Talent on the move: creative human capital migration patterns in UK

The last decade has seen an increasing number of contributions, from both academics and policy makers, focusing on the role of higher education in developing human capital (Charles, 2003; Cramphorn & Woodlhouse, 1999; Preston & Hammond, 2006) and hence contributing to local and regional growth (Faggian & McCann, 2006; Mathur, 1999; Moretti, 2004). Within this broader literature, the role played by more ‘scientific’ types of human capital, such as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) graduates and science parks (Bozeman, Dietz, & Gaughan, 2001; Linderlöf & Löfsten, 2004; Löfsten & Lindelöf, 2005), has also been explored. Little attention has been paid so far, to the role played by more ‘creative’ types of human capital. This chapter aims at filling this gap, in light of the central role that the term ‘creative’ took in policy and academic discourses in the UK (Comunian & Faggian, 2011; Comunian & Gilmore, 2015; DCMS, 2006; Powell, 2007; Universities UK, 2010).

Geography, skills and careers patterns at the boundary of creativity & innovation: digital technology and creative arts graduates in the UK

In the last decades, research on knowledge economies has taken central stage. Within this broader research field, research on the role of digital technologies and the creative industries has become increasingly important for researchers, academics and policy makers with particular focus on their development, supply-chains and models of production. Furthermore, many have recognised that, despite the important role played by digital technologies and innovation in the development of the creative industries, these dynamics are hard to capture and quantify. Digital technologies are embedded in the production and market structures of the creative industries and are also partially distinct and discernible from it. They also seem to play a key role in innovation of access and delivery of creative content. This chapter tries to assess the role played by digital technologies focusing on a key element of their implementation and application: human capital. Using student micro-data collected by the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) in the United Kingdom, we explore the characteristics and location patterns of graduates who entered the creative industries, specifically comparing graduates in the creative arts and graduates from digital technology subjects. We highlight patterns of geographical specialisation but also how different context are able to better integrate creativity and innovation in their workforce. The chapter deals specifically with understanding whether these skills are uniformly embedded across the creative sector or are concentrated in specific sub-sectors of the creative industries. Furthermore, it explores the role that these graduates play in different sub-sector of the creative economy, their economic rewards and their geographical determinants.

Energy

The impact of energy policy measures has been assessed with various appraisal and evaluation tools since the 1960s. Decision analysis, environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment are all notable examples of progenitors of Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) in the assessment of energy policies, programmes and projects. This chapter provides overview of policy tools which have been historically applied to assess the impacts of energy policies, programmes and projects. It focuses on the types of data and models that typically inform RIAs for energy policies; the organisations involved; and issues of data exchange between energy companies and policy-makers. Examples are derived from the European Commission, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands and France. It is concluded that the technical and economic analysis underpinning RIAs on energy policy and regulation varies significantly depending on the type of organisation carrying them out.

The impact of deregulation and re-regulation on bank efficiency: evidence from Asia

Following the 1997 crisis, banking sector reforms in Asia have been characterised by the emphasis on prudential regulation, associated with increased financial liberalisation. Using a panel data set of commercial banks from eight major Asian economies over the period 2001-2010, this study explores how the coexistence of liberalisation and prudential regulation affects banks’ cost characteristics. Given the presence of heterogeneity of technologies across countries, we use a stochastic frontier approach followed by the estimation of a deterministic meta-frontier to provide ‘true’ estimates of bank cost efficiency measures. Our results show that the liberalization of bank interest rates and the increase in foreign banks' presence have had a positive and significant impact on technological progress and cost efficiency. On the other hand, we find that prudential regulation might adversely affect bank cost performance. When designing an optimal regulatory framework, policy makers should combine policies which aim to foster financial stability without hindering financial intermediation.

