Getting the Planners Off Our Backs: Questioning the Post-Political Nature of English Planning Policy

There is now a large body of work that seeks to understand the evolution of planning systems across the globe, particularly the adaptation of planning to/under varying forms of neoliberalism. Some of this research seeks to provide empirical insights into new state spaces and the actors that occupy them. Others have made theoretical explanation of the reform agenda their goal. In sum much of the literature now points to an academic understanding of government policies on planning as representative of a ‘new moment’, characterized by a post-political narrowing of debate on what the fundamental objectives of the activity should be. In this contribution, we find grounds to agree with aspects of this analysis that takes the post-political as an explanatory framework. However, using the passage of the UK Localism and Decentralization Bill into law as the Localism Act 2011, we argue that the process of enacting planning reform was accompanied by acts of manipulation (heresthetics) and decontestation that accord more closely to traditional and long-standing methods of political action motivated by ideology.     

Interpersonal Amplification of Risk? Citizen Discussions and Their Impact on Perceptions of Risks and Benefits of a Biological Research Facility

Much risk communication research has demonstrated how mass media can influence individual risk perceptions, but lacks a comprehensive conceptual understanding of another key channel of communication: interpersonal discussion. Using the social amplification of risk as a theoretical framework, we consider the potential for discussions to function as amplification stations. We explore this possibility using data from a public opinion survey of residents living in potential locations for a new biological research facility in the United States. Controlling for a variety of key information variables, our results show that two dimensions of discussion—frequency and valence—have impacts on residents’ perceptions of the facility's benefits and its risks. We also explore the possibility that an individual's overall attitude moderates the effect of discussion on their perceptions of risks and benefits. Our results demonstrate the potential for discussions to operate as amplifiers or attenuators of perceptions of both risks and benefits.     

Intra-rater reliability of hip abductor isometric strength testing in a standing position in older fallers and non-fallers

Background

Reduced hip muscle strength has been shown to be a major factor related to falls in older persons. However, comprehensive assessment of hip abduction strength in the clinical setting is challenging. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and intra-rater reliability of a quick and simple hip abductor strength test in a functional standing position.

Methods

Individuals over 65 years of age were recruited from the geriatric department of a university hospital and an outpatient clinic. Thirty-two older subjects, including 16 fallers (≥1 fall during the last 12 months) and 16 non-fallers were included. Maximum voluntary isometric strength (MVIS) and rate of force generation (RFG) of the hip abductors of the right leg were evaluated in a standing position using a hand-held dynamometer. Two test-sessions were carried out. All hip strength values were normalized to participants’ weight. Reliability was determined using the intra-class correlation coefficient agreement (ICC_agreement), the standard error of measurement (SEM) and a Bland and Altman analysis (BA).

Results

All participants completed the strength tests, which took a mean 2.47?±?0.49 min (one limb). Intra-rater reliability was higher for MVIS (0.98_{[0.95–0.99]}) than RFG (ICC?=?0.93_{[0.87–0.97]}) for the entire sample. In the non-fallers, ICC was 0.98_{[0.95–1.00]} (SEM?=?0.08 N.kg^??1) for MVIS and 0.88_{[0.75–0.96]} for RFG (SEM?=?1.34 N.kg^-1.s^-1). In the fallers, ICC was 0.94_{[0.89–0.98]} (SEM?=?0.11 N.kg^??1) for MVIS and 0.93_{[0.84–0.98]} (SEM?=?1.12 N.kg^??1.s^??1) for RFG. The BA plot showed that the MVIS and RFG values did not differ across test-sessions, showing that no learning effect occurred (no systematic effect). The mean differences between test-sessions were larger and the LOA smaller in the fallers than in the non-fallers.

Conclusion

Assessment of hip strength in a standing position is feasible, rapid and reliable. We therefore recommend this position for clinical practice. Future studies should investigate the diagnostic value of hip abductor strength in standing to discriminate between fallers and non-fallers, and to determine if change in strength following a falls prevention program reduces the risk of falls.

