An integrated approach to flood warning in England and Wales

Flood warning systems have been researched and discussed for several decades and there is a high degree of consensus in the literature that the most effective structure for a flood warning system is that of an integrated system. Experience suggests however, that few, if any, operational systems are designed in an integrated way and that few practitioners fully appreciate the benefits of integration. Through an analysis of arrangements in the Thames Basin, this research addresses this issue by identifying the necessary criteria and actions required to introduce an integrated system. The limited number of models that attempt to conceptualise flood warning systems in an integrated way have been critically examined and have found to focus too narrowly on selective integrative criteria. It is concluded that there is a need for a wider and multidimensional perspective. This study rectifies this deficiency by presenting a conceptual model that is derived from a more comprehensive assessment of the most relevant integrative factors. A two-staged process is adopted with an initial identification of a wide range of issues and variables, leading to a more focused set of factors presented under four main headings that are used to structure the substantive chapters of this thesis. These integrative factors can be conceptualised as crosscutting strands running through and drawing together the main components of a flood warning system (detection, forecasting, dissemination and response) that help ensure that these components work together collaboratively towards a common aim. Few of the integrative factors identified in this research were found in operational flood warning practices in England and Wales prior to 1996. A number of improvements were made with the establishment of the Environment Agency as the lead authority in both flood forecasting and flood warning dissemination, but a number of weakness still prevail. Through the use of case studies the plausibility of introducing a fully integrated approach to future arrangements has been tested and found to be both practical and feasible

On balance: lifestyle, mental health and wellbeing

This is the final version of the article. Available from Palgrave Macmillan via the DOI in this record.Given the supremacy of the biomedical model in defining our understanding and treatment of a wide range of physcial and psychological disorders, it is perhaps curious that simultaneously, scientists, clinicians, governments and patients routinely employ the concepts of "lifestyle" and "balance" to try to explain the causes of bodily disease and psychological disorder. Concurrently, the health advantages that are assumed to be inherent in a "balanced life" have been exploited by a rapidly expanding consumer market in "wellbeing"-by companies and individuals promoting food supplements, "wearable fitness", diet trends and the self-help material. Exploring the tension between the biomedical doctrine and the parallel preoccupation with balance and lifestyle has provided the impetus for this special issue. Emerging originally from papers presented at an interdisciplinary conference held at the University of Exeter in June 2015, and augmented by two further comment pieces, the collection of articles aims to explore the ways in which changing notions of "balance" have been used to understand the causes of mental illness; to rationalise new approaches to its treatment; and to validate advice relating to balance in work and family life.The author like to thank the Wellcome Trust for funding the conference “On Balance: Lifestyle, Mental Health and Wellbeing”, hosted in conjunction with Professor Mark Jackson’s Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator award “Lifestyle, Health and Disease: Changing Concepts of Balance in Modern Medicine”

Chapter Bibliography

Statistically, women appear to suffer more frequently from depressive and anxiety disorders, featuring more regularly in primary care figures for consultations, diagnoses and prescriptions for psychotropic medication. This has been consistently so throughout the post-war period with current figures suggesting that women are approximately twice more likely to suffer from affective disorders than men. However, this book suggests that the statistical landscape reveals only part of the story. Currently, 75 per cent of suicides are among men, and this trend can also be traced back historically to data that suggests this has been the case since the beginning of the twentieth-century. This book suggests that male psychological illness was in fact no less common, but that it emerged in complex ways and was understood differently in response to prevailing cultural and medical forces. The book explores a host of medical, cultural and social factors that raise important questions about historical and current perceptions of gender and mental illness

Chapter 2 Mental Health at Work

Statistically, women appear to suffer more frequently from depressive and anxiety disorders, featuring more regularly in primary care figures for consultations, diagnoses and prescriptions for psychotropic medication. This has been consistently so throughout the post-war period with current figures suggesting that women are approximately twice more likely to suffer from affective disorders than men. However, this book suggests that the statistical landscape reveals only part of the story. Currently, 75 per cent of suicides are among men, and this trend can also be traced back historically to data that suggests this has been the case since the beginning of the twentieth-century. This book suggests that male psychological illness was in fact no less common, but that it emerged in complex ways and was understood differently in response to prevailing cultural and medical forces. The book explores a host of medical, cultural and social factors that raise important questions about historical and current perceptions of gender and mental illness

Chapter Appendix

Statistically, women appear to suffer more frequently from depressive and anxiety disorders, featuring more regularly in primary care figures for consultations, diagnoses and prescriptions for psychotropic medication. This has been consistently so throughout the post-war period with current figures suggesting that women are approximately twice more likely to suffer from affective disorders than men. However, this book suggests that the statistical landscape reveals only part of the story. Currently, 75 per cent of suicides are among men, and this trend can also be traced back historically to data that suggests this has been the case since the beginning of the twentieth-century. This book suggests that male psychological illness was in fact no less common, but that it emerged in complex ways and was understood differently in response to prevailing cultural and medical forces. The book explores a host of medical, cultural and social factors that raise important questions about historical and current perceptions of gender and mental illness

The development of electrochemical sensors

Imperial Users onl