March for Peace - World War Threatens You!

Flyer for peace march in October, 1935. On reverse: Collage entitled Stop the War. Student Publications: The Campus Newspaper Collectio

Introduction: Hybrid Security Governance in Africa

Security Sector Reform (SSR) programmes have not sufficiently acknowledged the fact that in Africa, security governance is based on a complex amalgam of statutory and non?statutory actors and institutions which do form the security sector. SSR processes are more often than not focused on structural and formal institutional arrangements of the state and are generally seen as a purely technico?institutional reform, based on techniques of organisational engineering and principles of institutional design. Consequently, security reform processes, most of the time promoted or supported by external donors, tend to be driven by an administrative view of the state which emphasises its legal structure whilst glossing over its political and social character. Today, there is a dire need to take a critical stance on the relationships between the various systems, actors and beneficiaries involved in the security sector on the African continent. This introductive article proposes to refer to the analytic model of ‘hybridity’ to grasp the current realities and the prospects of the security sector in African countries

Sedimentary DNA from a submerged site reveals wheat in the British Isles 8000 years ago

YesThe Mesolithic-to-Neolithic transition marked the time when a hunter-gatherer economy gave way to agriculture, coinciding with rising sea levels. Bouldnor Cliff, is a submarine archaeological site off the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom that has a well-preserved Mesolithic paleosol dated to 8000 years before the present. We analyzed a core obtained from sealed sediments, combining evidence from microgeomorphology and microfossils with sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) analyses to reconstruct floral and faunal changes during the occupation of this site, before it was submerged. In agreement with palynological analyses, the sedaDNA sequences suggest a mixed habitat of oak forest and herbaceous plants. However, they also provide evidence of wheat 2000 years earlier than mainland Britain and 400 years earlier than proximate European sites. These results suggest that sophisticated social networks linked the Neolithic front in southern Europe to the Mesolithic peoples of northern Europe

Trial protocol OPPTIMUM : does progesterone prophylaxis for the prevention of preterm labour improve outcome?

Background Preterm birth is a global problem, with a prevalence of 8 to 12% depending on location. Several large trials and systematic reviews have shown progestogens to be effective in preventing or delaying preterm birth in selected high risk women with a singleton pregnancy (including those with a short cervix or previous preterm birth). Although an improvement in short term neonatal outcomes has been shown in some trials these have not consistently been confirmed in meta-analyses. Additionally data on longer term outcomes is limited to a single trial where no difference in outcomes was demonstrated at four years of age of the child, despite those in the “progesterone” group having a lower incidence of preterm birth. Methods/Design The OPPTIMUM study is a double blind randomized placebo controlled trial to determine whether progesterone prophylaxis to prevent preterm birth has long term neonatal or infant benefit. Specifically it will study whether, in women with singleton pregnancy and at high risk of preterm labour, prophylactic vaginal natural progesterone, 200 mg daily from 22 – 34 weeks gestation, compared to placebo, improves obstetric outcome by lengthening pregnancy thus reducing the incidence of preterm delivery (before 34 weeks), improves neonatal outcome by reducing a composite of death and major morbidity, and leads to improved childhood cognitive and neurosensory outcomes at two years of age. Recruitment began in 2009 and is scheduled to close in Spring 2013. As of May 2012, over 800 women had been randomized in 60 sites. Discussion OPPTIMUM will provide further evidence on the effectiveness of vaginal progesterone for prevention of preterm birth and improvement of neonatal outcomes in selected groups of women with singleton pregnancy at high risk of preterm birth. Additionally it will determine whether any reduction in the incidence of preterm birth is accompanied by improved childhood outcome

Deepening democracy within Ireland's social partnership

Ireland's social partnership process, now under attack from a number of quarters, has repeatedly been charged with being 'undemocratic' in that it undermines the sovereign position of elected political representatives, with key policy formulation and decision-making taking place in fora outside the institutions of representative democracy. These critiques echo those against new forms of networked governance more globally. A key question therefore is how (and if) democracy may be deepened within social partnership or its potential successor(s). This article addresses this question by employing a post-liberal democratic framework to examine social partnership in practice, and by drawing lessons from another partnership process, Malawi's PRSP. Drawing from Malawi's experience, it is argued that democracy can be deepened within social partnership when governance deliberations and negotiations are conducted under conditions of vibrant public debate and genuine perspective-based representation, and when the communicative and discursive norms are widened to allow for such representation

An Institutional Theory perspective on sustainable practices across the dairy supply chain

AbstractThe need for sustainable practices in the food supply chain, particularly in the area of energy reduction, is becoming acute. The food industry currently has to contend with multiple competing pressures alongside the new challenges of sustainable production. We applied Institutional Theory to explore the role of supermarkets in the development of legitimate sustainable practices across the dairy supply chains. The paper focuses on dairy supply chain organizations and their consumption of energy. We conducted 70 semi-structured telephone interviews with various stakeholders across the supply chain. Findings revealed that the majority of actors in the supply chain identified supermarkets as the dominant player, and that the supermarkets exert pressure on other smaller organizations across the supply chain. Although some organizations wished to pursue a sustainable agenda through integrating new rules and legitimate practices within their own organization, the dominant logic appeared to be one of cost reduction and profit maximization. There was also evidence that supermarkets and other large organizations attempt to replicate publicly available information on green successes for image purposes. We conclude that the dominant logic of cost reduction is so well established that challenging the dominant logic may prove difficult. The challenge is therefore to complement the dominant logic with sustainable practices across the whole supply chain, a role Government needs to play. This will require a broader more systemic approach to encouraging sustainable practices including investment and financing practices, so that all members of the dairy supply chain can co-operate and contribute to energy reduction

Population Projections and Demographic Knowledge in France and Great Britain in the Postwar Period

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111965/1/padr47.pd

Weight loss for individuals with type 2 diabetes following a very-low-calorie diet in a community-based setting with trained facilitators for 12 weeks.

Approximately 80% of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are overweight or obese, and obesity compounds the cardiovascular risk of T2DM. The aim of this retrospective study was twofold: first to investigate whether a twelve-week, community-based VLCD programme can result in important weight loss; and second to investigate any potential difference in the weight loss achieved using this community based approach in individuals with and without T2DM. Three hundred and fifty five participants with T2DM were matched for age, BMI and gender to participants without T2DM. The total cohort comprised 204 males: 506 females; age (years) 54.0 ± 9.1; BMI (kg/m2) 41.6 ± 8.1; weight (kg) 116.1 ± 25.1). The programme included a daily intake of 550kcal in addition to group support and behaviour therapy provided by trained facilitators within a community-based setting. After twelve weeks, there was significant weight loss within each group when compared to baseline (T2DM: 115.0 ± 24.4 kg vs 96.7 ± 21.4 kg, p < 0.0001; non-T2DM: 117.2 ± 25.8 kg vs 97.3 ± 22.2 kg, p < 0.0001). At twelve weeks, both weight change (-18.3 ± 7.3 kg vs -19.9 ± 7.0 kg, p = 0.012) and BMI change (-6.7 ± 2.9 kg/m2 vs -7.1 ± 2.1 kg/m2, p = 0.011) were significantly less in the T2DM group when compared to the non-T2DM group. Our results suggest that the use of VLCD approaches for weight management in T2DM can achieve more than 90% of the weight loss seen in obese individuals without T2DM