Climate change: towards policy coherence

The fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, being released in sections from late 2013 through 2014, is rekindling public interest in climate change. With controversies over the previous report (2007) out of the way, advances in knowledge since then and some improvement in procedures, the findings of the latest report appear more robust. Even though many uncertainties remain, the evidence base for policy is compelling

U.S Peak and Non-Peak Hyperthermia: Who Is at Risk

The author examines hyperthermia death rates in the United States from 1979 to 1996 to determine the relative risk for different demographic groups during peak years for heat-related deaths and for nonpeak years

Detecting variable responses in time-series using repeated measures ANOVA: Application to physiologic challenges.

We present an approach to analyzing physiologic timetrends recorded during a stimulus by comparing means at each time point using repeated measures analysis of variance (RMANOVA). The approach allows temporal patterns to be examined without an a priori model of expected timing or pattern of response. The approach was originally applied to signals recorded from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) volumes-of-interest (VOI) during a physiologic challenge, but we have used the same technique to analyze continuous recordings of other physiological signals such as heart rate, breathing rate, and pulse oximetry. For fMRI, the method serves as a complement to whole-brain voxel-based analyses, and is useful for detecting complex responses within pre-determined brain regions, or as a post-hoc analysis of regions of interest identified by whole-brain assessments. We illustrate an implementation of the technique in the statistical software packages R and SAS. VOI timetrends are extracted from conventionally preprocessed fMRI images. A timetrend of average signal intensity across the VOI during the scanning period is calculated for each subject. The values are scaled relative to baseline periods, and time points are binned. In SAS, the procedure PROC MIXED implements the RMANOVA in a single step. In R, we present one option for implementing RMANOVA with the mixed model function "lme". Model diagnostics, and predicted means and differences are best performed with additional libraries and commands in R; we present one example. The ensuing results allow determination of significant overall effects, and time-point specific within- and between-group responses relative to baseline. We illustrate the technique using fMRI data from two groups of subjects who underwent a respiratory challenge. RMANOVA allows insight into the timing of responses and response differences between groups, and so is suited to physiologic testing paradigms eliciting complex response patterns

Religion and urban regeneration: a place for faith?

The British government has identified 'faith communities' as a neglected resource in urban regeneration. This article first explores the context of official support for faith involvement in urban and neighbourhood policy and identifies the assumptions underlying key policy documents. These assumptions are then critically explored by reference to the links commonly drawn between religion and 'community', 'neighbourhood' and 'social cohesion'. Attempts to enlist faith groups within this essentially consensual agenda often fail to recognise both the potential divisiveness of religion and also the more positive and radical lessons that often stem from the action, experience and critical analysis of religious organisations and their members.</p

What Predicts Social Casino Game Playing? Interrelations of Social Casino Gaming, Gambling, and Demographic Factors

Social casino games (SCG), for example those played on Facebook and on mobile devices, are one of the most profitable genres of free-to-play games. They are also an example of a convergence trend, where the line between gambling and digital gaming is blurring. Digital games integrate gambling elements, such as loot boxes, while new forms of digital, online and hybrid gambling games use similar immersive elements as those which are employed in video games. The Finnish Player Barometer 2018, a nationally representative dataset (n = 946), included questions about digital gaming, gambling and SCG. It reveals that 5.9% of Finns play SCG at least occasionally and 2% of Finns play them at least once of month. But how is SCG playing connected with offline and online gambling and with digital game playing? Ridge regression analysis was employed to investigate the predictive power of a range of variables regarding the frequency of SCG play. Results show that a higher frequency of SCG play is associated with higher frequency of digital game playing, but with lower frequency of both online and offline gambling. Furthermore, a higher frequency of playing skill based (digital) gambling games is the strongest predictor of SCG playing. Implications: Our analysis contribute to understanding better who SCG players, online and offline gamblers and digital game players are and how playing new forms of gaming and gambling are interrelated

