Inequality and the reform of a regressive local tax: the debate in the UK

The concern of this article is with the current debate about the reform of local taxation in the UK. In particular, the article examines the consideration given to issues of equity in the policy debate that has taken place through the government's ‘Balance of Funding Review’. It is argued that while the outcome of the reform process remains to be seen, the current debate indicates that decisions regarding local tax will serve as an illuminating example of the extent, and limits, of New Labour policy on tax and inequality more generally

THE CLERGY-PENITENT PRIVILEGE: THE ROLE OF CLERGY IN PERPETUATING AND PREVENTING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Domestic violence occurs at alarming rates in all socioeconomic levels, races, locations, sexual orientations, and professions. Domestic violence occurs at similar frequencies among religious and non-religious individuals. Clergy play an important role in religious communities. The clergy-penitent privilege was created to protect the relationship between clergy and communicant and prevents clergy from testifying about spiritual communications. However, the privilege is currently an absolute privilege which is unnecessary and hurts victims and survivors of domestic violence. Additionally, the statutorily written privilege is not aligned with the application and practice of the privilege. Practice indicates clergy tend to desire to testify and view the privilege very narrowly. A qualified clergy-penitent privilege would strike a more appropriate balance between protecting religious freedom and obtaining justice. Furthermore, clergy-penitent privileges often conflict with mandatory child abuse reporting laws. Abrogating the privilege as to child abuse will compel clergy to comply with mandatory reporting laws and protect vulnerable children

‘Four pots good, two pots bad’: exploring the limits of quantification in the study of archaeological ceramics

‘Four pots good, two pots bad’: exploring the limits of quantification in the study of archaeological ceramic

Indicators of craft specialisation in medieval ceramics from north-west Russia

Book description: Novgorod is one of the most intensively and continuously studied urban sites in northern Europe. The excellent preservation of organic and inorganic material in its anaerobic soils, including the structural remains of streets, properties and buildings, has made it possible to study entire quarters of the town as well as the activities of its inhabitants. With deposits up to 8 m deep in places and with well-dated sequences from the early to mid-10th century, its importance to the study of both medieval Russia and the development of Europe cannot be over-emphasised. This publication series presents some of the recent results obtained from international, multidisciplinary projects into the origins and development of the medieval town and its hinterland. Previous volumes have concerned the pottery (2006) and wood use (2007); a forthcoming volume will publish research into animals. The Archaeology of Medieval Novgorod in Context includes papers on aspects of the environmental and technological context of the relationship between urban centre and rural hinterland. It begins by examining the environmental context for the settlement pattern that developed from the 9th to 15th centuries and examining the role that various natural resources had in contributing to that pattern. After a general paper on the natural environment based on a recent palynological study, it presents data from three study areas (the first in the Byeloozero area to the northeast of Novgorod; the second in the immediate hinterland of Novgorod and the third within Novgorod itself). It considers what, where and how certain natural resources were exploited during the medieval period in these areas. Where possible, it also attempts to explain the processes by which these resources were produced as commodities (via craft production, centralised workshops, household production, specialised settlements, etc.) and place the evidence from the three other volumes on ceramics, wood use and zooarchaeology into a wider context, concentrating on the exploitation, manufacture and consumption of these and other materials. Whilst not definitive, the collection aims to be a starting point for attempting to put Novgorod into a wider context of the medieval world

Version control of pathway models using XML patches

<p>Background: Computational modelling has become an important tool in understanding biological systems such as signalling pathways. With an increase in size complexity of models comes a need for techniques to manage model versions and their relationship to one another. Model version control for pathway models shares some of the features of software version control but has a number of differences that warrant a specific solution.</p> <p>Results: We present a model version control method, along with a prototype implementation, based on XML patches. We show its application to the EGF/RAS/RAF pathway.</p> <p>Conclusion: Our method allows quick and convenient storage of a wide range of model variations and enables a thorough explanation of these variations. Trying to produce these results without such methods results in slow and cumbersome development that is prone to frustration and human error.</p&gt

Low-g propellant gaging

A program to develop and demonstrate technology for low gravity propellant gaging on future geostationary satellites is described. Evaluations were performed to select four gaging concepts for ground tests and low gravity tests in the NASA KC-135 aircraft. The selected concepts were: (1) an ultrasonic point sensor system, (2) a nucleonic gaging system, (3) an ultrasonic torsional wave guide, and (4) an ultrasonic flowmeter. As a result of successful ground and KC-135 tests, two concepts (the ultrasonic point sensor and the nucleonic systems) were selected for orbital test in a shuttle Get-Away-Special experiment

New Labour ambiguity, or Neo-liberal consistency? The debate about racial inequality in employment and the use of contract compliance

Many historical studies, some of them comparative, have explored the foundations of welfare states and the birth of unemployment policies in Europe in the late nineteenth century. Nearly all have focused on political debate at national level. This paper bases its analysis on labour market reforms initiated in Strasbourg and Liverpool in the decades preceding World War I. It explores how bona fide unemployed workers, the proper clients of official help, were distinguished from the mass of the poor and indigent. The labour market had to be defined and organized before policies for the unemployed could be put in place. The object is to demonstrate not only how this was done, but also how different perceptions of social justice and economic efficiency influenced both the process and the outcomes of public interventions, in this instance undermining attempts to transfer specific policies from one country to another

A problem of riches: towards a new social policy research agenda on the distribution of economic resources

The distribution of economic resources in society is a central concern for social policy. But research in this area has primarily concentrated on the bottom of the economic distribution, namely ‘the poor’. In this article, we argue that it is time for social policy to move away from a narrow focus on poverty to consider the broader issue of inequality between different groups in the economic distribution and, by implication, the position of better-off citizens. This raises a number of conceptual challenges due to the current lack of consideration of wealth and inequality at a political, theoretical or empirical level. The article discusses the challenges and concludes by outlining a possible research agenda. However, the underpinning argument is that social policy needs to develop a broader understanding of the economic distribution

Variability of Internally Generated Turbulence in an Estuary, from 100 Days of Continuous Observations

We present detailed observations of internally generated turbulence in a sheared, stratified natural flow, as well as an analysis of the external factors leading to its generation and temporal variability. Multi-month time series of vertical profiles of velocity, acoustic backscatter (0.5 Hz), and turbulence parameters were collected with two moored acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) in the Hudson River estuary, and estuary-long transects of water density were collected 30 times. ADCP backscatter is used for visualization of coherent turbulent structures and evaluation of surface wave biases to the turbulence measurements. Benefits of the continuous long-term turbulence record include our capturing: (1) the seasonality of turbulence due to changing riverflow, (2) hysteresis in stratification and turbulence over the fortnightly cycle of tidal range, and (3) intermittent events such as breaking internal waves. Internal mixing layers (IMLs) are defined as turbulent regions above the logarithmic velocity layer, and the bottom boundary layer (BBL) is defined as the continuously turbulent range of heights above the bed. A cross-correlation analysis reveals how IML and BBL turbulence vary with stratification and external forcing from tidal range, river flow, and winds. Turbulence in both layers is maximal at spring tide and minimal when most stratified, with one exception IML turbulence at a site with changing channel depth and width is maximal at times of maximum stratification and freshwater input