Scottish circumvention of the English Navigation Acts in the American colonies 1660-1707

From its insular location, its limited indigenous resources and its subordinate political standing as one of three kingdoms ruled by the Stuart dynasty, Scotland was dependent on overseas trade, commercial networks and an entrepreneurial willingness to set aside international regulations for its very survival as a distinctive European nation in the later 17th century. Scotland was manifestly not a major European power, nor a significant imperial presence in the Americas. By the later 17th century, however, colonial endeavours were offering Scots the opportunity not just to break out from the mercantilist dominance of the great European powers, but also to sustain regal union under a common monarchy without recourse to political incorporation with England. By the 1690s, the clannish cohesion of their landed and commercial elite, their diligence in securing positions of influence and their collusive disregard for the Navigation Acts were perceived by English merchants, colonial officials, diplomats and ruling ministries as highly threatening. The Scots challenged the English state through their Darien Scheme to create an international entrepôt for the Pacific as well as the Atlantic on the Panama Isthmus, as through their expansion into Ireland and the Delaware Basin. If the Scots made a success of Darien, there seemed a real prospect to vested English interests that their domestic market would grow to include Ireland and that their entrepreneurial endeavours in the Delaware would lead to the secession of three counties to form a Scottish colony on the American mainland. Only political incorporation, through the Treaty of Union in 1707, seemingly put an end to Scottish flouting of English state power

Population Ageing:The Timebomb that Isn't?

Jeroen Spijker and John MacInnes argue that current measures of population ageing are misleading and that the numbers of dependent older people in the UK and other countries have actually been falling in recent year

Illness representations, treatment beliefs and the relationship to self-care in heart failure

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the beliefs people with heart failure hold about their illness and its treatment and to determine any relationships between these beliefs and self-care using the Common Sense Model (CSM) of illness cognitions and behaviour as the theoretical framework (Leventhal et al, 1980). Methods Using a mixed methodology (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2007), findings from patient interviews were used to adapt the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) (Moss-Morris et al, 2002) and the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) (Horne et al, 1999) in order to make them illness-specific. A questionnaire assessing self-care was developed based on the European Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale (EHFScBS) (Jaarsma et al, 2003), the interview findings and a nominal group technique with specialist heart failure nurses. These questionnaires were used to determine beliefs and the relationship to behaviour in a cross-sectional survey of 169 patients with heart failure. Results A number of statistically significant correlations were found between beliefs and self-care. Most notably, perceived medication knowledge (r = 0.51, p ≤ 0.01), beliefs about the necessity of medication (r = 0.45, p ≤ 0.01) and illness coherence (r = 0.39, p ≤ 0.01). Multiple regression analysis revealed that 46% of the variance in self-care could be explained by illness representations and treatment beliefs (Adj. R2 = 0.46, F = 9.93, p = 0.00). Three factors were significant predictors of self-care - medication knowledge (β = 0.319, p = 0.003), a belief in the illness having serious consequences (β = 0.258, p = 0.008) and the impact of medication use on lifestyle (β = -0.231, p = 0.03). Discussion The exploration of illness representations revealed a realistic picture of heart failure with a cluster of beliefs around a chronic illness with serious consequences and a high number of symptoms. There was a strong belief in the necessity of medication but for some, medication use had a negative impact on daily life. Patients were confident in their knowledge of medication but this was reduced when family members took control of medication management. A number of beliefs were predictive of self-care, suggesting that interventions designed to maximise these beliefs and correct any misconceptions may enhance self-care and potentially improve clinical outcomes in this population

Net Centric Distribution of Video Signal and Must Carry Rules in the U.S.

We are moving to a net centric video distribution model. There is thus a need to rethink must carry rules. In this paper we evaluate the process of transition to a model without must carry rules using an organizational change perspective: leadership; engagement and participation; planning and strategy; process; and outcome evaluation. It concludes that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission did not adequately respond to the needs of the sector and the lack of a transition strategy may have impaired the evolution of the video distribution sector towards a business model that can accomplish both access to greater variety as well as the survival of some local station producers.must carry rules, net centric video distribution, FCC.

An examination of the factors that influence the publication or non-publication of mental health nursing research presented at national or international nursing conferences

Mental health nurses are required to be able to identify and access the current evidence surrounding a particular topic and evaluate and decide upon the best care approach to people with mental health problems. This is aided by specific guidance on how to facilitate access to and deliver the best quality evidence-based care. This is most commonly acquired by accessing evidence through hand searching publications or through electronic sources (databases, web search engines or internet publications). However, evidence indicates that only a small proportion of mental health nursing research is published and that many nurses carry out research that is not published. Although, it is difficult to judge the quality of unpublished research the likelihood is that a number of high quality mental health nursing research projects are not published and are therefore not available to be evaluated as part of the evidence base of care. There has been relatively little examination of the reasons underpinning publication of nursing research. This project examined the factors that influence the publication or non-publication of mental health nursing research presented at national or international nursing conferences in the UK

Queering the grammar school boy: class, sexuality and authenticity in the works of Colin MacInnes and Ray Gosling

In 1959 Colin MacInnes published the fourth in his series of social issue novels, Absolute Beginners. In it the unnamed protagonist is constructed as the iconic teenager, slick, cool, creative, with his ex-lover Crépe Suzette as the object of his art and as his Achilles heel. The novel is framed over one summer, against a backdrop of racial tension, which ultimately led the Boy towards adulthood. MacInnes’s protagonist has been dismissed as an emblem rather than a character, and MacInnes himself derided by George Melly as a perpetual teenager. However in this chapter, we will suggest that taken as a whole MacInnes’ work constructs a complex understanding of The Boy’s political possibilities intersecting with sexuality, gender, race and class. By integrating his novelistic work with his journalistic and activist writing, we will demonstrate the complexity of MacInnes’ Boy as an autonomous, queer political agent, embodied in the ultimate Boy; Ray Gosling. Gosling’s own writing becomes a lens through which to root historical understanding of teenagers and teenage cultures as sexual and racial constructs

Spirituality imprisoned

Spirituality Imprisoned. It is not easy to come up with a working definition of spirituality. From everything I’ve read on the subject as preparation, I am assured that just about everybody has his or her own definition for spirituality. We would, in all probability, agree that there are many kinds of spirituality, some of which fit under a larger umbrella. For instance, there is a wellknown Franciscan spirituality, which comes not only from the personality of the man who spoke to birds and flowers, but also from Christian spirituality as well. And in the contemporary world there also seems to be a kind of New Age spirituality, which I have met since coming to England, in which one is presumed to be a Buddhist at heart, a vegetarian, a practitioner of alternative therapies and an animal rights protector. To me, spirituality is something much more intimate. The other aspect to be considered is imprisonment. I must admit I couldn’t see any easy checkmate in that area either. The more I sink into the work of the Prison Phoenix Trust, the more insidious ‘imprisonment’ becomes. The past five years with the Trust have been a great eye-opener in the various forms which unfreedom sometimes takes. We will look at some of them. I have spent the last 35 years of my life trying to discover what a lived spirituality really is. Today, I would like to re-live part of that journey with you, as we consider together the way of spirituality imprisoned which we are all travelling