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Purpose – The chapter explores the methodological challenges in doing community-based participatory research (CBPR) in social science investigations with immigrant women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada.

Methodology/approach – The methodological comments, observations, and challenges discussed in this chapter result from research funded by the Social Science and Humanities Council, a branch of the Canadian Federal Tri-Council. The research that the authors conducted was both quantitative and qualitative in nature. The sample consisted of three groups of women: (1) immigrant women in Canada >10 years, (2) immigrant women in Canada <10 years, and (3) visible minority women born in Canada.

Findings – The chapter highlights some of the lessons learned in conducting CBPR research in the context of immigrant survivors of IPV. This discussion can be relevant to both academics and non-profit/advocacy agencies interested in pursuing community partnership research on interpersonal violence.

Originality/value – There is a paucity of writings on CBPR research in the social science and the challenges. This chapter reveals the methodological challenges that the researchers experienced in doing CBPR with racialized immigrant women who are survivors of IPV. This discussion can be relevant to both academics and non-profit/advocacy agencies interested in pursuing community partnership research on interpersonal violence.

A proposed explanation for why business creation is often found to increase in recessions is that there are two components to entrepreneurship – “opportunity” and “necessity” – the latter of which is mostly counter-cyclical. Although there is some agreement on the conceptual distinction between these two factors driving entrepreneurship, there is little consensus in the literature on empirical definitions. The goal of this chapter is to propose an operational definition of opportunity versus necessity entrepreneurship based on the entrepreneur's prior work status (i.e., based on previous unemployment) that is straightforward, based on objective information, and empirically feasible using many large, nationally representative datasets. We then explore the validity of the definitions with theory and empirical evidence. Using datasets from the United States and Germany, we find that 80–90% of entrepreneurs are opportunity entrepreneurs. Applying our proposed definitions, we document that opportunity entrepreneurship is generally pro-cyclical and necessity entrepreneurship is strongly counter-cyclical both at the national levels and across local economic conditions. We also find that opportunity vs necessity entrepreneurship is associated with the creation of more growth-oriented businesses. The operational definitions of opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship proposed here may be useful for distinguishing between the two types of entrepreneurship in future research.

A series of composite solders in 63/37 Sn/Pb was prepared: Cu₆ Sn₅ (10, 20, 30 wt%); Cu₃ Sn (10, 20, 30 wt%); Cu (7.6 wt%); Ag (4 wt%); and Ni (4 wt%). These composite solders were prepared by two procedures: (A) admixture with solder paste; and (B) admixture with molten solder. The original particulates and the final composite solders were analysed and characterised by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) EDX (energy dispersive X‐ray), and ESCA (electron spectroscopy for chemicals analysis); or XPS (X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy). A variety of morphological characterisations, intermetallics and porosities were noted. Good wetting was noted in all cases, and porosity was greater for method (A). The particulates all exhibited excellent binding to the solder matrix.

University administrators are increasingly using a range of metrics to evaluate the “quality” of work being undertaken at their institutions. The unit of analysis for these assessments varies from Department (England), field of research (Australia), and the like, but inevitably the assessment works its way to individual researchers. This poses a major challenge for administrators and even more so for researchers. Shifts in institutional policy to meet the challenges of funding and reputation/esteem of rising in the ranks raise a number of questions concerning the temporality and value of academic labor. Notably, decisions about the worth of academic labor are often well removed from the undertaking of that labor and this separation removes the human side of scholarly work and reduces knowledge production to numerical indicators and the achievement of key performance indicators. In this chapter I draw on shifts in an institution’s policy position and the impact that this has on researchers. Particularly I explore the implications of historically mapping research performance using different metrics than were available at the time and expecting researchers to adopt alternate strategies immediately (irrespective of delays in the publication process). Although I do not doubt that administrator decisions are arguably made in the best interests of advancing the institutions position in the increasingly global academy, the presentism of such strategies is in many ways at odds with the long-term focus of building coherent and sophisticated research programs. Alternate means of understanding the challenges and tensions of administrator strategy has the potential to impact on policy and the development of programs for current and aspiring researchers.

This chapter centers on practices of Review Ethics Board (REBs) as they may impact academic freedom for faculty members acting as participants in research. A case example is provided, which highlights the authors’ experience applying for ethics clearance to conduct a qualitative research study. While the study was classified as minimal risk and received ethics clearance from the researchers’ host institution, additional research ethics applications were required from the higher education settings identified, before being able to recruit participants. In addition to pressing timelines, extra workload and the coordination of different requirements for each institution, not all REBs permitted faculty members the option to reveal their identity and their beliefs on pedagogical practices. This particular experience with the ethics review process elicited questions centering on research ethics committees’ practices in terms of (a) providing opportunities for faculty members, as participants in research, to freely share information about their beliefs and teaching practices as well as (b) infringing on faculty members’ autonomy and rights to intellectually express, share and take ownership of their personal beliefs and pedagogical approaches to teaching in higher education.