Spatial patterns and environmental constraints on ecosystem services at a catchment scale

Improved understanding and prediction of the fundamental environmental controls on ecosystem service supply across the landscape will help to inform decisions made by policy makers and land-water managers. To evaluate this issue for a local catchment case study, we explored metrics and spatial patterns of service supply for water quality regulation, agriculture production, carbon storage, and biodiversity for the Macronutrient Conwy catchment. Methods included using ecosystem models such as LUCI and JULES, integration of national scale field survey datasets, earth observation products and plant trait databases, to produce finely resolved maps of species richness and primary production. Analyses were done with both 1x1 km gridded and subcatchment data. A common single gradient characterised catchment scale ecosystem services supply with agricultural production and carbon storage at opposing ends of the gradient as reported for a national-scale assessment. Species diversity was positively related to production due to the below national average productivity levels in the Conwy combined with the unimodal relationship between biodiversity and productivity at the national scale. In contrast to the national scale assessment, a strong reduction in water quality as production increased was observed in these low productive systems. Various soil variables were tested for their predictive power of ecosystem service supply. Soil carbon, nitrogen, their ratio and soil pH all had double the power of rainfall and altitude, each explaining around 45% of variation but soil pH is proposed as a potential metric for ecosystem service supply potential as it is a simple and practical metric which can be carried out in the field with crowd-sourcing technologies now available. The study emphasises the importance of considering multiple ecosystem services together due to the complexity of covariation at local and national scales, and the benefits of exploiting a wide range of metrics for each service to enhance data robustness.

Green infrastructure and ecosystem services - is the devil in the detail?

Background - Green infrastructure is a strategic network of green spaces designed to deliver ecosystem services to human communities. Green infrastructure is a convenient concept for urban policy makers, but the term is used too-generically and with limited understanding of the relative values or benefits of different types of green space and how these complement one another. At a finer scale/more practical level– little consideration is given to the composition of the plant-communities, yet this is what ultimately defines extent of service provision. This paper calls for greater attention to be paid to urban plantings with respect to ecosystem service delivery and for plant science to engage more-fully in identifying those plants that promote various services. Scope - Many urban plantings are designed based on aesthetics alone, with limited thought on how plant choice/composition provides other ecosystem services. Research is beginning to demonstrate, however, that landscape plants provide a range of important services, such as helping mitigate floods and alleviating heat islands, but that not all species are equally effective. The paper reviews a number of important services and demonstrates how genotype choice radically affects service delivery. Conclusions – Although research is in its infancy, data is being generated that relates plant traits to specific services; thereby helping identify genotypes that optimise service delivery. The urban environment, however, will become exceedingly bland if future planting is simply restricted to monocultures of a few ‘functional’ genotypes. Therefore, further information is required on how to design plant communities where the plants identified:- a/ provide more than a single benefit (multi-functionality) b/ complement each other in maximising the range of benefits that can be delivered in one location and c/ continue to maintain public acceptance through diversity. The identification/development of functional landscape plants is an exciting and potentially high impact arena for plant science.

After work : en longitudinell studie i arbetsmiljöns långsiktiga inverkan på sambandet mellan socioekonomisk position och äldres ohälsa

After Work. The long-term effects of work environment on the association between adult socioeconomic position and ill health among the elderly The aim of this study is to analyse the long-term effects of work environment on the association between adult socioeconomic position (SEP) and six ill health outcomes among the elderly. Data was drawn from the longitudinal Level of Living and the SWEOLD-surveys. The individuals are followed from 1968 to 1992 and from 1981 to 2002 and 2004, combining baseline information regarding SEP and work environment during the period of occupational activity with the ill health outcomes from the follow-up studies. Strongest effects where revealed when controlling for the physical work environment on the association between both measures of SEP and two of the ill health outcomes: musculoskeleta lpain and physical performance. The psychological work environment, however, explained very small parts of the associations. The results, even controlled for SEP, exposed strong direct relations between ill health and psychological work environment and rather strong relations to physical work environment. As socioeconomic position indicates a particular structural position within society it may determine the likelihood of health damaging exposures during the period of occupational activity. This study shows that the effect of work environment significantly affects ill health among the elderly. Hence, the results indicate the importance of taking measures in improving work environment during the labour-market participation period, especially since policy-makers attempt to convince workers to stay longer in the workforce.

