The retail of welfare-friendly products: A comparative assessment of the nature of the market for welfare-friendly products in six European Countries

This paper attempts to describe the market for welfare-friendly foodstuffs within larger retailing trends in six study countries in Europe (Norway, Sweden, Italy, France, the Netherlands and the UK). This is based on the findings to date from the work carried out by the work package 1.2 whose aims are to study the current and potential market for welfare-friendly foodstuffs. The aims of the current empirical stages of work package 1.2 are focussed on – what do retailers communicate to consumers about animal welfare? How is animal welfare framed? Are welfare-claims used on their own or within broader issues of quality

Quis custodiet ipsos custodies in the Internet: self-regulation as a threat and a promise

ICT domains have always been subject to technical, economic and/or societal regulation. The traditional basis was a 'governance gap' between economically-motivated activities and external consequences for other firms, end-users, public services, etc. Recent changes in European market and societal contexts and policy initiatives have triggered a reconsideration of this basis. Four developments are particularly challenging: enterprise convergence and divergence that reshape market and sector boundaries; evolution of 'converged' regulators; new regulatory concerns (IPR enforcement, RFID, net neutrality); and changes in the policy context. These combine to lay the foundation for cross-cutting reviews and rebalancing of regulatory roles and responsibilities with profound structural and dynamic implications. This has been largely confined to formal regulation while much governance is provided by a spectrum of self- and co-regulatory organisations (hereafter referred to as XROs). This paper analyses XRO roles, functions and impacts and their implications for regulatory postures more supportive of overarching policy objectives, more transparent and accountable, more flexible in response to technological and other changes, less burdensome to those regulated and less likely to distort market evolution. It draws on a review of the self-regulation literature in a wide range of contexts, including financial services and professional self-regulation, 21 extended case studies of Internet XROs, an analytic treatment of the determinants and impacts of XRO formation, agenda-setting, rules, monitoring, enforcement and compliance; and a policy analysis of the scope for regulatory engagement with XROs and methods for option development and ex ante evaluation. Particular issues concern: the degree to which XROs form around specific issues, market segments, personalities or action modes (e.g. standardisation); whether different types of statutory or XRO governance are likely to adopt more stringent or more cost-effective rules; whether different arrangements are more vulnerable to capture or corruption; and whether compliance will be higher under specific types of arrangements. Public policy and the peer-reviewed literature converge on the recognition that there is always a price to be paid for regulation in the form of distortion, cost, institutionalisation, agenda creep and so on. This must be offset against justifying benefits, which may mean extending or shrinking regulation in various areas, rebalancing rule-making and rule-enforcing, delegating or clawing back responsibility, etc. It is necessary to reassess how, but whether and even why regulation should be done. Generally, this calls for some evolved form of, or alternative to, regulation. The paper presents six specific findings and associated recommendations for policy formulation

Quis custodiet ipsos custodies in the Internet: self-regulation as a threat and a promise

ICT domains have always been subject to technical, economic and/or societal regulation. The traditional basis was a 'governance gap' between economically-motivated activities and external consequences for other firms, end-users, public services, etc. Recent changes in European market and societal contexts and policy initiatives have triggered a reconsideration of this basis. Four developments are particularly challenging: enterprise convergence and divergence that reshape market and sector boundaries; evolution of 'converged' regulators; new regulatory concerns (IPR enforcement, RFID, net neutrality); and changes in the policy context. These combine to lay the foundation for cross-cutting reviews and rebalancing of regulatory roles and responsibilities with profound structural and dynamic implications. This has been largely confined to formal regulation while much governance is provided by a spectrum of self- and co-regulatory organisations (hereafter referred to as XROs). This paper analyses XRO roles, functions and impacts and their implications for regulatory postures more supportive of overarching policy objectives, more transparent and accountable, more flexible in response to technological and other changes, less burdensome to those regulated and less likely to distort market evolution. It draws on a review of the self-regulation literature in a wide range of contexts, including financial services and professional self-regulation, 21 extended case studies of Internet XROs, an analytic treatment of the determinants and impacts of XRO formation, agenda-setting, rules, monitoring, enforcement and compliance; and a policy analysis of the scope for regulatory engagement with XROs and methods for option development and ex ante evaluation. Particular issues concern: the degree to which XROs form around specific issues, market segments, personalities or action modes (e.g. standardisation); whether different types of statutory or XRO governance are likely to adopt more stringent or more cost-effective rules; whether different arrangements are more vulnerable to capture or corruption; and whether compliance will be higher under specific types of arrangements. Public policy and the peer-reviewed literature converge on the recognition that there is always a price to be paid for regulation in the form of distortion, cost, institutionalisation, agenda creep and so on. This must be offset against justifying benefits, which may mean extending or shrinking regulation in various areas, rebalancing rule-making and rule-enforcing, delegating or clawing back responsibility, etc. It is necessary to reassess how, but whether and even why regulation should be done. Generally, this calls for some evolved form of, or alternative to, regulation. The paper presents six specific findings and associated recommendations for policy formulation

The experience of falls and balance impairment for people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

