European Parliamentary Elections: Global Lessons from a Regional Political Crisis

In May 2014 for the eighth time in the history of European integration, citizens across Europe had the opportunity to vote in the only directly elected transnational legislative elections in the world. This was the first EU parliamentary election held since the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, which brought political and institutional changes ostensibly designed to enhance the democratic legitimacy of the EU. Ironically, neither the expanded powers of the European Parliament, nor its rallying slogan of “this time it’s different” succeeded in mobilizing voters and instead, the downward trend in turnout continued with an abstention rate of nearly 58 %. What was in fact ‘different this time’ around was the strongest showing to date of radical right and anti-EU parties gaining a record number of seats. This paper aims to show that this result is intrinsically linked to the on-going global economic crisis and the subsequent austerity policies adopted by the EU, which created a veritable Petri dish for growth of populist backlash. In contrast to media characterizations of the election outcome as a “political earthquake” and a disaster for the European project, we argue that the results were fairly predictable and less damaging than generally presumed by critics of the purported democratic deficit. To substantiate this assertion, we put EU voter turnout and the present partisan and ideological trends in historical and comparative perspective and discuss the relationship between EU level developments and attitudes within the Member States. An in-depth analysis of the elections then shows that the regional political crisis stems largely from a mismatch between tenacious national identities and political discourses, and EU level policies operating within an ever integrated, dysfunctional global economy

Measuring Children and Young People's Outcomes in Residential Education

This study evaluates an outcomes framework consisting of a bank of outcomes, a set of tools and associated processes specifically developed by the Educating through Care Scotland (EtCS) group for use by residential providers of education and care. A group of 11 providers piloted the framework over an 18-month period. These providers met regularly to share learning and there was further input from four secure care providers with growing experience of using outcomes. The study was conducted using a range of different methods to collect data throughout the pilot process and drew on a wide range of perspectives including workers, managers, children and young people and commissioners. The report details the background and context of the pilot, the methods used in the study and the key findings. These cover the pilot process itself, the individual parts of the framework and various issues that arose as the providers tested and developed the framework. The report also draws out a number of wider learning points which may be of interest to others developing or implementing outcomes approaches

Pragmatic Truths: When Ritual Meets the Reality of Community Engagement

Community engagement is the touchstone of all universities and is critical to the credibility and overall standing of academic institutions. The cardinal features of engagement include ‗Capability, Commitment, Contribution, Continuity, Collaboration and Conscience‘. However these abstract concepts are often idealized and simplistic. On the other hand, when community engagement is managed well, participatory planning can produce better substantive ideas, useful relationships and stronger agreements across stakeholder groups. However, if engagement is more ritual than reality, it can lead to technically deficient ideas, frustrated expectations, power grabs in which parochial interests dominate conflicts and mistrust. This case study describes the realignment of graduate nurse education at Edith Cowan University‘s School of Nursing Midwifery and Postgraduate Medicine with community stakeholders, to develop and sustain enrolment of students in the graduate program, with a focus on community engagement. In particular, the problems encountered will be identified and the ―how to‖ and ―how not to‖ manage engagement processes will be discussed. Through the realignment process the pragmatic truths of community engagement emerged; namely, a conflict of agenda, unrealistic expectations of capability and ability of stakeholders, resistance to change. This occurred despite a true intent for meaningful, sustained and beneficial partnership. The ―how to‖ emerged through assessment and involved a reality check of the power of human agents. This led to the development of a conceptual model of community engagement which embodies a change management framework. The how ‗not to‘ involved developing a set behaviours and descriptors as a diagnostic tool to identify hidden agendas, white elephants, and personal shortcomings. In conclusion, the case study provides a set of practical resources for community engagement, lessons learned and strategies to overcome issues and concerns of real and perceived barriers. Further work is required to refine and test the approach in other settings

A leadership program in an undergraduate nursing course in Western Australia: Building leaders in our midst

This paper discusses a leadership program implemented in the School of Nursing at Edith Cowan University to develop leadership in fourth semester nursing students enrolled in a three year undergraduate nursing degree to prepare them for the dynamic ‘changing world’ environment of healthcare. Students were invited to apply to undertake the program in extracurricular time. Nineteen students applied to the program and ten were chosen to participate in the program. The numbers were limited to ten to equal selected industry leader mentors. The leadership program is based on the belief that leadership is a function of knowing oneself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize one’s own potential. It is asserted that within the complexity of health care it is vital that nurses enter the clinical setting with leadership capabilities because graduate nurses must take the lead to act autonomously, make decisions at the point of service, and develop a professional vision that fits with organizational and professional goals Thus, the more practice students have with leadership skills, the more prepared they will be to enter the workforce. The program consists of three components: leadership knowledge, leadership skills and leadership-in-action. The leadership program focuses on the student-participant’s ability to be self reflective on personal leadership qualities, critically appraise, and work within a team as well as to take responsibility for ensuring the achievement of team goals as leader. The program is practical and is reliant on the involve ment of leader mentors who hold positions of leadership with the health industry in Western Australia. Students completed a pre and post program questionnaire related to abilities and skills in leadership. This paper discusses pre and post evaluation data against program outcomes. The findings demonstrate that participants of the program increased their ability to influence, persuade and motivate others; to effectively communicate; to team build and work collaboratively; to develop problem solving and perseverance skills to overcome obstacles; and to serve as agents for positive change

