EUROPEAN MIGRATION NETWORK. POLICY ANALYSIS REPORT ON ASYLUM AND MIGRATION: IRELAND, REFERENCE YEAR 2003 TO MID-2004

In the last ten years or so Ireland has changed from being a country of net emigration to being a country of net immigration. In the year to the end of April 1994 about 35,000 people left Ireland and about 30,000 people entered so that there was a net loss of population of nearly 5,000 people. In the year to the end of April 2004 about 18,000 people left and just over 50,000 people entered resulting in a net gain in population of almost 32,000 people. Over the same period the number of people who have sought asylum in Ireland under the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees has increased from 91 in 1993 to 7,900 in 2003

Indigenous Well-Being and Development: Connections to Large-Scale Mining and Tourism in the Pacific

This article examines examples of indigenous conceptions of well-being and locally meaningful forms of community development in the Pacific and considers how these coincide, or collide, with development driven by the private sector. The focus is on indigenous communities who live in the vicinity of large multinational corporations, using case studies from Papua New Guinea and Fiji. We investigate how communities’ perceptions of well-being intersect with the concept of development as it emanates from the private sector. In order to do this, we explore how communities perceive well-being, what materializes as being significant to its achievement, and what this means in the presence of international capital. Ultimately the purpose of investigating these concepts is to establish a point of reference for considering the effectiveness and value of corporate community development intervention from a community perspective

Moral economy, solidarity and labour process struggle in Irish public transport

This article empirically applies Knut Laaser’s integrated conceptual framework, combining Sayer’s moral economy (ME) theory with labour process theory (LPT), to examine how two rival Irish unions engaged with an uneven moral economy and consciously sought to build collective worker solidarity during a dispute over competitive tendering and marketization. Using qualitative data from a case study of BusCo in Ireland’s public transport sector, the article enriches sociological understanding of trade union solidarity, and how it is engendered, contested and experienced. </jats:p

Whole family-based physical activity promotion intervention: the Families Reporting Every Step to Health pilot randomised controlled trial protocol

Introduction : Family-based physical activity (PA) interventions present a promising avenue to promote children’s activity, however, high-quality experimental research is lacking. This paper describes the protocol for the FRESH (Families Reporting Every Step to Health) pilot trial, a child-led family-based PA intervention delivered online.  Methods and analysis : FRESH is a three-armed, parallel-group, randomised controlled pilot trial using a 1:1:1 allocation ratio with follow-up assessments at 8- and 52-weeks post-baseline. Families will be eligible if a minimum of one child in school Years 3-6 (aged 7-11 years) and at least one adult responsible for that child are willing to participate. Family members can take part in the intervention irrespective of their participation in the accompanying evaluation and vice versa. Following baseline assessment, families will be randomly allocated to one of three arms: (1) FRESH, (2) pedometer-only, or (3) no-intervention control. All family members in the pedometer-only and FRESH arms receive pedometers and generic PA promotion information. FRESH families additionally receive access to the intervention website; allowing participants to select step challenges to ‘travel’ to target cities around the world, log steps, and track progress as they virtually globetrot. Control families will receive no treatment. All family members will be eligible to participate in the evaluation with two follow-ups (8 and 52 weeks). Physical (e.g., fitness, blood pressure), psychosocial (e.g., social support), and behavioural (e.g., objectively-measured family PA) measures will be collected each time point. At 8-week follow-up, a mixed-methods process evaluation will be conducted (questionnaires and family focus groups) assessing acceptability of the intervention and evaluation. FRESH families’ website engagement will also be explored.  Ethics and dissemination : This study received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee for the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications, conferences, and to participating families

Student Perspectives on improving mental health support Services at university

Drawing on thematic analysis of six student co‐creation panels, conducted during the Student Minds University Mental Health Charter consultations, this paper elucidates students’ perspectives and proposals regarding the current issues and challenges around university student mental health and well‐being support services. In particular, panels identified existing challenges and opportunities to improve support service access, strategy, and delivery. The panels generated a series of recommendations aimed to establish a clear, coordinated, and strategic approach to delivering accessible and inclusive student mental health support services that are responsive to the diverse needs of the whole student population. Significantly, the student panels situated service reforms within a ‘whole university approach’ entailing holistic structural and cultural change to the university environment, in order to enrich student mental health and well‐being and reduce demand on services. The findings of this paper can both reaffirm and specify the principles of good practice propounded by the University Mental Health Charter from a student perspective

The effect of woodland area on avian community composition in a fragmented southern UK landscape and associated management recommendations

Capsule. Smaller woodlands not only support fewer species, but also show different avian community composition, due to loss of woodland interior and an increase in edge habitat. Aims. To use observed community composition changes, rather than traditional total species richness-area relations, to make area-specific management recommendations for optimising woodland habitat for avian communities in fragmented landscapes. Methods. We selected a sample of 17 woodlands with area 0.2<A<120ha in Oxfordshire, UK. Three dawn area searches were conducted in each woodland between 1st April and 28th May 2016, recording encounter rates for each species. The impact of internal habitat variation on woodland comparability was assessed using habitat surveys. Results. Woodlands with A3.6ha were all consistent with a mean total richness of 25.4±0.6 species, however the number of woodland specialists continued to increase with woodland area. Woodland generalists dominated the total encounter rate across the area range, however the fractional contribution of woodland specialists showed a significant positive correlation with woodland area, while the fractional contribution of non-woodland species significantly decreased. Non-woodland species numbers peaked in mid-sized woodlands with enhanced habitat heterogeneity. Conclusions. Community composition analysis enables more targeted recommendations than total species richness analysis, specifically: large woodlands (>25ha) in southern UK should focus conservation efforts on providing the specific internal habitats required by woodland specialists; medium-sized woodlands (approximately 4<A<25ha) should focus on promoting internal habitat variety, which can benefit both woodland species and non-woodland species of conservation concern in the surrounding landscape; small woodlands (<4ha) should focus on providing nesting opportunities for non-woodland species and on improving connectivity to maximise habitat for woodland generalists and facilitate movement of woodland specialists

Beyond-brand effect of television food advertisements on food choice in children: The effects of weight status

Copyright © The Authors 2007.Objective - To investigate the effect of television food advertising on children’s food intake, specifically whether childhood obesity is related to a greater susceptibility to food promotion. Design - The study was a within-subject, counterbalanced design. The children were tested on two occasions separated by two weeks. One condition involved the children viewing food advertisements followed by a cartoon, in the other condition the children viewed non-food adverts followed by the same cartoon. Following the cartoon, their food intake and choice was assessed in a standard paradigm. Setting - The study was conducted in Liverpool, UK. Subjects - Fifty-nine children (32 male, 27 female) aged 9–11 years were recruited from a UK school to participate in the study. Thirty-three children were normal-weight (NW), 15 overweight (OW) and 11 obese (OB). Results - Exposure to food adverts produced substantial and significant increases in energy intake in all children (P < 0·001). The increase in intake was largest in the obese children (P = 0·04). All children increased their consumption of high-fat and/or sweet energy-dense snacks in response to the adverts (P < 0·001). In the food advert condition, total intake and the intake of these specific snack items correlated with the children’s modified age- and gender-specific body mass index score. Conclusions - These data suggest that obese and overweight children are indeed more responsive to food promotion, which specifically stimulates the intake of energy-dense snacks.University of Liverpoo