Beyond prospective accountancy : reassessing the case for British membership of the single European currency comparatively

The fact that Britain will, at most, be a late signatory to the single European currency means that the strategic deliberations it faces in deciding whether to enter EMU are rather different to those of earlier entrants. However, this crucial point is lost in almost all discussion of the subject. To date, the academic debate has been dominated by what we term 'prospective accountancy', in which a series of abstract counterfactuals ostensibly inform a stylised cost–benefit analysis. This article moves beyond such an approach by combining conjectures about the specificities of the British case with a concrete analysis of the experiences of the Eurozone member whose economy appears most closely to resemble Britain's: namely, Ireland. The comparative dimension of our work facilitates more empirically-based analysis of the merits and demerits of British entry into EMU. Yet, it is important not to lose sight of the limits of an exclusively comparative approach, for the British growth model is qualitatively different to that of other European Union economies. British growth since the early 1990s has been consumption led, and this in turn has been fuelled to a considerable degree by the release of equity from the housing market. The likely impact of EMU on the British economy will be determined to a significant extent, then, by its effect upon this key catalyst of British growth. Sadly, no retrospective comparison can inform such an assessment

Incertitude, marginalité et pratiques paysannes : une étude de cas dans la Sierra Madre orientale (Mexique)

Dans les étages d'altitude de la Sierra Madre orientale, au Mexique, la pomme de terre, totalement destinée au marché, est produite pour l'essentiel dans le cadre d'exploitations faiblement dotées en terre et en capital. Le milieu naturel est particulièrement contraignant ; les possibilités de diversification des cultures sont réduites et les fortes pentes limitent la mécanisation. Les coûts de production élevés, une faible maîtrise des rendements et une forte variabilité des prix sur le marché rendent la production particulièrement risquée. Cette situation originale de petits exploitants produisant pour le marché sous de fortes contraintes et dans un contexte d'incertitude prononcée envoie à la préoccupation plus générale de la reproduction des exploitations en condition de marginalité et d'incertitude. Différentes pratiques, visant à réduire les risques ou à surmonter les mauvaises campagnes agricoles, ont été identifiées. Leur adoption, fortement liée à la situation du producteur et de son exploitation, a longtemps conditionné l'évolution de cette dernière. Mais ces pratiques s'avèrent à l'heure actuelle insuffisantes pour assurer la production de la grande majorité des exploitations dans un contexte de plus en plus compétitif. (Résumé d'auteur

Evaluating an online support package delivered within a disability unemployment service: study protocol for a randomised controlled feasibility study

Background Mental health problems such as anxiety and depression are known to be higher in those who are unemployed. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a recognised support for people with such problems and can improve the ability of people to get back to work.<p></p> Methods/design Participants with symptoms of low mood will be recruited from the disability employment service, Remploy. Participants will receive either immediate or delayed access to an online CBT-based life skills intervention, the “Living Life” package. The primary end point will be at 3 months when the delayed group will be offered the intervention. This feasibility study will test the trial design and assess recruitment, retention, acceptability and adherence, as well as providing efficacy data.<p></p> Discussion The study will inform the design and sample size for a future full randomised controlled trial (RCT) which will be carried out to determine the effectiveness of the online package in improving mood and employment status.<p></p&gt

Instructing implicit processes: when instructions to approach or avoid influence implicit but not explicit evaluation

Previous research has shown that linking approach or avoidance actions to novel stimuli through mere instructions causes changes in the implicit evaluation of these stimuli even when the actions are never performed. In two high-powered experiments (total N=1147), we examined whether effects of approach-avoidance instructions on implicit evaluations are mediated by changes in explicit evaluations. Participants first received information about the evaluative properties of two fictitious social groups (e.g., Niffites are good; Luupites are bad) and then received instructions to approach one group and avoid the other group. We observed an effect of approach avoidance instructions on implicit but not explicit evaluations of the groups, even when these instructions were incompatible with the previously obtained evaluative information. These results indicate that approach avoidance instructions allow for unintentional changes in implicit evaluations. We discuss implications for current theories of implicit evaluation. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

From security to risk:Reframing global health threats

Identified as 'Editor's choice' for this issue, which meant it appeared on the journals website as open access and an additonal blog was written by the authors on the journal website to highlight the articles - https://medium.com/international-affairs-blog/global-health-threats-living-in-an-age-of-risk-and-in-security-6722449118a6The rise of health issues such as HIV, pandemic influenza and Ebola on international agendas has led to the framing of threats to health as security issues. This has created an uneasy relationship between politics and health, by moving national interests into an area traditionally dominated by scientific rationalities and a predisposition towards cosmopolitan norms. Framing global health threats as risks, however, appears to be less politically charged and divisive, combining an aura of scientific objectivity with a moral call to action. In this article we argue that, despite its technical use in public health, in the policy discourse on global health the risk frame is not immune to values and interests but inherently political. It privileges a specific approach to global health policy which focuses on potential future catastrophes rather than presently existing health problems, emphasises technological solutions rather than addressing the socio-economic determinants of health, while there is no single risk frame, but rather multiple risk frames existing simultaneously, as seen during the 2014-15 West African Ebola outbreak. However, framing health in terms of risk is useful in understanding how health issues reflect and contribute to the wider zeitgeist concerning societal vulnerability: that dangers exist which are uncontrollable and are the product of technical progress. The risk frame allows us to place health issues into this wider context, where disease is just one of a number of concurrent dangers rather than a separately identifiable hazard.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Bathymetric Integration

Integration of High Seas bathymetry holdings of partner organisations into EuroMapApp which involves making an inventory of the data, determining freedom of access (quality controlling the data) and integration into a Multi-Resolution Topograph