Providing Access, Collation and Analysis of Defra Research for the Organic Sector (OF 0347)

The PACA Res project (OF0347) set out to address a new approach to the dissemination of organic research by providing a single archive of research reports and engaging advisers in the process of analysis and communication of the results of research work. This PACA Res project OF0387, is a continuation of that first project, providing ongoing access to the results of organic research and further analysis and dissemination of the results to advisers and producers. Access to organic research results from the UK was maintained by continuing to undertake the role of UK editor of the Europe-wide Organic Eprints archive www.orgprints.org. Research Review topics were selected by consultation with advisers and others working in organic farming extension. Reviews of the results of organic research on 2 topics were commissioned by IOTA, collated, analysed and written up by advisers and published in the form of Research Topic Reviews on the IOTA website http://www.organicadvice.org.uk/reviews.htm 2 workshops on the Research Topic Reviews were organised and run by IOTA for advisers and researchers, in order to facilitate collaboration between advisers and researchers, undertake analysis of research and to communicate the results. The workshops were well attended, either at or near maximum capacity. 6 Technical Leaflets were written, subcontracted to advisers with the necessary expertise. The leaflets were published as hard copy, distributed widely within the organic sector and put on the website for free download. http://www.organicadvice.org.uk/technical_leaflets.html Conclusions and options for the future Organic Eprints is an effective and user friendly archive for organic research papers, primarily intended for researchers but also useable by advisers. Collation and analysis of the research on particular topics in Research Topic Reviews is an important and effective method of drawing together the results of a wide spectrum of research and providing an accessible summary for use by advisers. The level of detail is appropriate to the needs of professional advisers wishing to understand the outcome of specific research projects and the background to the recommendations for producers

Working in law’s borderlands: translation and the work of an advice office

Increasing ly people in the UK are turning to voluntary sector advice organisations for help and support in dealing with everyday problems . Here w e argue that advice organisations, who work in the borderlands of law , are nevertheless key players in legal arenas , focusin g on local Citizens Advice offices supporting clients with employment problems. We look at the making of advisers as border- workers through programmes which turn volunteers into employment advisers; and the paid advisers who inhabit spaces on the edges of the profession. We examine the social practices of these advisers, the ways in which law -work becomes translation and advice -work becomes a process of co -production between adviser and client. In concluding, we consider how far into the legal arena it is p ossible to go with limited resources ; and what happens when translating the technicalities of law no longer works. Translation comes to mean advisers turning to their activist -selves and adopting political tactics

Fixing Soft Dollars Is Not That Hard: A Consent and Reporting Framework for Regulating Client Commission Arrangements

Under soft dollar arrangements, investment advisers promise portfolio trades to participating brokers in exchange for investment research or other benefits. Recently, some academics, financial regulators, and practitioners have scrutinized such arrangements, arguing that they provide an avenue for advisers to unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of their clients. However, others defend soft dollar arrangements, seeing them as a mechanism for binding advisers to clients and increasing client returns. A safe harbor currently protects advisers’ use of soft dollars, so long as certain minimum requirements are met. Critics argue that soft dollars should be banned outright, contending that advisers should be required to pay for all investment research and advisory benefits out of their own pocket rather than by using clients’ commissions. Supporters recommend maintaining the status quo, arguing that the safe harbor promotes access to diverse research that, ultimately, benefits clients. This Note analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of soft dollar arrangements, the original rationales for the development of the soft dollar safe harbor, and the agency costs and conflicts of interest inherent in maintaining the safe harbor. This Note advocates a middle ground between maintaining the status quo and banning soft dollars outright: a consent and reporting framework for the use of soft dollars that is consistent with general principles of agency and the fiduciary duties that advisers owe their clients

Careers advisors’ opinion of the College of Occupational Therapists Careers Video

