A Toolkit of Motivational Skills: How to Help Others Reach for Change

A Toolkit of Motivational Skills, Third Edition, draws on the latest research to show how the Motivational Interviewing approach can be effectively utilized to draw out and sustain an individual’s internal motivation for behavioral change. • Updated with a wide range of applications and practical examples of motivational techniques which have effectively helped others to change • Updated with a wide range of applications and practical examples of motivational techniques which have effectively helped others to change • Features a variety of supplemental resources including 16 online video examples of MI in action, with a workbook chapter that helps readers analyse each video in detail • Includes new illustrations and diagrams designed to amplify the text and make it an engaging and enjoyable reading experienc

Climate change and variability, energy and disaster management: produced risks without produced solutions: rethinking the approach

Accelerated climate change and increasing climate variability is the single largest threat to the international goals of sustainable development, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and disaster risk reduction. Global discourses recognise the need for effective and sustainable responses tso produced climate risks. The risk types likely to occur are known, but only in broad terms - their scale, severity, longevity and frequency are not known. The challenge for policymakers is developing an effective framework within which sustainable responses can be formulated. To address the problems of produced risks a comprehensive approach to risk management is necessary. The mechanisms within the climate change, sustainable development and disaster risk reduction discourses are not sufficiently effective or integrated to respond to this challenge. Fundamental reform to current modes of risk reduction is needed, but this can only be achieved through a shift in the dominant perspective on formulating sustainable responses. This requires a shift to an enabling policy framework that encourages bottom-up resilient responses. Resilience is argued as a tool for policy development that can enhance adaptive capacity to current climate risks and shape energy policy to respond to mitigate future climate risks

Earnout financing in the financial services industry

This paper explores the effects of earnout contracts used in US financial services M&A. We use propensity score matching (PSM) to address selection bias issues with regard to the endogeneity of the decision of financial institutions to use such contracts. We find that the use of earnout contracts leads to significantly higher acquirer abnormal returns (short- and long-run) compared to counterpart acquisitions (control deals) which do not use such contracts. The larger the size of the deferred (earnout) payment, as a fraction of the total transaction value, the higher the acquirers' gains in the short- and long-run. Both acquirer short- and long-run gains increase when the management team of the target institution is retained in the post-acquisition period

Introduction: Raymond Williams and Working-Class Writing

Introduction to a Special Issue of Key Words on Working-Class Writing, co-edited and co-authored with Dr Phil O'Brien. The introduction discusses Williams' theories of working-class writing and his previously unpublished lecture, 'British Working-Class Literature after 1945' (1979) in the context of his other essays on working-class writing. The article goes on to discuss other working-class writers, including Buchi Emecheta and Isabel Waidner, and contemporary publishers endeavouring to support working-class writers today

Price Trackers Inspired by Immune Memory

In this paper we outline initial concepts for an immune inspired algorithm to evaluate price time series data. The proposed solution evolves a short term pool of trackers dynamically through a process of proliferation and mutation, with each member attempting to map to trends in price movements. Successful trackers feed into a long term memory pool that can generalise across repeating trend patterns. Tests are performed to examine the algorithm’s ability to successfully identify trends in a small data set. The influence of the long term memory pool is then examined. We find the algorithm is able to identify price trends presented successfully and efficiently

Oil Price Trackers Inspired by Immune Memory

We outline initial concepts for an immune inspired algorithm to evaluate and predict oil price time series data. The proposed solution evolves a short term pool of trackers dynamically, with each member attempting to map trends and anticipate future price movements. Successful trackers feed into a long term memory pool that can generalise across repeating trend patterns. The resulting sequence of trackers, ordered in time, can be used as a forecasting tool. Examination of the pool of evolving trackers also provides valuable insight into the properties of the crude oil market

Where have all the on-line grocers gone? Lessons learned from the demise of on-line grocers

The grocery concept has evolved over many years to drive cost out of the process. Grocery margins are very thin, typically ranging from 1% to 1 1/2 % such that the grocery business continues to look for innovative ways to take cost out of the process. Ordering groceries on the Internet was initially thought to be a very promising new opportunity. So what happened to on-line grocers? This paper considers what went right and what went wrong for the on-line grocers and uncovers a few logistics lessons along the way

Randomisation before consent : avoiding delay to time-critical intervention and ensuring informed consent

Peer reviewedPostprin

Designing a Mobile Device for Pre-hospital Care

Peer reviewedPreprin