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We evaluate the use of a Virtual Exchange (VE) writing task, Stimulus Writing, which we assigned to groups of UK and Finnish business students. There were two learner cohorts in the study: one in the UK (mainly Chinese students), the other in Finland (mainly Finns). The Finnish students wrote authentic case studies about Nordic businesses, while the students in the UK adopted our Stimulus Writing approach to write a report based on a case study given to them by the Finnish students. In Smith & Keng (2017) we reported on the experiences of the Finnish students in the collaboration. In this study, we examine the perceptions of the UK-based Chinese students. They found the approach motivating, and believed that through it their academic English skills improved, as did their understanding of business and culture.

AbstractThere is a growing consensus that the end of empire did not necessarily equate with a severing of imperial ties. Some historians have even argued that there was a shift from formal to informal empire in Britain’s relations with the emerging Gulf States. This is especially so with respect to Bahrain which had represented the epicentre of Britain’s position in the Gulf. Nevertheless, an analysis of British relations with Bahrain from the withdrawal East of Suez to the Iranian Revolution belies any notion that Britain succeeded in establishing an informal imperial position after 1971. Not only were Britain’s economic interests in Bahrain eroded by growing competition from its industrial rivals, but also its political and military position was challenged by the encroachment of regional powers. Any hope that Britain could retain an imperial role in Bahrain was undermined still further by the emergence of new internal political forces in Bahrain beyond the direct control of either the ruling family or Britain itself. The unfeasibility of maintaining an imperial relationship with Bahrain after 1971 persuaded British policymakers to seek to establish recognizably post-imperial relations with the Emirate in the decade following the withdrawal from East of Suez. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine and assess the reputational impact of the logo and symbols of the UK Standard Investors in People (IiP). The extant literature highlights differing opinions in terms of the likely benefits that IiP generates following achievement of the Standard. This paper focuses specifically on the perceptions of reputational claims made regarding existing employees, potential employees and customers. Design/methodology/approach: The debate is explored through 38 interviews using the perceptions of managers and frontline employees within six IiP-accredited firms and one non-accredited firm. Findings: The study indicates that the logo and symbols of the Standard have minimal meaning and significance for the interviewees and their outlook on potential employees and customers. There were some indications, however, that the wider reputational implications of carrying the logo may have some potentially beneficial effects. Originality/value: The paper concludes that the overarching findings present a potentially serious issue for IiP, and that there is a need to understand further the impact and value of the logo and symbols.

Describes the technologies driving the Information Revolution and the creation of the Information Society. Discusses possible social and economic implications of these technologies and some of the strategies being developed in the United Kingdom by the public sector at the local level to meet the challenges of the Information Age. (Author/AEF)

The existing historiography on relations between Britain and the states of Lower Gulf after British withdrawal from 'East of Suez' in 1971 suggests that the former imperial power successfully established an informal role in the 1970s and beyond which amounted to empire in all but name. While Britain certainly sought to retain as much of its influence and as many of its interests in the economically important Lower Gulf as possible, an analysis of Anglo-Qatari relations after 1971 demonstrates that Britain's former exclusive position was substantially eroded. British economic weakness, fierce competition from Britain's industrial rivals, and the encroachment of the Arab world into the affairs of Qatar all militated still further against the preservation of British influence and interests, let alone the establishment of an informal imperial relationship with Qatar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK government instruction to stay at home exemplifies how governments do things by saying things in a crisis. The force of the government slogan was amplified by its intertextual circulation in wider public discourse to produce an alignment between the duty of government to protect citizens, the spiritual mission of the Church and the public information role of the press. By analysing the rhetorical and sequential structure of promotional discourse with recourse to speech act, narrative and routine theory, we show how its authors concurrently use cognitive and empathetic interpellations to induce subjectivation, configuring pending accounts which not only involve recipients in scripts for restoring order (if ... then ... programming constructions) but also implicate them in restorative storylines (just as there and then ... so here and now ... mimetic constructions). The result is to overlay on the official inducement new voices