The corporate governance of banks

The study argues that commercial banks pose unique corporate governance problems for managers and regulators as well as for claimants on the banks' cash flows, such as investors and depositors. The authors support the general principle that fiduciary duties should be owed exclusively to shareholders. However, in the special case of banks, they contend that the scope of the fiduciary duties and obligations of officers and directors should be broadened to include creditors. In particular, the authors call on bank directors to take solvency risk explicitly and systematically into account when making decisions or else face personal liability for failure to do so.Bank management ; Bank supervision ; Corporate governance ; Stockholders

The phenomenon of emotion within a photograph

This thesis explores how emotion is expressed in photography through portraiture. The thesis examines the concept of types and tokens to define the function of the photograph, which leads to an investigation of semiotics. It then becomes possible to analyse how different semiotic systems impact on the connotation of the image, how each system influences the portrait. By comparing two differing methods, one that is didactic and another triadic, demonstrates how each system enhances and restricts the connotation. This is taken further by exploring the use of different types of logic, deductive and inductive reasoning, and the consequences of using systems of logic. This is followed by an analysis of Barthes and the photograph of his mother in the Winter Gardens. This example demonstrates the process of achieving a sense of contact with the person depicted and can lead to an emotional / subjective feeling response. To explore this concept there is the proposition that the viewer constructs a mental paradigm of personhood for the person depicted. The image serves as a catalyst, eventually providing an emotional connection between the viewer and the image. Using this case study as a foundation, it is then possible to introduce the Component Theory of Emotions, exploring the phenomenon of a subjective feeling response in relation to achieving a sense of contact with the person depicted in the portrait. Through this the thesis explores the influence of culture on our reactions. The sense of contact and the subjective feeling can seem to be independent of influences, but reactions are socially based and owe more to cultural dominance instead of the viewer’s experience or knowledge. Consequently, this raises the question of photographic truth and how this can be trusted, which is possible by the viewer taking a leap of faith

Objectivity, Proximity and Adaptability in Corporate Governance

Countries appear to differ considerably in the basic orientations of their corporate governance structures. We postulate the trade-off between objectivity and proximity as fundamental to the corporate governance debate. We stress the value of objectivity that comes with distance (e.g. the market oriented U.S. system), and the value of better information that comes with proximity (e.g. the more intrusive Continental European model). Our key result is that the optimal distance between management and monitor (board or shareholders) has a bang-bang solution: either one should capitalize on the better information that comes with proximity or one should seek to benefit optimally from the objectivity that comes with distance. We argue that this result points at an important link between the optimal corporate governance arrangement and industry structure. In this context, we also discuss the ways in which investors have "contracted around" the flaws in their own corporate governance systems, pointing at the adaptability of different arrangements.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39651/3/wp266.pd

Student-centered interventions the key to student health care worker influenza vaccination

Objectives: To investigate influenza vaccination uptake rates, attitudes and motivations towards influenza vaccination among student health care workers (HCWs). Methods: Self-reported influenza vaccination uptake among student HCWs at The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, Western Australia (UNDAF) was surveyed before and after implementation of a peer-led, student-centered campaign to raise awareness of, and improve access to, influenza vaccination. Data were weighted and analysed using logistic regression. Results: Pre-campaign influenza vaccination uptake was 36.3% (95% CI=31.8%-40.8%), with students identifying lack of awareness of both the Australian Government’s recommendations and university policy, cost, and inconvenience of vaccine access as key barriers. Post-campaign vaccination coverage increased significantly to 55.9% (95% CI=52.2%-59.6%). Multivariate logistic regression, controlled for statistically insignificant confounders of age and gender, showed that being a student HCW in 2014 (campaign year) was significantly and independently associated with influenza vaccination (OR 2.2, 95% CI=1.7-2.9, P\u3c0.001). Other significant factors were eligibility for National Immunisation Programme (NIP) funded vaccine (OR 12.3, 95% CI=6.3 – 24.0, P\u3c0.001), employment as HCWs (OR 1.9, 95% CI=1.5-2.6, P\u3c0.001), recalled campaign materials (OR 1.8, 95% CI=1.2 – 2.7, P=0.002) and enrolled in medicine (OR 1.6, 95% CI=1.1-2.4, P=0.016). Conclusions: Student HCWs’ influenza vaccination uptake improved significantly following a low-cost, peer-led promotional campaign. This approach can be adapted to other settings