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Disability benefits function by demarcating categories of need (the administrative category of disability) and determine eligibility using assessments of functioning. In the UK, these assessments are the Work Capability Assessment and PIP assessment. Inherently technical and abstruse processes, these assessments have been opportune sites for welfare reform in recent years. Disability benefits have also been a central point of contention between disability studies and sociology. Sociology has traditionally favoured an 'incomes approach' and called for more adequate financial support from the state. Early figures in the disabled people's movement rejected this position, and aligned with an oppression paradigm, argued for a more radical economic and social inclusion. We contend that this divide, set out in the Fundamental Principles of Disability, remains relevant for researching welfare reform today. This article treats benefits assessments as epistemic practices—interactional processes wherein claimants, their personal health professionals and commercial assessment providers come together in the production of knowledge about disability. Data include 50 in‐depth interviews with benefit claimants and a discourse analysis of official texts directed at claimants, personal health professionals and commercial assessment providers. We outline a phenomenon we term 'epistemic sabotage', whereby the knowledge claims of claimants and their health professionals are systemically disqualified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basaltic fissure eruptions, which are characteristic of Icelandic volcanism, are extremely hazardous due to the large quantities of gases and aerosols they release into the atmosphere. The 1783–1784 CE Laki eruption was one of the most significant high‐latitude eruptions in the last millennium and had substantial environmental and climatic impacts. Contemporary observations recorded the presence of a sulfuric haze over Iceland and Europe, which caused famine from vegetation damage and resulted in a high occurrence of respiratory illnesses and related mortality. Historical records in northern Europe show that the summer of 1783 was anomalously warm, but regional tree‐ring maximum latewood density (MXD) data from that year are low and lead to erroneously colder reconstructed summer temperatures. Here, we measure wood anatomical characteristics of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) from Jämtland, Sweden in order to identify the cause of this discrepancy. We show that the presence of intraannual density fluctuations in the majority of 1783 growth rings, a sudden reduction in lumen and cell wall area, and the measurement resolution of traditional X‐ray densitometry led to the observed reduced annual MXD value. Multiple independent lines of evidence suggest these anatomical anomalies were most likely the result of direct acidic damage to trees in Northern Europe and that the normal relationship between summer temperature and MXD can be disrupted by this damage. Our study also demonstrates that quantitative wood anatomy offers a high‐resolution approach to identifying anomalous years and extreme events in the tree‐ring record. Key Points: High‐resolution tree ring density measurements provide approach for identifying extreme environmental eventsThe normal climate/MXD relationship is disrupted or obfuscated by the consequences of what is most likely the direct effects of acidic hazeScreening anatomical series for anomalies can lead to an evaluation of potentially confounding factors for climate reconstructions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on in‐depth qualitative interviews conducted with 69 disabled people in England and Scotland, and with 28 key informants from infrastructure organisations in the voluntary and statutory sectors, about the impact of COVID‐19, and measures taken to control it. Participants were recruited through voluntary organisations. As with everyone, the Pandemic has had a huge impact: we discuss the dislocations it has caused in everyday life; the failures of social care; the use of new technologies; and participants' view on leadership and communication. We conclude with suggestions for urgent short term and medium term responses, so that the United Kingdom and other countries can respond better to this and other pandemics, and build a more inclusive world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salvage excavations in the Theodosian harbor (Yenikapı‐Istanbul) have uncovered diverse archaeological objects including 36 shipwrecks and various Byzantine period wooden docks. The sequence of these docks provided a unique opportunity to obtain a high‐resolution stratigraphy. The new approach is based on stratigraphic interpretation of deformation patterns created by the posts in soft sediments, combined with dendrochronological dating of the posts. Dendrochronology offers the potential to date the posts to within one calendar year of felling, a level of precision and accuracy rare in sedimentological analysis. The posts, most of them Quercus, were rammed during six different time periods. The first period is associated with posts cut in 528 AD. The second and third periods are dated by posts cut in 583 and 594 AD, respectively. The fourth‐period dates within 8–10 years of 639 AD. The fifth period could be dated only roughly to between 690 and 770 AD. The last period produced a possible placement of after 778 AD. This new approach helps to establish a high‐resolution