of hope, conditioned by participation in a collaborative community, naturalising compliance. • Health promotional discourse configures pending accounts. • Pending accounts interrupt and displace stories or routines. • Pending accounts offer empathetic and/or cognitive interpellations. • Interlayering different speakers' voices expands and diversifies the original message. • Alignment of programmes of action naturalises compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present scaling results from two production quality supercomputers that use the first generation of Arm‐based CPUs that have been optimized for scientific workloads. Both systems use Marvell ThunderX2 CPUs, which deliver high core counts and class‐leading memory bandwidth. The first system is Isambard, a Cray XC50 "Scout" system operated by the GW4 Alliance and the UK Met Office as a Tier‐2 national HPC service. The second system is one of three Arm‐based HPE Apollo 70 systems delivered as part of the Catalyst UK project, running at the University of Bristol. We compare scaling results from these two systems with three Cray XC50 systems based on Intel Skylake and Broadwell CPUs. We focus on a range of applications and mini‐apps that are important to the UK national HPC service, ARCHER, and to our project partners. We also compare the performance and maturity of the state‐of‐the‐art toolchains available on Arm‐based HPC systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It is well-known that significant production pressures exist on many construction projects and previous studies have suggested that this pressure is a contributory factor in safety incidents on sites. While research has established that production pressures exist, less is understood about the construction practices that occur when projects are under such pressures and their repercussion for safety. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: Through an ethnographic approach on a large construction project in the UK, these practices were explored and unpacked. The lead researcher was a member of the Health and Safety department, and undertook participant observation as a main research tool for three years. Findings: It was found that informal, covert and dangerous "piecework" strategies were adopted at the site level in direct response to scheduling demands. Construction workers were incentivised through extra finance and rest periods to finish the work quickly, which, in turn, prioritised production over safety. Unreasonable production pressures remain an unresolved problem in the construction industry and are, perhaps consequentially, being informally managed on-site. Originality/value: This study improves our understanding of the complexities involved in the unresolved demands between production and safety on construction sites, which marks a step towards addressing this substantial challenge that is deeply ingrained within the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Laboratory analysis of explanted MAGnetic Expansion Control (MAGEC) growing rods.Objective: The aim of this study was to measure the force produced by explanted MAGEC rods compared with new rods and assess the influence of clinical variables.Summary Of Background Data: MAGEC rods are increasingly used in early-onset scoliosis. Some data are available describing the structure of explanted MAGEC rods, but to date, no study has assessed their function.Methods: Explanted MAGEC rods were received from seven UK and one Danish center. The force produced by explanted rods on activation with the external remote controller was measured using a dedicated jig. Forces were compared with two unused rods as well as the manufacturer's defined standard (42 Ibf). Clinical variables were collected from contributing centers where possible and correlated with the force measurements.Results: Forty-five MAGEC rods from 25 cases were received for analysis. The mean age at insertion was 8.6 years and rods were in vivo for a mean of 2.7 years in predominantly dual rod constructs. Two unused MAGEC rods produced a mean force of 45.3 (0.25) and 50.2 (1.4) Ibf, above the manufacturer's stated standard. Of the 45 explanted rods, 10 (22%) produced force greater or equal to manufacturer's standard, mean 46.7 (2.7) Ibf. Six rods (13%) produced some force but less than the manufacturer's standard, mean 34.8 (3.6) Ibf. Twenty-nine rods (64%) produced no force. The duration the rods were in vivo was significantly negatively correlated with the force produced on testing (r = -0.63, P < 0.005). Of the 12 rods implanted longer than 38 months, none produced any force.Conclusion: This is the first study of the force, and hence likely function, of explanted MAGEC rods. The majority of explanted rods produced no force, while others produced reduced force. These findings raise questions regarding the longevity of the implant and further clinical outcome studies are recommended.Level Of Evidence: 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large construction projects frequently operate with multi-national workforces, utilizing migrant workers to provide both skilled and unskilled labour. Multi-national workforces are also brought together through joint ventures, as companies from different countries collaborate and share their expertise to construct large and complex construction projects. A multi-national joint venture in the UK provides the case study for an examination of the safety management challenges found on such projects. Whilst language and