower cortisol levels after awakening were associated with subjective reports of lower sleep quality and mood.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a critique of the IPCC's Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES), which claims to "provide the basis for future assessments of climate change and possible response strategies".
Abstract: This set of papers chiefly presents a critique of the IPCC's Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES), which claims to "provide the basis for future assessments of climate change and possible response strategies". The 40 scenarios are technically unsound in that, contrary to accepted international practice, they convert national GDP data to a common measure using market exchange rates. Because of this procedure and built-in assumptions about the extent to which the gap between rich and poor countries will be closed, the scenarios yield projections of GDP for developing regions which are improbably high: this includes the scenarios which give the lowest figures for projected cumulative emissions in the course of the century. Hence the SRES projections do not, as is claimed for them, encompass the full range of uncertainties about the future. Because of these and some other defects that we have noted, the SRES should not be taken as the accepted basis for the IPPC's coming Fourth Assessment Review. More...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors defined crises and disasters before discussing the area of crisis and disaster management, and then applied the foot and mouth outbreak which occurred in the United Kingdom to the tourism disaster framework proposed by Faulkner (2001).
Abstract: As the number of disasters and crises affecting the tourism industry increases, it is becoming necessary to understand the nature of these disasters and how to manage and limit the impacts of such incidents. This paper defines crises and disasters before discussing the area of crisis and disaster management. The paper then applies the foot and mouth outbreak which occurred in the United Kingdom to the tourism disaster framework proposed by Faulkner (2001). The paper notes that although the outbreak fits the basic principles of Faulkner's (2001) model, the size, scope and subsequent management of the outbreak over an extended period suggests that although the model is useful, it has limited usefulness because not all disasters and crises are the same. Nevertheless, by examining how crises and disasters are managed, lessons for destinations and organisations may help turn such incidents into positive forces for change and help to reduce the severity of future disasters.
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the shift from the openly declared pursuit of national interests in foreign policy, to the growing emphasis on ethical or moral duties to protect the rights and interests of the people of the world.
Abstract: This article analyses the shift, from the openly declared pursuit of national interests in foreign policy, to the growing emphasis on ethical or moral duties to protect the rights and interests of ...
Book•
01 Jan 2003TL;DR: The Television Studies Reader as mentioned in this paper brings together key writings in the expanding field of television studies, providing an overview of the discipline and addressing issues of industry, genre, audiences, production and ownership, and representation.
Abstract: The Television Studies Reader brings together key writings in the expanding field of television studies, providing an overview of the discipline and addressing issues of industry, genre, audiences, production and ownership, and representation. The Reader charts the ways in which television and television studies are being redefined by new and 'alternative' ways of producing, broadcasting and watching TV, such as cable, satellite and digital broadcasting, home video, internet broadcasting, and interactive TV, as well as exploring the recent boom in genres such as reality TV and docusoaps. It brings together articles from leading international scholars to provide perspectives on television programmes and practices from around the world, acknowledging both television's status as a global medium and the many and varied local contexts of its production and reception. Articles are grouped in seven themed sections, each with an introduction by the editors: Institutions of Television Spaces of Television Modes of Television Making Television Social Representation on Television Watching Television Transforming Television
TL;DR: A large sample of recreational drug users were accessed, using the Internet, to obtain self-reports of memory functioning with a view to exploring any differences in self-reported ability amongst male and female users, and the level of difficulty reported by the ‘typical’ ecstasy user.
Abstract: Research indicates that the use of recreational drugs, including MDMA ('ecstasy') can result in impairments in cognitive functioning. Recent evidence, based on accounts of 'on drug' effects and cortical binding ratios suggests that women may be more susceptible to the effects of MDMA; however, no research has explored whether there are differences in the long-term behavioural sequelae of the drug between men and women. In addition, little is known about the profile of functioning of the 'typical' user. The present investigation accessed a large sample of recreational drug users, using the Internet, to obtain self-reports of memory functioning with a view to exploring any differences in self-reported ability amongst male and female users, and the level of difficulty reported by the 'typical' ecstasy user. A web site (www.drugresearch.org.uk) was developed and used for data collection. Prospective memory ability was assessed using the Prospective Memory Questionnaire. Self-report of day-to-day memory performance was investigated using the Everyday Memory Questionnaire. The UEL Drug Questionnaire assessed the use of other substances. The number of mistakes made while completing the questionnaires was also taken as an objective measure of performance errors. Findings, based on datasets submitted from 763 respondents, indicate no differences in self-reports of functioning between male and female participants. An overall dissociation between the effects of cannabis and ecstasy on self-reported memory functioning and on the likelihood of making an error during the completion of the questionnaire was found. Typical ecstasy users were found to report significantly more difficulties in long-term prospective memory and to make more completion errors than users of other substances and drug naive controls. Whilst taking into account the fact that participants were recruited via the World Wide Web and that a number of stringent exclusion criteria were applied to the data, a number of conclusions can be drawn. Recreational drug users perceive their memory ability to be impaired compared to non-users. The type of memory difficulties reported varies depending upon the drug of choice. These difficulties are exacerbated in ecstasy users. Individuals reporting average levels of use of ecstasy are more likely to report memory problems than non-ecstasy drug users or drug free individuals. The deleterious effects of ecstasy are therefore not restricted to heavy or chronic users. No gender differences were detected, suggesting that there may be a dissociation between cognitive impairment and cortical binding worthy of further exploration.