We argue that by conducting systematic research with communities rather than on communities, community-based research (CBR) methods can both advance the study of human interaction and strengthen public understanding and appreciation of social sciences. CBR, among other methods, can also address social scientists’ ethical and social commitments. We recap the history of calls by leading sociologists for rigorous, empirical, community-engaged research. We introduce CBR methods as empirically grounded methods for conducting social research with social actors. We define terms and describe the range of methods that we include in the umbrella term, “community-based research.” After providing exemplars of community-based research, we review CBR’s advantages and challenges. We, next, summarize an intervention that we undertook as members of the Publication Committee of the URBAN Research Network’s Sociology section in which the committee developed and disseminated guidelines for peer review of community-based research. We also share initial responses from journal editors. In the conclusion, we revisit the potential of community-based research and note the consequences of neglecting community-based research traditions.

The main occupational safety measure in factories is monitoring workers exposed to various types of contaminations. The main environmental concern of governments about copper industries is emission of dust, metals, metal compounds and volatile organic compounds in air. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the immune system status of workers in a copper concentration factory in Iran by placing the emphasis on oxidative stress biomarkers.

A comparative cross-sectional study was performed on 40 workers of the copper concentration factory and 40 unexposed individuals. White blood cell count, plasma interleukin 2 and 4, oxidative burst of neutrophils, oxidative damages of DNA and RNA, lipid and protein, total antioxidant capacity of plasma, and antioxidant enzymes activities were measured.

A significant decrease in the white blood cell count and interleukin 2 and an increase in the interleukin 4 were observed in the workers and these changes represented the possibility of inflammation and weakening of the immune system. The elevation of oxidative damages, total antioxidant capacity and the activity of antioxidant enzymes are indicative of the change in oxidative stress status.

The oxidative stress induction and immune system changes might be useful biomarkers in screening and surveillance for occupational hazard. More studies are needed to find out the type and the concentration of pollutants and to evaluate the protective effects of natural antioxidants.

This paper aims to examine the effect of development aid volatility on foreign direct investment (FDI) volatility in aid recipient countries.

The empirical analysis has relied on a sample of 117 countries over the period 1981–2016 and used the two-step system generalized methods of moments (GMM) approach.

The findings indicate that development aid volatility exerts a positive and significant effect on FDI volatility, with the magnitude of this positive effect rising as countries’ real per capita income increases. Furthermore, development aid volatility is non-linearly related to FDI volatility, as additional rises in the degree of development aid volatility further amplify FDI volatility.

These outcomes highlight that volatility of development aid inflows enhances the volatility of FDI inflows. Thus, the enhancement of the aid coordination system between donor-countries and recipient-countries would not only help mitigate the volatility of aid – which reduces the macroeconomic effectiveness of aid – but also stabilizes FDI inflows to developing countries.

A limitation of the present paper is its reliance on aggregate FDI inflows to perform the analysis. Availability of data on greenfield FDI inflows and cross-border mergers and acquisitions FDI inflows over a long-time-period would provide an opportunity to conduct an in-depth analysis of the volatility of development aid on FDI inflows volatility. Furthermore, it could be interesting to investigate in the future (if data is available) the extent to which aid coordination systems between donor-countries and recipient-countries versus recipient-countries’ domestic factors contribute to explaining the dynamics of FDI inflows volatility in recipient-countries of these two types of capital flows.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this topic has not been addressed in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to assess and monitor a sample of heavy metals, namely lead, cadmium and copper, in water treatment plants at Greater Cairo, Egypt, to assess the efficiency of water treatment plants for metals removal and to monitor lead concentrations in the distribution system.

Water samples were collected from two water treatment plants. In addition, randomly flushed tap water samples from different districts at Greater Cairo were analyzed for lead concentration. Other water quality parameters also were monitored in water samples.

The study indicated that for water treatment plant intake, the mean concentrations were 4.44, 0.38 and 5.54μg/l for lead, cadmium and copper respectively. However, the final effluent shows that the mean concentrations of lead, cadmium and copper were 2.0, 0.15 and 2.78μg/l respectively. The drinking water mean metals concentrations were below World Health Organization drinking water guidelines and the Egyptian drinking water standards. The results revealed that water‐treatment plants have a high efficiency for metals removal where lead, cadmium and copper concentrations were reduced by 54.9, 60.5 and 49.8 per cent respectively. On the other hand, as expected, the water treatment plant sludge showed high accumulation with metals in concentrations decreased in the following order Fe > Mn > Zn > Cu > Cr > Ni > Pb > Cd. The mean lead concentration was 9.5μg/l in tap water samples.

Water treatment plants have a high efficiency for metals removal; water treatment plant sludge contains high concentrations of metals and should be treated before discharge; lead contamination from the distribution system is well established and lead concentration in homes in studied areas were higher than concentrations in plant effluent.

This chapter is a case study on Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Colombia. The choice is justified by the significant progress of the country in this field and its ambitious plans to provide infrastructure and services through PPPs in the coming years. The infrastructure deficit and the evolution and current status of PPPs in Latin America frame the theme of the chapter. The case study itself explains the adoption of the PPP model in Colombia, describes the new legal and institutional framework and presents the most relevant PPP programmes and projects. The review carried out allows us to conclude that, despite the developments in recent years, PPP schemes continue to be very concentrated in the transport sector. For the effective development of the PPP model in the country, Colombia should extend such schemes to other fields, including the provision of social infrastructure and services. It should also improve some institutional aspects and project attractiveness to investors in order to increase the private capital required to finance PPP projects that currently are in the government portfolio. This chapter offers a general perspective on Colombian PPP, gathering and analyzing information for a better understanding of the current situation and the prospects for the future.