The Field Guide: Applying <i>Making it Count</i> to health promotion activity with homosexually active men

This Field Guide considers a range of methods used to carry out health promotion with homosexually active men. It is a companion document to Making it count: a collaborative planning framework to reduce the incidence of HIV infection during sex between men (Hickson et al., 2003). Like Making it count, this document will be reviewed every two to three years and accompanied by training opportunities. The authors welcome comments and suggestions on this document and its use. These can be sent to: [email protected] or [email protected]. "Briefing papers" that add to the content of this guide will be produced as part of the CHAPS sector development programme. These will be available periodically from www. chapsonline.org.uk. Making it count describes a co-ordinated national framework to reduce HIV incidence occurring as a consequence of sex between men. It is intended for workers, managers, policy makers, legislators, health professionals or anyone with an investment in reducing HIV incidence among homosexually active men. This Field Guide is written for gay men's HIV health promoters. It places the theory, goals and strategic aims contained in Making it count in the context of day-to-day health promotion activity. It was developed through a range of formal interviews and informal discussion with more than 40 managers and key workers with experience and expertise in specific areas of HIV health promotion for homosexually active men. It concentrates mainly on direct contact work (Chapters 3 to 7), but also considers other types of health promotion that benefit homosexually active men by influencing the structures they live within (Chapter 8). Section one (Chapters 1 and 2) provides an overview of Making it count and the relationship between this document and that main framework. It outlines the key strategic aims of Making it count and contextualises what follows. Section two concerns direct contact with homosexually active men. Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 deal with different methods of carrying out direct contact work with this population. Chapter 7 considers the different target groups within the entire population of homosexually active men. It examines how to prioritise target groups using epidemiological and needs data and how best to target different groups in various settings. Section three (Chapter 8) addresses other types of health promotion interventions that are necessary including policy, community and service interventions. These are the interventions needed in order to facilitate direct contact interventions and attend to the broader determinants of sexual health for homosexually active men. It is anticipated that some (NHS) commissioners would benefit from reading this document in order to further their understanding of the range of work that they could fund. However, this document is not an implementation plan for the NHS in relation to HIV incidence among homosexually active men. Rather, Terrence Higgins Trust are currently in discussion with the Department of Health concerning further work to support the use of Making it count as the basis for Primary Care Trusts' planning and purchasing of HIV prevention activity for homosexually active men

Combining Agri-Environment Schemes For Environmental And Financial Benefit - Tir Gofal And Organic Farming

Peter Davies farms 750 acres in the Vale of Glamorgan. He has a suckler herd and sheep, with arable crops for sale off the farm and for livestock feed. The farm began conversion in 1999 and most of it will finish in 2001. It was accepted into the Tir Gofal whole farm agri-environment scheme in 2000. In this interview with Will John he explains how the two schemes work together. He has researched and planned the changes carefully and expects his farm enterprise to benefit in the long term

Agriculture's decline in Indonesia : supply or demand determined

Agriculture's share in an economy invariably declines as per capita income rises and as the economy develops. The literature on its causes has focused on the relative price effects arising from demand factors--especially Engel's Law (that the proportion of income spent on food declines as incomes rise)--rather than on such supply-side influences as changes in relative factor endowments and different rates of technical change. Engel's Law is convincing at the global level but it does not explain why agriculture's share should decline sharply in small open economies that experience rapid economic growth. A simple structural model of the transformation of the Indonesian economy, applying the Error Correction Mechanism to capture the dynamics resulting from disequilibria and costs of adjustment is developed. The authors develop an econometric model of the economy's supply side so they can explain agriculture's decline by the three theoretical factors: relative price changes, technical change, and factor accumulation. Based on the model's results, the authors conclude that the decline in the relative price of agricultural output contributed relatively little to the decline in agriculture's share. Technical change actually had a positive effect on agriculture's share, retarding the pressures for a decline in its share over time. By far the most important influence appears to have been the rapid accumulation of capital relative to labor over the period studied (1960-87).Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Economic Growth,Inequality

Long-term U.S transportation electricity use considering the effect of autonomous-vehicles: Estimates & policy observations

In this paper, we model three layers of transportation disruption – first electrification, then autonomy, and finally sharing and pooling – in order to project transportation electricity demand and greenhouse gas emissions in the United States to 2050. Using an expanded kaya identity framework, we model vehicle stock, energy intensity, and vehicle miles traveled, progressively considering the effects of each of these three disruptions. We find that electricity use from light duty vehicle transport will likely be in the 570–1140 TWh range, 13–26%, respectively, of total electricity demand in 2050. Depending on the pace at which the electric sector decarbonizes, this increase in electric demand could correspond to a decrease in LDV greenhouse gas emissions of up to 80%. In the near term, rapid and complete transport electrification with a carbon-free grid should remain the cornerstones of transport decarbonization policy. However, long-term policy should also aim to mitigate autonomous vehicles’ potential to increase driving mileage, urban and suburban sprawl, and traffic congestion while incentivizing potential energy efficiency improvements through both better system management and the lightweighting of an accident-free vehicle fleet

Campus Art Museums in the 21st Century: A Conversation

In the summer of 2012, the authors of this study brought together a group of campus art museum directors and outside experts to 'think out loud' about the changes already occurring at campus museums and where new opportunities and roles may be emerging. We hope the resulting paper will further the field's larger, continuing exploration of its roles and potentials through dialogue, research, and experimentation -- an exploration that contributes to the continued healthy evolution of campus art museum practice

First results from the LUCID-Timepix spacecraft payload onboard the TechDemoSat-1 satellite in Low Earth Orbit

The Langton Ultimate Cosmic ray Intensity Detector (LUCID) is a payload onboard the satellite TechDemoSat-1, used to study the radiation environment in Low Earth Orbit ($\sim$635km). LUCID operated from 2014 to 2017, collecting over 2.1 million frames of radiation data from its five Timepix detectors on board. LUCID is one of the first uses of the Timepix detector technology in open space, with the data providing useful insight into the performance of this technology in new environments. It provides high-sensitivity imaging measurements of the mixed radiation field, with a wide dynamic range in terms of spectral response, particle type and direction. The data has been analysed using computing resources provided by GridPP, with a new machine learning algorithm that uses the Tensorflow framework. This algorithm provides a new approach to processing Medipix data, using a training set of human labelled tracks, providing greater particle classification accuracy than other algorithms. For managing the LUCID data, we have developed an online platform called Timepix Analysis Platform at School (TAPAS). This provides a swift and simple way for users to analyse data that they collect using Timepix detectors from both LUCID and other experiments. We also present some possible future uses of the LUCID data and Medipix detectors in space.Comment: Accepted for publication in Advances in Space Researc

Assessing the impact of the New Student Support Arrangements (NSSA) on higher education institutions (BIS research paper no.12)

"The research explores the impact on the policies, planning and behaviours of universities nearly four years after the introduction of new arrangements for student support in higher education (known as NSSA). It is set within the context of continued policy focus on increasing and widening participation, rising importance of university performance indicators in student choices, and a challenging economic climate. The research uses qualitative evidence collected from over 120 staff in 15 case studies across England..." - exec. summary