TL;DR: The data suggest that the length of stages during incremental cycle exercise may influence the W(peak) and in turn the relationship of this variable to VO2(peak), and the best indicator of 90 min cycle performance in well-trained triathletes is obtained from a test incorporating 3 min stage increments.
TL;DR: In this paper, students were randomly allocated to resistance (R, n = 9), endurance (E, N = 8), and concurrent resistance and endurance training conditions, with each endurance training session consisted of five 5-minute bouts of incremental cycle exercise at between 40 and 100% of peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak).
Abstract: Twenty-six active university students were randomly allocated to resistance (R, n = 9), endurance (E, n = 8), and concurrent resistance and endurance (C, n = 9) training conditions. Training was completed 3 times per week in all conditions, with endurance training preceding resistance training in the C group. Resistance training involved 4 sets of upper- and lower-body exercises with loads of 4-8 repetition maximum (RM). Each endurance training session consisted of five 5-minute bouts of incremental cycle exercise at between 40 and 100% of peak oxygen uptake (.VO2peak). Parameters measured prior to and following training included strength (1RM and isometric and isokinetic [1.04, 3.12, 5.20, and 8.67 rad.s(-1)] strength), .VO2peak and Wingate test performance (peak power output [PPO], average power, and relative power decline). Significant improvements in 1RM strength were observed in the R and C groups following training. .VO2peak significantly increased in E and C but was significantly reduced in R after training. Effect size (ES) transformations on the other dependent variables suggested that performance changes in the C group were not always similar to changes in the R or E groups. These ES data suggest that statistical power and dependent variable selection are significant issues in enhancing our insights into concurrent training. It may be necessary to assess a range of performance parameters to monitor the relative effectiveness of a particular concurrent training regimen.
16 Sep 2003
TL;DR: The need for providing both dynamic and static conflict detection and resolution for policies in such systems and builds on earlier conflict detection work (Dunlop et al., 2001, 2002) to introduce the methods for conflict resolution in large open distributed systems are discussed.
Abstract: While developments in distributed object computing environments, such as the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) by the Object Management Group (2000) and the Telecommunication Intelligent Network Architecture (TINA) by H. Mulder (2002), have enabled interoperability between domains in large open distributed systems, managing the resources within such systems has become an increasingly complex task. This challenge has been considered for several years within the distributed systems management research community and policy-based management has recently emerged as a promising solution. Large evolving enterprises present a significant challenge for policy-based management partly due to the requirement to support both mutual transparency and individual autonomy between domains according to C. Bidan and V. Issarny (1998), but also because the fluidity and complexity of interactions occurring within such environments requires an ability to cope with the existence of multiple, potentially inconsistent policies. This paper discusses the need for providing both dynamic (run-time) and static (compile-time) conflict detection and resolution for policies in such systems and builds on our earlier conflict detection work (Dunlop et al., 2001, 2002) to introduce the methods for conflict resolution in large open distributed systems.
TL;DR: 'Anti-HBc only' is a common phenomenon in the clinical virology laboratory but only a small proportion of samples had detectable HBV DNA.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored recent supply chain changes and assessed their impacts on the mode choice decision-making process, specifically addressing the implications for the use of rail and found that despite many of the identified changes effectively making the use on rail more difficult, considerable evidence has been found of the potential for rail to attract new traffic.
TL;DR: URI symptoms were associated with two related dynamic components of the cortisol cycle as determined by synchronization to awakening, whereas stress was related to a measure of overall secretory activity.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the diurnal pattern of salivary free cortisol to perceived stress and susceptibility to symptoms of upper respiratory illness (URI).
METHODS: Salivary free cortisol concentration was determined in 34 healthy participants (students) at eight time points, synchronized to awakening, on 2 consecutive days. Participants completed a standard questionnaire to assess perceived stress and subsequently kept a daily record of social proximity and symptoms of upper respiratory illness for 2 weeks.
RESULTS: Participants characterized by consistently larger awakening responses went on to report significantly more URI symptoms. Participants with less pronounced diurnal decline (flatter profiles) reported fewer URI symptoms. The two cortisol components were themselves related and interacted such that participants high on an interactive vector reported approximately three times more URI symptoms than other participants. The URI-associated cortisol components (dynamic changes) were not related to perceived stress, but underlying cortisol secretory activity (overall levels) in the first 45 minutes after awakening was. Dynamic components were, however, related to a social proximity measure, which in turn was related to URI symptoms. Proximity and the interactive cortisol vector together explained a substantial (28%) percentage of the variance in URI symptom reports. The cortisol vector independently and significantly explained 12% of the variation; the proximity measure independently and nonsignificantly contributed 6% of the variation.
