Some Useful Sources

Debates about sustainable welfare and eco-social policy cut across many fields, from environmental studies to political economy, to normative political theory, to comparative welfare state research, to active labour market policy, to income support and social protection. The key debates engaged with in this thematic section concern the relationship between eco-social policy and normative theories of wellbeing (human needs theory, capabilities approach), and the implications of such understandings of sustainable wellbeing for the provision of benefits and services. Also at issue, particularly in the latter contributions, is the intersection between eco-social policy and post-productivist theories of ‘work’, and what this entails for active labour market policy and the conditionality of income supports. This brings in a much larger debate about reconfiguring income supports, and the differences between universal basic income (UBI), a minimum income guarantee (Coote, this themed section), or a participation income (Laruffa et al., this themed section). The literature on UBI is vast, so only recent work articulating the relationship between UBI and the transition towards a more eco-socially sustainable welfare state has been included. The literatures on human needs theory and the capabilities approach are similarly extensive. Hence, only foundational work in those fields has been included, along with subsequent contributions that have applied those theories to issues of eco-social concern

A period of contention? The politics of post-crisis activation reform and the creeping marketisation of public employment services

Public employment services (PES) have undergone significant change since2011, reshaping the roles of the market, state, and community sector withinIreland’s mixed economy of welfare. The post-crisis years saw thereplacement of FÁS with a new network of one-stop-shop Intreo activationservices, and the procurement of new employment services for the long-termunemployed through competitive tendering and Payment-by-Results. Thisprocess of marketisation is now being extended to other PES currentlydelivered by community organisations under block grants, such as LocalEmployment Services and Job Clubs. We position Ireland’s PES landscape as astrategic actionfield wherein various providers compete with one another forposition, power and resources during episodes of contention. Applying thislens to the ongoing reform of activation policy and PES institutions, thepaper considers how the recent trajectory of PES marketisation has remainedpolitically contentious. It examines the strategies of various providers andpolicy actors in shaping the politics of reform, focusing especially on theposition of community organisations within thefield and the degree towhich they have been able to strategically mobilise against marketisation.Lessons are drawn about the nature of Irish politics and policy reform

Enabling Participation Income for an Eco-Social State

We revise Atkinson’s concept of a ‘participation income’ (PI), repositioning it as a form of green conditional basic income that is anchored in a capabilities-oriented eco-social policy framework. This framework combines the capability approach with an ‘ethics of care’ to re-shape the focus of social policy on individuals’ capability to ‘take care of the world’, thus shifting the emphasis from economic production to social reproduction and environmental reparation. In developing this proposal, we seek to address key questions about the feasibility of implementing PI schemes: including their administrative complexity and the criticism that a PI constitutes either an arbitrary and confusing, or invasive and stigmatising, form of basic income. To address these concerns, we argue for an enabling approach to incentivising participation whereby participation pathways are co-created with citizens on the basis of opportunities they recognise as meaningful rather than enforced through strict monitoring and sanctions

The enabling role of employment guidance in contemporary public employment services: A work-first to life-first typology

Employment guidance theory and praxis promote long-term career development and access to decent work and sustainable jobs, yet the focus of public employment services in recent times has been influenced by policy matters of activation, conditionality and rapid job placement. While effective for some, it has been less effective for workers exposed to negative impacts of social and economic development. COVID-19-related unemployment has highlighted the need for employment guidance mechanisms that facilitate inclusive and resilient labour forces. Drawing on previous developments in employability approaches, this paper presents a conceptual analysis of employment guidance, integrating it within a work-first to life-first employability continuum. We propose an expansion of theory-informed employment guidance in national public employment services towards work-life employability for all

Pharmacokinetics of 111In-labeled OC-125 antibody in cancer patients compared with the 19-9 antibody