     

La firme locale-globale : Lyonnaise des Eaux (1980-2004)

This study of the policy of internationalization conducted by Lyonnaise des Eaux (renamed Suez) and, in particular, of its internal transformations during the period from 1980 to 2004 focuses on the stages in these changes, the organizational characteristics and the principles that were applied. One argument is to consider that this company has designed a new type of organization which combines a deep center and the operation of many different services in a large number of countries. It has thus become a « local global” firm. Different from existing types (H, U, M, J) of firms, this new form has four characteristics: the central role played by local units, procedures for reporting toward a compact center, assistance from the center, and direct exchanges between local units following a “principle of connectivity ”. Questions are raised about the capacity for change of this type of firm, which combines organizational dimension and institutional characteristics. Being in the market as well as in the production of the legal environment gives this firm some specific properties in the way to conduct a strategy. — Special issue: New patterns of institutions.     

Wavelet deconvolution in a periodic setting

Summary.  Deconvolution problems are naturally represented in the Fourier domain, whereas thresholding in wavelet bases is known to have broad adaptivity properties. We study a method which combines both fast Fourier and fast wavelet transforms and can recover a blurred function observed in white noise with O { n    log ( n )²} steps. In the periodic setting, the method applies to most deconvolution problems, including certain 'boxcar' kernels, which are important as a model of motion blur, but having poor Fourier characteristics. Asymptotic theory informs the choice of tuning parameters and yields adaptivity properties for the method over a wide class of measures of error and classes of function. The method is tested on simulated light detection and ranging data suggested by underwater remote sensing. Both visual and numerical results show an improvement over competing approaches. Finally, the theory behind our estimation paradigm gives a complete characterization of the 'maxiset' of the method: the set of functions where the method attains a near optimal rate of convergence for a variety of L ^p loss functions.     

Second degree Pareto dominance

We present and discuss a binary relation aimed at the study of the re-distribution of income. We characterize, in a number of ways, the set of income allocations that can be reached from an initial allocation through a sequence of pair-wise equalizing transfers, where the sequence contains no flow of income from any donor to anyone else who ends up strictly richer than this donor himself ends up at the outcome of the entire sequence. Thanks are due to Peter Lambert and James Mirrlees for their comments. Thon was with the Department of Economics, University of Macau, when some of the work on this paper was done.     

Beyond composition: What the study of diversity in K12 schools can learn from research in higher education

Several decades of interdisciplinary research have demonstrated the benefits of racially and ethnically integrated K12 schools. However, there is still much we do not know about what happens inside diverse schools that lead to these outcomes. In this article, we argue that the study of diversity in higher education, with its greater focus on internal institutional dynamics and a broader range of outcomes, can help K12 researchers fill in these gaps. However, the framework for studying diversity in higher education cannot be applied to K12 schools without first accounting for developmental and structural differences across students and sectors. To that end, this article summarizes the main components of the framework for studying diversity in the higher education literature—compositional, interactional, and organizational diversity—as well as the broad range of outcomes including not only academic achievement but also skills for lifelong learning and dispositions for citizenship in a multiracial democracy, and suggests how they can be adapted for K12 research. We argue that with this comprehensive but adapted framework, research on K12 education can inform practice and policy by providing more insight into the underlying mechanisms of school diversity and its consequences.     

Relationship Between Sarcopenia and Fracture Risks in Obese Postmenopausal Women

ABSTRACT

It is known that obesity is inversely correlated with fracture risk. It remains unclear if a low muscle mass (sarcopenia) modulates the relationship between obesity and bone mass density. Twenty-seven obese women were matched for total fat mass (± 0.5 kg) and age (± 4 yrs) and divided in 3 equal groups: class II sarcopenic, class I sarcopenic, and nonsarcopenic. Body composition (DXA) and dietary intake were measured. Our results suggest that obesity may offer some protection against osteoporosis, even in sarcopenic postmenopausal women. However, further studies are needed to examine the actual implication of these results on a clinical standpoint.