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Finance
No full textThis entry discusses the role of finance in international relations. It outlines three different ways in which it can be seen to influence international politics. First, finance represents an important resource that shaped the making of the modern international system. Second, finance became a means through which foreign policy has been carried out. Finally, it now refers to new players in international dynamics with the growing influence of financial actors and financial markets. The entry concludes by noting the enduring importance of finance in power politics by referring to its role in shaping dynamics between China and the US.</p
Abolitionist Voices
No full textCarceral and ecological harms go hand in hand. From the murder and brutalization of land defenders resisting extractivism globally (Global Witness, 2022), to the environmentally disastrous ‘boot print’ of contemporary police and military expansionism (Selwyn, 2022), to the greenwashing of new private mega-prison projects (Jewkes and Moran, 2015), to the traumatizing, sexual coercion of environmental activists by undercover police in the UK (Stephens-Griffin, 2021), it is vital that we understand struggles for ecological justice and liberation as deeply entwined with abolitionist causes. This chapter aims to do this by examining and reflecting upon the development of ‘abolition ecology’, an approach working to explore and resist racial capitalism and environmental racism as interlocking and mutually generative systems (Pulido, 2017; Heynen 2018). In so doing it examines the ‘Total Liberation’ perspective as a means of unifying diverse and disparate liberation movements under one coherent struggle for ecological and social justice. The chapter argues that in acknowledging and making visible the ecological dynamics of carcerality, we build the most solid foundations for emancipation in the future.</p
Creating a conducive zone for innovation in children’s social care
No full textInnovation activity in child and family services has accelerated over the past 2 decades, particularly in England, where substantial government investment in pilots, diffusion activities and evaluations has created an emerging body of literature on effective approaches and characteristics of efficient practice systems. However, the literature on the interplay of enabling or impeding factors and processes at a local and national level tends towards the descriptive, while theorisation of the underlying dynamics remains limited. This paper presents the findings of a framework analysis produced through integrating thematic insights from a narrative review of academic and grey literature with those drawn from interviews with 21 expert informants engaged in social care innovation within the UK within policy, leadership or researcher roles. Analysis enabled five clusters of ‘conditional parameters’ to emerge, covering: mobilisers; system capabilities; design and implementation features; organisational culture, climate and processes; and the macro context. Three or four conditional parameters are identified per category, each outlining factors and processes that could either facilitate an innovation or create barriers that needed to be overcome. To achieve an environment most conducive to innovation, attention needs to be paid to the interplay of these conditions, recognising that their operation and influence might be occurring out of awareness and scrutiny. Innovation is found to be best facilitated by a stable, well‐supported workforce that feels energised and confident to create and implement change. This requires developing a supportive, collaborative, relational culture and climate of mutual trust, where reflexive supervisory and evaluatory mechanisms follow the human‐centred grain of professional practice and where staff feel safe to experiment and make mistakes. This can enable a conducive zone for innovation to open up, even where policy drivers and the availability of resources are less than optimum.</p
Uptake, utility, and resource requirements of a Genetic Counselling telephone helpline within the BRCA-DIRECT digital pathway for mainstreamed BRCA-testing in breast cancer patients
No full textBackground We trialled the first digital pathway (BRCA-DIRECT) aiming to improve capacity for mainstreamed BRCA testing within UK breast oncology services. Patients received standardised digital pretest information, with saliva sampling and consent to testing completed at home. For individualised support, we offered access to a clinical genetics professional via a telephone helpline (TH).Methods To evaluate the utilisation, uptake and resource requirements for provision of the TH, we analysed data from structured call logs recorded in the BRCA-DIRECT Study. Mixed-methods analysis included combining quantitative data from call logs and patient demographics with thematic analysis of free-text notes establishing reasons for calls. Additional data were analysed from structured telephone interviews.Results Calls were received from 201/1140 (17.6%) patients. We identified that 84.6% of calls (274 calls, 1097 min) pertained to ‘administrative’ support needs only. The remaining 15.4% required a clinical genetics professional (50 calls, 344 min). Of the clinical calls received: 26.0% were placed prior to test consent, 36.0% while awaiting results and 38.0% post results, with median (interquartile) call lengths of 8 (4–10) min; 5.5 (4–10) min; and 5 (3–7) min, respectively. Across all 1140 patients, a mean of 0.3 min of clinical time was required per patient.Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that the ‘BRCA-DIRECT’ model of standardised information provision served most patients, with a minority using the helpline for supplementary clinical information or support. The modest per-patient requirement for clinical time supports the scalability of this model for expanding mainstream genetic testing within UK oncology services.</p
Initial measurement of reactor antineutrino oscillation at SNO+
No full text2
The SNO+ collaboration reports its first spectral analysis of long-baseline reactor antineutrino59
oscillation using 114 tonne-years of data. Fitting the neutrino oscillation probability to the observed60
energy spectrum yields constraints on the neutrino mass squared difference ∆m2
21. In the ranges61
allowed by previous measurements, the best-fit ∆m2
21 is (8.85+1.10
−1.33) × 10−5 eV2. This measurement62
is continuing in the next phases of SNO+ and is expected to surpass the present global precision on63
∆m2
21 with about three years of data.</p
A new guide for basic psychological support for persons affected by neglected tropical diseases: a peer support tool suitable for persons with a diagnosis of leprosy or lymphatic filariasis
