Global governance of training standards in an outsourced labor force: The training double bind in seafarer license and certification assessments

The shipping industry is among the most globalized of all industries and is characterized by complex modular supply chains, including a largely outsourced labor force of “just‐in‐time” casualized workers from developing countries and the transitional East European states. Despite long‐standing efforts by international bodies to standardize and regulate the education and training of seafarers, variations in practices and standards persist. Employers exercise contradictory influences on education and training providers, on the one hand demanding the urgent provision of more recruits (encouraging corner‐cutting), and on the other complaining about the poor quality of recruits received (urging crackdowns on poor quality providers and more rigorous examinations) – the training double bind. This paper reflects on these issues through the study of the problematic use of computerized assessments in seafarer examinations, drawing upon findings from a study involving research in six different case study countries providing maritime labor and interviews with stakeholders.     

Analysing policy delivery in the United Kingdom: the case of street crime and anti-social behaviour

For all governments, the principle of how and whether policies are implemented as intended is fundamental. The aim of this paper is to examine the difficulties for governments in delivering policy goals when they do not directly control the processes of implementation. This paper examines two case studies – anti-social behaviour and street crime – and demonstrates the difficulties faced by policy-makers in translating policy into practice when the policy problems are complex and implementation involves many actors.     

“Unpalatable Messages”? Feminist Analysis of United Kingdom Legislative Discourse on Stalking 1996–1997

North American scholarship has charted resonances between 1990s legislative and feminist discourse concerning violence against women. Feminist critique of official discourse surrounding the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 suggests that 1990s resonances did not reach the UK: however, an examination of the Hansard debates suggests this under-estimates the influence of feminist discourse. Halley’s discussion of “bad faith” helps to explain both the tendency of feminists to under-estimate their influence and why this matters. A commitment to an understanding of themselves as powerless may encourage feminists to underplay similarities between feminist and official discourse, leading feminists to find only what they expect. Such an understanding gives feminism the capacity to change social life without acknowledging, let alone agonising over, the full range of its distributive effects. This is most troubling in relation to “carceral” feminism, since under-assessment of feminist impact encourages amplification and intensification of the carceral message.     

Pathogen detection using a liquid array technology

Abstract: Low concentrations of microbial pathogens in pure and mixed samples were detected using a bead‐based, liquid array technology. A 20‐bp sequence in the 23S rRNA gene, rrl, was amplified in four microorganisms: Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica and Staphylococcus aureus. PCR products were positively identified with the Luminex^® 100? system. The system could detect very low amounts of DNA and the instrument response was proportional to the input concentration. The lower limit of detection (LLD) was determined to be 0.5 ng for B. cereus and E. coli and 2 ng for S. enterica. The LLD for S. aureus was not determined as the instrument response was still above the threshold when quantities of DNA as low as 0.25 ng were used. The platform positively identified organisms present in mixed samples even when the minor component was overshadowed by a 10‐fold excess of the major component.