In search of the aim of the free movement of persons provisions: has the Court of Justice missed the point?

The Court of Justice has, over the years, often been vilified for exceeding the limits of its jurisdiction by interpreting the provisions of Community legislation in a way not seem originally envisaged by its drafters. A recent example of this approach was a cluster of cases in the context of the free movement of workers and the freedom of establishment (Ritter-Coulais and its progeny), where the Court included within the scope of those provisions situations which, arguably, did not present a sufficient link with their (economic) aim. In particular, in that case law the Court accepted that the mere exercise of free movement for the purpose of taking up residence in the territory of another Member State whilst continuing to exercise an economic activity in the State of origin, suffices for bringing a Member State national within the scope of Articles 39 and 43 EC. It is argued that the most plausible explanation for this approach is that the Court now wishes to re-read the economic fundamental freedoms in such a way as to include within their scope all economically active Union citizens, irrespective of whether their situation presents a sufficient link with the exercise of an economic activity in a cross-border context. It is suggested that this approach is problematic for a number of reasons. It is, therefore, concluded that the Court should revert to its orthodox approach, according to which only situations that involve Union citizens who have moved between Member States for the purpose of taking up an economic activity should be included within the scope of the market freedoms.

Advertising, promotion, and the rise of a national building society movement in interwar Britain

This article examines the role of advertisement and promotion in the successful development of nationwide building societies in interwar Britain and the rapid overall growth of the building society movement. Major building societies are shown to have used extensive advertising to compensate for their initial lack of established national brands, promote home-ownership, and make savers aware of the attractive earnings and high security of building society savings. During a period when most building societies had very limited branch networks, extensive advertising increased the public profile of the major societies and thus assisted their rapid expansion via lower-cost modes such as agency networks.

Measuring the effects of manipulating stimulus presentation time on sensorimotor alpha and low beta reactivity during hand movement observation

The present study addresses three methodological questions that have been ignored in previous research on EEG indices of the human mirror neuron system (hMNS), particularly in regard to autistic individuals. The first question regards how to elicit the EEG indexed hMNS during movement observation: Is hMNS activation best elicited using long stimulus presentations or multiple short repetitions? The second question regards what EEG sensorimotor frequency bands reflect sensorimotor reactivity during hand movement observation? The third question regards how widespread is the EEG reactivity over the sensorimotor cortex during movement observation? The present study explored sensorimotor alpha and low beta reactivity during hand movement versus static hand or bouncing balls observation and compared two experimental protocols (long exposure vs. multiple repetitions) in the same participants. Results using the multiple repetitions protocol indicated a greater low beta desynchronisation over the sensorimotor cortex during hand movement compared to static hand and bouncing balls observation. This result was not achieved using the long exposure protocol. Therefore, the present study suggests that the multiple repetitions protocol is a more robust protocol to use when exploring the sensorimotor reactivity induced by hand action observation. In addition, sensorimotor low beta desynchronisation was differently modulated during hand movement, static hand and bouncing balls observation (non-biological motion) while it was not the case for sensorimotor alpha and that suggest that low beta may be a more sensitive index of hMNS activation during biological motion observation. In conclusion the present study indicates that sensorimotor reactivity of low beta during hand movement observation was found to be more widespread over the sensorimotor cortex than previously thought.

The time course of implicit affective picture processing: an eye movement study

Consistent with a negativity bias account, neuroscientific and behavioral evidence demonstrates modulation of even early sensory processes by unpleasant, potentially threat-relevant information. The aim of this research is to assess the extent to which pleasant and unpleasant visual stimuli presented extrafoveally capture attention and impact eye movement control. We report an experiment examining deviations in saccade metrics in the presence of emotional image distractors that are close to a nonemotional target. We additionally manipulate the saccade latency to test when the emotional distractor has its biggest impact on oculomotor control. The results demonstrate that saccade landing position was pulled toward unpleasant distractors, and that this pull was due to the quick saccade responses. Overall, these findings support a negativity bias account of early attentional control and call for the need to consider the time course of motivated attention when affect is implicit

Movement of newly assimilated 13C carbon in the grass Lolium perenne and its incorporation into rhizosphere microbial DNA

One of the key processes that drives rhizosphere microbial activity is the exudation of soluble organic carbon (C) by plant roots. We describe an experiment designed to determine the impact of defoliation on the partitioning and movement of C in grass (Lolium perenne L.), soil and grass-sterile sand microcosms, using a (13)CO(2) pulse-labelling method. The pulse-derived (13)C in the shoots declined over time, but that of the roots remained stable throughout the experiment. There were peaks in the atom% (13)C of rhizosphere CO(2) in the first few hours after labelling probably due to root respiration, and again at around 100 h. The second peak was only seen in the soil microcosms and not in those with sterilised sand as the growth medium, indicating possible microbial activity. Incorporation of the (13)C label into the microbial biomass increased at 100 h when incorporation into replicating cells, as indicated by the amounts of the label in the microbial DNA, started to increase. These results indicate that the rhizosphere environment is conducive to bacterial growth and replication. The results also show that defoliation had no impact on the pattern of movement of (13)C from plant roots into the microbial population in the rhizosphere.