No full textBackgroundPeople with disabilities due to neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), such as leprosy and lymphatic filariasis (LF), often encounter situations of stigma and discrimination that significantly impact their mental wellbeing. Mental wellbeing services are often not available at the peripheral level in NTD-endemic countries, and there is a need for such services. Basic psychological support for persons with NTDs (BPS-N) from peers is an important potential solution for addressing mental wellbeing problems. As there was no written document advising delivery of such support, NLR India brought experts together to develop a new guide. This paper describes the process used in developing the guide and provides information about its content.MethodsAs a qualitative and participatory methodology, more than 10 meetings and workshops were held to consider the suitability of existing guides for chronic stress in NTDs and develop a new guide through consensus and adaptations; attendees included both technical experts and affected persons. The first meeting was a 3-day virtual workshop held on 9–11 June 2020, followed by other online meetings. The BPS-N guide development happened during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The Psychological First Aid (PFA) package of WHO was selected as a suitable basic model for adaptation. Aspects of the Rights-Based Counselling intervention were also integrated into the new guide. Two teams were formed for drafting and reviewing the guide.ResultsAll suggested changes were discussed, and a consensus reached for developing the document. The affected persons contextualized the content for ensuring its relevance and practicality. The new BPS-N guide was simple, professionally sound, ethical, adequate, and appropriate. The guide promotes knowledge, skills, compassion, and action among peer supporters.ConclusionThe new guide, through regular trainings, behavior change, and action principles will likely provide much-needed services. It is important that the new guide be now tested, and modifications made if needed.</p
Comparing the emotional effects of semantic content and vocal expression of lyrics
No full textDespite a growing literature suggesting that the lyrics of music may have an emotional effect, there are as of yet no studies examining which elements of lyrics influence emotional experience. The present study explored the emotional effect of lyrics sung without a melodic accompaniment, examining whether the vocal expression or the semantic content of the lyrics had a greater influence on emotional state. A sample of 170 participants were presented four variants of sung lyrics, representing all possible combinations of vocal expression (happy; sad) and semantic content (happy; sad) condition, with emotional state being measured using the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) following each presentation. A 2x2 repeated-measures ANCOVA revealed that, after controlling for familiarity with the song, both the emotional valence of the vocal expression and the semantic content influenced emotional experience, though the vocal expression did so to a greater magnitude. Therefore, the vocal expression of lyrics may have the dominant effect on emotions, though the semantic content still has a minor influence.</p
Imagining a net-zero Teesside: actors, networks, and expectations in industrial decarbonisation megaprojects
No full textDecarbonising industrial clusters is critical to achieving the UK’s net-zero industrial strategy. This study focuses on Teesside, an industrial cluster in Northeast England, analysing its transition through the framework of the Sociology of Expectations (SoE). The research investigates the role of public and private stakeholders in driving decarbonisation efforts, concentrating on a limited set of technologies and large-scale megaprojects, especially carbon capture, hydrogen production, CO2 and hydrogen transport. The study highlights the challenges of deploying these first-of-a-kind technologies, which are not yet commercially viable in the UK. Our analysis identifies both opportunities and significant risks in Teesside’s approach, particularly the potential over-reliance on a narrow range of technologies. The findings raise concerns about the assumed reductions in costs and carbon emissions, questioning the feasibility of scaling these technologies for long-term industrial sustainability. The main implication is that, should the technologies currently favoured by incumbent industry fail to perform, the expectations could play a double and contradictory role in net-zero transitions—by both motivating actors to legitimise decarbonisation technologies, yet blinding others to the significant challenges that lie ahead.</p
Metric quantifiers and counting in timed logics and automata
No full textWe study the expressiveness of the pointwise interpretations (i.e. over timed words) of some predicate and temporal logics with metric and counting features. We show that counting in the unit interval (0,1) is strictly weaker than counting in (0,b) with arbitrary b≥0; moreover, allowing the latter to be included in temporal logics leads to expressive completeness for the metric predicate logic Q2MLO, recovering the corresponding result for the continuous interpretations (i.e. over signals). Exploiting this connection, we show that in contrast to the continuous case, adding ‘punctual’ predicates into Q2MLO is still insufficient for the full expressive power of the Monadic First-Order Logic of Order and Metric (FO[<,+1]); as a remedy, we propose a generalisation of the recently proposed Pnueli automata modalities and show that the resulting metric temporal logic is expressively complete for FO[<,+1]. On the practical side, we propose a compositional construction from metric interval temporal logic with counting or similar extensions to timed automata, which is more amenable to implementation based on existing tools that support on-the-fly model checking.</p
Thresholds of significant harm at global level: the journey of the Earth Commission
No full textThe planetary boundary framework proposes ‘safe’ boundaries, but these boundaries are not necessarily ‘just’. Hence, we ask: How has the Earth Commission defined just boundaries building on the concept of minimizing significant harm and how many people are currently exposed to harm above the safe and just threshold? We document the work of the Earth Commission to address these questions using our Earth System Justice framework. We conclude that: (a) from a justice perspective, nine criteria need to be considered when defining just boundaries; (b) the proportions of populations exposed to harm from exceeding safe and just boundaries today range from 14 to 85 % for the five domains studied (climate, biosphere, water, nutrients, aerosols); and (c) argue that the absolute upper limit for significant harm is possibly harm to 1 % of the population, which although not stringent enough to leave no one behind, would require radical transformations, given the populations currently already above the threshold.</p