stratigraphy. Furthermore, it provides information about sedimentation history and specific anthropogenic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In April 2014, the Social Care (Self‐directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 (SDS Act) was implemented in Scotland. This marked a major shift in how social care is delivered and organized for both users and professionals across the country. Whilst it emerged through the personalization agenda—which has dominated international social care systems over recent years—self‐directed support (SDS) represented a significant shift in thinking for service provision in Scotland. In this article, we review the initial stages of policy implementation. Drawing on two Freedom of Information requests from 2015 and 2016 and a series of interviews with local authority practitioners, we argue that, to date, SDS has yet to produce radical transformative change. We explore the reasons behind this through four key themes. First, we highlight the challenges of promoting the principles of co‐production in policy and suggest that, in reality, this has been compromised through SDS implementation. Second, we suggest that SDS has been caught up in a policy overload and ultimately overshadowed by new legislation for health and social care integration. In looking at the impact of this relationship, our third theme questions the role of new partnership working. Lastly, we argue that the timing of SDS in a period of acute austerity in social care has resulted in disabled people being offered limited choice rather than increased opportunities for independent living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As personalization has dominated the policy agenda for reform in social care, its roll-out as a mainstream option has coincided with global programmes of austerity which have targeted services for disabled people. Was this simply bad timing or was its implementation always part of the agenda for reform? Whilst the principle of cash-for-care schemes drew strongly on promoting the independence and autonomy of disabled people, early incarnations of direct payments policy in the UK were initially at least in part rolled out in light of potential cost savings to social care budgets. This article explores these and other issues in light of evaluations of the Scottish government's self-directed support (SDS) test sites (2009-11) and implementation of subsequent legislation enforcing models of SDS in Scotland from April 2014. Discussion draws on the authors' recent book (Pearson et al. 2014) to reflect on what the evidence can tell us about radically transforming social care at a time of global austerity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precipitation around Cyprus, a relatively small island, is generally consistent in year-to-year variation in all dimensions except amplitude, with the higher elevations in the west generally receiving more precipitation. An annual record of precipitation was found in tree-rings of the predominant pine species, Pinus brutia Ten., which grows from the lower foothills up to 1400m in altitude across the island. Tree-ring chronologies from four sites in west-central Cyprus are used here to reconstruct the annual September to August precipitation and a drought record for AD 1830-2006, with the drought reconstruction extending back to 1756. A minimum of 40% of the variance in annual precipitation and drought occurrence is explained by the variance in the tree-ring widths in all cases. Our drought assessment indicates that, on average, annual droughts occur once every 5 years and sustained droughts, 2-6 years in length, have occurred in small clusters of time, from 1806-1824, 1915-1934 and 1986-2000, when the winter North Atlantic Oscillation was in a predominantly positive phase. These results suggest that a sustained drought period has a mean return time probability of one in 70-100 years. This study provides the first long-term annual precipitation reconstruction and drought assessment at low to mid-elevations for Cyprus and will aid in future plans for drought mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the issue of engagement in antenatal parent education for women living in deprived areas. The article focuses on the findings of a local evaluation of a Sure Start parent education programme designed to improve parental engagement with antenatal services. The article discusses the re-orientation of this service, the impact on service users and the implications for professionals. Evidence suggests that this service has been beneficial for those involved and resulted in improved levels of engagement, with 9 per cent of eligible women attending prenatal sessions prior to the introduction of the Sure Start local programme's parent education service and 34 per cent of eligible women attending after its introduction. Despite this, the service only reaches a small proportion of the eligible population. The article also discusses the issue of professional resistance from mainstream services as an unintended consequence of the introduction of the Sure Start local programme and considers the implications of this for effective delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Front Cover Legend: The cover image is based on the Research Article Establishing a high‐resolution stratigraphy in the Holocene marine sequence of the ancient Theodosian harbor of Istanbul with the help of dendrochronology, by M. Namik Yalçin et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21729. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]