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It has become almost impossible to believe that Islam even existed in Western consciousness before September 11, 2001 (9/11). Those who have used that event to denigrate Islam, and those who criticise the Islamophobia inherent in such negative discourses, take the events and aftermath of that day as their starting point. In contrast to that imagination, and also in contrast to some literature that attempts to instantiate a critique of Orientalism, this paper shows that Western representations of Islam and Muslims were sophisticated, diverse and historically fluid before 9/11. It does so by analysing media sources from the United Kingdom and France, the two nation states whose governments have famously been at loggerheads over their post-9/11 analyses and foreign policies. The objective here is to capture the diversity of mainstream social discourses as they were reflected in the press. The purpose is not to analyse media influence or the relative importance of different discourses, so the sources are deliberately selective and small in number. The article is structured around the ‘paradigm shift’ from an exotic, sensual stereotype of Islam to a stereotype of Muslim fanaticism (prominent at the time of the Rushdie affair, for example), which prepared the ground for responses to 9/11, but it also identifies a media critique of these discourses, and of Islamophobia in society and in the media itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Public health and preventive medicine (PHPM) has been recognized internationally as a physician specialty, but national parallels and differences exist between training contexts. This paper reviews PHPM training and employment in Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the USA. Methods: Information gathered from relevant accreditation bodies and literature searches was used to create descriptive profiles of national training demographics and structure and a narrative outlining trends and challenges facing the specialty. Results: Notable similarities and differences exist between national contexts. Key themes were differences in training strategies and practice scope, specialty stakeholders, certification structure, and funding. Recognition challenges faced the specialty across all six countries. Other challenges included unclear competencies and training strategies and a need for PHPM specialists to highlight their role in combating population health threats. Additional differences existed between comparator countries on the structure of training, funding sources for training programs, availability of training posts, and linkages with other physician specialties. Conclusion: Highlighting these themes is a first step to fostering training collaborations between PHPM specialist physicians to augment transnational action on global public health challenges and also supports PHPM physician educators with innovative solutions from abroad that might address domestic specialty challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance work systems (HPWSs), a large firm model, have recently attracted interest within small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In addition, institutional settings have been shown as an important determinant in the types of human resource management (HRM) practices adopted by employers. This paper progresses these topics through a comparative analysis of SMEs within Cote d'Opale/Nord Pas de Calais (French) and Kent (UK) regions. Clear divergence is evident in the nature of HPWS. Whilst UK SMEs are found to adopt a wider range of practices, French firms exhibit a higher degree of integration portrayed through a collective range of practices that engender employee participation and commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper compares trends and case studies of individual and collective employment conflicts in France and the UK. Its focus is on the extent to which conciliation, mediation and mediation are used within the two different industrial relations systems. In both, third-party intervention is associated with the legitimacy conveyed by the involvement of both employers and trade unions, or by the presence of an impartial judge. The research finds extensive use of alternative dispute resolution is taking place in both countries, with dispute resolution taking place commonly in the justice system in France, while in the UK there is extensive use made of the arms-length independent government agency, Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service. However, the research concludes that the most effective third-party interventions take place when they are combined with mobilisation, rather than merely being the sole form of dispute resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Devlin and Hoyle report, Committing to culture: arts funding in France and Britain, argues that the cultural policies of these two European neighbours have been steadily converging since the mid-1990s but that their social and economic contexts are now quite different (e.g. youth unemployment, GDP, disposable income). The paper addresses this convergence-within-divergence by comparing how policy discourses have conceptualised popular culture in the two countries. It investigates the hypothesis that, in both, an engagement with popular culture has in fact been an important driver of change, albeit at different times and with different taxonomies. And it asks what light this comparison might shed on cultural policy thinking in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persons with profound intellectual disability (PID) are mostly not able to use assistive technology (AT) independently. Caregivers play an important mediating role in implementing AT in the daily life of persons with PID. Both first-order barriers, extrinsic to caregivers, and second-order barriers, intrinsic to caregivers, influence the attitudes and behaviors of caregivers with regard to AT-use. It could be asked if increased knowledge on and experience with AT may impact the effect of first- and second-order barriers. This study investigated how knowledge and experience influence the professional caregivers' beliefs about which factors may impact the AT use in persons with PID and their intentions to use AT for persons with PID. A questionnaire on the experienced limitations and successes in using AT was developed. The questionnaire was send to professionals working with or responsible for persons with PID in various countries in Europe. In total the answers of 195 respondents were included in this study. This study's results demonstrate that AT is used for various reasons in persons with PID, mostly to support communication and interaction or for fun or relaxation. Based on the answers of the respondents can be concluded that both experience and knowledge of caregivers seem to influence first- and second-order barriers. Besides, a possibility to overcome the second-order barriers is to provide professionals with possibilities to increase their knowledge and experience. AT for persons with PID is mostly used for communication and interaction or for fun and relaxation. Professional caregivers belief that AT-use may positively influence various aspects in the life of persons with PID, especially communication and interaction, active engagement and participation in activities, and self-esteem of the person. Caregivers need to have sufficient experience in order to rate the barriers of AT-use as less limited in the group of persons with PID. In order to overcome the barriers experienced in implementing AT in persons with PID, knowledge of caregivers is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To examine whether the mix of community and institutional long-term care (ILTC) for people with dementia (PwD) in Europe could be improved; assess the economic consequences of providing alternative services for particular groups of ILTC entrants and explore the transnational application of the ‘Balance of Care’ (BoC) approach. Method:A BoC study was undertaken in Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK as part of theRightTimePlaceCareproject. Drawing on information about 2014 PwD on the margins of ILTC admission, this strategic planning framework identified people whose needs could be met in more than one setting, and compared the relative costs of the possible alternatives. Results:The findings suggest a noteworthy minority of ILTC entrants could be more appropriately supported in the community if enhanced services were available. This would not necessarily require innovative services, but more standard care (including personal and day care), assuming quality was ensured. Potential cost savings were identified in all countries, but community care was not always cheaper than ILTC and the ability to release resources varied between nations. Conclusions: This is believed to be the first transnational application of the BoC approach, and demonstrates its potential to provide a consistent approach to planning across different health and social care systems. Better comparative information is needed on the number of ILTC entrants with dementia, unit costs and outcomes. Nevertheless, the findings offer important evidence on the appropriateness of current provision, and the opportunity to learn from different countries' experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]