People with Charcot Marie Tooth disease (CMT) have impairments of balance and may fall more frequently than those without the condition. This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of falling and poor balance through focus group interviews. Participants were recruited through local and national meetings of the CMT United Kingdom support group. Three focus groups took place, including 25 adults with CMT in total. Thematic analysis revealed five main themes: frequent falling; cognitive burden of walking; environmental issues; external support; getting off the floor; perception of others. Participants described the physical issues of poor balance and falling, such as frequency, challenging physical environments and difficulty getting up after a fall. In addition, fear and embarrassment were discussed along with the impact on daily activities and participation. Physical and psychological factors need to be considered when designing falls management interventions for this group

Intra-Rater reliability of the multiple single-leg hop-stabilization test and relationships with age, leg dominance and training

Balance is a complex construct, affected by multiple components such as strength and coordination. However, while assessing an athlete's dynamic balance is an important part of clinical examination there is no gold standard measure. The multiple single-leg hop-stabilization test (MSLHST) is a functional test which may offer a method of evaluating the dynamic attributes of balance, but it needs to show adequate intra-tester reliability. The purpose of this study was to assess the intra-rater reliability of a dynamic balance test, the multiple single-leg hop-stabilization test (MSLHST) on the dominant and non-dominant legs. Fifteen active participants were tested twice with a 10-minute break between tests. The outcome measure was the multiple single-leg hop-stabilization test score, based on a clinically assessed numerical scoring system. Results were analyzed using an Intra-class Correlations Coefficient (ICC 2,1) and Bland-Altman plots. Regression analyses explored relationships between test scores, leg dominance, age and training (an alpha level of p = 0.05 was selected). ICCs for intra-rater reliability were 0.85 for the dominant and non-dominant legs (confidence intervals = 0.62-0.95 and 0.61-0.95 respectively). Bland-Altman plots showed scores within two standard deviations. A significant correlation was observed between the dominant and non-dominant leg on balance scores (R²=0.49, p<0.05), and better balance was associated with younger participants in their non-dominant leg (R²=0.28, p<0.05) and their dominant leg (R²=0.39, p<0.05) and a higher number of hours spent training for the non-dominant leg R²=0.37, p<0.05). The authors concluded that the multiple single-leg hop-stabilization test demonstrated strong intra-tester reliability with active participants. Younger participants who trained more, have better balance scores. This test may be a useful measure for evaluating the dynamic attributes of balance

"i-Internet? Intle” (beautiful): Exploring first time internet use via mobile phones in a South African women’s collective

Using an ethnographic action research approach, the study explores the challenges, practices, and emergent framings of mobile-only Internet use in a resource-constrained setting. We trained eight women in a nongovernmental organization’s collective in South Africa, none of whom had used a personal computer, how to access the Internet on mobile handsets they already owned. Six months after training, most continued to use the mobile Internet for a combination of utility, entertainment, and connection, but they had encountered barriers, including affordability and difficulty of use. Participants’ assessments mingled aspirational and actual utility of the channel with and against a background of socioeconomic constraints. Discussion links the digital literacy perspective to the broader theoretical frameworks of domestication, adaptive structuration, and appropriation

The implications of outcome truncation in reproductive medicine RCTs: a simulation platform for trialists and simulation study.

From Europe PMC via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: ppub 2021-08-01, epub 2021-08-06Publication status: PublishedFunder: Wellcome Trust; Grant(s): 204796/Z/16/ZBackgroundRandomised controlled trials in reproductive medicine are often subject to outcome truncation, where the study outcomes are only defined in a subset of the randomised cohort. Examples include birthweight (measurable only in the subgroup of participants who give birth) and miscarriage (which can only occur in participants who become pregnant). These outcomes are typically analysed by making a comparison between treatment arms within the subgroup (for example, comparing birthweights in the subgroup who gave birth or miscarriages in the subgroup who became pregnant). However, this approach does not represent a randomised comparison when treatment influences the probability of being observed (i.e. survival). The practical implications of this for the design and interpretation of reproductive trials are unclear however.MethodsWe developed a simulation platform to investigate the implications of outcome truncation for reproductive medicine trials. We used this to perform a simulation study, in which we considered the bias, type 1 error, coverage, and precision of standard statistical analyses for truncated continuous and binary outcomes. Simulation settings were informed by published assisted reproduction trials.ResultsIncreasing treatment effect on the intermediate variable, strength of confounding between the intermediate and outcome variables, and the presence of an interaction between treatment and confounder were found to adversely affect performance. However, within parameter ranges we would consider to be more realistic, the adverse effects were generally not drastic. For binary outcomes, the study highlighted that outcome truncation could cause separation in smaller studies, where none or all of the participants in a study arm experience the outcome event. This was found to have severe consequences for inferences.ConclusionWe have provided a simulation platform that can be used by researchers in the design and interpretation of reproductive medicine trials subject to outcome truncation and have used this to conduct a simulation study. The study highlights several key factors which trialists in the field should consider carefully to protect against erroneous inferences. Standard analyses of truncated binary outcomes in small studies may be highly biassed, and it remains to identify suitable approaches for analysing data in this context