We recently reported on the pharmacokinetics in 14 cancer patients of the 19-9 antibody radiolabeled with 111In. We have now repeated this investigation in 18 cancer patients using the OC-125 antibody, in part to compare the in vivo behavior of two murine monoclonal antibodies of the same subclass administered as the F(ab\u27)2 fragments, by the same route and at the same dose. As in the earlier investigation, 1 mg of fragments was infused i.v., and organ quantitation was obtained for up to 72 h along with frequent blood and urine samples for chromatographic evaluation. Analysis of urine showed that activity clearance by this route amounted to 0.29%/h and consisted of labeled DTPA only in early samples and metabolic products thereafter. Analysis of serum samples often showed the presence of a high-molecular-weight species appearing within 24 h. This species is probably due to antibody binding to circulating antigen, although the percentage of circulating activity present as this species did not correlate well with circulating antigen levels. As before, organ accumulation was greatest in the liver, although levels were significantly reduced (12% compared to 20% of administered dose at 24 h, P less than 0.01). Plasma clearance was also significantly different: whereas the label in the case of the OC-125 antibody showed one-compartment clearance kinetics and remained in the plasma compartment, in the 19-9 case the label diffused to a second, unidentified compartment

Geologic history of the summit of Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge

Multibeam (1 m resolution) and side scan data collected from an autonomous underwater vehicle, and lava samples, radiocarbon-dated sediment cores, and observations of flow contacts collected by remotely operated vehicle were combined to reconstruct the geologic history and flow emplacement processes on Axial Seamount’s summit and upper rift zones. The maps show 52 post-410 CE lava flows and 20 precaldera lava flows as old as 31.2 kyr, the inferred age of the caldera. Clastic deposits 1–2 m thick accumulated on the rims postcaldera. Between 31 ka and 410 CE, there are no known lava flows near the summit. The oldest postcaldera lava (410 CE) is a pillow cone SE of the caldera. Two flows erupted on the W rim between ~800 and 1000 CE. From 1220 to 1300 CE, generally small eruptions of plagioclase phyric, depleted, mafic lava occurred in the central caldera and on the east rim. Larger post-1400 CE eruptions produced inflated lobate flows of aphyric, less-depleted, and less mafic lava on the upper rift zones and in the N and S caldera. All caldera floor lava flows, and most uppermost rift zone flows, postdate 1220 CE. Activity shifted from the central caldera to the upper S rift outside the caldera, to the N rift and caldera floor, and then to the S caldera and uppermost S rift, where two historical eruptions occurred in 1998 and 2011. The average recurrence interval deduced from the flows erupted over the last 800 years is statistically identical to the 13 year interval between historical eruptions.Keywords: Lava flows, Juan de Fuca Ridge, Geologic, Mapping, Axial Seamoun

Potential Use of the Benthic Foraminifers Bulimina denudata and Eggerelloides advenus in Marine Sediment Toxicity Testing

The benthic foraminifers Bulimina denudata and Eggerelloides advenus are commonly abundant in offshore regions in the Pacific Ocean, especially in waste-discharge sites. The relationship between their abundance and standard macrofaunal sediment toxicity tests (amphipod survival and sea urchin fertilization) as well as sediment chemistry analyte measurements were determined for sediments collected in 1997 in Santa Monica Bay, California, USA, an area impacted by historical sewage input from the Hyperion Outfall primarily since the late 1950s. Very few surface samples proved to be contaminated based on either toxicity or chemistry tests and the abundance of B. denudata did not correlate with any of these. The abundance of E. advenus also did not correlate with toxicity, but positively correlated with total solids and negatively correlated with arsenic, beryllium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, zinc, iron, and TOC. In contrast, several downcore samples proved to be contaminated as indicated by both toxicity and chemistry data. The abundance of B. denudata positively correlated with amphipod survival and negatively correlated with arsenic, cadmium, unionized ammonia, and TOC; E. advenus negatively correlated with sea urchin fertilization success as well as beryllium, cadmium, and total PCBs. As B. denudata and E. advenus are tolerant of polluted sediments and their relative abundances appear to track those of macrofaunal toxicity tests, their use as cost- and time-effective marine sediment toxicity tests may have validity and should be further investigated

Liturgical Musical Ethnography. Challenges and Promise

I will address ‘Challenges and Promise of Liturgical Musical Ethnography’ from the perspective of ten years of research which focused on music in the worship of a predominantly African American Catholic community on the east side of San Francisco, California, Our Lady of Lourdes, affectionately known as Lourdes.

Introduction: Towards a Sustainable Welfare State

Introduction to the special thematic section of Social Policy & Society on 'Towards a sustainable welfare state'