Month by month overview of UWE Bristol's Green Capital year

The document provides a month-by-month summary of activities which were undertaken by UWE staff and students in support of Bristol's year as European Green Capital. More detail on these activities can be found in the UWE Green Capital Activities Catalogue and accompanying Portfolio

Time Use by Small Farm Families in Southwest Virginia: An Approach for the Inclusion of Household in Farming Systems Research and Extension

In this paper we first present an overview of Farming Systems Research and Extension (FSR/E), contrasting the importance placed on the household in the FSRIE conceptual framework with the lack of explicit attention given it in FSR/E methodology. An initial 47-farm survey suggested that female household members play key roles in intensive crop production and off-farm income generation. A time allocation study during May-October, 1982, investigated the roles of female and male household heads and working age children in a representative 10-farm subsample. Results indicated greater women\u27s contributions to livestock-related production activities than originally hypothesized and reduced time spent by families with female off-farm employment in household production activities. Based on these results, an agriculture-family resources para-professional technician team is suggested as an alternate extension model to be tested for U.S. and developing country limited resource farms

Intermittent fasting interventions for the treatment of overweight and obesity in adults aged 18 years and over:a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of intermittent energy restriction in the treatment for overweight and obesity in adults, when compared to usual care treatment or no treatment. Introduction: Intermittent energy restriction encompasses dietary approaches including intermittent fasting, alternate day fasting, and fasting for two days per week. Despite the recent popularity of intermittent energy restriction and associated weight loss claims, the supporting evidence base is limited. Inclusion criteria: This review included overweight or obese (BMI ≥25 kg/m2) adults (≥18 years). Intermittent energy restriction was defined as consumption of ≤800 kcal on at least one day, but no more than six days per week. Intermittent energy restriction interventions were compared to no treatment (ad libitum diet) or usual care (continuous energy restriction ∼25% of recommended energy intake). Included interventions had a minimum duration of 12 weeks from baseline to post outcome measurements. The types of studies included were randomized and pseudo-randomized controlled trials. The primary outcome of this review was change in body weight. Secondary outcomes included: i) anthropometric outcomes (change in BMI, waist circumference, fat mass, fat free mass); ii) cardio-metabolic outcomes (change in blood glucose and insulin, lipoprotein profiles and blood pressure); and iii) lifestyle outcomes: diet, physical activity, quality of life and adverse events. Methods: A systematic search was conducted from database inception to November 2015. The following electronic databases were searched: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN registry, and anzctr.org.au for English language published studies, protocols and trials. Two independent reviewers evaluated the methodological quality of included studies using the standardized critical appraisal instruments from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Data were extracted from papers included in the review by two independent reviewers using the standardized data extraction tool from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Effect sizes were expressed as weighted mean differences and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated for meta-analyses. Results: Six studies were included in this review. The intermittent energy restriction regimens varied across studies and included alternate day fasting, fasting for two days, and up to four days per week. The duration of studies ranged from three to 12 months. Four studies included continuous energy restriction as a comparator intervention and two studies included a no treatment control intervention. Meta-analyses showed that intermittent energy restriction was more effective than no treatment for weight loss (−4.14 kg; 95% CI −6.30 kg to −1.99 kg; p ≤ 0.001). Although both treatment interventions achieved similar changes in body weight (approximately 7 kg), the pooled estimate for studies that investigated the effect of intermittent energy restriction in comparison to continuous energy restriction revealed no significant difference in weight loss (−1.03 kg; 95% CI −2.46 kg to 0.40 kg; p = 0.156). Conclusions: Intermittent energy restriction may be an effective strategy for the treatment of overweight and obesity. Intermittent energy restriction was comparable to continuous energy restriction for short term weight loss in overweight and obese adults. Intermittent energy restriction was shown to be more effective than no treatment, however, this should be interpreted cautiously due to the small number of studies and future research is warranted to confirm the findings of this review

UWE - Celebrating Bristol Green Capital 2015 activities catalogue

This catalogue showcases and celebrates examples of the work of the hundreds of UWE staff and students who contributed to Bristol Green Capital 2015

UWE Celebrating Bristol Green Capital 2015 - Activities portfolio (supporting document for UWE Celebrating Bristol Green Capital 2015 activities catalogue)

This Activities Portfolio details projects, events and initiatives which represent the work of hundreds of UWE staff and students during Bristol's year as European Green Capital in 2015. It is the working file to accompany the UWE Green Capital 2015 Activities Catalogue