Does grammatical aspect affect motion event cognition? A cross-linguistic comparison of English and Swedish speakers

In this article, we explore whether cross-linguistic differences in grammatical aspect encoding may give rise to differences in memory and cognition. We compared native speakers of two languages that encode aspect differently (English and Swedish) in four tasks that examined verbal descriptions of stimuli, online triads matching, and memory-based triads matching with and without verbal interference. Results showed between-group differences in verbal descriptions and in memory-based triads matching. However, no differences were found in online triads matching and in memory-based triads matching with verbal interference. These findings need to be interpreted in the context of the overall pattern of performance, which indicated that both groups based their similarity judgments on common perceptual characteristics of motion events. These results show for the first time a cross-linguistic difference in memory as a function of differences in grammatical aspect encoding, but they also contribute to the emerging view that language fine tunes rather than shapes perceptual processes that are likely to be universal and unchanging.

Dissociation between the impact of evidence on eye movement target choice and confidence judgements

It has been suggested that the evidence used to support a decision to move our eyes and the confidence we have in that decision are derived from a common source. Alternatively, confidence may be based on further post-decisional processes. In three experiments we examined this. In Experiment 1, participants chose between two targets on the basis of varying levels of evidence (i.e., the direction of motion coherence in a Random-Dot-Kinematogram). They indicated this choice by making a saccade to one of two targets and then indicated their confidence. Saccade trajectory deviation was taken as a measure of the inhibition of the non-selected target. We found that as evidence increased so did confidence and deviations of saccade trajectory away from the non-selected target. However, a correlational analysis suggested they were not related. In Experiment 2 an option to opt-out of the choice was offered on some trials if choice proved too difficult. In this way we isolated trials on which confidence in target selection was high (i.e., when the option to opt-out was available but not taken). Again saccade trajectory deviations were found not to differ in relation to confidence. In Experiment 3 we directly manipulated confidence, such that participants had high or low task confidence. They showed no differences in saccade trajectory deviations. These results support post-decisional accounts of confidence: evidence supporting the decision to move the eyes is reflected in saccade control, but the confidence that we have in that choice is subject to further post-decisional processes.

Success and failure of grassroots innovations for addressing climate change: the case of the Transition Movement

Grassroots innovations emerge as networks generating innovative solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation. However, it is unclear if grassroots innovations can be successful in responding to climate change. Little evidence exists on replication, international comparisons are rare, and research tends to overlook discontinued responses in favour of successful ones. We take the Transition Movement as a case study of a rapidly spreading transnational grassroots network, and include both active and non-active local transition initiatives. We investigate the replication of grassroots innovations in different contexts with the aim to uncover general patterns of success and failure, and identify questions for future research. An online survey was carried out in 23 countries (N=276). The data analysis entailed testing the effect of internal and contextual factors of success as drawn from the existing literature, and the identification of clusters of transition initiatives with similar internal and contextual factor configurations. Most transition initiatives consider themselves successful. Success is defined along the lines of social connectivity and empowerment, and external environmental impact. We find that less successful transition initiatives might underestimate the importance of contextual factors and material resources in influencing success. We also find that their diffusion is linked to the combination of local-global learning processes, and that there is an incubation period during which a transition initiative is consolidated. Transition initiatives seem capable of generalising organisational principles derived from unique local experiences that seem to be effective in other local contexts. However, the geographical locations matter with regard to where transition initiatives take root and the extent of their success, and ‘place attachment’ may have a role in the diffusion of successful initatives. We suggest that longitudinal comparative studies can advance our understanding in this regard, as well as inform the changing nature of the definition of success at different stages of grassroots innovation development, and the dynamic nature of local and global linkages.

The supply and movement of Denarii in Roman Britain

Hoards of denarii are common in Britain and the number which have been recorded in detail means that it is now possible to suggest reasonably accurately what a ‘normal’ hoard of a particular date should look like. That being the case, we can then look for variation around that norm and both investigate and speculate what that variation means. A methodology is developed which suggests periods of faster and less rapid coin circulation which has implications for consideration of monetisation. The model also enables us to view where denarii entered circulation; unsurprisingly the army looms large in this picture. The methodology is directly transferable to other provinces and other periods where there are longlived, relatively stable monetary systems.