The wells ‐ Charlesworth debate: A personal comment on Arson in Norfolk and Suffolk

In this brief comment Archer responds to the debate between Wells, (Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2, January, 1979 and Vol. 8, No. 4, July, 1981) and Charlesworth (Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1, October, 1980). He identifies a lack of communication between the two protagonists and also suggests that, in the case of Norfolk and Suffolk, incendiarism only became endemic after 1830. He also notes that covert and overt collective protest occurred simultaneously after 1830. In his conclusion Archer believes the arguments put forward by Wells and Charlesworth are overemphatic and premature because research on the 1800–30 period is still far from complete.     

Yearly activity patterns in southern Victoria (Australia) of seasonally active carrion insects

Some seasonally active carrion invertebrates leave remnants of their presence that remain long after the completion of flesh decay. Remnants may include fly puparia (pupal cases) or insect exoskeletal elements. The presence of these remnants among old, decomposed remains can therefore indicate possible months in which death occurred. A large-scale study of the patterns of neonatal piglet decomposition and carrion insect succession in a forest was carried out in 1999 and 2000. Five fresh piglet carcasses were exposed once per season in both years and visited frequently throughout decay. Ten seasonally active taxa, likely to leave durable remnants of their presence were selected, and profiles were constructed of their activity times over the 2-year study.     

Rainfall and temperature effects on the decomposition rate of exposed neonatal remains.

There are scarce data describing seasonal effects on decomposition, and on the decomposition of neonatal remains. Piglet carcasses were exposed in a forest at Coranderrk Bushland (Victoria, Australia) each season for two years. The effects of season, year, temperature, and rainfall on mass loss rate and decay stage durations were investigated. There was a significant season and year interaction in weeks taken until the end of putrefaction: this was longest in winter, followed by autumn, spring and summer. Higher temperatures and rainfall increased both mass loss rates, and decomposition stage progression rates.     

‘It's easier that you're a girl and that you're Asian’: interactions of ‘race’ and gender between researchers and participants

This article is concerned with the ways in which ‘race’ and gender interact between interviewers and participants within the research process and the implications of differences/similarities between researcher and participants for feminist research and analysis. The paper discusses issues of power and representation within a research project conducted by the white female author and two Asian female interviewers with 64 British Muslim young men and women. Based on analysis of discussion group data, it is argued that ‘race’ and gender interact between researchers and participants in highly complex and unpredictable ways to produce particular accounts, but comparative analysis of accounts produced with different interviewers can help reveal ‘hidden’ structures of power within the texts.     

Introducing the urban land pooling/readjustment technique into Thailand to improve urban development and land supply

Land pooling/readjustment (LP/R) is a technique for managing the planned development of urban-fringe lands, whereby a government agency consolidates a selected group of land parcels and then designs, services and subdivides them into a layout of streets, open spaces and serviced building plots, with the sale of some of the plots for cost recovery and the distribution of the remaining plots back to the landowners to develop or to sell for development. Widely used in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, LP/R is being adopted in Indonesia, Nepal and Malaysia. The community benefits that the technique can provide in the Thailand situation of weak urban land-use controls and inadequate provision of urban network infrastructure are outlined. The landowner benefits the technique can provide that make it a fully acceptable and feasible technique are identified. Pilot LP/R projects should be undertaken to demonstrate and learn the technique in the Thai context. A draft scheme for one such project, to install distributor roads and utility lines in advance of private land development, is outlined. These pilot projects would also provide the local experience for designing a law, administration and procedures for the wide use of LP/R in Thailand. The main elements of such a national LP/R system are outlined. A similar approach is recommended for the adoption of LP/R by the other developing countries of Asia.     

Police Personnel Affective Profiles: Differences in Perceptions of the Work Climate and Motivation

The affective profile model was used to investigate individual differences in police personnel perceptions about the working climate and its influences on motivation. The Positive Affect, Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was used to assign police personnel, sworn and non-sworn (N = 595), to four affective profiles: self-fulfilling, low affective, high affective, and self-destructive. The work climate was assessed using the Learning Climate Questionnaire (Management Relations and Style, Time, Autonomy and Responsibility, Team Style, Opportunities to Develop, Guidelines on How to do the Job, and Contentedness). Motivation was evaluated using a modified version (to refer specifically to the individual’s work situation) of the Situational Motivation Scale (intrinsic motivation, external regulation, identified regulation, and amotivation). Self-fulfilling individuals scored higher on all work climate dimensions compared to the other three groups. Compared to low positive affect profiles, individuals with profiles of high positive affect scored higher in intrinsic motivation and identified regulation. Self-destructive individuals scored higher in amotivation. Different aspects of the work climate were related to each motivation dimension among affective profiles. Police personnel may react to their work environment depending on their affective profile. Moreover, the extent to which the work influences police personnel’s motivation is also related to the affective profile of the individual.     

The medical licensing examination debate

National licensing examinations are typically large‐scale examinations taken early in a career or near the point of graduation, and, importantly, success is required to subsequently be able to practice. They are becoming increasingly popular as a method of quality assurance in the medical workforce, but debate about their contribution to patient safety and the improvement of healthcare outcomes continues. A systematic review of the national licensing examination literature demonstrates that there is disagreement between assessment experts about the strengths and challenges of licensing examinations. This is characterized by a trans‐Atlantic divide between the dominance of psychometric reliability assurance in North America and the wider interpretations of validity, to include consequences, in Europe. We conclude that the debate might benefit from refocusing to what a national licensing examination should assess: to achieve a balance between assessing a breadth of skills and the capacity for such skills in practice, and focusing less on reproducibility.