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1 – 10 of 230Sonila Danaj, Elif Naz Kayran and Leonard Geyer
To analyse the policies, posting trends and worker experiences during the pandemic, this study uses the concept of motility, i.e. workers' mobility capital, and examines how…
Abstract
Purpose
To analyse the policies, posting trends and worker experiences during the pandemic, this study uses the concept of motility, i.e. workers' mobility capital, and examines how posted workers' geographical mobility, their access to and conditions of employment and social protection were impacted. The authors discuss how the measures against the pandemic undertaken at the European Union (EU) and national level have affected labour mobility, the impact these measures have had on macro trends of posting to Austria, and lastly, how the pandemic and the actions against it have influenced the lives of posted workers at the individual level.
Design/methodology/approach
In this article, the authors focus on the specific case of posting to Austria. The authors ask whether, and if so, how EU and national policies which came about during the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the motility of posted workers, and how these workers used their mobility capital in this unfolding context. The authors address the research questions with analyses of EU and national level policies, use administrative data on posting, and individual-level data based on interviews with posted workers and public authorities.
Findings
The authors find that the Austrian government's public health and economic priorities were jointly influential on the motility of cross-border workers. The specific case of the posted workers shed new light on the limits to such a national sovereignty approach when it comes to economic interests in an increasingly interdependent European labour market. This study’s findings show that despite the access provided at the policy levels, the motility of posted workers was also affected by their individual circumstances, or competences, which produced different forms of appropriation.
Originality/value
The authors apply the theoretical framework of motility by studying policy developments through the element of access options and conditions, and the posting trends to Austria and worker experiences at the individual level through the lenses of appropriation and competences. The authors find that while the EU and national public policy in enhancing access options have been successful during the COVID-19 period, amelioration attempts in access conditions have not been realised as observed in our analysis of the competence and appropriation dimensions of the posted workers in Austria. This highlights the need for a more integrated approach in the study of policies by exploring beyond the national and EU level policies and focussing on the implementation and observations at the individual level.
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Friederike Fleischer and Ivette S. Sepúlveda Sanabria
According to the Colombian Labour Ministry, in 2015, 750,000 persons officially worked as household employees. Ninety-eight per cent of these employees are women who tend to live…
Abstract
According to the Colombian Labour Ministry, in 2015, 750,000 persons officially worked as household employees. Ninety-eight per cent of these employees are women who tend to live in Bogotá’s (southern) urban fringe and travel to the city’s wealthier north on a daily basis. Yet public transportation in the Colombian capital is subject to stratification. Besides overcrowding and delays, petty crime and sexual harassment, fringe areas remain underserved. Based on ethnographic data, in this chapter, the authors discuss findings from a 3-year research project on female household employees’ subjective experience of space. Specifically, the authors explore their capacity (motility) to be mobile. This perspective breaks with the limits of bounded categories such as ‘urban’, ‘neighbourhood’ or ‘class’, to highlight their situational and spatial mutability. Moreover, an investigation of motility includes people’s potential to move as well as their subjective experiences of mobility. The research shows how gender intersects with local labour regimes and infrastructure to negatively affect women’s mobility. Urban stratification is not only a question of locale of residence and access to services, but importantly (re)produced in the household employees’ subjective experience of their daily commute, which they describe as suffering. In their limited spare time, female household employees abstain from travelling, effectively curbing their active appropriation of urban space. The research thus illuminates how spatial, social and economic dimensions mutually interact to impact on the women’s lives and possibilities.
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Stanley Ifeanyi Anyanwu-Azuka, Gabriel Sunday Aloh, Winner Oyidiya Kalu and Chinedum Eleazu
This study aims to report the phytochemical screening and anti-diarrhoea properties of methanol extract of Diodia sarmentosa Swartz (DSS) leave (at 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg) in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to report the phytochemical screening and anti-diarrhoea properties of methanol extract of Diodia sarmentosa Swartz (DSS) leave (at 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg) in albino rats.
Design/methodology/approach
Three types of diarrhoea models (castor oil-induced diarrhoea, castor oil-induced gastrointestinal motility and castor oil-induced enteropooling), as well as an assay for serum and faecal electrolyte concentrations, were used. Acute toxicity study and phytochemical screening of the extract were carried out using standard techniques.
Findings
The percentage inhibition of diarrhoea by DSS 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg was obtained as 25.7%, 55% and 84.6%, respectively, compared with loperamide that had 87.6% inhibition. DSS dose dependently modulated the number and frequency of defecation, the weight of the faeces of the diarrhoea rats, the distance that was travelled by charcoal meal, mean differences in the full lengths of the intestines and the distance travelled by charcoal meal, weight and volume of intestinal contents, serum and faecal concentrations of potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, bicarbonate, iron and zinc relative to the negative control and in a manner akin to loperamide (for the extract at 600 mg/kg). DSS or loperamide attenuated the loss of calcium in the faeces of the rats. DSS possesses anti-diarrhoea properties, which may be attributed to the phytochemicals in it. Finally, the study showed the safety in the usage of DSS.
Originality/value
DSS exerted its anti-diarrhoea action in castor oil-induced diarrhoea rats, by modulating their intestinal secretory and motile activity in a manner akin to loperamide (for DSS at 600 mg/kg).