Maternal health care professionals perspective on the provision and use of antenatal and delivery care : a qualitative descriptive study in rural Vietnam

Background. High quality maternal health care is an important tool to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality. Services offered should be evidence based and adapted to the local setting. This qualitative descriptive study explored the perspectives and experiences of midwives, assistant physicians and medical doctors on the content and quality of maternal health care in rural Vietnam. Method. The study was performed in a rural district in northern Vietnam. Four focus group discussions with health care professionals at primary health care level were conducted. The data was analysed using qualitative manifest and latent content analysis. Result. Two main themes emerged: "Contextual conditions for maternal health care" and "Balancing between possibilities and constraints". Contextual conditions influenced both pregnant women's use of maternal health care and health care professionals' performance. The study participants stated that women's uses of maternal health care were influenced by economical constraints and cultural norms that impeded their autonomy in relation to childbearing. Structural constraints within the health care system included inadequate financing of the primary health care, resulting in lack of human resources, professional re-training and adequate equipment. Conclusion. Contextual conditions strongly influenced the performance and interaction between pregnant women and health care professionals within antenatal care and delivery care in a rural district of Vietnam. Although Vietnam is performing comparatively well in terms of low maternal and child mortality figures, this study revealed midwives' and other health care professionals' perceived difficulties in their daily work. It seemed maternal health care was under-resourced in terms of staff, equipment and continuing education activities. The cultural setting in Vietnam constituting a strong patriarchal society and prevailing Confucian norms limits women's autonomy and reduce their possibility to make independent decisions about their own reproductive health. This issue should be further addressed by policy-makers. Strategies to reduce inequities in maternal health care for pregnant women are needed. The quality of client-provider interaction and management of pregnancy may be strengthened by education, human resources, re-training and provision of essential equipment.

Modeling and illustrating requirement prioritization in public e-service development from a value-based perspective

A major problem in e-service development is the prioritization of the requirements of different stakeholders. The main stakeholders are governments and their citizens, all of whom have different and sometimes conflicting requirements. In this paper, the prioritization problem is addressed by combining a value-based approach with an illustration technique. This paper examines the following research question: How can multiple stakeholder requirements be illustrated from a value-based perspective in order to be prioritizable? We used an e-service development case taken from a Swedish municipality to elaborate on our approach. Our contributions are: 1) a model of the relevant domains for requirement prioritization for government, citizens, technology, finances and laws and regulations; and 2) a requirement fulfillment analysis tool (RFA) that consists of a requirement-goal-value matrix (RGV), and a calculation and illustration module (CIM). The model reduces cognitive load, helps developers to focus on value fulfillment in e-service development and supports them in the formulation of requirements. It also offers an input to public policy makers, should they aim to target values in the design of e-services.

The effects of attitudes and personality traits on mode choice

We hypothesise that differences in people's attitudes and personality traits lead them to attribute varying importance to environmental considerations, safety, comfort, convenience and flexibility. Differences in personality traits call be revealed not only in the individuals' choice of transport, but also in other actions of their everyday lives-such as how much they recycle, whether they take precautions or avoid dangerous pursuits. Conditioning on a set of exogenous individual characteristics, we use indicators of attitudes and personality traits to form latent variables for inclusion in an, otherwise standard, discrete mode choice model. With a sample of Swedish commuters, we find that both attitudes towards flexibility and comfort, as well as being pro-environmentally inclined, influence the individual's choice of mode. Although modal time and cost still are important, it follows that there are other ways, apart from economic incentives, to attract individuals to the, from society's perspective, desirable public modes of transport. Our results should provide useful information to policy-makers and transportation planners developing sustainable transportation systems.