CONCLUSIONS: URI symptoms were associated with two related dynamic components of the cortisol cycle as determined by synchronization to awakening, whereas stress was related to a measure of overall secretory activity.
TL;DR: Results show that motile stages obtained from the germination of several cysts of the ‘fossil-based’ Spiniferites and B. compressum are monophyletic, supported by bootstrap values of 100% in parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses, and these species belong to distinct species of the genus Gonyaulax.
Abstract: Cultures were established from cysts of the cyst-based taxa Spiniferites elongatus and S. membranaceus. Motile cells and cysts from both cultures and sediment samples were examined using light and scanning electron microscopy. The cyst- theca relationship was established for S. elongatus. The motile cells have the tabulation pattern 2 pr, 4', 6'', 6c, greater than or equal to 4s, 6''', 1p, 1'''', but they remain unattributable to previously described Gonyaulax species. There was large variation in process length and process morphology in cysts from both cultures and wild samples and there was variation in ornamentation and in the development of spines and flanges in motile cells. A new combination, G. elongata (Reid) Ellegaard et al. comb. nov. is proposed, following new rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature that give genera based on extant forms priority over genera based on fossil forms. Extreme morphological variation in the cyst and motile stages of S. membranaceus is described and this species is also transferred to the genus Gonyaulax, as G. membranacea (Rossignol) Ellegaard et al. comb. nov. Approximately 1500 bp of large subunit (LSU) rDNA were determined for these two species and for G. baltica, G. cf. spinifera (= S. ramosus) and G. digitalis (= Bitectatodinium tepikiense). LSU rDNA showed sequence divergences similar to those estimated between species in other genera within the Gonyaulacales; a phylogeny for the Gonyaulacales was established, including novel LSU rDNA sequences for Alexandrium margalefii, A. pseudogonyaulax and Pyrodinium bahamense var. compressum. Our results show that motile stages obtained from the germination of several cysts of the 'fossil-based' Spiniferites and B. tepikiense, which were previously attributed to 'Gonyaulax spinifera group undifferentiated', belong to distinct species of the genus Gonyaulax. These species show small morphological differences in the motile stage but relatively high sequence divergence. Moreover, this group of species is monophyletic, supported by bootstrap values of 100% in parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses.
Copyright © (2003) International Phycological Society. Reprinted by permission of Alliance Communications Group, a division of Allen Press, Inc.
TL;DR: A β-galactosidase, catalyzing lactose hydrolysis and galactooligosaccharide synthesis from lactose, was extracted from the yeast and had a high transGalactosylation activity resulting in the oligosACcharide conversion of over 34% using pure lactose and cheese whey permeate as substrates.
Abstract: A β-galactosidase, catalyzing lactose hydrolysis and galactooligosaccharide (GalOS) synthesis from lactose, was extracted from the yeast, Bullera singularis KCTC 7534. The crude enzyme had a high transgalactosylation activity resulting in the oligosaccharide conversion of over 34% using pure lactose and cheese whey permeate as substrates. The enzyme was purified by two chromatographic steps giving 96-fold purification with a yield of 16%. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme (specific activity of 56 U mg−1) was approx. 53 000 Da. The hydrolytic activity was the highest at pH 5 and 50 °C, and was stable to 45 °C for 2 h. Enzyme activity was inhibited by 10 mM Ag3+ and 10 mM SDS. The K
m for lactose hydrolysis was 0.58 m and the maximum reaction velocity (V
max) was 4 mm min−1. GalOS, including tri- and tetra-saccharides were produced with a conversion yield of 50%, corresponding to 90 g GalOS l−1 from 180 g lactose l−1 by the purified enzyme.
TL;DR: Cosmopolitan international relations theorists envisage a process of expanding cosmopolitan democracy and global governance, in which for the first time there is the possibility of global issues be... as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Cosmopolitan international relations theorists envisage a process of expanding cosmopolitan democracy and global governance, in which for the first time there is the possibility of global issues be...
TL;DR: Preliminary analysis of sequence data from Moniliophthora roreri, causal agent of frosty pod disease, indicates that this morphologically distinct pathogen may be closely related to C. perniciosa.
Abstract: Griffith, G. W., Nicholson, J., Nenninger, A., Birch, R. N., Hedger, J. N. (2003). Witches' brooms and frosty pods: two major pathogens of cacao. Journal of Botany, Royal Society of New Zealand, 41, 423-435
TL;DR: The international dimensions of terrorism had been identified prior to World War II Nonetheless, no agreement could be reached on an acceptable definition, or appropriate action, and the 1937 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism, adopted by the League of Nations, was ratified by a single country as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The international dimensions of terrorism had been identified prior to World War II Nonetheless, no agreement could be reached on an acceptable definition, or appropriate action, and the 1937 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism, adopted by the League of Nations, was ratified by a single country The issue resurfaced in the late 1950s when private individuals perpetrated an alarming number of incidents endangering civil aviation during transnational flights These incidents led to the adoption of three distinct conventions on the subject, namely the 1963 Tokyo Convention on Offenses and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft, the 1970 Hague Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, and the 1971 Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation