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70 years of Scottish National Accounts: 1948-2018
No full textThis paper provides a comprehensive time series of historical National Accounts for Scotland (onshore and offshore) from 1948 to 2018. It includes a detailed breakdown by income component and industrial sector using methods that are forward and backward compatible. Through this work we offer new insights on the performance of the post-war Scottish economy, including its relative performance to the UK and its industrial makeup. Our findings also provide, for the first time, a full picture of the totality of Scotland's economy over the last 70 years by incorporating an estimate of North Sea oil and gas gross value added from within Scotland's territorial waters
Educational networks as catalysts for cultural change: a tale of two systems
Get PDFThis paper draws on evidence and insights from attempts to build Networked Learning Systems (NLS) over a seven-year period in Scotland and Chile. The paper examines how both systems seek to leverage the middle tier and illuminate the possibilities and pitfalls associated with initiating and sustaining school-to-school improvement networks in diverse international cultural and policy contexts. Drawing on socio-cultural theory (Douglas in In the active voice, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982), which is applied to public service organisations (Hood in The art of the state: culture, rhetoric, and public management, Clarendon Press, 1998) and research and developmental activity associated with Research Practice-Partnerships (Farrell et al. in Research practice partnerships in education: The state of the field, William T. Grant Foundation, 2021) the paper analyses, compares, and contrast these contexts and their developments in relation to cultural change and NLSs. The Scottish approach to education, and public policy has a strong tradition of universal public provision whilst the Chilean system is market-based and highly segregated. In Scotland a partnership working and collaboration is a core feature of policy aspiration to support the development of a networked learning system (ICEA, 2020), however, there remain challenges to realise this ambition in practice. In Chile, there are many functioning educational networks, many of which have been useful in supporting key actors (Pino-Yancovic in OECD, ed., Who really cares about using education research in policy and practice? Developing a culture of research engagement, OECD, pp 195–201, 2023). However, given the neoliberal context generating professional relationships based on trust remains a significant issue for the Chilean system. The findings reported in this paper offer valuable insights into how two diverse contexts have attempted cultural change to support educational change and improvement across the middle tier. The Scottish case highlights the importance of senior leadership support in early stages and the later shift toward a more egalitarian culture. For Chile, strengthening collaboration across local education service administrators could benefit from identifying and supporting leadership capacities within well-functioning networks to harvest talent, articulate the system, and challenge individualistic cultures
"Unloading the excess baggage": Key informant interviews with Malaysian stakeholders on healthcare disinvestment initiatives
Get PDFObjectives: This study aims to explore perspectives on disinvestment of low-value care and interventions in Malaysia’s healthcare system, with a focus on establishing criteria for assessing disinvestment candidates, identifying potential barriers, and proposing strategies to improve the acceptance and its effective implementation. Methods: Between March and May 2023, we conducted online, semi-structured interviews with seventeen Malaysian healthcare stakeholders with different professional roles at various levels of governance and decision-making. Participants were recruited through a mix of purposive and snowballing sampling. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using inductive thematic approach in Atlas.ti. Results: We identified four major themes: disinvestment as a catalyst for efficient resource allocation, disinvestment as a justifiable way of cutting budgets, challenges and barriers in implementation, and strategies for value-based assessment and effective implementation. Stakeholders viewed disinvestment both optimistically and skeptically in terms of its implementation but were unanimous in including equity as a key component in decision-making. Practical challenges and uncertainty among healthcare professionals emerged as significant barriers in implementing disinvestment initiatives in Malaysia. Conclusions: Malaysian stakeholders viewed disinvestment as both an opportunity to improve resource allocation and a source of concern due to potential negative consequences and system readiness. This study identified strategies to support value-based assessment and implementation, underscoring the need for accountability and collaboration. Although current disinvestment efforts in Malaysia remain limited and undocumented, the thematic framework developed offers transferable insights and a structured lens for assessing readiness. These stakeholder-derived themes can guide other countries in designing transparent, equitable, and context-sensitive disinvestment processes
DDPM modelling of kinetic parameter sensitivity and bed size effects in biomass fluidised bed gasification
Get PDFFluidized bed gasification is a promising technique due to its beneficial mass and heat transfer characteristics. The present study investigates this technique for biomass gasification using a Dense Discrete Phase Model (DDPM). The DDPM combines a Eulerian treatment for the fluid phase and a Discrete Element Method (DEM) for tracking solid particles grouped into parcels. Biomass undergoes a series of complex chemical reactions, and the kinetic rate parameters reported in the literature often vary significantly, even for similar gasification conditions. This study, therefore, focuses on developing a detailed understanding of the sensitivity of these kinetic parameters. The results demonstrate that reaction kinetics, particularly the rate of the water–gas shift reaction, have a major impact on product yields. Furthermore, the study examines the influence of inert sand bed sizes (300 mm, 150 mm, and 75 mm) on fluidisation and product yields. The difference in yields between the 300 mm and 150 mm beds is minimal at about 3 %. In contrast, the 75 mm bed shows significant variations, ranging from 5 to 12 %. Variations in grain ratios (4, 3, 2 and 1) for a fixed number of parcels are also explored, indicating their effect on the fluidisation zone and gasification process. Product yields between grain ratios of 4 and 3 differ by 3–8 %, while reducing the grain ratio to 1 increases the variation to 8–20 %. Overall, the findings provide valuable insights into the hydrodynamics of fluidised bed and the associated gasification mechanisms
