Pigs and cattle in Gaul: the role of Gallic societies in the evolution of husbandry practices

In this article we present a comparative study of pig and cattle morphologies, and stable isotope analysis relating to pig demographic management at Levroux Les Arènes (Indre, France), to evaluate changes in husbandry practices between the Iron Age and the Roman period in Gallic societies. Results indicate the establishment of new production and distribution structures, probably before the second century BC, along with the implementation of a specific size/weight selection for the specialized production of pork. Pig and cattle size evolves progressively from the end of the third century BC. These changes are likely to be the result of an internal evolution within Gallic societies, based on local herds, but possibly they are a response to a broader changing economic climate. Within the Western Roman Empire, each province, and Italy, follows its own evolutionary pattern, which also differs between pig and cattle, suggesting that each region adapted its husbandry strategies according to its agro-pastoral characteristics, capacities, or ambitions

Révolution numérique dans le bâtiment: : analyse des gains escomptés par la diffusion des outils numériques (BIM et maquette numérique) dans le secteur du bâtiment.

Afin de répondre aux grands enjeux du secteur du bâtiment (qualité, productivité, performance énergétique), les acteurs de cette filière misent aujourd’hui sur les technologies de l’information et de la communication. Le BIM («Building Information Modeling»), déjà adopté dans de nombreux pays étrangers, semble un outil très prometteur. Face à cette compétitivité internationale, le gouvernement français s'est emparé du sujet BIM, en créant fin 2014 le Plan de Transition du Numérique dans le Bâtiment (PTNB). Aussi se posent diverses questions afin de permettre le déploiement du BIM à l'échelle nationale. Comment diffuser le BIM en France? Quels sont les gains et freins escomptés par sa diffusion? Quel est le rôle des pouvoirs publics

Integrated Care Systems: What can current reforms learn from past research on regional co-ordination of health and care in England? A literature review ? Executive summary

This report is part of the research of the Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Systems and Commissioning (PRUComm) on the developing architecture of system management in the English NHS – including Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, Integrated Care Systems or their successors – commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care. Five years since the publication of the Five Year Forward View (NHS, 2014), the integration of health and social care at a ‘system’ level remains a central NHS policy priority in England. The NHS Long Term Plan (NHS, 2019a) further set out how organisations are to continue to work together collaboratively across bounded geographic territories with the aim of improving co-ordination of local health and care services to encourage the better use of resources and through managing population health. Without change to legislation, encouraging system-wide collaboration marks a major shift in policy direction away from the primacy of quasi-market competition. Forty-four non-statutory Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) of NHS commissioners and providers, local authorities, and in some cases, voluntary and private sector organisations have been formed across England. Fourteen of the more ‘mature’ partnerships have since been designated Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to be granted increased autonomy, providing greater freedom over how they manage resources collectively. There are usually three spatial levels of organisation within each STP/ICS: ‘neighbourhoods’ covering a population of roughly 30,000 – 50,000; ‘place’ between 250,000-500,000 people and STP/ICS ‘system’ level between 1 million – 3 million. In addition, seven new regional teams bring together NHS England and NHS Improvement at a regional level, intended to harmonise their operations for system-wide working. Despite undergoing continuous reinvention, an intermediate tier has existed for most of the history of the English NHS, with statutory authorities (at times, several layers of authorities) responsible variously for long-term strategic planning, allocating resources, acting as market umpires, and overseeing delivery of local health services. The latest reforms mark a return of an intermediate tier, filling a vacuum left behind by the abolition of Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) in 2013. However, unlike previous health authorities, STPs and ICSs are not statutory bodies, but instead exist as non-statutory voluntary partnerships despite being effectively mandated by NHS England. This report presents the findings of a review of literature on previous intermediate tiers in the NHS. Drawing on peer-reviewed academic research, historical analysis and commentary from academic and policy sources, it examines their functions and responsibilities, how they operated in practice and their interaction with local government. Putting current reforms in their geographical and historical context, we draw out lessons for the challenges and opportunities STPs and ICSs may encounter in the years ahead

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) : A new business model in the FTSE100

CC-BY-NC-NDThis paper is about the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) business model. REITs benefit from tax concessions and Fair Value Accounting (FVA) practices. REITs distributing over 90 percent of profits can obtain tax concessions for their shareholders. This encourages profit distribution at the expense of accumulating retained earnings in shareholder equity. The financial viability of REITs depends upon FVA because this records holding gains when property values are increased. These holding gains can be employed to generate additional financial leverage. However, REITs are exposed to property market volatility and this can quickly undermine solvency, credit ratings and financial stability.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

‘Learning to sing together’: developing a community of research practice through dialogue

This paper explores the processes involved when a group of academics within a small teaching-led institution set out to build a community of research practice. Through a narrative account that gives voice to each member of the group, the paper depicts the dialogic processes by which members of the group explored their current academic identities, in a search for new research identities. In establishing a community of research practice the group were able, through dialogue, to move away from hierarchical conceptions of ‘novice’ and ‘experienced researcher’ towards a ‘mutuality’ which set aside hierarchical power relations. In this way the authors add their collective voice to recent challenges to the dominant discourse of academic knowledge production. The paper concludes by arguing for the need to have such communities of research practice in order to facilitate the time and/or space for meaningful, transformative dialogue, at a time of increasing demands upon academic staff

Parental, prenatal, and neonatal associations with ball skills at age 8 using an exposome approach.

There is little consistency in the literature concerning factors that influence motor coordination in children. A hypothesis-free "exposome" approach was used with 7359 children using longitudinal information covering 3 generations in regard to throwing a ball accurately at age 7 years. The analyses showed an independent robust negative association with mother's unhappiness in her midchildhood (6-11 years). No such association was present for study fathers. The offspring of parents who described themselves as having poor eyesight had poorer ability. This hypothesis-free approach has identified a strong negative association with an unhappy childhood. Future studies of this cohort will be used to determine whether the mechanism is manifest through differing parenting skills, or a biological mechanism reflecting epigenetic effects

Post-Pandemic Cities: An Urban Lexicon of Accelerations/Decelerations

COVID-19 has stimulated renewed societal and academic debate about the future of cities and urban life. Future visons have veered from the ‘death of the city’ to visual renderings and limited experiments with 15-minute neighbourhoods. Within this context, we as a diverse group of urban scholars sought to examine the emergent ‘post’-COVID city through the production of an urban lexicon that investigates its socio-material contours. The urban lexicon makes three contributions. First, to explore how the pandemic has accelerated certain processes and agendas while at the same time, other processes, priorities and sites have been decelerated and put on hold. Second, to utilise this framing to examine the impacts of the pandemic on how cities are governed, on how urban geographies are managed and lived, and with how care emerged as a vital urban resource. Third, to tease out what might be temporary intensifications and what may become configurational in a variety of urban domains, including governance, platforming, density, crowds, technosolutionism, dwelling, respatialisation, reconcentration, care, improvisation, and atmosphere. The urban lexicon proposes a vocabulary for delineating, describing, and understanding some of the key aspects of the emergent post-pandemic city