communication issues amongst workers are typically primary concerns, here they have not been prioritized. Instead, findings are presented that illuminate more nuanced and unquantifiable problems that faced the safety management team. An ethnographically informed approach was mobilized, with the lead researcher spending three years on the site with the safety team gathering data. Analysis revealed several challenges: problems with non-UK company compliance with UK legislation and standards; differences in working practices amongst both non-UK workers and their managers; differences associated with national cultures; and problems of poor worker welfare. It is suggested that awareness of these challenges should inform both the way in which such projects are initially contracted, as well as the development of more sophisticated safety management systems that better support multi-national construction projects in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Analysis of explanted MAGnetic Expansion Control (MAGEC) growing rods.Objective: To analyze explanted MAGEC rods used in management of early onset scoliosis and identify the mode of failure in such cases.Summary Of Background Data: Magnetically controlled growing rods are increasingly used as the option of choice for early onset scoliosis. However, being more complex than conventional growing rods they are perhaps more likely to succumb to multifarious failure modes. In addition, metallosis has been reported around failed MAGEC rods.Methods: Explanted MAGEC rods from seven UK spinal centers were obtained for independent analysis. Thirty-four MAGEC rods, from 18 children, explanted for reasons including failure of rod lengthening and maximum rod distraction reached, were cut open to allow internal components to be evaluated and assessed.Results: Externally, all MAGEC rods showed localized marks, which were termed "growth marks" as they indicated growth of the rod in vivo, on the extending bar component. After cutting open, titanium wear debris was found inside all 34 (100%) MAGEC rods. Ninety-one percent (31/34) of MAGEC rods showed measurable wear of the extending bar, towards the magnet end. Substantial damage to the radial bearing was seen inside 74% (25/34) of MAGEC rods while O-ring seal failure was seen in 53% (18/34) of cases. In 44% (15/34) of MAGEC rods the drive pin was fractured but this was felt to be an effect of rod failure, not a cause.Conclusion: The combination of high volumes of titanium wear debris alongside O-ring seal damage likely accounts for the metallosis reported clinically around some MAGEC rods. Based on this explant data, a failure mechanism in MAGEC rods due to the natural off axis loading in the spine was proposed. This is the largest data set reporting a complete analysis of explanted MAGEC rods to date.Level Of Evidence: 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Britain's policy of ruling through moderates applied in other areas of the empire, formal or not, simply could not be applied to Egypt due to its fledgling democracy' (p. 85). The clash between imperialism and emerging nationalism is one of the dominant motifs in the study of the British empire. Gifford persuasively argues that: So long as Britain encouraged Egypt along the path of democracy, the Wafd's presence was always going to be a factor. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose – Investors in People (IiP) is a UK government-backed scheme aimed at enabling organizations to develop their training and development cultures and, thereby, their competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions and understandings of individuals in six organizations undergoing IiP to explore recent claims within the literature concerning the Standard's impact on training and development, and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Data from 35 semi-structured interviews among managers and employees of six diverse organizations were gathered and analysed. Findings – The paper identifies three key findings in response to recent literature: first, the findings do not support a causal relationship between IiP and training and development; second, the findings do not support a causal relationship between IiP and job satisfaction; third, and to support the other findings, the results indicate little employee awareness of IiP. Practical implications – If IiP – UKCES are to realize the potential of their Standard, it needs to find a way to ensure it has a direct and positive impact on skill development. Originality/value – While much of the previous research has identified associations between IiP and various outcomes, this paper seeks to identify the extent to which these associations can be considered to be causal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a summary of where peer support currently sits in the UK mental health services policy and practice. It presents an overview of models of peer support; the UK national policy on peer support; evidence of the benefits of peer support; case studies of recent and continuing peer support in action; challenges facing peer support; and suggestions for developing peer support in the future. Design/methodology/approach – The paper selects and discusses evidence from academic literature and policy and practice on peer support within the UK. Findings – The evidence base demonstrating the benefits of peer support in mental health across the UK is increasing. This has persuaded UK governmental bodies to encourage the development