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This paper presents new findings regarding the public response to public spending cuts as part of the UK Government fiscal consolidation programme, specifically to the perceived effects of reduced library opening hours on the public library user in a city in the North of England. An inductive approach was taken to the mixed methods study, using a self-completion, cross-sectional survey distributed to adults visiting one of three libraries in the city during a 6-day period. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses indicate a shared level of dissatisfaction with the service reductions across the respondents, and a shared perception of having been adversely affected. Statistical analyses revealed a strong level of agreement that the changes had a significantly negative impact on different aspects of respondents' lives. The research evidences the direct effects of service reductions on library users, as well as the wider social and economic implications.

Melghat, situated in Amravati District of Maharashtra, India is a tribal region with amongst the highest numbers of malnutrition cases. This paper focuses on possible causes of malnutrition in the Dharni block of Melghat. Quantitative survey recorded the existing burden of malnutrition, kitchen garden (KG) practices, Public Distribution System, food provisioning, Anganwadi services and hygiene/sanitation in the community. Additionally a qualitative study was undertaken to understand the community's perspective on nutrition, cultural beliefs, spending habits and other factors contributing to malnutrition. Malnutrition was found to be highly prevalent amongst all age groups with 54% children aged 1-5 years and 43% adults aged ≥ 20 years being severe to moderately underweight. A major cause for malnutrition in children was faulty child care practices. Data on food provisioning revealed that while the caloric needs of the community were substantially met by consumption of cereals and pulses, minimal consumption of green leafy vegetables (GLVs) could lead to micronutrient deficiency in the community. KGs, which provide GLVs, were mainly cultivated in monsoon (98%) which declined to merely 4% in summer. The benefits of government schemes though targeted at malnourished children were often shared by the entire household and thus got diluted. Key finding was that nutrition interventions should be designed to address the entire household and emphasis should be given to appropriate nutrition education, without which distributing food or increasing income would have minimal effect.

Abstract: In this report we present the results from three studies of knowledge sharing within police organisations and with three other stakeholders (other forces in the same country, the public and forces in other countries). In the first study, 152 interviews were conducted with members from 17 police organisations drawn from all of the 10 countries involved in the COMPOSITE project. In the second study ten in-depth case studies of international knowledge sharing involving police organisations were carried out. The third study involved conducting a survey of 481 police members drawn from the ten member countries with the aim of developing an organisational knowledge sharing diagnostic tool. We present the findings in terms of the perceived effectiveness of knowledge sharing in different domains, the most frequent types of knowledge shared, the most and least effective methods of knowledge sharing and the most common perceived barriers and facilitators for knowledge sharing both within police organisations and between the aforementioned stakeholders. Analyses are summarised across all countries as well as pointing out differences between countries with concluding comments highlighting the main themes and recommendations emerging from the analyses. The findings are integrated into a conceptual framework of ten types of factors found to influence knowledge sharing effectiveness in different domains (staff capabilities, process capabilities, technology capabilities, financial resources, information characteristics, timeliness of information sharing, organizational differences, political differences, public factors and international factors). Practical recommendations arising from this highlight the importance of building up the human factors of motivation, trust, knowledge, skills and experience of police personnel and facilitating methods for direct contact between different police and non-police stakeholders as a crucial set of knowledge sharing capabilities for police organisations. A new diagnostic tool designed specifically for police organisations (EKSPO-DI) based on this research is presented in this report as a means of helping benchmark knowledge sharing performance and areas for development.

The idea that democracy is under threat, after being largely dormant for at least 40 years, is looming increasingly large in public discourse. Complex systems theory offers a range of powerful new tools to analyse the stability of social institutions in general, and democracy in particular. What makes a democracy stable? And which processes potentially lead to instability of a democratic system? This paper offers a complex systems perspective on this question, informed by areas of the mathematical, natural, and social sciences. We explain the meaning of the term 'stability' in different disciplines and discuss how laws, rules, and regulations, but also norms, conventions, and expectations are decisive for the stability of a social institution such as democracy. ; (VLID)3386160

The idea that democracy is under threat, after being largely dormant for at least 40 years, is looming increasingly large in public discourse. Complex systems theory offers a range of powerful new tools to analyse the stability of social institutions in general, and democracy in particular. What makes a democracy stable? And which processes potentially lead to instability of a democratic system? This paper offers a complex systems perspective on this question, informed by areas of the mathematical, natural, and social sciences. We explain the meaning of the term 'stability' in different disciplines and discuss how laws, rules, and regulations, but also norms, conventions, and expectations are decisive for the stability of a social institution such as democracy. ; (VLID)5753580