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K. Arshak, E. Jafer, G. Lyons, D. Morris and O. Korostynska
The development of a sensor microsystems containing all the components of data acquisition system, such as sensors, signal‐conditioning circuits, analog‐digital converter…
Abstract
The development of a sensor microsystems containing all the components of data acquisition system, such as sensors, signal‐conditioning circuits, analog‐digital converter, interface circuits and embedded microcontroller (MCU), has become the focus of attention in many biomedical applications. A review of the microsystems technology is presented in this paper, along with a discussion of the recent trends and challenges associated with its developments. A basic description of each sub‐system is also given. This includes the different front end, mixed analog‐digital, power management, and radio transmitter‐receiver circuits. These sub‐system designs are presented and discussed in a comparative study and final remarks are made. The performance of each sub‐system is assessed regarding many aspects related to the overall system performance.
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High on the wish list of both searchers and end users is getting printouts with duplicate titles flagged or deleted. WordPerfect can manipulate both tagged or untagged…
Abstract
High on the wish list of both searchers and end users is getting printouts with duplicate titles flagged or deleted. WordPerfect can manipulate both tagged or untagged bibliographic retrievals. Its macro feature can be used to set up a simple and cost‐effective strategy to standardize the initial sorting position among several retrievals and to sort these multi‐database retrievals for duplicates.
Jackie Opfer, Miki Hondzo and V.R. Voller
The purpose of this study is to investigate the errors arising from the numerical treatment of model processes, paying particular attention to the impact of key system features…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the errors arising from the numerical treatment of model processes, paying particular attention to the impact of key system features including widely variable dispersion coefficients, spatiotemporal velocities of algal cells, and the aggregation of algae from single cells to large colonies. An advection–dispersion model has been presented to describe the vertical transport of colonial and motile harmful algae in a lake environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Model performance is examined for two different numerical treatments of the advective term: first-order upwind and quadratic upwind with a stability-preserving flux limiter (SMART). To determine how these schemes impact predictions, comparisons are made across a sequence of models with increasing complexity.
Findings
Using first-order upwinding for advection–dispersion calculations with a time oscillating velocity field leads to oscillatory numerical dispersion. Subjecting an initially uniform distribution of large-sized algal colonies to a spatiotemporal velocity creates a concentration pulse, which reaches a steady-state width at high-grid Peclet numbers when using the SMART scheme; the pulse exhibits contraction–expansion behavior throughout a velocity cycle at all Peclet numbers when using first-order upwinding. When aggregation dynamics are included with advection-dominated spatiotemporal transport, results indicate the SMART scheme predicts larger peak concentration values than those predicted by first-order upwind, but peak location and the time to large colony appearance remain largely unchanged between the two advective schemes.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first numerical investigation of a novel advection–dispersion model of vertical algal transport. In addition, a generalized expression for the effective dispersion coefficient of temporally variable flow fields is presented.
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Khaled M.M. Koriem and Mahmoud S.S. Arbid
This paper aims to design to evaluate the protective effect of vitamin E to ameliorate the disturbances in testosterone pathway and sperm quality of male rats induced by the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to design to evaluate the protective effect of vitamin E to ameliorate the disturbances in testosterone pathway and sperm quality of male rats induced by the glycosides vicine (V) and convicine (C) of Vicia faba.
Design/methodology/approach
Forty male albino rats were divided into five equal groups; control, paraffin oil, V (400 mg/kg) C (150 mg/kg)-treated group, vitamin E (100 mg/kg) + VC-treated group, and vitamin E (200 mg/kg) + VC-treated groups which injected intraperioneally (IP) with 0.5-ml saline, 0.5-ml paraffin oil,V (400 mg/kg) and C (150 mg/kg) of Vicia faba, vitamin E (100 mg/kg) + VC-treated groups, and Vitamin E(200 mg/kg) + VC-treated groups, respectively. Blood and testicular tissue were obtained after one month of the study. The male genital organs were calculated. Testosterone (Ts), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-SO4), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG),?-glutamyl transpeptidase (?-GT), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), 3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3ßHSD), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), spermatozoa concentration, percent of mortality and abnormal sperms were evaluated.
Findings
The VC-treated group showed significant decrease (p < 0.01) in Ts, DHEA-SO4, G6PD, spermatozoa number and mortality percent, as well as, the male genital organs (testes, epidydemis, seminal vesicle, prostate and vasa deferentia) while significant increase (p < 0.01) was found in LH, FSH, SHBG, LDH, ?-GT, sperms monoclonal Ki-67, and abnormal spermatocytes levels compared with control group. Vitamin E co-injection with VC-treated group returned all these parameters to the normal values. The higher dose of vitamin E (200 mg/kg) was more effect than the lower dose (100 mg/kg).
Originality/value
Vicia faba contains V and C glycosides. The V and C glycosides in Vicia faba are hydrolyzed by intestinal microflora to aglycones divicine and isouramil, respectively. Divicine and isouramil are highly reactive compounds generating free radicals where divicine and isouramil are the main factors of favism. The V and C glycosides induced disturbances in testosterone pathway and sperm quality of male rats and vitamin E ameliorates these disturbances.
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