Using a mixed methodology, this study investigated the effectiveness of the College of Occupational Therapists’ careers video in increasing the knowledge of six careers advisers about the profession and obtained their views of the video as a promotional tool. To quantify the advisers’ knowledge, a pre-test post-test questionnaire was used before and after viewing the video. A short qualitative interview then ascertained their impressions of the video. Despite a high baseline knowledge, viewing the video was effective in increasing it. The advisers had mixed opinions about the video, suggesting that it could be improved and clarified

Indonesian foreign policy under President Jokowi

In this Lowy Institute Analysis, Aaron L. Connelly previews the likely direction of Indonesian foreign policy under President-elect Joko \u27Jokowi\u27 Widodo, highlighting major issues and profiling key advisers. Key findings: Jokowi will leave foreign policy-making to key advisers, creating greater opportunities for competition over policy between the institutions those advisers lead. This competition could make it more difficult for Indonesian foreign policy-makers to define a clear position on key issues. Amidst this greater turbidity, Indonesian leadership in regional affairs could take a hit. Jokowi’s closest advisers are sophisticated and internationalist, but other voices could push Indonesian foreign policy toward more nationalist positions at the margins, impacting on Indonesian relations with Australia

Algorithms & Fiduciaries: Existing and Proposed Regulatory Approaches to Artificially Intelligent Financial Planners

Artificial intelligence is no longer solely in the realm of science fiction. Today, basic forms of machine learning algorithms are commonly used by a variety of companies. Also, advanced forms of machine learning are increasingly making their way into the consumer sphere and promise to optimize existing markets. For financial advising, machine learning algorithms promise to make advice available 24–7 and significantly reduce costs, thereby opening the market for financial advice to lower-income individuals. However, the use of machine learning algorithms also raises concerns. Among them, whether these machine learning algorithms can meet the existing fiduciary standard imposed on human financial advisers and how responsibility and liability should be partitioned when an autonomous algorithm falls short of the fiduciary standard and harms a client. After summarizing the applicable law regulating investment advisers and the current state of robo-advising, this Note evaluates whether robo-advisers can meet the fiduciary standard and proposes alternate liability schemes for dealing with increasingly sophisticated machine learning algorithms

Anti-herding and strategic consultation.

In this paper I analyze how careerist decision makers aggregate and use information provided by others. I find that decision makers who are motivated by reputation concerns tend to ‘anti-herding’, i.e., they excessively contradict public information such as the prior or others’ recommendations. I also find that some decision makers may deliberately act unilaterally and not consult advisers although advice is costless. Moreover, advisers to the decision maker may not report their information truthfully. Even if the advisers care only about the outcome, they bias their recommendation since they anticipate inefficient anti-herding behavior by the decision maker.

Does sophistication affect long-term return expectations? : Evidence from financial advisers' exam scores

We use unique data from financial advisers’ professional exam scores and combine it with other variables to create an index of financial sophistication. Using this index to explain long-term stock return expectations, we find that more sophisticated financial advisers tend to have lower return expectations. A one standard deviation increase in the sophistication index reduces expected returns by 1.1 percentage points. The effect is stronger for emerging market stocks (2.3 percentage points). The sophistication effect contributes 60% to the model fit, while employer fixed effects combined contribute less than 30%. These results help understand the formation of potentially excessively optimistic expectations

Archaeology on your farm: gaining from history

Information for land managers and farming advisers within Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Divine madness: the dilemma of religious scruples in twentieth-century America and Britain

Religious scruples were a major problem within Roman Catholic circles until the late twentieth century. This article traces the shift from the cure of scruples being seen as the responsibility of religious advisers to them being labled an obsessional-compulsive disorder. Whether penitent or patient, the clash between revelationary truths and scientific ones had a profound impact on sufferers of scrupulosity. There was, however, no clean shift between the Age of Religiosity to the Age of Neurosis: rather, there was an interaction between the two professions, with spiritual advisers proving themselves to be willing to relinquish their grip on the soul while psychiatrists paid their respect to the power of faith