of peer support services, of which there is a number of models and examples, although the current economic climate poses challenges to their development. Originality/value – Historically, peer support in mental health services across the UK has developed piecemeal. But at a time when policy-makers, health practitioners and people who use mental health services are increasingly recognising the benefits of peer support, this paper draws key evidence together and provides pointers towards the future development of such services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1971 South Asia crisis demonstrated that Britain, despite the contemporaneous discussions which were taking place over British accession to the European Economic Community, continued to possess global interests. After a brief period of neutrality in the growing conflict between India and Pakistan, the government of Edward Heath leaned decisively towards the former. This contrasted with the American 'tilt' in the other direction, towards Pakistan. The resulting differences of approach between the Heath government and the Nixon White House reflected a wider pattern of division between British and American policy makers over Asia rather than any attempt by Heath to underscore his European credentials by distancing himself from the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the importance of therapeutic mammoplasty in treating patients with breast cancer in Great Britain. It highlights the three main indications for therapeutic mammoplasty, namely mastectomy avoidance, cosmetically unfavorable units of the breast and heavy-breasted woman who ask for breast reduction. Moreover, it discusses the postoperative complications of therapeutic mammoplasty.

As area-based initiatives emphasise community empowerment and social inclusion programmes focus on place, this article compares participation in two ICT programmes in UK cities which sought to empower communities at different scales. Recruitment was better in a neighbourhood-scale project, a scale that enabled access to settings of public familiarity and helping/coping networks. However, the factors that promoted social inclusion during recruitment favour defensive collective action. A city-wide project facilitated transformative social learning by relocalising community more widely as a problem-oriented operational network. The two approaches could be combined, starting at neighbourhood level and then rescaling to reveal different affordances of social networks and stimulate different dimensions of technology appropriation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does politicians' enthusiasm for community treatment orders lie primarily in the area of public protection? If so, can such orders reduce homicide rates? Is there adequate evidence of their value, given their adverse effects on individual liberty? This well-researched and provocative debate will enlighten readers on these and many more of the complicated questions surrounding this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasingly competitive global market, the UK construction industry finally realised that in order to survive, a marked increase in efficiency and effectiveness have to be achieved in all areas. This paper will describe the UK's approach to planning and designing the concrete operations that form a major part of many civil engineering construction projects. A productivity study has been carried out on three different construction projects and over 200 concrete pours have been observed. The data and knowledge collected on site have been subjected to lean construction philosophies, producing a "lean" measure of productivity" and it has been shown that major productivity increases could be achieved by implementing several relatively simple principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extraordinary expansion in Kuwait's oil revenues in the 1950s presented Britain with a formidable challenge. Britain's relative indifference to Kuwait before 1939 had allowed the Shaikhdom to develop a strong sense of independence, especially in the conduct of internal affairs. Local autonomy, however, conflicted with Britain's determination to manage the economy of Kuwait in a manner which would bring maximum benefit to the sterling area, while minimising the potential damage which Kuwait's sudden acquisition of oil wealth could inflict on sterling. Britain's support for Kuwaiti independence from the late 1950s did not signify a decline in the value which Britain placed on the sterling area in general, or on Kuwait in particular. Instead, it reflected a belief that an independent Kuwait represented the best means of preserving British economic interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that analyzed the principles built up by courts in Great Britain concerning liability issues in biotechnology contracts. Discussion on the principles behind exemption clauses; Factors that affect the limitation of liability; Strategies to avoid some pitfalls that many contracting parties encounter when dealing with liability issues.

Presents letters to the editor of the 'British Medical Journal,' as of June 2001. Availability of quality of health information about depression on the Internet; Thoughts on nasal diamorphine in children with clinical fractures; Reasons why patient access to records must by acceptable to both parties; Belief that unlimited consumer demand would destroy the National Health Service (NHS) of Great Britain; Others.

