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The purpose of this paper is to outline the experiences of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families during the coronavirus pandemic.

This paper draws on research gathered and collated by three different organisations working with families of children and young people with SEND.

There were a number of common findings across all three surveys. In particular: the rapid collapse of external support for children and families; the reduction/withdrawal of support exacerbated the stress and exhaustion already experienced by many families; it proved very difficult to establish home learning and get adequate support from schools; there was little government recognition of families’ vulnerability and need for support; and, paradoxically, a significant minority of children and families reported increased well-being.

Findings carry clear implications both for the provision of child and family support during any further lockdowns and, more generally, in respect of government policy and funding of family support.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is well-known for its credibility in the processing of advanced materials, which are electrically conductive. The strenuous effort associated with machining of Ti6Al4V (Ti64) using conventional methods, and its low tribological behavior, present an immediate need to develop solutions to monitor and improve the compatible techniques such as EDM.

The present work includes following: monitoring the ED process parameters, namely, current (I) and pulse on time (T_on), in controlling the material removal rate and surface roughness (R_a and S_a) for development of tribo-adaptive surfaces; and investigation on the role of oxides pertinent to the tribo-behavior of Ti64 (bare and EDMed) surfaces.

The tribological behavior of Ti6Al4V surfaces got remarkably improved through ED machining, which points to the credibility of the process to establish itself as a surface alloying technique. The recast layer (RL, alloyed matrix) acted as a protective coating; stable enough to assist the developed tribo-oxides such as TiO and Ti₈O₁₅ in rendering improved sliding performance at load = 50 N and speed = 0.838 ms⁻¹.

The surface modification through ED machining was experimentally proven to improve the wear behavior of Ti6Al4V surfaces.

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of selected applications of contingent claims analysis in corporate finance. Contingent claims analysis is an approach to valuing payoffs which are contingent on other uncertain payoffs. The essential logic of the different applications reviewed is that we can value these derivative payoffs by replicating them with assets, whose prices are known. This simple logic is capable of providing one with insights into the pricing of new types of financial assets (e.g. optional bonds) as well as providing new insights into the valuation of strategic corporate investments.

Vertical alignment in high-rise building is a very important aspect. The architects are nowadays interested in improvising untypical complicated morphology in building designs which increase the difficulty in surveying for vertical alignments. Although the GNSS survey techniques are widely applied in constructions, there is a lack of data sources to explicitly expose their applicability in high-rise buildings and the challenges to be considered. This study has been oriented to find out the best suitable GPS survey technique for the vertical alignment in high-rise buildings and the practical challenges to be considered.

The findings have been attained by analyzing the reliable data gained through experts' comments through structured questionnaire survey, case studies and experiments on different GPS survey techniques.

The findings express that the GPS techniques can be used for vertical alignments in high-rise buildings except for direct setting out for which only RTK GPS can be used. There are some practical challenges to be considered in such GPS applications.

The findings encourage the research community to further focus on the GNSS survey applications in the constructions of high-rise buildings.

The research expresses applicability of easier and less time-consumed modern GNSS survey techniques instead of traditional survey methods for expediting building constructions.

The knowledge on such modern rapid survey techniques with accuracy, efficiency and reliability highly affects the process of infrastructure development.

The research presents a useful new knowledge on applying GNSS survey techniques for precise survey requirements in the construction industry and exposes the gateways for further researches and development.

The meaning of scandals like “Liborgate” is not given beforehand; it is constructed in the course of framing contests. The purpose of this paper is to provide a nuanced framework for understanding such framing contests by re-conceptualizing them as rhetorical struggles.

A conceptual framework that combines modern framing theory, and classical stasis theory is applied to the rhetorical struggles over the meaning of “Liborgate.”

While rhetorical struggles over “Liborgate” overtly center on the issue of who is to blame, an analysis of the argumentative relations between competing frames leads to the conclusion that this political “blame game” is related to struggles over how to define the scandal, how to conceptualize its causes, and policy recommendations. Banks may have lost the battle of “Liborgate,” but the war over the meaning of financial culture is far from over.

The paper is theoretically and methodologically original in its combination of the theories of framing and stasis, and it provides analytical insights into how sense is made of financial culture in the wake of the financial crisis.