Reframing the lens: transnational youth, lived religion and rethinking mobility and transnationalism
No full textThis article reframes transnationalism, the mobilities turn and lived religion by centring African transnational youth. Drawing on comparative multi-sited ethnography in London and Birmingham (UK), Johannesburg (South Africa), Lagos (Nigeria) and Harare (Zimbabwe), and interviews with young people aged 15–35 (n = 169) and key informants (n = 39), it advances three linked interventions: youth-centric transnationalism, layered mobilities and lived religion in flux. It shows how youth curate selective, affect-laden cross-border ties through digitally mediated religious publics; how mobility is lived as simultaneous physical, digital and spiritual movement, including those positioned as “left-behind”; and how religious authority is reworked through hybrid, peer-driven and platformed practices. The article proposes a decolonial reconceptualisation of transnationalism through three principles – agency over inheritance, simultaneity over singularity and relationality over institutionalism – shifting migration-and-religion scholarship beyond Eurocentric, adult-centric and institution-bound models. It shows religion as mobility infrastructure under racialised bordering, shaping aspiration, capability and belonging across North – South sites
Methods article for a study protocol: study design and baseline characteristics of the Treatment of cardiovascular disease with low dose Rivaroxaban in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease (TRACK) trial
No full textNo abstract available
Caught between vulnerability and neglect: nutrition in people with intellectual disabilities
Get PDFPeople with intellectual disabilities are disproportionately affected by diet-related health inequalities. This Perspective outlines a dual challenge: (1) intrinsic vulnerabilities—cognitive limitations, health-literacy constraints, and comorbidities—that impair individuals’ ability to make healthy dietary choices, and (2) extrinsic neglect—insufficient support in care environments, inadequate nutrition-related training among informal caregivers and support staff, and structural gaps in policy and services. We argue that this “double jeopardy” undermines nutritional equity and proposes strategies for person-centered nutrition education, caregiver empowerment, supportive food environments, and inclusive policy frameworks. Greater interdisciplinary collaboration and tailored research are urgently needed to ensure nutritional health as a right for people with intellectual disabilities
Sustainable, flexible and ambient temperature operated polyaniline-based chemiresistive ammonia sensor with eco-friendly design
No full textIn this work, an eco-friendly, flexible, and ambient temperature (∼27 °C ± 2 °C) operated ammonia (NH3) sensor has been developed using electrospun polyaniline (PANI) fibers deposited on an eco-friendly paper substrate having printed graphene–carbon (G-C) interdigitated electrodes (IDEs). The sensor was designed to detect NH3 over a broad concentration range of 0.5–500 parts per million (ppm), targeting applications in environmental and healthcare monitoring. Structural, elemental, and morphological properties of the sensing layer were characterized using X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy, confirming the formation of well-aligned PANI fibers with entangled networks and rougher surface. The sensor exhibited excellent % response (1261% at 500 ppm), reproducibility, and good repeatability over multiple cycles. Selectivity studies showed a multifold % response toward NH3 gas as compared to interfering gases, such as CO2, CO, SO2, and NO2. The use of paper as a low-cost, eco-friendly substrate, combined with the scalable fabrication route, highlights the potential of this work for sustainable and disposable NH3 sensing platforms and environmentally-friendly sensing solutions
How do residents perceive alcohol availability and its impact on drinking behaviour? A qualitative study
Get PDFIntroduction:
Reducing alcohol availability has been identified as a potential approach to reduce alcohol use and related harm. In order to regulate alcohol availability at a local level, it is important to involve communities in decision-making and ensure interventions are locally acceptable and appropriate. To do this, we need to improve our understanding of how residents conceptualise alcohol availability and its impact on behaviours. This paper uses data collected in Scotland, a country with particularly high levels of alcohol-related harm, to explore the perspectives of residents, on local alcohol availability and how it might affect drinking behaviours.
Methods:
We conducted 11 online focus groups with 45 participants, living in nine strongly contrasting neighbourhoods in Scotland, characterised by varying levels of alcohol retail density change, urbanity and deprivation. We explored participants’ perceptions of their local alcohol environment and alcohol availability, and any perceived relationship between alcohol availability and alcohol-related behaviours.
Results:
Participants challenged established notions that alcohol availability is characterised primarily by density of alcohol outlets. According to our participants, availability is about accessibility, ease of purchase and ubiquity of alcohol. Residents drew distinctions between areas of varying deprivation and conceptualised alcohol availability as complex, characterised by market segmentation, and related to price, advertising and the wider environment.
Conclusions:
This is one of the few papers to explore residents' perspectives of local alcohol availability and its relationship with alcohol use. It highlights that residents view alcohol availability as encompassing more than just the physical presence of outlets, recognising also the variety of outlet types and the connections between availability, pricing, and advertising. Policies to reduce local availability should consider residents’ perspectives and account for contextual factors such as shifts in the retail landscape and the availability of alcohol-free recreational alternatives
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