Editorial: ecopsychology: past, present and future

Opening paragraph: One of the central tenets of ecopsychology is the articulation and examination of our psychological, including the emotional, relationships with the natural world. The fundamental challenge is to locate the human mind back within the natural world and to understand that this relationship is a reciprocal one (e.g., Boston, 1996; Schroll, 2007; Scull, 2009; Greenway, 2010). However, finding a 'core' language to represent ecopsychology as a unified discipline is problematic, and it might best be seen as a space for thought, language and practical actions that attempt to articulate the human-nature relationship which, thus far, other branches of the social and natural sciences have failed to do

Developing and modelling complex social interventions: introducing the Connecting People Intervention

Objectives: Modeling the processes involved in complex social interventions is important in social work practice, as it facilitates their implementation and translation into different contexts. This article reports the process of developing and modeling the connecting people intervention (CPI), a model of practice that supports people with mental health problems to enhance their social networks. Method: The CPI model was developed through an iterative process of focus group discussions with practitioners and service users and a two-stage Delphi consultation with relevant experts. Results: We discuss the intervention model and the processes it articulates to provide an example of the benefits of intervention modeling. Conclusions: Intervention modeling provides a visual representation of the process and outcomes of an intervention, which can assist practice development and lead to improved outcomes for service users

Functional programming languages for verification tools: experiences with ML and Haskell

We compare Haskell with ML as programming languages for verification tools, based on our experience developing TRUTH in Haskell and the Edinburgh Concurrency Workbench (CWB) in ML. We discuss not only technical language features but also the "worlds" of the languages, for example, the availability of tools and libraries

A flat trend of star-formation rate with X-ray luminosity of galaxies hosting AGN in the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey

© 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.Feedback processes from active galactic nuclei (AGN) are thought to play a crucial role in regulating star formation in massive galaxies. Previous studies using Herschel have resulted in conflicting conclusions as to whether star formation is quenched, enhanced, or not affected by AGN feedback. We use new deep 850 μm observations from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey (S2CLS) to investigate star formation in a sample of X-ray selected AGN, probing galaxies up to L 0.5-7keV = 10 46 erg s -1. Here, we present the results of our analysis on a sample of 1957 galaxies at 1 < z < 3, using both S2CLS and ancilliary data at seven additional wavelengths (24-500 μm) from Herschel and Spitzer. We perform a stacking analysis, binning our sample by redshift and X-ray luminosity. By fitting analytical spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to decompose contributions from cold and warm dust, we estimate star formation rates (SFRs) for each 'average' source. We find that the average AGN in our sample resides in a star-forming host galaxy, with SFRs ranging from 80 to 600 M ⊙ yr -1. Within each redshift bin, we see no trend of SFR with X-ray luminosity, instead finding a flat distribution of SFR across ∼3 orders of magnitude of AGN luminosity. By studying instantaneous X-ray luminosities and SFRs, we find no evidence that AGN activity affects star formation in host galaxies.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Evolutionary Ecology: Insect Mothers Control Their Egg Colours

SummaryAnimal egg coloration has long provided a valuable testing ground for evolutionary ideas. A new study shows that female stink bugs can flexibly control the colour of their eggs depending on the prevailing conditions, including for protection from ultraviolet light

Social workers' workload survey: messages from the frontline: findings from the 2009 survey and interviews with senior managers

"The research findings which have been reported emerged from work commissioned to inform the Social Work Task Force but they also make a contribution to issues discussed in this section and to other social work debates. It is important to recognise that this was the most comprehensive diary exercise conducted with social workers in this country. The findings generated from the analysis of the diaries have provided the first systematic examination of how social workers use their time. Yet for the reasons examined in the report there are provisos regarding the representativeness of data which leads to the recommendation that the exercise should be repeated with an instrument which is redesigned to reflect lessons from this survey and with a larger negotiated sample, along the lines of the Teachers’ Workload Survey." - Page 138

Short-term climate response to a freshwater pulse in the Southern Ocean

The short-term response of the climate system to a freshwater anomaly in the Southern Ocean is investigated using a coupled global climate model. As a result of the anomaly, ventilation of deep waters around Antarctica is inhibited, causing a warming of the deep ocean, and a cooling of the surface. The surface cooling causes Antarctic sea-ice to thicken and increase in extent, and this leads to a cooling of Southern Hemisphere surface air temperature. The surface cooling increases over the first 5 years, then remains constant over the next 5 years. There is a more rapid response in the Pacific Ocean, which transmits a signal to the Northern Hemisphere, ultimately causing a shift to the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation in years 5–10