Discusses the theory of neocolonialism in the relationship between Kuwait and Great Britain after Kuwait's decolonization. Kuwait's reliance on British military assistance in 1961; Terms and scale of oil exports to Britain; Domination of five British firms; Anti-British feeling in Kuwait; Decline of British exports; Kuwait's repositioning within the Arab world.

Describes the technologies driving the information age and the creation of the information society in Great Britain. Social and economic impact of these technologies; Discussion of the challenge of information technologies to Great Britain's economic efficiency and competitiveness; Great Britain's need to understand the information areas in order to shape its information superhighway.

Summary: In this paper, we present performance results from Isambard, the first production supercomputer to be based on Arm CPUs that have been optimized specifically for HPC. Isambard is the first Cray XC50 "Scout" system, combining Cavium ThunderX2 Arm‐based CPUs with Cray's Aries interconnect. The full Isambard system will be delivered in the summer of 2018, when it will contain over 10 000 Arm cores. In this work, we present node‐level performance results from eight early‐access nodes that were upgraded to B0 beta silicon in March 2018. We present node‐level benchmark results comparing ThunderX2 with mainstream CPUs, including Intel Skylake and Broadwell, as well as Xeon Phi. We focus on a range of applications and mini‐apps important to the UK national HPC service, ARCHER, as well as to the Isambard project partners and the wider HPC community. We also compare performance across three major software toolchains available for Arm: Cray's CCE, Arm's version of Clang/Flang/LLVM, and GNU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many large construction organisations use safety observation reporting (SOR) as part of their safety management system on sites, although research around their effectiveness in practice is limited. During an ethnographically-informed research project, the lead author spent three years working with the health and safety team on a large (+£500 m) construction project in the United Kingdom with such a system in place. The SOR system encouraged everyone on site to report unsafe acts or conditions, either via computer or handwritten cards, for subsequent action by the health and safety team. Despite good intentions, problems with the SOR system emerged. These included: significantly increased administration to deliver predictable data; poor data quality; an unwelcome focus on the number rather than content of the reports; their use as a tool to ascribe individual or organisational blame; and the perception that the SOR forms were being censored before they reached the health and safety team, which ultimately eroded trust between the workforce and management. Overall, the system as implemented on this site had the potential to cause more harm than good, and both disengage the workforce and frustrate the health and safety team. Although presented as a case study, it is suggested that the research methods used here have been able to expose and illuminate issues that would otherwise go unreported. It is recommended that these issues be considered within the design and implementation of such SOR systems in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper explores the consequences of sub-optimal cost-safety trade-offs. • An ethnographic approach is used to complement prior quantitative cost-safety studies. • We demonstrate how low-winning tender bids can elevate safety risks. • The construction industry is currently structured for unsafety. • There is a critical need to rethink the industry's competitive bidding practices. Construction accidents can have major social, financial, reputational and legal implications. Hence, it is to be expected that safety is often presented as a key priority for construction organisations. However, existing evidence suggests that within the construction industry, safety often loses the battle when a trade-off is required with project cost. Improved understanding of the manifestations of the cost and safety interaction are needed. A three-year longitudinal study afforded the opportunity to investigate the safety implications of sub-economic bids on a large infrastructure project in the UK. While low-bidding to win tenders is not new, this paper presents empirical evidence of the consequential safety risk implications of such bidding at the project delivery stage. Faced with a perverse form of the tender 'Winner's Curse' where the successful bid is frequently the lowest, cost-saving strategies are often implemented to recoup lost pricing margins. Our investigation revealed several instances of consequentially elevated safety risks, through cheaper and poor-quality equipment, machinery and temporary structures. In addition, lower-paid migrant workers – who already experience a statistically greater safety risk than local workers – were employed on the project without appropriate investment in a safety management approach suitable for a multinational workforce. The study both contributes to the call to critically rethink the construction industry's competitive bidding practices, and highlights an industry structure that creates the conditions for high safety risks and accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]