Making Energy Interventions more Effective : Situation, Interaction, and Precondition

A main purpose of this paper is to propose to policy makers, building professionals, and other non-social scientists a way to make energy interventions more culturally informed and, thereby, more effective. The case study on house purchasers gives an ample illustration of the richer results that can be achieved by paying attention to three aspects of energy efficiency initiatives: the contexts and situations of choice in each particular case, the interaction among relevant social actors, and the culture-specific preconditions for choice. Research on how purchasers of new pre-fabricated houses in Sweden choose their heating system show how such decisions tend to fall between two stools. Furthermore, the organizational structure of housing companies frames house purchasers' decision making. An important result is that energy saving or conversion measures must be promoted at an early stage amongst those who plan and construct buildings (rather than later amongst dwellers and energy end users).

Re-imagining the museum: beyond the mausoleum

Through a range of case- studies, including studies from the UK, North America and Australia, this book moves away from the idea that museums are always "conservative" to suggest they have a long history of engaging with popular culture and addressing a variety of audiences. Andrea Whitcomb argues that museums are key mediators between high and popular culture and between government, media practitioners, cultural policy-makers and museums professionals. The book also analyses links between museums and the media, looks at the role of museums in cities and discusses the effects on museums of cultural policies.

Peopling of the Northern Territory part 1: a white elephant in a white Australia? The Northern Territory, 1901-1920

As a result of negative net immigration during the 1890s depression, Australians at the time of Federation were preoccupied about the slow rate of growth of the population. The non-Aboriginal population at the end of 1904 was approximately three and three-quarter million. and the publication in March 1904 of the Report of the New South Wales Royal Commission on the Decline of the Birth Rate and the Mortality of Infants did nothing to allay these concerns. Despite the perceived need for more people. the desire for racial unity was paramount. The main goals of policy makers at the time were to preserve a 'white' and essentially British Australia and create an imperial bastion in the Southern Hemisphere.

Change and stasis in schoolmusic education in Victoria: the past informing the future

This article reviews the current state of music education in Victoria in terms of both past and present issues. It is argued that many of these issues are the result of change and stasis that have occurred over the past 150 years of school music in Victoria. The principal issues that confront the present generation of music educators and policy makers are the role and place of music in school education and the provision of music teachers for government schools. Both of these issues are discussed in terms of the historical development of music in Victorian schools and it is demonstrated that many of the problems associated with these issues are either cyclical in nature, or have been endemic and simply never adequately addressed. It is suggested that one of the principal challenges to be faced in the government school sector at present is to retain the integrity of music as a discrete subject area in face of the current trend towards a generically-based arts curriculum. There is often a tendency in education to adopt an overly critical and even pessimistic approach to what are perceived as long-standing and seemingly insolvable problems. However, a counter-balancing factor is the rich heritage of Victorian music education which provides the basis for a more optimistic outlook. An important aspect of this heritage is the example of many outstanding music educators in Victoria and elsewhere. It is argued that a knowledge of such past achievements as well as a fuller appreciation of the historical development of music education policies and practices should provide a more informed and rational basis from which to decide the future course of music education in Victoria.

Corporate liability for workplace deaths and injuries-reflecting on Victoria's laws in the light of the Esso Longford explosion

The purpose of this article is to consider some different legal models for the liability of corporations for the deaths and serious injuries of their employees, with particular emphasis on the law in Victoria.

Two recent developments in Victoria prompt this consideration. First, on 30 July 2001, the Victorian Supreme Court handed down its sentencing decision in the case arising from the explosion on 25 September 1998 at the Longford gas plant operated by Esso Australia Pty Ltd. The decision marked the end of the formal public consideration of a devastating event in Victorian industrial history, which began with the Royal Commission set up on 20 October 1998 to investigate the causes of an explosion in which two workers died and eight others were injured. Second, in early 2002, the Victorian Government failed in its attempt to introduce new criminal offences for corporate employers whose employees are killed or seriously injured at work. In spite of their failure to be passed by the Legislative Council in Victoria, these proposals warrant consideration. They represent a growing trend by policy makers in attempting to address more effectively the question of the liability for deaths and serious injuries of workers to employers who operate through the corporate form.